"You Never Know What You're Gonna Get With Booker" Ms. Phyllis

Yesterday was a sad, sad day for Booker. He lost the privilege to wear his cowboy boots to school. They were getting a little disruptive and being used as weapons. He kept taking them off and throwing them across the room, crying when they wanted to put them back on him, crying when he wanted them back on after he told them no, and he was putting them on his hands and pushing his friends. As I read the note from Ms. Phyllis "We would prefer if he wore different shoes" one thing flashed through my mind. Crap. He's gonna throw a major fit in the morning when he can't wear them. So, this morning he predictably said, "I wanna wear my cowboy boots." I sat him down, looked him in the eyes, and told him that Ms. Phyllis said he was being a bad boy with his cowboy boots and he has lost his privileges to wear them to school. He was really sad and just looked down. I asked him if that was ok, and he very sadly and quietly said, "Ok." It could have gone so much worse, but he was excited to get to wear his "work boots." Today when I dropped him off at school I told Ms. Phyllis that I really hoped today went better. All she said was, "You never know what you're gonna get with Booker," and smiled.

My Morning to "Sleep In"

Dusty and I take turns on the weekends waking up with the kids. One morning is mine to wake up at the buttcrack of dawn with them, and one morning is his. The night before Dusty's morning I ask him what time he wants to wake up, to ensure that we are quiet until then. He doesn't wake up a single time from the time he falls asleep until that specific time he wants to wake up. On my morning to sleep in, I would like to sleep in like a hungover teenager... as late as possible. The only problem is I'm an extremely light sleeper and I hear everything. Well, on my morning I get to sleep until I hear Booker is awake. Then I have to shake Dusty until he wakes up and can go get him. He usually just gets out of bed and goes to get him, forgetting to shut the bedroom door behind him. So, I try to sleep until I am forced to get up and shut the door. Then I usually fall asleep until Bodey wakes up. My deaf husband cannot hear him, so I have to get out of bed once again to let Bodey out of his crib. On my mornings to sleep in, I don't think the children are ever told, "Shhhh, mommy's trying to sleep." So I hear them laugh, talk, cry, scream, fight, kick the walls, knock on my bedroom door, etc. Then, I fade in and out of sleep as Dusty comes in the room a couple of times, tells me to watch my eyes (so he can turn the light on) and he gets dressed. This last part, I'm not really complaining about, but remember I'm a light sleeper and I hear EVERYTHING, Dusty makes breakfast and does a load of dishes. I thank God that he does this, but I can hear him clanking the dishes around, and therefore am not sleeping. This morning at 8:30 I guess it was time for me to get out of bed because Dusty came in, got in bed with a grocery list in hand, and asked me what we needed at Walmart. I think a hungover teenager would be pissed if he had to wake up at 8:30...

Impossible

I would like to wish Portrait Innovations good luck when I bring my boys in next month. They are impossible to get to BOTH look at the camera at the exact same time, without any eyes being shut, mouths wide open, snot dripping, someone crying, etc. I tried, and tried, and failed.

Take 1

Take 2

Take 3

Take 4

Finally, kind of decent...

Every Cowboy Needs Some Boots

One day Booker came home determined to be a cowboy. "I'm gonna get some cowboy boots and ride a horse." Once again, Dusty couldn't be happier. All of a sudden, my little boy has all these interests, and that just means he's growing up. So sad, but that's another blog. Anyways, I'm not sure if they were learning about cowboys at school, or if one of his little friends has some cowboy boots, but I was easily coaxed into buying him some new boots. I also knew that I couldn't just buy some cheap uncomfy ones either, because these boots will probably take the place of his "work boots" in which he wears EVERY day. So, Saturday morning the boys and I jumped in the car and went on a search. We went to Feldman's first, but all we found there were two little toy horses we couldn't live without. So, on to Cavendar's. Of course they had what we needed, and of course once he tried them on, we weren't getting them off. So, for convenience and to avoid a tantrum in public, we got the cowboy some boots. And, I was right... he hasn't taken them off, and he even slept with them.

Parenting in Restaurants II, Sequel to The Ingram's

Tonight we took the kids to Chili's for dinner. Before we were ready to go, I took Booker to the bathroom since he chugged 2 glasses of chocolate milk during dinner. When we got in there, he went pee and then said he had to poop. Ok, I'm not going to argue with my 2-year old on this one. I could hear the lady in the stall next to us, obviously doing the same thing. Booker sat down and said, "Mommy, I poop like you." Hum, yes, I guess so. "Hold on mommy, it's coming out." Ok, ok, is it necessary to narrate? Finally, he was done. He stood up and I told him to bend over so I could wipe him. He bends over, peeks his entire head under the stall next to us, and shouts, "I see you!" (I'm seriously giggling to myself as I write this). It cracked me up, but I couldn't laugh... not then and there! After quietly lecturing him, we hurried out so I didn't have to face that poor lady. Not like she would have dared come out first!

Dusty's Little Duck Hunter

Booker's newest obsession is duck hunting. Dusty couldn't be happier. Booker wears Dusty's camo hat around, sleeps with it, calls his Carhart stocking cap a duck hat, tells his teachers all about his duck hat, blows on all of Dusty's duck calls, talks about going duck hunting with daddy and Papa "tomorrow," and wants a brown duck call for his birthday.

No-monia

Bodey is very tired of having pneumonia. I had to take him to the doctor again yesterday after he got booted from daycare with a fever. His pneumonia had gotten a little worse and to top it all off, he has an ear infection. They did 3 back to back breathing treatments of albuterol and Atrovent to try to maintain a good oxygen level. Even after those he was still only at 92-94%, but they were comfortable sending him home... thank goodness! I guess by having 3 treatments of Atrovent at the doctor's office, the risk of hospitalization is reduced by 60%. He is now on a z-pack, amoxacillin, Orapred, albuterol, Pulmicort and Singulair. Which reminds me that I found out what "gold" is.... Pulmicort! A box of 5 little vials the size of a quarter is $192!!! We opted for the free samples! Anyways, Bodey seems to be doing a lot better today, thanks to the steroid. The poor little man knows that his breathing treatments will make him feel better so he'll bring me the mask. How sad is that? But, he's also become such a great helper by holding the mask all by himself.