You are the perfect Mommy........

in the best home ever! These are the words that Wyatt uttered to me as I was putting on a new DVD for him. I'll tell you, I really needed to hear those after a rather frustrating day. That started me thinking (stop chuckling). What does the perfect Mommy do? Let me give you the Wyatt version:

Wakes with little resistance to demands to go downstairs while carrying a box full of toys and getting fresh ice water (more on the box full of toys later).
Finds TV shows on demand and by episode.
Short order cook for such items as peanut butter and jelly, Taco Bell (his word for bean burritos if they are from Taco Bell or not).
Cures head bumps, scrapes, scratches and the list of minor and major ailments.
Settles disputes with 2, 1 year old sisters.
Plays, plays, plays whatever the game is.
Endures endless temper tantrums and rants.
Tries to find activities for a 3 year old with a zero attention span (learned this yesterday while trying to make Thanksgiving Turkey project).

And various other things.

And, this brings me to our bedtime ritual and the box of toys. For the past year, we have a bedtime ritual. It may change a bit here and there, get longer or shorter, but there is one always in place. So, all of you out there who don't have kids or those of you who do, but may have forgotten, I will remind you.

First, we start with begging, not from Wyatt, but from me. It goes somewhat like this, "Wyatt, time to go to bed", me. Wyatt, "but I am not ready to go to bed, Mommy. One more Diego, please." Me, "OK, but only one more." I usually try and stick to this. Sometimes I give him a 15 minute warning, sometimes 5. You get the idea. Well, when he finally acquiesced, I have to carry up the toys of the week, for the past couple of weeks it has been this box of them.
He doesn't play with them when he gets upstairs, he doesn't even take them out. He just has to have them with him. Also, must have his blanket and ice water. We go up there, I read him 1-2 books. Then I must cover him up with his blanket, animal print side up, and his sheet. Then I sing him, "You are my sunshine (once regular way and once with his name in it), while patting him, then I sing him a made up song follow that with about 20 kisses and 20 "I love yous" a couple of questions and then he goes to bed. But, I also get the satisfaction of knowing I am the perfect Mommy.........

Gotta run........my short order cook skills are being requested!

And I blamed the dryer.........

You know that sock that is always missing. Well, I thought it disappeared to sock world somewhere in the dryer. I believed their was a place that sucked out that one sock once you closed the dryer door, some sort of secret door where the socks escaped. Once they escaped they all hung out with other mismatched socks forever more. Well, I was wrong..........

And then they turned 1

What have we done lately to make them so happy? The sick gods are shining upon us, we have made them VERY happy lately. My poor baby girls were sick on their birthday. Well, shall I say, Maggie was sick. Technically, Ally got sick after her birthday. Because of this and various other sickness (my back)we decided to delay the festivities until the day after their birthday (October 31). I knew that we would be combining many of birthday parties with Halloween, I just didn't know it would be this soon. Wyatt kept telling me he wanted to wear his Thomas costume for the "sisters" birthday and he was right, he would (note: he got sick in between Maggie and Ally). So, we put together their toys on the 31st and just set them out, Ally was hip. She loved the kitchen set. She played in it for a while. When Maggie saw it, she just sat their in stared, in a sick induced fog. In fact, she just played with a frying pan (toy) for a few minutes and then wanted someone to hold her. Well, on Sunday (Nov. 2)when she was feeling better, she discovered the frying pan had a kitchen set to go with it. She played and laughed, finally feeling better. So, their first birthday will always be remembered for them (along with their brother and my mother) being sick and my back surgery. Well, let's hope their second is better. In true form, they were still dressed to the nines although it was day late.