AKA the stovetop hot chocolate we made Christmas Eve for our reading of the Polar Express.  Because it really was ‘as thick and rich as melted chocolate bars.’  I’ve been meaning to share the recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup white sugar
1/3 cup boiling water
3 1/2 cups of milk
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup half and half cream

DIRECTIONS:

Combine the cocoa, and sugar in a saucepan. Blend in the boiling water. Bring this mixture to an easy boil while you stir. Simmer and stir for about 2 minutes. Watch that it doesn’t scorch. Stir in 3 1/2 cups of milk and heat until very hot, but do not boil! Remove from heat and add vanilla. Divide between 4 mugs. Add the cream to the mugs of cocoa to cool it to drinking temperature.

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I call it preparation for homeschooling.

I’m even brave enough to come in a different room to the computer and blog while he’s playing.  Luckily only one other toy, a monster truck, so far has been paraded by for permission to dunk.  I gave him a measuring cup and he went to the counter and got the measuring container and funnel used to fill my steam cleaner (beside his tractor below) and started counting how many half cups it would take to fill up the big measuring container through the funnel.  Kids just soak (pardon the pun) up knowledge no matter what they are doing.

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He is actually napping!  Faster than one could say SkippyJon Jones, SkippyJon Jones, SkippyJon Jones plus one hour, he fell asleep.  I explained to him what a promise is last night.  I asked him to promise me he’d nap.  Then when naptime rolled around, I promised to read three books, and gave a warning after each one.  Two more books, then it is naptime…one more book, then we go to sleep.  Finally after 45 minutes of wrestling and me struggling to keep calm, we agreed that we would play in the sandbox when he woke up.  And he finally fell asleep.

Did I mention we like SkippyJon Jones over here?  The first book we checked out from the library last summer, I think it took me 40 minutes to read it.  I don’t speak Spanish, and it has a lot of Spanish in it.  A lot of flare if you will.  I felt like a fish out of water trying to read it, but I have honed my Skippito skills and now it is a lot of fun.  Right Mr. Fluffenutter?  Si, my little crumb cake.

Yes, if you can’t tell, today is going much better and things have quieted down.  I am catching up on the piled up laundry.  I’ve vacuumed, the kid is squeaky clean after a 40 minute bath.  Hopefully we will be able to make a decision about the house in question tonight.  I disinfected the bathroom floor at 11:30pm last night.  I was angry at the mess, so I figured I should use that to my advantage and tackle it head on.  Do you get a lot done when you’re mad too?  I know I do.  I become very efficient, and usually feel much better afterward!  I’m weird.

Anyway, this picture flipped by on the screensaver the other day, and I tracked down the file to blog it.  I just cracked up, because he looks like a little alien!  I think this was taken two winters ago in early 2007.

All I can think is Wow Wow Wubbzy…”Just say BEEP.  Beepbeep…beep…”

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Make it stop.  This kid refuses to nap.  He will do anything but nap.  I had him in the bed for over three hours today and he never did just give it up and catch a snooze.  And he needs one so badly.  Right before bed, everything falls apart.  He turns into nightmare child, hitting and kicking and screaming.  Completely out of character.  Most nights I’m able to just take a deep breath and just let him scream (all while feeling like I want to rip my hair out).  Last night he had a meltdown because he couldn’t see the lines on the toilet paper to tear it evenly.  Tonight it was the process of getting undressed that sent him into a screaming wall pounding rage.  I just hate dealing with it because I know it could be avoided I guess.  He hasn’t napped in several days.  I’m now experiencing what it is like to have a kid who falls asleep in 15 minutes though (that’s new to me).  The night before last was a new moon, so he kept me up pretty much all night.  Then would not take a nap the next day.

