More random observations

Effective Advertising

O... M... G... We're sitting here watching a silly movie on TV (Deck the Halls), and Matthew Broderick tries to back his car out of the driveway and gets his car doors ripped off by the trailer hitches on the campers parked on either side of his driveway. Do you know what my 7 year old son said? "Uh-oh! Better call Geico!" Whatever ad agency handles the Geico account deserves a medal, because that was most definitely the result of an excellent advertising campaign.

Things like this really scare the crap out of me...

We went to the NEX so that ES could spend his birthday money on a new webkinz dog. (He needed another webkinz like I need a hole in my head, but I'm sure you could say the same thing about half the stuff I collect, too). They were having a buy-one-get-one-free special, and ES very generously allowed YB to pick out the second webkinz instead of taking both for himself. Off we go to the car, each son carrying their new webkinz in an NEX plastic shopping bag. We get buckled in the car and start driving away. My sensitivity threshold for plastic bag noises in the back seat was turned way down due to the rustle-rustle-rustle of them getting in the car with their bags and then taking their new webkinz out to play with them, etc, etc, etc.

My threshold was suddenly reset and alarm bells went off in the back of my head when all of a sudden ES yelled, "No YB!!! Take that off your head!!!" Almost immediately after he said that, I could hear YB's muffled voice say, "Look! I'm a snowman!" Yeah, he was pretending to be a snowman by putting a plastic bag over his head. THANK GOD ES saw him and KNEW that was BAD and told him to stop. LW and I each talked to YB subsequently about not putting things over our heads. It just really freaks me out and makes me worry what might happen to one of our kids one day when someone ISN'T watching. I pray the Lord will always watch over and protect my family from such simple dangers that are around us every day.

On a positive note, I've noticed ES maturing a lot lately and taking on more of a big-brother role, watching out for his little brother and helping him out. Sometimes it results in a hissy-fit from YB when he doesn't WANT the help, but still - it's nice that ES is genuinely trying to HELP.

Case in Point: Yesterday I took the boys to Ala Moana Center to run an errand and have some dinner at Islands. We had a birthday coupon for ES for Islands that had to be used in the month of his birthday, and yesterday was the last day of May. LW wasn't feeling well and stayed home. As we were walking through the mall on the way to our errand, YB complained of his foot itching. ES very kindly led YB to a place to sit down, asked him very nicely to sit down, took of YB's shoe, scratched his foot (resulting in much giggling from YB), and put the shoe back on. I was flabbergasted.

ES scratching YB's foot at Ala Moana Center.
(Yes, that's the new Webkinz dog.)

The other highlight of our trip to Ala Moana (besides the AWESOME dinner we had at Islands) was a trip to the family restroom in the mall. We see more and more of these "family" restrooms wherever we go, and it's nice to have a restroom large enough for the three of us to fit in and take care of business without me having to cram into a stall to help YB with his pants while ES is getting in the way of other people in the restroom by the sink.

This, however, is the first time I've seen a family restroom with a YB-sized toilet.

There were two toilets in the room, one regular size and one tiny version.

There was even a second sink that was the perfect height for YB, too.

More Wii Adventures

Before we got Wii Fit, I always thought of people who did yoga as human pretzels. I never would have even tried yoga if Wii Fit hadn't invaded our home, because I don't think of myself as one of those human pretzels.

Up until today, I have rather enjoyed the basic yoga exercises on Wii Fit for stretching and flexibility. However (comma) as I have progressed through the exercises, I have unlocked some of the more advanced positions, and today I felt like I was trying to twist my body in directions that my body wasn't designed to do.

I've been doing the tree for several days now, but today was the first time I fell over while trying to do the tree. It gave me flashbacks to another embarrassing episode of similar body-orientation and physics.

Some of the new yoga exercises I tried today were...

Triangle. It looks so simple doesn't it??? It's the turning your head and looking up at the ceiling and pointing your hand to the ceiling while keeping your balance on the balance board that really makes it challenging.

Dance. This one was the end of me today. I think I pulled a muscle in my palm and my forearm, and pulled or pinched something around my right collarbone. Human pretzel indeed!