Tag: laughter

children, humor, kids, motherhood

Well Done!

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By the time the boys and I met our friends at a local restaurant, it was well past lunchtime.  My friend and I took advantage of the post-lunch lull and asked to be seated in separate booths from our small gang of boys (she has three all around my boys’ ages).

We were hoping to have some quiet conversation and allow our guys the independence to order by themselves.  We had no illusions about the process.  We were fine with burgers and fries for all.

Later, when we were home.  The boys cracked up over how long it took all of them to order.  But, they did it.

T.Puzzle was particularly amused when two of his friends ordered their burgers ‘well-done’.  Through the years we always have coached him to choose ‘medium’.

“Why do you think this is so funny, T.Puzzle?  Some people happen to prefer their meat to be cooked all the way through,” I said.

“Oh!  I thought they were telling the waiter to let the cook know they wanted their burger to be good or else.”

It’s a learning curve for sure.

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One of my all-time favorite pictures of T.Puzzle. He was told to pick up toys in the living room and proceeded to put himself in the toy bin. Well done!
family, humor, kids, motherhood

What’s For Dinner?

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I am taking this opportunity to announce my plans to officially change my name to:

What’s For Dinner

Why you may ask?

This is because I have been asked this question so many times a new neural pathway has formed in my brain convincing me that this, in fact, must be my name.

News flash:

It isn’t.

The point I’m making is that a sure-fire way to get on my bad side is to ask me:

‘What’s for dinner?’

It isn’t that I’m opposed to the question in a general sense, but if that is the question you lead with 999 times out of a thousand, I’m not keen to respond in a pleasant manner.  At least lead in with a ‘How was your day?’ or ‘Your yoga pants are particularly stylish today’.

Therefore, after a long night up with a dog with seemingly endless diarrhea (it all came out fine in the end), I explained to T.Puzzle over his after school snack I may have a short fuse as the evening progressed.

“So, I shouldn’t ask you what’s for dinner?”

And so he lived to see another day.

Chicago Cubs, children, humor, kids, motherhood

No Lie

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T.Puzzle has to write a speech to be performed in front of his class.   Thankfully, like his brother before him, he is fairly at ease with public speaking so this is not the challenge.  The challenge is coming up with a topic.  No lie, these are the highlights from the actual list we generated.  The ones in bold are my ideas, the ones in italics are T.Puzzle’s:

  •  Adopting our rescue dog
  • T.Puzzle’s first visit to Wrigley Field
  • The Olympics, I only like events where crashing happens
  • The Making of a Lego World
  • Cows, observe the cows
  • How to be a smart mouth to your mother and how this leads to success (or not, most definitely, not!)
  • Food
  • Cheeseburgers: why are you so delicious?
  • Origins of Fortune Cookies and the top five I would create: #1. Alive today, dead tomorrow 
  • This last one is all Full Speed’s idea: The challenges of having an older brother who is a track star

Like you, I am on the edge of my seat waiting for how this all unfolds.

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

Motor Out, Baby!

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Full Speed loves kindergarten.  He is reading, enjoying math and attempting to write.  His writing is more like hieroglyphics than the actual written English language.  I’d like to say what he lacks in style he makes up in enthusiasm (not so!).  Sitting at a table and practicing handwriting is pretty excruciating when all you’d rather do is get up and run.

I know he can do it.  He knows he can do it.  He just doesn’t WANT to do it.

I’m trying all sorts of activities to keep him interested in strengthening his fine motor skills.  Lacing objects is great because it uses all the same muscles as writing and hones visual perception  (or something like that).

I even have T.Puzzle in on the action.  His fine motor skills will be off the chain when he hits kindergarten, or will they?

Check out how it all went down as my boys attempted to lace a wooden slice of pizza:

I found it highly entertaining.  At that moment I could care less about proper letter formation.  All I could do was laugh.

So I did.

children, happiness, humor, mommyhood, parenting

Are You My Mother?

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One of the absolute highlights of motherhood is the unexpected humor.  It helps because if you are laughing you are less likely to be crying.

Full Speed is convinced that his Aunt Skee gave birth to him and that Mad Dog and I ‘adopted him’.  Long ago when looking at his newborn photos he came across a super-smiley pic of my sister holding him at the hospital.  I guess because she seemed genuinely euphoric at his arrival (while I looked dazed and confused), he assumed that my sister must be his ‘Mom’.

See what I mean? Dazed? Confused? Check and check.
The pic of Aunt Skee and Full Speed that started it all.

No matter how many times I tell him the truth, “Yes, I am your Mom.  I’ve always been your Mom.  No amount of labor or pain meds during my labor will ever change that fact, Full Speed (ok, I left this last sentence out, but you get the gist).”  He just doesn’t believe me.  He brings it up at random times, too.  Like today, “Remember when I was born and I was Aunt Skee’s baby and you and Dad came and got me?”  I’ve learned not to fight it.  “Yes, Full Speed.  I remember.  Your Dad and I came and saw you and you were so cute we took you home.”

“Yes, and I was even cuter than my brother.  He was a BIIIIIG baby!”

I realized through my tears of laughter he must have heard my many less-than-wonderful references to birthing all 9 lbs. 7 oz. of  his ‘little’ brother, T.Puzzle.

T.Puzzle (a.k.a. BIIIIIG baby) gets set to be weighed on his arrival day.

But trust me, my boys are equally cute.  And funny, too.

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