Addition!

I've already announced this in many venues, but I did feel it fitting to finally announce it here on this blog.

The Hill family will be growing by one! Yes, we are expecting a baby girl toward the end of April 2011. We are very excited and are looking forward to the addition of a little diva in our home. That is, unless, the ultrasound techs got it wrong and we are actually having a little dude. But for now we are planning with pink.

Because of this addition, I have decided to change the name of this blog. Please change your bookmarks so that Growing up the Hills is now a part of your Favorites!

His Hair

This morning the wutz decided he wanted to fix his own hair. This isn't particularly unusual and I don't consider it a big deal, so I left him alone in the bathroom so he could do what he wanted. Now, you might expect this to be where I begin in on the horrid things he did to his hair - in normal posts from me it would be - but not today. Today he used just enough water to flatten out the rat's nest in the back of his hair and he brushed it out nice and flat. It looked pretty good, if I do say so myself, but I was too busy then to notice anything other than it wasn't spiked with gel or suddenly green or something like that.

So off to school we went. Upon arrival we got out and as I was walking him to his class, I looked down and realized his hair did, indeed, look rather nice. Of course I took the opportunity to compliment him on his hair and a job well done. With a small hand he smoothed back the coif and said, "Thank you, Mommy, I wanted it to look good like this today." I queried him as to why and he replied, "Because I am going to take you on a date today, Mommy!" Shocked, I asked where were we going on this date. He looked at me and smiled sweetly and said, "Wendy's!"

Oh. Yay.

Incentives...and name writing

The wutz finally wrote his name without any help. He'd been long reluctant to do so because he's a lazy sort of kid and said it was too much hard work! Finally, after an agreement made a week ago that he'd get a toy he wanted once he did the work, he began practicing. This morning he sat down and spent time focusing on his c's and e's, which were both the hardest part of his name for him.

After some more hard work and frustration and then finally lots of concentration, he wrote his name all by himself. First the C, then he'd look at me for approval, next the o, again looking at me, he got the l easily and moved on to the t. Once he got to the e he said, "This part is tricky!" and began work on the letter. As he finished he looked to me and I clapped for him. Lastly was his r, which again he had no trouble finishing. He was so excited to have accomplished it all by himself!

But mainly he was excited because he gets to go get Captain's Boathouse to add to his Thomas collection.

October's Deep South Fair

He did it! ~ZZZZzzzz~

The wutz finally FINALLY slept the night in his own bedroom. In his own bed. Alone! I am so proud of my big boy. All this time he's slept in our bedroom. First he was in his crib, then eventually he migrated into our bed, and finally we got him to sleep in a Lightning McQueen toddler bed we bought for him and kept in our room. It was better, but since we are now expecting a new addition to the family, we have known that we'll need to migrate the wutz into his own room.

Well, last night he decided that he'd sleep in his big boy bed. And he did. All. Night. Long.

He woke up at 5:20am and came into our bedroom and asked for help finding a tissue to blow his nose, because he caught the cold I had. I got him a tissue and then fully expected him to climb in bed with us. When I turned around he'd already left the room and closed the door. He went back to his bedroom and slept for another hour until it was time to get up for school.

Awesome!

I'm so proud of my big boy.

First Day of School

Well, I know I have slacked greatly on this blog for the wutz, but I'm here to try again. It is a new school year! Amazing. My boy has gotten so big!

This morning he woke up on his own at 6am. Also amazing! And we got up, dressed, teeth brushed, hair brushed... and we had time to watch TV. Lately he has been demanding we watch The Upside Down Show ad nauseum, so that's what was on. While we were sitting there, I plucked off a piece of red fuzz off his navy blue shorts. The fuzz was from his blanket. I said, "Look, it is a baby Schmuzzie!" (A creature from the show) and he said, "Awww. It's adorable!" and he took it from me and that was the end of that.

Then we got to school and I did the obligatory first day of school pictures. We marched to Mrs. Nancy's room and he threw the door open. She greeted him with a hug. To which he promptly extracted this piece of red fuzz and announced, "I brought my baby Schmuzzie!" *facepalm*

So, thus begins the school year...

Christmas Program

For weeks now, the wutz's school has been practicing for the Christmas program. Over and over. Bless them, they have worked so hard for this program. The wutz has been singing the songs nonstop. He'll be playing, then suddenly he'll burst out in song - a Christmas song, of course. You likely saw the video I posted of him singing "The Chubby Little Snowman" which is one of the songs they have been practicing.

