I'm running out of catchy titles.

Friday has come, which means it’s the day for Henry’s very late four-year well visit. I didn’t realize I hadn’t set it until daycare pointed out all my paperwork was expired, so I had to scramble and get an appointment that worked best for me and was asap, so this afternoon fits the bill. He’s getting his before-kindergarten last shots, and I know that will go over just peachy.

I’ve already penciled in milkshakes.

Henry doesn’t really like new people anyhow, so I don’t know how he’ll react to the NP that we are seeing on short notice. He’s never even very happy with our perfectly lovely doctors. I’m positive that he won’t speak to them, and will probably not perform for them like the trained monkey he would normally be if we were just sitting around the house pretending to ignore him while he hopped on one foot in circles around the kitchen.

And finally, last night, I got some real sleep which is amazing. C was watching the football game in bed so I took me a Unisom and passed out for a solid 8 hours and 46 minutes (according to my fitbit). I could have done more, but my alarm clock wouldn’t shut up and we keep it across the room for the very reason that it would be turned off in our sleep otherwise. I have not been sleeping for over a week, just snatches of time here and there, 5-6 hours max at night which I know for those of you with infants is a millennium but I require 8-9 hours of sleep to be a full wonderful person and I wake early. 5-6 hours simply doesn’t cut it, and they need to be uninterrupted. When I am forced to deal with children things in the middle of the night – well, be glad you’re not around; I am not a pleasant person. This is why C does most of the middle-of-the-night nonsense. He is capable of going right back to sleep but I’m up for lots of cranky hours when I get up.

C is working tomorrow, and I can’t stand being in the house tending to children when he’s holed up in the office – it feels icky when I need help and can’t ask or feel like I need to keep the kids quiet (ha!) We have a small house, and the office is right off the living room, and at the front of the hallway to the bathroom and the kids’ room. No real way to keep the kids quiet in that area. So we go out. Last time we did a splash pad and Chuck E Cheese. My plan for the day is to take them to Blizzard Beach, and then maybe another Disney park if I can get good fast passes (edit - I set up MK already as a just in case. Done). Maybe some Cracker Barrel for dinner. Livin’ the dream here. I hate making the drive to Orlando myself, but I think I’m going to have the kids bring tablets and I’ll listen to my audio book (Shotgun Lovesongs) and we’ll be solid. I haven’t decided if we’ll make it a very early morning and try to do something before BB opens (10am) or if we’ll just shoot for opening there. It probably all depends on how much sleep I get tonight.

Apparently here's another post about my kids.

Spencer asked for something other than pb&j for lunch today, and all at once my expectation that my child would eat nothing but peanut butter and jelly for thirteen years went up in smoke. It may not last, but today he went to school with a ham and cheese sandwich so we’ll see how that works out. He didn’t eat his sandwich for the last two days because it touched the grapes in the same Tupperware, so today I put his orange slices in a zip lock so they wouldn’t mingle. Kids. Full of such opinions.

I can’t remember (I suppose I could look, but I can’t be bothered right now) if I’ve commented on Henry’s eating lately. Henry’s whole attitude all together is just fantastic, but more on that later – his eating! The pickiest eater in our family is actually agreeing to our one-bite rule, and not only that – he’s LIKING things! It started really with Smitten Kitchen’s one pot farro.   …. I started typing this and the muscle memory kicked in and I was sure I told this before so I check, and yes – last week. So anyhow, the next day was turkey burgers and asparagus. Greens are always out, but I grilled them with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. He wouldn’t touch them on principle but when told he needed to have one, he ate all on his plate. “They’re sweet! I like asparagus!”

A few days later was green beans. He eats them at daycare but has always refused here. Potatoes were the same night, and I cut them thin and sautéed with garlic and salt and pepper. The green beans were pan cooked in ghee. He loved the green beans and ate them all – hated the potatoes (which he’s always told me he doesn’t like potatoes, even at daycare and lately even fries). He did agree that he would try potatoes again if I cooked them differently so next time I'm trying a gratin.

When we were out the other day there was zucchini on his plate and mushrooms too, and he refused and I didn’t push it because we were in a restaurant. I’m trying to decide how I could try cooking both for him to try that he might like. Last night I dropped some peas and chopped chicken in mac & cheese and he at first refused again but by the end of the meal he was exclaiming “I like peas!”

I feel like we’re on a roll here and I want to keep expanding his repertoire. I also keep reminding him about things he liked – “you liked asparagus, remember?” so that he doesn’t revert back to hating everything. Tonight I’m making pot pie, and I’m nervous because H never really goes for unprocessed chicken or soup-like consistencies, and lately he tells me he doesn’t like carrots. I might have him help me make it though. Dinner! In a pie! Maybe the novelty will help.

And more about his attitude – Four has been so delightful lately. He has these little quirks that make me laugh so much. If he gets mad (which is still OFTEN, short fuse boy) he makes this stern face (I need to get a picture) and forces my face forehead-to-forehead like he’s going to stare me down, and then gives me eskimo kisses and completely melts his own mood. He doesn’t fight about his homework (the daycare does kindergarten readiness, so he has worksheets there and at home every day to work on matching skills and writing letters and numbers) even though he still gets discouraged because he’s not good at it yet. He loves to hold my hand and tell me about things he did and remembers and specific episodes of shows that he saw that I’ve never seen. THIS is what I love. The last six months struggles were to get to this point. It was worth it.

