Parenting with Denis Leary

Today I convinced Patrick that the television was rotting his brain.....

Patrick: Please Mom, please can I watch one more show?

Bad Mommy: Oh my goodness Patrick don't move! (Slowly creep over and stare intently into his ear.)
Oh no, just what I thought. (Pause Pause) Hmmm.

Patrick: What Mom!?

Bad Mommy: Yep, I see brains leaking out. The television is starting to rot your brain. We should turn it off huh?

Patrick: Um. Okay.

I kept catching him sticking his finger in his ear and examining it. Everything we did for the rest of the day was his effort to counteract the brain rotting. Do you think I've scarred him for life (again)?

Father's Day Kid Interview

There is a certain level of fun that is only achieved when Daddy is around.

I have a couple of very lucky kids, they have a really great dad. Yesterday Patrick proudly told our neighbors that his dad is the boss of our house. True.

Happy Father's Day, I love you.

Kid Interview : Patrick 4 ½

1. What is something Dad always says to you?

When I come downstairs and I say to him do you want to play Legos with me sometimes he says no or yes.

2. What makes Dad happy?
When I be a good boy for him

3. What makes Daddy sad?
That I be mean to him.

4. How does your dad make you laugh?
When he tickles me when we wrestle.

5. What was your dad like as a child?
Being good boy all the time.


6. How old is your dad?
20

7. How tall is your dad?
20 pounds

8. What is his favorite thing to do?
Making trucks with me out of little legos.

9. What does your dad do when you're not around?
He studies and works

10. If your dad becomes famous, what will it be for?
What does that mean?

11. What is your dad really good at?
Making wheels for my biggest truck.

12. What is your dad not very good at?
Making little trucks because there are not enough little legos.

13. What does your dad do for his job?
To take bad guys to jail.

14. What is your dad's favorite food?
Pizza

15. What makes you proud of your dad?
Doing all the stuff he wants to do for me.

16. If your dad were a cartoon character, who would he be?
Batman

17. What do you and your dad do together?
Play legos

18. How are you and your dad the same?
Because we a little bit have the same hair

19. How are you and your dad different?
Because we have different skin.

20. How do you know your dad loves you?
Because he makes me proud of him and I think in my brain I always love him.

21. What does your dad like most about your mom?
She’s a good chef.

22. Where is your dad's favorite place to go?
Disneyland

Frugal Friday: Tanky Tanky Top

Is anyone else appalled by the price and quality of kids clothes? I am particularly disappointed by the stores (target, i'm looking at you) that try to charge $15 for polyester pajamas (that's 100% pure man made polyester).

Instead, my boys rock the (100% cotton) plain white tank top (sometimes white tee) and undies/diaper every night. Walmart has five Hanes tank tops and five pairs of briefs (although Patrick prefers Hanes comfort waistband boxer briefs) for the same price as ONE PJ set ($15).

Double bonus, the boys love to wear these tank tops to play outside, eat popsicles and all of those messy boy activities that stain $22.50 shirts (times two). And really, don't they look so cute in their W.B.'s?


Word of advice, the Hanes brand has a hem on the bottom, the Fruit of the Loom brand doesn't. We have several Fruits and they haven't frayed, I just get annoyed by the look and the Fruit runs pretty small. It doesn't contain Keith's pot belly.

Triple bonus, I didn't leave you out girls. Old Navy is having a tank top deal this weekend. $2 tanks! Saturday June 20th only. Have at it!

Too Cool For Preschool!

Tonight I was sitting in the family room watching Patrick get something off the counter in the kitchen. I was so shocked by his height in relationship to said counter, I just couldn't wrap my head around it. I deducted that he MUST be standing on a step stool. Oh wait, he's actually that tall. Whoa!

This evening Patrick had his Preschool Promotion Ceremony. If I had two pieces of bread I would have had a ham and cheese sandwich. Our kid's performance was absolutely priceless. Just as a reminder, to describe his first performance in December 2007 as a "performance" would be (very) generous. Not only did he not sing, he was trying to hide behind the kid next to him. And then there was there was the Bribery Performance . So today's performance was memorable.

Behold the Chicken Dance! He started out pretty good.


And then he started getting into it.


And then the freestyle.


To sum it up, Patrick has grown so much over the last two years of preschool. I am absolutely amazed. He's ready for kindergarten, counting down the days until it is a school day again. In the meantime, we'll work on refining the rough edges this summer.
Did you notice that he was wearing his shorts backwards? Yeah, me neither.

Why I do what I do.

A little slice of heaven, children engaged, confident, expressing themselves..... Pay particular attention to the boys, FIFTH GRADE BOYS. The boy in the white t-shirt behind the soloist is my fav.

These kids have been all over the place. You can also see Nightline's story here.

PS 22 Choir also has a blog.

A nice reminder.

This is the Lunchables countdown

I don't know what it is about Lunchables, I just say "No." Patrick asks again and I say "no" again. Well, maybe I do know....

1) They are nasty. I can't get away from my memories of eating them as a child (meat isn't supposed to have holes like that). They were nasty and processed when I was growing up and they are still chock full of artificial ingredients, not to mention more sugar and salt than my kid needs.

2) I enjoy MAKING lunch, it is a trapping of Motherhood and I like it. When Patrick started preschool, packing his lunch was a novelty for me. Partly because it symbolized a milestone and partly because it was part of my mommy routine.

