FoxMom23's Blog

Hi All!

  Happy New Year! Hope the holidays were good for everyone.  I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted! There just really hasn't been too much of interest to write about. Between illnesses and other stuff, it feels as if life is just starting to return to the way it was before before the holidays. Of course, I still haven't managed to get all our Christmas decorations put away. The majority of them are, but there are a few that I forgot about, and just haven't had the energy to deal with yet, so I haven't! Fortunately my husband doesn't mind, or maybe he hasn't even noticed yet... either way... they'll get dealt with soon!! :) :) :)

  I'm still amazed with how much our boys continue to grow and change. Our younger one is finally starting to speak a lot more (although still has trouble with some sounds), and I can understand him most of the time. And when I have trouble understanding him, our older son is quick to jump in and translate for me, and he is accurate about 98% of the time.

   The boys still get along most of the time, and are the best of friends when they do... but oh my... when they fight it's another story altogether!!  The younger one is especially good at knowing exactly what to do or say to get the older one upset, and make him start crying and getting upset!  So, there have definitely been some noisy, ugly battles in our house!!! But fortunately, when all is said and done, they hug each other, say they are sorry, and go back to being the best of friends.

 Well, naptime/ rest time is over, and I have two boys who are anxious for a snack and some attention, so I've got to go to them. Have a great day!

       So now that I’ve complained about winter, it’s time to share the Joys of this season. As a rule, I would take summer over winter any day, simple because summer is much warmer than winter. But there are definite parts of winter that I do enjoy.

    One of those is playing in the snow. As I child I enjoyed playing in the snow, and we have pictures of my sister and I playing in the snow and having fun. However, as I got older I enjoyed it less and less, because playing in the snow meant that I would ultimately end up wet and cold, and I don’t like being cold. (Did I mention I prefer summer to winter)! But now that I am a mother, and my boys have discovered the joys of playing in the snow, I am enjoying it again. I even helped them make a small snowman on Monday (my new Avatar)! They had a blast, and they loved seeing the snowman take shape, and trying to find objects to use for it’s face. In the end we would up having to use leftover vegetables from the night before (squished peas for the eyes, a carrot for the nose, and green beans for the mouth), but hey it worked! And once we added a dried leaf for hair, some smaller leaves for buttons, and twigs for the arms, we stood back, looked at our masterpiece, and were quite satisfied. (And I was pretty proud of our ingenuity of using leftover vegetables, when we couldn’t find anything else)!!

    Another joy is looking at the winter wonderland that cities and towns become after a snowfall. If you keep your gaze away from the sandy brown snow and on the streets (if you’re lucky enough to have had your street sanded) and look at everything above street level, it is truly a beautiful sight.  There’s something about it that’s very calming to me. And really I don’t even mind the sandy brown snow in the streets, as long as the bushes and rooftops remain seemingly untarnished!

    There’s also joy in knowing that the cold and snow of Winter will only last so long, and will then be followed by the return of the birds, and flowers, and all those creatures that hibernate for the Winter, and the rebirth of the Earth.

    Of course, winter means that there are a lot less pesky insects flying and crawling around, which is definitely a joy of the season! (Of course they return after winter with the rebirth of the earth, but hey… at least we have a while without them, right?)

    And finally, what is probably the biggest joy of winter for me, is watching the wonder on my boys’ faces as they watch the snow falling, and turning everything white, and seeing their joy and hearing their laughter as they play in the snow, or as they stand at the window while my husband clears the snow, and suddenly jump in happy surprise as snow from the snow thrower hits the window.

    These are truly the joys of winter for me. What are some of your joys?

    I’m sure you all have your own list of the woes and joys of Winter, and don’t necessarily want to think about other people’s, but I figured I’d share some of mine anyway. I’ve decided to share the woes first, and get them out of the way, so then I can enjoy the joys even more!

    For me the biggest woe of Winter is driving during and after a snowstorm. I try my best not to drive during a snowstorm, and if I do it’s only out of sheer necessity, or because I was already on the road when the storm started. I’m not usually a nervous driver, but I’ve seen and heard such horror stories about car accidents ,etc. relating to snow, that it does make me nervous, especially after having been involved in a scary snow related car accident last year. (No major injuries for anyone involved, luckily,- just a few bumps and bruises- but significant automobile damage to a few of the cars).  It was really scary because the boys were in the car with us. Fortunately their car seats functioned perfectly, and other than being scared by the sound of a car hitting us and the jolt of the impact, the boys were unharmed!!

      My second woe is streets that are not plowed or sanded properly (if at all), which naturally makes driving worse, and leads to woe #1. (As I write this, the main streets around us are clear, but my street and the other side streets around us are truly miserable! Lots of packed down snow, ice, and very little sand or salt). UGH!!!!

