Brian started preschool today! Wheeeee. Three hours a day for three days a week. YAY! He’s started prereading lately (like recognizing the Target symbol on a truck and the Nickelodeon symbol on Tivo’s Now Playing list), which is awesome! Yay for Brian. Thankfully Max is older enough and I have a bad enough memory that I don’t actually compare Brian to where Max was at this age.\
Max is taking an intro to martial arts class at the community center. I’m excited for him. If he enjoys it, I’ll sign him up for classes at the local center. There is one practically every other block around here. What’s up with that?\
Kevin cooked a mini-holiday feast for us on Saturday. We had turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, rolls, green bean casserole and pumpkin pie. We’ve been living off of the leftovers ever since and it’s been heavenly. Kevin did a great job and cooked the turkey in the oven instead of the crockpot like he usually does.\
We’re getting wood floors for the main level next week! YAY! I am super excited. But all of this house fix-up, that we are paying other people to do, is making a lot of work for me. Boooo to that.\
I found this green sofa that I love but I don’t know how the fabric will hold up. It was on sale last week for \$600, with a \$70 warranty against stains. For that price, it doesn’t have to last until the boys get to high school, you know? We’re thinking of pairing the sofa with two brown leather, small-scale arm chairs and an enlarged print of of this picture Kevin took in France. I just love the colors in it.\
The shower in the basement hasn’t been completed because a part was misplaced. A new one was ordered and should be in this week. Other than that and some very minor paint touch-ups, the guys are done. I’ve enjoyed the lack of construction for the last few days. However, it’s been kind of stressful that we can’t move forward with carpeting or putting things away yet. But! We’ve all been reveling in being able to go to the bathroom down there (don’t tell the inspector). It’s awesome! I want to have a peepee party now, just to show it off. We now have 4 toilets, which means that we can all get food poisoning at the same time! Speaking of which, I think we should order Chinese food for dinner tonight. Y/N?\
ETA- Just got home from picking Brian up at preschool. His teacher went on and on about how smart and observant he is. Super YAY! I’m happy for Brian.\
Also, the contractor just called to say that the part is in. The guys will be coming out today to finish. Yay!
Category: Brian
All hail the construction guys!!
My master bathroom is finished! The ceiling and walls were repaired and then they were lovingly painted in a brownish neutral. It looks really good. Much better than we could have done. YAY for professionals!\
After I showed my bathroom to Brian, he exclaimed, “Let’s go see my bathroom,” and ran off. But, erm… Kevin decided that we didn’t need the kids’ bathroom painted. Currently, it has some splotches on the wall from when Max’s room was originally painted blue, the counter is littered with paper cups from last night’s drinking needs, and the rug has toothpaste gunk on it because I refuse to wash it more than once a week. In short, the kids’ bathroom is not fabulous. He said, “The walls are CRAP!” I was shocked, “What?” He repeated, “The walls are crap! They’re ugly. We need the construction guys to come fix it.” Haha, no. Sorry, kid. Mommy and Daddy are about ready to tear their hair out at the thought of even one more day of strangers in the house; no way are we adding to the list.
Ugh.
I hate potty-training.
Gimme a smooch!
Kevin twittered [basically] this earlier:
There’s a deleted scene in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy where Zaphod and the VP kiss. I made “eww” noises, then Brian said, “No, that’s lovely, Daddy, just lovely”.
Isn’t that the cutest?
WTH, kid?
The minute after Brian gets out of the bath, he finds the closest marker and draws all over his face. Grrrrr.
Brothers- Two Stories
Last night Max and Brian slept in the same bed, as they sometimes do. A few minutes after being tucked in, Kevin and I heard Max crying. He gets sad at night and frequently cries (a story for another time), so we weren’t alarmed or surprised. Before we could get up to the bedroom, Brian got out of the bed, stood at the top of the stairs and yelled down, “Be-dan Ma’ (Brian’s name for Max) is crying, Momma! He is crying!” Kevin met Brian in the hall and he repeated, “Be-dant Ma’ is crying. He has an owie.” How adorable is that? Max didn’t really have an owie, but I guess that is what made most sense to Brian. While Kevin was calming Max down, Brian kept repeating to him, “Everybody loves you, Be-dan Ma'”. Brian is such a sweetheart.\
This morning, Brian was playing with a blanket that has drawings of sheep on it and pretending to pick up the sheep. Max swooped in and pretended to steal away one of the sheep. Brian threw a fit and started crying, flailing, and then kind of attacked Max to get the sheep back. They actually fought about this for over five minutes. Several times Max tried to put the sheep back on the blanket, but Brian wouldn’t accept it; he wanted to take the sheep back from Max.
