Kids say the darndest things

Jack while hugging Ben: "Mom, I really love this brother." Then Charlie crawls up on his lap too. "And this brother. And I really love Scotty and you too, Elaina. I love you, Mom, and Dad and I just feel this way about every one in our family. And there is one person who I also feel this way about who is not in our family." Mom: "Sophia?" (His friend/girlfriend since he was 1 yr old) Jack: (just grins and nods) Jack walking in the door holding a bird's nest: "Can I keep it?!" Ben: "Mom, what are we doing that is fun tomorrow?" Mom: "Your cousins are coming over and we are going to the nature museum in the morning." Ben grinning ear to ear: "And that isn't even a long time away, we just go to bed and wake up and it is here!" Mom: "Elaina, want to run to the grocery store with me, we need a few things?" Elaina: "Yea! yes, and can we get my toenails done?!" Mom: "Ben, eat your food please." Ben: "Mom, I don't really want dessert tonight anyway." Mom: "We aren't even having dessert tonight, I just want you to eat your food." Ben: "You know, actually I am pretty tired." Mom: "Ok, go on up to bed." Ben: "Well, you know I am scared up there without Jack, so I am just going to watch him eat and wait." (and the next thing you know he is nibbling his sandwich) Scotty: "I love pepsi!!!! I am all hyped up on Pepsi!" Mom: "This is not making your case for ever having another one." Jack: "Mom, are we going on a trip where we stay overnight somewhere this summer, what is going on this summer?" Mom: "Well, we are going up to the lake in WI and staying at a lake house on the beach for about a week." Jack: "Ya, I mean besides that." Mom: "Well, we just got back from a 10 day trip to Disney, and we went to TX over spring break. I think that is enough vacationing." Jack: "Ya, well I just really wanted to go to Mexico." Mom: "Maybe some other summer. You get to go spend almost a week with Grandma and grandpa and do a camp." Jack with wide eyes: "That's what I meant, something fun like that!" also I don't want to forget: -We went swimming at sis and bro's house tonight. Very fun with all the kiddos. Ben (4) conquered step one related to his fear of "the big pool" by finally, after many minutes/hours of persuasion from me and my husband and my mom, floating around in a little floaty thingy. -played a fun game with adults and kids together tonight - spoons - Scott and Jack loved it and we all had a lot of fun. Must remember to play more games like that with them.

2 and counting

I put him in a romper. Charlie had his 2nd birthday party today and I am squeezing out these last few romper moments. I have been known to say that fancy boy rompers are only ok up to 2 years old. How is it possible that my baby is growing past the romper age??? It sure doesn't seem like it was a whole 2 years ago that I was holding a huge newborn and saying, "I think this could be our last little one." It doesn't seem like 2 years ago that I was waking every 2 hours to feed a crying newborn. The older we get the faster time flies by, and the more we want it to slow down. I recall being a kid waiting for Christmas. It seemed sooooooo far away, no matter what time of year it was. Now, I swear as soon as summer hits, that I feel like Christmas is just around the corner. I recall as a child feeling like summer was a super long time. I would forget teachers' names over a summer, forget some math concepts, forget that feeling of having something on my shoulders all the time. Today as soon as the kids' summer begins, I know it will go quickly, barely allowing us to fit in all the fun activities in our heads. Taking time to stop and think about each day; what we did, what we said, and what we were blessed with, will help me to remember, recall, and rejoice in the moment. So, today I want to remember: -how my 2 yr old looked in his romper - precious, angelic, and also he had a huge marker mark on his thigh which was sort of funny sticking out from under the fancy romper. -how my 2 yr old looked when he changed into a swim diaper to play in the water. Like a little hoosier. -Charlie received a super cape from us for his birthday. He immediately began acting like a super hero, arms up, jumping etc. I believe I will put it on him every day from now on. -I found Charlie at the kitchen table, no one around, using a large cake knife and going at the Elmo cake. -Charlie blew out all his own candles and his cousin's too. -Ben and Charlie have become buddies. They hold hands when we go places, play together, and laugh together a lot. When Charlie walks into a room, or wakes in the morning, or first arrives home, one of his first questions is, "Where's Ben?" While typing this, the song Let Them Be Little, just came on my itunes. The refrain, "Let them Cry, Let them Giggle, Let them Sleep in the Middle, Oh, Let them be Little" is going to be in my head for a while...maybe this is a sign telling me I can let Charlie be little a bit longer...maybe wear a romper for a while longer... Well, romper or not, he's my baby, and I'm going to make sure I spend the summer forgetting how quickly his 3rd birthday will be here, and remembering every little detail of Charlie's toddlerhood.

