The First Day of March

It's March 1st and that means. . .

Yep, the Leprechaun is awake!  Lucky me. . .


Note:  If you have no idea the background of "Leprechaun," I suggest you do some blog archive digging or label clicking to get the full meaning here or just click here.

Also, notice how in the video that as I move away, Jackson keeps moving closer. . .

Someone to Watch Over Me

Yes, he's baaa-aack. Jackson woke up this morning and announced, "Mom, it's March One. I can have the leprechaun after school."

Indeed, he was revived after lunch. He followed Jackson everywhere; watched Sesame Street and Clifford with him; and even watched him play outside. I walked into the kitchen to this sight:


I still chuckle when I look at it.

Later on, when I went outside with Jackson, I sat on the steps right outside the sliding glass door. Within a minute Jackson said to me, "Mom, I can't see Leprechaun."

Yep, I can see who's most important this month.

Leprechaun Countdown

In honor of Jackson's "Leprechaun Countdown," I've created a new blog header. Yes, he started the countdown sometime last week. On March 1, "Leprechaun" comes out of hibernation. Wish me luck (that I will survive another season of "Come On, Eileen)!

The Cute Halloween Leprechaun

In the beginning, I was really missing our former neighborhood's trunk or treat. We, meaning Matt, really got into it all. The first year, we had a giant cardboard Spongebob. As the kids reached through his mouth to grab candy, Spongebob laughed. The second year, Matt went "radioactive." He was dressed in a "clean" suit and used tongs to get the candy (warheads) out of the bucket to give to the kids. Last year, Matt did a Price is Right theme with his Plinko board. The kids had to play Plinko to win their candy. (Every kid was a winner, don't worry.)

Our neighborhood does not do a trunk or treat or a Halloween party for our church ward. Sad. I was really lamenting it all, and we even considered driving back to our old neighborhood for their trunk or treat. However, I'm glad we stayed here in our neighborhood for a few reasons.

One: I had forgotten how exciting it is for kids to go door to door trick or treating until I watched Jackson.

Two: I think I'd really like to be creative again, next year, and do a themed "house" with candy that goes along with it. It could be really fun. Besides, we might end up being the "cool" house.

Three: I really got to meet some neighbors, and where we live IS really safe for trick or treaters. Growing up, we were able to just go out and not worry about all of the scary stuff. Where we live now, we can do the same thing. Don't worry, I wouldn't ever send my 5 year old off alone, but it really is safe to just go around town here. It's nice.

Anyway, enough of my chatter: here's what was the most exciting part of it all! Introducing . . .

Jackson the Leprechaun

For those of you who forgot, or don't know, the inspiration for Jackson's costume:


Attention to detail was necessary, except the beard -- although he was given the opportunity to wear one, which he turned down. (If you think I went to too much trouble, then you can ask Jackson about it .) Yes, if you pushed the button, Jackson would sing, or at least he'd hum, "C'mon Eileen" for you.

The full shot. Yes, Mommy made the costume, except for the cane. Matt whittled that from one of our lilac trees. The hat was originally black, but I covered it in the extra fabric.
One more picture for good measure.
At the beginning of the night, his pot of gold was empty, but by the end, it was overflowing with the "gold" only for which Halloween leprechauns are excited!

March Madness

March has just begun, and well, it started with a bang -- literally!

1) My elliptical machine died. Very unrepairable, too. I haven't been able to bear going into the back room for more than a minute or two at a time because it's still stashed away there until we can haul it off. As you can guess, Jackson will miss it, too. We bought it a year ago from K-Mart. So, it was very cheap, and cheaply made, obviously. It was so nice to have one in the house so I could exercise at a good time for me during the day. I was doing so well, too: two months of great exercise and really losing weight. Now it's time to really get motivated and start rising early and walking/running. (Sniff, sniff.)

2) Jackson came down with a high fever last night. I'm sure it's a minor case of the flu. Luckily, he hasn't had any vomitting or other such yuckies. Let's just hope none of us get it.

3) Did I mention that it's March? Yes, if you remember, that means it's time for Leprechaun Revival.
Thank goodness St. Patty's day is on the 17th, and I only have a couple of weeks to endure "Come on, Eileen."

4) Still waiting for the hospital to call about Jackson's EUA for his eyes. I called on Friday, left a message, and the guy called back but didn't leave a message. Very helpful on my nerves.

Let's hope that March only gets better from here on out.

Leprechaun

You know those toys that you find in the store that either sings and dances to an annoying holiday song or giggles uncontrollably and says something goofy at the end? They are usually something you give when you don't know somebody well enough to get that person a gift they'll really like. You find them on end-caps on the aisles, and to annoy the entire store and their employees, you push the button on every single one so they are singing at the same time (Matt does anyway). The first one we had was one of those giggle and shake smiley face dolls. It was my grandmother's, and after she passed away, my mom gave it to Jackson. Yesterday we inherited yet another one of those toys.

Matt's sister and brother-in-law are moving to Cambridge, England for three years, and they've had to really clear out their house. As they came to this item, they thought of us. Why? Jackson plays with it the entire time they babysit him. No joke, he listens to it over and over and over and over until all you can sing is, "Come on, Eileen." We thought, "How cute (although annoying), he'll have something to remember his aunt and uncle!" Here is the culprit:

Yes, a St. Patrick's Day Leprechaun. Matt's sister's mother-in-law bought it for them for St. Patty's. Of course the tag says it is an "Irish Jig Leprechaun." Obviously, I'm not very cultured because I didn't know that "Come on, Eileen" is an Irish jig. Funny thing is that today I was sitting on the couch with Jackson and realized that I had no clue what it was singing after the first "Come on, Eileen." Matt looked up the lyrics on the internet, and as I read through them a flurry of thoughts ran through my head:
1. I'm letting my kid listen to this?
2. I wish I hadn't looked up the words.
3. Didn't Cristin do a post on this song?
4. Am I a bad mom because I'm going to let Jackson continue to listen and just not sing the song?

These are the lyrics the doll sings:

Come On Eileen.
Toora, loora, toora loorye aye.
we can sing just like our fathers.

Come On Eileen,
oh I swear (well he means) at this moment.
You mean ev'rything.
you in that dress,
my thoughts I confess,
verge on the dirty.

Ah, Come On Eileen.

If you want to watch the video -- that seems to have NOTHING to do with the lyrics -- you can find the video on You-Tube or go to Cristin's site (for those who have it) and watch it. She did, in fact, do a post similar about not knowing the lyrics. Whoever would have thought that this little innocent toy was not so innocent? I'm not sure my sister-in-law would have given it to Jackson knowing what it said. Even the beginning of the song that resembles an Irish jig is actually the intro music to "Come on, Eileen." Perhaps one day we won't be able to find that poor, corrupted leprechaun, and Jackson will just have to forget we had it. Until I break down, it's still fun to watch Jackson with it and even try to feed it his lunch.