This post brought to you by dumb stuff my kids ask me to do

I used to make my kids a nice, hot breakfast every morning. Eggs, pancakes, waffles. They woke me up at 6 a.m. every single day, so what else was I going to do between then and when we left for school at 7:45?

Now, they sleep until about 7. And they eat cold cereal for breakfast. While I'm not entirely happy about this change of breakfast menu (the artificial ingredients! the sugar), I am entirely happy about sleeping an extra hour.

At breakfast today the first-grader was enamored by this extra-large flake in his bowl of frosted flakes.

I argued I wasn't even sure if this flake was particularly an outlier.

He begged me to take a photo.

So I did, because if there's one lesson parenthood has taught me it's to pick your battles.

And if there's a second lesson of parenthood, it certainly would be that what delights my child pretty much always delights me as well.

And if there's a third lesson, it would be that I won't feel guilty about the sugary cereal for breakfast when they're all grown-up.

I hope.

From the Archives: The Best Thing My Three Year Says

As part of my New Year's Resolution to clean my house, I'm also going through the 300+ unpublished draft posts on my blog. (Mostly to procrastinate from actual cleaning of my house, but whatever. I'm still counting this as a "productive use of my time.")

Most of the drafts are getting deleted on the basis of them being either utterly old news or totally unintelligible. But this one is seeing the light of Internet day, solely because of the cuteness.

My son Ziggy when he was three (now age five!) used to always say:

Can you give me a leaf pile?

As in:

Mom, I'd like a leaf pile of chips.

Can I please have a leaf pile of strawberries?

I want a leaf pile of cheese!

And how could I forget:

You call that a leaf pile of chocolate chips? That is not a leaf pile! That is only three leafs. Not a leaf pile!

Of course it's the first day of fall....

Ziggy, pictured here in happier, warmer times.

... because I had this conversation with my five-year-old son this morning:

Ziggy: Mom, I'm cold.

Me: Sure you are! It is cold in the kitchen this morning! That's why I'm wearing long pants, socks and a sweatshirt! You're wearing shorts and a tee shirt! Let me go get you some warm clothes.

Ziggy: Uh, I'd rather you didn't.

Me: But if you put the warm clothes on then you won't be cold!

Ziggy: Uh, instead of me putting on more clothes, I was uh thinking you could just make the air warmer?

I tried to explain the concept to him that adults try to delay putting on the heat for the first time of the season, but couldn't really come up with a good reason why.  But it does seem like you should wait at least until October 1 to turn the heat on, and I know some other (in my opinion, crazy) people like to wait until at least November 1.

So tell me, do you put on a sweater when the temperatures get cooler, or do you take Ziggy's approach and just make the air warmer? 

Craft Failing... Again!

Thanks to Robyn and Craft Fail for featuring my son's latest creation, Home Tweet Home Improvement.

Here's an example of the first of many outtakes, but for it's fully craft fail glory head over to Craft Fail.

Spoiler Alert: the bird house turns out spectacularly!

Boy with sweatshirt in spring

How fun is it to wear a sweatshirt on your head?
Very fun.

How fun is it to wear your sister's sweatshirt on your head?
Very, very fun.

Happy Spring!

Breakfast at Our House

Scene: Father has just returned with bagels for the family's standard Sunday breakfast. Father serves bagels to the three children seated at the table, as mother drinks her coffee.

Father: What would you like on your bagel?

Nine-year-old: Cream Cheese and Lox.


Father: Sure, coming right up! And you, Kay? What would you like?

Seven-year-old: Butter. Please.


Father: Delighted to give you some butter, here you go! And Ziggy, what about you? What can I put on a bagel for you, buddy?

Four-year-old: Avocado and Chocolate Cake.


{End scene.}

Wordless Wednesday: Ironman

This is my son.

He's four.

He's also, more often than not, Ironman.

The other day he wore the outfit pictured above to our local library and the librarian very kindly said to him, "You must be very strong!"

To which my son, Ironman, responded, "Yes. But that's nothing. I'm also very smart!"

To which I had no choice but to add, "And clearly also very modest."

Favorite Things Friday: Taking Selfies with My Son

New feature! Favorite Things Friday!

First up: taking (admittedly bad) selfies with my son.

Anti-selfie may be the hot trend of 2014, but if taking selfies is wrong, I don't want to be right.

The Truth of the Pumpkin Patch

A few years ago, I posted these adorable photos of my son enjoying his very first pumpkin patch.

I basked in the glory of knowing that even though he was the third born and there is nary a page of his baby book filled-out, let alone even a baby book with pages to neglect, he will always be able to cherish these photos of himself cavorting in the pumpkin patch. In a pumpkin outfit!

Mom for the win.

But the truth of that day has haunted me ever since.

THIS photo represents that day and that trip to the pumpkin patch.

