Song from the heart

Spotty Chop just sang to me while I was giving him a shower



I love you
And you love me
That’s the way it’s gonna be
FOREVER
FOREVER
I love ya baby foooorev-ahhhh

He sang it to Boy Toy before stories and he said “dada if you are ever missing me you can sing that and you will feel me here” and he took Boy Toy's hand and put it over his heart.

Queue waterworks, now I have to figure out how to tape it so I will have it forever...FOREEEEVERrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Words of wisdom from a 4 year old

Keep your penis away from the PEZ dispenser

What Spotty says

Spotty woke up and told me he had a nightmare

"I called 911 by accident and they put me in Jail!"

Driving to school/work

"I think you should tell your friends to go home if you don't finish your projects that way they can't yell at you. I don't want anyone to yell at you."

"I want to go to our vacation house (we don't have one...)because I want to be away from our house for a few days"

"Movie night means pizza, popcorn and movies"

There was more like this --- I have got to write this shit down

What the 2009 Inauguration of our 44th President was missing

Spotty Chop is at my parents today as I work. My mom (Nannie) and Spotty were watching the Inauguration on TV when I called to see how things were going. I heard Spotty answer when Nannie asked

Who is our president?
oooBAma.
What did he do?
Put his hand on a BOOK.

But he felt that the Inauguration over all wasn’t great.

A poet read a poem, but it didn’t have Duck or Truck…maybe it had Good Luck, that’s ok


So there you have it. No Duck’s or Trucks, maybe Good Luck


Good Luck to our newest president and his family, I hope the next 4 years are good ones

A brain by any other name…

The other night Spotty Chop was getting ready for bed when I realized he was wearing big boy underwear.

“HEY, you can’t wear those to bed wack job” so he pulled them off while I turned around to grab a pull up.

“LOOK MAMA” he yelled as I turned around. He was pulling at his scrotum.

“A brain!”

I struggled not to laugh, in my head I’m thinking, well, ya, it’s wrinkly like a brain, but how do you know that?

Boy Toy was snickering “yes son, soon enough that will be the only brain you think with, but for now we call it a ball sack”

“NO IT’S MY BRAIN…MY BRAAAAAAAAAAAAINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn”

And we wonder why boys are the way they are…

Dear Spotty Chop you are 39 months old today

You have been on a tear lately. You do not want to listen and that is getting you in hot water with your dada. The two of you are so alike in some ways like the burping contests you two seem to be so fond of. But you also are so pigheadedly stubborn that I could kick the both of you. I am hoping this phase ends really soon because you kids are driving me crazy.

You have been giving us specialized kisses depending on what you are eating/drinking. “ice cream kisses”, “pizza kisses”, “chocolate milk kisses”. You are also a whirling dervish. I think you like to spin more than just about anything right now. You father thinks you may become an astronaut.

We put up the sprinkler for the first time this year, just so you could run through it. It is amazing the difference a year makes. Last year it didn’t really do anything for you, but this year? You love it. I bought a silly blow up face thingy that shoots spray from the top that you try to jump over, but the old fashioned sprinkler that just goes back and forth? You can’t get enough. You sneak up on it, throw things through it, and use your hands and feet to interrupt the spray. Cause, effect, synapses firing. It’s all good stuff!

We have also started bribing you. You know how much I love you in long hair. I just think you are the Frelling cutest thing ever. But when your hair looks like ass, it pisses me off. When you are bitching that your hair is in your eyes I think it’s time to cut it. But will you have any part in this? NO FRELLING WAY. You have thrown shit fits of mass proportions when I have attempted to get this taken care of. The day we were to go camping we had to run to Wal-Mart to pick up something. As we were walking around you saw some Mattel Super hero crap that you “really really really need”. I said “no”. you didn’t need it, it was too expensive and I don’t want you to get in the habit of assuming that every time we walk into the store, you are going to get something. Lord knows we have no problem buying you stuff. I just don’t want you to turn into one of those kids who assumes that life owes you. Anyhoo, this Wal-mart happens to have a super cheap cuts kind of place in it, so I told you that if you got your hair cut we could get the game. You initially lost your mind over it, but eventually said, “so mama we can play the game after my hair cut” and I said “that’s right. So we got it cut. Which was a scene and a half because you really didn’t want to and caused chaos in the shop until a young man (15? 18? 12?) sat down next to where I put our things. I picked you up walked over to the boy and explained to you that he really wanted the game, and he was going to get it because he was not fussing about a hair cut. You managed to hold yourself together long enough to finish the cut. And you look damn cute too.

