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Saturday, March 26, 2011

I'm asking for your advice.

I usually avoid putting myself in situations where people will give me advice because I don't like advice.  However, I'm hoping some of you will have a little expertise to offer me on this one:

Have you ever flown with a toddler?  What did you do to make it bearable for your kiddo and for you?

In particular, I'm worried about take-off and landing (I feel reasonably capable of entertaining him and keeping him happy otherwise).  I flew several times with Ben when he was a baby and never had any trouble.  I was nursing then, though, so I just fed him at the beginning and end of each flight (the kid never refused to nurse, hungry or not).  We're past that stage now, but I think he's still too little to let him have a sucker on the flight.  Should I just give him a sippy cup and try to convince him to suck on it for a couple of minutes at a time?  I don't see that working, but I haven't come up with a better plan.  Help!  How do I keep his little ears from hurting too much?

I'm really jumping the gun here because we're not actually flying until this summer.  But I was thinking about it today and wanted to ask before I forgot :)  In case this matter to anyone, Ben will be 21 months old, and he will not be in his own seat.  I'm relishing this lap-child thing while I still can!

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Benisms

I know every other post around here is about the funny things Ben says.  But, you guys, he says so many funny things.  And I don't have a good place where I write them down, so if you don't like it, you don't have to read it.  I mean that in the nicest possible way.

Let me start by saying that Daylight Savings Time is my new best friend.  Ben had gotten in the habit of waking up around 6:30 every morning, which made for some verrry long and trying days.  Now that the sun comes up later, though, he has been waking up at 7:45 or later.  One morning he slept until 8:45.  I probably should have gone in to make sure he was still breathing, but honestly, I didn't want anything to ruin the sheer joy I was experiencing.  I realize that sounds cold-hearted, but a quiet house at 8:30am?  It makes me too happy to think clearly.  

Anyway, Ben and I are both much better off and like each other much more this week than we did last week.  And in my current state of being enamored with my child, I give you some of my favorite funny things Ben says at eighteen months old:


When he does something he thinks is impressive, he claps and tells himself, "Good job!"  However, he pronounces it, "Joo Bod!"  Cutest. Thing. Ever.  Sometimes he changes is up and says, "Niiiice."


He has fully mastered the appropriate usage of "bummer" (which he sometimes replaces with "ratsos") and "woot!"


He asks everyone and everything what they are doing.  When he pretends to talk on the phone, he says, "Woh (Hello)?  Doin'?"  He also asks the cat frequently, "Justin?  Doin'?"  Justin is a jerk and never answers.


One day this week, the TV was on, and there was one of those scrolling news bars across the bottom.  He pointed to it and said, "Wetters (letters).  Going by."  Umm, genius.  This is not something he has ever seen and certainly not something we have ever talked about. So I think his description was pretty spot-on.


For a couple of months, he has liked to review randomly the things he is not allowed to do.  Apparently we tell him that boys aren't allowed to do certain things because that's how he phrases it.  For instance, he might say, "Wamps?  Knives?  Boys [shaking head]."  Translation:  Boys aren't supposed to touch lamps or knives.  Now he adds the word "dwown-ups" to indicate that grown-ups can do these things.
The boy loves tools.  Here he is holding a "dwiver."

He has quite the imagination.  He decided recently that there is a moose living in our dishwasher.  I really have no clue where that idea came from, but he thinks it's hilarious and talks about it all the time -- "Moose!  Dishwasher!"  And he opens the door to talk to the moose -- "Moose!  Are you (where are you)?"


Sometimes he walks into my legs or Daniel's and says, "Tunnel!"  If he does this to you, you're supposed to spread your feet out and let him walk under you.



He loves to talk about Jesus but toooootally doesn't get it (of course).  We have several Christmas and Easter books that he likes, and he knows these holidays are for Jesus.  However, he thinks everything is for Jesus, which is sort of true and sort of not true.  Like when he gets mad and hits me (hello, strong-willed child).  I'll sometimes ask, "Ben, what are you hitting me for?"  His response?  "Jesus."

He also likes to "sing Jesus," as he says, referring to "Jesus Loves Me."  He thinks the last word of the song (so) is "soap."

He asks us all the stinking time for fruit-flavored Tic Tacs, which he calls "tweats (treats)."

He loves to help me with laundry.  He's especially good at standing next to the dryer and putting in the clothes I hand him.  He was a little traumatized, though, when he saw me washing one of his favorite blankets.  Lesson learned.
With Pippo, his beloved sock monkey

We recently bought him a play kitchen, and he is obsessed with it.  Sometimes he asks for it before I even get him out of his crib -- "Kitchen!  Basement (the location of our playroom, and thus the kitchen)!  Pwease!"  He always wants to make chocolate cookies, and today Daddy taught him to make tea on the stove.  He also puts various toys in the microwave, which is just above his head, and he says, "Weach up high! Mike-wave!"

This one comes to me second-hand:  In the church nursery this weekend, his teacher Mrs. Bernice showed him a little figurine and told him it was Moses.  He informed her that it was, in fact, Noah.  He was right.


