Oatmeal Ain't for Eatin!

Today was an absolute 3 ring circus in the Thompson household! Now most would take that as a bad day- no. It wasn't necessarily bad...just crazy. It started as normal as most mornings...we slept in, we ate breakfast, I went to work, Mason went to school, Nate went to take a final. Yep! It's also finals week. So, if something was going to go wrong, OF COURSE it would have to be this week. Now for most college kids, that means that their computer is going to crash, they sleep through their final, etc. For us, it means I'm going to get a call in the kitchen of Mason's school (that's where I work) saying that I need to go down there and look at him because he has "a strange rash starting". My first thought- "Uh, no...he got into the markers/pens again". But no. He did indeed have a strange rash. I called the dr. We went the Dr. said it was indeed "weird"...which Mason informed him "Weird is not nice." Good listening Mason. Telling people they are weird is not nice. Ok, we've covered that and it's sticking- positive number 1 for the day!

However, after 2 rounds of benadryl, an amazing amount of hyperness- yep, I made up that word AND  one might give their child benadryl for the chance to have a good night's sleep or for their child to be quiet in church, I'm not sayin it's right- but it happens. - not this girl...benadryl makes mine act like a freakin monkey!

I've called 2 different dr's because I'm not exactly thrilled with the one who saw Mason today telling me that he's "Not concerned at all" with this rash- which by the way is not strep. Really?!? Not concerned that my child has blown up like Violet on Willy Wonka, or the fact that my husband is now referring to our child as "Puff the Magic Dragon" and "Mason 'Puffy' Combs"?!? I wanted to tell him he's an idiot (the dr. not Nate..well...actually....), but again- we're tackling the "Being nice to people" issue. So practicing what we preach is a must...I guess.

So, after Mason told me he was itchy and looks like he has ants in his pants- we went to the Oatmeal Method. What little boy likes to take baths? Mine does if there's LOTS of bubbles, but that wasn't happening because I don't know what he's allergic to. So, we went for oatmeal- playing in dirty water is fun, right?! As long as mom doesn't look at it and can overcome her OCD sense to scrub the little one from head to toe, yes.

 So we played in oatmeal and rubbed it all over. It's a slimey paste but a fun one!

 These are his beautiful but "Puffy" blue eyes.

 Your screen isn't fuzzy- the little bumps you see are indeed there. :(

You can't see very well in this picture, but his back is pretty much all red. It's better but not amazing. Children don't come with instruction manuals, so any advice on hives would be much appreciated. It's not a different soap, food, animal, t.v. show, trash bag, toy, crayon or anything else that people have mentioned. I've been through all that...this is just "weird".

So now I'm going to study for finals and pray this doesn't get worse or I will be studying for finals in the E.R. ....bright side, they have better light. And free coffee.

Coloring the World

Let's face it. When you become a parent, there are distinct differences between a mommy and a daddy...and no I'm talking about parts. I'm talking parenting styles. In our house, Mommy is a "Let's finger paint, read a book, make bread or do the most fun activity of all called clean your room" kinda mom. Daddy is a "it's ok if you jump off the couch because I'm gonna tackle you in mid air and scare the crap out of your mom" kinda dad.

However, on cold nights when Daddy (aka- the fun one) isn't home to wrestle and tackle and make our downstairs neighbors think a herd of hippos are coming through the floor any second now, there's only so much finger painting, book reading and other "calm" activities that can be done. So I found this lovely little gem of fun- Making Crayons!

You may no longer get after your child for peeling and breaking crayons. Oh wait, my kid's the only one that considers that a favorite activity?!? Well now you can call it "Helping"...he does. So you take all those little pieces, continue to unwrap them, and you melt them! I used small silicone muffin cups but baby food jars or containers would work great too.

Then you pick out the colors you want! (This is good color learning/mixing colors to make new colors activity too!) Melt them in the microwave (we're talking seconds here people! Minutes make a new colored microwave and a fireman knocking on your door...and we may or may not be talking from experience here) and pour them into mint molds! Freeze for about 20 minutes, pop 'em out and WALA!!! You have NEW AWESOME Crayons!  :)

We chose Fall colors- This is red, green and orange. The orange is better seen on the back.

