Happy Trails

Christian is saying goodbye to preschool and embarking on a new life in kindergarten. He's off to find greener pastures.

This is a vision we hope to see again in thirteen years...then seventeen years...then nineteen...the sky's the limit. But he better make it to thirteen years, yes sir. Class of 2022 rocks! Man, I feel old.

The Best Way to Find Out about a New Product: Have an Accident!

Mother's Day was great, yet a little eventful. Towards the end of the day, Jojo had a big fall which resulted in a gash on the head. I should've remembered Mike has a weak stomach as he handed me the poor bleeding babe. Mike did not do so well during my labor/delivery; He cheered me on from the headboard part of the bed and out of his mouth came one long sound, "Oohh...uggghhhh...whoa," as each bundle of joy made his first appearance in the world. I did not come close to fainting as I had with the finger incident a couple months ago. Of course, my dad was there to assist and that kept me calm. Did you know there is a spray-on (or paint-on) bandage product which holds wounds together? Kind of like Super Glue.

Christian enlisted Mama G.G. to go hunting for lizards in Yaya & Grandpa's yard.

There is Jojo with his bandage covering his "pupa" (poo-pah). The next day we went to the duck pond at UNM campus.
The boys fed the ducks some bread.
I sat in the shade to watch them. The sound of the fountain was relaxing until a certain thought entered my head.

Have I mentioned potty training Gaby? Well, it looks like he will not be potty trained by the time preschool starts. I've tried bribes, threats, cheering, and silly potty dances to no avail.

I leaned back to stare at the leaves above me against the wide blue sky and took a deep breath. Serenity now!

Tea and Infamy

Last Thursday Christian's pre-school classes (the 'green frogs' and 'red birds') invited the mothers for a Mother's Day tea, only there was no tea. But there were cookies, lemonade, and water -- very refreshing on a hot day. All of us mothers sat at our places while the kids played outside. Walker's mom came over and introduced herself to me.

Walker's mom: "Are you Christian's mom?"

Me: "Yes, I'm Elena!"

Walker's mom: "I'm Walker's mom, _________."

My heart went thud. I knew what was coming, and I felt my face turn eight shades of embarrassment.

Walker's mom: "Christian is the one who said that Walker only plays with girls, " she said good naturedly.

The previous day when the boys and I were in front of the school, Christian saw a couple of his friends. Then he pointed out Walker to me and said loudly, "That's Walker. He only plays with the girls." I quickly told Christian in a low voice, "That's enough." I noticed an older man, who I assumed to be Walker's grandfather, frowning in our direction. I hoped he hadn't heard that comment, but I felt uncomfortable scolding Christian at that moment. Maybe I should've scolded him. I just wanted to pretend that he had not made that comment. Sometimes I get a little flustered in these awkward situations.

Me: "I am so sorry that he said that loudly. Christian plays with girls, too. He plays with my older niece, and some of my friends have girls...."

Walker's mom: "Walker has an older sister and maybe that's why he's so comfortable playing with girls. Anyway, I wanted you to know that Walker came home from school the other day and told me, 'Mommy, I had a good today. And I played with the boys, too!'"

Walker's mom was understanding, but it was still a little embarrassing.

Here are a few things that the teacher wrote from Christian's comments about me on my card:

My mom is "7012 years old."
My mom is as pretty as a "person."
My mom likes me to "play pbskids.org."
My mom is the best mom because "she likes to look for critters with me."
My mom is happy when "we smell flowers."




Christian and his 'boys'.





Happy Mother's Day!

Tennessee, Part II

So, as I mentioned earlier, Jojo ended up with an ear infection and a raging fever that could not be lowered even with Motrin. So Papa and I took him to the emergency room and got some antibiotics, as well as allergy medication. They gave him two more doses of Tylenol and Motrin and finally his fever went down a little before we left.

Two days later, Jojo was still clinging to me crying every waking hour. On a Saturday we took him to a walk-in clinic (the best invention), and we saw a nurse practitioner who told us that Jojo had the infection in both ears, and I got a "stronger" medication for that. I was worried about the return flight, but we still had three days before we were leaving, and by the next day Jojo was feeling much better. And luckily, the flight went real well for him.

