Summer Solstice

Since June 21st was the longest day of the year, we had to find lots of activities to keep Leo busy:

 

We started with a shirts and skins basketball game…

 

 

 

Followed by Leo’s very first movie theater experience! We were supposed to see Curious George (someone he’s not really familiar with) but when we got there they were having technical difficulty with CG so they showed DINOSAUR TRAIN! Leo (seen her with Etienne in the picture on the left and John on the right), was stoked. (Plus, it was at the Studio Movie Grill—the very one in Georgia—so we all go to eat at the same time. As tempted as we were, none of us moms gave in to “Margarita Monday.”)

   

 

After a post-movie nap, Leo had Bianca and John over to his backyard for some inflatable pool time. Oh, and there is water in the pool; it’s just very shallow!

 

Southern Charm

This is an excerpt of an actual exchange I overheard at Starbucks in Roswell, Georgia earlier this week:

(An older lady was fumbling around with her coffee and straw and was blocking the door.)

Younger man, 40ish: “Excuse me, ma’am.”

Older lady: “Oh, I am so sorry, sir. Please forgive me. You go right ahead.”

Younger man: “Oh, no, ma’am. After you. I insist.”

Older lady: “That’s very kind of you, sir, but please, you go ahead.”

Younger man: “No,no. YOU please go ahead, ma’am.”

When I left they were still doing their dance of politeness and I don’t think either was getting out of there anytime soon.

I don’t think the other SB customers thought anything of it because that is a very typical occurrence around here. Having good manners is not just a southern cliché. It’s reality. Everyone is über polite.

Practically every conversation is drizzled with, “I hope I didn’t offend you” and “Oh, I’m sorry. I think I interrupted you.”

I’ve also found that if I complain about anything then my other mom friends think it’s their fault:

“Leo was so bad at the store today.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry! I should have offered to keep him for you!”

“I have nothing to make for dinner tonight.”

“Oh, I was just at the store. I should have picked up something for you. Come eat at our house!”

And sure, we have rude drivers here but sometimes I honk at someone because they’re taking too long at a green light and, instead of giving me the finger, they WAVE at me like, “Thanks for reminding me! I’m so sorry!”

It’s all just very sweet and charming. But now I know I could never live somewhere like NYC or France where I imagine things would go more like this:

At the Starbucks:

“Get out of my way, old lady!”

(Old lady dumps coffee on younger guy’s head.)

Talking to my friends:

“Leo was so bad at the store.”

“Sucks to be you.”

 

“I have nothing to make for dinner tonight.”

“I never eat. That’s why I’m so skinny.”

 

Yes, I’m definitely spoiled here. Oh, and if any of my blog offended you, I do apologize.

Father’s Day Fun

It started with letting daddy sleep in. “I wake up Daddy!” Leo said. “No, Leo. Daddy LIKES to sleep so he’s going to

stay in bed while mommy and Leo go on a walk.” The idea of someone choosing sleep over play blew his mind.

But when daddy did wake up (around 9:30, woo hoo!) Leo gave him his card, which instructed daddy to relax, just as Leo is doing in

this picture. (Yes, Popsy and GR, you received the same card but Leo’s artwork in each was unique.)

 

“I open the present!” Leo said and his nice daddy let him. Oh, another picture of Leo!

This one is for Daddy’s office.

 

 

Then we had lunch at Dreamland BBQ with John and his daddy. They let the mommies come along too.

(Someone had to distribute the lollipops, break up fights and wipe up sticky hands.)

 

More daddy-son time at the pool with Etienne and his daddy. (Mommies joined in for this one too. Daddies wouldn’t

be able to remember all the pool gear, snacks and sippy cups! But they DO let their little boys dunk them in the water.)

 

All the boys with their daddies! Happy Father’s Day!

 

Bye Bye, Basketball Season

Leo has not watched one game of the NBA finals but he’s been following it in the newspaper. He knew the Celtics and the Lakers were battling it out.  I was so relieved that it went to seven games—that meant more pictures in the paper.

 

“Where is the net?” he asked of this picture.

 

 

When I asked him who he thought won, he said, “The Lakers!”

 

He was right!!

 

Grandpa Ron tells us the draft is up next so hopefully there will be more pictures. Good thing Leo is also a fan of baseball.

“I am a baby!”

Ever since Leo met Baby Ryan (pictured above, born on May 27th to our friends, Chantal and Dave), he keeps pretending to be a baby. “I am a baby!” he says all day long. He likes to crawl around like a baby, cry like a baby and say things like, “Baby needs diaper change” and “Baby wants to hear the choo choo train song.”

