My Real Life

There were trains.

There were computer games.

There were (many) cups of tea and books.

There were (2) hockey games.

There were snacks.

There were catalogs to browse.

There was laundry to be done. (Isn’t there always?)

There were college football and pro football games. (Giants…what have you done?)

There were Russian nesting dolls to play with.

There was pizza, paper plates and candlelight.

It was a good weekend.

Daily Gratitude, Day 12

I’m so grateful for my husband.  I really, really love that guy.

Never forget.

Daily Gratitude, Day 11

Today, I am grateful for the brave women and men who serve and have served in our armed forces.  Thank you.

With all of our children, we have always had a bedtime routine.

It’s worked for us and we’ve never really had bedtime issues and believe me…for that, we are grateful.

The routine is three books (which is negotiable, because depending on which books they pick, there can always be time for an extra book or two), three songs, and to sleep you go.

Monkey in the Middle and Monkey Girl are now reading on their own before bed, but Baby gets to pick his books that we read to him and we pick the books for Tiny.

Everybody, though…everybody loves to be sung to at bedtime.

Starting with Monkey Girl, however, the monkeys started making some…interesting bedtime song requests.

My default songs are Rockabye Baby, Lullabye, and one that my Mom used to sing to me which we just call Sleep My Child.

Oh, there’s also a little song that I sing that they all love and beg for as a 4th song which is just a little ditty that intersperses how much I love them with kisses all over their sweet little faces.

“I love my little Monkey Girl, she is so good to me,” kiss, kiss

“She’s sweet and kind and gentle, la-dee-dee-dee-dee,” kiss kiss

“I love my little Monkey Girl, she is so good to me,” kiss kiss

“She’s sweet and kind and gentle, la-dee-dee-dee-dee,” kiss kiss

However, one night, Monkey Girl (who couldn’t have been more than 3 at the time) said, “Can you please sing this song,” and then she launched into some weird dialogue:

“All aboard!”
“Britney, before you go, there’s something I want you to have.”
“Oh, it’s beautiful! But wait a minute, isn’t this… ?”
“Yeah, yes, it is.”
“But I thought the old lady dropped it into the ocean in the end…”
“Well, baby, I went down and got it for ya.”
“Aw, you shouldn’t have.”

Huh?

But, yep, that’s what she wanted.

Britney Spears.  “Oops, I Did It Again.”

And she was very clear that she wanted me to do the weird, random psuedo-Titanic dialogue in the middle of the song.

Baby Monkey (strangely also a fan of Britney Spears) wanted to hear Womanizer, the Batman Theme Song and the SpiderMan Theme Song.

Monkey in the Middle liked the defaults.

That was nice.

And now, Tiny has started with the requests.

He likes Rockabye Baby.

He requests it by saying, “Mom, mom, mom, mom…treetop.”

He likes Lullabye.

He requests that one by saying “Mom, mom, mom, mom…baby seeping.”

So, the other night, I’m rocking him and he says “Mom, mom, mom, mom…”Weahyoung.”

I said, “Sorry sweetie…I don’t understand what you want.”

So, he tried again.

“Mom, mom, mom, mom…Weahyoung.”

Then he kind of sang it a little.

“Weee aaahhh young.”

Then I realized what he wanted.

“We Are Young” by Fun.

Last years major graduation song.

“Tonight
We are young
So let’s set the world on fire
We can burn brighter
Than the sun”

My kids have it perpetually stuck in their head and go around the house singing it.

I am not a fan.

However, I wasn’t really a huge fan of “Womanizer” either.

But I sang it.

So, I sing this.

It doesn’t hurt anyone, it makes them happy.

I have to assume we aren’t the only family with strange bedtime song requests.

I have to assume it or else I’ll think we’re just weird.

So…any strange bedtime song requests you all would like to share?

Daily Gratitude, Day 8

Today I am grateful for warm beds in which to tuck my little sleepyheads.

I’m not a prepper.

I don’t think the end of the world is coming and I don’t have a secret room in my basement full of guns and canned vegetables.

