Watching basketball

Why am I moved to tears watching my boys play basketball? It is somewhat embarrassing. It is just that they are not the best players on the team. They just are not. They have other things, math, piano, singing, writing, that come more naturally to them, but since myself and their father think that it is important that they be well-rounded, and since myself and their father lived by sports our whole lives we introduced our kids to sports full-on. And let me say this; When my kids play to their fullest potential, and when my kids make a difference on the court or field...I AM HAPPY. and I'm not afraid to admit that. I am sorry but this whole. "we're proud of you because you played" crap, is just that, crap. Lets try our best for goodness sakes, lets run our hearts out...why? because we CAN! And working toward excellence is fun. That's all I have to say.

My Birthday

Dunkin Donuts for breakfast, lunch with my little boys, bowling with the fam, and meeting up with friends. A very fun day. I received this poem from Scotty: Mom, It's your birthday, We all love you a ton. And because it's your birthday, We'll have a ton of fun. Maybe chillaxing by the fire, Or having a tournament of pool. It doesn't matter what we do, because you're very cool. So, Mom, Happy Birthday. We think you're very neat. And, as one last compliment, You play piano to the beat. Nice. Also don't want to forget: -Charlie eating his frozen yogurt with 2 big spoons at once. -Jack telling me, after watching a friend who is a boy dance in a competition, that he would like to dance...I'm thinking Ball Room Dancing...not sure that's what he is thinking. -Elaina has called me "Birthday Girl" instead of Mom, all day today. -Ben walked into the house singing "Girl you're amazing, just the way you are" then he walks over to me, hugs me and says, "cause mom, you're amazing, just the way you are." *melting*

Running with Honey

I hear commotion. The kids, my husband...there is chasing, squealing, laughter. Then someone whizzes by me and my husband and my kids all say, "Why didn't you grab him? Didn't you see what he has?!" No. I had not seen it. I was doing paperwork on the sofa (the mounds of paperwork that have piled up on my desk for the last week that I have been dreading). So I look up when I hear feet coming my way and there is Charlie. Naked on top, boxers on bottom. He is laughing heartily and squealing, "Hide me! Hide me!" and trying to sneak next to me on the sofa and squash himself down beside me and he is holding an open bottle of honey. Honey is so difficult to clean up. Its just so sticky! But I started cracking up because I just thought it was hilarious that my 2 yr old knew that it was naughty, ornery and hilarious to run from everyone and try to hide with the bottle of honey. He was laughing SO hard. So, I hid him of course, or at least did the best I could, since he was cracking himself up very loudly. But I was so happy. Why was I so happy? What about my son hiding behind me with a bottle of honey was so wonderful? Well, yesterday when I reprimanded this same 2 yr old for being naughty and hitting me with a toy, he started crying for his babysitter and said she was nice, and said that she would not be mean to him. This broke my heart. (even though he had smacked me with a toy - I know it is warped) I always have to be the bad guy though. I have to be the one to say, "bed time. share. time to come inside. wash up for dinner. quiet down...." And I figured that this is just how my kids thought of me - as the not fun one. But tonight my 2 yr old trusted that I would hide him! While he had a bottle of honey in his hands! What faith he had that I would be on his side in his little sneaky game! What trust he had that I would endure his charade! Yea! I am not just the voice of reason and discipline! I am also seen by my 2 yr old as fun, and sly and most importantly, on his side.

