Thanksgiving #1

Sunday was our first (of three) Thanksgiving meals of the week. Ryan sported his new sweater vest just for the occasion. I wasn't sure how to take it when he said "just like Mommy's shirt!" Something tells me I wear a bit too much argyle. I try to not wear them to church ever since one Sunday when I matched both the preacher and the President of the college (both men over 40).

We went to my Grandma's house in Hometown for dinner and Ryan was excited to play with my cousin Carter, whom we see often at school and town events. Of course, Grandma let him have a cookie before dinner.

Ryan's turkey was untouched and he pretty much had a place of corn and mashed potatoes, but the rest of us enjoyed the full array of delicious food. We enjoyed seeing many cousins, aunts and uncles, and my Grandma again. I especially loved getting my cousin's son, Jackson, to laugh. Just check out that smile!

Scrapbook Paper Wall

I got a bit of a hair-brained decorating idea the other day and decided to just try it instead of hemming and hawing over it forever. Our TV now has a home on a nice entertainment center instead of the drop-leaf table I was borrowing, but the rest of the wall is completely blank. I'm planning to get a mantel-type shelf to go above the TV for Christmas, but wanted some other pop of color and interest on this wall. On an earlier shopping trip I bought a book of 12"x12" scrapbook paper that matched many of the colors of the accent chair in this room. I was never sure how I was going to use it, but loved the patterns and metallic accents. So, on Friday night at about 10:00pm I decided to just put it up on the wall in a grid pattern. I used Scotch's Clear Removable Mounting Squares in each corner and wherever 2 pages connected. (More on how well this worked later). Adam helped me (God bless him for her tolerance on my erratic decorating decisions) and it took less than an hour.

It matches the accent chair (which obviously doesn't go there since that's the front door) but it pulls this wall into the rest of the room's bright decor.

To work around the outlet, I just removed the plate cover and used a scissors to cut out the corners of these pages. I have my new Scentsy warmer plugged in (and highly recommend the Hazelnut Latte scent).

But, what's the verdict on the wall?

Things I love:

• The patterns of the paper.
• The added interest and color on this otherwise-plain wall
• How inexpensive it was: $20 for paper (and I used less than 1/3 of the book) plus about $7 in mounting squares.
• It doesn't damage the wall and could easily be removed without removing paint (or even ruining the paper)

Things I don't love:

• It's not sticking and the edges puff slightly.Several corners are unstuck each morning.
• It's missing the purple and dark red colors.
• It might be too much once I put stuff on the shelf above the mantel.

Things I might do differently:

• I might try removable poster mounting tape along all the edges so it sticks better and so all the edges lay flat.
• We might install cork board from floor to ceiling in this dimension so I can use flat gold thumbtacks to put up the paper, can easily change it out for different seasons, and can add other things like photos, ornaments, etc.
• We might frame it out with wood either just on the left and right edges or on the entire grid. This would make it much more permanent, so I'm glad I'm trying it out for a while to see if I really like it enough to commit to that.

What do you think? Keep it? Scrap it (no pun intended)? Frame it? Pin it on Corkboard? I need help!

Saturday with Mommy

Today Ryan and I had a whole day to spend together. We organized his whole room in the morning and ventured out to ALCO to get something to fix his bookcase. It was so icy out that we couldn't get the car back up the driveway! When I tried to go around the block, I couldn't get up that street either, so I finally slipped home, gunned it up the driveway, and decided to stay put the rest of the day.

We had fun today and Ryan took a LONG nap to catch up on some sleep, so I had a chance to catch up on some work. When he got up, we popped some popcorn and watched the movie "Up". He loved it (except for a few semi-scary parts) and I thought it was a great movie.

Here's bits of the conversations we had today:

While sorting books:
Ryan: "Whoa, Mommy! I have a lot of books! I'm a big helper!"
***
Me: "That boy wants to be a scientist when he grows up. What do you want to be when you grow up?"
Ryan: "A boy!"
***
Me: "That girl is flying! Do you think it would be fun to fly!"
Ryan: "I would be very careful!"
***
When waking up from his nap:
Ryan: "Mommy, I all done sleeping. I get up now."
***
When a cartoon character on TV got hit with an old man's cane.
Ryan: "Mommy, he better go to the doctor."
***

I had a great day with my little commentator!

The Creative Process

After reading Mindy Kahling's book, Is Everybody Hanging Out Without Me? (which I loved and finished in 2 days),  I realized that many of us have inaccurate pictures of how "creative" people work. I always pictured The Office writing team in Jim-like shirts and ties, sitting around a big conference table in a white room, just shooting out jokes at each other, seeing which ones got the loudest laughs and some underling furiously scribbling while the head writers shout, "Wait, wait, wait, wait. I got a good one. What if DWIGHT says, 'I save my hair clippings and weave them into socks,' and then JIM looks at the camera and says, 'You know, I've heard Dep Sport has an incredible wicking quality.' Did you get that down, temp?"

Mindy kind of busts this myth by revealing she does most of her writing alone.  She talks about posing for a totally-fake picture of her typing at her computer desk in an immaculate office.  In reality, she admits that she mostly uses her office as a messy clothes closet and does most of her typing sitting in bed with a sweatshirt on her lap to prevent "laptop legs."

I thought I'd let you all in on a "backstage pass" into how my creative process works for show choir.

When I first started doing choreography in 1997, I was a sophomore in HS and my parents put huge mirrors in a cement-floored room in the basement with an old Comet wrestling mat. It was awesome, like my own dance studio. I used it to make up show choir moves, but also practiced my cheerleading and dance team. There was low duct work on the ceiling, so I didn't incorporate a lot of moves where my hands had to be straight up!

