Too Good To Keep It Quiet

As I was racing through the aisles at Costco a few weeks ago with all my kids riding on/hanging onto the cart in some life-threatening (or, at least, toe/foot-threatening) way, we stumbled upon the coveted "snack lady." This time, she was handing out tiny helpings of frozen deliciousness: Icees - the boys new favorite frozen treat.

All three of my boys gobbled theirs down in no time and I had to keep "circling the block" to "happen" upon this poor little old lady who was so slowly and methodically cutting them up into tiny, bite-sized pieces and even more slowly arranging the individual bites into a nice little arrangement on her tray before she'd let anyone touch them.

I tried to avoid her evil eye and ease her annoyance at us for taking so many of her little creations of art, by picking up two boxes of what she was promoting, making sure she saw me put them in the cart, amidst cheers from my kids. It's not every day mom actually buys the yummy treat they ask for!

These are loaded with sugar I'm sure, and the bright colors dye my boys tongues and lips green, red, and, worst of all, blue, but they are a fun and refreshing treat on these hot summer days. They can get them themselves and open them themselves. Other than the permission part, it is a mom's-help-free snack!

The bad news is Jack. He also loves these things but isn't quite so good at eating them. They are too cold on his teeth, so he never bites them, just licks and licks until they are melting all over him. He hasn't quite gotten the squeezing technique down either, so he just spills it all over himself, drops it out of the wrapper, and picks it up with his hands, melting the terribly bright juice all over his hands, arms, face, clothes, and anything in a 3 foot radius.

So we now try to sneak a snack without Jack knowing. It is a difficult thing to attempt. Poor little guy... I'm not trying to deprive him, but I do hate that mess!

Yesterday, the big boys successfully snagged one for themselves out of the freezer, and used their super secret spy moves to smuggle it outside to eat it before Jack was any wiser. I did my part by keeping him occupied with something else, and the mission was going down smoothly. Ben finished his, snuck back in, threw his garbage away. So far so good. But then Mitchell came in a few minutes later, waving his empty wrapper at me, saying, "Look mom! I finished mine without letting Jack see me even once!" Jack took one look at that wrapper, dropped what he was doing, and ran to the freezer, shouting, "Icee! Icee! Pees! Pees!"

Ah shucks... Mitchell just has such a hard time keeping good things secret! Even this time, when he was trying, he still couldn't keep from letting Jack in on it. He will do the same thing any time he gets something Ben doesn't get. He will go out of his way to find Ben wherever he is and either show him what he got or tell him all about it. It really is impossible to just give something to Mitchell. It's just too good for him to keep it quiet.

Well, That Settles That!

I normally try to avoid places like Target.  I always end up buying something there that I did not intend to.  I find there are not many things I get at Target that I can't pick up somewhere else, so I simply avoid going and have saved myself quite a bit of money actually.  

But today, Mitchell, Jack, and I needed something to do and I had something to return that had been sitting on my counter for weeks, so we packed up and headed off to the land of overspending.  

Mitchell is a good sport about shopping and running errands.  He puts up with just about anything, even if he isn't particularly enjoying himself.  Today though, he discovered a whole new section of Target that he had previously overlooked - kitchen tools and appliances!  My strange, kitchen tool fixated middle child was just in heaven!  He was carrying around a little stool he found nearby so that he could reach up on the shelves and "try out" just about everything!  He was messing with waffle makers and deep fryers; microwaves and espresso machines; coffee grinders and juicers.  

After the "machines," we wandered over to the "tools" section and found just about everything he could possibly want!  He had his arms full of measuring cups, hand mixers, can openers, chip clips, egg slicers, timers... He was just so excited by it all.  I think this was even more exciting for him than Christmas time in the craft store!

As we had baby Jack with us and also needed to get home to pick up Ben from school, I regretfully had to tear him away from his paradise.  He was sad to put everything back in its place, but was a good sport.  As we were checking out, (and yes, I did more than return something.  I ended up with a new vacuum!  See why I don't go?!) Mitchell turned to me with a huge grin and said, "Hey mom!  I know what I want for my birthday now!  I want all those tools and the popcorn maker!"

Well, that settles that then!  I actually do need a popcorn maker...

So It Begins

Needing something to do today to get out of the house, Mitchell, Jack, and I headed off to the craft store.  I can always use something from there and we needed an excuse to get out.  Mitchell LOVES the craft store, mainly because there is always some holiday close enough for this type of store to just go nuts over it.  For the last couple months, it has been all the Halloween decorations that have enthralled him - spooky costumes, skeletons, costume "weapons" and anything "haunted" (which to him, just means scary) were his favorite points of interest.  But I am finding out that was nothing compared to what is coming.

When we walked through the doors, Mitchell's eyes got as wide as can be and he just stared.  He literally stopped moving and just stared.  I feel like we were just there a couple days ago, but since then, the place has completely transformed into Christmas land!  He was too young last year, and we were busy with a new baby and just didn't get out as much during this season, so I think this really hit him as something never seen before.  Once his thoughts caught up to his initial physical reaction, he exclaimed, "Mom!  It's already Christmas in here!  Let's stay here all day!"

