That explains his Spanish accent

Little Bitty just introduced me to Mighty Boy (which she does from time to time... as if we'd forget we have a 15 lb. furry tornado in our house). However, this introduction was a little more detailed.

LB - "Mommy, this is Mighty Boy. He's my dog."

Me - "Hi, Mighty Boy."

LB - "Mommy, do you know where my dog was born?"

Me - "Where?"

LB - "In a doggy Guatemala."

Is that not precious?!

The Field Trip

Soooo - the apple orchard field trip. All in all... a fun morning. This is a self-taken picture of Brother and Me on the way to the apple orchard. How do I know it's on the way there? 1) My hair isn't yet plastered to my face from the rain and humidity and 2) Brother is sitting with me - I have not yet been banished to a seat by myself so that he can sit between two friends and behind a cute girl in the class.

This is "Farmer Nick".

Farmer Nick was our tour guide. Farmer Nick had a script of stuff to say knew a lot about the apple orchard. Enough to bore 40 kindergartners within about 5 minutes. The tour went like this:

Farmer Nick: What do you think this is?

Kids: A TREE!!!!

Farmer Nick: Yeah... but here in the tree? See these things hanging? What are they?

Kids: LEAVES!!! BRANCHES!!! DIRT!! BIRDS NESTS!!!

Farmer Nick: Yeah, but I'm talking about the apples. Do you see the apples?

Kids: CAN WE EAT THEM NOW??!!! OOOOH THEY LOOK GROSS! I HATE APPLES. NOT ME I LOVE THEM. CAN I PICK ONE?! ME TOO!!! I WANT AN APPLE! THAT ONE'S ROTTEN!!

Farmer Nick: Whooaa, wait, no picking yet. Let's move on. Do you see this Bee Hive? What do you think we keep in there?

KIDS: BEEESSSS!!!! AAAAAKKKK! EEEEEKKK! CAN I TOUCH ONE??!!

Farmer Nick: Do you know how many are in one Bee Hive?

KIDS: FIVE... NO! TEN THOUSAND BILLION INFINITY!!

Farmer Nick: Well...actually more like sixty thousand. Isn't that a lot?

KIDS: MY SISTER WAS STUNG BY A BEE! HER FINGER GAINED WEIGHT.

Farmer Nick: Ok, let's move on. Do you know what this is? It's a ladder. What do you think we use it for?

KIDS: CAN I CLIMB IT! NO WAIT MY TURN...FARMER NICK, FARMER NICK - I KNOW!!

Farmer Nick: Yes, you there - thank you for raising your hand. What do we use the ladder for?

KID: MY SISTER WAS STUNG BY A BEE TOO BECAUSE SHE WAS RUNNING FROM IT!!

Farmer Nick: Ok, well, now we're talking about the ladder. What do we use it for? No... wait... no one can climb the ladder. I'm just showing you... ooh, get down, no, we can't climb it. Ok, Let's move on.

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And so it went. There were many laughs from the parents who, probably like me, wondered who Farmer Nick's usual audience was - because it would seem he wasn't used to kindergartners. He also wasn't used to a teacher speaking to her students in Spanish and at one pointed commented on how she was "speakin' Mexican". Good times, good times.

Here's Brother eyeing me thinking, "Really? Do these kids not know what this ladder is for?It's an apple orchard for G*d's sake!"

Here's Brother smiling when I think Farmer Nick told them we that they would now get to pick an apple. What he didn't tell them was that they would each spend about 2o minutes picking out the perfect apple that didn't have any rotten spots or holes in it and was just high enough that they could barely reach it and they would be so proud and sure theirs was the best... and then they would be instructed to drop it in a bucket on the way into the barn, never to see it again. Ah well. They each got a sip of apple cider and an apple slice in the barn. And all was good.

I realized on this field trip that the point of field trips is to get the kids out and about and perhaps expose them to something new. It doesn't have to be extremely interesting or entertaining. Riding the bus is enough fun to make it worth it to them. Also - I should say that this opinion on field trips is specific to me... so you have to take it with a grain of salt. I also get bored at museums and my legs start falling asleep upon entrance be it the Nature Center at Edwin Warner Park or The Louvre in Paris. I know some people love this stuff. ;) But I DO love my little dude and I hope I get to go on ten thousand billion infinity more of these field trips with him.

Good to the last drop

What's even better than getting to be the mother to the world's most beautiful little girl??

That's right... having that beautiful little girl love to make you coffee every morning!

In other news - I'm off on my first field trip as a parent today. We're headed to an apple orchard in the rain. The rain doesn't bother me too much - I'm just excited that Brother is at the age where he wants his mommy to come along. My only hope is that they don't put me in charge of any other kids. There is a reason I'm not a teacher anymore. ;)

The hard work pays off...

I love it that he set a goal and stuck to it (something that I sometimes have a problem with)... look at my little guy. He IS Anakin Skywalker.

A Sense of Humor

I think the game began on a long car ride with the four of us. True, it won't make it into any parenting magazines - but I imagine plenty of other families with young children have played the same game. It's called "How many different ways of saying 'vomit' can we think of?" Brother came up with quite a few good ones - and also had an original entry... "throwing the bologna". We laughed and thought that was the winner of our list.

Fast forward a few weeks and during one hectic morning before school and our crazyass spirited puppy (how long are they considered a puppy?) had an accident on the floor. Ugghh. And then he ate it. I know - way too much information and not necessarily the type of stuff good blogs are made of. But, this is my life. Anyway - after doing this, Mighty Boy proceeded to gobble up his, um, deposit... I think to not get in trouble (because why the heck else would anyone do this?!) Well, that was a bad idea - because as most beings with any sort of brain could tell you - that will probably make you sick. Which it did. All over the living room floor. So - as we are now about 5 minutes late getting out the door, I'm scrambling to clean up the latest mess while the kids look on in amusement. However, the more Little Bitty looks at it - the more her gag reflexes start kicking in. And she thinks that is funny. "Brother, watch this!", she'd scream and then look at the mess and gag and dry heave. "Honey, stop it..." I'm warning. Too late. On about the fourth round of looking, gagging, repeating, Little Bitty also loses her breakfast. All over the living room floor. We were late to school.

Fast forward another several days, Little Bitty is laughing as she remembers the episode and tells her Daddy about it:

"Daddy, remember yesterday [anything in the past is yesterday for Little Bitty] Mighty Boy and I both throwed the bologna!"

"Yes," says Daddy, laughing at her use of the appropriate euphemism.

"Daddy, you know what that Bologna said?"

"What?" asked Daddy - looking at me like 'where is this going?'

"I believe I can flyyyyy!", she sang out before laughing hysterically.

Ahhh, our Little Bitty. She's got it. That keen sense of humor that our family loves. Good job, sweetie. Mommy is proud and I have now documented the whole twisted series of events leading up to your first real funny.

* A side note to Little Bitty - sometimes Uncle Pete will try to be funnier than you - but you remember - you're your mommy's daughter and WE'RE the funny ones.

Little Bitty goes to a Party

Here is a picture of Little Bitty heading off to her classmate's birthday party. She knew that a party was occasion to break out the cowboy hat. I mean -it's either that or a monkey suit, right? She also packed her backpack/lunchbox for the party. She packed a book and some markers (I guess in case the party was a bore she'd have something to do?)

She was the only little girl there without a dress on. She pretty much refuses to wear dresses right now. But - we pick our battles. Glasses? Non-negotiable... dresses? We don't force it. Don't you love the smile? She's at that phase that when you ask her to smile it comes out as some weird, pained expression. She's beautiful anyway.