A fist full of firsts.

Where does the time go?  There were quite a few happenings over the last couple of weeks.  First and foremost, Connor is fully potty trained.  Way to go buddy Daddy is very proud.  If you read this in 10 years, I know you’ll be humiliated, but you’ll get used to me, this is how daddy rolls. 

It was pretty wet two weekends ago and we decided to take advantage of the dip back into double digit temperatures by going to the Capital of Texas Zoo.  This is the one near Bastrop, not the Austin Zoo.  Now if you are looking for an adult zoo with a lot of funding, this isn’t your zoo.  The paths are uneven (darn near untraversable), it’s cut into a jungle of cedar, and the exhibits are pretty small.  But the kids LOVED it.  There were some fairly exotic animals and the “foosa” from Madagascar was there.  The highlight for Connor was the parrot encounter.  There is a large habitat where you can go inside the with the parrots.  Connor and Josie both went in and were amazed that a little parrot came right to them and was just inches away from their faces.  I kept waiting for something REALLY bad to happen but it never did.  Connor and Josie even got the bird to say “hello” about 30 times.  Of course when your ages are 3 ½ and 21 months, you’re convinced it was you who taught the bird.

Josie’s favorite exhibit was the “Halloween bats.”  Josie is on a huge Halloween kick right now and when she saw the bats she thought it was awesome.  She also loved that the prairie dog pit was somewhat vacant…they kind of tunneled out.  You’d think they’d have seen this one coming.  Connor also loved the sound of the rattler.  Yep, he was right up next to the glass of the rattlesnake exhibit and let me tell you that snake was MAD!  Even behind the glass my heart rate was up a little with Connor so close. 

The next first was McDonalds.  Can you believe in 3 years and 9 months Connor had never eaten McDonalds?  Also, we noticed that you can now get nutritional information on the boxes.  Okay, so do we really need this kind of information?  Does anyone go to McDonalds with a calorie counter book?  Does anyone anywhere think it’s a healthy place?  I mean please!  Anyway, as luck would have it, the kids were unimpressed.

The next week Nita needed to take a client out to lunch…in Houston. So she said, “Let’s all go. We can go see all the Patrenellas.”  So we went. The trip down was great.  We picked the kids up from day care, grabbed a quick snack for the road and Connor fell asleep with some chick-fil-a still in his mouth.  I know why my blood pressure is so high, I worry about everything.  So I made Nita crawl into the back seat and give him a CPR mouth swipe.  Anyway, about 2/3 of the way, they woke up and we told stories and sang songs the rest of the way in.  We also played our first game of “I spy.”  Apparently Josie sees cows that no one else can see, or it’s her “go to” spy, either way, it was pretty cute.

For dinner we went to Uncle Sammy’s restaurant.  Uncle Sammy was so excited to see the kids he introduced them to everyone and even let Connor help make the mezzaluna.   Then the whole family showed up.  It was awesome.  The food was wonderful, the stories were hilarious, and Connor and Josie played their first game of Bocce ball.  Did I mention the food was awesome?  If you make it to Houston you must eat at Patrenellas.

The next day was Nita’s lunch appointment.  I took the kids to go swim in the indoor/outdoor pool.  This was their first stay in a nice hotel.  They’ve been to the ones with the kitchenette before, but never one with valet or room service.  And they’ve especially never been in a concierge lounge.  They were really funny.  In fact, at breakfast in the lounge, Josie insisted that the onion poppyseed bagel was in fact a doughnut.  And she wouldn’t take no for an answer.  Well technically she might have, but it really isn’t worth the fight is it?  So she took a bite of her “onion doughnut” and well, she, let’s just say at that moment she realized that it wasn’t actually a doughnut.  And they discovered the candy dish.  This almost led to a meltdown.  Remember the kids turn into bath-salt face eaters around too much candy.  So we finished breakfast and it was off to the pool.

