Sugary Goodness

We made it to 11am mass this morning. Our last Mass was in Tampa two weeks ago. The weekend we got home from Florida, I was sick as a dog, comatose on the sofa. Plus, Ed and Isabelle were still getting over their colds. And considering I sneer at those people who come to Church hacking and sneezing all over the place, we decided it was best for the general community if we stayed home. We also missed Isabelle’s last class of Tumble Tots. Oh well, it happens.

Anyway, after Mass in Tampa, Ed & I were in desperate need of another cup of coffee. I asked if there was a Dunkin Donuts nearby. There just happened to be one just around the corner. So Ed, me, Isabelle, Mom-Mom Su-Su and Pop-Pop Bill all went to Dunkin Donuts and had juice, a donut, and coffee (well…not Isabelle on the coffee). She was a very good girl during Mass so we told her she got a treat for being so well-behaved. (Ed wasn’t so well-behaved but we still let him get a donut).

Two weeks later (today) we go to Mass. And it was quite the feat. It was raining, there was a traffic accident outside of our neighborhood, which had the road down to one lane, and Isabelle was acting up in the car after only 5 minutes. It wasn’t looking too promising. It would have been really easy to make a u-turn and head home. We even discussed that option.

But, we trudged on, made it to Church, and alas, she surprised us once again. She was quiet, non-squirmy, and paid attention (as much as a 3yo can). She said her “Our Father” loud and proud.

We got into the car after Mass and I thanked her for being such a GOOD girl today. She then said in her most precocious voice…”So, Mommy. Since I was sooooo good today, what do I get for my treat?” Really?

But, she got one. Lemon frosted cake at Starbucks (her choice, not mine….gross). (Well, we did need our post-Church coffee fix).

So, since we don’t bribe her with sugar before Mass, is rewarding her with sugar after good behavior such a bad thing?

Arachnophobia

When we were on vacation in Florida last week, Ed, Izzi, and I were hanging out in Mom-Mom and Pop-Pops backyard waiting for the Alligator to show up in the pond. (He did show up, by the way, but we only saw his snout and eye peeking out of the water for a few minutes).

Izzi had found a cool stick, just about her size, to use as a sword. She was marching around the backyard, swashing her sword, acting out her favorite fairytale – Beauty and the Beast. While she was sparring with the imaginary bad guys, she walked over to our bench and pointed to her sword and said, “Look, Mommy, it’s a Spider”.

Well, in case you readers have forgotten, I have a severe case of Arachnophobia. I can’t handle spiders in any size, shape, or form. My natural fight-or-flight instinct kicked in. I leapt from the bench, falling and screeching as I scrambled to get far, far away. (Don’t mind the fact that I left my poor daughter to fend for herself against the gigantic evil spider that was crawling on her sword).

It took Isabelle a few seconds to register what was going on, but she then became afraid…VERY afraid. She stood there shaking with the now-evil sword in her hand. Not sure what to do, she dropped the stick, started to scream and cry, and ran in the same direction I did.

Ed, in a moment of “what the hell is going on?” and trying to grab Iz to calm her down, started to laugh out loud at the scene. His two favorite girls, torn in a fit of fear, over a piece of….moss?

As it turns out, there was no spider. What Izzi thought was a spider was a big spiky (and kind of cool actually) piece of mossy grass stuff that grows around the pond in their backyard.

But it was too late. Isabelle is now afraid of spiders, and could possibly now be a lifelong arachnaphobe like her Mom. Sorry, Isabelle. Not all fairytales end happily ever after.

Yer So Nasty!

A few years ago, I was in Manhattan with Don and Susan. We were walking down the street when a Mother was walking toward us with a little girl, about the same age that Isabelle is now. She was screaming at her daughter, telling her how naaaaaasty she was. And I mean screaming! In a vile voice as nasty as she thought her own Toddler was. We wanted to grab the poor girl and take her to the nearest CPS office.

