Inner Child

Well, despite my complaints winter is not going away just yet. It just keeps dumping snowfall after snowfall on us, mixed in with occasional freezing rain, and then just for a tease, every couple weeks we have a day where it's like 50 degrees. It's nice out for a few minutes and you think maybe this is it, the worst has passed, but all the warm day really amounts to is melted snow (which re-freezes that night, once again leaving your driveway a sheet of ice) and a good reason to hate the cold all that much more.

I'm trying hard to get through it though, and this week I've even been trying to embrace the cold. Along the way I tapped into my inner child too. I've been forcing myself to get outside and do stuff with Jacob. It's better than the alternative, which is being inside listening to his screams bounce off the walls because he has cabin fever of the worst kind.

Construction worker snowman (I did this one all by myself)

This one was a family effort - Jacob called it
the fat belly snowman and added something
resembling a goiter to the midsection.

Sledding

Ice skating in the back yard on the sheet of ice

Cross country skiing in the backyard

More ice pictures. Duh.

Recovery

Yesterday was a playschool day. At one point I had to go into the kitchen to get something and I was shocked to see what was on the counter.

I just consulted the calendar and I realized that it was January 28th when it was my turn to bring the snack for everyone. I brought mini muffins, Annie's Bunny Grahams, and apples to wash and slice before being served. I didn't have time to wash them at home so I planned to do it at playschool. And for that I needed...fruit spray! So low and behold, when I walked into the kitchen yesterday there sat my original bottle of fruit spray right next to the sink.

Did I not say that it would show up soon after I bought a new one? How come I didn't see it in the kitchen at playschool on any of the days that we've been there since I brought snack? It simply wouldn't allow itself to be shown until I bought a new one. That's the rule.

The recovery of the fruit spray couldn't have come at a better time because I was really starting to lose it. The night before finding it I sat down with my stack of receipts from the past few months and went through each item one by one to see if I could find the proof that I actually did buy it to begin with.

Also of note, Zach came home from work last Friday with a pair of Jacob's mittens that had been missing for three months. He found them in the trainer's room at the college. Odd. Not sure how they got there but I'm so proud of Zach for being observant enough to notice them and recognize them as Jacob's. It's like all the lost things are coming back home now.

This is my life

I'm at the computer doing school work. Jacob is watching a show. The phone rings. He jumps up to answer it. I can hear Jacob's end of the very short conversation, but nothing else. And then he hangs up.

"Who was that?" I question. Jacob doesn't know, he can only tell me that the person asked for Zach and then basically hung up. I'm annoyed because I think that the person on the other end of the phone was like, "Great, the kid answered, I'm not going to get anywhere with a kid so I'll just hang up on him." So I *69 the number and then call Zach because it's an unfamiliar number to me. Turns out it the number of one of his friends, a childless person. So I figure he was just annoyed that Jacob answered and figured he'd take a chance calling back later. I tell Zach next time he talks with this friend to tell him he can leave a message with Jacob, Jacob takes good messages.

Zach calls back a few minutes later, laughing. He called his friend right back and told him what I said. The friend was confused for a minute, "Oh, that was Jacob?" He asks. He thought it was me. That's. Just. Great.

Here's how the conversation actually went:

"Hey Stacey, it's Dave, how's it going?"
"Hi."
(some small talk from Dave and silence from Jacob)
"...Um...is Zach there?"
"No."
"OK...um....just tell him I called."
click.

Normally Jacob can hold his own in conversation but I think he was thrown by the fact that Dave was addressing him as Stacey. And poor Dave was there on the other end thinking I was mad at him so he was all quick and weirded out. He was glad Zach called him and explained that it was Jacob because Dave was nervous he did something to offend me.

I don't know if this speaks to the fact the my four year old is a whiz on the phone, or if I sound like a four year old. I mean I've written about this before, I know I sound like I'm twelve, but c'mon...people really can't tell us apart?

The Land of Missing Objects

I don't usually forget things. In fact, I am notoriously good at remembering things. I saw a mom at the library who used to come into the place where I used to work and I started asking about her daughter by name and then said, "She'll be four in August, right?" The mom was shocked that I remembered her name let alone her birthday. I'm just good like that with names, numbers and details. Just last week as I was leaving somewhere the hostess remarked, "Oh good, you got your glasses." I had placed them on a table and she'd apparently noticed earlier and hoped that I didn't forget them. "Of course I did, I never forget things." Then I slapped my head and said, I shouldn't have said that out loud, now it's going to come back to bite me you-know-where.

