Hehwoah. My name a Garrett. I 4 years old.

Happy Birthday to Garrett! This morning Chris taught Garrett to say that he is 4 years old. For a while he insisted that he was 3, but after some coaxing, he agreed that he could be four. When I took him to school he said, "Hi guys. I 4 years old. It a birtday and I hab cake today." Garrett brought cupcakes with him to school and shared them with his class during snack time. While he was at school, I went to the party store and got him a bunch of balloons and some Curious George party decorations. Then I went to the grocery store and got him a cake. (I don't bake.) On the way home from school Garrett got angry when I told him that he was 4. He said, "No! I not. I tree years old. My name a Garrett. I tree." Later he announced that he was indeed 4. He discussed having his cake all day long. We finally had cake after dinner and Garrett was thrilled. He was also thrilled with his Curious George party hat. Mary liked wearing her party hat too. Several times I caught Garrett talking to his reflection in the oven door. He said, "Hi. You have a hat. It has Curious George. Okay?" Garrett seemed very intrigued that the hat had a point and it could possibly be used as a spear. He tried to spear me and Mary with his hat.This weekend we will have a real party and we'll give Garrett his birthday presents. Until then, please enjoy this picture of Garrett discussing his hat with himself.

The Eagle Has Landed

I am happy to report that we had two very successful plane trips. We did not leave on Monday, January 15 as planned because of the ice storms occuring through the middle of the country at that time. In fact, I had the kids, up, dressed, and at the check-in counter at 6 am before I knew that my second flight had been cancelled. Thankfully, I was able to change my plans for Tuesday, which was a much better travel day for airports around the country. We arrived with no major problems. Garrett and Mary slept for the first flight and were mostly cooperative on the second flight.

I do have one story to relate that mothers everywhere will sympathize with. I sat on the isle with Mary in my lap. Garrett sat in the middle seat next to us. A man who raised four children sat at the window. This man should have been the only person with whom I needed to concern myself, except for the person in the middle seat ahead of Garrett who suffered some minor seat kicking and tray table abuse. But, I failed to consider that I should psychologically profile the woman on the isle opposite me. We have all met a woman like this: the world's grandmother. She has 4 kids of her own and they each have 2-5 kids of their own and she is the matriarch of them all. She has a wallet full of pictures, a pendant that holds the birthstone of everyone in her bloodline, and she knows EVERYTHING about babies. ALL babies love her. She is the baby whisperer and we should all be thrilled to pass her our babies to get a little sugar and a daily dose of grandmamma elixer. After sitting on the plane for five minutes, I realized I had made a grave error in putting Garrett in the middle and allowing Mary to be in reach of the talons of this woman. She would say, "Oh, honey, what a beautiful baby. I know I have 10 grandbabies. They are all wonderful and love their grandmamma. You want a break? you give that baby to me. She'll be happy." "Oh, thanks," I'd say politely. "Uhm. She's actually a good traveler. I think she'll be fine." She'd insist: "Honey, it's okay. Really. I know about babies, and I know about mommies, too, huh. I know the mommy needs to rest. That baby will be happy over here. " I'm thinking to myself: how can I get this woman to back off without offending her? I swear to you, there were at least 3 occasions on this plane where you could see Mary stradled in the isle with Super Grandmama holding on to one arm, and me desperately clinging to the other. Fortunately for me, Mary is good at looking distressed and gave this lady the sidelong glance long enough to assure her that Mommy's lap is the only one for her. At one point Garrett said he had to go potty and I had to think quickly about my strategy of keeping Mary in my arms. Super Grandmama had her radar up because she immediately said, "Oh, you leave that baby with me and take the boy to the bathroom." I said, "Oh, gee, thanks for the offer, but she needs her diaper changed as well." Phew, that ought to do it. Nope. Grandmama said, "You know what? We do it right here! You and I. We can do it." I tried to imagine Mary spread eagle across the isle while this lady assisted me with a diaper change. I said, "Oh, really, you don't want to have to deal with that! They have a tray table in the bathroom. We'll be fine. Garrett, get up! Let's go." The third and final attempt that Super Grandmama made to show me what a warrior grandma she is will probably make her think twice about touching someone's baby uninvited again. She wanted to rub Mary's belly and give her a little back scratch. Now, if she had warned me that Mary was in for a body search, I would have warned her that Mary is being treated for ring worm. Before I can say, "You really shouldn't..., " Super Grandmama reaches under the back of Mary's shirt to scratch her back. She said, "Oh, you like that, don't you sweetheart. Yes, I know how to make the babies feel good.... what's this?" As annoyed as I was with this woman, I didn't have the heart to tell her that she had just scrapped fungus under her fingernails. I said, "Oh, just an allergic reaction to the tag in her shirt. She's so sensitive." She gave me a half smile, and said, "I'm not so sure... okay well, you feel better now huh, sweetheart?" After that I didn't have any more trouble with her.

We finally got to Oakland and, as Elaina related, we had a terrible time getting Garrett to use the bathroom. Elaina wasn't there for my first attempt at getting Garrett to use an automatic flushing toilet. The handicapped stall was not available, so I had to position my double stroller (with Mary in it) outside of a small stall and coach Garrett through the potty session with the door open! Naturally, he wanted me to go first to prove to him (and in this case the rest of the bathroom goers) that the toilet wouldn't swallow us whole. I have to draw the line somewhere. I refused to demonstrate with the door open. I told him, Mommy doesn't have to go. It's Garrett's turn. You'll be fine. Let's just go standing up! He wouldn't even do that. I begged, pleaded, assured, and promised chocolate shakes. He wouldn't do it. So we proceed over to baggage claim and looked for Elaina. Garrett waddled next to me and Mary because he was trying not to pee. Elaina took him on her own while I waited for the bags and he STILL wouldn't go. Then we all went to the bathroom. I want you to picture Me, Elaina, a double stroller, and one of those rent-a-carts piled high with luggage, all filing into the bathroom. We took up most of the bathroom! Then I had to go into a small stall with Garrett, show him how it's done, let him annouce to the bathroom guests that "Mommy did it!!", beg him to try again, and then cheer wildly as he finally peed!

The trip back was much less eventful. We sat in the bulkhead. We had the whole row to ourselves. We sat across from a sleeping student with an IPOD. Mary was cheerful and said, Hi!" to everyone. We got leftover fresh baked cookies from First Class. The Gods were smiling on me. I thanked them over and over.

Tomorrow I'll write about some of our California experiences, featuring Garrett's trip to "Target" and Mary's trips around the "world."

Ready. Set. Fly.

On Monday Garrett, Mary, and I leave for California. We will be there for two weeks. This weekend we are laying low because we need to prepare for our trip and there are big ice storms moving through the Midwest. In fact, the ice storms are moving directly through my travel path. We fly from Champaign to Dallas on an itty bitty plane, and then from Dallas to Oakland on a bigger plane. I have been unusually calm about the idea that I will be managing Moo and Mo on my own on the plane, despite the fact that I know Mary won't sit still (insisting that the tray table, call button, and seat belts are her personal play things) and Garrett will have to go potty 3 times and will be afraid of the weird looking toilet on the plane. He will want me to go first to prove that the potty does not, in fact, swallow you whole when you use it. The potty dilemma means several terrible things are possible: a) a kind stranger will have to hold Mary while I inspire Garrett to make contact with the potty, b) it will take an unbearably long time to complete the potty process and Mary will have ample opportunity to rip the ear drums out of the poor soul who is holding her, and c) Garrett will wet his clothes. I know this will happen, and yet, I do not fear. I have been through worse. What I do fear are flight delays. My ability to handle the stress of flying is contingent on knowing the precise moment at which the torture will end. With flight delays, I will not know. We may be stuck on the tarmak as the plane is de-iced. We may not have a gate to occupy when we finally get to Dallas because of the flight backup. We might have to reschedule our flight into Oakland, or be re-routed to SFO. Then, we will sit in 3 hours of traffic as the hard working CalTrans people retrofit the bridge (or something like that). I'll have to go out tomorrow and obtain dehydrated space food in the event that we are forced to survive on 6 peanuts in twice as many hours. In times like these, I thank God for three very important things: Benedryl, hand-held video games, and the mantras passed down to me from my father. The first mantra is "Remember the 3 Cs: Calm, Cool, and Collected." That's me. Calm. Cool. Collected. The second mantra is, "Pins and needles, needles and pins, a happy girl is a girl who grins." There I will be, on the plane, amid the ice, peed on, hungry, and grinning (as visions of California cuisine dance in my head). The people around me might not be grinning, but what can I do about that?

Anyway, I may not have the opportunity to make a blog entry for a week or so. Until then, you will all have to wonder how we fared on the plane.

Hooray for Miss Moo!

