Thursday, November 27, 2008

By Connor

The thanksgiving dinner

One thanksgiving dinner when people were gathering around the table
to do grace and they herd a big BOOM KRASH BANG! And it was a monster
And they were so scared that they didn’t
do thanksgiving!
The End

Monday, November 24, 2008

free stuff....

This carrier looks awesome, a friend of mine has one. I want one! I entered to win one, and if I put this link here I get an extra entry.....


Win a Free Organic Embroidered Ergo Baby Carrier Hands Free System from Along for the Ride

Saturday, November 15, 2008

My trip to the doctor

Wyatt had a doctor's appointment today. He was scheduled to go to the hospital for a swallow study. (This is where he gets to drink lots of yummy Barium and they get to watch him while he eats a variety of things. This helps us to keep track of what he's able to eat and how we can best keep him safe while helping him learn to feed himself.) ANYWAY....

His appointment was at 10:30. I left work at 9:30; picked him up at 9:45, and off we went. Got to the hospital at 10:30. Got out the wheelchair, my purse, all the crap that we need to bring everywhere we go, and were on our way. I took extra care to lock the doors, which I don't always do, because we were in a creepy parking garage.

We made it to the information desk, and we were told we needed to register. Great, now it's 10:40, and I need to register before I can even get to my 10:30 appointment? So, I go ahead and sit down to wait, then we go back to register. I sit down with the woman, who seems to be having a very difficult time finding Wyatt in the computer. I'm hearing a lot of "huh". Turns out, we weren't supposed to be there that day. So, after lots of phone calls and keyboard clicks, we find out we have an appointment Wednesday. Great. By this time, Wyatt is complaining miserable that we're still there. (I later find out that my appointment was cancelled and re-scheduled. By whom I'll never know....)

So, we turn around and head back out. Boy, that was a day off work well spent.... As we head back to the car (Which I actually find without walking around the entire garage for an hour and a half) I notice.... that the door to the back of the van is WIDE open! I took all that care locking the door, but left the back door wide open when I took out the wheelchair. Didn't I feel like a complete idiot walking over to this wide open car in the middle of the creepy parking garage. well, of course then I had to check every nook and cranny of the van to make sure there were no bogey men hiding inside!

So, one changed appointment, one van left wide open, and one wasted day off. Super. Which was worse, this appointment, or the one on Monday where all three kids, and myself, got the flu shot? Both were a barrell of laughs, I guess.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

discipline

My not-quite-related-through-marriage-never-met-'IRL'-live-in-different-countries-dear-friend Grazia sent this to me. I thought it was hilarious!
____________________________________________________________________
Subject: Tough Love vs. Spanking - Good Argument

Most people think it improper to spank children, so I have tried other methods to control my kids when they have one of 'those moments.'

One that I found effective is for me to just take the child for a car ride and talk.

Some say it's the vibration from the car, others say it's the time away from any distractions such as TV, Video Games, Computer, IPod, etc.

Either way, my kids usually calm down and stop misbehaving after our car ride together. Eye to eye contact helps a lot too.

I've included a photo below of one of my sessions with my son, in case you would like to use the technique.


This works with grandchildren,
nieces, and nephews as well.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Happy Fall!

Click to play Fall 08
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More Boston

So, if I ever wanted more proof that moving to Northern Vermont has turned my children into total hicks, all I had to do was visit Boston. The kids were very cute. Every building we walked into received a "woa" or a "cool" or "this is so tall". Their favorite part of the whole trip was riding the T and going up and down escalators. Seriously, as we are at the top of the Prudential Center, looking down on all of beautiful Boston, all I kept hearing was a resounding chorus of "When can we go back on the train or ride an escalator?" Yeah, no strange looks from people there.

We did have a fun time. On Friday we spent the entire day at the aquarium. While it was a really long day, it was pretty fun. We then had dinner at Faneuil hall and went back for some bedtime swimming. The next day we were able to ride the T into Boston, which was cool. We went to the garden and saw the statues of the mallard family from Make way for Ducklings. That was pretty fun. (Mostly for me, but, whatever...)

After that we rode a carousel at the frog pond and played on a playground. There were some researchers there from Harvard doing some experiments with kids. They had a little game set up and were doing experiments on fairness. The game was a level that would either deliver candy to both players, or take candy away from both players. One child was in control of this. The kids were either given the same amount of candy or not. The kid in control got to decide weather or not they got to keep them. It was pretty cool to watch. Both Connor and Aisling participated (although, not at the same time. That would have thrown all their theories of fairness right out the window. Nothing is fair when you play with your siblings).

We then went back to Fanueil Hall for snacks and shopping. While we were there we stopped to watch some street theater. This was a troupe of hip hop dancers. At one point, just before they started asking for everyone's money, they grabbed Connor and a few other people and brought them to the middle. It turned out that one of the dancers was going to do a flip over the group. I'll try to add the video as it was pretty cool. We then had dinner in the North End. That's always great. A few pastries from Mike's Pastry, and we were on our way.

We did have a great time, as I hope the pictures will show. It was really great to be close to home again. Boston looks totally different now, since the Big Dig. There's a lot more grass, and you dont' have to walk under 93 to get to the North End! (I was lost amongst the grass and cleanliness...) We even hung out at a cool fountain. You can see the video of Connor daringly running across the fountain when the water is off.

Enjoy the photos.

Click to play Boston 08
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