I woke up at 5:45 this morning on purpose...

...to go running. I am so excited about this new morning person I am becoming. We will see how long it lasts.

And his nickname is...

We were at the library waiting for a music class to start and Dash was over flirting with a couple kids who were also patiently waiting. Nels walked up and proudly announced that "This is my baby." The little girl asked Nels what his baby's name was and Nels told her it was Dashiell, but that his nickname was "the San Francisco treat".

You know, like "Dash-a-roni, the San Francisco treat".

Under the chapter titled 'What NOT to do' in the Parenting book

I told Nels, unequivocally, that we would not be going to the park with his friends because he had not been listening or helpful at all. A half hour later I am at the park chit-chatting with my friends and Nels is frolicking in the sand with his.

The very next day I told Nels that if he didn't want to finish his breakfast that was fine, but he would have to eat it for lunch. I forgot about the cold oatmeal in the fridge and he had his favorite, PB and J, for lunch.

Even if there was a book, I would still fail.

Rhinoceros are nocturnal

About a month ago we were up in the middle of the night with Nels for about an hour trying to get him to go back to sleep. He had been awakened by a noise outside his bedroom. We explained that it was probably some sort of animal. Don't ever tell your child that an animal made a noise outside his bedroom window. For the last month we have had to go into his bedroom every night before he goes to bed and listen for noises and often times we are awakened in the night to listen for noises. We need to figure out how to get him out of this awful phase.
Tonight I decided to try a new method and ask him what he was afraid of. I started with lizards. "Are you afraid of lizards?"I asked. "No, lizards don't make noise." "Are you afraid of raccoons?" He said he was and we then discussed that he was larger than a raccoon and didn't need to be afraid of raccoons. I asked him about skunks, and we figured he could run faster than a skunk, so he didn't need to worry about them. Then I asked him if he was afraid of rhinoceros. When he said he was I quickly said there was no way there were any rhinoceros in our back yard. He just as quickly said that the hill in our neighbor's backyard had lots of animals in it. Which is when I came up with a solution. I told him tomorrow we were going to go over to the neighbor's house and check out that hill in the backyard for animals that we might need to be worried about. He than said "Well, mama, rhinoceros are nocturnal."

Do you think we might find any rhinoceros droppings back there? Maybe a cave where the rhino goes during the day?

Butterflies in my stomach

Do you remember when you were a kid and your parents told you you were going to Disneyland, or on a big trip somewhere wonderful. I remember having a hard time sleeping the night before and I distinctly remember butterflies in my stomach. What a wonderful feeling!
I don't have that very often any more. Disneyland just doesn't do it for me like it used to. There are two distinct times I DO, however, remember having that feeling in the last several years. Once when I was talking about my husband either right before or right after we were married. The other times have been when I go into check on my two sleeping boys before I go to bed. Despite everything I might complain about on a regular basis, I love my family. They give me butterflies in my stomach.

Harry and the Potters

Last week we went down to San Juan Capistrano for "Capistrano Nights" which is a concert series/community event. There was great music, delicious food, a fun atmosphere with face painting and even a drawing for a bike. All Free! We had a blast.

As a result I was looking forward to the "Harry and the Potters" concert tonight at the Mission Viejo Library, a kick-off to the 10 year celebration of the library opening. It was like I was attending my first quidditch tournament, I was so excited. Even though Nels was a stinker today and did nothing I asked at any point during the day, I couldn't follow through with my vain threat to not go to the concert if he didn't shape up. We went. It was horribly disappointing. I now sit here bewildered at the idea that this band is on a world tour.

What do you want to do when you grow up?

Nels saw this the other day and declared "I want to do that when I grow up."