Unconventional Pets

My youngest son absolutely loves to capture everything from worms to ants to ladybugs. He puts them in a little plastic container and always asks what the critter needs for his home and food. I'm often amazed at just how much care he takes of his critter and how well he keeps up with it and carries it around with him everywhere he goes. Of course, there always comes the day when the little critter just can't survive another day in confinement and either escapes or just dies. AJ is usually pretty good with accepting these natural consequences and goes on to find his next victim; um, I mean, pet. This is probably one of the many areas that AJ is at a disadvantage being the youngest of 4 children. We have been through so many "pets"....cats, hamsters, gerbils, fish, etc. But, they all just seem to come and go and are always way more effort to maintain that I ever imagined possible. So, at this point, I'm incredibly resistant to anymore of those "disposable" pets. We have a black lab and that just seems like plenty to me. So my guess is AJ is fulfilling his desires for a pet by capturing any little small creature he can find.

This weekend's pet was a ladybug. It was a pale yellow ladybug that was named "Him". Him was special and much different than any of the past critters because AJ felt perfectly comfortable taking Him out and allowing Him to crawl all over his body. Throughout the day today AJ spent time playing with his little ladybug and would then safely store Him back in his container. I was actually quite fascinated watching it happen and thought to myself that a ladybug appeared to the world's greatest pet for a 4 yr old.

And it really was a fantastic idea. I've never seen a little boy have more fun with a critter than AJ had with Him UNTIL........tragedy struck. Him was happily crawling all over AJ's arm while AJ giggled with happiness. At that point Paige bumped into AJ causing Him to fall to the ground causing a good bit of conflict between the two of them resulting in Him being squished. Oh what a terribly sad moment for us all. Emotions among the kids ran the gamut....sadness, guilt, empathy; but they all came together to support AJ during this great tragedy. Kaeli suggested we take Him out and bury him, but AJ refused. Instead Him had a very indignant burial in the toilet. After several minutes calm returned to our household and we all got back to normal routine.

Ten to fifteen minutes later I had already moved on to other things like folding laundry when AJ came into the laundry room and said "mommy, I need to tell you a secret". I bent down so that he could easily reach my ear and he whispered "I had so much fun with my ladybug, I miss him". What a sweet, sweet little boy!!! I just gave him a huge hug and promised we would try to find another ladybug very soon.

Two Down, Two to Go

2 years ago Kaeli, my oldest daughter, confronted me with the idea that she didn't believe in bunnies that bring gifts and candy to sleeping children on Easter. You can read all about that experience here.

Tonight it was Paige's turn to get in on the fun. Kaeli has been an amazing little helper the past couple of years with each of the holidays and seems to love it. Once I thought the 3 younger kids were asleep Kaeli came down and we discussed our game plan. Paige walked to the top of the stairs with a smile on her face asking why Kaeli was down here. She saw a few empty plastic eggs and paper that would hold "clues". (The Easter Bunny hides the filled Easter Baskets and then leaves clues in plastic eggs). Paige is a smart little girl and there's no doubt she had put it all together....but she's also not one to just confront a situation. I knew I'd have to just ask her outright if she believes in the Easter Bunny. Very matter-of-factly she simply said "no".

She and I went into the bedroom to talk more because I didn't want to risk the boys overhearing our conversation. It was then that I learned she hasn't believed in anything for at least a year now!! I still can't explain why, but my eyes filled with tears. At that point Kaeli walked in and said "Paige, don't worry, she cried when I found out, too". She walked over and put her arms around me to give me a hug. I have never laughed so hard as I did when she then said "Mom, you are SUCH a loser for crying about this stuff". But I know it was said with lots of love. ;)

It really was such a special moment as I sat there laughing and crying with 2 of my girls. It's a very bittersweet rite of passage I think. For me it feels like my children suddenly age by years instead of minutes....and lose a large part of childhood innocence. The innocence of believing, without question, that there is this magic in the world that defies all logic and allows for bunnies, santas, and tooth fairies. I guess a part of me just ponders the question "Is this the moment when we begin questioning everything in life that doesn't make perfect sense logically?" No, I do not believe that the moment of discovery precipitates this shift in thinking. Instead, I think it's the shift that leads to the doubts in the first place. And, at the risk of sounding somewhat ridiculous to some, it feels to me that when I confirm the doubts I have taken my child by the hand and walked them across the threshold from childhood innocence to adulthood skepticism.

On a lighter note, though, it has been so much fun allowing my daughters to help keep the magic alive just a bit longer for the two boys.