We got to see Grandpa Kenny & Karen before they returned to IN. Jojo was at home recuperating.

One day Poppy Mullins (Papa's dad), took the boys on a ride behind the tractor.

Gaby went for a few more rounds, while Christian went back to telling Bodie the dog, "sit!" and "stay!" He likes to boss, kinda like his mommy.

Granny Mullins went right into that little wagon and took a ride with Gaby. She's game for anything.

We visited the horses at Papa & Nana's neighbor's house. The kids fed the horses and donkey some carrots and apples. It took a while for Christian to allow the horse to take the treats from the palm of his hand, but that's understandable. Horses can be a little intimidating. At least they are to me.

Our friends Rosemary and Kaityln came for a visit! I had not seen Kaitlyn since she was a baby. Rosemary is on the left and Kaitlyn is on the right.

Sweet, sweet Aunt Sharon -- she's Nana's sister. Christian enlisted both of them to dig for earthworms in the yard -- blecchhhh. I prefer supervising, myself. There's his collection in the can.

Our last day in Tennessee was spent with many visitors! MeMaw and Auntie Linda came over in the morning.

Jojo was feeling much better!

Chancey (Mike's cousin), Aunt Sharon, Nana, and Michelle (Chancey's mom) came over, too.

Chancey and his buddies.

One last visit to the creek.

One last right on the four-wheeler.

Good times!

Tennessee, Part I

The boys and I just returned from visiting Nana and Papa in Tennessee last Tuesday. We spent almost two weeks there, and we had a real nice visit as always. The kids and I survived security at the airport, especially on the return flight when I had to have endless bottles of medication sealed up in plastic bags. More on that later.

Before I get into a little about what we did on our trip, I'd like to share a connection Christian made recently about what I was trying to explain about the Internet. Lately, he is into looking up insects and other creatures on the computer. Because of my children-induced ADD, I cannot sit still while Christian wanders through a site that I pull up for him (usually it's PBSkidsgo.org); I will show Christian a thing or two and then he's off to navigate on his own. But because I am not familiar with too many children safe websites, and especially after I pulled up an earthworm site that I thought was normal but ended up showing an obscene photo, I am wary of letting him look on his own. I tried to explain that sometimes "yucky, disgusting" things show up that are not for kids' eyes and that mommy doesn't know enough about keeping his eyes safe from such gross things on the Worldwide Web, when suddenly Christian recalled a song he recently learned at school. Some of the verses are:

Be careful little eyes what you see...
Be careful little eyes what you see...
There's a Father up above,
He's looking down towards us...
Be careful little eyes what you see.

It's pretty terrific to see when your child makes a profound connection. At the time he learned that song, he probably did not think much about what the lyrics meant, yet he pulled it from memory when I explained some of the dangers of what can be found (or what can find you) on the Internet.

Back to our trip! Here are some photos of what we did and who he we saw:

Christian learned how to drive the four-wheeler. Some nosy neighbor reported Papa to the cops, and both Christian and Papa got pulled over for riding on a 'main street' with a minor, and Christian had his first ride home in a police car. At least he was allowed to sit in the front seat of the cruiser. After Nana asked what happened to the four-wheeler (did they run out of gas?), Christian replied, "I don't want to talk about it." Papa fixed the problem with the police chief & they were able to return to riding through the neighborhood, but must drive directly to the creek in the field behind them now.

This is one of Gaby's favorite things to do. He just loved taking those rides. Papa also let them sit on his Harley, and he even took them for a ride in his red 'race' car -- I've not even done that! Those kids are pretty special to Papa.

This T-shirt pretty much sums up Papa's personal philosophy. Gaby likes to listen to the blues with Papa. After one such night of hanging outside, Christian told Nana, "I'm tired of Johnny Cash."

We saw our friends Libby and her brother Justice.



And Jojo had more fun running around their green, green yard and among Nana's beautiful flowers.

Nana gave us all some much needed trims. Nana was much relieved to cut off Gaby's mullet.