   My third woe is stupid people who park on the street during a snowstorm, or right after the parking ban has been lifted. We have a fairly new condo complex (it’s only a few years old) just down the street from us. Whenever the plow comes to plow out their parking lot, all the residents of the complex park their cars up and down the street.  (This I can understand, since the plow needs to be able to clean the lot). The problem is that these people leave their cars on the street long after their parking lot has been cleared (after the parking ban has been lifted, obviously). This means that should the city plow come by to plow the street again, which it sometimes does,, it can only do a mediocre job, at best, because there are all these cars in the way. This has happened many times, much to our and our neighbors’ dismay, and there have even been times when these people have actually parked in front of the fire hydrant, and leave their car there for the entire day! Hello, people!!!!!  This is one of my husband’s major pet peeves!!! 

     My fourth woe is cleaning off our cars after a snowstorm. This is not something I used to mind too much, but now that we have an SUV and a minivan, it has become much harder to do a good job cleaning them, especially the tops. Fortunately my husband will often take care of both vehicles before he heads off to work, so I can’t complain too much about it!  (And my husband also takes care of the snow blowing/ shoveling/ sanding of our driveway and yard.- I do have a great husband!!-  So I can’t complain about those tasks. But if I had to do them, they would definitely make my list of woes)!

   Alright, there you have my list of woes. Well, at least the ones that I have encountered in the 48 hours since this recent snowstorm began!!!  Feel free to comment and add your own. I’m sure there are many more than I mentioned!!

    So now it's official... my baby is no longer a baby anymore. If you're wondering what makes it official, I'll tell you. It's not that he can walk on his own, or feed himself, or have dinner in a restaurant and remain pretty much in control of himself. And it has nothing to do with the fact that he could most likely easily kick his older brother's butt, if he needed or wanted to.  It's not any of these things, although some people would think of these as good indicators. No, what makes it official for me is the fact that as of yesterday he no longer sleeps in a crib, but now sleeps in a "big boy bed". When my older son transitioned from crib to bed, it wasn't so hard on me, because we had the younger one who was indeed still a baby at that point. But now that the younger has also transitioned out of the crib... well, there are no babies left, just little boys working their way into big boyhood. (Of course, I really wouldn't mind if the older one learned to use the potty and thereby bumped himself into big boyhood quicker than he's getting there right now!)!! But that’s another story for another time.  :) 

     Now, transitioning our younger son to a big boy bed meant that I had to do a little room shifting along the way, due to the setup of his room, which also serves as the guest room. So my husband and I decided for now to move him into his brother’s bedroom and have them share a room. So far this seems to be working out pretty well. Although our older son doesn’t really take naps now, and spends entirely too much time talking and singing out loud before he falls asleep at night, the younger one manages to sleep through this (a truly remarkable feat, in my opinion). Naturally this is a very good thing, since one of our biggest worries about them sharing a room was the older one keeping the younger one awake.  

      In the very short time that they’ve been sharing a room (24 hours), my husband and I have discovered quite a few benefits of their room sharing, including only having to listen to one monitor instead of two; and being able to do the entire bedtime routine in one room, instead of having them run back and forth between rooms trying to decide whose room they want to be changed in, and in whose room they want to be read to, and whose rocking chair the youngest one wants to sit in to rock. But the best thing about them sharing a room, at least in my opinion, is listening to them talk with each other until one or both falls asleep. 

     My sister and I shared a room for a while when we were younger (a little older than my boys, however), and I easily remember my parents reading to us, shutting our light off and telling us to go to sleep. And as soon as that light went out, and that door got shut, the talking began. Mom and Dad would always try to get us to stop talking… but that only got us going more. See, one of them would say something like “Girls I don’t want to hear another peep out of you,” or “Don’t us let us hear one more sound.” Our reactions to these statements were “Peep”, and “One more sound”, respectively, and then the giggle fit would begin. I’m not sure how funny our parents thought it was then, but looking back now I’m pretty sure we can all find the humor in it!! 

     So, it was with these memories in mind that I sat last night, eagerly listening to the boys have their little chat. Now, obviously they are too young for us to tell them we don’t want to hear another peep, and have them respond like my sister and I did, but I’m sure that day will come sooner than later. In the meantime, they seem to be content saying “night night” to each other, with the older one telling the younger to sleep tight. And if the younger doesn’t respond, then the older one will prompt him with “say night night brother.” I’m sure the conversation will be differ as the nights go on and they get more and more used to sharing a room, and I eagerly look forward to eavesdropping on all those conversations (maybe even with a tape recorder handy), thanks to a wonderful invention called a baby monitor!! :)

    I have to admit, just as good as listening to them at night, was listening to them wake up this morning and talk to each other, before they came into our room. (Luckily, their room is right across the hall from ours, so I was also able to watch them too. And I have to tell you, the whole thing was entirely too cute!!! It was a nice way to wake up! Now, if only every morning could start off with them waking up in good moods, happy to see each other, and getting along so well….  I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how long it lasts!!!!  

