Success!

He is potty trained!  Destructo-boy that is, Mister Vonkysmeed came to me that way.  It was so much easier this time around than it was with Lil' Miss.  Maybe because I learned that pushing ended disastrously with her so I backed off this time and let the boy take the lead.  I showed him what to do, set up a sticker reward system and then let him have at it.

Don't get me wrong, there were quite a few mistakes made along the way, on both sides, but after 8 weeks he is going days at a time with no accidents, it has been a few weeks since his last oops.  I think the last one was when he was away from home and didn't know where the potty was, can't really blame him too much on that one.  Amazingly enough he is usually waking up dry too and it took the girl well over a year to be trained at night after we started her potty training.  Although on those nights he falls asleep early and we don't bother to put on the night time diaper are of course the nights he wets himself.

He was so excited to pick out his new underpants choosing Toy Story and Cars 2 when I laid them all out for him.  Then he wanted to show them off, to the point that he dropped his pants in the quad of Lil' Misses school to show them to a neighbor.  I haven't laughed that hard in awhile!  Now that he has been wearing them for a few days he isn't dropping his pants to show them all the time, but he is getting particular about which one he wears on a given day.

Next I'll let Mister Vonkysmeed demonstrate how big boys pee in the potty (I don't really have the equipment to do that for the boy!), I see Cheerios kept in a bowl in the bathroom in our near future.

Potty Training, mark 2

Good God, I have to do this again!  I don't know who was unhappier with it last time, me or Lil' Miss?!  Neither one of us like it and I gave up for a bit before starting again and letting her take the lead, that worked much better.  Now it is time for Destructo Boy to give up the diapers.  I hope we both survive!

Yes, I do realize I am starting this WAY later than most people would, but I didn't want to turn it into a huge fight and he just didn't seem ready.  I say this because he is already 3 and I know many people think I am way late on starting this.  In my defense he was a late talker and had no interest whatsoever in the potty.  Now he is very interested and I am hopeful the whole process will go quickly and smoothly!

We just started this week but he seems to like the potty chart so far, there is just something about kids and stickers.  For our potty chart Lil' Miss and I decorated a half sheet of poster board with diecuts made with my handy dandy Slice leaving a space in the center for an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper where we will actually keep track of the pottying.  For the 8.5 x 11 paper I just used an Excel spreadsheet to create columns for the days of the week and a marked starting line at the bottom of the page.  Every time he sits he gets to put a sticker on that day regardless of whether anything came out or not (right now we are encouraging the habit of sitting on the toilet, I don't care if it is successful or not).  And yes, I did just tape it to the back of the bathroom door with packing tape, I am so uncreative with my hanging of the actual chart!

Next we need to go to the store to get the inspirational potty training underpants, I am not talking about Pull- Ups, I hate those things (glorified diapers that are impossible to get off without making a huge mess!), but rather about the cloth ones most often sold by Gerber.  It seems like the Pull-Ups style pants are just too much like diapers and keep the kids too dry but regular undies are so thin that if when an accident happens everything gets wet.  The nice thick cloth ones are  a nice happy medium for our family, now just to find the blasted things!  They do seem to be nearly impossible to locate in local stores, which I kind of wanted to do for Destructo to get to carry them to the checkout and be able to understand what a big boy he is.  Maybe we'll get lucky at our next Target trip!

Digger is complete!

Sorry for the prolonged silence!  Somehow time just got away with me, I have been knitting but since many of the projects are intended as gifts, well, I just can't discuss them here.  I can tell you all about the latest project for Destructo though, I am quite proud of it.

This jacket took a really long time considering the size but I kept stopping as it made me nervous.  You know how it is, the knitting project is scary so set it aside for awhile as you work on something you have far more confidence in yourself  at making and then get back to it on a particularly good day self-confidence wise (is that even a proper word?).  There were a couple of new techniques in this project for me, of course the intarsia but also sewing in a zipper, yikes!

Destructo-boy seems to love it and I am pretty happy with it myself so it was well worth all the trouble.  For the zipper I first tried to hand sew it in but was not keeping even tension on the knit fabric so it was bunching up kind of funny.  Since I just wasn't happy with that I ripped out the seam and re-pinned the whole zipper so I could make an attempt with my machine.