It's the Simple Things

It has been well over a year since I last created a new blog post, but today I had a revelation. The revelation occurred as I sat on a slab of concrete next to a small lake near our house and watched 3 of my 4 children catch tadpoles with their hands. Catching tadpoles was not on my "list" of what we were going to do this afternoon. In fact, it was with reluctance that I even agreed to take them on a bike ride because that was also not on my to do list.

My plan for this bike ride was to get to the park, get a little exercise, and get back home. Basically, just do it so that the kids would finally stop asking to go on a bike ride. But, that's not exactly how it took place.

First of all, my 6 yr old fell off his bike halfway to the playground. He tried very hard to be tough and not cry at first. But, when the blood started flowing so did the tears. I stood there, helpless, not sure what I should do. We were half a mile from the house with nothing to ease the pain or stop the blood. As I contemplated my options I looked up to see a man walking out of his house with peroxide, paper towels, and bandaids. Such an amazingly simple act of kindness. But, one that changed the course of our whole afternoon. As I began doctoring my son the man said "you are one tough little guy, you got quite a scrape there". Simple words, but my son's posture and demeanor immediately went from that of defeat to confidence. He suddenly became confident that he could deal with the pain and climb back on the bike. After profusely thanking this good samaritan we all climbed back on our bikes and continued on toward the playground. I'm quite certain that anonymous man will forever be a part of my children's memories. I know I will never pass by that house again without remembering how such a simple act of kindness changed my entire day.

We continue on to the playground where I had a mini-revelation. My kids are growing up quickly....too quickly!! Just last summer I was lamenting that I couldn't be one of those parents that just sat on a bench watching their children play. AJ was only 3 and I still needed to be right there following him and watching him to redirect or help him as needed. Today I sat on a park bench playing on my phone, facebooking.....dare I say I felt BORED?? Yes, I was bored. That is NOT how I pictured this moment. I was obviously bored enough to suggest to the kids that we get on our bikes and take a ride around the lake.

Fortunately they were all for that idea. And because of my mini-revelation I wasn't the least bit reluctant when they asked if we could stop to catch minnows. I was no longer in a hurry to get back to my to-do list. Of course, with my practical adult mind, I did ask how they were going to catch minnows without a net. My 8 yr old daughter quickly responded by saying "with our hands!!" Who am I to argue with that logic?!

I instinctively took my seat on a slab of concrete and it was at that moment that I had my biggest revelation of the day. I found a comfortable place to sit because I knew that my kids would be here a while. How did I know that? Because first of all, there were no minnows, there were only tadpoles. When you slow down enough to see life through a child's eyes you realize that there are no challenges, no obstacles....no lists and no preconceived notions; there are only new discoveries to be made. Instead of feeling disappointed that they didn't find the minnows they were looking for, my kids were excited to just catch tadpoles.

I am so grateful to my children!! They force me to slow down enough to see the world in all its simplicity. And it's only through that simplicity that I realize what happiness is all about. My guess is that if a child could put "happiness" into words they would tell you that it's all about appreciating the here and now....and forgetting about what you HOPE or EXPECT to happen and just enjoy what is actually happening.

Wall Art

I'm just going to jump right in here and pretend like I never got away from my blogging. Everybody good with that? No??.....well, then don't read my blog!!!! ;)

I think I'll make my first blog entry a "mystery" story, but something tells me you won't have a hard time naming the culprit. Remember, the suspects are Kaeli-9, Paige-7, Ryan-4, and Aaron-3. Anyone who knows my kids personally has probably already figured it out. :)

On a Wednesday morning in October I made my way up the stairs to wake the kids-completely unsuspecting of what was to greet me when I reached the top. Had I known one of my kids was up half the night I may have been at least somewhat prepared for what I found because as we all know kids can find some interesting things to do when they are bored. To my horror, though, I discovered that someone had been up all night vandalizing (yes, you heard it right, I called my innocent little child a vandal) the upstairs with a black sharpie marker. Not only did he attack the fixed objects, but he also scarred a sweet little doll for life--she'll never be the same again, I promise you. Take your time and enjoy the next 3 pictures of what greeted me that morning:



After I got over my initial shock and managed to recollect my thoughts well enough to pick my jaw off the floor I did call for Steve. He is obviously better at thinking under pressure than I am, because he immediately suggested checking everyone's hands for evidence of who the culprit may have been. My first suspect was clean--no signs of sharpie anywhere on his body. My second suspect, still exhausted from a late night of vandalizing no doubt, was still sound asleep. But, even as innocent as he looked while sleeping he had left the proof ALL over his left hand.


