Sturm Haus

full speed ahead

We've been busy updating the kids' rooms over the past few days.

Over Christmas, I asked Jon to make Otto a simple little desk for his LEGO projects.

Only thing was, we noticed that it wasn't quite big enough for all his stuff. And more often than not, Bel drags a stool into his room and sits right next to him, watching and playing along.

He needed a bigger table.

And it's been past time for Bel to have a big girl bed, but we hadn't done it yet because it required organizing. And weeding of toys and clothes. And redoing her closet and swapping dressers. She has a lot of stuff for someone so small -- kind of an intimidating prospect. Every time I turn around there seems to be a whole new mountain of outgrown clothes to bag up, new books to squeeze onto the shelf, and dolls that need a place to sleep. Eeek!

But Sunday was gray and snowy - not nice weather to be out in, so I put on my drill sergeant boots and got everyone out the door to Ikea. While the kids played in Smaland, Jon and I checked out the offerings and grabbed a Malm bed for Bel and a new bigger desk for Otto.

We hauled everything home, assembled Bel's new bed, cleaned out about half her closet and swapped out the dressers, and did some reorganization of the remaining toys. She even has a proper nightstand now with a cute lamp and a couple of framed photos. She was pretty thrilled, and slept so well last night in her bed that I had trouble waking her this morning.

I think the bed will be perfect for the next few years, since it's low to the ground and hard to roll out of. Eventually I'll want to get her something nicer, but for right now it's perfect.

Otto's desk had to wait until tonight, which sort of drove him nuts -- he was so eager to get it set up that he could hardly wait. So this evening it was his turn. We flipped his bed around, pulled out some unused toys, and thinned out the amount of furniture in his room. I weeded his book collection and consolidated everything into one bookcase (instead of two) and set him up with a proper alarm clock. He thought that was pretty cool. But the new desk is his favorite thing -- he kept saying he loved the color (it's green!). And he has a ton more space now for all his ships, buildings, and minifig conversation groups.

Watching him put his LEGO pieces away was kind of fun. We asked him to get everything squared away before we started moving stuff, so he sat down and organized. All the minifigures were removed from their vehicles and put into the print tray, while the pieces themselves were divvied up into drawers based on some method known only to Otto.

Come to think of it, that's a lot like how I organized his bookcase (readers, chapter books, vintage kid books from his dad's collection, Star Wars and science books, the Tintin collection, etc.).

Annabel supervised the process while Otto tried to talk me into getting her her own LEGO building table. I told him she had to start Kindergarten first. Daddo has a strong back, but we're done moving furniture for now!

get your groove on

It was 9 degrees this afternoon when I checked the weather after lunch.

Too cold to do much of anything other than wear enormous duffle coats and listen to the Black Keys.

Here's the duffle coat:

Source: eddiebauer.com via Heather on Pinterest

 

And here's the Black Keys:

You're welcome.

Happy Friday!

meep meep

For the next week, give or take a day or two, I'm driving a 200X Jeep Liberty.

It's kind of bouncy and very upright. It's missing its rear windscreen wiper, and the seats are a little beat up, so it's basically the perfect loaner car - in good running condition, small and easy to drive, but not so new that I'll worry about Cheerios in the back seat or dinging a door in the parking lot. Best of all, it's a loaner, and FREE. Thank you, thank you, thank you Bodyshop People!

All this car switching lately means my car seat installation skills have been getting a workout. I got the Britax Marathon into the Liberty's back seat (tethered and all) in 3 minutes flat tonight. In the dark. While it was snowing. Nice tight fit with a seatbelt install (Annabel's too big for Latch now), and we're good to go for tomorrow morning. Popped in Otto's booster and threaded in the shoulder belt, and we're all set.

I'm not a super geek about car seats, but I bought good ones that are easy to install. Needless to say, buckling up is non-negotiable. Safer for them, safer for me. And yes, Bel is staying in that 5 point harness for as long as she fits -- she is much too much a busy body to be in a booster where she could unhook herself! And Otto will be in his booster until he outgrows it. He'll also be in the backseat until he's 12.

Oops. Make that 13. My bad.

Sadly, my children are being raised by two people who care nothing for being cool.

On the up side, odds are pretty good that they'll live long enough to complain about it.

Now that the 3rd car is gone, Jon can park in the garage -- a fact that makes him very happy, especially tonight. It's sleety and snowy and yucky out right now. You know, normal Michigan winter weather?

