Munchkin (who is hardly a munchkin, I tell ya. The girl is getting huge!) is becoming quite the clapper. Here's the scene at dinner tonight.
We're sitting around the dinner table. I'm feeding munchkin some banana orange medley, while the rest of us eat Thanksgiving/day after Thanksgiving leftovers. (The hubs actually made a different dinner the day after. It was pizza and it was amazing!) Munchkin randomly claps a few times, not always making contact with both hands, but trying enthusiastically. So I clap and say yay. Enter Moose, Monkey and the hubs all clapping excitedly and making happy sounds. Munchkin gets so psyched! She keeps clapping and smiling. Not to mention kicking her pudgy feet and occasionally screaming. It was awesome. At one point though, I had to stop and think. Here we are thinking we're training her to clap. But I bet in her mind, she's thinking, "Everytime I put my hands together like this, I can get them to do it too. I can make them do what I want. Haha!" So, as for who's training who, I'd say it's debatable.
Sunday, November 27
Sunday, November 20
Sick Guy + GI Joe
This morning, Moose wasn't feeling very well. So he ended up staying home from church with the hubs and Munchkin. Monkey and I still went. I had a choir performance to play for and a primary lesson to teach. Anyway, while I was gone, Moose threw up twice. He napped a bit and was pretty lethargic overall. This is a big deal for him. Generally when he's sick, he will always be his chipper happy self. It takes something pretty serious to make him act sick. But he's definitely sick, which means he's staying home tomorrow.
This is the first time we've had anyone throw up since he was about 2 1/2. We all got the stomach flu in succession. He was first, then me, then the hubs. I'll never forget it. Whenever he threw up he would cry and cry. It was the saddest thing you'd ever heard. After we were all better, I would sometimes lay in bed at night and remember when he'd start crying from a vomit attack. It would give me small anxiety attacks, I hated that cry so much. It just broke my heart every time. He's a bit more of a trooper about it. The hubs said the first time he threw up he was pretty shaken. The second (and third, which was this evening) time he was a real trooper about it. He's had nothing but a cracker and some sips of water. I really hope he's feeling better tomorrow. This will be his first genuine sick day staying home from school.
In random-make-you-smile news: Moose watched some episodes of GI Joe this afternoon. I was standing next to the dinner table where the kiddos were. I randomly sang, "GI Joe is there." and they sang in unison, completely unprompted, "GI JOE!" It was too cute.
This is the first time we've had anyone throw up since he was about 2 1/2. We all got the stomach flu in succession. He was first, then me, then the hubs. I'll never forget it. Whenever he threw up he would cry and cry. It was the saddest thing you'd ever heard. After we were all better, I would sometimes lay in bed at night and remember when he'd start crying from a vomit attack. It would give me small anxiety attacks, I hated that cry so much. It just broke my heart every time. He's a bit more of a trooper about it. The hubs said the first time he threw up he was pretty shaken. The second (and third, which was this evening) time he was a real trooper about it. He's had nothing but a cracker and some sips of water. I really hope he's feeling better tomorrow. This will be his first genuine sick day staying home from school.
In random-make-you-smile news: Moose watched some episodes of GI Joe this afternoon. I was standing next to the dinner table where the kiddos were. I randomly sang, "GI Joe is there." and they sang in unison, completely unprompted, "GI JOE!" It was too cute.
Thursday, November 17
Snow Pants
Enter the whining mother of a child in public school in the lovely snowy NorthWest US. Ugh. So it snowed a bit last night which meant that Moose had to wear his snow gear to school today. Apparently unless it's like 0 degrees outside, they still play outside for recess. Joy. This lovely addition adds like 15 minutes to our getting out the door to get him to school. For those of you not familiar with winter gear, please, let me enlighten you.
Starting with Moose. Normal clothes: check. Snow boots. Snow coat. Hat. Gloves. Tennis shoes. Snow Pants. (Obviously these are not the order in which he puts things on.) Although we do add backpack to that list. Apparently it's a lot harder to get on with all that gear on. And to add to that list (We didn't have one this morning, but will be getting one.) a bag to carry home his wet gear every day. (This isn't like a plastic bag. This is like a big Mom-sized beach tote. You know, those big beasty ones.) Okay. One child done.
