The Shiksa goes to Parent Teacher Conferences

Last week, Kyle and I went to Cooper's Parent Teacher Conference. It was good to get some idea of how he's doing, share some laughs over his antics and learn that he saves all of his bad behavior for us at home. Good job buddy?

Anyway, at one point in the discussion, his teachers were showing us the things he likes to play with in the classroom. They were mostly things that he also plays with at home (blocks, paint, puzzles, etc.) but also mentioned him really liking a pair of binoculars. 

Then I blurted out, "Oh, he loves binoculars! He actually still plays with the pair that he made in class at the beginning of the year!"

(Remember, Cooper goes to school at a Synagogue...)

Teacher: "Oh! (Nervous laughter.) Actually, those aren't binoculars, that's the Torah. If you open up the scroll you will see a little blessing on the inside."

Oops. I'm sure the holy book gets mistaken for binoculars all the time!  I made some blubbering comment about being a Shiksa but I'm not sure that they heard it over the loud sound of Kyle's palm hitting his forehead from across the table!

In my defense, he really does like his Torah binoculars, even if he didn't grasp the lesson!

One lesson at school he did grasp is the "Unicorn Song" and how to put your horn up. See?!

I'm a unicorn!

At least there's that!

The Halloween Recap

Happy Halloween!

Photo Cred: Neighbor Katie!

After much coaxing, Cooper actually wore his costume and got what trick-or-treating is all about. He got a bucket full of candy and we sent him off to bed riding the insulin roller coaster. I didn't make him bathe, but after I caught him eating a laffy taffy, wrapper and all, I definitely made him brush those pearly whites!

Trick or Treat!

I have no idea how many "lemon mmms" he ate tonight.

Carrington stole the show when she passed out in her little mouse costume, all warm and snuggly in her costume. I wish I could freeze her at the age. I die.

Little Mouse before snoozefest!

OUT.

We had a great one this year! Hope you did too!

Crying like Sister

Have you ever seen anything funnier, cuter or more heartbreaking than Cooper in this video?!

Whenever Cooper is upset and crying, he tells us he is "crying wike sister".  I caught this video of him it the other day, he was upset his Dad had left for work. Usually his emotion of choice is either ecstatic or angry (he's his mother's son) so to catch him actually sad is a rarity!

I've got nothing else but cute pics to share tonight!

My little loves in bed before we read books. Kyle wanted to make sure he got photo cred. There you go, beb.

This is after Kyle let the ice cream truck stop serve as dinner!

I love Carrington but I really wish she would smile more! What a grump!

That's all for now... Is it really only Tuesday? Oy.

More Cooperisms

Awhile back I wrote a post called Man Meat and other Cooperisms. I love taking time to document these things because it seems like the moment I blink he’s on to the next thing and I’ve already forgotten what he did last week! I’m realizing as I write these that a lot of the Cooperisms are made funnier by the face that he pronounces his L’s as W’s.

Here are the “Cooperisms” of the moment!

Wots and wots and wots, pwease! – Apparently there is a number that is somewhere in the range of greater than five and less than what will fit in two little kid hands that is used when Cooper wants the max allowable of whatever he is asking for.
                     
     i.e. I want birthday candles! I want wots and wots and wots, pwease?


I’m going to be a Wizard! – A lot of people have been asking Cooper what he’s going to be for Halloween. He enthusiastically says “a wizard”! At which point I usually step into the conversation because he’s actually going to be a LIZARD (same as last year because he refused to wear his costume), but just cant say it correctly!

Halloween 2012

Go for it! – When Cooper wants one of us to do something, he’ll say “Go for it, Mom/Dad!” This is mainly used when he wants us to do something he’s too scared to do himself, like touch the pretend spider on our neighbor’s porch.

     Touch it! Go for it, Dad!

Beee-loon – Cooper LOVES beee-loons (a.k.a. balloons). A couple of weekends ago, our sweet friend Abigail came over for dinner and brought the boy a balloon. He was in heaven. So the other night just minutes after meeting Uncle Matt’s girlfriend, Katie, he marched right up to her and said, “Lady, can I have a beee-loon?” I guess he thinks all pretty girls that come to dinner should be bringing King Cooper a balloon.

Beee-loon!

I’m Superman! – Cooper has no idea who Superman is or what he does. However, all of the teachers at his school call him “Super Duper Cooper” and I guess sometimes “Superman”. Now he walks around all the time telling people he’s Superman by standing on one leg and sticking one arm up in the air.

Superman! Hattie's face says it all.

Swinging on my tush vs. Swinging wike E-Whore – Cooper has two different styles when it comes to swinging: “on my tush”, which warrants no explanation but is still funny; and, “wike E-Whore”. No, this is not some twisted two-year-old online dating site, it is simply on his tummy with his arms and legs hanging down like Eeyore, from Winnie the Pooh. Get your mind out of the gutter, gah!

The sun is waking up! (or going night night) – Instead of saying that it is getting light or dark outside, he says this. Maybe one day he’ll figure out that he shouldn’t wake up before the sun wakes up! On that note, can we please petition for it to ALWAYS be Daylight Savings time?!

I wish I could just bottle all of these up! On that note, Kyle and I had the following email conversation the other day that started with us discussing what time the sun would come up for his tee time…

From: Charles, Casey
Sent: Tuesday, October 22, 2013 11:35 AM
To: Charles, Kyle
Subject: RE: HBD

Gotcha. I’ll ask Cooper when the sun’s waking up. He’s such a muffin man. I want to eat him. 