This evening, out of nowhere, Mary stood up off of the bottom stair and started walking. Not one step, then a fall. Not two steps, then a fall. Not three steps, then a fall. Mary stood up and crossed the room! She was saying, "Eeeeee" the whole time. She was so pleased with herself. Garrett and I were clapping wildly and cheering her on, which she loved. Then her daddy got home and she crawled over to him as quickly as possible for her hugs and kisses. After she had her fill of hugs and kisses, Chris set her down and she took off walking again. She put on quite a show for her daddy. I think tonight Mary will be running through fields of digital equipment in her dreams. Congratulations on your big achievement, Miss Moo!

I do not like them, Sam I Am!!

Garrett and I have been reading Dr. Suess. Our current favorites are Hop on Pop and Green Eggs and Ham. Garrett really enjoys learning about all the places and ways that the furry guy in the book would not, could not eat green eggs and ham. (What is that guy's name anyway? The other one is Sam I Am, of course. Furry guy doesn't get a name.) So, today I was trying SOOOO hard to get Garrett to eat lunch. I pleaded, "How about a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?" He said, "No. I don't want a sanich. I want ice cream!" I said, "How about a sandwich with strawberries?" "No, I don't want to sanich. I want cookie!" I said, "Would you eat it on a train?" He grinned? "No. I not eat it on a train."
I asked, "Would you eat it in the rain."
A giggle. "I could not eat it in the rain."
"Would you eat it on a boat?"
"I could not eat it on a boat!"
"Would you eat it with a goat?"
"No, mommy. I not eat it with a goat."
"Would you eat it with a fox?"
"No, I could not with a fox."
"In a box?"
"No."
"Would you eat it here or there?" He looked confused. I whispered, "you say, 'I could not eat it anywhere!'"
"I not eat it anywhere?"
"Would you eat green eggs and ham?"
"OH! Okay!"
I said, "Oh, Garrett! I don't have green eggs and ham. You silly."
"Okay. How 'bout ice cream?"

Invasion of the Bathroom Snatchers

Today I left the cough syrup open for a couple of hours in the bathroom, which was just long enough to invite the ants. They are the teeny-tiniest little ants you've ever seen. Unfortunately for Garrett, they are in his bathroom. Today he went in to use the potty and he said, "OH NO! Mommy! Ants! I need help." There were about 5 of them crawling on the counter and 1 --to Garrett's horror-- on the toilet. He said, "Get 'em, mommy." I did. I got them. I said, "Okay, Garrett, they're gone. You can go potty." "No," he said, "there's anudder one! It hiding!" Sure enough another one crawled up from under the counter. I said, "Okay, now they're gone." He said, " Mommy, I don't want to go potty. I don't like 'em, ants." I said, "Oh, Garrett. They can't hurt you...." Before I could finish explaining he drew a deep breath and pointed to another one. "GET IT!" I did. "Good job, mommy. Let's go upstairs." Garrett pretends to love dinosaurs, dragons, scary jungles, and so on. Don't be fooled! According to Garrett, anything that really moves could kill us all.

Mary Finds Heaven

Yesterday we went to Best Buy to shop for an external hard drive and peruse the products of modern technology. Best Buy provides fun for the whole family. Chris likes to see what new IPOD accessories are available, gawk at the fancy new computer monitors, and consider the joys of using a keyboard with electric blue lighting under the keypad. Caroline likes to imagine that she has a wall mounted, high definition TV instead of the boxy dinosaur that she has had since high school, as well as take a peek at camera and phone goodies. Garrett likes to play with the video equipment, take a test drive around a virtual racetrack, and run around in circles on the big yellow and blue circles that are painted on the floor. And what does Mary like to do? Point and click! You should have seen her eyes widen as we turned the corner into the isle of keyboards and mice. So many mice and only two hands! I had to position the shopping cart so that she could lean over and reach them. She eagerly grabbed the first one she saw and started clicking away. Then she realized she had about 20 mice to choose from and seemed a little befuddled as to how she was going to grab them all. I snapped a picture with my cell phone camera for your viewing pleasure.

An Average Day (plus friends!)

