Commercial barrage

Anytime I doubt the ability of my 5 year old to grasp new information I just need to think to about his latest recital of a commercial he has seen on television. Kids have truly amazing minds.

Dash: "Dad, you really need to buy the sunsetter patio shade"
Dad: "Oh really, why?"
Dash: "It will lower the temperate on our patio by 20 degrees!"

Dash:"Mom, I need to show you this special cutter in the store"
Mom:" What?"
Dash:" It's amazing, you'll never have to cut anything again!"

The list of items we need to buy goes on forever. Dash is a walking "Commercial/Infomercial", but the best was a little nugget he shared with us in the car the other night...

Dash: "Mom, I saw something AMAZING on TV, but it's about something I'm not supposed to talk about"
Mom: "Well you can talk to me about it"
Dash: "You know where your pee comes out of?"
Mom: "Yes honey, you mean your penis"
Dash: " Yeah, I saw on TV that there is a chemical that will make it get REALLY BIG! Isn't that amazing!"
Mom (choking in laughter) " Yes honey, that is amazing"

Ah, the wonders of television and poor parental supervision..........

Buggers!

So I'm sitting in an audit meeting at work, trying to look like the responsible leader that I am, when I notice that I have dried buggers all over my arm! To make it even worse, it's 3 pm, so I've been walking around with buggers on my arm ALL DAY long.

I slowly place my arm beneath the table, away the observent eyes of the inspectors (I do work in the medical product business). How many people did I meet with today in this condition? Did they notice? Were they just too polite to ask about the gunk on my arm?

I didn't even have to wonder how they got there. Jack-Jack has been spewing from his nose for a week now. A combination of a cold and teething. He's not very cooperative when it comes to getting his nose wiped so I have several tactics that I use. The first is to distract him and go in for the quick swipe, hoping I get it all in one hit before he even knows what happened. The second is the full force approach; pin his arms down, keep his head still, and do a good thorough cleaning. There's lots of resistence with this approach so I don't prefer it. The last is the indirect route, but my favorite. Sit him in the bath tub and let him clean up by splashing in the tub. No resistance, lots of fun, it's just not very convienent when I'm rushing out the door.

So, this morning, the quick strike was a failure. He turned his head just as I was going in for his nose and he must have got me on the arm. I had to proceed with the full force approach to complete the task. After that was all over I forgot about the hit on the arm and moved everyone out the door.

And that's how I ended up sitting in a meeting with buggers on my arm. Oh well, I'm a Mom, they'll just have to get over it, I have.

Learning toRide

Dash, who is 4 3/4, rode his 2-wheeler for the first time this weekend. We pretty much brought the bike home, he got on it, and rode all by himself. Yes, we helped him with a little push, but once he got going he had no problem. Is he exceptionally coordinated? NO. I have to give the credit on this one to my husband and a nifty little bike he bought two summers ago for our son.

Mr. I has a knack for finding all the latest and greatest new gadgets and toys. He came across this bike made in Germany on the internet a couple of years ago. It's called a "like-a-bike" (www.likeabikeusa.com). Basically it's a 2-wheeler with no pedals. He convinced me it would be a great thing to get and I blindly nodded my head yes, thinking to myself, "whatever you say dear". But when it arrived and I saw how easily Dash, at the time not even 3, sped away on the pedaless 2 wheeler, riding in circles on our drive-way, I was convinced!

Everywhere we took that bike in the US we had people turning their heads asking us about it. What was great for me was that we could actually ride our bikes at normal speed with him. This is not something you can typically do with a 3 year old on a bike.

With the concept of balancing on 2 wheels out of the way it only left Dash with needing to learn how to pedal. I have to admit that this was a concern for me. I was worried he would be cheated by never riding a tricycle! That didn't seem to hold him back at all though. He got that down pretty quickly. Now he just needs to learn the concept of breaking! Thank goodness for Bike Helmets!

Seasoned travelers

We just returned back to Switzerland after spending the Holidays in the US. As I was sorting through my mail today I opened a notification for an airline "Elite" member Status. Not unusual mail for me as I travel often, except that the notification was for Dash, my 4 year old!

Before I had kids I used to grimace at the sight of young children on a plane, especially on a long flight, but now I understand and cast an understanding look of compassion to parents traveling with kids. Managing kids on the plane is only half the battle, the exhausting part is getting everyone packed, organized and to the airport on time to make the flight. By the time I get on the plane I am so exhausted that I could sleep through a rock concert, unfortunately I usually only get a few nods of sleep as I try to keep an eye on my two boys.

My kids are turning into seasoned travelers at a very young age, especially now that we are living in Switzerland. Dash comfortably navigates airport security lines and train stations. He handles himself like a little trooper, lugging his most prized toys and stuffed animals in his backpack. Even on the long flight over the Atlantic he manages to behave really well, occupying himself with movies when he's not sleeping. Jack-Jack seems to be following in his footsteps, sleeping and eating the whole way with hardly a whimper. They almost always manage to make me proud of them.

Sure they have their lapses, they are kids after all. On one flight my son's bear got launched across the business class cabin into the face of an unsuspecting gentleman. Another time he walked out of the bathroom with his pants and underwear at his ankles calling for me to help him. Everyone that caught sight thought it was very entertaining and my son loves to be an entertainer. That resulted in him pulling the same stunt on the next flight that day. Since then we've had a long talk about pulling his pants up BEFORE he leaves the bathroom!

