The Show Must Go On.

The daycare puts on an end of year/graduation show each June that the children intently practice for beginning sometime around February. Noodle takes this show very seriously, utilizing his still to be developed dancing and singing talents. In his prior shows, he has danced and sang his little heart out.

This year, will no doubt, be any different, I’m sure.

During practice early yesterday afternoon, Noodle was asked to perform a very special part of the show, involving a blow up guitar, his best dancing skills, and a jumping spin. He, as you could imagine, was thrilled to accept the challenge.

When I received the phone call in my office, it was explained that while giving his best effort, Noodle performed a jumping spin, resembling that of Aerosmith, and landed face first on the floor.
At first he seemed fine, his loving teachers checked him over, there weren’t any tears, there was no blood, barley red, and so, they went back to practicing.

Just then, Miss. D glanced back at Noodle who now had a nose three times its original size, hence the phone call to my office.

Off I went to pick him up and fly to the pediatrician’s office. It was very swollen, it was very bruised, it looked pretty bad.

One look at my baby boy and “How are you baby”?“Not so good, Mommy”!

AS soon as Dr. Z took a look, she declared it broken. A dose of Tylenol, a few stickers, a lollipop and off to the local radiology facility to take some “special pictures with a really big and very special camera”.

Cool!
The courageous little three year old takes the first two x-rays like a champ. It wasn’t until the third, involving Mommy holding his head very still that one tear escaped from his right baby blue. He was trying so hard to be brave, and he was doing an amazing job.

Negative…the nose is not broken. A sigh of relief, a well deserved trip to McDonald's, and home for a nap rounded out the remainder of the afternoon. He woke up feeling better and took it easy.

This morning he woke up with a black eye, the swelling of the nose went down, still pretty bruised. Holding his blankie, he looks up at me with his banged up face and says “My nose feels all better today, Mommy”.

He is quite the trooper.

Peace.

LAX!

Schmoogie's started lacrosse yesterday through the local PAL. This should be an interesting new journey in the P house, as none of us have a real understanding of the game.

We needed to invest in some new equipment for the new adventure, a helmet, which was generously given to us, and some upper body/arm/shoulder padding (above) that once in place made my Schmoogie resemble a superhero.

"He looks like a Power Ranger", my nephew adamantly announced Sunday morning after Schmoogie tried on his new gear! He was right.

Last night was the first practice. Big D took him, said he did well, and enjoyed himself. After practice, Schmoogie ate dinner and out to the front lawn to practice techniques, until I called him in to shower and settle in for the night. I imagine this will be the norm for the next several weeks until we need to add in some baseball practice, when he will be perfecting two games at once.

I will attend the next practice and try to begin to understand the fundamentals of the game, so I can assume the typical cheerleader role as Mom. I may try to catch an instructional clip on youtube, or re-read the wiki description, which I didn't really get the first time.

It's real important to support and cheer for your children, I'd just really like to know what's going on. But, hey, if I never get it, as long as I am there, that's all he's going to remember anyway.

Peace.

A Birthday Note to my Schmoogie

For your birthday, my exceptional first borne, a note!

I love...
The sparkle of your eyes,
The glisten of your smile…that sweet, silly giggle,
That dimple that melts my heart,
Your amazing confidence, fun loving personality, your charm and innocence,
Your wonder for what life has to offer and that you attempt it all,
That you have self-discipline to challenge yourself and never give up.

At nine, Schmoogie, you are divine!

You are smart, bright beyond your years, you love sports, puzzles, snow shoveling, music, swimming, painting and game shows.

You are a perfectionist, which I hope will come in handy someday.

Your confident, but still look for praise.

You love your little brother, have a personality like Mommy and are best friends with Daddy!

Happy 9th Birthday my dear Schmoogie.

I love you with all my heart.

Love and Kisses,
Mommy

Happy Saint Schmoogie Day!

Nine years ago today, I was very large, very uncomfortable, and, very anxious. I was very pregnant with Schmoogie. I remember the day vividly. It was Friday, March 17th, Saint Patrick’s Day 2000.

At the end of my regular work day, as a colleague said goodbye, she gave me a hug and said “next time we see you, you will be two, that baby is coming this weekend”. Intuition, perhaps, a good guess, maybe, a way to enduce a smile on my very swollen face, could have been. Whatever it was, I wasn’t due until the following Friday, and since many first babies are late, I figured she was wrong and I would be back on Monday.

I went home that night, Friday and Saturday were without much excitement, as you could imagine.

Sunday morning, after breakfast, Big D and I decided that we would reorganize his office. You know kind of spruce it up a bit, a new baby was coming after all. The Nursery was done, it had been ready for weeks, maybe even months. The bassinet was set and we were so excited at the thought of becoming parents.

Progress on the office project was nil, and we were in the hospital within a few hours. Late that night, Big D and I became Mommy and Daddy! She was right, I didnt go back to work for a while!

Saint Patrick’s Day has an unusual meaning to me. It’s a day of reflection most years, a day when I recall that immense anticipation of the arrival of my Schmoogie and smile. What an amazing feeling. I love you Schmoogie!

Happy St. Patty’s Day to all!

Peace.

It's a Pleasure to get a Report Card

Schmoogie’s report card came home yesterday. It was exceptional and unmatched to any he has ever brought home. He has always done well academically; sometimes he floors me with his astuteness. But this report card was different, it was special.