We might even have to break out the snow shovel tomorrow. Egads!

ack!

This morning I waved cheerfully as my brother and neice toodled off down the road in the Subaru. The car is off to retire in Colorado, where they don't use salt on the roads to rust the body (according to my service manager, anyway). Hopefully Matt got through Chicago OK. I tried to send him south to I-80 via Hwy 12, but he misunderstood my directions and followed road signs instead, ending up going via I-94. Which is fine, but requires close sign watching and involves lots of traffic where 94 and 80 intersect. And, depending on the day, can be treacherous with lake-effect snow. Ah well. He figured it out, I'm sure!

I called the body shop this afternoon, hoping for good news about my car.

Instead, the lady on the other end said cheerfully, "parts... blah blah blah... ready for paint... blah blah... they're estimating your repair will be done on Monday."

Not today Monday, but next Monday.

(imagine the saddest face in the world. that was me.)

So tomorrow I'm heading over there to take whatever freebie loaner car I can get my hands on. Last time it was a 90's-vintage Toyota Corolla. I just hope my children fit in the back seat. As Annabel observed thoughtfully this afternoon, "Mom, you drive us places every day! To school, to day care, to the doctor, to the store..."

It occured to me this afternoon that we have survived Christmas, New Year's, deer strike, Otto's birthday, and a family visit -- all within a few weeks. Life has been a little crazier than usual, hasn't it? Today I stayed home with the kids. We walked to the park this morning and played. Had lunch. Took naps. They're now deep into screen time as I contemplate making dinner. Jon should be here soon I think - he took advantage of me being home today and stayed late at work.

Oh, and I left my garage clicker in the Mazda.

Sigh.

seven

For his lucky 7th birthday, the birthday boy got a beautiful, sunny, warm spring-like day. So warm and lovely we opened the sunroof and enjoyed the blue sky.

He got to celebrate at school, where his classmates sang happy birthday to him, then did a drumroll and cheered for his first bite of birthday cookie -- their cue to chomp into their own.

(I'm telling you now, Sugar Cookie Bars are the way to go if you need to make a ton of cookies quickly).

An early ride home and a little bonus time on the PS3 was followed by dinner at Noodles. Then home again for cake (a few bites of chocolate) and presents.

Such a difference, 7 from 6. He's tall enough to flip up the keypad cover on the garage and enter the code to open the door. Confident enough to fill his own cup with lemonade at Noodles. Reading well enough to open an email message, follow the directions to "click here," and then enjoy a silly birthday spoof video of Darth Vader. Responsible enough to make sure his field trip flyer was in his backpack at the end of the day, rather than leaving it for me to carry home. Bold enough to sneak downstairs in the middle of the night and help himself to a snack.

Yep, I think seven is going to be good.

kapow!

I hit a deer on the way home last night.

Or, as Kathy at work says, I had a "hit and run." The deer ran out and hit me!

It's dark here by  6pm this time of year, so it was pitch black as I came around a curve that runs through a wooded area. There were 2 cars coming the other direction, and their headlights made it hard for me to see that there were 3 deer crossing the road and not just one. I kept braking and braking -- hard enough to make my bag fly off the passenger seat and onto the floor -- and I missed Deer 1 and Deer 2.

Deer 3 was not so lucky.

And neither was poor Radar, who looked kinda like the Terminator in that scene where his shades get knocked off and you can see the creepy red robot eye peeking out. Driver's side headlamp and a chunk of the fender in pieces on the road, I pulled off to the side and grabbed my phone.

 
Radar is cuter.

Lucky for me, the only thing terminated was the deer. Radar will be fine after a little (hopefully) cosmetic work. I was careful though -- I called the local towing company, who came out with a flatbed truck and gave Radar a ride back to their storage yard. Today they took it on to an area body shop, who then faxed me the paperwork to get the repair rolling. Fingers crossed that they're done by next weekend -- I still have my Subaru, but only until next Sunday, when my brother is flying out to drive it back to Colorado.

My commute is about 50% blacktop county roads through fields and woods. So I actually think I've done pretty good to go 7+ years without a deer strike. The sheriff's deputy who came to take my report said I was the 3rd deer accident of the evening already (to which I replied "Huh. Must be a party we don't know about." He laughed a little too hard at that.). And someone who lives near where I stopped said that there've been 4 deer accidents there in the past couple of months -- which makes me think there should be a sign. Maybe even a deer crosswalk. With a light.

glug glug glug

At 2:30 this morning, Bel wakes up howling that her ear hurts. "Which one, Bel?" I ask. She points to her left ear. So we get out the heating pad, the Tylenol. We get her resettled. I ask again, "which ear, Bel?" She points to the left one again (it's always good to see if you get a consistent answer).

