juliloquy

just alright with me

We have been doing holiday festivities up proper around here. Shmoo couldn't be more zazzed about it all. We have watched Olive and the Grinch and Frosty and Charlie Brown. (Not Rudolph. Looks like someone's done some serious copyright restricting there; we can't find it free anywhere online.) Last weekend I took the kids to a live nativity with real animals, including a camel.  Shmoo's review: "The camel is big . . . and STINKY!"

As I mentioned before, the kids have been playing with their nativity sets. Shmoo has this one and Roo just received this one, both from my parents. Roo took baby Jesus for a ride in her toy stroller, along with a wind-up penguin. Also, according to Roo, the manger is where he gets his diaper changed. Jesus, not the penguin.

So you can see I'm trying to give the religious aspect of Christmas a lot of play around the house since public events focus so much on the secular.

It appears the religious theme has sunk in. The other day, Shmoo said, "If I ever have a son, I think I'll name him Jesus." (Anglo pronunciation). I nodded and thought thought to myself that could be a very satisfying name to give a child, and not for the reasons one might think. Imagine:

"Jesus! What do you think you're doing?"

"Jesus! Get off the cat RIGHT NOW!"

And of course my favorite: "Close the door! Jesus, were you born in a barn?"

mama fix doot

So much for the desired two- to three times per week posting schedule. Ah well, I'll just dive in.

Back when Shmoo was just a wee lad, HPR was explaining to him what we do at our jobs. His simplified explanation of my editorial work was that I "fix books." As a parent, however, I've become an expert at that earlier explanation: I literally repair quite a few of our well-loved children's books, many of which were mine or my siblings' all those years ago.

I think I've gotten pretty good at it.

We have a deluxe pop-up version of Olive, the Other Reindeer. The book has seen quite a bit of love since I took the holiday stuff out of storage after Thanksgiving. One part of the book [spoiler alert!] shows Santa's sleigh crashing into a tree, and the book features a cut-out simply glued onto the page. (Kind of a head-scratcher for me, honestly. The feature doesn't seem to add enough impact to rationalize the expense of the special die-cut and paste.)

Anyway, the kids didn't understand it, either, and pulled Santa and his sleigh right out of the book. 

I took it as an opportunity to improve on the book, and fashioned an accordion-pleat zoinger* out of cardstock.

Yay!

To explain this post's title: Although Roo has been able to pronounce the "b" and "k" sounds since she was tiny (in fact, book was her first word: simply 'k), she calls books "doots."

*coined on the spot.

the swing of things

I didn't give proper credit on one of last week's posts. The swing featured in the post's recent photo is new. Pop-pop (HPR's stepdad) surprised us by knocking on our door midday on a Tuesday the week before Thanksgiving. His business handles jobs all around the region, and although he delegates many of the trips to his employees, he looked at the location and decided to do the one near us himself. He delivered part of Shmoo's birthday gift that didn't fit into our car (the base of a desk). He also brought a swing he had made out of leftover Trex® from their deck, some nylon rope, eye bolts, and electrical tape. He installed it right away. What a great surprise! I had looked online for swings to buy, but shelved the idea.

The kids tested it out right away. Giggles.

 

Kiss-kiss!

Thank you, Pop-pop!

get it - hatch a plot?

I have to say I'm a bit disappointed that Obama continued the turkey-pardoning tradition. I mean, did he even consider the turkey recidivism rates (TRRs)? It is not pretty, folks. These creatures are not rehabilitatable. "Courage" and "Carolina," likely indoctrinated during their incarceration, are bound to be the next Bonnie and Clyde. I'm surprised they didn't hatch a terrorist plot during the Thanksgiving parade, where Courage was grand marshal. That just goes to show we have to watch them even more carefully now. They're sneaky like that.

ETA (couldn't resist): Guess we have no choice but to leave it in the hands of the Government Office of Bird and Barn Law Enforcement.

quick learner

You have perhaps seen the video of Roo's birthday where she is clearly perplexed about the blowing-out-the-candles business. HPR helped her with the cake candles and Shmoo helped her with her birthday ring candles.

Shmoo's birthday is six weeks after Roo's, and this video shows that it didn't take long for her to catch on. I ended up having to restrain her while HPR relit Shmoo's candles.

busman's holiday

HPR has the day off and we're going on a day trip to Mt. Vernon. I hadn't realized it's so close.

And this is a photo of Shmoo in the bounce house at his birthday party.

mistakes were made

A few recent photos have me wondering what kind of example I'm setting for my kids.

First is Roo's Britney imitation.

 

She went on to give the baby an underdog-push in the baby swing.
Seriously - she said "unnadod" as she was doing it.

All right, so two minor lapses in judgment and no one is hurt, right?
I'm afraid I can't say the same of microwaving the baby.

 

Ding! Fresh baby!

So I guess I should make some changes to my parenting tactics. Maybe the first step should be to let the kids out of their cages more often.

 

Halloween recap

Daylight savings ends. An extra hour of sleep, right? Yeah, tell that to a 2-year-old. Specifically, my 2-year-old. Because the kids both took good naps yesterday (a rarity for Shmoo these days) and because of trick-or-treating and the required combing through of the haul, we let them stay up late. It still seems so unfair that that never works for getting them to sleep in.

So, Halloween. We weren't sure how our new neighborhood would be. Seems like it would be the kind of place where people really get into the holiday. Probably it was back in the 60s when these houses were first built and there were kids everywhere. Long story short—our cul-de-sac is lame. We were the only house open for business. We are at the bottom of the cul-de-sac and only had about 10 visitors. (Wishing I had been more generous with the first visitors.) Anyway, now we know for next year.

HPR stayed home to answer the door while I took the kids out. Roo was in the stroller for some of the time. Shmoo was sweet in asking folks if he could have some for his sister, too, motioning back to us in the driveways. (Not sure how truly unselfish were his motives, but I'm choosing to put that spin on it.) Our route was a nice loop around the neighborhood. We were out from about 7-8 and toward the end, people were virtually pouring the candy into our bags. So between the kids' take and our leftovers, we're doing well.

It's crazy, but it just might work

I signed up for NaBloPoMo, which requires me to post every day in November. I believe that means more posts in November than I've put up so far in 2009. I'm looking forward to seeing where this takes me.

Also crazy: we invited all of Shmoo's Pre-K classmates to his birthday party next weekend. Nineteen 4- and 5-year olds.

Shmoo wanted to be the Easter Bunny for Halloween (?!). Easy costume! I bought a second pair of bunny ears and tail for Roo, but she wouldn't wear them.

And Roo just woke up from her nap. More . . . tomorrow!

Dear _Ms. Roo_

We are writing to you to confirm receipt of your proposal _3 a.m.READ BOOKS PARTY!PARTY!_. We regret to inform you that we are unable to fulfill your request at this time. While intriguing, the project does not meet our current needs. Please feel free to contact us again. We may have such an opening at a later time, perhaps 7 or 7:30.

All best wishes,

The Management