Motor Mouth Missing Grandpa Fly Guy

I wrote the following on another bloggers' site, in response to something she posted about her daughter:

Motor Mouth misses his Grandpa Fly Guy so much. We don't know what to do. Motor Mouth and Grandpa Fly Guy have had a special bond since Motor Mouth's birth. It breaks my heart knowing Motor Mouth misses the person he loves more than both of his parents combined (not an exaggeration). At the same time, it frustrates us because there is nothing we can do about the distance and he tells us so many times a day how much he misses Grandpa Flyguy, it just gets old - how horrible is that for a parent to say? I feel inadequate and ill equipped to help my son.

Homeschool Update

Today, I started our school day by hugging Motor Mouth like a baby. I held him and rocked him and kissed him. Then I asked if his teacher in Tulsa ever held him like that. He laughed and said 'No!'  A little more rocking, holding, kissing and I asked if his teacher in Chicago (1 day/wk) ever held him like that. He got a great big laugh out of that, too!

Motor Mouth is doing great in school. He is just so smart. I plan to have him complete kindergarten math, language arts and phonics by April. At that point, he will start working on grade 1 work. To ensure this happens, I created a spreadsheet to determine what percentage of coursework needs to be completed each month to achieve the goals.

That said, Motor Mouth has been frustrating me with school. He feels like he should know everything before he even learns it! And, I don't think he likes the fact his 'mother' is teaching him new things.

Also, he doesn't want to sit for the time it takes to do his work. He is good for 10 minutes or so and then he wants to be done and to go play. My son can do 2-3 math lessons OR 3-4 language arts lessons in 1 hour. When the suggested time for EACH lesson is 45 - 60 minutes, you can see he zips through this stuff. 

I'm really working on being patient with him on this.  It is important to get him ready for a traditional school next year. I am always saying, "Sit up!", "Sit down like a normal human being!" "Stop. Sit up and focus." "Focus." "Get zen." 

I am grateful to Motor Mouth's karate instructor for telling the kids to get 'zen'. I wasn't so sure about that term at first, so I looked it up. 

 

ZEN

meditation and mindfulness

Meditation

turning attention to a single point of reference

Mindfulness

concentrated awareness of one's thoughts, actions or motivations. 

Perfect. And, he has great respect for his sensei, which is bonus. Now, when I need to pull out the big guns, I tell Motor Mouth to 'get zen'.  

It works!!

Little Jobby

MAM and Mini MAM

I have a little jobby.

I don't know why I call it that. But it's fun and works. 

You might remember my writing instructor. I am now her personal assistant. One day, on her blog, she mentioned she is so busy she doesn't have time to do what makes her the money - writing!  I told her I would be happy to be her personal assistant. 

And she took me up on it. 

It's fun and educational. I am learning about different writing markets, South Asians, South Asian writers, and amigurumi. Amigurumi? Yes. I am relearning how to crochet and am about to try to make an 

amigurami animal. 

While I still need something else to supplement our income so we can live in the lifestyle to which we have become accustomed, this is fun and interesting and meets our needs/wants for now.

Internet Down

The Internet in our building has been down for almost a full 2 days. I feel so lost!! It is worse than when you forget your watch at home and feel naked.  Our home Internet is a T1 line that is shared amongst the condo tenants - like what happens in an office building. We don't have to pay extra for it and seldom experience outages. 

Ragamuffin Soul went without Internet, phone, TV for 2-3 days last month. I don't know how he did it. I at least had my iPhone. But I couldn't get in to log my son's school hours - a  big deal because the school lost $9,000 in funding in 1 week because parents did not log their child's hours on time. I called my mother-in-law who was wonderful enough to do it for me - Muah! Love you, DonnaMomma!!

Today, I felt like a chicken with its head cut off. Do I stay home in hopes they get it fixed early? Do I clean, or do groceries while I wait? Cre8ve Chaos is coming over for dinner. But I have work to do for MAM. I'm losing money without the net. (FYI...I have a little jobby I'll tell you about some other time). Do I go to Panera where I will freeze and spend money on parking? Or Starbucks where I will people watch and spend money on a pumpkin spiced latte?

Fortunately, I am married to J who is a wise man with good ideas. I dropped him and the kiddos off at Navy Pier so they can hit up the Children's Museum while I work in his office - it is climate controlled and has free, indoor parking, nice restroom facilities and pretty ladies I can talk to if I need a break.

