Future Blackmail, Part 2

Here we have a little photographic essay on my son's (one and only) foray into cross-dressing.



We went to Cousin Jaida's birthday party last Saturday, and her Nana S has a big box of dress-up clothes and wigs. Obviously, it was a big hit with the kids. They were heartbroken when we had to leave three hours later.







I think this one makes him look like Shaun White. Well, you know. The hair part. Zaya becoming a snowboarder is second on my nightmare list only to him becoming the aforementioned cross-dresser.


This picture makes me afraid too, but on a completely different level.



The last thing I need is a Cowgirl Princess with that much attitude.

Luckily, she has her Daddy looking out for her.

Otra Vez

Once again, Zaya's hitting the Xopenex. I'm ready for spring, summer and the end of cold season. The poor little guy is already skinny and fair-complexioned, so when he's in the middle of an asthma attack, he's extra pale, with red eyes and nose, and his whole body shakes as he coughs and wheezes.

I know he doesn't struggle with asthma as badly as a lot of children, but I don't think it's ever easy for a mom to watch her child suffering. At least after this many years we recognize it for what it is right away, and know what to do for it.

Mim has a bad cold too, and coughs and snuffles and snores. It's been about a month for her though, poor thing. She wants to do breathing treatments like Zay, and doesn't really understand why she can't, though we've explained several times. I think the whole "you don't have asthma" thing just sounds like an excuse to her. We try to make sure she gets a chance to cuddle too, though, because I think it's really the attention that she's after.

We'll keep plugging along. Art is the only one in the house that isn't coughing and sneezing and using up Kleenex. (Zaya's teacher asked me to bring a few boxes for his classroom. Apparently he needs more than the rest of the kids combined.)Art hasn't shown signs of succumbing yet, but he's been buying a lot of orange juice.

Stalling Tactics

Zaya always comes up with his most complex questions or discussion ideas when he's supposed to be sleeping. It's that last snuggle of the day when we get hit with questions like, "What causes Crohn's disease?" and "What's the difference between a heart and a spirit?" and "How do I know that everything is still there around me when I close my eyes?"

It was this last question, a metaphysical twist on the old "tree falls in the forest" idea, that made me relate one of those very strange but vivid childhood memories.

I remember being very young, at Calvary church in Texas, and suddenly realizing that all those times when the world went black for a second, it was just me blinking. I would have to have been three, or possibly four, but no older. I distinctly recall wondering why no one else commented on these frequent, periodic blackouts, and then realizing that I somehow controlled them, and them pausing one of them, and realizing that it was my own eyelids, and I was just blinking. All of that happened in less time than it takes to relate, but it was earth-shaking.

I do not control what happens to these other people. I felt stupid, relieved and disappointed at the same time. All pre-schoolers are a little egotistical, I suppose.

Anyway, Zaya thought it was hilarious, and made me tell him "the story about you blinking" several times before he would go to sleep.

I live to entertain my children.

True Bliss

The thing Mim was most excited to see in Dallas were the elevators and escalators. In fact, the night before we left she prayed specifically that she'd get to see an elevator.

We finally found our way to a mall, only to discover that the escalators wouldn't start up for another hour. This is what children who wish they were riding an escalator look like.



Oh, and a little parenting tip. A good way to cheer up escalator-less children is to tell them to go stand by the sign and "look sad".

Luckily the big glass elevator was working well, so we rode that for a bit. It was a great success.



At long last, the escalators started began moving and we were in transportational paradise.





At least until Zaya caught the undersides of his wrists in the moving hand rail. I have no idea how that happened. I can't even think of what position he was in that would make that possible. I know he wasn't doing anything unusual, or I would have seen him from the base.

Mim was still a little too nervous of the moving steps to risk jumping out on her own, but she had a blast with Daddy.

All in all it was a great success. I dread the day when they start expecting things like Six Flags. The escalators and elevators are more my speed.

Here are a few pictures from our trip to Dallas. We have quite a few from the Science and Nature museums, but I'll start you out with a few from McDonalds. This is what happens these days when Mommy says, "Smile for the camera, kids."

See You Soon

We're taking a little mini, family vacation this weekend. We'll be in Dallas, visiting with Art's aunt and uncle and doing a little museum hopping. We also plan to go to Ikea. (I know, I know.)

I've packed everything I could think of that we could possibly need for three days away from home, but I'm sure I've forgotten something important. I always do.

Oh well, it'll be good improv training, I suppose.

Our internet is down again, so I'm writing this at the Public Library. Now if I can just figure out how to make sure I'm logged out of everything...

Back on Saturday, God willing.

The Return

Our internet died last Thursday, approximately 3 hours after the first ice storm of 2010 began. We never lost electricity, which was wonderful and completely shocking,(no pun intended) but we were holed up in our house for a few days. It was nice at first, but the children began to get a bit restless by, oh, Thursday afternoon.

On Saturday we took the kids sledding for the first time in their young lives. Art spent most of the morning making a sled for them (of course) but in the event we mostly used inner tubes from Grandpa's barn. (The hill had too many frozen clumps of grass for us to use the sled until they had been worn down sufficiently.)

All in all, they enjoyed the ice and snow, and I suppose I did too, since it didn't cause too much trouble. It is beautiful, you have to admit. Well, you would admit it if I had ever gotten off my lazy bum and gone out with my camera. Sorry.

All that to say, actually, that I have finally been reconnected with the internet community. I can't express my relief after six days of darkness and isolation.

OK, so I wasn't actually isolated, just net-less, but it feels like the same thing. I had so very many e-mail messages when I was finally able to check it, and I don't know if I'll ever catch up with everyone's blogs.