Next is Monkey. She's requires a touch less gear, although she likes to think that whatever her brother has she needs to have also. It hasn't caused too many problems, although it caused one today. Will elaborate further. She wears her normal clothes. Add snow coat, boots and a hat. Moose is required to dress himself in all his gear to spare his teachers from dressing 26 kids each recess. So he can zip his coat. By some miraculous feat of luck, Monkey also zipped her own coat this morning. (Apparently on Sunday she spent most of the first hour standing in an aisle zipping and unzipping her coat, so the hubs tells me. I was elsewhere at the time.) However, when it was time to pick Moose up from school, the little miss assumes she can now zip her own coat. Sorry to break it to you darling, that totally won't happen again for a few years. So it took an extra 5 minutes for me to get her to let me zip her coat. And yes, I managed it by threatening to leave without her. Which no, I wouldn't do. But she didn't know that.
Last is Munchkin. She's the easiest. We have a dandy snow suit that you zip her into. It's like a big pink, fuzzy, feety jammies with a hood and mittens. I like to call her pinky when she wears it.
So, that's our get out the door routine thanks to Mother Nature. Probably will last til, I don't know, April. If not May. Never know how bad the winter will be.
Oh, and to add to all that fun (remember, today was the first day Moose wore all this stuff) Moose came home with someone else's snow pants. His are blue, with his name on them. These ones are black, with someone else's name on them. Sigh. Oh, and I just got his lunchbox back from a 2 day vacation in the 4th grade classroom lunch bag tub. Another story, I suppose. Tomorrow we go on the look-out for his snow pants. Oh, the joys of school.
Starting with Moose. Normal clothes: check. Snow boots. Snow coat. Hat. Gloves. Tennis shoes. Snow Pants. (Obviously these are not the order in which he puts things on.) Although we do add backpack to that list. Apparently it's a lot harder to get on with all that gear on. And to add to that list (We didn't have one this morning, but will be getting one.) a bag to carry home his wet gear every day. (This isn't like a plastic bag. This is like a big Mom-sized beach tote. You know, those big beasty ones.) Okay. One child done.
Next is Monkey. She's requires a touch less gear, although she likes to think that whatever her brother has she needs to have also. It hasn't caused too many problems, although it caused one today. Will elaborate further. She wears her normal clothes. Add snow coat, boots and a hat. Moose is required to dress himself in all his gear to spare his teachers from dressing 26 kids each recess. So he can zip his coat. By some miraculous feat of luck, Monkey also zipped her own coat this morning. (Apparently on Sunday she spent most of the first hour standing in an aisle zipping and unzipping her coat, so the hubs tells me. I was elsewhere at the time.) However, when it was time to pick Moose up from school, the little miss assumes she can now zip her own coat. Sorry to break it to you darling, that totally won't happen again for a few years. So it took an extra 5 minutes for me to get her to let me zip her coat. And yes, I managed it by threatening to leave without her. Which no, I wouldn't do. But she didn't know that.
Last is Munchkin. She's the easiest. We have a dandy snow suit that you zip her into. It's like a big pink, fuzzy, feety jammies with a hood and mittens. I like to call her pinky when she wears it.
So, that's our get out the door routine thanks to Mother Nature. Probably will last til, I don't know, April. If not May. Never know how bad the winter will be.
Oh, and to add to all that fun (remember, today was the first day Moose wore all this stuff) Moose came home with someone else's snow pants. His are blue, with his name on them. These ones are black, with someone else's name on them. Sigh. Oh, and I just got his lunchbox back from a 2 day vacation in the 4th grade classroom lunch bag tub. Another story, I suppose. Tomorrow we go on the look-out for his snow pants. Oh, the joys of school.
Thursday, November 10
Crumbs
Monkey has been sick the last 2 days and one of her symptoms today was a runny nose. After her nap, she was sitting at the computer playing a game. I see her picking at her nose and she turns around and says to me, "Mama, my nose has crumbs." :)
Tuesday, November 8
The Lost Sock!
The kids are in bed, we're sitting around talking and our two year old starts crying. So I go into her room and she's just bawling. I'm trying to think what's bothering her. I ask her if she's got boogers. No response. Finally she says, "It's lost. My sock. My foot is cold." (Imagine slight dramatic pauses between each sentence. Perhaps a deep inhale or sniffle too. It was so cute.) It was the saddest, most pitiful thing you've ever heard. It was so cute! So I helped Monkey find her sock and put it back on. She's now happily tucked back into bed. :)
Sunday, November 6
Ponderings of a Public School Parent
Sometimes when I'm making Moose's lunch for the next school day my brain gets a-wandering. These are some of the ponderings I had while making his lunch tonight.
