Have Some Shorts...

A collection of short little stories for you:

• The other day Bree was happily scribbling away on a piece of paper. When she was done she brought it to me and said, "Mom, this is a map to the play park. Do you know what it says?" I answered, "Go to the play park?" "Nope," she informed me, "It says Greetings! Go to the play park and then come home and make dinner." "Oh," I said. Well, a few minutes later she was back with her "map." "Mom, do you know what this says?" she asked. I was pretty sure I knew the answer this time, "Greetings.." I started in. "No Mom!" she interrupted, "It says, Congratulations! You get to go to the play park!" How am I supposed to know the answer if it keeps changing? That was the first time she's used the words greetings and congratulations also so I pretty much had no chance of getting it right. But then, no matter what don't kids always kind of think their parents are a little slow on the uptake?


• Brianna walked up to her Daddy recently and stated "Dad, I have a problem!" "What's your problem?" he asked her. "My problem is that I don't have a dog named Odie. And we can't get a dog until we have a fence. (Which is the excuse we give her as to why we can't get a dog right now.) That's my problem." "Well," Trav told her, "Fences are kind of expensive so we can't get one right now but we're working on it." "But Dad!" she protested... I guess not having a dog when you really want one IS a problem for a kid.


• Bree is getting used to life with Noah but she still has some moments when I'm sure she gets a little frustrated. Like the other day when she was sort of cavorting around him while he was laying on a blanket in the floor. She just wanted to play with him but she sometimes has a hard time remembering he can't play at her level and she has to be careful around him. So there she was running around when she accidentally stepped on him. Naturally this didn't feel so hot to little Noah and he started wailing full force and then so did Brianna. I walked over closer to see if Noah was okay and Bree cried even harder, I think assuming she was in deep trouble. "It's okay. I know it was an accident." I told her and after a few minutes she calmed down. Later in the day she must have still been thinking about it and said, "Mom, when I stepped on Noah I cried and cried!"

• Despite a few unfortunate stepping on baby incidents Brianna really does like playing with her little brother. All I have to do is pretty much set him in his bouncy seat in her room and away she goes. So today when I was cleaning up her room I sat Noah in his little man recliner in her room and we were off on a grand imaginary adventure...."Mom, you and me are the bad guys and Noah is the good guy," Bree informed me. Yep, I guess she must like him pretty good if he gets to be the good guy. :)

• Recently Bree had a litttle sore spot on the roof of her mouth. She kept poking at it and it was bothering her so much I decided that I'd try to get a little Oragel on there to make it feel better. So, I put a little on her finger and told her to touch the hurty spot in her mouth, (like she'd been doing all day), but instead she decided to taste the medicine first and stuck her finger on her tongue. Well, as you probably know Oragel tastes horrible and so Brianna made a yucky face and then said, "Mom I don't need medicine, my mouth is all better now!" Lesson being I guess that if the cure is worse than the ailment, most patients will be magically healed!


• As some of you may know, Bree was Buzz Lightyear last year for Halloween. Well, this year when we asked her what she wants to be she told us, Jesse (the cowgirl from Toy Story 2). So, we thought, the Toy Story theme continues. Now you can't buy a Jesse costume in most stores so I needed to order it online. But as you know, pretty much once you buy that way there's no going back. So every day for a week I asked Brianna, "What do you want to be for Halloween?" and each time she would answer with "Jesse!" So, I took the plunge and ordered a Jesse costume online. Well, of course, I think it was the day after the costume arrived and had secretly stashed it in my closet as a big surprise that Bree announced she wants to be....Larry Boy (From Veggie Tales) instead. Oy! Problem is I looked and the don't make Larry Boy costumes being as he IS a rather obscure character in the cartoon kingdom. So I'm still hoping that I can pull the Jesse costume out as a surprise and Bree'll be so excited she'll forget the Larry Boy thing. (I hope! Or we may end up with one unhappy and tearful little trick or treater.) But as a tribute to Bree's favorite cartoon super hero and for those of you unfamiliar with him, I leave you with this intro to Larry Boy... click here