No Mommy!

All kids go through phases of preferring some people over others. Logically I know this. Unfortunately, I am not always the most logical person and I'm getting my heart stepped on nearly every day. You see, Ryan loves his daddy. And I don't mean that he just loves his daddy - he LOVES his daddy - almost to the exclusion of anyone else (or at least me.)

Want proof? Duane was on vacation last week. One morning Ryan woke up early and started calling "Daddy! Daddy!"  I went to Ryan's room to get him so Duane could sleep a little more. My youngest son took one look at me, cried, "No! Daddy!" then threw himself back into bed and pulled the covers up.

I decided that was an invitation to go back to bed myself, so I took the baby gate out of Ryan's doorway and crawled back under the covers. Ryan came into our room a couple of minutes later and I reached over to lift him into the bed. "No! Daddy!" he yelled.

Duane lifted Ryan into the bed and when Ryan was nestled between us, I made the mistake of trying to wrap my arm around the little guy. Ryan literally threw my arm off of him - not once, but twice! Little stinker!

This morning when I dropped the boys off at their grandparents I asked Ryan if he was my baby. "No," he replied.

"Oh that's right. You're my big boy," I said.

"No!" hollered Ryan.

Luckily Wesley (who is 110% Mommy's boy) heard what was going on. He crawled into my lap, planted a big kiss on my lips and said in a very serious tone, "I'm your boy."  I'm just glad one of them is.

Birthday Recap

My sweet little boy turned 5 yesterday and I was a slacker mom who didn't do a blog post. If it make things any better, I didn't post because we were busy celebrating and now I have pictures I can share!

Wesley started his birthday with a special birthday breakfast of hash browns and a chocolate donut. Note I said "a special birthday breakfast," not "a healthy birthday breakfast."

We headed off to church and after worship told Wesley that he could pick anything he wanted to do for the rest of the day (as long as it wasn't being mean to his brother) and he could pick any place he wanted to go for lunch. Of course, giving a five year old that kind of power meant that we ended up having lunch at McDonalds, which is a preschooler's version of fine dining.

After our gourmet lunch, we thought Wesley would want to go to the pool or the park or COSI or something fun like that. Nope. He wanted to go home and watch "Aristocats" (one of his presents), then go to Grandma and Grandpa H.'s to play before we had dinner with them. So that's what we did.

We had a really nice evening with Grandma and Grandpa H. Aunt Susan and Uncle Kirk and Grandma W. came over too. Aunt Carol even drove down from Mansfield.

The boys cuddling with Uncle Kirk

Grandma W. and Wesley/Edwin

Playing ABC animal games with Aunt Carol

Mommy and her boy

Wesley and his new magic wand

I LOVE this picture. He's "zapping" Aunt Sus with his wand. Why does this make me think of Draco Malfoy?

Zapping his ABC painting for his room

Duane created a wonderful dog and cat cake for the birthday boy.

Is it cake time yet?

Lighting the candles

Spitting on the cake - I mean blowing out the candles.

Wesley got one other present that he was completely head over heels about. Remember how Wesley used to hide in a corner and be shy about opening gifts? No more! He flipped over the DQ Blizzard Maker he got! He has seen commericals for it and said that he's "always wanted one." He even kissed the box.

Of course, we had to try the Blizzard Maker right away. Now for those of you who haven't experienced the joy of the Blizzard Maker, let me explain the concept. It's a mini hand-crank ice cream maker and you  have to crank it for ten minutes to get two little cups of ice cream to sprinkle candy on. But Wesley loved it and pronounced the Blizzards delicious.

Lots of fun!

Less fun....

This looked like more fun on TV

Just get it in the cup, Mom.

Sweet reward

Not Me Monday

I did not feed my boys peanut butter on Ritz crackers with a side of bacon for dinner one night just because I didn't want to hear them whine about what I was serving. And even if I did, there's no way Ryan refused to eat the crackers with the peanut butter on them because they made his hands sticky so he insisted on plain crackers instead.

There was no way I was so tired one morning that I dropped the kids off at their grandparents, went to work, sat down at my desk, then picked up the phone to call my dad because I couldn't remember if I dropped the kids off or not.

I did not eat almost an entire loaf of warm, crusty bread from a bakery. And if I did, I know I didn't just tear chunks off to dip in butter. And even if both those things were true, there's no way Ryan was munching right along with me.

I did not accidently post my "Not Me Monday" a day early, have to take it down and then repost it on the right day. Nope, not me!

