No like it

Lately Dylan has been very particular about what he wears. Recall the pink hat story from March. And yes, the pink hat is still a daily presence in our lives.

I'm totally OK with him having opinions about his attire, and I've given up on making sure his clothes match (if he wants to wear plaid shorts and a rainbow-striped long-sleeved shirt, fine). My bigger concern right now is that he has a very strong opinion about clothes, and he only seems to like a small number of items in his wardrobe.

Ask my mother. She spent over an hour last week at Kohl's looking for clothes that Dylan might like. When she presented every item to him, he announced "no like it." We finally got him interested in a pair of red shorts and a blue striped top that he tolerated.

Meanwhile, my father and stepmother were out purchasing some pajamas to replace the Nemo and Mickey pajamas that are so small for the kids, I feared poor Kyle couldn't breathe! Sure enough, they found Dylan some larger Nemo PJs and some cute Buzz Lightyear PJs for Kyle. They wore them to bed last night, and this morning when I went to get them up Dylan immediately grabbed at his shirt and said, "Nemo shirt Mommy! No dress!" He didn't want me to undress him. I decided the PJs were cute enough and appropriate enough to wear to Kathy's house for the day, so I said, "OK, you can wear the Nemo jammies to Kathy's house, but I need to change your diaper."

Dylan didn't believe me.

"Kai-kai diaper," he said. So, I changed Kyle's diaper, and Dylan watched carefully as I replaced his Buzz Lightyear pajama bottoms. Satisfied, he brought me his diaper and said, "Fresh diaper. Nemo jammies?"

"Yes Dylan. You can wear the Nemo jammies."

Our Sasha

Last week we adopted a puppy. She's a 6-month-old Rottweiler, and we've named her Sasha. Aside from a very brief period of time when my family attempted to have a dog (I was about 7 or 8, I think), I have never "owned" a dog. My family has definitely always been a cat family, and I've admired dogs from afar and then sighed a breath of relief when leaving them behind at a friend or relative's house.

This adoption has definitely been (and continues to be) a journey for me, as I discover something new everyday about the life of a dog. Here's what I've gathered thus far:

• When dogs get excited, they pee.
• It is always best to lure a dog outside if you think he/she will be getting "excited."
• Dogs will eat anything.
• Dogs will stick their faces in a dirty litter box and pull out "presents" for you.
• Did I mention dogs will eat anything?
• A 52 pound puppy can bounce 5 feet in the air.
• A 13 pound cat can beat the crap out of a 52 pound Rottweiler.
• Dogs are democrats (seriously--they like listening to NPR!).
• Dogs are great at corralling young children.
• Dogs will "kiss" away your tears when you cry. Of course, then you smell like dog.
• My car smells like dog.

Happy Mother's Day

Saturday

Jen: Michael, did you plan anything special for Mother's Day?

Michael: Aren't we going to your parents' house?

J: Yes, but did you get me anything from the boys?

M: Was I supposed to?

J: I'm going to get a pedicure before I go grocery shopping . . . and I think I'll have my eyebrows waxed too.

M: (with oodles of enthusiasm) That's a GREAT idea! Bye!

Later that day . . .

M: See, aren't you glad I didn't get you anything? I couldn't have come up with anything better than the pedicure.

Sunday

(Jen gets to sleep a lot. Hooray!)

Michael: Boys, what do we want to say to Mommy?

Kyle (Dylan is busy with something): Happy Mommy's Day!!

And . . . we left Sasha (our new puppy) in her crate for most of the day, and she didn't poop in it! (don't get me started . . .)

What a great weekend.

Pity me

I am so frustrated.

My dad and I just spent an hour installing a child safety lock on my twins' bedroom door (to keep them in at bedtime), and within 2 minutes Dylan figured out how to open it.

Dylan's not even the mechanical one of the two. My mom said I could have given the materials and instructions to Kyle, and he would have installed the device himself . . . probably faster and better than we did.

I am not liking the "terrible twos." This stinks.