Fast forward to this week, Isabelle and I were at the First Mariner Arena in Baltimore. I took Isabelle to the “Disney on Ice – Princess Wishes” show. We had great seats, and had a lovely Mommy-Daughter Day together. And unfortunately, Isabelle learned a LOT of new words.

A group filed into the row in front of us about 30 minutes before the show started. Mom #1 with three kids – a boy about 7 years old, a girl about 4, and a baby in arms. Then came the other family – Mom #2 with a baby and a Toddler girl. Mom #2 went for food (taking her own baby) and left Mom #1 with her own 3 kids and the extra Toddler. Mom #1 went on for the next 20 minutes cussing up a storm at the 4 kids in her charge, including her own and the one that didn’t even belong to her.

Just to set the scene, the kids were being well-behaved by normal standards. But apparently, Mom #1 didn’t think so. Some overheard things were:

• STOP asking me for that! I told you NO and that means NO! (that part was fine). What f’n part of NO do you NOT understand? Maybe I should give you a good back-hand across your head to get you to understand!

• How about I pull your pants down in front of all these people and whoop you’re a$$, would that get your attention?

• (spoken to the “other” Toddler while Mom #2 was off getting food): I can’t believe your Mother bought you that $hit (talking about Cotton Candy). If you f’n get sick in my car again, I’m gonna be pi$$ed, you sick little monkey! (yes, she called this child a monkey and to make matters worse, she was definitively a mixed-race child).

• If you don’t sit down in that seat, I’m gonna split you’re a$$ open with a hacksaw when we get home so you won’t be able to sit for a week at school

I don’t know why I’m blogging about this other than it really affected me, not to mention Isabelle. She was staring at the woman with wide eyes and a mouth open. I didn’t know what to say. She didn’t understand why Mom #1 was so angry. I didn’t understand why Mom #1 even bothered to bring her children to a fun Disney on Ice show when she clearly didn’t have any interest in bringing joy to her childrens’ lives.

I’ll post a happier message about the day later this week because we really did have an awesome fun day. Love your kids, nieces, nephews, cousins, and grandkids. They really aren't nasty little beasts.

Where there is smoke, there is no fire...

This post is to serve as a public service announcement to my family and friends. Did you know that residential smoke detectors have a life expectancy of only 7 years? And if your smoke detector also offers CO detection, then the lifespan reduces to only 5 years? Because I didn't until last night.

Last night while making dinner, I had a kitchen full of smoke after putting a cold sauce into a too-hot skillet on the stovetop. The smoke was thick, I had to crack a window. And once I got some fresh air, my mind cleared enough to realize that neither of the TWO smoke detectors on the first floor of our house sounded.

Now, I am really good about taking care of my smoke detectors. I change the batteries when the clocks go forward and back. I dust them to make sure their vents are clear. I press the test button once a month to make sure they are working. (OK, I confess, I'm pyrophobic).

All systems were good to go. Until they weren't. When they did not trigger last night with all the smoke, I then got a match out and held fire right up to the detectors. The one in the living room finally triggered but the one in Isabelle's room never did.

I called the 800 number on the device and they informed me about the 5 and 7 year lifespans. Our detectors double as CO detectors so ours were in the 5-year category. Who knew???

Now the really scary thing is -- I just purchased that detector in 2007 when I was pregnant with Isabelle. We wanted Isabelle's room to have it's own detector since it's right off of the kitchen. But, when I called the 800 number they asked me for the manufacture date. (When you unscrew your detectors from the ceiling/wall, there is a teeny tiny little sticker on the back of the device that has a date - that is your manufacture date). Our detector had a date of 1999!!! I just bought it in 2007, which means I purchased a smoke detector that was already past its life expectancy when I brought it home. What???

So please, after you read this, go check all of your smoke detectors and/or carbon monoxide detectors. Unscrew them from the wall, check the date on the back and if they are older than 5 -- go buy new ones. I'm replacing all three of ours today, and I'll be checking the dates before I leave the store.

You learn something new every day. I'm glad I learned this lesson the easy way.