But alas, at some point during this pregnancy, the taking of this online course, and a number of personal things that are going on, I have misplaced the one thing that a person should never go anyplace without: My brain.

I forgot to meet someone someplace last week. I just plain didn't show up and didn't remember until five hours later. That is NOT ME. I felt awful. I was supposed to take Jacob to an indoor play place to for a play date with some of the other moms. It was written on my calendar. But I ran a dozen errands instead. Luckily there were other moms and kids that were going to be there, so hopefully the organizer mom is not to mad at me after getting my e-mail of apology.

I guess it started with the slipper a couple weeks ago. Jacob has these ducky slippers and one night I noticed them laying next to the bed on the floor. The next morning only one was there. Obvious place: Under the bed, right? Well I looked there, and so did Jacob, Zach and my mom (who I enlisted to come over one day for the sole purpose of looking for the missing slipper). We turned the house upside down over the course of one week, and must have looked under the bed twenty times, collectively. One day I had a trip to Target planned so I resigned myself to getting new slippers for Jacob. I added it to the shopping list and then headed upstairs to do something. Mango had been sleeping at the foot of our bed (on their dog bed) but was now gone. She must have messed up the bed skirt while she had been sleeping because it was rumpled a bit and pushed up, revealing a bit of underneath the bed. I could only see that bit of underneath the bed from the exact vantage point of where I was, in the middle of climbing the stairs. And there was the damn slipper.

I couldn't believe it. But everyone knows that great law of Nature whereupon you buy replacement for lost item and them original item shows up. This time Nature decided to mess with me only a little bit, it simply waited until I had given up enough to write the item on the shopping list.

At gymnastics a couple weeks ago I swear I had Jacob's show-and-tell item in my pocket as we were getting ready to come home but when we got home and he was asking for it, I couldn't come up with it. I had to distract him into thinking about something else while I panicked looking all around for it because this was one of his very beloved train pieces. A few days later and a phone call to the gymnastics place I'd given up the search and hoped Jacob would just never ask about it again. He did ask though, next week at gymnastics on a day my mom had taken him there. And the teacher went over to her little drawer and pulled the train piece out! I was so excited about that, more excited than an adult should be about that kind of thing, but I felt like it was a little show of faith from the Universe: "Well you've lost your brain, but don't worry, I'll take care of the really important things while you're busy looking for your brain. All will not be lost."

But the thing that is bothering me now is that I can't find the veggie wash. You know, fruit spray, what you clean the fruits and veggies with before you eat them? Apparently I use it several times a day because that's how many times I've reached under the sink to retrieve it only to realize, once again, oh yeah, it's missing. My first guess a couple weeks ago was that Jacob had mistaken it for cleaning solution or something and had taken it somewhere to clean something inappropriate but he swears he didn't use it and I believe him. The thing that is killing me is that I had just bought a new bottle of it, so what a waste, right? I've literally turned the house upside down looking for it, searching in places that don't even make sense. I put off buying a new one because a bottle lasts like a year so what would I ever do with two bottles once the original showed up? But I did buy a new one yesterday so I'm just waiting now for that old bottle to show up...

What's getting me now though, is I am starting to doubt whether I actually did buy a new bottle. And that's more scary than the thought of never finding the missing item. Because then what, my brain will just go on inventing things that I think have gone missing, when in reality I never had them in the first place?

Another Ice Storm

I am so sick of this nasty, gray weather. I can't remember a nastier winter (at least in the past few years). I just want it to be warm and spring. Better yet, summer. But then it would be that much closer to being winter again, and that's no good. Jacob told me last night that he wanted to spend today building an ice rink in the back yard. He said he knew all the things to do, and then detailed exactly how we would go about doing it. I do believe he would be able to do it if he put his mind to it (which he's already done) and (more importantly) we actually allowed it. So when we got home today from our day time stuff, Jacob walks to the back door and sees the yard. "Oh, I guess somebody already built the ice rink." That about sums it up.

What people do when they don't have cable

Zach had a pork roast the other day and we saved the bone to give to the dogs. Today seemed like a good day to do it, so we tossed it out in the backyard and they went to town. Poor Ginger didn't stand a chance because it only took a second for Mango to swoop in and steal it. Ginger gave up the fight in favor of the warm house in no time flat so after a bit I had Zach intervene. He took the bone away from Mango and we coaxed Ginger back outside. She took it and ran to the other side of the yard and Mango ran after her. So we were out of earshot by then but the body language was clear. The hair along Ginger's spine was standing up and she was giving Mango the look that she does when she's growling. Mango kept inching over and it was pretty funny to watch. I know it doesn't sound funny, but the fact that all three of us were hanging out at the sliding door laughing our butts off and doing little voice to imitate the dogs is the point.