Ah, the magic of a walking foot!  I went really slowly and carefully as I sewed with the machine and it did a much better job than I did by hand.  All I had to do was whip stitch the floppy edge of the zipper tape down and fold down the upper cut off edged of the zipper tape.  I think it came out beautifully if I do say so myself!  It was just a little strange to sew on a zipper without the zipper foot on the machine.

Another obstacle were all the ends to weave in, even with doing a Russian join at each color change on the striping part of the jacket there were still floppy ends that needed to be woven it.  Well, I suppose I could have just trimmed them but I thought they would look better woven in farther away from the edge of the jacket.

I must say I think it is awesome of the company to provide the pattern at no charge upon request, you don't often find companies willing to do such a thing.

Digger progressing, slowly

I am loving this jacket, it just seems to be taking awhile to finish up.  I suppose the fact that I am into endless stripes up the shoulders and into the hood doesn't help with the boredom!  Destructo-Boy certainly loves it, every time he sees it while I am knitting it he pets it and asks if it is for him, too cute!

I won't lie, the intarsia was very intimidating but once I got started on it I could begin to see the sense in it.  I still feel a little rough on what to do when switching colors, like how much tension to use.  However, since it hasn't fallen apart I will assume I did it correctly if not perfectly.  For the lettering I used the stranded technique rather than intarsia and it seemed to come out pretty good, no puckering on that part.  I kind of mixed the two techniques on the construction vehicles and that may be part of the issue with the puckering.  Not sure, but I will definitely do this technique again and maybe not mix them up to see if it looks better that way.

Another new technique for me on this project will be the zipper, I have never installed one on a knitted project before.  There is some sort of fancy way of doing it I have read notes about that involves putting holes in the zipper prior to knitting it into the garment.  I'll figure it out when I get there I suppose!

Surviving

That about sums up what I am doing right now when it comes to these kids.  I cannot even begin to count the number of arguments I had to break up yesterday.  With Lil' Miss being in school all day and therefore getting a break from Destructo Boy every day I kind of forgot how they often don't get along.

So I am really trying my hardest to not completely lose it and grab their little heads to bang together.  I think we may end up taking daily walks to get some of their energy out and just to give them a view other than the house.  Having said that I should note it's not like we sit all day around the house!  I try to make sure we get out of the house at least once a day, if not to a summer class for one of the kids than on an errand or at least to the park.  Even with an outing they still seem to get rather sick of each other pretty quick and end up in some form of an argument, and I only have so much patience for breaking up these daily fights.

One of my tricks to get a little break is to have them watch a movie in their room (yes, I am one of those bad mom's who put a tv in her kids room but at least they don't get cable in there!) while I get to do whatever I want in another room, usually watching a non-child friendly movie myself.  Even with that they have still been arguing, over who is on who's bed, over being hit either on purpose or accidentally, it never seems to end.  So for now I feel like I am just surviving while I figure out how to keep them happy and busy but not fighting constantly this summer.

Destructo TALKS!

Finally, he is starting to talk to us!  And now that he is started it's becoming a little flood of communication.  It seems like every day a new word pops up, or words are being used together that never were in the past.  Both of us seem to be feeling much better with the new communication being used.

The past few months have been, in a word, difficult.  I found myself wondering why Mister Vonkysmeed and I decided to have another child, I mean Lil' Miss was never this difficult, was she?  Then all of a sudden about a few weeks ago the boy started using new words, daily, sometimes several words in a day.  And he continues to use them which is the biggest step forward.  Don't get me wrong, we don't have many sentences yet, but he does seem to have finally grasped the notion that if he uses a culturally agreed upon word for something he will get results.  Although we sometimes get the most interesting Destructo-Boy interpretation of a word that takes several times to decipher, that is if we are able to at all.  My personal favorite is when he brings a book to someone and says "TO" most urgently.  Um, run that by me again?  He hasn't quite figured out that the operative word in "read to me please" is not 'to' but 'read', but it is awfully cute!

Most of the time the new communication is working just fine, sometimes not so much when he is trying to desperately say something and for the life of me I can't figure it out.  Then the tears start and the volume increases, just fun all around (yes, he cries too).  I must say it is so much easier to handle a child who is willing to communicate with us instead of the grunting and pointing nonsense that has been going on (I think I am really lucky to be alive since I was a grunter/pointer until almost 3 years old, thank goodness the boy isn't taking after his mommy!).  Now that we have started to communicate we can begin to think about the next big step, shudder, potty-training!