What is today? Tuesday, Wednesday?

It’s been one of those mornings where focus is not happening. I was supposed to have a meeting but it was rescheduled and I didn’t update my calendar so I’m a little at a loss. I ate my yogurt too early in a rush for said meeting, downed my coffee and now …

I hope you had a good Labor Day weekend. Ours was pretty decent – a day of Disney, swimming at my in-laws’, shopping for new sandals for Henry. It was low key and easy, which is my favorite kind of weekend and left me refreshed for the coming week. It was brutally hot though – for a holiday that is something like the gateway to fall, holy goodness is it hot. I keep waiting for reprieve. Please, reprieve!

I signed up for Fantasy Football with my husband’s league. I’m not excited. I think I thought I would be when I signed up – the last time I played was 2008, and I remember enjoying it. I haven’t paid much attention to football the past couple years; my brain only holds one sport at a time, and baseball’s my game. I’m slightly offended that football starts while baseball is still going on, really. But I signed up, and I’m going to do it. I had lunch with a friend last week when I was having a no good, very bad day and she was EXCITED about the prospect of fantasy football, so she is now coming to the draft with me and we are co-managing the team. This makes me happy – I did zero research and she made a spreadsheet. I would feel guilty about the amount of work she put into this except that a) I’ve now offered co-management so it’s her team too and 2) it seemed to actually make her really happy. Anything I can do for a friend, right?

I’ve been listening to audio books lately; it started that I was taking some long drives, but then I needed to continue them so I was listening pretty much always. It’s hard to take 12 hours to listen to a book! I have one more downloaded but I don’t know if I’m going to get to it – I don’t have any more long drives and I just don’t know if I’ll enjoy it listening at 20 minute intervals on my drive to and from work. Do you listen to audio books?

Books I read: August

reread:
43. Shiver - Maggie Stiefvater
44. Linger - Maggie Stiefvater
45. Forever - Maggie Stiefvater

new:
48. Dark Prince - Christine Feehan Dear God, this was horrendous. Hooorrrendous.
49. Sinner - Maggie Stiefvater I didn't really expect to like this but I loved it. Cheese and wonderful.
50. The Beekeeper's Apprentice - Laurie R. King Quite excellent.
51. The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry - Gabrielle Zevin Adorable.
52. The Casual Vacancy - JK Rowling Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh ... I'm still trying to muddle through this, but I think it's a lost cause. I'm bored to tears and I care about NO ONE.
53. The One - Kiera Cass This was by no means great literature, but I enjoyed the series and I enjoyed this last book.
Landline - Rainbow Rowell No number on this because I counted it last month, but now that I've actually read it I have Feelings. I liked it. A lot. I felt like it was an accurate and depressing portrayal of the downs of marriage, when you forget to work on it. I didn't like Neal but I also recognized that it was told from a low place and all the best elements are tinted with darkness.
54. Safe Haven - Nicholas Sparks This would have been a terrible book, but I listened to it on a long drive for work and the narrator made it much more enjoyable. I think I liked it, a bit, although I'm not a Sparks fan so maybe it was just better than I expected?
55. The Silent Wife - A.S.A. Harrison I'm still listening to this on audio - I had to make a long drive on Saturday and a lack of sleep the night before so I started it. The dual narrator is interesting, and I'm quite enjoying it. It's supposed to be in the way of Gone Girl, but I'm finding it much less twisted.

Woah. That's 100 books in 8 months. I know just under half of those are rereads, but still - I read 100 books, and I still have 4 months left to go. So what else should I read?

Where to live, where to live

The other day, Spencer started going through the list of things that would get him kicked out of school. I don’t know what started it, but first it was what would happen if he kicked some one, and then what would happen if he wouldn’t stop kicking someone (there wasn’t anyone in particular) and then he started talking about being kicked out.

Obviously there’s no threat about him actually getting kicked out – there was an issue two weeks ago that could have gotten him kicked out of daycare except for a very understanding daycare lady  -- but no offenses at school that would warrant drastic measures. Anyhow, so C starts saying “well, you know if you get kicked out of school you might get kicked out of the house. If you’re not going to school …”

This paints C in an unflattering light, but obviously also this is a joke and S was fine, not freaked out and man, I’m over compensating in this story and here’s the whole point to the story:

So Spencer thinks about it for a minute. “But where would I live? Would I have to live in the forest?”

Reading and Telling

Spencer is supposed to read 15 minutes every night, and for this he started reading this book:

Which is a little over his head (from my research it appears to be a fifth grade reading level) but he was insistent and I was all, whatever, but you will need to tell me what you read about so I’m sure that you’re reading. And he did! All week he told me what was going on, and I was so impressed by how far he’s come in reading comprehension, and I was all smug-mom about my son’s reading prowess.

