Gordonisms III

Happy New Year!!!

I was sitting at the dining room table, paging through a magazine that had just come in the mail while Gordon and I were eating lunch. "Mommmmmmeeeee, those are for reading while you poop!" This was said in a tone that says - I can't believe you don't know any better! It took me a few seconds to realize that because we have a magazine rack on the bathroom wall that we keep "stocked" for bathroom reading - he concluded that magazines are "bathroom only" reading material.



Since mid November Gordon has frequently taken on the role of "Little Puppy". He loves to pretend to be a puppy, often down on all fours, barking, panting, begging to be pet, given a treat, have a little scratching behind the ears. He even tried to lick my cheek once. That was a bit too far for me. He has decided that if he is Little Puppy, then I must be Big Puppy. I love the way he says it too - I need to get it recorded on video - he'll say "Hey Big Puppy!" (kind of like "hey good lookin' whatcha got cookin' style!) and I can't help but smile. And bonus - I've found that when Gordon digs his heels in and is determined to be disagreeable about something (like getting dressed or eating breakfast) if I start treating him and addressing him as "Little Puppy" he is much more likely to cooperate - life is fun with my Little Puppy!

Tragedy in the Tank

Sad to report, Larry, Moe, and Curly are dead.

The crime scene:

I was spared the discovery of the massacre. Shannon came home from work and immediately went to greet his new friends. Thankfully he handled the discovery of the carnage in the kitchen so casually and quietly that I didn't even know anything had happened until he told me after we got Gordon tucked in.

I was in disbelief. What happened? Why, why why? Things were going so...so...swimmingly! They've entertained us for 3 whole days! They became part of our family. They seemed happy here. How could such a thing happen in my kitchen when I was here all day?

In highly technical tank terms Shannon explained that the heater cooked 'em. Apparently the heater didn't shut off the way it is supposed to when the water reaches the desired temperature setting. I do have some questions for the "fish master" (aka Shannon) about this - was it the heater malfunctioning - or the heater operator malfunctioning? Big difference. The answer could avert another massacre of innocent fishies.

CSI will be looking into this further - checking for fingerprints on the heater instruction manual to see if it was ever touched by said fish master, or if he just assumed he knew what he was doing and in his carelessness cost the life of three innocent tetra neons.

Interestingly, the freshwater shrimp, Laurel and Hardy, are doing just marvelous. Apparently they like the warm water. I think the temperature reached 91 F. They seem fine with all the commotion and loss of their tank mates. Time will tell though.

When I told my parents Gordon received an aquarium and fish from Santa, my Dad gave an evil laugh and said "oh, so Gordon is going to learn all about life and death now!" Prophecy fulfilled. I'm left here to explain to Gordon that his fishy friends are no longer with us. He usually says good morning to them by name (and good night - although last night he was really out of sorts with being sick and all so forgot to say good night - thankfully!) Shannon suggested I just not turn on the aquarium light - and not point out that the fish are gone. Yeah. That will work.

A picture from happier days. I've put a circle around the trio - Larry, he's on the left, Moe, to the right, and Curly, obviously the one on the bottom:

Here We Go Again - Aaaaaachhhooooo!

I went to the grocery store Saturday - the last thing you want to hear your cashier say after he touched every item you purchased, your cart handle, and even handed a balloon to your son (so presumably touched his hand) is "I feel so awful!" GEE THANKS! I quickly slathered on the antibacterial stuff but it was too late. Sure enough, within 12 hours the signs appeared - congestion, crankiness, a little cough. By this morning - when he came out of his room, he sounded awful. Let's see, since mid-November, he's had croup and a terrible ear infection with the highest fever he's ever had - both episodes required strong antibiotics - and it looks like we might be heading for another one. When he was a baby if he got a cold, within a few days his eyes would be goopy and he'd have an ear infection, it happened so many times it was one of the reasons I just couldn't keep working. I quit my job and he stayed healthy. Then I enrolled him in a Mothers Morning Out program - so he was getting to know those pesky little germs again - but it was manageable because I was home and didn't have tons of work piling up. And one of the doctors at the practice we go to prescribed a little miracle in a bottle - Brometane DX Syrup. It cleared up the congestion, stopped the cough in its tracks, allowed my little boy to sleep (and me too) and the best part of all - it cleared it up before the goop settled into his ears and we didn't need antibiotics. So I kept it on hand until there were no more refills allowed. In the meantime the genius study came out that young children should never be given cold medicines. So what to do? According to the pediatrician - let the cold run its course - even if every single time it results in an ear infection and resulting need for antibiotics. UGH, this makes no sense to me. So, even though those medical studies scare me a bit, I took my little patient to Walgreens and we bought some Children's Tylenol Cold medicine, I gave him a dose based on his weight - not his age - and after half of his lunch was down he was ready to go take a nap - so then all the scary "what ifs" started going through my head - was it too strong, is it too much, will he be ok? I tried to just leave his door ajar so I could peek in on him, but he insisted I shut the door. I'm sure he'll be fine - I just heard a little cough (reassuring!) but darn those studies - to a born worrier like me they are just fuel on the fire. Oh boy...guess this medicine did not cause drowsiness, now he's up and it has only been 45 minutes. It is going to be a LONG day, with very little work done. Guess this medicine doesn't have that nice "drowsy" side effect :(

Christmas 2008

Earlier this week - a fun bath:

And a little cereal snack...

what do you mean no more?

This looks odd...and it is odd...I'm sitting in the rocker-recliner and Gordon is on my lap - and with two helium balloons, and we have the pop up tent on us, Gordon thought it was extremely funny, Shannon played with the new camera trying to learn some new tricks, I just went along for the ride:

We went to VA Christmas Eve day and stayed there through most of Christmas Day with my mother in law and brother in law (who flew in from Alaska and arrived at 2 am, poor guy - what a trip it takes for him to come down for the holidays!) The deck/gazebo is Gordon's favorite place to hang out:

"Grandma don't get a boo-boo up there!" (she's up in the walk up attic getting "things" for him to play with):
Getting in some tickle wrestling before bed

And playing with Grandma too
So I started to experiment with the black and white setting on the camera

These look like scenes from a movie in black and white to me

Rolling around on the floor in his new Christmas PJs (these were from Walt Disney World - and I discovered the ink/security tag was on the pants after I got home from Florida. I thought I'd take it and the receipt to the Disney Store here in town and have them remove it - I went to the mall the evening of December 23rd - very dumb - to find out that the Disney store was closed down - thankfully a wonderful woman at JCPenney's took pity on my and removed it for me! I was so excited to find such a kind person!)

Not happy to hear it is bedtime:Christmas eve, getting into bed I told Gordon I thought I heard someone up on the roof - so he was listening carefully for any sounds of sleigh bells or prancing reindeer!

Christmas morning - he was a little dazed by all the excitement of us grown ups making sure he saw that Santa had been there, there were a few presents under the tree and a whole bunch in the living room too: Gordon's favorite present, the harmonica - and wow can he play it already! He has it in his blood - his great grandma played harmonica as well as the spoons!:

Don't look at me...hair isn't even washed yet, it was a rough night! That is Uncle Mike Gordon is sitting next to:

Learning the ukelele

The soccer ball was the 2nd favorite gift - and the Virginia Tech football

He also liked the digger and dump truck from Grandma that she bought from her neighbors

Mommy had a lot of fun making an airplane out of his new tinker toys, Gordon had fun "flying" it:

We came back home Christmas night only to discover Santa had been at our house too and filled all of our stockings and left a couple more gifts under the tree - a Thomas the Train set AND a 2.5 gallon aquarium (Daddy & Gordon are off to get the fish and accessories today!). Gordon is wearing his "Toodles" ears that came from Disney - Mickey talks, plays games like "Mickey says" and they play the Hot Dog song (mommy loves these as much as Gordon!) So he's got his ears on and he's strumming the ukelele and the harmonica...or as he says it he's playing his "pickin and a grinnin' music":