Just a few little conversations

1. E(7): "He's upstairs....by the laundry baskets.....laying down on his tummy...and he might be looking for me....so if he is....tell him I'm at school! By mom!" I think she actually thinks Bear (our dog) knows English. 2. m: "Charlie, what are you doing with that granola bar?" c(2): "Ha ha! I'm hiding it!!!" (as he stuffs it into the toy bin) m: "Charlie bring me the granola bar, it is Jack's snack for school, and then you can have your eggs." c(2): "NO! Ha ha!" (but then he goes and gets it laughing like he is hilarious) 3. c: "Mom, come HERE!, come HERE! I need a paper, a little paper." m: "Oh, so you can make Max a card too?" c(2): "Yes! I need a little one." (as he is looking at a huge roll of drawing paper.) m: "ok, How about this piece? Is this ok?" c(2): "Ya! Here we go." (in just the intonation that I use when talking to him) 4. m: "Let me show you what we got Max for his birthday." b(5): "Oh....my....word..." (as he looks at some star wars characters) Also I don't want to forget: -I was working with elaina on her homework last night. We literally worked together for 2 hours straight, after dinner. The focus was for her to do her best work the first time. She had done some writing of her spelling words and it was not her neatest work. I told her she could turn that one in or do a neater one and earn a sticker for her chart. I figured she would say that she would just turn it in as it was, after all she was tired and redoing it would take quite a while for her. She said that she wanted to redo it and proceeds to redo the whole thing in handwriting that I have never ever seen come from her hand before. Very beautiful. On the lines. Nice circles. I started to tear up. If someone had told me before I had kids that a 7 year old's handwriting was going to make me cry, I would not have believed them.

The Chinese Mothering tactics

So I tried out some of my new Chinese Mother parenting tactics. I am reading Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother right now. A Chinese mother writes of raising her children in strict Chinese fashion. I won't go into detail, but after reading a bit of the book I will say that my husband and I have decided to try to adopt a more strict approach to parts of our parenting. Bottom line: if we see that our children seem to have the ability to excel in something - we push it pretty hard, insist on practicing it often and for longer periods of time, and when they perform badly, be honest to them about their performance. We have decided we will try the "high expectations of you" and "less coddling" tactics of the Chinese. Now there are some aspects of the parenting the mother in this book describes that are very against my way of thinking and parenting, but for now we are trying out some stuff that I don't have a big problem with and seeing what happens. Why not? I mean we are always trying to figure out how to get the best behavior, performance, happiness from our children. So, after a recent basketball game in which my son played a particularly stale performance, I told him as much. I said that if he was not going to start playing harder, practicing more and trying harder, I would stop coming to watch. I said it was hard for me to sit on the bench watching him perform below his ability. His next 2 games were his best 2 games ever. I have also began to insist that my older 2 boys practice their music for an hour a day (a fraction of what the Chinese mother insists on). I thought that I would meet much resistance, however, after the first day of practicing for an hour where each of my boys excelled so obviously within that hour that they impressed themselves, I have not had to push at all. I say, "time for your hour" and they go do it. And they are proud of how well they are doing. Their piano lessons go more smoothly - obviously, and they are having more fun with music. This does give them less time to sit in front of the tv after school and sit in front of computer games after school, but because they are having fun with their music pieces, and feeling proud of themselves, they are not resisting. I am soooooo looking forward to their next recital. I think we will see a big jump in their ability from their last performance. The trick of this is going to be keeping us from being too busy to adhere to our new rules and practices. The Chinese only do academics and music. Being a sports fanatic and artist myself, our family has many interests, and narrowing down a couple to concentrate on without burning out on can be tricky I think. Also I do not want to forget: -Charlie wowed us all tonight when he played a computer matching game on my ipad at age 2.5 and was amazingly good at it. If he saw an animal card once, then he remembered where it was the first time he turned over a matching card. He is better at it than I am. He also watched me open up a program, play it, erase it, and open it back up again once - he then repeated it perfectly. I am impressed.

Set backs

And today was setback day. 3 potty Accidents for the trainee. Disaster of a household (that was clean just 48 hours ago) because of the snow day. One of my kids suddenly is forgetting how to read words they just read the other day. My united front with my husband on a parenting issue was second-guessed. I forgot to remind my kids to continue with their hour of daily music practice that has been making all the difference in the world... Things I was once sure of are now a mystery. Things I had decided are now still a question. Things I thought I wanted I now am unsure about.... Setbacks: the bad news - they set you back. The good news - they cannot be permanent...right? I don't want to forget: -I saw a glimpse of what it would be like if we had another baby. My friend was here with her baby today and I got to hold him a lot. My 2 yr old became a little monster. He ran from me with food he had stolen from the fridge laughing because he knew I would not chase him while holding the baby. He walked into the room with a knife that had a huge chunk of cheese stuck onto the end of it and he was eating it like you would a popsicle. 3 potty training accidents. He smacked my friend in the face and giggled about it. He was just as naughty as can be.

