With a toddler on my knee

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Doctors vs Hospitals

Okay, it has been 2 weeks of crazy sick boys in our house. Peter got the stomach flu last week and was sick for 7 whole days. He was puking constantly and lost so much weight his diapers wouldn't fit. It's so sad to watch your little baby so sick, but he was really good about it and didn't cry much. Then on the eve of Hattie's huge birthday party that I had planned for her/me, Tanner started throwing up. So I had to call all the mom's in the morning and cancel. Hattie couldn't have cared less, but I was sad since I had everything ready, including the cake.

Tanner has taken a serious beating as well. He seems to be better today, but it's taken 6 days for him to hold any food down. I will say he is a pro at getting his puke into the bucket and not the floor or bed though; a hidden talent perhaps we may not have discovered otherwise :)

Anyway, at one point I had mentioned having to take him to the doctors. He was okay with that As Long as the dr was NOT at the hospital. Luckly, we didn't have to go anywhere.

Then yesterday Larry cut his hand really bad and had to go get stitches. I told Tanner Larry had gone to the hospital and Tanner got really concerned, like really, really concerned. He asked if they were going to cut his legs off. What? I asked him why they would cut his legs off, and he told me that's what they do at hospitals, they cut your legs off.

Oh, right. Then I remembered about 2 weeks ago I was at Michaels and Hattie left the store while I was taking care of the cart. I saw her as she was leaving through the second set of glass doors and I tried to yell at her. Obviously she couldn't hear me, so I ran as fast as I could to get her. The darn sliding doors were so slow and I could see her walking onto the icy road. My heart was in my throat because the parking lot was so busy and I was certain she was going to get hit and I couldn't reach her. Luckly, both drivers saw her and were able to stop. I grabbed her, hauled her back inside, and got upset. She didn't care. So when we got to the van I spanked her and she still didn't react. So I sat her down in her seat and told her how scared I was and how easy she could have been hit by a car and killed or sent to the hospital. And to add some substance to my explanation, I told her if she did end up going to the hospital they would probably have to cut off her arms and legs because the car would break them and then she would never be able to walk, dance, play with dolls, or eat a cookie with her hands. That hit home. She thought about it for days after and told me she wouldn't go on the road again so she wouldn't get her legs cut off.

Little did I know how big of an impression it made on Tanner as well. He now assumes that doctors are still okay, but hospitals mean getting your legs cut off. Oh well, hopefully it doesn't backfire any time soon, and I'll explain the truth when they are old enough to not run out on the road.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Valentines Day photos

I took some Valentine photos of my kids today, and they did awesome. I also bribed them with big lollipops, which helped a lot! I love Valentine pictures!

I set the kids on a dresser table and plopped Peter down in between them, and they all began to freak out that they were going to fall off. I kept trying to reasure them that I wouldn't let them fall, but since I was taking the pictures from inside the closet, I'm not suprised it didn't calm them down :) I had to get the dining room chairs proped against the dresser for them to stay sitting, but then they did great.

I love all their toes!

And the Lollipops!

I told them not to eat the lollipops all at once or they would get a stomach ache, but I didn't monitor them as long as they stayed at the table. Just as Tanner was about to finish his, Hattie asked him if he had a bad tummy ache. Tanner said he didn't, so Hattie began to eat hers more excitedly and with greater haste. Oh dear, so much for that threat.

All in a day's play

I asked Tanner to get dressed for some nice pictures, and he arrived upstairs looking like this. Needless to say, I think he got distracted. He is dressed in his Buzz costume with a Buzz gun, Buzz sunglasses, a superman cape tucked in the front for whatever reason, and a lego bag on his head which, to him, was Buzz's helmet. Ba ha ha!

Hattie, who has a million costumes and accessories and is in and out of them a million times a day, also shows up in crazy combinations.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

"Hattie the Bad"

I got this book out of the library called "Hattie the Bad" for my dear little Hattie who really is 'bad, with just a little good'. She loved it...Well, at first she was really excited that the book Hattie was bad, but then that Hattie decides to turn good- really good, and that made my Hattie even more excited. In the end, the book Hattie shows her underpants on tv and decides to be bad again. My Hattie didn't think this was that great. She wanted to go back to where she was good, and in future readings she would make me stop while the book Hattie was still good.
However, as time went on, she had me reading this "Hattie the Bad" book more than any other book we've checked out, and eventually she began to relish in the bad, underpants Hattie from the book.

