VOTE!!

... for my new diaper bag!

I really like these Reese Li bags, but my husband is NO help. (He hates them both.) Help me!

Bloody Sippy Cups!

And I don't mean bloody in the I-scraped-my-knee way, I mean bloody in the I'm-censoring-my-blog-slightly-from-what-I-really-want-to-title-it way.

I actually made it to Erich's music class this morning! Unfortunately, we didn't make through in the door. For the record, I've decided that this class was a total waste of money. We only made it to half the classes and when we did, all Erich wanted to do was play with the weights while I sang The Wheels on the Bus to whatever other kid was next to me. The only entertaining (and equally annoying) part was this mom that kept talking in a loud baby voice to her son - and following each comment with a guttural "Nanny" laugh. And I've never seen so many "stay at home moms" wear business attire on a regular basis. It was just weird I tell ya.

Anyway, when I pulled Erich out of the car I felt that his butt was soaking wet. I saw the sippy cup next to him, realized what happened, and decided to go in anyway. By the time we got to the building my arm was also drenched, so I put him down and evaluated the damage. The kid looked like I hadn't changed his diaper in days (or a cloth diaper in 6 hours, but that's another post). The entire butt and sides of his light blue jeans were deep blue, so I decided to go back home - fuming at those cursed sippy cups.

I'm curious to hear what others would have done. Would you go home or stick it out? I feel totally comfortable stripping Erich to his diaper or just telling everyone "don't worry, it's only juice!" in playgroup (and indeed I have), but these weren't pals of mine. And no, the Rec Center doesn't sell clothes; I checked before throwing in the towel.

And another question: does anyone know of a sippy cup that does NOT leak? I probably have about 10, and of those, Erich will only drink out of 5. They are all straw cups and they ALL leak. It drives us crazy. Marc even threw one away in a fit of rage last weekend after it soaked his pants. He felt guilty after I told him it was Erich's favorite cup, so he fished it out of the trash and we gave it a good washing when we got home. But how pathetic are we that we keep these cups that bring us so much misery just because Erich refuses to drink from anything else? I keep thinking I'd like to all of the cups with some that don't leak, and make Erich deal with it, but... do they exist? I'm doubtful.

Best Mother's Day EVER

Okay, so I know it's only my second one, but this Mothers Day weekend was pretty freakin' great. It almost made up for my husband ditching me the last several months. Well, okay, I suppose it did.

Thank you Hubs for the night at the Ritz, the fabulous restaurant, the couples massages, the 11-hour slumber, the crepe breakfast, and the amazing ("Mothers Day, birthday & a little bit of Christmas") gift!! I was so spoiled and it was sooo awesome! In return I believe I didn't complain once about our bratwurst dinner and having to spend the entire afternoon watching the Jazz game. Shoot, I didn't even think about it!

You've set the bar high, babe. I don't know how I'm going to top this next month...

English Nursery Rhymes in German

I'm not sure if any of my readers will be interested in this besides me, but after an exhaustive search I was finally able to find German translations of some of my favorite English nursery rhymes. Up until now I've been singing my own rough and pathetic versions to Erich. (Reason #27 that I may have already screwed up my kid before his second year.) Boy am I excited to actually be saying them correctly! You may notice though, that most of these aren't literal translations. This isn't uncommon. I suppose the charm of lines like "the old man is snoring" must get lost in translation. How unfortunate.

For anyone interested, I found the translations here. The site also translates nursery rhymes into a bounty of other languages, so it's a definite keeper for any multi-lingual families. And while we're on the topic, this is also a fabulous site. Pick your language, and pull up pictures. As you scroll over the picture, you see and hear the word. Erich loves this and we do it almost every day!

Bruder Jakob (Are you sleeping?)

Bruder Jakob, Bruder Jakob,
schläfts du noch, schläftst du noch?
Hörst du nicht die Glocken, hörst du nicht die Glocken,
Ding Ding Dong, Ding Ding Dong

Funkle, funkle kleiner Stern (Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star)

Funkle, funkle kleiner Stern,
was du bist, das wüßt ich gern.
Stehst hoch über aller Welt,
ein Diamand am Himmelszelt.
Funkle, funkle kleiner Stern,
was du bist das wüßt ich gern.