   So, I’ve finally found my way back to the blogging scene, after what seems like an eternity (apart from my one long comment the other day). Life, as always, has been moving at a hectic and stressful pace, and only slowed down briefly over the weekend due to a combination of sinusitis and strep throat which basically kept me chained to my bed or the couch for a few days. (Thank goodness for my wonderful husband who took care of our boys and got them out of the house so I could just rest and try to get better)!!! 

   As usual, the inspiration for this blog comes from my boys, and here’s why: The last month or two (or three or four, maybe), has been more challenging with the boys because their behavior has been changing, and not always for the best. Our 3 ½ year old, who, all things considered, was a mild mannered two year old, has decided that since he wasn’t a full participant in the “terrible twos” back then, he would participate in them now, just as our 2 year old is getting near the phase. So everything (and yes, I mean EVERYTHING) has been a battle with him. If my husband or I ask/ tell him to do something he’ll say no. If we ask/ tell him not to do something, he will. If he doesn’t get his way, he throws a major tantrum, if we tell him we’re going to take something away, he gives us that object as well as another one he was using and says “You can take this one too, guys.” He finds every opportunity to be defiant, and is as stubborn as my husband and I put together (not a good thing). I’m pretty sure we’ve tried every acceptable method of discipline with him, and we often look at each other and ask “what else can we do?” The answer we get from people is always the same. “You’re doing everything right, hang in there, be strong and stick to your guns, and this too shall pass!”  So, we’re trying to follow that advice. 

     Of course, our 2 year old is watching this behavior, and starting to pick up on some of it (especially the part about saying ‘NO’ to everything). But fortunately he hasn’t become a full-fledged member of the terrible twos yet, and actually has been calmer lately, when our 3 ½ year old seems to worse.  But I’m sure his time will come, too!!  :)  

   Anyway… the purpose of this blog isn’t to tell you what little stinkers (I have another word in mind, but stinkers is much nicer) our boys have been, it’s actually to tell you just how precious they are. See, just when I feel like I am at wits end and don’t know what I’m going to do with them (or myself), or when I wonder where the heck my husband and I have gone wrong in raising these little guys, one or both of them will do something(s) to show just how cute and special they are. Here are some of those little things I’ve seen (and heard) …

    At bedtime the other night, after a particularly rough few days, I was low on patience, and told our 3 ½ year old that it was time to say our prayers so I could tuck him in and go downstairs.  I was expecting some kind of argument, or complaint, but instead he looked at me and said, “Mama, can I hug you to say my prayers tonight?” Well, my heart melted and of course I said yes, and he hugged me and he said his prayers so angelically!!!  Needless to say it made the trials of the past few days disappear. 

    And as I sit here typing this, I can’t help but smile as he serenades me over the baby monitor! See, he doesn’t really like to sleep during naptime, anymore, but he knows the rules are that even if he doesn’t sleep, he needs some alone time in his room to just let his body and mind relax and rest.  So, he’ll lay down, with one of his trains or little cars, and zoom it around for a while, until he gets bored. Then he starts to talk to himself (and the train or car, sometimes), and ultimately ends up singing (in a very loud voice). Now, occasionally he will sing his ABCs, and once in a great while he will sing a children’s song, but most of the time he sings his favorite big person song. His recent favorites include “The Texas Song” (AKA- If You’re Gonna Play in Texas by Alabama), “Buckaroo” (AKA- Watching You by Rodney Atkins) and These are My People, also by Rodney Atkins. Right now he has chosen Watching You as his bedtime singing song. I wish I could describe how adorable it is to hear him sing this song, but I wouldn’t even know where to begin!  

    And then there’s our 2 year old, who seems destined to become a veterinarian some day. He absolutely LOVES stuffed animals!!! He’ll hold, carry, and sleep with as many as he possibly can. (And yes, he does have a few favorites, who need to go everywhere with him)!! He loves his stuffed animals so much that he shares everything with them. We’ll give him his milk, or juice, or snack, and he’ll take a sip, or eat a little bit, but then he goes around to all the animals near him and gives them each some too!!  He even lets them talk on the phone! If we hand him the hone to talk to whoever is on the other end, he will say hi, and then walk around to each animal and put the phone up to their ear so they can listen, too!!!  And, of course, at bedtime we need to give his animals hugs and kisses, too.  It’s so cute!! 

    Now he has added another thing, too. He loves to rock in rocking chairs and gliders, and before he would be happy to sit in the chair holding his animals and rock with them. Well, now after he rocks for a few minutes, he’ll get out of the chair, rearrange his animals so they are sitting comfortably, and rock them back and forth. Then he’ll climb in and rock some more with them!   He takes such good care of those animals!!  

