How Do I Name Thee? Let Me Count the Ways

I apparently use pop culture to name mine. Let me tell you about our pets' names...

When I was a little girl my mom and dad got me a chocolate lab puppy that I named Cocoa. He was a great dog. Shortly after we moved from the town where we got him to where we live now, he ran away and/or got run over because he was trying to run free. He roamed a lot when we moved here - I think that's just what dogs do.

Around the time of Cocoa I also went through a hoard of kitties. The one I remember naming was Town Clown (I was a big Captain Kangaroo fan). I don't remember Town Clown being around for long. I'm not sure what happened to him though I have a vague memory of one of the many kitties we tried to have become part of our family getting killed by a neighborhood dog.

After we moved to Charleston we got a new, fluffy, gray kitty when I was in the second grade, and my brother named him George. I think it was because of the cartoon where the Abominable Snowman finds Daffy Duck looking like a "Pink Bunny Rabbit". You know, "I will name him George and I will hug him and pet him and squeeze him. And I will pat him and pet him and rub him and caress him". I loved the name and loved the kitty but was always a bit jealous that my brother's name for him was the one that was picked.

George died while I was in college. It was very sad for me, George had always kind of been my cat - sleeping on my bed every night, sitting with me in the family room. I missed him when I went away to college and Bryan, my then boyfriend, now husband, purchased some gerbils for me for Valentine's Day. I named them Rocky and Bullwinkle. (From "The Bullwinkle Show" aka "The Adventures of Bullwinkle and Rocky". Are you seeing a naming trend yet?) Rocky and Bullwinkle were some cool gerbils. They had precious personalities and lived several years with me moving to and from college and even lived on the sorority hall with a hamster and a guinea pig. (all of which I might add were breaking the dorm rules).

After moving off campus, a neighborhood cat started hanging with us. Since he always came to our front porch at the same time every day, I lovingly started calling him "Porch Monkey". I think there is some kind of politically incorrect undertone with that moniker, but Porchy was a great cat and I loved his name. I saw nothing wrong with it.

I then adopted Cahli (sounds like Callie). That name was short for Calhoun, the son-in-law of the founder of the University I attended. I wanted desperately to name her after Clemson somehow, or one of the characters from the movie "Shag", and Calhi was the only thing I ended up liking.

On to the next animal, the first black lab daughter that Bryan and I adopted. I wanted to name this puppy something after Charleston since that was the place I grew up and I longed to get back. We housed her on our sun porch for quite some time, and after a week or two of trying to come up with names like Stono, Cooper, Ashley (all rivers here in town), or Folly, Sullivan or Edisto (all beaches around here). I then started with old Charleston names and never found one that struck me.

This poor puppy started out her life with us being kenneled on our sun porch when we went to work (or law school as was the case with Bryan). That's where she got paper trained and left all by herself until someone got home in the evenings or did a quick trip to come home for lunch to spend time with her. That's when it hit me (or hit a friend of mine - I can't remember who came up with it first)...Poogan. Poogan had to be this dog's name.

Why? Well, there was (and still is) a restaurant in the historic district, inside an old Charleston single house, called Poogan's Porch. It got its name because of the dog that used to frequent the porch. And so our little puppy got her name...Poogan.

Since then, Poogan and Cahli learned to love each other and are now both in that "big pet heaven in the (where ever it may be)". Because of this we now have more pets in our brood.

There's Oscar (who took over after Cahli's 14 year life ended [could have been only 12]). I let the children name him though I should have just done it my own self. I don't really know what my name would have been, but I don't think it would have been Oscar. But it pretty much suits him now. He was named for Will Smith's character in the movie "Shark Tale". For no particular reason other than they liked that movie at the time. We now like to pretend that he is a prim and proper English gentleman.

Then along came Felix (you also know him as my Trouble Cat). He's a black and white cat who is a fluffy version of Felix the Cat from the first 1960's animated show on TV. In the name deliberation process I was hoping for Bovine (Bo for short) or Holstein (as in the cow breed) because of his markings making him look like a fluffy Holstein/Bovine (aka cow). But none of the family would bite on these for some reason. So my mom offered up Felix in an ode to us having a Felix and Oscar of The Odd Couple from 1970's TV fame. Only my Felix and Oscar had swapped personalities from the ones on the TV show.