Overheard in the Wonderful World of Iz

I think some of the funniest moments as a parent are when you hear your own words coming back at you from your Toddler. The best part is when they regurgitate it several days later, and they use it in context. I believe I've posted about this scenario several times over the past year but I got another zinger today that I had to share.

Isabelle is home today for a snow day. Daycare was officially open, but we woke up to a pretty icy/sleety situation and it's going to turn over to snow at some point. It was just easier to keep her home. So she is playing, drawing, watching cartoons, etc. One of her cartoons was over and she wanted another episode on (we have several recorded on the DVR for just this kind of day).

I hold onto the remote control on days like this because Isabelle likes to think she knows how it works, but she totally doesn't. It can often take me several minutes to "undo" a series of buttons that she pushes on the remote control. So this morning, it was time to put a new episode on, but I couldn't locate the remote control. I must have had it in my hand when the phone rang, and placed it down in a very illogical spot. So when I tell Iz that I have to find the remote, she says....

"But, Mommy, you JUST had it in your hands....you MUST be losing your mind!"

Hilarious. Ed says that exact phrase about 10x every night. I think the whole family needs to start taking Ginkgo Biloba supplements to improve mental function.

The Power of Prayer

Isabelle has been praying at bedtime since she was born. Well, OK, I said a prayer over her crib for a long time, and then I recited the prayers for a while as she held her hands in prayer. But Daddy took the initiative to teach her the "Our Father" last year and she now recites it every night before bed.

I took the initiative a few months later to explain the "Our Father" to her, and why we have to tell God we're sorry that we sinned, and ask him to forgive us, and that we'll try to do better tomorrow, and how we have to forgive our friends when they are mean to us at school.

We then added an element of saying one thing we're thankful for after we pray. Ed says one thing, I do, and then we ask Isabelle to name one thing. In the beginning she was thankful for her wall. Her clock. Her door. She didn't really "get it". But in recent weeks, she finally has started to understand how it works and she comes up with some pretty good ones. She's thankful she got to talk to Mom-Mom SuSu on the phone, or that she had a good day at school, or that she learned a new song, or that it was a warm day (instead of a yucky cold day).

I just tonight added another element to prayer time of sending one special prayer out to someone who really needs it. Let's face it, there are a LOT of people in our lives who need an extra prayer these days, and I try to hit most of them during my own daily prayers. But for Iz, I thought it would be important to start getting her to understand that we don't just recite a memorized prayer and that's it. We have to pray for others as well as ourselves.

Tonight's special prayer went out to Ed's cousin, Kristy and her husband, Mike. Mike was diagnosed with Acute Lymphomic Leukemia in July 2009. He's been in and out of remission over the past 18 months and has hit another road bump in his recovery this week. He's in the ICU at the wonderful Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa and he's fighting harder than any Doctor or Nurse has ever witnessed. He will hopefully be moved out of the ICU tomorrow after another scary week, with hopes of continuing to gain strength, platelets, and all those other things that Leukemia patients have to fight for...things that we all take for granted every day.

So, tonight's first night of "special prayers for others" with Isabelle went out to Kristy and Mike and their two children. And they will probably get Isabelle's special prayers for a while, until Mike clears yet another hurdle in his battle to health. Isabelle hasn't even met these people yet, but I'm hoping that might become even more of a lesson.

Happy New Year and Happy Festivus!

With New Years Day falling on a Saturday this year, we spent the "holiday" un-decorating our house from Christmas. We typically spend the Saturday after Christmas doing this thankless chore, but this year just happened to fall on the holiday. No biggie, we never have plans for the actual day, we're usually nursing a pretty heavy hangover so it's typically a low-key day in the Siler household.

We brought the storage bins to the Living Room and kind of un-decorated throughout the day, a little at a time. We put Isabelle down for a nap and when she woke up, the tree was still in the house, but without the beautiful sparkling ornaments and twinkling lights. She was DEVASTATED!

What happened to our "nornaments"? Where are the lights? Well, Christmas is over, Bean. So we have to take all the decorations down. Noooooooooooooooooooooo! I want Santa to come BACK!!!!

Oh he will, baby. You just have to wait 51 weeks, K?