One day I was out to lunch with my two millennial team members and our millennial digital account rep.

Our waiter was also a twenty-something, and not very good at his job. He was awkward and was trying a little hard.

After we had finished our lunches, he blushed his way back to the table. In an effort to bond with us, he started-telling some jokes.

As the waiter was reaching for the leftover dishes, I grabbed a fork and spoken off the plate to make it easier for home to stack the dishes.

“Thank you,” the waiter said to me. And then, in what I refer to as the most critical and awkward moment of grammar school he said to me: “I love how the generation before me has common sense .”

Oh no he didn’t!

But, alas, he did.

“The generation above you also has the common sense to know when someone doesn’t deserve a tip,” I tell him

#andscene

Life, Mornings, Mr. KK, NaBloPoMo, Screen time

Why I’m proud of my excessive “screen time”

November 4, 2019November 4, 2019 littleshoeprincess

‘Screen time’ is a buzzword, most often used by professionals and websites telling people how they are bad parents when their children get too much of it. Little Mister does not do a ton of screen time at home, however I question whether these experts who pooh-pooh ipads for kids have ever tried to get dinner on the table at a reasonable hour, eat a meal at a restaurant while it was still hot, or just wanted 1 hour to get the grocery shopping done without having to answer the question, “Can we get this?” 3,728 times.

Now, adults are being judged on their screen time. It was either with one of the latest iPhones or one of the millions of updates that I started getting these weekly “Screen Time” alerts, where my phone would ~~scold me~~ tell me how much time I spent on my phone in the past week.

(by the way, that “5:41” at the top is AM folks, not PM)

I spend a lot of time on my phone.

I am an early riser. I mean EARLY. (Don’t even get me started on Daylight Savings Time, when for the past 2 days I’ve basically woken up in the middle of the night).

And when I wake up, I need something to do to occupy my mind and time that is not loud or disruptive. Sometimes I read. But most times, I’m on my phone, scrolling, researching, planning.

Sure, I’m catching up on social media and reading articles that Facebook thinks I’ll like, and mentally shopping all of the goodies I see on Insta with the #targetdoesitagain.

But these early morning hours, these are the hours I’m most productive.

Here are some of the things I accomplish while the world still sleeps:

Catch up on all my emails that came in the night before
Check my calendar and mentally plan out the morning, and my day at work
Sign up for exercise classes for the upcoming days/week
Organize my photos and upload them to Shutterfly
During the holidays, get inspiration for gifts and make lists
Shop! I’m Amazon’s best customer before the sun comes up
Peruse family vacation houses
Make a grocery list
Research anything that Mr. KK and I have been taking about in the last few days: recipes for Thanksgiving, activities for the Little Mister, the new brewery opening up
Secretly look up and price out beach vacations
Silently LOL at the funniest things parents tweeted for the week on HuffPo

Of course, when Mr. KK finally wakes up, it’s likely I’ve been on my phone for a few hours by that point, so he barely has an eye open when I start bombarding him with questions, showing him recipes and asking him to look at the 37 links I texted him while he was sleeping.

Hey, if I’m going to be awake, I’m going to be productive.

Boston, getting old, NaBloPoMo, Restaurants

I’m too old to stand in line at a bar.

November 4, 2019 littleshoeprincess

Once a year, my friend J and I arrange a girls’ weekend in Boston where we spend the weekend eating, drinking, catching up and shopping.

The weather Gods were in our favor this year, as we had gorgeous fall weather, low 50’s and sunny – perfect poncho weather.

Lunch was at Coppa Boston, where we sipped wine and enjoyed a gorgeous charcuterie platter of fennel salami, duck prosciutto and spicy soppressata, paired with nutty pecorino, creamy robiola and and sola cheeses; and meatballs and a celery caesar salad that was so crunchy and fresh, I have to try and recreate this dish at home.

When J and I lived in Boston (15 years ago!) we both lived in South Boston (Southie, to those in the know). J lived on the nicely gentrified East Side, right on K Street near the famous L Street Tavern where Matt Damon and the Good Will Hunting gang used to hang out. I lived on the gritty west side off of West 5th Street, next to the park where Matt, Ben and others fought those kids on the basketball court.

Even though we lived on different sides of town, we both left before Southie became the trendy, up-and-coming area teeming with hipsters and millennials that it is today. So in an effort to relive our time living in the greatest city of all time, we decided to go to dinner in our old neighborhood.

“Wait until you see how Southie had changed,” I told her. “You won’t even recognize it.”