After Poogan died we adopted two dogs that we found with the help of Lowcountry Lab rescue.
The naming of the black one, Willis, was due in part to all of my old standby Charleston names and places being thrown out - AGAIN - and my jovial reading of signs in a mountain town as we traveled from visiting her. Jaunita (of Juanita's Taco Palace) was rejected as well as Ingle (of Ingle's grocery store), and several others (whew). Then I again, jokingly, threw the name Willis in the mix after seeing the sign for "Willis' Auto Body Repairs". With this dog being a girl I was truly joking (though it had a nice ring to it), and I was thinking, "Whatchoo talkin' 'bout Willis?" in the back of my mind when 3 year old Legare pipes up that he likes that name and that we should definitely call her "Lillis". And so there you go - that's how we got Willis.

That day of visiting Willis, we also decided to love and adopt a Yellow Lab (female) as well. Since we deliberated so long with naming her, and I kept calling her Yella Dog, and because Julia wanted her to have a girly name, unlike Willis', we chose Ella. Sounded like Yella (which she had already been responding too) and I convinced Julia that it was short for Cinderella. She bought it and thus...Ella had her name.

Along the way we had several fish, two of the last ones were named Cosmo and Melman (again from some kind of kid's tv shows or movies. Cosmo from "Fairly Odd Parents" and Melman, from the movie "Madagascar".

So that makes a total of 14 pets. 10 of which have definite ties to TV shows or movies (planned or not).

All of this to bring you to the name of our new furry baby. We planned and made lists just like always and have come up with the name Eloise ("Weesie" if you're in a hurry). Eloise, because we like the name. Not because we see her being a trouble maker like the little girl that lived in The Plaza hotel, but because we like the name AND the nickname it lent.

Since Eloise has had her own book and movies, and since there was Weesie Jefferson from "The Jefferson's", I guess it is now safe to say that, over my lifetime of having pets, the total is now 11 of 15 pets having to do with TV shows or Movies in some way or another.

Revelations from the Children

1st...I found out yesterday that my daughter has officially reached the age where "just my presence" embarrasses her. I found this out when I asked what they thought of my presentation of the check for the MUSC Children's Hospital fundraiser that their school did. I was met with some "you did great"'s and even a "you didn't even embarrass me". This statement led to the conversation about when that may have started. Then my precious son blurted out that he still likes having me around.

Thank you, Legare. You are my hero.

We also discussed the workings of a typewriter. This discussion was at the tail end of the kids letting me know how much they enjoy "keyboarding" during computer class. That's when I realized that my children will probably never use a typewriter. They will never know how to properly load paper into one or understand the true meaning of using white out. They'll look at the typwriter (even the electric ones) as I used to look at the old "candlestick" telephones...just some old thing that may be fun to play and pretend with.

The same will probably hold true for lots of things....
cassette players and 8 tracks, lp/record players, walkmen, bag phones, built in car phones, computers that used to fill entire rooms, tests where you fill in the bubble for your answer, just to name a few.

Sad isn't it?

I Promise This Will Become a Story About Legare

Here I am. (But most of you are probably gone by now, huh?)

Been pretty busy. Who hasn't, right?
I haven't even been online to read my old standby blogs (those in the side bar and others that I vulturize on a daily basis). I don't know if I could tell you what it is I've been doing other than running children to their activities and celebrating birthdays. Bryan's was Sunday.

I had a few people over on Friday for enchiladas and Sangria, we went out on Saturday night with some friends, and then went to his mother's on Sunday. We were out of town weekend before last, and we're headed back out this weekend coming.

So we've been busy, but we've been having fun. I do have a funny, kind of endearing story, to share about Legare though.

Legare has started cub scouts. He loves it, and man is he handsome in his uniform. He is really taking it very seriously so far and every now and then he will even say..."Mom, I'm doing my best. Just like a scout is supposed to do." I say - scouts...why did I wait so long to sign him up?

Well, last night's meeting involved learning about pocket knife care and safety. So I went out to WalMart and Lowe's to see which Swiss Army/Victorinox knife I wanted to get him. I ended up with this one. But at WalMart I paid way less than the price listed here.

Anyway, they learned safety. How to handle it, close the blade, when to use it, when not to use it, etc, etc. They even started whittling/carving a block of soap. Legare was really excited to show me that he had cut his finger but he "didn't even know" he had done it until he looked down and saw blood. The band aid was a nice green, cloth camouflage.