3) They are kind of expensive. If I am going to spend extra money on food I am going to buy filet mignon, sushi, shrimp, artichokes, pomegranates, and other Patrick delicacies. I don't know how much a Mommy Made Lunch costs but I am sure it is cheaper than a Lunchable.

The Lunchable argument wasn't a problem for a long time because my son's freak flag proudly displays a huge piece of cheese with a big "X" through it. And he definitely is not going to eat processed cheese, Brie YES, cheese product NO. Enter peer influence...
And my dad. Okay, so my dad didn't buy my son his first Lunchable, I did, but he is still part of this story. I bribed Patrick with a Lunchable several months ago. I don't remember the context of the bribe but I do remember that he chose Pepperoni Pizza Lunchables (with the Star Wars Clone Wars cross advertising, can't help but appreciate that!).

My dad called me (at the behest of my mom) one night prior to taking on the care of my two boys for a few days.
DAD: "I went to the grocery store in preparation for the boys' visit. I got some things and I need to know if it is okay for the boys to eat it."
Me: What did you get?
DAD: "Well.... let's see, I picked up some Jello."
Me: Jello Pudding or Jello gelatin?
Kevin starts his Bill Cosby Jello Pudding act
DAD: Yes, pudding and I also bought OREOs. Can they eat Oreos?
Me: Yes, that's all fine in moderation.

And then at some point he bought Patrick a Lunchable. I am assuming the little barrister made a compelling argument and pinky promises galore to get the Pizza Lunchable. Then there was something about it being put in the freezer on accident, I wouldn't let Patrick take it when we left so my dad hand-delivered it. And then the Lunchable sat in the refrigerator for 3 whole days as Patrick counted down the days until it was a school-day again and he could take his Lunchable.

That was just a couple of weeks ago and Patrick has been begging for another Lunchable ever since. I finally gave in and bought him THREE (yes, three) lunchables to close out his last three days of Preschool. If one was to visit his first Preschool lunch the comparison would be startling. Gone are the baby carrots, fresh berries, water and baked chips (if you're lucky). This lunch is MAXED OUT, man. Rockstars eat Lunchables right?

Say what?

Keith is talking a lot these days. Grandma Carolyn says he's a very good conversationalist. I understand about 37% of what he is saying and infer the rest.

This morning I spent 30 minutes trying to figure out why he was asking for batteries for his Tech Deck. Even Patrick (the resident translator) thought he was talking about batteries. BAH-BE! BAH-BE!

Eventually we figured it out, he wanted to watch his favorite Food Network star: Bobby Flay. Right now he's parked in his laundry basket (with Baby, Baa Baa, Bunny Bear and a silky) waiting out the Barefoot Contessa for promises of BOBBY (add a little jig).

I guess you don't know

It is official,
May is over. Phew. I made it... barely, just barely.
Unfortunately, the May residuals are spilling over to June. The first week of June was crazy with a side of fries. I am still holding out hope for a great relaxing summer, by great I mean not driving to Sacramento every week.

So here's May of the 2009 persuasion.....

Surprise! We're going to Disneyland!We started the month out right with a trip to the Happiest Place on Earth. Pop-Pop and Grandma Callahan came along too. It was their first trip in over 20 years!


Have you ever seen Mickey Mouse manhandle a kid before? Yeah, me neither. Keith was star-struck. He couldn't take his eyes off of Mickey so Mickey helped us get a picture of Keith's face. Patrick enjoys Mickey's company. He isn't wild about any of the other characters. I'm not real fond of the characters myself. I had a strange run in with Chip or Dale at a character breakfast and since then I try to steer clear.

Patrick's favorite ride was the Nemo ride. We all thought this was interesting since he covered his eyes for most of it and argued with me for two days about whether or not the fish were real. When we got home I was catching up on my favorite show Grey's Anatomy and thinking about how it is my favorite show as I covered my eyes!

Keith loved absolutely everything, he's going to be my roller coaster partner in a few inches. I could have stayed all week.


Enough About You
Mother's Day was a nice quiet day, save the self-centered demands (Patrick's not mine). As I opened my presents he inquired: So when is it going to be Brother's Day? To which I replied, "Every day is Brother's Day and you just got back from the Brother's Day vacation in Disneyland! When is it NOT Brother's Day!!!"

Pinky Promise
In celebration of Brother's Day.





He's through with standing in line to clubs he'll never get in
You can tell because he spent 12 minutes locked in the bathroom getting his hair to stick up. And then he comes out proclaiming that he is a rock-star with rock-star hair.
Baby Keith
Every time Keith sees a picture of himself as a baby, he proudly exclaims: BABY! I know, not ground-breaking news. Every time Keith sees a picture of himself, present day, he proudly exclaims: BABY! Generally, he thinks he is 6 years old. But then he has his little moments that average him out to 16 months.
So to counteract his Baby Blues, we bought him a potty. It is just a game right now. Soon we will have to get serious.

What he really needs now is a new bed. Remember, he learned how to climb INTO the crib. Well, now he knows how to climb OUT of the crib. He doesn't make noise in the morning for us to come get him anymore, he just climbs out. Hopefully his big boy room will be done in a couple of weeks or months.

That's MR. Orange-Belt-With-A-White-Stripe to You!
Patrick had karate testing this month and he did great. His intensity is unrivaled, that's for sure.