Poop Happens

There are times as a parent when you are truly astounded by the behavior of your children. Astounded in that I-know-you're-only-3- but-what-in-the-hell-were-you-thinking kind of way. I'm speaking of my sweet little Geronimo.
Today at nap time some part of him decided it would be a good idea to play with his poop. I do mean play when I say this. When I came in to get him after nap time I found, not my handsome blue-eyed little boy, but a mostly fecal covered wild child, happily painting his door with poop. Ill spare you the pictures. We immediately went into code brown. He was put in the upstairs shower because I didn't even want to walk him downstairs to our tub. It took a good 15 minutes of scrubbing to get the poop off. While he and Henry played in the shower I went into his room to assess the damage. I discovered that my beautiful poop covered 3-year-old had climbed from his bookshelf onto his dresser and had smeared his window with his own excrement. So anyone driving by at the time would see an obviously neglected toddler desperately smearing his poop on the window as a signal of distress. I await DCFS's knock on my door.

The coolest stuff happens in the AM

So Isaac and I got up at the butt crack 'o dawn this morning to go to the Park City bike swap. It was well worth it even though I didn't find what I was looking for (a strider for Gmo).
We waited at the beginning of the line for over an hour, but luckily my friend Cassidy was on line right it front of us. Small world! She's always fun to talk too. Plus, some kiddos were selling snacks and coffee. We were set.
They let 25 peeps in at a time and we were the second batch so we pretty much had our choice of bikes. I found a cruiser bike for $10 and an 'off road' trike for a whopping $5! The trike was a total steal because it didn't have a price on it so the guy helping me said 5 bucks. Sold. It's just a touch too big for Gmo, but he grows.
There was a surprising dearth of bikes for small children and the ones they did have were on the pricey side. I'm still on he lookout for a strider for Gmo but I might just have to pick one up on ksl or buy it new.
When I got the bikes home, Gmo was interested in the trike for about 5 min, but Henry couldn't get enough. I think I might need to get him a little trike as well- one that fits him.

Sleepless in toddlerville

Do you ever wish you could be in two places at the same time? I swear this just gets worse when you become a parent. My little Geronimo has had a rough couple of nights. I think it just a combination of some changes in his routine that have thrown him off. He's usually the best sleeper of the bunch. By the time he was a year old I could read to him, rock him, nurse him and put him in his crib and he would sleep for 12 hours. He would also take at least a two hour nap during the day. Bliss. But lately he's been turning up his nose at naps and struggling to go to sleep at night. None of our usual tricks seem to work. So tonight I asked him if he was scared. Not sure it was my best idea but I thought that that might be what was keeping him up and he just didn't have the words for it. He said he was. So I told him that we could say good night to the scary things and they would go to bed. We did this several times and I thought it helped. Henry and I then went to my bed so I could get him to sleep. He is not the best sleeper and requires my bed and a nipple to sleep. As I was nursing Henry down my poor little Gmo cried in his crib. After about 5 minutes he stopped crying and starting saying "good night scary things! Ya boo! (Toddler translation- I love you)" in a very sad voice. It broke my heart. He was still saying it when I finally got Henry to sleep and walked into Gmo's room to cuddle him. We sang and talked about the scary things. I told him that dada and I are always here to keep him safe. Finally he was calm enough to go back in his crib and I rubbed his back until he fell asleep. I'll be glad when he gets back to sleeping well again, but it was nice to cuddle and sing to him tonight. I'm usually so wrapped up in getting Henry to sleep I just read one book with gmo and then he's in his crib for the night. I forget he's still a baby too, even if all I hear all day is "no!" and "I do it myself!".

