Didn’t see that one coming.

So Harrison recently asked me how he could earn some money from me by doing things around the house. I’d half jokingly said that if he wanted to take over cleaning the bathrooms, that would be great! 😉

He groaned and let it drop…until the next day, when the conversation went like this:

H: Sooo, how much would you give me if I cleaned the bathrooms?

Me: I was kidding. You don’t need to clean the bathrooms.

H: No, really. How much?

Me: Well, what if we started with just your bathroom. I’ll give you $5.

H: <Thinking.> Ok. I’ll do it!

So, he did. And he did a good job, earning his $5. Fast forward a week. I cleaned the bathroom this time, and the conversation went like this:

Me: So, did you notice that I cleaned your bathroom?

H: Yep. Why?

Me: Just wondering where my $5 is. 😛

We both laughed, and I thought that was the end of it. About five minutes later, he leaves the room and returns with $5. Can I just say that I was floored – and totally didn’t see that one coming. How many 10-year-olds would willingly turn over $5 of their own money because of a chore their parent did?

Needless to say, I informed him I was totally joking, and that I’d never expect money for any of the chores I do around the home. That they’re my responsibility as the adult and primary caretaker of the home – and of him. At the same time, it warmed my heart to know that somehow I managed to be lucky enough to be the mom of such a generous young man.

What has someone done to surprise you with generosity? I invite you to take a minute and share your common grounds.

Read Full Post »

Celebrating 10 years of life

I cannot believe it! My not-so-little munchkin turned 10 last month! Seriously? How is that even possible?

He has been a joy since he first came into my life. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful, intuitive, intelligent, perceptive, caring son. So, just a little post to say so! (Of course, I’m not biased, or anything.) 😉

Read Full Post »

Third grade already?

How is it that we’re already at third grade? Where did the time go?

I have a feeling I’ll be saying this a lot in the coming years, right?

New school, old friends & hopefully new friends
This year our school district shifted things around. There are two schools (West and Central), and they were both K through 8.

West is literally in our backyard, and for the past three years, the neighborhood has been filled with hundreds of kids walking to and from the school. Until now.

To better even out the distribution of students, teachers and expenses, the district decided to merge the two schools, making West 6 through 8 and Central K through 5. This means, the munchkin is now headed to Central, renamed Elementary.

This, as you can imagine, caused more than a little consternation on the part of my 8-year-old. We’ve tried to reassure him that all of his friends are in the same situation. The school administration has done a good job of helping the kids get acclimated, with field trips to the ‘new’ school at the end of last year.

We’ve also tried to explain that the students who had already been at Elementary are probably just as upset. They now have all these interlopers invading their space, their school, their teachers.

And the up side of this whole thing is the possibility for new friends. 😉

All of this seemed to help, and the first two days of school went off seemingly without a hitch! Yay!!!

We’re keeping our fingers crossed for a successful year! Here’s hoping your school years will be just as good!

Read Full Post »

Check Yes or No

Made famous by George Strait in 1995, that song immediately sprang to mind this afternoon here in 2012 as the munchkin pulled me aside, saying, “So, guess what? I did it!”

“Uh…did what?”

“Today in art class, we made a valentine. I made mine, and then turned it over and wrote: Do you like me? __ Yes __ No”

😯 Oh boy. “You did?!?!” I ask, trying to hide my smile. I couldn’t help it. I can’t believe it. He’s got guts; ya gotta give him that.

“Yep!” he says with a big grin. “Then, before she left, I ran over to her car, handed it to her and ran away.”

Shaking my head, I ask, “So, you don’t know what she checked?”

“Nope.” Long pause. “What do you think? Will she check yes or no?”

“Ummm…not sure, buddy. Guess you’ll just have to wait and see.”

“Yep. Maybe I’ll find out on Valentine’s day. ♥ That’d be cool, right?”

Yep. That’d be cool. Wow.

What a character. Where does he get this from? He’s in second grade. I certainly didn’t have the courage to ask the boys I liked in second grade if they liked me. Unbelievable. (Yes, I said boys, plural.) Hmm…maybe he gets a little of it from me, after all. Lol! 😎

Any crazy kids’ valentine stories you’d care to share? Drop me a line below and share your Common Grounds.

P.S. I played the George Strait video for the munchkin, who promptly sees the note with the yes/no boxes, opens his mouth, gasps and says, “Hey!!! That’s just like my note! Do they have any other songs about love?”

Ha! Only a few hundred thousand or so…

Read Full Post »

A Touch of Cologne

And the saga continues. We went over to one of our friends’ house for New Year’s eve, and the munchkin was invited as well.

A lot of his classmates were going to be there. He wanted to know if any of his girl classmates were going to be there. I went through the girls, and he smiles and nods.

“Okay,” he says. “I’m going to use some of Daddy’s cologne then.”

Now, it was a good thing I’d just swallowed my coffee because at that pronouncement I would have spit it out all over everything! 😉

Fast forward to New Year’s eve. He did, indeed, wear cologne to the party. The next morning we asked him if any of the girls noticed he was wearing cologne. “Nope,” he said.

I asked him if he’d asked any of them to smell it to see if they liked it. His response?

“Nooo! I didn’t want them near my neck! They might try to kiss me!”

Lol! Really?!?! What a little knucklehead. Silly munchkin. And yes, we’re sooo in trouble. At least for the time being he doesn’t want the girls kissing him. Guess we should be thankful for small favors. 😉

Read Full Post »

A Kiss Before 23

First off, happy New Year to you! I hope 2011 treated you well and that 2012 will be full of health, hope and happiness!

Now, on to the story. As I’ve said in the past, we’re in for trouble when it comes to the munchkin and girls. He’s seven going on 17.

While he’s been commenting on “cute” girls for quite some time now, lately, he’s been asking specific questions about dating, boyfriends/girlfriends and kissing.

For example, the other day he asks (out of the blue, I might add), “When did Daddy first kiss you? How old we’re you?” Huh?

Now, the good thing with this is that we didn’t meet until well after school, which means my answer was 23. “Twenty-three?!?!” he answers, amazed. “Wow, that’s old.”

Yep. Of course, I didn’t bother to explain that people kiss a lot younger than that. He didn’t ask me when my first kiss was, and I wasn’t about to give him any ideas that kissing was something to undertake before your 20s! Lol! 😉

Oh yes, we’re in trouble. Stay tuned for the continuing saga.

Read Full Post »

Rock star

Yep. That’s what the munchkin called me tonight. A high school rock star.

Works for me. He can tell me I look like I’m in high school any day. 😉

You see, my mom bought me these cool jeans, we had a family date night tonight at Macaroni Grill, and I didn’t feel like straightening my hair. So, I let it go kinda wild, put on my cool new jeans & off we went. When the munchkin saw me, he said, “Mom! You look good. You look like a high school rock star!!!”

Awesome! He then informed me I should form a band. I should sing, he would dance & Daddy could play the drums. He thought we should call it: Laura & Her Boys. LOL!

Too funny! Let’s hope he continues to think I’m cool. Ha! Who am I kidding? 😉

 

Read Full Post »

The Chase

My son walked over to me last night, and asked, “Mom, did you used to have boys chasing you on the playground?”

Uh…what?

“Sometimes, yes…”

To which he responded, “Did you like it?”

What?!? LOL! 😉 “Ummm…once I realized it meant they liked me. Why do you ask?”

“Oh,” he said. “A few of us boys have girls chasing us at recess. I just wondered.”

Unbelievable. Seven-year-olds?!?! Boy, are we in trouble!

Read Full Post »

Excuse me?

I’ve decided it’s time to get back in shape. I know, I know, I’m asking myself the same question: How long will I stick with it this time?

*Sigh.*

I heard a scary stat recently that said women 40 and over (not quite there, but close) put on 10 pounds a year unless they exercise at least 30 minutes a day. What?!?! That can’t be right. How is that fair?

Um, what happened to age 24, is what I want to know? Where did it go and why can’t it come back around again?