Today I told him he needed to wipe his table (he has a few chores now!) and he said, “No, baby not going to wipe table.” I said, “That’s true. Babies don’t wipe tables but big boys do.” Then I told him all the other things big boys get to do—watch Dinosaur Train, play in their water table, go swimming, run, play with trains and Leo said, “Big boys wipe tables!” So he did wipe the table and immediately said, “I CAN watch Dinosaur Train!” which is what he always says after he does his chore.

But even after my motivational speech, he still corrects me when I call him a big boy. “No,I am a baby!”

Online Church Offerings: Not So Holy

 

The church offering envelope used to be the source of much fighting in our house:

10:28am, Typical Sunday at the Simciks

Me: AIS in two minutes! (That means “Ass in Seat.” We got it from ELR, Everybody Loves Raymond).

Frank: Do you have the envelope?

Me: No, I thought you had the envelope!

Frank: Fine, I’ll get the envelope. Do you have any money?

Me: No, I don’t have a real job. How would I have money?

Frank: Let me see what I have. Where’s my wallet?

Me: Did you check the pants you were wearing last night?

Frank: Oh, found it.

Me: AIS one minute ago! We’re late!

Frank: I don’t have any money! We need to go by the ATM.

Me: Why didn’t you think of that before?

Frank: Why didn’t YOU think of that before?

Me: Well now we’re going to have to walk in late and that’s so embarrassing.

Frank: Would you rather show up late or not put money in the basket?

And so it would go every week. But not anymore. Now we give online. It’s the greatest thing to ever happen to our Sunday mornings.

I hesitated to give online for awhile because I thought, “If I give online, I’ll still have to pass the offering basket without putting anything in it.”

But as it turns out, there’s a box on those same offering envelopes that says “I give online” and you can just check it. So every week we still put an envelope in the basket. It’s just empty.

I’m glad we’ve worked all that out but I have to say, this whole process is VERY unbiblical. Sure, the Bible doesn’t address online giving but it does talk about giving just for the sake of showing off. Check it out:

Matthew 6:1-4 (But) take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them; otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father. When you give alms, do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win the praise of others. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right is doing, so that your almsgiving may be secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.

I mean, the whole reason our church offers the option to check the box on the envelope is so we can still put something in the basket. And they know that the only reason we want to put something in the basket is so that people can see us do it.

Not only does my left hand know what my right is doing, everyone in the pew knows too. Last week I even chased down the usher, just to give him my empty envelope! Talk about blowing your trumpet like the hypocrites.

Still, I think I’m gonna stick with it for now. It just works for us. I grab the envelope, check the box and we’re done! It may be unbiblical (not to mention eco-unfriendly) but the church is still getting their money and we get our AIS right on time.

Poor Man’s Pool

Leo was so impressed with the water table at Dawson’s house that I had to run out and buy one for him. (It also helped that while he plays at the water table, I can just sit on my butt and watch him).

 

Here is Leo with his buddies, Bianca and John, waiting patiently for the water table to be ready:

 

 

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Then they attacked that water table. We quickly gave up on trying to enforce the “no splashing” rule.

View Full Album

 

 

Bianca decided she better step back when she saw how rowdy the boys were getting!

Cart Court

I thought cart abandonment  was a pretty black and white offense: You fail to put your cart in the cart corral or bring it back to the store, you're guilty.

The punishment? Well, for now, there is no official "law" against it but if you do it in my presence you will be subjected to evil glares and I may push your cart into the corral for you. So there.

But this cart situation stumped me:

There is a Babies R Us cart in Target's cart corral!

Now, maybe if Babies R Us was right next to Target, I could understand. But BRU is, like, eight stores away! I rarely even walk between the two of them.

Here is what I think happened. This person parked at Target and shopped there. She put her Target goods in her car and then decided to go into Bed Bath and Beyond (next to Target). After Bed, Bath and Beyond, she wandered into Old Navy and so on and so on until she ended up at Babies R Us. She didn't plan to buy anything but Diaper Genies were 30% off! She had to get one. No, three. So she loaded up the genies in a Babies R Us cart and pushed them back to Target where her car was parked. Now, what to do with the cart? "I know!" she said. "I'll put it in this cart corral. At least it won't hit someone's car."

If I were to try her Cart Court, I would sentence her to me taking back her cart to Babies R Us. I wouldn't glare at her though. Her heart was in the right place.

The Life of Leo

 

When Leo turned two we decided to let him watch TV. Okay, fine, he was 20 months but that’s close enough, right? At first he liked watching Sesame Street and Thomas. He would stand in front of the TV and dance and shout and interact with the shows.