Wednesday is for kids

At least in our house it is!  We have allowed Lil' Miss to choose the dinner menu for a few months now, within reason of course.  Her favorite so far has been fish of some variety, usually catfish (a five year old choosing fish, weird I know!) with rice and broccoli, interspersed with the request for my made from scratch mac and cheese.  At some point I will hand over the dinner preparation to her to help her with learning to plan and prepare meals.  Of course she will have to share the choosing with Destructo Boy once he gets a bit older and more verbal.

With the new year we have also added in games after dinner, after everyone is finished eating we all sit down and play games or puzzles together.  Lil' Miss has been loving this new part of our routine and gets so excited when I tell her it's tie to go pick out a game to play.  Mister Vonkysmeed is usually less than enthused with the choices (I'm not exactly doing backflips over them either to tell the truth) but she is only 5, so the games are of necessity a little on the simple side.  Think Candyland, Chutes & Ladders, Hi Ho Cherry-O and youget the idea.  Maybe some nights we'll turn to the Wii for something a little different. She is learning to handle disappointment with this though, not an easy thing for a 5 year old.  Some nights are a little rougher than others but it's getting better.

My hope is that by establishing a family routine now, when they get older the kids will still want to spend time with us old fogies, and it gives wonderful opportunities for open and honest communication with each other.  I know that if I blink too long they will be all grown up and out of the house so I've got to enjoy my little anklebiters in all their frustration causing glory now!

ees boke

some handy sign language in use

He Talks!  Well, kind of.  When a toy isn't working as expected, has another toy crammed into it, or just isn't doing what he wants Destructo-boy walks up to me (usually stomping on my feet in the most painful manner possible) and presents me with the toy stating "Boke!" or occasionally "Ees boke!"  Another common word is "Wah" meaning water which would be our cue to go get him a sippy cup.  We are also starting to say something resembling truck which are one of his favorite things right now (boy does this kid love trash day with trash, green waste and recycling designated trash trucks rumbling through the neighborhood!).

It is no less frustrating to communicate with the boy, he understands most of what we say to him and I know he is capable of speech now that he has said a few words.  He has decided however to use grunting and pointing most of the time, he will say a word and then not repeat it for weeks.  "Boke" and "Wah" seem to be the exceptions which he usually uses at least once a day.  Thankfully we also finally got him to use at least one sign language sign, putting his hand to his mouth to indicate being hungry.  This has certainly helped with some of the crying (yes, some of mine too!) around here.

At least I know for sure he is capable of speech, he is just stubborn about using it.  Although I have a sinking feeling once he starts talking he is not going to stop!

Trains, trains, trains

Lil' Misses latest setup, pretty good for a 5 year old!

 It was Christmas of the year 2007 that we were introduced to GeoTrax.  From cruising around the 'net I quickly realized that these toys can become an addiction (well at least more for the parents if not the kids!).  I think everyone bought a little something for Lil' Miss that year to add to the GeoTrax set, this happened even though she didn't quite "get" what to do with it all and certainly couldn't build herself a track yet!  So, in spite of the somewhat uncomprehending 2 year old, the collection grew exponentially at first (mommy & daddy needed all those extras to build an interesting track!) with extra track packs, bridges, and assorted buildings.  She did however rather quickly understand that the controller for the R/C train was important (still didn't know exactly what to do with it) and refused to give it up.  So what did Mister Vonkysmeed do?  If you guessed he went out and bought another R/C train for his own use, give the lady a prize, you're a winner!

We are not lucky enough to have a basement, finished or not, as they do in other parts of the country in which to put a playroom for the kids.  We also have a fairly small home (Destructo-boy & Lil' Miss currently share a room, sorry kids but the planned addition will cost about 200K, gotta wait a few more years!) so our family room where the tv and my laptop reside also house most of the toys.  Of course, fairly quickly the family room was being completely taken over by train tracks.  We adults were getting ambitious with our constructions and every time someone wanted to sit down on a couch they quite literally had to step over various parts of the layout to get there.  So I decided that the trains did not need to be out all of the time.  But what to do with all those trains?  Target (pronounce it tar-jhey so it feels fancier somehow) gave me my affordable solution of two Rubbermaid plastic totes.  They fit ever so nicely behind the end table out of sight, keeping me happy and all the parts together when not in use.