Mango tried to bring the bone into the house so Zach tossed it in the yard somewhere. We left the house for a couple hours and when we came back the dogs were itching to get out and get at the bone. Actually, Ginger was at the door waiting to go out, which is unusual because she hates the cold and snow (by now it was snowing and the bone had gotten covered a little). I think Mango had forgotten about the bone because she's the dumb one. So Ginger went outside and Mango quickly followed. They both ran to different spots of the yard where the bone had previously been, and then ran all over the place searching for it and digging little holes in the snow. Ginger gave up after a couple minutes but sad little Mango kept at it for so long. We were just inside laughing it up again at her expense. I don't think she ever found it but we finally felt bad enough to call her in. They'll find it eventually when the snow melts.

I guess it was one of those you had to be there kinds of moments because reading this over, it doesn't really sound that funny. But it was for us because of the five channels we have to choose from there was nothing as entertaining as what was going on in the back yard.

The Name Game

Now I wasn't going to say the names that we're considering for the baby on my blog, but for the purpose of this story I will tell you one of them.

I love the name Jacob, and I love the little boy to whom I gave that name, but it kills me that it was the most popular baby name the year he was born. In fact, it was the most popular boy name for like six years in a row or something like that. Aiden (thanks to Sex & the City) has finally taken over the top position, but Jacob is still up there at number three. The name we have been wanting to use for the longest time is Ethan, but that's number two on the list and I'll be damned if I'm going to have another most-popular kid name. I've always been really into naming trends, even before I had kids, so this decision means a lot to me.

There's a lot of names that I like, but they're all pretty popular too. I like the name Peyton, but I wouldn't use it for a boy because of the association with Peyton Manning, not because I'm against him, just that people would think I named my child after Peyton Manning and I'm not the kind of person to name my child after someone. So if I were to use it, it would be for a girl. In fact, I was just telling someone that exact thing last month.

Anyway, we decided on Eli. That's kind of like Ethan, and not on the top 10 list, not even on the top 100. That's the one we settled on a few months ago and we're sticking to it. Now last week was the Superbowl...I didn't watch it, had no idea of anything that happened other than the fact that the Giants won.

So last night we were talking to some extended family and they were asking about our name choices. When I said Eli, they started talking about the superbowl so I figured that there was some connection with the name. I didn't want to look stupid so I waited till later to ask Zach about it. "So what was up with them talking about the superbowl...what was there someone named Eli in the superbowl? I'll bet he was on the winning team too...just don't tell me he was the MVP."

Yes. Yes. Yes. Just great. Now there's going to be a bunch of people naming their kids after Peyton's little brother because he was the superstar of the 2008 Superbowl and it's no longer going to be an uncommon name.

Tired from always serving as the extra in the Bob videos...

Evil Bob snapped and hung Real Bob from the scaffold on the job site one day. It wasn't a pretty sight to come home to, but I guess it was bound to happen eventually:

(click on the picture for another view)

Also in Bobsville, Pilchard had another birthday party. I guess the last one was her 'family' party, and this one was her 'friends' party. All her friends came, Little Bear, Baby Tigger, and new to the crew, Moosey. Let's all give Moosey a warm welcome. He comes to us from Libby Lu at Christmas time, and is actually a reindeer, but don't try to tell Jacob that. Moosey has been trying to get in good with the rest of the gang, and I'm happy to announce that it seems his status in the group has now been confirmed as of two days ago when he was Christened 'Moosey' by Jacob.

Also at the party were Little Pilchard and Little Scrufty, but they 'don't show up in pictures'. Little Pilchard is Scrufty's pet cat, and Little Scrufty is Pilchard's pet dog. Just in case you were wondering.

It's a Stacey Thing

There's this mom at gymnastics who has the same name as me. At the end of 2007, in two consecutive weeks, we found out two major things we have in common. The first being that we are both pregnant and due the same week (actually this was the second thing, with the name thing preceding that but the lesser interesting of the two). The other thing we found out, is obviously that we are both Stacey.

I overheard her on her cell phone canceling an appointment for which she had to give her name. Here's how the conversation went:

"I didn't mean to overhear, but did you just say you are Stacey?"
"Yeah."
"I'm a Stacey too."
"Oh, funny!"
"Are you with an E, or just the Y?"
"Actually, I'm IE."
"Oh! I always wanted to spell my name IE. That's my favorite version!"
"What's your middle name?"
"Leigh. How about you?"
"I'm Lynn."
"Of course, it had to be one of the two..."
etc, etc, etc.

