Screams like a girl

As I wrote the title I thought, "that would be a good name for Torii if he was Native American."

The other day he was playing with a toy and just started screaming. I thought he was hurt, but then we realized he was scared of a fly. He climbed on Fred's lap and was screaming for him to get the fly. He would not leave Fred's lap until he was sure the fly was gone.

Yesterday at Grandpa and Grandma's we kept throwing some of the cat's toys at Torii. We found out he is also scared of those. We were throwing them at him, putting them in his pocket, putting them down his shirt. We probably tramatized the poor kid.

My resolution

Last year was a big year. I turned 30 and a few weeks later had my third child. In the months leading up to my birthday and during my maternity leave, I did a lot of thinking. I thought about my life up to this point and yes, I was extremely happy. Still, I felt something was missing. That led to my new year's resolution. I spent my 20's saying I was going to (fill in the blank) whenever we had the money, the kids were in school or whatever else excuse I came up with. Last year I suddenly wondered what I was waiting for and as part of my resolution I wasn't going to wait anymore. There have been many times that I have thought about starting my own business, but this latest idea just wouldn't go away. The more I thought about it, the better it sounded. So to fill in the space I felt was missing in my life I decided to start my own business. I've been researching, putting a plan together and also buying materials. I'm so excited and so scared too. It could be a huge success or it could be a huge bomb. I hope it's successful enough to live off of. Although I say I'm doing this for myself I feel like I'm also doing it for my kids. I want to make money and be at home with them. I also want them to be proud of me. When people ask them what their mom does I hope they can say, "She owns her own business."

Mommy's undivided attention

Rion doesn't need naps anymore, but when he is tired he will lay down and take a nap. Yesterday was one of those days. He was tired so he took a nap with daddy. Since he took a nap I let him stay up later when Torii had gone to sleep for the night. Torii has done this a few times, but since it's been a really long time since Rion has napped during the day this was a first for him. He was so excited when I went into his room to tell him he could stay up late. I could hear it in his voice. He thought he was pretty cool too. I figured he would play on the computer, but instead he watched football with Fred and I. And he talked and talked and talked. I have never heard him talk so much in my life. Was this Rion or Torii? For the first time in a really long time Rion had my undivided attention without any distractions. I think he really enjoyed our together last night. I know I did. After the football game I let Rion watch one of his shows, then he went to sleep and I didn't hear another word from him. He is such a good kid. It was really nice to talk with Rion. The poor kid can't get a word in with Torii around.

The day after

Dec. 26th- It looked like a toy store had just exploded inside our house. Toys, toys, toys everywhere. Some were still in the boxes, others scattered everywhere. Some of the boxes had found their way to the trash bag that still stood in the living room. Other boxes were still out. Many of those annoying twist ties from the boxes were spotted everywhere. Thank goodness Cordelia isn't mobile yet. After Christmas I felt like we had just gotten back from vacation. I hadn't done any chores around the house for days and I was extremely tired. It took another two days for me to recover and start on any cleaning. Something to remember for next year: Contractor bags make cleanup a lot easier. They're so big. Our garbage man has his work cut out for him this week.

I had a very good Christmas this year and here's what I'll remember:
I was so excited for the boys this year. I felt like I did when I was young except instead of being excited about opening my own presents I was excited for the boys to open theirs. I couldn't wait to see their faces when they opened their gifts.
I had fun baking and making holiday treats with the boys. They helped cut out the sugar cookies and frost them later. Torii dumped a lot of sprinkles on his cookie. They also enjoyed putting sprinkles on the chocolate covered peppermint sticks.
The boys helped decorate the tree and wrap a couple of presents.
The boys learned to be charitable when they dropped change in the Salvation Army buckets. Even if it was just to get a candy cane from the volunteers.

Get your own

If you ask Torii if you can take Cordelia home with you this will be his reply: "No, you have to go to the hospital and get a baby."

From Santa

I've debated about putting a TV in the kids' room. On the con side: they watch too much TV the way it is. On the pro side: I wouldn't have to watch so many cartoons. I didn't have to make a decision because Santa made it for me and left a TV/DVD combo for the boys. What a nice guy. The boys haven't watched it as much as I thought they would which is good. And tonight it came in so handy. I got to watch all of the football game, Torii fell asleep early while watching a show and Rion was close behind. While I never really wanted to put a TV in their room I guess I'll let this one go since it was a gift from Santa.

Video game junkie

It turns out that Rion really likes his Dora game. It's actually a really cute game and it's easy for him. It's a lot like other games where he has to find hidden gems and complete certain tasks, but it's on an easier level. Fred was wondering if there were any cheats available on the website he checks for video games. We then began to fantasize about the possible codes the creators could have installed in the game. Wouldn't it be great if they installed some codes for parents only. As the game is now there is no possible way for Dora to die. And what parent hasn't wished at some point that Dora would just die already? I would love a Mortal Combat like battle between Dora and Swiper. That might help with some of the day to day stress parents face.