Flashback Friday: A Whale of a Tale

Some of you may recall that we have a budding artist in our mix already. You may also recall that I take no credit in this area of development since I have had years of practicing, yet I still can't master a simple Hello Kitty rendition of my own that I think is up to snuff. But I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Peanut also has proven to be quite the illustrator. In fact, when I looked back at some previous photos for this Flashback Friday, I found this little gem:

That is Peanut at age two and a half and his proud picture on his Thomas Aqua Doodle of a whale. I remember being so completely shocked when he told me he was going to draw a whale and then he actually drew something that resembled a whale. As any Aqua Doodler knows, those pictures dry up in a flash. Hence the picture. I had to show Daddy his amazing accomplishment!

Tonight was a similar scenario. Peanut was drawing the cover of his favorite Dr. Seuss book, and the next thing I knew, this had materialized:

What a difference three years can make! I still think that is darn impressive for an almost-six-year-old. But then again, if you asked me to draw a lion, it would probably look like a dinosaur. A dinosaur with a cute little pink bow on the side of its head, a' la Hello Kitty, of course, but a dinosaur all the same. And this, my friends, is the reason I have stacks of preschool and kindergarten artwork all over my house that I can't seem to part with. Although I know that even if Peanut had my more inferior drawing gene, I would love his artwork all the same. I might just feel the urge to put a little bow on his dinosaur, that's all. :)

And it's outta here!

Peanut lost his first tooth Friday afternoon. Apparently, the going rate for a child's first loose tooth is one gold dollar. (I'm not sure if that is always the rate or if this one was simply special because it was the first.) Peanut was very pleased that the Tooth Fairy was kind enough to allow him to keep his first lost tooth, and -- by the way -- he said she is the size of a bee and she has a son, too. No, he didn't see her, silly! A friend of his in his kindergarten class saw her. And guess what? He already has loose tooth number two!

Don't be alarmed by this post...

You have been patient waiting for my big reveal about my source of stress, girls! :)

Kristin (doesn't she have a great name, BTW?!?) made me laugh the hardest by guessing that I was making a denim skirt or pants. She obviously thinks way too highly of me. The last clothing I made was in 4-H in eighth grade. I did win some blue ribbons (and red and yellow) for my creations, though. If I recall correctly, my best ensemble was a blue terrycloth dress that I made in fifth grade. Terrycloth! Sooo early eighties.

Laura and Kathy B. had excellent guesses, too; I probably could add a patch to jeans if necessary, and I do love scrapbooking projects, even if most of them are sitting in boxes waiting for some attention in this decade.

Gemma's creative attempt #2 made me giggle as well, because frankly, who hasn't experienced some weird piece of the sole of a shoe driving you crazy?!?

But Kelly's guess and Gemma's first attempt were the closest. Yes, it is a tag! Good job, ladies! Can you hear me ooh-ing and ahh-ing? :)

But no, the tag didn't actually bother me. Well, at least I didn't realize it was bothering me. See, I got a great deal on this suede and faux fur coat last winter. And ever since, I have worn it a lot. Actually, I have worn it so much that I never even put 2 and 2 together.

Until I was putting it on the other day and noticed this tag that blended in with the coat and just happened to be right next to two other tags with the care instructions and fabric details on the left seam:

Okay...now who really looks inside a coat for a tag to be removed? But as soon as I felt it, I knew.

So that's why I am setting off alarms in all of my favorite stores!

Yup, folks, it is a sensor. And boy, did it work. Every single time I left my favorite store with all my new purchases, I made a bwamp! bwamp! bwamp! sound in addition to the red flashing lights and my look of total and complete embarrassment. In my mind, I was blaming the store for their faulty sensors and even the cashiers for possibly not removing a sensor. But I never even considered there would be a hidden sensor in my favorite coat -- one that no coat thief would ever suspect or look for. Or any honest customer who actually paid for the coat with her hard-earned money for that matter. Hmmph.

