Some Updates on the Three Beans

I've had a tough summer. Here are a few things you might have missed.

The Lady

The Lady lost her first tooth a couple of weeks ago. It happened during a blanket war with her little brother where they act like dogs and each hold a side of a blanket in their mouth. She came up to me with a bit of blood on her fingers but no tooth and at first I thought it was lost for good. We did finally find it on the carpet underneath the blanket and we avoided having to craft a letter to the Tooth Fairy. I had no idea her tooth was even loose, probably because there was a full-grown tooth behind it and it was just wedged in place. And you read that right the new tooth is behind it, like a full row behind the rest of her teeth. I think we are all headed for orthodontia in the future. Wish me luck this Friday when all three of the kids visit the dentist simultaneously.

The Lady is very excited for school to start (one week from today!) and we finally got the letter with her teacher and all the school supply info last week when we got back from Crayola. The one good thing was that the teacher she got was the only first grade teacher she could actually name when I asked her a few weeks ago. I am hoping for a smoother transition this year.

I took all three kids to Target on Friday night to get the supplies on the list. We got everything we needed in addition to a new Hello Kitty lunchbox for the Little Lady (who isn't even signed up for Lunch Bunch), a copy of Kidz Bop 24, which I am mortified to admit to you. The Lady knows all the songs on it, but these are the cleaned up versions sung by children. Some are better than others. The Selena Gomez cover isn't bad, but three 13-year-old girls should not be singing Mumford and Sons. Ever.

There were a few Target mishaps along the way, the Little Lady couldn't make up her mind about being in or out of the cart, the Lady was three steps ahead of me at all times trying to cross everything off her list and QT thought he could take off whenever he wanted when he wasn't trying to push the cart by himself. But in the end everyone earned a Kit-Kat and I think that says something. I think that says something indeed.

The Little Lady

Both girls are taking a four week/twice a week gymnastics class. They love it, which is great because we all know how those classes have sometimes ended up for us. The Little Lady started the first week as the only kid in the class. She was pretty much getting a private lesson and even though a new girl showed up last week, I am glad she is getting some directed attention because she is so into it.

So obviously we had a gymnastics/bouncy house party for her birthday over the weekend. She showed up wearing just the leotard, no clothes to cover up, she was full-on ready to literally roll. I was so glad that two of her friends from her class last year were able to make it and that by the end of the party everyone was exhausted and we didn't have to clean anything up! We ended the day at an impromptu BBQ and pool/dance party and the Little Lady fell asleep on the way home so she didn't get to open any of her presents until yesterday, which she did with the abandonment of a four-year-old girl presented with a bag full of presents tied up with balloons.

School doesn't start for the Little Lady for another couple of weeks. I think getting back to a schedule will be good for her and I am waiting to see who her teacher is. Hopefully, it is who she likes or we may be hearing about it for a while. I am reminded about a blog I wrote a couple of years ago. You may remember it, I think it was called the Ferocious Fours. Here is to hoping we have a great year Little Lady!

QT

What can I say about this kid? He is talking so much now and he is also mimicking pretty much everything his sister's say including the dreaded and punishable "stupid head." It is hard to punish him though because he is so freaking cute and also likes to peek his head around the corner from the "time out stair" with a huge smile on his face. He is a runner and will take off quickly. I know he is small but it is hard to keep up with him! He still hates sand and during every beach outing this summer has refused to step one foot in it. He will however nap on the beach for 1-3 hours at a time, which is amazing. We will see how it goes this weekend as we attempt to make it back to the beach one last time.

I was able to spend a little bit of time with him on Saturday before the Little Lady's party. He was the only one who wanted to run errands with me. I will admit to dawdling at Dunkies because he prefers to sit there and eat three bites of a donut rather than take it in the car. It was nice to just hold onto his little hand and watch him explore his world. It has been so long since we have had any time just the two of us and it amazes me how much he has grown in just the last few months.

