Musings of a Mom

 When I started this blog I decided to use pet names for my kids instead of their real names. At the time, my sister talked me into using Buddy and Sugar and for some silly reason I listened.

The other day my sister and I were talking about the blog when she said “I hate those names” Excuse me? I reminded her that she talked me into using them in the first place and she said, “I know but it sounds like you’re talking about two dogs instead of two kids.” That’s just terrific.

So now I am changing their names, not because I always do what my sister says but because she’s right.

I’ve been trying to think of different names but all that comes to mind is “rugrat” and “pain-in-the-butt”, Yes, they’ve been testing me this week. So I thought I would open this to our readers. Would you like me to call them “The Boy” and “The Girl” or do you have a suggestion?

Let’s get creative here, but keep it nice. These are my kids after all!

Kids are terrific for showing you your shortcomings. They watch everything you do and mimic it whether you want them to or not.

My husband learned a bit about himself the other day. He was trying to clip Buddy’s toe nails but Buddy just couldn’t keep still. My husband said, “Stop squirming or I’ll clip your toe off!” Buddy asked, “Will it hurt like hell?”

Sadly, I’ve had to learn the hard way too. One time when Sugar was in kindergarten her teacher pulled me aside and said with a grin, “I hear that you say the ‘S’ word a lot.” I laughed and said, “I’m afraid I do, but do you know what the ‘S’ word is?” She said she had a pretty good guess but I told her that she would be guessing wrong. The “S” word to Sugar was, and still is, another word for “dumb.” For those of you still wondering, I can’t say it without getting in trouble so I’ll spell it, S-T-U-P-I-D. Of course her teacher laughed at the explanation but I had been ratted out by my own child! I can’t complain though, sometimes I do have a potty mouth and she could have told on me for some other word.

My husband and I are learning and I’m sure we’ll make mistakes but you can rest assured, the kids will be sure to remind us of what we’re doing wrong.

My daughter has a loose tooth. This isn’t the first loose tooth she’s had but the process hasn’t gotten easier.

The first two teeth became loose, she wiggled them and eventually they fell out. The next two loosened, she wiggled them, the new teeth grew in behind them and the darned baby teeth tightened back up. Both of the stubborn teeth had to eventually be pulled by her dentist and what an ordeal that was. Now, most children would resist the dentist pulling a tooth, but “Sugar” fights with everything she’s got. She works herself up into a frenzy and is sure the dentist is going to do something horrible to her. Before you get the impression that Sugar is overly sensitive or that we coddle her or anything like that you should know that she’s one tough cookie and those who know her are surprised at her fear of dentists. On a side note, for a post regarding teeth and dentistry I sure seem to use a lot of sugary references, don’t I?

So last week Sugar noticed that she had another loose tooth and started wiggling that thing like crazy to avoid the dentist. She asked her dad to help her pull it but then shied away when his hands got close to her mouth. The other problem here is she has tiny teeth and a small mouth and his hands are fairly large so he wasn’t quite sure how this was going to work anyway.

Last night the loose tooth finally got to be a bit too much for her. She got out of bed to once again have Dad try to pull it. (Looking back, it was probably partly a stall tactic too.) Again, she was scared. Finally my husband said, “Just pull it out. What’s the worst that could happen?” (We really need to stop asking our kids that question!) She replied, “I could swallow it, choke and DIE.” Needless to say, the tooth is still hanging in there.

 Buddy is sick. He has some sort of stomach bug. Most people, when they are sick, tend to eat less but Buddy takes after me. When I am sick I cannot seem to eat enough. Buddy isn’t eating much, but he’s craving every kind of junk food imaginable.

Let me just start out saying that our kids eat pretty healthy. They don’t get a lot in the way of junk food unless they go to visit Grandma, then they are pumped full of cookies, ice cream, chocolate and other goodies because she is sure they are being deprived.

So, as Buddy is on a very bland diet right now and still having a difficult time keeping things down, he is making demands for future meals. He has informed us that when his stomach is better he will eat: “King Cuisine” (the frozen food meal is known to the rest of the population as Kids Cuisine), mini Pizzas and Nerds candy. Now, he has never had any of these foods (he’s had pizza, but not the specific ones he’s ordering) but he is SURE they are as tasty as the commercials claim them to be. He has wholeheartedly bought into the advertising that airs during the various shows he’s watching and yes, when he’s sick and can’t play, we let him be amused by the television. 

At one point, my husband gave Buddy some toast to eat. Buddy said he wanted sugar on it. There was no sugar on it, but to appease this highly cranky child, my husband lied and said, “There is sugar on it.” Buddy said, “I want a PILE of sugar on it.” Then he said, “I want French toast with a bowl of syrup, maple, a bowl of sugar (powdered), and a plate with bread cut up.” My husband quipped in with “I think you need to need to call Grandpa for that,” to which Buddy replied, “Get him on the phone.”

I’m hoping that this bug passes quickly, because Buddy can eat only so much “soup juice” (broth), rice and toast and is becoming crankier by the minute. He is a far more pleasant to be around when he’s healthy. But I do find it interesting that what he craves is more mental than physical. It just shows what a powerful tool advertising is.

My son has a very rich fantasy life. We often have to spend a little time trying to figure out who or what he is and how to address him. He might be a dinosaur one day and a Bionicle spider the next. (For those of you who don’t know what Bionicles are, they are a series of creatures made by LEGO and are for kids age 8 and older, but when you have an older cousin you get introduced to these things at a much younger age.)

Buddy has a new interest in all things Star Wars. He has this interest because his cousin likes Star Wars and Buddy thinks the world of his cousin. So Saturday Buddy puts on his dark blue robe which is much too long for him and gives him the appearance of being Darth Vader-like. He takes his toy light saber and goes to visit his cousin. As he’s getting ready he asks, “Mom, do I look like Darth Vader?” I thought he said “Dark Vader” so I said, “Sure, you look like a dark Vader.” He corrected me but apparently liked the name because from then on, when he’s wearing his robe, we are expected to address him as Dark Vader.

In informing my father that my son must be called Dark Vader, my dad looked at him and asked, “Who are you? The Aggravator?” I like that one personally, but lord Darkness did not.

Later I made a remark to my nephew that Dark Vader did not approve of so he pointed his light saber at me and said, “Don’t say that again or I will have to DISTRACT you!” I understood that he meant destroy, but go ahead distract away.

I love to watch him when he’s lost in a fantasy. I love to see how he stays in character when the “outside world” interrupts his play. I like how he modifies names and such to fit into his fantasy and make it his own. What a wonderful thing imagination is.