And I Can't Do the Stereo, Either

What a fun morning I had today. Jenna and Jon went to an adoption class this morning, so I got to babysit. Sammy was the first one up and it was really great to have some one-on-one time with him. It started out in his room. I remember that Jenna said he always wakes up with a smile....and she was right. I could hear him on the baby monitor, so I went to his room and opened the door. He was sitting up in bed and when he saw me, instead of getting the "where's Mommy" look on his face, he smiled and raised his arms to be picked up like I had been doing this everyday. It was still dark in his room so instead of changing him right away, I sat in Jenna's rocking chair and hummed to him. Sammy fell asleep again with his little fist tightly entwined in my sweater. I got to look at him "close up" and remembered doing the same thing with his mother. It was a great moment. But, when it was time to get up, he was up. We went downstairs and he immediately went right for the gift that Shannon got Ben for his birthday--the plastic "ball tube." No, that's not the name of it, but it's the only way to describe it. Sammy crawled right in and handed me a ball to throw down the chute so he could catch it. I swear he said the word, "again," as he handed me red ones, green ones and yellow balls to toss down the twisting chute. He loved seeing the balls roll down the chute and land in his lap. Jenna and Jon's house is always cold--it's old and that's just the way it is...but Sammy has figured out a way to get around that. After he sat in the "ball tube" for awhile, he crawled out and gathered four or five different colored balls and sat on the heating grate where it was warm. He was happy rolling the balls to me while I chased them down and rolled them back to him. He was warm and entertained--it doesn't get much better than that. Tony and I love both of our boys, but it was good to have just Sam time. I saw so many expressions that I remember from Jenna, and he is so loving. I really enjoyed the time I spent with him. And then, of course, it was time for Ben to get up. I heard him in his room singing, so I went up and knocked on the door. "Papa?" he said. "No, it's Moe-Moe," I responded and opened his door. "Papa is downstairs," Ben said when he saw me? "No, it's just Moe-Moe," I told him. "Where is Papa?" Ben wanted to know. Well, in reality, Papa just got back from his NBAA Conference in Texas and instead of arriving at 8:30, was delayed in his return, it was closer to midnight, so Papa, I hope was sleeping. Jon has been working a lot of hours recently, so Ben made the leap that if Papa wasn't with me, he must be working. "Papa wruking," he said. "Yes, Ben, Papa is working." So, with both of them up, it was time for the fun to begin. I did breakfast--with Ben's help, of course.....OK, it was just toaster waffles, but it's more than I do here! Both of the kids were great. Ben helped with Sam and they kept themselves occupied with their toys and games. We did have one bump in the road. When I arrived, Jenna had written out instructions on how to operate the TV, DVD and stereo. She knows that when it comes to me and an instrument of entertainment, if it's off, I'm lost. And then, there is the family famous, "Power, Jan." That happened when I was extremely frustrated that I couldn't get the TV to do what I wanted it to do. As I was cussing it out, David, who must have been 12 at the time, patiently took the remote from my hand, pointed it at the TV and said very simply, as he pushed a button--"power, Jan." And, of course, the TV magically turned on and did exactly what he told it to do. (Must be a guy thing....) At any rate, Ben wanted to hear his music. No problem...Jenna gave me instructions. "Turn on the big button to the left that says, Power. Hit the button that says CD.....Hit the play button and his music will come on." Well, it didn't. There was no play button. I'm sorry, Jenna and Jon, maybe you better take the stereo back, because this one didn't come with a play button. Ben stood patiently by my side waiting for his music...well, patiently to a point. "Where is it?" He asked on more than one occasion. "Moe Moe can't find the play button," I told him. "What did you do to it?" He asked. Like I knew, right??? I kept looking (yep, even with my glasses) and for the life of me, could not find a play button. I gave up. "We can listen to music when Mommy and Daddy get back," I told him. But, Ben, with his excellent memory and reasoning capabilities, said to me, with his little hand on my shoulder....."well, can we call Papa at wruk?" I felt bad, but we didn't get to listen to music. And of course, what was the first thing that Ben told Jon when they got back?????? "Moe Moe couldn't find the play." Thanks, Ben! Imagine how I felt when an hour later Ben wanted to watch a DVD. Could I do this? Is there a play button on the TV. Lord, I hope so. Ben must have really wanted to watch the DVD because he said, "I can do it Moe Moe." He went toward the TV and I had a slight moment of panic--a 3 year old could really mess up a TV....but then I realized, he probably knew more about it than I did. And I was right. All of a sudden, the DVD was on and the exact movie that Ben wanted was playing. I stood helplessly and hopelessly by, saying, "oh Ben, thank you for helping Moe Moe." In reality, I was thinking, "thank you for saving Moe Moe's ass, because I probably would flunk TV too!!" And so we watched Toy Story. Note to Jon, you might want to teach Ben where the power button is on the stereo because if one of us is going to mess it up--it's going to be me, not him. All too soon, Mommy and Daddy came home. I felt like I had done not only my walking tape, but my kick boxing tape and army boot camp. What a "wruk" out that was. I was tired and sweaty--but what a good day I had. Ben reminded me that next weekend he would be sleeping over "at Papa's house." We have them for the weekend so Jenna and Jon can do another adoption class. I am looking forward to having them, but I will be very glad that Tony is here to help. In other family news.....January is drawing to a close, that means that Tony Jr will be going to Vancouver to work at the Olympics. He will be gone for 34 days. I know that Marie will miss him very much. He mentioned that he might start a blog so we can track his activities, and I hope he does. I think this is going to be a wonderful experience for him--career wise and also experiencing a different place and people. Tony is a people person. He grows from interactions with others and I know he will be successful in forming new business relationships and learning. I also know that others will say, "that Tony Swegle did a great job when he was here." So, good luck to Tony and hang in there Marie.....if you miss him too much, throw Tyson in the car and come up for a visit. We would love to see you. It has been a busy week--work wise and children wise. Tony is home and our routine starts again. I can turn the burglars over to him and all of the creaks in the house because he knows what they are. He knows if they are important creaks or just routine. He knows that the burglars aren't really burglars, just the sounds of things outside that I don't' hear unless he is gone. I had a wonderful day today with Ben and Sam and can't wait to have them for the weekend. I just love those babies. More on being systemically illerate...I uploaded 2 pictures of Sam....but somehow failed in my attempts to upload Ben.....next week....I promise!!!