Then, when I encouraged him to show his Dad the new knife, he eagerly grabbed at his cargo pocket on his pants. And that's when the color left his face. Because his knife was not there. Long story short...after many disappointed tears and searching the house, the car, and both again, Bryan took him back down to the car to look one more time. And sure enough, the knife was there - wedged under the seat where it landed when it feel out of the before mentioned cargo pocket. This brought relief and many more "relief" tears. I've never seen him be quite so hard on himself before. It was really sweet.

But I did say this was a funny story. Bryan and I both started laughing about how ironic it was that he was at scouts to get his Pocket Knife Responsibility badge. And that, within 30 minutes, he had cut his finger and lost the knife.

Body Parts and Clip Art

Conversations we have in the car:

Daughter says, "Mom, I did some clip art today for a brochure in computer class."
I'm in awe and say, "You know about clip art?"

Then, as if I'm kind of behind the times, she says very coolly, "Yeah - it's pretty neat." She then told me about her search word and the pictures it returned. I can't remember what her search word was; probably because of what immediately followed.

Son (jumping in to the conversation with a lot of excitement) says, "We did clip art too. And I typed in 'boob' and got a picture of a pizza."

To which I immediately snap to attention and think to myself, "What did he just say?". And then out loud I quickly ask, with kind of that serious momma tone in my voice, "Legare - what in the world were you doing typing in the word 'boob'? Especially in school? And why would that word return a picture of a pizza?"

To which I get the very incredulous response of, "Mmoomm - I said 'FOOD' not 'Boob'.

I'm thinking "whew" at this point and begin wondering why I thought he said "boob"in the first place. I dismiss it with the thought that his speech must have just been muddled. And then he hits me with this....


"But you know..........Boobs are waaaaay better than pizza!"

And this - from the mouth of the 8 year old! Must be like father, like son.

You're Kidding, Right?

My daughter has been trying to win Taylor Swift tickets from the radio for many, many days now (Taylor is coming to town April 30th). Upon researching when the tickets would go on sale for the local performance, I learned that lucky holders of American Express cards (of which we are) would have a pre-sale event that would happen the Tuesday before tickets went on sale to the general public on Friday (that was two days ago Tuesday, before the regular sale starts tomorrow Friday).

Julia enjoys Taylor Swift so much that she is even scheduled to perform a Taylor Swift tune for this year's talent show. We went through the motions of purchasing the song and the karaoke version on iTunes so that she could practice and tryout. The girl likes Taylor Swift.

So on Tuesday as the children left for school, Julia reminded me not to forget about the 10:00 am pre-sale for the tickets. Now for those of you who don't know, I got Oprah tickets the other year in the first few seconds of them becoming available. I think the stock of tickets lasted about 3 minutes. I was very excited, and I now deem myself pretty good at getting tickets (though I feel luck probably has more to do with it than anything).

So back to Tuesday - I got the laptop and the desk top up and on the proper site. I was at the desk with the desk top - laptop was literally in my lap - as I began "clicking" about 1 minute before 10:00 am...because who knows which clock they were going by, you know?

And then it happened! It was finally the magic moment when the computers actually "searched" for the available pre-sale seats. The desktop computer started to hold a "searching" pattern. The laptop started to hold a "searching" pattern. I was pretty shaky and nervous. (I was actually pretty shaky and nervous up til now too.)

Then, the desktop computer screen popped a message that said I had 4 tickets and had 2 minutes and 15 seconds to complete the transaction or I would loose them. Whew - a sigh of relief and huge jolt of joy! About 10 seconds later (if even that long), the laptop screen also sported a message. Only it said, "no tickets available". That's how fast they went.

After I scrambled to make sure I finished the purchase of the tickets - within what felt like a ridiculously small amount of time - my mission then became "How am I going to tell the children?" I was so excited that I wanted to call the school and have them deliver the message; no, I didn't do that! I knew how hard these tickets were going to be to come by, and I was very excited!

I finally decided to come up with a cute sign to have for the children once I picked them up from basketball practice. It said "You'll never guess what I got today!" It also had a cute picture of a clip-art guitar on it.

After they read it, they took about a minute to figure it out. I just knew Julia would get it right away - with her having been so on-the-ball and reminding me earlier that morning that it was pre-sale day. But Julia was feeling bad, so she wasn't on her "A game" like she normally would have been.

Then - reality struck and they figured out what the note was getting at. Legare let out a very large squeal. Julia smiled sheepishly and said "cool". Or something equally as ego shattering.