Family dynamics

Took the kids out to lunch yesterday for the last day of school. We ordered 3 appetizers, and 6 meals, 2 root bear floats, a bunch of sodas, and had very little leftovers. $90 later, I am staring at the empty plates and trying to figure out how our neighboring table managed to purchase a $10 pizza for the whole table of 8 people and a few sodas. Oh, I see, there is not one BOY at their entire table. I have one girl and 4 boys, and someday I will have 4 teenage boys, and we will have to take out another mortgage on our home in order to feed them. Also, I have found, that boys are destroyers. They make messes and break things just for the sake of watching it all happen. Daily, charlie has been breaking through the child locks and dumping the flour and sugar all over the floor. Scotty and Jack used to clear bookshelves just to see the books fall. Jack (9) still hits things with sticks and bats just to hear the sound it makes, and to "see what happens." Ben (4) writes all over stuff. Elaina (6) does none of this stuff. This is not to say she isn't messy. She is, but it is more with a purpose. Her room becomes a disaster because tries on all of her clothes. The toy room will be a mess because she was feeding and changing and tending to all of the "animals at my vet clinic." Also, Elaina is less confrontational. The boys will be going at it fighting or whatever and she is standing back watching. A brother who was not even originally involved in the fight will jump in just because he is compelled to, but not Elaina. She stands back, watches, maybe tells me about it. I used to think I needed the same family dynamic in my household now that I grew up with. I grew up with a bunch of sisters. My brothers also had each other. I worried that Elaina wouldn't "have what I had." Well, that's right, she won't. But she may have some new things of her own. Hopefully she will have a really neat friendship with her mother. She often calls me her sister. She will have 4 brothers to look after her and look out for her and protect her. I bet that she develops some really close friendships with girls in her life. She may grow up very tough, and tolerant and nurturing. And I hope some day she marries someone as caring as her brothers are, someone as protective as her brothers are, someone as fun as her brothers are, and someone who eats the way her brothers do, because she actually LOVES food too! also I don't want to forget: -Tonight when we arrived to pick up the kids from our short weekend away we were greeted with hugs and kisses from every kid, even the older boys. Each of them was a little huggier tonight and cuddlier. I'm glad to know they like us : ) -Elaina started squealing with excitement as Grandma was opening her birthday gift tonight. I love how excited she gets about stuff like that. She makes me laugh. -Charlie was all over helping grandma blow out her candles on her ice cream cake. Too cute. Tomorrow he gets to blow out his own!

Don't Embarrass me!

I ran into a friend of mine after church this morning. She is awesome. Just for fun, as a last day of school trick on her kids she drove them to school in her robe and a towel on her head. I LOVE this. My mom used to drive us to school on Halloween and the last day of school too I think with a gorilla mask on. At that time, I was of course terribly embarrassed. But now that I am a mom, I really see the useful tool this is. There are sooo many things we have to teach our children. How to get along with others, how to share with others, how to study for a test, how to have confidence, how to laugh at themselves and so much more... We also have to teach our kids about dealing with embarrassment. Embarrassment happens. When I was in college I was walking through the computer lab when my boot buckles got hooked together and I went straight down like a tree in the forest. Terribly embarrassing. But you know, I grew up with a dad who used to wear a swim cap in the neighborhood pool and swim around yelling, "I'm Julie Certa's dad!" His sole purpose was to embarrass me. After that, my falling in the computer lab was nothing. We as parents need to be willing to embarrass ourselves to teach our children that getting embarrassed doesn't kill you. They can survive a little embarrassment, and in learning this they will become willing to try new things, and risk embarrassing situations to learn something new, or have a good time, or just let go a little of being made fun of, and be themselves. So, I tease my kids a little. I kiss and hug them in public. I wear around any art or stickers my little kids give me throughout the day, and if this embarrasses my older kids, well, good. I may just get my husband to wear a swim cap around the pool this summer...for the good of the kids ; ) also I don't want to forget: -Charlie keeps saying "knock, knock" we say "who's there" and he just stares at us smiling. Then eventually he says, "knock ,knock" again. We go on like this forever. -My husband and I are celebrating our 12th anniversary tonight with dinner and a night away in a hotel. Grandma and Grandpa have the kids. Kids are THRILLED to be going there. They love this. And I love this. Grandma and Grandpa are going to be very tired when we pick up the kids Saturday evening.

Nap

Rookie mistake. I let the little boys stay awake through nap time because they were having so much fun swimming in the little kiddie pool I put on the back porch. So, of course at 3:30pm they both fell asleep. So, now at 10:30pm the 2 yr old is awake, and I'm guessing we see a very hungry Ben around 1am. The good news? I get to go upstairs and snuggle in my bed with Charlie and watch cartoons. I secretly (well not totally secretly, since my kids know this and use it against me a lot) LOVE cartoons. Something about cartoons brings me back to great lazy Saturday mornings with my siblings lying on shag carpeting in my pjs, zoned out. When Direct tv began offering the Boomerang network, I was ecstatic! All the old cartoons are on there. So, I get to go upstairs, watch old cartoons with my kid and no one has to know that I thoroughly enjoy it. I am going to have to chill out a little on the kids this summer. I've got this idea in my head and I keep mentioning it to my older sons in particular, "Do something constructive, please!" When I was a kid some of my favorite things to do, and most memorable to me were very non-constructive: running in circles around the chair in our basement singing Sesame Street songs, watching my beloved cartoons, burying things in the backyard and digging them up, Frogger, Pacman, playing with Barbies. Really, I think we have a number of things going on in their lives that can be deemed as "constructive." From music lessons to Art lessons to sport camps this summer, I think they will gain as much knowledge and skill as needed. What may even be more needed is some down time. With tomorrow being the last day of school for the year, I am vowing to have a low-stress summer, complete with nonconstructive moments galore! From playing tag to wading in the kiddie pool. From eating Popsicles on the back porch to watching a movie in the middle of the day! For soon enough, the schedules begin again, the assignments are assigned again, and I can just hear myself starting again with, "Do something constructive, please." also I don't want to forget: -Charlie went from the kiddie pool to the sand box, then had a Popsicle and then began playing in the mud. Good times : ) -Ben said, "This is the best day of my whole life!!!!" because we were headed to toys r us to get a little plastic swimming pool.

