Perfect Pumpkin Patch Day...Eventually

I had been wanting to take Wyatt to a pumpkin patch that we missed out on last year. When you live out as far as we do from "town," you have to make the most of your trips to "town." Since the Pumpkin Patch didn't open until 2, and since "efficient" is my middle name, I added a couple of other errands to our "to do" list.

So we drive the 45 minutes to "town" (I seriously call it that) and our first stop was the mall. Wy needed new jeans and church pants so we went to The Children's Place b/c they have the pants with the adjustable waistband which skinny mini Wy needs. We had a 1:00 appt at the dealership to get my truck's oil changed so we were pressed for time. I hauled Wy off to the dressing room and found the perfect size; then handed Wy off to J for him to put his shoes and socks back on him while I grabbed a variety of styles in jeans and pants (that was my distraction method that also allowed me to grab some shirts to match.)

So, of course, we get in line behind a woman with several children and therefore she has several items to purchase. But wait, there is a disagreement about the price of a shirt that she thought was 7.99 but it rang up for 9.99. Apparently the striped version is more expensive than the solid.

J exhales loudly. Wy darts off to uncharted territory. I begin to dig in my purse for 2 bucks.

Then the lady states she wants the solid one and leaves to go find one. Ugh!

More shifting of his weight from J and me trying to coax Wy out of underneath the clothes rounders.

The lady comes back, disappointed as they didn't have her child's size.

Me: yay, move on.
Cashier: Let me have Linda check the back for you.
Me: Nnnnnooooooo. We have to get to the dealership and then out to the Perfect Pumpkin Patch day before everyone else!
J: mumbles under his breath about how Wy didn't need clothes and that floods were "in" this season.
Lady: picks up on our NOT SO SUBTLE hints and offers to let us go ahead.

Yay again - so we check out and we beep on the way out...ugh - but then again, I beeped on the way in and J said it had something to do with cell phones. So out we go: 1 thing off the list, 2 to go.

So we pull up at the dealership for our 1:00 oil change. I explain to Wy that my truck had to go the "doc" to get checked out and then we would leave. So I am thinking we should be on our way in 30 minutes which will have us to the Perfect Pumpkin Patch day right at the 2:00 opening. We do the standard sitting in the lobby chairs and I look for something that will keep Wy's attention. They had a children's Bible story book - perfect. Well it really only covered Genesis with the old school pictures of the unclothed Adam and Eve strategically placed behind trees and animals. So we flipped through that section and got to the graphic depiction of Abraham almost sacrificing his son Isaac - knife drawn and all. So much for the child friendly depictions - we look at a boating magazine instead.

Then the ultra friendly sales guy comes over with a HUGE helium filled silver balloon. Great - something for me to keep up with. And my appreciative child looks at him and says "I want a wed one." So the ultra friendly sales guy says he will see if he can find one - and I give him the "really, we aren't here to buy a new car so you don't have to waste your time sucking up to us" look and say "The silver balloon is great. Thanks."

After about 20 minutes of Wy seat hopping and whopping me in the face with his balloon, I foolishly start looking out the window for my truck. Then I see him - the ultra friendly sales guy heading our way with 2 HUGE balloons. He then hands them to Wy and explained they didn't have a red balloon but he hoped he would like the orange and black Halloween balloons. Almost apologetically like he owed my son a red balloon. Hello - I try to teach him every day that he is not entitled to everything. So now we are the annoying family in the waiting room who are bothering the extremely important people who have extremely important lives and your child and his balloons are interfering with my extremely important cell phone calls.

So outside we go with 3 HUGE helium balloons. Before we get too far, the black one pops and I feel the need to pick up the shredded pieces b/c my mom has given me a complex about litter. J decides to tie the other 2 to Wy's back belt loop. Too cute actually and effective in keeping up with him as we now walk the parking lot. I imagine the ultra friendly sales guy letting all the sales hounds know to stay away from the balloon family - he has dibs.

