A Tale of Two Kitties

It all started innocently enough with the purchase of swimsuits…..

The kids dove back in to swimming lessons a little over a week ago now. After 12 weeks of lessons and a summer of backyard/lake/hot spring use their current suits were pretty much shot. Not to mention, both kids have done some growing since the suits were purchased back in January. That meant about a week before lessons started I went online to Target.com to purchase new suits. At the same time I also thought I’d pick up a birthday gift for my soon to be 4-year old nephew. Kill two birds with one stone AND get free shipping? Doesn’t get much better than that.

I’d been waffling around on what to get my nephew. Generally, he likes whatever big brother likes (and who has a birthday 10 days after little brother) pirates, superheroes, etc. but I didn’t want to just get two of the same thing. I wanted something that uniquely Noah. What to get, what to get? I’d actually be struggling with it for weeks. Emilie to the Rescue!

Emilie had come into the office and crawled up on my lap during the swimsuit selection process (wanted to make sure Mom didn’t forget that suit with the large ruffley obnoxious purple tutu skirt ) and remained there as I looked at toys. Soon enough she pointed out Fur Real pets and started jabbering on about pretty kitties and baby puppies. Hmmmmmm, Noah LOVES stuffed animals. He’s got a real soft spot for them. Sleeps with about fifty-zillion every night and, trust me, he knows if one is missing. What could be better than a pseudo-stuffed animal that purrs and walks and drives his mother (my little sister) batty?? Perfect! I added a nice gray kitty named Bootsie to the cart, clicked ‘checkout’, verified my order, paid, and was off to better things back in the real world….awesome things, like laundry .

Fast forward a week. We are waiting the arrival of the swimsuits hoping they’ll arrive in time for lessons. I got two e-mails. One said the suits shipped the other said the cat shipped. Tuesday shortly before lessons started the UPS truck pulled up in my driveway and the UPS man climbed out of the vehicle carrying two rather large boxes. “Okay,” I thought “Apparently they don’t consider item size when they pack stuff at Target.com.” Then the UPS guy casually states, “I have a third box for you, but I can’t find it in the truck. I’ll go look again and bring it if I find it.” Uhhhh…..what??

I can’t think of anything else that I ordered, so unless a relative sent a box something is off. I went inside and opened the two boxes. First box, Fur Real kitty. Second box, Fur Real kitty….. I looked at the packing slips. Both were for Fur Real cats. Did I accidentally order two? Did they accidentally send me two cats instead of swimsuits? I went online and checked, nope only ordered one cat, which now showed as delivered. Swimsuits still showed as ‘out for delivery.’ My checking account was billed the proper amount for swimsuits and one Fur Real cat. There was actually no hint of a second cat anywhere.

At that point I sat down and looked at the packing slips and box labeling…. They were absolutely identical down to the tracking number. It was like someone hit print twice and sent me a duplicate cat without realizing it. I called Target’s customer service and explained what had happened. The guy didn’t seem to get it. He kept telling me to return the second cat for a refund. I tried taking it into the store too, but they also wanted to give me a refund. There is no record of the second cat and they can’t return it to inventory without reimbursing me for it. Considering I never paid for the darn thing that just feels like stealing….even more so than keeping the cat I never ordered in the first place.

So just like real cats are the “gift that keeps on giving” it seems robotic cats are too. My devious plan to earn Auntie brownie points while at the same time pick on my sister backfired and I too am stuck with one of these obnoxious meowing cats myself.

Emilie really wants it….. She carried the one  to give her cousin around for a week and actually packed her own overnight bag when I said we were mailing it to her cousin so that she could go too. However, the second cat still remains in it’s packaging in the back bedroom. Part of me wants to give in and give it to her….but I feel wrong about that since we didn’t pay for it. Another larger part of me says to donate this duplicate cat to Toys for Tots or Project Angel tree or something similar and give another child something to love on.  That would be a better lesson to teach my children. As for Emilie, if she still wants one come December there is always the chance ‘Santa Claus’ will bring her one…or three, with my luck. As long as it’s not a real kitten (and don’t any of you got getting ideas, we already have two cats ) I suppose I can persevere.