We Mothers

We mothers only want what's best for our children that is clear We mothers share our stories over coffee as we're in tears We swear we're ready to beat up the bully or take down the bully's parents We swear we cannot understand why teachers don't see what is so apparent We bring their lunch up to school, then question if we should have We worry we're not teaching the lessons the books say we could have We mothers think all day about how to get our kids to learn We mothers risk upsetting their teachers by talking out of turn We worry we aren't doing enough, we worry we're doing too much We worry that we did too much laundry, instead of playing blocks and such We swear tomorrow we'll pull out the puzzles and then we play all day We then begin to worry no one has clean clothing put away We mothers never stop thinking of the future for our sons We mothers play out in our heads what we're afraid they will never have done We freak about our daughters and keeping them safe from harm We freak about other mothers who don't seem to heed our alarm We mothers only want what is best for our children that is clear Thank God we have each other, no one but other mothers could understand our fears. Tonight I thank God for all of my wonderful mother friends - you all know who you are. Charlie just crawled into bed with me and said, "I'm starving outside." Outside? I offered him a cracker from my nightstand, and that seemed to do the trick. Wonder what he was dreaming..?

Decoration take-down day

Well, I finally did it - I pulled out all the tubs and started taking down the Christmas decorations. And amazingly, I finished taking them down. Well, the inside ones anyway. Outside will come later this week. So to cheer up myself, I mean my KIDS, when I was finished taking down the Christmas decor, and my house looked so sullen and bare, I got out every pink, red and purple piece of paper and decorative item - puff balls, ribbon, stickers, markers, flowers, feather boas, and more! - and I laid it all out on the dining table. I put in "A Charlie Brown Valentine" DVD, made red jello, and began the fun of getting ready for Valentine's Day! The kids were so cute making their Valentine hearts to hang everywhere. They were so proud of their creations, and it really did help us all stay cheery! Charlie was quite confused when he saw me boxing up the Christmas decor. He would look at the see-through tub and gasp and say,"Hey! Why that Christmas in there?!" I had to explain that it was time to take down the Christmas decor, but it was nice to be able to say, "so we can put up all the hearts!" He was really cute about it and was very seriously into his Valentine designing...think, lots of glue and folding. Ben and Elaina randomly came up to me with odd shapes cut out of construction paper saying, "Isn't this a good heart!" Of course we hung them...they are probably more the shape of an actual physical heart muscle...so really, they are just super smart I think. Scotty and Jack, who I tore away from movies and video games for our night of Valentine preparation were really fun and thanked me profusely for a fun night - who knew? This sort of surprised me but it should not have. Kids may act like they would rather do something else sometimes, but generally, deep down they are glad to get some downtime with the family. My neighbors keep a "family home evening" one night a week. They do something at home all together. I bet their 4 kids ranging from 4 to 17 will remember this forever and look back on these evenings with fondness. And I also bet this helps to keep them close. We do not have a specific night set aside as they do, we have a couple nights that find us all home together right now. But as the kids get older and have even more commitments and are driving themselves to those places and have more freedoms, I bet you will find me instilling a designated Home evening for our family. After all, we have fun together, and I need helpers to make all these decorations for the holidays! St. Patrick's Day will follow Valentine's!

The Angels are Coming!

So I am lying down with Charlie to get him to fall asleep. We say prayers and cover up. He snuggles right up close to me and looks me straight in the eyes in the darkness and says in a creepy whispery voice, "Mom, the angels are coming." AHHHHHH creepy scary!!! I go, "What do they look like?" terrified to hear the answer. He says, "Scary. Dark eyes. They can fly!" And he is looking toward the ceiling as if he can see something. Freak me out! I start to realize that I had just prayed out loud for him the "Angels of God..." prayer, so perhaps I got him thinking, but I think tomorrow night we will safely pray the Hail Mary. Also tonight Elaina (7) had a big meltdown revolving around how much she misses Tavy, my inlaws dog that passed away a while back. We are talking lots of tears and bawling, inconsolable sobs with intermittent "I MISS TAVY!" She is a definite animal lover, and dog lover most of all, but I did not realize she would be this emotional about this subject. I held her, and told her that the dog was in dog heaven with all the other dogs that had died, and that they were all happy playing together. I brought our dog in the room for her to snuggle. I asked her what I could do to make her feel better. She said "nothing" between sobs. So, I found us a Strawberry Shortcake movie to watch and that seemed to do the trick eventually, by getting her mind off of it all. I think she was over-tired and emotional. However I know one thing: our dog needs to live a long life, because I don't think a Strawberry Shortcake video will do the trick next time. I'm about ready to give my Charlie some coffee to get things moving along on the toilet. Toilet training only goes along as smooth and regularly as their bowels do!

This is HUGE!!!!!

Jack gave his first guitar lesson to Ben and Ben's friend today. I was so proud of him! He was so professional! Taught them all the parts of the guitar, how to correctly hold it, and how to play the G chord. Then after the lesson he explained to the mother what her son should practice for next week! So cute! This is great for Jack. He LOVES to teach, and he is good with little kids. I have had a huge revelation....when studying with Jack, he can teach ME instead of me teaching HIM! He will love this and I am absolutely sure that he will retain the information better! I cannot wait to try this out on the next reading comprehension quiz!!! Also I CAN'T forget: Ben: "Did somebody just toot? no wait that was just me." Charlie: "It was just ben." Every time Ben flips over my chips in the game Othello, he very "in your face-ish" says, "THANK YOU!" Does he think I am EVER going to let him win with that attitude?! Potty training days 2 and 3: I cannot comment for fear of jinxing.

Potty Training 101

1. Have plenty of drinks. 2. Have plenty of salty snacks, so the trainee will want to drink the drinks. 3. The drinking will give lots of pottying opportunities. 4. Show no fear. The trainee will sense fear and use it to his advantage, threatening to pee on things, pee on you, poo on the floor, or worse - to never pee or poo again. 5. Expect to spend all day (or 3 days) in the bathroom. 6. Have plenty of movies available in the bathroom. 7. Have a step stool as a foot rest so their legs don't fall asleep on the toilet. 8. Be prepared with rewards. But don't pull out the rewards too quickly this can come back to bite you. Try just happy potty dances and high fives first upon success, you may be surprised at how much the trainee likes this. 9. Have plenty of hand sanitizer nearby, since your trainee is eating and drinking while on the toilet. 10. Be patient. Very patient. All this being said, and having potty-trained 4 children in the past, I still feel absolutely helpless to the power that the trainee holds. Day one of potty training is done. He peed on me while laughing and saying, "I'm doing it again!" and I was proud of him...something here is not quite right.

SNOW DAY!

Wow I love snow days. I really do. I wake up to my phone ringing off the hook full of recorded messages about school closings. I roll over and smile and stretch back into slumber for stolen time in my cozy warm bed as outside the snow continues to fall and add to the blanket of white already laid out and making the world quiet and still. And then I get KICKED in the head! Because my 2 year old somehow is in my bed. I don't recall bringing him in, I just see a child determined to sleep perpendicular in between my husband and I. But I don't care. Because it is a snow day! I may just take a NAP later - why? Because its a snow day! I may just lie around and watch Christmas movies while drinking cocoa and eating cookies, why? Because its a snow day! And so the day begins...chocolate chip pancakes are made and devoured, snow pants, gloves, hats, boots and big coats are found, and soon the quiet blanket of white is broken! Snow balls are thrown, snowmen are attempted, and ice is soon running down the kids sleeves and there are knocks at the door to come in for their cocoa. And that's when my favorite part of a snow day begins. The "defrost." Removing the frozen clothing to leave only the under-layer of warmth, that skinny, stuck-to-you clothing that is still warm against your skin. Fresh socks are put on, a fire is started, and cocoa is drunk as our feet are tucked under us and our cheeks begin to melt...finally. I look around the room to see pink cheeks surrounding me, and there is a nice lull that seeps into the rest of the day. The beautiful Snow Day.

