Monday, November 23, 2009

a few funny things

I haven't blogged in a bit, so much going on. We are getting ready to hit the holiday season full-on this week. Charlie is out in Albuquerque visiting his dad and spending Thanksgiving with the Kofahl's. I've taken the opportunity to get Christmas shopping done, and get the house as clean as can be before the Griswold in me takes over and Christmas pukes all over my house!

This year for Christmas Charlie has asked Santa for "a treasure box, filled with chocolate covered cherries and five bucks". So looks like Sants has a fun one on his hands! Santa will probably throw in a special jingle bell & snowglobe (like he usually does) and maybe a tassle or two.

I also found out from my mom that I have an aspiring musician on my hands. I've always known Charlie loved & responded to music, and secretly hoped that I was raising the next virtuoso or American Idol. Last week, mom was taking Charlie to school and they were listening to the violin virtuoso, David Garrett's CD. My mom asked him if he liked that music, and Charlie said he LOVED it, mom then wanted to know if Charlie wanted to play an instrument and what would it be... Charlie replied "the triangle - because it has a beautiful sound" :) Love him so much... So looks like the keyboard my sister got for him will become an entire band with the addition of a triangle...

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

my sweet boy

Yesterday was a trying day. Charlie was "acting out" that's PC for "he was being bratty". He had a rough day of bad behavior at school...Just randomly talking for no reason to no one except himself in class. (He said, I was just thinking about what I wanted to play with at recess, and I said it out loud instead of in my mind). He also had to move his "stick" from green (good)to yellow (warning) for distracting others while they were working. (He said, he thought of something he wanted to tell Faith).

Fast forward to the end of the day - we needed some groceries, so on the way home from school we ran to Hy-Vee. Charlie was starving so I decided to eat at the cafe there. Charlie got a piece of pizza and salad bar for me. For some odd reason, I let Charlie have a small kiddie-size cup of fruit punch, or more accurately high fructose corn syrup with red food coloring. WHY?? WHY?? WHY?? Why did I break my own rule of no sugar after 5:00? Oh yah - I lost my mind. The deadly combo of HFCS & food coloring turned him into a crazy, whiney, mess, who couldn't seem to control himself.

As a result of my stupidity, my little boy, who was already trouble for his behavior at school, managed to spend most of the evening in his room "thinking". At about 8:15 he had done his time, and we were sitting on the couch talking about the day and watching TV, and he got up and ran to his room. He came back with a beaded necklace that he had made several months ago and put it in his backpack. I asked why he did that. He let me know that a little girl in his class had been playing on the monkey bars and had broken her necklace that day, and she cried and cried. He wanted to give her a new necklace so that she wouldn't feel so sad.

OH my sweet boy...I've tried to hard to teach him empathy and kindness, and I think it worked. Sometimes I feel like I spend 95% of my time correcting bad behavior, but it's moments like that, that make me so proud! Thank you Lord that my baby cares about others!!

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Howdy Partner

Halloween 2009!!! Fun Fun Fun - talk about a haul of candy! Charlie's bag is filled to the top overflowing with tummy-ache producing goodies. In the grand tradition of me being "fun mom" on the night of Halloween, I let Charlie eat all he can handle, then he turns the rest into me for a prize....ala Toys R Us! I'll bring the rest of the candy to work to let my co-workers get tummy-aches instead...

Charlie was a very serious cowboy/sheriff. He had such a cute costume this year. He looked adorable, and it made me thankful that he's past the freaking out about dressing up stage.

I couldn't help but notice how many people in my neighborhood needed a refresher on Halloween Etiquette. So many people had their lights on, even the front door open and didn't answer the door?!? WTH? My favorite quote of the night when we came to one such house "well that Jack-O-Lantern didn't light itself, somebody must be home" LOL - true dat!