Yes, I Have a Boy

Once again reminded that I have a child who carries a ‘Y’ chromosome….

Meet ‘Mr. Wiggles,’ Jack found his new pet in one of his dirt pits out back and brought him inside to show him some “truckin’ videos.” After several renditions of ‘Driving my life away’ Mr. Wiggles was looking pretty parched and I suggested that he might like to go back outside and check in with his family. I’m pretty sure Jack listened, either that or Mr. Wiggles is sitting in a toy dump truck somewhere feeling kind of crispy. 

Gardening Pays Off

As many of you may remember last October I lost my wedding ring. I was pretty sure it had come off during a trip to the pumpkin patch with the kids. After lots of searching and even going so far as to bring in a metal detector, we’d pretty much decided it was a lost cause and we’d probably never see it again.

Oh how wrong we were.

Saturday I was mowing the lawn and Kevin was turning over the garden with the rototiller. Shortly he comes jogging over with a big grin plastered on his face and is hold the wedding band portion of my ring between two grubby fingers. He’s announces, “You can marry me again now!” and slid it back on the finger from whence it had strayed.

Now, my ring is a two piece deal. There is the main diamond solitaire which was my engagement ring and then the wedding band piece with our birthstones that wraps around it. I’d never gotten around to having them soldered together after we got married. Then with losing a good third of my body weight both rings were loose… a recipe for disaster as we found out.

Seeing as the rings had been together when I lost them (picking tomatoes in the garden it would seem) our hope was that the solitaire couldn’t be far. Kevin got out his sifter that fits on the wheelbarrow and we went to work sifting the dirt he’d plowed. It took about 20 minutes but we did, literally, hit pay dirt.

Both pieces were dirty, but no worse for wear. I cleaned them of and could start wearing it again this minute if I wanted. However, logic has prevailed and we’re going to keep them safe in the jewelry box until we can get them resized and soldered together.

Mommy Oops!

I’ll come right out and say it…ultimately this is MY fault. I’m the one who left the scissors where she could reach them. Though I place some blame on Curious George, who just so happened to air an episode earlier in the day in which George prunes trees. Coincidence??? I’m not convinced.

Yep, we executed another childhood right of passage… the DIY haircut. Something about bangs and unattended scissors leads to every mother’s horror. Not only did Emilie give her own bangs a trim, she also pruned up one of my house plants while she was at it (hence my suspicion that Curious George may have had some influence). All while mom was in the next room blissfully unaware thinking her little girl was just using the bathroom all on her own.

Alas, the dragon tree will live and her bangs will grow back. It is also still a good month prior to Easter so we have some recovery time. Unlike her Aunt Carrie who once gave herself plus me and my little sister DIY haircuts the day before Easter.

Going Around the Bend

I mentioned this on my Facebook page, but I’ve found it too hilarious so I’m recording it here for posterity. Jack is on to me. He’s starting to realize that Mom most likely has a few (or more) loose screws up top.

Yesterday the kids picked out “A Charlie Brown Christmas” for their quiet time video. We were all laying there on the floor, watching Snoopy skate to the cheerful strains of the Vince Guaraldi Trio, when this particular scene comes on:

Jack turns to me and says seriously, “Mom, are you too far gone?”

I burst out laughing right there on the floor, and though I thought of so many wonderful responses I stuck with, “Yes son, yes I am.”

He seems satisfied with the response….for now.

Little Emeril Lagasse

Jack has been begging for snacks since he got home from preschool. I swear they fed him today, I witnessed it. He must be having a “bottomless pit” day though and the grapes I offered were not enough.