We Heard You, Ma

Today I had lunch with my sisters. My mother always wanted us to be close--but she went about it the wrong way. My mother insisted that we didn't need friends, because we had each other. My mother pushed us together and didn't realize that we were three very different people. I think that all of the pushing she did made us back away from each other instead of having the close relationship that sisters often do. My sister, Lynn, is the caregiver. She lived with my parents the longest and took care of them when they were ill. I don't know how she did it, because I certainly couldn't have. She went to doctor's appointments and coordinated medicine and ultimately worked with visiting nurses for our mother's last days. Thinking back on it now, the burden must have been terribly hard, but not once did she say she couldn't do it. My sister, Fritz, is the youngest. I used to always say that her biggest ambition was to be my mother. The homemaker, the mother, the one who was always there. Fritz has had some very hard moments in her life, but continues to smile and make every day meaningful. We learned today that her daughter, Sarah, was accepted to Kent State and her son, Joe, may be working in Canton as an actor. For Fritz, the well being of her children is what keeps her going. And then there is me. Always the rebel, always the problem. These lunches have been good for all of us. I called my sisters to get this started because I could hear my mother scolding me from beyond. It was my responsibility, she said, for she always considered me the strong one. Sometimes that was not the best thing for she and I, because, she too, was very strong and that made us have tons of conflict. But, when she wanted something done, she usually called me to either get it done or get it started. And so, I did. I think in these past three lunches my sisters and I have learned more about each other than in the 19 or so years we all lived in the same house. We are all different people, but we have common threads. I found out that Fritz plays golf--probably worse than I do. But it's something I never knew until today--and so we will go this summer and see who sucks more at golf. Fritz is the bowler. Our father bowled. He played golf too. He was pretty good at both. I admitted today that I didn't know how to bowl--never did. I always wanted to, especially since Jenna bowls, but I never did. Maybe one day I will. Lynn is a miniature golfer!! Nothing wrong with that. One of the best dates Tony and I ever had was playing miniature golf. Um....I don't think we played it the same way as Lynn, since alot of cleavage was involved, but what the heck, it's a thread. Anyway, today we celebrated Lynn's birthday. She will be 59 on January 21. We went to Red Lobster and the wait staff sang to her. We talked for two hours about kids and Christmas and memories and we laughed. At one point, I thought to myself....we heard you, ma. And I think she heard us as well. I think she is happy now.

