What day is this?

Poor Lucas was very confused yesterday : )

This is the first year he is really aware of holidays, celebrations etc, and is very interested in them. So we were telling him yesterday how it was Thanksgiving, and what we do that day and why, and what foods we eat, as I was listing dinner foods, he kept asking "And What else?"

But since it was decent out, Larry also was putting the Christmas lights on the house too, to get that done.

Lucas kept saying, "Its Merry Christmas Lights today?" No, its Turkey day, no Thanksgiving, what day is this mom?" LOL

By the end of the evening Lucas was shaking people's hands and saying Happy Thanksturkey day : ) Close enough.

And I also discovered the only meat Lucas will eat at all, aside from a few things on a bun, it is TURKEY. he was a hog, scarfing it all down before it all touched his plate and asking for more and more. He really is a little turkey!

Happy Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving. I love food, so why not? But I like to think of all the things I am grateful for. It is the same thing every year. Thankful for my family first and foremost, and my friends. We are blessed and I try not to let that get too far out of perspective most days, some days are harder than others.

I am most thankful for this little wild and crazy man though : )

And again

So after grandma Jane was conned into taking Lucas BACK to the movies Sat to see BOLT-again, Lucas asked this morning before Grandma Shirley and Grandpa came if they too were taking him to the movies. I told him probably not since he saw BOLT twice already.

When they got to our house he asked them "Are you guys taking me to the movies today?"
grandma said "But Lucas, you already saw BOLT twice now"
He tossed his arms in the air and said with all the Lucas attitude he has
"Well, I want to see a SOMETHIN ELSE" like DUH, she should have guessed that. They cracked up.

Lucas is at Madagascar 2 as we speak, that little cute brat : )

The Movies

I took Lucas to see his first big screen movie at a theater last night! it was mom-son date night, he was so good at school yesterday I told him we could eat at the big Old Mcdonalds in Brecksville, the one with the second floor and chendelier that he likes, very fancy Old Mcdonalds, cause you know, Mcdonalds is dining at its finest, after all

Then it was off to Valley View Cinemark. we got pop and popcorn, and settled in our seats and watched tons of previews and commercials, Lucas now has a list of the next movies he want to see at the movie theater. He sat so good, never asked to get up or go to the bathroom, like he had been doing this his whole life, and I had never taken him, just assuming he may be too young to want to sit thru the movie.

Long story short, he LOVED BOLT so much, that as I got him in the car afterwards, he cried, sad, sad tears, he wanted to see BOLT again, and go back to the movies to see it, he was very emotional about it all evening, and must have said 15,000,000 times how he wanted to go back and see it. He is trying to see how many of his grandmas he can con into getting him back to the theater as soon as possible.
I created a monster, in more ways than one : )

It's always something, isn't it?

Doesn't it seem like there has to be SOME annoying thing that you do not feel like dealing with going on at all times? Like when you solve one minor crisis, another pops up to take its place, like I enjoy these small aggravations.

I love my mini van, it is the best. But Larry was doing oil changes a few weeks ago and always checks tire pressure, etc, one of my tires, that are just over a year old had a small slice in it. So we took it to NTB, since I get my tires rotated there for free since they were bought there, and we had road hazard ins on all the tires, so they say they will get one in, and we went to get it put on the following week. Turns out I never read the fine print, and road hazard does not necessarily mean free of charge, kinda just like insurance, with a deductible. So after paying 50.00 (instead of 100.00 the guy happily informed me ) I got a new tire, yay me.

This week, my ABS light decided to pop on, and it does stay on, probably another sensor so I need to take it to the shop tomorrow morning. Just a few mos ago we had the Airbag sensor fixed, cause the light would randomly come on til it was just on all the time. Bugger.

See, it never ends.

Oh the Possibilities

I am so very giddy with excitement. This week, I will be getting a break, two really and some much needed time to myself. That is a very rare treasure when you have a kid, any mom knows. Not that we do not love the children to death, but how nice it is to get 15 minutes even where we can catch our breath without hearing "mommy, mommy, mommy, and also in my case "honey, honey, honey!