Today was an average day in the life of Miss Moo and Mr. Mo. They both went to MMO this morning, and then we came home and had lunch. Garrett refused to eat his and insisted on having cookies and milk. Today he was interested in watching "Hot Buzz" which is the Buzz Lightyear cartoon. Mary took a 2 hr nap, which gave me time to prepare for a the dinner that I was making for our friends, Jean, Fritz, and baby Sam. Mary woke up before I was finished preparing and wanted lots of cuddles. We had cuddles and then I returned to the kitchen. While I was working, she UNFOLDED all the laundry I had folded earlier, and tossed my food storage containers and lids all over the floor. She also discovered the toilet (Garrett left the bathroom door open). I could hear her saying "Yuck, yuck. Yuck. Yuck, yuck, yuck." I thought, "Uh-oh. She's pulling out all the diaper wipes. Nope, wrong. She was playing in the toilet. This is why I don't have people over nearly as often as I used to. But, I LOVE to have people over. I love a reason to try new recipe, drink some vino, and chat about whatever comes up. Tonight Jean and Fritz brought us a delightful Chilean wine and a delicious tiramisu! While we ate dinner, Mary and Sam sat in their chairs and ate like a prince and a princess. It's so cute to see babies interacting with each other. Garrett was pretty much absent the whole time, except for when it was time for cake. He was busy playing computer games. He wasn't being rude. I had fed him earlier and Chris had set up the game for him so that we could have some grown up time. Mary and Sam get along very well and had some nice parallel play action going on. Sam is a cutey! He walks like a little man. Maybe Mary will be inspired to walk to. She has been holding her balance very well lately. She likes to stand in place and just be impressed with herself. I love how my little Moo has a good sense of self and I love how my Mo is so sweet--he always wants hugs and kisses.

Farewell to Michelle. Boo hoo!

Yesterday we learned that our beloved speech therapist, Michelle, will be leaving us because she's getting married and moving on. Garrett and I are so sad. We have seen Michelle once a week since June and I can't imagine a better match than Michelle and Garrett. Garrett calls her "Me Michelle." Garrett likes to look down the hall of the speech therapy wing and wait for Michelle to come for him. If somebody comes who is not Michelle, he says, "That's not Michelle!" When Michelle comes Garrett forgets all about me and walks next to Michelle to her office. They have a great time reading books, playing games, doing arts and crafts, and eating candy! Whatever Michelle does in the future, I hope she continues to work with kids because she is extremely talented and relates to them so well. We will miss you Michelle!! Thank you for being such a good friend to Garrett and for working so hard to help him. You have made a tremendous difference to him. Dang, I'm going to cry.

Parrot or squirrel? Probably both.

Today Garrett, Mary, Chris, and I grabbed some tacos at a local Mexican food store/restaurant. Garrett was pretending to hide and Chris kept asking, "Where did Garrett go?" Out of nowhere Mary said, "ergaritgo?" Then later tonight Garrett threw a pillow at Mary and I said, "Garrett! That wasn't nice. You say sorry to Mary!." Garrett said, "Sorry Mary." Then Mary said, "Sorreee." She said it twice. She's a parrot. She's also a squirrel. She hides her bottles like little nuts between her crib bumper and the crib rails. I had been wondering where all the bottles had gone. Then I pulled out her crib to get something else that had fallen behind it and found her stash. Garrett used to throw his bottles out of his crib when he was done with them. We always knew when he was going to sleep because we'd hear the blissful sound of plastic hitting wood.

Happy New Year and Welcome!

It's January first and I've already fulfilled my first New Year resolution! Garrett (Mr. Mo) will be 4 at the end of this month and I've been blogging about him since the week he was born. And as of November first 2005 our writings include the endless activities of Mary (Miss Moo). Alas, it is time for a new format and a more visually appealing blogsite.

While I was considering names for Garrett's and Mary's new blog, I naturally leaned toward using their nicknames in homage to our previous site, The Bumpy Molasses Blog. Bumpy Molasses was shortened to Bumpy Mo, then to Mo, then formalized to Mr. Mo, or The Mo. Mary has taken on the nicknames Mary Moo, Mary Moo Moo, Moo moo, and now Miss Moo. She has a car seat that was given to us by our friend, Amy, with a cow pattern (sheer conincidence) and she loves to sing EIEI-OH! Sometimes Chris and I refer to Mary and Garrett as TheMoandTheMoo as if they are a single challenging entitity. The rhythm of saying The-Mo-and-The-Moo reminds me of a little poem my Grandfather (Pop) used to say to me:

The flea and the fly in the flue
In prison what could they do?
The flea said let's fly!
The fly said let's flee!
So they flew through the fly in the flue.

For some reason this little poem makes me very happy and it reminds me of the way Mary and Garrett seem to put their heads together lately. They love to get each other on a giggle streak. When Mary is sleeping, Garrett always asks, "Where'd baby go? Baby asleep? I want Mary time awake." When Mary hears Garrett get up in the morning, she does a little hop and makes a giggle. Today I could swear she was saying, "Hi Garrett." It sounded more like "heeegrrit," which may sound like nothing to you. But she said it consistently and with much glee.

Anyway... welcome to our new blog. Thank you for wanting to participate in the lives of Miss Moo and Mr. Mo.