He acheived his first “Schmoogie is a pleasure to have in class” comment, which brought a tear to my eye. Schmoogie has an amazing teacher this year, she is really awesome, the type of teacher that you remember for a lifetime.

We had a Report Card Celebration. It doesn’t take much for me to have a celebration, I just love to celebrate. Life is too short, celebrate all it has to offer! I picked up a Cavel Cake with some inspirational wording to reflect the pride Big D and I felt for the Schmoog~master.

After dinner I grabbed the cake out of the freezer, and made the announcement. Schmoogie and Noodle looked up at me with that wide-eyed “but Mom, it’s Wednesday, what could you be celebrating now?” look. I briefly explain, place the cake in front of our little brainiac, hand him a knife and we had a celebration!

He was beaming, he was proud, he was excited, and so were we. It was truly a pleasure.

During the car ride to daycare this morning, Noodle asked Big D why we didn’t sing Happy Birthday to Schmoogie last night. The answer , well, obvious, and Noodle wondered, why then, did we have cake in the dining room??. He then turned to Big D and said “Well Daddy, then we should have sung Happy Report Card Day to him”.

Peace

Sing, Sing a Song!

My kids love to music, they love to sing. They sing everything from Barney to Beyonce. I love to sing too, but only in the car, alone, or privately to my boyz!

I don’t really care for my voice, it’s kind of, well, squeaky and high pitched. It sounds ok to me when I am engaged in normal, everyday conversation, however, when I hear myself on my answering machine, I cringe.

I do like to sing though, but because of my feelings about my voice, I have decided not to try out for American Idol…oh, and I may have exceeded the age limit!

I have always sung to my boyz. I have made up a bunch Schmoogie Songs, utilizing rhythms adapted from old songs, and have always sung your typical nursery rhymes and the like. My favorite time to sing to my boyz is when they are cuddled in my arms, you know, just about to fall asleep. I hum too, but I would much rather sing. I often sing out of tune, sometimes the wrong words, at times even on purpose, to get a reaction from the boyz. It’s fun for me.

The other night, while lulling my Noodle to sleep, he asked me to sing “Sunshine” to him. Of course I leap at the opportunity, but was quite tired myself, so I said, “OK Noodle, but only three Sunshine’s, and then we have to go to sleep. And please don’t ask me for more”.

I only know the first verse, but have been inspired to learn the remainder of the song.

Upon completion of my three stanza concert, he looks at me with those baby blues that melt my heart and says “Mama, can you sing the ABC’s”?

So I did, and then we fell asleep. I love to sing!!
Peace.

The City That Doesn't Sleep

Big D and I took the kids to see Shrek the Musical on Broadway last Sunday.

First official family trip to NYC. Kind of hard to believe when we live so close, we just don’t journey into the city that often. We took the tunnel in, and of course the boys were captivated by the thought of underwater travel. Oh my, who thought of that, anyway? It really is awesome, but while traveling through the tunnel, I always have this sudden urge to hold my breath. I guess I‘m awaiting the tunnel giving way and flushing us into the East River, never to be seen again. Crazy.

We passed and awed at the typical NYC skyline and its magnificent sites, and sighed as we remembered those that do not exist anymore.

We arrive in the city with plenty of time to spare, so we stroll down to Time Square, (Schmoogie is still spellbound that he stood in the actual location where the ball drops every year) and grab a bite at the ESPN Zone. Schmoogie just couldn’t get over how many televisions they have in that place, man, it really is insane. He was thrilled that just above his head, no matter which way he turned, there was a game on. He didn’t care what was on, he’ll watch any sport; well, I don’t think he cares much for cricket, but hey you never know. Noodle was just glad to have his butt planted in a chair, and not be walking on those tired, lil, three year old tootsies anymore!

After we had our share of pub food, laughs and plenty of sports-themed video games, we hit the bricks and headed back down Broadway to the Theater. On the way, we happened upon a man seated against a cement storefront, shaking a paper coffee cup with some coins in it. Schmoogie made inquiry as to why someone would do such a thing. I was careful to contemplate my answer for a moment, not spewing out my original cynical thoughts, which were, he’s probably addicted to something and needs a fix. Instead, I explain to him that he is most likely homeless, unemployed, and needs money for a warm meal.

Concerned for the poor soul, he says, “Hey Mom, Do you think he can collect enough money to get a house”?

“Na, Schmoog’s, he just needs to get enough for dinner tonight”.

He lets it go a while, until his inquisitively gets the best of him, and then he asks, “Where is he going to go tonight Mom, is he just going to walk around this big city all night”?

“Not sure Schmoogie, maybe he will find a warm place to sleep”.

“But Mom, if he doesn’t have anywhere to go…”

I swiftly cut him off and declare “Oh, here we are! Here it is, Shrek the Musical! Here’s the Broadway Theater”.

I have pondered why I was so happy to not have to continue that conversation. I have come up with the following:

We were having an amazing family day in the city, and I didn’t want anything negative to impact our day. However, experiencing a pan handler on a city street is a normal occurrence everyday in the city and perhaps I could have handled it differently. The city has so much to offer with its amazing sites, history, culture, theater, museums, excitement and splendor; however, in some places it is just drizzled with filth. In retrospect, I should have not feared the explanation, but rather relished it for its life lesson. Upon having this revelation, I remembered why we don’t visit the city too often. We live on the north fork of one of the most beautiful islands in the world, why would we want to leave?

The show was amazing. The kids had a blast, Big D and I loved it as well.
Peace.