So the other day we were riding home from somewhere and Ryan says "Mommy, why don't you work with Daddy?"
Me: "Well, if I worked with Daddy I wouldn't be able to stay home and take care of you."
Ryan: "Are you going to go do his job and let him have a turn staying home?"
Me: "No, I can't do Daddy's job. He's a pilot and I can't fly."
Ryan: "Well, are you a doctor?"
Me: "No."
Ryan: "Well, what ARE you?"
I have to think about this for a minute. I decide to just answer with my 'degree'.
Me: "I'm an engineer."
Ryan, after pondering for a second: "So you drive trains? Cause that's what an engineer does."
Me (laughing): "No, engineers make things."
Ryan: "What do you make?"
There is no way to answer this that a 3.5 year old will understand.
Me: "Well, I tell people how to do things."
This silences him. I should have just said 'yes, I drive trains.' That would have possibly made me almost as cool as Daddy, who flies airplanes.
I have thought about this before. They get to see what Daddy does. What his education got him. Me, not so much. They will not appreciate what I do all day till they have kids. I do want them to know that I have a degree I worked very hard for and graduated with highest honors in! No idea how to convey this except to leave the diploma hanging on the wall. Yes, kids, Mommy got better grades in school than Daddy did. Mommy was a huge nerd and Daddy barely studied and had a lot of fun. But Daddy is the one whose skills and intelligence are on display while Mommy fills cups and changes diapers and looks for blankies and toys all day.
But, Mommy wouldn't trade it for the best, most exciting, highest paying job in the world! Here are some snippets that have happened over the past few days that show why I have the greatest job in the world.
Ryan is really a cheaply entertained kid. He uses his imagination to craft all the props he would ever need. For instance, he is a doctor for much of his day. He left his doctor mask at Nana & Papa's. No problem--he now just uses a teacup which he suctions to his little mouth and chin for his mask. I need a picture of this. It's hilarious.
Yesterday he asked, out of the blue, if Paige was in my tummy before. I told him yes, and he was, too. He asked if they were in there at the same time, and if anyone was in there now. No, to both questions. Then he asked how he got in my tummy. What? At 3.5? So I said "God put you there. You are a gift from him!" He said excitedly, "I'm a gift?!?" Yes, you are, precious boy.
Paige is amazingly verbal. She 'gets' and understands everything you say. So she likes to say the blessing her way. Ryan and I were trying to help her say the ABC blessing the other night, and we were apparently a little too forceful. She yells out "Separate! Separate!" (sounding exactly like me when they are fighting!).
She is also now concerned about monsters in her room at night. Most nights I have to reassure several times before she will go in her crib that no monster will come near our house because they are scared of Daddy. Sometimes she says "OK" and gets in bed, and then other times she wants just a little more rocking.
She can almost perfectly say her alphabet, and recite "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?"
Ryan is now forming words with his fridge magnets, including changing the end letter of his name and figuring out what word that will be.
He can do simple math and easily figured out how patterns work (we figured this out playing his Discovery Toys bug game--excellent money spent!). He will play Candyland, as well as his Count & Cook game. Next is Uno!
He woke up on Thursday morning and said "I have to get up and go to school. The fire truck is coming today!" So that is all we have heard about since then. The fire truck was a hit! He even makes oxygen tanks out of his building block cylinders, because "You CAN'T breathe smoke!" (told you he was creative)
Paige and Ryan both go to 'big church' with Daddy and make it pretty well through the whole service. Paige loves the singing. She sings constantly. Her best song is "Hitter Hotter". It roughly goes "Hitter Hotter what you are, how I wonder what you are."
There are hundreds more cute things they do. I would hate to miss one little thing. So my newest career of 'domestic engineer' is the best for me!
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Sunday, August 31, 2008
What Kind of Human Are You?
Something happened overnight that really touched me. Hurricane Gustav is about to hit the gulf coast, and people who live down there are bracing. It appears that the government is attempting to be proactive, and after the Hurricane Katrina mess, how could they afford not to be? So most of the guys in our squadron were put on crews on Friday in preparation to go do whatever was needed to help. So I have to admit that at first my reaction was "You mean my Labor Day weekend is going to be all messed up now? My husband works 12 hours a day already. Does he need to do more?" Then as I really started to look at what they thought Gustav could be I realized that I'm being completely selfish, and yes, he really does need to go do this. We thought they were just kind of prepping till we got the call Saturday morning at 7:20--5 minutes after he was eligible for alert. So less than an hour later Chris was on the way out the door, thinking he would be back that night, but prepared not to be (you don't fly for 10 years without being prepared to be stranded by carrying your overnight bag).
