Unanticipated, Part II

Apparently, I was not specific enough yesterday after the, ahem, "incident".  I was very clear that toys are NOT to be flushed down any of the toilets in our house or any house.

It did not occur to me to mention that toys should not actually be put down ANYTHING in the house, including, but not limited to, air vents in the floor:

I know that doesn't look like many toys, but here's what actually came out once I finished the spontaneous scavenger hunt:

Unfortunately, it also did not occur to me to mention that the ONLY things that are acceptable to put in toilets are toilet paper and the category of things-that-come-out-of-your-body.

So the boys figured the bathroom hand towel was fair game.

In their defense (though why I'm defending the Almost Three Year Old and Cousin at this point, I'm unsure), I did, technically, ask the Cousin if it would be all right if the next time he used the bathroom the Almost Three Year Old could watch, to get an idea of how "big boys" use the toilet.  The Cousin sweetly obliged.  It just seemed odd that they were laughing so much after using the bathroom.  But I guess when you are 3 and 4 years old, it is hysterically funny to make multiple attempts to flush a towel down the toilet....

So we had to have a bath:

Luckily, they are all ridiculously cute.

If you are interested in seeing the Cleanest Bathroom Floor in America, please feel free to drop by our house.  After two days in a row of being scrubbed, it is spotless.  We may eat dinner off of it tonight...

Unanticipated

Child-proof knobs on most of the doors in the house? Check.

Stationary bike hidden in a locked room? Check.

All choking hazards picked up off the floor?  Check.

Baby gate reinstalled at top of stairs? Check.

Instructions about "rules in our house" (arguably, there aren't a lot) dispensed ? Check.

We're watching our nephews (aged 4 & 1) for two days to give some MUCH deserved R&R to our brother- & sister-in-law (he just returned home from a 6 month deployment in Africa).  Their baby is a dream--super easy, super good-natured, and more importantly, not a super-screamer. :-)  And our Former Baby, the Almost Three Year Old, adores playing with his "older" cousin.  They are thick as thieves.  And just as sneaky.

This morning, while I snuggled with Baby Nephew and gave him a pre-nap bottle, I listened to the boys play delightedly.  I realized, belatedly, they sounded a little "too" delighted.  Sure enough, they had found a new game to play that was WAY more fun then any of the others they'd all ready come up with, such as empty-out-the-linen-cupboard, empty-all-the-toys-onto-the-bedroom-floor, or see-who-can-gleefully-scream-the-loudest.

It's called: Flush-Toys-Down-the-Toilet-Until-You-Flood-the-Bathroom.

On the bright side... the bathroom floor is now cleaner than it's been all summer!

What Did You Get to Do On Friday Night?

The evening wasn't exactly a total wash--I mean, we did get to go on a brief date (dinner) SANS KIDDOS for a little over an hour.  But when I picked up the girlies from play rehearsal at 9:00 p.m. downtown, one of them notified me that her water bottle had spilled quite a few of it's contents inside her bag... on their (shared) script.  And if the script is not turned in @ the end of the play, or if it gets totally ruined, we have to pay $25.  I was more worried about them not having a script than the $25, though I'm loathe to shell out any more money than I have to, at this point.

So I thought, no problem--I'll just blow-dry the bottom of all the pages with my hair dryer.  (Luckily, it was only the bottom of the pages, not all the pages.) Because the entire bottom of the script was a soggy, stuck-together mess.  I figured it would take 20-30 minutes, tops.

After 30 minutes, I decided that unless I wanted to die of boredom, I should listen to my mp3 player.

The "not wet" top side of the script

After over THREE HUNDRED pages (really?  clearly, I had no idea what I was getting into...), and a mere HOUR AND FIFTEEN MINUTES after the first 30 minutes (yes... that IS 1 hour and 45 minutes, total), we had mostly-dried out pages, in this form:

The bottom of the script

I left a book and 20 lbs.-worth of hand weights on it overnight, and it actually doesn't look too horrible, now.

Regardless, NOT how I wanted to spend my Friday night!  (Or any amount of time, on any day, for that matter...)

Three words:

Livin'

The

Dream!

Oh, the Things You Can Do! (with blankets...)

Somebody is very attached to his blankets.  The nice thing, he's not necessarily attached to any one in particular.  The not-so-nice thing is that he is attached to all of them.  So wherever he is in the house, he prefers that all of his blankets be there, too.

Last week, he danced with his blankets...

Today, he pulled a laundry basket into the living room, filled it with his blankets, and hopped in.  He mentioned he was like Baby Jesus.  Deciding that it would be infinitely more comfortable with a pillow, he confiscated one from his brother's room, settled back in... and requested that I take a picture with the "cam-ra, cam-ra!".  Yes, this is how he "smiles" for pictures right now.  Lovely, isn't it?

An Elmo-rific Birthday

-or-

Where, oh where did my baby go?



Somebody really likes Elmo.  Someone formerly known as "The Baby".  (Okay, actually we still call him the baby, but since he is now TWO YEARS OLD, we should probably switch it up at some point...)

Birthday Baby Boy and Brother

The celebration was low-key... because while I love the idea of elaborate birthday parties, I'm more into attending them than planning and executing them.  So he received some fun presents (tent and Elmo backpack) from Grandma & Grandpa... and $4 worth of Elmo merchandise from mom & dad from Target's dollar spot.  (Yep, that's right--we spent a whopping $4 plus tax on our kid for his birthday.  Technically, $8 if you add in the cupcake liners and Elmo cupcake toppers.)

siblings trying not to open watching delightedly the opening of presents 

Aunt, Uncle, Cousin & Baby Cousin joined us for dinner and cupcakes that evening, which made the day more festive! 

Elmo-rific cupcake tower 

Birthday Boy on Dad's lap, singing "Happy Birthday" to himself

And to top off the evening, the little guy serenaded us with his favorite song.  "Elmo's World", of course.  We didn't capture it on video that night, but here he is tonight after his bath.  Clutching the new Elmo given to him by his Cousin.  (Please kindly ignore my own singing...)

"Being Quiet" vs. "Being Good"

I seem to have a difficult time deciding between if I want my kids to "be quiet" or to "be good" in the afternoons....  Is it too much to ask for both?  (rhetorical question)

I should've KNOWN there was a reason why I was having an uninterrupted phone conversation.  I thought that maybe all of my implorations to please-not-talk-to-me-on-the-phone-unless-there-is-an-emergency (the definition of emergency being blood or vomit) were finally paying off.  To the boys' credit, I did actually finish the conversation.  Also, miraculously, the scene of the crime was a tile floor, and not carpet.

Why, yes, that is a dis-assembled Hungry, Hungry Hippos game in his hand and in the background.  Apparently, the game was too large to fit in the makeshift "tub" in its entirety.

Why Big Sisters Are Awesome