Yes, that is right,Larry is going out of town to help his dad bring the RV from TX. Of course I love him to bits as well, but I beleive any healthy relationshiop needs a break sometimes as well. For me, it will be 4 days where I only have to cater one male, Lucas, and I do not have to be bothered to make much more for dinner than some bagel bites or a bowl of cereal, Lucas does not eat full meals.

Friday I was already planning to go all by myself while Lucas is at school to the IX Chritmas Connection. I go every year, and sometimes alone, and it is wonderful. I can get absorbed in all the displays without worrying who I am going too fast for or slowing down. Without Lucas whining he is bored. Heaven is what that is folks.

Plus, the bonus? Mom and Pappy are taking Lucas overnight Sat. That means FREEDOM for me!!!!! Whoo hoo, the possibilities are endless. And although I should be curling up with some chocolate and a chick flick, my mind immediatley goes to thinking what I can clean really good without being interrupted. I am certainly going to bleach the bathroom from floor to ceiling. May not sound fun to most, but I cannot wait, maybe wrap some Xmas presents, organize something, who knows, just go crazy. All. By. Myself. Ahhh.

And I am so good at multitasking since becoming a mom, I bet I can watch that chick flick while doing something productive, sleep in the King size bed without being kicked in the head, aside form the dogs being in it, and not HAVE to get up at 6am Sunday, but I probably will, just cause I can relish in the QUIET!

Yessir, it is a good week for me!

Glad it is Friday

Cause Thursdays kick my butt : )

To start off my day yesterday, I had an 8;30 dentist appt. They told me to bring Lucas so he could see what getting your teeth cleaned entails, since he will go in Jan. No cavities for me, yay!

Lucas stood next to the chair the whole time I was getting my teeth cleaned, held my hand and told me "It's okay mommy". What a sweetie, I assured him I had doen this many times before and it did not hurt, not to worry.

He got a ride in the chair and a Diego toothbrush, I did not even get a stinkin toothbrush now that I think about it : )

Then it was off to gramma-gramma's, where Lucas immediately told me, Go to work, go to the bank, or the store. basically, get lost, he wanted his favorite plaything gramma all to himself, I know where I am not wanted, so I went to the bank, and home to do some cleaning, came back, and we went to Applebees for lunch.

Grandma has been looking for some sort of tables, or shelf thing for next to her tv for a bit and we went to Levins, and found a gorgeous wood shelf and, at my urging, she actually bought it for herself! I was so proud ;)

Then Lucas was not done with grandma, and wanted no part of me, so I went grocery shopping, the things we do when we get a break form the kids!

then it was back to get him, get the groceries unloaded, put away, play outside a bit, make dinner and put Lucas to bed at 7pm since he was starting to melt down. And I am exhausted today, as usual on a friday

Facebook vs Myspace

Okay, I did it, I caved in totally to what I had been holding on for years NOT to do, I can be so weak sometimes LOL.

I got a Facebook, and it is fun and addicting, just as I knew it would be, part of the reason I resisted so long, but one can only resist for so long, you know? I was not keen on the fact people may be able to *find* me, but oh well, I am reallly not that hard to find, I live in the same city i grew up in, and I am in the phone book after all.

Many people have different opinions on which is better, all around, facebook or Myspace. And since I got Facebook, I figured what was the difference in getting Myspace as well? Plus my SISTER was pressuring me ha ha. So i got one.

I have to say, as I am getting used to both of them, I definitely like Facebook better than Myspace. I will use Myspace sparingly, to keep up with our friend from Fla mostly.

oh boy

Lucas's heartfelt apology

This morning I marched Lucas right into school and up to his teacher, his beloved Miss Teri, who he really does adore, she cannot leave the room without him freaking out.

He said " I'm sorry I bited Gio", without me prompting him, he looked her straight in the eye. I was proud of him. Apologizing is hard to do sometimes, and I am hoping he has learned a lesson.