Now he’s really into this show “Dinosaur Train.” It’s all he wants to watch. It’s actually a pretty good show. See, there are these dinosaurs and they ride a train. I guess you pretty much got that from the title.

The episodes are 15 minutes so I just let him watch that much at a time. We’re now in this habit of watching Dinosaur Train after each meal. It works out well because I can clean up the kitchen while Leo does this:

 

 

He looks like a lazy teenager! Oh, and he always puts this pillow down on the floor when I turn on one of his shows.

 

That’s why I like the following picture. It kinda sums up what Leo’s into these days:

1. Sitting on his pillow and watching Dinosaur Train

2. Playing basketball

3. Wearing a band-aid even though he has no visible injury.

And one more thing about the band-aid: when I put it on his knee (which is where he requests it even if he injures his arm or head), he says he can’t walk. And then he stands there stiff-legged and refuses to move. “I can’t walk!” he cries. The first time, I almost believed him. He was that convincing. Now I know it’s just an act. I tell him, “That is an Oscar-worthy performance you’re giving, but if you want to watch Dinosaur Train, you’re gonna have to walk into the living room.”

Works every time.

Pillow People

 

I was in the security line at the Atlanta airport the other day and right in front of me were two young women, chatting eagerly about their Memorial Day weekend plans. I noticed that, in addition to their carry-on luggage, they were each holding pillows.

Ugh. I rolled my eyes. Pillow People!!

Who are Pillow People?

People who have to bring their own pillows everywhere they go. To me, this is so high maintenance. So Princess and the Pea. So J. Lo and her alleged “I can only have green M&Ms” rider requests.

I mean, can you not sleep on another pillow? What’s so special about your pillow that you think it’s worth lugging around with you all over the country, or perhaps the planet?

Sure, you may want to sleep on the plane but they have pillows, ya know. Okay, they’re flat and small and maybe dozens of heads have been on them in between cleanings but…

Well, maybe Pillow People have a point there.

But if the PPs are bringing their pillows to use at their destination, that I don’t get. Celebs, especially. They stay at posh hotels! I bet the pillows are magnificent.

Hey, Blake Lively, where are you going that they don’t have decent pillows? I know you’re not staying at the Best Western! (And by the way, the pillows at BW are fine.)

 

And Eva Longoria Parker, what makes your head so privileged?

My head is perfectly fine on any pillow. I’m no diva. Give me a throw pillow. Give me a rolled up blanket. Just give me something that props my up my head and I’m happy. Oh, and also some green M&Ms. Only green ones.

His Future’s So Bright

“I don’t like the sun!”

“Light off! Light off!”

“I want it dark!”

These are all things our light-sensitive son says every day. In fact, he dislikes light so much that he’s willing to wear sunglasses all the time.

 

People often say, “I can’t believe he keeps those on!” I can’t either. He wears them outside, in the car and sometimes requests them inside. “I want my sunglasses!” he whines.

 

Thank you, One Step Ahead, for making these sunglasses with a strap!

 

 

We even bought him a second pair because if he loses these, we wouldn’t hear the end of it.

He even slept with them on in the car the other day!

I’m not sure which he likes more—the fact that they shield his eyes from the sun or that people make a fuss over him when he wears them: “Look at that cool dude!” “Hey, are you a rock star?” “I like those shades!”

Safety Leo

Whenever Leo gets on his tricycle, he insists on wearing his helmet. He definitely takes after his Uncle—Safety Dave!

Good thing he’s wearing the helmet; he’s going at least 1mph down the driveway.

And aren’t these Polaroid style photos cool?

 

Speaking of cool, blog to come about Leo’s obsession with his shades!

Beach Grocery Stores

 

I love beach grocery stores. Mainland grocery stores are okay but they don’t have that aura about them that beach grocery stores have. When you go to the grocery store at the beach, you’re there for beer, picnic food, sunscreen, flip flops, floating noodles, goofy koozies and more beer.

Come to think of it, it’s kind of like the fridge v. the gridge. The beach grocery store is the gridge of grocery stores! It may be the same thing but it’s more fun.

Plus, everyone at a beach grocery store is wearing their beach attire—even the cashiers. Sometimes people are even shirtless and barefoot. It’s like a Kenny Chesney song!

At beach grocery stores, the sun is always shining and you can actually see it because all the doors and windows are open. At mainland grocery stores there’s no natural light and you have no idea what time it is. It’s like a Vegas casino.

The food from the beach grocery store even tastes better. It must be the salt air.

We’re going visit my relatives in North Carolina at the beach this weekend. We need to stop at the grocery store to pick up things for Leo. My Aunt suggested that, as we drive in from the airport, we go to the grocery store on the mainland. “It’s Memorial Day weekend and it will be crazy at any grocery store close to the beach,” she told me. But that’s what I LOVE about beach grocery stores—the craziness!

I had to get my feelings on beach grocery stores in writing because get this: I’ve been sharing my thoughts on the topic for years and then one day, Frank suddenly blurted out in a conversation with other people, “I just love beach grocery stores. There’s something so cool about going to the grocery store at the beach.” The people he was talking to nodded in agreement.

“WHAT?” I interrupted. “THAT’S MY THING! LOVING BEACH GROCERY STORES IS SOMETHING I MADE UP! YOU STOLE IT!”

They all looked at me like I was wack-o and Frank said, “I’m sure more than one person likes beach grocery stores” as everyone nodded and tried to discreetly make the universal sign for “crazy.”

I still maintain that Frank stole my spiel. I’m going to get him back. Not only am I going to dominate every conversation with MY adoration for beach grocery stores, but I’m going to make him go to that dark, dreary mainland grocery store this weekend. And when he’s not looking, I’m going to sneak off to a beach grocery store. Oh, it’s on!

How to be a good boy

According to Leo, all it takes to be a good boy is to hold your hands in this position and smile:

I asked him the other day, "Can you be a good boy?" He said, "Yes!" I asked, "How are you going to be a good boy?" I expected him to say, "I share" or "Be nice" or "Be quiet" or "I pick up toys." Instead, he put his hands like in the picture above and said, "Like This!" And with his two-year-old accent, it sounded like, "Like Dis!"

Here, he demonstrates it:

If only it were that easy!

How can I make you smile today?

 

“Hi, Thank you for calling Dr. Roof. My name is Nancy. How can I make you smile today?”

That’s seriously how they answer the phone every time. Isn’t that more of a greeting for a dentist’s office or a spa or Disney World?

I’m thinking, I don’t think there is anything you could do or say that would make me smile. I mean, I’m not mad. It’s just that I have to pay $185 for you to come out and fix one measly shingle on my roof. I’m sure glad you’re gonna do it because I don’t want it to rain inside my house. But it would be weird if I smiled about it.

So I made my appointment for Rick the roofer to come out. But later I decided that time wouldn’t work.

I called back. “Hi, Thank you for calling Dr. Roof. My name is Nancy. How can I make you smile today?”

“I need to reschedule my appointment,” I told her and then went on to tell her that if Rick comes as late as 1:30 and then has to do work on the roof, that could interfere with my kid’s nap. She then suggested that he come between 11:30 and 12:30. I said, “Okay, but does he have anything even earlier?”

“You know what, I’m going to make it work,” she said.

I said, “No, no. 11:30-12:30 is fine!”

“I want to do anything I can to make you smile today!”

Woah. She meant what she said. And I was smiling.

“What about 9-10, is that good? DOES THAT MAKE YOU SMILE?”

Forget smiling. I was laughing now.

“Yes,” I answered between laughs.

“DOES IT? DOES THAT MAKE YOU SMILE?”

Now I’m hysterically laughing.

“Yes! Yes!” I said. “That makes me smile!!”

“Good. Because all I want to do is make you smile!”

Gotta hand it to Dr. Roof. They are serous about smiles. This lady should work at Disney World.

Prom Practice

Leo’s friend Olivia came over to play yesterday. Since we have a surplus of boys in the neighborhood, all the two-year-old boys are after this lovely lady.

Apparently, Leo is really thinking ahead because he’s already trying to convince Olivia that he would make a great prom date. As you can see in the video above, he tried to impress her with his dance moves.

He really came on strong when he insisted she pose for a prom style photo with him:

 

 

She eventually gave in:

Don’t worry, Dawson, John and Etienne.  You still have a chance. Leo may have wowed her with his dancing skills but he was not very polite when it came to sharing toys. And who wants a prom date who screams, “NO, THAT’S MY CHOO CHOO TRAIN!” ?

The Merry Merry Month of May

I was writing the date the other day--side note: I always know the date; I rarely say, 'what's today?' I'm cool like that--and I thought, "Ah, I just love May." And then I thought, "Why do I love May so much?" (Conversation with self continues below):

I guess because it reminds me of school getting out.
But you've been out of school for (A LOT OF) years. Why do you care now?
You just never forget that awesome feeling of the last day of school. There's no homework; you can defy the dress code; everybody's just itching with excitement about the summer. I should write a blog on how May is my all-time favorite month.