We’ve been house hunting hard.  Things are all up in the air right now.  It is all exhausting me.  Meanwhile, our current house is falling apart.  The ceiling is leaking, and not far from falling in.  Every time it rains, we have to blockade off the area with Caleb’s  Cranium Fort stuff.  Nice huh?  Then there’s the kitchen sink.  It also leaks.  I took a shower yesterday morning, then got Caleb a bath about an hour later.  Several hours after that, I started a load of laundry.  No harm right?  Yeah, not until I was crawling behind Caleb’s train chasing it with a police car and he called out “River Mommy!  A river!”  I look in front of us and sure enough, there is a river flowing out of the cabinet below the sink halfway across the kitchen already.  I saw the laundry soap residue in the sink.  So I headed to the laundry closet.  It has overflowed the drain and there is another gallon or two of water under the washer.  Super.  Oops, gotta pee.  Haha, not done yet.  Yep, both toilets overflowed and the tub is full of brown water and toilet paper.  AWESOME!!  Did I mention that this already has already happened in the eight short months that we’ve lived here?  Tree roots are growing into the pipe and they stop it completely up every six months.  I was told by the last plumber that he had been here several times for the same problem.  They have yet to just run a new drain line further from the huge tree.  Understand why we’re moving again?  Good.

And I almost forgot.  Conveniently, our dog slipped his collar over his head and took off at some point last night.  The shelter finally picked him up mid afternoon about five miles away.  $100 we didn’t have.  Here ya go.  Can I wash dog bowls or something?  Seriously the last thing we needed right now.  So he’s back home from his grand adventure, complete with a microchip installed (required, so that next time they can just call you to come pay your fines and get your dog back).

Anyway, I’m off to clean up the mayhem that has taken place during the last two days of plumbing nightmare.  Like I said, sleep is for the weak, no matter how exhausted you are, there’s always more to do.  Ahhhhh!  *runs away screaming waving arms in the air*

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Tell me what you think, is this a cop out for a “birthday gift?”

As you know, we have an impending move, hopefully before Caleb’s birthday.  I’ve been mulling over what we could get him for his birthday.  It always seems like Christmas and his birthday are back to back, despite there being three months in between.  So I was thinking for his “big” gift, we could do his bedroom.  My mom bought a set of bunkbeds for his room from a friend with an older child who had outgrown them.  They are currently sitting in the bedroom dissembled (due to the impending move).  Caleb is very excited to have them put together.  I suddenly realized we’ll need linens for two beds though.  I like his current set (and it is still available at Target – a kids Woolrich camping set), but I was thinking of switching to a car themed set.  I suppose there is no explanation needed there.  We could do it the night before his birthday (letting him sleep in our bed that night) and “wrap” the bedroom door with paper and a ribbon or something.  I was thinking of carrying the theme to the bathroom and doing the same thing there.  Anyway, here’s the adorable theme I found.  I think he would freak out if he wasn’t expecting it.  This stuff is from Target by the way!

HAVE TO HAVE IT:

I wanted to do the quilt on one bunk…

…and the comforter on the other.  Because I couldn’t decide which was cuter, we could switch for some variety!

The sheets are so adorable!

THE WATER IS GETTING DEEP:

What color curtains would go with this?  Light tan?  I feel like there’s enough blue already!

Even a little car bank

The lamp has a stop sign pull chain

This is the kids bedding throw pillow:

And this is the toddler set throw pillow:

Dumping the trash!

BUT I CAN STILL TOUCH THOUGH:

Cute, cute, CUTE shower curtain!

NEVERMIND, GONE OFF THE DEEP END:

4X4 toothbrush holder

Umm…Herbie soap dispenser?!

Even the shower curtain rings are precious (Can you tell I’m super excited about this?!)

Lotion dispenser?  Don’t need it, just think it is adorable too!

I can find some use for this right?

These are very cute, but probably an unjustified cost (or overdoing it perhaps?)


I LOVE this shelf that actually goes with a different baby bedding set.

DRIFTING OUT TO SEA, BON VOYAGE:

And this dog blanket (doesn’t match the theme at all), I just had to throw it in here because it is so dog-gone cute!

Road rug

Adorable storage stool (Don’t stand on that!  It’s too cute!)

Wall stickers of vintage airplanes

A light switch plate to go with the nearby shelf.

