Gigi vs the Cereal Bowl

Yes, sometimes I think I'm a great Gigi but just because I still think like a kid in so many ways:  "Ohhhhhhh, that would be a great place to hide, or, awwww, good fort building material, or cool look at those straws with built in chocolate milk - how cool is that!"  Thus making me a very cool Gigi...or so I thought.....

I recently came across a cereal bowl with a built in straw to slurp up the left-over milk -  my first thought, genius,  and second, boy oh boy will the 4 1/2 year old LOVE this, I mean love!  What's not to love, a bowl....with a built in straw???  (I don't even like cereal that much, and I wanted to try it.)

And try it out we did this morning, as a special Monday morning treat!  And, as I eagerly waited to hear oohhhs and ahhhhs and you are the greatest Gigi ever, what I heard instead was, "I dont' want this bowl I want the white bowl."  What?  The white bowl, the very plain white bowl, the white bowl with the small blue line that  I've had for a long time, and I must admit does have excellent cereal eating capabilities, but, it doesn't have a BUILT IN STRAW!  So, I said, "Hey, this is green and has a BUILT IN STRAW, HOW COOL IS THAT?"  to only hear once more, "I don't want to eat out of this bowl, I want the white bowl."

After I got over the oddness of C Boy not wanting to use the fun bowl, and wanting to use the boring white bowl, I started to think what should I do here?  (Now unbeknownst to the 4 1/2 year old, the white bowls have been packed as we are in the process of moving, oh yay and fun.)  So, we really did have to use that bowl...well, there was another bowl I could have used, a larger blue bowl, but I had already poured the cereal and milk into the green bowl.....the fun bowl.  It's green.  And, did I mention there's a straw built in????

Ok, enough of the straw as there is a bigger issue at hand, which is, do I transfer the milk and cereal into the big blue bowl or stand my ground???  I decided to stand tall, hold the line, keep it real, and told C Boy that he needed to use the green bowl.  He said no.  I said yes or no cereal.  He said ok......really I thought?  You are always starving in the morning, you eat a ton all day long, and to say no...to the fun bowl??  But no he said.

So, off to the couch he went and I took that green bowl of fun to the desk where I check emails, and sat right there and ate it all up.  I did not sip through the straw as I'm not a huge milk fan...unlike C Boy who loves milk.  Hence the straw.....I am having a hard time letting that go, aren't I?

Anyway, when we went upstairs to get dressed, C Boy immediately went to his PawPaw and told him all about the tragedy of the bowl.  PawPaw, being very smart and enjoying a blissful marriage, told him you dance with the one that brung ya, and eat from the bowl you sat down to.

And, just in case you are thinking of calling 911 and reporting me to the breakfast police, after he got dressed, he did get a graham cracker and a glass of milk....breakfast is the most important meal of the day after all.  But tomorrow is a new day, and it'll be a new day with a built in straw.

Gigi vs Nicki Minaj

Becoming a full time Gigi at the age of 49 was a blessing and also a shock to the old system, and I do mean old system.  Old physically, old emotionally, just good old fashioned old. 

When we first went to pick up the little fellas the adrenalin really kicked in - I mean I thought I could move a mountain, or lift a car off an injured pedestrian, it was awesome, except for the potentially injured pedestrian:)    But, I really loved the no aches and no pains and thought, "I'm cured, how great is this!"  I felt on top of the world!

But, that lasted about a month and a half.  I now know that adrenaline comes and then it goes; adrenaline is a cruel, cruel mistress.

So, now I'm sans adrenaline and back to the creaks, aches and owies that being a 50 year old Gigi presents.  Being an older caregiver will present some challenges and I've been thinking about those lately.  Of course there's the obvious:  I'll be 61 when C' boy gets his drivers license, I'll be 63 when he graduates from high school, go class of  2027!  (OMG 2027?)

School and driving are the obvious things, but there are a few things that aren't so obvious like, we won't be up on all the cool music.  Hard as you try old people just don't know what's in, we just don't, and if you do, you're creepy and that's no good either.  I may think I'm cool, but that's not how that works.

So there's the music thing.  And the old and creaky thing.  I won't be zip lining with them on vacations, though I wouldn't have done that at 30.  I also don't want to let my hair go gray now - I feel overly compelled to be the youngest looking Gigi I can, I may be creaky, and listening to easy rock, but I'll be doing it with Garnier #63, Golden Brown Sugar, I tell ya.

And, I know, I know, all of that doesn't matter, but when you want to limit any and all potential pitfalls for your kidlets, your mind starts a wandering,"will they miss out on certain things?  Like dancing to Nicki Minaj or knowing the cool apps, or getting their hair cut like that Beiber kid?"  But as I review the above, maybe not.  No great loss on the Nicki Minaj thing, or the Beiber hair.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with a cute, preppy hair cut and some Gap jeans!  Or so the old Gigi thinks....

Gigi and TV!

TV vs Gigi - who will win???  When the boys first came to live with us, I was amazed that they didn't like TV.  I mean amazed.  I loved TV as a kid and still do and I'm ok with that.  I thought a little TV for them would be ok, as long as it wasn't too much and it was educational, and blah, blah, blah.

But, to my amazement  they would not, I repeat not, watch TV.  And I tried.  And, then...... I felt proud!  "Oh no they dont' watch TV," I told my friends, they just arent' that into it, feeling very smug and proud that I could entertain them without TV.  No TV babysitting for moi.

Then one day, as I was flipping around the TV, 'cause I like TV, we stumbled upon "Bubble Guppies," yes, you read that right, "Bubble Guppies."  I'm not sure what a bubble guppy is, but I gotta admit, they're funny.  They did a Lady Gaga parody last week that was oh my gosh funny.  I'll try and insert the youtube clip in this blog...if I can....hey, that would be kinda un-granny of me, eh?