What a Good Morning

It was a beautiful morning in central Ohio, so Aunt Cathy and I took the boys to the park.

Not Back to School Yet

Duane and I decided to send Wesley to pre-K this year instead of starting Kindergarten. Lots of things played into our decision and I firmly believe it was the right one for Wesley. So while almost all of my friends are sending their kids back to school this week, Wesley doesn't go back until mid September.

I think he's picking up on the whole "back to school" vibe though. Two mornings this week Wesley has asked if it was a school day. Could it be possible that he misses it?!

Little Alarm Clock

For the readers who have not been to my house, I have to preface this post by telling you a little bit about the floor plan of our upstairs. Our upstairs consists of three bedrooms and a bathroom. However, the bathroom can only be entered through two of the bedrooms (ours and Ryan's) not the hall. We keep the door between Ryan's room and the bathroom locked at all times. If Wesley has to go to the bathroom while upstairs he has to go through our room.

Around 2:00 this morning we heard Wesley come tearing through our room. He went into the bathroom, did what he had to do, then came out and stood by our bed.

"Mom? Dad?" he mock-whispered.  "I have to tell you something."

"What?" I sleep whined.

"I didn't flush the potty because I didn't want to wake you guys up."

Gee Wesley, thanks for waking us up to tell us you didn't want to wake us up. Appreciate that.

Party Pictures

We celebrated Wesley's birthday yesterday. OK, so it was a week early, but he wanted to have a pool party and the community center pool is closed next weekend.

We had a great time and Wesley used great party manners the whole time. I was so proud of him!

Not Me Monday

I did not tell Wesley that "the only kid you're allowed to knock over is your brother," after he took out a kid in a bounce house. I would never say something like that.

There is no way I spent 3 hours going through EIGHT boxes of clothes Wesley has outgrown and organizing them for when Ryan will grow into them.

I did not have a nightmare about Wesley's birthday party two days before the party took place. And if I did, it certainly wasn't a nightmare about a tornado hitting in the middle of his party. That would be ridiculous.

I know I did not almost ask Duane what football player Chad Ochocinco's last name was. Especially since I called the man by his full name AND was looking at the back of the jersey at the time.

Weight Gain

And before anyone comments - no, it's not me that's gaining weight.

Stinky Bear/Car(r) managed to put on a TON of weight today. Seriously it looks like he ate a watermelon in it's entirety.

How did a bear who was so skinny he was "bear-ly" recognizable as a bear gain weight so quickly?  Well, Duane took the boys up to Grandma W.'s today so she could fix a little hole Carr was developing in his neck. Somehow Grandma convinced Wesley that Carr needed more stuffing.

I can't believe Wesley went along with the idea, but apparently he even helped perform the surgery.

Opening the patient

Adding some padding

A little bit more...

Just a little more....

Closing him up

Wesley assures me that Carr still smells the same and his tag is still soft, but Carr ate a REALLY big lunch. Hey, if the boy is happy, the mommy is happy.

Trix Are for Kids

Ryan is all together less picky than Wesley. One place this is very apparent is in the cereal department. Wesley won't eat cereal - not oatmeal, not Cheerios, not AlphaBits, not Froot Loops, none of it.  Ryan on the other hand has embraced the joy of cereal. He'll eat Cheerios, Life, AlphaBits, really almost anything. But as far as he is concerned none of them compare to the joy that we introduced him to today. The joy that is Trix.

Ryan LOVES Trix. I bought a mini (single serve) box and poured it into a bowl for him. You could almost see the sugar traveling through his little body. He wouldn't even let me hold the bowl while he climbed into his chair. Duane tried to swipe one, but Ryan covered the bowl and shouted "No Daddy!"

We took a few of the new favorite cereal in the van with us tonight when we went to a party. It was probably a good thing he didn't eat them on the way to the party, because they became a life saver on the way home. I let Wesley get into his goody bag from the party which contained Laffy Taffy, gum, Nerds and some other yummy treats. Unfortunately, they were yummy treats I won't let Ryan eat yet. Once he was reminded that he had Trix none of that mattered. He was more than content to munch on his cereal. He even tried to dig out the couple he dropped in his car seat.

You know the slogan, "Trix are for kids."

Librarian List of Shame - J Fiction Edition

I have been a children's librarian or worked in a children's department at a library for over 11 years now. I think I'm pretty good at my job and I work really hard to stay up to date on the books. But let me tell you - you simply cannot read all the books that come in - even if you want to. I have a "to-read" list that is several hundred titles long. Seriously. And I know I'll never get to them all.