Hopefully they continue to make me proud as we travel from place to place. They are gaining experiences that I never had at their age. My first flight wasn't till I was about 11 for a family trip to Disney world. The world is different now though, and hopefully this is one way I can help prepare them for their future. To my kids, getting on a plane is as normal as getting on a bus. They will grow up being comfortable with many things that I didn't experience well into my adulthood. Hopefully, along the way, they wont make too many seasoned travelers grimace when they board the airplane and make many more smile when the flight ends and they behaved liked seasoned travelers.

Back to work - me AND my Husband

In one week I will be getting myself ready for work. Hard to believe, but my 4 months of leave have ended and it's time for me to dust of my work clothes and head back to the office.

Not surprisingly part of me is dreading this day. I have so enjoyed being at home with our second child, 4 year old, and my husband. We've travelled, played, relaxed, and enjoyed our time together. I think my 4 year old has especially enjoyed me being at home all day. I'm not sure who will have a harder time with me not being around, my husband or my 4 year old. My infant son will miss me the least. Dad will be there tending to his needs and I will gladly scoop him up each morning and at the end of each work day when I return home. His life will change little.

Dash, my 4 year old, heads back to school the same day. He will likely be more unhappy about not being able to spend the day in his new "Bumblebee Transformer" PJ's. The time I've been able to spend with him while on leave has been just as special as the time with my newborn. We've had many hours of imaginary play and fun excursions. Precious time at a precious age.

My husband, he will undoubtedly have the toughest time. He will be the first to admit that me being home full time means he is on "vacation" from his job as a SAHD. His days of sleeping in and the luxury of napping are ending. I'm not sure why this happens, but it reaffirms my belief that by me working, my husband has an environment where he is a much more involved and engaged father. I parent and care take naturally, and as much as I hate to stereotype myself as a Woman; instinctively. The needs and wants of my kids are first on my list and often I take care of them with out even thinking.

My husband has learned to parent out of necessity, and not having me around to step in or tell him how I would do it, has allowed him to figure out how to do things in a way that works for him. Now somethings will never get done unless I do them (fingernails clipped, cleaning in between the toes), but nothing that is terribly important.

Undoubtedly we will have some adjustments getting used to our back to work schedules and how to juggle our routines with 2 children. We'll be late for school, baths will be missed and I'm sure I will be stressing out next week and barking orders to everyone as I try to get out the door.

The other part of me is looking foward to heading back to work. My adrenaline is spiking just thinking about it! So many things to catch up on, people to meet with, issues to be addressed, decisions to be made. Now I just wish I hadn't eaten so many Christmas cookies as I think about dusting those work clothes off!

Boys and Superhero's

(I'm writing this while watching a Bionicle movie with Dash on a Sunday morning)

I can tell you the exact day my son Dash became obsessed with Superhero's. I took him shopping for a Halloween costume. He was barely 3 years old. I had the idea that I would dress him as curious George and my husband as "The man in the Yellow Hat". It was one of his favorite little boy movies. I had the sense that this would be my last halloween of cute costumes. What I didn't realize is that we had already past that phase.

That was until my son saw the Incredibles Costume in the store. "I want that one!!", was what came out of his mouth the minute he saw the Dash cosutme. It was cute, in a pint sized Superhero kind of way, but it wasn't a fuzzy little Monkey costume. I relented though, knowing that if my son had grown past being my baby in cute a cute costume, then I needed to let him be the Superhere that his imagination believed he was.

That was over a year ago. The Incredible costume has gotton more wear than any article of clothing I have bought for my son "Dash" (hence his blogname). At the time it was way too big for him and I had to roll the pants and sleeves for him to wear it. We have since added a Batman, Spiderman, and Ironman costume to his collection, but the Dash one remains my favorite. Now he is quickly growing out of it in size, and slowly in interest also, moving on to bigger boy toys like Bionicles and Transformers.

With mixed emotions I watch him grow. Wanting to hold on to each phase and not let go, but amazed at how he has grown. I'll do the same with his baby brother "Jack-Jack". I'll be more prepared for my second baby to grow up, but no less sad as he eventually shuns his baby things, but no less proud and excited either.

What a Beautiful Family

I've been a Mom for 4 years now and I just received my first "What a beautiful Family" comment. My two sons (4 years & 5 weeks) and I had just traveled from Zurich to Kansas City which took about 18 hours door to door. Travelling with kids is challenging no matter where you are going and I wasn't quite sure how we would handle an overseas flight with just me to handle both kids, but they were incredibly good. Probably the biggest incident was Dash walking out of the airplane bathroom with his Spiderman underware and jeans around his ankles. The flight crew and passengers got a great laugh! My hands were full with Jack-Jack so one of the attendants was kind enough to assist.

So back to the comment. My first reaction was one of Pride. My kids were great on the trip. It's a lot to expect, especially of a 4 year old to behave for so long in a confined space, but he's a pretty seasoned traveller for a kid his age. The baby was easy, I kept a bottle handy and he basically ate and slept all the way from start to finish. There were also 2 eager grandmas next to me who kindly asked to hold him for a good part of the overseas flight.

As I thought more about the comment though, I wondered why I had never heard this before. Dash has always been a good little traveler with my husband and I. We travel a lot. He's logged more miles at 4 than I had by 30. So I got to wondering, did I get this comment now because I have 2 kids? Does a family of 2 kids appear more beautiful than a 1?

Either way, the comment still made me smile, but the next time I see a Mom and/or Dad with one child I may just let them know that they have a beautiful family too. Afterall, they come in all shapes and sizes.