The Visit: Part One -- Noah

The longest time of the year for us seems to be from Christmas until the summer-- we don't make any visits to Ohio and New York during that time. While the break from travel is wonderful, we truly miss everyone from home. Last year, I asked Tif to come and visit and bring Noah, so she did. This year, we decided to revive the tradition. Tif and Noah just spent the past weekend with us.

Many facets of our visit were important to me. One of which was seeing my precious nephew Noah. It is amazing for me to watch the drastic changes that take place physically and mentally between visits when he is so young.

I learned a few things from this visit:

1. Noah needs to know where his mommy is at all times. Noah's common phrase: I fine momma. (I find mom) was repeated anytime she was out of sight. This was quickly followed with "Momma, MomMA, MOMMA!" as he searched the house.

2. Noah delighted in being like the big boys. On the first night, he played with all the big boy toys outside, riding "Noah's bike," "Noah's scooter," and playing with the golf "cub." He approaches life like his mom-- with gusto! He never hesitated to jump in with both feet and have a good time.

3. Noah learns quickly. It took him a matter of minutes after seeing his first light sabre to realize how truly cool the toy was. Andrew took him into the dark bathroom to show him how they glowed in the dark. After that, Noah would pull his mom's hand and say, "Light sabre momma, Go in the dark." Then, he would drag her to the bathroom to marvel at the glowing equipment.

4. Noah is tough. I watched him take more tumbles and spills trying to keep up with my boys, and he rarely made a cry. The only time he cried about an "ow" was when he ran into the upper deck and created a sizeable bruise on his cheek. Even then, we adults were much more concerned than he. He wanted to run, while we were trying to put an ice pack on it to ease the swelling.

I truly loved having him here for the weekend. He reminded me of both the fun and the work of a two year old. He lives life fully and never looks back, but he also needs his mom to make him whole. He brought so much fun and vitality to the house. He still has that smile that lights up a room -- and he knows it! He is an amazing guy.

Hey Doucette!

As soon as I got to college, I felt like I immediately landed in a zone where no one had first names. "Hey Compan" was a refrain commonly heard when I saw someone I knew. Similarly, I called everyone by their last names, too. I actually had one friend that I sometimes forgot her first name because I so infrequently called her by it.

As a teacher, I have become accustomed to hearing my last name constantly as well. Obviously, students don't call me by my first name; however, they are creating varieties of Doucette like Mrs. Douce, Ms. D, or just Doucette to compensate for my nickname. Yet recently hearing who said my last name and to whom they were speaking cracked me up.

I was walking with Evan into daycare one morning and we walked by the kitchen where a teacher and a little girl were preparing the snacks. I was jolted by "Hey Doucette!" I looked to see who could possibly be talking to me, but no one responded back. Evan and I continued to his classroom and began putting his coat and backpack away.

The same little girl that was preparing the snack came walking in the room and hugged Evan. She said, "Doucette-- I missed you!" Doucette? Doesn't he have a name? Evan seemed completely unaffected by the fact that his first name disappeared.

I giggled a little and asked his teacher if that is what all the students call him. She said that many of the students have taken to calling him Doucette instead of Evan. She commented that "it just seems to fit him." At first I thought that maybe there was another Evan in the room, so last names were used to differentiate. Nope! He is the only Evan: a one of a kind.

I think that is a compliment. I took that greeting as they feel comfortable with Evan and like hanging out with their buddy Doucette. However, I am still puzzled by how he took a leap in status that it takes most of us at least 16 years to accomplish. Nonetheless, I know to look now when I hear someone yell "Hey Doucette!"

Nearly a Parent's Worst Nightmare.

The cliched statement It only takes one moment for something bad to happen rang true to us yesterday as we escaped nearly from a parent's worst nightmare.

Since the weather was beautiful yesterday, we decided to take advantage of the free event of the Wisconsin Badger's Spring Football game. We trooped everyone to Madison, parked and walked to the game. In the first quarter, everyone was excited: Bucky Badger was walking around, the football players were playing, and we even got to see Trevon Hughes-- the Badger's starting point guard.


Yet, as the first half passed, the kids attention waned after the snacks vanished. So, at halftime, I innocently looked at everyone and said, "Let's go." I began to get up and no one moved, so I sat back down for a few minutes and watched a halftime game spectators were playing. When that finished, we stood up to leave and I looked around and realized that Evan wasn't there. We looked up the stairs-- no Evan. Down the stairs -- no Evan. Both sides of the row-- No Evan.