    He also takes pretty good care of his big brother, too. He will frequently try to give toys and things to our 3 ½ year old, to share with him, and randomly goes over to hug him. But his caring goes beyond that. Often, when our 3 ½ year old is sad (usually after he’s gotten himself in trouble), our 2 year old will go over to him and try to hug him, to make him feel better. What amazes me is that he will do it even if his brother is sad because of something he did to him. See, we had one of our battles one day, and our 3 ½ year old got mad at me for whatever the reason was. So he decided to push our 2 year old, because he was close to him, which made the little guy cry. Pushing him was certainly not acceptable, so as soon as I made sure our little guy was all right, I reprimanded our big guy for it. This of course, made him start to cry. So now I had to crying children. Well, before I could do anything else, our 2 year old was up off the floor, had stopped crying, and had gone over to his big brother to give him a hug as if to say “I forgive you, and I’m sorry Mommy yelled at you!”  It was so absolutely adorable, and I thought, “Well, hey if he can forgive his big brother for pushing him and not be mad at him, I guess I can get over it, too!”    

   Now tell me, aren’t they precious?? :) :)  These are the thoughts that I hold on to on the very, very trying days, and I keep telling myself that there is indeed hope, and that we may be doing something right after all.

   My husband and I went up to bed around 11:15 the other night, and were still awake enough that we decided to watch the new FOX comedy Back to You, which we had TiVO'd. We no sooner finished watching it, when we heard a soft thud from our 3 ½ year old’s  room, which we recognized as the sound of him getting out of bed. So I got out of bed and tried to get to his room before he could make it into ours. (We still had our lights and the TV on, and I was afraid all the light would wake him up fully). So I met him at his bedroom door, picked him up and he looked at me and said "Mama, are you and Daddy resting in your bed?" I told him we were, gave him a hug and kiss, and asked him if he'd like me to put him back in his bed. He said, "No, I'd like to come in your room." So, my husband shut everything off and I brought him into our room for what we figured would be a few minutes before he would fall back asleep or want to go back into his room. 

   Well, I thought wrong. As soon as I laid him down on my pillow, he said "I Love You Guys. I Love Mama and Daddy and My Brother." We told him we loved him too, and thought he was then ready to go to sleep. But instead, he told us he was thirsty.  So my husband got up and got the cup of apple cider from our son’s room, handed it to him, and he took a long sip. But all the while he was sipping, his straw was making a high pitched hissing kind of sound, which was making my husband and I crack up, because it sounded so loud in the quiet house. So, he finished his sip and said "Cinnamon! That was great cinnamon apple cider from Wal-Mart!! Thank you for giving me the great apple cider!! I love it!!"  At this point, my husband and I were laughing pretty hard, but we started laughing even harder as my son kept talking about how much he loved the taste of the apple cider and then, out of the blue, said “I like it. I love it. I want some more of it.” And kept repeating it!! Needless to say we were laughing so hard we were crying!!

    So then my husband jokingly said something about Santa bringing just Apple Cider for Christmas, and our son said "Noooo, Daddy." (From the smile I could just make out on his face, it was obvious that he knew my husband was joking.)   So I said, "No, Daddy, Santa can bring the boys toys and other presents, too." And our son pipes up with "Yeah, Santa can bring us blocks, and magnets, and trains, and puzzles..." and he basically listed every type of toy that he and his brother had played with over the last week or so!!!  My husband and I were still cracking up at this point (we never stopped laughing) because our son was half asleep half awake, but was just being soooo darn cute!! 

   Then we told him that it was time to be quiet and go to sleep, and he asked for another sip of his juice cup, which of course made the high pitched hissing noise again, which naturally sent the three of us back into hysterics. And so of course our son started talking again (don't remember what he said this time because we were still laughing and trying to get us all calmed down). Then finally, we calmed down, he hugged us laid down for a minute and then said "My Room." So I said "What about your room?" He says "Mama, do you want to come in my room with me? Let's go to my room.” And finally, after a few more minutes, once I had gotten up enough energy to get up, I brought him into his room, covered him up, kissed him, and in about 3 minutes he had fallen sound asleep!  The whole thing was just so funny that when I got back into our room my husband and I still laughed about it for a few minutes before we eventually fell asleep too!

       Last week I got a call from a college friend of mine now living in Chicago, to tell me that she was going to be living in Boston for a month, as part of her med school rotation, and was hoping to take a drive up to Maine to visit for a day. I was thrilled, to say the least, because we haven’t seen each other in a little over 3 years and I knew it would be great to see her and catch up on everything. We made plans for Sunday (the one that just passed), and while we were talking, she mentioned being excited to be coming back to New England for Fall, and wanted to go apple picking.  Well, I got all excited because I had been thinking that it would be something fun to do with the boys. So I had my husband check around to see if any farms/ orchards near us were open for apple picking yet, and he discovered that there was one (Snell Family Farms in Buxton) about 20 or so minutes away from us. 

