Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Favorite Subjects

Devin took a nap this evening. Daddy is out of town. So, dinner was just me and Trevor. It was nice. I asked him, "what is your favorite subject? Weather, Bugs, Dinosaurs, or Race cars?" He answered, "Transformers." (Cartoon Network has some Anime type version now OR Transformers was always anime, and I just didn't know anime when I was 7 or 12 or whatever age I was when I learned...TRANSFORMERS, MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE...but I digress).

I told him that Transformers wasn't really a subject, so he decided Dinosaurs was his favorite subject. He listed his favorite three:
1. Tyrannosaurus Rex
2. Stegosaurus
3. Leolestes? That's not right. I'm pretty sure that's a little mammal. I'm sure that *I* have it wrong in my memory. Anyway, that third one hunts mammals. Let's pretend broccoli is mammals and the chicken nuggets are buildings...buildings you can eat. Argh, ROAR! Chew the chicken nuggets with a malevolent grin... (Trevor, Trevor, Trevor...dinosaurs didn't live in the age of buildings. THAT is an anachronism!)

I was surprised that Carnataurus was not in his top 3. Dinomack, his scary stuffed dinosaur is a Carnataurus. "Oh, yeah. He's in my second group of favorite dinosaurs."

(For the record, my favorite is Diplodocus. BECAUSE I think I can say it right.)

After dinner, Trevor wanted to watch TV. His first choice was...


...Transformers!

I said no. He'd watched enough Transformers today. He settled on a re-run of Mammals vs. Dinos. Three-quarters of the way through the show, he exclaimed, "What??" I asked what was wrong. "I was talking to myself. They said there was 3, They said there was 3, they said there was 3, they said there was 3." I have no idea what he was talking about, but he was excited. Even though he watched Mammals vs. Dinos just the day before, he seemed intrigued by this completely new, exciting and surprising news about the 3...

I need a punch line here, but I don't have one. So, good night!

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Yesterday, we climbed a mountain...

Although Devin and I are sick, yesterday, we did in fact climb a mountain. A real mountain. Not just a hill.

Here's the view from the top of the mountain we climbed:






Here are proof that the boys climbed the mountain:


Here they are saying cheese on top of a mountain:


Here, Devin proves that he's the happiest sicky you'll ever hope to meet:


Here they are dancing on the mountain. Dance! Dance!



(I joke about the dancing. I have no idea why Devin is doing that thing with his shoulders or why Trevor appears to be belly dancing.)



Me and Trevor on the mountain:


Me and Devin on the mountain:


Long ago and far away...


(Disclaimer: Devin was actually carried up and down the mountain. Illness aside, he really would have slowed us down since he's a 2 year old and all.)

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Sickies, all

Well, it's really just me and Devin, but I'm counting us both twice. Poor us...

We got some cold that's going around their new school. New germs, new illnesses, I guess.

A few minutes before bedtime, Devin said, "I want to go to bed." He repeated his request to Daddy (on my command, because I thought it was so cute.) Dad liked it so much, he insisted on holding our warm little one. 10 minutes later, Devin said it again, "I want to go to bed." He was really ready. He was asleep within a few minutes of being tucked in.

Being tucked into his own bed didn't last too long, though. Daddy brought him to bed with us last night because he didn't like the way his breathing sounded. I made sure I knew where to find the nebulizer and the albuterol, but we didn't need it. He sounded bad, but his bronchial tubes weren't constricted. (A mother knows when her child's bronchial tubes are swollen.)

I thought he was sleeping just fine. I was having trouble sleeping myself, and I didn't notice him tossing or turning. A few hours after we brought him to our bed, I heard a loud thump. I assumed it was probably Socks, but when Dad looked around, I decided I had better check on Trevor. It could have been a kidnapper, after all.

When I discovered nothing out of the ordinary and Trevor asleep soundly in his bed and not on the floor, I returned to bed. I mentioned to Dad that I thought the loud bump was probably Socks. Daddy said, "me, too." Then little Devin who had been sleeping pretty well for a sicky croaked out, "me, too." 2 o'clock in the morning, and Sicky Devin can't sleep because of the cat.

Poor Sickies, all.

Friday, July 20, 2007

Honorable Mention

Trevor and Devin got an honorable mention in their new friend's blog. Gareth's is the son of Daddy's good friends from high school and good reason that Trevor was willing to move here at all. We told him he would have a friend, and this is the friend we meant. We are looking forward to that group bike ride... I wonder if there are any bike paths that don't go uphill around here??

Gareth

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Absentee Mom

You know how sometimes you have a headache and you're too hot and your stomach is achy but you still have to take care of your kids but maybe you don't do it so well as normal? You know those times??

I was having that sort of time yesterday. (I think I'm getting a cold). And, Devin is pooping a lot. I'm trying to give the kids more fruit and it's making Devin's bowel overly active. (He won't forgive me for that later, I bet.) Add general exhaustion and poopy diaper exhaustion and you have absentee mom syndrome.

I was changing his diaper upstairs. He was on his changing table. I changed him and we talked. We always talk when I change him. I thought about taking some excedrin for my headache. I thought about going outside to play. I thought about the fact that all his pooping his making is hiney sore.

I lost a few minutes after that. I went downstairs with the poopy diaper in hand. Threw it in the garbage. Did a few other random things, then hollered for Devin to come downstairs so we could go outside. It was then that I started thinking about our diaper changing episode. I did not have a clear recollection of getting him down from the changing table. Surely, I thought to myself, I got him down. I just don't remember it. I changed my phrasing on my next request for Devin to come downstairs.

"Devin, Can you come downstairs, now?"

His answer, "No, I'm too high. Can you come get me?"

