Is it creepy?

Maybe a little.

Dino has an odd habit of meeting the trash guys and yelling Thank-you at them as loud as she can, which really is not as loud as she can, but more like as loud as she feels comfortable yelling at grown smelly men picking up our trash.

How did this strange habit start you ask? Well about a year ago we were outside when the trash guys came to pick it up, I went to the street to get my cart back and said thank you. To which there were a million questions by Dino to follow. “Who are they?” and “why do they do that?” My reply was simple, “Isn't it cool that they do that?! They take our trash away for us.” Never did I think it would turn into a weekly ritual.

Every week she stands at the door and yells thank you to the big smelly men picking up our trash. She no longer gets sad when they don’t say anything back to her; she gets that they are busy working, and likely don’t even hear her. But she still goes to the door. In the last few weeks she has started to bring the trash cart back up to the house. Which I love! But I wonder if it is a little creepy that my daughter waves and smiles so big at the trash guys. They don’t even seem to notice her anymore. I wonder if it ever made them happy to see that someone is thankful for the work they do. I know we really are!

I mean really we could be like the town next to us, their trash trucks all say “Satisfaction guaranteed or double your trash back!” I would hate to have a disagreement with their trash service.



So, thank your trash guys! In fact it got me thinking, often times the service workers are taken for granted. Thank them all when you can. Let’s get being nice out of the creepy category and into normal. I know some of the cops out there would love to be told Thank you. . .and not just after you only got a warning!

Ah the smart one?

Maybe smart Aleck!

Bedtime is always a pain around here. I think it is for most parents!

Well with three different beds to make it to, three different rooms to get ready for bed time, three set of PJ’s to put on, and Three blankets to find I am often times ready for bed myself when it is all said and done.

First I put Lilly to bed, because her room is upstairs. She is also easy to get into bed. It is the same every night. ME: “You need to pick up your room tomorrow or I am going to come in and put everything in the trash!” LILLY: “Okay mommy. I will do better tomorrow (she never does but eh). I love you and daddy, have a good night.”

Doors closed, night light on, all other lights in the house off, and she is good to go! I could put her to bed all day long!

Then it is down stairs to where Rae and Dion sleep. This is not as easy! I put Rae to bed first, giving Dion time to get PJs on, her room picked up and whatever else she needs to do (Pee 145 times!). But during this time Dion will come into Rae’s room at least twice. This is a big pain in the butt. Rae has to have her room spotless! If anything is out of place she will freak out and we have to pick it up right away! One day I left a paper from a toy in room and she came running upstairs yelling and angrily put it in the trash only to yell at me some more “Mom! That! Does! NOT! Go! In my ROOM!” Yeah OCD does not start to explain this 2 year olds need for a clean room. But I am on to put Dion into bed about 10 minutes after Rae.

Dion is a different set of issues. Her room is mostly clean, but they don’t play in her room much. Her bed is always a mess, and there is never a sheet on the bed. This would bother me, the first million nights of putting a sheet on her bed. Anymore I lay a blanket down and call it good. She gets a new sheet once a week, and after that I am done! But the biggest issue with Dion is she loves to talk! “Mom why is the sky blue? Did I eat dirt as a baby? Do you think daddy will come home tomorrow? I miss daddy? WHAT? WHY? WHY? WHY?” Yeah about 15 minutes later she is ready for her hug and kisses, where she does not let go! I think I save her for last because she wears me out so much!

Well that was all done, and I was ready to get into bed myself when I hear Rae yell “MOM! I need a hug and kiss!”

ME: “I already gave you a hug and kiss, go to bed!”

Rae: “But they are gone!”

Me: “what?”

Rae: “I NEED A NEW HUG AND KISS!”

I made my way down to her room where she informed me that she didn’t have a hug and kiss anymore. . SEE?

UGH! How do you explain to a 2 year old that you don’t keep hugs and kisses, and that they don’t go anywhere?

So I gave her another kiss and hug, told her to keep them because I wasn’t going to come back down to give her more. To that she replied, with her little hands around my neck “You stay here ForEVER!”

Once I made room for me on her little toddler bed she looked at me and said “You go to yours own room”



So cute I couldn’t stop the smiles for about half an hour. Then T-rex called and as I was telling him about this I realized that she was using me to get more hugs and kisses, and to stay out of bed longer!



I mean really that’s either a very silly 2 year old to say my hug went away, or a very smart one!