 

The truth of the pumpkin patch that day is that it was raining. And he was sick. And he did not want to be in a pumpkin patch at all, let alone in a stupid fucking pumpkin outfit.

But we were there, because I wanted that photo. (The first set of photos that is, not the one above.)

So I'm sharing this for all of you also get tears in the pumpkin patch when you just want smiles.

And I'm also sharing this so next time you visit Pinterest and see a gorgeous pumpkin pie cooling on a rustic wood table you'll remember there's a pretty good chance it's not all as perfect as it seems, either.

Where's Ziggy?

Can you name this toddler hot spot?

 

This post title inspired by the current Where's Waldo addiction at our house.

Last Day of School... A Retrospective of Waiting

Why yes, I am eating blue licorice and waiting for my sisters. 

As of yesterday, my kids are finally done with school. Today we had our first day of summer vacation, and well, I'm gonna be honest: it was loooong.

And while I won't miss hurrying out the door, making lunches, reminding about permission slips or nagging about homework, I surprised myself by finding one unexpected thing I truly will miss: hanging out in the car with my three-year-old son Ziggy while we were waiting for his sisters.

This year, Magpie and Kay decided they were too old for us to pick-up from outside school, so they'd meet and walk together past the crossing guard to where we'd be parked and waiting a few streets away.

While in the car, Ziggy and I would play all kinds of silly games, and he'd amuse himself with opening and closing (and then opening and closing again, and again) the sunroof, and turning the car lights on and off (and then on and off again, and again) and sometimes he'd head back to the back row which we called "the apartment."

Those afternoon pick-up runs were fun, and now they're over.

 

At least until the fall.

Fun for Kids in NYC: "Grug" at The New Victory Theater

On a cold Thursday morning a week or so ago, my three-year-old son Ziggy and I decided to break from our daily routine of going to Target in the morning and sitting around the house in the afternoon and go into New York City to see Grug at The New Victory Theatre.

To be honest, at first Ziggy was completely uninterested in the idea of a trip to Manhattan, despite me breaking down the multiple fun parts of the trip. We get to take the train! And the subway! And see a show! With crafts before it starts!

 

Luckily, Ziggy was willing to give it a try and he loved everything about the day from handing the conductor our ticket on the train, to ducking under the turnstile in the subway station.

 

At the show, after ignoring all the grown-ups and kids taking part in the craft beforehand, and making me worry that I could take the boy out of Target, but not Target out of the boy, he was totally into the show once it began. And even now, days after we saw the performance, he still talks about it.

 

And I still talk about how the nosy New Yorker inquired about where his coat was, asking "Aren't you cold?" to which Ziggy replied, "Nope, I have an invisible coat! And an invisible gloves! And an invisible hat!"

 

I may just turn him into a New Yorker yet.

 

__________________________________

 

For a full review of the show, which is totally awesome, visit BaristaKids.com for Grug: A Perfect NYC Show for Little Ones.

 

I'm inspired to take Ziggy on additional cultural outings like this, because even though we both like our lazy suburban lifestyle, there's more to life than trips to Target, and occasionally, Whole Foods. And he should know this.

Grug is part of the programming from The New Victory Theater and is being performed at the New 42nd Street Studios, Studio 3A-B, 229 W 42nd Street between 7th and 8th Avenues. Performances are Thursday-Sunday, and the show ends its run on Sunday, March 17.

For a full list of show dates and times, click here. Tickets are $20; $14 for members.

 

I received review tickets to the show; neither my opinions or my son's were influenced.

My son and I should take our comedy show on the road. Seriously.

Apparently my three-year-old Ziggy and I are a comedy duo. Don't feel like you're the last to know - I didn't know either until a recent Trader Joe's visit.

Here's our act, in full. The twenty-something cashier is the willing, or possibly unwilling, participant from the audience.

Cashier: "You've got your hands-full!" as he watches Ziggy helpfully pile the groceries on the counter, dropping every-other-one.

Me: "Oh no, this is nothing! I've only got the one with me. There's five more at home!"

Cashier gives me a wide-eyed look, a little too wide-eyed. I worry I've traumatized the twenty-something cashier with my joke about having six kids.

Me (contritely): "That's totally not true. I'm kidding."

Ziggy: "Yeah, that's totally not true, 'cause there's ten more at home!"

And when someone improvs like that, you don't ruin the joke.

You just wave, smile and say goodbye to the truly now wide-eyed cashier.

 

And hurry home to the ten kids who may or may not be waiting for you at home, while also planning your nationwide comedy tour, now booking for select dates.

 

 

For more funny stuff, visit (and like!) Random Handprints on Facebook, and follow @Anna_Sandler on Twitter. 

SantaCon Toddler

Below is a photo of my son Ziggy getting his SantaCon on in 2010. Yes, I encouraged my son to pose with two drunk Santas, not to mention the two elves who had seen more coherent days.