Enter child #2 to the trains and what first started as a spot on imitation of Stitch in the "Ooh, SanFrancisco!" scene starring Destructo-boy as Stitch, has evolved into more interest in actually playing with the trains instead of tearing the tracks apart and flinging them all over the family room (yes, this resulted in Lil' Miss screaming and crying trying desperately to both stop him from pulling up more tracks and recover the pieces already flung across the room which would've been much funnier if I didn't have to physically pull them apart).  He is finally starting to 'get' how to use the trains on the tracks, placing them correctly and running them back and forth with his little hands, he even got an R/C train of his very own this past Christmas.

 I love to watch them when Lil' Miss is using the R/C train and Destructo-boy is madly running back and forth to keep up with the trains progress, squealing all the while, jumping up and down, pointing and yelling "Ack-Ack" (didn't know he had watched Tim Burton's Mars Attacks!).  They have gotten a whole room of adults to sit watching them play with the trains this way, quite entertaining (or are we just easily amused, hmmm).  He is absolutely fascinated with watching it go round and round, particularly when the track has been set up with lots of elevation changes, a roller coaster track as Lil' Miss calls it.  I love it when a toy entertains the children and adult equally, talk about value for the money!

First of Many ER Visits...

Destructo-boy fell today, prompting my very first 911 call, and my first trip to the emergency room.  We always knew he would be the one of our kids to go there first being the Dangermouse that he is, I just wasn't expecting it this soon, and while Mister Vonkysmeed was away for the weekend too (although I should have known to be on high alert because things always happen that way don't they!).  What started as a nice little photo shoot with the kids to update my Ravelry projects page turned into a screaming bloody mess. 

See, all I wanted were some pictures of my handknits actually being worn, so I got the kids dressed up all nice, grabbed my camera and started shooting.  Destructo-boy started getting all giggly, spinning in circles to make himself dizzy and ended up falling against the back of the couch.  Now mind you, this is an upholstered couch with the frame well hidden under fabric, who knew the back of a couch was dangerous?  He immediately started crying and I scooped him up as the hit was quite audible, then when the screaming became frantic I got my first good look...I swear it looked like he was crying blood (has someone been reading trashy vampire novels?).  I guess faces bleed heavily as his previous bad injury was tearing the upper labial frenulum (the piece of skin holding the upper lip to the gum) when Lil' Miss knocked him down last year, and boy did that bleed!  No need for an er visit that day, a quick call to the pediatrician reassured me there was nothing they could do for that one. 

But this one. well as I couldn't tell how bad the damage was, and my brain was screaming 'BLOOD!  Blood, blood, blood!' combined with a fear that his eye might be involved I grabbed a towel to hold pressure on the wound and then the phone.  Do you have any clue how hard it is to hear a 911 operator whilst holding a shrieking child?  Yeah, it's hard.  She kept yelling at me and I couldn't hear much of it, until I managed to locate a pacifier, then sudden quiet.  I suddenly realized it wasn't nearly as bad as I feared if he calmed down with just the binky.  But I needed someone to look at it before I was willing to transport him, I'd rather be safe than sorry with my kids! 

Lil' Miss was very excited when the firetruck pulled up in front of the house, I was just glad to have someone to look at it.  By then the bleeding had mostly stopped and they advised me to get him to the hospital for some stitches, but put on some steri-strips to hold it together until we got there.  And once there, well, we waited for awhile, and then we waited some more.  Did I mention I hate waiting?  Of course when they were ready to see him he had just fallen asleep in my arms, figures. 

For the examination and the eventual glueing procedure they swaddled him, mind you this kid didn't really like to be swaddled as an infant so he really wasn't having any of it now (especially not while being held on his back on top of me, who was also holding his legs in between mine, boy can that kid struggle!).  I thought he was loud before but this volume was pretty hairy!  So, they superglued it shut, as it turns out the cut was too shallow for stitches but too deep to be left as is, so glue to the rescue!  Along with some more steri-strips to hold it all together.  I just hope it doesn't scar too badly, I think hoping for no scar is a bit much, let's just keep it small okay powers that be?  And no more ER visits for awhile too, I don't think my heart can take another one too soon!

FO: Tomten

My very first EZ (for the uninitiated this is an abbreviation for Elizabeth Zimmermann, a very famous knitter and writer about knitting) pattern is this Tomten jacket for Destructo boy.  It was both easy and difficult for me.  The easy part was the stitch pattern, I mean, what's easier than garter stitch?  Having to figure out my own stitch counts based on my gauge and deciding how many ridges to do, well, that was more difficult for me.  I am used to using patterns which practically hold your hand whilst you knit so having to figure it out for myself was terrifying (you could say I am a bit insecure about my own design abilities!).

