OMG Fred is Three!

Just like his brother, Fred wanted his song to be Everything Is Awesome. I don't know how he'll feel about this, but at least I complied. 

Last night I was playing with Freddie on the floor in his room when he kind of tackled me. I laid there, with him laying flat on top of me, and I told him about how he grew in my belly when he was a baby. He sat up and looked at me funny. 'I didn't grow in your belly mom. I grew in your heart. And when I came out your heart was empty so it filled up with love. And bees.'  I may have died laughing. Happy birthday buddy. You'll always be my baby.

Our Family On Ice

A few weeks ago I took Freddie to a 'mommy and me' stick time session at our rink, cementing his position as youngest first time ice skater in our family! To be fair, I may have been younger, but I don't remember. I'll be gracious and give him the title. Last year I took Maggie for the first time, Lucy started when she was three as well, and Sam went for the first time on his third birthday, but then didn't go again for over a year. Fred got on the ice a few weeks shy of his third birthday, and he cried most of the time. In his defense, later on that night he came down with a fever, so I think he was already feeling crummy. That first day he didn't manage to do much besides push a bucket a few feet around the door, and even that was done only through bribery with a twix bar. Last Friday, however, he did much better. He was feeling better, so that helped. And his pappy came along, which was very fun for him. He was still pushing a bucket, but he did several laps around the rink at a pretty good clip. In fact, he was comparing himself to Turbo the snail, and he kept saying 'left turn!' as we would round the corners. (If you haven't seen the movie Turbo than this means nothing to you, but be assured it was as cute as hell.) 

I usually make a video of Sam skating at the end of each hockey season, but he's too fast for me now. I tried at a public session back at the beginning of February, but he kept getting lost in the crowd because I couldn't keep up with him. He can really move when he wants to. His hockey skills have grown a lot this year, too, but I'm glad he has one more season as a mite because he needs to work on his listening skills. Plus he'll be a giant next season, and that might be fun for him. Back at Christmastime I got a quick video of him before he got away from me. He is in the orange coat...

Lucy has passed her first figure skating skills test with flying colors, which surprises me not at all! Back when she was skating regularly, she always seemed to pick things up a little faster than Sam. She hasn't been on the ice nearly as much last year and this year, but it only took a week or two for her to get right back into things! She has been asking for one of those sparkly, twirly figure skating costumes, but has no desire for her own skates. I told her she would be getting her own white skates first, because the pretty costume wouldn't look as nice with her brown rental skates. She was not happy with me. 

Maggie also graduated to the next level of ice skating class. She was in a tot prep class, also know as the bucket class, but in the next session she will be in the snowplow Sam class! She is very excited about the name of the class, but less excited about the lack of buckets used in said class. We also took her to the mommy and me stick time last week, and she was appropriately adorable. However, I don't think hockey is her thing. She was holding the stick upside down the whole time. 

SOB still has never gone skating. He is, and will always will be, the undisputed oldest first time skater in our family.

Some footage of Fred pushing a bucket with a little Maggie bonus!

Positive Reinforcement

Sam hates writing assignments at school. We try and motivate him however we can, but usually writing homework only gets done with lots of grouching and bribing. However, me being Sam's assistant hockey coach was more than enough creative motivation for Sam to write a story entitled 'My Mom Is An Annoying Hockey Coach!' He submitted his story to The Story Pirates for their show on satellite radio, and it got selected! (For the uninitiated, The Story Pirates take stories written by kids and turn them into hilarious radio dramas.) We heard it performed live on our way down to Florida, and they were kind enough to send me a file to share with those of you interested in hearing exactly how Sam feels about my coaching. Click the link below to have a listen! 

My Mom Is An Annoying Hockey Coach

Sam's Birthday Is Awesome!

I was in Florida for Sammy's birthday, away from the hard drive of history, which is where all of the photos are stored. As soon as I got home, I got to work! I did things a little differently this time, so hopefully this works. I love you buddy!

Birthday Winter Olympics Vacation Madness!

My baby boy is eight today. Back in 2006 I was watching a USA Olympic hockey game when my water broke, and the rest is history. We are in Florida visiting the nieces, swimming, going to Universal Studios, and again watching Olympic hockey, this time with Sam watching and cheering right along with mom and dad. It's been a fun ride so far Sammy! Happy birthday!

A Tale of Two Valentines

I always sort of dread valentine's day for the elementary school set. I've always had to fight with Sam to even sign his name to a basic card, and Lucy always wants to hand-craft elaborate valentine's for each and every person she knows, but she doesn't always come up with this idea until a day or two before the party.

So I was really surprised this year when Sam decided that he wanted to make rainbow loom bracelets for everyone in his class. Prior to this, he's only sucessfully made about 2.6 rainbow loom bracelets, and that was with a lot of help from me and/or his friend J. Luckily, he came up with idea with more than a week to work on it. We sat down with his classroom list and devised a schedule, and he's stuck with it really well. Plus making so many in a row has really helped with his technique. At this point he only has 3 or 4 left to go. He really wants to finish them tonight so that he can focus his attention on the new Lego set he got for an early birthday gift from grandma.

Lucy also devised her valentine's idea with ample time. She came out of the gate strong on her individualized, unique to each person valentine, but has hit some bumps along the way. For example, she's having trouble coming up with 19 completely authentic, different valentine's day messages. I've tried printing out examples for her, so she doesn't have to even think about the spelling, but they just aren't good enough for her poetic expectations. I suggested variations of 'I'm stuck on you' and 'Let's stick together' since she's using lots of stickers to decorate her valentines, but she prefers things like 'You make my heart melt like the springtime.' The two of us made a schedule, also, but she's hasn't been able to stay on it. If she powers through, she'll get finished, but she doesn't work well on a deadline. She keeps crying and dramaticially declaring that this valentine's day will be RUNIED! Meanwhile, she only has 7 or 8 more to go. I have a feeling I will be finishing them late thrursday night.

Since I'll probably be busy making helping with my kids' valentine's, consider this my valentine to all of you lovely folks out there in blogland.

My Two Sons

This is Fred crying because we took him out in the snow. As he requested. 

My boys, my lovely little fellas, have been being a humongous pain in the neck these past few weeks. I've avoided writing about because I was hoping it was a short phase brought on by the inconsistent school schedules and horrible weather we've been having. That may very well be true, but because of some damn groundhog we're looking at another six weeks of this shit, so I'm assuming the bad behavior isn't going away any time soon.

Fred. Oh my sweet little baby Fred. I was the last one to know about this shift in your behavior. You saved up all of your smiles and cuddles for your mama. Unfortunately you ran out sometime in the middle of last week, and now all I get is screaming and poking and hitting and spitting. And the whining, my god the whining. The only thing in life that you desire is a "blaster toy", which you will point at someone and scream FREEZE RAY! Thank you Star Wars and Despicable Me. Mostly, people don't like gun-type things pointed at their faces, and this particular blaster toy makes a sound that would drive even the most patient person insane. So we hide it from you. But usually you find it, and since we're smart enough to hide it up high, you just sit on the floor under said "blaster toy" and wail. "Fred, stop crying." "BUT I WANT A BLASTER TOY!" "Fred, come eat dinner." "BUT I WANT A BLASTER TOY!" "Here, have a cupcake instead." "BUT I WANT A BLASTER TOY!" If it wasn't Sam's effing blaster toy, we would have thrown it away weeks ago.

Speaking of Sam, guess who's grounded until he's 42? He's developed the attitude of a teenager, combined with the anger management issues of a DMV employee, and the impulse control of a toddler, with a touch of hormonal pregnant lady peppered in there, just for laughs. He's been alternately weepy (over NOTHING) then shove-y, then mouthy, and then punchy. Mostly with us at home, but I've seen it happen after school and at hockey. He actually got kicked out of practice on Monday (by me) for being way to rough with his team mates and giving me enough lip to last a lifetime. The hilarious thing about this is that he's practically been an angel during school, and his piano teacher sent me a long email last week about how lovely he is (and Lucy, too). I'm worried because he doesn't seem to pick up on social cues, and so he'll be goofing around with a friend, things will get a little too rough, and Sam, who is a giant among second graders, can't seem to stop himself. Even after calling his name 3 or 4 times, he doesn't stop what he's doing, and I usually have to intervene physically. If he's with his friends or team mates, it doesn't come off as malicious, just annoying. Lucy, on the other hand, he seems intent on killing.

We're going on vacation in a few weeks, and we're going to be spending a lot of quality time together, including TWO 16 hour car rides. I hope we all make it back with our sanity (and limbs) intact.