UP NEXT WE HAVE BREAKING NEWS: A DAYDREAMING MOTHER IS LOST AT SEA.

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We made the decision to replace Caleb’s Herbie.  I know I know.  You’re saying we should have let him learn a lessen.  I guess we sort of felt at fault.  We’ve always allowed him to take one or two cars in stores while we shop.  And Charley always goes also.  To this day, we have never lost one single $0.97 Hot Wheels.  So it figures that when he takes a car in that we paid a lot more than $0.97, and he holds it near and dear, it would be the first to be lost.  Neither of us checked to make sure he had everything he got out of the car with when we got back in.  So that’s my defense and I’m sticking with it.  We paid a ridiculous amount, again, to replace Herbie.  Caleb thanked me about 15 times when he opened the package.  He was so thrilled, and hasn’t put it down since.  I explained to him after his initial excitement settled that we would not be able to replace him again and he must take very good care of Herbie.  I told him we would make a special, safe place in the car that Herbie could sleep while we shopped.

So fast forward to two days ago.  We were getting out of the car.  You know where this is going.  The car that we searched ten times over, short of one place.  You know how the saying goes…”It’s in the last place you look.”  Well duh, you aren’t gonna keep looking after you find it, of course it’s the last place!  Ha!  Caleb laid down on the seat to get out of the car.  And wouldn’t you know, I small space underneath the carseat only big enough for a three year old’s hands or a Herbie car was revealed to be the hiding spot.

Caleb immediately picked out the differences though, however slight they are.  The thing he likes best about the new one is that it looks happier.  Herbie’s bumper is his mouth, and I must admit, the old car (left) does look as if he’s frowning.  The first has black hubcaps, while the new one has silver ones.  They are both Johnny Lightning, one came in a 5 pack and one came individually packaged (the new one).

I can’t believe I didn’t write about this over a week ago, but we actually went to meet Herbie.  Yep, as luck would have it, Scott was telling the secretary at work how much Caleb’s loves Herbie, and she replied “Well have you taken him to see the one across town?”  In disbelief, Scott drove by the house, and sure enough, there he sat in the yard.

The scariness that is google maps:

Think I’m kidding?  Here’s my husband standing out in the yard running his RC truck at our old house.

Anyway, back on topic, we took Caleb over there.  I didn’t have my camera!  We were already nearby on errands, so it wasn’t a planned trip.  Caleb just couldn’t believe it.  He ran around and around the car looking at him and talking to him.  This particular Herbie didn’t have any bumpers, Caleb was very concerned.  He didn’t have a sunroof either, but Caleb couldn’t see that.  Talk about not wanting to leave though.  He wanted to buy Herbie!  He wanted us to bring him home.  The whole way home he whimpered sadly that Herbie missed him and he missed Herbie.  He usually asks at least once a day if we can go see Herbie again.  He asked if I thought Herbie would talk to him next time.

He was so cute, but I didn’t anticipate the sadness that followed for a few hours.  Next time we’ll prepare better and let him know that we can only visit for a few minutes, but we’ll take pictures with Caleb and Herbie so that we can “see” him any time on the computer.

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I have read more in the last week than I’ve read in Caleb’s lifetime.  I have a mix of books here, everything from discipline to nutrition, homeschooling to sleep solutions, and vaccines to fussbusters on the go.  Right now I’m in the middle of The No-Cry Discipline Solution and The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers and Preschoolers.

Thanks to several points made by the sleep solution book, I’ve moved bedtime around a bit and have been experimenting with moving naptime a bit.  I actually don’t think naptime needs to be moved, but I have discovered that Caleb was staying up past his natural bedtime, thus becoming overtired and getting his second wind.  Of course this makes bedtime a battle of wills, who can outlast the other.  Then when Scott wakes Caleb to tell him bye in the morning on his way out the door, it is like trying to wake the dead.  He is in a very deep sleep.  So I moved “Lights Out” up to 8pm, with our bedtime routine beginning shortly before 7pm, *knock on wood* things are running a bit smoother and he actually woke up about 6:35 this morning.  This tells me he is getting a more appropriate amount of nighttime rest.