I’m stitting at my desk scrapbooking (caught up to Emilie’s first birthday….woohooo!) and I could hear him bumping around in the kitchen. Nothing to serious sounding until I heard him move a chair. That noise was followed by some grunting then, “Uhhh, uhhhh, I’m a big strong boy!” ALERT ALERT!! That phrase generally means he’s lifting something large and/or heavy that he probably shouldn’t.

Curiosity got the better of me, and I poked my head out the door to find this scene.

The afore mentioned large/heavy object is the glass jar of noodles from the third shelf up, hence the chair, in the pantry. I asked him what he was doing and he grinned widely and said, “Making cheesy noodles!!”

I think I should have been upset, but honestly I was impressed. I mean he’s not even four yet! There are college students that can’t do this dish. He has all the ingredients correct (milk, elbow noodles, American cheese) along with a pot and spoon. I did inquire about the pack of Hot Dogs and he told me he was going to cook those in the microwave because the pot was for cooking noodles. OOooookay….

Needless to say I put scrapbooking on pause and we made cheesy noodles….and a hot dog. I just couldn’t make him put it all away he was being so polite about the whole thing. “No biggie Mom, I’ll just make my own snack since I’m hungry”……He’s out there eating it now.

Now if only I could get him to be as passionate and hip to using the toilet as he is about cooking.

Toilet Trouble

Emilie had her 1 year Well-Baby check up today. She is 18lbs 15oz and 29 inches tall (almost 2.5 feet!). She is right on track for development and meeting all the required milestones. To sum it up she’s healthy and happy.

Don’t be taken in by all the cuteness though, she is NOT as innocent as she appears:

Flips & Flops (Mommy Style)

I don’t cloth diaper my kids. Go online and search ‘cloth diaper vs disposable diaper’ and you’ll find a myriad of pros and cons for each method. Cost, skin care, health concerns, environmental concerns, convenience, sanitation, and on and on.  Personally though it came down to the simple fact that folding laundry is my least favorite household chore and if I could avoid folding a couple of extra loads a week then I was going to do it. So for the last 3 years of parenting the only times I touched cloth diapers were to wipe spit-up off baby faces. (Those Gerber cloth diapers make nice absorbent burp cloths for sure!) That was until today.

Today I forayed into the world of cloth diapers. Not for the child you would think either. Nope, Emilie is still happily strapped into a pair of Huggies. The cloth diapers were for Jack. I guess you can’t really call them diapers either. They are actually cloth training pants. Flips, to  be be exact.

 

I would rate Jack as 80% potty trained. He still has two big issues to conquer before I call him 100%. The first is, well, the second….he doesn’t do bowel movements in the toilet yet unless you catch the signal and get him on the toilet before he goes. The second issue is nighttime. He wets the bed almost nightly when wearing regular underpants. We’ve tried cutting off liquids a few hours before bedtime and making several trips to the potty before bed. Still, without fail, he always seems to wet the bed sometime between midnight and 3am.

His pediatrician said this is totally normal, many children his age just aren’t physiologically developed enough to get the signal to wake up and go to the toilet. It may be normal, but getting up and changing sheets every night got old about 3 months into the process so we started putting Jack in pull-ups at night.  The downside is I have no idea when he’ll stop wetting the bed and I don’t want to keep buying pull-ups. One pack is similar in price to a pack of diapers but you only get about half the number of pull-ups. I was bemoaning this to my sister (who is dealing with the same issue with her son) and she said, “Why, don’t you try Flips?”

Long story short, I did. My Flips training pack (1 cover & 5 inserts) arrived last week. So far they are working just fine. Washing the inserts is no worse than washing a pair of wet underpants. The cover can be washed and hung over the shower bar in the morning  and is dry and ready to go by bedtime. Jack likes them too….he even has a special name for them, which brings me to the ‘flop’ part of this blog post.

