His whine, my wine

I seriously need to vent!  Callen has been a wreck lately and is fighting back about everything.  No matter what I ask him, he whines, resists, and throws a fit.  Here are some examples:

- he had a huge meltdown at Jack's soccer game last Saturday.  He wanted to play Bey Blades with some other kids, but they haven't been getting along lately so I kept them apart. 

- his preschool class had a Halloween party last Friday and he was complaining about going because he wanted to "stay home with Dave".  When we got there, he screamed and kicked and refused to go into the building.  I went in and watched him from the front door and he just stood outside on the walkway, arms crossed in "pout position" and lower lip over his upper lip.  He eventually came in after 20 minutes and some enticing by another parent.

- and today, I had to take him to Kids Camp so I could help with Jacks Halloween party in his class.  On the way there, he started in on the whining and I reminded him that tonight was Halloween and he would be trick or treating later.  He said he didn't want to and that he wanted to stay home.  See, there is nothing I can say that he will just agree to and be happy about.  Anyway, he loves Kids Camp, but I had to carry him out of the car while he screamed and cried.  After I left, I called to check on him and, of course, he was fine and having fun. 

I feel like I am getting a taste of what his teenage years will be like.  It's scary.  The little guy is clearly tired but refuses to sleep.  Just a few minutes ago he had a fit because he wasn't allowed to play the Wii until he cleaned up his room.  After some hardcore whining, he went in his room and slammed the door.  I just checked on him and he is asleep under his art desk.  Below is a picture I took last week:

I'm at a loss...any and all ideas are welcome, as are donations of wine, beer, and earplugs.

New post from the "lady"

Okay, sorry.  I've received so many requests from people around the world to update my blog...and really, who am I to disappoint my adoring fans?  What is that you say?  I have no fans from around the world?  Actually, smartass, I just checked my stats and it seems someone in Romania has had a little look-see at my blog.  Okay, so it was just one look-see and it was probably a mistake, but it counts...and yes, I now consider myself to be known world-wide. 

Okay, things have been busy but I have a few things to share:

This one was taken after preschool...can you guess what the letter of the week was? 

That's right!  E!  He is clearly wearing elephant ears and has a trunk.  I don't know how anyone would mistake him for a "Lady Aardvark."  What a jerk!  I'm never going to that Walgreens again.



Here is Callen getting in some time with the Bey Blades while Jack is in school.  "Let'er rip!!!!"  Seriously, someone is making a killing on this toy.  It's so simple and innovative; even my husband and I have fun playing (for very short periods of time).  It got me thinking about some other toys that could be put on steroids.  How about "Acidic Potato"?  Better pass it or the acid will burn the fingerprints off your fingers.  Or, "Connect 4 or Else".  If you lose, you get punched in the face.  Remember: this blog is date stamped, so you are welcome to steal my ideas, put your hard-earned money into them, and sell them to major toy makers.  I will, however, then demand my share via lawsuit, but I really don't have time to implement these ideas without some help...from you, if you're able to spend some time on MY ideas.

This is a little hard to see, but this is a picture of Jack dipping his waffle into salsa.  I don't know what else to say about this.

Callen is a few months short of turning four and we have been seeing more and more of the little person he is becoming.  Both my boys have a very good sense of humor and several times a day, we have a big laugh about something.  Well yesterday, Callen kept calling me "Lady".  As in "Hey Lady!  Look at this!"  "Hey Lady, can I have some grapes?"  It was kind of funny but I wasn't exactly sure how to take it.  So I just said, "Um, Cal, you need to use your nice words."  Then he said, "Hey Lady, can I have some grapes, please?"  I saw the smirk on his face and I knew he was testing me.  I gave him a look that acknowledged the funniness of it but told him not to push it.  He got the message, then later, when we were playing outside with balloon rockets, he called me the "balloon man" because I was pumping up the balloons for him.  I actually preferred to be called "lady" by my son, but today, he's back to calling me "Mom".

About my last post.....

So, my husband is not too thrilled about my previous post about Callen dressing up as Hannibal Lector or Al Pacino from Scarface for Halloween.  In my defense, it was 2am when I wrote that post and the whole Amanda Knox thing was going on, although they’re probably not related.  (Or are they?)  Anyway, the good news is that my husband is reading my blog!  Hi Sweetie!!  The bad news is that I finally found a costume for Jack:  

Sweetie, I thought you might like this because you want to get that Mustang from the Vanilla Ice video.  What, what???  You would never let Jack wear this?  Yes, I'm being a smartass (but readers, he really does want that car.)  Anyway, two quick notes for the hubs:  please don't take my middle of the night ramblings too seriously and, no, I would never actually wheel Callen around in a hand cart wearing a Hannible Lector costume.  That boy is almost 4, he can walk!

It's 3am...and this is keeping me awake???

There’s been a lot of talk about Halloween costumes at our house lately.  The latest is that Callen wants to be an astronaut and Jack is hovering between Jack Sparrow and constantly changing Star Wars characters.  I fell asleep early tonight so now it’s 3 o'clock in the morning and all I can think about is funny Halloween costumes for kids.  Well, funny for me at least.  My first idea is for Callen to be Al Pacino’s character from Scarface, complete with a dark haired wig, cigar, open collared shirt, and gold chain around his neck.  I would draw the line at the machine gun…we’ve made a decision to be a weapon-free family.  I could teach Callen to say “You wanna f*** with me? Okay. You wanna play rough? Okay. Say hello to my little friend!” (I guess I would let him pretend he has a machine gun, it’s only fair).

My next idea is for Callen to be Hannibal Lecter.  I would go all out with this one and would put him in this costume since it really is the most recognizable.

I guess I'd have to attach his trick-or treat bag to the hand cart and just wheel him around the neighborhood.  It may be kind of tiring for me but it would make it very easy to keep track of him.

I haven’t thought of any good costumes for Jack yet.  He’s 6 so the humor of seeing him in costumes like these is kind of lost on him and becomes a bit creepy.  Almost like when I hear kids his age talk about how many people they’ve killed in their video games.  Callen, on the other hand, is a preschooler so his innocence is what would make these costumes both inappropriate AND funny, like when Jack farts at the library.