Articles Archive for October 2007
Understanding »
i’ve been a little busy, people. we’ve been carving pumpkins. and painting pumpkins - i’d have pictures, but they realized they could peel the paint off before i could snap some photos. the baby is no longer a slug - i can’t just set him somewhere and expect him to stay - so now i’m doing a bunch of chasing down and cleaning up (for instance he knocked my full coffee cup out of my hand the other day!)
i still have no idea what my children are going to be tonight. no idea. except that my girl is going to be a princess (duh!).
and we had our first annual halloween party with the draper’s! it was so good! i forgot to take any pictures, but luckily, maury took plenty so jump over to her site! we drew little paper pumpkins out of a box that had the steps from a pumpkin seed to a jack o’lantern drawn on the back and they all stood up and got themselves in order. we learned that halloween is october 31st and how to say october in spanish. they estimated how many pumpkin seeds were in the jar and then we counted together (kind of!) and my second oldest won a piece of candy for his guess. we learned a pumpkin poem with hand motions. we did a popcorn skit and ate popcorn while watching a halloween show. we made pumpkin pockets, and lollipop ghosts, and spider books. plus, there was a whole lot of running around yelling, jumping, playing, and swinging! and i got to sit and have apple cider with a great friend! how much better could the day have been?
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and as i read back over this what strikes me is just how perfect it all sounds. ahahahaha! and i know how i feel when i read other people’s blogs about all the nifty stuff they’re doing and think - man, what am i doin’ wrong, ’cause my family don’t look like that?! so, keepin’ with my keepin’ it real - i seem to have given the impression of perfection. not everyone participated in any one thing we did at the party aside from the movie. as i mentioned, the painted pumpkins got peeled, the carved pumpkin had many fits and arguments over what the face would look like. my daughter’s been sick so i can’t tell you how many diapers i’ve changed in the last week! (and yes, i dragged (drug?) my daughter to the pumpkin patch with the full expectation that she would puke - amazingly she didn’t). just lettin’ ya know - the last 3 posts that have seemed so from the movies - so aren’t. we just focus on the best parts and shrug off the parts that stink. like bedtime last night. let’s not talk about that.
TheKiddos »
as of last night he’s actually trying to get up on his knees to crawl, although he’s perfected the military crawl so well that i have a hard time catching him when he gets determined to be somewhere. i’m to the new phase of chasing down every lego head and broken crayon that hits the floor (so far, i think i’ve been successful - i’ve found no foreign objects in the diaper region as of yet, although, i’m sure to be surprised soon!). and he pulled the trash can over on himself the other day - must find a new home for it. he also pulled up to his knees on the dishwasher while i was unloading dishes the other day. as a friend said, “and you were worried!” and now i think he’s laughing at me, saying, “watch as i do nothing for 6 months and then try to catch up with me in one month! ha ha, sucker!” when the kids are running around the house yelling and playing he will yell with them while smiling and lunging forward. he so wants to do what they’re doing! not long, little guy, not long. he throws complete outloud fits when something is taken away from him. he loves playing with his daddy more everyday. and the screaming for no apparent reason is just a vague memory. he’s eating some of the table food we’re eating about one meal a day - mashed potatoes, green beans, sweet potato casserole, applesauce, bananas, even muffins once. the big difference between him and all the others is that i’ve wised up and realized that prior to about 50 years ago babies ate what the family ate. not out of jars. and with the first 2 they ate nothing but jar food food for forever. my girl wouldn’t eat jar food and threw me for a loop. with very little money, i don’t buy jar food. well, duh! good grief, the money wasted on the first ones. because, really, they’re only learning how this eating thing goes anyway, it’s not really about their nutrition. he’s getting that from me. and could get only that for 3 years if he needed to, feeding him table food is allowing him to sit with us as a family and experience new things and he just likes it, it’s not really to keep him alive. how am i having this epiphany now, on my 4th? if i were to keep having kids i’d have this thing down pat! when he doesn’t want to be held it’s nearly impossible to hold him wiggling like crazy until you put him down or almost drop him - i’d forgotten this - my girl sat pretty still, but the boys, oh, the boys. if there were a sentance to sum up this new stage it would be: he’s so busy.
Somethin' »
dear parents,
i saw you in the check out line with 4 small children. your oldest looked just a year or two older than our oldest. and your youngest was just about a year older than our youngest. i noticed that your children were all so quiet. two of which were sitting so contentedly in the buggies. they were well dressed. hair combed. not covered in barbeque sauce like 2 of mine. there was a definite lack of bickering, both amongst your children and with you. one of the biggest things i noticed was that they were quiet. they were quiet. they were still. and they didn’t look as though you had beaten or threatened them into submission. i wanted to ask you, the mama, if you were a homeschooler because you live so close to me and i would love to have a real-life friend to hang out with. but i was so distracted by my brood that i didn’t get to step over to talk with you. i mentioned to my husband that i wanted to talk to you and he said, “yeah, i want to talk to them too.” looking at how well-behaved your children were.
can i ask you: did i just catch you in a few minutes of peace? had the storm of typical-kid-in-the-store behavior just subsided or was it about to explode when you walked out? or do you know a secret that i don’t? how did you do it? would i see insanity if i were to actually have spent more time with you? were you judging our circus as much as i felt that you were? or did you just have pity on us? or, by chance, were you wanting to meet me as well and be friends? and while we’re being honest, can i ask how much you spent on your goods? can i see how you shop? can i learn from you?
sincerely,
the mom in line beside you that wanted to cry
Draw&Paint »
remember these? i promised to put on faces and make their clothes actually stay on them somehow. finally:
my oldest asked for an anakin skywalker suit:
and with hood:
my 4 year old boy asked for a batman suit:
and for my girl a dress to match her own dress:
Much O' Nothin' »
lovin’ this show. from day one. it continues to get better. lovin’ it!
and then tonight they went on to sing a They Might Be Giants song. loyal fan to the end now.
you people better watch so it doesn’t go away. this show is so me.
TheySay »
standing on the front porch:
2 yr old, while peeling pants off: i just pooped.
me: wait, wait! i’ll get wet wipes. don’t. move.
me, while cleaning up: is that all? are you sure? do you need to go to the potty?
2 yr old: that all. no.
2 minutes later while washing hands:
4 yr old to 6 yr old: hey! come look out here! there’s poop in the robot shoe!
both boys running outside.
me, still washing hands: WAIT!
6 yr old walks in with a bucket - to me (drying my hands now): don’t worry, mama. i got it. what do you want me to do with it?
me: with what?
6 yr old: the poop.
m: are you kidding me?!
a look in the bucket confirms. he informs me he did not pick it up, but rather just dumped it from said shoe to said bucket.
m: dump it in the potty. flush the potty. take the bucket back outside.
2 minutes later realizing i’ve heard no water running and haven’t seen the 6 year old:
m: did you wash your hands?
6 yr old: no. why?