He says that anything he can't see is "hiding."  Friends who go back to their own houses?  No, they're just hiding.  He also likes to cover things up and tell you they are hiding.  This concept is endlessly amusing to him.

It's worth noting that all these things are said by an incredibly cute child with bright orange hair.  So he's pretty irresistible.  I'm sure I've forgotten some of the best things he says.  Fortunately for me, this is my blog, and I can just make another post like this whenever I want.  So there.

Monday, March 7, 2011

Crossing two more off the list

I'm a little (a lot) behind with this, but I crossed two more items off my 30 Before 30 list in January.  If you're keeping track, I have roughly 23 more to complete in the next three years.  Yikes.  I thought I was doing pretty well, but those numbers are rather daunting.

I don't think I've mentioned this here, but my darling husband Daniel is in school again to get his Doctor of Ministry (oooh! aaah!).  The program is set up differently from most school programs, and he does all of his reading/writing on his own and then spends one week on campus at the end of each semester.  In practical terms, this means he does some reading for several months -- and then does TONS of work in the last few weeks.  Those last few weeks are brutal for both of us.  When the hubby doesn't get a break from working, I don't get a break from the toddler (who is precious and wonderful... but sort of exhausting).

So when Daniel finished his semester in January, I decided that I should have a spa day.  Sounds fair, right?

I had already bought a Groupon to a local salon/spa called Serenity Springs.  I thought it sounded lovely, and their website made it seem lovely.  The reality of Serenity Springs?  Well, it wouldn't be my ideal place to have a spa day.  It feels a little strip-mallish.  But it was expensive enough even with the Groupon that I doubt I'll be paying for another spa day any time soon, so I'm counting this as a completed list item:

19. Spend a day at a spa.

I got a haircut, a massage, a facial, and a pedicure.  And I have no pictures to show for it.  Oops.  If anyone feels the need to sponsor me for a re-do on this one, I promise to take pictures.  Anyone?  Anyone??


The next finished item has plenty of photographic evidence:




23. Participate in the Great Fruitcake Toss in Manitou Springs

The Fruitcake Toss happens every January, and it is sort of hilarious.  The majority of participants, myself included, just line up and throw a fruitcake as far as they can.  Here's my throw:
At this point, my dad is surely hanging his head in shame because, um, that's not how you're supposed to look when you throw something with all your might.  I think that's how you look when you do the Charleston.  It goes without saying that my fruitcake did not fly the farthest.  I did, however, almost become famous because some reporter took a picture of me and wrote down my name.  Alas, I never saw myself in print, but here I am spelling my name for him very slowly:

I had some pretty awesome company at this little event.  My dad drove into town the very morning of the Toss, so he got to participate in the fun and help me keep Ben entertained.





And some of my very favorite people, the Slack family, also joined us.



The Slacks saved this post from being even lamer than it is by lending me their camera.  I discovered when we arrived at the event that my camera batteries were dead, so they shared their camera.  Which is why a handful of the pictures turned out like this:
Below my blurry finger, you can see some of the fancy contraptions other people use to compete in the Fruitcake Toss.  Some people really meant business, and they came with giant catapults and trebuchets to aid their tossing.  As previously stated, the Fruitcake Toss is hilarious.  I am so glad I put it on my list, and I will most certainly be going back in future years.


Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Baby Moses?

Since my last post left quite a few unanswered questions, I thought you all might appreciate a little FAQ post about Wiginton Baby #2:


Is this an announcement?
Yes.  I am having another baby.

When are you due?
September 29, so I am about 10 weeks along now.  This one will be another C-section, so he/she will probably be born in mid-September, shortly after this baby turns two:




Are you really naming the baby Moses?

Nope.  We will use an Old Testament name, but Moses is one of those names that is just a little too out-there to pair with our last name :)  We are calling the baby Moses for now, though, thanks to Ben.  When we ask him what the baby's name should be, he always says Moses.  Actually, he said Jesus the first time, but he's stuck with Moses since then.  Clearly, Ben has a firm grasp of what it means to have a little sibling -- since the only babies he knows are the ones in his favorite storybook Bible.

Why does your stomach squish so much when Ben pokes it in the video?
Shut up.



How are you feeling?
Umm... I could be feeling a lot worse?  I feel worse than I did with Ben, but I still don't have the insane nausea or vomiting lots of people have.  This is silly, but my biggest complaint is that I can NOT get full.  You know how, when you're really hungry, you can eat a snack to take the edge off your hunger?  The edge never leaves my hunger.  Most nights, I eat a bowl of cereal and a bowl of oatmeal between dinner and bedtime, and I still go to bed hungry.  This might be completely awesome (I usually do love to eat), except the general idea of food is unappealing to me right now.  Other than that, I'm just tired.  Daniel is doing a very nice job making sure our house is still livable while I spend most of my time on the couch.

How did you get your adorable child to announce the news so well?
I tried all night to get a good video and failed until right before he went to bed.  There are some pretty amusing outtakes, though.  Like the one where he spins in circles saying,
"Pirouette!" (Thank you, Elmo, for that vocabulary word.)  Or like this one, in which he accidentally touches the cat's bottom (which he pronounces "bobbin") and then demands to hold the camera: