Magic

Barrett is a handful.  He can make a mess like no other child I know.  I cannot understand why a part of everything he eats has to end up smeared on the windows in the dining nook.  My sister-in-law Brittney, who has a son only three weeks older than Barrett is always offering to give me a day off because she can't believe how much harder Barrett is than James.  He is obstinate and opinionated (traits that will hopefully be beneficial when he's an adult, but which I don't appreciate now).  I'm getting so tired of seeing him dressed in only Lighting McQueen pajamas or clothes.  But no matter how much trouble he is in, all he has to do is give me one of his fierce hugs and call me "Mommy Cutie" and magically all is forgiven.

What I find on my camera

More often than I would like, my kids get their hands on my camera and when I download my photos I discover pictures like these. . . . .

Barrett's beloved trains.

Barrett amusing himself at Blythe and

 Brynne's piano recital.

A blurry Barrett.

Ghostlight Ramone and Tongue McQueen.

(The things I now know.)

Samantha and Kit, two of the girls' American Girl dolls.

Barrett being his usual crazy self.

The girls mugging for Barrett.  

I'm actually pretty impressed that this one is in focus.

A close-up of Kit in her birthday dress.

Blythe attempting to cop some attitude for the camera.

Brynne in her usual spot snuggling Ruby.

Blythe's half finished puzzle.

Barrett in his ubiquitous pajamas and his bike helmet.

So the question is:  What do I do with all these photos?  Do I save them or delete them?  My initial thought is why keep a bunch of blurry photos of nothing important, but then I think that maybe in 20 years I'll be glad I kept these pictures of our most normal, unpolished, unposed moments.  What do you do?

A Visit with KK and Grandpa Verl

We had dinner with Justin's grandparents the other week because his Mom was in town for a visit.  I took a few photos to document the occasion.  Justin's grandma's name is Kaye, but her oldest grandchild started calling her KK and now we all do.  I'm not sure how many of you know that when we named Barrett we gave him Justin's middle name, which is also his Mom's maiden name.  KK and Verl are Barrett's Barrett great-grandparents.

Kathy, Blythe, KK and Brynne

KK, Brynne and Barrett

Barrett showing KK his kissy face.

Blythe and KK

Grandpa Verl Barrett, Barrett and Justin Barrett Petty

How old is she??!!!

We had a little incident yesterday morning involving Brynne and a pair of scissors.  She was supposed to be cutting pictures out of magazines for an "All About Me" collage she is making at school.  She ended up cutting her hair in addition to the magazines.  She showed her handiwork to Blythe first, but insisted that Barrett did it to her while she was sitting at the table cutting out her pictures.  This was somewhat plausible since I had given him his own pair of scissors and a magazine after he tried to take Brynne's away from her. We still doubted her story from the start but she was adamant that Barrett had done it.  I asked her where all the hair was and she told me she had thrown it away.  As it turned out, she hadn't just thrown it away she'd buried in it kitchen trash.  I dug it out and was in shock as I realized just how much hair she had cut off.  

Brynne was not happy about having her picture taken,

especially after I told her it was going on my blog.

Here's a close-up of the damage.  The hair that's

left is about an inch long.  I figure she's going to

be in middle school before it's all grown out.

Here's the hunk of hair and the 

apparently nice sharp scissors.

One more look at the missing hair.

I was pretty upset at first and I was threatening to not have a family picture taken until it has grown back.  Justin thinks I overreacted.  Luckily, she left a few long strands in front that we can kind of comb over to blend it in.  I have a sneaking suspicion that it's going to look worse as it grows out, before it begins to look better.  I haven't decided if it would be best to cut it short and start over or just bob it back up to her chin or even a bit shorter.  

Later that day I was in our half bath and saw more hair on the floor in there.  So I confronted her with the evidence and asked her why there was hair in the bathroom if Barrett had cut it in the kitchen.  At that point she finally caved and admitted that she had cut it herself.  When asked why she'd done it; she burst out, "Because I forgot to not to!"  We got a good laugh out of that because she actually did the same thing about four years ago when she was three years old.  She was sitting at the kids table at my parents house and was working on an art project involving coloring and a pair of scissors. Her hair kept falling in her face, so she reached up and cut it off.    She obviously didn't learn her lesson the first time around and she cut off even more hair this time.  A few hours later Blythe said to her, "Brynne, I still just don't understand why you cut your hair?"  Brynne's response, "I was having fun."  Well, she's the one who has to live with the consequences of her few minutes of "fun" for the next few years.  I've told her the next time she wants to cut her hair to please start from the ends, not the scalp.  

1965 vs. 1966

This is my Mom's yearbook photo from 1965 when she was a senior in high school.  As it turned out my sister had scanned the photo onto her computer and was able to send it to me.  I out Blythe and Brynne's  "yearbook yourself" photos from 1966 on also so you can compare them.

Janis Rich

1965

Isn't she pretty?

Blythe 1966

Brynne 1966

The hair-do isn't exactly the same, but I say it's pretty darn close!

What I do with my not so spare time

I found this website on my friend's blog yesterday called www.yearbookyourself.com

It turns your picture into a yearbook photo from 1950 all the way to 2000.  I first tried it out with a photo of myself and then when Blythe and Brynne saw what I was doing they insisted on seeing how they would've looked too.  We had a lot of fun laughing at the different hairstyles.  It was also a little scary for me to see my little girls looking like high school seniors.  Actually, in less than 8 years  Blythe will be having her senior portrait taken.  That IS scary! 

 I thought we'd let all of you in on the fun we were having.

 

Blythe 1960

Blythe 1966

My Mom graduated from high school in 1965 and her hair was almost exactly like this, except she wore it parted on the side and had a barrette with a velvet bow in it.  I so wish Barrett hadn't broken my scanner so I could have included the actual photo.  It is amazing how much Blythe resembles her in this photo.

Blythe 1994

Blythe 1998

(the year she was born)

Brynne 1964

Brynne 1966

The Brynne version of my Mom's senior yearbook photo.

Brynne 1982

Brynne 1994

Jill 1952

(I actually think this look isn't so bad.)

Jill 1968

Jill 1972

Jill 1990

My hair never looked remotely like this, 

but I knew plenty of girls who did.

Jill 1996

This is of course quite similar to how I 

wear my hair, minus the bangs of course,

but I thought it was interesting to see

what I would look like as a blonde.

As great as the pictures of the girls and I were, the ones of Justin 

had us laughing out loud the most.  Check these out!

Justin 1952

Justin 1964

Justin 1970

Gotta love the plaid suit.

I know my Dad had a jacket just like this one.

Justin 1976

Justin 1980

Justin 1988

This last picture is the best because Justin did wear his

 hair almost exactly like this while he was in high school.

He graduated in 1990, not 1988, but close enough!

Once again, oh how I wish my scanner was functioning!

It's been one of those days!

Only 4 more hours to go 'til this day is up.  It all started last night when I told Barrett he could wear his favorite camouflage t-shirt to school today.  This morning I remembered it was picture day.  No way was I going to let him wear that ratty t-shirt with the frayed cuffs and holes along the shoulder seams.  I may let him out in public in his PJs, even un-matching PJs, but it's different when it's being documented and all 18 kids in his class, plus his 2 teachers all get copies.  

My first tactic was to deploy Blythe.  She can generally get Barrett to do things when I know I have zero chance of succeeding with him.  She at least got his jeans on him.  It was also my co-op day today so we had to be at school at 8:30 a.m. instead of as close to 9:00 a.m. as we can manage.  So I put him in the car still with his Cars pajama top on (he probably thought he was getting away with murder at that point) and also put in 4 shirts to choose from once we got to school.  

As soon as I got him unbuckled I pulled his shirt off and got the car locked so he couldn't retrieve it.  I had to carry him kicking and screaming into the building while also carrying 2 bottles of juice for snack time, my purse, his backpack, the bag with his shirts in it and a lunch box.  He got away from me twice before I got him into the classroom, the first time while I was putting the juice in the fridge and the second time after we washed our hands (which we have to do before entering the classroom).  Once I finally got him in the classroom, I didn't have to worry about him escaping again because he knows that only adults are allowed open the classroom door, which is divided in half like a Dutch door.  I pulled out the shirts and told him he could choose which one he wanted.  He of course only wanted the camouflage shirt, which he calls his skateboard shirt.  I had wisely brought it with, but left it in the car just in case he absolutely refused to wear one of the other shirts.  I won't bore you with all the details in between but his teacher, who I just adore, worked her magic and got one of the shirts on his back just as the other kids started arriving.  

Things were  good  for awhile after that and he only a got a little bit of black marker and play dough on his shirt before he got his  picture taken.  I think the photographer eventually got a few decent shots of him, but he was being such a goof ball during the shoot.  He kept puffing his cheeks out with air and alternated that with sticking his teeth out while pulling his bottom lip in.  He was also having trouble holding still long enough for her to take a photo.  

After the photos were over we had snack time and then story time, after which all the kids go to the restroom to try to use the potty before going out to the playground.  Barrett took his turn at the urinal and peed for forever; he finally got down and I as I helped him with his pants I realized he had peed all over the front of his pants and undies.  So I had to dig his spare clothes out of the bin in the classroom.  Does anyone think he wanted to change his clothes?? Not a chance.  But then I had a stroke of genius and told him that if he changed out of his wet pants we could go out to the car and get his skateboard shirt.  He happily changed after that even letting me take off his favorite Cars underwear and putting on the hated Elmo undies.  

