Bye-Bye Binky…and the bottle!

Wishful thinking....and before y’all jump on my bum about how my 2 year old should not be sucking on a binky and bottle, I just want to take this time to whine it out.  Please and thank you. 

Why is it so hard to get rid of these items?  Why can’t I just man up and stay strong?

Oh, because his pitiful cry, whine, and sad face breaks me.  All the time.  I know, I’m supposed to take the crying and screaming.  According to most, it’ll only last a few days. 

My problem?  I don’t mentally prepare myself enough for the few days of torture.  I don’t know who’s being tortured more, me or him? 

And when I do grow some balls, the Mister ruins it by giving in.  It’s funny how the Mister is always on my case and making comments about how the binky and bottle needs to go but he’s the very one who gives in!  My mom does the same thing too. 

In all the “what to expect…” books, nowhere does it prepare you for this.  Nowhere does it talk about how to handle your emotions at times like this.  Or maybe it does and I just missed it. 

Radical #1 was sucking on a bottle until he was 3; until I traumatized him.  He was given antibiotics for busting out his tooth and he just wouldn’t take it.  Then I had the bright idea of putting it in his bottle.  And since then, he wouldn’t go near his bottle. 

Oh, I just had a light bulb moment!  Why don’t I do to Radical #2 what I did to Radical #1?  Not with antibiotics but I do have his allergy medicine.  Hhmmm…

Okay, I’m done whining.  My question to all you mamas out there: did you go through this?  What approach did you take?  Please give me the 411.  Or here’s another question: why do others care about what my son should and shouldn’t be doing?  Is it really that bad?  That is all.

Jenn.

Coconut Island

Hello, friends!  How are you on this fine Wednesday?  I hope all is well!

I got a message from the Mister’s cousin saying she’s was going to be in town on Tuesday and she wanted to see the Radicals.  Well, our visit took all of 30 seconds until she had to be back on the bus to finish their tour.  Her and her halau were on a cruise and they had a tight, strict schedule to stick to. 

Anyhoo, I decided to take the Radicals to Lili’uokalani Gardens to let them burn off their energy run around but when we got there I changed my mind and took them to Coconut Island. 

Do you know that I’ve lived on the east side for 7 years and I’ve never been to Coconut Island?  Lame, I know.  Wait, I went there when I was little but my memory bank doesn’t travel that far back so I consider this trip the first time. 

Even though the weather was cold and windy, I was in awe.  It was beautiful.  There’s a large grassy area for the Radicals to run loose.  Picnic tables.  Bathrooms.  The ocean.  Ugh, this place has been here forever and only now I’m bringing the Radicals here?  Well that’s about to change.  We will definitely be going back more often.  Enough with the talking writing, here’s some pictures of our mini adventure…sorry in advance for the picture overload!

It was a good day.

Jenn.

Thoughts, Happenings, & a Valuable Lesson

I’ve been a bad blogger again.  The last time I posted was last week.  Ew.  I know I said I have a lot of posts in my drafts but the truth is it takes me forever to publish it.  It takes some time to read and edit and find upload pictures.  And then I remember something pertaining to the post which takes more time to edit because I want my post to make sense.  Anyway, moving on…

-          I can’t wait until tax season is over.  I keep asking myself if I should change my major.

-          It’s 1pm and we’re I’m still in pjs.  I live the glamorous life.

-          I whipped up a batch of blueberrie pancakes for the Radicals only to be told “YUCK mom!”  I should have known better.  They are simple little eaters and like plain pancakes.

-         This tube thing fell down the lint chute and I panicked.  I remembered my dear friend Goggle and to my surprise, I’m not the only one this has happened to.  Whew!  Just like I’m not the only mom who’s kid got a potty seat stuck on his head.

THIS...

...LED TO THIS!  It needed to be cleaned back there anyway.



-          I’m not the only one who wants Moose & Zee back.  I’m not too fond of NickJr’s new layout.

-          Radical #1 found these.  The Mister said that we could tame them since they were babies.  I caught one and then I felt bad taking it from its mother so I put it back.

They are so cute!

-          I know I’m late to the party but we got Skype!  Now the Radicals can Skype with their Ama and Papa.  Radical #2 needs some time to get used to it.  He runs away and hides or he’ll hide under the table and pop his head up once in a while.

-          The Radicals love the mo’o (gecko) that roam in our house.

He was telling the mo'o to stop running away.

-          The last time we had taco night, the Mister fried tortillas and it tasted just like a chalupa.  I was in heaven.  Well, last night we did taco night and I would have asked him how he made it but we were on day #2 of the silent treatment and I was being my stubborn self.  So my attempt resulted in a jacked up chalupa crunchy thing.  Lesson learned: do not do taco night while the silent treatment is in session.

That is all.  Have a grrrreat weekend!

Jenn.

What do you mean…

Today is Thursday?  AH!  What do you mean we’re already in March?  Holy moly spicy guacamole!  I could have sworn the week just started.  I will admit that once I became a SAHM, I lost track of what day it was.  Anyway, I’ve been a stress case as of late.  I despise this time of year.  People come out of the wood-works thinking I’m some kind of miracle worker.  And I’m starting to think that my boss (who happens to be my mother) gets her kicks watching me squirm and stress and yell “what the h*** is wrong with you people!” at my computer.  I’m going to lose it soon…but that is all on this subject.  I don’t want to bore you with my rants.