I know this is long but imagine how it felt to be there! There is NOTHING interesting about walking around a car lot especially with a 2 year old, balloons, and no intention of buying one. In the midst of us swapping out balloons, we lose the silver one. Seeing Wy was on the verge of a crying fit, mostly due to pure boredom, and not wanting the ultra friendly sales guy to think we needed a replacement, J told Wy an elaborate tale of the balloon going up and getting in an air plane that was up there. And the plane would drop off the balloon at our new home (Wy calls our current house "the new home" even though we have been there for 6 months). That explanation seemed to satisfy Wy and deter him from any crying. So FINALLY, after an hour and a half, we get our truck. Yay! Number 2 off the list - off to the Pumpkin Patch!

We did get there later than I had wanted to but since it was a week day, it really wasn't all that crowded. I will let the pictures speak for themselves but stay with me - I have a conclusion after the pictures.


Pictures:




Furry Friends



Corn Cob Ride





Corn Bin



Corn Maze



Cotton Bounce



Antique Fire Truck

We stayed at the Pumpkin Patch for over 2 hours before heading home. As we pulled into our driveway, a little voice piped up from the back seat and asked "where the air pwane put my hot air bawoon?" Memory like an elephant I tell ya. AND - the sales lady left one of those darn anti theft things stapled to one pair of jeans so now I get to go back to "town" just to get her to remove it!!! So much for the cell phone theory. But you know what? It was a GREAT day b/c I got to spend it with my 2 favorite guys and that in itself is more than I could ever ask for.

No Smoking Please

As most of you know, we are non-smokers. We don't have anyone in our families that smoke except for J's dad (Wy's Poppy) who does like to smoke the occasional cigar. He does not smoke in their house - only outdoors. I never really even thought to address what smoking was with Wy because HE IS ONLY 2...but apparently my perceptive little guy picked up on it.

The other day Wy had his straw from his juice box in his mouth. Every so often he would take it out and blow air.

Me: Wy, what are you doing?

Wy: 'Moking my gigar.

Excuse me? What did he just say? Let me make sure I heard him right...

Me: What did you say?

Wy: Louder and looking at me like I am the village idiot " 'MOKING MY GIGAR."

OK, so I immediately start thinking of the different ways I could respond. Do I lecture him about the dangers of smoking or just let it pass and hope he moves on to the next fad? I went with the latter and made a mental note to discuss this new found interest with the IL's i.e. thanks so much for teaching my son how to smoke.

This brings us to Tuesday. We were heading to Mother's Morning Out and I noticed Wy had his juice box straw in his mouth. We arrive and as I was putting on his socks and shoes (b/c I don't even bother putting them on before we leave b/c I got tired of doing the task twice) I ask him for the straw.

Wy hesitates and asks: Can I 'moke my gigar in the pway womb?

Me: Still working on the shoes, responds with "Do any of the other children smoke cigars in the playroom?"

Wy: No

Me: "That is because it is against the rules to smoke at school." Again, trying to keep it simple.

So Wy thinks about this for a minute and then asks "Can I 'moke my gigar outside? On the pway gwound?"

Wow - OK, this kid has an answer for everything. I am DONE discussing "moking gigars" with my 2 year old at this point and attempt to rationalize (I know, waste of time) with him by explaining to him that HE IS 2 YEARS OLD and you have to be "as old as a Poppy" to smoke. Ha - brilliant.

I silently prayed on our way in that 1) we wouldn't see someone "younger than a Poppy" smoking b/c then he would find me out and 2) that he doesn't bring up "mokin gigars" with Ms. Amy his teacher. I can just see his "Daily Report" comment: "Wyatt showed all the children in the class how to smoke cigars with the crayons. Please don't bring him back - ever."

You know, I just wasn't prepared to have this discussion yet - I had the whole smoking topic tucked away in the "uncomfortable teen conversation" category. That is the beauty of parenthood - just when you think you have it figured out, they throw you a curve ball...or a gigar.