The pants are adjustable for size and the first night he wore them Jack and I were in his room while I fiddled with the snaps and tried to get him to stand still so I could get the fit right. Jack was fidgeting and when I finally got the fit right I playfully smacked him on the hiney and said, “Okay big guy, go show Daddy your sexy pants!”

Why “sexy pants” is beyond me….it just popped out of my mouth. I really should know better by now too. Of course he’s going to repeat the one thing I’d rather him not say, he’s a 3 year-old after all. Well, he goes trotting out the living room hollering, “Daddy, Daddy!, Look at my sexy pants!”

He’s been calling them his ‘sexy pants’ all weekend. Way to go on that one Mom….. My saving grace, until I can get him to call them something else, is that it sounds like ‘sucky pants’ coming out of his mouth. Still it could be a little awkward to explain ‘sucky pants’ to anyone he decides to tell.

Oooh These Kids

Life as a mother is anything but dull, that’s for sure.

About 1:30 today I was just getting ready to put my youngest down for a nap when the phone rings. I sat Emilie down and answered the phone. It was my sister calling to say her husband got a job (he’s been out of work since last July) and was starting Wednesday. Yippee! So we chatted for awhile and I finally signed off because my son was trying to climb onto the bar to get the fish food so he could feed the fish.

With the third birthday, I have recently discovered, comes a strong desire to “do it myself”….along with about 1/2 the ability to do so. This results in chaos and mini-disasters, and the occasional success at least once a day. If I didn’t have a fully formed sense of humor, and faith in God that “this too shall pass” I’d probably be locked in a closet crying and rocking about now.

So after WE fed the fish (HE fed the fish earlier this week and that led to Mommy having to close her eyes and count to ten before  doing of skimming and a partial water change in the fish tank.) I rounded up little miss to try to get her down for a nap again.

As she’s working on her bottle and we’re rocking I can hear Jack bumping around in the kitchen and dining room. Nothing sounds to worrisome. He’s hauling and dumping something with his scoop tractor. Soon though, I hear the tinkle of silverware….
That’s not on the ‘okay’ list of sounds. I stand up and carry Emilie into the kitchen where we find Jack standing on his tippy-toes to get a spoon from the silverware caddy. He looks and me and gives me that big, proud, heart-melting grin and says, “I’m getting ice-cream…..I did it myself!” Ooooooooo

I glanced over to the refrigerator and see there is a chair pushed against it, the freezer door is hanging open, and a box of ice cream is sitting on the chair seat. While I’m taking this in Jack skips back over to the box with his spoon takes a big scoop and starts putting it into a previously unseen cup. He’s three and thinks enough to put the stuff in a dish and not just eat it straight out of the carton like I would.

“Did Mommy say you could have ice cream?” I asked. "

“I did it myself!” He replies.

Quick parent quiz. What is the right way to approach this? I never said he could have ice cream, but I didn’t say he couldn’t either. Ultimately we discussed that he needs to ask before he helps himself to ice cream. I let him keep the scoop he had in his bowl (he’d licked it already) and he helped put the rest away. Disaster averted….or so I thought.

I put Emilie down while Jack and I talked and put the ice cream away and now she was nowhere to be seen. The girl is an adventurer and you turn your back for a moment and she just takes off. Fortunately her favorite room right now is the bathroom. She likes to pull herself up on the edge of the tub and scream to hear the echo sound. I headed that way and sure enough she was in the bathroom. She was not standing up on the tub however. Instead I found her leaning over her brother’s training toilet!

“Oh I hope there’s not pee in there!” was my first thought. The toilet doesn’t always get emptied in a timely fashion, especially if Jack took himself to the bathroom.  Oh course my hopes of an empty toilet were dashed when she stuck her hand down in the bowl and I her splahsing sound. Lovely, there’s my 9 month old gleefully splashing in  pee……*deep breath.*

I got her cleaned up. She was now an hour later going down for her nap. That means she’ll be late getting up and bedtime will be a struggle…..Aaaaahhh such is life. Like a said there is never a dull moment around here.
Now, where is my son…….