These are red, white and green Christmas Trees.

A Christmas Colored stocking. I recommend using the rubber mint molds more than plastic. The plastic ones are a bit thin and break VERY easily causing tears, drama and messy pieces that were avoided in the first place....just saying.

Of course, our artistic lesson on colors would not be complete without purple and white swirled leaves and Christmas trees specially made for our love of KSU! :)

Boo at the Zoo

ARGH MATEY! Today was a big day for our little pirate. We started out the morning saying prayers and thanking Jesus for all we have by going to church. Then we came home and Nate fried some fish, which is basically a typical meal for a pirate...and also a typical meal for making me want to puke generally. However, today, it wasn't too bad. I think it may have had something to do with the 12 oz. of ketchup per bite. Then Mason took a nap and I finished his costume. Consequently, I measured the little tike the other night while he was sleeping (Red flag # 1) and thus, the vest is a bit small due to him laying down and me forgetting to allow extra room for "the belly" (Red flag #2) After naps, we dressed Mason up in his big belly pirate costume and headed to the zoo for "trick or treaking"...we also worked on our speech while we were there! :)

No pirate is complete without their "dinosword"!!

It's a long hike. But we'll do it if it means we get candy! (You must understand, candy is a RARE occurance in our house!)

We also saw some hyenas. And even became one.

No Halloween is complete without Puss & Boots!

All this hiking around the zoo makes little feet tired...so we tried out EVERY bench in the park.

Thanks Uncle Caid and Si for being so patient.

The sun was directly in our eyes but it's a family shot anyway.

After the zoo, it was a fun Sunday dinner with Uncle Peku and Whisper, Uncle Caid and Si. Lessons learned during dinner were as follows:

1. Chili WILL cover our belly entirely if eaten without a shirt on.

2. Mason WILL become a quarterback someday, so watch out for flying bottles. They will hit you, lid side up, in the forehead. (Sorry Whisper!)

3. Cinnamon rolls WILL be eaten directly out of the oven with or without frosting.

4. Mason WILL eat your cinnamon roll whether you are his parents or a blood relative.

5. Mason loves his uncles so much- he WILL follow them out the door determined to go home with them.

6. His uncles WILL say no.

 After such a long day, a shower, many memories made and yes, even a sugar high- this little monkey was tuckered out. Tomorrow is Halloween. So even though today was practice- tomorrow is the Real Deal! So more pictures will come for sure...provided I can get the chocolate out of the pirate costume.

First Fair!

So the first night of the Riley County Fair, I was so excited to take Mason to show him what a county fair is all about! I grew up showing cattle at the Meade County Fair every year and when I was really little, we even had a carnival so for him to be old enough to half-way appreciate this kind of thing was a real treat for me. Night 1 consisted of animals. We looked at every animal there was, including baby piglets, baby bunnies, and a baby calf that licked Mason's hand. He wasn't thrilled. No worries, we sanitized immediately afterwards. We met up with a family that Nate and Mason met at the park throughout the summer while I was in class. Their son Braxton is about 6 months older than Mason so they hit it off immediately and became partners in crime. Well Braxton left and due to a major fit thrown by Mr. I didn't have a good enough nap that day- so did we.

The second night started out at the carnival. Nate and I decided that we would start him on a ride, see how he did and continue from there. Mason pointed to the slide and really wanted to go down, so Nate climbed the stairs and down they went.

After they got to the bottom Mason had a fit, and wanted to go "more!" So we told him he could ride a truck. He LOVED THIS! However the guy putting all the kids into the trucks was slow as molasses in the winter and took forever! Mason did very well for it taking so long and was very patient!

After that- What's a carnival without a Carousel Ride?!?! Mommy had to sit this one out. Mason's new favorite thing is playing "ashes, ashes" (aka- Ring Around the Rosy) but mommy gets dizzy spinning one circle in the floor, so this these lovely games are a no go. Good thing we have Daddy!

