Funny Quote from Harry #7154

I sure will miss Macie and Braydon.

Said as we were leaving Macie's 6th birthday party.

Went to see Kung Fu Panda yesterday

Harry wanted to leave after about an hour. It got too scary. I like movies about toys.

Am I the last person on the planet to not have a facebook page?

It would seem even the Bighitter has one. Do I need one? Why? I barely have time for my current friends. And I still keep in touch with people from middle school, high school, college, old neighbors I grew up with...people from various jobs. Is this a bandwagon I need to jump on? It's not that I'm feeling left out. Hounded is more like it. And the ever present question "do you have a facebook page?" No. Is this what those people who don't have cell phones feel like (I know at least two of them...and my dad's not one of them!).
Speaking of cell phones, Isabella has a Firefly. I'd been thinking of getting Harry one. Apparently they are only $30, plus minutes. Then he wouldn't get my phone all sticky.

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Best Kid Ever!

Harry said this morning that his ears hurt so he would have to go to the doctor to get them checked and get medicine. He thought he had "an ear infection." He didn't want to take any Tylenol until after he saw the doctor.
So, I picked him up after school. While I brought in the trash he went in to let Bailey out (on his own). I put a shirt out for him to change into, which he also did on his own while I was upstairs. We picked up Ainsley and when we got to the doctors' parking lot, Harry held onto AInsley's stroller while we walked inside. At my request, he ran to push the up button on the elevator and then pushed "4" once inside. He entertained himself on the well kid side (what, I should let him pick up germs on teh sick kid side?) until his name was called. He followed nurses orders once his name was called and removed his shoes to get weighed. He climbed on the table himself and told the nurse all of his symptoms. He held perfectly still and didn't cry when the NP scraped hardened ear wax from his ear canal. SHe told me she was greatly impressed with his behavior, and that most 8 year olds would have screamed, and it was obvious he was in pain.
Turns out no ear infection, but he does have strep. That explains my sore throat. I knew it! But I thought he was fine. He's been bright eyed and bushy tailed all week.
So, prescription in hand, we headed to CVS for his Omnicef. I'm already stocked up on Kefir, so that should help any gastro symptoms and keep the good bugs in him. SInce it was getting late, and, oh, since I don't cook, we headed to the pizza place next to CVS for dinner. Just when my hands were as full as could be (making AInsley's bottle while she was crying, dealing with change, strollers, opening Harry's lemonade...)Harry says he has to go potty. For some reason I said "Can you go yourself?" (In my defense, it's a single stall within view of the table and I was blocking the door). SOmewhat surprisingly, Harry said yes and he ran over, only to yell that he had to use the one for boys because the other one was for girls, yadda, yadda, yadda. He's really a very independant, responsible kid, but at teh same time he is very loving and happy to hold my hand, sit on my lap, let me pick him up to hug and kiss him. He doesn't seem the least bit self-conscious, yet he is very aware of what's going on around him. He's a good boy.

And I'm Back Again!

