Sunday Silly Stories

Good evening, dear readers. I have to admit this is only a tiny sampling of the many silly stories we've experienced this week, but my sister and brother-in-law have been here the past couple of days. Along with my job(s), housework, email communique, and sleep, my blogging has suffered. Maybe next week I'll hit y'all with an expanded version of everything Trish can remember from this weekend--or I'll pull a Wacky Wednesday post out of my hat.

I was reading a bedtime story to Quinn the other night after just discussing with Trish how we’ve gotten out of that habit (I know, I know, bad mom). He picked a book that my mom gave him that was the story of Genesis. We got to the part where God creates the day, and Quinn reaches over, closes the book, and says “Amen.” I guess that means we’re done.

I was making dinner the other night and obviously Quinn really wanted to be close to me because he wouldn’t leave the kitchen. I gave him a wooden spoon to beat on his bowl and instead he pretends to eat something out of the bowl with it. I suggested he feed George (his stuffed Curious George, thanks Aunt Linda!). So he set George in his folding Mickey Mouse chair and started to pretend to feed him with this long wooden spoon. He even made “Yum Yum” sounds. It was so cute! Once George was full, they both lay down on the kitchen floor flat on their backs. Weirdo.

We have recently started to allow Quinn access to the kitchen more and more. We’ve put locks on the fridge, oven, and lazy Susan cabinet, so that helps. I’m being very careful to keep the handles turned inward on pots and pans and warn him that the oven is hot (even when it isn’t, y’know?). The other day, he came in while I was cooking and got near the oven. I said, “Don’t touch, that’s hot.” He said, “Hot,” and then leaned over and started blowing on the oven door. Hah! We’ve always taught him to blow on his food if it’s too hot, so he was making the connection. It just cracks me up that he would try to cool down the whole oven by blowing on it.

In other kitchen escapades, I was chopping veggies for dinner one night. I didn't have any appliances on, so I wasn't paying much attention to Quinn. He started saying "hot, hot, hot." Immediately I panicked a bit, wondering what he could have gotten a hold of. I turn around to see this:

A hat. Duh.

In other news, Quinn is loving having his aunt and uncle here. He asks for "Uncles" all the time and would rather be holding Trish's hand than mine. But he won't call her Trish (even though that's who he talks to when he pretends to talk on the phone, even handing the phone with "Trish" on it to the actual Trish). He has started calling her either "me" or "mine." Hmmm. When I say, "Is that Trish?" he says, "Trish?" Then he looks at her and say, "Oh, Mine." What? Why?

Okay, time for bed. Love, Us.

Dying Dalmation Fish and the Plus Side of Pregnancy

Alas, our second dalmation fish is foundering in the tank. The first one, the one that was mostly black, took a field trip to the "bobby" last week. Now the mostly white one is floating vertically and with its gills all puffed out. I keep asking Jalal if there is anything we can do, but he says no. They could have been old or sick when we got them, and they are called starter fish because they have to survive (or not) the harshest aquarium environment. It's just so sad to see it struggling. Good thing we didn't name them (except for Mickey). Even though fish aren't my thing, I've come to like the little guys, especially since I'm caring for them way more than I expected (silly me for not seeing that coming). I say "good morning fishies" with Quinn and "night-night," and I feed them at least once a day.

In other news, I'm a little over halfway through "Slumdog Millionaire" and loving it. I adore Indian movies, though admittedly this is no traditional Bollywood film. I probably could have made it all the way through during Quinn's nap, but I paused for some other household chores, like a shower (you're welcome), checking the mail, and vacuuming (long overdue). I'm also working on cleaning out our guest room a bit. I can't believe I brought so much junk up from Charleston. One of these days (months) soon, we're going to move Quinn into a toddler bed and probably turn the guest bedroom into the nursery for future kids. Not that we are expecting any, so don't get your hopes up. One day but not yet. I shudder to think how I would feel if my next first trimester is anything like it was with Quinn. On the plus side, I wouldn't have to feign a sudden love for Saltines at work to hide morning sickness and I could probably pull off daily afternoon naps. On the other hand, it makes me tired just thinking about chasing around a toddler and having him bounce around on my tummy like I'm his personal horsey. For that reason alone, I'm tempted to wait until Quinn's in kindergarten or we can afford to hire a maid service. Okay, enough pondering pregnancy. I'm sure we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. I guess I've been thinking about babies a lot lately because so many people are having them around me, at church, friends on Facebook, friends of friends. I should really enjoy only having only one little monster bundle of joy right now! Have a good day! Love, Us.

Sunday Silly Stories and Not Me! Monday...on Tuesday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Today will be a little combo of Not Me! Monday and Sunday Silly Stories because I took the weekend off. I mean, I hardly worked at all (on my paying job anyway). Jalal had two days off too, and we got a lot done. He even got a nap in. How nice for him. (Where is my sarcastic font when I need it? Wait, who am I kidding? You guys could probably figure out that I was being sarcastic, right?)