As our Uber driver, Wellington – whom we fondly referred to as Beef Wellington – took a left onto Albany Street, we both pressed our noses to the glass. What used to be dilapidated buildings and abandoned doorways, was now trendy gastro pubs, fromageries, and wine shops.

Whitey Bulger’s old haunt Triple O’s Lounge was now a rustic Italian cafe. Hole in the wall pizza joints were now chic taverns. And the old Mexican haunt with tabletops sticky from spilled margaritas was now a loud and hip sushi restaurant – and our destination for dinner.

Maybe it was eating at a restaurant where we the scene matched the food, or the hoards of youth on the sidewalks, but after dinner these two now-suburban moms were not ready to call it a night.

“Let’s go back to Broadway and go for a drink!” we thought who we were. And then we saw the lines at the bars. And then we realized who were weren’t.

We weren’t waiting in a line at a bar. Because we are OLD.

Both bars had lines so long, that it was doubtful that the kids – and they did look like kids – would ever see the inside of the place before dawn. And, not to go all MOM on the young ladies, but it was under 40 degrees, and the girls wore halter tops and mini skirts and no coats!

Don’t get me wrong, I still wait in lines. I’m just selective about the types of lines I’ll wait in.

I’ll wait in line to get into my favorite pizza place.

I’ll wait in line to get the latest beer released at a brewery.

But I won’t wait in line to get into a bar and pay inflated prices for cocktails and scream to be heard.

When we saw those lines, we looked at each other and a look passed between us, and in that brief moment we silently said to each other, “We have pajamas waiting for us in a hotel, with no spouses or kids and an entire bed to ourselves where we can lie down and watch HGTV uninterrupted until we fall asleep. So let’s leave these kids standing in line and high tail it back to our room.”

So we abandoned the line, hopped in an Uber and were in our jammies faster than you could say “millennial”.

To the young ones out there, waiting in lines at bars, enjoy it while you can.

And, for the love of God, WEAR A COAT!

dogs, Kids will be kids, Life, Rocco, Uncategorized

Where do babies (and doggies) come from?

November 2, 2019November 2, 2019 littleshoeprincess

We recently dog-sat my in laws’ doggie, Enzo, for a few weeks. Like Rocco, Enzo is a rescue dog. He came to them earlier this year, was around 2 years old, and is hand’s down the softest dog I have ever felt. Guys, this dog is like CASHMERE.

Enzo and Rocco are both some variation of a dachshund – Rocco is mixed with a Min Pin and/or Chihuahua, and Enzo might very well be 100% dachshund (do doxies have odd 6th toes, because this dog has weird extra toes hanging off his feet).

Enzo and Rocco – the Italian doggie mafia – are still feeling each other out and getting used to each other. They LIKE each other, but most of their time together is spent wrestling, playing tug of war, and then power napping.

One of Rocco’s and Enzo’s favorite past time is doing this:

FYI, that’s my innocent boy, Rocco, on the bottom trying to play with a stuffed rabbit while ENZO, the manipulator, takes advantage of him.

“What are they doing?” Little Mister asked me one time.

Me: “Enzo is giving Rocco a super special doggie hug.” (I know. I’m sorry!)

Little Mister: “Do they do those hugs at night?”

Me: “Sometimes.”

Little Mister: “Do they do them when they are in bed?”

Me: “Umm…sure?”

Little Mister: “Do you and Daddy do those special hugs in bed, too?”

And…scene!

Fast forward to the night we had just picked up Little Mister from school, when he was telling us about the babies and astronauts.

Little Mister: “So there’s this astronaut who goes into outer space, and he saw me as a little baby and grabbed me! And he held onto me while he floated down to earth and then he carried me to the hospital and gave me to you.”

Yes, that’s exactly how it happened.

(Can someone get me a drink?)

Rocco and Enzo really do love each other:

Rocco is on the right, Enzo is on the left.

Most of the time, they fought for my attention…and my office chair.

For 3 weeks I was surrounded by wieners in my house; I was completely out-numbered.

And Enzo – god love him – was attached to me. He followed me to the refrigerator, to the bathroom and to bed. He whimpered when I put a gate up and he couldn’t come down the hall and see me. He spooned me at night in the big bed like we were on our honeymoon. And above all, he gave me those puppy-dog eyes that just melted my heart.

Unrelated – I think – was the night Little Mister asked me at dinner whether or not I was going to the hospital to “buy another baby”.

Flustered, I told him that, no, we weren’t going to buy another baby (has he no idea how much babies costs these days??)