"Yay" I was in disbelief that nonchalant "yay" was all I was going to get. They obviously didn't understand how hard these tickets were going to be for anyone who waits past 10:00:01 a.m. to get. So - I have used the tickets few times as bait to see just how much they are glad to be going to see Miss Swift. You know, "I'm going to sell these tickets for your (whatever minor infraction you just had)." Only then, FINALLY, have I gotten the proper, coveted reaction I was so eagerly looking for Tuesday afternoon.

And thankfully, my precious son, Legare, came out with a much unsolicited "I can't wait for the Taylor Swift concert!", on the way home from school. Finally - excitement!

2nd Grade (boyish) Humor

Following is the joke my son told me this morning as I drove he and sister to school. He thought it was soooo funny. And it was - especially seeing how tickled he was. I of course had to do the correct parental thing and remind him (and sister since she was laughing too) that there is a proper time and place for jokes like this and that I didn't think school or in front of most adults was the place. Of course he said he knew. But I'm glad he liked sharing with me...it would be improper not to.

L: Wanna here my joke that Bobby told me?
Me: Sure
L: There were 3 brothers strangled in the water.
Me: Strangled?
L: Yea, strangled out in the water.
Me: Oh, I think you me "stranded" (brief explanation of what each means).
L: Oh, yeah, I meant "stranded". So, there are 3 brothers stranded in the water. Along comes a genie and says that if they can jump over the rock, he will turn them into what ever the first word is that comes out of their mouth so they can go home. So the first brother jumps and says "fish". The genie turns him into a fish and he swims home. The second brother jumps and says "bird". The genie turns him into a bird and he flies home. The third brother trips and say "Crap!". (Lots of laughing. And then Legare says:), Get it - he turns into CRAP! (more laughing, from me included).

Of course I knew the punchline, but I wasn't sure if this was going to be his version or not. Oh the minds of 8 year olds.

Two Things...

1) I did, in fact, get to wear a shoe today on my "bad toe" foot. Yay! I could tell I had a shoe on it - just a tad uncomfortable,. But, A SHOE! How exciting after 10 days of No Shoe.
So if that crazy lollipop owl asks how many days it takes to get to wear a shoe after a toe nail removal...the answer is 11. 11.

2) Overheard at supper after my 4th grader's Christmas performance tonight: (background: the whole family, cousins, aunts, uncles, Grandparents all out to eat yummy Mexican) the precocious three year old comes to tell me Hannah Montana has another name. And that name is: Miley Sinus.

You laughed just a little bit didn't you? I did. I made her say it again, and again to make sure I heard right and because it was just so DAMN cute (or funny - whichever way you look at it).

Gratitude is Our Attitude!

That's the title of the literary work that my 10 year old daughter brought home on Monday. "Gratitude is Our Attitude" is the class motto and yes, the teacher weaves that through everything they do. It's fantastic.

Well, since Thanksgiving is tomorrow, I thought I would share this piece of work with you. For the assignment the class was given the title and told to come up with a list of at least 7 things they were grateful for. And since they were in computer class, this is typed and alternating colors are used on each line. I'll try to duplicate it here. These colors are very "fall" like.

Gratitude is Our Attitude!

I am grateful for...
..God because he created me.
..my dog because she's a friend when I'm alone.
..my friends because they comfort me when I'm sad.
..my family because they're always there for me.
..my shelter so I'm not out side.
..scientists for all they do for us.
..nature for fresh air.
..my grandparents for everything they've done for me.
..technology because I can learn more.
..everyone for everything.


That pretty much sums it up, don't you think? Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I'm grateful for your friendship and for those I don't know, that you stop by and read.

Overheard This Evening

Scene: family having a floor supper as we watch an old Star Trek movie. Asked for by the kids - Bryan didn't even force it on them. It's "Star Trek 4: Voyage Home". The one where Kirk, Spock and the gang go back in time to get a Whale.

At some point Kirk is explaining to the crew that they're going back to 1987 (I think), where we Earthlings are "primitive and paranoid".

To which Julia perks up, "Did he just insult us? I think he just insulted us!".

We then skipped backwards watched it again and she confirmed, "Yep. He insulted us." And then laughed heartily! So did we. I love her sense of humor.

I Need to Grow Up!

I have a hatred for....
...no, I have a strong dislike for the fame created for teeny boppers by Disney.
Let me give a for instance - something about Hannah Montana drives me nuts.
I can't stand her character on the show and her real persona (Miley Cyrus - who I've seen in interviews) just rubs me the wrong way.

