Like Bill Cosby Says: "Kids Say the Darndest Things"

Much like his mother, Charlie tends to call it as he sees it. Most of the time it involves saying something completely awkward and socially unacceptable (aka "You have a hairy hiney.") The other day, Charlie says to Uncle Dan... "Heh, Heh, you're funny Uncle Dan... Funnier than I thought." We got a kick out of that b/c it was like he had already assessed how funny Uncle Dan was and was then surprised by him. But today was the kicker...

This morning, we were laying in bed like we do most mornings and both boys were laying on me, Finny on top and Charlie off to the side. Here's how the conversation went...

C: [sniff, sniff] What's that smell, Mommy?

S: What smell, Charlie?
C: It smells like poop.
[After the hairy hiney incident, I had a pretty good idea where he was going with this]

[sniff, sniff]
C: It's coming from your mouth Mommy! Your mouth smells like poop Mommy! Pee-U!

Well I couldn't breathe. I was laughing so hard. Charlie knew he said something funny b/c he started laughing too. I almost fell out of the bed.

Side note, later when I brushed my teeth, Charlie lovingly told me that my mouth didn't smell like poop any more! Thank goodness. Incidentally, it was morning breath folks, my breath doesn't normally smell like poop... at least I don't think it does!

You wonder why Finny learned how to say "Poop" yesterday! You have to hear him. It's clear as day! He says "PuP." I'm so proud!

On another note. We went on the 11th annual base tour this past weekend. 18 of us piled in 4 cars and drove down to Southern Maryland in search of the illusive government bargain. As "W" will admit, no bargains to be had in government, but fun was had by all. We visited the Caissons (the horses who carry dead presidents at their funerals). Finny loved the "Gugs," but Charlie was scared. Finny couldn't get enough of them. I had to stand there the whole time while Finny giggled and squealed "Gug! Gug! Guggy!" Then our friend the Gug tried to whisper sweet nothings in my ear and we were out of there!

And last, but not least, on October 7 my sister-in-law Jodi delivered a happy, healthy baby girl named Avery Jo-Ann Cogan. We were all ecstatic! She was 6 pounds and 18 inches long. Jodi and Chuck are doing great and are enjoying every minute of her! The rest of the Cogan clan is excited to have another baby girl in the family. We were beginning to wonder if anyone but Kelli could whip one up! For those of you playing the at home game, my parents now have 10 grandchildren; 7 boys and 3 girls! I'm hoping to get up to the Poconos tomorrow to see the little lass. I gotta see what a 6 pound baby looks like for myself!

As Paula Abdul says: "One step forward, two steps back"

This was supposed to be my triumphant blog about Charlie's pooping on the potty. Before you read on I must warn you, it's gross, it's graphic and if I had smell-o-vision it would be stinky!

Let me start at the beginning. I called into the Today show this morning b/c they had a live call-in to a pediatrician about baby and toddler questions. So, I called in about my "3 1/2 year old un-potty trained son." Well, needless to say our burning issue didn't make it on the air of the Today show. But, a few hours later low and behold, Charlie poopies on the potty. He was just lounging around without his diaper on (which I do a lot in the a.m. to try to encourage him to go on the potty. Sometimes it works and sometimes he pees on the playroom floor!) So I said "Charlie do you want to go on the potty?" And he says "yes." He sits down and proceeds to poop! I was so excited I danced and sang and took pictures of him and the poop and the potty and everything (I won't post the poop pictures, don't worry!) I asked if he wanted to wipe himself and he gave me his hand. I looked at his hand and there was poop on it. Ugh. (Warning: this isn't the graphic part!) I wiped it off and still rejoiced in this wonderful milestone! All Charlie wanted was to play with his "sound effects Pirate sword" that Daddy bought him for his Halloween costume. We just got it yesterday, but Joe told him he had to poop to get the sword. I guess he really wanted the sword. I was so excited! I called everyone, I texted, I was ready to rent an airplane and skywrite it!

I put him in his Diego underwear and put a pull-up over top of it just in case. Which normally he just wears diapers b/c pull-ups have failed me before, but I decided to chance fate. Can anyone say foreshadowing?...