Surprise Karaoke

Who knew how much fun it would be to study over Jack's guitar music book?! It came with a cd full of fabulous popular classic rock songs. We put the cd in and myself, Jack and Scotty all began singing along having our own little fun karaoke session of every song in the book. So fun, and funny, as Jack was using his Elvis voice periodically, and Scotty was making fun of himself for not being the most on key singer. Love when something simple and fun like that happens between me and my big boys, as their heads are usually stuck staring at some electronic device or another. When Jack learns these songs on his guitar, we are REALLY going to be having some fun! I see a band forming.....

The Love Pat

A few times lately I've given Charlie what I would call a love pat on his bottom. Maybe I'll pick him up and gently swat him as I give him a little kiss or pretend to eat him. Recently he said, "HEY!" After I did it and I think he thought I was upset at him and spanking him out of anger or something. So I said, "honey, that was just a little love pat!" Tonight we were lying on my bed watching a video and I was doing Elaina's toenails. Charlie started to get rambunctious on my bed and I kept telling him to settle down. Eventually he kicks me in the backside with his foot. I say, "hey, that's not very nice! Don't you do that, no kicking!" And he says, "That was a love pat." Stinker.

The Monkey Suit, The Clementines, and The Nose-blow

Firstly, the monkey suit: Charlie loves his monkey costume from Halloween this past year. He comes up to me often with it in hand and says, "Mom, I wear my monkey soup?" OF COURSE! I mean first of all why would I deny him when he says "monkey-soup" so sweetly? Secondly, how could I pass by the idea of seeing my 2 yr old run around in a furry, cozy, soft monkey costume all day? So, he dresses like a monkey pretty often. The Clementines: Are clementines toxic if eaten in extreme abundance? Sheesh I sure hope not. Right after telling a story of Elaina eating an entire bag of clementines the day before, my daughter proceeds to ask for a clementine at my brother's house. I say she can have one, but jokingly tell her not to eat all of Aunt Kim's clementines. I look over at the fruit bowl about 15 minutes later and of the 7 clementines that were there, there are NONE! I am going to need to start rationing out the clementines I guess. I mean while it is great vitamin c I am sure...too much of anything is a bad thing, right? The Nose-blow: So we are at church, which is where many of my blog entries are inspired, and I notice Ben picking his nose. I non-chalantly get a wetwipe from my purse (no kleenex) and motion for him to move closer to me. I go to wipe the booger I can see and to my surprise he blows, which I was not ready for, so spray flies a bit and I try to regroup and get a better grip on his nose, then he just waits there not blowing so I go to wipe again, and that is when he starts to blow again! Boogers and spray flying again! so I am giggling at the stooge act we are creating and trying to have the wipe in place at the same time as he is blowing and we just keep being off and he keeps blowing when I am wiping and I keep holding it up there for a blow while he is just standing there doing nothing. By the end of the charade I have tears in my eyes and am cracking up, and the woman behind me who I expected to be laughing too, just had a really weird look on her face. The best part is that Ben ended up laughing too. I wish I had that on video. We could not do it again if we tried.

The Foot "Assage"

One night a while back, I gave all the kids foot massages and cut their toenails. Lately Charlie has been climbing up on my bed in the evening and pulling his pajama pant legs up and saying, "I need a foot assage." (Foot massage). I HAVE to do it. You cannot say no to that. It is so adorable to hear a 2 year old say the words foot massage, that there is no denying him. When he learns of his power, who knows what he will be saying and what I will be doing for him.

Chores

Why have I not caught onto the needs of my household. It seems I am always surprised on the weekend how much laundry there is, how messy the basement is, how many socks are just ALL OVER the house, how many toys are strewn everywhere, how many groceries I need to get. We have busy weeks of fun things to do, lunch with friends, appointments to be at. But I think I need to begin to schedule in my household chores during the week, because I'm tired of doing them on the weekend. But in a household of 7, it ALL needs to be on the calendar. So, plan for today - schedule in my chores. Yuck.