Connor is now an expert elevator button pusher.  I’m thinking of getting him a red jacket a little cap and a tip jar.  You know, a little something for college.  Anyway we got to the pool and the fun went on for a while.  Josie had a great time in her float and Connor played pretend whale and dolphin games.  I made the mistake of bringing little water shooting toys but after shooting a nice Samoan woman and apologizing, Connor kept it to me and Josie. He and Josie also practiced their bubble face and monkey walk. So I feel good about all of our pool time this summer.  After swimming I took my two little wet monkeys back to the room.  We had some lunch and then I tucked them into the pull out couch bed for a nap.  They slept the sleep of the innocent.

Nita’s appointment went great and then we got the kids cleaned up and took them to Patrenella’s for dinner again.  The food did not disappoint of course.  This time Sammy Jr.’s wife and kids came by.  Gail is as sweet as ever and Jacob and Joshua are huge!  The kids ran around and got dirty and had a big ole time.  Back at the hotel, Nita got the kids down and I was able to meet an old college roommate for a cocktail. Tork was in the building.

The next morning we packed up the car and headed over to the Houston Children’s museum.  Now this place is massive and has tons of things to do.  We didn’t do it any justice with our two hour trip there; this is really an all-day experience.  And as with both evenings at Patrenella’s, Nita’s brother came to see his niece and nephew.  They love them some Uncle Mario.  Getting Connor to leave was tough.  He wanted to stay and of course Josie was falling asleep.  Connor was upset and it was made worse when told we were going back home.  He said in a very exasperated tone, “HOME?  I want to go back to the HOTEEEEEEL.  PLEASE, let’s go back to the hotel.”  What have we created?  I’m definitely not letting him fly first class… oh who am I kidding?

One other thing of note, the kids have a pretty great sense of humor too.  Not just fart jokes and body humor, but a decent understanding of situational humor.  There were several times this and last week when we were just belly laughing at the things the kids were doing and saying.  Connor actually knows how to push Josie’s buttons too.  He’ll tell her she can’t have something just to watch her get upset.  But then he’ll do something to protect her physically from something else.  Cute stuff.  Also, Josie wants whatever Connor wants…unless it is pointed out that she’s mimicking him and then she wants the opposite.  An example was coming home from Houston we had some gummy candy.  Connor would ask for a color and Josie would ask for the same.  This went on for three rounds and when Nita asked Josie what color she wanted, I said, “Whatever color Connor just got.”  Josie abruptly said, “I DON’T want a red one mommy, I want a green one.”  That’s her momma right there.

So with the new school year starting up and a really great and adventurous summer behind us, I wonder what firsts are in store for us this fall.

Ahead of schedule.

If any of you are fans of the series “Mad Men” you may remember this scene.  For those who don’t know about it, briefly it’s a show about 1950’s era Madison Avenue Advertising Executives.  They cheat on their spouses, smoke in front of their homes, and drink at work.  Even the doctors smoke.  Well one episode shows the little girl playing “spaceman.” While the moms are visiting and smoking in the kitchen,  the daughter comes in with a dry cleaning bag over her head (watch here), and the mom is more concerned about what happened to the clothes.

Josie has officially entered the terrible twos without waiting to turn two.  For her age her vocabulary is unbelievable, she is starting her manipulation stage, and is being openly defiant.  Although she is my beautiful princess, I don’t want a Paris Hilton on my hands, so we’re taking care of it.  A very specific example happened this weekend.  My old charger/inflator/compressor died and I bought a new one.  I took it into Mancave to charge it and left the box out in case I wanted to take it back or it didn’t work correctly.  So Connor sees the box and thinks it might be a present.  He asks if he can open it.  Of course I say yes.  So he does and he finds the plastic bag in which the unit arrived.  So he starts to put it over his head.  I tell him “no” and start to explain to him that it can be very dangerous.  Now I know unless he duct-taped the bottom around his neck the absolute worst thing that could happen was that he could start to pass out and hit his head on the way down, or freak out while trying to take it off.  It’s pretty minute that anything REALLY serious could have happened, but why take any chances on playing with something like that.