So - when my daughter started talking about the Jonas Brothers and how they were going to be in the Disney Movie, "Camp Rock", I gave her the "eh whatever" thought in my head. If Disney was cranking out another group of teeny bopper, Prima Donna's I didn't care.

Then I started enjoying this song on the radio one day. Julia laughed and asked if I liked it. I sure did. And I was bowled over when she let me in on the fact that it was the Jonas Brothers. Well there was no way that I could like them - I don't like "Disney" bands, remember.

Then I had to admit to my husband that I thought I liked the Jonas Brothers. And of course we Googled and IMDB'd them. And I was pleasantly suprised to find that they weren't created by Disney. They already were when Disney grabbed a hold of them. They sometimes collaborate with others to write their songs, but they write their own songs. They also know how to play guitar, base, piano and drums. And they play them on stage - sometimes more than one per Brother per performace.

So, it's official, I'm a Jonas Brother's fan. I even know some of the words to some of their songs. And because of this I officially need to grow up. Cause people get in trouble all around the world for liking "youngins". However - Joe's birthday is on Friday and he'll be 19. That's o.k. right? And Kevins going to be 21 this year.

Maybe it's not o.k. that I know this birthday information. But it is o.k. for me to have a tiny little crush on Joe now that we know he's going to be 19. I only know when his birthday is because I heard them talk about it as we tuned into Live with Regis and Kelley this morning to see them. Well, so that my children could watch them of course.

And poor Nick - he either has a cold, or his voice is changing.

(pre post edit)
I just shared this post with my daughter. Earlier I stated that I "know the words to several of their songs". And she started laughing. She said, "Several of their songs??!!!!??" And then asked which songs I knew besides "Burnin' Up" - as she continued to laugh. So I changed it to read "some of the words to some of their songs" - even though I know ALL of the words to Burnin' Up. But I do know some words to others - I really do. I just can't tell you what they are.

And here - you enjoy this song from the cute Jonas Brothers. They even show they have a cute sense of humor in this video. Very likable guys. Oh, Joe's the one in the white pants who dons the fake mustache. (Nick is the one in the red boat and Kevin is the martial arts guy. Just in case you needed to know. Scary that I do.)

Homage to Math

Summer brings swim team, beaches, pool time - and the dreaded Summer Reading and Summer Math. For the children, not me.

The first year we got our Summer Math book, Julia wanted to sit down and do it all at once. Me, being the good mother, and knowing that this was to be done all throughout the summer to keep her math mind sharp, said no. I meted it out all through the summer.

Last summer, I let her choose how she wanted to do it. She had proven to be a pretty responsible little second grader, and I just didn't care, as long as some got completed each week so that we weren't scrambling at the end of the summer.

This little math book is broken down into several different chapters with several different types of questions. Cute little icons are used to let you know what, or how to complete some of them. There are also brain teaser questions every now and then. They are disquised as math problems and do not have their own little icon to let you know that a brain teaser is coming.

Last year, Julia got so fed up with one, and I go so fed up with her that I deemed no more math to be completed during the summer because I was tired of arguing with her. My sweet, agreeable child was turning into a purple headed monster before my eyes. I told her to just turn in an incomplete book and take her punches. This scared her. She does not like turning in unfinished work.

At some point I noticed that she had been quite for a while. When going to check...I found that my art loving daughter had created an homage to math like none other. She has always resorted to creating works of art to help alleviate her stress (remind me to tell you of the picture she drew through tears one year when she heard that she was going to have to have a flu shot).

This homage was assembled on the wall that is hidden when the door is opened in her bedroom. It was created with a bunch of 8 1/2 by 11 sheets of paper and some index cards taped to the wall. I didn't make her tear it down. It still hangs today.

One of the funniest parts of it is that during the frustration she spelled the word dumb with a backwards capital D. The backwards D looked alot like C l, so we now like to pick on her that things are clumb. It has turned into a cute inside joke. We all get lots of laughs from this wall of math hatred.

I just thought of this again today as I realized that I need to get on the children to do some more math. Legare is a little more than 1/2 way through his book. Julia only has 3 more lessons to go. And there have been no fights or arguments over any of it so far.

just in case you couldn't make out some of what she created:
Lots of "I hate math"
"Math - that's a bad idea"
"Math Stinks"
"Math is Clum"
"Math is dumb"
"No math alowd. I mean it."
"Math that's a harribble idia"
logo of math book drawn with:
"This is my summer math book. It has 70 pages in it and it is harable. I hate it."