A few little tidbits

I dropped my son, Scotty, off for school today and as he was walking away holding the page in the book he was reading in one hand, and holding his backpack on his other arm, and as he turned and waved a couple times, I nearly got tears in my eyes. Just for joy. Joy that he is such a neat, genuine kid, and I get to know him. He is just so "Scotty" all the time, never trying to be someone he is not. Jack walked in the door from the library after school today and he hugged me and said, "I am just so happy I can hardly contain it, and I don't really know why. I just feel really happy!" Whatever he ate or drank...we need to buy plenty of it! Elaina had at home OT today. Her cousin Josie was over. Eventually the therapist let Josie come in too. Elaina was THRILLED to share her lesson with her little cuz and she referred to her to her therapist as "such a good girl." And she kept making sure what they were doing wouldn't be too hard for Josie.

New Years Resolutions

We asked the kids what they wanted to do this year to make our family a better family; closer, happier and more healthy and more fun. Everyone wrote down their answers and then we read them. "play more board games together" was very high on the list. Which is great, because I had that same idea, for us to play more games together rather than watching so many movies. We love movies, but I think the games would be better for us as a family. We have a TON of board games. Really fun and creative ones, all those Cranium games, Pictionary, Monopoly, Clue, Chess, Connect Four, Checkers, card games. You name it, we likely own it. So, why haven't we been playing these games regularly? I m beginning to realize that logistics seem to rule the roost in our house. Simple placement of the board games geographically in our home could make the difference. We have them up very high in a closet. No one can really reach them, and when you do try to get one down, many game pieces and such fall right down on your head. I have recently moved some puzzles to a more accessible locale and so I have been seeing kids doing more puzzles. If I put big white clean paper out on the art table and take the basket of crayons out of the art closet and put it in the middle of the table, my kids WILL draw without me even mentioning it. So, my plan has to have a strategy. The games need to be in an accessible, luring location, but not be reachable by the 2 yr old. This may require some moving of books, some relocation of videos and some reorganizing of the downstairs shelving, BUT in the end it will be worth it. After all, if I set up a game, they will come! And if that is all it takes to fullfill the New Years Resolutions, then I can handle that! (project for tomorrow - relocate the games : ) Also I don't want to forget: -took Scotty and Ben and Charlie to the mall today. Ben kept wanting to do this trampoline thing that seemed too scary for him. We talked him out of it by talking him into doing some other fun stuff, but maybe I should have let him try it - you never know how brave they are if you don't let them try I guess. I, personally, was probably the one who really was scared for him. -Ben is starting to try out "being a stinker" a little bit. nothing terrible, just making me say things more than once to him, burping really loudly, being a bit hyper. All normal 5 yr old stuff, but on Ben it is surprising, because he has been so easy for me. Truth is, I kind of like this side of him, it seems that he is becoming a bit more extroverted. -When we were at the zoo yesterday, a squirrel jumped into the prairie dogs home. I said, "Hey look that squirrel is like, "Hey I would like to live here too." and Charlie goes, "Squirrel says, wank you. (thank you)" He is funny.

The Zoo

Why is the zoo so darn fun? Is it because the kids look at the prairie dogs and think, "I'm like a prairie dog, I just sit here looking cute and ignore those calling to me" ? Is it because the kids look at the penguins and think, "I'm just like a penguin, chasing my brothers and sisters with no end in sight, round and round" ? Is it because the kids look at the monkeys and think, "I'm just like a monkey, picking my nose not caring who is watching me" ? Is it because the kids see the birds in the bird house and think, "I'm just like a bird, so much energy, ready and willing to fly, but not aloud to" ? Is it because the kids see the tigers and think, "I'm just like a tiger, waiting to pounce when no one is ready for it" ? Is it because the kids see the snakes and think, "I'm just like a snake, scary looking at times, but not always dangerous" ? Well, it could be because I see my kids in these animals, but more likely it is because I see the big differences: Would an animal ask if he could spend his allowance to get all his siblings a gift from the zoo? Would an animal urgently stop his brother from leaning too far over the railing for fear that he may fall in the prairie dog pit? Would an animal marvel at the sound the birds make and imitate the way they walk? Would an animal thank his mom for a great day at the zoo? Probably not. So today I thank God for a super fun day at the zoo with my little group of humans. They were a lot of fun!