Then, we went to McDonald's to get him a milkshake and play on Playland as a reward, in addition to the sword. While I was sitting there, he was quiet for a little too long up in the Playland. If I didn't know any better I'd think he were pooping. He came down the slide and I smelled the "oh-too-familiar smell" of Charlie's pungent poop. I looked in his underwear/pull-up combo and saw a mound of it. Ugh. So we made our way back to the car, but on the way I stopped in a thrift shop that I like to look at children's books. I figured he had the pull-up on what's the harm? (Oh, Gods how you forsake me!) So, we picked out some books and checked out. While in line, this woman turns around and says "someone's got a stinky diaper." I didn't even acknowledge her. I mean who says that? It's embarrassing enough to have a stinker, you don't have to call me out!

So we go out to the car and I say "Chal, let's change your pooper so you don't have to sit in it on the ride home." I lay him down in the back of the car and go to take his shoes off and IT'S IN HIS SHOES! No wonder he was so stinky! It squeaked out his underwear, overloaded the pull-up (I hate those things. Who do they think they are? I mean nothing says Big Boy like an embarrassing poop situation. I'd rather put him in a diaper. At least it keeps the poop in!) Then it ran down his pants and was coming out the holes of his Mickey Mouse Crocs! (I will never look at Mickey the same again!) His feet were covered in poop! It was insane! There was no way I could clean him up in the car, so I drove him home and showered him and his Crocs off! I won't get into the graphics of just how hard it was to get Charlie's particular brand of poop off of him. I'll just leave that to your imagination.

What a nightmare! So we're back to square one with the pooping! And I thought sifting through a little pile of poop in a diaper was my grossest job yet! Leave it to our kids to make liars out of us! Stay tuned!!

PS- For those of you with girls, potty trained or not, thank your husbands for his X chromosome sneaking through before those obstinate little Y's.

Charlie's 1st day of school

Ok, so it was only preschool, but it was the longest he's been out of my care for his entire 3 1/2 year life. I couldn't believe that he was actually doing something that I didn't know about for 2 1/2 hours. It was very strange.

Luckily, Joe was off work, so he came to drop him off. Prior to leaving, Joe had a conversation with him about how to be a good student (see the video, it's cute.) Daddy asked him: "you are going to try to be a good..." and Charlie said "Pirate." At the end, Joe asks Charlie if he has his handsome with him and Charlie pats his head and says "Yup." We've been talking to him for days about being a good friend and student. He should be a good friend to get a friend and he should not talk when the teacher is talking (and please, please don't poop at school!! They don't know he's not potty trained!!)

I'm glad Joe was there because I would've been a little overwhelmed trying to get both boys out of the house, especially when Charlie spilled my glass of cranberry juice all over the cream living room carpet 15 minutes before we were supposed to leave! It was also nice having him to make fun of me for being sentimental about Charlie leaving my little nest... and to be photographer for me! Charlie, of course just like his Daddy, didn't want to pose for pictures long because he said he was going to be late!

When he got in there he ran right over to the doll house and started playing with another boy and a girl. They were both painfully shy. Charlie asked me to join them and I said "Charlie you have to play with your new friends now." And I thought I would be the liason to the friendship, so I asked the kids their names. They both looked at me with doe-eyed stares and didn't say a word. I said "Charlie, they don't seem to want to talk." He said "Don't worry, Mommy, I'll get them to talk." Then this little girl came up to me bawling and whimpering "Mommy." I didn't know what to do, so I told Charlie to be a friend to the sad kids. He said "ok Mommy." He turned and walked off and didn't look back. And so it goes. Our little boy is all grown up. He's been waiting for this day since he first learned to talk. His audience has been waiting. His monologue is prepared. This was his day to shine!

We picked him up promptly at 11:30. Joe was going to get him after he ran to the library, but of course I didn't trust him to do it right (ha ha), so I walked the 7 blocks from my parents' house with Finny in my arms. When I got there, Joe had already picked him up and I almost missed my ride home! That's what I get for being a control freak!

Here was a rundown of the day according to Charlie:

He was a friend to the sad girl, but he didn't get her name. He's going to ask her on Thursday.

They all went potty at the same time, but he told the teacher he didn't have to go. Hmm... wonder why? Maybe cause he could just go in his pants!!