Okay, so Quinn wakes us up at the crack of dawn. He won't settle down and quietly watch TV in our bed, despite his repeated and loud shushing (of himself?), so I made him go downstairs with me and refused to turn the TV on. When I went to fix him breakfast (after he got into the Goldfish crackers at 7:05), he tried to open the fridge as usual. Have I ever mentioned that he likes to stand there in front of the open fridge and say "Ummm..."? He does. Cracks me up. But yesterday we installed fridge and oven locks. Hah. I, a compassionate mother, DID NOT laugh hysterically when he almost fell on his butt trying to yank the fridge open.

I DID NOT feel a little bit complimented when Quinn reached up and stroked my butt at the hot air balloon festival while saying, "Niiice." That's right, buddy. It IS nice.

I DID NOT say to myself, as I was pulling the ice cream out of the freezer after not working out three days in a row, "Half the fat means I can eat twice as much, right?" Or, when Jalal brought home little Snickers ice cream bars, say, "At least they are small and not full-size, that'll help portion control," only to think, "God, these things are bite-size. I might need to eat two" when I actually pulled one out of the freezer. Not me.

I DID NOT put my silver hoop earrings on Quinn's ears and then take pictures of him. If I had, I probably shouldn't have said anything to Jalal about it and then gotten into a real argument about sexism. Whoops! Who knew something so innocent (?) could lead to that?

We stopped by Chik-Fil-A (God bless you, Truett Cathy) on our way to get Quinn's hair cut this morning. Quinn had already eaten, so it was a good time to get chicken biscuits. I got a small iced tea along with my biscuit. Quinn started begging for water, which I didn't have handy, so I offered him a sip of my tea, which I NEVER do (seriously, that's the truth, not one of the Not Me items). He took a sip and when I asked for it back, he said, "Nuh-no!" hugging the cup to his chest and fending me off with the other hand. He looked like those guys in the Heisman pictures! He seriously would not give it back to me until we parked and Jalal pried it from his hands. I guess he likes tea. At least it isn't sweet tea, so it's just a little caffeine. He did still act like a good boy at Snip-Its, unlike every other kid there. What a bunch of screaming kids! Good grief. Going to places with lots of other children always makes me and Jalal feel better about Quinn.

You know, every week I say I'm going to write stuff down for Sunday and Monday posts, and then I don't and can't remember all the funny stuff that happened all week. So you, dear readers, all three of you, get gypped. Sorry. I promise I'll try better next week. Love, Us.

Baby Shakespeare

Okay, so he's not writing poetry yet, but I really have to take a moment to brag on my boy. We're sitting here in the middle of about three different arguments at once: you need to eat your lunch, don't throw your milk on the floor, and you're just going to have to poop in your diaper because I can't help you "bobby" any more than I already have (yes, that again). Then he grabs for a board book about Mickey Mouse and says "Mickeys"! He's said it a few times before, but this was pretty clearly stated. Then--and this part I'm not bragging about--he says it over and over again. You know how your kids will say something so many times you just say "Okay, enough already!"? Well, after 28 "Mickeys" in the span of about 16 seconds, that's when i said it. But then he redeems himself. He points to a coupon I have sitting on the couch and says "O." Oh, what? I say. "O" he repeats, pointing to the word "off." Didn't know he knew that one, so I say "Alright, gimme a high five!" "Nah-no." Fine. Then he points to the settings on his high chair and says "Five" over and over again. Sure enough, that's a 5. I thought he only knew 5 as all the fingers on my hand held out. Another high-five denied. I guess while I'm freakin' out proud, he's just like, "Whatever, Mom." So in terms of letters he can identify and say almost all the time, we've got A, B, C, D, H, I, O, and Y. Random. So that's why I want to get him into a 2-year-old pre-K program in August. I have gotten some advice that he will pick up more bad habits and illness than he will new skills (at least, the ones we want him to learn). Does anyone have any experience with early pre-K programs or Mother's Morning Out groups? By the way, I'm convinced that he knows his letters not because of nightly storytime (which we skip more oftent than not) but because of his early on devotion to Wheel of Fortune. Who says TV rots your brain? Now, if I could just get him to stop saying "I is." Love, Us.

Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

One of my friends from Charleston sent me this awesome link to a YouTube video of really talented beatboxers performing at a Google office. I was showing it to Jalal while Quinn was in the room, and of course he was interested. I DID NOT, however, try to teach Quinn to beatbox into his plastic echoing microphone. That would just encourage copious amounts of spit in his toy, and that's gross.

I DID NOT allow my child to brush the hair on my legs this morning with his Pooh brush because, well, at least he's got the concept right.

I DID NOT get fed up and say, "Fine, poop in your diaper then" after Quinn had asked to go potty for the fifth time in 10 minutes and then said "All done" the second his little hiney touched the seat.

I DID NOT give Quinn animal crackers from home as dessert for his kid's meal while I ate the two Oreos that came with it--because I care about his healthy eating habits!!

All of these things I would NEVER do--NOT ME!

