Best $3 EVER

Who knew that a quick, unplanned $3 purchase could wield so much fun? Our bath bubbles/body wash for B are one in the same, so I decided to get just a bottle of bubbles for his bath.

Enter Curious George. :)


Who knew that at Target, they have Curious George bath bubbles, with CG himself on the top (he pops off the top of the lid), and upon opening the lid, you find a bubble WAND to blow bubbles. Well. Curious George + bath time + bubble wand = one very happy 2-yr-old. :)

By the time we got CG HOME from the store, he was begging, ABSOLUTELY BEGGING, to take a bath. "NO, B, we have to go to the park and get dirty FIRST so we can take a bath." [NOTE: Did you ever really think I'd tell my kid we had to go GET dirty?!?] Off we pranced to the park, then back again for George time.

"Brendan do dis. BRENDAN DO. BRENDAN'S TURN." Mind you, he blows bubbles, which equals wand smooshed up against baby lips. Yuck. Nevertheless ~ worse things have happened! The fun really began, though, when he decided he needed to give George a bath.

"Brendan's turn to wash George." After requesting bubbles for George, washcloth for George, etc., I told him George didn't need any more bubbles. "Umm, need some SHAMPOO!" crazy. How do you deny that request, pulled deep from his little 2-yr old brain?? :)

$3 for Curious George bubbles.
Smiles...priceless.

Fun w/ Arts & Crafts!

In one of Brendan's recent pieces of "Brendan's mail," the little magazine (BabyBug, I believe?) shows a colorful caterpillar that you can make from a cardboard egg carton. Upon first read (and every time thereafter), he has WANTED to make that caterpillar. BOY has he. So I finally got my act together to BUY eggs in a cardboard carton ;), get kid-friendly, washable paints (thank heaven!), and we found time this a.m. to sit outside and make the caterpillar. Easy enough, right??

WRONG.

Beautiful, sunshiny day. Don't underestimate the eagerness of a toddler, though, when going at it with paint brushes. I got these NIFTY new brushes that are chunky handles, and have the paint INSIDE the handle. Refillable, you squeeze the handle, and the paint comes out, into the brush. No more rinsing brushes, worrying about mixed colors so they're all mixed together and the color of poo, easy, individual brushes w/ easy-made paint! NOPE. Clearly, several years of advanced education weren't a necessity to make these darn brushes work. One had to unscrew the brush top, peel off a little seal, then rescrew brush before smooshing paint out. Of the 5 colors, only 2 were usable. Truly. I could open the yellow, but took me the entirety of the project to get the brush to screw back on. I got the red, but it didn't screw on perfectly, then I was unable to REMOVE it again, so it's cock-eyed at best, but it works. The other three, well, let's just say he "pretend painted" with them while alternating w/ the real thing. *sigh*

THEN, shall we mention how less-than-amused he was when he got paint on his hands, and would proceed to wipe anywhere and everywhere? Again, read, WASHABLE. Thankfully. Mind you, this was AFTER having him change his clothes into "messy" clothes, in preparation of this happening, which created a firestorm of hysterics like I NEVER anticipated. ;)

Ah well. We got 4 of 6 painted, he was covered in red & yellow, I was also covered, and three brushes sit untouched. Here's to starting arts & crafts escapades w/ a 2-yr old!! :)

Ladybugs, Caterpillars & Bugs, OH MY!

Patience is a virtue. Yesterday we were running around, supposedly going to the park, but he kept getting side-tracked, climbing on rocks, and finally I'd had enough. Just then, I spotted a lady bug. WELL, that translated into probably an hour of ladybug hunting in this green grassy patch, while the little voice in the back of my mind kept reminding me that dogs used this particular green grassy area (though large) as their toilet, it was poo-free, he was LOVING the creature exhibit, and there's always another reason to wash hands, right?! :) *sigh* SO, we ventured into the lands of bugs and beetles (well, lady beetles if Mom got her way ;)) and had a great time! Enjoy!

Lessons From a 2-Yr Old...

Don't have to work hard to learn from even the littlest souls. Today we were walking back from the park, and I pointed out these gorgeous wildflowers. I am partial to our desert wildflowers, but took a moment to reflect when my son, my very active, very busy son, wouldn't move (well, not 'til we got towards the end of the video, at which point I finally thought I'd catch the moment).

"Brendan sits and looks at flowers, Mama."

And he did.

Something to be said for simplicity, eh?

I heart poison control

Truly. I heart the voice on the other end of the line who answers when, in a moment of panic, I need someone to tell me that truly, my little man will be just fine.

Just Thursday, I believe it was, I called poison control for the third time in my son's two years.

First-ever call: "my son just got triple paste on his fingers when I was trying to change him and they went right into his mouth and it said if ingested call poison control so i am what do i do (breathe)???!" luckily, i've never been laughed at. the woman said he's consumed such a minor amount, he'd be fine. and he was.

Second-ever call, I was so overwhelmed w/ my multi-tasking life, I forgot that I had a pot of water (with his nebulizer mask) on the stove, and the water boiled away, and the medical thingy melted, leaving plastic fumes in the house. we threw open every window in the house (when it was maybe 40 degrees outside) i was neurotically paranoid we'd all die from poison gas in our sleep. i called again.

Thursday's, third-ever call, was actually FROM a public park. How many Mom's have actually called poison-control from a PARK? I did. Truly, the city planner/landscape architect who planned the park down the street from our house must have NEVER thought for a moment that small children might ACTUALLY be at a PARK. amazing concept. the playground equipment at the park is surrounded by oleanders. true fact that oleanders are NOT only poisonous to dogs, but to all mammals, including small, innocent children. when consumed, oleander leaves/flowers can cause death. hence our close shadowing of B as he loves to run in between these bushes. But on Thursday, he was picking the adorable little pink flowers, as these lovely bushes bloomed, and was telling his Mama that they were umbrellas. Mama looked up to see who was walking our direction, then looked down to see a saliva-covered hand, with a partial leaf of an oleander.

panic ensued.

Mama: "B, did you eat the flowers?"
B: "YES. SILLIEST THING I'VE EVER HEARD."
Mama: "B, it's NOT silly. DID or did you NOT eat the flower?"
B: "YES. SILLIEST thing i've EVER heard!!!!"

Looked in mouth. no apparent flower petals or paraphenalia. "YES" persisted, but my gut told me that he'd NOT eaten it (silliest thing he'd EVER heard), but how quickly can symptoms come on? how much do they have to eat?

1-800-222-1222, I believe...I believe this time, the woman DID tell me to take a deep breath, he'd be fine, he'd have to consume large amounts of flowers or leaves to be poisoned. Should I expect him to have ANY symptomology? NO, I was told. Give him a drink and just let him do his thing.

Needless to say, I placed the call to the City to complain after we'd THOUGHT about it so many times in the past...close calls NOT needed!

Hooray for poison control!