The teacher and I had a good long talk about what was said to him for biting, she told me what she had said to him, and I told her what I said. She really felt bad that Lucas had been bitten and scratched and that was why he thought it was okay to bite someone, but I assured her it should not happen again (knock on wood,please). She also said there were two little ones right now in her class showing some behavioral issues that is taking up a lot of her time lately and that she wondered if Lucas was not responding to that, by both mimicking some of the behaviors and being a bit jealous that these kids are taking up a lot of Teri's time. Both are good observations, so it was good to talk to her about it. It is hard for any mom to swallow, even the ones with eyes wide open, that their kid, although crazy at times, was biting another kid, on purpose. I take it a bit personally as a reflection of my parenting, rational or not, it is how I feel.

On another positive note, glasses wearing is going so very well. he is not resisting and keeping them on for very long periods of time, he only took two short breaks yesterday, today for school I told him he could take them off for nap, but to try to keep them on as much as he could, and told the teacher of our system, so as long as they are not broken, it will be a good day : )

A little bit of this, a little bit of that

On the positive side, Lucas is not resisting the glasses nearly as much as I thought he would, which means to me, he must notice the difference in sight. I hope so anyways. he is wearing them 80-90% of his waking hours as of day three, so that is cool. It will be interesting to see how he does at school, either he will forget he has them on cause he is so busy there, or he will fight with the teachers about keeping them on, I hope for the first option.

Speaking of school, my son BIT another child last friday. Now, I am not the mom who will ever think her kid can do no wrong, I KNOW him, I will always accuse him first actually, but I was still in shock. Lucas is very subdued at school, shy, and clings to his teachers, he is very much like me as a child (Lord help us). Very quiet at school, complete hellion at home. Which is the way I prefer it.

In the last two weeks, there were two incident reports that came home saying he was bitten and scratched. These are the first incidences we have had since he started school in Jan, this is also his third classroom in that time. So, we figure, whatever, he is three, that is the age, what can we do?

The scratching and biting were done by two different boys, not one of them was the kid Lucas bit. His "friend" as they call all the children at Goddard, simply got in his way in the playground tunnel, and all of a sudden Lucas thought it would be a good idea to bite him to get him to move. he spent time in the office at school, then had to face mommy at home. I gave that boy a Willmarth lecture, listing all of the punishments that would occur if I ever heard of him biting, hitting, scratching, etc a friend or anyone else at school or anywhere. Down to that he will be apologizing to Miss Teri 1st thing Tues morning. When I asked him WHY he did it?

"But, but, but, but MOM!" So and so scratched me and so and so bit me, so I bit him(the child he bit)" Insert shocked look here, first of all cause where does he get the BUTBUTBUT's, too funny, but also that it was the other kids doing these things to him that caused him to think it was alright. Oy!

Then we had a long talk about how much the boys that hurt him had gotten into trouble, and how it was never, ever okay to do that just casue someone did it to you(esp not to a totally different kid, at least bite the one who bit you, geez) but I did not say that, of course, I had good mom face on : )

he was "so sorry mom, and would never do it again" I hope not. I love three yrs old

Doesn't he look WAY TOO CUTE??

Little big man sees the eye doctor

At Lucas's 3 yr well check, they did a vision scan which is the norm these days I guess, and the little scanning machine said his left eye was possibly showing a vision issue, and they reccommended a follow up with an opthamologist. His appt was yesterday.

First, before the appt, let me tell you of our day. It started at 6:30am, of course and since I knew I would be out most of the day, I hurried and did two loads of laundry, vaccuumed, dusted, and cleaned the bathroom. We left at 9:30 to go to the bank and get gas. This week I had 1.40 off my Get-Go card and at .59 a gallon, I was on E and I filled my tank for 10.25. That totally excuses them for all the price gouging they do on their food, because that is just so fun when you get to the pump!

Then it was off to Arby's to take daddy lunch, since I would be on the east side, we were making a visit to both larry's work and mine. We spent an hour at Heilind, then an hour at Progressive. Lucas decided he was pretty much only talking to men at my work, a female coworker would coo over him, and he would say "I'm not talking" then a guy would come over and be like "Hey dude" and Lucas would start bumping fists and talking to them, it was funny.

Off to Beachwood Cleveland Clinic building, luckily we were early, cause noone ever told me that opthamology was in a seperate building on Chargrin, not the family/surgery center on Cedar, but whatever, we made it on time.