Thank you J. Thank you Park Media department.

Election Watch Party

J took Motor Mouth to Grant Park, in downtown Chicago to be a part of history. Regardless of the outcome, J wanted to be a part of the experience. It was just 2 miles from our loft. How could they not go?!! Mini Me is just too young, so we stayed home and watched it unfold on TV. 

Motor Mouth on the way to Grant Park

View from an 11th floor condo near Grant Park

Michigan Ave

Motor Mouth was so into it!

He hooted, hollered, clapped, cheered with the crowd

1 of maybe 15-20 jumbotrons outside Grant Park

Motor Mouth angling for a better view

Adults angling for a better view...

I love how our city's buildings spell out words!

Motor Mouth dozing off!!

See the big flag on the side of the building?

The Sears Tower and Hancock buildings were

light red, white and blue on Nov 4th

Going home

Update on Crazy Saturday

I pulled out the warning J received for speeding on Saturday. Recall, Barney told J he had been going 81 in a 55 but J had just told me he was doing 65. Well, the warning says J was going 64 MPH in a 55. Yes, he was speeding. Yes, he thought he was only 5 MPH over. But the police officer LIED to us about how fast we were going!! I don't get why would he do that. What was the point of lying about how fast we were driving?

I'll Still Love You if You Vote....

McCain. Hahahahahaha

Okay. I have to tell you, we come from a long line of Republicans. We are Republicans at heart. I am Republican. To the core. Ronald Reagan Rocked!! George Bush was fine. But I LOVE George W. Bush. His politics, his walk, his good looks. I love me some George W. I would argue up a storm in George W's defense. Really. I would.

Now, that said, I can't stand McCain. Can't stand to listen to him. Can't stand his politics. Can't stand to look at him. Don't get me started on Palin. I do NOT think they are the strongest and the best the Republican Party has to offer. I was really excited about the Republican offerings early on, but my favorites fell by the wayside for one reason or another. 

We do not believe in voting strictly for your party. Or over one issue (don't get me started on that issue). We believe in voting for the best candidate.

In our family and amongst the majority of our Tulsa friends, we are in the minority on our voting stance. And that is okay. We will still love them (friends/fam) in the morning.

Motor Mouth knows who got our vote. He knows who the Tulsans voted for. We have explained to Motor Mouth that it is okay to disagree on your choice for candidate. That everyone has their own choice in who they vote for. There is no reason to be upset with someone over their vote. You can be friends with both Republicans and Democrats. It is our differences (and differences of opinion) that make us special.

Crazy Saturday

We spent Saturday afternoon and evening with J's Uncle. This is the uncle who introduced J and me. We all had a great time. The kids really enjoyed him. 

While driving him home, we were in the fast lane. I saw a cop car pulled over on the right shoulder and asked J how fast he was going. 65 MPH he said. The next thing we know, there are flashing lights behind us. J moved to the middle lane. The flashing lights moved with us. 

Barney asked J if he knew why we were pulled over. Seeing as J thought the speed limit was 60 MPH, J had no clue. Barney said we were going 81 in a 55. WTF!! Fortunately, Barney gave us a written warning. Good thing, too, because if he got a ticket for 26 over, we were going to fight it!! I'm soooo glad I had asked how fast we were going. Otherwise, we would have believed Barney Fife.

We dropped Uncle off and stopped at Ikea on the way home. Do you remember when we purchased the curtains at Ikea? 

I had forgotten to measure and so had Jason. At home, I pulled out the curtains, saw they were too short to cover top to bottom of our kitchen windows and folded it back up, put the receipt in the opened package, like I normally do.

Got to Ikea and I didn't have the receipt!! Sean, the kid at returns asked if I knew the date, how much we spent, and which card it was on. I wasn't sure which card we used, so I gave Sean all 4 potential cards. I didn't remember the actual day I purchased them, so I pulled up my blog on my iPhone!! 

Sean could only find the 2nd purchase we made to pay for the meatballs and sauce. 

Sean also said there was a 'spot' on the curtain and refused to take that set of curtains back for a store credit.  The 'spot' was size of the tip of 1 piece of spaghetti!! And, it was the nature of the linen fabric! He would only give a refund for 1 set of curtains. What good would THAT do me? I needed to get 2 more sets and what would I do with 1 set of short curtains?? 

