My Dolphin's Name is...

A few days ago Shane and I decided to cancel our subscription to the Dish Network. Don't get me wrong, we love our shows, but we started to think that maybe there were better ways to use our time. Mostly though since Mason has learned to operate the remote control himself we thought that perhaps we should start being more careful about the media that our children were able to consume. So we are TV-less, and really its a good thing. I always thought that we didn't watch very much TV, but when I can see what we have time for without it I realize that actually we did. I didn't think that Mason even missed it until today when we were playing animals. I asked him what his dolphin's name was, he thought for a minute and then said thoughtfully, "my dolphin's name is Mote Control."

Yeah, I think we need a few more weeks without the TV to revive our creative naming skills.

Fun with dad

For anyone who wanted a better understanding of my last post here is a video I took last night, complete with Max in his jungle baby costume. Usually Mason is a little more involved in the fun, but I was trying to get Shane to help me show off how crazy wild Max is sometimes.

My scary kid...

Every night after dinner we have this routine, while I am cleaning up the dinner Shane plays with the kids. On weekdays its the only time they get to play together and I love listening to them. I also love being able to get something done without "helpers." Its always some sort of wrestling match where there is much crawling on the floor, and steamrolling, and dog piling. It must be a male thing because Shane is so much better at this kind of rough house play than I am. Although the activity is always much the same it always has a different theme. Some days Mason and Dad are polar bears, and Max is a penguin; some days they are horses and cowboys, lately Mason always wants to be a lion and Max sometimes gets to be a lion, but sometimes an antelope. I know it sounds like Max gets a bad deal, but the kid is just so squishy he tastes good.

Anyway...On Tuesday we went to the mall. The mall has a play area, we love the play area. Winter is loooong in Idaho, and I mean long, so anytime we can get out we do. This day we had almost the whole place to ourselves, which isn't saying alot, its not a very big space, but it was nice not to worry about Mason getting pushed around by some ten year old who is way over the height restriction, because apparently it really upsets the big ten year old's mom when I yell at her mean kid. Anyway...the only kid there looked like he was about five and was only there for a few minutes when his mom said that it was time for him to leave. On the way out he looked over to me and said, "Is that baby with the red hair your's?" I smiled, and said yes preparing to graciously take the inevitable he's so cute compliment. The kid looked at me and said quite seriously, "he's scary."

I laughed out loud, but this poor boy's mother was mortified, she immediately apologized and demanded that her son recant his statement and say my baby was cute instead, the boy looked bewildered, apparently he thought he was doing the playground a public service by getting this "scary" one year old under wraps. The mom continued to look increasingly embarassed, so I said in my most sympathetic voice, "did he roar* at you?"
"Yeah," said the kid.
"Sorry, he does that sometimes." I replied.
And with that the other mom's face softened, she could see that we both understood the joy of raising boys.

And I'll have to remember to tell Shane that thanks to his nightly tutelage our Max is the scariest kid on the playground.



*in our house its pronounced rawr

Its time for a change

Ok lately I've had this nagging feeling that I should go private. I mean when I initially created this thing it was to be a writer's blog, but since I started telling people in my real life about it, it seems that all I write about is my kids, which is great, but honestly I have no problem telling the random internet world about my thoughts on numerous issues, but I do have issues with telling the random internet world the sweet details about my children's lives. I go back and forth on this issue, but lately it has really bothered me that just anyone can peek into my kids lives. I hardly ever post anyway so really I don't know that the random internet world will miss me, but those of you that will miss me please leave me a comment to let me know that you'd still like to see my blog. If I don't have it please leave your email address so that I can grant you access, I'll turn on comment moderation so that no one's email addresses are made public.

I'm a little sad to change and I hope to come back someday committed to making that writer's blog. Maybe when I have more time for writing, so uh about the time Max leaves for college.

More Mason Quotes

Today as I am working on my computer Mason sidles up to me and looks at my screen which happens to be open to my itunes, and this image

Mason patiently asks, "Why is she putting a hat on?"
I say, "I don't know."
Mason says, "Maybe she wants to be like Bob the Builder?"
I had a good laugh, because I am sure that is exactly what Brit intended to portray with that picture.

If you are feeling like you need a pick me up today find a three and a half year old and have a conversation with them, it always cheers me up.

