West goes to bed at 8pm. Tonight at 10pm, while I was watching TV I hear a little voice from the stairs say, "I'm done sleeping Mommy." I look up the stairs and West is standing there, wearing different pants from the ones he went to bed in. I start up the stairs and tell him that it isn't time to get up. He asks me, "Are the white scissors in my room for grown-ups?" The scissors he's referring to are kept in his changing table in the top drawer that has a magnetic baby lock on it. The key for the baby lock is kept on a nail on the wall about three feet above the changing table. This makes me very nervous about what I'm going to find when we get up to his room.
When we get to his room, I'm hit by the overwhelming scent of various baby creams and eczema medicine in the air. The top drawer to his changing table is indeed open and the aforementioned baby cream and eczema medicine is smeared all over the changing pad. The other drawers of the changing table are open – his ladder for climbing to the top of the changing table so he can stand on it and reach the key.
I quickly clean up the lotion and get him back in bed. Then luckily I remember that he changed his pants. I check under the pants and sure enough he's taken his diaper off and has underpants on. I get him back out of bed and put his diaper back on, thankful that I won't have to change wet sheets in the morning.
rating: 4 of 5 stars I think this is the author's funniest book yet. The title sums the gist of the book up pretty well. The first half I was getting frustrated with her for making so many excuses for why she couldn't lose weight but I was still laughing out loud at several instances. (Note: You may not want to read this book in public, I got some funny looks while I was laughing to myself in the middle of Starbucks.) Towards the end it felt a little like an infomercial for Weight Watchers online but the humor made up for it.
When I picked Cash up from school today he told me he wanted a quesadilla for lunch. Now in our house we have certain meals that Daddy makes when Mommy is gone for dinner to a meeting or something. All of which are super quick and easy. Quesadillas are one of these meals and so I have never actually made one before. Of course I know what the ingredients are and that you cook them in a pan on the stove but I gave Travis a quick call to ask him what heat setting he puts the stove on when he makes them. (The answer is 8.) When I got off the phone, Cash said, "Quesadillas are just tortillas and cheese, right?" "Right," I replied. "And you had to ask Daddy how to make them?" Poor Cash – he thinks his mommy is so stupid.
I had my book club this evening so Travis did the entire bedtime routine with Cash and West. At some point before I go to bed every night, I always look in on the boys. They look so sweet and peaceful when they're sleeping – a welcome contrast to their mania during the day. Tonight I go into West's room and he's asleep, wearing his "break wind" jacket – hood up and everything with a flashlight next to him. Then I go into Cash's room and he's asleep with a phone book and spatula next to him on the pillow. I don't think I even want to know what goes on when I'm not here.
rating: 5 of 5 stars This book was heartbreaking but I loved it anyway. I was so engrossed in the story that my stomach was in knots at some points. It was also a great lesson in the political history of Afghanistan over that past 30 years. It's a harsh reminder that these are real people whose lives we're interfering with over in the Middle East and that today's wars are not fought on battlefields but in neighborhoods. People are dying in their literal backyards.
After lunch, the boys were raiding their Valentine's candy. Cash was pretending to be a candy delivery man, delivering candy to West and all the stuffed animals. He tried to deliver an Airhead to me. I told him I didn't want it, that I don't like that candy. What did the little stinker tell me? "You can't say that Mommy. You know how you always tell me that I have to try stuff I don't like? Well, you have to try this candy." So I did. And you know what? It was disgusting.
Cash and West decided to sing a tribute to Vincent Van Gogh tonight. It’s pretty catchy – just repeat “Vincent Van Gogh, then he died” over and over. That pretty much sums up his life all right. Pretty much sums up just about anyone’s life.
Travis wakes me up most every morning because he gets up earlier than me and I HATE waking up to the sound of my annoying alarm clock. He usually has to come back a few times before I get out of bed. Last night I told him to wake me up this morning at 6:30am. I must have been really tired this morning because I don't remember our conversation at all:
Travis- It's 6:30. Time to wake up.
Me- Today's my day off.
Your day off?
My day off from running.
I know that but you need to get up for church. What time do you want me to come back and wake you up?