Five Easy Steps to Make a“Jack”-O-Lantern

Step 1: Remove the guts

Step 2: Put Blue Puppy and friends in Pumpkin

Step 3: Step inside!

Step 4: Wiggle around

Step 5: Viola!!! A Jack-o-Lantern!

Sleep, Where Art Thou?

Everybody always says it the two’s that are terrible. I’m starting to believe that this statement is not entirely true. I think its more 2.5 to 3.5 that are the really awful part. I guess you get a six month warm up and hopefully, maybe, a cool down on the other side (or perhaps its just another warm up for the fabulous fours . ) As a friend told me, “The two’s may be terrible, but three is two with intent!” I beginning to see how this is most likely true. I love my little man dearly, but nights like last night really push my limits.

It started off like a normal night. Emilie went to bed around 7. Jack took his bath and ran around in his skivvies for awhile before being conned into his airplane jammies. Then he performed the usual stall tactics (I need a drink, read me one more book, etc.) before going to bed around 8:45. He fussed for a couple of minutes then went to sleep.

Unknowingly, Kevin and I stayed up to about 10:30 before heading to bed. Had we known what was coming we probably would have hit the sack by 9pm.

12:30am: Jack wakes up, not entirely unusual. Kevin gets him a Sippy of water and tells me to go back to bed. He’ll cuddle on the couch with him until he goes back to sleep. I went back to bed. I woke up later and could hear Jack screeching gleefully in the living room. I glanced at the clock, 2:45. I shuffled out to the living room to find a toy bonanza all over the floor. I guess Kevin had drifted off and Jack, instead of going back to sleep as usual, decided to have a midnight rampage.

I sent Kevin back to bed and tried to get Jack to settle down on the couch. No go. Eventually I laid there drifting in and out, listening to Jack play, and thanking God that Emilie was still sleeping.

4:30am: Jack is still going strong. Kevin came back out to relieve me. I got off the couch only to find that puzzles pieces had been dumped all over my lower half. I went back to bed.

5:55am: Emilie wakes up. I shuffle out of bed, give her to Kevin, go to get her a bottle,Fi and almost trip over Jack who is curled in a ball in the doorway between the kitchen and dining room. Finally!! I nudged him with my foot and he got up and drug himself to the couch along with his blankie and blue puppy. I gave Kevin the bottle and told him that I was going to go get dressed for my run.

7:00am. I’m back from my run. Kevin is asleep on the couch, Emilie is asleep on Kevin, and Jack…. Well this is how I found Jack

Because I am Two

Because I am two I won’t want to take a bath, but once you get me in the tub I won’t want to get out.

Because I am two I will get mad when you won’t let me drive your car.

Because I am two I will have dirt and food on my face and sticky hands unless you want to follow me around all day with a washcloth.

Because I am two I will love my baby sister with all my heart…until she touches my toys.

Because I am two you will make all the silly noises I love when you read me books.

Because I am two you will read the same book seven times in a row and then “just once more” when I ask you to read it again.

Because I am two there is no such thing as “a quick trip to the store” with me tow.

Because I am two I’d prefer to run around naked; but if I must wear clothes make sure to put on my blue helicopter shirt, even if I’ve worn it the last three days in a row.

Because I am two gravel from the parking lot is the coolest thing ever!

Because I am two I won’t like it when you insist on rubbing sunscreen on me when I go out to play. However, if you use the spray on stuff I will laugh and laugh and not want you to stop applying it.

Because I am two I can be falling asleep at the lunch table but still won’t want to take a nap.

Because I am two I will not want to go to bed, but I won’t want to get up in the morning either.

Because I am two you will make funny faces, silly sounds, and do dizzy dances if it will make me laugh.

Because I am two I will be ‘Mommy’s little helper’ whether you need my help or not.

Because I am two I will make sure all your bathroom visits are supervised.