Dumbo

I love Sundays at our house. We declare it family day, we go to church and recharge our spiritual batteries, we come home, and have lunch, and then Max who is exhausted from running laps around the chapel and eating all the other kids snacks zonks out for a good two to three hour nap. That's when Shane and I calmly discuss who got the Sunday nap last week and therefore should get to hang out with Mason so the other partner can have a nap. Sunday naps are a most coveted item in the Notes household, and although we try to be civil this conversation usually ends with a wrestling match to see who can get to the bed first. Mason thinks its hilarious and knows that really he's the winner, because he doesn't have to take a nap at all.

So last weekend I lost, so while Shane took a nap Mason and I picked a movie from our extensive Disney collection. This Sunday's pick: Dumbo. Mason had never seen it before and I thought how lovely and wholesome, I forgot how sensitive my little one is... All was fine and good until the kids started making fun of Dumbo's ears. "Why are they doing that Mommy?" and then the horror when they pulled Dumbo away from his mom. My son was in anguish, "what are they doing to his mom?" and then almost pleading, "He needs his mommy!" I could see the therapy bills piling up and I asked Mason if he wanted to turn it off. "No" he said unable to tear his eyes away from the screen, "just stay here and watch it with me." "Ok, bud, I promise it will turn out ok." I put my arm around him and he snuggled in closer. So we watched together and I reassured Mason over and over again that it would all work out and I thought back to my own childhood and tried to remember how I perceived Dumbo's predicament when I saw it for the first time. Perhaps it was because I was so busy reminiscing about my own childhood that I was so unprepared for what happened next. The little mouse takes Dumbo to see his mother and from where she is chained to the wall she can't even see him she can only reach her trunk out, catch up her perfect little baby, and rock him, and yes I know you can all hear it too... "Baby mine don't you cry..." And all of a sudden I am BAWLING! Seriously an uncontainable blubberfest, and I realize that this is the first time I have seen Dumbo through a mother's eyes. This is something I was completely unprepared for, the intense empathy I can feel for Mrs. Jumbo. I was a rock before I had kids, I even remember pointing a mocking finger at my own mother who cried during Hallmark commercials. Now a cartoon elephant makes me cry. Now you can blame the increased emotionality on hormones, or age, or whatever you want, but I think that I know the truth, its a deep dark secret that no one tells you before you have kids. Its not that they don't want you to know, its not that they don't want to explain it to you, its just that there are no words that can truly describe the intensity of feeling so you wouldn't believe them anyway. I realized the truth of the secret the first time I held my tiny one his little lungs unable to work on their own, knowing that I would do anything to make him better, to take away the hurt, and also knowing that I couldn't. I couldn't fix it or make it go away, I could just hold him and rock and sing and comfort. That's when I learned the secret: that mother's are truly the strongest creatures on Earth, and also the most vulnerable because mother's have the most to lose, because holding my babies, and sheltering them from (albeit Disney induced) fear I know that I have in my arms the greatest gift to humankind, my child. Many writers have tried to describe love, but my feeling for my children is more intense, and more powerful, its not emotional, its biological, its hardwired into my soul. And if I ever were to lose...well let's not go there, its too awful, but that my friends is why Dumbo makes me cry. So the next time that sappy "Baby Mine" song comes on the old lady radio station, and your mom tears up, don't laugh or point, because now you know that you made her that way, because loving you has made her feel more deeply than any human should have to, and because although you may be grown she can still see in her mind the time when you resembled that little elephant and she lovingly rocked and sang and comforted.

At our house that time is present, and maybe that's another reason I have such tender feelings for that little Dumbo...

I think there's a bit of a resemblance.

Halloween

I love Halloween, oh it is so fun. I'm not really a crafty mama, but I love to make my kid's Halloween costumes. I think I like doing it so much because my mom always made ours growing up, so in my head somewhere its written that Halloween costumes must be homemade, anyway this year the costume making became a major event. Really I thought it would be no big deal, Mason saw a picture of something he thought was so cool he just had to be...and then I thought of the perfect costume to go with it for Max, you know like a theme and then well there were two other parts to the theme to make it complete so soon Shane and I needed costumes too. Really I thought I would work on it a few evening and then we would have these adorable costumes for Halloween. I started making them the first weekend in October, and finished them...um the Wednesday before Halloween. After weeks and weeks of our house being covered in fabric scraps, hot glue bits, and ribbon the finished products finally emerged. I admit it was a much bigger project than I anticipated, but oh my...the cuteness...