Then we waited, the nurse did a quick exam, which Lucas was a very good boy and answered all the questions asked, and named all the pitures with authority, and the doc looked at him, and then they put drops in his eyes to dialate the puils, then we waited again, then Lucas fell out of the exam chair while waiting right onto his face, his lips to be exact, right in front of me, it happened that fast, thank God he is on antibiotics, ewww, gross, lips on the dr office floor !!

So back to the eyes, Lucas needs glasses, for the left eye. It is lazy and a bit far sighted. the chance is good it can correct itself cause he is so young, but the glasses will allow his eyes to correct themselves while seeing symmetrically casue his right eye is doing more work right now. We got the glasses, and will make him wear them starting tomorrow, cause we want to be with him for a few days while he is learning to wear them. i can just imagine all the damage he will do to these things, no matter how flexible they have made them for young kid.

The bad new of this? Lucas is not on my vision coverage til Jan 2009, ugh, he was so young I did not think we would need to worry about it yet, and I just added him to be effective jan 1, but it is not good till Jan 1. Oh well, he has a very cute pair of 250.00 glasses.

pics to come as well of course. We did not get home til 5:30 last night, and I am still exhausted

A father's love

Ah Larry, this proves he would do anything for his son : )

Lucas is having a fundraiser for preschool, selling cookie dough and other related items, so he took the booklet to work, as I did to see if anyone wanted to order, promising he would ask a few people who were interested, could not guarantee anything, I told him that is all you can do, unless it's family, they do not get a choice : )

So what does he do?, pins a sheet of paper to his chest, saying "Please help, fundraiser for a three yr old" and places a picture of Lucas, the saddest looking face on the kid, it was his school pic in the spring that he just did not want to take so he looks like we just sent him to the orphanage in the picture : )

Crack me up, that is so BAD and HILARIOUS! and pretty smart too, cause he has filled the whole sheet up : )

Never order online from Marcos Pizza

Wow, is all I have to say.

Friday(Halloween), I figured pizza would be good, we had some trick or treating company coming, and noone would have time to cook anything, seemed like a good idea. Not so much by the end of the night.

I ordered online at 3:30pm for my delivery to be at 5:15, paid for it and all, count that, it gave them almost two hours to get it together.

I got home at 5:15 and at 5:30 pizza was still not there, we were getting ready to trick or treat and everyone was hungry, I ended up giving Lucas a bowl of cereal cause the poor kid wanted to eat. I called marcos at 5:30. The clueless sounding kid told me how busy they were with it being halloween, I told him I understood that, but I placed the order two hours before and made him find my order so I could confirm they even had it. After conferring with his manager, he reiterated my order to me, said it would be there ASAP.

At 6, we started trick or treating, leaving Larry's sister to pass out candy and wait for the pizza. 6:30 rolls around and still no pizza.

I am starving, and really cranky and ready to have someone's head by then, so I called them back and unleashed the Crazy Rachael on the next poor kid that answered the phone, this was unnacceptable, we are starving, my kid has not had dinner, I want my pizza here NOW. He tries to tell me that everyone in my neighborhood ordered pizza that night. I did not see ONE marcos car go down my street, so do not give me that crap, it is not my problem I placed the order three hours ago, give me a manager. So the 17 yr old sounding girl got on the line and finally admitted to me that the online thing was new to them, and my order never got processed, so she was making it up and I would not be charged as she was crediting my card right then, and I would therefore not be charged, so sorry, blah blah. I told her to give me my fucking pizza. I was done being nice and understanding-it came in 10 minutes, gee, was that so hard???

SO, the pizza came and it was good. Until yesterday when the charge for 31.84 came up on my bank statement. So I called the store and spoke to the other teenage manager, she told me that noone in the stores could access customer's credit info due to privacy laws, all of which I understand working for an insurance company, but the other girl, I felt, had then lied to me Fri night to shut me up, so now it is ON like Donkey Kong LOL. She gave me the ph# to corporate headquaters.

