10-29 Ten tips from last week

Part 1: Special pre-Halloween edition (from Sunday's Halloween party with the kids):

1. Kids don't really want to wear the masks on their spiderman costumes.

2. Costumes should be worn more than once - you either paid too much for them or someone spent a lot of time making them.

3. Having the same colored shoes really does help the costume.

4. Orange peppers can take the place of pumpkins - they're easier for the kids to carve and not anywhere near as messy.

5. When wrapped up in toilet paper like a mummy you can scare the living bejeezes out of a 3-year-old. (Sorry Isabel)

Part 2: Sports and toys

6. Staying up past midnight watching the Red Sox win the World Series leaves one both sleep-deprived and elated at the same time.

7. When a 4-year-old gets distracted from watching a NASCAR race, you can switch the channel over to the football game and tell him the race was over - he won't know the difference.

8. The boys continue to get more enjoyment out of cheaper gifts. The more expensive toys tend to get a lot of immediate attention but really don't get used too often after that.

9. Multi-tasking during a baseball game is much easier than during a football game. For instance, you can do a lot in Myspace between pitches - you don't have to wait until the end of an inning. But while the football game is on there's so much going on during each drive that if you start writing a Myspace comment to someone you might miss a touchdown. (Especially if the Patriots score 52 points!)

10. Did I mention the Red Sox won the World Series? So here's a tip for all you Red Sox fans - there never was a curse!

Shoes

So, the boys got new shoes today. Did they really need new shoes? No. Then why did we go? Well, there were a few reasons:

1. Daniel is wearing the black spiderman costume for Halloween this year (at Leo's insistence) and he didn't have any black shoes.

2. Leo only has 2 pairs of shoes that fit, and they are both tennis shoes (one of which he doesn't want to wear).

3. Their mother asked me to buy them.

Now, 1 makes sense - you can't have a black costume with tan colored shoes!

As for 2, Leo can be a pain when he decides he doesn't want to wear something anymore. And the only other pair of shoes he has is Thomas the Tank Engine tennis shoes. The pair he doesn't want to wear are blue, so they go with his Spiderman costume. I'll find out tomorrow whether he will wear them or not.

Which leads us to 3. When I was married, many times it was easier to just do what she asked, no matter whether whatever it was was needed or not. So is this a sign that I haven't let go of that? I would say not because if it weren't for 1 and 2 above, I wouldn't have bought new shoes just because she asked me to.

Oh, and there was also no way I was going to get out of the shoe store without buying both of them new shoes!

Arrrrrrgh!

Daniel is testing me! He's approaching his 3rd birthday and has decided to NOT do anything I ask him to do. His favorite word the past 2 days has been "No"! So he didn't eat any dinner tonight (pizza, one of his favorites), and sat there and watched as Leo finished all of his, as well as dessert. He wouldn't take a time out. He wouldn't go upstairs (I had to carry him), he wouldn't take a bath (I undressed him and put him in the water), then had to put him to bed multiple times. When I try to ignore him, he finds me and asks to be carried. When I say no, he throws himself on the floor. When I give him a hug, he tells me he loves me, then goes and throws some toys on the floor. As if he needs more attention . . .

I remember when Leo did the same thing. Frustrating for sure, but I know he'll outgrow it soon, as Leo did. Just have to get through it without any permanent damage!

10-22 Ten tips from last week

1. Last minute babysitters hired through an organization cost a lot of money.

2. When the babysitter calls you to tell you your child is running a fever, always ask what the thermometer said.

3. If your child is still not completely potty-trained, make sure he uses the potty before you put him down for a nap when he is sick.

4. When your child has a virus with a low grade fever and he does not seem to be in much pain, it is best to NOT give him medicine and let the fever fight off the virus.

5. Uneaten, overripe bananas make for great banana bread.

6. The chances are great that when you go furniture shopping, the one piece you really want is not in stock (and they won't sell you the display model).

7. Belly dancers wear very tight skirts. And they don't mind taking your money.

8. Find out how much the bottle of wine costs before drinking.

9. When getting directions to restaurants, make sure the person giving you the directions has actually been there (and knows which restaurant you're talking about).

10. That Leo prefers storytime with Mommy rather than talking on the phone with Daddy.

And one extra: Keep calling your children when you're not with them. And if they hang up on you, call them back - and tell them you love them.