I think we are moving into a smaller house, all the kids will share one room, no toys, and before bed time I am going to give them all lots of sugar, timing right so when its bedtime it’s also when they are crashing from the sugar high.

I am sure they get it from Daddy.

School supply shopping brings back good memories from my childhood. Or at least it did until last year. When I was a kid my mom would save up all summer to take us shopping, we would go out about a week before school started and just get everything. We would get new cloths, lots of new cloths, and pens, paper, markers, and glue. It was an all girl thing, and we loved it!

Last year was Lilly’s first year of school. For kindergarten they had a very long list of stuff to get. Mostly there were large quantities of glue on the list. This would not be an issue, if it were not for Dino and Lilly being as they are. They are only 14 months apart, which means they are best friends and worst enemies at the same time.

So, it started with a little fight, and ended with a mess. Dino talks a lot, and this bugs Lilly. Lilly likes things peaceful, Dino likes the action! The differences there start many fights in our house. I truly wish I could have been in the room when this was going on. But, no, I had to shower. So I cannot tell you the thinking that leads to this. I can’t imagine what went down in Lilly’s room to end like it did. I just know that when I came out of the shower I quickly turned around to go back in.

Lilly had taken it upon herself to GLUE Dino to the wall. There was my middle child with glue all over hair, back, legs, and arms. She was pushed against the wall, which was also covered in school glue. Lilly was holding her down trying to get her to stick. I am sure a heat lamp and fan were coming next to get the glue to dry and Dino to stick forever.

Once I was able to stop laughing. I asked Lilly why she glued her sister to the wall. She replied “Dino was talking too much and bugging me, we don’t have a jail. “

Ah, but why GLUE? I don’t think I will ever fully understand.

Now it is time to go school shopping again, this year both of them are in school and I need a total of 10 different glue things. The stress is kicking in already. I feel for the teachers this year, and the little boy who is crushing on Lilly!

There are guns in there!

I storm down the hall yelling “Dino, get your butt out of there!” Panic was about to set in, what was she doing?

Dino is daddy’s little girl. She wants to be just like him. She will push me out of bed so she can snuggle with him the morning. His being gone has been very hard on her. To find her in my room was not that big of a surprise.

Dino pokes her head out of the room “Why Mommy?”

Oh she knows why! That’s MY room. It’s not some play room where every new drawer holds a grand toy for little fingers to mess with. Not to mention that Dino is a walking mess! No, really! I would tell people she has been standing there for 5 minutes all the stinky stuff in the room is now attached to her. She is tomboy in a dress. Her favorite color is Purple and this is, in part at least, because it makes T-rex cringe. She loves to get a rise out of people and see how far she can push things. She does not back down, does not give in, and sure as heck does not let anyone tell her no. If you say you can’t give her candy because you don’t have any, she will give you a map to the store. Nanny 911 has never met the likes of Dino.

 We have been over all the reasons why she can’t be in there before. I was about ready to lose it! My brain kicked in, or stopped, whatever, I was not going to tell her the same thing over and over again. “Because there are guns in there!” I yelled across the hall, thinking I either won this fight for good, or scarred my child for life.

“But what if there is a bad guy? Then can I come in your room?” Dino always has a comeback. I should have been prepared, but I wasn’t.

“No you can’t go in there!” My brain was still not working, I should have known she would ask why, and she did.

“Because. First off, you’re not old enough to shoot. Second, you don’t know how to shoot, and third because I SAID SO!” I won, I was sure of it this time. She slowly made it the rest of the way out of my room.

“But, Daddy can take me shooting, and I am 5 now, so that’s older.” Dino was not going to let this go. I was starting to get mad.

“No, Dino you can’t be in Mommy’s room! And 5 years old is still too young.” I was too busy thinking about putting locks on my door to notice the mess she had left in my room, most of it sticky I am sure.

“When I am six?” She really was going to try everything.

“No, not even then.” I was having a hard time not locking her in her room!

“When I am 7 can I?”

“Dino you cannot go into my room. EVER.”

“But what about when I am 8?” She was not going to give in. I could tell this was going to be a long night if I didn’t do something fast.

“Dino, let’s go get ice-cream!” I knew this would work. But I had to really make sure she got that she was not to be in my room. “And if you ever go into Mommy’s room again I will ground you.”

I won! We went and got ice-cream, much to the delight of Lilly and Rae. I hope she does not go into my room again thinking she will get ice-cream. . . But at least today my room is safe, as their bellies are full.