I can't help but wonder what other kids are eating for lunch. Not the lunch they get at school, but the sack lunches they're bringing from home. I'm pretty particular about what I pack in his lunch. Bless his heart, the hubs can't replicate what I do without a written, detailed list. Here's a lay-out of his daily lunch.
Snack Container:
granola bar or a few crackers
fruit: half an apple, handful of grapes, half a peach, etc.
veggie: 3 carrot sticks, one stick of celery with peanut butter and raisins (I'll get him up to 2 celery sticks soon. they're still kinda new)
Main lunch Container:
PB&J, Ham and cheese, or chicken nuggets
Second lunch container:
equivalent fruit and veggies from snack container
2 vitamins
cheese stick or yogurt
small treat: 1 cookie or 2-3 small pieces of candy from around the house
That's about it. More or less. If he gets ham and cheese, I usually don't give him a cheese stick. I usually give him yogurt with chicken nuggets. The kid's only been in school a few months, and it's already a fine-tuned rotation. He already knows Wednesday is chicken nugget day. For a while I rotated his main dish. M and Th were PB&J, W was chicken nuggets, T and F were ham and cheese. He went through a ham and cheese boycott, so I'm slowly working it back in. I really need a few more things in my rotation, but he really doesn't mind. He always eats it all. And he told me a while ago he sometimes shares his candy with his buddy, because he asks. And sometimes his buddy shares things with him.
Okay, so those are my slightly OCD lunch-making habits for my kindergartener. And every so often as I'm making his lunch I can't help but wonder what the other kids are eating. Are they eating healthier stuff. Junk food? Shnazzy lunchables? Just curious, I guess. I know I'm doing right by him and teaching him good habits. Even though he still hates peas and whines everytime we tell him there are onions or peppers in dinner. He's healthy and one day he'll thank us. :)
But what are those other kids eating? *shrug* Who knows. I'm sure many of you are thinking I need better things to think about. I know. It's true. :)
I can't help but wonder what other kids are eating for lunch. Not the lunch they get at school, but the sack lunches they're bringing from home. I'm pretty particular about what I pack in his lunch. Bless his heart, the hubs can't replicate what I do without a written, detailed list. Here's a lay-out of his daily lunch.
Snack Container:
granola bar or a few crackers
fruit: half an apple, handful of grapes, half a peach, etc.
veggie: 3 carrot sticks, one stick of celery with peanut butter and raisins (I'll get him up to 2 celery sticks soon. they're still kinda new)
Main lunch Container:
PB&J, Ham and cheese, or chicken nuggets
Second lunch container:
equivalent fruit and veggies from snack container
2 vitamins
cheese stick or yogurt
small treat: 1 cookie or 2-3 small pieces of candy from around the house
That's about it. More or less. If he gets ham and cheese, I usually don't give him a cheese stick. I usually give him yogurt with chicken nuggets. The kid's only been in school a few months, and it's already a fine-tuned rotation. He already knows Wednesday is chicken nugget day. For a while I rotated his main dish. M and Th were PB&J, W was chicken nuggets, T and F were ham and cheese. He went through a ham and cheese boycott, so I'm slowly working it back in. I really need a few more things in my rotation, but he really doesn't mind. He always eats it all. And he told me a while ago he sometimes shares his candy with his buddy, because he asks. And sometimes his buddy shares things with him.
Okay, so those are my slightly OCD lunch-making habits for my kindergartener. And every so often as I'm making his lunch I can't help but wonder what the other kids are eating. Are they eating healthier stuff. Junk food? Shnazzy lunchables? Just curious, I guess. I know I'm doing right by him and teaching him good habits. Even though he still hates peas and whines everytime we tell him there are onions or peppers in dinner. He's healthy and one day he'll thank us. :)
But what are those other kids eating? *shrug* Who knows. I'm sure many of you are thinking I need better things to think about. I know. It's true. :)
Saturday, November 5
Hurts me more...
