bro and sissy

This is the time that B. and I have been waiting for since K. was born.  Though I miss my sweet little baby, he is coming into his own with his own little personality.  The best thing, he and A. are beginning to have their own relationship.  He wakes up yelling "Ahhhh Baaaaa" and she answers with, "yes, sweetie."  She gives him a kiss before she leaves for school.  And, the best thing, they are starting to play together.  This play may only last a few minutes, and it may only be on A.'s terms but it happens.

On, Monday night when we all converged after work/ school etc it was the the time of day we all lovingly refer to as the witching hour.  The kids were hungry and we were trying to get in from work, change clothes, unpack lunches, and make dinner.  It's usually a time where one of us cooks and the other chases kids.  Though I hate myself for it, I usually hear a "A. I'm feeling frustrated."  and more then a few "K. no."  coming out of my I'm such a cliche mom mouth.  But, this particular night, B. and I both were in the kitchen and A. and K. were occupied.  Together.

Instead of "I can't pick you up over this hot stove" coming from my mouth for the millionth time.  I heard, "Good coloring, K."  I heard the words coming out of A.'s mouth reminding me of how I should be talking to my children.  "Come sit with me."  and my favorites, "I love you!!"  and "AAhhh Baaa."

Then I heard, "bro, sit with sissy."  B and I looked at each other and a mutual thought crossed our minds... "bro? sissy? really?  Is that necessary?"  I guess my child has determined that names are too long.  Maybe their new found closeness requires pet names for each other? I don't know but, since I hate the nick name sissy, it will probably be the word that K. starts to say clearly.

Bro and Sissy coloring nicely together

bro as he decided coloring on sissy is more fun

Bro and sissy from A's perspective.  Her interpretation, "I'm drawing Bro when he gets ready to bite me."  Its a true love hate relationship

small annoyances

There are a lot of small annoyances when having small kids.  I know that I will forget these things as I get farther and farther from having infants.
1. The top shelf of the dishwasher is always full first.  It doesn't matter if I prepare an elaborate dinner or if we eat out.  Those little plastic cups and separated dishes must go on the top shelf and they take up a lot of space.  Then, add in the little basket thingy for the sippy cup valves and small sized silverware and there is no way that there is enough space.  I either run the dishwasher with an empty bottom shelf or run the risk of thirsty kids.

2. I know I've talked about the sleeping patterns of my kids a lot.  But, waking up on weekends at 0530 is no fun.  However, somehow my kids little bodies always know when we have to be somewhere.  These are the days that they sleep in.  Inevitably, they sleep until 7:20 on Thursdays when I have a meeting at work at 8:30.  Sunday's, we run the same risk when we have to be at church at 9.

3. K. is in a time where he needs 2 a days.  This is not the 2 a day sports practices that I'm sure we will encounter later, its the 2 a day baths.  He has this new obsession with hats.  Anything and everything is a hat.  This includes his peanut butter topped English muffin for breakfast and his fork from his spaghetti. It is cute when he says, "at".  but, it is not cute when i'm trying to get out the door in the morning and his cereal bowl is dripping milk down his cheek...

K with his applesauce container as his "at" and chocolate dripping down his face...

Acting like my little brother is soooo funny!

4. A is starting to get more and more independent.  Most of the time I love it.  But today, we were running late as usual because of the above mentioned 2  a days and she insisted on getting herself dressed.  After we went on our typical search for shoes, even though she has a designated spot for her shoes to go when she gets in from school, we were ready to go.  We got out to the car and she says, "Mommy, I'm not wearing any underwear."  uuummmm... what?  Apparently, she forgot to put them on under her dress.  So, back into the house because we can't have naked butts on the monkey bars.

I know I'm going to need this small reminder for myself when I have teenagers and I'm worrying about beer glasses in my dishwasher, teenagers sleeping late, 2 a day sports practices, and...girls with no underwear.  AAAHHHH

concrete thinking

This is A.'s recount of Sunday School:

"I learned about Moses today.  Moses growed up from a baby in the water.  There was a king that wouldn't let people leave. they just had to work and work.

Today we talked about what we were scared of.  I'm scared of sharks, remember, I'm scared of sharks, Mommy?  Moses was scared of the burning bush but it was really just blocks with a red blanket on it.  We walked around it and I wasn't scared."

We tried to probe her with "Why was Moses scared?"  and "Who was really in the fire?"

The questions didn't work.  All we got was, "I wasn't scared, it was just blocks with a blanket on top."