To which he replied, “Ok. Can I have a snack?”

If that’s the worst of it, then I’m totally ready for the next stage of parenthood.

Life, NaBloPoMo

Hello! Let me catch you up!

November 2, 2019 littleshoeprincess

It’s Day 1 of NaBloPoMo – and I’m back blogging after almost a year off since last year’s month-long blogfest.

I always like to start the month off with a little recap of what I’ve been doing for the last year, besides sneaking off to Target and single-handedly keeping Amazon in business.

A year in review.

December

As always, it was a busy holiday season. We decided that we would indeed introduce the Elf on a Shelf into our home (more on that guy in another post). As predicted, I thoroughly enjoyed finding new and interesting places for his shenanigans. I’m looking forward to ~~threatening my child with no presents~~ spreading that holiday magic again this year!

In true Little Mister fashion, he SLEPT IN on Christmas morning! Bright side: it gave Mr. KK and I a chance to make tea and coffee and sit in quiet for a few moments before the craziness began.

We have never been big fans of going out on New Year’s Eve; I think we’ve stayed in the last 10 years. Mr. KK will mix up some adult bevvies, I’ll cook up a tasty meal and we’ll play games and watch my all-time favorite reviews of all the people who died in the last year. Since Little Mister joined us, we’ve had the same plan, except our gourmet dinner includes pigs in a blanket and faux countdown at 9pm. But…we still have fun!

January

I jumped on the Instant Pot bandwagon. Mr. KK bought me one for Christmas (unlike some women I LOVE getting kitchen stuff for Christmas! Bring on the appliances and gadgets!)

I’ve mostly made soups (split pea, chicken, tortilla), artichokes (revolutionary!) and buffalo chicken.

February

We tried swim lessons, again.

And, once again, our child took swim lessons from land:

That was about as close to the pool as he got. Each week he would sit there and watch the class. One week he dared to put his feet in the water (!) and the swim instructor pulled him in the pool. The parents around me started to cheer and clap (as they, too, watched him watch swim lessons for weeks). Little Mister, however, was NOT having it. He started to scream and cry and when she put him back on the tile he looked directly at me and yelled: “I am so ANGRY right now!” Then he stomped off to the women’s locker room, with as much dignity as possible while wearing a rubber tube around his midsection.

Bonus points for him being able to express his feelings?

March

Perhaps the biggest news of the year, was that we added to our family! Meet: Rocco!

Rocco is a shelter dog, and we rescued him when he was just 3 1/2 months old. I was home alone one Friday night, throwing back cabernet and scrolling through Petfinder (like all the cool kids) when I came across his face. I immediately texted the link to Mr. KK who distractedly responded, “He’s cute!” Which I translated into, “YOU MUST GET THIS DOG RIGHT NOW.”

Fast forward two weeks from that fateful night, and I picked up this little 7-pound fur baby. And we haven’t looked back since.

You can follow his antics on Instagram @therealroccomars

April

Milestone birthday for me.

Moving on.

We also discovered the Little Mister’s love of roller coasters! Who would’ve thought this shy child who wouldn’t participate in swim lessons would become a coaster junkie??

I think Mr. KK and I squeezed our adult-sized bodies into this rickety kiddie roller coaster 5 times that night. My back still hasn’t recovered.

May

It was a good year for beer. Lots of new, high-octane hoppy releases from some of our favorite breweries. Now that I’m up in Boston so often, it’s easy for me to pop over to one of our favorite breweries and grab whatever’s new.

This was a Quadruple IPA.

Not double.

Not triple.

QUADRUPLE.

And it was delicious. Smooth, hoppy, no bitter after taste. And not to sound pretentious, but it drank like a double IPA.

Summer

We took our usual family vacation to Maine, where Max fall in love (that’s a post in itself!) There is just something about the southern coast of Maine in the summer. Between the food and beer scene in Portland, and the beaches in Cape Elizabeth, and that laid-back summer state of mind, it must may be the most amazing place on earth.

September

If you know me at all, you know that if it involves a trip to Target, I’m down. And if it doesn’t have anything at all to do with Target, I will force fit that sh*t.

Because LM’s Grandmothers ruined Target for me, I now have to have “the toy talk” before we head to the Happiest Place on Earth. Armed with the understanding that we were only getting a backpack and a lunchbox for school, we strutted around the store show off our Toy Story stuff:

And see that yellow price sticker? That’s CLEARANCE, kids.

BOOM.