I heard from him twice, and he was in the places he knew he was going. Then he didn't get back around midnight when he was supposed to. This has happened a handful of times in our marriage, and of course that fear never goes away. You sleep horribly, check the clock, check the phone, check the street for their car....it just never stops. So you pray for them. What else can you do? So at 7:30 AM I saw his truck turn around in the driveway to park on the street. Nothing is like that sense of relief when you see them in one piece! The kids were so happy he was home, and so was I.
Then I got the story on what had happened. There is conflicting information on what happened, and who was the hold-up, but the basic gist is this. They were in Beaumont, TX, and a C-130 National Guard plane that was supposed to be shuttling elderly, sick, bariatric, you name it--helpless patients out of town was broken. They were hanging out in a fire hall for hours waiting to get out. Sick people who had no one. Through someone's legal interpretation issue, there was a disagreement over whose responsibility it was to get these people out. Now a C-17 is SOOO much bigger than a C-130 it's ridiculous. So they could get the whole firehouse out in one flight. According to Chris, a sheriff showed up and had been told not to let that plane out empty. The people in charge of Chris's mission told them to leave, that it was the state's (thus National Guard's) responsibility. Now can you even imagine telling this aircrew to leave all these sick (in some case possibly dying) people behind with a storm on the way? Are you kidding me? What kind of business are we in? Are we here simply to go fight wars overseas? One of the easiest things we can do to make our world/country better is to help those right here in their most dire hour. Someone back on base here told them to take a picture of all those people and send it to the powers that be to show them what they were doing. I don't know that that's what it took, but they took off with those people and flew them to safety in San Antonio. Chris said the worst part was, as they were leaving they could see many more ambulances bringing people to the fire hall. We pray they got out via the C-130s later.
I know most of us just think someone will take care of all those who can't help themselves in the event of a catastrophe. But I am witness to a situation where someone's power/money/whatever struggle almost got in the way of them being helped. These people had no one but three guys in our squadron to fight for them. Our own government, the ones who are supposed to 'take care of' us in emergencies, almost failed us. I really had to stop and think about that--there is not always some big government agency who can do something--sometimes it's government agency fighting government agency. What am I taking from this? We all have a responsibility to just do the right thing and help people in any way we can. If I choose to look the other way, I am letting my fellow man down. Chris and his crew could have just followed their command's orders and left. Can you imagine? They would have been obeying and within the law. Thank goodness they didn't! Chris was really touched by the whole experience and he and the guys he was with refused to do anything but the right thing.
Paige and Ryan, I want you to know what kind of man your father is. He is a warrior, and he fights for people who can't fight for themselves. Whether it's overseas in some country where an unjust ruler is being ousted, or right here where our own people are letting each other down, he stands up for what is right and just. I want both of you to be like him. I want to be like him! We are so proud of you, Chris! (and Andy and Mike, too!!)
I heard from him twice, and he was in the places he knew he was going. Then he didn't get back around midnight when he was supposed to. This has happened a handful of times in our marriage, and of course that fear never goes away. You sleep horribly, check the clock, check the phone, check the street for their car....it just never stops. So you pray for them. What else can you do? So at 7:30 AM I saw his truck turn around in the driveway to park on the street. Nothing is like that sense of relief when you see them in one piece! The kids were so happy he was home, and so was I.
Then I got the story on what had happened. There is conflicting information on what happened, and who was the hold-up, but the basic gist is this. They were in Beaumont, TX, and a C-130 National Guard plane that was supposed to be shuttling elderly, sick, bariatric, you name it--helpless patients out of town was broken. They were hanging out in a fire hall for hours waiting to get out. Sick people who had no one. Through someone's legal interpretation issue, there was a disagreement over whose responsibility it was to get these people out. Now a C-17 is SOOO much bigger than a C-130 it's ridiculous. So they could get the whole firehouse out in one flight. According to Chris, a sheriff showed up and had been told not to let that plane out empty. The people in charge of Chris's mission told them to leave, that it was the state's (thus National Guard's) responsibility. Now can you even imagine telling this aircrew to leave all these sick (in some case possibly dying) people behind with a storm on the way? Are you kidding me? What kind of business are we in? Are we here simply to go fight wars overseas? One of the easiest things we can do to make our world/country better is to help those right here in their most dire hour. Someone back on base here told them to take a picture of all those people and send it to the powers that be to show them what they were doing. I don't know that that's what it took, but they took off with those people and flew them to safety in San Antonio. Chris said the worst part was, as they were leaving they could see many more ambulances bringing people to the fire hall. We pray they got out via the C-130s later.
I know most of us just think someone will take care of all those who can't help themselves in the event of a catastrophe. But I am witness to a situation where someone's power/money/whatever struggle almost got in the way of them being helped. These people had no one but three guys in our squadron to fight for them. Our own government, the ones who are supposed to 'take care of' us in emergencies, almost failed us. I really had to stop and think about that--there is not always some big government agency who can do something--sometimes it's government agency fighting government agency. What am I taking from this? We all have a responsibility to just do the right thing and help people in any way we can. If I choose to look the other way, I am letting my fellow man down. Chris and his crew could have just followed their command's orders and left. Can you imagine? They would have been obeying and within the law. Thank goodness they didn't! Chris was really touched by the whole experience and he and the guys he was with refused to do anything but the right thing.
