More excuses

Once again, thank you google images.

Last night was a looooong night in the W household. YS was awake and crying off and on from 10pm - 4am, mostly complaining that his ear was bothering him. He didn't have a fever or any other symptoms of an infection, and when I asked him what it felt like, this is what he told me:

"It feels like either a tree or a tomato is growing in my ear."

It was around 3am. I didn't know whether to laugh, cry, or pull out my computer to blog about it.

Today was a 2-cans-of-coke kinda day, but at least I have this little gem from last night to keep me laughing.

A toe-rrific excuse

In the history of children, I'm sure there have been thousands of creative "I don't want to go to bed" stalling tactics.

"I need water."
"I need another story."
"I'm too hot."
"I'm too cold."

Etc. Etc. Etc.

Tonight, about 45 minutes after putting YS to bed, I was sitting on my bed happily watching a "Friends" rerun, when I thought I heard some stirring outside my door. At first I thought it might be YS getting a book from his bookshelf to look at in bed, but then I realized the sound I heard was unfamiliar. I opened my bedroom door and found him lying on the floor in his doorway. He seemed to be examining his feet in the light of the hallway.

Me: "YS, what are you doing?"
YS: (On the verge of tears) "I was just noticing that the nails on my feet are really long and a little bit dirty."

As I picked him up and carried him back to bed, I suggested to him that we cut his nails tomorrow afternoon. No dice. Tomorrow morning? Absolutely not. We were skating on the edge of a major tantrum, so I gave in. I found the nail clippers and cut his toenails...in the dark. He looked at me, happy and relieved, said thank you, and nestled into bed.

I'm thinking about nominating him for the most creative bedtime stalling tactic of all time.

YS's Messianic Prediction

On a daily basis, I am amused and amazed by the things that come out of YS's three and half year old mouth. Not only is it amazing to see how all of the best and worst features of D and I have come together to form his ever-developing personality, but it is truly incredible to watch the wheels in his head turn as he thinks and makes determinations about the world around him.

This morning on the way to school, we were listening to Uncle Moishy sing about Yerushalayim and the day we will all return there. With a great sense of urgency in his voice, YS asked me the following question:

"But Ima! When is Moshiach going to come?!"

I replied that I wasn't sure, but we must pray every day that he will come soon. His reply...

"Ok, but it may take a while, so we have to be patient. It may take a few weeks."

How do you reply to that?! My response: "I hope you're right."

Purim Planning 2011

Thanks to Adar Bet, I have been able to procrastinate in my Purim planning this year. In fact, I had kind of skipped over it in my head, skipping happily over costumes and graggers and mishloach manot and moving straight to Pesach stressing. However, once I got recruited to help plan the shul's annual Purim fundraiser, I realized it was time to stop dragging my heels and start preparing!

Even though I'm sure I could put my creative thinking cap on and make a costume from scratch, I honestly just don't have the time, energy, or desire right now. Maybe another year. Maybe. So instead, I will be relying on costumes made by someone else, preferably ones that will be able to withstand multiple uses. I'm already anticipating that YS will need to wear his at school, at shul Saturday night, to shul Sunday morning, and to the seuda Sunday afternoon. That requires a lot of endurance, and a made-by-me costume just isn't going to do.

I've gotten lucky the past few Purims. Thanks to recycled costumes from cousins, I haven't actually had to buy a costume until this year. I tried hitting the stores post-Halloween to get some good deals, but as soon as the clock struck midnight and the calendar changed to November, the costumes were off of the shelves and put away until next year. So, I am actually sucking it up and spending money on store-bought costumes, because sometimes I'm allowed to be lazy and do it the easy way.

Did I say easy way? In my head, this is how my planned conversation with YS was going to go:

Me: Do you want to be a dinosaur for Purim?
YS: Yes! I do! I will happily wear my costume to all events and won't complain a bit.

In reality, the conversations (yes, there were several) went like this:

Me: What do you want to be for Purim?
YS: A moon! And you will be night. And AM will be the stars. And Abba will be the sun.

Will a moon costume be easy to buy online? No? VETO! Try again.

Me: Since "Dinosaur Train" is your new favorite show, do you want to be a dinosaur for Purim?
YS: No. I want to be a window.

VETO! A window? Seriously? While I was happy that he wasn't begging to be a super hero like most boys in his class, I was a bit perplexed at his choice of costumes. Try again.




I sat at the computer for a LONG time and looked through my options on the Toys R Us website. I decided on a cute scarecrow for AM. I figured he'll look adorable even if he refuses to wear the hat.





For YS, I narrowed it down to a few good options and revisited the subject with him.

Me: Do you want to be a dinosaur or a blue crayon for Purim? Blue is your favorite color!
YS: A blue crayon!
Me: Ok, great! You'll be a blue crayon and AM will be a scarecrow.
YS: I want to be a scarecrow! I'll be a blue crayon next year.

So we sat together at the computer and looked for a 4T scarecrow costume, but alas, there was nothing in a reasonable price range. Finally, I pulled up the list of 4T boys costumes and let him scroll through. In the end, this is what we ordered:

Thank you Toysrus.com for making my life easier. Now I just have to pray that they fit and he doesn't change his mind in the next three weeks. Hahahaha. Yeah right. Let's just say I won't be cutting off any tags until Purim night!