October

The Little Mister turned 5! I’m not sure how that’s possible, because it feels like just yesterday we were given the side-eye in a Virginia hotel when we stopped for the night with a 3-day old baby.

If the objective of the day was to keep a big smile on Little Mister’s face, then mission accomplished. We rented a bouncy house, and Little Mister jumped in that thing from the minute it was inflated at 8:45am until they came to take it away at 5:45pm.

I spent a little time jumping in this thing, too. And I’m embarrassed to say that I was WINDED after a minute of jumping.

And that my legs were sore the next day.

****

There you have it – the year in review.

Get ready, folks. In the next 29 days I’ll write about my latest food obsession, college before technology, getting old and being told you’re old, and Little Mister’s thoughts on where babies come from.

Happy reading!

Uncategorized

Happy cancer-versary to me! (Also: last day #NaBloPoMo!)

December 1, 2018 littleshoeprincess

Happy Cancer-verary (1)

I made it – 30 posts in 30 days!

The last day of NaBloPoMo is a sentimental one, as it falls on my cancer-verary. This year marks 14 years of being cancer free. I’ve never been more reminded of my survivor status than in my new job, where I’m marketing to young survivors who want to build a family. My job hits so close to home, it’s pretty awesome.

Next year is the big 15-year cancer-versary. To celebrate that AND my birthday, I’ll be traveling for work and participating in Cancercon. My company will have a booth where young survivors can stop by and chat with us about starting a family as a survivor, what their options are and how the whole process works. But, more than that, I believe I’ll actually be speaking on a panel about my survivorship, and growing my family through surrogacy.

Speaking to a crowd is not new to me, I did it so often in my last job. But speaking about cancer, that IS new to me. It’s not that I don’t like talking about it, I just don’t usually find myself in a situation where cancer is the topic. Also, not many people knew I was a cancer survivor. Not that I was hiding it, but if they didn’t know me when I HAD cancer, it felt like a weird thing to bring up out of the blue.

I spoke about cancer and survivorship one other time, about a year after my diagnosis. My oncologist had asked me to come and speak at a women’s cancer conference at Dana Farber Cancer Institute (where I was treated).

There were about 100 women in attendance. Mr. KK came with me as moral support (he was definitely a minority in that room!). We took a seat at a table where 5 other women – in different stages of cancer and survivorship – were sitting.

One woman struck up a conversation with me. “You’re awfully young to be here,” she told me.

And I was. I was diagnosed at age 30, just 8 months shy of my wedding.

I just smiled at her. I knew I was young. But cancer doesn’t discriminate against age.

“What type of treatment are you going through?” another woman asked me.

“No treatment,” I told her. “I opted for surgery.”

When presented with my choices for treatment, I just wanted the cancer OUT. I chose surgery.

“Well, you’re lucky,” she said, touching her scarved head. Lucky? I’m 30 years old speaking at a cancer conference, I thought.

As if reading my thoughts the woman next to me spoke up. “No, being lucky would mean not even being here in this room.” She gave me a slight nod, survivor to survivor.

That day, I told my story with a shaky voice. It was all still so new at the time, and I’m not sure I had processed it all. Next year, though, I’m ready. To share my story, how surrogacy changed our lives for ever, and reflect on what I would do differently. I’m ready for you, Cancercon!

Well, this is the end of NaBloPoMo. Thank you for reading along. I won’t make empty promises that I’ll continue to post often because, let’s face it, that never happens.

Instead, I’ll leave you with some of my favorite NaBloPoMo posts from past years:

About my neighbor: animal hoarding and duck rape

Why I prefer Target over Walmart

The prologue to my novel that I will be forever “going to start”

Happy reading!

Life, NaBloPoMo

I hate how this world has changed me.

November 30, 2018November 30, 2018 littleshoeprincess

Screen Shot 2018-11-29 at 8.03.05 PM

I should premise this story by saying I’m a paranoid person by nature. When I travel alone I barricade the hotel room door. I triple-check the locks at night. I’m the one who asks, “Did you beep the car?” multiple times.

This morning I made an early morning grocery store run. I pushed my cart into the parking lot and stopped my cart behind my car so that I could load my groceries. There was a car backed into the spot next to me, lights on and running. As I started putting bags into the back of my car, the window of the car rolled down to reveal a woman inside.

“I love your glasses,” she said to me.

“Oh, thank you!” I told her, continuing to load my car. “They’re actually cheater readers because I’m old and I can’t see anymore!” I thought this would be the end of our conversation, but she pressed on.

“Where did you get them?” she asked.