So we were the last one to make it out to the playground.  Life was good again for   . . . oh  . . . about five minutes tops.  The sun was shining, Barrett was happily  playing in the sandbox, I was chatting with one of the teachers and the other co-oping Mom and then Barrett walked up to me whined and threw up at my feet.  At least he missed my shoes, his shoes weren't as lucky. When he finished vomiting I took him inside and washed him up.  Of course I had no clean clothes left to change him in to.  The BIGGER problem though was: Is this an allergic reaction or just the stomach flu?  I checked him over  for hives.  None.  His breathing seemed fine.  But I couldn't really tell for sure.  I gave him some Benadryl to be on the safe side and put his Epi-pen in my pocket.  We stayed in the boy's bathroom for close to half an hour while I monitored him.  I decided to call on the snack that he'd eaten which were Garden of Eatin' organic cheese puffs.  Luckily, there was some left over so I got the package and called the company.  I was told that none of their facilities are nut free and they don't guarantee that any of their products are not cross contaminated, although they do use good manufacturing practices to try to prevent cross contamination of allergens.  At that point I figured there was a good chance that it was an allergic reaction.  However, I still didn't feel that the situation warranted using the Epi-pen, which would require a follow up at the ER.  

I decided to drive him over to his pediatrician's office which was only a few blocks away to have his vital signs monitored.  They were really great about getting him in right away, even though we didn't have an appointment.  The Dr. checked his lungs, his oxygen levels and his blood pressure and it all was just fine.  He still looked deathly pale and he was a little spaced out and not really interacting with the doctor.  She suggested that we wait there for half an hour and then check him again.  By the time she came back in his color was good and he was back to his usual goofball self.  So we left and I was pretty certain it was a minor reaction to the cheese puffs.  He fell asleep shortly after we got home on the floor of his room in front of his door.  At least he put his pillow on the floor.  To make a long story short he's thrown up several more times, the first time all over his bedroom carpet, so it's officially the stomach flu.  Now, I just have to keep my fingers crossed that no one else comes down with it.  Realistically, the chances are slim.  So that's my day.  The worst part was trying to make up my mind whether or not to give him the shot of epinephrine.  I'm glad I waited, but I always worry that if I delay he might not get it soon enough to stop the reaction.  Food allergies are the pits.  I did try to be a considerate preschool mother and left a message for his teacher telling her to throw away the play dough that he played with at school today since it's probably full of germs.  The other bummer was he missed his first Tumble Time class at our local gymnastics center.  You know the class I first signed Blythe up for when she was only 10 months old.

First Day at Shining Stars

Barrett had his first full day at preschool today.  He attends the Shining Stars Co-0perative Preschool on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9:00 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.  I of course wanted to document this historic (in our family anyway) occasion and tried to get some photos of Barrett before I took him to school.  He did not want to cooperate, which was not surprising considering the morning we'd been having.  Last week when he had orientation he slept in until 8:30 a.m. and we ended  up being half an hour late for school.  That was not the problem today since he decided to get up with Justin at 6:30 a.m.  Blythe even managed to get him dressed before she left for school, in jeans, a Cars t-shirt and a Cars zip up hoodie, Thank you, Blythe!  Barrett is still insisting on wearing PJs all the time and instead of getting tired of this, it's actually getting worse because now he's even throwing a fit when we try to get clean pajamas on him.  

I'm finally realizing that Barrett has trouble making transitions and adjusting to change.  However, I still have trouble anticipating everything that is going to cause a melt down.  Case in point, this morning I realized that his sweatshirt was labeled John M.  because it's a hand-me-down from our neighbor.  Well, since John M. just happens to be in his preschool class I thought this might cause some confusion unless I crossed out John's name and wrote Barrett's name.  I explained this to Barrett and he said he didn't want to take the sweatshirt off.  I figured no problem I'll just pull the tag out and write on it while he's wearing it.  So I managed to get it relabeled and then he threw a fit.  He ran upstairs screaming, so I decided to let him cool off while I ate my breakfast.  He didn't reappear so I went to find him, hoping against hope that he hadn't put his jammies back on.  Luckily, I found him sitting on my bathroom counter with a wet washcloth trying to scrub his name off the tag in his sweatshirt.  So I explained that no matter how hard he tried that Sharpies are permanent and can't be washed off and reiterated why it was necessary to have his name on there.  So I threw his sweatshirt in the dryer so he could still wear it and put a video on for him until it was time to leave.  He did calm down until I pulled the camera out. . . . 

This was his first reaction when I asked to take a picture.

He did hold still with Ruby long enough

for me snap this photo.

It's always been a tradition to take

the first day of school photos in front 

of the front door.  This is how Barrett

decided to have his picture taken.

I persevered until I managed to 

get at least part of his face.

He literally ran into his school the

second I got him him out of the van.

I took this when I went to pick up him

from school and he was still eating his

lunch.  He still didn't care to pose for me.

I finally gave up when he resorted

to this technique again.

The good news is that his teacher said that he was an excellent student and listened and followed directions.  We'd had some trouble getting him off the playground at orientation so I was very relieved to hear that he didn't give his teachers any problems.  When I dropped him off he asked me stay and got a little upset when I said was leaving anyway.  His teacher, Ms. B, started playing trains with him and he was just fine after that.  I had a great morning.  I went to the store by myself to get Nathan a birthday present, then I took the dog for a hike, picked up the huge mess Barrett had made in the family room, took a shower without wondering if Barrett was destroying something, stopped at library and then it was time to pick him up.  The morning went by way too fast!