I finished up the book I was previously talking about, Kid Cooperation, and I highly recommend it.  It is an easy read with lots of real life examples (exchanges between parent and child), and gives you a bag of tricks to encourage cooperation in a positive way.  So far, the No-Cry Discipline Solution is very similar in content (same author), but it goes more in depth, without as many real life examples (thus far).  It also gives you a few more skills for your bag of tricks.

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So I’ve been really bad about blogging this year.  That’s all I got.  Moving along…

My mom is down for the weekend.  Because my parents, yes, my parents went to an Eagles concert.  Yep.  I went to bed last night before my parents even got home.  Anyway, rewind to Friday.  Mom and I met to go to the children’s museum and pick up a few library books for me at the library across the street.  I had an armful of books, Caleb was heading for the door in front of me and Mom was behind me.  Caleb ran right up to the sliding doors, however he went to the one that doesn’t actually slide.  He put his hands on it thinking it was a door that you push open.  About that time, along comes the sliding door and it caught four of his little fingers in between the doors!  The door kept sliding and drug him along.  As you can imagine, the very back corners of the city block sized library probably heard the wail.  I had to pull his fingers out.  It didn’t break the skin or anything, but I’m sure it hurt.  I piled the books into my mom’s arms and picked him up and took him in between the two sets of sliding doors (you know how department stores have an inner and outer set of doors with the in between area ).  My mom was shocked…the only library employee that came to check on him was a security guard.  And he was standing way across the huge entrance area talking with another employee.  In other words the checkout desk and information desk was much closer.  He asked if everything was okay and if he could get any ice or anything.  Another older man (grandpa age) must have been behind us in line checking out asked Caleb if he needed some money for the gumball machine to help him feel better.  He was sweet enough to offer up two quarters.

My mom said she was telling her friend about it over the phone and her friend said employees are trained not to acknowledge things like that to avoid opening themselves up to a lawsuit or having a situation where something happens, they acknowledge the problem, then it happens to someone else because the problem was ignored.  How sad that we live in such a sue happy world that employees cannot acknowledge a child’s fingers getting mashed in the door.  It was just an accident.

Luckily, by the time we crossed the street and dropped the books off at the car, Caleb forgot all about his hand on the way up the steps to the children’s museum.

In other news, we are still house hunting which is very discouraging, as we are under time and money constraints.  I have been reading a lot.  I’ve been trying to take a few minutes every day for myself.  Who would have thought that you could use those few minutes of “mommy time” to read parenting books, yet still feel rewarded and refreshed, and as a bonus, a better, more patient parent, having learned techiniques from the book as well as gained reassurance in seeing many of the techniques are things you already use.  One of the books I ordered with my Target giftcard is Kid Cooperation: How to stop yelling, nagging & pleading and get kids to cooperate by Elizabeth Pantley.  This is not the first book of hers I’ve read, and each subsequent book, I seem to like her more and more.  Two of the books I ordered were written by her actually, and one of the books in above mentioned stack of library books was written by her as well.  I’ve been reading this book like it was a thriller novel every spare moment I have.

With the new year, I have really tried to step back and look at a lot of things.  I have been in a rut, going through every day frustrated and tremendously short on patience.  The stress of the last six months has definitely taken a toll.  Between the job situation, the car blowing up, the house scenario, everything seemed totally out of my control, including my own child.  I didn’t feel like we were on the same page, connecting like we should be.  I don’t know, it is hard to describe.  I just felt like we were in an endless set of days that were going nowhere.