Weekend

So its my weekend without the boys. But after an exhaustive week caring for Leo for 3 days, then both of them the rest of the week, on Friday when I dropped them off at daycare I was able to take a deep breath and sighhhhhhh.

I was wired when I got home from work Friday night, so I decided to work on my Myspace page - and ended up working at it past midnight. If you couldn't tell, I'm anal about making things line up and look good so it took a while to format all of the images to get each one in each category to be the same size. And I like the new music playlist I added - I'm going to try and remember to rotate the songs around so the same one doesn't start each time.

Saturday morning I went furniture shopping. Since the kids' mom moved out Leo's clothes have been in piles on the floor in his room as she got his bedroom furniture. I tried taking the boys with me to furniture stores a couple of times, but they get bored within a few minutes and furniture shopping takes time. So, I went by myself, picked out the bedroom set I liked - only to find out the one piece in the set I needed most (the dresser) was out of stock! I was looking forward to getting the furniture delivered right away, but they give you a 4 hour window where you have to be at home for the delivery, and I don't have time to wait around twice. So I told them to deliver the furniture once they get the dresser in stock - which they said would be in a couple of weeks.

Saturday night I had dinner with friends at Karoun Restaurant in Newton. Can't say any more about that, but I've seen both pictures and videos others have taken!

Sunday (today) was also busy - a bike ride in the morning followed by lunch with friends, then played a few games of pool while watching the Patriots crush the Dolphins.

Can't wait to talk to the boys on the phone tonight. When I called last night I got the answering machine so I could only leave a message.

One

So, because Leo stayed with me while he was sick with that nasty virus (on the days he was supposed to be with his mother), it was like having only one child again. She had Daniel at her place while I cared for Leo. Yes, Tuesdays and Wednesdays are supposed to be her days with the children, but since Leo was with me when he got sick, it was best for me to keep him at my house. So I ended up taking sick days from work to be home with Leo while he got better - and both of those were days when I wasn't even supposed to have the children.

It ended up being OK. Leo's fever settled back to about 101 on Monday, and by Wednesday afternoon the fever was gone. It was kind of nice to just have Leo for a few days. Daniel can be so commanding of my attention that Leo gets left by himself many times. So on Wednesday Leo and I ran some much-needed errands. There's a Saab dealership right next to the cleaners, and Leo asked if we could go look at the new cars at the "car store". I said "Sure!" So Leo and I spent about half an hour looking at the cars in their showroom. I told one of the salesman that I wasn't there to buy anything and he was cool with that (there wasn't anybody else there anyway). I showed Leo the differences in the car models and we sat in all of them. It was a lot of fun.

That afternoon, his mom called and said that Daniel missed him and so she wanted to know if it was OK to bring him by to see Leo. I knew she just wanted to leave Daniel with me and, sure enough, she didn't even spend two minutes in the house visiting with Leo before leaving the two of them with me. It was my day to have them back anyway so I didn't mind - and Leo did miss having Daniel around. But for a couple of days, even though Leo wasn't feeling well, it was kind of nice to spend some time with just him.

104

So, Leo was sick today. Actually, it started last night about an hour after he went to bed. He woke up crying and he was burning up. I gave him some water to drink, then some Motrin, and that calmed him down. He woke up about every other hour and I had to go in and comfort him each time. Neither of us got much sleep.

So this morning he wouldn't eat any breakfast as he was lying on the couch with his blankie. He felt almost too warm so I popped a thermometer in his mouth and it said 104! He took more Motrin and that helped. Meanwhile I got Daniel ready for school, not knowing how Leo was going to respond to the medicine but his fever went down to 101. I called Parents In A Pinch to get a sitter on her way - she finally showed up around 9 and I then took Daniel to school and went to work. Leo was feeling much better when I got home after work having slept most of the day.

Clock

So she drops the boys off at 7:30, comes in and puts their leftover drinks in the fridge. She looks up at the clock, then walks over, takes the clock off of the wall and takes it with her. It was her clock, as are many other things in the house, but I figured she didn't want it in her new place. I wonder if she's going to continue to take stuff.

Its not that I mind her having the things that were hers. Its the way she did it - not even a word.