The lighter side of parenting

There's no doubt that being a mom or a dad has it challenges, but we've found that there's just as many hilarious moments that make you laugh so hard that you forget about the crappy parts.

Now that Nora can walk, and if she sees that a toilet lid has been left open, she bee-lines for the bathroom. She loves throwing stuff right in. (Yes, I scrubbed her hands after this one. It was actually planned. I knew her strategy, so I turned on the light, opened the toilet, and sat with the camera, just waiting. About 20 seconds later, she burst through the door with her book that she obviously didn't really like.)


Gus is especially hilarious lately. I've been writing down some of his quotes because I'm sure someday I simply won't believe he argued with me on certain points, or that he said what he said. Like how's this for funny - today at breakfast he exclaimed, "Mom, you're embarrassing. I love you." Why, thanks Gus. And I really didn't think I was embarrassing yet. I mean, there's more to come there I'm sure.

He also argued with me the other night after bedtime stories, to the point of tears, because he is convinced that I won't let him choose who he wants to marry someday, and also, by the way, 3 is old enough to be married in his opinion. He worked himself into a delirium on this topic, let me tell you. When I finally gave in and said, "OK fine, Gus, let's figure this out. Who do you want to marry?", he replied, "you, Mommy" (obviously, ha), to which I had to reply, "sorry bud, can't, I'm already married to Daddy." He argued, "not fair! But then I'll marry Grandma Ethel." So pretty cute, huh, Grandma? And then I told him we'll have to see, and he'll ask need to ask Grandma Ethel next time he sees her. He seemed fine with that, and eventually he fell to sleep. All in all, even with the tears, the situation was adorable and I had to hold back my laughter.

But my favorite Gus moment as of lately was Friday, garbage day. We usually get home early on Friday's just after the garbage crew has picked up the trash. It's become a tradition for me to send Gus down to the end of the driveway to fetch the empty receptical and drag it back into the garage. He likes it. It's his first real chore and he's good at it.

This Friday was no different. He took off bouncing down the driveway to fetch the trash can, grabbed the handle, tipped it up on the wheels and started the trek up the driveway. After about 5 seconds he yelled, "Hey mom, this is heavy, I can't do this." And being the sympathetic mom I am, I chirped, "Oh come on Gus, you can do it. It will make your muscles stronger. You can, come on." He went about 5 more steps, and started swaying from left to right, and said again, "but this hurts my muscles mom, I can't do it." Again, I pushed him to 'keep going bud, you are strong I know you can do it, yadda yadda..'. So he kept going, made it into the garage, and when he did, he let out a loud, "phew, that was tough!" but didn't seem too upset. About 5 mins later I went out to position the can in the corner, and when I grabbed it, I realized it was still FULL of garbage. Like, all of our garbage. I mean, heavy. Haaaa! I apologized to him and explained that the garbage crew must be late today. He was proud, and he should have been. This really could have been considered a toddler strong-man competition.

Here's a shot of the smiling strong-man, beaming from ear-to-ear with no clue that his muscles will be sore the next day.

Oh, and who doesn't love a good water gun fight? This is definitely Gus' thing lately, so if you come to visit and end up in our backyard, you've been warned.

And finally, this series of shots started as cute mini-photo shoot, but ended funny.

Nora was swimming with Gus, then decided to head into the sandbox to explore. Here she is thinking this sandbox is pretty neat.


Hm, now what's this sand you guys talk about? Mmm, very nice texture, I like.

Let me just do the signature taste..uh...um

no. No, please tell me I did not just do that..


Uggh I DID! Nasty, people! Get this grit out of my mouth. My delicate gums cannot handle this.

somebody get me my sippy asap.


I stopped taking photos promptly after this shot and rinsed out her lil mouth. She forgot about it like 5 seconds later but really was not impressed at the time.

Ahh, gotta love these moments. Believe me, it's not always like this but when it is, we've got to laugh. Also, please don't call social services on me, the kids are safe. I mean, aside from child labor laws with the heavy garbage can thing, everything else is just one of those things that happen to kids (right?). I'm behind them at all times, and they are always OK!