But, that's not all!! If there was any doubt left in my mind that he was the culprit, I had all the proof I needed when he woke up later!! At some point, he must have gotten bored with walls and inanimate objects and decided instead to create a little body art. It's wonderful, isn't it? I'm thinking it would've been really nice if he had had access to some additional colors.
I must admit, even I'm surprised that I suspected Ryan before I did AJ. But, just look at this innocent face!!! It's the perfect cover for the mischievousness that lurks beneath, don't you think?! :)

disclaimer: sorry for the poor picture quality on the wall drawings. Just grabbed my phone instead of the actual camera. :)

Kaeli knows the truth

Immediately after church today Kaeli came up to me and very matter-of-factly asked "Are you the Easter Bunny?". Of course, I tried playing it off and responding with a question...."Do I look like the Easter Bunny?" What I really was doing was trying to buy a little time to figure out how I was going to answer her. It appeared that whether or not I was ready, she was not going to let this go without a straight answer.

See, I made a little mistake....last night when I went to get the books I had been hiding I found them lying on the floor of the closet. I decided to take a chance and put them in the basket anyway--hoping maybe the books fell but no one saw them. I was wrong. At church Kaeli mentioned her suspicions to her friend Eme. Eme found out about everything at Christmas...so she knew. Eme tried to pretend like she didn't know, but Kaeli said she could just tell by the look on her face.

A couple of hours later I was washing dishes when Kaeli approached me with the inevitable REST of her questions. Fortunately she waited until her siblings were down for naps or safely out of earshot.

So I'm washing dishes and she says "Mom, if the Easter bunny isn't real what about the tooth fairy or....or.....Santa?!! Please don't tell me you're Santa, too......oh please don't tell me.....you are, aren't you?". I'm sitting there concentrating more than I ever had before on the dishes--trying hard to pretend not to be laughing and trying really, really hard to figure out how I can answer this without telling her the truth. I just wasn't ready to have this all come to an end-she's still so young in my mind! Finally I realize there's no way out of this and it's time to just tell the truth. I dry my hands and just look at her, with tears in my eyes, and nod my head in agreement that I am all of those things. Oh it was so hard to do!! There we sat laughing and crying together. I can't really explain why I cried, probably just the realization my little girl is definitely growing up. And there's just something about that little loss of the "fairy tale".

Some of her funniest comments/questions: Well, why do they have the Norad tracking thing online?; What about the cookies? You and daddy ate the cookies?--You are sooo lucky! (I found that one hilarious, she just found out Santa isn't real and she's just upset we ate the cookies and not her?); So YOU actually bought the Wii for us? I can't believe you would spend all that money for it; Oh wait...I was gonna ask Santa for a golf cart this year.....I guess I won't be getting that since I KNOW you won't buy me one. (again that got me laughing pretty hard, too--probably the tone of her voice more than anything); I KNEW there couldn't really be flying reindeer; what about the toothfairy--where'd you get all those letters from her?--I printed them from the internet, by the way.

So, I guess I now have another little helper for all the holidays--she's very excited to know that she can now help with all the fun stuff "behind the scenes". All-in-all I thought she handled the news very well. She said she'd been wondering for a while but was afraid to ask before. I was so afraid she'd be angry with me. Oh, and the sweetest thing she said was "well, you were gonna have to tell me one day so that I can do all that for my kids someday". It just let me know that she didn't hold it against me for keeping all those secrets from her...she's already looking forward to sharing the "magic" with her own kids.

Now I wonder how long before the other 3 figure it out--I have no illusions the rest of them will make it to age 9 before they know, too.

Here's a picture of my "big girl" today.

This is a first

Somehow I've managed to avoid having to medicate all 4 kids at the same time.....until NOW! All I can say is thank goodness I'm an organized person--well, mostly (we won't go into all the ways I'm NOT organized) ;) It'll be interesting to see if I get through the next ten days without making a mistake. Of course, I guess I'm fortunate that they are all 4 on the same exact medicine--just different doses. I can handle this, right?

The silver lining? At least we won't have to worry about any bacterial illnesses for a little while. Now if only Steve and I can avoid getting this strep bug!!

Oh and this is a PERFECT example of why I didn't want any of our kids to have the same first initial--makes labeling much quicker. :)

She's only 9!!

My barely 9 year old is sick in bed with a fever of 103....what's the first thing she asks for? A laptop!! Well, I take that back-she did ask for a cup of water first, THEN the laptop. Of course, I let her have it--I certainly wasn't under any delusions that she'd lay in bed and read all day. It didn't take her long to find a link broadcasting full-length episodes of her favorite shows. I'm still baffled that kids this young have such command of technology!

