I like to make the joke that Fuller wakes up going a hundred miles an hour. This doesn’t match up well with my 25 mile an hour mornings, so we have worked out a compromise using the television as a mediator. (Damon’s still in bed.)

While my mornings are only 25 miles per hour, our lives are running at a healthy sixty miles per hour, due to Fuller in our midst. When he made me a mother, he took me from zero to sixty in a split second. Our lives were changed and we haven’t slowed down since. And if we blink, we might miss something.

I love the change of scenery, the lessons learned (and taught), and the excitement that comes with being Fuller’s mother. I wouldn’t slow down for anything else.

Technorati Tags: mother’s day

Fuller’s new favorite song and video:

Technorati Tags: discovery channel, I love the world, boom dee a da

Our family has been making strides in the “Go green” trend these days. We have switched out out lighting to compact fluorescents and LED (another post in itself). We use public transportation, bicycles, and walk a lot more than driving. We have started using reusable shopping bags. We have been weathering the recycling nightmare in our city by piling up the recyclables in an unsightly pile by the back door.

There are other ways we could continue with greener lives: using cloth napkins, no more paper towels (we are only partially able to do this), and using silk flowers in our household decorating.

I kill plants. I am staring at a withering African Violet right now. It was pretty, but then it came to my house. I just found tulip petals under my buffet, from tulips we had at Easter. These were nice for a while, but of course they died. I don’t have any other plants in my house, but apparently I should have some greenery in my house to balance the organic with the non-organic. I would be nervous adding plant life to my home decor. But, if I want to, I could take a look at silk plants.

It used to be you could tell fake plants from real ones very easily. But now, technology and artistry have really blurred the visual line in seeing the difference. I have found myself reaching out to touch leaves on ficus plants to see if they are real or silk.

Silk plants offer to protect from pollen allergies, but I imagine if you let the dust gather on your fake plants, dust allergies might kick up. So there is that to think about. Also, bugs are less attracted to fake plants, though I imagine spiders don’t care either way. But there is no watering, repotting, fertilizer, or pesticides to even consider. Unless my thumb literally turns green, I think I am going to have to look harder at silk plants for my green needs.

Technorati Tags: go green, silk plants

Our dog, Maple, killed an opossum last night.

I was hearing her outside barking, but it was a strange bark with whining added to the mix. I finally went outside and noticed her nosing around in the grass. At first I thought she was tracking a frog. But then she lifted it up with her mouth and threw it in the air. She moved it closer to the house (and light) and I I knew it wasn’t a frog. It was really big. I thought it might be a bird.

Maple was chased inside and I put on my shoes to dispose of the thing. When I inched closer I realized that Maple was throwing an opossum around and it wasn’t dead yet. Because it wasn’t dead yet, the removal of it from our yard moved from my department and into Head of the Household’s (aka Damon).

Being manly and all, Damon scooped up the opossum in a plastic bag (using a scrap piece of wood for scooping purposes) and threw it in our curbside garbage can.

This is where I admit that all day I have been a bit scared of the garbage can. What if the opossum was just playing opossum and wasn’t dead? What if the opossum used the 2 seconds the garbage can lid open to escape onto my face and freak me out?

I faced my fear this afternoon and threw a bag of trash away. No flying opossum, no face mauling.

And we have one less opossum (or none, since we have no idea where it came from) to think about.

Thanks, Maple.

Technorati Tags: opossum death, unreasonable fears

Last week Fuller started official swimming lessons given by the Department of Parks and Recreation. The Rec Center in our neighborhood is one of two in the city that has an indoor pool, so it is really convenient for us to take him. The lessons are on Monday and Wednesday afternoons (we forgo the afternoon nap), but Fuller would prefer if the lessons were Sunday through Saturday. And he would be an even bigger fan if they started the second he rolled out of bed.

The verdict is in: Fuller loves swimming lessons.

Last September, when we were in Florida visiting the baby Genevieve, Fuller really made great strides in being comfortable in the water. He would move his legs to propel himself from adult to adult, most of the time laughing and giggling with delight.

When I checked on swimming lessons for Fuller, I knew the fun from September was long forgotten in his own mind, so I feared the worst. I feared my son would be just like me.

I have vivid memories of going to the neighborhood pool in Lexington, Virginia and playing in the little kids’ wading pool. I was happy. I also have vivid memories of starting swimming lessons in the nearby “big pool.” I was terrified. I was screaming. I was not happy.

Fuller’s mild sensory issues about getting his face and head wet were what really caused me to pause and think about the swimming lessons. I didn’t want to see my little guy unhappy in the water, especially if I wasn’t going to be in the water with him to help. But Damon was smart and reminded me how Fuller seems to excel more when he sees other kids doing something. This was proven last summer when Fuller saw his buddy Luke swimming and jumping off the diving board. When Fuller tried to do it, it was a big step in his confidence.

Now we walk to the Rec Center on Mondays and Wednesdays and Fuller is ready to jump in. He has been kicking on the side of the pool, and tolerates floating on his back with help from his teacher.

And I am glad it is Monday, because if Fuller asks me one more time to go swimming, I might just go throw him in a lake. Or not.

Technorati Tags: swimming lessons

Today was Free Comic Book Day!

We found out about this special day last year about an hour before the comic book store closed. When we went to the location on the website the store wasn’t there. It had moved and there wasn’t enough time to get there.

When other bloggers started twitting reminders about today, I made a mental note and reminded Damon of the special day. He did some more digging and found the actual stores in our area, including one having a costume contest.