However, I do believe that we need to face the fact that there is a new reality that we all need to adjust to.

One of the reasons we stayed in NJ was because we didn’t get earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, or other natural disasters that devastate other parts of the world.

No more.

So, after our second autumn in a row with a devastating hurricane, I feel like it’s time to listen to what Mother Nature is saying and start preparing a bit better.

When I was a kid, my Mom used to top off her tank regularly.

We’d pull into the gas station and she’d give the guy a $10 bill and say, “Just top it off, please.”

(When I was little, $10 worth of gas actually gave you a couple of gallons.)

I remember this from the early 80’s, and now that we, too, are sitting in gas lines, as she was in the late 70’s, I understand the impulse to “top it off, please.”

I know exactly how far below the empty mark my car can still run.

No more.

I think having a “bug out box” stored away in your house is not a terrible idea.

Keeping a stash of batteries separate from the gajillion batteries we have for toys…makes a little sense.

Having firewood cut, dry and ready to be burned?  I’m on it.

Last year, Hurricane Irene took us all by surprise.

This year, many more of us were prepared in many more ways.

Last year, you didn’t see the gas lines.

That’s because last year, very few of us had generators.

So, people prepared and bought the generators.

That were powered by gas.

Thus, the gas lines.

My guess is, if this happens again, the gas lines will be long in the days leading up to the hurricane, but after, the lines won’t get quite as out of control.

We learn a little more each time.

Disaster brings out the best and the worst of people.

I’ve seen some incredible acts of kindness over the past week, some of which I’ve shared here, on the blog, and some that I’ve witnessed in smaller ways.

I’ve also heard some stories about the very worst of human behavior.

Fights in gas lines, people starting rumors, neighbors stealing gas, stealing generators.

All I can hope is that when the next disaster rolls around, and it will, people learn from this one and behave better.

As for us, we will be a little more prepared than we were this year, and this year, I thought we were pretty well prepared.

Don’t just live and learn.

Live, learn and adapt.

Daily Gratitude, Day 6

Today I am grateful that I live in a country where I can vote for my leaders.  While I am disheartened by how very divided this nation has become, I am still grateful to live here.

So, Halloween is being postponed again in NJ and we are pretty much just over it.

We explained to the kids that there are bigger things happening this year and that we weren’t going to do trick-or-treating whenever it was rescheduled.  At this point, we’re into November and at some point, you just have to call it a day.

So, we said that today would be our Halloween.

The first thing we decided to do was carve our pumpkins.

Confession:

We’ve never carved pumpkins with the monkeys.

Carving pumpkins has always sounded, to me, like one of those holiday activities that would be SO exciting for the monkeys.

Until the work began.

And then, I’d find myself elbow deep in pumpkin guts while everyone else was off playing somewhere that was not the kitchen.

This happens a lot.

Not the pumpkin guts, but you know what I mean.

Anyway, every year, I have deferred the pumpkin carving until, uh-oh…the pumpkin has rotted and is soft…guess we can’t carve it.

This year, though, I felt like there needed to be a little give-back if we were asking them to give up Halloween.

So, I spread the papers, pulled out the pumpkins, Sharpies and knives and we went to work.

In this first picture, you can see that even Monkey in the Middle shared the angst that came with putting a sharp knife in the hands of Monkey Girl.

Oh, how we love her, but she’s not known for her grace, delicacy, or precision.

However, she was diligent and careful, and soon, we were all feeling safe enough to come a little closer.

Finally, she relinquished the knife and gave Monkey in the Middle a turn.

Despite the fact it is Baby Monkey who has been relentless with the pumpkin carving questions, he was nowhere to be found after the first three minutes and Tiny…

…entertained himself rearranging the drawers.

I was, at one point, up to my elbows in pumpkin guts.

But I was never alone.

So, the jack-o-lanterns are carved, the pumpkin seeds have been separated, washed and are drying, waiting to be baked tomorrow.

Halloween books have been read, some candy has been eaten, and an amazingly well-timed Halloween gift bag delivery from our favorite neighbors was very much appreciated.

