Insult of the Week

The other day I was making a box. You know, taking a flattened out box and taping it together into a functional 3-dimensional object. I tend to have issues when I have to perform this task on my own, as I insist on all the ends being perfectly even and having the flaps meet completely. After a couple of minutes of intense work I had my box complete, and although it wasn't perfect my tape wasn't even wrinkled so it passed...until Calvin looks at it, then me and says, "That looks awful."

Confessions

Every night we go through the ritual. I lay Ali in her crib and she falls asleep. Then a half hour later I walk Calvin to his room, we read Balloon Farm (it’s been a year of Balloon Farm and he knows it so well I can’t even skip pages anymore), we say a prayer, I lay Hobbes and Puppy on the pillow and then tuck all three of them in together and give them all hugs and kisses. Sometimes twice. Oh, sooo cute! Or so you might think. As soon as I hear the click of the door shut immediate feelings of freedom rush over me. Not wanting to miss a single second of shut-eye that comes my way, I grab my pillow and run to bed. And just when I’m comfortable I hear the cry of a smothered Ali. Calvin has been doing this every night for the last month. He gets out of bed when I leave, throws his pillow and blanket on top of Ali, and climbs in her crib with her. I just don’t know what to do about this, and so it continues. But the other morning Calvin and I had an interesting conversation. He must have remembered how mad I was the night before and thought he should explain. He said, “Calvin, why’d you climb in Ali’s bed?” So I asked, “Calvin, why’d you climb in Ali’s bed last night?” He said, “Ali cried.” I said, “I know she cried, but only because you got in there and threw all your crap on top of her.” He said, “Ali take Hobbes.” And I said, “Well she wouldn’t have taken him if you hadn’t thrown him in there.” And he said, “Ali hurt Hobbes.” So I asked, “How did Ali hurt Hobbes?” Then he shook his head and said, “Ali didn’t hurt Hobbes, Calvin kicked Ali. Ali was crying.” I asked, “She was crying because you kicked her! Why did you kick her?!” And he said, “SHE WAS CRYING!” He must think I'm stupid for me to not understand his reasoning. PS this was also our first real conversation that actually made sense from start to finish. I'm so proud.

adri paige

Adri now has a blog for all her photography so you should check it out!
adripaigephotography.wordpress.com
I was kind enough to let her practice with her new camera on my kids and the only thing that could have made them better is if they actually would have smiled! They turned out way cute, so take a look!

2009

I must say I'm quite pleased to see 2008 done, over-with, and gone. I wouldn't really say I'm a pessimist, but I can think of nothing good that happened all year aside from Ali being born (healthy & beautiful might I add). Oh, and I haven't been laid off from job! That's a big one. Nonetheless, the previous "gaping wound of a year" has left me with Eiffel Tower-high hopes for this one. And, other than one aspect of my life, so far it's looking good.

I started my year off by going to lunch with my friend Celeste. She left me for the sunnier skies of Phoenix in July which has really taken a toll on my sanity. So it was refreshing to spend an afternoon with the only one (correct me if I'm wrong) who doesn't judge me for my anal retentive tendencies and completely understands my motives. I heart her.

Calvin turned 3. He almost vomited at his own party after taking a bite out of his candle

but that was the highlight of my night! Gifts of mention: the Indiana Jones Potato Head-love it! And the SmartCycle- minus the fact that he pedals backwards. But for now it serves as a good jumping off point to play Buzz Lightyear!

I went to the spa for the first time and got a wonderful facial and my eyebrow waxed. To spare any confusion that wasn't a typo, however I do have 2 separate brows now which I think is a good look for everyone! I've made the decision to be a monthly spa go-er of facials and massages. After all, taking care of 3 kids is hard work!

A couple of Saturdays ago my parents took us down to the Energy Solutions Arena for Playhouse Disney LIVE! I'm having issues getting my pictures to upload but I'm pretty sure Calvin didn't blink once, it was so funny! For being right at his nap time he did pretty well and seemed to have fun. I won't mention the small tantrum he threw that caused him to lose his shoe. Or the part at Intermission when he wanted to go home and we had to bribe him with ice cream to stay.

We can't forget the Ali Update. As of Christmas she pulls herself up and zooms all along the furniture, occassionally gets good enough balance to stand by herself for up to 10 seconds, got a haircut to even out the extreme Victoria Beckham A-line she was sporting, has a tooth, and also got her eyebrow waxed for the first time. Okay, the last one is a lie, but I'm seriously considering it as long as the general public doesn't find this to be borderline child abuse.

Hopefully the new year will allow more blogging time so I don't have to play catch-up!