School ends and not 5 minutes later the phone rings--for my 9 yr old!! One of her little friends just wanted to check on her since she wasn't at school. I handed her the phone and ran for the camera. Can you tell by the look on her face that she was not thrilled? How times have changed!!

Paige's stitches-Jan 14, 2009

I apologize in advance for the quality of pictures. Right before the doctors started sewing her up I thought "Wait a minute! One of these days she's going to wonder how she got the scar on her face." So, I whipped out the old cell phone and snapped a picture. And as you can see I snapped a couple more during the process.

So here's the story:

That Wednesday night the kids were getting all rambunctious-as usual. Paige was twirling around in big circles making herself dizzy. I saw the circles were getting a little "wild" and had JUST said "Paige-you need to stop that". I seriously don't even know if the entire sentence was out of my mouth before she started to fall. I saw it happen and it still looks like slow motion in my mind's eye-but it obviously didn't happen slowly enough for me to react. The moment she hit the edge of the coffee table I knew without a doubt it was going to be ugly. In fact, I grabbed her and ran for a towel even before I saw blood--the impact was just that hard. Here's where the story gets a little comical. Not that it was funny at the time, but looking back it's really, really funny! I had Paige's "good" side pressed against my body and her cut covered by a towel. The other 3 kids were all crying because Paige was crying. I was holding pressure on Paige's cut and trying to calm the others down when Paige start screaming "I can't breathe!! I can't breathe!!" I ask why she can't breathe, but she's hysterical and doesn't answer. She just keeps saying it over and over. Kaeli starts screaming at me to call 911 because Paige can't breathe. I grab the phone and dial the numbers. At that point I took the towel off Paige's face to actually look at the damage and assess why she is having trouble breathing. As soon as I took the towel off the cut and held her face away from me to look she said "I can breathe now!"--I hang up the phone and dial my neighbor's number. It wasn't an emergency after all. I was just suffocating her with a towel and my body--lol. Thank goodness my neighbor was home and was able to come right over. I left with Paige and we headed to the after-hours clinic in town. Unfortunately, they wouldn't put the stitches in because the cut was too deep. Paige and I loaded back into the car and started our drive to the children's hospital which is about 50 minutes away. A few minutes into our trip I get a call from Steve (who arrived home 5 minutes after I left) informing me that the police had just left our house. Evindently, I didn't hang the phone up quickly enough after dialing 911. The police have to investigate any call made to 911 even if no one speaks. Besides, I have no idea how long it took me to hang up--if the 911 operator heard all the screaming in the background she may have thought we needed police and not an ambulance.

So, we finally made it to the children's hospital and things moved quickly from there. I love that hospital. They are always so efficient and wonderful with children!

Here's the cut right after being anesthetized.

Here's where Paige seriously impressed me! She laid there without a single wimper or whine the entire time the Dr worked on her cut. They had to put 3 dissolvable stitches on the inside of the cut because the skin was open all the way down to the muscle. The dissolvable stitches held together the inner layer. Then she got several stitches on the outside, but I don't know how many--maybe 6 or so. She just laid there and watched Spongebob the whole time.
Here she is right after they finished--all patched up.
And here she is the next day. She had a swollen, black eye for several days afterward.

The perfect picture of our kids!

I have just spent quite a bit of time going through pictures from our trip to the pumpkin patch yesterday. As I sorted through the pictures it was very obvious that we tried many times to get that "perfect" picture of all 4 of the kids together. Seriously, if you have more than one child you know exactly what I'm talking about....that one picture that shows all of your kids looking at the camera, smiling, and looking like they are so happy to be together on this glorious family outing. Well, as I was searching for that "perfect" picture amongst our numerous outtakes I came across this very special picture. I instantly knew this was the one-the picture that deserved its very own blog post. Why? Well, le'ts look more closely.....first we see Paige on the far left. I'm not exactly sure what she's looking at or what she's thinking. But, oh does this capture Paige..that distant daydreaming look she so often gets. Is this the look her teacher sees when she mentions that Paige isn't completing her work because of daydreaming? Next we move on to Ryan. Is that a yawn?? Seriously, dude, we are working on trying to get THE perfect picture and you have the nerve to YAWN? No doubt, that's Ryan--just laid back and cool as a cucumber (just don't make him mad). Now what is AJ doing? I'll tell you exactly what he's doing....he's pointing out an airplane flying overhead. And no, it makes no difference that we have said "cool, an airplane....now look over here" a gazillion times. He's nothing if he's not persistent. Too bad the other kids were done by the time the plane was completely out of sight. And now we move on to our eldest child....WAIT!!! Do we have one looking at the camera and smiling? Well, I guess 1 out of 4 isn't too bad.