Ah, so it wasn't short term memory loss. It was an actual lapse due to absentee mom syndrome. On his changing table, he sat cross legged looking rather pensive.

I got him down, and apologized. I praised him for not attempting to get down himself.

Today, I said, "Remember when I forgot you on the changing table. Wasn't that funny?"

"No," he said. "That was bad."

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Trevor's got a girlfriend

I'm used to living in a big anonymous place. I grew up in a tiny and completely non anonymous place, so I can't say I ever really liked the fact that whenever we went out, we rarely saw people we knew.

So, I was delighted one day last week when we went out for dinner. As we waited to be seated, a little girl skipped by and said, "Hi Trevor, Hi Devin!" So, they know more people than we do here. That's OK. We're meeting people, too. We asked Trevor what her name was. His answer, "I don't know." We explained that it would be good to get to know his friend's names at school.

Later in the car, Trevor mentioned that he has a girlfriend now. When we asked her name, he said, "I don't know. I haven't asked her yet."

We don't know if the skipping girl and his new girlfriend are the same person. But, he has started to get to know his friends. The next day, he told his girlfriend's name is Kiera (or something along those lines.)

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Sometimes, he sings

I've blogged about Trevor's singing before. I'm not sure if I've blogged about his performance of the theme to Star Wars. It started after a trip to our old neighbor's a few months ago, and he performs it at random moments and sometimes, even on command.

This morning was different, though.

This morning was special.

This morning, he performed the theme to Star Wars not with his usual DUM, DUM, dah dah dah DUM dah dah dah DUM.... This morning, he replaced his DUM, DUM and dah dahs with MOM, MOM, mom mom mom MOM mom mom mom MOM....

Friday, July 13, 2007

The way he smells...

I love the way Devin smells. If I could bottle it to keep it forever, I certainly would not. Still, I love the way he smells.

When he wears his little sandals and his feet get sweaty and baby stinky, I like to stick them right to my nose and just breathe it in, big deep breaths. Maybe give them a little tickle. When his diaper is pee-pee wet and ready to be changed and his hair is crusty from a hard day of play, I like to stick my nose on his neck, give him kisses, and enjoy his unique Devin-in-the-summertime smell.

I've always heard people say that they love the way babies smell. I thought they meant the smell of the baby powder, lotion, and maybe even diaper cream. Maybe that is what they meant. Personally, I don't think I'd like having all those other things mask all the things I've described today. Because I really, really, really love the way he smells.

Saturday, July 07, 2007

Excuse me!

I think that Trevor likes his school. Before we moved, Trevor would ask, "Is today a work day?" on the days that he had to go to school. Then, he would melt down when we told him it was.

This morning, he asked, "Is today a school day?" and when I answered it was, he said, "YAY!"

It's working out well.

Devin is doing really well, too. He likes school because 1)his brother likes school and 2)he must like the school, too. I'm a little bit in awe of his ability to express himself. He's getting more and more articulate every day. He's certainly getting some of this from Trevor. This morning right before it was time to go to school, he asked for a nectarine. He knows he likes nectarines because he had two just the day before. When I told him no, there was no time for a nectarine, he said, "I Never Get to Have one of those!" Not quite true, but he's heard Trevor use a similar tactic on things and I suppose he thought he would give it a try.

I'd like to talk a little about my new neighbors. They're retired, so they see everything we do. This is OK, though, because they've told us they're retired and see everything we do. Here's an example. We painted our kitchen Red. They know this because they can look in our windows from their windows and see that. It's really great, though, having neighbors who know what color you paint the rooms they can see from their house. They also know things like why the Gas Lights aren't really Gas and why our 4 year old house needed all new carpet. They also know other neighbors to tell us about. It's a good thing. I weally, weally wuff it.

Anyway, I was talking talking to our neighbor yesterday along with Trevor and Devin. Trevor wanted to talk, too. He was polite. As polite as a 4 year old can be when he wants to tell the neighbor that he likes Hot Wheels and has a book about dinosaurs. He said in a loud voice, "Excuse me!" to get our neighbor's attention. I pay attention, too. He's got hearing aids, this retired neighbor who knew our kitchen was red. So, Trevor had to say excuse me pretty loudly and he had to say it more than once. One of the last times he got his attention, Trevor asked, "Why haven't you invited me over, yet?" The neighbor promised to invite him over soon.

Phones were out tonight all over. And, our neighbor came over to find out if our phone was out, too. Trevor asked him again, "When are you going to invite me over?" He prefaced this with "Excuse Me", of course. Neighbor promised to invite him over tomorrow. He even asked what kind of snacks Trevor might want. That was nice. He's got 4 or 6 grandkids of his own, so he's been around that block.

I really think we're gonna like it here.

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Rock and Roll

If you've been here a while, you may remember a video of Trevor saying "ROCK AND ROLL" just before he sped off in his jeep. Well, his interest is Rock and Roll has not waned since then. At Christmas, he got a little truck that sings, YMCA (of all things.) He likes the truck, and he plays with it a lot. Sometimes what he likes to do is say, "You're listening to Rock and Roll with YMCA!" like he's a DJ at a local Rock and Roll station and then push the button that plays the song. That's always fun. Just yesterday, he found some sticks we use for a little play tent, and he banged them on a trash can while belting out, "DON'T LET ME DOWN!" (the Beatles.) And, he belted it out. I'm not using that word, belt, lightly.

So, I guess it shouldn't come as a surprise (although it does) that he wants to flip his hair like a Rock and Roll star. And that I'm his new hero because I can flip my hair, that shouldn't come as a surprise, either. The look of delight on his face when I took down my ponytail and flipped my hair out of my face was, well, delightful! Next time I flip it, I'm going to play the air guitar and sing Revolution (more Beatles) and see if I become his favorite again...