It took quite awhile for me to get started, I was literally staring at the web for hours, perusing all the projects on Raverly and looking all over the web for sizing guidelines before I finally cast on, about 6 hours later (yes, it really took me that long to work up the gumption to just do it).  I really wish it didn't take me so long to actually get projects started but it often does, remember my battle with the socks?  Once I got it started it moved pretty quickly though taking only 3 weeks to finish, for me that's pretty good as I usually have 3 projects going and of course am often busy keeping the little ankle biters mollified.  Of course I had to restart the hood 3 times as the armholes were too deep and it took a couple of tries to get it right.  Let me say this, attempting to fit a sweater in progress on the 5 year old is difficult enough, on the almost 2 year old it is nigh impossible!

Once I got the hood done I looked at my radically diminished ball of oats colored yarn and said a little prayer that I would actually have enough to finish the sleeves.  This is where my recently purchased scale came in really handy!  Mister Vonkysmeed thought I was silly, but hey, I wanted my sleeves even so the scale helped my figure out how much was left and then helped my to calculate how many ridges I could get out of it by multiple weighings (I was weighing after almost every ridge, overkill? maybe).  In the end it came out just fine, if a bit slim on the oat color, oh well it's probably better to have lots of a darker color on the sleeve hem to hide all the inevitable dirt and food stains that will happen with this sweater.

Can you believe those buttons I found?!  They seem like they were made to go with this sweater, I almost squealed out loud in JoAnn's when I spotted them, the boy sure did when I handed them to him to hold until we checked out (he squealed a little differently when I had to pry them out of his hands to be rung up though).  Once I got the buttons and loops on I tried the sweater on Destructo-boy and he would not take it off.  He even yanked on the hood until I helped him get it up and wore his new tomten for the next 2 days straight, mind, I hadn't even had a chance to wash it yet!  It is terribly nice though to have my work appreciated, so much nicer than all the sob story postings on Ravelry about gifted sweaters ending cut up in dog bed.  Best of all, it fits the boy well now, and he still has some room to grow.  Hopefully we will get another two years of wear out of this sucker before I need to make him a replacement (unless he wears it out first!).

Tomten specs:

Used pattern recipe from Knitting Without Tears, Elizabeth Zimmermann

needle:  US 7

yarn:  Berocco Vintage in the oats, dungaree, and fennel colorways

details:  

• cast on 120 stitches
• worked for 30 rows before beginning hood
• made 9 increases on hood which is 44 ridges total
• for sleeves after 20 ridges changed decreases to every 5th ridge rather than every 4th
• 65 ridges total on sleeves
• 3 stitch applied i-cord all around opening, also used i-cord for button loops

Talk to me already!

Destructo-boy won't talk, or can't, not really sure which.  Maybe he just isn't being given enough impetus to need to talk since pointing and going 'uh, uh!' seems to be working just fine.  Well, it works fine for him at least, I for one am getting heartily tired of it.  It just gets so frustrating, I know he wants something but he won't say what it is that he wants, we have to play an elaborate game of Charades to figure out his wants and needs half the time.

He is going to be two in October so he should have started saying some words by now, and we know he is capable of speech as he occasionally will let loose a single word never to be spoken again, no matter how much he is prompted.  Unfortunately if my history is anything to go by we may be in for a bit of a wait before he start to talk to us.  Apparently I was almost 3 before I started to talk, I also did the grunting and pointing thing for quite awhile myself (sorry Momster!).  That said, once I started talking it was in full and complete sentences, my first being "Jennifer get in the backseat of the car!" (apparently my cousin really didn't want to sit in the back and both my aunt and the Momster were instructing her to do so when I piped in). 

Lil' Miss tries to help translate his grunting, maybe another reason he really doesn't make much of an effort at human speech.  Oh, and the topper was this morning, his talking dog toy, Scout, (which we normally lurve by the way) was singing some stupid song and sang 'dog', so what did the boy do, he said 'dog' back to the damn toy, clear as a bell.  He talks to the bloody damn dog toy but won't talk to me!  Do you begin to sense my frustration level here!!!  All I can do is hope that he starts talking soon, I mean, he'll be talking by the time he needs to start preschool, right?!  Right?