Cars and Airplanes and Kwocks, Oh My

I once said in our Christmas newsletter that when Ben was our only grandchild having him over was an event. When Sam was born, we identified the event as a circus! But, we look forward to everytime we get to babysit. Last night, Jenna and Jon let us keep the boys for a few hours. It was great to see how social Sam is getting. He wants to be where the action is. If Papa and Ben are racing cars on the kitchen floor, that's where Sam wants to be. Of course, he has a different take on how to race the cars. Papa and Ben sit against the fridge and propel them to see whose car goes the farthest. Not Sam...he puts a car in each hand and army crawls across the kitchen floor! Sam looks up to Ben and you can just see that he can't wait to be running and jumping just like him.

After racing cars, they flew airplanes--sending them flying down the same path as the cars. Ben can tell you which airplane is a DC 6 and which one is a 747. He can also tell you which one Sam crawled away with. It goes like this...."Sam, put the 747 back on the one-way." But, Sammy just continues to crawl to the family room and then turns and heads back into the kitchen.

But, Sammy hasn't been able to take over the clock yet. That remains a Ben and Papa thing. We have a clock in the dining room that chimes on the hour and half hour. From the time Ben was around 18 months old, he has been fascinated by that clock. Tony taught him how to open it up and re-set the pendalum when it stops. Having finished that, Ben would happily go back into the family room and play. When the clock chimed, he would point at it and say, "Papa, the kwock." Recently, however, it just doesn't re-set, but stays quietly on the wall, stuck in time. Ben figured out the "kwock is broken." He still, however, likes to have Papa pick him up, open the door and swing the pendalum. It goes for a few seconds and then stops. At which point, Ben will say, "oh no, Papa, the kwock is broken again."

And, of course, the night wouldn't be complete without watching Elmo. I'm not sure it's Elmo that Ben enjoys, or the process of opening up the DVD case and telling Tony to "put the DVD on my finger," as he holds it up. From there, he goes to the TV and tells Papa to, "open up the DVD," all the while carefully holding up is "loaded" finger. Tony has discovered that instead of watching the entire video, we can get away with showing Ben the short clips at the front of the video showing other Elmo DVD's you can buy. Ben is perfectly happy watching the clips and then telling Papa which one he wants to see next. So all three of "my boys" sit quietly and watch Elmo.

What fun we had building with blocks, throwing the small soccer ball down the stairway railing and hitting Papa in the head, travelling into the depths of the basement to look for batteries and taking pictures. Each boy took 3 pictures; some better than the ones I took. And of course, as he has been hearing his whole life, when Ben gets the camera he says, "you sit over there and say cheese." And then he says it with you as he snaps away. What a great evening!

Mr. Doughboy and Me!

Since I started this blog after Christsmas, I didn't include much information about the great time we had. As you all know, Tony, aka, lying sack of sh*t....convinced his sisters that there would be a celebrity chef cooking dinner for all of us on Christmas Day. OK, I was involved too, but it was his idea! Well, he kept it going for a whole year and really surprised our guests. Our celebrity chef, The Pillsbury Doughboy, was in rare form, but still managed to put on a great meal.

We enjoyed all of the gifts our family shared and had a great time watching Ben and Sam open their toys. Papa got Ben a flight jacket. Ben hasn't worn it yet, but I'm sure he will warm up to it soon. Sammy just enjoyed ripping paper and banging on things. Tony (Jr) and Marie got him his own drum, which makes great noise--just ask Jenna and Jon!!

The house was full of family, and that's the way it should be on Christmas.