Oh Mitchell, you have made my day.  Yes, it is a bit early to be so excited about Christmas, but you have captured for me what Christmas can mean to a child.  He was so enchanted by every last thing on the shelves.  Each one was magical and worthy of complete inspection and discussion.  He was trying reindeer antlers on Jack, putting on Santa hats, ringing loud bells, rubbing sparkles off ornaments and onto his face, literally skipping up and down isles, shaking snow globes, asking questions, looking for Baby Jesus, and keeping Jack and me quite entertained.  

His top picks (for me to buy for him for making our house look just like this store) were:

reindeer antlers for baby Jack

a GIANT tree

loud jingle bells for the door

a cheesy snowman/penguin candle

a giant ornament covered in loose sparkles that were falling off everywhere

cookie decorating kit

Santa costume 

a dog elf costume (I don't think he  knows what an elf is or that it was for a dog)

No, I did not actually buy any of this stuff.  He actually wasn't upset by that at all.  He was just having way too much fun "shopping for cool stuff" as he put it, and didn't seem to have any expectation of actually buying it.  

I remember when Christmas was so enchanting for me and I can't remember when it lost that magic exactly.  Since then though, this is what I have been waiting for: to see my kids' faces light up over the things that have lost their luster for me and do my best to establish traditions (some borrowed from my childhood, some new) for them that will only  make this season even more special and meaningful for them.  Thank you for brightening my day with your enthusiasm and childlike wonder, Mitchell!  We will definitely be back soon!

His Teeth Are NOT To Be Underestimated!

This morning was a busy morning for my two little boys and me.  We had a lot to fit in to one morning, but bravely accomplished almost all of it!  One of the last things we got to before heading across the street to pick up Ben from school was the dreaded grocery store.  Mitchell did great after I let him pick out a special treat (he insisted on Gatoraide, of all things) but Jack was loosing it.  I kept giving him little things to play with from the cart and he would gnaw on it for a couple seconds, then give up on it as soon as he found it only tasted like plastic.  He normally likes crinkly packages though, so I gave him the pack of cookie dough to play around with - you know, the kind of cookie dough that not only comes pre-made, but pre-formed into little cookie squares?  I know, I am such a fabulous baker!  Anyways, it was keeping him quite entertained while I rushed around the store, steering the race car shopping cart with grace and skill, when I happened a glance at my baby.  He was covered in cookie dough!  He had ripped open the package with his teeth and was busy sucking that cookie dough down like he was afraid he'd be caught at any moment!  Stifling my urge to trade that pack for a new one, I put it back into my cart.  After that, I really had to shift that race car into high gear because none of the other groceries tasted quite so yummy as that last one!  

When Will I Ever Learn?

This afternoon, a simple trip to Costco turned into quite a long ordeal simple because I can't seem to learn from my own mistakes.

Let me begin by quickly telling you that a few weeks ago, while helping Mitchell on his bike, I had Ben push Jack in the stroller so I could focus a bit more on Mitchell.  Jack started to get fussy and bored, so I gave him my garage door opener to play with, which did the trick!  Everything went smoothly until I got back to my garage and could not find the opener anywhere.  After retracing my steps not once, not twice, but THREE times and still no luck, I ended up having to hop a fence and open it from the inside.  So I have already lost a garage door opener because I gave it to Jack to keep "safe" for me.  Lesson learned, right?  Apparently not.

Jack was already fussy when I put him in the giant-sized cart at Costco, so what did I do?  I gave him his favorite toy: my car keys.  My thinking was that he is right there in front of me and keys are noisy.  If I don't see him drop them, certainly I will hear him!  Well, drop them he did and I didn't realize this until we were all the way out at the car, ready to load up.  I searched for them for a moment before it hit me that I had done it again: I had given something important to Jack and he had not taken care of it like the responsible and mature 8-month-old he is!  

I told Ben that the keys were lost (no, not a very positive way to tell a 5-year-old) and he panicked.  He got quite scared and started crying.  He thought we were stuck at Costco forever.  "This is terrible, mom!  What are we going to do!  We'll never leave now!  Those keys are lost forever!"  He wasn't whining or complaining, he just really was concerned about this!  I assured him that the keys had to be in the store somewhere still and if he could calm down and help me, we'd find them quickly.

Well, we did not find them quickly.  We walked all over Costco, searching for keys and trying to keep our tired baby from having a melt-down.  After a while, we gave up looking and went back up front to see if anyone had turned them in yet.  While I was there, I met another crazed mom with two little girls who was waiting for the very same thing - lost keys to turn up!  At one point during my cruising around, searching for the keys, I bumped into yet another mom who was looking everywhere for her Costco card!  Apparently, I am not the only mom with only half a brain when it comes to keeping a baby quiet and happy in the store.  

The keys turned up and this search only added an extra hour to our Costco run.  Ben breathed a sigh of relief that he would not have to actually live at Costco, Mitchell had a great time during that extra hour climbing around on the cart and eating extra snacks, and Jack tired himself out with plenty of crying and squirming and making mommy sweat.  

Have I learned my lesson this time or will I give Jack more important tools as "toys" in the future?  Only time will tell I suppose.