Enter little Miss defiant.  While this was going on Josie was sitting on my lap watching the Olympics and Connor…mostly Connor.  Once I told Connor to take it off, Josie was sliding off the couch and moving into position.  I figured her MO would take her immediately to the bag.  She picked it up and I told her not to put it on her head.  She did.  I told her to take it off.  She did, then calmly took out her little hair clip, looked directly at me and put the bag back over her head.  Connor looked on in horror and then looked at me. 

We are working on Connor not saying “No” when asked to do something and we certainly don’t tolerate open defiance of this magnitude.  Connor knew what was happening and Josie was just testing her little limits.  So she got a swat and a time out.  She HOWLED at the injustice.  Nita came into the kitchen to see what was going on (I moved Josie to another room so she couldn’t enjoy watching Connor play).  Josie in between sobs tried to explain that daddy spanked her bottom and she was just playing with Connor.  I asked Josie why daddy spanked her and she said, “Josie wasn’t listening.”  Nita reinforced the lesson and said, “You have to stay on the stool until daddy says you are out of time out.”  Well that was enough for me.  Way to go mommy.  When I came back into the Mancave, Connor was asking, “Is Josie in time out?”  I said yes and asked him why.  He said because she wasn’t listening.  Hey a two for one! 

We’ve also been really working on positive reinforcement for the kids.  We’re starting a little rewards calendar where they can earn things for good behavior and listening.  That has also been going very well.  As luck would have it, our HEB down the road has just brought back salt water taffy snacks in wax paper.  When I was buying them the little girl at the checkout stand asked if I’d ever eaten them before.  I said, “For about 40 years.”  Well the kids LOVED these new snacks.  They are gooey like gum, but they can eat them.  Good stuff. One piece is a little too big for Josie, but she’s going through her little independent phase right now. So she wants to open it herself (no matter how long it takes) and if Connor puts the whole thing in his mouth so must she.  The downside is whatever color the taffy is becomes a new pattern on her top or dress.  Maybe I’ll ask her if daddy can have a bite before she puts the entire thing in her mouth.  Or maybe I’ll go cut a few in half and re-wrap them.  Hmmmm, I’ll figure something out. 

Anyway, it’s really fun to watch her struggle with her shoes, some toys, and other items as she’s figuring the world out.  Oh and since Connor is wearing big boy underwear now... well you know. She loves mimicking the things she sees the big people doing and her vocabulary and usage makes me believe she understands a lot more than she might let on or at least is capable of annunciating.  I know my teacher friends love those moments when the kids connect the dots for a breakthrough and recognize those signs when they are just on the verge of doing it.  I also recognize how important to her future confidence and self-reliance that she make those discoveries with little or no help.  I know she’s only 21 months, but it is never too early to start a good habit.

For fun Nita also took the kids to Mayfield Park with her mom and a neighbor.  They had a little picnic with the peacocks.  The funny thing is a couple of weeks ago at a cousin’s birthday party Josie got a little freaked out at the pigeons coming to see what fell on the ground that might be tasty.  If you remember earlier this summer Josie had an incident where a seagull snatched a peanut butter cracker out of her hand and even broke the skin.  Well Josie sure remembered and was not happy.  So I wondered how she’d do with the peacocks walking around her during the picnic. Apparently she doesn’t fear beautiful birds, only pesky ones.  I can live with that.

It’s so funny how I’m always trying to think of creative ways to entertain the kids and have fun with them.  I came home for lunch the other day and the kids were on the back patio, completely naked covered in shaving cream.  Then Nita took the hose to them and they jumped and danced and sang songs.  Barbasol, $1.19.  Nice!  Josie then runs around the house and is insistent that she do the things Connor is doing.  She is way ahead of schedule, and I love it.