There's that old saying "This will hurt me more than it hurts you". So true. Sometimes parenting is a real drag. I've learned multiple times that sometimes what you have to deal with is not worth the lesson you're trying to teach. Or it is worth it, but you still wish you didn't have to do it anyway. Case in point:
This evening I was getting Moose ready for bed. He was in the bathroom and was supposed to be putting toothpaste on his toothbrush so I could brush his teeth. I got a phone call and was talking on the phone, while still gesturing to him to do what I asked him to. He fooled around and all-around ignored me, not putting his toothpaste on. I get my stern face on (while still on the phone) and pointed to his toothbrush. He got totally sassy and was completely ignoring me, laughing, etc. This happened for a minute or two. I was so very frustrated. Finally, I grabbed him and sent him to time-out while I finished my phone call. Okay, reading it like this, his infraction doesn't sound very bad. But I have a hard time articulating sassiness. The boy was ignoring me (not okay in our house) and just being obnoxious. It got me so mad. So I brushed his teeth, denied him his last small drink of water (I know, I'm so mean, right?), made him swish his flouride and sent him to his room to be put to bed by his Papa. When he got in his room, the hubs took away his book. This sent him to tears. Serious tears. The hubs explained that we do not treat Mama that way and so he would not get his book that night. It was awful hearing him cry and whatnot. I really questioned whether or not it was worth it. But in the end, he was being really rude to me and disrespectful, which the hubs does not tolerate when he's home. (It's harder to enforce not being disrespectful or rude to the parent when you're the only one there. I find it's easier for him to discpline for the kids being rude to me and I discipline when they're rude to him. Don't know why, but it works better.) Anyway, long story short, I think it was totally harder for me in that moment to listen to his totally pathetic crying over losing his book than it was for him to lose his book. I think that's also true because I'll remember it much more potently than he will.
Disciplining your children is not for the faint of heart. You give them an inch and they'll take a mile. And yes, they can smell fear.
This evening I was getting Moose ready for bed. He was in the bathroom and was supposed to be putting toothpaste on his toothbrush so I could brush his teeth. I got a phone call and was talking on the phone, while still gesturing to him to do what I asked him to. He fooled around and all-around ignored me, not putting his toothpaste on. I get my stern face on (while still on the phone) and pointed to his toothbrush. He got totally sassy and was completely ignoring me, laughing, etc. This happened for a minute or two. I was so very frustrated. Finally, I grabbed him and sent him to time-out while I finished my phone call. Okay, reading it like this, his infraction doesn't sound very bad. But I have a hard time articulating sassiness. The boy was ignoring me (not okay in our house) and just being obnoxious. It got me so mad. So I brushed his teeth, denied him his last small drink of water (I know, I'm so mean, right?), made him swish his flouride and sent him to his room to be put to bed by his Papa. When he got in his room, the hubs took away his book. This sent him to tears. Serious tears. The hubs explained that we do not treat Mama that way and so he would not get his book that night. It was awful hearing him cry and whatnot. I really questioned whether or not it was worth it. But in the end, he was being really rude to me and disrespectful, which the hubs does not tolerate when he's home. (It's harder to enforce not being disrespectful or rude to the parent when you're the only one there. I find it's easier for him to discpline for the kids being rude to me and I discipline when they're rude to him. Don't know why, but it works better.) Anyway, long story short, I think it was totally harder for me in that moment to listen to his totally pathetic crying over losing his book than it was for him to lose his book. I think that's also true because I'll remember it much more potently than he will.
Disciplining your children is not for the faint of heart. You give them an inch and they'll take a mile. And yes, they can smell fear.
Friday, November 4
Sigh
I couldn't think of a better post title than that. It was a crazy afternoon. I have a kindergartener. More and more I'm realizing that I am learning more having him in kindergarten than I think he is. Today's lesson learned: Teach your boy how to pee in a urinal before he goes to public school. Let's just say this has led to un-necessary stress in my life on more than one occasion. 'Nuff said.
I was actually working out this afternoon during the girl's naps. For the first time, I was actually bothered by an interruption. (Which generally I welcome to get me out of the sweat-fest) The work-out mojo was gone, and the children were awake before the interrruption was taken care of.
Monkey, who is generally potty-trained decided to have another accident today. It was icing on the cake of undesirable occurences today.
I'm off to sing Monkey's "one more song". Then it's parental relax time with popcorn and a movie. Yay for Friday nights.
I was actually working out this afternoon during the girl's naps. For the first time, I was actually bothered by an interruption. (Which generally I welcome to get me out of the sweat-fest) The work-out mojo was gone, and the children were awake before the interrruption was taken care of.