I asked Sean to speak to his supervisor. His supervisor wasn't going to do it either. They said I had to have a receipt and have the item in its original, unopened packaging. It was from Ikea and clearly had not been used. I had visual proof of when I had purchased it. I asked the supervisor to try entering the credit card numbers again, because Sean must have entered it wrong. She refused. I asked to speak to the store manager.

Store manager wasn't there, but the next guy down was. His name is Jazz! I explained the situation to him and that I wanted to spend MORE money in his store, but could not do so if I couldn't exchange the curtains. Likity split, it was done! Credit issued. 

Halloween Excursion 2008

We had a fun halloween!!

It was the first year the kids went 'Trick or Treating'. 

In the past, we went to the 'Hallelujah Night' games and activities our church in Tulsa held.

Our Chicago church doesn't do that.

The last time I had this much fun on Halloween was when The Mommy Project and our Crew were doing our thing, back in the day.

We set out to Trick or Treat in our neighborhood. 

But got sidetracked...

Pirate Girl and Iron Man

Getting ready to go out

How much is that doggy in the window...?

In our neighborhood, store owners give out the candy. 

Check out the crowd of Trick-or-Treaters!!

We walked up to the El station & hopped a train

These are stairs at the station. Artsy!!

On the El train, on the way to 'The Loop'

Found a Garrett's Popcorn!!

(Daddy blow dried Mini Me's hair @home)

Stopped at Daley Plaza and caught 

a Halloween Event

Whole lot of flame throwing going on!

Motor Mouth as Iron Man

Sliding down some structure at Daley Plaza

Stopped by Old Navy to use their facilities

Millenium Park is getting the 

outdoor skating rink ready!!

A view of Chicago through 'The Bean'

Sears Tower is lit orange on top

Snapped this pic right before we saw...

a Pagan minister, bride and groom

Walked by Grant Park where the 

Obama Watch Party will be held

The media vans have already staked their spots

Oooops!! Sorry CBS

We heard loud bangs and turned to see 

the Navy Pier Fireworks

Mini Me looked more like a Pirate Cheerleader

when she took off the extra gear

Flirting with a guy on the El ride home

Walking home, Daddy was given a pirate hat...

Hmmm...

Motor Mouth BEGGED us to put up decorations

This was the first time I've ever had 

Halloween decorations in my home.

A GHOST on our balcony!!

And a Jack-o-Lantern inside!

We had an awesome time. And slept well!

He's Starting to Get 'IT'

Motor Mouth has a new cousin, Baby Y. We were able to iChat with the newly formed family and the rest of the Widney Clan the night of Baby Y's birth.  It left a big impression on our little boy.

The next day, Motor Mouth said, "Daddy, you and Mommy were excited when you went to the hospital and I came out of KK's belly!"

For years, we have had a picture of his birth mother in his room. For years, we have visited with KK, his birth mom. For years, we have told him the story of his birth and how he was in KK's belly. 

Now, Motor Mouth gets that we were excited he was born. He's starting to get 'IT'.

Family Fun Night - Pumpkin Patch '08

Pumpkin Patch '08

Every year, the Widney Clan meets for Savastano's Chicago Style Pizza in Tulsa for lunch, then on to the Pumpkin Patch in Jenks for pictures, pony rides, petting zoo, and pumpkins.

On Sunday, our family went without us. But that's okay because Motor Mouth's school went on a field trip to Goebbert's Pumpkin Patch in South Barrington, IL, a Chicago suburb. We didn't do the pizza 'cause, well, we live in Chicago now so we can get the real thing anytime we want.

We made our own memory on this day.

It was so wonderful!!

We waited for everyone to arrive

They had a chalkboard for the kids to mess up

Mini Me and Daddy

Mini Me was so wonderful

It was FA-reeeeeeZZZing Cold

What a big pumpkin

Goebberts is a real, working farm

In the background, you can see the field

We went on a Hay Ride through the 'spooky' forest

Petting Zoo

There were 3 petting zoo tents and 1 outdoors

Zebra!!

Momma Pig and her Piglets

The kids named the 1st one 'Wilbur'

Hello!!

Momma Kangaroo and her Baby (Joey)

What the heck is that?! 

Cross between a zebra and a horse???

There was a tall, pumpkin eating Dinosaur/Dragon 

Picking up a pumpkin

Holding the pumpkin high in the sky

Crushing the pumpkin with its massive jaws

Pumpkin debris crashing to the ground