a possible future in hr???

last night we were at owen's omi and opa's house.  owen wanted to pretend to go on a treasure hunt, and of course, he needed me to go along.  he led us down into the basement and into their back room. after about 10 minutes of playing, i was done, and i told him we needed to come upstairs.  he followed me, but stopped at the laundry room, telling me i had to follow him because he needed to show me the "short cut." i told him i was well aware of the short cut through the laundry room to the back room, and he needed to follow me upstairs.  he told me i wasn't listening.  i told him to get his butt upstairs.  once upstairs, i settled down in the living room to watch tv next to rick.  after a few minutes, owen told me that he needed to tell me something, and i needed to follow him into the bedroom, so he could talk to me.  i told him to just tell me, but he insisted, we needed privacy.  i went into the bedroom, laid on the bed, and asked what he needed to tell me.  he replied, "you're fired." i replied somewhat loudly, "what are you talking about, i'm fired!" he responded, "you need to talk more quietly. you are to loud." i responded, "yeah, i'm loud! i'm upset, you just fired me!" he said again, "i asked you to be quieter, try talking like me.  not so loud."  i questioned, "why am i fired?" he said, "because you do not listen. i told you to follow me in the short cut, and you would not listen, so you are fired." "so, i'm fired from being your mom?" "no, you are still my mom." "so, i'm just fired from treasure hunts?" "yes."  "okay, i can live with that." "alright, now go sit on the floor, i want to jump on you." "no, i'm not going to sit on the floor."  "see, you are not listening again.  this is why you are fired!"

where's the judgement?

last night owen had ccd.  i was waiting in the parking lot for him to come out.  i saw his teacher lead the class, and as i looked for him, i realized he wasn't there.  i asked her, "where's owen?" and she replied, "owen who?" (nice, huh?!) then i said, "my son, owen." and, she replied, "oh, yes, sorry.  he forgot his treat bag in the classroom, so he went back for it with my two 7th grade helpers.  they should be out in a few minutes." so i patiently waited as other classes kept coming out.  eventually, the kids from our class were all paired with their parents, so our teacher went back in the building to see what was taking them so long.  i stayed outside watching other classes come out to meet their parents.  after a few minutes our teacher was back without owen.  she was surprised he wasn't with me, as he wasn't in the classroom or the hallway.  she decided to try the other route through the halls.  at this point, i am getting a little worried.  where could he be.  the teacher came back out a few minutes later, still without.  at this point, i was about to lose my shit (contrary to popular belief, that doesn't happen too often.) as i begun talking to her, a woman behind me started to address her.  i turned around and to my relief, there was owen! the woman said he was standing at the side of the building near the street crying because he couldn't find his mommy, so she brought him back to find his teacher.  owen told me the boys, aka the two 7th grade "helpers," walked him to the room, but let him come back by himself.  he must have blended in with another class leaving the building.  he remembered that when he went to preschool here, i picked him up at the side of the building, so he went there to find me.  i am thankful that nothing worse happened.  i am grateful owen remembered that i told him if he was lost, he should find a mommy with kids to help him.  but, i am still pissed that this happened at all.

like daddy

last night i was looking at owen's toenails and i told them we needed to trim them.  and i also said, they really look like daddy's (curved on the side to cause a potential ingrown toenail.) owen said, that's okay, i want to be like daddy. i asked, how do you want to be like daddy?  he said, his toes.  i asked, how else? he replied, i want to drive his car too, and your car too.  and, i want to have strong muscles like daddy so i can lift really heavy things.

this is going to be a long year

owen has started ccd (a catholic religious class) about a month ago, and it has made us realize how delayed we are in his catholic teachings.  we first had to tackle what is appropriate to pray for and what is not.  "dear jesus, i wish for legos."  i think he equated jesus to santa and was sharing his nightly wish list.  now he knows he cannot pray for toys, so instead he prays to jesus for a baby sister.  in hindsight, i realize asking for toys wasn't that big of a problem. 

now, we have a new challenge.  last night, owen's ccd teacher gave each child a rosary that glows in the dark. he came home wearing it around his neck.  he was so excited about his new necklace.  i told him it was for praying and it glowed in the dark so he could easier pray when he is in bed at night.  he tested it, and it was not glowing.  so, i explained that we needed to leave it by the light for awhile and then it would glow.  he woke up asking for his glowing necklace.  i again told him it wasn't a necklace, that it was a rosary for praying.  and, he responded, yes, i know, and it is very powerful.  it glows because it is full of magic, and when it glows it is making my wishes come true. i told him it is not magic, but he refuses to agree.

remembering to say it

i often tell owen that i love him.  i often tell him thank you for doing something like cleaning up.  i often tell him i'm proud of him for behaving well in school (getting green or better.)  what i didn't realize until last night, is that i forget tell him that he is a good kid.  he did something nice for the cats last night, and i said, "owen, you are a good kid." owen looked at me and said with complete sincerity, "thank you, mommy."  it made me realize how much he appreciated hearing that, and that i probably need to tell him that more. i spend so much time telling him what to do and what not to do, i sometimes forget to just tell him that he is doing good at his job...being a kid.

peanut

friday night we picked up the newest addition to our family, a 3-month old kitten named peanut.  the shelter named her peanut, and we decided not to change it.  so, here's some interesting things from this weekend:
1.  we think peanut is afraid of heights.  when we met her, owen picked her up and all was good, so i didn't even try to pick her up.  i figured if she let a kid pick her up, she must be easy going.  wrong!  whenever rick or i pick her up, she turns around and climbs up your chest, totally freaked out and scratching to get down. both my arms have bleeding scratch marks to attest to this.  whenever owen picks her up, she is fine.  we think it's because she is closer to the ground.
2.  our julius, who we always thought was so little, looks huge compared to peanut.  he also seems like a grump old man.
3.  peanut would try to scratch julius.  owen would yell at peanut that she was bad.  i told  him she was just a little baby and was still learning, and sometimes babies do naughty things until they learn how to behave.  he replied, "like me when i was a baby.  i was naughty!"  i said, "yes, you were.  you would hit and even bite people!"  he said, "i don't do that any more because i'm a big kid now." 
4.  when julius would hiss at peanut, owen would tell him he needed a "time-out"
5. opa's birthday was saturday, so we went yesterday to visit him.  owen made him a card, the cover had a drawing of peanut in the center of a heart.  on top was a drawing of a peanut and at bottom was the word holler.  inside was a picture of peanut and owen petting her.  there was also an arrow pointing to her tail.  i was told that was because owen needed to remember not to touch her tail.  then he wrote "opa, happy birth day owen."  when we were going to leave, he insisted on taking back his card because it was not a birthday card, it was a cat card.

Banana

the last time the muppets movie was in theatres, there was a little clip before the movies about shutting off your cell phones and not talking during the movie featuring fozzie bear pretending a banana was a phone. since then, owen has reenacted this scene every time he is given a banana to eat (which is just about daily.) he did it again last night... holding the banana to his ear like a phone..."hello?...hello?..."...he pulls the banana away and looks at it with great surprise..."ah!!!  there's a banana in my ear!!!!"...followed by a stream of laughter. he decided to expand his performance and add a second (unrelated) scene..."mommy...look..." i turn to see him pointing the banana at me like a weapon.  i say, "please don't shoot me....i don't want to die."  he says nothing, but slowly turns the banana-weapon towards himself and pretends to pull the trigger and falls to the floor dead.... i'm hoping this is just a sign that i have a very silly boy, and not a sign that he will  require massive amounts of therapy.