And, here are more of the outtakes of us trying to get the PERFECT picture:

Goofing off on a lazy Saturday morning

Disclaimer: The following stunts are done by a rambuctious, fearless toddler. Do not attempt at home! I'm pretty sure this isn't what Fisher Price had in my mind when they created this little bounce n spin pony, but AJ sure does love practicing his stuntman routine on it. Enjoy the next series of pictures. We sure had fun snapping the pictures. We were all just sitting around watching TV--kids were doing various things. Out of nowhere AJ started trying to balance himself on the pony. Like the good parents we are, we went and grabbed the camera and told him to do it again instead of telling him "get down before you hurt yourself". That's what we probably would have said with Kaeli, but on the 4th one we just consider it entertainment and enjoy the break from kids arguing.

And, here he is....the masked hero of our story.

And, now he's thrown his mask aside and is attempting his daring ride balancing on the horse's back as it gallops at full speed!!

Oh wait.....will our hero fall??

Alas, he regains his balance and is back in control as his horse gallops off.

Did he just jump off??? What was he thinking? I see now, he's off to rescue his damsel in distress as she lays face down on the ground. Hurry, fearless hero....save her!!!

Now our hero watches over his TWO ladies after his daring rescues. He must be exhausted. (actually these pictures were taken later in the day--he just looked so cute laying there watching over his babies)

Of course, our hero has received so much attention that there are bound to be copycats that follow in his footsteps.

THE END.....

Birthday Cake

We also had a little party--it was really the Fisher Price Playdate house party, but we did buy him a cake and sang happy birthday. Here he is showing off his cake and saying "cheese"! As soon as we let him get the train he proceeded to use it to "dip" into the cake for taste-testing.

AJ turned 2!

I'm definitely running a little behind!! AJ's 2nd birthday was Sept 19. These pictures are from the actual night of his birthday. We had chicken nuggets for dinner, followed by cupcakes, and then let him open his presents.

As you can see from this picture, he's certainly enjoying his cupcake!

And, now it's time to open presents.

He was very excited about his cars.....and also the Thomas the Train stuff he got. He loves, loves, love Thomas and cars!! The cars he's showing off in this picture are Darda cars he got from Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop. I didn't know what they were until Mom-Mom bought him some last Christmas. Now we all love them! They come with little flexible tracks and the cars go by themselves after you "wind" the car up by pulling it backwards and pushing it forward really fast. It's very easy to get them wound--easy enough for AJ to do it by himself. We are constantly losing these cars because they often going flying through the house and, of course, under furniture. One of these days when we move out of this house we are going to find a ton of the Darda cars hidden all over the house.

Yes, I'm really adding a new entry!

I actually have so many pictures and at least 2 videos I'd love to get on here eventually....but it's coming along. I have too many "irons in the fire" I think.

Let's see, where should I start?

I'll start with Kaeli since she's the oldest. She joined the 3rd and 4th grade chorus this year. She came home today and told me that the teacher chose her as the announcer for the chorus recitals. I find this completely shocking and I can't help but wonder what the teacher was thinking--especially when Kaeli described how it happened. Kaeli signed up to audition for a particular part. When it came time for her audition she was just too shy to do it in front of all the other kids. So, she auditioned for the teacher in private. Kaeli did not get the part she auditioned for, but the teacher told her she has a wonderful voice and assigned her to be the announcer. Now, I'm wondering....if Kaeli couldn't get up and audition in front of a bunch of kids she KNOWS, how is she going to get up in front of an audience of unfamiliar faces and announce anything? This should be interesting and I can't wait to see how it plays out. Kaeli definitely is feeling quite proud of her teacher's comment about her "wonderful voice". WE are in trouble! She already walks around singing constantly. Unfortunately, I think her teacher meant that she's good at projecting her voice--not that she has a good singing voice. But, what do I know? Maybe she'll surprise me. Other than the star in training, she's handling 3rd grade superbly. She was very concerned because she had heard how much harder 3rd grade is...but she's rising to the challenge. She's so self-motivated that I'm finally beginning to relax a little and realize that she will always do well because of a drive from within. I actually felt apprehensive at the beginning of this year for a variety of reasons-it's nice to realize that apprehension was completely unfounded. WHEW...one down, 3 to go (and something tells me they won't be so easy).