We saw MeMaw and Poppy (Mike's grandparents), and one of the best part of our visits for Gaby is seeing the big farm machines. Poppy has a few tractors and some barns to tend to the ginormous bovines roaming their property.

Mike's dad, Grandpa Kenny, and his friend Karen also came to visit from Indiana. Poppy has a four-wheeler and so Grandpa Kenny took the boys out for a ride.

Here's MeMaw ...


and the invincible Auntie Linda who singlehandedly got the county's spay/neuter clinic up and running during her 'spare' retirement years... Yeah, I know I'm bragging...it's pretty cool, doncha think?

Where was Jojo all this time his brothers were out having fun? He was snoozing on Karen's shoulder, and that was the night Papa and I took him to the emergency room with a raging fever and ear infection.

More to share coming soon.

Kicking a Bad Habit

One the last times he used his favorite chewy soother.

Gaby is off the chupete (choo-pay-tay)/pacifier! We left all his chupetes for the Chupete Fairy, and Gaby kissed each one goodbye. The next morning there was a present waiting for him. He still occasionally asks for his chupete, but we tell him they're long gone to all the babies who need them (great suggestion from 'Super Nanny'). Now if we could only get him potty trained... And today we're off to visit Nana and Papa in Tennessee. Will post more soon.

Damsel in Much Distress

I know it's Holy Week and all, but little things are getting to me today. The day started out nicely: We picked up Grandma/Mama G.G. and took her to Flying Star to meet my friend Tanya and two of her children.

Grandma enjoys holding Tristan -- Jojo is well out of that holding phase and I miss that.

Tanya and Danny

Before the winds kick in later today, we took advantage of the great weather and sat outside in the patio. After Tanya left, we took Grandma to the bird shop that Christian adores. They aren't any actual birds there for they sell wild bird seed and accessories, but the owners have a cat named Nigel who hangs around, and usually there is a pet cat waiting to be adopted in a little cage. I am not a cat person, but these cats are sweet. The ladies know us because we must stop by at least once a week. I have a sinking suspicion they are not kid people because these boys seem to worry/bother/annoy them, especially Gaby. They follow us closely each time we're there. Is it me, or do these boys sometimes run circles around me? Don't answer that.



So we did a little more window shopping on the way back to the van. Grandma recalled how she used to drive all over the city, and I reminded her that I could never find her at home when I called. She stopped driving a few years ago; she is almost 90, after all.

I love this photo of Grandma taken in the 1950's or early 1960's.

Finally, we got everyone loaded into the car and wouldn't you know the van would not start. We waited for Aunt Patsy to meet us so we could jump start the car. In the approximately 30 minutes we waited for her arrival, Gaby's hand got smashed in my door, the baby cried because he was tired (luckily I found some juice), and then Gaby got "lost"in the trunk of the van. It was a long half hour.

Aunt Patsy and I were doing well with the cables -- red is positive and black is negative. Ok, now which is the negative side on the battery? Geez, the battery shows a + sign, but where is the - sign? We wondered if we needed to keep Aunt Patsy's car running or not when attaching the cables.

Then I noticed a man watching us. With a grin he asked, "Do you need a man?" I could have used a three-year-old to help us for all I cared! He came over and said, "I didn't know whether or not to ask you if you needed help. I thought it might sound sexist." Do we live in such a P.C. world that a man is afraid to rescue a wo-man? Sometimes I believe chivalry is dead; men hold doors less for women nowadays and are afraid to pay for dinner on dates for fear of appearing sexist. What does a man think of a woman who offers her help? There have been times that I have offered the use of my cell phone to men and women whose cars have broken down in a parking lot or on a street. I may not offer a ride to a man because I don't want to compromise my and my children's safety, but if I encounter someone in a busy parking lot I don't hesitate to offer some assistance.

So we made it home and I decided to color my hair. How irritating that this happened:


Why do they not put the same size gloves in the box? The right glove was too small. This has happened before.




Well, my 20 minutes are up. Time to slather on more color and then rinse in five minutes. Adieu.