Then, we started to panic. I sent Chris up the stairs to see if he had walked up them, while I stayed by our seats in case he was meandering nearby. Brendan started hysterically crying, "I don't want to lose Evan. I love Evan." However, his tears forced me into a calm and in control place. I decided to go to the field edge and ask a security guard to help. She asked me for a description, and I even laughed to reply that he was brown haired and had a Badger shirt on just like every other four year old in the stadium. However, she gave his description and name on the walkie talkie, and we waited.

Only a few minutes later, she looks at me and said, " We think we found him." I calmed down a little, but I was truly worrying that maybe they were wrong. Chris was still looking around the stadium, trying to get a glimpse of him. However, about five minutes after she let us know he was found, Evan was brought across the edge of the field to where I was standing. I thanked everyone and just hugged him. He held on tightly as we climbed the stairs to go out.

At the top of the stairs, we had to wait for Chris as he was still searching. I was trying to inquire to Evan about what happened, asking the scary questions of "Did someone ask you to go with them?" "Did you just go by yourself" etc. Finally, he said, "Mom, you said it was time to go. . . " My heart broke. The little guy was just listening to me and didn't wait for the rest of us to leave.

This nice old man from the concession stand came over at that time to say he was glad Evan found us. He had spotted Evan in front of the concession stand, looking scared so he escorted Evan to the security guard who brought him to us. As I thanked the man, for the first time, I felt my emotions threatening to overtake me. This stranger had helped to keep my little boy safe. I was so grateful.

We left the stadium a few minutes later when Chris came back and saw that we were all doing fine. That was one day we will never forget. For now, we are just so happy that Evan is with us and safe.

Is the Force With You?

With my boys, I have seen many fads come and go. When Andrew was one, he loved Teletubbies obsessively. We would plan our day around him watching the show. When the Andrew and Brendan were two and three, our dinosaur phase began. We had movies, books, and tons of toy dinosaurs. Evan has obsessed over unique things like toothbrushes, floss, and Power Rangers. Now, our boys' inspiration finds it power from a deeper place: The Force.

Remember The Force? From Star Wars? As a kid, I vaguely remember going to the drive in theater to watch a double feature where Star Wars was the second movie. Something tells me I never watched the whole movie. That has been my only exposure to the movies. Seriously.

I never spent time watching them or thinking about them. Frankly, I thought those people who were die-hard Star Wars fiends were a bit bizarre. But, in the last three months, our home has changed. The boys have discovered Star Wars.

As a family, we have watched all six movies in a row. Brendan purchased One and Two with money he received from Christmas. Evan and Brendan draw Star Wars pictures constantly. Even today as I picked Evan up from school, he had another Star Wars picture boasting many of the Jedi's fighting the bad guys with their light sabres.

We have unique conversations. Evan will question me all the way home from school. Mom, did you know that Mace Windu has the only purple light sabre? Mom, did you know that Darth Vader has the strongest Force. Mom, Yoda has alot of the force in him, too. Luke has to learn to control his force. He has a green light sabre. On and on and on.

It doesn't stop at home. Some nights the boys will play light saber tag in the house where they turn out all the lights and run around with their light sabers -- they glow in the dark and make a buzzing noise-- and chase each other.

Even Easter is not off limits. This year's egg decorating kit was a Star Wars theme. And do you know what the Easter bunny brought? Star Wars movie, Star Wars books, and matching Star Wars jammies.



We are definitely masters of our own Force. Are you?

Can We Color Eggs Yet?

My plan for the week was to color Easter Eggs on Friday, and the boys knew it. So, every five minutes yesterday a voice would chime "Can we color eggs yet?" To which I would respond, "Not yet!"

We spent a few hours at my friend's home letting the boys play with her kids. When we got back, Andrew wasn't feeling well. Brendan asked, "Can we color eggs yet?" I responded, "Not Yet!"

Andrew began feeling a little bit better, but then Evan fell asleep on my lap. Brendan asked, "Can we color eggs yet?" I responded, "Not Yet!"

We eat dinner, and I start to clean up. Brendan asked, "Can we color eggs yet?" I responded, "Not yet!"

After I cleaned up, I looked outside and the boys were playing with a group of neighborhood kids in the yard. However, I was ready to make eggs. I cleared the table and got all of the colors ready to go. I called the boys in. "Guess what? It is time to color eggs!" I heard Brendan shout outside, "I'll be right back. I am going to color eggs!"

Brendan colored his eggs in record speed! After a day of incessant nagging, he finished his eggs and returned outside in a few mere minutes. Evan and Andrew took considerably longer, while I filled in for Brendan and jazzed his eggs up a little.


Evan took advantage of the Star Wars egg kit that I had purchased. His hands also paid the price for his creativity. "Can we color eggs yet?" Yep-- Easter Eggs done!

