Tag: IHOP

children, family, happiness, humor, kids, motherhood, potty training, self-discovery

Summer Hiatus

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I love these guys!

It is time for a break.  Most of my energy, ok, ALL of my energy is going towards keeping up with my boys.  I will return to my twice-weekly posts in a couple of weeks.  I’m going to use this blog-break to regroup and focus more on fun.  I am learning some great lessons this summer.  When it comes to teaching my kids anything, outsourcing is key.  My boys have become fish in a matter of days.  All it took was Mom staying way, far out of the pool (almost in another county), and a fantastic swim instructor.  I wish all my parenting dilemmas could be so easily outsourced.  I’ve also realized spending time with your kids can alter your perspective on life.  Full Speed’s heartfelt declaration that an IHOP breakfast is the best breakfast he’s ever had makes me appreciate my Harvest Nut pancakes on a whole different level.

I may make it through to the start of school after all.

children, happiness, humor, kids, mommyhood, motherhood, parenting

Clean Slate

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If you are new to this blog, meet Full Speed and T.Puzzle. The most calm and quiet brothers you will ever know who always, always behave. For everyone else, please disregard my previous posts. It's time to wipe the slate clean.

We made it.  To IHOP that is.  The boys were well behaved, the food good and we met some friends there as well.

Full Speed and T.Puzzle were excellent.

Let me repeat that.

Full Speed and T.Puzzle were excellent.

We went to Full Speed’s book fair after IHOP and you will never guess.  They were excellent there, too.  I mean really, really good.  It was swarming with people and chaos.  They never wandered far from my side and patiently ( yes, that’s right, I said patiently) waited in the very long line to purchase our books.

You could have knocked me over with a feather.

We came home, got in our pjs and curled up to read our new books.

I couldn’t have written a better ending to our night so I won’t.

The. End.

children, happiness, humor, kids, kindergarten, mommyhood, motherhood, parenting

Here’s Hoping…

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The IHOP logo
Image via Wikipedia

I’m feeling nervous.  I have been cracking down on the boys and their behavior and frankly, the only thing that is close to cracking is me.  But that’s not why I’m nervous.

I told Full Speed and T.Puzzle that they need excellent reports from school so we can go to IHOP for dinner.  No exceptions.  I need a ‘blue’ day from Full Speed, blue being the absolute best mark you can get in kindergarten, and I need an excellent report from T.Puzzle’s teacher.   If not, no pancakes no how.

So you see I’m nervous because I don’t want to have to follow through with my threat.  It’s not that I’m jonesing for pancakes for dinner.  It’s that I’m jonesing for my kitchen to remain mess-free.

However, I guess the real punishment if I get negative school reports won’t be so much that the boys won’t go to IHOP and my kitchen will be messy, but that I would have to cook for them.

Poor dears.

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children, mommyhood, potty training

Teach by Example

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I took the boys to IHOP for dinner because they were well-behaved for their hair-cuts (sort of) and my kitchen was clean and I wanted it to stay that way. It was basic insanity at the restaurant as usual but we managed to have a good time.


That morning I had decided to try little T.Puzzle in big boy underpants again to see what would happen. He had a couple of accidents including an unfortunate incident involving a good length of his train tracks, but caught on to keeping his pants dry pretty quick. Of course the pooping is a whole different matter.

As we were finishing up our dinner little T.Puzzle starts emitting some squeaky sounds from his nether regions and I could smell, I mean I could tell, that he was going to need to potty soon. When we arrived home I took a less than compliant T.Puzzle to the bathroom. As I’m about to place him on the potty, Full Speed busts in and says, “T.Puzzle, I gotta poop, let me show you how it’s done.” He hops up on the pot and states, “See that brown stuff coming out of my booty? That’s how it’s done!” Apparently little T.Puzzle just got ‘schooled’. It was highly entertaining.

Once it was little T.Puzzle’s turn he cried and complained and refused to go. I decided to ignore him. Partially because Full Speed needed my attention for something and partially because I am so tired of the power struggle of poop, I sort of locked myself into a pleasant denial bubble. My logic was if I tuned out his complaining then it must not actually be happening.

About five minutes later little T.Puzzle shockingly announces that he ‘POOPED!”

I was so excited I almost passed out.

What does that say about my life?

Please, don’t answer that.

children, mommyhood

The Cheesed Omelet

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I had this brilliant idea. Full Speed didn’t have his regular VPK (voluntary pre-kindergarten) curriculum this week so I thought I would take him and T.Puzzle out for breakfast. We met my friend and her two, adorable daughters at IHOP. Sounds simple and uneventful, right?

First the chaos started when the boys played wild variation after wild variation of hotwheels games. But you know what? That’s normal. That’s just part of the process of taking my boys out for a dining experience. It’s a guarantee they increase a dining establishment’s energy level by about 100% and they will bring hotwheels. What got rough was the fact that it took close to FORTY minutes to get our food. Apparently they had to drive to the chicken farm that was miles away to get the eggs to make our pancakes. So as our wait time stretched on, everyone’s patience wore thin.

When we finally get our food (finally!!), I revel in the few moments of peace this will give me. Both boys were decidedly consumed with their breakfasts and therefore steadfastly quiet. That part of breakfast was lovely (it didn’t last).

Soon, Full Speed ate his breakfast quickly and asked for more eggs. The moms at the table quickly problem-solved his request by giving him some cheesy omelet from little Miss Cutie’s plate.

Well, you would have thought I was trying to torture him. He couldn’t believe cheese was touching his eggs and refused to eat it. Then, he proceeds for the next several moments to give me the stink-eye because he is so furious with me for giving him cheesy covered eggs. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. I do have to admit, the stink-eye was pretty funny.

When it was time to depart, Full Speed was still very mad and not behaving well as we attempted our exit. He tried to tackle his brother who instantly became his partner in crime and we started to get ‘the looks’ from the surrounding IHOP patrons. ‘The looks’ consist of not-so-subtle stares that show wonder that I would take my animal-like children in public and relief that they are not me. The situation only worsened as I paid for our breakfast. I had to place Full Speed in a chair to keep him from attacking little T.Puzzle. He then whines dramatically over and over that he is ‘sorry!’ While these theatrics are in full swing, T.Puzzle manages to grab a plastic container of toothpicks, breaks it open and litters the cash register and floor with them. And guess what? More of ‘the looks’ from a new sub-set of IHOP patrons seated close to the register. I gathered up the toothpicks and what little dignity I had left, took my boys and got the heck out of there.

The next time I voluntarily decide to take both my children to breakfast, someone please stop me.