From: Charles, Kyle
Sent: Tuesday, October 22, 2013 11:36 AM
To: Charles, Casey
Subject: RE: HBD 

This morning he was cracking me up talking about having to catch the bus.  When I put him down last night I just looked at his little arms and little person hands thinking about how I better soak them up before he’s just a teenager or a young man. 

From: Charles, Casey
Sent: Tuesday, October 22, 2013 11:38 AM
To: Charles, Kyle
Subject: RE: HBD

Ugh, I know. He’s getting so big. It makes me sad. His hands are huge and they look just like yours. 

From: Charles, Kyle
Sent: Tuesday, October 22, 2013 11:39 AM
To: Charles, Casey
Subject: RE: HBD

We should just have one every 3 years.  Like keeping fresh milk at the house.  We’ll just have a fresh baby all the time.

From: Charles, Kyle
Sent: Tuesday, October 22, 2013 11:45 AM
To: Charles, Casey
Subject: RE: HBD 

You can put that in your blog.

Love that man. And not just because he knew this was going to be blog-worthy! 

Just Birthday-ing it up!

Do you ever have days when you feel like you are just a step behind in everything you are trying to do? Today is one of those days. I won't bore you with the details but it involves a sick nanny, a running toilet and Kyle's birthday! 

I love birthdays. I love other people's birthdays (almost) as much as my own. I would love them more if they could all somehow magically fall on the weekends!

Last week Kyle and I had this conversation:

K: Man, my birthday really snuck up on me this year.

Me: Uh, yeah. Totally snuck up on me too. 

Except maybe I didn't even finish that last sentence because my head was swimming with "oh crap"-s and "what am I going to do?"-s. I swear, I'm usually more on top of things! 

In our house, usually the one that cries the loudest gets the most of my attention. Usually, that is Cooper. Usually, that is not Kyle. So when I asked him what he wanted me to cook for his birthday dinner, he requested something that required the least amount of effort so I could actually hang out with him and not be stuck in the kitchen. Bless him.

So last  night I whipped up this Pioneer Woman carrot cake and I'm going to make this salted caramel sauce to pour over the top. I threw a whole chicken in the crock pot with herbs, veggies and some beer (to "man" it up, of course) and hopefully a delicious dinner will be waiting for us when we get home. If its decent, I'll post the recipe!

Some Firsts

Me first! Me first!

I know, kid stuff is way more fun but they always get to go first! Drumroll, please... For the first time in a year, I am wearing my shirt tucked in. With a belt. Holler! It's the little things.

Carrington is sleeping through the night pretty consistently now. Except for last night, just to spite me, because I decided it was time to finally say it out loud and write it in a post. She also rolled over for the first time (about a month ago)! This is the first time I've remembered to put it in a blog! Poor second-born.

Sister rolls over

Cooper memorized his first non-nursery song. Fittingly, it is the Aggie War Hymn, whoop! Please excuse the nose picking, my singing and the light show that happens towards the end of the clip!

Cooper Sings the Aggie War Hymn

Kyle shot his first under-80 score at golf. I'm really not sure if "under-80 score at golf" the correct term but he's not around to consult. He shot a 78. Maybe now he won't have to "practice" so much anymore! One can wish...

Happy almost weekend!

Here's a funny video about cat jerks who steal dog beds for those of you who missed out on the hilarity. This could have been shot at our house!

That Stay at Home Mom Article

A lot of people have asked me if my blog post, A Day in the Life of a Working Mom, was in response to a post that recently went viral and was written just the day before mine. (You're a stay-at-home Mom? What do you DO all day?)The answer is no, pure coincidence!

Others have asked what I think about that article. Oh boy...

Well, if I’m going to put it out there then I guess I’ll really put it out there! 

Let me start by saying that the majority of my Mom friends are stay-at-home- Moms, "SAHMs" if you will. I’m pretty sure that they don’t sit down all day long. Ever. The definition of "taking a long lunch" is when their toddler is boycotting eating that day and they have to stick it out with them. Their bosses are only three feet tall but somehow can still dictate bathroom breaks. No one I know is sitting around watching soaps and eating bonbons.

I wholeheartedly agree with the spirit of the article but am truly discouraged by the approach.

First, in defense of the working Mom, he completely fails to acknowledge that working Moms actually do raise and parent their children, too. He writes as if we get off work at 5pm and then we are done for the day. Last I checked my kids do not cook their own dinner, read themselves bedtime stories and not get up in the middle of the night just because I work outside of the home.

Also, is he not bashing working moms just to get his point across? He tells working Moms that they are expendable at their jobs and then lists out the only exceptions he feels are justifiable for Moms to work (single mothers, single income isn’t enough, etc.). Isn’t this Mom-bashing the very thing that he is angry about to begin with?

Judging from my gut reaction and how this article made me feel, I think the article only serves to add fuel to a fire that doesn’t need to exist. Why is the comment “must be nice!” so offensive? Why can’t a working Mom admire a SAHM and think staying at home with kids is a “nice” thing. I certainly do. Just as my SAHM friends would say there are “nice” things about my job. They are right, there are.

I wish he would have acknowledged the fact that raising children is a tough job any way you slice it, and stopped there. Mothers are mothers and we all work hard whether we have a career outside of the home or not. Enough of the Mom-petition!

Casey out.

[Steps off soap box.]

And because no blog post would be complete without the kiddos that make me so dog-gone opinionated, here you go!