Twenty One

My friend Michelle recently posted her son's answers to the following questions. I couldn't resist asking Connor the same ones:

1. What is something your mom always says to you?

Connor! Listen!

2. What makes your mom happy?

Listening and don’t smack her in the butt.

3. What makes your mom sad?

When I say I never loved you.

4. How does your mom make you laugh?

By telling me funny jokes.

5. What do you think your mom was like as child?

Little and listening and watched a lot of TV and never cleaned.

6. How old is your mom?

30

7. How tall is your mom?

Really tall. Taller than me.

8. What is her favorite thing to do?

Go play with her son and bowl and be happy with her son.

9. What does your mom do when you’re not around.

Look for me and yell “Connor! Where are you?”

10. If your mom becomes famous, what would it be for?

Being a really famous artist.

11. What is your mom really good at?

Drawing horses.

12. What is your mom not very good at?

Football, golf, and soccer, and baseball.

13. What does your mom do for her job?

Works at Quest Diagnostics and does tests and blood checks.

14. What is your mom’s favorite food?

Pizza

15. What makes you proud of your mom?

Helping Dad and making Dad not get angry.

16. If your mom was a cartoon character which one would she be?

Pinky Dinky Doo

17. What do you and your mom like to do together?

Snuggle

18. How are you and your mom the same?

We both love each other and we both have the same eyes.

19. How are you and your mom different?

You’re a girl and you have long hair and I’m a boy and I have short hair. And you wear lipsticks and gold pajamas and you type like a girl. And you run around like a girl. And wear a bra like a girl.

20. How do you know your mom loves you?

She kisses me and hugs me a lot and she says Connor I love you!

21. Where is your mom’s favorite place to go?

Shoppacinos…I mean Starbucks.

The Reader (Not the Dirty Nazi One)

I can't believe that I'm typing this. Really. I can't believe it.

CONNOR READ THREE BOOKS TO ME LAST NIGHT.

All of a sudden, he's a reader? When read a word to me that I didn't think he knew (which was basically ALL OF THEM) I would look at him with shock and awe. He then would look at me like I was a mental patient.

It is kind of like potty training was with him. Suddenly, the teacher says "Umm, by the way, you can put Connor in underwear now. He hasn't wet a diaper in two months." WHAT? Apparently this reading thing is nothing new, despite the fact that up until now my efforts to even review sight words with him have been met with disdain and digust.

On another topic, Sunday night we were having our usual bedlam around here getting ready for the week. Watching the Oscars, folding and putting away laundry, etc. Connor spent about 20 minutes running around in his cowboy hat with his cowboy gun shooting cans and bottles off his log. Then, suddenly, he came upstairs to me in the bedroom and asked me to take off his pajamas. No explanation, just a demand with a sly smile. He then put the shirt on his legs, the pants on his head, and geared back up as a cowboy on top of it. I have no idea why, but this delighted him and he ran around for another 20 minutes holding up the shirt so his boy bits wouldn't be flying around.

Honey, Honey How You Thrill Me!

Connor isn't feeling very well. Cough, cold, not much appetite and some big circles under his little eyes. So, its been a quiet day---except for one thing:

Connor has just asked me to put in "Mamma Mia" for the FOURTH time in 24 hours. We were looking for a movie to watch last night and I remembered I had bought it at Costco a few months ago. He made it almost to the wedding last night before falling asleep in the LoveSac. This morning, he had to see the end for breakfast. Then he watched it again around lunchtime. Now, after building a little Lego Star Wars toy, he jumped up from the table and assertively stated, "Mom, I need you to put Mamma Mia on again. Right now." I think he likes it a bit! I heard him humming "Waterloo" while drawing earlier today.

I remember seeing it last summer at the movie theatre with friends. Though there is no denying that it is not HIGH art, its fun. Pierce Brosnan can't sing a bit, but he's good to look at. And Meryl Streep is silly for most of it, but, in my opinion, really shows her acting chops during "The Winner Takes It All". She's fantastic. And her boobs look great, too! It also makes me desperately want to visit the Greek isles.

Folder #4, Photo #4

My friend Michelle tagged me to pull the #4 photo from my #4 photo folder. Fun idea and here it is!

The main part of the story should be obvious----its me at Cal Ripken's last MLB game. Eight years ago! It was an awesome opportunity to see a piece of baseball history happen. My dear friend and former boss gave us the tickets.

Weekend Mashup: Baby Loves Painkillers and Hikes

For Valentine's Day we went on a family date to a Valentine's Ball at Baby Loves Disco, held at the Rock and Roll Hotel in Washington D.C. I thought it would be fun, mainly because Connor loves to dance and he's never been to a dance club. Things didn't work out though. Here's why:

1. I had another awful neck/headache which I managed to ignore until about 5 pm, but I was still not at my best when we arrived around 1:15pm.

2. I lived in D.C. My boyfriend in college when to NJIT in downtown Newark. I am a sturdy, kind of brave city girl. Nevertheless, this was in a borderline dodgy neighborhood. While we're on that subject, where, but in a borderline dodgy neighborhood would you see a storefront like this:

"Umm. Yes. Can I have one camera, one Dolly Parton style wig, and a Track Phone, please?"



3. It was pretty crowded.



4. The kids were mostly little. No one fun for Connor to play with.




So, not so great. We left early which screwed up our dinner plans for Ethiopian at 5pm. Instead we went to one of our old, favorite restaurants, The Carlyle in Shirlington. By that time, my head was really starting to hurt and the muscle relaxant I took was kicking in. Combine that with a Cosmo, and I slept all the way home and then crawled into the LoveSac for the duration of the evening.


Today was better. Slow morning playing Wii Big Brain Academy with Connor and then a hike on the Maryland side of Great Falls Park--a place we have never been before. It was awesome and we spent nearly two hours clambering around.

100 Things

This week we enjoyed the 100th day of school. In celebration, Connor had a project to bring in 100 things. What to do? USE UP THOSE STICKER BOOKS! He was really dedicated to this project. I did the lines and the numbers for him, but he selected and placed every single sticker. You should have seen the layout challenges...some stickers fit some places and not others and he noodled everything through very carefully. When it was all done, he entertained us several times by counting to 100, each time skipping number 13. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,7,8,9,10,11,12,14,14,15, etc. I have no idea what that's about--he doesn't actually skip it, he doubles up the 14s. I also notice that he really seems to suddenly understand the rhythm/cadence of counting. He gets that pause that comes right after the decades -- 28, 29, THIRTY____31, 32,33....

His teacher loved this project. His poster is displayed in he center of the class bulletin board. The other kids brought in cute stuff, too. 100 Fruit Loops, 100 army men, etc.

Snow Tubing

I'm way behind on my posts to Tatertown. Its just so busy at work right now, that its hard to squeeze in the time.

This weekend we had a spectacular time in Wintergreen, Virginia enjoying lots of friends and some fun snow tubing. Of course, the weekend we selected it was over 60 degrees. Connor tubed in a t-shirt. Here's a video sample, but its at the end of four hours of tubing so our excitement level has waned!

Happy Birthday Aunt Marilyn!

Went to the homeland this weekend for about 24 hours to attend Aunt Marilyn's 75th birthday celebration. It was quick, but fun. Here she is with the kiddo mob.

And here's Nana gearing up for an assault on the Death Star.

Uncle Bob getting some snuggles and smiles from the girls.

And the birthday Goddess herself.