He didn't eat his snack b/c I packed him too much (what? Who is this child? He eats me out of house and home, but now some apples, a container of trail mix and a drinkable yogurt is too much?)

The teacher said he can't look at his picture at school (I put a picture of the 4 of us in his lunchbox). I don't know if this one is true or not. Maybe she didn't want him getting upset? I don't know.

He got a stamp on his hand for being a "good listener."

That was all he said and he didn't mention it again. And if we asked him again he said "I already told you!" I'll get all the scoop when I go in to volunteer. I signed up for every possible thing. I figure "keep your friends close and your enemies closer." I'm gonna pinpoint the bullies and keep an eye on 'em. And by bullies, I mean the girls! Charlie will do anything to get the ladies to like him. Once they figure it out, he'll be their little pet. Hopefully that won't be until like Junior year! I'll keep you posted!

In other exciting Costal milestones, Finny said "Wa Wa" today. We were passing Wa Wa and Charlie said "Mommy, you're not going to stop at WaWa?" And Finny said "WaWa!" We were so excited, we said, "Finny did you say WaWa?" And he said "YeaYea." It should've been a WaWa commercial. It was so funny!! Ah, I couldn't have been prouder of my two boys today!

Welcome Home Finny James!

Finny woke up this morning with a rash from head to toe!! Yeah! Sounds weird to be so happy about a rash, but that explains the high fevers and the low white blood count so YEAH!!!!

His white blood count is still extremely low, so he is highly susceptible to new infections. But there was nothing further they could do for him at the hospital, so they released us this afternoon and instructed us to keep him (and Charlie for the most part) in isolation at home for a little while. Good thing it's going to be a rainy weekend anyway!!

As I was going to sleep on my pull out chair last night, I was thinking how truly blessed we are to have two healthy boys. All the colds and allergies and GI visits and mounds of poop sifting and physical therapy and neurologist visits don't mean a thing because at the end of the day I get to tuck in two healthy, sweet little boys. I get to go to bed at night and not have to pray for them to get better in the morning. Lots of other mothers have to do that and I don't know how they do it. This experience was enough for me to scare the pants off me! God gave us a get out of jail free pass today and boy are we thankful!

Speaking of God, every night when we pray with Charlie he usually says something like, "And God, thank you for not letting Finny fall down today" and tonight he said "thank you for watching Finny so he doesn't put anything in his mouth. And thanks for bringing Finny home." He is just too sweet. He was so happy to be home today. He said "I can't tell you how glad I am to be home." He sounds like his mother!

So we are home and I am on a rampage to disinfect everything the kids could possibly touch! So I'll be busy for a while!! But I wanted to say thanks for the extra prayers! They really helped! And if anyone wants to buy some stock, I think Lysol's is about to go up!!

PS- In typical Shannon fashion... as soon as we walked in the door I took off my shoes, walked into the kitchen and slid across the floor on my ankle on a puddle of Bailey puke. Once again, I landed on my knees with Finny in my arms unharmed. My ankle's a little sore (thanks for asking), but we are both fine. I just scared him a little with all my writhing about.

PSS- Not to be a freak, but if you're coming to my house any time in the future PLEASE take off your shoes at the door and wash your hands when you come in! And no nose pickers please (ha ha, made ya laugh). If this thing has taught me anything it's we have to practice better hygiene everywhere we go, not just at my house! Everybody always says "Oh with the second kid you won't even wash off the binkie when it falls on the floor." But that's just dumb. And it's asking for trouble. Had we not gone to the hospital we never would've known how "at risk" Finny is right now and he could've caught something even worse! Not to ramble, but FYI expect me to be a germ freak from now on!! You know you love me!! XOXO Germgirl

Greetings from [the] SHORE Memorial

Hello to all from room 318 in the lovely Shore Memorial Hospital. Our little Finny has been fighting a nasty virus for about 5 days and on Sunday his fever spiked and had us really worried. Our pediatrician saw him on Monday and he just wasn't himself, so by dinner time when he hadn't said "Gug" once all day, we took him to the ER. They gave him a bag of IV to get his fluids up and ran some blood work. The doctors didn't like his white blood count or his hemoglobin, so they admitted him overnight.