My next phase of bribery was a chart titled “A Fussy Night is no Delight”. Every night you do not fuss at bedtime you get a Cars sticker. After 5 stickers you get to pick out your very own Hot Wheel. You got your first Hot Wheel last night. You told me to stay home because you and dada were going to get a car. Of course dada also bought some orange track to go with it, just a piece or two, but you spent the rest of the night making jumps and ramps and having the time of your life. Unfortunately you were a pain in the ass at bedtime so we will see how you react to not getting a sticker tonight.

You are getting really profound

Some of the things you had said lately:
* There is no more snow? The sun scared it away.
* Daddy if the police take you away (because I am not wearing my seatbelt) I will come rescue you.

These are the songs you have been singing to me
* When I was born I was a little baby and that’s the end of my story, the end
* Before I was born I was crying now I am happy the end

You are still troubled by dreams
* I was just dreaming that we were chasing Mater so we could pour milk on his face, but it didn’t work, so we had to get more. – You tell dada (to me, because apparently as I was there I should know)
* A man came into my room and I got him with my shooty thing, I don’t know where he is now.

I love you kiddo

A lover and a fighter

Apparently last Friday at Day Care “work”, Spotty would not nap. He has a friend Moppet that is the cutest little blond…moppet. She is super friendly and the two of them are usually the first to arrive on Friday mornings. She drags him away from me so fast my head spins. Anyhooo. Moppet gets up from her nap and Spotty goes over to her, gives her a big hug and says “I love you, what’s your name?” I am slapping my forehead as boy toy yells “that’s my boy”.

Today we get into “work” and I am taking Spotty’s jacket off, he sees Smiley and her mom coming up the stairs and pushes the door open to let them in (which was really sweet I though). Smiley runs in yelling “SPOTTY SPOTTY SPOTTY!!! Gives him a HUGE bear hug and starts kissing him. Smiley’s mom is trying to tell Smiley to be gentle and then maybe yelling at her in Chinese. Spotty is just standing there with a befuddled look on his face…it only gets worse my son.

Have I mentioned that Spotty seems to be getting a brass set lately? We went to Little Gym on Monday and one of the little lads started kicking and pushing Spotty. The boys mom went over there and told him to knock it off. Well later in the night Spotty was pushing him. The mom and I just looked at each other and shrugged. Well a little while later Spotty starts kicking and pushing the crap out of another little boy. I am all “SPOTTY KNOCK THAT SHIT OFF NOW”, ok I gave the whole “you are hurting his feelings, you could have hurt him, look he is crying, he is sad, that was naughty, how would you like it if he did it to you” spiel. I apologized as Spotty wasn’t, the dad was like whatever, my son has been following your son around all night.

So I asked Grammie has Spotty been beating up kids at “work”…there is silence on the phone…crap I think to myself. Apparently there was an incident, she wasn’t there so she wasn’t sure what happened, the other boy is a whiner, but she will keep her eye out and nip this in the bud.

Two...people he is two…how the hell am I going to survive?

The mind of a 2 year old

Spotty Chop’s brain had been doing incredible things lately. We have spent a lot of time playing “Super Space Boy to the Rescue”. One of us puts on the space helmet (a combat helmet) and holds the flashlight, directs the sidekick while the 3rd party gets “trapped”…in the bed, bathroom etc. The rescuers come flying in and save the troubled unfortunate. We literally spend hours playing this.

He reads to himself now. I don’t think I have ever heard anything as funny as his renditions of Hop on Pop. “NO Pat, no sit on dat. STOP! You must hop. No hop pop. Say say today. He mispronounces a few words consistently. Vacation is cation and machine is bachine. I was worried for seconds that he might have a speech problem, but he asks me to read Carl’s Masquerade, so I think he should be ok. He has also started reading to me. I can’t believe the memory on this kid. The details he remembers or thinks is important is amazing.

Spotty woke up last night around 2:30am needing chocolate milk. Lucky for him, I couldn’t fall asleep. I told him to stay in bed and I would get it for him, but he got upset and told me he had to get the chocolate syrup for me. During the day I always ask for his help, his job is to get the syrup. Apparently this has turned into mama is incapable of finding the chocolate syrup and he will get plain old milk or perhaps nothing if he is not there to direct me, how do I know this? He was practically crying because I did not grab the syrup fast enough and as soon as I took it he ran back to bed. Our bed to be exact, where this 31 lb child managed to take up 3/4ths of a queen sized water bed. I went to sleep in his room in the toddler race car bed…with crib mattress. He was ready to go again this morning around 6:30. God help me.

Spotty says

This morning as we lay in bed and I was “eating his legs” he tells me “No eating my legs mama, only pretend eating”

Waterfire, sandboxes and things too...

Saturday was a great day, Spotty and I took a 4 hour nap, boy toy is in the middle of building a really cool sandbox. It will have 2 levels and a “tunnel” in between the levels so Spotty can drive cars and trucks through. Spotty helped his daddy digging and got FILTHY. After the boys cleaned up we went off to Waterfire. This has to be one of the coolest events out there. The first time we saw it we came across it by accident. It was a few years before Spotty was born. We had been in RI for some reason, dinner, shopping, sex shop? We were on our way back to 95 when we saw fire, we though oh CRAP we will never get home, there will be fire engines all over the place, we rolled down the windows to see if we could hear them but instead heard some wacked out music. We then noticed hundreds of people walking around. We of course found ourselves a parking spot to see what the hell was going on.

We met some folks looking for Waterfire as we were parking, we told them to follow us. It can be confusing if you have never been before. We showed them the way, pointed out the landmarks that should help them find their way back. They wanted to know where to meet up so we could help them back. We laughed and went on our way. Spotty loved it. Although I think we might have done too well a job with the fire is hot message as he didn’t want to hang out by the water because the fire was dangerous. We walked everywhere. Over bridges, through tunnels, we saw kids playing household objects like drums, they were great. We listened to Peruvian music and talked to several police officers, one of them was even on a horse. We bought a bag of kettle corn and sat on some stairs eating it. Spotty wanted to be carried every so often and it was really cute to see boy toy and he because Spotty was rubbing his hand up and down on his daddy’s head. Hey, he is always playing with my hair; it’s nice to see him playing with someone else’s. He was very snuggly when he was in our arms, but was really good holding our hands when we were walking through the crowds. Spotty also walked up tons of stairs and around 11:00 pm we were ready to call it a night. I guess the late night was a god send because he wasn’t cranky at all. When we started walking though the mall to get to the parking lot we met up with the folks we helped from earlier. We all found that very funny. Spotty fell asleep on the ride home, Boy toy and I got caught up in watching Mythbusters, they were busting Superhero myths, which was really cool, but sucked as we dragged ourselves away at 1:00am

Sunday started off with one of my favorite activities muffin making. Spotty and I like to make muffins for the week ahead while boy toy sleeps. This week was cranberry orange. The bride bought Spotty a stacking block set that was a castle theme. Spotty and I spent the morning building the castle and telling stories about all the pictures.

After Spotty’s nap I asked if he wanted to watch TV while I got him some apple. He said of course I do mama.
Do you want to watch Stone of Cold Fire?
No too hot
Do you want to watch Cars?
No too vrooomy
Do you want to watch Monsters?
No too scary
Do you want to watch Dora’s summer adventure?
No too Hot
Do you want to watch the Wiggles?
No too wiggly
Do you want to watch Nemo?
No too swimmy
Do you want to watch Blues Clues?
No too Bluey
Do you want to watch Dinosaurs?
No too scary

So he helped me with the apple instead, and then luckily boy toy came in from digging. He asked Spotty what he wanted to do and Spotty said “play the game” which was great because I hate playing the Simpsons hit and run or whatever it’s called

Camping with a 2 year old

We are back from a wonderful weekend up in the White Mountains camping. We have been camping with Spotty Chop since he was 4 months old. He has 5 or 6 trips under his belt now. He is a seasoned veteran. What was new this trip was the fact that he did all of the driving in the campground. He was in 7th heaven.

We have been going to FransTed campground for almost 20-21 years now. Before Spotty Chop came along, we would do FransTed once or twice a year and then do a wilderness trip or two. With a 2 year old I like having a community. Everyone knows him; people are looking out for him; we know where and how fast we can get to the ER. We get the best of both worlds with our site. It is super private, no one else is around. But we are a short walk to a bathroom, with running hot water and showers (that you don’t have to pay to use the hot water). They have a great playground, mini golf and a giant field to play soccer etc. on. They have scavenger hunts; candy bar BINGO, movie nights. A good time is had by all. This is the place we take anyone who has never camped before. We have created plenty of hard core campers because of it.

I love our tent. We purchased a new one at the start of this year. It’s a Vaude and it kicks ass. I love the design of it and all of the space it gives us. There are two separate sleeping areas and then a giant common area in between. It is great to have space inside when the boy wakes up at 6:00 and it is too Frelling cold to leave the tent. Or if it rains we can all play trucks and not get in each others way. We spend a lot of time reading in the tent too.

We have had Spotty sleeping with us in one of the sleeping areas, but he is really too restless, and the sleeping area is designed for two, to give any of us a good night sleep. He was excited to have his “own” tent. The first night he woke around 3AM crying and I went over to comfort him. He sleeps in a big dog bed on top of an air mattress. There was only enough room for me to lie on one side. It was Frelling cold out and the mattress had a leak/wasn’t blown up enough so my hip was on the ground the whole night (and it is still killing me, aspirin doesn’t seem to be dulling the pain any). I can’t remember when I was more uncomfortable. The 2nd night it was FREEZING out (30 degrees), so I put one of his blankets on him, then a sleeping bag folded twice and then another sleeping bag. He woke up around 6:30ish, unzipped his side and came over to our side letting me know he wanted to snuggle. You might be thinking “perfect right”? Not so much. I woke up at least 10 times worrying that he was suffocating, and knowing it was irrational, so I would not get out of the tent, because I would have woken him up, but then worrying that he couldn’t breath…what if he was dead? What would I do? Can he breathe through a blanket? Is he ok? What if he is suffocating right now? What do I do????? So the 3rd night boy toy said “for Christ’s sake, he is coming into bed with us.” And he did, and it was good, except he had a coughing fit for around an hour at 4am, and our 29 lb cherub somehow takes up most of the bed with his feet in my neck and his head in his dada’s chest.

We went to Clarks Trading Post. Spotty likes the train ride; he likes looking in on the bears, but doesn’t have enough patience to sit through the show. He loved the playground, give this boy a dump truck and a place to run and he is set. We got old fashion photos done again. This will be a tradition for as long as I can force it. Last year we were a prospector’s family. This year we were the Admiral’s family (damn did Spotty look cute in a sailor suit). He had the most fun pushing a carriage around the park. I think he will like this place a lot when he gets older. Right now we just do it for the train ride and the photo. If I can find another place that does the old time photos we may skip Clarks for a year or two. But then again while we were leaving Spotty told the boy toy, I had fun you and mama today dada. Hell, if it brings a smile on his face I will go back every year.

We took Spotty for his first official hike Kinsman Falls over at the Basin. It was only .5 mile hike. Spotty would have loved to have gone on, but we determined that we would never get down the mountain before dark. And traveling down a mountain in the dark with a 2 year old that feels he must RUN down the mountain was more than I could stand. I can’t wait for next year; I think we might try Artists bluff. We have a book of family friendly hiking that we had originally picked up because we would take so many people camping with kids. I think it might be a good time to drag that out too.

I am so happy that Spotty really seems to like camping. I think it will be great seeing him grow up at this campground, making camping friends, bringing new friends camping. We will probably stick with Fransted for awhile, but Gunstock was always fun and there is a lot to do. I would really like to camp on Martha’s Vineyard. I can not WAIT to go back to Acadia, that will blow his mind, and there is always Ft. Wilderness, Camping and Disney? What isn’t there to love? Besides we spent so Frelling much on the tent that we need to go camping at least 3 times a year for the next 10 years to get a good ROI.

Mothers helpers and cute things kids say

So this morning before Spotty was awake he started to whimper and said I need Mantha. I told him we would pick her up later today and he said NOOOO I need her to sleepy with me. Mantha is our friend’s daughter. She comes over on Thursdays when I work from home. She and Spotty play, swim etc. while I work. It is a HUGE help as I am often on conference calls for 4-6 hours at a time. I dread when school starts because then I tend to have the TV on all day to keep the boy occupied. I always feel guilty, but then I feel guilty when I spend time reading or playing with Spotty, even if I am just listening in on a phone call that is as interesting as watching paint dry. I am hoping to bring Mantha out to get a fancy pedicure and to buy an outfit or two for school. If not I guess I can just give her money, but I think doing something might be more fun although maybe at 12 I would rather the money? I know Spotty will miss her a lot when she goes back to school.

Spotty says cute things all the time; I try to remember to write them down. When he wants to be picked up he says I want to carry you. When he needs to be comforted he says I need to snuggle you. When I ask him if I can have some of whatever he has (cookies, grapes, noodles) he says certainly mama. Sometimes he will hold his chin in his hands and tell me I am a little sad right now. If he wakes up in bed with us and he wants to get up he lifts up my eyelid, puts his face right next to mine and whispers loudly wake up mama He tells us don’t let bed bugs bite before he falls asleep. And recently he has started saying mama I talking to you if I am not paying attention to him as he is talking. It’s a nice way to remind me that to help him learn to talk, I need to listen.

We are off to the White Mountains to camp this weekend. We can’t wait. Spotty has been camping since he was 4 months old. I can’t wait to see what adventures we find.