Anyway, getting back to the TV thing....we stumbled onto the Guppies, and then, wait for it, "Team Umi Zoomi."  I'm not really sure what an Umi Zoomi is, or where they live, Umi City?, but I do know C' Boy loves it and he now knows what a trapezoid is, and many of the other shapes, including a few that we had to look up.  (Not sure what a shape expert can do career wise, but I believe he's well on his way.)

So, since we have now deemed children's TV not to be the work of the devil, Katy bar the door.  We now watch, Princess Sophia, ok, I now watch Princess Sophia, and Paw Patrol, Dino Dan, Lil Bill, and  Dora.  Oh and Diego.  And, maybe an episode of Blues Clues and Cailou.  But that's it.  Really.

Guppies and Gaga

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhS-REK-U3U

Lots of WEB MD when you are a Gigi!

Ok, I remember being a kid and being sick, not a lot, but yeah, getting colds and getting tummy aches.  I broke a few bones too, and went to the doc.  But, in the 10 months that I have been a full time Gigi, I have:  been to the ER three times, witnessed four stitches being put in, being taken out, and seen one episode of projectile vomiting that landed right into C's cereal bowl, which I must say, was quite impressive, if not disgusting.

We've had experience with:  RSV (yeah,  to all my non-kid friends, I had to look it up too), Hand, Foot and Mouth virus (I kept calling it Hoof and Mouth disease until I remembered B Boy does not have hooves), mysterious rashes, THE Croup, tummy bugs, and the obligatory running nose.  Oh, yes, there was also a tummy episode that resulted in a blackish, sticky type of vomit that I have never seen before, nor wish to see or smell again, and that was only topped off by a summer time diarrhea episode where I mistakenly gave the infected person a deep blue Popsicle the night before, resulting in a hideous blue liquid diaper that looked like cotton candy, which now you will probably never eat again -- you are welcome.

We had our 3rd ER trip over the weekend,  1:30am, why, oh why does it always take place over the weekend, in the middle of the night????  WHY? 

Turns out it was THE Croup, but, I have to say my first thought was it is THE Whopping Cough as they have done such a great job with THEIR PSA's.   The first thing I thought of was, "Oh God, it's THE Whopping Cough, and we haven't had our booster shots, and will B Boy get it too?  Oh God!!!! (Good job Whooping Cough Ad Council, you were first thing on my mind.)

So, we headed over to our friendly ER.  Which is brand spanking new and quite lovely.  (How did they know I was going to need them now more than ever???)

Doc took one look and said, "Gigi, it is THE Croup."  Don't you have the Internet so you could have looked this up, I'm sure he was thinking.  And yes I do --- that's where I read all about THE Whopping Cough.

How did the Gigi's before me do it???

So, I have never loved my washing machine, dryer, dishwasher, and garbage disposal more than I do at this very moment.  That is because I have never done more laundry, more dishes and had more garbage than I do at this very moment.  (I firmly believe that those in favor of recycling, and leading a very green life, do not have toddlers in the home, and if they do, good for them, I'm impressed.)

For example, I love those plastic grocery bags - why do you ask?  Well, that's how you throw away poopy diapers.  Poopy diapers that smell like no other smell in the world.  I hear that Diaper Genies are ok, but really smell when you empty them.  But, if you use that grocery plastic bag and tie 'em up, no smell!  Pay a nickel for each bag you say, OK!  They are worth every cent!!!!

How did Gigi's before me do it?  Many of them didn't work that's true, but, hey they didn't have time to work!   Hell, they may have even wanted to work, but how could they with all the dishes, cooking, laundry, picking up, matching socks, folding laundry, grocery shopping, cooking, dishes, and folding the tiniest of clothes, (how do they even make clothes that small?)  I mean our weekends are nothing but clothes, laundry, preparing breakfast, snacks, lunch, dinner and then cleaning up after each meal, and then it starts all over again.

Now, I will say, I do feel a huge sense of pride when a meal I make is a hit!  Even if it is something really simple, if the kiddos like it, I'm happy.  And, I'm learning:   nothing too spicy, nothing too hot temp wise.  So, soups are not a big hit at this point in their lives, or chili.   Which is a shame as Fall is coming and football, which equals chili!  But not here.  It's messy....and hot.....and spicy.....the trifecta of badness as far as the kiddos are concerned.  So, chicken fries it is....that's right, chicken fries, look 'em up, they're for real.

It's not easy, but it is fun to be a Gigi!

Gigi, or the lady married to the baby's grandfather, is a great name - better than grandma as that conjures up a little old lady with face cream, curlers, and a big purse filled with cinnamon flavored gum.  Or at least, that's what my grandma seemed to always have going on.  I, on the other hand, listen to cool music, Journey, Coldplay, and Bruno Mars for goodness sakes!  I like Mumford and Sons and that is so not grandma style!

I don't really remember how we came up with Gigi as a name, what I do remember is that if I was called Gigi, than my mom would be the Grand Gigi and that fit so perfectly, we had to go with it and a Gigi was born.

I'm a Gigi to two little boys, C boy and B boy, 4 1/2 and almost 2.  C boy was in utero when I married their grandfather, or PawPaw.  At the age of almost 4, C Boy and his baby bro came to live with us, full time, 24/7, in our smallish house, with our full time jobs, with nary a crib, a diaper, wipes, small plates, or plastic forks in sight.

We have come a long way since then and I think, I will use this blog as a diary of sorts, to chronicle the adventures of being a Gigi!