Tickedi tickedi tack (Hickory Dickory Dock)

Tickedi tickedi tack,
die Maus läuft die Uhr auf und ab.
Die Uhr schlät eins,
die Maus rennt heim!
Tickedi tickedi tack

Es regent, es regnet (It’s Raining, It’s Pouring)

Es regnet, es regnet,
es regnet seinen Lauf.
Und wenn's genug geregnet hat,
dann hört's auch wieder auf.

Ringel, ringel, Rosen (Ring-around the Rosie)

Ringel, ringel, Rosen
Schöne Aprikosen
Weiß und blau
Vergiß mein nicht,
Alle Kinder setzen sich.

Das ist der Daumen (This Little Piggy Went To Market)

Das ist der Daumen,
der schüttelt die Pflaumen,
der hebt sie auf,
der trägt sie nach Haus,
und dieser kleine Lümmel ißt sie alle auf!

Die kribbel-krabbel Spinne (The Itsy Bitsy Spider)

Die kribbel-krabbel Spinne kriecht in Wasserrohr,
dann kommt der Regen und spült sie wieder vor,
dann kommt die Sonne und trocknet das Wasser ein
und die kribbel-krabbel Spinne kriecht wieder ins Rohr hinein.

A,B,C,

A, B.... Y, Z, oh weh, jetzt kann ich das ganze ABC!

Flashback

It took us two years to finally realize we could (and should) store stuff in our attic. Now, whenever I can get my rear in gear, I'll pack up a couple tubs of junk and leave them on the landing for Marc to throw up there. (I've never actually been up there myself-small, dark, musty spaces weird me out.)

My latest project has been organizing the closets in Erich's room, better referred to as the old attic. After packing numerous tubs of baby clothes, I reached two forgotten boxes on the top shelf with my name on them. My theory is that they got there when my mom drove down from Wisconsin after Erich was born. I don't remember seeing them or putting them up there, but then again I was on a lot of Percoset back then...

I realized these were memorabilia boxes encompassing my middle through high school years. Sweet!! Naturally, I took a break from organizing and indulged in this unexpected treat. Right away though, I found something a little, um, "sweeter" than I'd expected. Tucked under the lid of the first box was a bottle of Royale Deluxe Chambord Liqueur! The bottle was pretty dusty and sure, I had some wild times in my youth, but I certainly didn't remember this keepsake! You had better believe I have my suspicions, though. (Um, did you forget about something, little brother?? We'll chat later!)

This was truly a blast from the past, complete with diaries, pictures, cards, yearbooks, awards, trophies, art projects and bulging bag of notes folded into every geometrical shape possible. I got quite the kick out of it all. I had love notes in there from a guy I refused to date until I was 16, and journal entries about how much I "loved" the guy I secretly dated when I was 15. I know, I was quite the heartbreaker. I even got emotional when I found a printed copy of a virtual "Happy Hanukkah" bouquet my best friend Dave sent me saying "Did I make you smile? If so you should put this on your list of things that make you smile." Apparently I was making a list.. I wonder what happened to that?

I made a crazy chair in art class my senior year that was symbolic of the dueling good/bad angel on each shoulder. My good/bad angels were represented by Oscar the Grouch in a black can and Elmo in a flower pot (I had something of an obsession with Elmo for about a year); they were attached to each "shoulder" of the chair and each half of the chair was painted and "decorated" to match (interpretation: glued on flowers and garbage). A lot of people didn't "get" my art, but I was really proud of it so I saved the Oscar and Elmo. Erich had a blast playing with them.

Then there was the journal entry I wrote about how my friend and I stole our teacher's AOL password (because my parents wouldn't give me theirs) and chatted with a bunch of guys, and one kept emailing us. I was convinced that we'd get busted because the emails took a few days to delete; now was that true or was I on crack?

There was so much more, but I decided to pack things up and postpone the rest of the flashback a little longer. At least it was nice to reconnect with the old me and see how I've grown. I'm proud of myself. I did a great job of documenting the shy, skinny, four-eyed, headgear wearing brace-face I was and the myriad of emotions that came with finding myself, making choices, and puberty in general. And although I still cringe when I remember it all, there are a ton of valuable resources in that box to help me deal with my own daughters' (because we'll have at least one if not more, Marc!) awkward adolescent stages. I'm hoping that by then I'll be able to completely shake off any embarrassment about who I was and just laugh about it. Because I think I turned out pretty good.

Erich Nesting

Apparently E was very dissatisfied with the way I organized the pantry. I'm not complaining, though. This kept him busy for about half an hour.

And after all that work, this is how he finally decided it should look: