FACT or FICTION ...........Make it stop!

With my crazy kid schedule and the closing in holiday I have not had much time to get on the computer. However, many things have happened in the last few days to give me plenty of data for this little blog I will call Fact or Fiction.

1) When you sit on a ball of Silly Putty and smash it all over your living room chair and pants – both are ruined forever. FICTION
~ Actually Silly Putty rubs off pretty easily, you just have to take your time. However, I was still pretty mad and threw the Putty away.

2) Markers that claim to be ‘washable’ will not stain the white fur of a dog when the kids decide to color him. FICTION
~ Boy my poor doggie … the kids colored his legs and part of his back. Now this may be a Fact if I would have gave him an intense scrub down, but it is winter here so I was only able to wipe him with wash rags and soap. He is still a bit pink and green.

3) With a determination a 2 year old can actually put on his own diaper. FACT
~ I refused to put a diaper on my little guy until he at least tried to pee pee on the potty. He walked into his room, shut the door…then walked out with a diaper that was put on totally correct. Wellp, I guess we will try potty training again in a couple months.

4) If you eat a handful of sand it will come out the looking almost the same as it went in. FACT
~ A little nice weather makes the kids go crazy. After a long winter, I let the kids go out in the yard on a day it warmed up. I stepped inside to get some drinks and in that short time my little guy ate at least one huge handful of sand. Ick.. that can’t taste good. (Side note – I did call poison control and the only real hazard with sand is chocking.) Well the next morning I changed a diaper full of poopy sand. Yuck!

5) Finger Nail Polish remover will eat the polish on a wood table almost immediately. FACT
~ My little girl wanted her nail painted for her 4 yr pics. So we had to take of the old stuff. I walked to the counter to get a napkin (4 seconds) came back to see my daughter squeezing the cotton ball with the remover in it on the table. Well I quickly wiped it off, but there is still 3 circle marks on my table…bummer.

6) The Easter Bunny will know where to bring your basket, even if you are not at home on Easter Morning. FACT
~ My little girl verified this with the Easter Bunny today when she sat on his lap today. We are doing a girl’s trip to San Francisco…. Can’t wait!

Check out my web site - www.kidsinstl.com
It is a wonderful resource for anyone with kids! It is jam packed with fun things to do with the kids while on spring break.

Tile Shopping…. There is a winner and a Loser

It was a crazy weekend! Friends over for pizza and cards on Friday, birthday party on Sat and the ever so fun tile shopping on Sunday.

The first time my husband and I went tile shopping for the kitchen we took the kids. Big Mistake! We went to this place called Hoods. It is a huge rusty shed that leaks when it rains that is so dirty and it is filled with wonderful contractor’s surplus. The great thing about Hoods is that you can get interior building supplies very cheap and the bad thing is that it is just all thrown in piles so you have to dig to find the things you want. Anyway, as I said we took the kids and my daughter Sophia decided to take a short run… fall over a brick and bust her mouth open. Real nice…. Uggg. It was not very bad but you know how a facial wound bleeds….gushing everywhere.

When it was decided to try to find tile again we knew the kids had to take a visit to Aunt Tina’s. So we drop the kids off and on to the tile stores. If it was only that easy.
When we bought this house 2 year ago my husband (the architect) said he was not interested in the interior decorating, that it was all me. Yea … right…. Wrong. Well, my husbands interest in home décor has changed. He wants to “help” decide everything regardless how miniscule. It has been painful.

We went to 4 stores and my husband found the one he liked in the first. It is a nice natural stone but sort of dark shades. I found the one I liked in the last store. Here is the problem, this is really not something you can compromise on… one person loses and one wins. You can’t tile a room with two completely different styles of tiles.

My ‘I don’t care how we decorate’ husband has suddenly turned into Martha Stewart and states why his tile is the only one that will work in our kitchen. Oh please. So here I stand….. sick of looking at tile, wanting lunch and gauging how much I really care if I don’t love the tile in my kitchen. I was going to lose the ‘Tile Fight’. I tell my husband he wins, buy what ever he wants. He tries to tell my there should not be a loser when buying tile, that should both love the tile. Easy to say when he is the Winner!

Here is what the tile looks like:

We close this chapter with - new tile that will look fine, the knowledge that there is a winner and a loser in the tile war and finally (chuckling) the realization that my husband will not get around to installing this tile for months.

My Web Site – http://www.kidsinstl.com/

Added a bunch of activities to the calendar. Trying to get it pumped up with activities for spring and summer. Go to the site http://www.kidsinstl.com/ to see all the details.

Hey for all of you that are not in St Louis, I want to share one of the many other parts of my site that can be used by anyone regardless of where they live. Here is a partial list of some of the some of our favorite Links. From the home page click on the Favorite Links button– To see the whole list check out our site. http://www.kidsinstl.com/
SPECIAL EDUCATION
http://www.loc.gov/nls/NationalLibrary - Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS)
http://www.disabilityinfo.gov/digov-public/public/DisplayPage.do?parentFolderId=96 http://www.firstsigns.org/Disability - Information
http://dese.mo.gov/divspeced/FirstSteps/Missouri - First Steps - Birth through 3 years old special education
http://www.ssd.k12.mo.us/Sp_edu/index.htmlSpecial - School District Ages 3-21
http://www.beachcenter.org/ - Beach Center - A Family Resource Center at the University of Kansas

Don't Sweat the Small Things

My Life – Thursday was a sad day for St. Louis, in particular Kirkwood Missouri. As I was just getting ready to sit down and watch some of my favorite programs (Celebrity Apprentice – I know I have issues) the local new broke in with a special report. A man walked into a City Council meeting and shot 7 people, killing 5. Two the five killed were police officers. One of the Officers he shot was just walking across the parking lot from having dinner at a pizza parlor. Apparently this man had some on going issues with the City and just walked in shooting.
This hits very close to home for two reasons. First my husband is an architect and often works on buildings in or for the City, which requires him to attend City Council meetings. The second reason is because my Brother-in-Law is a police officer. You would never think that a City Council meeting held in a building attached to the police department would be a dangerous place to be.
Times like this just remind me not to sweat the small things and try to make the most out of each day. Most importantly I always tell my children and husband I love them at least twice a day.
So with at that said …. On a lighter side….. Anyone know what happened on the Apprentice? It was over by the time the news report ended.

My Web Site – http://www.kidsinstl.com/
Added a bunch of activities to the calendar. Trying to get it pumped up with activities for spring and summer. Here is a list of some of the activities going on around St Louis the next couple of days. Go to the site www.kidsinstl.com for more detail.

Sunday Feb 10th
12 PM - 4 PM
REI Climbing Pinnacle
12:30 PM - 2 PM
Roaches to Zebras Camp Bugaloo
1 PM - 4 PM
Valentine's Day Scavenger Hunt
1 PM - 4 PM
The Masked Prowler
1:30 PM - 2:30 PM
The Trickster Raccoon
Monday Feb 11th
9 AM - 10 AM
Infant Play Cooper Ella
12:30 PM - 2 PM
Homeschool Special: Maple Sugaring
6 PM - 8:30 PM
Daddy/Daughter Valentine?s Dance
7 PM - 8 PM
StoryTime Valentine?s Day - Thornhill Library
7 PM - 8 PM
UnValentine's Day Party - Thornhill Library

Hey for all of you that are not in St Louis, I want to share one of the many other parts of my site that can be used by anyone regardless of where they live. Here is a partial list of some of the books we recommend for children. From the home page click on the Recommended Books button– To see the whole list check out our site. www.kidsinstl.com
BOOKS RECOMMENDED FOR THE YOUNG CHILD (24-36 MONTHS)
COUNTING:
Baby Buddies: Can You Count (Baby Buddies)
One Lonely Sea Horse
INTRODUCTION TO SPANISH:

My First Spanish Word Book / Mi Primer Libro De Palabras En Español
INTERACTIVE/PROPS:

Hide-And-Seek With Leo: A Hand-Puppet Book
RHYMING/SONG:

Baby Beluga (Raffi Songs to Read)
ANIMAL CHARACTERISTICS:

My Jungle Pop-up Book
SELF-ESTEEM:

The Mixed-Up Chameleon
BODY PARTS:

From Head to Toe Big Book

My Funny – Over the last couple months I feel like my children are training me to become OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder). Let me explain – I have a 2 ½ yr old and a 4 yr old and they both want to be the first to do everything… and I mean everything. Of course when you have two kids they both can not be first, so we do everything twice.
Making breakfast we push the waffles down twice. Leaving the house the first kid opens the door and walks out, and then I shut the door so the next kid can open it. We go through the same route when we walk in the house. I have stated the team work rule where they do some things at the same time together, but it does not always work. I know many of you mom’s out there think I am crazy. This is such a small thing in life, and I no longer sweat the small things.

One of my Favorite Things – Glue! I am a total Glue Crazy Mama! There is always at least one broken toy on my counter that has glue drying. I have all different kinds of glue – gorilla glue, crazy glue, foam glue, fabric glue, hot glue gun and for the really crazy stuff…. Liquid nails. I will very rarely throw a toy away without first trying to glue it back together.