Just returned from my 3rd trip north in only one week. We'll be headed up to DE again on Saturday for Macie's birthday, so that will be 4.
This weekend was Mandy's college graduation and Parker's baptism. I took Ainsley with me since Harry had a sleepover Friday at Sage's and Miles's birthday today, not to mention a BBQ on Saturday. He's a busy kid. And it's getting really expensive to board Bailey, so Kevin was staying home, and traveling by car with 2 kids for 3 hours solo isn't the best idea. I could do it if I had to, but better to have the quality one on one time with each kid, she says.
So Ainsley was passed around at Mandy's party, even to the big tough guys ("Can I hold the baby now?") and she got to meet little Parker, 1 month her junior. The little lady slept every second of both trips and from 11P-7A this morning. She's awesome!
Friday I got to take advantage of "summer hours "so I picked Harry up from school at noon and took him to the pool. I won't even point out that membership is pricey and I've been there twice. I am NOT reminding Kevin of that! I will remind him that to cut corners I have begun having to paint my own toenails. I do draw the line at plucking my own eyebrows, though! Anyway, I had fun with the little dude and got to see Kelly and Ledi for a bit. And, as Kevin mentioned, got in some quality couple time later while Harry was at Sage's.
Thursday I got back into town from NJ in time to pick Harry up from school. I forget what Harry's immediate reaction was when I got to school, but I believe it was something along the lines of "Why are you here?" Ms. Daisy assured me he had been talking up my homecoming all day, so I said, "Let's try again." This resulted in "MOMMY!" as he jumped into my arms. "Let's go Mommy!" That's better. Then we got Ainsley, who I am convinced was mad at me. Harry stated "She doesn't remember you! Ainsley, that's MOMMY! You can't forget Mommy. It's MOMMY!" He was very matter of fact, and I soon got a giggle out of her.
While being away from home for 4 days, I spoke to Harry before bed every day. He seemed a little sad, but he was in good hands, and the fact is, I'm never away from him these days. Plus, they kept us super busy with GCP training, complete with exam. Fun stuff! We won't get our results back for 4 weeks, but it's all good. The best part? They'll go to the CEO first. So see? No pressure!
The weekend before was Kevin Wiley's wedding. Fun times, and we lucked out with a sitter 10 minutes from our hotel. Deana saved us!!!! Harry had his first (almost) sleepover with new friend Braydon and his sister Macie...friends of PopPops and new friends of ours! We picked the kids up by midnight, but as far as Harry knew he was sleeping over. He did a great job!

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Next milestone... check.

Sleepover at Harry's house was a few weeks ago. Last night, Sage got to return the favor.

I dropped him off around 6 with very little fanfare, but plenty of luggage. When Sage's dad jokingly asked how long he was planning to stay, Harry quickly and frankly answered "I'm having 5 sleepovers," to which we both quickly replied, how about we see how the first one goes...

Harry was ready for me to leave before I even finished bringing his stuff in, so off I went.

We (Kim) decided that we needed to take advantage, and to go out somewhere while Ms. A is still in the portable stage. So off we headed to Mai Thai, which ended up being a very nice no-wait (?) dinner that Ainsley actually was very cooperative throughout. We then enjoyed a very leisure stroll around the waterfront. Surprisingly (okay maybe not) without a single phone call.

We headed home to get Ms A to bed, and caught some grown-up TV (although Tivo did its best to try to change the channel to record Blues Clues several times) and hit the hay.

After a relatively quite morning with little sister, I picked Harry back up around 11, and was treated to a glowing review of the nights' events. Dinner turned into a picnic at the Ice Cream social at the neighborhood playground, and somehow they didn't keep each other up all night, nor did they wake the whole house first thing in the morning. Apparently Harry was considerably helpful getting things cleaned up (apparently even ran the vacuum himself).

Even though we returned home still in pj's, I'd still call it a success. There's an open invitation in either direction for more sleepovers, so we'll see. Maybe we'll get to #5 after all.

Word of the Day

contemporaneous
Adjective
happening at the same time
contemporaneity n
hc_dict()
Collins Essential English Dictionary 2nd Edition 2006 © HarperCollins Publishers 2004, 2006

Ah... Americana

Good Calvin

Quotables

"I think anybody that makes a decision about where they stand is going to cause strong opinions about them. But I think that's what you should be hoping for in life, so I take that as a very good sign. That some people support me and some people really don't like me tells me that I'm making decisions and I'm standing strong for something I believe in. I'm making choices in life. And that's the right thing to do."
-A. Jolie

Out of the mouths of babes...

Aunt Ethel: Harry, who's your favorite person? (Looking towards
Dominic...)
Harry: Mommy! (with dimples!)

Kim: Harry, you took a long nap today. You must have needed it.
Harry: Yeah. I was exhausted.

Setting: In the car, listening to some cheesy song I've never heard before
about wanting to be a rock star.
Harry: Why does he want to be a rock
star?
Kim: So he can have creature comforts.

Harry: Oh.

PopPop: (Did you go to Braydon's yesterday?)
Harry: Yeah. You have to turn on Spitfire (House Road) to get there.

