Water Boy

My sister-in-law has an uncle that has downs syndrome. He's 40-something years old, but acts like he's around four. His name is Calvin and he has many fetishes, one of which is that he likes to sneak water. Harmless? you say. Ha! I don't mean to question that side of the family and their assessment of Calvin's mental age, but I'd put that water fetish right around age two.

You see, I have a child who has a water fetish right now. Sinatra is obsessed with it. From the toilet, faucet, hose or refrigerator dispenser, at the Home Depot fish pond display, a water fountain, a plug-in water fall, you get the idea. He loves the stuff. And what does he like to do with it? Pour it on the ground of course. The other day, he stayed busy for 45 minutes in my neighbor's kiddie pool, bailing water with a pail. He emptied the pool and I filled it back up.

Sinatra's favorite haunt is our refrigerator dispenser. I think he has a sixth sense about when someone forgets to lock it. Off he runs to snag someone's cup, fill it, take a sip and dump the rest on the floor or (if I'm lucky) in the sink--all in the blink of an eye.

He also likes the outdoor hose, which he can turn on and off all by himself! I'm so glad that he hasn't yet figured out the trigger nozzle.

I've only had to change his clothes three times today. Thank God that "high quality H20" doesn't stain, because my little water boy would be doing serious damage to his wardrobe and to my floors.

Potty Training?

Sinatra has been showing signs of wanting to use the potty. He's been going around with his pants around his ankles for two days and pointing to the potty and saying pee pee and poo poo.


He just turned two, but after pulling his pants up for the bazillionth time I decided to try out potty training. We primed him with three sippy cups of juice then sat back to watch the action. After bribing and cajoling and sitting him on the potty for five minutes, he promptly sat in my lap and did his business.

We went through three pairs of training pants in forty minutes with little real interest coming from the maker of the messes. So potty training has been put on hold.

I put him in a one piece outfit today.

85 Degrees =

Always Use Your Remote

This is what you do for 20 minutes at Home Depot when you lock yourself out of your van and are waiting for your husband to bring the spare: you let the kids play in the sheds at the end of the parking lot and act like a sheep dog, guarding them from passing cars as they dash from one unit to the next.

Tip for all who are wondering how I locked myself out: never get impatient with your remote that only locks the doors when all are shut. Wait until the door slides closed THEN press the lock button from your remote. Do not, I repeat, do not lock from the button attached to the door.

Mom Quotes

For all the mothers out there, here are a few wonderful quotes:

"I suffer from M.A.D.D. - Mommy Attention Deficit Disorder." ~Raenita

"The phrase 'working mother' is redundant." ~Jane Sellman

"My second favorite household chore is ironing. My first being hitting my head on the top bunk bed until I faint." ~Erma Bombeck

"I'm not going to vacuum 'til Sears makes one you can ride on." ~Roseanne Barr

"Cleaning up with children around is like shoveling during a blizzard." ~ Author Unknown

"You don't really understand human nature unless you know why a child on a merry-go-round will wave at his parents every time around - and why his parents will always wave back." ~William D. Tammelus

"Working mothers are guinea pigs in a scientific experiment to show that sleep is not necessary to human life." ~ Author Unknown

"Any mother could perform the jobs of several air-traffic controllers with ease." ~ Lisa Alther

"A suburban mother's role is to deliver children obstetrically once, and by car forever after." ~Peter De Vries

"The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new." ~Rajneesh

"Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body." ~ Elizabeth Stone

"If there were no schools to take the children away from home part of the time, the insane asylum would be filled with mothers." ~Edgar Watson Howe

"If evolution really works, how come mothers only have two hands?" ~Milton Berle

"I know how to do anything - I'm a Mom." ~Roseanne Barr

"The hand that rocks the cradle usually is attached to someone who isn't getting enough sleep." ~ John Fiebig

"I'd like to be the ideal mother, but I'm too busy raising my kids." ~Unknown

"Most children threaten at times to run away from home. This is the only thing that keeps some parents going." ~ Phyllis Diller

"It is amazing how quickly the kids learn the operation of the DVD, yet are unable to understand the vacuum cleaner." ~Etienne Marchal

"Raising a kid is part joy and part guerilla warfare." ~Ed Asner

"By and large, mothers and housewives are the only workers who do not have regular time off. They are the great vacationless class." ~Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Next Project

Now we just have to finish the deck.