Today, after getting through a few items on Damon’s to-do list, we dressed Fuller in a costume we happened to have on hand* and then we made our way to Comic Hound on Ringgold Road.

Here is Speed Racer and a guy who admires Speed Racer and shows it by wearing a t-shirt with Speed’s picture on it. You might know them as Fuller and Damon.

Comic Hound is the first comic book store I ever stepped foot in. This shocked Damon. It had lots of comics, some figures, and a table in the front with the stacks of free comic books to pick from. In the back of the store were the owners, sitting at a table with a Polaroid camera and some posters. They were really nice and Fuller got a little shy, not wanting to tell anyone who he was dressed up as. It was about 2 p.m. when we got there and we were told Fuller was the first person to come by in costume.

They took Fuller’s picture, I gave his information, and then we went to pick out our free comic books. There was a limit of one per customer (my friend Drew was allowed 5 at his comic book store). Fuller picked out the one with robots and cars (aka Transformers). I picked up Amelia Rules! and Damon settled on Hellboy.

When we got home (after a trip to Sam’s Club) the phone was ringing. Damon answered and found out Fuller was the winner of the $100 shopping spree at Comic Hound! Fuller wasn’t too sure about it (mainly because he was fighting going down for a nap) but Damon was thrilled to learn about the prize.

Comic books are already read to Fuller as bed time stories, and we look forward to the day he can read them to us. Probably not as bed time stories.

*Damon made this Speed Racer costume for himself in 1996. He was a waiter then and wore it to work on Halloween. The shirt was waaaaay to big for Fuller, but he still looked cute. Especially when the helmet would tilt funny on his head.

Technorati Tags: Free Comic Book Day, Speed Racer, Comic Hound

Huggies sent us some of their Cleanteam products to use and review. When Fuller saw the shampoo, hand soap, and flushable wipes, he figured they were for him because of the illustrated characters on the packaging. And since he was claiming them as his own (holding the shampoo with a death grip) I took advantage of the situation and quickly talked him into taking a bath.

Cleanteam Extra Conditioning Shampoo

Fuller still gets a bath with us washing his hair and dumping water over his head for rinsing. We always use the shampoo to make bubbles in the bath water, since it seems to help entice Fuller to actually get into the bathtub.

This is where my first and only complaint of the Extra Condition Shampoo comes in: no where on the front of the bottle does it say “Tear-free.” If I had been shopping for shampoo for Fuller, I never would have picked up this shampoo.

We had a bad experience using real bubble bath and dumping water on Fuller’s head. The shampoo was tear-free but the bubble bath wasn’t. And Fuller was in a lot of pain.

A close look at the back of the bottle before dumping shampoo into the bathwater told me it was “tear-free.” It was in the middle of a paragraph and without a special graphic, but it made me feel safe.

Using the extra conditioning shampoo was pretty normal, except Fuller was into the spirit of getting clean and didn’t freak out and cry when washing his hair. It smelled great, left Fuller’s hair feeling soft, and rinsed out quickly. Maybe this stuff is magic!

Cleanteam Hand Soap

Fuller immediately knew something was special about this soap dispenser. And it wasn’t just that the pump looked like a dinosaur head. When you dispense the soap, the dino-head starts to flash for 20 seconds.

According to the side of the bottle, you pump the soap, rub your hands as long as the dino-head is flashing, and then rinse off the soap.

My son is three and the concept was immediately grasped. Once I explained it. Except he just wanted to watch the light flash instead of use the time wisely and actually rub the soap all over his hands. (And in case you are wondering, 20 seconds is the same amount of time it takes to sing “rub, rub, rub, rub, rubrub” to the tune of “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”) But again, he is three. Flashing objects distract all three year olds.

We have been using Squid Soap to help Fuller learn how to properly wash his hands. When you press the pump, an ink pad on top will put a red dot on your hand. The idea is your hands are clean when the red dot disappears. Except the idea of making the red dot disappear is a bit much for him. He just likes putting the ink all over his hands. And chest. And arms. And sometimes his cheeks.

The Cleanteam Hand Soap is a winner over Squid Soap. No messy ink, flashing lights, and a valuable teaching tool in hygiene.

Cleanteam Flushable Moist Wipes

There will be no picture or video of my son using this product, I hope you don’t mind.

It’s hard to get descriptive with wipes. They are wet, they smell ok, and flush just fine. These wipes didn’t instantly make Fuller able to wipe himself. I’m still needed in that department. But maybe when Fuller is older and more coordinated, these wipes will help.

I can’t really compare these flushable wipes to any others because the others we have used were used as regular wipes, not in potty training. (They were gifts.)

Thanks to Huggies for sending these Cleanteam products. Fuller is cleaner for it (though he could use another bath) and I think we have reinforced the foundation for good personal hygiene.

Technorati Tags: Huggies, Cleanteam, shampoo, hand soap, flushable wipes, product review

When we got home on Saturday, Damon’s coming home present was to give Fuller a cold. The symptoms didn’t really appear until yesterday and when Fuller woke up from his afternoon nap today, it was a full blown attack on our little boy.

Fuller’s voice has changed to a squeaky, nasaly sound. Sometimes there are words, but mostly it is whining and quiet moaning translated to “I sick Mommy.” I feel so bad for him, as he sniffs and sneezes. His nose is raw from all the snot wiping. And his ability to blow his nose is not honed, so there are plenty of snot drips to wipe up.

I know he will get better, I just hope he doesn’t decide to re-gift it to me.