During practice, my dear child was the loudest and the most boisterous of the entire school, according to the teachers. So that's why I was so surprised when Friday, after waiting for over an hour to make sure I had a good seat, as the Christmas program began, my child came down the aisle with his face as bright as his red pajamas he was wearing. Tears of pure terror streaked his cherub cheeks.

Ut oh.

As soon as he saw me, he ran up to me and I kissed his cheek and whispered he'd be okay. I gave him a loving shove down the aisle, then he suddenly collapsed to the ground. Face first. So there my crying child was. In the aisle as if he'd been struck down and laid out in the Spirit or something, until the teacher ran and picked him up and carried to his seat, where I could hear him crying that he wanted his Mommy.

Awwwwww.

Finally it was his class' turn for their two songs. I waited eagerly to see if he had calmed. But, alas, I did not see my dear child. I looked over each child standing there on the risers. No wutz. Then I leaaaaannnnned over in the pew so I could see down the aisle to the front of the church and what I saw, I shall never forget:

My child, my dear, darling child... was army crawling down the center aisle searching desperately for me. He would raise up at each pew looking for me. Then he finally found me and he scrambled on my lap. Where he proceeded to whisper/sing each and every song in my ear as we watched the rest of the Christmas program from the pew.

*sigh*

Gone away...

Yesterday, we took the wutz to Granny and PopPop's house so we could sneak off and make our annual Christmas toy run. The wutz, as always, was delighted to be able to spend some time with my parents. He adores them, of course, as they do him. So while he got to eat way too much sugar, we trekked to Tallahassee to enter the bowels of hell, otherwise known as Toys R Us.

On approach to the parking lot there were cars lined up waiting for vacant parking spots. Not a good sign. We bypassed as much of the traffic as possible by veering straight to the back of the parking lot because it is easier to hoof it than wait for some idiot to back up and depart.

Upon entrance to purgatory, we were greeted by a line of customers that literally wound around the inside of the store. Damn. After a few moments' panic, we realized that said crazies were in line for Zhu Zhu pets. Hahaha! I already have three of those suckers! So we marched into the frey and began our shopping. We impatiently waited for people blocking us left and right to decide on their purchases and continue on so we could get the things we needed and get the hell outta there. Finally we did. But not before I passed an employee clutching extra Zhu Zhu pet tickets. So I asked him for one, he handed it to me, and I purchased it for $9. No waiting in line required. Take that, suckers!

After we left purgatory, we drove to the outskirts of the city to a restaurant I'd been dying to try. Once we arrived at Z Bardhi's, we realized they didn't open until 5pm. It was 4. But the owner saw us approaching and he quickly unlocked the door and ushered us inside. The waiter asked if we minded waiting about 10 minutes over drinks while they got everything fired up so they could serve us. Of course we didn't mind a bit. We didn't even have to wait that long and we had the entire place to ourselves. The house salad was delicious and the lasagna was even better. But the bread was the best ever, soft and crispy all at the same time. Heaven. I can't speak highly enough of the place and I cannot wait to dine there again.

After leaving a substantial tip, we departed and made our way back to the parents' house to pick up the wutz. But once we got there he refused to leave. R e f u s e d. Why? Because his cousin Michael was there! He wanted to stay and play with his cool cousin. After trying for way too long to persuade him to come home with us, we finally caved and told him he could stay. It was to be his first night away and I was fully prepared for a 3am phone call from a crying kiddo to come pick him up. I am happy to report the call never came! He finally called at 8:30am to tell me he was ready to come home. And by the time we arrived, he'd changed his mind!

So, we all survived not only a harrowing shopping experience, but also the wutz's first night away from home!

Happy Halloween!

The wutz decided over a month ago that he wanted to be Thomas the Tank Engine for Halloween. I was saddened that he picked out a cheap costume from Target instead of some of the uber-cute costumes I'd found online, though. Apparently he's grown out of the stage where I can use him as my dress-up doll. *sniffle*

So tonight we dressed him up in his little costume and took him first to Grandma's house, where she gave him a handpainted cauldron of treats. Inside the cauldron was a toy tractor and trailer. Wutz bliss in a cardboard box.

