Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Day (Kind of)

Last night was awesome (Or, not so much.)

 

I got home from work at 4:30 and Dan left to go to the Wild game with his Dad and siblings at 4:35. (It should be mentioned that he left me with a screaming Mila and a wheezing/discolored Tyson.)

 

We colored Halloween pictures. (Or, the kids colored Halloween pictures while I tried frantically to find “the! blue! one!” for Mimi while googling, “when is it necessary to bring your child into the ER for an asthma attack.”)

 

I made dinner. (In other words, I poured a little canned soup into a pot and heated it on the stove. This is where you should be impressed-I made soup on the stove! Not the microwave!)

 

The kids ate dinner. (Actually, they both just dumped said soup onto their bodies and the table for me to clean up. Come to think of it, nobody ate much of anything.)

 

We started back-to-back nebulizer treatments. (Which involved Mila yelling, “FROGGIE!” repeatedly at our froggie shaped nebulizer while Tyson yelled repeatedly at Mila to be quiet.)

 

I gave the kids a bath. (Mila pooped in the tub. We discovered it AFTER just as we started draining the water to get out of the tub.)

 

I gave the kids another bath. (Because when you bathe in poopy water, you aren’t really clean.)

 

I let them watch cartoons in my bed while drinking juice. (Of course they spilled the juice. Of course it was red.)

 

I read them each one book. (Despite their begging, pleading, crying and eventually screaming to get two books each.)

 

I put them to bed. ( I snuck back in to each of their bedrooms to watch them sleep peacefully and marvel at how I could create something so amazingly wonderful and difficult at the same time.)

  

Oh Brother.

This is “Brother” giving his baby sister a flower.

 

 

Yes, I said, "Brother." We’re contemplating a formal name change as it’s currently the only name we use for him around the house. It’s not a name we frequently used for him in the past, but somehow Mimi has deemed it the only name she will call him by.  “Brother?” is the first thing she asks me as I pick her up each morning.  It’s also the last name I hear her chanting in bed each night; “Brother! Brother! Brother!”.  

 

She’s become constantly concerned with his whereabouts. On days he’s at preschool, I hear “Brother go?” for two and a half hours straight. The “Brother go?” chant only stops when we arrive to pick him up after school when she promptly starts demanding to “Kiss Brother!” when he comes out of class.
 

 

She’s constantly worried that she and brother get the same things. She gets a fruit snack and yells at me to get, “Brother snack too!”  She gets milk, “Brother tirsty too!”  On multiple occasions, she has demanded the free-cookie lady at Target get “Brother cookie!”  even when he’s not with us.  I’ve tried to mention that this behavior might get us on the free-cookie lady’s do-not-feed list, but she doesn’t seem to listen.

 

As an approximation, I’ve heard “Brother” come out of her mouth no less than 18,000 times in the last week. And as annoying as it might come across, it’s also the cutest thing I’ve ever heard. I’m hoping I can remind her of her undying love for “Brother”  when I start hearing, “Mooommmmm TYSON is bugging me!” a little too frequently all too soon.

Grandparents Have the Word Grand in Their Name for a Reason

Tyson and Mimi,

Last weekend we said goodbye to my Grandpa Ron. Although you only met your Great Grandpa a few times (and he was Great-capital G and all), I feel like it was important for you to know a bit about him.

My Grandpa was born in Duluth, MN. He went to high school and Junior College there. After college, he was a World War II Navy Veteran. He served on submarine-how cool is that! On the submarine he traveled to the Philippines and Japan. This is a picture of the boat he served on-the S.S. Neurus.

At his funeral, they even presented my Grandma with a flag to honor his service in the Navy. After the Navy, he worked for Standard Oil as a territory manager for 38 years. He lived in Detroit Lakes, MN for most of his adult life with my Grandma where he raised his three kids-your Nanny, and my two uncles Jim and Bob. 

As he got older, he  and my Grandma had a fun cabin in Detroit Lakes where they lived in the summer and in the winters they lived in Florida. I was lucky enough to have memories with them at both homes. 

Your Great Grandpa liked to play golf, have coffee with his buddies at McDonalds, and watch sports on TV. He love the Twins and the Vikings. He loved to sing, play poker, and go to the horse races. 

You met your Great Grandpa a handful of times and he adored you. Sadly, at his funeral, I realized that you didn't see him enough. I doubt you will remember being at his house in Detroit Lakes. I don't think you'll remember when he played on the floor with you at Auntie Katie's wedding. You will never get to ask him about that really cool ship up there. Or what Japan was like. You won't get to watch a baseball game with him or ask him his opinion on the Twins this year. You won't ever get to beat him in poker or cheer for the same horse at the races. 

While I can't change what you know about your Great Grandpa Ron, I am determined to have the rest of your remaining Grandparents and Great Grandparents leave you with a legacy; their knowledge and memories. I am sending out a list of questions to your Grandparents that are still with us-nothing fancy-just questions about what their life was like growing up-what they liked to do, what their job was, what their school was like etc. As I get their responses (and I'm crossing every finger and toe that I will), I'm hoping to leave them on this blog for you-a permanent memory of the many people that know and love you-so you can know and love them too. 

Goodbye (Great) Grandpa Ron-we'll miss you. 

Love, 

Mommy 

PS: No member of our family was traumatized during this funeral. Contrary to earlier episodes, no one was forced to lock themselves in a bathroom and allow sucker eating on the floor. Tyson is still struggling to understand the concept of heaven and going to Jesus, but, then again, we all are.