Paige learned to ride her bicycle without training wheels last week! We tried early in the summer, but she just wasn't ready. This time we decided to try on a whim and she took off without a problem. She was off riding like a pro with the first push. I've been working on editing that video to share it so hopefully it'll be up soon. She was so proud of herself! At school she's really excelling as well. We do still struggle with the motivation and daydreaming issues, but it's obviously not affecting her grades. She got her mid-term progress report on Friday and so far her averages are 100, 100, 100, and 98. The 98 was in math. She was sitting at the table when I was looking over her progress report. I went through each one and called out the grade. When I got to the 98 she very incredulously, with a definite questioning tone, asked "98?!" We all got a good laugh out of that for a moment. Ok, but this is only 1st grade, so I won't be letting my guard down anytime soon. Still have to keep an eye on this one. One more thing about Paige-I'm beginning to wonder if she has allergies. She's been coughing like crazy every night. It's been pretty terrible and she wakes up looking exhausted. This happens EVERY single year and the Dr has never been able to give any explanations. I called and talked to the nurse today. She asked about allergies and suggested that maybe I could give some OTC allergy meds a try to see if that helps. So, tonight I gave her Claritin (non-drowsy allergy meds) about an hour before bedtime. I could not believe it when Kaeli came down to tell us that Paige had fallen asleep while they were reading. Not a single cough! I went up to actually get her in bed and she was completely out and never once coughed. A couple of hours later and I still haven't heard a cough! This would be sooooooo awesome if a dose of allergy meds every night fixes this coughing problem!

Ryan-quite honestly, there's not a whole heck of a lot going on with him. He's loving school now. Last year he would ask if he had to go to school and start crying if I said yes. This year he says "I not mind". Then when we get to the school his teacher is usually waiting at the door. He will literally run all the way up the sidewalk until he gets to her. We have to keep reminding him not to run. The first day he did that I actually teared-up a little. There was just something very sentimental about watching my BIG boy run off to greet his teacher without so much as a glance back at me. Natalie, his speech therapist, is just amazed by him. She can't believe how well he's doing now! It's pretty amazing to see how far we've come in only 6-8 months. These days he's just working on adding more words to his sentences and how to say multisyllable words more fluently. But, there's probably not a day that goes by when he doesn't surprise in some way or another. In fact, his memory has been shocking me lately. He's been workng on memorizing bible verses for AWANA. I cannot believe how quickly he learns the verses!! And, he actually LOVES to practicing them! He's one sweet, adorable little boy!

AJ--what do I say about him? AJ is just about the most lovable 2 yr old in the whole entire world.....and just about the most frustrating 2 yr old in the whole entire world. There are some moments that I want him to freeze at this stage and never grow older. Then there are, of course, days that I keep wishing he'd grow up faster. He's so affectionate and loves to give hugs and kisses. Sometimes he'll give me a tight hug completely unprompted. His signing vocabulary grows daily! He has really caught on to signing so much more quickly that the other kids ever did. Of course, I have been using it more regularly with him. But, it's still amazing how quickly he picks up new signs and starts using them for real communication. I can't even describe how thrilled I am that we can use signing for communicating. He does try to use words, but they are so off most of the time that I'd have no idea what he was saying without the accompanying signs. He's taking a huge interest in the potty and will often ask to sit on the potty. He knows exactly what he's doing and will usually produce a little bit of peepee when he does sit on the potty. We just might start considering real potty training within the next few months!! Could it be?.......might I actually get to a point where I won't have to buy diapers????? Of course, I will continue having to buy pull-ups for a while, but no diapers would be amazing!

Other than the kids, I just got a call from my mom today!! She's coming to visit for a long weekend Oct 16-19!! My mom lives too far for it to be considered driving distance so we rarely get to see each other. I'm very excited to see her again! It has been so long! I told the girls about it today and they were very excited as well.

I'm sure I could write tons more since it's been so long, but I will stop there. I really have to get myself in bed! I will make it a priority to get at least one of the videos on here within the next week.

Could they be any more different?

All 6 of us attended open house at the kids' school tonight. It went well....considering that we have 4 kids with one in the terrible twos. They only had 2 sessions so we went to Kaeli's and Paige's classes for the whole speech and just dropped in look to at Ryan's class really quick.

Ryan's teachers said he's a pleasure. While he's mostly quiet, he does participate in class and even raises his hand to get called on.....how sweet!

