A Friday ritual.
A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week.
A simple, special, extraordinary moment.
A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.
Tag Archives: kids
The Three Year Old Way
So far as I can, tell the main difference between two year olds and three year olds is that three year olds talk more.
A lot more.
Let’s say you were driving in a car with a two year old and she demanded water but there wasn’t any. You would tell her that there was no water and then there would be a high probability that pouting and screaming would follow. It would be loud, dramatic, completely unreasonable and involve lots of foot flailing on the two year olds part and teeth gritting on the mother’s part and then it would be done.
That’s the two year old way.
However, if you were driving in a car with a three year old and she demanded water but there wasn’t any, it might go something like this…
Jane: “I’m thirsty.”
Me: “Sorry, I don’t have any water.”
Jane: “Can I have some water please.”
Me: “No Jane, I don’t have any water.”
Jane: “PLEASE, can I have some water.”
Me: “Jane. I don’t have anything to drink in the car or I would give you some but I don’t have anything.”
Jane: “Mom, I’m thirsty!”
Me: “I know.”
Jane: “Can I have some Diet Coke.”
Me: “I don’t even have any Diet Coke. I don’t have anything to drink. See?” (As I hand back all available empty liquid containers so she can see for herself.)
Jane: “BUT MOM! PLEASE CAN I HAVE A DRINK!?”
Me: “When we get home you can have some, sure.”
Jane: (crying) “Please can I have some water.”
Me: “As soon as we get home.”
Jane: “Mom? Can we go to the gas station?”
Me: “Well there aren’t any gas stations here and anyways I forgot my wallet so I don’t have any money with me to buy anything to drink.”
Jane: “Please can we go to the gas station?”
Me: “All there is between here and home is cornfields and I don’t have any money to buy anything. So, we’ll get water at home.”
Jane: “I’m THIRSTY!!!”
Me: …..
Jane: “Please can I have water.”
Me: ….
Jane: “MOM! I NEED WATER!!!!!”
Me: “Seriously, I have nothing! I can’t get anything, we’ll be home soon, you just have to wait!”
Jane: “PLEASE!!!!!!”
…
Thirty minutes of this continual and terrible conversation later you’d be twenty minutes past the point where your sanity chose to jump into a snowy ditch and abandon you but you’d be home, getting the kid an *&#% drink of water.
That’s the three year old way.
And they call it the terrible twos…
Untrustworthy? Me?
You know that person?
The one who’s never met a so called “too rich” dessert?
The one who can eat her cake and your unwanted frosting too?
The one who incorporates chocolate chips into her breakfast anytime she can, always has something for dessert and takes her kids out on Halloween so she can eat their candy?
Yeah, that’s me.
So tonight when we ran out of Christmas cookies – I made dessert.
All gone.
It was, if I do say so myself, fairly fantastic so I wasn’t surprised that Ivy asked for a piece to go into her lunch tomorrow.
I assured her that would be fine and found myself suddenly subjected to a cross examination on what exactly I would or would not be eating for the rest of the evening worthy of a lawyer to be.
It seems she feels I’m untrustworthy when it comes to desserts.
Mom plees do not eat all of them
After the girls went to bed I, of course, went to have another piece and found that Ivy had left nothing to chance.
So I just had one more small piece…
…or maybe two…
If you’d like to try these Cranberry Chocolate Chip Blondies for yourself I found the recipe here: http://www.averiecooks.com/2014/11/cranberry-chocolate-chip-blondies.html
I needed to bake it quite a bit longer than the recipe called for and happily discovered that a few minutes outside at 0° will work just as well as letting them sit an hour before cutting. All in all they were quick, easy and, obviously, tasty!
Merry Christmas!
Happy Third Birthday Jane!
It’s hard to be the birthday girl when you are sick.
It’s even harder when the rest of your family is sick, getting sick, or just getting over it.
But thanks to grocery store cake and an emergency taco dinner delivery by Grandma Mary we got plenty of smiles from the birthday girl before everyone’s early bedtime arrived.
Happy third birthday Jane!
This Moment – Train Traditions
A Friday ritual.
A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week.
A simple, special, extraordinary moment.
A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Gone, But Not Forgotten
Weekly Photo Challenge: Gone, But Not Forgotten
Our snow is gone.
The plastic sleds left in the yard on a snowy day have melted their way down to the leaf covered ground.
But a shortage of snow is no real deterrent to little girls who are ready to play.
We are just calling the sleds “boats” until the snow flies again.
Christmas Clowns
The best part?
Ivy insists she is crossing her eyes- “crossing them up.”
Princess Jane
Jane is in a no holds barred, girly, princess, ballerina phase.
She refuses to wear anything but dresses and skirts.
She begs for makeup and nail polish.
She spends her days twirling and dancing in frilly dresses.
And she helps grind meat.
Like a true princess she never got anything on her dress but she could use lessons in decorum. I hardly think yelling, “Are we havin’ TACOS!?!” is befitting of royalty.
Don’t Open the Door!
Don’t open the door!
Those smiling faces are merely the technique that snowball fiends use to gain entry into nice, dry, warm houses!
Once the flurry of snowballs and giggles are released the fiends will run back off into the snowy day, leaving you mopping up the floor until their next attack.
But the worst part is that they unleash such a blast of snowy day cheer with each volley that their giggles become contagious and the serious-stop-throwing-snow-in-the-house voice can’t seem to make an appearance because you are too busy throwing the mopped up snow back at them.
On second thought, open the door.
Every house needs a little snowy day cheer!
Behind the Willows 