Cuddling with such sweet sorrow

I love cuddling with my kids, doesn't matter to me which one it is, either will do just fine by me.  I know the days are limited when my little ones will want to be held in my arms, so I try to remind myself to enjoy this too brief period of time while I can.  Some days it's hard to remember with that pile of laundry to do, furniture to dust, projects to finish, etc.

Lil' Miss is the far more cuddly of the two, willing to lie with myself or Mister Vonkysmeed for long stretches at a time (especially in her 'nest' between our legs and the back of the couch when we are stretched out in full relaxation mode).  She was always like this though, even as little baby she was perfectly happy to snuggle in with her favorite people, especially when a book was involved!

On the other hand, Destructo-Boy is not quite so willing.  Oh, he enjoys coming up and placing his head on a knee, arm, hand, whatever he can get to in order to show his affection (what's up with that? is he part tomcat?!) but he is a little mover and shaker never staying still for very long.  No sooner will he climb up on my lap then he wriggles off to go race away and get into something that he probably isn't supposed to be into. 

Which makes it all the more bittersweet with him being sick this past weekend.  When he gets sick his preferences change entirely, wanting to be cuddled by someone all the time.  He is rather particular on who that someone is too, if you are the chosen person forget about it if you are trying to knit or read or anything besides holding him!  Destructo will stand at your knee and cry pitifully (and there is nothing quite as pitiful as a tow-headed 20 month old with a fever) until you put down your distraction and snuggle him.  Both Mister Vonkysmeed and I have commented to each other during his illness that we missed being able to cuddle him as we used to (when he wasn't mobile and couldn't escape from us).  Although I'm not happy that he's sick, I will admit to relishing being able to cuddle our beloved little boy.  Gotta grab those opportunities while you can, for all too soon they will be gone.

Shoes, shoes, shoes!

Shoe obsessed?  Not me, just the rest of my family.  Don't get me wrong, I can admire a beautiful pair of shoes almost as much as the next girl, but comfort overrules fashion and I cannot stomach the thought of dropping a whole paycheck on one pair.  When it comes to my shoes I love my slides and prefer flats over heels, although I still have a collection of heels from my working days but rarely wear them.  I prefer running around barefoot the majority of the time, this is So Cal after all!  The rest of the family however, well, they love shoes enough to make up for me.

Mister Vonkysmeed seems to always be buying new shoes although some of that may be due to the fact that he is incredibly tough on them.  He does have quite a bit more pairs than I do and I am constantly tripping over a variety of shoes that have been left out.  Once they are all worn out and tired looking it is like pulling teeth to get him to part with them.  Often they go to the garage to serve as footgear whilst doing home or car repair before finally making their way to the landfill in the sky.  I honestly don't understand the attachment!  The Momster-in-Law told me a story once about a certain pair of red high heels of hers that he loved so much he hid them in his hamper, repeatedly.  Fortunately for me he seems to have outgrown this  particular attraction to women's shoes!

Our Lil' Miss and Destructo-boy take after their daddy in this regard, both are just as crazy about shoes as he is.  Lil' Miss loves to pick out her shoes each day, often making the most imaginative sock/shoe/clothing combinations (I swear that kid is a walking rainbow of clashing shades some days!).  And boy does she love to shop for shoes!  It started pretty young, around 18 months if I had to guess, whenever we went out to get her new shoes we had to leave the new pair on her feet or else she would protest loudly at their removal, just let it be, after all they were being purchased for her!  Nowadays the crying has given way to whining, especially when we decide against a pair of shoes.  Now if I could just get her to take better care of the shoes she has as she is almost as tough on them as her daddy!  Destructo-boy, well, he is another story altogether...

If you make the mistake of entering our home and removing your shoes don't expect them to be there when you go to leave.  Destructo-boy loves shoes, all kinds of shoes be they big, little, men's, women's it doesn't matter to my boy.  He'll put them on wherever he finds them and then go running waddling off with them barely on his feet.  Both Lil' Miss and I have to remember to always close our closet doors or else return to find our shoes scattered all over the house;  although it seems to be more of a problem with hers than with mine, especially the silver sparkly ones she wore for the holidays.  I can always hear when I have forgotten to close my closet door as click-clack he goes down the hall of wood flooring on a raised foundation in his latest high heeled capture! (and I thought a herd of elephants was loud, my kids put them to shame with their racket from running up and down the hall!)  I don't know what we'll do when he discovers that Mister Vonkysmeed stores his ever growing collection under the bed within easy reach, I guess we'll have to be even more careful about keeping the bedroom door closed.

