He still loves Buzz

Little Elvis' 5th birthday is coming up. We've sent out invitations to 6 friends. Normally, we do one friend for each year, but since I don't know most of these kids, I figure some might not show up.

He's excited about his birthday party and has been offering lots of suggestions. People used to ask me what to get him, but they don't anymore. Which, judging by the turn of events this week, is just fine.

His party will be held at the fire station here in town. Up until recently, he was very into smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, fire exits and the like. But that is waning. He still likes smoke detectors and fire extinguishers, and is excited about having a party anywhere buy his home.

He did say he still wanted the tin "FIRE EXTINGUISHER" sign to hang up in his room. (Yay, my grandmother is getting him that.) But he's decided that he doesn't need CAUTION tape anymore. (I'm fine with this, because I had no idea where we were going to hang up a whole spool's worth of caution tape.) Or any other street signs. He's got a couple, and says he might want them for his birthday next year.

Transformers are not even mentioned anymore. That's also fine.

What is mentioned? Toy Story. He's been dressing as Buzz most days. His little costume is almost too small and is definitely super-stained. But Bob says he thinks we shouldn't waste our time looking for a costume in a bigger size.

He told us he wanted Zurg -- that's the bad guy in Toy Story 2. He said he wanted the one that shot balls. That one doesn't exist. Luckily, he saw one in Wal-Mart that he loved. It's not as big, doesn't shoot balls, but he swore that was the one he wanted. It was the last one, and I snuck back to get it. Thankfully, it wasn't huge.

Now, he wants a glow in the dark Buzz. His very beloved Spanish-speaking Buzz doesn't glow in the dark. The one he saw at Wal-Mart doesn't glow in the dark either. It flashes bright green when you press a button. It's $40. Other than the green lights, it's just like his current Buzz. He had to count all of his money when we got home after viewing this new Buzz. He doesn't have enough. I told him he'd get birthday money in a couple of weeks, but that didn't help. In his mind, his birthday is 2 months away, since it's still January. And months are long!

I'm attempting to find a just plain glow in the dark Buzz on ebay. Not much luck yet, but I will hold out hope. I told him that it might be cheaper if I find it online. He was intrigued.

If anyone RSVPs and asks, I think I'll tell them green Army men. He loves those little plastic guys, and we've stepped on and destroyed most of the ones he had. Baby Plum accidentally destroyed Little Elvis' much-loved helicopter last night. I keep telling him that he if he leaves those things out on the floor, in the middle of a doorway, that's what will happen.

The other item he's told me he wants for his birthday? An iPad. I just laughed. He definitely won't be getting that.

What about Mommy?

Little Elvis spends as much of his weekend with my parents as possible. Today, he got out of school early for teacher workshops. I took the boys out to eat at Sam's, and then dropped some eggs off for my mother.

I should have known better. Once we got there, Little Elvis refused to leave.

It hurt my feelings, because I was excited about an afternoon alone with him while Baby Plum napped. Little Elvis and I don't get much alone time anymore, and I feel like all I ever do is fuss at him.

This morning, he'd been planning fun stuff for us to do, and he seemed to really love a little book I made him last night.

But once he got to Gram's, he decided he would rather do anything than be forced to spend time with me.

It's the same way once Bob gets home from school. Usually, I'm ok with this. I have to get supper cooked, or some other chore done.

But today, I just wanted to play with him.

A future in music?

Sweet Baby Plum is feeling better. Here he is playing my parents' piano. He was singing along with the banging today, which is really cute. He actually picked out a tune on one of our little keyboards the other day.

His love for music continues to grow. He's figured out how to get into our spare guitar closet (Doesn't everyone have one of those? To hold spare guitars, banjos, cases and accordions?) so he can access the soccer ball guitar Bob bought when I was pregnant with Little Elvis. Baby Plum can get the guitar out, and even manages to put the strap around his neck. He can strum, and tries to carry it around while playing.

It's funny how different the boys are. Little Elvis hated music at this point in his life. (He still doesn't like monotonous noises, and has taken the batteries out of several of Baby Plum's toys.)

Little Elvis also has no interest in practicing. If he's not automatically good at something, then he doesn't want to do it. We think Baby Plum will be a practicer. He seems to like monotony.

Most nights, Bob will pick out the same notes on the mandolin, banjo or guitar. I think Baby Plum will be like that. Little Elvis gets the no-like-to-practice gene from me.

Bob is still hoping for a family band. If their personalities continue at this rate, we think Little Elvis will be the lead singer (wow, does he love an audience) and Baby Plum will be the lead guitarist. Cheese Puff is a mover and a shaker. Maybe he'll be the drummer?

