Category Archives: Out of the mouths of babes….

Odds and Ends

Posted on March 2, 2011 | 1 comment

Good morning everyone!  It’s hard to believe we have arrived at Wednesday already! 

  • Kayla deprived of her morning fire 

Yesterday morning was another one of those days when I had a very hard time chivvying Kayla out of hibernation and into the cold, cruel world for another day.  Once I got her awake, she came be-bopping into the den to get dressed in front of the fireplace – only to find out that access was blocked because we had put some clothes up there from ironing.  Let’s just say her reaction was not positive; tears and drama were both involved.  When she said she was cold, I pointed out, yet again, that if she would go ahead and get dressed, she would start to warm up.  She wasn’t too thrilled with the logic of that statement!

  • No-No and Bad Dog Strike Again

Once I got Kayla shipped off to school with Mark, I then had the opportunity to start to get ready for work myself, in between retrieving items from No-No (Darwin) and Bad Dog (Mandy).  Darwin is “No-no” because when you tell him “No” about something he at least thinks about listening to you.   Mandy is “Bad Dog” because she really doesn’t care what you think about her activities.  (That laid back basset hound temperament strikes again!)  Yesterday morning’s festivities included rescuing two of Mark’s handkerchiefs, a pair of my hose, and Tyra’s dog bed from our bedroom from the miscreant pair.  Then, just for grins and giggles, the pair gave me the opportunity to rescue one of the two handkerchiefs for a second time last night.  (I also just had to rescue a dish towel from Darwin a second ago.)  We really are putting these things up; Darwin is just tall enough to reach whatever Mandy tells him to get.  The amazing thing is that no socks have been involved in the past 24 hours; I would guess that’s because Mandy has not yet seen a pair suitable for sharing!

  • Floor Decorations

It rained hard on Monday, which has left the back yard still pretty wet and muddy.  We have beautiful dark wood floors in the main part of our house, so we now have the added pleasure of random paw prints scattered on the floor throughout the den.  The most definite, and largest, paw prints are Darwin’s, and the second best prints are made by Mandy.  It adds a certain air of individuality to the floor!  That air will be lost once I am sure that the yard is dry enough to keep any attempts at wiping up the paw prints from being an exercise in futility. 

  • Sunday Night Eating Out

I have mentioned before that Kayla’s imagination is amazing to me.  We ate out Sunday night, and I got some grilled shrimp on a wooden skewer.  Because Kayla got baked potato soup, she was finished well before either Mark or I, so she picked up my skewer and started pretending like it was a pointer that she could use to show pictures of a house to us.  She started out by offering us a four bedroom house with two kitchens and a bonus room for $50.00.  By the time she finished, she was offering us a four bedroom house with two kitchens and five bonus rooms fully furnished (the fifth bonus room was for the dogs and came complete with 18 pairs of socks for Mandy to chew) with a large backyard (location of said house to be determined later) for $0.00.  We told her she drove a hard bargain, but that the last offer was too good to refuse! 

Have a great day everyone!

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Weightwatchers as Kayla sees it

Posted on February 25, 2011 | Leave a comment

Thursday night is not as busy for us as Wednesday night, but it still is busy, since Thursday night is when I go to Weightwatchers.  The meeting is at 6, so I have just enough time to get Kayla from day care and arrive at the meeting just a little early so I can get weighed in.  Kayla attends the  meetings with me out of necessity, and I am very proud of how well behaved she is during them.  In fact, she has been quite a hit with the group, and the leader will ask her to help hand out items and do other little things which make her feel included.  Her favorite part is when she gets to weigh in (for free).  She listens to the leader too; the suggestion a couple of weeks ago was to compare your level of hunger to traffic lights – green means you’re hungry, yellow means you’re getting close to satisfied, and red means you’re way too full.  About a week later, we were eating dinner, and out of the blue, Kayla looked up at me and said, “Mom, I’m at yellow.”  