         I wasn’t sure what to expect, but figured that with 3 adults, even if the boys weren’t as excited as I thought they’d be, we’d be able to manage. We brought along the boys’ red wagon, figuring we could pull them from tree to tree, let hem hop out and pick some apples, and then move on to the next tree. Well, once they picked their first apple, there was no way we were getting them back into that wagon. Which worked out just fine because we then used the wagon to hold the diaper bags, juice cups for the boys, and most importantly the bags of apples!! 

        The people at Snell Farms were very friendly and helpful, and the orchard was beautiful. Since it was early in the apple-picking season, the trees were still full of apples and, most of the trees had very low branches, which had plenty of apples on them. This meant the boys could pick apples without needing much help (if any) and without having to be picked up to reach them. There was also a lot of open space between the trees, so the boys also got to just run around and have some fun. (It was a very good thing we had 3 adults, because it would have been quite a bit more tiring, and nearly impossible to take pictures otherwise. As it was, the pictures we did take are good, but there are only a handful where you can actually see one or both boys’ face.) But anyway… back to the apple picking…  

       Our 3 ½ year old quickly got the hang of picking apples, and was very good about not touching the ones on the ground, and not trying to eat the apples as he picked them. Our 2 year old was a little more of a challenge!! At first he kept trying to take the ones that were on the ground, and we had to redirect his attention to the apples that were right above eye level. (In his defense, he did spend quite a bit of time on the ground, because he kept tripping as a result of the tall grass and the numerous amount of apples on the ground. So I can understand why he the ones on the ground would be the first ones he went for).  After awhile he did leave the ones on the ground alone, but at that point we could tell it was around lunchtime because every time he picked an apple, he tried to immediately take a bite out of it, and was actually successful a few times. Naturally, once our 3 ½ year old saw his brother biting into an apple, he wanted to as well. So we decided to call it a day and sat them in the wagon, gave them each a very small apple, just perfect for them to hold, and went to pay for the apples.         

       The boys eagerly climbed into the wagon this time, because they really wanted their apples, and were very content to have Daddy pull them through the orchard. They ate the apples much quicker than we expected, and our 3 ½ year old was so quick that he had made it through about ¾ of the apple, including part of the core, before we even noticed!!  

       It was a wonderful experience for all of us, and one that I look forward to doing again soon this year, and turning into a yearly event from now on!! 

  ** Just in case you’re wondering, we picked just under 14 lbs of apples, and with those apples we made 2 pies, and my friend took a bag of apples (about the size you’d buy at the grocery store) back to Boston with her, and we have a bag that size here, full of apples. So it was a very successful trip indeed! 

     As part of her two week cross-country book tour, Jan Brett, one of America’s most popular children’s book creators, will be stopping by Nonesuch Books and Cards in South Portland on Friday, October 12th at 5:00 PM, to present and sign copies of her new book, The Three Snow Bears.

     In The Three Snow Bears, an Arctic version of the Goldilocks story, an Inuit girl loses her sled dogs, and goes searching for them. While searching she comes across a very large igloo, and as curiosity gets the better of her, she steps inside to have a look.  Naturally (this is the Goldilocks story, after all), the occupants of the igloo, a snow bear family, have gone out to take a walk while their breakfast cools. In true Goldilocks fashion, the Inuit girl explores the igloo, gets sleepy, and decides to take a nap on a bed that is “just right” for her.

     The story follows the original Goldilocks story, just as you would expect it to, with one little twist. The bear family doesn’t just go for a walk and return and surprise the little girl; this bear family proves very helpful. While out for their walk, guess who they happen to find and conveniently bring back to their igloo?

     Along with the little twist, what really makes this stand out from other versions of the Goldilocks story are Ms. Brett’s breathtaking illustrations. Besides the main illustration to go with the text on each page, in the borders of the pages are beautiful illustrations of the Arctic landscape and animal life.

     The Three Snow Bears is a delightful version of the Goldilocks story, and is now my favorite version. I hope you and your children enjoy it as much as my sons and I do.

    If you were to ask a child what he/she likes about the beach, what would you expect to get for an answer?  I would expect the usual answers-- digging in the sand and building sand castles, playing in the ocean or tidal pools, looking for crabs and shells and other marine life, etc.

     Well, if you were to ask my 2 year old what he likes about the beach, he may tell you, although you may not be able to understand him yet, any or all of those things. But do you know what entertains him more than anything else?  The seagulls. Yup, you read that right. Seagulls. I don’t care what else he’s doing-- splashing in the tidal pools, playing in, and eating, the sand, kicking a ball around-- as soon as he realizes there are seagulls on the beach he gets totally distracted. It’s not so much that he likes to watch them (after all they are not that interesting). No, he likes to chase them. And I’m not talking about chasing them for a few feet and then leaving them alone. Oh no, he will chase one until it flies away. The last time we were at the beach, with some family members and friends, we watched him chase a seagull about the length of a football field, more or less. (It was hard to tell exactly how far, because it’s not like he or the seagull ran in a straight line). Fortunately for me, my husband’s uncle was chasing him, so I got to sit back and just laugh at the sight. Of course, we all expected the gull to fly away much sooner than he did, but apparently he was having fun being chased.

