Siblings

My children played tonight. Together. In the same room with the same stuff. For more than ten minutes. This may not sound like such a big deal, but for two kids - one 15 and one 2 1/2 - who have both lived as only children for their entire lives, it's monumental. And the first time it's happened at this length in the two months they've been living under one roof.

While I was fixing dinner and therefore unavailable to play, Tater resorted to Samm as back-up. And amazingly enough, she obliged. They were having so much fun I let the food sit out a little longer than I needed to just to give them more time to play. They read a Dr. Seuss book three times. They dumped out all the play food, enjoyed a few root beers together, picked it all up (wow!), and played "football" which consisted of Samm bouncing the huge 18" bouncy ball to Tater sitting in his bed who promptly smacked it back to her using a pirate sword.

I hated to make them stop to eat, but after dinner and Samm's shower, they were right back at it. This time it was animal doctor and batman walkie-talkies. In fact, I had to drag him out of her room to got to bed. Actually, she did - he insisted on her carrying him to his room, which she did without a moments' hesitation. I told her it looked like Tater had a new best friend, and she smiled that smile... you know, the one you rarely get from teenagers;the real light-up-the-face genuine smile... it was pretty much priceless. I think they may actually end up liking each other after all! Makes this heart all warm and fuzzy...

Note: this was not the original "Siblings" post I had in mind. It is much better.

Twilight saga indeed...

OK, so it's established that I am a certified Twilight nerd. My friend E has been going on and on about it for a year, and when I saw the movie was coming out, I went ahead and read the book. I cannot watch a book-movie without having read the book first. So I read it. And I, along with every other female who has read it, fell hopelessly in love with Edward, the main character. For those of you non-nerds who don't know, the book is about a family of good vampires who don't eat people; they only hunt animals. But Edward is the knight-in-shining-armor kind of hero that every girl dreams of. But yeah, after that one book, I was hooked. Samm and I both eventually read all four books in a two-week period. They are hard to put down! But going to see the movie... that was an experience...

We went on a Friday night, the day after it came out. Samm with two of her friends and me with my dear E. We of course had to get there early. Like an hour early, and they had the little line roped off for us and everything. We were a full hour early and there were already at least 20 people in front of us! I guess I didn't realize what a following the book had. But that line filled up fast, and when they opened the ropes, I kid you not, people RAN to the door of the theater. Samm, the girl who kept saying it was going to be a theater full of dorks, was one of them. :)

We sat down behind an entire row of Glenn girls (of course), the average age in the theater was probably 14 (E and I felt so old!) and I swear there were not more than 10 guys in that sold-out theater. The buzz before the movie was incredible. It was all Twilight. Which book you were reading; whether you like Edward or Jacob better; who hasn't read that far yet, so don't give anything away!!

Finally, the previews ended, and I've never heard so much shushing in my life. I just cannot fully explain the atmosphere in that theater that night. All those girls were so into the movie, so caught up in the story. It was obvious over 90% of them had read the book. They all sighed and giggled at Bella's first glimpse of Edward; they laughed at things you wouldn't get not having read it; they actually erupted in applause when Bella and Edward kissed. It was just... an experience. One that I'm so glad I got to be a part of. It was just so awesome to be in a room full of teen and pre-teen girls who were excited over a book, especially after spending the last seven years trying to get kids excited to read. It gave me faith again.

And I am so ready for that next movie to come out.

Tater Talk

I just love the way my little man talks. He is finally saying his R's, even if they come out as W's. So instead of saying he was "cying", he has moved on to "cwying." He tries so hard to emphasize the W, I mean, R too. He still rarely says the S at the beginning of words, unless it's Samm's name. The problem is if the S is followed by another consonant. My favorite example - one day he got chill bumps and told me, "Look Mommy! I have pinkles! That means I'm cold!" Took me forever to figure out what he was talking about, and when it finally hit me, I died laughing. Pinkles = Sprinkles. The little bumps all over his arms looked like sprinkles to him. Silly boy!


He picks up anything and everything he hears, and he somehow manages to even got the context of most of his new comments right. He is such a little adult too. Here's a little sampling of his articulation:


He walks up, plops himself on the couch by me and says, "So mom, how you been doing? Doing good?"