The kids have all really started playing well together. Sometimes it is pure chaos but when you hear the three of them laughing hysterically it is a lot easier to ignore the giant mess they just made and think I am doing an OK job by them.

Are You Experienced? And the Great Kit Kat Crayola Meltdown

And boy do they mean an "experience."

I took a vacation day yesterday because I think after the last few weeks I have earned it. It seems like the summer is already over and I am finally getting around to feeling better and feeling like I can actually participate in activities with my kids.

I will admit to being a little out of practice of navigating all three kids at once, which is why I didn't risk taking all three of my kids to meet five other children at the Crayola Experience in Easton, PA (a two hour drive from our house) without bringing our nanny. I know that sounds kind of ridiculous, but QT is totally on the move and I am still not 100% and besides I had to pay her for the day anyway. So after we made a quick Dunkies stop, the five of us headed out to a color wonderland in hopes of having a wonderful day.

We arrived a few minutes before our agreed upon 11 am meet-up time and spent some time in the gift shop. The kids were given firm instructions that they would not be buying anything at that time and that if they were well behaved that we would pick something up on our way out. I think we could have just hung in there for an hour and the kids would have thought it was a pretty decent outing. Kind of far for crayons, but there were just so many of them and in so many colors--who knew what the full experience would bring.

We met up with our Pennsylvania and Brooklyn friends, avoided the ticket line with our pre-bought discounted online tickets, got a bag each with a map and some tokens and set off to explore. 

First stop was something called "Meltdown," which was basically painting with melted wax and was also a term that took on quite a different meaning as our day drew to a close. The big kids loved it. We had a group ranging in age from almost 7 to 1. QT had about a four minute attention span for that attraction and it was then I was super grateful that our nanny could take him down to "Toddler Town" for some play more on his level. 



The Ladies in front of a wall of pink crayons

QT on what I think is some sort of crayon dog, but am unclear. This was in the gift shop. I am pretty sure we could have just gone there picked up some crayons and the kids would have had considered it a good day!

Missing one kid. This time it wasn't the Lady (more on that in a later post).

Once all the kids finished up their artwork, we moved on to the "Crayon Clinic" where you took a crayon and put it into a machine that melted it and reformed it into a new shape. Most of the girls wanted the ring. It took about four minutes for the process to take place, there were maybe two stations with the ring. I will admit that there were two very helpful members of the "color crew" on hand to help out, but that maybe instead of just one guy walking around with a plastic twist tie that you use to bind computer cords or as an alternative to handcuffs from what I have seen on COPS, that maybe one should have been left at each station. There were a couple of little wax burns here and there. 

Did I mention that I went on this excursion with two of my favorite women in the world? No? That is because I think we talked to each other for a grand total of two minutes each. We mostly communicated in head nods and hand gestures to let the others know how many kids we had in our sight line.

Next stop, the indoor play space. This was much needed. The bigger kids got lost in a maze of crayon-themed climbing equipment and the 3 and under set met up in "Toddler Town" that is until we had to have a bathroom break and QT needed a diaper change. 

When we finally regrouped everyone was ready for lunch. They discourage bringing in your own food, but it didn't look like they policed it, so if you are going to go there at any point, I would recommend packing lunch. We waited on line for a pizza, some salads, and of course anyplace that is selling hot pretzels gets extra votes in my book. I think we ordered six for the table. QT and I "shared" one. 

Because this is the most exciting place we have gone this summer, we brought the school mandated print out to be photographed with. What you are not seeing (or hearing) in this photo is the Little Lady screaming behind me that she wants a Kit Kat "or else I won't be your daughter anymore."

After lunch every one was re energized and ready for some creating. The tokens they give you in the bag at the door enable you to create your own label for a crayon. You can pick an image and name it anything you want. You can also mix your own marker, all the kids loved this. It is kind of cool to see how they inject the ink and it is all done pretty quickly. QT loved pressing the buttons when he wasn't running in the opposite direction of where I was standing.