The still quiet voice

On my deathbed I'm sure my biggest regret will be that I didn't listen to this voice often enough. You know the voice I'm talking about. It's the voice that makes you second guess what you're doing or flat out stops you from doing something. This voice usually knows a persons real character before you do. Yet, all too often, it gets ignored.
Tonight is a good example of me fulfilling my biggest regret. I'm typing this as my little Geronimo sits in the Heber ER with his Daddy. I had to stay home with Henry and nurse him to bed. Both Henry and Gmo have bad colds right now, which simply adds to the sh***yness of this night.
Jake just got another Land cruiser. It's an fj80, seats 8, lockers on both ends I believe, etc., etc. I've been running errands and working all day and honestly just wanted to relax when I got home, but after dinner jake wanted to take the 80 for a drive. I Really didn't want to (enter voice), but I could tell he was excited. Jake wanted to take Henry but leave Gmo and Isaac, which we could do because our friend John is staying with us. I wanted to take Gmo because I didn't want John to have to watch our kiddos even if it was just for a 5 minute drive down the dirt road in front of our house. I knew isaac wouldnt want to come, and he doesnt need a watcher. Jake wrapped Henry up in a big blanket and I threw socks onto an already dressed Gmo and stuck him in the back seat- no seat belt or car seat. We were just going up our driveway and down the dirt road, so no need (enter voice again). I start up the driveway and just about to the top I get stuck ("This was a terrible idea" says the voice). Jake is giving me directions but its just making me more nervous because I already feel stupid for getting stuck in the first place. Gmo is going back and forth between the 2nd and 3rd row seats and my stuckness is getting more stuck. Jake tells me to ambush two tangerines (jake's dads way of saying "we're done") and starts giving me instructions on getting the car back down the driveway. In the middle of that the car lurches and Gmo does a face plant into the console, bloodying his nose and cutting above his left eye. Right when I saw his face I knew he needed to go to the ER. I was pissed. Pissed at jake for 'making' me drive the 80. Pissed at myself for not putting Gmo in a seat belt. Just. plain. pissed. It's a good thing that still quiet voice isn't a dick because it would be saying 'I told you so'. I would love to say lesson learned, but I know better. Luckily, all it took was a little glue to close up Gmo's cut. I'm sure jake and I will be friends again when he gets home with Gmo. But I owe that voice a long list of apologies. It's never wrong, yet I never believe it.
'Don't take a swig of your friends unopened raspberry vodka after you've drank your weight in cognac and hit on your bosses wife' - right (this just happened)
'This guy is soooo not good for you' - right
'That girl he says is just a friend, is not just his friend'- right
'Don't say that thing you're thinking about saying- even if its true'- right
I could go on all night, but I won't.
Thank you voice and please please please don't go quiet. I need you even when I don't listen to your advice.

Bring out your skis

Woke up to snow. Sorry I didn't take a pic. I always make a big deal of the first snow of the season even if I doesn't last long. I woke Gmo up early so he could see the snow and do our snow dance, which is pretty much just bouncing up and down like we have to pee really bad.
I love winter and I want my kiddos to love it too. It's one of the great things about living in Utah. They don't say we have the "greatest snow on earth" for nothing. We are lucky here. We have nice hot summers and cold snowy winters. Spring and Fall are pretty too. Although I wish fall lasted longer- fall is the bestest. If I lived somewhere without four seasons I'd be bored.
This year i really hope I get to ski. I've either been pregnant or broke the last several years and haven't been able to get out and really enjoy our awesome winters. So pray for snow people! And pray we have enough money to actually ski. Tourist make everything more expensive. Bastards.
Oh and my sister-in-law was awesome enough to take some family pics for us. Here are a few:

Magic Kale

Kale is magic. It's the one green leafy vegetable that my kids eat consistently. No joke. I'll scramble eggs and kale in the AM and Geronimo will pick all the kale out and leave the eggs. They also make fantastic chips. Mix them with a little olive oil and salt and bake them and they literally melt in your mouth. Isaac asks for kale chips all the time. A couple of months ago I did the whole 30 challenge with the other ladies at my crossfit gym. It's this no sugar, no processed foods diet thingy. Anywhoo i was craving spaghetti because spaghetti is one the greatest creations of all time. But you can't have noodles on the whole 30, so I put my spaghetti sauce on some sautéed kale. Sounds gross, tasted aweso. I still do it. I just drink a beer with I now. Take that whole 30. That diet took the fun out of food. It is good for you though. Oh well.

Saudade

Saudade is a Portuguese word that perfectly describes my state of mind today. Outside the little cabin we call home the air was thick with fall. Those of you in Mexico and Florida must miss this beautiful transition. The air has a dampness to it- a kind of sweet decay. It wraps itself around you like a musky blanket and slows you down. It's a good slow, a good decay. You can't help but be reminded that all things change. The chill in the morning will give way to frost. The days will get shorter. Soon the wood stove that warms our house will be going most of the day and into the night. Change is like death and taxes- inevitable. So why fight it. Those red and yellow leaves will be replaced by white snow. My redhead will become a teen; my babies, little boys.
Saudades has no exact translation into English, but the closest I can come to describe it is nostalgia. Nostalgia and then some. I always feel it this time of year. As I watched my little ones run and play and work today I couldn't help but think about what it must have been like for my Dad to watch my brothers and me grow. He used to take us on drives. He would ask if we would like to go get a treat, and we would always say yes. We would stop at the 7-11 and get one candy and one drink each and then dad would just drive. He never said much on those drives. We would always listen to classic rock and watch life pass by our car windows. So that's what I did today, minus the classic rock and 7-11 ( I did bring a bag of caramels for good measure). It finally made sense today. You can really clear your head when you are behind the wheel. The kids didn't mind the drive, but I didn't go for them. I went to remember those drives, and what it was like to be the passenger and not the driver. I have more to say, but it's late and I feel like this post is getting a little sappy.
On our drive we gathered some fall leaves and came home to do some crafts. Here are the pics: