Olie-Olie Oxen Free

April 05 2011

Posted in: The Kids · Tags: Abby, food stuffs, life

It’s the age old question, asked every night. Regular answers consist of normal child fare: cheeseburgers, pizza, chicken quesadillas. Whether I take their suggestion to heart is another matter. Even if I do, I try to include a vegetable somewhere amongst the million calories. Still, I continue to inquire.

“What do you want for dinner?”

I’m not the best cook. In fact, the other day I had to ask on twitter if I could make the same oven fries with vegetable oil as I was all out of olive. Because oil is oil, right? However, there are a few items on our menu that are raved over. An example of which is ravioli. A bag of frozen meat-filled ravioli, a bottle of store-bought alfredo sauce. I could never be a food blogger for many reasons, but mostly because that’s about as homemade as I get. It is a reasonably light choice all my kids can agree on, though. Including Abby, who still prefers foods on the softer side.

“Would you like me to make ravioli?”

So it may be the age old question that is asked every night, but my daughter’s toddler tongue helps mix it up when ravioli’s involved.

“Olie-olie-olie!”, she calls for in agreement.

I have to admit, it’s become one of my favorites, too. Not because I enjoy the dish that much, but I can’t get enough of her translation. I would fix “olie-olie-olie” every night of the week if I could, as long as Abby never changes the way she speaks. That’s completely doable, right? More so than my eldest excited for asparagus, anyway.

My Mama Heart Grew 3 Sizes That Day

April 04 2011

Posted in: Daily · Tags: Abby, Jedi, of course, sibling love

We ventured to every parent’s worst nightmare this past weekend; Chuck E. Cheese. Where a kid can be a kid, and the mom is dragged around just to insert tokens. It’s like slot machines for tikes. Which I dutifully obliged, so long as I got in a game of skeeball before we left.

A garlic-enfused cardboard-crust pizza, a terrified encounter with a giant mouse, a couple interrupted games of skeeball, over 500 tickets and 3 hours later, the cup of Chuck E. gold was finally diminished. No sooner did my riches run dry, however, than Abby climbed into her favorite little kid car ride that’s meant to bop along at a snail’s pace and wouldn’t get out. When Jedi reaches into his pants pocket and emerges with a single shiny coin clenched in his fingers.

“Here, she can have this one”, he offers, selflessly handing over his last token to make his little sister happy. I even double-checked, to make sure I understood his true intentions. It’s not that he’s ever knowingly unkind, but he would normally need a nudge, or a full-throttled yank, for such charitable behavior. With all of the games he could have played, though, he said instead, “Yeah, I want her to have it”.

Now doesn’t that sound like a wonderful big brother? It’s enough to make a mama proud.

Until later that night when Jedi walks in on the verge of tears. “I shouldn’t have wasted my last token”, he sniffles. “The next time we go to Chuck E. Cheese, you need to find my coin and give it back to me.”

That’s more like it.

It Wasn’t a Mouse

April 01 2011

Posted in: Daily · Tags: life, this sucks, undomestic

It was shortly after midnight when all the little ones were finally tucked in asleep and the house was silent. Truth is, this is my favorite part of the day. It’s my chance to exhale the chaos before while enjoying a dose of seldom heard peace and quiet. The dark of latenight with all lights shut down is usually calming and tranquil against the regular harshness of cacophony and noise and wants.

Usually. Until I come upon a shadow in the middle of the hardwood floor outside my bedroom.

At first I thought I’d just step over it, figuring it for a toy we left behind at our nightly pick-up. Except I’d already walked this way a couple times and it was never there before. I don’t remember seeing my cat nearby, but what if he attacked a mouse. Oh my crackers, what if that’s a dead mouse in the middle of my floor? At midnight? Is that a tail? Oh no, there’s a tail! That is so not what I want to deal with during my me time.

Doing what I felt was most appropriate, I ignored the situation entirely. Except I still had a few jaunts to make back and forth before I could settle for the night. A bowl to put up, my netbook to charge back in. Each trip, I tiptoed with restraint and stealth over the dark mound in the middle of the floor. Until curiosity got the best of me. I had to see what it was. Better to do so before my oldest son woke up to use the bathroom only to wind up squishing whatever it is in his bare feet. I couldn’t scar him like that. The things moms do for their kids.

I held my breath, peeked out with a single strained eye, and quickly flashed a light.

It wasn’t a mouse. It wasn’t a mouse! Though it probably had more hair. It was, however, a startling revelation on the state of my housekeeping these days.

Up For a Party!

March 31 2011

Posted in: General · Tags: #ubp11, teh internetz

Hi, I’m C. Of course, that isn’t my full name but I have to keep some secrets. Though it’s not too secret, because if you ask, I’ll always tell you. I’m a full-time mom to my 3 kids. My oldest, Jedi, is 7 and was recently diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. Buzz is 4, will be 5 on the 26th of April, and has a speech delay that he goes to therapy for. He’s also the one that keeps me on my toes the most. Then there’s Abby, my 2.5 going on 13 year old daughter, completely beautiful, and a handful of her own.

Here at Kid Things, the name says it all. I do not do giveaways or reviews here. I write about our days and moments in short and sweet snippets. I’m not much into introspection, it’s mostly storytelling in my case. The funny things or sweet things. I’ve been going through a bit of a rough time recently, but I still prefer to write down and remember the bright side.

Just a couple of my favorite posts from the past few months:
Kids Break Stuff
Whatever Gets Us Through the Day
Future Aspirations

I’m also a part of From the Monkey Bars, a parenting collective of reader contributed stories, tips and ideas, all family-related. We’d love it if you stopped by and shared a post!

Don’t forget to leave a comment to let me know you were here and please subscribe or follow the newly added GFC on the sidebar! You can always find me on twitter at kidthingsnet or fromthemnkybars. From the Monkey Bars is also on Facebook.

A Forgetful Knocking

March 29 2011

Posted in: Daily · Tags: FAIL, Jedi, motherhood

Knock, knock, knock.

It was the afternoon, my daughter was just stirring from a nap and Buzz was watching a movie as quietly as he can be in the back room. I had my netbook in my lap, leisurely taking in the moments of relaxation until it was time to gather everyone together for our daily jaunt to meet Jedi at the bus stop. I still had about an hour to go until then, though. When there was a knock on the door.

I pried myself off the couch to peek out the peephole. I looked and looked again, but I didn’t see anyone there. Figuring it must be someone trying to sell something, or stupid neighbors, I began to walk away. But then it knocked again.

Knock, knock, knock.

Fine, I heaved a loud sigh as I reluctantly answered the door.

When I did, there he was, still too small to be seen by the viewfinder.

“What are you doing here? Are you OK?”, I asked, looking around for a car or some way he made it home.

“You FORGOT ME at the BUS STOP!”, as Jedi’s face curled into almost-cries. “I waited for you for 10 MINUTES!”

“I…. What?! But…. Oh! An hour early! You got off an hour early today!”, you could probably see the light switch on from my forehead.

“YOU FORGOT ME!”

I don’t think that was the best time to tell him that I almost didn’t answer the door for him, either.