Because I am two I will say the most inappropriate things, loudly, in the most public of places.

Because I am two I will say the most hilarious things and make you snort milk out your nose.

Because I am two I will need you to find my favorite “blue puppy” even if he is lying in plain sight on the floor two feet away.

Because I am two I can eat a full meal and be starving five minutes later.

Because I am two I will not tell you where I put my other shoe when we are running 15 minutes late and need to get out the door.

Because I am two you will purposely drive through construction zones because seeing all the big machines makes me happy.

Because I am two not just any plate or cup will do. It must be the train plate and cup with the cow on it, or else I will not eat.

Because I am two I don’t have a problem with crawling beneath the table to eat whatever may be under there.

Because I am two when people say they “want to take me home with them,” you just might consider it.

Because I am two I do not understand what “sleeping in” on Saturday means.

Because I am two drinking from the dog’s water bucket is just as good as using a cup

Because I am two the cat’s food is a yummy snack.

Because I am two I can watch the same movie over and over and over and over and still want to watch it again.

Because I am two I can go from loveable and charming to horrid and unpleasant in two seconds flat.

Because I am two I will drive you up the wall, but you wouldn’t trade me for the world.

This is a poem, ode, or whatever you want to call it, is inspired by my 2.5 year old son. He does so many funny and annoying things and I often find myself saying, “Well, he is two…” I thought I should write them down so I can look back and remember this time someday. ~Cassie

He Makes Me Laugh

Jack and his antics definitely good for the soul. He makes me laugh each and every day. Yesterday I managed to get some pictures.

My mother in law is in town for a few weeks; helping out around the house and entertaining Jack until I am recovered enough to start taking on more of my ‘manual labor’ type chores. I’m not supposed to be lifting heavy things, like my 30lb toddler. Something as simple as getting him in/out of the car or putting him down for a nap (especially when he doesn’t want to go and is pulling the ‘noodle legs’ routine) can be challenging.

Yesterday Jack was at school so the two of us went through the mountain of clothes Emilie has been given (she won’t need to go shopping for at least a year) and sorted them by size so it will be simple to swap out clothes to the right size as she grows.

By the end of the day we had everything put away except for one box of 12M and up clothes. When Jack got home from preschool he noticed the box and decided to try a few items on. Who cares that they are about 3 sizes to small, pink, and frilly…..

Sleep Like a Baby

Normally Jack naps from 12:30 to 2:30pm each day. With daylight savings starting today I figured we’d have a rough nap and tried to mitigate by keeping him up until 1pm (which would have been 12pm yesterday). He was still bouncing and chattering when we laid him down but did manage to get a “night night” out of him.

Well, 4pm rolls around (3pm in Jack world) and he’s still snoozing. Normally the rule is to let sleeping babies lie, but let him sleep much longer and he’d be up half the night so Kevin went in to get him.  About 30 seconds later he comes tip-toeing back out and trying not to laugh and says, “Honey you’ve got to go see your son.” Now ,Jack can sleep in some poses meant solely for contortionists so I asked if I should take the camera. “Oh yeah” was the reply.

So I got the camera and went in there only to find Jack was not in his bed…..

My guess is he climbed in there to play and ran out of steam. He did have both his puppies and blankets with him though, so the stuffed animals may just have been irresistibly snuggly looking today.

The Wheels on the Bus Don’t Tread Water

This is the toy that, out of all of Jack’s toys, annoys me the most. It’s loud, the voices are obnoxious, and its original version of “the Wheels on the Bus” just drives me nuts. Of course Jack loves it. I can put it away at the bottom of the toy box and he’ll always find it and drag it out. Needless to say I patiently wait for the day he loses interest and we can pass this particular toy along.