“At The Loft,” I replied, hurrying up a bit.

“Is that in the mall? Where is The Loft?”

At this point, I started to get a little leery. Here’s where my train of thought went: a few months ago, a person was mugged in this very grocery store parking lot around 8am in the morning (it was 7:30am). I had just gotten money back when I paid the cashier. Had someone inside watched me? Who was behind me in line? Was this their getaway car? Is that why it was running? Did a husband and wife team work together? Was it her role to sit in the car and distract someone with small talk while her counterpart surprises them and robs them? Am I total nut job???

See, I told you I was paranoid!

I was trying to be nice, while checking out my surroundings, and getting the hell back in my car.

Also, for the record, my little cheater reader glasses ARE really nice. I do get lots of compliments on them.

“It’s in Milford,” I tell her, slamming my trunk. “In that little strip mall.”

I push my cart into the cart corral and hurry to my door, checking over my shoulder.

“See you later!” I tell her, hopping in my car and hitting the door lock.

Once I was safely inside, that’s when I started to feel badly. She really was just being nice, and here I was paranoid she was part of an elaborate mugging scheme.

The world has changed so much, and it’s disheartening. Ten years ago, I would never have had those crazy thoughts. I would have had a normal conversation with this woman without worrying that someone was watching me. I wouldn’t be cataloging in my mind everyone I saw after checkout who could have seen me get money from the cashier. (The fact that someone was robbed in that very parking lot didn’t help, either.)

When I look at what the world has become, I often wonder how any of us who grew up in the 80s are even alive. We left the house in the morning and came home for dinner. We didn’t have cell phones to check on (or for parents to track us).

It makes me sad for what the world is going to morph into as Little Mister gets older. Will he never feel safe outside? (Or, more likely, will I never feel safe letting him play outside?) When I was in middle school, I was considered a ‘walker’, which basically meant I walked to school. And, I would take the short cut to school, which meant walking through the woods. Can you imagine this happening today? A school saying it was ok for a 12-year-old to walk through the woods alone to school?

I know I will be a paranoid mother – probably more so than I have to be. Will he think I’m crowding him? Probably. Being over protective? Yep. Annoying? I’m sure. But it’s who I am for myself, and who I will undoubtedly be for Little Mister.

Mr. KK, NaBloPoMo

Day 28: What I love about Mr. KK

November 28, 2018November 28, 2018 littleshoeprincess

NaBloPoMo can be a stressful time in the KK household. The added pressure of coming up with new blog posts every day for 30 days – often at night, after we put the Little Mister to bed, when all I want to do is lay in a semi-comatose state on the couch – can wear on you.

What started out as an innocent question has turned into a bit of a joke. Every night I ask Mr. KK, “What should I write my blog post about today?” and every day he replies, “How about how much you love your husband?” He’s (mostly) kidding.

So the joke is on him, today. I’m taking him up on his blog idea. And I’m writing an entire post about some of the things I love most about Mr. KK:

He’s an amazing father to our Little Mister. Even when LM was going through his ‘mommy phase’, and he didn’t so much as want to give Mr. KK the time of day, Mr. KK was patient (for the most part!), finding special times for just the two of them to hang out (and give Mom a bit of a break). Now they’re best buds.
He’s a perfectionist. I make fun of him for this, how we can’t hang something on the wall without using 47 tools and it taking 3 hours. But his attention to detail and desire to do things the right way, say a lot about who he is as a person, his integrity, and how he approaches his job and his life in general.
He’s a good sport when I make fun of him for “blowing leaves”. We have a term in our house: blowing leaves. I actually posted about it a few years ago. Blowing leaves is described as this: starting a task that bears no relevance whatsoever on the situation at hand, and having said task take up WAY too much time and energy, both of which you do not have. For example, we’re cleaning up the house when we have people coming over, and Mr. KK pulls out 3 months of bills and receipts and starts to organize them. REALLY???
He’s my biggest fan. When I told him I wanted to change careers a few years ago? He 100% supported me. He loves all the meals I cook. He doesn’t question my crazy ideas and decisions. He takes over when I have to travel for work like it’s no big deal. And he knows I don’t mean it when I act a little crazy.
He’s humble. Mr. KK never wants to be the center of attention. Even when he’s the smartest person the in room, knows the right way to do something, or is being told he’s wrong when he’s really right, he keeps quiet. He’ll usually choose the path that makes life easier for others, and not complain. Unlike his lovely wife. 🙂
He’s a good human. He was raised well (hats off to you, mother-in-law KK!) and he genuinely cares about other people’s feelings. I tend to push him to be a little more aggressive when it comes to advocating for himself, but that’s probably why we balance each other out so well.

