Christmas Time's a Comin'

It's the most wonderful time of the year! I've always loved Christmas music and I've been guilty of playing it as early as October (when no one's listening, anyway... Dean protests if Thanksgiving hasn't occurred yet). But I've discovered that being a piano teacher takes it to a whole new level. This year I'll put on my 2nd annual Holiday Recital (gotta be PC. I know, it irks me too) and so my students are already hard at work on their holiday songs. Which is lots of fun, but with 17 students, I'm hearing "Deck the Halls", "Joy to the World", "Jingle Bells", and a slew of others way too much.

I'd like to get them to branch out. So I'll make a suggestion. Watch this and let me know what you think. This goes out to all you Inserras out there.

Like Father Like Son

During the last few days, Tommy's been really into forts. By forts, I mean draping a blanket over the couch and dragging in every stuffed animal that he owns. Today he referred to it as his "tent" for a while. Then, I think he remembered that he was Dean's son (background: Dean won't go camping. His motto is "Why sleep outside when you can sleep inside?"), and began referring to it as his "hotel". True story.

Potty Training... Take 3?

I think this is my third attempt at potty training. But this time I'm really serious about it (if I said I was serious in my other two tries, please disregard). And the good thing is that today we've actually had success! I started with Tommy yesterday after his nap because our morning was busy. He had 4 accidents between then and bedtime, and only one of them was on the couch, so that's a good thing. He still wouldn't tell me when he was wet (except when he went on the couch and then politely said "Mommy, I pottied on the couch"). He slept in a diaper last night and then when he woke up, I fed him breakfast and put him back in his underwear. He proceeded to have 4 more accidents and denied their existence (while standing in a puddle the size of Lake Michigan). Then all of a sudden, on the 5th pair of underwear (about 10:00 this morning), he crossed his legs, grabbed himself, and looked very panicked. We ran to the bathroom and he sat on his potty. And filled it. I couldn't have been more proud! He got to pick out an M&M (my bribe of choice this time), and put a sticker on his potty chart.

Then about 20 minutes later, he slipped off to the bathroom again and went potty in his potty seat (well, mostly) for the second time! I thought "Well, surely this potty training thing will be a breeze now!" I gave him lots of high 5's and more M&M's and stickers.

But then it happened. He suddenly decided he was done using the potty and didn't want to go anymore. We took a 20 minute trip to Coosh's to pick up some lunch and bring it home. I tried to get him to use the potty but he wouldn't. You're thinking "Is she nuts? Bringing him out of the house in underwear after only 2 successful potty visits?" Well, yes I am, but he didn't have the accident there. Thankfully he waited til we got home, but as I was pouring our drinks, I heard another pouring sound and looked up to see Tommy looking down and saying "Uh oh." When I tried to get him to the potty, he screamed and kept going. All over his shoes and socks. Lovely. So now he's in a diaper and is down for a nap. We'll try again when he wakes up.

So do you think we were 2 and done? Has he given up? Will there be a round 4 or will this be it?

Nap Time

I have 3 minutes before my first piano lesson for the day shows up. Tommy has been in bed since 1:45ish, but hasn't gone to sleep. I've gone in a few times and scolded him, telling him he needs to sleep. Right now. As I sit here typing this, he's singing the alphabet at the top of his lungs. He may not be sleeping.

Weekend Recap

I'm a bad blogger. I know. It's been a week since I've blogged. Just rest assured that this week was either really busy or completely uneventful. Or a combination of both. This weekend was great though. Dean was out of town Friday night for the Well's One Night Stand with our good friend Jonathan Merritt. I was going to attempt to ride over with Tommy but just before it would have been time for us to embark on our almost 2-hour drive, he decided to go crazy and throw a big fit. Not getting in a car with a cranky 3-year old for 2 hours! So we went to Dean's parents' house for dinner and hung out with the fam. It was great to spend time with Sally, who was in town from Tampa, and Sarah, who's still in town from Colorado.

Tommy had his last soccer game on Saturday morning. It was cold and windy but lots of fun. At one point, they did a drill where they were told to pretend there was a dragon and they had to rescue the princess before the dragon ate their ball. When they were told to go, everyone went except Tommy who stayed on the sidelines. Apparently he was afraid of the imaginary dragon because when I told him to go, he said "No, that's ok, everyone else is going. I'll just wait here." Oh well.

Church yesterday was awesome. I was in the band so I'm still exhausted, but what a great service! We did baptisms (in the cold) and we baptized 9 people! Only two had signed up previously, so that's always exciting to see if anyone wants to be baptized right there on the spot. Dean finished up the relationship series with a sermon entitled "Tools and Drama Queens". You just gotta see it here.

Here was Tommy's and my conversation in the car on the way home:

Tommy: "Mommy, I don't want to see the ghosts at Target"

Me: "Ok, we don't have to"

Tommy: "Does Jesus protect me from the ghosts at Target?"

Me: "Yes he does."