The thing that is so interesting to me is how night and day different Kaeli and Paige are as far as schoolwork goes. I didn't get a chance to talk to Kaeli's teacher tonight but I have talked to her recently-last week, I think. Paige's teacher was the one I was so glad to talk to. Her teacher hasn't been exactly stellar in the communication department. I feel like she could be giving more information since we are dealing with 1st graders. So, I got a few questions answered about the weekly vocab list and about when I should expect homework. I knew Paige was getting vocab words every week, but I didn't know what she was expected to do with them. Fortunately, she just needs to be able to read then on sight. She's a pretty good reader already so that hasn't been a problem. But, I did find out that she's supposed to have homework every weeknight--according to Paige she doesn't. I know last night she didn't bring any home. I also found 4 half-finished papers in her desk. I showed them to her teacher and found out it's morning work that Paige isn't completing (even though I know she has plenty of time). Paige's attitude toward all of it? A shrug of the shoulders and a little, sweet "oops". This is so incredibly different than Kaelil that I don't quite know how to handle it. Kaeli is obviously a type A personality. It drives her crazy to forget to do something. Not only does she does what's excpected, but she often goes beyond the expectations. She's soooo self-motivated that his made my job al ittle too easy, I think. Now, here I'm dealing with Paige who is absolutely opposite. I realize that I will just have to be in CONSTANT contact with Paige's teacher in order to keep her motivated. Her teacher is also going to stay on Paige a little more and have her stay in for recess and complete any work she doesn't turn in. I told her to do whatever it takes to get her in gear with taking more responsibility for herself. I taught way too many 7th graders with this problem. I think it'll be alot easier for us to correct this problem now than when she's in the older grades when this behavior can heavily impact a grade. But, I have to say, I wish I could have her "oh well" attitude a little more. She puts no stress on herself and rarely does she allow anything to really bother her....doesn't really sound like a bad way to go through life, though, does it?

At least I can let myself off the hook and stop blaming myself for Kaeli's almost neurotic approach to schoolwork. I can't imagine any stronger evidence for the theory that kids just come into the world with a certain amount of persoanlity already set. I wonder which one Ryan and AJ will be most like?

At least I can recharge a car battery now

The DVD player in my car has created a very bad habit for me. First of all, it automatically comes back on and starts up in exactly the spot it left off when I restart the car. The kids have now watched "The Lion King" a gazillion times--and they still can't get enough of it. When we get home from a quick trip AJ always wants to stay in the car to keep watching the movie. The bad habit is that I actually let him. I pull into the garage, close the garage door, and just leave the car ignition in the "on" position (so the car isn't running). I take off his seatbelt and leave the house door open so he can come in when he's ready. He ALWAYS comes in within 5-10 min and I USUALLY go out and turn the car off then--except today. I just completely forgot to go turn the car off when he came in. So, from 11:15-2:00 the car was running a DVD player. You guessed it--my car battery was dead! I called Steve and he walked me through the steps to putting the battery charger on it. Now, I have to say, I'm terrified of dealing with anything like that. But, Steve was very patient with me throughout the whole process. I didn't even hear laughing when I told him I had to put the phone down to connect the little recharger clips--although I'm sure he was laughing quietly to himself. I had to put the phone down so that if something bad happened I could react quickly without worrying about the phone. I know, my mind goes crazy with all the things that could go wrong. I'm very pleased to report that nothing bad happened and I got everything connected just right with no injuries.

But, while the battery was recharging I had to walk to the school to pick up the girls. Fortunately, we are less than a mile from the school. The problem was that before naptime Ryan scraped the back of his heel. I had forgotten about the scrape, but he certainly had not. When I tried to put his shoe on that foot he SCREAMED and wouldn't allow me to come anywhere near him with the shoe because he was afraid it would hurt his booboo. The problem was that we only have a single stroller now. AJ had to ride in the stroller and Ryan couldn't wear his shoe so he couldn't walk or ride his bike. Just as I was about to throw my hands in the air and cry, I saw the wagon. WHEW! It wasn't fun dragging a wagon all the way to the school, but at least we did all get there and in time.

As soon as I got home, the car started right up. Many lessons were learned today. I hope I never have to use the skill again, but at least I do know how to recharge a car battery now.

Update to the guinea pig bite

The bite looked better this morning so I decided AJ didn't need to see the Dr. Also, I did a little online research--I know, shocking!! haha--and found that infection from guinea pig bites are uncommon. That doesn't mean I won't keep my eye on it, but it's comforting to know the odds are on our side.

Other than that, nothing interesting going on arond here. Paige is having significantly less problems with sleep. She's only complained of a few stomach aches. Kaeli loves her teacher and her class. Ryan is even going to school without any crying. All in all, life is good.