But there are some books that I'm almost embarrassed to admit I haven't read. I have started to refer to them as my "Librarian List of Shame" because they are either classics, award winners, or super popular and for some reason I have just never gotten around to reading them.

Tonight I present the Librarian List of Shame - J Fiction Edition. These are children's books are either Newbery winners/honors or books that earned a place in the Top 100 Children's Novel Poll that the fabulous and amazing Betsy Bird did on her blog A Fuse #8 Production.  And Betsy really is fabulous and amazing. I got her meet her once and kind of geeked out over the experience. Total fangirl moment.

And now, without further ado, my Librarian List of Shame - J Fiction Edition

1. Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater
2. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty MacDonald
3. Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry
4. My Father's Dragon by Ruth S. Gannet
5. My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George ( I don't think I've read any of her books)
6. Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell (I fake this one a lot)
7. The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
8. Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George (another one I fake A LOT)
9. My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
10. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
11. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Patterson (I know, I know, I'm terrible)
12. Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Patterson (I think I might have read this in the mid 1980's but I can't recall a single thing about the book)
13. The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare
14. The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg (I have tried to read this book three times and have failed each time.
15. Hoot by Carl Hiaasen (I haven't seen the movie either)
16. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (I tried, but it didn't do a thing for me)
17. Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes
18. Betsy Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace
19. The Secret of the Old Clock (The Nancy Drew mysteries) by Caroline Keene (If I admit that I have never in my life read a Nancy Drew book will I get my status as a children's librarian revoked?)
20. The BFG by Roald Dahl
21. Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
22. The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits and a Very Interesting Boy by Jeanne Birdsall
23. Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
24. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum (although I do know what color Dorothy's slippers are in the book. Hint: NOT ruby!)
25. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
26. Half Magic by Edward Eager
27. The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper
28. A Little Princess by Francis Hodgson Burnett
29. Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. (PLEASE don't throw things at me!)
30. Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli (although this is another one I think I read once upon a time when I was a kid and I just don't remember)
31. Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
32. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
33. Ballet Shoes by Noah Streatfield (and I took ballet for 8 years)
34. The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Patterson (hmmmm...I'm noticing a Katherine Patterson pattern here.....)

So those are most shameful 34. Try not to think less of me. And don't worry, I will further the humiliation by posting my Librarian List of Shame for both Teen fiction and classic novels someday soon.

Zooper Day

My cousin and his wife and kids were in town from Connecticut today. I don't think I've seen them in....oh...7 or more years. Needless to say, this seemed like a good reason to arrange a vacation day and spend the day with family.

We started the day with breakfast out at First Watch. All the kids did a great job at the restaurant. I mean, Ryan did eat four packets of jelly and sip on my coffee while we waited for the food. And all four kids (ages 2, 4, 6 and - I think - 12) did end up under the table at one point. Oh! And there was the moment when Ryan ate a pat of whipped butter and looked like he had swallowed a bug. But really, breakfast was pretty uneventful.

We had a fantastic time at the zoo! That was due in no small part to how wonderful my cousin's kids are. T. and N. were so good with Wesley and Ryan. There was no bickering between the cousins and the older two, did such a nice job taking care of the younger.

We started our zoo adventure with a trip to the animal encounter area.

N. got to help hold a boa constrictor. T. held a hissing cockroach, but I didn't get a picture of that.

And what did my kids do while their cousins were interacting with all these cool animals? They were playing with rocks. Wow. Let the good times roll.

We popped into the Habitat Hollow area for a few minutes. At the end of the little house there is a plastic bed. A little girl about Ryan's age was on it and Ryan wanted to climb up too. The girl's mom said to her, "Scoot over, Honey, so that little boy can climb into the bed with you."  I'll bet that will be the only time those words come out of that mom's mouth! :-)

Here are a few other pictures from the zoo today

The little brothers of the group - Ryan and N.

All the cousins - OK, first cousins once removed. Same difference.

N., Wesley, Pepe the wooden penguin getting a kiss from T.

T. and Wesley

Wesley (or Edwin in this picture)

After putting in a full day at the zoo we all ate dinner at Grandma and Grandpa H.'s. I wish I had had my camera in my hand when it was time for us to say goodbye to T. & N.  Wesley went over and gave T. a big ol' hug. Then he turned to N. and the boys sized each other up for a moment before settling for a high five. Guess it was more comfortable than the awkward male hug.

I think Wesley summed the whole day perfectly when he said, "I like making new friends." It was super day and I hope we get to see the H. family before too many years pass again.