Since we've been potty training, we've used candy as rewards. So after his potty trips, we have to "go get a piece of candy about going potty." Not "for" or "because," but "about."

He always talks about what he wants to do when he grows up, saying things like, "I'm going to be a bull rider when I get bigger and bigger." Or "I can do that when I get bigger and bigger. "

Last night we were sitting outside after playing and he said, "Hmmm, let's talk a while." "Ok, baby. Talk about what?" "Let's talk about your wishing well. So how about your wishing well?" And thus launched an interesting conversation about the origins and uses of the well.


Sometimes when I ask him if he wants to do something, his thoughtful response is, "Hmm, well... yeah. I guess that will be a good plan."

Funny. Just plain funny, that little boy.

Update: I thought more.

His daddy has introduced him to the joys of ReddiWhip. They gleefully squirt it into their mouths, much to Mommy's chagrin. Tater calls it "Whoop Cream."

Minor Rewind

OK, in my months of blogger constipation I missed some important posts that I don't want to let slip by, so I'm going to be taking the next few days to get caught up. The past week and a half I have gotten a lot accomplished in the 2 Tater-free hours I have per day; my list of 16 to-do's has dwindled to 4 and I can sacrifice those if need be. So here's what's to come.

Twilight
Siblings
Tater Talk
Tater Silliness
Twere the nights before Christmas
Christmas (waiting on one very important pic)

Goodbye 2008

Gotta say, I'm not too sad to see you go. You didn't start well, and you got rather difficult to handle at times.

There were good moments. I watched my baby grow and change and learn and develop. Because of you, I love my family more and more ever day. You taught me more about myself than any of your predecessors.

But I'm ready for the new year. The new start. The new chance to make things better.

Bring it on.

Tired

I am just plain tired. Tired from the time change (I thought I was supposed to be getting more sleep???), tired from adjustments, tired from school, tired of drama (at work - not home, surprisingly enough), tired from sleeping half the night with a 2-year-old in my bed, too tired to invest the necessary time and effort to correct that problem.

Just tired. And feeling sluggier than ever. I haven't run in a month now. Not that I was really considering myself a runner before, you know... in the whole 2 1/2 weeks I was running. But I really need to start over. I need some time to myself and I REALLY need to get off my butt and get moving. Maybe tomorrow. Like the minute I walk through the door, since it now gets dark at 6:30. Which makes me tired.

Halloween Fun

What fun was had on Halloween! Samm and I dressed up that morning - she had Hippie Day at CFC and I dressed in a silly disco outfit - had to do the 70's thing of course!

At school, I ate entirely too much junk food. Curses on the Spanish classes and their party leftovers! My advisory class did win the door decorating contest with their groovy tie-dyed door, so that was cool.

Finally it was time for the official Halloween festivities to begin! Tater got all dudded up in pirate gear, thanks to Auntie Carey, who came to our rescue with an adorable costume to borrow. Tater had been running around all week hollering "Arrrg!" or "Arrrg Applesauce!" (I think from the Scooby Doo pirate punch applesauce we got one time) or "Arrrg Fee!" (I have no clue). He was very into being a pirate.

Before we left Nana's house, Caleb and Connor came by, so we got the chance to do a photo opp with all 3 boys. They were just too cute!

Then it was off to do a little trick-or-treating. Only a little though. I've never been that big on the trick-or-treating part; not sure why. In fact, even though this is T's 3rd Halloween, he's never really been "for real" trick-or-treating. This year, we went up to Southland's trunk-or-treat, and it was more to see Grandma than anything. Tater wasn't sure what to think of it. He would say "Trick or treat!" but only when prompted. He just kind of walked around in a daze. He was way more interested in what was already in his bag than what people were holding out to him. We found a dog in one car - he promptly dropped his bag and ran over. Who needs candy when there's dogs around!

We made an abbreviated pass through and then headed over to D-pop and Grandma's house. Tater helped D-pop pass out candy to the kids and then spent the night while Samm and I went home to stuff our faces with Chinese food and scare ourselves silly with horror flicks - The House on Haunted Hill and, of course, Return to House on Haunted Hill. It was past one when we went to bed.

All in all, it was a fun night. But I gotta tell ya, I'm looking forward to next year, when Halloween in on a Saturday. Then I can rest up before the festivities.