To me, May is like Thursday. There's all the promise of the weekend (or in May's case, summer) but the clock hasn't started ticking yet. When Friday afternoon comes (or June), the fun has begun. So that means the fun will end. And really, looking forward to something is way better than the actual thing.

Because summertime (especially if you grew up in Texas) is really hot. May's not quite as hot. And in my memory it's always sunny and breezy in May. The shorts come out, the sleeves come off. There's just so much promise.

And then there are graduations! Sure, the actual ceremonies are boring but to finish something and celebrate it--that's wonderful! And yes, it can be scary because if you're graduating college you may not have a job yet. But on that actual graduation day, none of that matters. You've got until June to worry about that!

I really wanted to have my wedding in May but Frank did some research and presented to me (in bar graph form) why April was better. Contrary to the whole "April showers brings May flowers" chant, May actually produces more rain historically than April (at least in Dallas). So how could I argue with such a compelling (and romantic) argument?

Still, I have lots of fun memories of May--dozens of last days of schools, graduations, our trip to Europe, other people's weddings (who apparently didn't see Frank's bar graph) and my grandma's annual Memorial Day pig picking.

Enjoy it while it lasts; there are just 12 days left. And I didn't even have to consult a calendar before I wrote that.

Smoothie Operator

 

 

Now that Leo can drink through a straw (he was a late straw-sucker), I thought we could try smoothies. This, I decided, would be a great way to  sneak in some vegetables. I mean, even if you don’t like to eat carrots, you’ll drink them when mixed with sugar and milk, right? We didn’t start with veggies though. I did your traditional fruit-based smoothie. I got Leo all involved too. He loved helping me make “mooeys.”

Here we are, getting ready for our little project. By the way, the apron…cute or cruel?

 

Leo’s reaction to the blender:

Enjoying our fruity drinks—a blend of frozen berries, milk and Yo Baby.  He took a few sips but the novelty wore off fast. He quickly pushed it away, saying, “Mama, please take.”

One thing he didn’t want me to take? The apron! Guess that’s a keeper.  Sorry, Daddy!

Cruel Summer

When I was a little Writinggal, I was so insanely jealous of kids who had pools in their backyards. Our next door neighbors “the kids”  had one. The dorky guy down the street had one. And the girl on the next street over who was my age but looked like she was 16? She had one too.

But here’s the thing with kids and pools: If you own a pool, you’re kinda sick of it. Sure, at first you swim in it every day but just like any other new toy, you get bored. Well, us kids without a pool were never bored of the idea. I wanted to go swimming in one of those pools every day during the summer. But the pool-kids were so stingy with them!

The rule was that I could never ask to go in their pools. I had to be invited. Oh, it was so hard to not even drop hints: “Boy, it sure is hot outside. Have you noticed that? If only there was a way we could cool off…and also jump from some sort of board into some water…”

One day I was walking down the street in our neighborhood with one of my friends. The dad of the girl who always looked like a teenager came out and said, “Hi! Would you girls like to go for a swim?”

“YES!” we both replied and before I could even turn to dart home and get my suit, towel (and permission from my mom, of course), this jerk said, “I bet you would!” The fact that I still remember that means it left a big mark of disappointment on me. (That, and I have a pretty awesome memory.)

“The kids” next door were no better. I could hear them splashing and playing through out adjoining fences and I longed to escape my backyard full of grass and go to their oddly-landscaped yard, featuring big ceramic shoes with plants growing out of them.

Dorky dude was the worst. I never once swam in his pool. Come to think of it, though, he was a little pudgy so maybe he was embarrassed to be seen in swimwear. Forgivable.

If one day I have a pool in my backyard, I’m going to invite all the neighbor kids so come swim in it. But really, there’s that whole liability issue and all the work involved in keeping up with the pool and my own kids would probably get bored of it quickly. I think I’ll just let them be kids who beg other kids to let them swim in their pools. It will be a good learning experience for them. Give ‘em something to write about one day.

And now (since I’m still excited about this new feature where I can insert maps into blogs), I’ll show you Friendswood, Texas, where all of this took place. See? down there just south of Houston. From here it looks so close to the ocean I don’t know why I cared about pools!

Playing Potty

Our pediatrician told us that he wants Leo potty trained by kindergarten. So with the pressure off, we just put a potty in our half bathroom and let Leo take the lead. For awhile he talked about it, played with it and even said he wanted to use it. But he didn’t.

Last week though, a breakthrough. He sat on it. Well, he’s sat on it before but this time he put the lid up and sat on it. Now since I took this picture and video he’s actually sat on it with his pants down but didn’t leave any gifts for us in the potty.

 

The best part was when he asked me to leave the room. No problem. Shall I give you a magazine too?