That's my Mama Jo standing on the deck that still lacks railing and new stairs.

Here's another picture of the lovely Great-grandma!

Treehouse Complete

Here are some pictures of the final product. Notice the zip line to the left of Dad's arm in the first picture. The white bar hanging is the zip return pole (just pvc pipe).



The steps from the lower to upper deck are only tacked down at the bottom to allow for movement of the upper deck. When the wind kicks up it feels like a ship rocking up there.



Dad and me.



Nana and Grandpa with kids.



Sinatra checking out the heights.

Memory Masters

We went to our home school group award ceremony this evening. An extra treat was that Nana, Grandpa and Mama Jo were there for the show.

My very shy Popcorn even got up and sang the A,B,C Song with his preschool class.


Shakespeare received his very first Memory Master award.



Gem received her second Memory Master award.



To achieve Memory Master level, the student is asked to recite 24 weeks of information in eight subjects: history, geography, time line, math, science, Bible, English grammar, and Latin.

Can you tell me the formula for the circumference of a circle or the area of a triangle? How about the Latin endings for 1st conjugation present tense? Ephesians 6? When did William the Conqueror defeat King Harold? What are Newton's 3 laws of motion? The laws of thermodynamics?

In a classical-style eduction even young students who can't possibly calculate the circumference of a circle or understand the significance of the fall of Rome can still memorize facts ahead of time and be introduced to characters in history like Marco Polo or Sir Walter Raleigh.

A year ago, Shakespeare came running across the library to show me a book about St. Francis of Assisi!!! That never would have happened without Classical Conversations (our program).

Congratulations, kids!!! Mom is so proud of you.

Amost Finished!!

This is Erin's dad, Deke. In this picture, we are nearly finished, just building the final staircase from the lower level to the upper level. Only took us 8 days to get this far.

What, why so long? Well first we had to study it out, then study some more and finally check what we studied. You see, the trees move and not necessarily together so you have to engineer slippage and movement into the treehouse platforms. And then, the tree trunks are not straight so the placement of braces is tricky. So you finally build some of it and discover you hadn't considered another engineering challenge, so you redo it another way. And so it went until finally today, there came a point when we both said, "That's enough."

Wonder Woman!!

Best of all, I spent 8 days with a "make it happen" supermom -- Erin. Last time she made a treehouse (she was about 11) it was constructed of cardboard and held together with string. It stayed up about 53 minutes until a slight breeze demolished it!! (okay, so I exaggerate a bit). And as I recall, she never cared a whit about tools and construction--ever! So what's the deal now? She can cut straight lines with a power saw, she can drive nails without bending them, and can interpret blueprints with ease. But wait, that's not all! She even came up with some engineering suggestions that trumped her dad's ideas and she pressed for them until he relented (because they really were better ideas). What an amazing woman! It was fun working with you, Baby. Pop is so proud of you!

Been Busy Building the Best Treehouse Ever

On Tuesday we installed the zip line.





On Wednesday and Thursday we shopped for supplies and began framing the upper deck.






Today we framed the lower deck and began laying the decking boards right before the sun went down.



Notice Jon in the foreground spreading mulch. We bought 9 yards of mulch and have laid about 7 yards of it.



Mom took some great shots of the kids. She also managed to get them to clean out the garage and the car. They all did such a good job with great attitudes so I gave each $1.

Cuteness on a Slide

Happy 2nd Birthday Sinatra!

DreamBus?

Remember this too good to be true deal? It was too good to be true. Yesterday Skybus announced that all flights are cancelled and the company is folding. Mom and Dad, we'll have to make other plans for our visit in June/July.

Cleaning Up His Act

Southern Sledding

Our snow is long gone--actually, we only had one good snow and it melted the next day. So what do kids in the south do to compensate?

Pine straw sledding.

For all the Yankees, pine straw is the southern version of mulch--dried up pine needles. When I moved here I had no idea what it was. In fact, when we lived in Indiana I remember my southern grown friend asking me about a good place to get pine straw. I laughed at her. Well, now she lives here and it's her turn to laugh at my Yankee self. I still call a shopping cart a "cart"--they call it a "buggy". It sounds more refined I guess. I just can't imagine Scarlet O'Hara pushing a cart, buggy fits the south.



Pine straw sledding is what Works for Me this Wednesday! For other great tips visit Rocks in My Dryer (the link is in my side bar).