I loved the book because I think the girl in the book acts the same as my Hattie. My little girl has so much spunk. Seriously, I don't know how to keep up with her ever changing (but yet somehow always a little bad) personality. She is totally her own person and does not like to be told what to do. I was reading in my journal the other day from an entry a year ago. Hattie was just about 2 and she had decided that she was NOT going to let anyone hold her hand. To prove this point, she would hold onto her own hands with a vice-grip and walk really far ahead or really far behind. The combination was bad and she fell alot, but she was determined to be independant and held her own hands for several months.

She loves to dress up as much as Tanner does in her princess costumes, super cape, and, always to my amusement this dragon suit. She loves to wear it and either dance around on her tippy toes to the 'Backyardigan' dragon songs or pretend to be a scary dragon that likes to eat everyone.

Though you can't tell from any of these pictures, she loves getting her hair done and having me put makeup on her while I get myself ready. In this picture below she was 'putting on her own makeup' with markers. I showed her herself in the mirror to make a point of how bad it looked, but she was so excited because she thought she looked beautiful.

Hattie idolizes Tanner and tries to do everything he does and say everything he says. However, slightly more than her desire to copy him is her desire to torment him. She goes through stages where her sole purpose in life is to get a reaction out of Tanner- a screaming, bawling reaction that is. Often, she will jump on his back and pin him to the floor while whispering threats. She has lightning reflexes and steals things from his hands all the time, or she simply guesses what he's going to grab or do and races him to it. The louder he screams, the happier she is.

Two of Larry's favorite stories to tell of her 'spunk' are: One day, when nothing in the world was wrong or unpleasant, Hattie and Tanner were casually walking past each other through the kitchen. Hattie reached up, grabbed Tanner by the scruff of his shirt and shook him as hard as she could a couple times, then let go and continued to walk past as though nothing had happened. Another time we were all getting in the van and Larry told Tanner to go to the bathroom quick. Hattie raced past him as fast as she could into the bathroom and claimed that she had to go too. Not a big deal, since she really does this all the time. But then, when she finished and it was Tanner's turn, who had been bawling and complaining at the door of the bathroom, she picked up the bathroom stool, pushed past him at a run, and hid the stool in my bathroom with the door closed. What a girl. Like I said, she lives to torment him, and now poor Peter is starting to get his share of it.

However, with that all said, she does have an unmatchable sweetness to her. She loves all things princess and loves to sing at the top of her lungs. One of her favorite games is to dress up like a princess, then to suddenly drop to the ground in front of Tanner 'dead' and to pucker up her lips with her eyes closed and see if he will give her 'true loves first kiss' like in the movies. She never tires of this game, and just as often as not, someone will give her the kiss.

Monday, February 7, 2011

My Superhero

Tanner did such an awesome job posing for these pictures. The plan is to frame them in his room. He LOVES superheros and wears one of these costumes at least once a day and often for an entire day. I love it. Hattie dresses in her princess costumes and acts out the damsil in distress or gets in a cape and plays Robin or some other sidekick. It is so fun watching them with their imaginations at their best!

Love letters

These are our valentines this year. print and attach to a bag of candy :)

Our New Year's Eve Party

This was our 'East Side Story' murder mystery party for New Year's Eve 2010! It was so much fun, again! We had a bigger group this year, and it was even more fun. Everyone dressed up awesome and really got into their characters!
We had some great decorations that fit perfect since the party was taking place at a Milkshake Shack and great food. The characters and story line were a spin off of 'West Side Story' and 'Greece'. There were two gangs, the Black Widows (girls) and Pit Vipers (boys) -west, and the Pink Chics (girls) and D-birds (boys)- east.

Nikki and Bradyn were among the main characters, and they did awesome! Thanks guys!