Wednesdays with Wyatt

Jeremy, Wyatt, and I were in the car heading home after spending some time with his cousins. He played hard and did not take a nap so he was not in a very pleasant mood. Those car rides always seem to last forever. Needless to say, Jeremy had to get on to Wyatt about several things which in turn made him cry. Again...LONG DRIVE HOME.

So we get home and I carry Wyatt in to his room to try to calm him down.

Me: Various soothing phrases and rocking him in the glider.

Wy: crying

Me: thinking something else must be wrong, I ask "Wy, do you feel OK?"

Wy: NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Me: Does something hurt? (recently he has been saying his tummy hurts)

Wy: Uh huh (which means yes)

Me: What hurts?

Wy: Myyyy fee...lings...

Me: heart melts and asks "Your feelings are hurt?"

Wy: Uh huh - Dada hurt...in the car

Of course he felt better in a few minutes after we gave him some love and explained why he got into trouble...and it was a good reminder as to why he still needs to take a nap!

Better Than a Back Drop

A couple of months ago, I took Wyatt to have his picture taken at Portrait Innovations. They have a variety of backdrops and props that you can use in your pictures and you get them in about 30 minutes - nothing fancy but the pictures turned out super cute and they aren't expensive. One of the backgrounds they used was a beach scene complete with the ocean and sand. With this age, it takes lots of encouragement during the photo session and we made a big deal about him getting his picture taken at the beach. Well, bless his little heart, Wyatt thought he had been to the actual beach. He told my MIL: "I go to the beach!" and told her about how he played at the beach with the beach ball.

I decided that it was time for our first family vacation to the REAL beach and made plans for us to stay at Seaside. We had a great trip with all the usual ups and downs of traveling with a 2 1/2 year old. I think restraining them in a car seat for 7 hours is a mild form of torture even though I know it is necessary. We wouldn't have made it without the DVD player even though we were going crazy listening to the Wonder Pets save the day...over and over and over again.

Wyatt loved the ocean and the beach which I suspected he would. He definitely had more fun at the real beach and I managed to get some pictures of our fun times - enjoy!

Um... We Are Now an "Egg Free" Family

Jeremy opens our store on Saturday mornings so it is just me and Wyatt at home. This Saturday started out as usual when I heard Wyatt open his door at about 6:30. I closed my eyes knowing he would be in to get me up any second. When Wyatt did wake me up, I noticed that about 20 minutes had passed.

Me to myself: Rock on - I got an extra 20 minutes of sleep. Wy is so good about entertaining himself. Wonder what he has been doing?

Then I noticed that his little hands were ice cold.

Me: Wyatt! Your hands are ice cold! What have you been doing?

Wy: Um...I crack, crack, crack.

Me: You crack, crack, crack? What do you mean you crack, crack, crack?

Down the hall we went and this is what I found:



Now by the time I got my camera out to video this, I had already done the whole "OH NO YOU DIDN"T" speech. Seriously, I was so shocked that I actually entertained the idea that someone had broken into my house and trashed the refrigerator. The conversation went something like this:

Me: Oh Wyatt! NO, NO, NO, NO, NO! What have you done?!?!?

Wy: Um...cracked the eggs.

Me: Why did you do that?

Wy: Um...they're rellow (yellow)?

I now know that 2 year olds can't answer "why" questions. You can tell in the video that he is trying his hardest to come up with an answer that matches my question.

I quickly put our geriatric dog Phoebe in our room after I noticed her lapping up the raw egg. Jeremy was quick to point out later that you can give raw egg to a dog b/c it is good for their coat. I did notice she had an unusually good hair day today.

Anyways, raw egg (especially a dozen raw eggs) is nearly impossible to get up with paper towels or a wet cloth. It is so NOT absorbent. It just kind of slides back and forth. And it stinks.

I really did make Wyatt help me clean it up. Yes, it would have been easier and faster for me to just do it myself but I was trying to teach a "life lesson". He picked up the egg shells and the shredded container (what is up with that?) and put them in the garbage bag. Then, after I mopped the floor, I let him take a wet rag and do a final wash. He ended up soaked but he was getting a bath anyways. Here are a couple of pics from that morning.


