It`s my job to be cute, Mommy!

So the monkey has discovered the art of delaying tactics as far as bed time is concerned, to the point where it is really starting to drive me bonkers.

After getting up for something like the 10th or so time, I told her that she could tuck herself back into bed this time, because mommy was going on strike.

To which she looked somewhat shocked and resulted in the following conversation:

Monkey - But Mommy!, that's your job to tuck me in!

Mom - Yeah, well maybe you should have done your own job, staying in bed and going to sleep.

Monkey - It's not my job to go to sleep, mommy! It's, it's.... my job to be cute! I'm a cuty pie!

Mom - (D'oh!) Okay fine, you win, you're cute, let's go tuck in.

Monkey - (triumphant smile, followed by evil genius laughter)

But seriously though, something has got to give here, and I am going to have to find a new way of dealing with this bedtime terrorist, because the whole appeasement policy thing is just not working out for me.

Help! My toddler flushed the cardboard toilet paper roll down the toilet!

Okay, I am really not sure what to do about this one. The monkey was on the toilet taking a poo. The good news is that she is somewhat toilet trained (still has the occasional accident, but no more diapers). The bad news is that I ran to get something in the other room, and I heard the monkey saying, "Oh no!". When this comes from a toddler it is usually bad news. So I run back to find my daughter with a concerned look on her face, saying, "I flushed it down the toilet mummy!" Further questioning ensued and she tells me that she flushed "the whole roll" down the toilet. The bowl is empty and all of the poo and toilet paper appeared to have gone down just fine. In spite of the grossness factor, I reached in to see if I could get the thing out, assuming it might have gotten stuck in the pipe somewhere. There was nothing within reach for me to take out. A few test flushes seem to have gone down just fine, though I haven't tried actually using the thing. We have another toilet that we can use instead, so this isn't an emergency situation.

My question is though, what the hell, if anything should I be doing about this? Can I just let it be and assume that it will eventually dissolve? Is this a problem that requires immediate attention? If the toilet continues to flush, can I just forget about it? Any suggestions would be most appreciated.

New Year's Resolutions

So, ha ha, it is that time of year again and I am really not a big one for making resolutions that are inevitably broken in short order, but since one my plans this year is to improve the abysmally small number of entries in this blog, I figured this would be a good way to start posting again. Yes, I know that was a run-on sentence, and it probably won't be the last one, so there.

So anyhow, here are some of my plans for 2009. Hopefully my next entry won't be made a full year from now lamenting my dismal lack of accomplishment with respect to the following list. I guess we'll see.

1. Make more frequent entries to this blog. Hopefully at least 2-3 per week, or more. Try not to laugh if you think this is a pipe dream.

2. Knit presents for my parents and in-laws for the coming Christmas. If I really get my stuff together, I could maybe even knit presents for the sister and sister-in-law, but I am trying not to set myself up for too much failure. Also, the husband will be making stuff as presents too (not kniting). He seems to find it amusing that I am making that one into my resolution, but too bad for him.

3. Eat healthier and prepare more foods from scratch. We've been doing a pretty good job of baking bread and I want to keep this up and expand more into other things.

4. Engage in more exercise, nothing major, just start running a bit again, or hiking or what not. The husband wants to do push-ups and sit-ups at night and I said that I would do it with him.

5. Get things organized and establish tidier habits for everyone in the household. Living in a 2-bedroom condo with a 2-year old sort of forces you to keep on top of things, and we actually haven't been doing too bad with this, but it is the sort of thing that requires constant vigilance, because if you let things slip, the next thing you know it looks like a chaos explosion ripped through the place.

6. Read more books. I love reading and I have been re-discovering the library recently, so I want to keep up with that, and balance between the classics and newer stuff. Along the same lines, I want to work on completing all the unfinished books on the shelves in the office. I was going to say I'll read Ullyses, but I am just not sure that I am up for that one.

7. Learn to play the penny whistle. The husband brought one back from Ireland and it is similar enough to the flute and piccolo of my youth, so it shouldn't be too hard and I know that the little monkey will enjoy hearing it.

8. Watch more zombie movies. Really, how can you go wrong with that one? The husband also wants to see all the new super-hero movies, and of course there will be the new Star Trek and Battlestar Gallactica season. Oh yeah, and also Terminator. I am hoping that a new Resident Evil movie is coming too.

9. Keep the garden alive and thriving. We started off pretty well with that one this year, but then we went away on vacation. Enough said.

10. Get the monkey out of diapers. We're getting pretty close on that one, but it just seems like it is going on forever and ever. Seriously though, I will totally cry if that one isn't done like dinner by this time next year.

Well I guess that is ambitious enough for now. Wish me luck and don't worry, future posts will mostly be shorter.

Baby vs. Technology, Round 1: Baby 1; Laptop 0

So, I've heard about the terrible twos and all, but we really didn't need the early preview. We've been gradually trusting the little monkey more and more with a variety of stuff. Probably, that was our first mistake (or more likely, one amongst many). So anyhow, we've pretty much made the computers off limits altogether except under close supervision by mum or dad, but for some reason we let our guard down today and admittedly the computer was sitting in a place that it probably shouldn't have been. Still, did the little monkey really need to pick the thing up and smash it forcibly towards the ground? We watched this unfortunate turn of events from across the room in a sort of nightmarish slow motion, unable to stop it in time. The effect of this action upon said laptop was pretty much inevitable, though no less painful for us to observe. Several distortions and multiple cracks now mar what was previously a blemish free and unobjectionable screen.

We've tried to replace a broken screen on a previous laptop we had and our experience with that one was that you're better off purchasing a new laptop altogether. So that sucks pretty badly under any circumstances, but just now happens to be a particularly bad time for it. To add insult to injury, the little monkey got a hold of my glasses after lunch and ripped open one of the frames, popping out the lens and bending it up pretty badly in the process. My husband thinks that he can fix that one and I am hoping that he is right. How much destruction can one child really cause before afternoon nap time? The answer: a lot.

The husband just got back from computer store with a new laptop. and according to him they didn't even try to sell him the 2-year warranty. In the salesman's words, "Nothing covers 2-year olds".