YAY for the small bits of happiness.
Brian went peepee in the potty today, of his own volition! That was the big triumph of the day.\
How was your day?
I’m alive! And Awake!
Brian’s nocturnal activities sent me to sleepyland by 7 last night. It was so glorious until he woke up again in the middle of the night. He kept jumping on me in bed. He knew though that it was still “bedtime” until the sun and sky got up. But since he was in bed, he wasn’t breaking any rules!
Ughh
Brian has turned into a terrorist. He gets up at all hours of the night, flipping on the lights, disturbing everyone’s sleep, jumping on anyone with a pulse. Max keeps yelling at him to turn off the light and leave him alone. Kevin ran away and said, “Don’t bother me until the sun is up,” (I’ve been trying to teach Brian that) and I stuck my head under the blanket and tried to sleep with him playing leapfrog over me.\
I’m not sure what to do to fix it and it is really hard to be rational or reasonable on very little sleep. Any suggestions?
My boys
Kevin and Max spent Saturday at a computer conference-thingie. Max loved it. Much more than I was expecting. He did utilize the markers and paper I sent along though. He wants to present sometime on animation and scratch. I am not sure what computer professional would want to listen, but hey- go for it, kid. He came home all psyched to hop on the computer and get started with some new project but Kevin was too tired. This morning he woke up at 5:30 (maybe because Brian and I were already awake and making noise) and immediately went to the computer.\
Brian and I spent all day Saturday gorging on preseason football games! Wheee. Brian wasn’t so happy with this, actually. Too bad, kid, you’ve got another six months of football to endure! I tried to teach him how to catch a football, but my boobs kept getting in the way of the appropriate position. Booo.\
The other day I went clothes shopping for the boys and put the bags on the couch. Brian saw them and asked, “What’s this?” I told him it was some shirts for Max. Brian wanted a shirt too. Being awesome, I said, “I got you some too. Here they are,” and pulled out his totally cute new shirts. Brian flipped out! He started screaming and crying, “Too big, too big,” (which is what he says when he doesn’t like something). Jeeze, what a drama queen. He could give the people on Project Runway a lesson or two.\
Last week Max asked for his first pair of name-brand shoes. Sniff. They grow up so fast. Since the shoes, Skecher Airators, were on super sale and available during the tax-free weekend, I decided to get them. He was interested in them because the supposedly keep your feet color by letting air in, or air goes out. Something. After wearing them for a few minutes, he was disappointed by the lack of air wooshing. I was thinking about taking the shoes back, since he wasn’t so keen on them. “They don’t do a thing,” he said, but I decided that it would be a good lesson that commercials aren’t so accurate. Ten minutes later Max said he wants Skech-Airs. Headdesk.\
Brian’s started saying, “Yank you,” instead of “Go” for thank you. He also says, “Peek-a-you,” instead of peek-a-boo. Totally cute.\
Last week the boys came home from Babba’s with a toy pet. It was an egg that when put in water, a little rubber lizard hatches. Since then, it has more than doubled in size. I am not sure if it is still growing or not. It’s kind of awesome. Max named it Buddy 2, after my dad’s dog. I want another one of these things so Buddy can have a friend. Currently Buddy is living in my large glass mixing bowl. I am not sure we have room for two. Hmm. Max really wants a fish tank, so Kevin and I are going to get one for him for his birthday (no one steal our idea!). I need to make sure the tank is big enough to house Buddy too.\
Speaking of birthdays, Brian got screwed out of his big birthday gift. Kevin and I had decided to get him a little kitchen, but the store didn’t have the one I wanted. We then spent a few days checking out online stores and shipping rates. By this time, Brian’s birthday party was over and we just sort of forgot about it. Oops. The kids have way too many toys though. So many in fact that it is hard for me to go present shopping for them because they pretty much have everything- blocks, trucks, little people, etc. How many trucks do they really need? Plus, Brian only really plays with two marbles, two cars, and a handful of blocks all day long. This makes me feel not so bad about planning to box up half of their toys for storage and/or Goodwill.\
Let’s end on a random note. I rarely agree with Heather Havrilesky’s Salon column, but this week she pimps the season premiere of Weeds (I stopped watching) with my all-time favorite quote:
My all-time favorite is when Doug and Andy are getting high in the living room and Andy asks the housekeeper, “Lupita, settle an argument for us. What do you call the thing between the dick and the asshole?” She answers, “The coffee table.”
Man, look at all of the tags on this post!