Monkey, who is generally potty-trained decided to have another accident today. It was icing on the cake of undesirable occurences today.
I'm off to sing Monkey's "one more song". Then it's parental relax time with popcorn and a movie. Yay for Friday nights.
Thursday, November 3
Flying Solo
So I flew solo for most of the day today. After work, the hubs had parent teacher conferences, which meant he didn't get home til 9 this evening. In anticipation of days like this, I generally plan on doing nothing. Although I did end up having a very active afternoon before I had to pick Moose up from school at 1:30. (Can I just say I hate early release days? Throws off everything. Naps, lunch, ugh.) Once the girls were asleep for their naps, my day consisted of finding a cheesy fantasy teeny bop tv show in netflix instant watch and attempting to watch it while tending my kids, making dinner, and putting my kids to bed. My philosophy on days like this is that I want to avoid stress, since I won't have the hubs to step in for me if I get stressed out. Although I realized that if I were a single parent I would either get nothing done or be stressed out daily. I blame my desire for laziness on still recovering from my trip home for Grandma's funeral. I had about 3 nights of really awful sleep. Things have been nice since I've been back, but I haven't had any extra sleep. So I figure I'm still behind, right? I'm really looking forward to the weekend. That's when the hubs offers to take the kids in the morning so I can get extra sleep. Lately I've just been trying to get up when they do so we can get more done. But this weekend, I'm totally sleeping in. I'm tired. Blog done. Bed time.
Wednesday, November 2
Still here
So I've decided to keep on blogging about my crazy kids. Sometimes the things they do are just so fun you have to share. Or so annoying I need to vent. And just about anything inbetween. Here's a child update on my kiddos.
Moose: He's almost 5 1/2. He started kindergarten in September. Kinda crazy! But it's been such a good thing. He's learning and making friends. He had his first play date with a school friend yesterday, at their house. He was so excited. The only downer is now he's going to ask to go just about every day. But fortunately it seemed like his friend was just as excited and spazzy as my kid. So mine isn't the only one. :)
Monkey: She is 2 1/2. A bean pole. She's potty-trained. Although I've learned that's a really loose term. Sure, she's wearing undies. (Can I just say I hate the word panties. Don't know why.) But that doesn't mean she's in control all the time. We still have accidents. A few a week. But in general she does great and her accidents are generally only wet ones, nothing smelly. She can officially operate the blu-ray to stream netflix all by herself. She also navigates the computer on her own too. She has her own favorites folder with her approved games in it.
Munchkin: My baby is no longer a tiny baby. She's 7 months old today. She's cutting her 2nd tooth. She's learning to sit. I just came back from a trip back home for my Grandma's funeral. Now that I'm back she's a bit clingy. And although she's waking up later than she did for the hubs (5 am for him, poor guy), she's still waking up too early and it makes her cranky. Speaking of the little beasty, I hear her making sounds over the monitor. 45 minutes is not an acceptable nap. She had better go back to sleep!
So, look forward to more antics from me and my kiddos. :)
Moose: He's almost 5 1/2. He started kindergarten in September. Kinda crazy! But it's been such a good thing. He's learning and making friends. He had his first play date with a school friend yesterday, at their house. He was so excited. The only downer is now he's going to ask to go just about every day. But fortunately it seemed like his friend was just as excited and spazzy as my kid. So mine isn't the only one. :)
Monkey: She is 2 1/2. A bean pole. She's potty-trained. Although I've learned that's a really loose term. Sure, she's wearing undies. (Can I just say I hate the word panties. Don't know why.) But that doesn't mean she's in control all the time. We still have accidents. A few a week. But in general she does great and her accidents are generally only wet ones, nothing smelly. She can officially operate the blu-ray to stream netflix all by herself. She also navigates the computer on her own too. She has her own favorites folder with her approved games in it.
Munchkin: My baby is no longer a tiny baby. She's 7 months old today. She's cutting her 2nd tooth. She's learning to sit. I just came back from a trip back home for my Grandma's funeral. Now that I'm back she's a bit clingy. And although she's waking up later than she did for the hubs (5 am for him, poor guy), she's still waking up too early and it makes her cranky. Speaking of the little beasty, I hear her making sounds over the monitor. 45 minutes is not an acceptable nap. She had better go back to sleep!
So, look forward to more antics from me and my kiddos. :)
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