I guess we have a few more Sunday school lessons to go....  

is time out worth it?

K. is now 18 months old.  I have no idea when my sweet little infant turned into a running while simultaneously chewing on his shirt tail boy, but he did.  He also has started to be a bit more sure of what he wants.  This is great when it is something that he can have.  But, lets just say it is the toy that A. was peacefully playing with or the blender where I'm dropping the fruit for our morning smoothies.  Then, when I say no, it isn't so peaceful.  Recently, it has turned into running away from me with his mouth open and hand cocked back ready to hit and/or bite his sister.  Yes, she could be in a totally different room or sometimes even on a different story.  The best thing about this is, after he completes his action of choice, he puts himself in timeout.  Sometimes I say his name, sometimes I point, other times I just find him sitting in the corner and I have to ask A. what happened.  She almost always answers with, "he hit me."  He sits for a minute, stands and rubs his chest to "sign" sorry, gives a hug and then goes on about his business.  The scenario starts over again sometimes as little as a minute later.  So, obviously, this is not working.  He either decides that hitting his sister is totally worth the time out or he just doesn't care.

no, this did not result in timeout, I just thought he looked particularly devilish

So, I'm ready for some advice.  How do I get my kid to decide that timeout is not fun and hitting is not worth a timeout?

it won't happen to me

Everyone subconsciously thinks the phrase "It won't happen to me" at some point in their lives.  Think of these scenerios:
1) I won't get in an accident while I text and drive even though there is terribly scary advertising campaign going on now
2) I won't get a totally preventable disease even though the most recent statistics from the American Cancer Society say that 2 in 3 adults are overweight or obese and fewer than half get enough physical activity.
or, more pertinent to this blog
3) My kids will never act like "that" or "do that"

This 3rd scenerio has been on my mind a lot lately.  I watch older adults look at children obviously forgetting the one time their child had a temper tantrum in a store.  I watched the news stories of the peers and parents from the most recent school shooting talking about the bad seed and judging his parents.  It was hit home today as I learned about the family member of one of my closest friends.  This was a kid that was brought up in a loving home.  He went to Catholic School and grew up in a small town.  He probably went through DARE and had the "just say no club" sometime in late elementary school. His parents weren't divorced and his siblings were good examples.  If he was born in the era of "Mommy bloggers", his mother's blog would probably look a lot like this one.  She would write about his antics and try her best all day and then go to be praying for another day to do better as a parent, try harder, and love more. She probably envisioned a future for her children which all included higher education and spouses and children.  She, at some point probably thought, "It won't happen to me or them."  The sad thing is, it did.  Somewhere along the way, this kid was introduced to drugs. She has now lost a son and I am mourning with her and her family.  Not because I knew him that well, I only met him one time, but because I know that he was very loved by a lot of people. Those people are right now questioning everything about themselves and what they could have done differently.  But, could they?  Is it really their fault?  I'm sitting here hurting for each of them and thinking, "No, you are good."

So, this is where I get confused.  How do I protect my kids?  How do take this memory and use it for good?  I don't know if I can but I do know that today I took a little extra time to laugh as K. whined at the kitchen table until I took away his small plate and somehow balanced the large serving bowl on his highchair tray.  And, I said a prayer of thankfulness as he said "cheese" when A. snapped a shot from the kid tough camera that she got for her birthday.  Sometime these kids will lose their innocence and I hope that I know how to help them.  So, tonight, I pray for each of these family members that they find peace and a way to let the memory of his life and not his death carry on with them.

Here's to you, Michael.

it takes a village

Everyone knows the saying, "It takes a village to raise your kids."  I totally agree with that and I am soo happy that my kids have a huge village.  Here is A. with her village showing off her new skills.  NO TRAINING wheels.

Though I was proud of her, my favorite part is that all these people were willing to stand on our street and watch her.  Then, they cheered like she had actually just won an Olympic race.  And, the big sap that I am, cried.  That's right, my baby turned 4, learned to ride a bike and she has many many people who love her.  Really, who could ask for more.

These next pictures are awesome because it is the village with other people's children.  I love how we all intermingle and switch around wherever needed.  There is no division, just love all around.

Uncle Mark has K., Aunt Lori has Brayden

I'm not sure what Lori was saying to her, maybe something about how she was supposed to take her out for icecream about a year ago.  hehe

 And, just because he was asleep during the big bike reveal doesn't mean that we don't all love this guy.

Thanks for being the village!  And, thanks for letting us be the village for your kids!