Although I prefer barefoot to shoes, maybe once I overcome my phobia and start knitting socks I'll change my mind (those teeny tiny needles and fine weight yarns are scary!).  Lil' Miss has already put in her request for me to make some handknit socks for her.  I'll have to get started on some for her soon and perhaps then I'll want to make some for myself.  I can see it now, an array of rainbow hued handknit sockies for me to slip on before I put on my slippers or my slides.  Ooh, then I'll need to buy myself some new shoes to show off the handknit socks!

Snips & Snails

and thermonuclear weapons of mass destruction, that's what Destructo-boy is made of!

I am learning that boys are very different than girls, not just that a second child is different than the first, but he is a BOY and that makes a huge difference.  Destructo-boy is nicknamed that for a reason, wherever he goes it looks like a tornado has ripped through the area.  Don't get me wrong, Lil' Miss has had her own trail of devastation over the years, the eaten and shorted out phones top my mental list (yes, that is phoneS, as in more than one!) but she has been nowhere near as bad on a daily basis as the boy.

His favorite thing to do is to empty every toy he owns and any of his sister's he can reach and dump them all out of their storage areas and onto the floor.  He starts in the family room with Lil Miss' toy box, pulling out everything and literally tossing it behind him.  Then for variety he heads off to their room and if the closet door is open, he pulls out all his toys in there and tosses them all over the room.  Then it's back to the family room to work on the play kitchen, he loves to dump the play food everywhere!  and if he thinks of it he'll empty out his toy box too.  I know this may not seem like much but each toy box is 35x18x18, they are pretty big.

Huntin' Easter eggs

It never changes, every Easter that dang rabbit comes hopping around leaving eggs everywhere.  Why couldn't he just leave the basket of goodies next to my bed but no, he had to leave an egg with a hint leading to another egg, which would lead to another and so on.  Oh, I guess it wouldn't have been nearly as much fun without the hunting part would it?  Oh all right, it would have been kind of boring to not have to hunt around for it.

The Momster (yes, I now know it was her and not some demented furry creature) would spend hours working out clues for me and older brother Grumpy to track down Easter morning.  After our 5 minutes of racing around the house from egg to egg she would complain about how quickly we went through the egg-clues and got to our baskets.  Granted, we worked it out pretty quickly, but do you think maybe there are more hiding places for an Easter basket than the dishwasher, the clothes dryer, or the tv cabinet?  We cottoned onto that ploy pretty quickly so there were several times we actually discovered the basket before we were supposed to by 'mis-interpreting' a clue.

Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs!

My kids love their dinosaurs, fighting over them every chance they get, Lil' Miss loves playing with them but doesn't like to share that much.  I am not quite sure what the attraction to dinosaurs is, but my kids are not alone in their fascination with dinosaurs, it seems to be something all little kids develop.  I don't remember how she first discovered them, but she has been wild about dinosaurs since before she could say any of their names.  She received a big box of them from Santa this past Christmas and she has her own very unique way of playing with them.  Watching her play is quite an experience, she makes up the most amazing stories/situations for them to act out.  There isn't much roaring, and no eating of each other even though she gets the whole herbivore/carnivore thing (she even told me the other day that we were omnivores!) and understands which are which for the majority of the dinosaurs.  Instead, they talk to each other, play with each other and have all kinds of fun adventures.

My first attempt....

If you're reading this, hiya! I have always been terrible at keeping a personal diary/journal but seem to be keeping up with updating my Facebook site and my place at Ravelry so I decided maybe online is the way to go to record my thoughts. That said, you may get the idea this blog isn't so much for you that it's for me and to be brutally honest, you'd be right! Recording all my misadventures with crafting and my frustrations at the daily grind of parenting seems a bit too much like complaining on FB, plus it (FB) seems to require being short and sweet which I can't always do. Thus, here I am in all my not so clever or witty glory.

Hopefully I'll remember to feed the kids and change an occasional diaper or two in between adding blogging to my daily grind. They get pretty mad at me as it is when I can't be bothered to put down the knitting just yet to read a book. "Just one more row mommy?" is a pretty common query from the 4 year old Lil' Miss . Destructo-Boy at just 1 year old just whacks me with a board book to distract me long enough to get attention and counts himself lucky if I don't hurl the darn thing across the room. That being said, it's probably time to get back to my most important and at times trying job, parenting these 2 little monsters into acceptable members of society. Until next time!