I Want The Real Batman!

I have recreated a Chinese sweatshop in my kitchen. I have been sewing capes like a mad woman since Saturday! I have a one-person assembly line going here! I am officially done with the boy capes and I am working on cutting out the girl capes. I now have the problem of finding Batman. Jack wants Batman to come to the party and jump in the bounce house with he and his friends. I was on the phone with my mom telling her that I think I will just rent a costume and find someone to wear it to the party. I didn't realize Jack was overhearing my conversation, damn this new TV rule he is always by my side! He piped up and said, "No mom, I want the real Batman, not just a costume". Okay, now what?

T.V. Junkie

Jack is a TV junkie, an addict, when he is in the zone you cannot get his attention for anything. Travis and I have decided that we aren't able to change his love for TV, but we are able to limit the amount of TV he watches so he may possibly find other things he loves to do. The new rule is 30 minutes per day during the week and one hour on Saturday and Sunday. He may watch his allotted time whenever he wants, but once his time is spent, there is no more TV for the rest of the day. Today I set a timer to make sure I would remember to pry him from the TV because I was busy cutting fabric for the birthday capes. I can be kind of like Jack, when I get in the zone with a project I can loose all track of time. Jack knew he was in the final 30 minutes of his hour when I heard him calling me from upstairs (where he watches TV).

Jack: Mom, I am going to need you to stop the timer.
Me: Are you done watching TV?
Jack: No.
Me: Then why would I stop the timer?
Jack: Because I have turned off the TV during the commercials, I don't want to use my TV time to watch commercials.

How do I deal with this? He is a smart little guy wanting to optimize his time, but I am not going to turn the timer off and on every 5 minutes. Not to mention, when he turns the TV off he is still sitting in front of the boob tube waiting for the commercials to be over. The whole reason for the limit is to ensure that he is more productive with his time; playing outside, doing table time, playing with his mounds of toys, annoying his mother, etc.

Scrolling Saturday

My bloggy buddy at Such Simple Pleasures has started "Scrolling Saturday". The premise, resurrect an old post for your new pals to read. This has saved me for today as it is 10pm and all I have done today is go to JoAnn's TWICE for supplies for the super hero capes and have a picnic outside in 50-degree (brrr!) weather with my kids to make up for the trips to the fabric store. So, without further ado my first Scrolling Saturday...

Call Me Winona Ryder

So I went to Walmart on a Saturday, which was my first mistake. My second mistake was buckling Ben and Lauren into the cart. As soon as I buckled them they started to throw a fit, but I refused to give in. I don't like them getting out of the cart, not to mention I didn't want them to think that they get their way if they throw a fit. They both managed to scream the ENTIRE time I was at the store, and this wasn't a short little 5-minute trip. They both took their shoes off and threw them, they were hitting each other, pulling hair and spitting. I must have looked like an escapee from the insane asylum as I walked through the store. My head was pounding, my eyes were glossed over and my stomach was in knots as I did my all to ignore the screaming. I normally get several comments about how cute Ben and Lauren are, but today I didn't get a single one. I wonder why? They were still screaming when I went through the checkout, I was fried. The checker rang up my over priced soda twice, he could barely hear me call him out over all of the screaming. In the parking lot on the way to the car one of my 12 packs of soda fell off the bottom rack. Just as I stopped to pick it up Lauren managed to free herself from the buckle. She tried to make a break for it, without her shoes on. I grabbed her by the shoulder with a grip I learned from my mother and sat her back into the cart. Unfortunately, I missed the seat and she fell to the ground. If there were cameras in the parking lot I would be expecting a visit from CPS. When I finally started loading my groceries into the car I realized that the checker hadn't charged me for the card that was stuck behind my purse. I couldn't bring myself to go back in and pay for it. I am a thief, a shoplifter, a common criminal. I stole a $3 card. The only thing that makes me feel better about it is that I am positive I have been overcharged there at least once!

Birthday Dilemma

Although Jack's birthday isn't for another 8 weeks I am already stressing out about one thing. I need ya'll to weigh in on this one! Jack wants to have a super hero theme, so I have jumped in with both feet! All of his friends will be invited to come dressed as their favorite super hero, we will have a bounce house in the backyard and I will be collaborating with my girlfriends on a superhero cake. I don't want his friends to purchase costumes just to wear to the party so I figured I would make a few Superman, Super girl and Batman capes that kids without costumes could wear. Then I found the cutest thing online, check this cape out! I showed it to Jack and he had the great idea for me to make one for each of his friends to take home. Good idea Jack! I always struggle with the party favors, I hate giving junk, but I also hate spending a lot of money! I need to get started if I am going to make twenty some capes so I started working on the invite list with Jack. There are 12 kids in his class, he gave me the names of all but two of them to invite. I asked who else was in his class and he couldn't even come up with the remaining kids names. I asked him if he wanted to invite his whole class and he said no. Unfortunately, Jack is the first to turn five in his class so I can't just follow what the other kids have done. I have two concerns with this 1) I don't want the two that were not invited to feel left out, they are only five, they have years and years of feeling left out ahead of them, why start now? You know the kids in class will be talking about the party of the century the following day at school. Nobody likes to be the person who wasn't invited! 2) But, on the other hand, Jack couldn't even come up with these kids’ names. I don't want to force him to invite these kids and have their parents think he is just asking for a gift. Because let's face it, Jack has plenty of cheap plastic shit! I have heard that if you mail the invites rather than handing them out at school you don't need to invite the whole class. This makes sense to me, but it doesn't solve the problem of the kids talking. What do you think?

Hef And Holly

Our lovely neighbors gave all of the kids the cutest monkey pajamas for Christmas. She actually had to leave the state to find Lauren's! Ben loves them so much that he hates to get dressed. He would wear those pajamas 24/7 if we let him. We started calling him Hef. Here is a picture of my darling twins!

Secrets Don't Make Friends...Or Do They?

I pick up Jack's buddy Elsie at school today, so her mom could get her hair done. It was so cute to listen to them talk in the back seat. They whispered as though I wouldn't be able to hear them.

Jack: Let's watch cartoons when we get home.
Elsie: Let's watch (inaudible)!
Jack: Okay.
Elsie: My mom doesn't like that show, does yours?
Jack: My mom hasn't seen it, but she doesn't care what we watch.

I've got news for them, if Elsie's mom doesn't like it nor do I and yes; I do care what you watch! I only hope they continue to be so naive...not only do mom's have eyes in the back of their head, they also have super sonic ears!

Good Man In The Making

When I picked Jack up from school today his teacher proudly pointed out the sticker on his shirt. Jack got a sticker for being the best listener in movement class. Not only am I raising a man that is a good listener, but he listens well when it comes to movement! I am taking applications from future brides...