Spiderwebs in nose?

The other day while Chloe and I were waiting for the oil on the van to be changed, she looked up at me while I was standing above her and said with a very concerned look, "daddy, you have spiderwebs inside your nose." Once I was finished cracking up, I explained to her that as we age, hair grows more in some places than in others. I think the spiderweb thing made more sense to her though.

The Place Where Dreams Don't Come True

So when Aaron came home the other day from work to tell me that he had Friday off and he wanted to go somewhere fun I instantly thought, "Disneyland!" The kids have never been, I have not been in over 20 years and we only live 2 hours away. It was meant to be! So I checked the weather and yes! it was only going to be 65 degrees and cloudy! Perfect! Then we got something that Southern California almost never gets: WEATHER. Yep, wind and rain and in some parts, like Anaheim where Disneyland is conveniently located, hail. I am greatly disappointed. Thank goodness I did not tell the kids of our planned adventure. Oh well, a different day I guess.

Hiking

On Friday the Hermanson Family took an impromptu hiking trip to the Palm Springs Tramway. It was perfect weather, beautiful views, the kids loved it. Overall a great time.

flying high

Below is a photo of Ryder getting "double bounced" by Chloe for the first time. Serious hang time baby. Much to our surprise he got right back up, giggling uncontrollably, and began jumping again. Long live monkeys....good times.

no shirt dad

Lately Ryder has been wanting to "wrestle" at every waking moment. It goes kinda like this. "Hey dad, you want to wrestle?" He takes me by the hand and leads me to the arena he has chosen for the day (My bed, the family room, etc...) and then insists that he take his shirt off. He then says, "take your shirt off dad!" If there were a bowl of mud near by I get the feeling he would want to smear some all over us before we engage in battle. The second my shirt comes off he charges me and dives into me like a WWF wrestler. This goes on for quiet a while and of course he annihilates me until I'm practically unconscious. The whole experience is a crack up. Who needs to win the lotto when you have times like these. Priceless!

New Words

Ryder: Mama, I wanna go outside!

Mama: Well, you have to put on your shoes.

Ryder: No, I wanna be bo-feet!

Mama: Barefeet?

Ryder: Yeah, bo-feet.

Mama: Oh okay.

Spelling Bee

Last week, Aaron and I took the kids to eat at the Applebee's down the road. They love Applebee's, so much that I think Applebee's was Ryder's second word. We don't eat there that often but when we do it is a treat. While we were eating Chloe felt that the conversation was lacking and brought up a topic that she is very much interested in, spelling. First it just started out as, "How do you spell....?" then as if we had injected both of them with a high concentration of sugar Chloe blurts out, "Dad! You're a W-I-O-X! Dad! You're a P-I-O-S! Dad! You're a X-Y-R!" and so on. Both Ryder and Chloe thought this was funnier than a Spongebob Squarepants episode and were doubled over in laughter. Then because Ryder did not want to be left out of the high hilarity going on at the table he said, "Dad.....YOU'RE A MAMA!" and really, what is funnier than that?

So spelling has taken over in the house. I think I spell out about 415 words a day many of them repeats. After about the 103rd word I usually try to turn these spelling tournaments into a proactive learning experience for Chloe. She'll ask, "Mom, how do you spell 'tree'? To which I'll answer, "Well, let's sound it out. Tah, tah, tah, what letter makes that sound?" By now Chloe eyes have glazed over and her brain is on lockdown. This frustrates me to no end because I know that in about 2.5 seconds she'll have another word for me to spell but will have no interest in spelling it herself. After witnessing her total disinterest in figuring out the letters herself it reminded me of a time when I ask my dad what I thought to be a very simple 'yes' or 'no' question. I remember being about 13 or 14 on a Sunday afternoon, it had to have been because it was a church related question. I asked, "Hey Dad, is the like benediction like a prayer?" Immediately, I knew that I was not going to get my yes or no answer because he got quite comfortable leaning up against the kitchen counter and he began, "Well, Lyndsey, it all began in the 15th century when a group of monks....." after that my brain clicked off. When Dad was finished he had that twinkle in his eye that beg to ask, "What other information may I bless you with my daughter?" to which I asked, "So like do I need to close my eyes?" I can understand the frustration my parents must have felt. So, do you need to close your eyes during the benediction? I don't know. Can't remember. It's a good thing we don't attend a church that includes a benediction because I would be totally stressing out.

To clarify, there are plenty of information that my parents have blessed me with that I do remember. However it took many more years of learning to listen before it actually sunk in. For now, I will continue to sound out words with the hope that Chloe will engage in the activity. And when she does we will celebrate....at Applebee's.

Our Emergency Room Adventure

I think there is at least one child in every family who is more likely than the other family members to enjoy a trip to the local emergency room. Ryder is that child in our family. So far during his short 2 1/2 year existence we have managed to go to the emergency room twice which isn't all that bad really. Last October when visiting my folks in Georgia, Ryder started having some trouble breathing and the rescue inhaler wasn't doing too much rescuing. So away we went to spend quality family time at the Perry Hospital. Nice place. After about 4 hours of breathing treatments and other various assortments of tests, he was pronounced healed and was promptly discharged.

This past Monday, Ryder began having some breathing issues, coughing and wheezing. Again the rescue inhaler was not really bringing his breathing back to normal just more or less helped him stop coughing for about 2 hours. I'm that type of mom who will silently panic, I mean hope, that whatever ailment is plaguing my child will go away on its own. Usually it does but not Monday. So I packed up a tote bag full of books, snacks, water, blankets, and jackets expecting a long stay at the emergency room. Chloe and Ryder were very excited about our adventure until Chloe informed Ryder that he would probably get a shot and it would hurt. A lot. Chloe was then reprimanded and Ryder consoled. Away we went.

Altogether we were at the hospital for 1 1/2 hours which was shorter than the wait at our drive-thru Starbucks. I have no complaints. The kids behaved fantastically. They were a little freaked out when a little boy down the hall from us was screaming his head off (stitches, maybe??). I do know it had to do something with his foot though. When I told Chloe and Ryder that the little boy had a hurt foot and that the doctors were going to take care of him she asked, "Are they going to cut it off?" I don't think I'll let her watch "Gone with the Wind" anytime soon.

We arrived back home about 10pm and the kids were fast asleep. I was seriously hoping that maybe they would sleep in until at least 6:30. No, that was not to happen. Ryder woke up at his normal time of 5:30. Ugh. I went into his room to inform him that it was not time to be awake. Go back to bed. About 30 minutes later, Aaron went into his room to check on him. He was lying on his bed, wide awake, with the sun shining on his face through the crack in the curtain. Then the following conversation took place:

Ryder: Is it morning yet, Dad?

Aaron: Yep, it's morning.

Ryder: YAY!!!!!! Wanna play tennis, Dad?

Everything is back to normal.