Don't forget to click the picture - it should enlarge.

That Durned Tooth Fairy

Did you ever have that time in your life when the tooth fairy was supposed to come visit and didn't?

You know what I'm talking about, you woke in the morning and didn't see money.
Your parents come in with large amounts of disbelief - surely you've overlooked it.
And you end up finding it under the other pillow, or on the floor.

Well, this morning - Julia rose and there was no money. This is the 2nd tooth lost in about two weeks - right next to each other - large, large hole.

She showed no displeasure. She just quietly made her bed and started getting ready for her day.

As I woke, it dawned on me - Julia lost a tooth right at bed time last night.
I wonder if the tooth fairy came. If so, surely the money may be on the floor - what with it coming out so late and all.

I enter the room excitedly to see if there was money.
Julia flatly answers "No.".
I go to look under the pillow and on the floor..."I've already looked - it's not there."

Hmmm.

"Well, Julia..."
"...I told you that putting it under your pillow in an eyeglass case wasn't a good idea."

Then Bryan joins our conversation as breakfast is being prepared.
B - "I didn't even know she lost a tooth."

A - "Well, what were you looking at on the computer when she jaunted in to tell us?"
After Bryan goes to her room to look, Bryan then thought he saw a $10 BILL on the floor.

"No Way!" I say with a snotty little voice. "You have got to be kidding."
B - "Well, Maybe it was a 5."

A - "What are you talking about Bryan?????? Julia and I have already talked about how the Fairy probably couldn't get in to see the tooth in the latched eyeglass case. Are you sure you saw a big 'ol Fiver?"

B - "I guess not."

Julia will just have to try again, and maybe tonight she won't latch it in her eyeglass case.
And maybe now the Fairy has had ample time to prepare for the delivery. I mean, it was after 8 when the thing came out - she (or he, I keep getting reminded of that) was probably already on rounds. Or so tired and finally had a night off that she (or he) may have just gone to bed and taken the night off.

Who knows.
But whatever the reason - I don't like making excuses for the little Tooth Sprite.
Luckily, Julia seemed understanding.

Money Makers

On and off for several years now, I have tried to give my children allowance.
Any of you who have tried to do this may have found the same thing I did.

1) I didn't want to give them money at the end of the week "just cuz".
2) Until recently, they weren't really old enough/tall enough, (you can add the adjective) enough to do much.
3) When I started giving in to their pleads and begs to make money, giving them money for making their beds (when I expect that with or without allowance) seemed silly.

I tried coming up with "Chore Charts".
I then learned that I didn't want to make the time to keep track of all of that nonsense.

On the few feeble attempts where I actually did keep the chart, and they succeeded, I never could remember to get the "one's" to pay them.
I mean really...who has a bunch of ones just laying around in their wallet? Certainly not me.

Then. The other week. The idea came to me....

Normal adult humans go to work and get paid - for the normal things that the boss expects them to do. Carry that over to the children and you get: it's o.k. to pay the children for making their beds and putting away dirty clothes - the normal and expected things).

I mean really, if Bryan went to work and did what was normal and expected and then didn't get paid - we would have a big problem with Mr. Boss Man. And he would probably cut bait and go where someone would pay him for what was normal and expected.
Aren't bonuses for doing things over and above?

So - I devised a new system. In the two weeks I've done it I have loved it! And I think Bryan has too.

It basically goes like this...

I have a chart of the 5 days of the working week ('cause most adult humans get the weekends off too, right? That's where overtime and bonuses can come into play) - but enough about weekends - back to the 5 working days of the week.

Each day has a little pocket (picture coming up) for me to put two paper strips into. Each paper strip represents 50 cents (feel free to make your amount larger or smaller - 50 cents just seemed natural for my family). These paper strips were cut from index cards, have "50 c" and their initials on each.

At any given time, for any given thing that strikes my fancy, I can take away a 50 cent strip. I have taken them away for such infractions as having to tell them too many times to do something (like getting teeth brushed or not getting into bed pronto), not making the bed in the mornings, not putting away dirty clothes, leaving the dishes on the table, etc, etc.

I have found myself saying things like, "If you don't (insert activity) I think I'll need to get 50 cents to pay myself for doing it." etc, etc. And man, my 2nd child is crazy motivated by the dollar. He has had a stellar clean room this week.