    When the seagull finally did fly away, my son came back to us and started to play again, but then he discovered another seagull, all by itself, on the other side of us, and the chase was on again!!  It was very funny and entertaining to us, and to most of the people around us, apparently, because they were all watching the chase. But the determination with which he chased those seagulls has me worried. He really wants to catch one. I can just imagine him coming up to my husband and I one day, holding a poor seagull, and with that pleading puppy dog look in his eyes, asking “Mom and Dad, I found him on the beach, can I keep him? Pleeeeeeeeeease?????”

And so I ask… does anyone know how to care for a seagull?

     As promised a few weeks ago, here is a list (partial list, really) of some of my favorite books to read to babies and young children.  Most of these (as you can tell by the titles) are books which help remind children of how much they are love. The others are basically bedtime books. So there’s not a whole lot of variety of themes in this list, yet, but these are the books which my boys seem to love to listen to, and which make me feel so good when I’m reading them to the boys. There’s also a lot of repetition and/ or rhyming in these books, which are important elements in helping children enjoy the book, as well as helping them learn to read, when that times comes.

   I will continue to add to the list, and I invite everyone to offer their suggestions as well. Despite our vast collection of children’s books, I’m always looking for another really good book to add to the collection.

Love You Forever  by  Robert N. Munsch  -- A wonderful book about a mother's unconditional love, and a story which makes me cry almost every time I read it.

Mi Amor Por Ti/ My Love For You  by  Susan L. Roth   A bilingual counting book which expresses just how great a parent's love is. A friend who works at Penguin Putnam sent it to me, and I fell in love with it the minute I read it. Definitely one of my all time favorites (especially since it does introduce the Spanish language). And since it's bilingual, it can still be read and enjoyed by people who don't speak or read Spanish. (My parents do not speak nor read Spanish, but they still read it to the boys, they just read the English translation and leave out the Spanish.)

I Love You Little One  by  Nancy Tafuri  The very first book I read to my boys. (I started reading it aloud to my belly while I was pregnant with each boy, and continued reading it after each one was born). Different Mama animals answer the question "Do you Love Me, Mama?" by comparing their love for the little ones to the environment around them. Another very sweet book about the neverending love between a mother and her child. (Dads or other relatives could substitute themselves for Mama). 

Guess How Much I Love You  by  Sam McBratney -- A sweet story about an "I Love You More" bedtime conversation between a little hare and his dad!

Time for Bed by Mem Fox -- My absolute favorite book to read at bedtime! Starts out... "It's time for bed little mouse, mouse. Darkness is falling all over the house." Continues in a pattern like that, with the parent animal telling it's little one why it's time for bed. The rhythm of it is very calming and soothing, and because of the repetition and the illustrations of the animal on each page, it can quickly become a "read together" book with your child, once they have started to talk.  My oldest loved to read it with me. Now he knows the whole thing by heart, so we don't read it nearly as often as before because I know he will get bored with it. And I'm looking forward to my youngest reading it with me as well. (It kind of got lost for awhile, and just recently found, so my youngest hasn't had as much exposure to it, especially considering he loves to be on the move and won't always sit still long enough to get through a story, even a short one!!)!

I Love You Through and Through  by  Bernadette Rossetti Shustak -- A very cute book about loving your child from head to toe, and everything in between. (A great way to help your child learn his or her body parts)!!

Llama Llama Red Pajama  by  Anna Dewdney -- Just got this one from the doctor today, for my youngest son's 2 year well child checkup. (Gotta love the Raising Readers program). I've only read it once (naptime today, after my youngest threw a bit of a fit when I tried to leave the room), but have absolutely fallen in love with it. It is the perfect bedtime book to read to children who don't like their Mommy (or Daddy or whoever puts them to bed) to leave the room before they fall asleep.  It helped my youngest today!! :)

So those are my recommendations for now. I will continue to add ot the list (and include books which I'm familiar with from past babysitting, and other exposure to children, and enjoy, but which we don't own, or haven't been read to my boys yet).  And again, please feel free to add your favorites as well!!