I’ve probably embarrassed him enough, so I’ll stop now.

But as you can tell, he’s really pretty great.

Christmas, NaBloPoMo, shopping

kk’s favorite things: 2018 edition

November 28, 2018November 28, 2018 littleshoeprincess

Everyone is coming out with their best gifts of the season lists, so here are mine!

Lou & Grey Poncho

Screen Shot 2018-11-06 at 8.58.39 AM

A girl can never have too many ponchos, that’s my motto. And, it’s in my signature color: GRAY.

2. Everlane Commuter Backpack

Screen Shot 2018-11-12 at 10.18.07 PM

Speaking of gray, I love the shade of this backpack, perfect for my trips to Boston. This compact size will make it easy for the train rides, and the outer pockets made it easy to reach water, my phone or kindle.

3. Turquoise utensils from Wayfair Screen Shot 2018-11-18 at 9.04.17 AM

Our kitchen utensils are approaching 14 years old – which is like 150 in human years. This bright turquoise color will complement my orange stove perfectly.

4. Lap Desk Screen Shot 2018-11-24 at 8.28.57 PM

I haven’t had a lap desk since college, when I would write my papers on my Brother word processor on my bed. This lap desk would be perfect for the times I’m writing blog posts on the couch, trying to balance my lap top…like right now.

5. Anthropologie Spreaders

Screen Shot 2018-11-24 at 8.32.35 PM

These are almost too pretty to get dirty! I love the bright colors and patterns. One more reason to entertain.

6. Crate & Barrel Marble Cheese Board Screen Shot 2018-11-25 at 5.44.08 PM

One of the gifts I gave to my mother-in-law recently was a square marble cheese board. Every time I’m at her house and it’s out on the table I’m so jealous – and mad that I didn’t get one for myself.

7. Opalhouse Holiday Wreath from Target

Screen Shot 2018-11-25 at 7.59.40 AM

I have resisted the urge to buy this about 73 times (even today, when it is 30% off!). I just love how fluffy and festive it is, everything Christmas should be.

8. Felt Laptop Sleeve

Screen Shot 2018-11-25 at 8.01.50 AM

Just when you thought I couldn’t add any more gray into my life, there’s this awesome laptop sleeve. My Mac will fit snuggly inside, and this case will fit snuggly inside the commuter backpack above.

9. Scout Duffle Bag

Screen Shot 2018-11-27 at 9.29.43 PM

Oh, how I love me a Scout bag. This duffle is the perfect size for an overnight trip (hint, hint, Mr. KK!), with lots of pockets and a shoulder strap. And a cute little dachshund logo to boot.

10. L.L. Bean Cozy Pajamas Screen Shot 2018-11-26 at 3.01.04 PM

I’m always cold, so these cozy flannel pajamas are perfect for me when the temperature drops below 55 degrees. Bonus: they come in petite sizes!

Hopefully you saw something here that would be perfect for someone on your list! Happy shopping!

Kids will be kids, NaBloPoMo

From the mouth of a 4 year old.

November 27, 2018 littleshoeprincess

Ah, the uncensored, mostly hilarious – yet sometimes mean – mouth of a preschooler.

If you’re looking for honest feedback, find the nearest 4-year-old. They speak their minds, have no filter. They also pick up on things they hear and that you say to them, then turn around and use those same phrases in shockingly proper ways.

Here are some recent gems:

When he sees a toy commercial or a toy in a catalog. “I would like that toy from Santa! Wait, was is that toy? What does it do? Doesn’t matter, I still want it!”

“I’ll take one of these, and one of these, and one of these…”

Little Mister was pretending that me and Mr. KK were babies. He woke us up and told us he needed to go to work. He put on my scarf, kissed us both good-bye and said, “Now don’t do anything I wouldn’t do when I was you!”

I was drying him off after his bath, and he ran to the bathroom before we put pajamas on. When he came back, he informed me, “AND, I didn’t even pee on the floor! Well, except that one drop, but that’s right in front of the toilet, so it’s ok.”

Little Mister brought his stuffed monkey in the car with him on the way to daycare. I let him know that he needed to leave his monkey in the car when he went into school. His response, “Ok, but I don’t want your girlfriends playing with my monkey all day.” Oh boy.

Never a dull moment in this house!

Life of kk

How to lose your tip as a waiter (aka: that time I felt old)