I have to admit he did pretty well for no nap. All the kids were really well behaved and they were good listeners. I think the hardest part of navigating something like that was that there were just a lot of us and it was hard to keep track of everyone. Also, I find that all of those indoor places have that background noise that makes you feel like you are standing next to rushing water. It is white noise, but at a high volume and it was only when we got outside that I realized I had probably been shouting all afternoon to be heard.

There were a lot of neat exhibits and attractions. All the kids gravitated toward the iPads, but the best part was that the artwork you created on the iPad showed up animated on a huge wall. The Little Lady colored in a glitter fish and then wrote her name on top. She was so thrilled to see it up there.

When we planned this trip, I didn't think we would spend more than 2-3 hours there. All of a sudden it was almost 4 o'clock and time to get moving. One of my girlfriends was going to stay for a few extra minutes and the other was heading down to the gift shop. I sent the Ladies on with her so that I could navigate QT in the stroller on the elevator and pick up a little bit of popcorn for the Little Lady, who had asked for it earlier in the day and I didn't want her to be at all disappointed.

I showed up in the gift shop. It was much more crowded than when we were there first thing in the morning. The Little Lady walked right up to me and said "remember you said I could get popcorn?" Oh, what a great mom I was, I whipped out of the hood of the stroller a cup of popcorn for her. Mom of the Year. Mom of the Year.

My girlfriend had the four kids in her sight line and I told my kids they could each pick out one thing under $10. My nanny had QT strapped in the stroller and he was perfectly content with a Cars-themed coloring book that came with markers. The Lady wanted to fill the authentic looking crayola tin with crayons and markers. It cost $15 but I said OK.

The Little Lady was undecided. It takes her a while to make up her mind about things. We looked at a lot of great crayon-themed items from cups to socks to every single Crayola item you can find in the stores. She finally decided on what basically equates to playdoh, and that I will probably throw away in the next week after I find it on the floor.

I went to check out. The Lady asked for a Kit-Kat. The Little Lady already had popcorn as her treat. I said yes to the Lady. Once this bit of information became knowledge to the Little Lady she put her cup of popcorn on the floor and started asking for a Kit-Kat.

Could I have just gotten her a Kit-Kat? Yes, but she had asked for something else and had already been enjoying it. The Little Lady is the type who knows "you get what you get and you don't get upset" but gets upset every single time. I think we have 300 opened ice pops in our freezer because she only wants purple and I can't tell the difference between the red and purple in the paper.

Moving on.

She started to lose it. Everything was paid for and put in the bag. One Kit-Kat. I tried to say my goodbyes to my girlfriend and her kids. The Little Lady started pulling on my shirt. Her voice started to rise. She tried to leave the popcorn behind again. We moved into the lobby for one last bathroom break.

"I want a Kit-Kat."

"You better give me a Kit-Kat or else I won't come with you."

"I waaaaaant a Kit-Kat"

All the while, I am trying not to lose my mind. I am trying not to just go back in the store and buy her a damn Kit-Kat, I mean in the scheme of things how big of a deal is it really? But it is kind of a big deal. She has a habit of asking for something until she sees something else. The grass is always greener type of thing and that won't serve her well in life and you know what else? Sometimes she needs to hear no and sometimes I have to be the parent.

Instead of heading straight to the parking garage, I made the decision to go to the front entrance so that the Lady could take a picture in front of a giant marker with a piece of paper the school had sent home so that kids could record places they went over the summer.

I recognize that sounds a little crazy, especially when the Little Lady was still screaming about the Kit-Kat.

"GIVE ME THE KIT-KAT OR ELSE I WON'T BE YOUR DAUGHTER ANYMORE!"

"GIVE ME THE KIT-KIT OR ELSE I WON'T HOLD YOUR HAND ON THE STREET!"

But, I have three kids and the other two were totally fine and the Lady should have her photo in front of a giant yellow marker. I mean we all should really. So, I took like 25 photos of the Lady while the Little Lady pulled on the back of my shirt and screamed about a delicious wafer/chocolate treat.

