A night with the cousins

August 11, 2012Leave a comment

Thank god for cousins. Laura works 50+ hours a week, 2nd shift, and has a good social life but still finds the time to come up to Columbus and spend time with M&M. She called this week to tell me that her and Robert would be coming up on Friday to see the kids around 3:30 and taking them out to my folks’ farm to have a camp out. Maria was beside herself at the thought of Laura and her sleeping in a tent together. Mario was charged at the thought of spending time with his idol, Robert.

Maria called me no less than 5 times at my work Friday afternoon asking when they would arrive. When they finally arrived, I heard nothing more from Ri – she was glued to Laura’s side. It’s so funny to watch Ri when Laura talks. She is mesmerized with Laura between Laura’s tips on washing hair or her advice on boys – Maria looks up to her and will surely confide in her as she grows older (hopefully Laura will keep me in the loop!).

Robert took Mario to the library. Mario worked to impress Robert by biking the entire way. They came home and played basketball and soccer. Mario surely believed he had died and gone to heaven. Robert will be up in Columbus within a week to start his first year of college at OSU. He has promised us that he will come over and chill with us during the week – we’ll see…. If he doesn’t, we may just have to crash his dorm room, which would provide him with an incentive to come over to our house more often.

Laura and Robert left after dinner for the farm with M&M in tow in the backseat grinning from ear to ear at the thought of an entire night with their cousins.

Rain down on us

August 9, 2012August 9, 2012Leave a comment

The smiling faces of a mama and daughter who trekked through pouring sheets of rain to return home from Mario’s football practice.

My girl is a machine. She was pretty upset at first. Mario got a ride with a football buddy of his (a sweet boy who towers over him but has taken to Mario and watches over him at practice) and they headed to DQ. Poor Ri had to bike home with me since we biked down to practice (Mario sat on my bike) and no one offered to put our bikes in their cars and take us home.

At first she pouted about being tired and then she cried a bit in fear when she heard a thunder clap but after five minutes she got that determined look on her face and she was all business. She pedaled like a champ and walked her bike half way up the hill to our house. When I took the bike from her and walked my bike and hers up the hill, she ran beside me to keep up.

On the final block stretch, we were both laughing and soaked to the bone. We parked our bikes in the garage and took the picture above. The picture doesn’t do our soaked selves justice! Ri was clearly proud of herself and I continued to reinforce to her how awesome she was to bike through that storm.

The joys of having a strong, determined daughter.

Mario’s reasoning

August 9, 20121 Comment

The boy is killin’ me lately with his comments.

A week ago, we had to have a talk with Mario because he bought $30 worth of “diamonds” while paying Pet Shop on my iPad. Somehow Maria and him found out my password. So, the door has been shut on any more purchases. He still begs me everyday arguing about how cute a German shepherd is or how adorable a little pig would be in his pet shop. I have told him that we don’t have money to spend on virtual pets.

So, he found a solution.

He yelled hysterically for me last night while I was doing the dishes. I ran into the family room to see the end of an AllState commercial. He looked up at me and made his case:

“Mom, you need to switch to AllState because they can save you a lot of money – like $100 – and then you would have money to buy me my pets on Pet Shop.

Makes sense, heh?!

Lovin’ his corn hole and womans

August 8, 2012Leave a comment

“Mom, look at those hot womans!”

This was the first comment out of Mario’s mouth when we got off our bike and headed to a block party at the park. Lovely. The scary thing is that it is innate in Mario – he certainly never hears Jon talk this way or me. He doesn’t watch male-chauvinistic shows and we have never watched Jersey Shore! After I scolded him about referring to girls that way, he proceeded with this comment:

“Mom, those girls think I’m hot.”

“What is your deal tonight, kid?!”

“Mom, I’m just telling you the girls think I am hot because I am so tan.”

Yeah, as Jon has said in the past, I think our best bet is to sterilize him for the next 20 years.

I took his mind off girls by leading him to corn hole. He became addicted with throwing those beanbags in the hole. If I got one in, he wanted to get two. We played for an entire hour and a half. I had to drag him away.

So there we have it. Jon and I have nurtured a girl-crazy competitive son. Oh, and a good-hearted son, I must add; on the ride home, he offered to coach me in corn hole so I could play better next time!

Mario, the Romantic

August 6, 2012August 6, 2012Leave a comment

It’s just me and Mario tonight since Maria is at her grandma’s house and Jon is partying with his buddies in Baltimore (he is actually working but heading out to awesome dinners in the evening so I discount his time away as play!).

Mario and I took a bike ride to the library to pick up two Wild Kratts DVDs on hold for us from another library. Mario’s been asking for these for a month and he was so charged to hear they were finally waiting for us. He biked like a mad man to the library in order to pick up the DVDs (however, he did take the time to climb off his bike at certain uneven driveways and cross walks to ensure that he did not tumble over on his bike – the daredevil has his limits, I guess).

