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Posts Tagged ‘sons’

Canine-osaurus Rex

Posted in Musings and Epiphanies, tagged , , , on June 27, 2013| Leave a Comment »

We had been talking about what kind of puppy we would want to get.  We all felt ready to start looking for the dog who would not replace Briggs, but fill the spot in our hearts the same way he did.  Lab or collie or lab-collie mix…back and forth we went.  Then a friend messaged me on facebook about a dog and Rex found us and filled that spot before we even met him.  I just couldn’t get him out of my head.  So when I got home that night I told Hubby that I found a dog.  We looked at his picture and description.  Hubby figured out why I couldn’t stop thinking about Rex.  He smiles just like Briggs.

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He’s a shepherd mix, beautiful, sweet, knows how to sit and shake his paw.  He’s had a couple of accidents in the house, but he’s truly starting to figure it out.  We’re starting to figure it out too.  We’ve had to reshape our thinking because he’s not Briggs.  He’s not driven by food, he has complete control of his bowel, and he can go up and down the stairs.  He loves to cuddle, doesn’t like wind, but actually enjoys walking in the rain.  We did that last night for two hours (still trying to figure out the poopie schedule).  I have said so many euphemisms for poo this week in an attempt to figure out if he has a “trigger” word.  I’ve even tried merde.

The boys ADORE Rex.  Rex was even the perfect name for our dog.  The boys gave him a formal name…Canine-osaurus Rex.  And many hours have been spent cuddling with him on the couch.

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Our hearts are filled again and we’re enjoying being a dog family again.  Even the cats have taken to him.  They are staking their territories, but generally it’s been friendly.  Tiger guards the door to our bedroom because that’s where he sleeps.  Rex just curls up on the couch, or the chaise, or on the floor in the corner of the couch and chaise. 

Lab or collie?  Nope, Rex.  IMG_6859

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What Baked Beans Can Do for Your Family

Posted in Musings and Epiphanies, tagged , , , on May 1, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Yes…our home is musical tonight.  I’m honest.

We had baked beans and hot dogs tonight.  Younger son helped Hubby grill the hot dogs on the barbeque.  (Older son had helped Hubby last week.)  Hubby made his famous baked beans too.  He used the recipe from one of older son’s cookbooks.  The beans were delicious.  And created so much humor and laughter in our home.

Younger son loves to say the word “fart” over and over again.  Still we cuddled, read a wonderful story, giggled, and tickled.  As I was tickling him, he said in the cutest voice, “I’m going to pee my pants!”  It was too cute!  We talked about how he has been managing in school.  He told me that one of the kids told him to stop moving his head.  Younger son calmly explained to the boy that he can’t help moving his head.  Younger son told me he felt fine about it.  He’s taking ownership and finding his way with the tics.  He feels smarter lately.  He feels like he has super powers.

Older son and I had a long talk about how school is going.  He said classes are fine, but socially….  He is working so hard to not talk as much and he is making huge improvements-at home and at school.  But the other kids are used to him talking too much and he’s stuck with that role in their minds.  His awesome teacher is trying to help break that pattern and he’s going to talk with her tomorrow about the one student who keeps telling him to shut up even though he’s not talking.  He also worries about being cool.  I reminded him that he decides if he’s cool or not.  If he believes he is cool, others will see that and want to hang with him, to be his friend.  I struggled with that for years-I’m hoping, with the way I told him, he’ll understand it sooner.  I explained to older son that while it’s dorky for his mom or dad to give him this pep talk, There Can Be Only One would tell him the same thing (except he would say it in an even cooler way).  I reminded him that There Can Be Only One thinks both older and younger son are cool and a great, huge smile spread across his face.

Family comes in all forms.  Families can be formed through many ways.  Even when a member of the family isn’t in the house, the presence can still be felt.  And all these conversations tonight came together because of the musical baked beans.

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Dusting off ohbloodyhell8

Posted in Musings and Epiphanies, tagged , , , , on April 7, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Hello gentle readers!  If you are still out there!  Sorry for neglecting the virtual world but have been busily involved in the real world.  I have given myself a boo-boo in the upper right quadrant of my back so this will be a short hello.

We took  the boys to see Jurassic Park on Friday.  It was just as good as it was on opening night 20 years ago.  They brought some of their JP dinosaur toys.  The theater had new seats and they were so comfy-recliners for everyone!  I want them for my living room.  The boys were simply in awe.  The 3D has come such a long way compared to the cardboard glasses with the blue and red plastic pieces of junk that I saw Jaws 3D with so many years ago.  That had been the last one I had seen…partly because of how crappy it was!

Then at home we watched Lost World.  And Ultimate Dinosaur Collection.  It was a very dinosaur-filled weekend.

The boys go back to school tomorrow.  There is great sadness in the house tonight.  But I reminded them that the end of spring break means summer break is just round the corner!  I can’t wait for summer.  Hopefully we’ll take some lovely day trips and go to the lake on Fridays.  Just a calm summer-which will end with the boys at camp…together…for a week!  They’re each going twice this summer but one of the weeks is together.  I can’t even imagine this house without them in it.  What will Hubby and I do?