We finally headed back to the van. Lots of screaming still. The van was stifling and smelled like old egg sandwiches from the morning. Both the nanny and I had to jam the Little Lady into her seat and she continued to scream about the Kit-Kat until that blissful moment we hit RT 78 and she was asleep.

The Lady woke up. She wanted her Kit-Kat. Everyone else was asleep but the Kit-Kat was in a bag in the back of the van. I told her when we stopped for gas we would get it. We stopped. I gave it to her, thirty seconds later the Little Lady woke up. I have to give it to the Lady, she tried to hide the Kit-Kat. I offered other snacks to the kids.

I had held onto that cup of popcorn and gave a few kernels to QT. This didn't make the Little Lady happy. She spent the next 10 minutes screaming about wanting her popcorn. I didn't give in until she said please, which she finally did and then whimpered for the next few exits, even after the Lady shared some Kit-Kat with her.

The nanny said she had never seen her like that and was unsure how she would have handled it if she was alone with them. I assured her as the nanny, she will probably never have to find out. As the mom, I know it all too well.

We sat it traffic by the bridge and decided on McDonalds for dinner. (Hey when did they tear down the Mickey D's in Nyack off exit 11? Had to wait to get back to CT for another wholesome chicken nugget Happy Meal.)

For those of you keeping score at home that is Dunkies egg sandwiches for breakfast, pizza/hot dogs for lunch and McDonalds for dinner as well as popcorn, pretzels, and of course some Kit-Kat.

But we also went home with some cool markers, some crayons in funky shapes, personalized crayons, three left over tokens and more than just an "experience."

The Little Lady Turns 4!

Happy Birthday to the Little Lady!

Here's to a little girl who last week brushed her teeth while still eating a lollipop, a sweet lady who likes to sneak into my bed well after her brother and sister have fallen asleep in hopes of catching whatever we are watching on TV. In doing so she has seen Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, not only more than anybody should, but especially more than any child should.

A little girl who idolizes her big sister and dotes on her baby brother, but is never, ever afraid to tell you how she feels and has no regard for the volume at which she will try to get her message across.

Here is to my Little Lady, who if I happen to be imbibing an adult beverage asks me if I am "drinking a beard." Someone who never fails to make me smile and who at this very moment has walked into my room with a complaint about her sister and has started climbing into my bed. . .

I love you Little Lady, my fantastic four year old.

Fourth of July Photos (Yes, I Realize It Is August)

 

Weekend Wrap-up: Back to the Beach

Summer is finally here! The Lady's last day of school was Friday and the Little Lady had her last day of camp. I was able to pick up the Little Lady, get the Lady off the bus, take both ladies to the nail salon and get everything organized for the weekend.



I can't, this kid is just too cute!



I would like to say that we had a lovely meal out on Friday with the kids, sitting al fresco on the sidewalk, enjoying the sweet summer air to celebrate the solstice, but then I would be totally lying. It was, per usual, a mess of bathroom breaks and trying to corral QT. As my husband said "remind me to never do this again anytime soon." Oh well, we tried.



A very pensive Little Lady post-afternoon pass out.



The next morning, I got up early, met up with two amazing ladies and ran a 5k. I wasn't fast, but I wasn't last. It was a step in the right direction and I am so glad that I did it.

My husband meanwhile, put the kids in the car in pj's and headed up to the beach. Next time I will remember to give him the keys to the house as well as the code to the garage. And whoever moved the compressor to fill up the pool from its spot in the garage is in trouble, not only because my hubby had to fill it with the hand pump but because I had to hear about it.

As always there were a ton of cousins to hang out with and since my husband had to drive back home that night to fly out the next morning we had a little sleepover.

This sleepover wasn't as bad as the Hunger Games themed one last summer, but they kids did go to bed super late, QT slept with me and rolled out of the bed in the middle of the night, and the Lady showed up at my bed at 6:15 in the morning, followed by her sister and the Big Guy. This may or may not have contributed to a few breakdowns throughout the morning by my children, but it didn't stop us from getting to the beach. 