Well, for whatever reason the bus has been in Jack’s bathroom for the last day or so. No biggie, it’s kind of “out of sight, out of mind” back there so I didn’t bother retrieving it. Guess that was an error on my part. Tonight when Jack was taking his bath he spotted it and…well….battery operated toys just don’t do well on underwater adventure. No, the yellow school bus was not designed to double as the yellow submarine.

Sadly, the darned thing is still functioning but sounds even more annoying…if that is possible. Now the animals sound like Mickey Mouse on helium.

Kevin is in the process of disassembling the thing and giving it a good blow-dry right now. He’s nice like that…I probably would have just chunked the thing had I been the one to discover it. I suppose there is still hope that it will completely short out…..but as with most annoying toys it will most likely live to see another day and another round of “the wheels on the bus”……DRAT!

In the Time it Takes to use the Restroom…

 

….a toddler can do this.

Remember folks, think before you pee!

Our Little Goober

Just a few fun things to post before Grammy and Grandpa (Cassie's Folks) get here on Thursday. The photo is from last week. We'd just finished bathtime and put on a dry diaper/PJ's. I put him on the floor and was cleaning up some things on the changing table. My back was only turned for a second, I swear....


The second is from last night. Usually he rides this baby-sized rocking horse that I myself used as a child, but last night the penguin from his penguin pictures caught his eye.

And You Thought Your Dogs were Bad...

(Author’s Note: Carrie, this is your adventure free and clear but I’m posting this since you haven’t yet. It is so hysterical it must be shared! I’m filling in the gaps with my own imagination, but I think I’ve pretty much got the gist of it. )

My sister and her family have two dogs, Kyra and Picata. They are both very smart dogs which, as with most smart dogs, means they can get themselves into a lot of trouble.

Kyra, a husky mix who looks more like a short-haired burnese mountain dog than a husky, is the greatest fear of skunks living in Central Massachusetts. She has three confirmed kills under her collar and several more presumed kills. Her desire to rid the world of these foul smelling creatures has led to her becoming something of a Houdini when it comes to exiting the backyard.


Picata is a yellow Labrador retriever and a retired Guide Dog. She loves people, and is quite the food hound. Though she doesn’t intentionally escape the backyard she will go for a stroll outside its confines if the opportunity presents itself.

So this is where our story starts….the backyard on a chilly Sunday shortly after Thanksgiving. Kyra is alerted to a skunk presence and knowing she needs to eliminate this trespasser she lifts the latch on the gate and heads off. Picata, thinking it’s a nice day for a stroll, follows Kyra. The skunk must had eluded Kyra on this day (thank the lord for that) and she finally admitted defeat. By that time she and Picata had wandered ½ a mile or so from home and were near the local Stop ‘n’ Shop (grocery store).

Meanwhile Carrie has become aware that the dogs are not in the backyard and has launched a search effort. Not wanting to repeat Kyra’s ride home in a Police Cruiser (yeah, she’s got a history with the cops), she is driving around frantically searching for her missing canines. Suddenly, her phone rings. It is the manager from the Stop ‘n’ Shop (grocery store). Her dogs have been located in the Deli Section of the store and would she please come get them.

Now I imagine that these dogs are something like the little boy from the Family Circus cartoon. You know, the one whose mother asks him to run next door to borrow a cup of sugar from the neighbor and it takes him 3 hours to complete the journey since he took the round-about way? So, even though Kyra and Picata weren’t very far from home they had most likely been walking for some time. Tired from their walk Picata suggests to Kyra that they go into the Stop ‘n’ Shop and ask someone for a ride home. As a former Guide Dog Picata is familiar with automatic doors and how to open them, so into the store they went. When they found the manager he was more than happy to call their ‘Mom’ for them.

I’m sure after that phone call Carrie had visions of her dogs working their way down the deli counter devouring ham, turkey, and roast beef as they went. Wondering what the price tag on all that lunch meat would be? As it turns out both girls were very well mannered. They didn’t touch a thing, which I find quite impressive. They merely located a friendly looking soul, and as planned had them call for a ride home.