Tommy: "What else does he protect me from? Will he protect me from the witches? And the goblins? And the monsters?"

Me: "Yes, he protects you from all those things. And remember, those things are just pretend."

Tommy: "What's the man in the moon?"

Me: (not quite sure what to say here) "Um, I think it's when the moon looks like there's a face in it, but tonight there's no moon so you don't have to worry about that."

Tommy: "Where is he? Is he sick? Did he go home?"

Me: "Yes. His mommy had to make him some soup."

My poor confused child.

A Yummy Delicious Cake

I love to bake. I haven't done it as much lately since I realize that eating lots of baked goods generally adds to one's waistline and cholesterol. But tonight our small group is celebrating some birthdays so I'm making a peanut butter cake with chocolate fluffy icing. And I think I'll crush up some Reece's Peanut Butter cups and sprinkle them on top. Jealous? Hungry? Here's the recipe, courtesy of The Chocolate Cake Mix Doctor.

One box of regular yellow cake mix
1 1/3 Cups of water
1/3 cup of creamy peanut butter
3 eggs
1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract

Grease 2 9-inch cake pans. Preheat oven to 350. Mix all ingredients in a mixing bowl with a blender on low speed (I used a stand mixer) for 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula and then mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Pour into cake pans and bake for 23-28 minutes. Allow to cool and frost with chocolate frosting. I make my own but a can of frosting is really good too.

Yummy and delicious!!

New Shows for Tommy's Mommy?

I just watched possibly the most anticipated episode of "The Office"... along with millions of other people, I'm sure. The difference between us though is that this was only my second or third full episode. And now I'm hooked. I mean, who doesn't love the YouTube video of the wedding processional? Yes, I realize they were making fun of it but I still laughed out loud.

And last night, while I was watching my usual "Law & Order: SVU", I did something I've never done before. I checked the TV Guide channel to see if there was anything better on. Yes, I know that just upset lots of people, but I guess I was getting bored. So I noticed that the new show "Glee" was on a different network at the same time. My friend Lindsay (who finally blogged and you might wet your pants laughing at the post) is now obsessed with that show so I figured I should at least check it out. The outcome? I watched the end of "Glee" instead of "SVU". What is the world coming to?

Sickie

This week in the Inserra household, we are dealing with something we don't usually have to worry about... a sick child. Saturday night brought a low-grade fever (we never have fevers), so I kept him home from church on Sunday. He seemed ok during the day, but that night he woke up with the dreaded croup. For those of you without children, or who are fortunate enough to never have dealt croup, it's no fun. It happens when the weather changes (even if just for a few days, i.e. the "fall" weather we had last week) and it happens in the middle of the night. Don't all sicknesses?!? Anyway, they wake up in the middle of the night coughing, but the cough doesn't sound human. It sounds more like a barking seal. And then they can't catch their breath and so it sounds like they're having an asthma attack or something like it. The only way to help it is to whisk them to the nearest bathroom and run all the hot water at full blast with the door shut in order to trap in all the steam, which helps their windpipe to open up. If that doesn't work after about 20 minutes, you quickly run with your barely breathing child to the freezer (or outside if you live in a cold climate) and stick their head in. Sounds awful. And if that still doesn't work, you're off to your local friendly emergency room. Thankfully we've been able to skip that last step each time, but we wound up at the doctor Monday.

But after a good dose of Prednisone, he was seemingly back to normal. Enough to go to school yesterday. At least the doctor said it would be fine. But now he's hacking and sniffling again and just being generally irritable. As in antagonizing the dog, insisting on sleeping in the middle of the living room floor instead of his bedroom, and having a sudden fascination with anything that plugs into the wall. And he won't eat chicken soup! This is one of those days that I just might watch the Disney cartoon Robin Hood movie at least 3 or 4 times.

Sports Rituals

We are a sports-friendly family. If you've been reading this blog for the last few weeks, you may have picked up on the fact that one of our favorite forms of family entertainment is to attend a local high school game, whatever happens to be in season. Dean and I have both been involved in sports at one time or another, and Tommy is already doing the same. As anyone in athletics knows, there are lots of rituals. Some have a purpose, most don't. Just a lot of tradition.

Well last night while we were at a high school football game, we had the privilege of standing on the track where the band was warming up for their halftime show. They did the standard scales, holding long notes to get in tune and other musical warm-ups. But then they did something I've never seen a band do before. Maybe I just don't pay attention, but I certainly will now. They all got in a clump and began doing organized stretches and calisthenics. Now I understand marching around with a tuba may get a little tiring, but they went all out. Here was the only picture that turned out. Yes, I'm the person making fun of the band by taking pictures of their stretching sessions. I believe this is a quad stretch.



This morning Tommy had his third soccer day. He participated even more and stayed on our field the entire time. There were a few times that in the middle of the drill, he would kick the ball about halfway and then just go the rest of the way and leave his ball behind. But I guess that's to be expected every so often. My new favorite part of their day is at the end of the practice. Enjoy.