I do have another subject I’d like to address: bad habits.  I’ve had this sitting in my drafts for a while now hoping to capture this bad habit in picture form.  Why? 1) So y’all would believe me and 2) I could use it as black mail for when Radical #1 gets older and has a girlfriend and yada yada yada.  That would be mean of me huh? 

Anyhoo, get on with the story, Jenn…

This is Radical #1 and he has a bad awful habit.  A habit that makes me cringe.  I have no idea where or how he picked up this habit. 

He bites his toe nails. 

This needs to stop.  I catch him going to town all the time; when he’s watching TV, when he’s in time out, in the car, even when he’s playing he’ll stop and start with the toe nail biting.  It’s gross and un-sanitary and just plain weird. 

His doctor seems to think it’s funny and says I’m over-reacting.  He says it’ll stop and that it’s just something that he’s going through.  Um, okay?! 

Anyway, putting soap on his toes came up.  Eww!  When I was younger and thought having a potty mouth made me cool, I had to eat soap.  And it was disgusting so I don’t think I would want to put the radical through that.  Eating soap was a punishment and I don’t want him to think he’s being punished for biting his toe nails. 

Rubbing chili peppers on his toes came up.  O-M-G!  I would never.  Wouldn’t that be considered torture?  And what if he panics and then touches it and then rubs his eyes?  His mouth and his eyes would be burning!  Operation ‘stop the toes in your mouth’ just backfired on me.  Poor guy. 

Do any moms out there have the same issue?  Or is it just my kid who has this strange, gross habit?  Anyone? No?  Okay, just thought I’d share.  Now excuse me while I go and continue to yell at my computer.

Happy Monday Thursday!

Jenn.

A Conversation with Radical #1

Radical #1: “Mom, my dump truck is broken.”

Me: “Oh man!  Maybe if you take care of your toys, they won’t break.”

Radical #1: “Oh yeah.  But can I get a new one because this one is broken?”

Me: “Um, no.  You need to take care and play nicely with your toys so they don’t break.”

Radical #1: “But please, mom!”

Me: “Just because your toy breaks doesn’t mean you can always get a new one.”

Radical #1: “Yes mom, you can get me a new one from the store!”

Me: “A store?  What store?”

Radical #1: “Wal-Mart!”

Me: laughing…”You need money to get stuff from Wal-Mart!”

Radical #1: “Okay, you give me some money to get a new dump truck at Wal-Mart?”

Me: “What?  No, it doesn’t quite work that way.”

Radical #1: “Oh okay.  How’s about I ask the lady at the Wal-Mart for money because my dump truck is broken and then with the money I can get a red dump truck!”

Me: still laughing…”Okay, good luck with that, buddy!”

What the what?  I think he’s been hanging out with my mother and Tutu Lady too much.

Have a happy Friday!

Jenn.

A Piece of Advice to Myself.

via

Remember in this post I said this “thing” is clinging to me and I couldn’t come up with a decent post?  Well, this “thing” is actually my emotions.  Lately, my heart has been heavy and my emotions are all over the creation.  They are coming from all angles and I’ve been trying to sort through them. 

I woke up yesterday determined to get it all out instead of keeping it bottled up and get it all out I did.  I released everything; I think I abused my keyboard and I also had a talk with one of the BFFs.  I felt better.  I felt like I could move forward with a fresh view. 

As I was out on the lanai this morning enjoying my coffee, I was reflecting on my emotions and how it affected my life for the past few weeks.  This is life and life isn’t always butterflies and rainbows.  I’m always going to have some type of issue and things are not always going to go my way.  I’ll come across somebody who will say or do something that pisses me off.  I get that but how I react is what needs to change.  I need to step back, gather my thoughts, and look at the big picture. 

Easier said than done, huh?  Yep, but the more I practice that the easier it’ll be.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m still human and I can guarantee you that in some cases, in the heat of the moment, I will let my emotions get the best of me but I’m human and we all do it.  What I’m saying is that I am aiming to be in a positive light for the most part. 

And then I had an epiphany. 

It hit me like a ton of coconuts and at that moment I said to myself out loud (at 6:30am, haha!) “Oh my gosh!  You sooooo need to practice what you preach!” 

All this time I’ve been giving advice to others about looking at the big picture, think before you speak, it’s not the end of the world, live your life and don’t let others bring you down, if you were to put your problems up on a tree alongside everyone else you’ll gladly take yours back, and blah, blah, and blah. 

Why is it so easy for me to give advice but so hard to take use it?  Don’t answer that…haha! 

Anyway, I am feeling a whole lot better and now I can move forward and get some shiz done.  Shiz meaning my work (which is piling up, sorry mom!).  And come to think of it, I have a lot of posts which have been sitting in my drafts.  Great, now I can post on a regular basis instead of going MIA all the time. 

Well lovelies, that’s all I got for now.  Have a lovely day!

Peace out!

Jenn.

Coconuts Make Me Smile.

Happy Friday!  I’m linking up with Lindsay again for the Little Things link up. 
Here are some of the little things that made me smile this week…

Being able to spontaneously drive home.  I’m glad that I can go home whenever I want instead of having to “plan” the trip and get on a plane and all that jazz. 

Coconuts. 

 They remind me of this guy.  My Pops.  I miss him.

Finding sweet smelling flowers in my yard.  It was like finding treasure!

Oh, and I can’t forget Maika’i Rewards…a free tray of strawberries.  SCORE!



I know, same picture as last time...



Have a lovely weekend, friends!

Jenn.