My Crowning Achievement

Harry gets TP from the basement, removes the wrapper, puts the empty roll in the trash, and replaces the roll with a fresh one - so it is ready for him when he has to poop later.

Oh, and we cut two toenails tonight without a straight jacket and a shot of Haldol!

I also got to ride in the back of his Mustang convertible tonight. He's a pretty good driver, but has become so cool he doesn't even put his hands on the steering wheel, particularly when going in reverse. Nice.

Crap!

Harry's actually training to run the Marine Corps Marathon with me! He was disappointed I ran without him tonight, so I told him we train together on weekends, and during the week he runs at school (luckily he did today!). I better find some kind of fun run ASAP! Can he pass for 6?

ah... memories

okay, if there's something I'm not really known for, it's certainly my childhood memories

for those of you who have had the pleasure of seeing Ratatouille, (hopefully this isn't going to spoil it for anyone) recall the scene when Anton Ego takes a bite of Remy's dinner, and gets catapulted back to his youth. The effect was very near the same this morning when I was folding laundry while Kim & Harry explored Ben Brenman Park, and music from Gustav Holst's The Planets Suite came on the radio.

Now to those of you who are into classical music, this may be an "ah yes... beautiful piece" kind of thing, but if you grew up in the Philadelphia area in the 80s and only got KYW, WPVI, WCAU and WHYY, chances are, you just might have watched the ridiculously corny Starstuff on Saturday mornings... and if you did, you'd instantly recognize the show's opening theme music! So of course I couldn't get it out of my head, and thus had to look it up, and then found out it was only on in Philly on Channel 10 (who knew?).

On Sunday mornings, we used to always watch Charles Kuralt on CBS Sunday Morning (at the sound of the trumpet!). I've tried to turn that into a Sunday tradition with Harry, only now Charles Osgood is the host. Today's show however opened with news of the passing of legendary sportscaster Jim McKay, whom I also grew up watching. From the pre-ESPN days of ABC's Wide World of Sports, to just about every triple crown race we ever watched (plenty of those... another tradition in the making). Then came John McEnroe interviewing Bjorn Borg after the French Open. I can remember very specific times watching them play, each other and apart, throughout my early days... one was Grandpa McDermott's living room up in Uncasville. Could have been them playing each other, could have been Wimbledon, or Roland Garros, but it doesn't really matter. At least I can see it in my head.

I'm not really sure where I was going with all of this, but lots of stuff came back to me for a few fleeting moments today, that I'm sure Kim will assure you, I don't remember much of... time as a kid. I don't know why, or what has gotten in their way, but it's nice to know that at some point, when you're least expecting it, they happen to pop out every once in a while.

Hey it's Franklin...

Meanwhile, back at square 1...

Harry thinks he should not go to school anymore and I should not go to work anymore. I'm half on board with that. But what will we do all day, I ask. Go places, he responds. Go on vacation. And this is why I work.

Round 2

Storms took out our power last night as well as the big tree you see here. It was actually kind of fun to get a break. Or maybe I have been reading too much of Last Child in the Woods.

I was on the American Legion Bridge yesterday when I drove into the rain. It then came at us sideways. It was bad. Somehow most debris (and by debris I mean uprooted trees) seemed to have been cleared as it was happening...except for the debris around Harry's school. I've never experienced so many detours in a 1 mile radius!

When I got to school the parking lot was full of parents. This was unusual as we are usually the first ones out of there since Harry starts his day early. Turns out they had lost power. Harry was a little unnerved, but Ms. Diana had told them t hat looking out the window (at the bright daylight) would make them feel better.

Harry is very honest about his emotions. He was scared and he said so. He usually also has a method to calm himself, so he looked out the window on the way to Menike's to get Ainsley, where power was also out. I carried him inside, which he was grateful for.

When we got home I kept the kids in the car while I checked out the damage. That big tree knocked out two others, but little damage to the surrounding houses. The same thing happened last July 4th. We are all out of shade in our backyard!

We tried to make things fun for Harry. He enjoyed the picnic we had on the front porch, but did not enjoy the thunder and lightening and came running to me in fear after the first enormous bag. Kevin did a great job of explaining lightening and thunder to him (and to me!). Even though Harry held onto his ears while Kevin held him, counting the seconds from lightening to thunder seemed to help.

