My New Favorite and Zoo Pics

We went to the zoo about a month ago and for some reason I am posting this now. We have this great little zoo near us. It is pretty small, but cheap and Matthew thinks it is great, so I do too.

This is my new favorite! They are both looking and smiling at the same time! Amazing!

Matthew was a bit cautious about actually touching the animals. Erik took him a few weeks prior on his own and Matthew wouldn't even step into the petting portion, he told Erik it was closed and so they couldn't go in. I think it is possible he maybe remembering a segment from America's Home Videos where there were several clips of crazy things happening to kids at petting zoos.

Matthew wild creature extraordinaire telling us all about animal paw prints.

Baby Sister

According to Matthew he has a baby sister. **Before anyone starts thinking this is my way of saying I am pregnant, it's not, even though we would be absolutely delighted, there is no #2 yet.**

Just a few short months ago, Matthew was completely against siblings. I would say something like "Wouldn't you like to have a baby brother or sister someday to play with?" and he would always say something like "No thank you Mama, I am the only one."or "Please don't talk to me about babies.".

One day Matthew and a friend were playing outside and the friend was talking about his new baby brother. Matthew didn't really appear to be listening but he went immediately to the garage and got his old baby stroller out. He pushed it around the front yard for a half an hour talking about how his baby sister was in the stroller and how he was taking her to the aquarium and how she loved the fish. When it was time to go inside, Matthew asked if he could bring his baby sister inside I said no the stroller needed to stay in the garage. I thought this would probably be the last time he would speak of baby sister.

The next day we are getting in the car headed off to Walmart when Matthew spots the stroller and says "Oh there is my baby sister. Can she come to Walmart?" I say, "No, baby sister needs to stay here. She probably needs a nap anyway." Once we get to Walmart (45 seconds later...such a LONG trip) Matthew is talking to everyone in sight as he always does. For some reason he decides the subject for the day should be his baby sister. So he tells everyone..
"I have a baby sister at home."
The strangers smile and say "Well that is nice."
"Mama says she has to stay out in the garage though, she isn't allowed to come inside. I wish she could come inside. She is taking a nap in the garage right now."
The strangers' smiles fade and they look at me. I quickly explain before anyone can whip out their cell phones and dial up child protective services that his sister is not real.

Weeks later, baby sister is still a major part of our lives. He still pushes her around outside and we have taken her for several walks around the neighborhood. His old room still has the crib in it so that is baby sister's room. He found a teething fish toy and said "I need to put this in the fridge for my baby sister. She will like to chew on it." So for the past week he has put it in and taken it out of the fridge several times a day. Matthew has picked out new bedding for her in the Pottery Barn catalog (he claims she is a big fan of the fish set, sorry baby sister we don't actually ever buy anything from PB, we just like to look) and he has shopped for toys and clothes for her at Target. Baby sister is so lucky to have such a dedicated big brother.

Yikes!

I HATE snakes. Let me explain, I REALLY HATE snakes. I am not scared of snakes because I think they will kill me or anything I just hate them. I think I hate the way they slither the most. I have hated snakes for as long as I can remember, even snakes on tv. I have to put my feet up when I see a snake on tv, and it isn't like sometimes I put my feet up or most of the time I put my feet up, it is EVERY time. Now I am not the kind of girl that is scared of all bugs, spiders and all things creepy and crawly. I feel that my hatred of snakes is completely Biblical. I mean it wasn't a spider that tempted Adam and Eve.
Recently, things have been a little too snakey for me. While walking with Matthew the other day I saw I snake slithering in a neighbor's yard. I was pretty proud of myself because I was very calm and thanked the Lord above that there were no snakes in my yard. I mean snakes can't come in my yard, right? This yard was clear on the other side of the subdivision from mine, my side of the sub is most definitely snake free. In fact, I thought maybe it was the neighbor's snake and they just let it out for a morning slither in their yard.
Then 2 days ago there was a story on the news about a mom who walked in to her baby's room and found a snake wrapped around her baby's leg while the child was sleeping in the crib! They think the snake was in the mattress! Yikes! I actually saw the snake on the news, so for the last few days I have been picturing that horrid thing in my bed slithering to my leg.
I wish that this were the end of the snake stories, but it only gets worse. This morning as Erik is walking out the door he points to the sidewalk and says "Megan, do you see what that is?" just as a gigantic, horrible reptile slithered into our bushes. Yes, it was a snake and it was in my yard!!!!! Ok, ok it wasn't gigantic, but it was definitely horrible and it looked exactly like the snake from the news that has been haunting my thoughts at night. I get freaked out just typing it. A snake in the yard I spend hours in. Erik said it went into the neighbor's yard, which gives me such peace because I am sure there is some invisible snake gate to keep it in the neighbor's yard and allow it never to return to ours. Then Erik reminds me that we really need to weed that section in the front where the snake was. I don't see myself doing that anytime soon. Is there such thing as snake repellent?