Baby Plum isn't napping

Baby Plum isn't napping. He isn't going to nap today. He's spoiled me since the days of forcing Little Elvis to nap. So when Baby Plum does fight naps, I'm thrown.

The good news is that today was the last day of the awful medicine. And his bottom's been looking a lot better, although his bottom is the cause of the missed nap today.

I have a houseful of chores to do anyway, and should just free him from his room, turn off the computer, and get to work.

Bob brought down all of the boys' old baby clothes for Cheese Puff. While they were put up clean, I feel the need to re-wash them and organize them. Our living room really is full of plastic bags full of baby clothes. And I have a feeling we'll be getting even more soon. It's hard to resist cute, little baby clothes.

Time to go free my big baby (Little Elvis calls Baby Plum the biggest baby in the world! and sometimes Scary Baby) and get my lazy self to work.

Since this post has been so random, I've been reading several thought-provoking posts on motherhood, C-sections, and politics. My mind is swimming with crazy thoughts. Maybe Baby Plum and I can discuss them while we work...

Waste of time

Little Elvis wasn't sick. He was full of energy and happiness when I picked him up from school on Wednesday. No fever, no headache, lots of energy.

After more than an hour of being locked in a 4 x 5 waiting room with both boys, I was exhausted. They completely depleted my snack reserves, spilled water everywhere, and fought over the most ridiculous things. Little Elvis still doesn't understand that his brother doesn't feel well, and has no patience with the things he usually takes in stride.

In my defense, I didn't think Little Elvis had strep. But the nurse thought we should come in anyway. The doctor thinks he might have had a virus over the weekend.

Baby Plum is still taking his first prescription. He's got 3 days left. If we switched to a new one, he'd have at least a week of more issues. His little bottom still looks bad, but the mostly dairy diet has slowed him down some. We're doing a combination of diaper creams, and I've come to realize that when he starts walking like a cowboy, I need to corral him and change him.

I'm frustrated that the doctor's office gave Baby Plum such a tough antibiotic for his ear infection. She said it was very early in the infection and didn't look that bad. I wish she'd given him amoxycillin. We had to go to a different doctor for this appointment. Next time, I guess we'll wait until our doctor can see him. Although I now know that he has a strong reaction to this medicine.

When the cure is worse than the problem

There's a chance both boys are sick now.

Baby Plum's reaction to his ear infection medicine is heartbreaking. He currently has the worst diaper rash I have ever seen. Granted, I'm just a mom of two, but it's awful. He's in such pain and it literally took both Bob and me several minutes to get him in the shower this morning. The poor baby goes while sleeping and would rather stay in the dirty diaper than have us clean him. He's walking around like a bowlegged little cowboy. I've been stuffing him with dairy, and experimenting with myriad diaper rash ointments. I think I've stumbled upon a winner, and the doctor's office supposedly called in a different prescription. What a mess.

While Baby Plum suffers with his bottom, Little Elvis has been having headaches. He started complaining about his head this weekend, but seemed to rally. Yesterday, when I picked him up, he got into the car crying about his head hurting. He said it had hurt all day, but he didn't tell his teacher.

He woke up in the middle of the night with a headache and a slight fever. We tried to let him sleep in this morning, but the battle to get Baby Plum into the shower woke up Little Elvis.

He had no fever, but didn't want to go to school. Instead, he wanted to stay home and watch TV. School is apparently too long. I took him to school. And he was happy when we pulled up.

I called the doctor's office when it opened. I mentioned that Little Elvis' breath smelled funny, because I was assuming sinus problems. The nurse immediately suspected strep, even though he didn't have a fever this morning. She said it was fine that I took him to school, but he has an appointment this afternoon.

Bouncing boys

Little Elvis has become obsessed with the trampoline. This isn't always a problem. Except that it's January, Mommy is very pregnant and can't jump, and Baby Plum has been sick and doesn't always feel like jumping.

But for decent weather weekends and afternoons when Daddy gets home, Little Elvis gets to have a blast jumping.

I took these pictures last week before Baby Plum's ear infection and possible 2-year-molar cutting blues. Normally, Baby Plum wants to do whatever his brother does.
See that big grin? We love that he wants to do something so active. It's just difficult on cold, rainy winter days. It gets dark at 5 right now. So if he doesn't jump as soon as he gets home, then fits will ensue come supper time. And I'm dreading this afternoon, because it's a yucky, rainy day.

Wonder what Bob would think about getting a mini trampoline for inside the house? That would probably just be an invitation for lots of injuries....