 Waiting in a million person line.....

 Checking it all out!.....

Looking for momma- FOUND HER!

And again, what would a carnival be without a creeper?!? Found him too! To fully understand this story you must understand 2 important things about my husband- 1) He is incredibly observant. So much so that he can tell you things like how many people were wearing blue shirts in a crowd of 100 (not kidding), or the look on your face that flashed only for a millisecond that you didn't even notice was there. And 2) His favorite movie (maybe of all time) is Despicable Me (yes, it's a kids movie).

So, knowing this- we had walked up to the carousel and were standing there maybe 20 seconds when the guy in this picture is getting around to us. Nate tells me that he's been on the carousel for the entire time we'd been at the carnival and that he reminded him of the villian in Despicable Me...if you've seen it- you be the judge...a little eerie if you ask me! It's a bit fuzzy but if you're wondering if the HUGE HONKER is this guys nose...YES it is.

The night was finished by playing the game where Mason chose 3 ducks out of the moving river and then choosing a green dolphin to bring home. He still LOVES the dolphin and even says dolphin pretty well. We also introduced him to funnel cake and then came home.

The next morning we were awoke by "Quack quack"- after 20 minutes of deciphering...we figured out, he wanted to go back and play the duck game again. After an entire evening of riding rides, it was the simplest game on the lot that intrigued him the most. It really is the simple things in life that make us the happiest.....

They Call Me The Fireman...

So the past few weeks I have been toying with the idea of starting a blog. Now, this initially was so that I could keep my sanity and have documentation of all the second chances I'm getting and making for myself lately. As most of you who will follow this will know, in the past 2 months I have

• Quit teaching...after 4 years...yep! I'm a statistic.
• Moved
• Started college again
• And as of a couple weeks ago- I'm single parenting a 1 1/2 year old because my husband has decided to stay in Olathe to continue working...

Am I crazy, you ask?!? Uh, YEAH! Certifiably INSANE actually.
So after the past couple weeks of this whole carnival ride- I've had a few "adventures" that I figure, are too good NOT to blog about. SO here goes....

They Call Me The Fireman...
Well, not exactly ME but I did call the fireman yesterday. On my toddler. You will notice the cute pictures of "Splash Park" around this blog. What you will NOT notice are the yellow benches that are metal and located around Splash Park for parents to sit on. They are shaped like chairs and have a space between each chair in a set of 3. A space just perfect for a child's leg to slip right in, but not come out!
We had just gotten to the park and I had set Mason on the bench to fix his shoe when his little leg slipped right in. I didn't think much of it at first, I just tugged a little. It was Stuck! I started trying to pull, without hurting him. He began crying and unfortunately, I wasn't very surprised after about 3 minutes that all the FAT COWS Sitting on the benches next to me were indeed staring pretty hard at my child and I who were obviously in a bit of a predicament...but didn't offer to help. Now, as most of you know...my child tends to mix up sounds...so "Chip" actually comes out "bitch"....in this moment of needing to stay perfectly calm, all I really WANTED to do was yell "HEY YOU FREAKING CHIPS!!! A LITTLE HELP HERE!?!?"...Now my mama taught me a little better than that...so I politely asked for help and one lady came with a bottle of water and immediately started drenching him. More screaming bloody murder, more unhappiness. Another grandmaly figure came over and offered to call the fire department. Perfect. Lights, sirens...and a possible good looking man (I'm married...not dead) thinking I'm a ridiculous excuse for a mom. Fabulous. Let's do it! Dial the dang number.
FINALLY after about 10 minutes of this nonsense, the fire department shows up...WITH the Ambulance! (again, nobody's dead) At this point, everyone in the WORLD is looking at me. However, another GENIUS of a mother comes sauntering up, squirts some Hand sanitizer (we like to call this lady MacGyver) on his leg and it slips right out. He stops crying and all is well. The EMT's INSIST that they look him over, mostly because they felt useless, I think. He checks out. Today, he doesn't even have a bruise. Oh by the way...Firemen may be hot on calendars, but from my own experience- NONE of them are from Riley county.