The Trainer
So, I pulled out the Wii fit balance board tonight, and asked the munchkin if he wanted to do some yoga with me. Of course he was game. The child has more energy than a Duracell battery.

All is going well. I’m about 20 minutes into the groove, and the trainer (on the Wii) decides to inform me the following brilliant nugget: Flexibility and agility tend to diminish as we age.

Well thank you for that. I said, “Hey, are you telling me I’m old?” to the TV. Yes, let’s not talk about me talking back to the pretend cartoon trainer on a video game. The munchkin chimes in and says, “Well, she knew when you took a break a few minutes ago. Evidently, she knows you’re old, too.”

Yep. Thanks for that, munchkin. I love you too. 😉 Unbelievable.

What do you do to stay fit? Drop me a comment. I’d love to share our common grounds!

Read Full Post »

The Plan

My son is going to be seven in June. He’s going to be seven, and he still doesn’t know how to ride a bike without training wheels.

Maybe you can relate. I know I can. You see, I didn’t learn how to ride a bike until second grade. Yep, that’s right. Second grade. and, it looks like my little guy is on the same path.

Now, not to make excuses, but there are a few simple reasons for this:

1. We live on a hill, and the driveway is definitely not flat. It angles downward and ends up right on a busy street. Not an ideal place to learn to ride a bike.
2. We have no sidewalks directly in front of our house. There’s a sidewalk to our left or across the street. Again, can’t really send the child out to practice riding up and down the sidewalk by himself, and the neighbors don’t particularly like it when you camp out on their lawn for a couple of hours. 😉
3. I don’t like outside. Yes, it’s true. I know. Whatever. It is what it is. I love the sunshine, the warm breeze blowing into the house, the windows open. Ahhh. Perfect. But…I do not want to enjoy all of that outside. I like screens, shade and the comfort of being inside. This is a bit prohibitive when trying to teach someone to ride a bike, and leaves the majority of the weight on the shoulders of my husband, who, by the way, loves being outside.

The Right Size

Now, with that being said. The munchkin has this really cool blue and green bike with training wheels…that is waaaay too small for him. My parents have a bike for him, which is really cool. (See the picture above? The one in front is the actual bike.) Unfortunately, we’re not sure there’s a way to attach training wheels to it. It’s a 20″ and many of those don’t allow for training wheels.

As we explained this to the munchkin, he was a bit distressed at first. You see, his current bike is a 14″ and an 18″ is still too small for him – those are the ones that allow for training wheels. The 20″ is what he needs, no question. So…what to do?

Definitely Not a Daredevil

While the little guy appears to be laid back and willing to try anything, this is definitely not the case. He’s extremely cautious, likes to think things through and is not willing to take risks when it comes to anything. Ah…like father like son.

So, back to my question: What to do?

He was totally freaked out when we tried the Daddy-will-run-behind-you-holding-on-to-the-bike scenario in the bike store the other day as we were getting a feel for sizes. That did not go over well at all – for either of them, actually.

In the end, we decided to see if we can find a way to fit the training wheels on the 20″ and go from there. Decision made.

The Plan

Enter, the plan. After we get back home and let the p’s know that we’re going to use their 20″ bike they got – even if we can’t put training wheels on it, the munchkin says, “Here’s the plan, Mommy.”

“Um, okay. What’s the plan? What are we talking about?” I inquire.

Using lots of hand gestures (he is part Italian, after all), he explains. “Okay. We’ll take my little bike with the training wheels and take them off. Since I can totally touch the ground easily on that bike, I can ride it without putting my feet on the pedals and instead get used to the feel of balancing the bike. Then, I can use the bike Grandma and Grandpa are giving me and have Daddy hold onto it until I get the feel for it. Then, I’ll know how to ride a bike without training wheels.”

He smiles and walks in the other room.

Alright then. Glad he has it all figured out. My little planner.

What plans have you or your children made to help you adjust to a new situation? I’d love to hear about them. Drop me a line below, and let’s share our Common Grounds.

Read Full Post »