The nasty word list

Since I'm not used to being around little kids, I apparently keep using words that are "nasty words" that we're not supposed to use. I told Rebecca & Kevin I need some sort of list so I know what I can and cannot say. Here's some of the things I'm no longer allowed to say:

1. stupid
2. dumb
3. shut up
4. poop
5. baby (this is because Titus likes to call people babies)
6. fart
7. shut your trap
8. crap
9. chowderhead
10. freakin
11. retard
12. moron
13. idiot
14. brat
15. snotrag
16. butt
    

Lights out!

Tonight the lights went out at the house for about 30 minutes & the kids had a blast! We lit candles and sat around playing games. Meg especially had fun playing with the flashlight, shining it on the ceiling and dancing around.

Man time

Titus is 4 and isn't potty-trained yet. Apparently he knows how to use the toilet, he just prefers not to. So, when Ben saw this movie yesterday he couldn't help but buy it for him. The movie recommends parents and kids watch it together, so Ben decided he, Kevin, & Titus could have some "man time" and watch it together this morning.

Thankfully I missed the whole thing, but Ben said it was actually pretty good. Personally, I find it a little disturbing that there's a "best-selling" book/movie that teaches kids about quality time on the pot. But hey, I don't change diapers.

A rough couple days

As most of you have probably previously read, Rebecca has hyperemesis, which makes her nauseous all the time during her pregnancy. She has been doing fairly well since she's been back in Maryland, but Christmas night she accidentally picked up a used band-aid off my computer desk & it started a chain of vomiting. She puked all night and yesterday Kevin had to take her to the hospital to get fluids because she was so dehydrated. Thankfully, I had already called out of work because I didn't feel like going in, so Ben & I watched the kids with the help of Kevin's parents taking them for most of the day.

Rebecca got home late last night and still didn't feel very well, but at least she wasn't dehydrated anymore. Having to see her experience this first hand has given me a new sense of sympathy for what she's going through. I can't even imagine what it must feel like to be her, but I will certainly be trying to be more supportive in whatever ways I can (starting with not leaving used band-aids laying around).

For everyone else as clueless about what she's going through as I am, here's a video of a recent news report on hyperemesis:

Well, actually...

I struggle with Meg sometimes. She's too different from me in many ways, and too similar to me in other ways. I was a tomboy growing up and Meg is very girly. I'm a career-oriented independent woman and Meg's goal in life is to be a mommy. In addition to our personality differences, we have one dangerous thing in common: we both like to be right.

Meg displays her "rightness" by correcting everyone else as often as possible by saying "Well... actually... [insert correction here]". Personally, being corrected by a 5-year old drives me absolutely NUTS! Especially because most of the time she's correct in her small version of the world, but not in the grand scheme of things. For example:

Torrie: Meg, would you like some parmesan cheese on your spaghetti?
Meg: Well... actually Aunt Torrie, we call it snow!
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[Torrie reading Rapunzel from an old fairy tale book]
Torrie: Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your golden hair!
Meg: Well... actually Aunt Torrie, that's not how it goes. In the movie it just says "let down your hair" not golden hair!
Torrie: Well, books are more accurate than movies, sweetie, so the movie must be wrong.

In both cases she was right according to her world, but I was MORE right.

This morning Meg was on a roll and in period of playing a game with Ben for 15 minutes I heard her do her "Well... actually..." at least 5 times at him. Then she came into the kitchen for lunch and tried to "Well... actually" me. The following ensued:

Torrie: Meg, if you say "actually" one more time I'm going to be upset.
Meg: Can I say "well"?
Torrie: I guess so
Meg [with a very correcting tone]: Well...
Torrie: Nevermind! You're not allowed to say "well" either. It's annoying when you do that and nobody likes a bossy girl.
Meg: But I wasn't bossing you!
Torrie: Well nobody likes a know-it-all either.
Ben [laughing]: Here we go.
Torrie [to Ben]: Well it's true, people don't like know-it-alls so I'm just trying to save her from having to suffer the social disdain of being a know-it-all when she's older.

At this point Meg started crying. I quickly tried to reassure her and thankfully it blew over pretty quickly. Hopefully at some point I'll learn how to deal with little girls, but in the mean time, I'm hoping to only have boys when it's my turn for kids.

Christmas morning!

This morning I got to experience a Dingle Christmas morning. The kids were very good & quiet & I didn't get awakened until 9:00am. Each kid got me a present that they picked out themselves. Meg got me a manger scene (apparently it's been bothering her that I don't have any Christmas decorations in my apartment) and Titus got me a necklace and earring set (yes, he's going to make some woman very happy someday!)

My favorite moment of the morning was when Titus was about to open a present that was as big as him and Kevin said, "Titus, what do you think it is?" and Titus replied, "a box!" - he's a smart little guy.

Midnight growing pains

For the past few nights, Titus has woken up & started screaming somewhere between 11pm & 1am. This hasn't been typical 'scared' screaming, or even 'sick' screaming though, this has been 'someone is murdering the poor child' screaming. Thankfully, I'm a night person & I've still been up every time the midnight screaming has begun.

He was sick when this first started, so I assumed screaming in the middle of the night is something sick kids do. But now he's all better & he still is doing his midnight screaming act. So today I finally asked Rebecca what's going on.

It turns out, the little guy is waking up in the middle of the night with gas so bad that it makes his tummy hurt and makes him scream bloody murder. Some of this may be my fault, as apparently I shouldn't give him the following things:

1. Ice cream
2. Lots of juice
   
3. Onion rings
4. Ice cream cake

I think tomorrow I'll go to the store & get some Lactaid and Beano for his Christmas stocking :)