Once the kids were in bed, things got kind of dull. Luckily, I had my new mother's day battery charged DVD player to get my mind off of the tornado watches! The unplugged family time was great though. I appreciated it. I don't think my boss appreciates that I didn't get my SOPs reviewed yet, though. I had planned on getting those done last night :-(
-Kim (not Kevin)

And for those with no idea...

As Usual, Harry Was Right

For thos eof you who keep revisiting YouTube and can't get teh lyrics out of your head, here they are:

Wheres your mama gone? (Wheres your mama gone?)Little baby Don (Little Baby
Don)Wheres your mama gone? (Wheres your mama gone?)Far, far awayWheres your papa
gone? (Wheres your papa gone?)Little baby Don (Little baby Don)Wheres your papa
gone? (Wheres your papa gone?)Far, far awayFar, far awayLast night, I heard my
mama singing a songOoh-We, Chirpy, Chirpy, Cheep, CheepWoke up this morning and
my mama was goneOoh-We, Chirpy, Chirpy, Cheep, CheepChirpy, Chirpy, Cheep,
Cheep, ChirpWheres your mama gone? (Wheres your mama gone?)Little baby Don
(Little Baby Don)Wheres your mama gone? (Wheres your mama gone?)Far, far
awayWheres your papa gone? (Wheres your papa gone?)Little baby Don (Little baby
Don)Wheres your papa gone? (Wheres your papa gone?)Far, far awayFar, far
awayLast night, I heard my mama singing a songOoh-We, Chirpy, Chirpy, Cheep,
CheepWoke up this morning and my mama was goneOoh-We, Chirpy, Chirpy, Cheep,
CheepChirpy, Chirpy, Cheep, Cheep, ChirpLets go nowLast night, I heard my mama
singing a songOoh-We, Chirpy, Chirpy, Cheep, CheepWoke up this morning and my
mama was goneOoh-We, Chirpy, Chirpy, Cheep, CheepChirpy, Chirpy, Cheep, Cheep,
ChirpAltogether nowLast night, I heard my mama singing a songOoh-We, Chirpy,
Chirpy, Cheep, CheepWoke up this morning and my mama was goneOoh-We, Chirpy,
Chirpy, Cheep, CheepChirpy, Chirpy, Cheep, Cheep, ChirpOne more time nowLast
night, I heard my mama singing a songOoh-We, Chirpy, Chirpy, Cheep, CheepWoke up
this morning and my mama was goneOoh-We, Chirpy, Chirpy, Cheep, CheepChirpy,
Chirpy

I had to find out of, as Harry said, the words are "Little baby Don." They are? What's a Don? Is that some bird's name?

Alrighty then.

When i got to Harry's school today Miles and Angus were working together to roll over a log and discover what lie beneath. Harry was sitting under a tree with Lucy and Taryn. They lived on a farm and he was their pet horsie. Yeah.
Later we skateboarded. He's getting good. Good balance. It helps that the wheels don't really move.

I Can't Stop Crying!

I was all set to do a simple post about having Harry back as a running buddy - this time on his two wheeler. He started out running the VA Beach Rock & Roll Half Marathon in utero, and today he helped me train for the MCM, clocking a fast two miles before I quit. We'll try to double it next week. I got a shout out from another mom following a training-wheeled two wheeler, too, but I digress. The reason I spoiled my mascara is because Harry stole the show at the Genie Graduation today and I couldn't stop laughing! Who knew he had it in him! Quite a performance of my formerly least favorite song, Diego and Dora singing, I think, "Chirpie Chirpie Cheep Cheep." Kevin is figuring out how to post it now without sending everyone else's kids into cyberspace. Stay tuned. And even though they will remain in their classrooms all summer, we are preparing for Harry to be one of the big kids at Abra. It's crazy! I'm so not ready for him to walk down the aisle in a cap and "Abra Alum" T-shirt next year! What I am ready for is to run "Chirpie Chirpie Cheap Cheap" on the big screen at his wedding!