The goings on...

Scotty and Jack really stepped up while I was sick. Very nice the way they helped out and complained less. Elaina saying to me - I love you to the very most. I love you more than cake. Ben saying - Jack hurt my feelings. And then he began to cry. He just wears his little heart on his little sleeve. Jack saying - Mom, I wish I could be sick instead of you. Charlie - telling us he loves us and likes us very randomly out of the blue. Scotty tells me daily how much he loves his Nook he got for Christmas (from Santa). The dopp kits: Today while sort of secretly watching my big boys using their loaded dopp kits they got for Christmas, I heard the following... "How does my hair look" and after I said, "Using both different kinds of deodorant spray may be a little strong scented" Jack said, "But That's what the ladies like!" "What's this stuff?" (referring to the mouth wash I think) "I keep my hair gel in that little upper pocket with the zipper." Scotty combing his hair. Seriously adorable how very serious he was about it. Jack's face as he sprayed his deodorant. His eyes big as saucers and he says, "Ooooo, that's so cold! I LIKE it!" Considering the little tiny scissors. "What do we do with these?" I tell them they can trim nose hairs with them. "Ok, we don't have any of those yet. " The first day Jack used his little grooming kit he came downstairs and asked me, "Notice anything different about me besides my new shirt?" I say, "I don't know..." He splays his fingernails in a dramatic flare and says, "CUT my OWN nails! and put on some smelling good spray, and used hair gel. Also, I thought my sideburns were a little bushy, so I used those tiny scissors to cut them a bit." (I had to nonchalantly fix that one, but was so impressed with his whole hygiene initiative, I didn't want to discourage!) Oh, my babies are growing up...and smelling so grown up too! Today I heard Elaina saying this: "Charlie do you want bear bear to frow up all over the place? You better put your food in the sink or bear is going to get it and get sick." She also came to me with this request: "Mom, I need the potty seat for charlie. I'm going to help him go on it." My plan has been to get this potty training going when the kids go back to school. Maybe she can just potty train him...

Missing Christmas

When I am sick my kids come through. I gotta say, I feel terrible for not being more doting on my kiddos when they all had strep for the past few days. I mean of course I took care of them, and let them lie around and watch movies, but now that I have strep myself, Oh my gosh I should have pampered them to no end! I feel really crappy. Anyway, my kids have been awesome. They bring me drinks, bring me medicine, pat my head as they walk by me as I'm lying on the sofa. They ask me how I'm feeling every time they see me. So sweet. I felt terrible when my daughter said, "Mommy, are you going to be sick forever?" "Of course not, sweetie!" Poor kiddo, I must look really crappy. But it has only been 2 days that I have been sick, so that just shows how time seems to move so much slower for kids. When I was little it seemed like eternities between Christmases. I would hate when Christmas ended, and even more hated taking down the Christmas decorations. Today, as a grown up, the Christmases sure seem to be getting a lot closer together. One Christmas ends and I begin thinking about the next Christmas right away. And when the next Christmas comes I feel like we just had Christmas. So, since I hate for my kids to be sad about Christmas ending, I like to try to give them something fun to look forward to. A couple years in a row when we had a fake Christmas tree we would leave it up and decorate it for Valentines Day. We get a real tree now, so we can't do that. But this year I was thinking about working on some Christmas projects throughout the year to be ready for next year. So, maybe I can have the kids do the same thing, just in case they feel the same way I did when I was a kid - missing Christmas. We are supposed to "keep Christmas the whole year through" so maybe this will remind them to do just that. Now I just have to get creative and think of their projects...