12 Things I Learned This Week, Vol 151

Well, the sugar highs have been high, and the sugar low? Well, I’m pretty sure it hit at 3:30pm today when it started getting dark. (Oh, speaking of dark, I think there’s one of those chocolates calling my name, so I’m going to have to make this quick.)

Lesson #1: You can’t help but get a bit teary when you walk into the playroom to discover your two littlest ones standing—hand on heart—listening to the Star Spangled Banner. (You know, before they bash each other senseless in a game of dodge ball.)

Lesson #2: Pandora is to a box as Amy is to a bag of Halloween candy.

Lesson #3: It’s probably too early to start pushing the flashing lights and lawn decor when even a 3-year old walks into a store and says, “They think it’s Christmas?!”

Lesson#4: Playing Candyland actually can be fun. (Yes, it took me eight plus years of being a mom to come to this realization.) It simply requires engaging with a child who actually follows the rules and thinks it’s hilarious when she has to go back to the beginning right when she was about to win.

Lesson #5: If a teacher sends something home to this house that says “Optional Homework”, it might as well just be a piece of paper with a huge recycle symbol on it.

Lesson #6: I may have used the whole “there’s a drought” excuse for not washing my car a bit too long when my 3-year old (who eats goldfish that have been crusted into her car seat for a month) says, “We’ve gotta clean this trash car!”

Lesson #7: Every week I’m more and more amazed by how Big seems to know even more about technology than I do. Like this week? He came home from school and announced that he figured out how to use the character settings in Word to create a pile of poop with a silly face on his papers. Class laptop time well spent, my friends. (Now, if only I can figure out how to create that character in WordPress…)

Lesson #8: The morning after Halloween, our house looks a bit like a college course, Negotiation 101. On the syllabus for day one? “The Art of Fair Trades” and “How to Dupe Your Mom Into Letting You Eat Candy for Breakfast”. While Little quickly mastered both, Big still has some work to do before the midterm.

Lesson #9: When your Halloween costume requires green face paint, you’re just going to look sick for a few days.

Lesson #10: If you happen to find me wearing the same thing two days in a row, it’s not just because it was conveniently located in a pile on the floor in my room, but because Pink asked me to. And what baby wants, baby gets. (Unless it’s a pound of Halloween candy before breakfast. I mean, half a pound is more than enough, right?!)

Lesson #11: My little fashionista lost all credibility when she started insisting upon wearing socks with her sparkly sandals.

Lesson #12: Daylight savings + one kid with nightmares + two other kids with a stuffy nose = the wrong week to kick caffeine.

Now, excuse me while I grab a peanut butter cup and run to Starbucks so I can get through the rest of this day.