coolest kids ever

Cooking with Truett and Kirsten

June 12, 2012

For their combined birthday present, we got the kids their first play kitchen. We don’t usually buy a lot of toys but it was their birthday (sort of – Tru’s was on 2nd June and Kirsten will be having hers in July) and this one was going at a very sweet price so the husband decided to give up the PSVita he’s been eyeing, to get this for them.

That move alone puts him in the running for Daddy of the Year award.

My brother was appalled that this costs as much as a PSVita but hey, it is a gorgeous wooden set with a stove, oven, sink, microwave and what I presume is a larder/fridge.

More importantly, it’s been keeping them occupied for extended periods. Whenever we need some time to do work, we make a list of our dinner orders and get them to cook up a storm in the kitchen.

All that chopping, stirring, baking and cooking easily buys us 20 minutes of peace and quiet.

Occasionally, we do get strange concoctions like porridge with chili, Swiss cheese and orange juice or waffles with peas, which is a good thing we don’t actually have to eat them.

Although Kirsten does take her pretend play quite seriously so she’ll stuff the food into our mouths for a more realistic experience. I’ve tasted a fair amount of wood and plastic over the past couple of days but I guess it’s a small price to pay in the name of stimulating creativity.

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not feeling so supermom, side effects of motherhood

Sick Leave.

June 11, 2012

I’ve been careful to not fall ill during this pregnancy but after 6 months keeping germ-free, my body has finally succumbed to a particularly nasty flu bug that one of the kids gave to me. I can’t say for sure because they were both ill over the weekend but I’m pretty sure it’s Kirsten since she’s the one who insisted on holding my face to sleep and then sneezed globs on her germs straight into my mouth.

The poor girl was grouchy and miserable and the only thing that helped her fall asleep was being 2 inches away from my face. It was an unusual request but she seemed to really want it and according to my parenting manual, when your sick kid needs to breathe into your face in order to fall asleep, you just do it.

Now when you’re that close to somebody’s face, you can tell when a sneeze is coming. Her face scrunched up and I was about to take cover but she had like an iron grip on my cheeks so I froze, closed my eyes and took the hit.

I’m typically more dexterous in dodging germy sneezes but these kinds of point blank ones are almost impossible to dodge.

On the bright side, it did help her fall asleep and she woke up feeling much better but on the not so bright side, no amount of mouth-scrubbing and vitamin-popping could undo the damage that one sneeze did to my immune system.

Now my head is throbbing and my throat is on fire and I just want to lie down and make terrible groaning noises.

While I lie down, I’m going to think about whether this was a heroic or incredibly stupid move. Probably both.

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stuff best described as not safe for parents

A new level of crazy

June 7, 2012

“Momma.”

“Momma, wake up…”

I sat up with a start, not sure if I was still dreaming. My room door was ajar and I could tell that all the lights in the living room were turned on. As my eyes struggled to adjust to the light, I noticed that Kirsten was standing at the door, butt-naked and completely soaked from head to toe.

“Are you ok, princess? Are you hurt?” I jumped out of bed, my brain still trying to make sense of what was happening.

I grabbed a towel and wrapped her up nice and snug, then peered at the clock. 5.45am. FML.

Every single light in the living room and kitchen was turned on, including the table lamps. She had meticulously grabbed a chair to access all the light switches. In the kitchen, an entire bottle of detergent had been emptied and the water was left running at the sink. I glanced down and a foamy puddle had already formed on the floor next to her wet jammies. This must have been going on for a while. The bathroom floor was all wet, evidence that someone had just taken a shower.

“Tell momma what happened, baby,” I asked her, still holding her close to warm her up.

“I cannot find kor kor. It’s very dark so I turned on all the lights.”

“And why are you all wet?”

“I played with the water so my clothes are all wet then I take them off. I bathed myself because I’m a big girl now.”

“I won’t even ask why, but did you need to do it at 5 in the morning?”

“You change for me now, I’m tired. I want to go sleep,” she instructed with an air of finality.

I wasn’t quite sure how to handle a situation like this, so I did as she asked. I changed her into fresh PJs, cleaned up the kitchen, made her some milk and brought her back to bed.

The next morning, she acted like nothing had happened and when I brought it up, she just looked at me blankly like I made up the whole thing.

I actually wish it was a dream because I’m pretty sure normal 3-year-olds don’t do this level of crazy. But then I actually have the soaked jammies to prove otherwise.

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