Mommy Dictionary

"Sharps"

Anything sharp such as knives and scissors. We have instilled in Ash a fear of them and usually when he sees them he says "no play sharps." Although he tried to convince me daycare has sharps he can play with.

My Nimbi

It all started the day the crawling began. My cute little chubby cheeked baby picked up his arms and stated crawling towards me and I saw it... his brand new tooth.


The same day! Crawling and teeth. He was SOOO excited to be moving that he was grinning literally from ear to ear. And there was that little nub of a first tooth poking through.

Thus began a ritual that I quickly started to hate...

the brushing of that tooth.

Ash hated it. I'd have to hold him down and brush as fast as I could. As he got bigger, the harder it became to hold him down. I resolved to make this better somehow. I tried an electric toothbrush, fancy pastes, and stickers. None worked.

One day I got an idea to try straight up modern day bribery... MONEY. It worked! I bought a see-thru piggy bank, so he could see the money growing. He really wanted a beta fish like the one in his class at daycare... named Nimbi. We agreed that when he got enough money he could buy a fish.

Every night we would remind him... no crying and let us brush good and you get money for a fish. Most nights he would do a good job and get a few coins. Some nights he would struggle a little and get only one or two coins. And every once in a while he would forget and we would have to hold him down... but after getting no coins that day he would always go back to letting us do it.

After a few months the piggy bank started to get full. We cashed the money in and gave him the dollar bills. We made a special trip to the pet store and picked out a fish and tank. Ash walked up to the counter. Before we could even give the cashier the fish, Ash had stuck his little hand, full of cash, up on the counter and plopped down all his money. He was so excited to buy it with his OWN money!


Tom tried to name the fish "Doug," but it wouldn't stick. Ash just kept calling him "my Nimbi."


Ash always feeds the fish (sometimes just a little too much...) and now he is brushing his teeth to work for more fish food.

(Cause he's the fish's daddy and has to take good care of him!)

House Hunting

Now that the house market has settled down we have decided to look for a home to purchase. This is a BIG step for us. Our first house!

When Tom and I got married, Tom was just trying to get into pharmacy school. We had no idea where he'd end up going to school, so we decided to just rent for a year until we figured it out. By the time we found out Tom got accepted to the U of U, the market went OUT OF CONTROL.

We couldn't afford ANYTHING (being starving students and all).

I'd constantly check the house prices, and finally one day *HOORAY* there were houses we could actually afford.

I got a nice Realtor (he's my parent's home teacher and they gave him two thumbs up). His name is Lonnie. Every house we go to Asher screams "where's Lonnie" anytime he gets out of eye site. He says they are 'buddies.' Sometimes he even calls him DAD. That was a little awkward.

Ash has been a trooper through the house hunt. He actually likes it. Every house has stuff to look at (sometimes play with if I'm not watching close enough... lots of hand wipes were used) or couches to jump on.

I think we are getting close to finding something. It's really exciting to think about. Oh the space! I can just imagine it now. Room to breathe without toys crowding me, and a BACKYARD. Yes, a BACKYARD!

One day soon... I can't wait!

Mommy Places

The State Fair

We quite enjoyed the local state fair last week. There are about a million things for your kids to do (and spend money on). It's kind of like Lagoon, only it has less rides and really creepy exhibitions.

My little one LOVES all the animals. He would walk from cage to cage and pet them. It's kind of adorable.


He also really wanted to ride the merry-go-round (kind of a favorite for him), but I was a little scared of the rides. Umm... safe? I think not.

We opted instead for the pony-go-round. He enjoyed this immensely as it combines his love for things that end in 'go-round' and animals.


His daddy said that Asher got a little caught up in the bouncy-ness of the pony and started bouncing a little extra. Apparently the pony turned to look at Asher. It must have been a 'mean' look because Ash immediately stopped.