When I started up again after college, I did an entire song in front of my dresser in our first basement apartment. Not a lot of fancy footwork that year.

In our last house, I again had a great basement setup with a $5 mirror from a garage sale, the CD player I bought with my own money in 6th grade, a dorm carpet, a 13" TV with a VCR and DVD player to review old tapes, and again, low ceilings. This worked great for the 6 years we lived there and was great for taxes because I had a space in my house solely dedicated to this home-based business. :)  However, as the years progressed, I found I was spending more and more time just sitting on the couch or floor in the basement, drawing stick people on the music and stage formations in my trusty notebook (wide-ruled, been using for about 7 years to write out placements and to keep track of my billable hours). I did most of my "idea generation" during my commute, so at home I was really just testing it out (without the inconvenience of having to also keep my car on the road) and transferring it to paper.

In our new house, we have way more room and a perfect "dance studio" except it also makes a perfect "toy room", so I'm down to looking at my reflection in the TV (turned off) in the basement. Although, at this point, you are just as likely to find me "choreographing" while sitting in the middle of my bed, eating goldfish crackers and watching Extreme Couponing. Some things get easier with practice and it honestly takes me much longer to draw/write out the instructions to leave behind than anything else.

Well, this might not have been a riveting post, but I feel like we're getting really crowded with "look at my kid, he's cute posts" and needed to "jazz it up."

Coffee Habit

The other day, Adam got Ryan buckled in his car seat, jumped in the truck, and was about to take off to bring him to daycare, when Ryan piped up,

"Daddy, Forgot Coffee!"

Observant little bugger had noticed that Adam didn't have a travel mug with him! So, Adam went back inside, poured himself a mug from the full coffee pot he'd made that morning, and brought it with him.

Thanks for keeping track of us, bud!

Quotes

Me: "Ryan, what do you want for breakfast?"Ryan:"Ummm, goldfish."
Me:"We don't have goldfish for breakfast. We have things like yogurt or cereal or eggs or toast or muffins."
Ryan: "Okay, I'll have cake."

(We ended up making muffins but did make a cake for later!)
****
Adam (to Ryan): "Hey Buster George, are you ready to get in the car?"
Ryan: "Nooo"
Adam: "Is your name Buster George?"
Ryan: "No, it's RYAN!"
Adam: "Well, what is your middle name then?"
Ryan: "RYNO"

(Ryan Ryno Boone does have a bit of a ring to it.)
****
Playing with his Little People Nativity Set and Farm set (We bring 'stable' up to the next level)
Ryan: "Mommy!"
Me; "What?"  (He will NOT go on with his question until you respond. He will keep saying Mommy Mommy! Mommy! with increased urgency and volume)
Ryan: "Where's the farmer?"
Me: "The farmer is downstairs. Maybe the shepard can drive the tractor?"
Ryan: "No, Mommy. The KING drives the tractor."

Apparently the wiseman is better equipped, what with all his camel-driving experience.
****
Me (filling the muffin cups with batter)
Ryan (in an amazed voice): "Whoa! Good JOB, Mommy!"

One of Ryan's gifts is to be a good encourager :) He's given us this same encouragement for things like putting together his bed, folding laundry, reaching something on a high shelf, or successfully toasting "gay-gulls" (bagels).
****
Me: "Adam, do you want some apple cider?"
Adam: "Sure"
Ryan: "Mommy! I want spider juice too!"
****

Me: "Ryan, should we wear your dinosaur jammies tonight?"
Ryan: "Wear Curious George jammies."
Me: "Oh, I think those are in the wash."
Ryan: "Yeeah, Curious George dirty. Gramma better wash them."
****

Ryan bumped the top of his head on something and started crying.
Me: "Do you want me to kiss it all better?"
Ryan: "No-oh-oh-oh. I kiss it."

And then he tried to kiss the top of his own head!

Big Boy Bed

Today, we made a spontaneous decision to try Ryan in a "big boy bed." He has been taking naps on a regular bed at daycare and we figured it would be nice for him to have a better mattress, a pillow, and some warm covers for the winter, plus it will be necessary once we start potty training and we might as well get one hurdle out of the way.

We already had a twin bed and picked up some white sheets, a black comforter and bedskirt and a guardrail at Walmart. We figured we'd just try some inexpensive that would be easy to wash that still matches his current room. If he ever has to move rooms we will just get a new set to match a new room then. When we got home tonight, he was excited to help daddy bring the bed up from the basement.

 He was super-excited the whole time we were putting the bed together and kept exclaiming, "Ryan's bed! Big Boy Bed!"

After getting jammies on, it was time to try it out. He insisted on rescuing all the stuffed animals from the crib, but I figure it's probably not a bad idea to have some buffer between him and the wall anyway.  One thing we did not transfer was his pacifier. He asked for it about 3 times, but we told him he doesn't need his "my" in his big boy bed. We said he could hug Catty or Monkey instead. I was surprised at how easily he gave up on the protest! This was part of our plan too to see if we could wean him off the bedtime pacifier during the transition and just get into a whole new routine at once.

After reading a book in bed, we adjusted the lamp and music, told him goodnight, and left the room. We haven't heard a peep out of him since then and so far we see clear sailing on both the bed and pacifier transition.

Tomorrow morning we plan to work on "Don't get out of bed until we come get you" part of the deal. Wish us luck! Now if only potty training were this easy...