After picking up the movies, we headed up north to Dick’s Sporting Goods to purchase his mouthpiece and cleats for flag football. He chose some rockin’ white and black Under Armour cleats and a red and white mouthpiece. He keeps asking when Wednesday night will be here. He’s just a tad bit excited.

On the way home, Ri called to say hi. A few minutes before she called, Mario had lamented to me how much he missed Ria. When she called and I told him it was Ria on the phone, he held up his right hand and said “Don’t say her name, it makes me miss her more and I can’t stand it.” That will make Ri’s day.

When we arrived home, Mario asked me if I knew how many girls he liked. I told him I didn’t know and probably didn’t want to know. He told me he had 20 girls he had a crush on and his number one crush was Jillian, a girl at his school. He continued to show me his love for her…

“I like her so much that one day when I had to fart, I scooted over to the couch and held a pillow to my butt so she wouldn’t hear it.”

How incredibly sweet, heh? If only more men were so considerate?!

Chillin’ with the family

August 5, 2012August 5, 2012Leave a comment

I made the mistake of coming home Saturday morning.

I usually take a long run and hit the gym on Saturday mornings but yesterday I took a short run and only lifted for a brief time so I could hit yoga at 9:30. I ran home to get my bike to ride downtown to class. When I turned the corner of the driveway to head to the garage, I saw Maria and Mario. And they saw me.

“Mom’s home! Mom, will you play soccer? Will you ride bikes?”

“Guys, I am heading to yoga but will be back in an hour and we can do all of those things.”

“Not fair, mom. You took a run and now you have to stay home.”

When I continued to get my bike, they both boycotted me. “Don’t talk to her, Mario,” Maria demanded. I biked away with the both of them staring me down. When I got home, they were camped out on the floor under their blanket fort watching Tom & Jerry.

“Hi guys.”

“Hi mom!” It’s as if nothing had occurred an hour earlier. Gotta love kids.

We dragged Mario out in his pj bottoms to the grocery to get icing to decorate brownies for the family get together at Jon’s niece’s house. Nothin’ like having your four year old kid in the grocery cart with only his Sponge Bob pj pants on – no shoes or shirt – eating a lunchable snack from the deli meat aisle. Hey, I gotta pick my battles, and this wasn’t one of them.

We came home and decorated brownies and then took off for Sherri’s house. All of Jon’s brothers were in attendance – a feat that only happens a couple times a year since they live in different states. Poor Josh and Peter and Matthew and Morgan. As older kids, they get all of the fondling and torment of the younger kids. Maria and Alana and Emi were teasing Josh and Peter incessantly. But being the good sports, they hung in there with them (it probably helps that they only have to deal with it a couple times a year!).

And it was comical that the little girl who copped a serious attitude when I went to yoga had no desire for me to be within 10 feet of her at Sherri’s house. Mario was almost as bad except that he wanted to wrestle later in the day and no one would agree except good ol’ mom.

Maria loves being around her girl cousins, and I welcome them all into her lives. She adores Emi who is always running out to greet her and Mario when they come over. She is the organizer of all activities and makes sure everyone has what they need to participate. Maria also enjoys Eli who is much more reserved and introverted but will lie on her bed with Ri for hours answering Maria’s questions. They are the big sisters Maria never had. Then there is Dagmawit who could be Maria’s twin. She is assertive and bold like Ri and they both have strong, muscular bodies. I wish Dag (as Maria calls her) lived closer but she gives us a reason to head to Savannah. Alana is a staple in Maria’s life since she lives close by and her and Ri are so close in age. They were excited all afternoon at Sherri’s house because they knew they were heading to Patty’s house for a few days (Patty calls them the Bickerson Twins because of the way they bicker with each other when they stay with her). And finally there is Morgan, Amy’s daughter, and Asma, Zach’s daughter. who we rarely see because Morgan lives in Savannah and Asma lived out of town until recently. They both blend right into Maria’s life when they are around though because they are Maria’s family and to Maria, that’s all she needs to know to welcome them into her circle.

Jon and I enjoy these family get-togethers because the kids go off and play and we can chat with adults. We got to catch up with Kevin and Margie about life with Dagmawit. They told us how Dag wanted to be a swim coach (since she is so good in the water) and the adult coaches allowed her. Before they could turn around, she was directing kids around the pool. When a parent picked up his child, she stopped him and said “Your child had a good practice today.” Love it! I told you Ri and her were twins. We also got to laugh at Micah’s antics and talk to Amy, Sherri’s sister who is my fellow runner in Savannah. Jon chatted with Debbie and Michael about Peter’s college and work. It was a pleasant Ionno gathering full of delicious food, much laughter, and good chats.

When we came home, Mario questioned where why Ri wasn’t with us. We told him Grandma’s house and he got so angry. “That’s not fair!” We explained to him that he’s gone to Grandma’s a lot more often than Ri. It didn’t matter to him. Grandma is a hot commodity and he needed to voice his displeasure. I calmed him down by watching a Ben Ten with him on the couch. He curled up on my lap and I scratched his back. Within fifteen minutes, he was snoozing away. It took me back to his baby days when I’d lay with him and watch him sleep – his tiny lips barely open and his sweet breath sending out the most wonderful, calming smell ever.