Well, back to Wallander.  And more ice on my shoulder.

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No Pillows on the Couch

Posted in Musings and Epiphanies, tagged , on March 25, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Each late afternoon into early evening I dream on my drive home that my home will be tidy and homework will be complete and dinner will be waiting on the table.  This never happens.  That’s okay.  Today was wonderful.  I came home to an untidy home, homework not complete, and dinner not yet chosen.  I was faced by a blanket hanging down from the top of the stairs.  I ducked under the blanket and went up the stairs.  I noticed that in addition to the hanging blanket there were no pillows on the couch.  Or on the chaise.  Or on the chair.

I walked crookedly down the hallway as I discovered where all the pillows had been moved to by two young boys.  The first impulse was to be angry, frustrated, even more tired than I already was.  This makes more to tidy up and I am already more behind than usual.  Then my sons asked me a question.  Everything else melted away.

“Mom, what do you think of our sculptures?”

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(Did not mean to frame one of the pics in such a way that made my sons look like the girls from The Shining…)

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Saturday Night Sleepover

Posted in Musings and Epiphanies, tagged , , , on March 16, 2013| Leave a Comment »

The boys decided to have a sleepover.  Right at the last possible moment before bedtime.  They wanted to discuss what they will do with the leprechaun they hope to catch with their trap.  So as I sit here annoyed by the friend of the neighbor playing the music really loudly in his car, I am also listening to the attempts of two boys trying to quietly talk without Mom hearing the conversation.  They are really not good at speaking quietly.  They start with whispers and then within a couple of minutes they’re using full voices.

But before beginning the joy of eavesdropping on the secret conversations of young brothers, I went into the room to tuck them into bed.  They were wearing their nightcaps.  I told them one day older son would be 30 and younger son would be 28 and they’d call each other.  After saying hello, bro, one will ask the other if he remembers the sleepovers.  If he remembers the nightcaps.  They’ll have a good laugh and recall so many wonderful nights spent having adventures in the bed made by their great-grandfather as they drifted off to sleep.

I had to get the camera.  I took pictures of my sweet sons wearing their nightcaps.  Being the hams that they are, they created several great photo memories.  They even made the classic Stacky face.

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What to write…

Posted in Musings and Epiphanies, tagged , , , , on March 13, 2013| Leave a Comment »

I want to write this evening, yet I don’t know what to write about.  I’ve made lots of errors on social media today so I may have unintentionally given myself writer’s block.  My mind has been swirling the past two weeks or so.  First, I cannot believe we are already in March.  Where is time going?  I seem to miss it every day.

This evening I enjoyed time and threw the concept of bedtime out the window.  The boys and I spent some good, fun time together.  Older son and I read some of the Barnum Brown biography for his school project.  Younger son and I reviewed for his spelling test and discussed the book he is writing.  Younger son is holding a St. Patrick’s Day craft stand in the waiting room this week and he shared how sales are going.  Both boys practiced their baseball skills again this afternoon.  They are so pumped for Little League this year.  Don’t know what changed, but I’m loving it.

I have this incredible urge to watch Angels & Demons.  Ridiculous particularly since I’m not Catholic.

Not sleeping well lately.  Explains a lot.  Like the many errors I’ve made today in my humble writings.

Maybe I’ll watch Taken.  Always a fine choice.  Or Music and Lyrics.  Quite possibly the best fake music videos ever made.  Totally brings me back to the ’80s.

Did anyone else take a long time to realize that Grant Heslov was one of the producers of Argo?  Props to him.  I love him in True Lies and Congo.  I’m a happy couch potato watching Grimm, Psych, and  The Following.  But when the heck is Episodes coming back?

Had fun during a meeting today at work comparing punctuation to spices.

Okay, I’m going to end this most random post and smartly choose to go to sleep.  I’m going to be a wild woman and not even proofread the post.  Sorry for any errors.

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How would I handle…

Posted in Musings and Epiphanies, tagged , , , , on February 10, 2013| Leave a Comment »

working out of my house if I had an episode again?  Wow.  That’s a doozy of a question.  I’ve never worked a full time type of job with other coworkers while having an episode.  How the heck would that go?  Would I be able to balance it all?  Or would a particular part of life suffer?  I would really hope I would be able to summon up the strength to manage throughout the day but not at the cost of not managing at home.  The episode I had a few years ago was quite manageable since I worked from home and the boys were so young.

I really hope I wouldn’t feel so drained by the end of the workday that I had nothing left for my sons and Hubby.  I really hope I wouldn’t try to process all of the feelings and energies of the episode in the few hours I get with them each day.  I hope that I wouldn’t be walking around angry with my coworkers all day, but I also know I couldn’t be that way.  Not quite what you want at the office.  I know that they are standards and protocols that are easy enough to follow at work, even in an episode, I think I could keep up appearances until it passed.  But would I then be so exhausted by the time I drove the 30 miles home?  (Another thing I don’t handle well when in an episode is driving-avoid it if at all possible, which clearly would not be possible since I would still have to go to work!)  Would I be  so tired that I would lose my patience with my sons?  Would the adage of hurting the ones you love come true?  Would I put so much energy and effort out during the day that I would have nothing left and have a quick temper?  Would I not be able to listen to their stories of their days with an open ear?  Would I be in zombie mode?