Where a Kid Can Be a Kid

TV ad executives work hard to set simple slogans firm in the minds of people. $5 dollar footlong is a song commonly heard at my house.They insist I need those globes to put in my plants to help water them-- even though I don't have any plants! Or, the boys will talk about why I should switch to Geico. However, I hadn't truly realized how effective the ads were until about a month ago when I was talking to Brendan.

It was a day where the kids were just bumming around the house, and I said to him, "Go have fun. Be a kid. Run around!" He said back, "Well, if you want me to be a kid, take me to Chuck E Cheese- It's where a kid can be a kid." I giggled then immediately offered a resounding No Deal.

Yet, this week being Spring Break, I thought I would break down and treat them with a mini trip to the hallowed grounds of Mr. Cheese, the big Chuck E. Having done my research, I knew that Chuck E Cheese actually opens long before they begin serving their cardboard pizza for lunch; they open at 9am. The boys and I were only the second group to arrive at 9:30. I almost laughed at how quickly the boys ran through over 100 tokens on the various games.They played some of our classic favorites like throwing the football and rolling the ball. (What is that called? The name is escaping me. . .)They also played a few new games. One of my favorite was where a machine takes your pictures and puts it on a credit card looking thing with cool words around it. Brendan and Evan each left with four of them! Let's hope that doesn't spur a future obsession with credit cards.

Of course, we can never leave there without a few rounds on the overhead play area. The boys love crawling around there and hiding from me, especially when it is time to leave.
At the end of each trip, I always dread standing with my meager ticket totals looking at the prize counter, explaining to the boys that our 500 tickets will only yield us a plastic toy that will break in two seconds or a few handfuls of candy. I coerced them into saving them for a greater prize. Who knows if I can stash the tickets safely, but I felt good about it.

Ultimately, we did have a good time. I suppose that Chuck E Cheese actually lives up to its slogan. For the morning, my kids found a great place to just be kids.

It starts now

What starts now? Officially spring break! Today is our first official day home resting for Spring Break. All I can think about is how we are going to make it through this week.

I promised the boys that we would do something "special" each day of the week to make Spring Break more exciting, so this morning the boys requested breakfast out to eat. So, we trooped into the van by 7:30 and headed off to the iconic Golden Arches for some deep fried fun.

As I began ordering, I actually laughed thinking about just how much food the boys can put away. We had two orders of Hot cakes and sausage, a sausage biscuit, two hash browns, and three chocolate milks. Syrup was slurped all over the table, the boys' faces and hands, and their clothes. They giggled and devoured everything in front of them. At the end of the meal, Andrew looked at me and said he wasn't full and could he have a snack when we got home? Seriously? A snack at 8:00 am??

However, it was a nice breakfast and I promised even more fun by adding a trip to the library to pick out a new bedtime book and an afternoon watching a new movie from Grandma and some popcorn. Hopefully, the rest goes smoothly. . .

Mourning

I thought I would be able to handle it. I thought it wouldn't matter that much. However, I was legitimately morose when ER ended this week.

ER has been on the air for 15 years! I was only 19 when this show first aired. I've known this show as long as I have known Chris. Weird thought.

I watched ER through the Clooney days, the hot Croat guy, and the hysterical mean Romano. I watched Carrie Weaver limp through the ER and find herself in love with women. I watched the character of Abby go some whiny to drunk to crabby to happy. I watched the girl from Bend it like Beckham go from being a medical intern to a rockstar doctor. I watched Mark Green die in Hawaii and Greg Pratt die on the table.

ER has been my Thursday night "fix" for as long as I can remember. This year, knowing it was ER's last, I was a little more sentimental about it. This Thursday as the show ended, I didn't sob like I thought I would, I just felt a little sad. I felt as if a good friend were going away. I waited for the "Stay tuned from scenes from the next ER" and sullenly realized they weren't coming.

No, I know I am just talking about a TV show, but some people don't even stay in relationships as long as I watched ER. So, next Thursday will come and after Gray's, I think I'm just going to bed to allow a little more mourning time. . .

It's a bird, It's a plane. . .

. . . It's Super Evan!

Everyone aspires to be great someday, but only the truly special can be superheroes. For at least a year or so, Evan has told me that when he grows up, he plans to be Spiderman. This week, he was practicing his Superhero skills.

On Tuesday evening, his preschool sponsored a SuperKid fun night where the kids were all supposed to dress in superhero costumes and go to the preschool for some fun activities. Evan met this challenge with gusto!
Then, on Thursday the boys received a little Easter fun package from Grandma, including an awesome pair of Underoos for Evan. (I used to love Underoos as a kid! SuperWoman was my favorite.) Evan immediately donned his Underoos and has worn them both nights to bed.

He is my little Superman!