They have each had the occasion to lose up to $1.50 so far. I do,however allow them the opportunity for earning the money back, 50 cents at a time, if they do some of those "over and above" things.

So far, both weeks, the children have earned all 5 dollars. I have gone a little easy on earning them back while I try to get them used to this reward system. And while they begin trusting that I really am going to pay them this go around. You should see me scrambling on Friday's to go get the money to pay them.

Now, even though I don't have money slots for the weekends, if they still don't make their beds and put up dirty clothes - I'll take from next week's money.

So far this has really been a helpful process. It encourages them to really do those things that they're supposed to be doing anyway, it motivates them to do more, and they really are getting some cash from me for a job well done.

Here are some pictures of the pouches. They are taped to their doors. I basically took a piece of construction paper, folded it up on itself, used a stapler to staple seams for each day and then cut the strips from index cards.

Below is Julia's. I have pulled up the 2nd strip for each day a bit so that you can see each day has two. Legare's is what they look like all nice and neat and tucked behind one another. And though each day has two - I can pull from tomorrow if you are already out of today's money. Wow does that get them.

O M G

I am currently wathcing Terminator 2 with Bryan....I just realized that my sweet son who rolls his R's sounds like Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Dear Tooth Fairy

Notes left for tooth fairies when you realize that a tooth is missing only because you've noticed it's not there as you brush your teeth at bedtime:

Dear Tooth Fairy,

Look in my mouth.
I think it came out and I swallowed it.

Please leave me whatever you want to leave me.

Love,
Legare

Questions, Questions

Friday I was asked this question by Legare:

"Mom, how old do you have to be before you can kiss girls on the lips?"

To which I asked why he wanted to know...seems a little boy in the class kissed a little girl in the class. I asked if the girl liked getting kissed to which he answered with great assurance, "No way - she did not!".

I then asked if there was a girl he wanted to kiss - I think his answer was a bashful "Yeah".

I then answered his question that when he was old enough to start going on dates it would probably be an o.k. time to start kissing girls on the lips. But that if the girl didn't want to be kissed she may get mad and it may mean no more dates.

I had to throw in that he needed to make sure the girl wanted to kiss so that he wouldn't decided that tomorrow was the time he was old enough to date and start out on a kissing girls quest. I want him to use his kisses wisely and not offend.

The Things You Learn at Bedtime

Tucking in children can be a chore.
It can be exhausting.
It can be fun.
And it can be a learning experience.

Rewind 1 week ago:
Legare tells me without any uncertainty that he does not want to go to a spend the night camp next summer. He's going to always stay here. For the rest of his life.

Aawwhh! How sweet.

Fast Forward tonight:
L - Mom. I wanted to go to spend the night camp.

Me - Honey you just told me you weren't interested in spend the night camps. But that's not until next summer, we can sign you up if you want.

L - No, Mom. Not a long spend the night camp there.

Me - What do you mean, There?

L - I mean, not that camp! I mean the camp in Sissy's room.

At this point I'm feeling a bit bad. My cousin's little girl is coming to spend the week with us. Legare must wish he had a friend to spend the night for a week. He must think that Julia's get together with Haley is like camp here at the house.

OMG! How in the world can I handle two 7 year old boys for a week? NOT interested!

Then Legare says...
"No, Mom. Sissy's camp!"

Me - What do you mean?
(Lots of confusion - Sissy is not going to camp yet - why does he think he can go to her camp)

L - I paid her a penny so that I could have spend the night camp in her room.

Bryan and I start trying to hold in the laughter. What in the world is he talking about!?!?

Throughout the rest of the conversation I laugh out loud once and fake sneezing a lot to keep him from thinking that I'm laughing with and at him.

L - Well, I paid her a penny so that I could do spend the night camp. For just one night.

Mom and Dad - What?

L - Well I don't know how to explain it, but I bet Sissy can.

Mom and Dad - Well just try.

L - Well, I paid her a penny so that I could spend the night in her room. And she would do arts and crafts. You know where she teaches me how to make those fortune teller things. And she has Hair Put Up Time and other crafts that she knows that she could teach me.

O.K. This was one of the times when I really couldn't contain my laughter. Faking sneezing was all I could come up with.

How cute!!!

And how mercenary of Julia.

We later found out the at the penny tuition was for the entire year of camp. Seems like Legare made out like and bandit, and Julia needs to learn how to not to give away her services so cheaply.