The big guy



I thought that by having the ladies carry their own chairs that I would have enough hands to carry everything else. This was not the case. I will not forget my beach cart next time. 

Know what else I had to carry? I am sure you all know the answer to this. Could it have been a newly turned 2-year-old who about 10 feet from the boardwalk realized he was at the beach and started walking in the other directions crying "I no want to go"?  Oh QT. Buddy, this is your third summer at the beach. Don't start it off this way. Don't do it.





The Lady. Look, I didn't think it was a string bikini when I picked this up from Old Navy and by the time I realized it, she had already removed the tags and was modeling in it. I am in some trouble with this one.



So, I left some stuff at the top of the beach, transported QT, who was suction cupped to my side, plopped him in a chair and got the rest of the things I needed. Since the kids were immediately in the water, I moved my chair closer to the water, put QT down with a truck in the sand and hoped for the best. That lasted about 7 minutes. I then had to cradle him in my arms while he whined about wanting milk (not going to happen) and his blankies (probably should have brought at least one of them down with me) until he fell asleep and I could put him under the umbrella where he slept soundly for about two hours. When he woke up, he would only walk on the towels and sit with his feet up in his chair. He did allow me to carry him to the water's edge but did not let me put him down. One good thing is that at the end of the day we took everyone to the sprinkler park at the beach and he warmed up to that pretty quickly. It is going to be a long summer if this kid can't even put one foot in the sand!



Because there is nothing better than being 2 and hanging in the pool.



I was just happy to have a full day down at the beach. That definitely hadn't happened since QT was born and to see how excited the ladies were to play and splash at the beach it totally worth having to carry a 26 pound kid on your hip for a couple hours.

QT is a cutie.

In addition to bringing the beach cart next time, I will also remember to reapply the sunscreen. At 10 a.m. when I was letting the Little Lady try to apply spray sunscreen to my legs with a button she could barley push with her tiny little hands, my cousin said that perhaps I should redo those pale, white legs when we got down to the beach. Know what never happened? That is right. Not only do I have a sunburn on my legs, it is in the worst pattern imaginable. Think of scribbles a three and a half year old might draw on a piece of paper and apply it to my legs. Total JV move. It won't happen again.

The best part was last night as I was trying not to let any blanket touch my burning legs, and the Little Lady was once again by my side watching the Prisoner of Azkaban because she was still awake after passing out for a full hour from 6:15-7:15 on the ride home from the beach, I complained about my legs bothering me. She said "but mommy didn't I do a good job putting on your sunscreen"? Always on my game, I turned those burnt legs into a teaching moment about reapplying sunscreen. I will also not be able to wear a skirt or dress to work at all this week. 



This is what 9:45 p.m. looks like at the beach house. 6:15 a.m. wasn't so adorable.



I will say that my kids slept over an hour later this morning than they did yesterday and I am totally looking forward to our next beach day. I am thinking about getting a covered wagon for QT so I can just pull him on the beach and leave him in there with some trucks, it is either that or start wearing him Bjorn-style again.

Wish me luck this summer. . .







QT Turns 2!

I can't believe my guy is 2.

We had a little party for QT on Saturday to celebrate. Here are a few pics.  




The Lady found this hat in her aunt's room. QT rocked it.

 

Nothing like licking the cake!

Finally got his own scooter!

I am not sure if he could be any cuter. Biased? You betcha.

On Boobs, Box Tops and Breakdowns: A Recap of Last Week

On Boobs

For my anniversary last week I gave my husband new breasts. I am pretty sure that beats the set of Callaway irons he just got and I think he will probably get more use out of them too.

Turns out I am getting surgery, which will include a boob lift. There is nothing that says marriage more than standing in a small examining room having a doctor you just met measure your boobs and take photos of them while you awkwardly try to make jokes about throwing in a tummy tuck and your husband casually looks on. I am not sure he signed up for that on that gorgeous June day eight years ago, but I am always grateful for his unwavering support.

