You Want to What???

Thanks to the loving folks who make the show Bubble Guppies, I am now faced with a reminder of one of my biggest fears well earlier than I thought I would be. While Amelia and I were watching an episode this weekend where they fly somewhere, she turned to me and said "I want to fly on a plane....with Daddy!".  Most of you who know me know she might as well have said "I want to stand in a pit of snakes and play Russian roulette...with Daddy!!".  From 1998 to 2008 I flew exactly 0 times. I have flown 3 times since - once to see if I would have a heart attack, once for work, and once to take Meggan to New York.  Luckily, I didn't die on any of those flights. Unfortunately, the stress of them probably shortened my life by 5 years on the back end.

I'm not dumb enough to think I was going to avoid this problem forever. But, sort of like boyfriends and training bras, I just hoped if I never mentioned it, maybe she wouldn't notice until she was 20 or so.  The irony is that I want Amelia to travel. I want her to see the world. But, I want her to do it with passion and zest....not Xanax and stomach aches. 

I know I will be able to put off flying for a little while longer, but it has now become a topic...a topic I'm sure Meggan will revel in bringing up as often as she can. It isn't that she doesn't love me. It's that she so badly wants me to fly and knows using a child-induced guilt trip is probably the best shot she has. I want my children to face their fears, so eventually I'll have to do something because there is only so much room on this dad-pedestal I stand on and frankly it's getting a little crowded with all the hypocrisy floating around.

For anyone who thinks it is not a big deal and I should just suck it up...1) In a weird way, I agree. 2) Strap yourself in a straight jacket and get locked in a coffin for about 3 hours ...that's how flying feels to me...and you'll only get to Texas in that time frame. Stay in there another 6 to go see Europe. In the meantime, if you see any 3 year-olds dragging their dad out of a plane Weekend at Bernie's style, you'll have Bubble Guppies to thank.

Well, At Least She Had A Reason

As we were getting ready for bath time tonight, I realized I didn't have Amelia's towel. So, I put her in the tub and went to get it. I told her not to turn on the water until I returned....and she didn't. So, I actually have to give her credit for following orders.  However, what I didn't understand was I apparently needed to specify "don't turn on the water and also don't pee all over your Dora bath mat."  As I walked back into the bathroom all I saw was Amelia bent over doing absolute pee pee work in the bathtub.  Given the fact I am still a little upset about the incident she had on Everett's carpet, I decided to take a breath before I reacted...

Me: Amelia, why did you walk past the potty just to tee tee in the tub?!?

Amelia: (after pausing to think about it) because I don't like Dora anymore. I like Go, Diego, Go.

Me: Well, at least you had a reason.

So, there you have it. Evidently, if you were wondering the best way to let something or someone know you moved on, just pee on them.  They'll probably take the hint.

Picnic

I'm on my way to a picnic with Amelia's class. While Meggan and I will stop by to check in on Everett while we're at the school, it is still nice to have special things with only Amelia. If her recent antics are any indication, I'm guessing she will appreciate the solo attention as well.

Limited Posts

I know the posts have been limited recently.  I am trying to put the finishing touches on something I am entering in a writing competition next week. This leaves me with far less time for the blog. I apologize. It should pick back up soon, though.

Over and Over and Over and Over

There is a weird thing happening in my house and I don't even know what to think of it. Essentially, every single night (for a long time now), Meggan takes the lid off this candle. Every single morning when Amelia walks down stairs, she puts the lid back on it. We've only actually seen this happen live on a few occasions as she normally does it some form of child-ninja mode. Neither one of them ever speaks of this and there is no rhyme or reason for why either of them do it. Yet, without fail, the lid goes off at night and goes back on in the morning. I'm not sure which one of them I feel is crazier for this habit. For the time being, I'll give the nod to Amelia as I'm pretty sure Meggan is only doing it now to see how long Amelia will continue. Then again, a part of me can imagine Amelia thinking each morning "Poor OCD mommy took the lid off again. Let me put it back on for her so she can do it again tonight".  Hmmm, I guess it isn't mutually exclusive...maybe they are both a little off their rockers.

A Beautiful Sight

You might not be able to tell what this is a picture of, so let me tell you....this is a a snapshot of both "baby" monitors with a sleeping child in each (Amelia is the lump under her blankets). One monitor is to make sure Everett is doing fine and isn't having any reflux problems. The other monitor is to make sure Amelia isn't jumping on her bed, peeing on the floor, or generally wreaking havoc on her room. That said, any time both of these monitors are on and both kids are sleeping is like a little slice of heaven.

Suggestions

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to handle it when your 95% potty trained 3 year-old walks into her little brother's room fully naked, slightly bends over and pees all over his carpet while you are standing there?  The first 7 things that came to mind were absolutely no good. 4 of them were going to get Child Services called on me, 2 of them were going to get the police called, and the last one was going to make me have a hard answer for the Man upstairs. So, instead of any of those options, she ended up going to bed by herself with no lullabies. For her, this might have been worse than most of the things on my list.