How would I handle sleep now?  I could sleep whenever before, but now I would have to be awake at work.  It’s a friendly environment, but I think napping on the desk is frowned upon.  I suppose I would just have to let certain thinks go at home to get the extra rest.  Oh, but then the OCD of not doing things at home could possible drive me up new and exciting walls.  Some semblance of normalcy would have to be maintained!

Anyway…the brain clearly wants to wonder about this stuff right now and the best way for me to handle that is to let it wander in the wonderings.

 

 

 

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Just wondering…

Posted in Musings and Epiphanies, tagged , , , on December 20, 2012| 1 Comment »

I’m not an expert and this comes purely from curiosity as I listen to many discussions and conversations sparked by the recent tragedy.  I just wonder about this.

Has anyone ever looked at the timing of the following three shifts in America.  The increase of women in the workplace (and thus no parent at home with the kids); the decrease in our students’ test scores (and the increase in students’ apathetic approach to education); and the increase in school/societal violence.

Now before your panties get in a bunch, I said women in the workplace because I’m referring to the feminist movement and the increase of women in the workplace that happened in the 70s-80s specifically.  When the term “latch-key kid” came into existence.  When cable and video games became convenient babysitters.

And before your panties get even more bunched, I don’t care who comprises the family.  I’m talking about having parents who actively raise their own children.  Parents who work together to have someone home with the children after school, during school vacations, to help parent them.  Monitor what the children are watching, playing, and doing after they finish their homework.  Heck, making sure the children finished their homework, reviewed for the test, and asked the questions that were still lingering about that day’s lessons.

Hubby and I each work two jobs.  But one of us is always home with our sons.  This takes a lot of careful and creative scheduling.  It requires sacrifices.  But we want to raise our sons.  We want to help them with their homework, take them to baseball practice.  We want them to learn what compassion, integrity, kindness, responsibility, and so many other values are.  We want to share in the many emotions they feel and will feel as they grow up.  We want to struggle with them as they work through challenges.  We want to help them develop into the young men they are quickly becoming.  I’ve digressed…but as it is for so many right now, my thoughts are swirling.

Still, I just wonder if there is any correlation in the timing of those things.

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The light breaking through the darkness

Posted in Musings and Epiphanies, tagged , , , , , on December 16, 2012| Leave a Comment »

I hugged my sons a lot this weekend.  More than usual.

 

I told my sons I loved them a lot this weekend.  More than usual.

 

My sons are sleeping soundly in their beds and my heart aches for the families that are grieving for the children not sleeping soundly in their beds tonight.

 

Let there be a light for the families to guide them through the darkness.

 

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Kenneth Piranha

Posted in Musings and Epiphanies, tagged , , , , on December 9, 2012| Leave a Comment »

As tomorrow is Sir Kenneth Branagh’s birthday, well, today if we’re going by his time, I share a joke that younger son made up on Friday morning.  Dead Again was on the telly while we were getting ready for school.  Younger son came up to me and asked “What’s a character in an ocean movie?”  I knew to ask “who” since both sons are on a making-up-jokes-kick right now.  The answer: Kenneth Piranha.  I think that was quite a good joke for a seven year old.  It was particularly good for a boy who still attends speech to learn to pronounce the letter r (like his mother did when she was a wee one).

Nevertheless, older son shot back with the following.  “No, it would be ‘What’s a character in a fresh water movie?’ because piranhas don’t live in salt water.  They live in fresh water.”  I tried to tell him that it is uncouth to correct a joke for scientific inaccuracies and that he can just let it ride.  He explained that wasn’t in his nature.  I do love the clarity each son possesses about their personalities.

Younger son is truly blossoming and forging his own path, distinct from his brother’s path.  It takes time for a younger one to realize he does not have to always do what the older sibling does.  We try to support the different areas that younger son has shown an interest in over the years.  He too likes dinosaurs, but kept away from them for a bit.  He finally asked if he was allowed to like and study dinosaurs too.  In hindsight, older son probably told younger son he couldn’t like dinosaurs because he had already claimed them.  They claim toys, why wouldn’t they claim areas of study?

I am very proud of my sons for all they do, but this weekend they also demonstrated keen abilities with Kenneth Branagh movies as well.  These films just happened to be on cable, I swear.  Younger son knew it was Love’s Labour’s Lost.  Older son realized that Nathan Lane (one of the actors in LLL) was the voice of Timon in The Lion King. Older son recognized Matthew Lillard as Shaggy.  Then as I watched Music & Lyrics (love that movie), they recognized Campbell Scott as “Doug” from Dead Again.

Yup…we’re making sure they have plenty of useless film and movie knowledge just like their parents.

 

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