For more on the boob situation you can check out The Fight and Write, post will be up soon.

On Box Tops

I can't believe the Lady is going to be done with kindergarten next week! Throughout the year her school does box top drives and the last one ran through May. Her class never wins.

I like to think that there are these crazy box top moms out there who have been stockpiling those precious pieces of cardboard, who have signed up online to reap extra rewards and who eat enormous amounts of Old El Paso products in order to gather enough of these box tops to make a difference. I assume their kids are usually in the upper grades (because it always seems like a second grade class wins) and these woman are experts on stock-up sales and all things box topish. I am secretly jealous of them.

The Lady always comes home talking about the ice cream party or hot chocolate party or ice pop party the winning class will receive. In turn, I start cutting off box tops from unopened cereal boxes, Yoplait Dora yogurts, and may or may not buy extra fruit snacks (even though I am trying to cut down on serving them to my kids) just because they are 2 for $4 and they have box tops. I send them in to no avail. Our $2 worth of box tops usually don't cut it.

Thanks to reupping at Costco and the large amount of Honey Nut Cheerios my kids eat, I have been stockpiling a few box tops of my own. So in May, I diligently cut out and taped box top after box top onto the photocopied sheets provided and sent them in every Friday. In the PTO email that comes out every week, I was not surprised when I didn't see the Lady's class on the list of classes in the lead. Then one of my co-workers gave me a few Ziploc bags filled with those tiny cardboard sweet dreams.

I sent in 82 box tops on the last day.

Last Monday the Lady came home and said that she heard her name over the loudspeaker as the winner from her class for the most money raised for the jog-a-thon (many thanks to my husband's coworkers who donated a few bucks towards the cause). She also said that her class won the box tops. I scoffed at her. She had told me one other time that she had heard her teachers name over the loudspeaker about the box tops, but it turned out that her teacher had only won some sort of gift basket. She also came home one day telling us that she was reading at a second grade level, we scoffed at that as well. Turns out she is (like how I threw that wee bit of info in there. What? I can brag about my baby bean!) and turns out the Lady was right about the box tops.

When the PTO email came there it was in black and white. They won. I felt a ridiculously large sense of accomplishment. Her class won with a total of 453 box tops, the Lady brought in like a quarter of those. I felt like kicking up my heels and making an extensive taco dinner with fruit snack-topped iced Betty Crocker cupcakes and a side of Go-gurts.

Oh, if you think I won't be one of those moms next year. . .let the collecting begin.

On Breakdowns

If you follow The Three Bean Salad on Facebook (go ahead and "like" it you know you want to) you know that my car broke down on my way home from work last week. It was my anniversary and my husband and I had 6:30 reservations. At first I thought that I had a flat tire, but then the check engine light started flashing. Luckily, I had just pulled off the Parkway and was on a very commercial road with a ton of car repair shops. I coasted into the first one available and tried to call my husband. He didn't answer.

I turned off the car, waited a couple of minutes and tried starting the car again with the hope that the issue had magically disappeared. It hadn't. I tried my husband again, texted and called one more time. Still no answer. I went into the shop, told them my problem and sat down. They told me to take what I needed out of the car. This consisted of my badge for work, my giant chemo blanket and a blue yoga mat.

My husband called me back. Traffic during rush hour in Fairfield County, Connecticut, is never easy to navigate. My husband's office was probably three miles from where I was. There was the possibility of it taking 30 minutes for him to get to me. He told me to call a cab.

I met him at a Toys R Us. Payed $10.80 for a four minute cab ride, tossed my blanket into the back of the van and headed out to dinner.

We were 15 minutes late but it was well worth it, not only to celebrate with my husband, to enjoy a night out alone without having to chase QT through the restaurant, but to also eavesdrop in on the conversation of a very WASPy couple sitting next to us, who had very firm beliefs on Catholics, Latinos, massage therapists and Socialism. Happy Anniversary to me!

The church where we got married