…

…

…

Apparently I should have instead been smug-mom about my son’s IMAGINATION, because Sunday I asked about his reading and he went on and on and frankly, the storyline was getting a little weird even for a book about a super evil villain who infiltrates a school to get a freeze ray. So I asked to see the book, and he started panicking, and it turns out almost NONE of what he told me about was really in the book. Some things were, but it looks like when he doesn’t recognize a word, he skips it. Sometimes he skips a lot of words and so he doesn’t know what he’s reading about.

I read him the prologue, and we’re going to start at the beginning, trying to read and understand. I’m thinking of just reading it to him myself, and having him read some younger books but I know he’s going to get upset. He gets OFFENDED by those You Can Read! Books, even though I’m pretty sure he’d enjoy the story. I really want him to understand his books and not get so het up about being a better reader than everyone else, because let’s face it – it’s not being a better reader when you just don’t get it.

Ahh, children.

A few things on a Monday

I think I’ve lost the kids’ birth certificates. I kept them in my purse while we were in Colorado and I have completely misplaced the paperwork that they were with. They are NOT in my purse. I cannot find them in my house. I know they weren’t in the rental car. I was so sick then but I know I had them at the airport because I wasn’t sure if they would need them, but I can’t really remember after that. I’m thinking that I may have thrown them in the recycling and I don’t know what to do. I guess just order new copies but it’s so obnoxious! I might go through my house during my me-time today and gather up all the spare papers to look through and confirm. I don’t really need Spencer’s anytime soon, but I will need Henry’s to enroll him in VPK after the new year. Ack.

**

I made this yesterday, and paired it with shrimp and bacon and it was fantastic. I was skeptical. Farro, tomatoes, onion, garlic. What’s special about that? But really, it was just delicious and even Henry liked it which is my general bar these days on if something’s really great – the pickiest eater likes it? We’ll have it for every meal! He’s always surprised when he likes things. He tells me he won’t eat it and I say “one bite. Do you want me to make your one bite?” and he will pout but say yes, and I make him a spoonful that doesn’t have the objectionable parts (in this case he didn’t like the texture of the cooked onions) and leave it on his plate for him.

Thirty seconds later there’s a whisper from across the table: “Mommy, can you make me another bite?” and I do. More whisper, like he’s trying to hide it. “Mommy, I really love it!” and then I asked if he wanted me to pull all the onions out of his so he could eat at his leisure, and I did and he ate his whole plate of farro. Shrimp and bacon first – those are his first loves.

Spencer did not eat it, but I think he’s declining on principle these days.

**

I’m signed up for a 5k on October 3. I have been getting into shape – I have! But I have not been running, and I feel like this is going to be a major problem. I tried to run once last week, and it was hell. I did just over 2 miles and most of it was walking. Bad idea. I’m going to go tonight hopefully with my neighbor and it will again be mostly walking, but Wednesday I’ll try to actually run the loop (just under 2 miles) and see how it goes. It will probably not go well.

**

I just now friend requested my son’s kindergarten teacher on Facebook. She’s not his teacher anymore – I would have thought that was too weird, but she’s also not at his school anymore. I hear she’s teaching middle school now, and that makes me so sad, that he can’t stop in and see her anymore (he actually DID stop in to see her and that’s how he found out that she was gone). She lives in my neighborhood; wouldn’t it be great fun if we started becoming super friends? Yeah, I’m getting the creeper vibe from myself as well.

**

Yesterday I stopped in at Starbucks and then took my coffee (iced couble dirty non-fat chai) to the grocery store at 9am and did my grocery shopping. We were without any breakfast stuff at all, so it made sense to get it all done but I did so without any list or idea of what I wanted to make and oh my, I spent so much. To be fair, I also got so much, but holy goodness I basically doubled my usual grocery shopping bill and I didn’t even get any alcohol (only because it was before 11am on a Sunday). So now my job is to meal plan with all the stuff in my house for as long as I can – I have about 2 meals left of shrimp, salad stuff, 4 lbs of hamburger, chicken burgers, turkey feta burgers, three meals of chicken and a ton of wraps and tortillas. On my meal plan for this week: Salad, turkey burgers, hot dogs, cheese ravioli and chicken pot pie. I got a large chicken to make in my slow cooker which I’ve never done before, and I’ll use the meat for pot pit and other random chicken needs.

**

I have been completely out of wine since before we left for Colorado. That means there has been no wine in my house for a month. A MONTH. We’ve been home two weeks now, and I keep meaning to get to the store but I haven’t and so today I’m driving over to the Trader Joe’s on my lunch break to use a gift certificate to fill up my wine fridge a little because it is well needed.

**

I bought Spencer a pair of Harry Potter costume glasses, and he’s now obsessed with them (I got Henry a pair too but he doesn’t care). S wore them all weekend, and when I handed him his book for daily reading he yelled for his glasses so he could see better. They are costume. They do not help see. I don’t know if it’s the Potter glasses specifically, or if someone at school has glasses or what the deal is. My husband and I both wear glasses but we didn’t get them until adulthood – me in college, C in his late 20s. His vision is fine, to my knowledge (last checked in February) so I suppose it’s just a stage. I wanted glasses a lot of my childhood.