Kindergarten Program

Today was the last real day of Kindergarten, complete with video slide show and a triad of adorable songs from the class for us parents to smile at and get teary-eyed over. All year we worry about these kids in Kindergarten. We hope they are having a good year. We hope they will like their teacher. We worry that they might be behind. We worry that they might be bored. We try to have play dates so that they have friends in their class. But when it comes down to it, as we witnessed in an adorable and very abundantly full of photos video, these kiddos are just fine. They have gotten to know each other and love each other. As a photo of each child came on the screen the class yelled in unison that child's name. As photos of their teachers came on the screen the kids all screamed their names too. And we parents sit there and grin and shrug at each other because we can't believe how quickly this year has gone by. Our little kindergartners are ready for grade school. I turned around during the video to find a couple good friends whose oldest child is in that Kindergarten class. They were openly bawling. It's touching for us moms, it's hard for us more seasoned parents too. But I think today I was slightly more composed than usual because I have been through this before. Because I know that next year these kids will do even more wonderful things that will enrapture us. Though Kindergarten is over, 1st grade will bring its own delights. And these kids will be ok. I can just barely recall my first son's Kindergarten program, but I know that crying was involved, by me, not him. That same son gave a little speech at a little Tree Keepers program just last year, and somehow it brought me to tears too. There is something about that first child. Perhaps it is just that we don't know what is to come, and so we are sad to see them move on into a place that might not be as comfortable, safe, happy, or familiar. It scares us parents to think that there is something unknown becoming a part of our child's life. But each year I learn the lesson over again. Children are amazingly resilient. Children will surprise you. Children are happy to be moving on. They will so quickly become accustomed to that 1st grade classroom, that first grade teacher, that big kid desk. Within a week of school, there will be an open house and they will be showing you around their new classroom as if they run the place, and we will wonder why we worried. also I don't want to forget: - Scotty explained to me tonight why time travel into the future is theoretically possible. I do not understand what he is talking about, but he makes it seem very believable. - Ben says, "Today is a great day! I get to go to my friend Willy's house, then I get to have breakfast with my friend, Luke, and then I get to go to my friend Sarah's house!" Later when I told him we were also going swimming at our friends' house, he was absolutely beside himself with joy. - Charlie made me chase him around the pool continually tonight. I know that he does this on purpose, knowing I have to chase him because he will drown if he falls in. He puts on this evil little grin, and just starts running from me. - Scotty (11) just came over to me, hugged me and told me goodnight. If he ever stops doing this I will die. I think this is why we cry when our first children come to the end of a phase. Please don't let this be a phase.

Cleaning out the car

While cleaning out the car today I found: 1 piece of chewed gum stuck to the dashboard 3 jackets 3 pair of socks A box of chicken strips One of a set of 3 juggle sticks 3 shrek toys A box of crayons A small jug of curdled milk (thankfully tightly closed) 1 sippy cup 1 boys leather belt 2 pairs of shoes A cereal bowl Half a Luna bar Half a peanut butter sandwich 2 hair bows An Easter hair wreath 2 year books A few other reading books My checkbook A baseball A bath towel 2 wiffel balls A string of pop beads 2 water bottles A lot of trash And my sanity. A cleaner car puts me in a decent mood : ) Someone (an adult) actually tried to sit down in my car wearing white pants once. I practically dove onto the seat sacrificing whatever the heck I was wearing to keep her from doing that. I found a towel in my car that seemed a lot cleaner than the seat and made her sit on that. I tried the "no more eating in the car" once after someone spilled an entire milk drink on the floor costing us a fortune in cleaning costs. That lasted about a day and a half. I must be realistic. We are going to eat in the car pretty darn often. For instance, this morning as we are walking out the door for school, Elaina (6) says, "I didn't have breakfast." So, she had a peanut butter sandwich in the car on the way (well, apparently HALF a peanut butter sandwich). Lightening our schedule a little would be an effective way to cut down the food and "stuff" in the car, but then again, in the grand scheme of things, the messy car has really never hurt anyone, well other than the close call with the lady with the white pants. And she really should have realized what a chance she was taking when she stepped toward the car with all the stickers stuck to the inside of the windows and gum stuck on the dashboard. Also I don't want to forget: -Kids played in sprinkler today. There is really nothing cuter. And nothing brings me back to my childhood more than watching them run through the shooting water, squealing and laughing. Good times! -While getting tired of doing things I was asking him to do, Ben says: "oooo, I'm gonna break my head off!"