Now, my two dogs can be pretty naughty, but I have never had to pick them up from inside the local grocery store! That tops the list.

A Great Moment in Parenting!

We went into Boise today just to get out of the house. Plus Kevin 'needed' to go to Cablea's to pick up a few last minute things for hunting season. I have been informed that it starts in 3 weeks and he needs to be prepared. It's not like Sportsman's Warehouse here in town wouldn't have sufficed it just that he hasn't had a Cablea's fix in several months, so we just haaaad to go.

It was a nice day all around. Jack demonstrated his abilities in volume control during lunch. Yep, we're the ones with the kid shouting DADADADADA at the top of his lungs. (Note to self: Teach Jack what 'indoor voices' means). Thankfully its still pretty cute and most folks seem not to mind...yet. We checked out a Hallmark store, walked around the mall, and of course we cannot forget Cabela's.

When we were ready to head home Kevin put Jack in his carseat while I was dinking around and proceeded to load the stroller in the trunk. Once everything was loaded we got in the car and hit the road. As we pulled onto the freeway Jack was chatting away happily to himself in the backseat, which is a little odd since after 6 hours of getting in and out of the car he's usually had enough and is fussing. But as the old adage says, "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth." I decided I was blessed to have such a happy kid today and left it as that...till he started laughing. Curiosity got the better of me and I turned around to see just what was do funny only to find myself face-to-face with my son!

The first thing that ran through my mind as I shrieked "KEVIN" in that tone that one can only make when there is a serious emergency; was that he had unbuckled himself. He is a pretty smart kid, he could have figured it out right? Well, either that or, in a moment of pure brilliance, his parents forgot to buckle him in....

Kevin had put him in his seat but hadn't buckled the straps figuring I would do it. I assumed he'd buckled Jack since he put him in the seat. So here we are cruising down I-84 at 75mph with our 9 month old standing backwards in his carseat and laughing at his Dad's bugged out eyes in the review mirror. He was so happy with himself and his new trick.

We got off at the next exit and strapped Jack in properly....he was less than thrilled and informed us of as much the rest of the way home. After his taste at riding facing forward we may been in for rough rides in the carseat until he can face forward legally.

"Forgot" the Baby

I'm sure some of you have heard about how Helga (the cat) got a foxtail in her eye a few weeks back. Well, I think the pussies got a little too used to wet cat food (used to cleverly disguise antibiotics) and being fussed over while Helgs was healing. In order to get back into a pampered and luxurious lifestyle, drastic measures had to be taken. Wednesday night Casper (other cat) turned up with a foxtail in her eye.

On a side note....why do things like injured animals or flat tires always turn up AFTER normal business hours or on holidays?

It wasn't a life or death injury so we waited until Thursday morning. After taking Jack to daycare and the Vet's had opened I called and made an appointment to take Casper in. I dropped her off at nine and Rita (receptionist) said they'd phone when she was ready to go.

Now, in a stoke of genius I asked my boss if I could have the rest of the day off...which she said was fine. Jack doesn't need to be picked up until 1pm. So, from 9:30 until Noon I had every Mother's Dream...free time to myself! WOOHOOO!!!!! I finished a couple of chores at the house, went to Target & WinCo, then picked Kevin up at work.

(For those that don't know...Since we work at the same office we carpool in the morning. When I finish at 1pm Kevin and I go pick up Jack then head home for a quick lunch. Kevin then goes back to work. The logic is that I don't have to interrupt Jack's nap to pick him up at the end of the day)

Kevin gets in the passenger seat and immediatly turns around to the carseat. He looks in it looks at me and says, "Where's Jack!?" in a slightly panicked tone. "At Daycare," I reply. "Oh," Kevin says "I thought you forgot him at home."

I can be absent minded, I'll be the first to admit it, but not so much as to forget Jack at the house. Carrying an empty carseat to the car would be a pretty good reminder anyways.