Disney

Ty has been a little off lately. I think that he's tired from a trip that we took to Boise (if you're lucky- I'll quit being lazy and actually download the pictures to our computer so that we can show off the newest college grads in the family) and now he has a pretty nasty cold. And the weather has turned kind of cold and wet. Really all he wants to do is snuggle up in my chair with me and watch movies. And since I'm all fat now (I used to have ankles- but now my calves just turn into feet. My ultra sensitive husband calls them my "stumps") I have no problems doing just that with him. Besides- I figure that my time with just Ty in my lap is pretty limited and I feel a little guilty about it. Ty loves Disney movies and we just watch them over and over.

In doing this however, I have come to appreciate the darker side of Disney. Think about this- in an effort to impart some kind of moral to the kids- Disney uses some pretty dark humor. Tell a lie- get eaten by a whale (Pinnochio). Be mean to an old lady- get turned into a monster (Beauty and the Beast). Go down some strange dark hole and all of a sudden cats will start to disappear, tea parties go nuts and some queen will start yelling to cut off your head (Alice in Wonderland).

The Hulk

Ty was irritated with me the other day. It was beautiful outside and the sun was shining- but all he wanted to do was lay on the couch and watch a movie. I, being such a responsible mother with my son's best interest at heart, told Ty no and that he was going to go out and enjoy the weather instead. So I literally had to carry him out the back door, while he continued to kick and scream "NO!!!" I figured that once he was outside and distracted by the swing set or something that he would forget about his movie and want to be outside- I mean come on... Aren't kids supposed to like being out in all the fresh air? Shaun has been pumping me full of crap for years about the country air being so fresh and all un-polluted. Kids should eat that up right? Right.

Anyway, I was right. After a while- Ty was a little distracted from the thought of going back inside and decided to chase the bugs in our backyard. He watched the bees on the flowers (okay- "flowers" is kind of deceptive- the plants with petals in our backyard are technically dandilions), chased a beetle and buried a worm. Then he yells at me to come and look at this BIG spider that he found. I was weeding on the other side of the garden, but dutifully got up to come and see his discovery. However, since I am "heavy with child"- it took a minute. While I was hefting myself upward, Ty yelled that the spider wasn't moving. I told him that he was probably sleeping or that he was dead. "He's sleeping?" questioned my innocent little boy. Then without another thought- he reaches his little hand out toward the spider. At this point- I was close enough to actually see the spider he was talking about. This thing was MASSIVE. HUGE. If it had been a human- we would be calling him The Incredible Hulk. I was halfway through my sentance, telling him not to touch it-but my warning cries were a little late. Ty's fingers had reached The Hulk and he poked him. Now instead of scuttling away like any normal bug would do when confronted with a chubby poking device- The Hulk jumped up onto Ty's hand and then started crawling (quickly) up Ty's arm.

We are talking blood curdling screams.

Then Ty takes off running toward me flinging his arms in every direction- trying to dislodge The Hulk from his arm. At one point- The Hulk either fell off or jumped back into the garden and Ty glommed onto my leg saying "Mama save me!" I held him for a few minutes until he calmed down enough to see that The Hulk had gone back to "sleep" next to my pile of discarded weeds. Ty then calmly climbed down and walked resolutely to the back steps. He climbed to the top one and sat down with his arms folded across his chest. He turned to me and said "Mama- I want to go inside now and watch a movie."

Needless to say- we spent the rest of the morning watching "Lady and the Tramp."

The Lawnmower

I feel... old...? No, maybe grown-up...? I'm not sure. Either way- Shaun and I are totally homeowners now. We bought our first lawnmower on Monday night. Our lawn has taken on the looks of a jungle- Shaun and I were debating on whether or not we should buy the lawnmower or a machete instead. We decided that in the long run- the mower would probably be a better option. I'm sure our neighbors were starting to worry that we were never going to mow.

Anyway- I learned something new. Lawnmowers apparently do not come all put together. They come in a box. You take your box home and you assemble it there. This is one of those times that I am grateful that I am married. My job was to go get the gas for it. Shaun got the lucky job of putting things together. Ty was his "assistant" for the evening. It was cute- Shaun had Ty help him measure out the right amount of oil and then showed him how to check the level of the oil on the dipstick. Ty was fascinated. I went inside for a few minutes to get dinner started, and when I came back out- Ty started jumping up and down yelling "Mama look! I helping!!"

Red Badge of Courage... Or Clumsiness

Today Ty wears his first scars of the summer. We went for a walk today after dinner and Ty totally ate it in our front yard. Luckily it was as we were getting ready to go in for a bath- so we were able to distract him from the tears pretty quickly. After his knees were all washed though- it doesn't even look like he got hurt- but he told us that they still did. I figured it was blog-worthy. It's not the first set of skinned knees he's seen and I'm sure it's not the last.

Today was such a beautiful day weather-wise. I think that we spent from about 10:30 until 5:00 outside (with the exception of lunch and naptimes). Shaun figured it was time for us to go in when Ty's little legs started to turn pink (hopefully he isn't too sunburned... maybe just sun kissed) along with my forehead.

I think that my favorite time of day though is at night- just before bedtime and after Ty has had a bath. He just smells so nice and he's kind of tired- so he's up for a snuggle. Today though I think he had some alternative measures in mind. He came into the living room and climbed on my lap, gave me a hug and told me he loved me. I thought he was so sweet. Then he asked if he could share my drink. Uh-huh. Loves mama my foot. I had made a drink called frozen hot chocolate (thanks to my sister in law Dani) and Ty informed me after he downed half of it, that it was "Yummy."