    On top of the other issues, I also ran into some problems with the cake. Every year we buy a Friendly’s ice cream cake from Shaw’s for the party, and I do the writing on it myself. (It’s really not that difficult, especially if you just buy a little tube of decorating gel). Well, this year, I decided to buy a tube of decorating icing instead of the gel, because I like the look of the icing better than the gel. Well, I made the mistake of waiting until just before it was time to bring out the cake to write on it. (Why I waited so long I’m not really sure. But I didn’t figure it would be a problem. After all I’ve successfully written on cakes with icing as well as gel a number of times). This time, however, waiting was a mistake because for some reason, the icing wasn’t coming out of the tube properly, and I couldn’t write with it. So I tried to squeeze the icing from the tube into a regular cake decorating bag and doing it that way. But no, that still didn’t work either. For some reason the icing just wouldn’t squeeze out properly. And since this was an ice cream cake, the window of opportunity to write on it was very small, especially because of the heat. And of course if I had any extra little tubes of decorating gel I couldn’t find them. So, my son wound up with a cake that had a #2 candle on it, but no writing of any kind! Fortunately, he’s not a big cake person anyway, and he’s only 2, so he doesn’t know that birthday cakes usually have writing on them. But I know. And every time I look at the pictures, or see the video, I will remember how badly I felt that I couldn’t even write Happy Birthday on his cake!    (Piece of advice #4 – if you plan on doing any of the cake decorating yourself, make sure you have extra of everything on hand, and do it well enough ahead of time that you can fix any mistakes, or buy a new cake if needed)!!!

     The next piece of advice doesn’t need a party story to accompany it; it’s pretty self-evident. (Piece of Advice #5- be prepared to have someone or something entertain the birthday boy or girl when it’s time to open the gifts. Chances are the birthday child who is under the age of 3 will quickly lose interest in opening presents, and you will wind up opening many of them yourself, while trying to get your child to at least look at the gift and then somehow acknowledge the person who gave him or her the gift.)

    My last 2 pieces of advice also don’t need stories to accompany them, but they are probably the most important ones. So here they are… Make sure you have someone else taking pictures and/ or video of the event, because no matter how hard you try to catch everything, there will be so much that you will miss, and later, when people are talking about the party and what cute things the child did, you are going to want to see it. (We were fortunate enough to have my sister taking pictures, and our babysitter running the video camera for us! And I’m really glad we did because I would have missed many cute things otherwise).  AND finally, at this age all the birthday child will remember is what you tell him or her about the party in stories later (or what’s on the video, if you choose to have one), so make sure to share all the happy/ funny/ wonderful moments of the day with your child and block out the rest!!!!! 

     Overall the party was a success (at least that’s what the guests who we’ve spoken with since then have said), but looking back at it, there were so many things that could’ve gone better or been done differently with better results. And so this blog is going to be all about the party, (written in 2 parts because of the length) and will give advice, some comical and some serious, for anyone planning a birthday party for a child under the age of 3, particularly those doing it for the first time. (Granted, most of it is common sense, but you’d be surprised how quickly common sense goes out the window when you’re dealing with prepping for, planning, and having a birthday party for a young child. Trust me!!! )  

  The planning stage was pretty easy. This was the 5th time we’ve had a birthday party, and we had things pretty well figured out. We bought the invitations early, knew what we were going to make, what we needed to buy, who was going to be there, and had a list of what needed to be done. Of course all of these things are things remain the same for every birthday party, so that part should have been easy.

(Piece of advice #1- plan out as much as possible as far ahead as possible, and make lists. And don’t save shopping for the last minute, in case you can't find what you need right away, or after unpacking all the bags, you realize you forgot something and need to run back out to get it).

   As for the cleaning and organizing aspect… well that started off going really well, but somehow, despite my best efforts, there still wound up being quite a bit left to do the night before the party, and the morning of the party. Fortunately, my sister came into town Friday afternoon, so she was able to occupy and entertain the boys (and they entertained her as well), so that my husband and I could get more accomplished in a shorter amount of time.  We were able to finsh things before the party started, but it was close!!

(Piece of advice #2- if possible, have a family member available to entertain your child/ children at least the day before the party, if not a few days before).

    The weather definitely worked us against on Saturday. It was so hot and humid, that nobody wanted to be outside. This of course meant that we got to have the party inside. So, instead of everyone being outside and having lots of room to move, and the children having lots of room to run and play, we were stuck inside with much less room, and the only source of relief from the heat being the little air conditioner in our family room window.  And my poor husband actually had to be outside for part of the time becasue he was doing all the grilling. (I really did feel bad for him having to be out there near the hot grill). But at least a few of the guys at the party went out to join him, so he wasn't out there alone.

(Piece of advice #3- talk to Mother Nature far enough ahead of time, and make whatever deal you have to with her to ensure you have the ideal weather for your party.  I’m thinking next week I’ll put in my request for my oldest son’s birthday weekend. Granted his birthday isn’t until May, but hey, I want to have first crack at requesting the weather for that weekend). :)

(Part 2 to come soon)

So, I've put a little list together of things that remind me that not only am I a mom, but Mom is my main identity now, with wife, woman, coach, and teacher all taking a back seat to being a mom. (But hey, isn't that how it's supposed to be... at least for the first 18 years or so??) :) :) Hope you enjoy the list, and please feel free to add it to it, with whatever experience you have!!

You Know You’re a Mom When…

    * You can sing all the words to every children’s song (and children’s TV show theme song), but can’t manage to make it through two lines of any song on the radio. (If there was a Don’t Forget the Lyrics - children’s songs edition, I could totally win a million dollars without even thinking about it)!