Last night, Kayla had been playing outside at day care when I picked her up, and her first, second (and next 100) comments involved the fact that she was thirsty and wanted a drink.  I had nothing in the car with me, and not being gifted with the ability to manufacture something out of nothing, I told her when we got to the meeting place, she could get a drink at a water fountain.  Unfortunately, we didn’t see a water fountain anywhere on our way in, either.   So she spent the entire meeting whispering to me “I’m thirsty.”  When we got outside after the meeting, she looked at me and said, again, “I’m thirsty.”  I stopped, looked at her in amazement and said, “You’re thirsty?  I never would have guessed!  What on earth would have made me think that you were thirsty?”  She looked at me and said, “Daaadddyy!” in the tone of voice she uses when she knows she is being teased and wants you to stop.  I pointed out that I was Mama, not Daddy, since I was the one with dark hair and brown eyes, not light hair and blue eyes, and that it probably was time for her to be able to tell the difference between us.  She started to laugh and then she said, “It’s just that I love both of you  so much that I have a hard time telling you apart!” and then she gave me that  little grin that says she is seeing how I will take it.  I looked at her and said, “I don’t believe that, but I give you credit for quick thinking!” and she laughed again as we drove home.

She has been very disappointed that there are no free samples of anything given out at the meetings that we have attended so far – at Weightwatchers’ meeting, there are boxes of different snack bars and other items on the weigh-in table that you can buy if you want, and she has just been certain that somewhere along the line free samples will be forthcoming.  Yesterday was her magic day – we got to try some cracker/chips that were 3 points for 30 that the leader had found at the store.  They were pretty good.  The only problem was that they were seasoned with sea salt and the sea salt obviously did not help with the thirst. 

Today is “B-day” in our household – the day that Kayla’s braces get put on.  Mark is going to take her this afternoon to the appointment.  She is already very nervous about it.  Please say a little prayer for her.

Have a great Friday everyone!

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Mrs. J. and the Lemonade

Posted on February 23, 2011 | Leave a comment

Yesterday evening, before Mark go home, our neighbor, Mrs. J., came over for a minute to return some space heaters we had lent her when her heater went on the fritz.  Well, the visit wasn’t entirely spontaneous; Kayla had seen her otuside on her front yard with her new puppy and had begged me for permission to go down to say hello, so I let her go.  Mrs. J. is a favorite of ours, with her sweet, kind nature and we all love to visit with her.  Kayla came back to the house with one of the heaters, and with Mrs. J holding the other, so I invited her into the house and we visited for a little while.  Kayla, apparently having learned from watching Mark and me, understood that the first rule of hospitality was to offer someone something to drink, so she asked Mrs. J if she wanted anything, and Mrs. J said, “No, thank you.”  Kayla decided that that was not good enough, so she entered teh kitchen, and after various noises had floated forth from the kitchen, Kayla emerged with a glass of pink lemonade, complete with straw in place, for Mrs. J.  Being the sweet woman that she is, Mrs. J. had no other choice then to accept it from Kayla.

Knowing that there had been no pink lemonade “ready-made” in the house, I gently asked Kayla about the pink lemonade’s sudden appearance.  She told me cheerfully that she had opened the pink lemonade koolaid packet, poured the whole (2 quart packet) into the (12 oz.) glass, added water and ice and stirred.  I asked her if she had added sugar to the mix, and just as Mrs. J. took the first sip, both she and Kayla answered “No” at the same time. 

I told Kayla it was a nice idea, but asked why she hadn’t used the lemonade that was already made up in the refrigerator.  She told me she couldn’t find it.  I couldn’t help it; I asked her “You mean you missed that big pitcher sitting there beside the milk?”  There was silence for just a second, and then she she said shortly, “Oh.”  Resilient as ever, she re-entered the kitchen, and re-emerged quickly with three fresh glasses of the already made-up yellow lemonade, again with straws in place, showing that her heart was in the right place, she just needed a little help with execution!

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