Christmas Party

A couple of Saturdays ago was the annual Castillo Family Christmas Party. I always look forward to these parties, and not because Santa’s going to be there, but because I’m pretty sure I have the greatest family ever. Calvin gets so excited to be with the other kids and it was so fun to watch him run around with them too. It was not fun to keep saying “Get down from there!” “Put that back!” “Turn the lights back on!” Why’d you take off your socks?!” “Who’s Coke is that?!” “Leave the door open!” “Who’s Pepsi is that?!” “I said ‘Leave the door open!’” “Who’s Mountain Dew is that?!” “Get over here right now and sit on Santa’s lap or you will not get any presents! EVER!” Apparently he sees me as a total pushover and is no longer threatened by my words. It was quite the fight to get him to sit on Santa’s lap and even once I finally got him up there he wouldn’t look at him. But he didn’t scream in his face or pee in his lap so I view this as a success.

Ali on the other hand was so cute! She smiled for her 1st picture with Santa and put in her request (via Mom of course) for her own room. I just think this is something she’d want. Now, I’m not quite sure how the big guy will pull this one off; Does he want to finish our basement? …Find a new family for Calvin? I’m just not sure. Nonetheless, we’re counting down the days and although Calvin still doesn’t understand what this “Christmas” thing is we’re all talking about, he loves all the lights and snow, and asks for toast made from gingerbread every morning for breakfast!

I also had a very proud moment last week. We were sitting on the couch and Calvin turned to me and said, "You shoot your eye out kid." My work is done.

Sometimes he's cute

This little post is only here to precede the what some might call "negative" one I just wrote. Calvin has been doing and saying some funny things lately, so I just thought I’d share…

A couple of weeks ago the home teachers stopped by. Calvin opened the door, told them to “Come in!”, shook their hands, and then asked them if they wanted to watch Indiana Jones with us! After they left he shook their hands again, shut the door, then said to me “They were nice guys!”

We were at ShopKo and this old man wearing a hat came up to Calvin and waved and said hi to him. Calvin just stared at him and never said anything but he had a look on his face that I’ve never seen him make before. When the guy walked away Calvin turned to me with his eyes lit up and said “Indiana Jones!”

Calvin now sings the Alphabet Song: A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-Hardy-L-M-N-O-P….Now I know my A-B-C-D-E-F-Gs, Next time won’t you sing with me!

I bought a little votive candle centerpiece thing, and when I put the red candles in it Calvin said, “It’s so pretty! Like Jell-o!”

Other than that, Calvin continues the daily routine of curiosity and cruelty.

We're still here...

I can’t believe it’s already December! I’ve been neglecting the blog lately, but not because I don’t have anything to talk about. In fact, a lot has happened and I have plenty to say. I’ve been more excited about Christmas this year than I have been in a long time and I think it’s because Calvin seems to have more of an understanding and I think he’ll grasp it completely this year, and also because now that our family is complete I was finally able to let my mom buy us stockings from Pottery Barn! Currently, Calvin has found yet another way to attack my heart. By climbing over the baby gates, installed for his safety and our sanity, he now has access to the kitchen, basement, and outdoors. The kitchen floor has been the victim of half a box of crunched up cereal, a pitcher full of water, a couple of fruit bowls worth of peaches, and broken eggs. At least he threw the carton away after he broke all of them, and I guess I should be thankful more damage hasn’t been done, but I’ll be sure and let you know when he does it. He hasn’t really done much destruction downstairs, I just worry about what he could get into such as laundry detergents, the randomly exposed toilet, rolls of insulation, paint, and computers. So until we have a spare hundred twenty dollars laying around to buy the extra high gates, we’ll really see what he’s capable of. If anyone would like to donate to our cause we accept cash, checks, and money orders. My aunt has also opened a Save the Boobies Fund due to the recent weight she’s lost. I find this to be a worthy cause, “Mary-Kate and Ashley” shouldn’t have to suffer on behalf of better health! (PS you look awesome Cindy! Way to go!) Anyway, since our last session Calvin knocked over our floor lamp at the perfect angle for it to barely hit the tile and shatter it. He threw his shoe at the table centerpiece and shattered the vase. I’m not too upset over that one since the vase came from our wedding and I have like 10 replacements. However, as time continues I may have to take back the ones we gave away as party favors. He fell off of the bookcase that he shouldn’t have been climbing in the first place, and he also shattered the glass in a picture frame. I’m seeing a trend… I tend to doze a lot (obviously and for obvious reasons) and I was quite amused to wake up to a hysterically laughing Ali while Calvin was in the kitchen standing at the fridge throwing Kraft singles in her direction like Frisbees! Also in recent news, we had to replace the motor in our heater. I love the holidays!