Asher is a snuggle bear

Asher is a mover and a shaker and hardly sits still at all. Getting a kiss from him is like getting gold. Except in the mornings. Most every morning Asher wanders into the bedroom, comes to my side of the bed and stands there until I lift him onto the center of the bed. I tuck him under the covers next to me and sometimes he'll go back to sleep. Other times he'll wiggle around and start talking to me. At some point he will grab my arm and hug it close and say "my mommy, my mommy" over and over. He'll snuggle, hug and kiss me until he starts asking for milk (actually he usually has a list of things he wants... today it was 1) milk, 2) spaceman vitamins and 3) to watch Diego). I try to milk the time with this snuggly version of Asher as much as I can, but I imagine soon I'll stop waking to the sound of his diapers crinkling as he walks across my floor.

Trip to the dentist

Some of my most vivid childhood memories are of my going to the dentist. I remember the way the office smelled of cloves, how nice Dr. Shelley was and how we got to pick a pack of Trident gum when we were finished. My mom, sister and I always went together and we'd get to get off school for a few hours. We'd always stop at Dawn Donuts for a nutty donut laughing at how dirty we were going to make our newly clean teeth. Today I took my kids to the dentist. This was our second visit- our first was six months ago. Last time Avery was a trooper and they told her that next time she was going to sit in the big kids' chairs and that she was the youngest kid to do that. Asher was NOT happy. He kicked and screamed and the dentist barely got to even look in his mouth. Today I went alone with them. The whole way there Avery was telling Asher that she would go first to show him it didn't hurt, and that it tickled. Sure enough Asher sat there and watched Avery get in the chair, lay back, put her sunglasses on and get her teeth cleaned. I was surprised at how well he paid attention. He even asked Avery "is it owie or it tickle?" Soon another gal came and told Asher it was his turn. He went into an exam room so I left Avery out in the main room to go with him. He climbed right up in the chair and answered all the hygenist's questions without being shy. He picked a penguin tooth cleaner and orange toothpaste and allowed himself to be laid back in the chair with the big goofy sunglasses. He did everything he was told- opening, closing, tongue here or there and wider. The dentist came in and looked at Asher's teeth. He asked him to roar like a dinosaur and Asher did. He asked him if he had a favorite dinosaur, and to my surprise Asher said yes, the one with the spikes. Dr. Stine asked spikes on the head or back and Asher answered "his tail." A stegosaurus? Yes, a stegosaurus says Asher. When he asked Asher if he ate meat or plants, he answered plants. The densist was duly impressed (as was I) and I overheard him telling a nurse later all about his interaction with Asher. When we went back out, Avery was still in the chair finishing up. She didn't get scared that I wasn't there, and the hygenist told me that Avery told her that she was going to be Tinkerbell for Halloween because her Granny had just bought her a costume. The kids each got to put tokens in the toy tower and got little trinkets for being good. They were so well behaved I don't think I've ever been prouder of them both. I felt good about this dentist and am really hoping my kids have memories of going to the dentist that are as good as mine. Maybe next time we'll stop for nutty donuts.

My weekend with the kids

I had a great weekend with the kids. Saturday I got up and ran, then went to the store but was able to spend quite a bit of time playing. We went out in the snow mid-morning and were going to try to sled but the snow was too wet. We managed to lay down a track going down the hill at the side of the house, but it was too slow and sticky. But, it was PERFECT snowman/snowball building snow! So we built a huge snowman in the front yard complete with a carrot nose, stick arms, sycamore seed eyes and a snowball "party hat" as Asher said. Then we made and threw about 800000 snowballs at each other and we all had a blast. Daddy was inside watching car racing and made us a good lunch. Later on we went outside again and the snow had changed. It was powdery and no longer good for making snowballs. But... it WAS good for sledding! The track that we had laid down earlier in the day was now slick and icy and the kids FLEW down the hill squealing the whole way. I spun Avery and her hat flew off and she must have gone in a hundred circles before stopping. Thankfully there was a patch of grass just before the treeline or they'd have ended up in the woods! Sunday Jamie left for Nebraska so it was just me and the kids. We had pancakes for breakfast then went to Walmart for a few things. They were so good that I took them to Burger King to play in the indoor playground. I was hoping at least one of them would go to sleep on the way home so I could relax a little but hahhahahaha no way. I did try to implement a quiet time during which Avery watched Peter Pan and Asher watched two episodes of Yo Gabba Gabba (incidentally- I wouldn't mind having some of what the creators of that show MUST be smoking) which gave us all time to reset. After quiet time I had a glass of wine and we all sat down on the floor on a blanket and ate shelled peanuts and watched The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. Every time one of the kids got up they shaked their laps off onto the blanket, which was hilarious. After a dinner of pizza we were all pretty ready for bed.

Forebba and ebba

Last night Avery asked me if I was going to be her mommy when she grew up. I told her that yes, I would always be her mommy. Forebba and ebba? she asks. Yep... forebba and ebba.