Paige and Ryan, I want you to know what kind of man your father is. He is a warrior, and he fights for people who can't fight for themselves. Whether it's overseas in some country where an unjust ruler is being ousted, or right here where our own people are letting each other down, he stands up for what is right and just. I want both of you to be like him. I want to be like him! We are so proud of you, Chris! (and Andy and Mike, too!!)
Friday, August 29, 2008
Kids in Gymnastics
Ryan is now in a class all by himself--Kindergym. Well, he's got other kids in there, but no longer needs Mommy to help him. He has mastered forward rolls this week! He does them all over the house. Paige gets to go sit with Mommy while Ryan does gymnastics. This week was open play (last class of the month) so Paige got to join in the fun. Ryan had a lot of fun doing forward rolls off of a 'barrel'. And playing on all the big kid equipment.
Did I mention I got Paige's hair up in pigtails for the first time?
Warming up to 'Head & Shoulders'. Yep, it's all boys right now!
Ryan is a frog!
Not so sure about this....
Stamps and candy for a class well done
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Paige and Curious George
Both kids really like Curious George books. Paige and I were reading "Curious George Opposites" tonight for bedtime. There is a page where George is standing on a dock and it says "George is dry." Then the next page is him in the water and it says "Now George is wet." Paige giggled at that page and said "He need a towel." Precious!!!
Put Me In the Zoo
Today was kind of a crazy day. Ryan and Paige got off to preschool and Mom's Day Out, respectively, and then I was on my mad dash to do things in the 2 hours I had to myself. I picked Ryan up, and he was exhausted. I got him to eat lunch, but he just wanted to lay around and watch Scooby Doo/movies all afternoon. This was not what I intended. When I put Paige in Mom's Day Out I planned to spend the afternoon with Ryan. Ugh. He's so tired, he refuses to take a nap, and then he's toast all afternoon for our together time. If I'm not being very Mandy and give myself a break, I'll say that it'll take me a few weeks to figure out how to work things in the afternoon when he's really tired. I just feel guilty and bummed we didn't get to do much the last couple of Tuesdays (the real Mandy).
On two cheerier notes:
1. I made my Weight Watchers goal tonight! 31 pounds lost = all my baby weight plus 14 more pounds. What did I gain? My self esteem back! I'm so happy. I cannot wait to go shopping! I need everything, even shoes. Crazy.
2. Ryan has learned to read the word 'zoo'. Chris was reading "Put Me In the Zoo" with him, and he can spell it and find it on the page. He is also learning so much in preschool. He came home with circles he had traced today. He is learning that he can do so much more than he thought he could. And having so much fun!
Random thought--when your daughter's name is 'Paige' it becomes really hard to type the word 'page' without messing up several times.
On two cheerier notes:
1. I made my Weight Watchers goal tonight! 31 pounds lost = all my baby weight plus 14 more pounds. What did I gain? My self esteem back! I'm so happy. I cannot wait to go shopping! I need everything, even shoes. Crazy.
2. Ryan has learned to read the word 'zoo'. Chris was reading "Put Me In the Zoo" with him, and he can spell it and find it on the page. He is also learning so much in preschool. He came home with circles he had traced today. He is learning that he can do so much more than he thought he could. And having so much fun!
Random thought--when your daughter's name is 'Paige' it becomes really hard to type the word 'page' without messing up several times.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Making Cookies for the Squadron Picnic
The kids made the cookies. Here they are. They were so cute.
Yes, it was 8:30 in the morning and yes, that is cookie dough in Ryan's mouth! We had a good time. They really did make the cookies. Right down to cracking the eggs. They took turns putting things in and Ryan actually scooped the cookies out onto the cookie sheet. Those are the boy and girl version of the same pajamas. I will find a way to make a boy and girl match.
Yes, it was 8:30 in the morning and yes, that is cookie dough in Ryan's mouth! We had a good time. They really did make the cookies. Right down to cracking the eggs. They took turns putting things in and Ryan actually scooped the cookies out onto the cookie sheet. Those are the boy and girl version of the same pajamas. I will find a way to make a boy and girl match.
More Head Trauma for Paige
Please don't make me have to call the nurse advice line again! Today she was kicking at the table at lunch, and I told her to stop. She did for a while, then did it again when I was up walking around and over she went. Caught her head on the back left side on the kitchen cart. This kid hits her head more than anyone ever should. Tonight she said it hurt where she hit the cart. Argh. Another night of following head injury protocol. We know it by heart now.
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