Tremblin' Toads

I don't know if they still do it, but at holidays Hallmark used to put out these animatronic stuffed animal type things that sang a song and danced when you pressed a button for $12.95 if you bought three greeting cards. My mother loves these things and never fails to get me one when they have a new one. Last year at Halloween they offered tremblin' toads, two little toads in a cauldron that sing and dance about the witch cooking them up for dinner. Owen LOVES it, and he likes to press the button and dance to the song. It's so cute that we had to take a video of it - but of course, the minute we got the phone out to record, he stopped. Just so you know, this happens all the time. I fully intend to capture a moment for posterity and then can't get him to do anything cute at all. However, we did get a reduced version of the song and dance, so here it is: and if he starts doing it later this evening the way he was doing it when we took it out of the box this afternoon, I'll post a new one.

Actual Conversation that Occured at 55 Cerdan Ave This Evening

Me: well, I guess I have to go to the grocery store tonight.

Andy: yeah?

Me: yeah, I looked in the fridge and the cabinets and we don't have much food. I have to pack Owen a lunch tomorrow and we don't have anything he likes to eat. And he's going to have to eat Wednesday and Thursday, too.

*pause*

Andy: yes, honey. he has to eat every day.

Me. I know. Parenting is so hard.

The word is out

I interrupt this blogging vacation to bring you this late-breaking news story.

It's a boy!

As we all were. See you in September :)

blogging vacation.

Does anyone actually check this to see if I've posted anything? well, if you do, you can quit for at least another week because I simply cannot get up the interest to do anything productive in August. August is pretty high up there on the list of things I hate (Sample list of things Jenny hates: 1) Christmas 2) August 3) The dentist 4) people who don't believe in global warming etc.) and I can't get motivated to take photos, write witty (to me, at least. witty to ME. you don't need to write me emails letting me know I'm not as funny as I think I am) recaps of Owen's adventures, or even subject the internet to my outraged liberal ranting. A couple years ago - ok, I just looked up the article and was astounded by the date on the byline...ALMOST TEN FREAKING YEARS AGO - I read a great article called "august - let's get rid of it" by David Plotz. I couldn't agree more. So, rather than waste time on my blog, I'll direct you over there, and as for team-cox.blogspot.com...we'll be back up and operational in September. Which is a great month, by the way.

August: let's get rid of it

Backyard Candids

In for it

Today I arrived at Owen's school to pick him up at 5. As is usual in the late afternoon, his class was playing outside on the playground. It took me awhile to see him at first - I was distracted by the knot of well behaved toddlers climbing up and sliding down the plastic dinosaur slide with one of the teachers' assistance. I spotted Owen finally, in the far corner of the playground playing by himself in what appeared to be a giant pile of mulch, supervised by one of the other teachers. I called "Owen!" and his little red head whipped around, and he came charging towards me grinning like a maniac. Friends, when I tell you this child was filthy, I mean I've rarely seen the likes. He had dirt clinging to his nostrils and in his hair, and his clothes were soaking wet to boot. I looked again at the other, notably non-disheveled kids, still playing near the slide. I looked back at my child, who I then noticed was not wearing the clothes I sent him to school in that morning. The teacher, in the meantime, had gathered up Owen's things for me and sheepishly handed me a plastic grocery bag along with his diaper bag. The contents of the plastic bag were an equally filthy set of clothing, the same he had worn in the door that morning. She said somewhat apologetically "well, when he wants to do something, we just can't stop him!"

I smiled, did the figurative equivalent of picking up my toddler between my thumb and forefinger, and cheerfully waved goodbye. I couldn't help thinking, however, "you just can't stop him? He's sixteen months old". I am in trouble. 

As we were leaving, the teacher continued to give us the report about his day. The last thing she said to me was "he ate a lot today! maybe he won't want his dinner. He had all his lunch, three big snacks and three glasses of milk". 

When we got home, he ate more than half a package of buitoni 4 cheese ravioli (that serves 3. adults.), a package of chocolate bunny grahams, a whole peach, and over a cup of milk. 

Summer Fun

We took Owen to the Blue Hills state park in Canton on Sunday. It's actually a really nice place to spend the day, because they have hiking trails, a huge playground, and a sandy beach with a swimming area. We didn't get too many photos, but some of the ones we did get are cute. You may notice that I am in none of them; this is intentional and will remain the case until roughly next February because I have a personal rule disallowing photographic evidence of me pregnant. (since approximately 5 people read this blog regularly and all already know I'm pregnant, I figure we can dispense with the big announcement.) Some women are all into documenting the growing belly; I personally like to maintain the illusion that I fit into my favorite pair of jeans at all times. Without evidence, you can prove nothing.

All right, well, I'm not sure what's going on, but blogger is for some reason giving me a very hard time about uploading photos tonight. So, while this post was largely going to just be photos from our day at the state park, that will have to wait. So I'll tell you a funny story instead. Today, I had to work all day (which is unusual for a wednesday). So Owen stayed at his school until 5 instead of noon, which is when I usually pick him up on Wednesdays. When we got home, the second we walked in the door Owen was in a state I'd never seen him before. He was screaming at the top of his lungs, hitting me, throwing himself on the floor, banging his head on the floor, running full on into walls, and I was freaking out. I seriously considered bringing him to the ER because I thought the circuits were misfiring in his brain. I kept trying to soothe him by picking him up, hugging him, speaking to him softly, but all I got was more screaming, flailing, and a bright red bite mark on my left arm that is still there as I type this. I had NO IDEA what the problem was. While I was looking for my phone to call Andy at work to tell him we were going to the hospital, Owen ran over to the fridge and started throwing himself against it. I thought - could he be hungry? He doesn't usually eat dinner until quarter to 6 or so, and it was only 5:10, and supposedly he gets a snack at school at 3:30....but I decided that before I showed up at Faulkner ED with a raging case of "crazy toddler" I'd try food first. Well, clearly, food was the problem. Or not the problem, the answer. Owen ate: Almost a full cup of cottage cheese, two doctor praegers spinach pancakes, an adult sized serving of cheerios with milk, 5 saltine crackers and (when andy got home) a full slice of pizza. I've never seen the kid eat so much. He was so hungry that he was using both hands to get cottage cheese and spinach pancake into his mouth at the same time. I have no idea what happened at school today. Every time we pick him up, we get a little report and Owen ALWAYS gets "ate all his lunch". He had a solid lunch today: A cheese sandwich, a banana, and a pack of Annie's bunny grahams. Plus, they give them the snack I mentioned earlier. So, maybe he hit a growth spurt? Maybe he didn't get his snack? Maybe he hid most of his lunch in his diaper? Who knows. All I know is that the kid had a full on low blood sugar episode. Note to self: In the future, keep a snack on you at all times. I shudder to think what would have happened if we had gone to run errands straight from school instead of going straight home!