I made a conscious decision last week.  I am taking all of this out on him.  He’s feeding off my stress.  He’s acting out because I’m constantly frustrated with him and I’m constantly frustrated because he’s acting out.  I stopped yelling.  I stopped nagging.  I stopped whining back at him (”Will you pleeeease let me finish doing this <insert selfish task here>”).  I played games with him without thinking about how quickly I could get the game over with.  I read book after book without counting the total.  I snuggled with him, tickled him after naps, took him outside to ride his tractor around the median 72 times, and played trains with him.  He helped me make dinner.  He stayed in his pajamas til lunchtime stepping on fondant (which sticks quite well to the no skid footies on pajamas) and covering himself with powdered sugar while we worked on Herbie.

I’m embarrassed and sad to say it, but I felt like he was so relieved.  Like he was thinking “I have my mom back, she’s not being so mean anymore.”  He has been clingy, lots of hugs and kisses and I love yous (there was no shortage before, but now he is showering me with loveys), he wants to sit closer to me at the table, he wants to hold my hand, as a somewhat negative consequence, he’s waking up every night and getting in bed with me, even though the mattresses are pushed together in one bedroom right now, he still thinks of them as separate beds, thus he must crawl across my ridiculously long hair and get on the other side of me.  But not before giving me kisses on the cheek in the middle of the night.  I’ve seen manners that I’ve been begging and fussing for him to use suddenly become standard in conversation, not only with other adults, but with me also.  If he needs my attention while I’m on the phone, he says “Excuse me.”  Many times I say “Yes what is it?” and he replies “I love you.”  He just wanted to tell me.

So rather than beating myself up over the last several months of building frustration, I’m simply going to blog it and bury it.  And if I begin feeling that way again, I will remind myself to come back and read this blog.  Kids pick up on so much more than we think.  They are so emotional, even if they show it in different ways than we do.  One of the best points I feel the above mentioned book has made for me… Just because kids are just that, a child, a three year old, a ten year old, a seventeen year old, just because they are a child and we are the parents, doesn’t mean they aren’t due a level of common courtesy and respect.  Do you find yourself nearly tripping over your toddler for the 14th time today?  I know I’m guilty of this, I just blurt out “Move!”  But would you do the same thing to a stranger or another adult?  No you’d probably say “Excuse me.”  Little things like that are so easy to forget when you’re going through the motions day after day with those closest to you, not to mention under foot.  But go ahead and say “Excuse me” for the 14th time, and even the 15th, or the 22nd, because you’ll probably hear the same manners in return next time your little person needs to get by you.

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I think there was actually physical pain involved for me.  I had to have Scott do it!  I asked Caleb several times if we could cut it.  I don’t know what else we would do with it, so it wouldn’t make sense not to cut it, but still.  I was afraid he’d see me doing and be like “STOOOP You’re killing Herbie!!!!!!”  So with his blessing, we cut Herbie’s ass end off!

For once he was actually excited about eating “birthday” cake (even though this was just a test run).

His first birthday, I made a whole smash cake just for him.  He did what babies do at their first birthday, licked a little, smeared a lot.  Plus, he was more interested in the new vehicles that came with the cake.  Imagine that.

His second birthday, he barely noticed there was a cake, even though I slaved in the kitchen baking a total of four cakes (2 flopped, I needed 1.5 cakes to complete this masterpiece).

This is all he ate:

In keeping with tradition, last year, I outdid the year before with a multi-cake suicide mission.  I was so exhausted by the time we got to the party, I could have slept through it!  There was a cake for each person there -the cakes spelled out Happy Birthday Caleb #3- I even made the letters out of melted chocolate chips.

It appears this year will be no exception to my tradition.  The way I look at it…years from now, when we’re in parent/child therapy, I can tell the therapist, I might not be a perfect mom, but damnit his birthday cakes rocked.

I think he was still a little unsure of how he felt about the cutting of the cake, but then “Mmm… icing” side won out in the end.

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Keeping in mind this is my first time ever carving a three dimensional cake, and my second time ever working with fondant, I don’t think he came out half bad!

He definitely looks best from the front (no he’s not missing a side view mirror – he’s an old car, thus he only had one!)

The side…eh…not overly pleased, but I can see where I made some mistakes in shaping now.

His roof came out great because of the rippled sunroof.  The stripes should have extended a little further.

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