Skillz

I just mistakenly served Genoa a waffle with jelly on it instead of brown sugar and when I placed it in front of her, she argued, "What is THIS?!"  I said, "That's grape jelly.  It's purple, like Princess Jasmine!"  and lo the child grinned and inhaled said waffle in a single gulp.

Marketing skillz?  I haz 'em.

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On Friday night while I was out with my new lady friends, Dave let Alex watch TV upstairs by himself in our bedroom.  We're still experimenting with the idea of having two televisions and it seems to be working out especially well for us on the weekends, when Dave and I sometimes like to watch a show together before the kids go to bed.  We just put on Disney Channel upstairs and we can usually get a good half hour of uninterrupted time to ourselves that way.  Hannah Montana is a babysitter I can recommend (I'll give you her number, it's channel 41). 

Anyway, when I got home, I noticed that while watching TV upstairs alone, Alex had taken a black crayon and used it to DRAW ALL OVER THE CARPET in front of the TV.  With a black crayon.  Did I mention we have WHITE CARPET?  And that he KNOWS BETTER? 

BLACK.  CRAYON.

Dave and I were LIVID.  Being obnoxious to his sister aside, this was probably his most blatant intentional transgression ever.  Even HE knew he was in for it. 

So we took away TV for two weeks. 

It's one of those punishments that was sure to hurt me almost as much as it hurts him, but it hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be.  The best part is that GENOA didn't lose her TV privileges, so she still gets to watch one show in the AM and one show in the PM.   During that time?  My children are SEPARATED.  My house is quiet (aside from the songs of Lazy Town, which I don't much mind anymore).  Alex either stays upstairs in his room making huge messes with his Legos or he goes outside to play.  The total television watching has been slashed to less than a quarter of what it was previously (I was super lazy last week about it because I felt like crap and/or was busy cleaning for the party) and everyone seems to be getting along just fine.  Including me.

I always DO this; I stop going with the flow and then realize, in blindingly clear hindsight, how lame that particular flow was, but still.  NO SHEET SHERLOCK.  My kids actually DO know how to entertain themselves without TV.  The only real downside is that the Legos don't pick themselves up.

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We've also been back to our regularly scheduled activities this week and I just have to put this one in the baby book (which is what you're reading right now).   Alex seems to have conquered his fear of the water. 

I know!

While I was jetting around the pool with my ever fearless daughter on Tuesday afternoon, Alex was busy learning how to hold his breath, dunk his head under water and FLOAT on both his front and back sides ALL BY HIS OWN SELF.  This is both amazing and unexpected and now I need to make sure that when I enrolled him in back to back swimming classes, I actually remembered to ADVANCE him instead of continuing to repeat the same class again.  This is his FOURTH time in the same class.  They wouldn't advance him until he put his head under the water.

Yay for progress!

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Crap.  I just realized we haven't carved pumpkins yet.  This means Dave and I will have to stay up extra late tonight and tomorrow you'll get to vote on whose is the scariest!

Comments

[Kendall's Mom]

Did you see Kendall's pumpkin? (see blog)

btw, MY sitter's name is DORA.

[cindy w]

You've probably already googled this yourself, but to get crayon out of carpet:
http://www.thefrugallife.com/crayonin.html

I've been realizing lately how much easier my toddler is when we turn the stupid TV off and go outside. So we've been spending a couple of hours outside every day (about an hour before nap and another hour afterward). And I say *we* because she's under two, so I'm not comfortable letting her play outside by herself yet. So I'm running around getting fresh air too, which I suppose is good for both of us. Only now that it's a habit, rainy days are the worst, and I don't know what we're going to do when it gets really cold. I have to come up with some sort of backup plan.

I was lazy and just plopped a plain ol' uncarved pumpkin on our front stoop. I know, no Holiday Decorating Awards for me. But I figure this way I won't care as much when the teenagers smash them in the street.

[Sophie,Inzaburbs]

I just bought plastic pumpkins with bulbs in this year. Because last year we carved them too early and they rotted days before Halloween. The faces went black and melted and then the bugs moved in. Blerk.

[lolismum]

My sitter's name Angelina Ballerina; she is a good sitter for a mouseling.We only let our kids watch one 20 minute show a day. When my husband was sick, I let them watch more so I could cook/clean uninterrupted. Then I had to wean both them and myself off of it; now we are back to 1 show after naptime. Otherwise the TV is never on.

I cannot carve pumpkins, I don't have the patience.