Sunday Silly Stories

Cutting it close this week. It's just 54 minutes until Sunday Silly Stories becomes Not Me! Monday. I really need to start writing things down as the week goes on. I know things fall through the cracks of my Swiss cheese memory.

First of all, yesterday was a milestone. Quinn mastered his Sit 'N Spin. What a blast from the past, huh? Only I'm pretty sure the ones we had as kids didn't blast irritating "Simon Says" music and games at top volume with spasm-inducing beats. I think I'm going to have to "lose" the batteries in that one soon. I remember when all I had to do was turn a toy off. Now Quinn's too smart for that.

Quinn has been enjoying our new fish. We have five of them. Quinn loved the bubbles and playing peekaboo in the mirrored back with himself even before the fish came in. He now spends at least 15 minutes a day on his step stool watching the fish and the bubbles, saying things like, "Hi bubbles. Nice. Fish!" I tried to video him talking to the fish, but as soon as he saw the camera, he says, "Cheese!" over and over again until I gave up. Ham.

I've been leaving the gate down to the kitchen lately. If imitation is the highest form of flattery, I should be very flattered indeed. His favorite thing is to open the fridge, stand there looking at stuff, and say "Uuummmm." Like he's deciding what to eat or something. Tonight he pulled out a couple of leftovers and brought them to Jalal on the couch, even though I told him I was making dinner already. Turns out he wanted fish and corn. After I gave him what was left of his fancy cookie from his Uncle Bruce the other day, he keeps trying to find another container with cookies in it. And it's really cute how he says, "Coo-kwey." He brought me an entire bucket of strawberries on his arm the other day. We've got to get a refrigerator lock.

I got a new cookbook for a belated Mother's Day gift (is that better than a vacuum cleaner?). It's a Rachel Ray book of meals for kids. So tonight I made the first meal out of it: pita pizzas with spinach, broccoli, and pesto. I added chicken, too, so today wasn't a total vegetarian day. Jalal and I both thought they were freakin' great. All Quinn wanted to eat was the "crackers," the mini wheat pitas. So he dumped all that expensive pesto and time-consuming chopped toppings onto his plate and ate the pitas. Ah well, he needed more fiber anyway.

Okay, it's late and I need to get to sleep before I give in to my late night hunger and start snacking. Hope you've enjoyed this week's installment of the silly life we lead here in beautiful Greenville. Love, Us.

Sunday Silly Stories

We had a very good vacation, and most of it can be encapsulated in some of the silly stories I'll share here.

On Sunday morning, we stopped at IHOP for breakfast before church. We got Quinn a cheese omelet and a pancake. I tried to balance out some of the crap I've been eating and chose a Harvest Grain and Nut pancake with blueberries, topped with bananas. Well, of course Quinn wanted the bananas, so I shared those with him. Then he saw my pancake and started freaking out, asking for a "cookie." Yeah, he thought the blueberries were chocolate chips. So I had to give him my pancake, which he ate happily, continuing to point out his "cookie." I got a few bites of cheese omelet. Yay.

Quinn woke up at 3:00 a.m. one morning and Jalal brought him into bed with us. When he awoke again at 6:00, I told him he had to be quiet because Daddy was still sleeping. I said he could watch TV. He said, "TV!" (not unusual at all, I'm afraid), but then he remembered to say "Peas!" (please). How could I resist?

Another time he was hanging out in bed with us and Jalal had fallen asleep. He had just started snoring when Quinn began to fake snore, which he does to pretend sleep.

I was trying to teach him to say "Aunt" and "Uncle" on our way into Florence. He started out saying them both just fine, but then I asked him who we were going to see. He said, "Uncle." I said, "And?" "Uncle!" "What about Aunt?" "Nope." That's pretty much how it went from then on. Every time we would say "Aunt," he would say "Nope." Aunt Linda wasn't too crazy about that, especially when Uncle Bruce tried to get Quinn to call her "Turkey." Bad move. I swear my kid is such a little smart aleck. Where on earth did he get that from? (Shut up, Trish.)

We stopped for lunch one day at a sub shop. Since Quinn wasn't eating anything anyway, I guess he had plenty of time to be cute. At one point, the shop's phone rang. Quinn pops his head up and asks, "Trish?" Haha! Jalal and I just cracked up. The next time the phone rang, he said, "Hello?" which sounds like "Heh-row?"

Turns out, Quinn is a water baby, just like the rest of the Halabys. Within just a few minutes in the pool, he was blowing bubbles underwater and holding his breath. He would count to three and then say "Go!" before jumping out of Jalal's or my arms into the water. I spent a lot of pool time in the hot tub. When Quinn wanted to go in, too, we told him it was hot. So he started to call the hot tub "hot bubbles." It was pretty funny.

Okay, I'm sure there are more, but that's all I remember right now. I guess I should start writing them down as the week goes on, huh? Greedy readers. Oh, and happy mother's day to all of you moms, mommies, mamas, and mothers. I've been called all but mother by my kid this week alone. I love when he yells "Mo-om" across the playground. Hope your day was nice. Love, Us.