And this is how it goes every single time I meet a Stacey. If you were to ask anybody other than the actual Stacey how that Stacey spells her name, they would look at you confused. But ask the Stacey herself and the conversation takes on a natural flow because we have all been having the same conversation all our lives. I don't know why it's important, but the spelling of Stacey is something all other Stacey's are always concerned about. And I will forever remember which Stacey spells her name which way and what her middle name is. It's that important.

I've also constantly had my name misspelled my whole life, as well as my last name mispronounced, so I am extremely concerned with spelling anyone's name the correct way, as well as pronouncing names correctly. And for the record, with one exception, I don't believe I have ever met a Stacey whose middle name is not either Leigh (or a spelling variation of) or Lynn - and even the exception's middle name still begins with an L. I went to school with a Stacey Lynn and a Stacy Lee and that is how I think of them, the picture of them I have in my head. I don't know if other names have this...but I bet with all the funky spelling variations that parents are using for their kids these days, it will become a much bigger topic of conversation in the population at large.

Apparently my kid's not the only one...

The last couple times I've seen Beckie, she's reported that her boys have been pretend playing with me as the main character. I think it started with a balloon and one of them stuffing it under their shirt and walking around like they were pregnant, saying "I'm Stacey!" And then the other followed suit. After that it was with grapes at lunch (as in we were the grapes) and Zach and Jacob got parts in the play too. They were pretending to be our whole family...but other than that I'm sketchy on the details because I was laughing too hard at the time to hear the rest.

When your kids do something cute and funny, you naturally tell people about it...and since little pitchers have big ears, the kids tend to tune in when they're being talked about. And you know what happens when an adult finds something funny...the kids tent to repeat it. So I guess it's become a game now, a thing. Jacob is no longer the only kid in our immediate world who makes up crazy stuff about creatures (real or fake) because Nate and Harry play pretend Stacey games all the time. And if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then I'll take that as a compliment!

He's gonna make someone a fine husband someday...

He bakes...

He begs to do the dishes...

He loves to fold laundry...

And he's always glad to take care of the baby!

Pilchard's Birthday

This is Jacob's new thing: It's Pilchard's birthday. I guess it all started last week when my mom was here helping out with him and Jacob wanted to bake something. I could empathize with his wanting this because I was the kid who took all the ingredients out of the cupboard and put them together to create a masterpiece. I think that I've got one of those written 'recipes' I created somewhere around here. So I OK'd the activity in the interest of getting my work done that night.

This was the result:

mmmm....banana something supreme!

Apparently this was fun for Jacob and the idea stuck. Now he wants to bake all the time. And I guess he's decided that to get the adults to comply, he's got to come up with a reason. So he came home from my mom's the other night all fired up to have a birthday party for Pilchard. It was her birthday and she was turning six!

The next day Jacob decided we couldn't have her party because Pilchard got stuck in Bobsville due to a snowstorm. So it would have to wait one more day, which happened to be the same day as the LOST premiere (yesterday). From the minute the day began, Jacob couldn't wait to get the preparations in order. He called MamMa and Papa and instructed them on what to do. Big plans were under way - cake, ice cream, cupcakes, guests, games...Jacob wanted the party to start right away but I told him that it had to wait until the end up the day when we were up at my mom's (for LOST).

Jacob argued that we had to have it right then - Here I had to employ some of my newly acquired critical thinking skills..."But Jacob, Pilchard has to work at a job site all day anyway."

"No, Pilchard can't work on her birthday."

"Yes, Bob had to work on his birthday. Remember how he thought the whole crew forgot about his birthday and then when he came back from the job site that day they all had a surprise party waiting for him (an actual plot from one of the books we have)? So if Bob had to work on his birthday, so does Pilchard." Boy that class is really working for me.

Jacob made it through the day. We compromised on just cupcakes and ice cream, except I forgot the ice cream, but we had pizza to celebrate the return of LOST anyway, so it all evened out. He had packed a huge bag of random toys to entertain the gaggles of his friend we were supposedly inviting (which never even came out of the bag at my mom's). We sang happy birthday and Jacob got to blow out the candle on account that "Pilchard doesn't have a real mouth because she's stuffed (the first I'd heard she wasn't real) and can't eat or talk." It was a lot of work and Jacob is pretty lucky to have so many adults who care enough to humor him to that extent, but I didn't hear anyone complaining when it came time for cake!