Cat?

Conversation tonight:

Kevin: "Sorry Kyle, you can't have your cat and eat it, too."
Ruth: "Cat? You mean cake?"
Kevin: "Oh yeah. It's cake, huh?"

And from there, the conversation went on to eating cats and various other unappetizing things. Only in our house would a conversation like this take place.

Soccer Stud

We attended Kyle's first soccer game today. I use the word "game" loosely, because as anyone who's watched preschoolers play soccer knows, it's not much of a game. It's more of a huddled mass of players running across the field, out of bounds, and not necessarily after the ball.

Nevertheless, it was quite a sight to watch my little boy run around that soccer field. There's no way to describe the adorableness of that little blue jersey that matches his big blue eyes. Or the look of concentration on his face as he raced after the ball. Or the pride on his face each time he announced, "I'm number eight!" Yes, it was a proud day for momma.

Of course, the ball went the wrong way the majority of the time he kicked it. And when he threw his first "throw-in," the ball flew behind him, rather than onto the field. And we won't mention the fact that our opponents scored a multitude of goals, while we failed to score one.

But none of that matters because Kyle had a blast. He's learning. And loving it. And that's what's most important.

Sign Language - not just for the hearing impaired

Apparently, we no longer need words to communicate in our house. Now, that's not to say that we're communicating by an intelligent method, such as American Sign Language. No, ours is a simple method which Kyle created solely by himself.

For some time now, Kyle's been communicating with "the glare." The little furrow of his brow can mean many things: he's not pleased with something we've said, he's losing a game, he's not terribly fond of what he's eating, and so on.

But now we have the "thumbs up." An antithesis for the glare, the thumbs up is used to respond positively to any situation. For example:

Q: Do you like that dip, Kyle?
A: (silent) Thumbs up

Q: How would you like to go outside after lunch?
A: (silent) Thumbs up

Q: Did you have fun at preschool?
A: (silent) Thumbs up

Q: Should we turn off the movie and go clean your room?
A: GLARE (oops, wrong example)

Tonight he even gave me the thumbs up when I asked if he was ready for bed. Now, that's one thumbs up I can agree with!

Stupified

One of Kyle's favorite methods of amusing himself while I'm on the phone is wrap himself up in the telephone cord (no, we do not have a cordless phone). He'll wind the cord around and around his body until there's nothing left to wind. He'll then slip it over his head and walk away, leaving a mangled, knotted mess on the floor.

For obvious reasons, this drives me absolutely nuts. And he knows it. Yet, he continues to do it over and over again.

After he repeated the offense for the umpteenth time today, I hung the phone up and said, "Kyle! Why did you do that? You know I don't like it!"

To which he placed his little hands on his hips and said, "Well mom, if you get mad at me, I'm just going to keep doing it!"

My response? Silence. I was stupified. What was left to say? He'd already said it all.

Fuzzy Dice

Upon pulling out of the parking lot today, my husband noticed a nondescript minivan sporting a pair of particularly tacky fuzzy dice hanging from the rear-view mirror. He turned to me and said, "Why in world would anybody hang those in their car and where did they come from!?"

Well my dear hubby, I've tried to find an answer to your question, but haven't had much luck. According to Wikipedia, they became popular in the 1950's, but we don't know why. What we do know is that they haven't been popular for quite some time, so I can safely say that the only reason why somebody would hang those in their car is that they have a particularly tacky sense of style.

However, I did find something interesting. Fuzzy dice are not only tacky, but against the law. Oh, the law isn't aimed directly at fuzzy dice. It just prohibits hanging anything from your rear-view mirror that could potentially obstruct your vision.

So perhaps the driver of this minivan isn't tacky after all. Perhaps he's just taking a drive on the wild side.

Large and in charge

I had a flashback today. A flashback to junior high. Those are never good.

~~~

...It was the beginning of soccer season and uniforms were being handed out. I cannot recall my teammates' names or faces, but I remember the uniform. A lovely shade of turquoise blue with white trim. It should've been lovely, but it wasn't on me because my jersey hung down to my knees.

For anybody that hasn't played city soccer, you should know that you don't get to request your size. Every team receives a certain number of smalls, mediums, and larges. And because I was the second tallest girl on the team at 5'5", I received a large. A men's large.

On the drive home, I complained about the size of my uniform. My mom feigned sympathy, but what came out of my dad's mouth is forever burned in my memory:

"Well, they gave you a bigger uniform because you're one of the larger girls on the team."

I probably went home and cried because my dad called me fat. And it took a lot of explanation for my dad to finally understand that just because a girl is tall, it doesn't mean she's LARGE. But I think it's safe to say it hasn't scarred me for life.

~~~

Well, it appears that my son has inherited my genes. As he tried on his first soccer uniform today, I noticed he had received a larger size on behalf of his height and had to wonder, "Is he destined to always be one of the tallest kids on the team?"

If so, we'll tell him to cinch up those gigantic shorts and play on!

Future Firemen

In search of future careers, our preschool paid a visit to the local fire station. We checked out the kitchen (four refrigerators!), the sleeping quarters, the workout facilities, and the TV room (did you know the firemen have to pitch in to buy their own TV?).

The best part of all, without a doubt, was the fire truck. The kids were free to roam and climb all over and they did a fine job of it. Here's my little guy "driving" the truck.

But as much as the kids enjoyed it, I think the moms might have had more fun. We peppered them with questions and even got to try on the 100 lb. gear. Who in the world was brave enough to give that crazy woman an ax? I think it's safe to say that I won't be abandoning my day job.

Cabin Fever

While most spring break vacationers head for the sun, we headed for the snow. We headed up to the mountains with some friends and enjoyed a few days of games, food and fun in the snow.


Stuck

This is no special effect. Kevin really is stuck chest deep in the snow. Can I say "Avalanche Danger?"


Kyle also got stuck - only he ran into a tree. Luckily, his Daddy managed to crawl out of his hole and rescue him.


Sledding

We took a few runs down the steep driveway. At one point, I flew off my sled and front-flipped into a tree. All part of the fun, right?


And this is me beating Kevin with my sled after he tried to repeat the before-mentioned accident. Don't worry, he wasn't hurt.

Nasty habits

I'm teaching my son all sorts of nasty habits. Case in point: squirting whipped cream directly into his mouth.

Kevin is absolutely disgusted that:

- I would do this myself.
- I'm teaching (or at least not discouraging) my son to do it also.

I hereby promise to open a brand-new container of whipped cream each and every time we have guests over for dessert.