Boy what a difference from the ER to the Pediatric wing! It's like the Taj Mahal up here! We have our own nurse, there's a playroom, there's cookies and juice! Oh, and there's some stuff for the kiddies too! I slept about 2 hours last night on the luxurious pull-out chair (now I know how Joe felt in the maternity ward!) Joe came down first thing with Charlie because he just had to see this place! The halls are painted like the Boardwalk... there's Johnson's Popcorn, Mack and Manco's, Kohr Brothers and everything! There's even a light house and fish tanks! He didn't care about all that, he just wanted to play in the play room! Before long, he was ordering the nurses around to play their parts in "Cars."

They repeated Finny's blood work this afternoon, but the "nutrafills" (the white blood cells that fight off infection) are still low, so they are keeping him again tonight. I don't really mind b/c it's like a little vacation in here! He is looking a little better and has been chugging the Pedialyte like his Mommy used to do Keg stands!

The nurses put a little newborn diaper over his IV catheter so he won't monkey with it and it looks like he's wearing a little boxing glove! Overall, he's been a little angel. He screams when the stick him with needles and whatnot, but for the most part he is calm as can be. Mom Mom got him a stuffed "gug" and he is using that as a pillow.

I will post again when we are released. Don't worry about him. He's healthy and happy. The doctors are just being precautious. I am certain we will be out of here tomorrow and it will be a nice little story to tell him when he's older how he stayed over in the pediatric ward (and believe me, I have the pictures to prove it!)

Charlie had his "meet and greet" his preschool teachers tonight. Joe took him. His friend Caeli was there (she's in the 4 year old class... an older woman... just like his father!), and he had fun "listening to the teachers." I just wanted Joe to scope out the ruffians, so we could make sure Charlie avoids them, but Joe said that Charlie is bigger than every single kid in that class by a mile, so nobody's gonna mess with him. Although he is a sucker for the ladies, so we'll see who does the bullying!! He starts on September 30 and he's not potty trained whatsoever! It should be fun!!

My little dancing craic baby

We went to the Irish Festival in Wildwood today. Charlie loves live music no matter what it is, and Finny seems to be getting on the bandwagon too. Check out this hysterical video of the boys listening to "No Neigh Never." It's not that long... watch it until the end so you can see Finny's hand motions. Ya think Mommy waves "no no no" to him too much?

The picture is of the boys watching Joe and I play pool. Charlie wanted his turn too! We were at a Mexican restaurant (we had to balance out the Irish evening with a little Spanish heritage too), and Charlie asked me if I was drinking a "Dye of Coke" aka a Diet Coke! It's so funny what he hears!!

If the video doesn't appear below, click on this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5z0LH3tdFdY

My nose is getting big like a shark!

Well, there is never a dull moment in Casa Costal! We had a rough night last night... Charlie woke up yelling / crying around 10pm, and when I went in there to see what was the matter he said "my nothe ith getting big like a thark." In Charlie-world, that means he's getting a stuffed up nose. So we tried to get him to go back to sleep, but it was a rough night. I think all told we both got about 3 hours each.

This morning, he did in fact have a shark nose. I gave him some Benadryl. We're gonna wait this one out.

Then poor Joe had "Back to school night" tonight, so it's another late night for him. We decided to meet him at the mall so the kids could see him for a little bit. As we sat at the food court, I realized that Finny had pooped up his back. Super. I ran to Children's Place to get him a new shirt and after Joe left I went to the bathroom to begin cleanup detail. Picture me standing in this gross, disgusting mall bathroom trying to get a POOP FILLED onsie over Finny's head. It was a disaster. I finally had to sit this naked, poopy child on the counter on top of the Children's Place bag to hose him off. While I'm doing this, I hear the splat of liquid hit the floor. I look over and there's Charlie standing over top his throw up. I couldn't believe it. I had to ask another mother in the bathroom if he in fact did throw up. She looked at me incredulously and said "Yes, maam, he did." Ugh. She either felt really bad for me or thought I had brought the E-bola virus right there to the Hamilton Mall! The worst part, though, was that poor little Charlie thought I was mad at him for throwing up. He said "Mommy, you're not mad at me, right? It was an accident." He is just the sweetest child. And of course I told him "No."

Just another day in paradise over here at Casa Costal!