And the Smoking elf in the photo above? Totally fine with it - it's not like my kid even glanced up from his texting to take in this whole New York City scene anyway.

A holiday memory to treasure forever? Definitely, and we even have a mention in an AP story that ran today: Better Watch Out: SantaCon is Coming to Town.

31 Days of Halloween: Day 17 - A Painted Witch Cauldron

My son is going as a witch this year for Halloween - and after last year's whole cat debacle.... I'll take it.

Since he is planning to wear his sister's hand-me-down witch outfit, I thought he should at least personalize some of the other elements of the costume. I'm not proud to say that one of the adjustments I hope he makes is to be a pants-wearing witch, but he's been adamant the dress part of being a witch is a positive, not a negative.

Today my lil witch and I went to the drug store and picked-up this cauldron in iron-tough black, and added a few festive purple touches.

He couldn't be happier.

Happy Halloween!

31 Days of Halloween: Day 13 - Toddler in the Pumpkin Patch

When my third and youngest child Ziggy was a year and a couple months old, I was seriously wracked with guilt. Whereas I had taken his older sisters to all kinds and fashions of pumpkin patches, apple orchards, hay rides and haunted mazes, I had taken him... nowhere. I had no iconic photo of him as a baby in the pumpkin patch, no cute pics of him amongst the corn.

It was killing me.

I went and bought Ziggy a pumpkin outfit (which for the record, I had never done for his sisters despite the other autumn excesses they enjoyed) and invited my mom to join us for the sole reason of documenting our clearly-going-to-be-perfect trip to the pumpkin patch.

So you can imagine how it was a complete and utter surprise - and downer - when it was raining on the day this was all supposed to go down.

"Should I still come?" my mom called to ask in the morning, "Of course!" I screamed. "He's going to the pumpkin patch. Today!"

Off we went, on a miserable day and with a child who it quickly became apparent had a cold, and wanted to be anywhere else but the frickin' pumpkin patch.

I remember all of the actual truth of that day when I look at these photos. But I also believe in this total fiction we managed to capture in film.

And I love these photos as much as I thought I would, and then some.

I'm writing this tonight, with nostalgia, as we prepare to take a family trip to the same pumpkin patch tomorrow. Be back tomorrow with this year's crop of pumpkin photos!

P.S. This is my own little contribution to The Mom Stays in the Picture.

31 Days of Halloween: Day 2 - The Cat Halloween Costume

Yesterday for the first day of 31 Days of Halloween, I took a look back to the cat costume choices that my two-year-old son had to choose from for Halloween last year - it wasn't pretty. Or, actually, the choices were too pretty.

So, while sparkly, we were quite happy when we found this cat costume for our young wannabe cat:

His costume of choice this year? That's still anyone's guess....

Ziggy Turns Three!

My little guy turned three this week.

His sisters made him really awesome birthday cards filled with all his nicknames (Boodle-pants is a favorite, and no, I don't know where it came from or how it started), the radio station played his favorite song Firework complete with birthday dedication, we rode every kiddie ride at the amusement park, and he ate his weight in ice cream.

All in all, a pretty perfect three-year-old day.

The birthday cards with the nicknames reminded me of this cool project on Pinterest where you write all your kid's favorite things down on a photo on their birthday (or the first day of school or other occasion).

So I made one with Ziggy's favorite things as of three years old.

Can't wait to see what makes the list when he is four.

Happy Birthday, Boodle-pants.

Unlike a lot of Pinterest projects, this one only took about five minutes. I used Picasa, but it could be made using PicMonkey or any other photo editing program.

At the Playground: Ocean View, Delaware

Every summer we vacation in Bethany Beach, Delaware.

In addition to all the other great things about the place, there is a really fantastic - and shady - playground in Ocean View, the next town over.

This year my two older kids spent their mornings at tennis camp, which meant Ziggy got to spend his mornings at the playground.

Which of course, meant I got to spend my mornings at the playground, too.

But I'm not complaining, because I know all too soon he'll be at tennis camp, too.


All photos taken by my brother at John West Park, Ocean View, Delaware.

Just a Boy and His Bear Taking a Boardwalk Stroll

This post is from last summer, but I was reminded of it when we made our annual trip to the shore, and this same boardwalk, last week.

I took my urban-living, tie-wearing, stroller-pushing, toddler son to the Delaware shore.

And found out that what is a totally common not-worth-noticing sight in Manhattan, ain't so in this small shore town.

But conformity aside, just watch this 14-second video, and you'll see this is one very happy urban-living, tie-wearing, stroller-pushing toddler.

And for him, it's just another night strolling on the boardwalk, a boy and his bear.

Linking-up to Finding the Funny at Kelley's Break Room and My Life and Kids.