I promptly called and spoke with a woman who had no clue what she was doing and promised to have "Brittany" call me back who could help me. Great. I waited about 3 hours and no phone call, so I called back and left Brittany a vm, not very nicely informing her that if she was going to ignore me I needed the info for the owner of the company cause someone WILL fix this mess. She called me right back then, imagine that.

She looked into it and saw the charge but also had the form that the store had filled out and sent to her to have it credited and it could take 5-7 bus days but it would be corrected. I have no problem with that, but the fact that the moron manager should have told me it would be charged then credited is what pissed me off, and that I had to go thru so many hoops to make sure they were going to credit me. I promised Brittany I would make sure the account was credited, or would call her back personally and I would never again order from Marcos online but by phone either. What a fricken pain in my butt.

Sweet kid

Lucas was SO very good yesterday, with all the dr appointments and running around that went along with it. He got his flu shot and was very brave, I was so proud of him : )

He is like the story about the girl with the curl in the middle of her forehead, when he is good, he is very good, but when he is bad, he is evil.

I like good days, I can really sit back and appreciate the cuteness and innocence that goes along with three.

After my appointment, it was storming out, and I had left our jackets and umbrellas in the van casue it was nice when we went in, and I get thouroughly annoyed with being in the rain, annoyed that I am getting cold and wet, and that my hair will frizz, you know, grown up stuff.

But as we were running to the van, me carrying Lucas, he was giggling and laughing so cute at being in the rain and bouncing up and down as his nutty mom runs throught the parking lot that before I knew it, I was relaxed, and giggling like th 3 yr old right along with him. Sometimes it takes a kid in their natural state to make you realize what is important in life, screw the hair : )

And as we drove home, he asked for Old McDonalds for dinner, it is always Old McDonalds and if you correct him he gets very offended (how cute is that, Old McDonalds? ) So we went to Old McDonalds, and got his chicken nuggets and apple dippers and it was a good night : ) I love that kid.

It was off to the Doctors

Lucas and I both have these awful coughs, the kind that keep you up at night, and you can barely finish a sentence without hacking your guts out. It's a good time.

The doctors call it Sinusitis, Laryngitis, blah blah. We are not asthmatics, it is not in our lungs, it is not allergies, just a chronic annoyance, we feel okay otherwise, actually, except for every muscle hurts from coughing so violently.

Lucas and I are both on Zithromax, or Zpaks, we are trying to zap Lucas's good since this is a chronic thing lately for him, he will do 5 days on, 3 days off, and 5 days back on. For me it is 5 days of the Zpak, and 6 days of Prednisone for the inflammation of the throat and airways. Yay us!

Drama King

Honestly, all three yr olds are probably worthy of Academy Awards. yesterday Lucas decided to be more dramatic than usual, he must have been lacking attention, yeah right.

Numerous times, he "fell" off the couch ( purposely) and fake cried about how he hurt himself. I watched him every time gently roll himself off. And when I asked what hurt and told him he would be okay, the location of the ouchie changed every time.

Larry's Aunt Linda called and he told her his finger hurt when she asked how he was. There was NOTHING wrong with his finger, what a faker!!!

He ate me out of house and home yesterday despite his constant "tummyache", and when it came time for bed, which he did not want to do of course, he was "Sad". I asked, why are you sad Lucas? "Cause I want to" was my only answer.

I usually try to anticipate his next move, I always bring a glass of water into his room at bedtime to eliminate the leaving of the bedroom. But last night, he "could not see" the glass of water even though the nightlight illuminates his room almost better than the overhead light.

And the Oscar goes to.............

Trick or Treat

Well, turns out Lucas could not have cared less about going trick or treating. I hate when he acts all weird like that. He refused to walk, he would only be carried, at first he wanted to just go back home after 2 houses and sit and pass out candy with Aunt Lisa.

A bit later we were able to convince him to go to a few more houses and actually say trick or treat, as long as he was carried, he would absolutely NOT walk, or he was adamant about going right back home. He is a weird kid.

We just did our block on our street, and he said "okay, no more, lets go home". I mean, he has plenty of candy for as much as he went, I just do not understand why he does not want to have any fun. But whatever.

Still haven't gotten to pictures yet, but I will : )