Runaway

The Boy was zooming his car around the dining room table.
Mom says to Boy: "Please don't zoom your car on the dining room table. Any other table will be fine, just no cars on this table."
Boy continues zooming as though Mom had never spoken.
Mom says: "Please take your car somewhere else."
Boy walks away with an angry look on his face.
30 seconds later, the Boy returns with arms crossed and says: "I gotta get outta this house."
Mom says: "You've gotta get out of this house? Why?"
Boy says: "Because you told me about my car."
The Boy takes a few steps toward the door.
Mom says: "Where will you go?"
Boy: "I don't know, someplace."
Mom: "Who will take care of you."
Boy: "I don't know."
Mom moves toward the door and unlocks it.
Mom:"Well I don't want you to go, but I guess your mind is made up."
While opening the door for the Boy, Mom says: "Be safe. I love you."
The Boy looking confused, slowly closes the door. His whole face starts to change. With wide eyes, a gigantic smile and nervous laughter in his voice he says: "I was just betending (pretending). I am not willy (really) leaving. I am not angry, you just asked me a question nicely. I was just betending (pretending). "


Whew, that was a close one!

Matthew's Fashion Do's and Don'ts for Summer 2008

DON'T wear anything with a tag.

DO buy tagless or make someone (like your mom) cut out the tags in ALL of your clothes.

If your mom forgets and leaves even one tag on you can remind her with tears and frantic words like "Oh no, it has a tag"or simply "Emergency".

DON'T ever let your feet be naked, wear socks at ALL times.

I really can't stress this one enough. Even if you are not wearing pants or underwear; socks are essential.

DON'T ever wear shorts to bed.

I know it is very tempting to wear shorts to bed, especially when nearly every pj set comes with pants and shorts to match so that you could wear either. I know it is tempting to wear shorts also when it is 105 degrees in your house and you sweat profusely all night, believe me I know. Be strong, fashion is of the up most importance, even while you sleep. Remember the socks too, no one should ever sleep without socks.

DON'T wear sandals (unless your mom threatens you with a time out).

With sandals you can't wear socks which conflicts with rule #3. Also, if you have followed this blog for awhile you will remember mom has a hard time putting those things on the right feet anyway.

The final rule for summer fashion is....

DO realize any attire is appropriate for weight lifting.

Lifting in a t-shirt, underwear, and socks only is ok. Really you can even lift while you are on the potty half naked. So this last rule is really that there are no fashion rules when it comes to exercise.

Sickness, Sunburns and Storms

Last Wednesday afternoon when Matthew woke up from his nap he was burning up and his voice was a bit raspy. He was a little cranky but when I asked him what hurt him he said "nothin". Later though he came to me completely distressed, tears streaming down his face saying "Every time I talk my mouth turns into a grandma mouth and not a Matthew mouth". The next day he had his "grandma mouth" again but no fever. Just to clarify neither one of his grandmas have a raspy voice so I am convinced this idea that grandmas have raspy voices must have come from tv or something. He kept telling me he wanted to go see his Dr. at Target and get some tasty medicine. Of course, our Dr. doesn't work at Target, he was referring to the pharmacist I think in an attempt to cut out the middle man (the Dr.) and just get straight to the medicine that makes him all better. I didn't take him to the Dr. and on Friday he seemed fine. He told me upon waking he was "just a yittle bit sick". I found that to mean he was sick enough to have his sick suckers (these really cool throat soothing suckers made for little kids, I wish I would have invented that) but well enough to resume all other normal activities.

Friday night he woke up a few times and did some crazy screaming and he would not tell me what was wrong.

Saturday we had tickets to JFest, which is this great outdoor all day Christian music event. It was lots of fun. It was however the hottest day we have had yet, which means Erik and Matthew were drenched with sweat by the time the first band reached the chorus of their first song. My dad brought his binoculars which Matthew claimed immediately and barely let go of them for the remainder of the day. Matthew liked the music but did complain to me a couple of times that "the music notes were getting inside of him", but apparently that isn't a completely horrible thing because he did some dancing, played a little air guitar, and especially liked the stuff that was "rocking out" a bit as he would say. Later that evening once we were home Matthew's eye started looking a little different and oozing some yellow goo. Erik and I also noticed we had acquired a bit more sun than we had thought. We realized that one of us may have completely forgotten to put any sunscreen whatsoever on his/her legs and due to the way this person, whose identity will be kept secret, was sitting half of his/her legs were blazing, bright red and the other half white as white can be (in case you were wondering this particular look makes people, even complete strangers, laugh). We were all ready for sleep, but sleep would be hard to come by this particular night. Matthew was up screaming a few times, his eyes were all gunked up and swollen nearly closed, he threw up in his bed and had a bloody nose. Then, of course once he finally was sleeping for a few hours there was a very loud thunderstorm that woke him. By 4:45 AM I was quite ready to just give up on that night and start our Sunday extra early.

By morning, Matthew was looking pretty piratey with his one eye nearly closed and I had read that if the eye is swollen you should seek some medical attention so since our Dr. doesn't happen to be open on Sundays we tried out one of those Minute Clinics in CVS. So Matthew has a sore throat, ear infection and pink eye and we got prescription drugs to put into every hole on his face. The eye drops are miraculous, his eye looked nearly normal by the time he went to bed that night and there was no screaming in the night so I am guessing his ear is feeling better too. I fear his throat may never feel better if better means he can no longer have his sick suckers.

I have taken so long to write this post that I now have some new news as well. Erik is sick. He went to the Dr. I made a second trip to the Target pharmacy this week. He has strep throat. I think I need a sick sucker.