This morning she told me, "my ear was talking mama, going glug glug glug." She giggles like it's really funny. And I remember that yesterday evening she'd talked about using her old Elmo sippy cup again, which I didn't think anything of at the time. But I bet she was thinking it'd make her ear feel better to slurp from a sippy cup. I give her another dose of Tylenol and dial the doctor's office for Jon, who's taking on the sick child assignment for the day.

Actually, I have to look up the doctor's office number, which is kind of refreshing. I used to have it memorized from calling every other week -- but since it's been months since we last went in, it's fallen out of my brain. This is a good thing.

I try to talk Otto into going to day care, but he says no. He wants to stay home. In his pajamas. I tell him he has to get dressed, he'll be heading to the doctor's office with Dad and Annabel, and his lip comes out. "I wish I could just stay home," he grumps. By himself, he means. At his LEGO table.

Not yet, kid! C'mon, get dressed and I'll get you some breakfast.

Later Jon called to tell me that the nurse confirmed that Annabel has a pretty good infection brewing, so we're on the pink stuff now. Both kids got their flu shots, too. Everyone's been in a grand mood despite the shots and the ear-inspection drama.

So, to sum up - we have snow. We have cold. And we have our obligitory ear infection.

It finally feels like winter.

new year

Annabel keeps telling me it's still Christmas.

"See mom! There's snow! It's still Christmas!"

We've explained that Christmas is over, that Santa will come again next year. We say we can have Christmas every day in our hearts, if we want. She likes that idea.

She also likes the idea of decorating for Valentine's Day. Tonight, as I followed her up the stairs to bed, she exclaimed "and we can put up the little lights, mama! In my room!" And I had an instant vision of her sleeping in a princess bed, snuggled into fluffy pink pillows and duvet, with white twinkle lights wrapped around the headboard and footboard.

Actually, that might not be a bad alternative to leaving on her lamp all night (she's going through a fear-of-the-dark phase).

She talked to my mom tonight on the phone and asked for coupons that she can use to buy unicorns. My mom said "You want grandma to bring you a unicorn next time I visit?" And Annabel thought that was a fine idea - 1-2-3-4-5-6 unicorns, grandma! So I guess we're into unicorns now.

She is not a child who is easily swayed once she's decided something. She said one morning at church, "I like God," and I realized she thinks our dear, funny pastor is God himself. After the service we chatted with him about it, and he assured that he worked for God but wasn't God.

Two weeks later, she said something about God and church and it was pretty clear that she still thought Pastor was God. If I try to correct her now, she just gives me a sideways look, as though humoring me by listening. "Sure mom," she seems to be thinking. "Whatever. You can try to tell me different, but I know better." I've stopped correcting her directly, but take chances when I get them to talk about the other things Pastor does besides lead the service wearing his robes. We sat next to him at Advent soup supper one night, and she chattered away telling him all sorts of things. It made me think we've either done something very right or have really missed the boat on the whole religion thing so far. Maybe a bit of both.

My oldest is, as far as I can tell, more of a born skeptic. He's starting to like Bible stories, and now that Bel is there to egg him on he'll go up front for the children's sermon. Mostly, though, he goes for the toy room.

He got several fantastic LEGO sets for Christmas, which he and Jon promptly put together. One of our New Year's weekend projects was to create a LEGO play/storage place in his room. I've been collecting ideas on-line at Pinterest, and with Jon's help and a vintage type tray found in Nana's basement, we created a spot in his room where his LEGO fantasies can run wild. Tonight he wanted me to take a couple of videos with my phone, and he was so delighted with the result that I promised to set up the Flip and tripod for him tomorrow so he can do his own videos. I have a feeling there are several more episodes of The Pizza Shop & The Alien in the works.

We have the rest of this week to finish recovering from the holidays. Otto heads back to school on Monday, so for the next few days he gets to sleep in a little bit, go to day care and hang out with his buddies all day, and have real peanut butter sandwiches for lunch. Simple and happy things.

Bel and I had better start working with hearts cut out of construction paper, doilies, and twinkle lights. Valentine's Day isn't just going to celebrate itself, you know.