"Look what Phoebe did, Mama."


Post Clean Up

Overall, I think I handled it pretty well. Life lesson learned, no tears were shed, and it gave me an excuse to drink before noon. (I'm kidding Mom and Dad.)

Happy Days, House Closings, and Hair Cuts - Oh My!

Wow - I can't believe September is already here! August was a busy month for us: Wy started his new Mother's Morning Out program and we sold our house in New Market (yay!). We officially closed on our house last Wednesday. Roxanne Cooke with Re-Max was our agent and it only took her 3 months to get us a buyer which I thought was great! We have been busy getting bids on our new house plans. We hope to start building in the next couple of months. We are so blessed to be able to live in a home that my FIL owns so we don't have to rush the building process - even though it is in Egypt.

1st Day of "School":

Wy is going to a Mother's Morning Out program in Fayetteville two days a week. The first day he took one look at the kids in the classroom and turned around and ran down the hall. Great start, huh? Once I pried him off my neck, I left feeling awful and guilty - the typical mom things. The teacher called me later that morning though to tell me he had been playing non-stop all morning and was having a great day. By the second week, he was confidently walking back to his classroom on his own while carrying his little bag. That little mental image warms my heart every time I think about it. So of course I had to take pictures of him before we went that first day.



For some reason, he was clasping his little hands in front of him like he was praying. Probably praying that he didn't have to go. So I said "Wy, put your hands behind your back."

And this is what he did:



Have I mentioned how much this child makes me laugh? So then I told him to put his hands in his pockets since he wasn't quite grasping how I wanted his hands behind his back.


"Just gotta lift my shirt up here so I can find my pocket"


Success!

Of course J snarled up at the outfit I had chosen to put him in. He said "he looks like he is wearing something from the Baby Gap." Like that is some kind of cardinal sin or something.

So moving on....

Wy was in desperate need of a hair cut which we had been putting off as that is another activity he doesn't always want to participate in. He has this annoying habit of stating his opinions on every possible activity and most of the time, he is telling me what he is not going to do - like he has a choice or something. "No Mama, I not get my hair cut." "No Mama, I not go to Wal Mot." to which I reply, "I don't want to go to Wal Mot either but it is the ONLY place within a 30 mile radius that sells groceries so we have to." But I digress - back to the needed hair cut.

Here is a pic when the bangs were getting down in his face:



It got to where I was pinning his bangs back with a bobby pin while he ate so he didn't get food in it. Even at this age, he some how knows that he shouldn't be wearing pins in his hair but I managed to get a pic while he was chowing down on some peepa (pizza).



So J took him to get his hair cut as he somehow listens better to Dada than Mama. The pics below show the hair cut and also his ability to get into "trouble" faster than Britney Spears!

On this day, I was in the process of getting him dressed. The PJs were off and I walked to his room to get a shirt and pair of shorts. In the time it took me to do that, he crawled up on the kitchen counter, rifled through the cabinets for random items, and proceeded to shove them all in the microwave and shut it before I got back in the kitchen. The only reason I even looked in the microwave is because I noticed the bread was missing - and because he had a devilish grin on his face.






He is a little pack rat just like his Didi!

Well that is all for now. Have a great month and I hope to post another update soon!

Bet I can make you laugh...

My friend Leslie introduced me to this website: http://www.yearbookyourself.com/ and it is hilarious! Everyone who blogs has to go this site, save their pics, and post them so we can all enjoy!

Jeremy and I were horse laughing at ourselves! Here are our "favorites"...


Jeremy:

circa 1956 - reminds me of Darren from Bewitched




circa 1974 - I don't even know what to say about this look!




circa 1988 - I remember this look on the high school boys





Emily:

circa 1952 - looks like I could have been a "girlfriend" on The Andy Griffith Show




circa 1960 - I have seen this exact picture of my mom




circa 1966 - I believe this is called "the bouffant"




circa 1984 - my Cyndi Lauper phase




Now be a good sport and post your own Yearbook Photos!