The fair is great because it has a million things to do and see:

- Miniature lady (like 30 inches tall) - Uncle Rory paid to see this one and after wards wished he hadn't. He said she looked sad. Poor thing.
- Foot long corndogs - another favorite of Ash
- Bears who can do tricks
- Ripley's Believe It or Not animals - weird and sad at the same time.
- Alligator kabobs - Uncle Rory also paid for this one and wished he hadn't... it made him so sick that puked all night.
- Funnel Cake - delightful with strawberries.

You take the good... you take the bad... and there you have THE STATE FAIR. Kind of wish it was here more than once a year!

Mommy Tip - Sleep in your own bed.

Yes, I did it... If Ash fussed in the night, then I would bring him in my own bed and let him sleep.

I know... rookie mistake, but I love to snuggle and cuddle him!

He loves all the free space to roll and move and roll and move and roll and move. (you get the point).

I did not sleep well this way.

AND he learned to wake up EVERY NIGHT and fuss until I came and got him.

Once again... NOT sleeping well this way.

So my advice? Don't bring them in your room to sleep. As much as you want to, it builds bad night habits. Too late for this advice? Already have a 2:00 AM fusser like I did? Here's how we remedied it...

When Ash fussed we tried the whole ferber method thing (let him cry himself back to sleep). Except Ash would scream FOREVER and I didn't have the patience for it.

Instead my husband and I took turns laying on the floor by his bed until he went back to sleep. We explained to him that its still night time and he needs to stay in his own bed, BUT we will sleep by him for a while. It takes him a whole ten minutes to fall asleep and then we are back in bed. SLEEPING. Like normal people. After about a week of this he started just sleeping through the night again.

I've also heard of people who lay on the kid's bed with them. Then after a few days they moved to sitting in a chair by the bed. Then after a few days they move the chair closer to the door, etc., and eventually the child starts sleeping through the night.

So there. That's my advice for all it's worth. Now does anyone have advise on losing the binky? I've already tried cutting it. Didn't work. Also tried asking him to give them to the babies at the hospital. Didn't work either.

Oh the binky... I don't think we'll ever get rid of it.

The Marshmallow Gun

Best. gift. ever.


Ash got this marshmallow gun for his birthday this year. HIS TWO YEAR OLD BIRTHDAY. Yes... a gun at two years of age. He loves it.

The box said it was for 8 year olds.

My brother and his wife got it for him. It shoots out little mini marshmallows. It doesn't shoot them far and it doesn't hurt if you get hit with one. It's pretty harmless.

I took it to baby Addi's blessing lunch and all the little kids surrounded Asher. They each wanted to take a turn trying it out. I had this weird feeling... like it was bizarre to let all the little kids play with a gun. I told my mom and she was like "umm... it's a marshmallow gun."

All the kids would stand in front of the person shooting it and yell "shoot me." Ash started doing this at home afterward.

This did NOT EASE my reservations at all.

But my mom was always extremely overprotective of us. And if she thinks its ok... then it must not be too bad.

I remember a childhood filled with bb guns. Its just such a different time than it was back then!!! I think I'm officially a mom. With mommy thoughts and worries. OVERPROTECTIVE mommy thoughts and worries... oh joy... let the fun begin.

Not You

Not You.

Said more like "not YOUUUU."

My two most unfavorite words of the moment. They are even worse than 'what's that' fifty times in a row.

Ash uses it for pretty much everything. "Not you" can mean many things at the moment. It is a stand in for things like 'don't play with my toys' or 'I want to do it by myself' or 'I want someone else to help me'. All of which are expressed with only two words. Not you.

Almost any way its used sounds MEAN.

I dislike it (I'm trying not to use 'I hate it' because I definitely don't want to start hearing THAT). I'm not sure what to try to replace it with (sometimes we can get him to say different things if we just act like he says it wrong)... but I think it might be to late. He says it about twenty times an hour. Even as I right this now I am hearing it... and now it's evolving into "or not you". Yikes. I'm not sure where it even came from.

Maybe we can replace it with 'sharing is caring' (which I love even though we don't watch Barney, which is who says it).

Or just "Yes You". I'll take anything at this point.