The Muscle strikes again

August 3, 2012Leave a comment

Maria continues to bolster her nickname “the Muscle.” I met M&M at the pool this afternoon after they called me at work and begged me to meet them. They were sugared up on strawberry ice cream bars when I arrived. They were ready to wrestle with me in the water.

After wrestling for some time, Mario decided to hit the diving boards. Maria followed. They dove off together a couple of times. Then I noticed that there was a little boy jumping off the low dive with Mario who was teasing him by blocking the top of the ladder so Mario couldn’t climb up out of the water. Maria noticed this little boy right after I did and instead of watching the stand-off take place like me, she marched right over to the ladder and looked him the eye and scolded him to “stop bothering my brother!”

She pulled Mario up out of the water and then she ran to the low dive only to beat both Mario and the other boy. Then she allowed Mario to take her place so he could jump before the other boy.

Our girl doesn’t mess around – and don’t you know that boy didn’t so much as look at Mario the rest of our time at the pool – and he definitely avoided Ri!

Bears and sushi

August 2, 2012August 2, 20121 Comment

Sarah and Jorge returned from Yellowstone and Glacier with limbs intact – even after walking right by a grizzly! Oh, the stories they had to intrigue Maria and Mario.

Mario drags Jorge everywhere as he does with any male that comes to the house. Jorge is a very good sport playing basketball one minute and fighting with Ben Ten figures the next. Maria waits for Sarah to talk about her adventures and most importantly, to open up Sarah’s Mac computer photo shop. The photo shop lets you contort your face in all sorts of lovely ways. This was a beauty of a picture from the shop last night when we chose “Alien.”

Sarah had an awesome slide show of their trip full of pictures of the mountainsides, sunsets, gorgeous wildflowers, moose and bears. God love ’em, they go for it when they decide to hike and they take great pictures. The bear pictures obviously peaked the kids’ interests but I think they fell more in love with the little chunky chipmunk peeking over a rock because he was “so adorable.”

We splurged on sushi for dinner. Spicy tuna, dragon, and spicy salmon rolls – yum. Maria braved a bite but promptly spit it out. “I will stick with macaroni and cheese” she declared. We sat around the kitchen table and talked about our trip to Michigan and the sand dunes Sar and I used to tackle when we vacationed as kids. It was a treat having my sis and Jorge over for dinner. M&M did not want the night to end begging to spend the night with them at the apartment. Sar and Jorge weren’t quite prepared for that action yet but they better get ready for Jon and me to send them to Pittsburgh for a weekend sometime soon ( if they can handle bears they can handle M&M!).

Downtown Cincy

July 31, 2012July 31, 20121 Comment

There are certain things about Cincy I miss. A friend posted this video of artists in downtown Cincinnati, and it made me nostalgic for my hometown. Columbus’ downtown has no where near the history and richness.

I remember taking Maria and Mario down to the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in downtown Cincy this year and the awe in their eyes at the stadiums and fountain and skyscrapers. They were intrigued with stories of me sitting in old Riverfront Coliseum rooting the Reds on and heading to the garage after the game to gather autographs. They were amazed when I told them I used to take a bus downtown and go to the library (they asked if it had vending machines like ours). Their favorite thing was Fountain Square and throwing pennies into the fountain.

I wish we could have been there to watch and dance with those uplifting artists.

Sports Maniac

July 30, 2012July 30, 2012Leave a comment

Mario and I tried to play soccer outside last night but the mosquitos were killing us. I have already counted ten bites today. So we decided to play some Wii games instead. I begged for table tennis but he wanted basketball. I do not play basketball well. I can’t shoot. Mario quickly found that fact out when we began to play.

“Mom, you shoot like this” as he jumped up with the controller above his head. I tried again with no luck. He got exasperated. “Mom, you need to try harder. I need some competition!” That’s my boy. He loves the challenge but he also hates the defeat. When Jon and he played 18 holes of golf last night, he got angry when Jon won one hole. “I hate golf!” he yelled and placed down his controller. When Jon told him they could quit, however, he sang a different tune. There was no way.

We moved onto sword fighting a while later. My boy can go to town in that game. He works his body up so good by jumping and swinging all over that you think he is going to fall over and pass out. At one point he had a death match with his opponent after fighting non-stop for two minutes and tying. He begged Jon to finish the match for him because he could barely move. Jon won (what a hunk!) but when we looked over at Mario, he was sprawled out in a chair and his little belly was rising up and down trying to get more air. We finally found a game to wear him out!

Of course, he wants more pain. Just like his mama continues to run when her legs are sore, he continues to fight when he’s exhausted. After the Wii game, he begged us to sign him up for fencing. We will add that to his request to play soccer, football, boxing, basketball, and wrestling….

"MOM!"

Adventures in the Life of a Working Mama

Tag: Kids