Next we drove to town and went to Granny and PopPop's house. There he got an entire bag of chocolate and another toy package that contained a truck, tractor, and trailer. He was thrilled to death and immediately started playing with his loot.

Finally it got dark enough to go Trick or Treating. We went to the Polo Grounds because they close off the streets so vehicles cannot drive through. It is very crowded with children, so it really makes it a lot of fun. Except for the handful of snotty kids with zero manners that I want to bop in the head with the wutz's treat pail. And I did it several times in my head, too. It made me feel a little better. But I digress...

After the first house, the wutz realized something was very wrong. We walked up to the second house and he stepped closer to the steps and the lady handing out candy. He hesitated. Then he leaned forward and looked into the basket containing oodles and oodles of candy. When he realized there really was no tractors in the basket he shook his head and turned around to leave. Fortunately, the lady had no clue why he stepped back and turned, so I eased in quickly and steered his shoulders so he had to accept the candy in a quasi-polite manner.

Back on the street we had to have a brief little talk about what Trick or Treating is really supposed to be about. Fortunately, he got the hang of it and ended up having a great time.

The REAL Demolition Derby!

Tuesday night I met up with a friend of mine and her two kids to take them all to the county fair and the Demolition Derby that was also being held there that night. The wutz was looking forward to the Derby and was already bellowing, "Derby!" back from his carseat as we traveled to the fairgrounds.


However, when we got there all was forgotten once we wove our way through the building where all the booths of vendors hawking their cheap wares were set up and we then arrived at the threshhold to the fair itself. Once the kids saw the lights and the rides the Derby was all but forgotten. So we gleefully tanked the Demolition Derby plans in exchange for $20 armbands for each child in attendance.


My friend and I followed the small tugging hands of each child, first to the flying Dumbo knockoffs. Then we made our way to the race cars that looked much like the vehicles I could hear being destroyed mid-Derby.




After the race cars we stood for about 15 minutes outside of a funhouse that had a plexiglass maze. We laughed so hard our sides hurt from watching each of our oh-so-graceful children bonk their heads repeatedly on the SAME pane of plexiglass each and every time they attempted to wander through the maze.






It was a grand time.

Until little dudes and the diva started getting tired around 10pm. Then we knew it was time to depart. So as we wandered back out the fair we then had to retrace oursteps through the gauntlet of vendors.

While trying to make our escape my friend's son kicked over a fairly large potted plant, sending it toppling onto its side. My friend and I both turned around and looked down at it and then each other, both faces mirroring the "I'm not bending over in these jeans to pick that up." So we all just walked past it and acted like nothing happened.



But then...


A little further down the gauntlet, so close to the end I could see the exit, the wutz walked up to a giant stuffed dog, stared at it for a moment then head butted it so that it went tumbling backward onto the floor. Fortunately a booth worker was there to retrieve it, because I can assure you none of us planned on it. Too much effort, you know.


On we continued toward the grand exit when a small group of teenagers stopped us and one said, "We just have to tell you, you two have the coolest kids EVER. They are awesome!" It was then that we cracked up and laughed all the way back to our cars.


Yes. Our own personal Demolition Derby. We were so very proud.

The best money I never spent...

Right before Christmas there was a toy that the wutz was totally and completely enamored with in the stores. Every time he saw it, we had to go up and push the button and make the thing walk and do its noisy thing. I thought it was a cool toy, but there was no way I was going to spend the $130-something bucks to purchase said toy. Even for Christmas.

However, my father apparently had no qualms about adding it to the never-ending list of purchases he made for the wutz.

And I am here to declare that this over-priced toy is absolutely the best thing since sliced bread. Better even. It has no equal.



What makes this toy so special?
It is the fact that, though the wutz loved it in the stores, he is totally and irreversibly terrified of this robotic dinosaur. He shakes like a leaf if he even hears it turned on. Even if he cannot see the damned thing he trembles and instantly begins screaming like a chick running up the stairs in a horror flick.

And this is a good thing... why??
I know, I know. I shouldn't make light of my son's true terror, but it really has been the best solution I couldn't think of! Now, if I want the wutz to do something... or stop doing something... all I have to say is, "Do you want me to go get the dinosaur???" BAM! Mommy gets exactly what she wants.

I can completely and absolutely turn my little menace into an obedient little darling with that simple question.

And I ask it often.


I have no shame.