Guinea pig bite

Wouldn't you know that a biting guinea pig is very rare and we seem to have one! To give the guinea pig the benefit of the doubt, I don't think he really meant to BITE. I think he was planning to have a nice juicy sausage for snack. Yesterday, AJ was sitting on the floor without shoes on while the guinea pig was running around on the floor. Completely unprovoked (or so I hear-I wasn't in the room) the guinea pig came up and took a bit out of AJ's big toe. There was a good bit of blood and the cut seems to be fairly deep. But, we cleaned it up as best we could, put some neosporin on it, and covered it with a band-aid. I just took the band-aid of a little while ago. It's not TOO terrible looking, but doesn't look great, either. Right around the bite area it's kind of a purplish, whitish color and then there is a big red ring around that. I'm thinking the purplish area may just be bruising, but I don't know for sure. But, the fact that it looks a little bad now has me thinking about how much bacteria was probably introduced into that bite area. Just the thought of a deep-ish bite wound from a hairy little rodent now has me a little weirded out. I've decided, to be on the safe side, I'll take him to the Dr tomorrow. At least I'll feel better if he tells me there's nothing to worry about.

What have I been up to?

I've been creating a new blog! I enjoy writing and I enjoy sharing with others. In a nutshell? I love blogging! But, with all the very personal info on this site, it wasn't exactly conducive to sharing with the whole world. Well, now I've created a new blog that is completely separate from this one. I will continue to update this blog on a personal basis so not much will change for my family and close friends. Just keep reading here for the mundane details of our everyday life.

Because I do have a category of posts on my new blog about some of the anecdotal situations with the kids I am creating a link from this blog to the new one that will take you specifically to those posts. The link will be just before the posts themselves on this blog. At this point, I don't know how often I will be adding to that section. Just check periodically to see if I've added anything new.

AJ's first two word sentence-kind of

AJ just came up to me and did the signs for "eat" and "more" back to back to ask for more crackers!! That is his first official two word sentence--even if it is in sign language instead of actual speech. The reason this is significant is because it means his level of understanding speech is right on target for an almost 2 yr old. I'm also impressed because he took two signs that he knows and formulated a plan in his head for how to use those to get what he wanted. I'm not exactly surprised he was able to do this because he's always seemed fairly intelligent. But, it is definitive proof that he's where he needs to be and that as soon as his ability to form words catches up with his understanding his speech will take off at lightning speed. Not unlike his older sister and brother, of course.

I must say, this late speech development becomes easier and easier to deal with the more you go through it. Kaeli started talking right at 2, Ryan at 3......chances are I wouldn't get too concerned about AJ until age 4. But, I'm confident it won't take him that long. He already has several words and will try to say lots more words--they just sound nothing like the target word. But, the important thing is that he's trying and he IS communicating! One thing I find funny is that AJ's word for train is exactly the same as Ryan's first word for train. The word he uses is "eee". We never understood why Ryan chose such an unusual substitution for the word. But, even more strange to me is that AJ has chosen the exact same substitution. (Ryan does say it correctly now, so it didn't come from hearing Ryan-I don't think). Interesting!

Maryland Science Center

Back in the early part of August my neighbor and I took the kids to the Maryland Science Center. My mother-in-law watched AJ for me all day to make it a little easier for the older kids to have fun without dealing with a toddler. In fact, I saw a little girl about his age throwing an all out tantrum a little after noon. I thought to myself that's exactly what AJ would like right about that time when he started getting tired. So we were able to stay all day and the kids had a wonderful time. I just love the Maryland Science Ctr and wish we lived closer-it's about 1.5 hrs from here.

So, here are some pictures from that outing.

Here's Paige, Ryan, and Sarah "discovering fossils". Very cute how much Ryan is concentrating on it.

This was such a neat part of the Science Ctr. Children 8 and older were able to perform a REAL experiment. Lindsey, Kaeli, and Sarah did an experiment to determine which household cleaners were most effective at killing germs. I don't think they got a clearcut answer, but they all gave a different answer when I asked. But, the sure had fun acting like real scientists!
Notice the look on Paige's face here. She's sulking because she couldn't do the science experiment since she's only 6. She and Ryan got to look at prepared slides under a microscope instead. She did finally come around when I started showing her cool stuff like human blood.

Our future scientists: Lindsey, Sarah, Kaeli, and Paige

Ryan, Kaeli, and Paige

Here's Kaeli in her space gear

Paige and Ryan standing next to a mannequin in a real space suit.

What an adorable astronaut!