    * You cut your guests’ food into smaller than bite size pieces before serving it to them.

    * The majority of your expensive grocery bill consists of items from only 3 companies Gerber, Pampers, and Hood (substitute Beech Nut, Huggies, and/ or your favorite Milk company, depending on personal preference)

    * Errands that used to take no more than 15 minutes from start to finish, now require at least a half hour or more of prep time before you can even head out the door.

    * Every room in your house (except maybe the kitchen) looks like a mini Toys R Us that’s been hit by a tornado.

* You’ve got more toy boxes in your house than you have closets.

    * You’re having a conversation with someone and you have to s-p-e-l-l every 4th or 5th w-o-r-d so that the k-i-d-s won’t know what you’re t-a-l-k-i-n-g about.

    * You hear the words Hell’s Kitchen and they make you think not only of the reality TV show (which I too will miss, amarzen), but moreso of your everyday reality at mealtime. (The fights within and between Hell’s witches and the Guys team, are nothing compared to the daily battles over who gets to sit in which seat, who gets to use which stool, who should have what color plate, fork, etc, and what to eat and not eat!)   

    * You realize that all the sleeplessness nights, the endless messes and clutter, the constant demands on your time and energy (and wallet, too), are insignificant compared to the feeling you get from seeing that first smile, hearing that first laugh, getting that first hug and kiss (and from every smile, laugh, hug and kiss, that comes after that), and knowing that you are the reason for all of it!

   I don’t know anyone who enjoys being told how to drive by passengers riding with them. I certainly don’t enjoy it, and have on a few occasions threatened my husband with having to do absolutely all of the driving from now on, if he made one more comment about my driving. As annoying it is, however, at least he has a license and knows how to drive, and has been driving longer than I have. And I have to admit that I can be quite a bit of a backseat driver myself, sometimes (as I think we all can). My BIG problem is with backseat drivers who do not have a license, have never driven, and don’t know how to drive. Especially those passengers who are under 4 years old and who can’t reach the pedals or see over the steering wheel, and who can’t even sit in the regular seat yet.

   Yes, I am obviously talking about my children. I don’t know if anyone else’s children are like this, but my boys are seriously the worst backseat drivers you’ll ever meet.  My 3 year old knows all about stop lights and stop signs, and the minute he sees a red light or stop sign, no matter how far away from it we are, he tells me to stop, and if I don’t stop right then, he will repeatedly tell me to stop until I actually do. Then, as soon as I do stop, my almost 2 year old feels the need to add his two cents and tells me to “go, go, go”. Needless to say, I now try to take routes which have the fewest stop signs and stop lights possible!!!

   And speaking of choosing ways to go… my boys have also decided that some ways are better or more interesting to go than others. If I go in a direction that my almost 2 year old doesn’t like, he will tell me “no, no, no” and start to make strange noises to tell me he doesn’t approve. He doesn’t have a very large vocabulary yet, so a lot of his communication comes in the form of strange noises and repeated sounds.  My 3 year old is also very opinionated about which way we take to go somewhere (back way, highway, or some other roundabout way we occasionally go). Of course, he has a very good vocabulary and can easily communicate with us, so not only will he tell me he’s not happy about the way I’m going, but he will either tell me to turn around and explain the way he wants me to go, or he will point out roads he wants me to take to get there. (In his defense, he has a very good sense of direction and often times the way he says we should go will get us to our destination. It’s just his route isn’t always the quickest or easiest way to get somewhere, and sometimes the quick and easy way is just the way I need to go!! )

    So, most of the time I have at least 2 backseat drivers in the car, and when we go somewhere as a family and I drive (doesn’t happen often, luckily), I can easily have 3!!  Way too many backseat drivers, don’t you think?  

   So, I’m feeling like a semi-talented Mom right now.  Why, you ask? Well, because yesterday I found one simple activity that produces clean windows, dead flies, and happy children. That’s right…  I have discovered a way to clean windows, kill flies and manage to entertain my children all at the same time!!  Want to know my secret?

   First, you need to have a fly or two in your house, and at least one young child who doesn’t like “big bugs”.  Next, you need to make sure you have at least one open window near the fly or flies. Then, you need to get the little pest(s)- big pests according to my oldest son- to fly into the open window. Once there, close the window and trap the pest(s). Now, for the last step… with your child/children standing at the window (yelling and pointing every time they see the fly, for full effect), go outside, turn on your hose, and spray your entire window with the hose for a minute or two. If you have a window cleaning attachment for your hose, put it on before you begin.

   If you follow these instructions, you will have a very clean window (at least on the outside), a fly who is too wet and stunned to fly, and will eventually drown (although you may have to repeat this procedure a few times because some flies can be very stubborn!!), and children who will be laughing because they love watching the water hit the window and run down, and to some degree have the expectation that the water may still get them.