Happy Siblings

Happy Siblings
Originally uploaded by Rosalind Tedford.

So I've been fighting to get my iPhone working for two days and my dear husband spent 2 and a half hours on the phone with support today - and their answer was "go to an Apple store." Which, of course, is a 2-hour trip (and a million dollars in gas) for us, so we'll just see what happens.

But on the positive side the kids are cuter than ever. Really, I have the two cutest children on the planet. Let's see what's new with them.

Sean is obsessed with Elmo, ceiling fans and fire trucks (pronounced figuh-truck) and is doing his best to keep up with his big sister. He's always saying 'hi' to people -- all the time. One of his favorite games in the evenings is to get up in our bed with Patrick and get under the covers. They call it 'Light and Dark" or as Sean says "Liguh-dark-uh" He manages to add extra syllables to everything he can. He's talking up a storm and is putting more and more words together. Not surprisingly, he's an opinionated soul who is not afraid to tell other people what to do. "Sit Mommy" is my favorite.

Erin is having a great summer bouncing between camps at the Children's Museum, Grand-Jos house and The Little Gym, but I think she and all of us will be glad when school starts again. She' sbeen spending some nights over at Grand Jo's house which makes her happy (and it's nice to know she can sleep elsewhere when the need arises). She's totally into Webkinz (if you have to ask, you don't want to know) on the computer and is becoming quite the computer goddess. The other night Patrick brought out a laptop and taught her how to use the touch pad in about 3 minutes. Mind you I have never learned how to use a touch pad, so I felt pretty stupid.

But that's life as a parent -- you just feel stupid most of the time and hope your kids don't figure out that you have no clue what you are doing. They can figure that out in therapy years from now when I'm going senile in a home......

So important in the summer....

So Erin (and Sean to a lesser extent) are very warm natured. They take after their father and Grandma Bobbie in that respect (not me -- I sleep under blankets throughout the summer). So we've tried to instill in Erin the need to drink lots of water in the summer. So this past weekend we were at Moe's (our FAVORITE Mexican place) and she got her usual cheese Quesedilla but then she wanted water instead of milk, chocolate milk or lemonade. This is unusual for her, but not unheard of, so I got her a glass of water. Halfway through the meal she announced that she was hibernating. When I looked at her quizzically -- she said "You know, drinking lots of water -- hibernating...." I told her that the correct word was 'hydrating' but that I liked her version better.

She's having a sleepover at GrandJo's tonight -- what fun. Her last day of school is tomorrow. She's had a great year and will have an even better Summer -- Graylyn Pool -- Watch out!!!

Everything in Relative

So bedtime meltdowns are never a good thing. Erin has them when she's really tired, and usually spends the time yelling about how she's not tired at all. Last night she had one about watching American Idol - and who can blame her - the talent is just not that great this year. But tonight she nearly had one over the fact that this great little book we have with cartoon strips telling 7 Shakespeare Stories (Hamlet, McBeth, Romeo & Juliet, Midsummer Night's Dream, Winter's Tale and Julius Caeser -- just the 7 I would pick for children, how about you???) did not actually include As You Like It -- so in the grand scheme of things, I'd rather her have a meltdown about poor editorial choices on the part of Shakespeare books for children then say, about wanting to sleep on the sofa, wanting to sleep naked, or just not wanting to sleep at all. But really, all I want is 8 solid hours of sleep with no interruptions - how early can kids go to college these days????

Oh, and Sean has learned how to fake sneeze -- it's about the cutest thing I've ever seen - I'll get a video up soon.

We Are The Ones Song by will.i.am - Obama

To deviate from family posts for a moment -- I'd like to share this new Obama video. His speech on race yesterday sent chills down my spine -- and this video is great! Enjoy!

Dueling Shakespeares

Daddy Daughter Date Night 1
Originally uploaded by Rosalind Tedford.

So last night as I was putting Erin to bed

Erin: Mommy, I can't sleep. I have A Midsummer Nights Dream on one side and As You Like it on the other.

Me: Side of what, sweetie? Your Brain?

Erin: Yep - they're duking it out.

Me: I wonder which one will win.

2 minutes later she's sound asleep. I guess we know which one won!! Where do these things come from??

The picture is from the Daddy Daughter Date Night and the Winston-Salem Children's Museum back in Feb. Check out their home page slide show and you'll catch another one of them together.

From the mouths of babes...

hats2_march08
Originally uploaded by Rosalind Tedford.

So tonight we had our good friends Betsy and Jeremy Chapman over for dinner with their son, Ian. We played, had dinner and then were all watching Weird Al (see previous post). Erin turns around to them and says "Why are you still here??"" and then goes on about her business. Luckily Bets and Jer are not the types to get offended, or we would not have been friends for over 15 years.

The picture is further evidence of my son's infatuation with hats. He and Pat played in his re-enacting closet for a long time this morning. Sean just kept pointing up and saying 'haaaaaaat' and Pat would pull out another one --- and another -- and another. But it made for some great pictures!!

Milestones

I guess we all measure time in different ways and we all have expectations for things we can't wait to do with our kids. For me, having Erin learn all the words of the WFU Fight song has been a highlight of the last year....add to that the fact that one of her favorite insults is to call people 'Blue Devils' and my job on this planet is just about complete. For Patrick, one of his great dreams has now come true....in addition to being able to name all the superheroes she sees, Erin is a Weird Al Yankovic fan. We have spent the last 4 nights watching our DVD and Erin now knows most of the words to 'Dare to be Stupid' AND 'Jedi' -- it is a wonder to behold. 'Smells Like Nirvana', one of my favorites has yet to catch on with her, but she's warming up to "Amish Paradise." So really, what more can we ask? I guess she could grow up to save the world, but if not, we'll love her all the same!!