And, for our family, thus concludes Halloween 2012.

Daily Gratitude, Day 5

Today, I am grateful for the flexibility of my children.  Again and again, when faced with situations that did not occur as planned, they have been able to go with the flow with a minimum of whining.  Some whining…sure.  They are kids.  But, overall, they get it.

So, my parents came by, the other day, with this picture of my Dad when he was 7.

As we looked at it, we were pretty amazed at just how much he looked like Baby Monkey.

In fact, when we showed Baby the picture, we asked “Who does this look like?”

His immediate response?

“Me.”

So, I’ve been scouring my pictures, trying to find one in a similar pose (because we all know if you ask a 6 year old to pose a certain way, it won’t ever be quite right) and the best I could do was this one.

Different pose, same face.

It may be more of a moment to moment thing, but my Dad’s face, in the above picture, is the exact replica of Baby Monkey in so very many moments throughout the course of a day.

I love it.

You expect kids to look like their parents, but not often do they throw back to their grandparents, and it’s pretty darn cool.

So, I guess Baby has a pretty good idea what he’ll look like when he’s older, and I think he’s pretty lucky.

Daily Gratitude, Day 4

As much as I’ve dreamed of moving far, far away, over the years, today I am grateful that we live so close to our children’s grandparents.  My children get to see at least one of their grandparents every single day and that is such a wonderful thing for them.  One set of my grandparents lived in Ohio and I only got to see them two to three times a year and I missed them terribly.  One might think that seeing their grandparents so often would make the grandparents seem common and unexciting, but the yells and jumping that happens when the grandparents come over shows that my monkeys are just as thrilled to see their grandparents walk in the door whether they saw them the day before or two months before.

Warms my heart.

15 Amazing Acts of Kindness During Sandy

Daily Gratitude, Day 3

Today, I am grateful for the 15 amazing acts of kindness mentioned above and the thousands that have not been caught on film.

The monkeys and I hit the library every week.

Sometimes more than once a week.

We borrow dvds, we borrow magazines, we borrow books.

We check out the exhibits (this week they have a cool Lego exhibit that Baby Monkey went bananas for).

Our favorite section of the children’s room, though, is the holiday book section.

About a month or two before each holiday, we head to the holiday book section and begin making our selections.

We leave with about ten holiday books each visit.

Athletes jump around and bounce off each others chests and listen to hard rock to get themselves pumped for the game.

We read holiday books to prepare for each season.

The library has a great collection of books for each holiday and they make sure they are rotated in a timely manner.

Last night, we finished our Halloween season by sitting in front of the fire and re-reading, for the last time this season, some of our Halloween selections.

Next time we hit the library, we’ll return our latest Halloween selections and will take out our first round of Thanksgiving books.

The holiday books can only be held for two weeks, as they are pertinent for only a short time, but that just makes it more exciting.

We also don’t just take out books about holidays we celebrate.

Some of the kids favorite holiday stories are about Kwanzaa and Hannukah and other, lesser known holidays from other countries.

We still take out regular reading books and mix them in with our holiday fare, but when a holiday is coming near, it gets a little more exciting to hit the library.

So, if you have kids and visit your local library, check out the holiday books.  I bet your kids will be pulled right in to the thrall of fictional stories that blend with tradition.

Today’s Gratitude

I’ve decided that, since Thanksgiving is in November, this would be a month of daily gratitudes for me.

So, at the end of each post, I am going to share something I am grateful for, because we can always take a moment to say thanks.

So, in keeping with the theme of today’s post, I am grateful for public libraries.

They are amazing and wonderful for families like mine, but even more so for families that can’t afford to buy books, can’t afford to buy computers, and for kids who don’t have a quiet place to study.

Every time we are there, we bump into at least five to ten of my students…studying, reading, doing homework on the computers.

The floor is scattered with kids reading…big kids, little kids, parents.

One of my favorite things to see is some of our small children reading to their non-English speaking parents…reversing the roles and teaching their parents the language as they read.

I’m devastated when I hear talk of cutting funding for public libraries.

So, today, I am grateful for public libraries.