I do understand the point of the sensor and not making it obvious. But maybe the cashiers should be trained to point it out to their customers when they pay for an item with a crazy hidden beep-inducing do-hickey. I was constantly dreading the walk out of the door to my favorite stores because I might -- literally -- cause alarm. Even the cashiers said, "Oh, don't worry; our store alarms are sometimes too sensitive." No one ever mentioned my coat could be the source of my stress!

So, consider this a public service to my faithful readers. When you buy a new coat, check the inside. What you find just might be alarming!

Guess the source of stress

UPDATE: I AM going to tell you what this is soon, but no one has guessed it quite right. Any second guesses? Hint: it caused me many problems for almost a whole year!

a) What is this little do-hickey, and b) why did it cause me so many problems?

If you guess correctly, I will ooh and ahh about you all day as well as create a link to your blog in my next post. Don't have a blog? No worries. I will ooh and ahh about you on my next post instead.

So get guessing! :)

Flashback Friday: Baby's First Valentine's Day

Are there other mommies out there who have to have the holiday shirts? I love the children's shirts for Christmas, Valentine's Day, Easter, even Fourth of July. I realize it's a sickness. Anyway, this was Peanut's very first Valentine's Day at ten months in 2004. He looks so angelic in this top picture. Ha! And I think that "Be My Valentine" heart turned inside-out into a bear. I have no idea what happened to that.

Now that looks more like the Baby Peanut I remember. He looks like he is up to something. I still adore his baby-fine blond hair. And look at those new little teeth! For those of you who read my last post, there has been no change in the status of the first loose tooth. And no change in my sadness over it. But I can't help it. After all, he stole my heart the second I knew he existed. So from my stolen heart to yours, happy hearts day!

Hope a certain fairy uses Google Maps...

Could it be the troof?!?

My first baby has a loose toof!

I hope the Tooth Fairy doesn't disappoint. She has never been to our house, and I don't know how to send her directions. But I am more upset about my Peanut growing up. Officially. This is one of those mommy milestones that make us sentimental types weepy. I checked his baby book, and this was actually the third tooth he got at nine months. Don't you dare ask me to find that information out when it is Pumpkin's turn. In fact, please don't even mention to him that I ever had the slightest idea about his big brother's teething details. That page just might be blank in Pumpkin's baby book. Anyway, Peanut was visibly disturbed that the tooth fairy would consider taking his prized tooth away. So I told him we could write her a note and ask her to please leave the tooth under his pillow. I vaguely remember writing a note like that to the Tooth Fairy at his age, too. Looking back, my parents were geniuses! Now Eric and I don't have to silently fish under a sleeping boy's pillow ever-so-delicately for a teensy weensy baby tooth in the middle of the night. Score!

But score, shmore. The fact is, I can't stop my first baby from getting older. No matter how I try.

Just please tell me I have a long time before an armpit hair makes an appearance.

My happy place

I have had a rough week filled with stress, tantrums, and tears (and don't even get me started on my boys!). Seriously, I need to transform myself sometimes and go to my "happy place." That could be anything from envisioning a relaxing moment to just taking deep breaths and evaluating how big a deal the current crisis is. As I tell Peanut, we need to decide if it's a big problem, a medium problem, or a little problem.

When I saw this Random Picture Challenge on Brittany's blog, I decided to check it out. The directions are to go to your November 2007 photo folder and choose the 44th picture. I have checked out my photo folders for her past challenges, but none of my shots were really blog-worthy. But this time? Jackpot. Lucky for me, I apparently downloaded several months of pictures back in November 2007. And here is the 44th photo:

Ahhhhhhhhh. There's my happy place.

That is Pumpkin and my wonderful dad at the beach in August 2007. I took several pictures of this in a row, and this is the only one with the kite flying in the background. I just adore this picture. Almost as much as I adore my father and my adorable son in the picture. Now that is a bonafide happy place.

Maybe I'll keep reading this post over and over again. I hear another tantrum brewing downstairs....