the wrong side of crazy

There are some mornings when the kids wake up on the wrong side of crazy.  By that, I mean loud, hippity-hoppity, Tiggeriffic, cheerful, irritable, weepy, loud and hard of hearing all at once.  I understand that they have been lying relatively still for about 10 hours, but some mornings are more intense than others, and some mornings I am more equipped to deal than others.

I guess if I had woken up fully equipped to deal this morning, there would be no post.  There I was, in a serene garden, learning the secrets of the universe, and the next thing I knew, I was ripped from that world, into a world of a 6 year old shouting in my ear, "Mommy! He is jumping on the couch and I told him to stop but he won't, so you have to come upstairs now!"  (yes, she speaks in runon sentences).  I guess I should adjust my attitude right there, but I rarely have the presence of mind to do so.  I get upstairs, and I find a four year old, with no pants on, "free balling", jumping on the couch.  I tell him to cut it out and ask why he has no pants on.  "I pooped in the potty but there was no toilet paper" he says as he slides off the couch,  "You have to wipe my bum for me."  I make the mental note to disinfect and scrub the couch and herd him back into the bathroom to wipe.

Meanwhile, the girl is crying because her cereal is soggy because she got up to dance instead of eating it.  She has to be out the door for school in 10 minutes and she is still in her PJ's with bedhead.  Cereal dumped, toast made, girl dressed, girl eating toast as I brush her hair, she gets out the door on time.

The boy is cleaned and dressed, I feed him, make a pot of coffee, then consume the entire pot.  I feel somewhat human.  The youngest wakes, but she doesn't fuss, I hear her in her crib singing.  I go and say hi, she gives me her best, heart melting smile, hands me her lovey and then makes the pick me up sign.  I pick her up and she hugs me.  Her diaper is wet, as are her PJs, but she is not fussing, she is quiet and content.  How easy it is to clean that all up and redress her.  My day has come back into balance.

I guess it's safe to say I'm not much of a morning person.  I like to gradually transition into the morning, as does the youngest.  The older two are all energy and full volume in the morning.  Some days are easier to go with the flow than others.

such classy kids...

I've been considering renaming my blog to "Classy Kids" - here is why:

Today, I was proudly displaying my 18-month old to my brother's family via Skype.  They don't have high speed Internet at home, and were visiting another of my brothers.  This was their first real interaction with the youngest.  She was being so cute and sweet, playing peekaboo, giggling, waving and blowing kisses.  Then she stuck her dainty little finger up her nose, produced a LARGE booger, and attempted to wipe it on the keyboard of my laptop.

But this isn't the only episode. 

One evening, earlier this week, I sent the 6 year old and the 4 year old to change into pajamas before bed.  I was in the living room, and I could hear their very un-quiet voices from their rooms down the hall.  I heard the boy "whisper" to the girl, "Hey!  I just farted! (hehehehe)."  Without even trying to whisper, the girl responded, "I just farted too!" (more giggles from both).  Then the boy had an astounding idea.  "I have a gweat idea!  Let's have a FART SHOW!!"

Here is the strange dynamic in our house.  This sort of thing is right along the lines of the crass humor that surrounded me growing up with 4 older brothers and no sisters.  I think it's hilarious.  The man was brought up in a much more classy environment.  I guess it embarrasses him.  The adult in me wants to rise to his level, but the kid in me is still laughing about the idea of a fart show.

we've all had a nasty cold...

My children brought me a cold home from school.  (What a wonderful gift).  Everyone caught it.  And I'm not going to pretend that I kept the world spinning while everyone was laid up in bed.  I took a lot if ibuprofen and drank tea.  I was grumpy.  My poor man went out and worked every day like normal.  The youngest slept more than usual.  No one had a fever so we all continued going to school.  We had more take-out than we should, I got behind on laundry, and the house looks like a bomb.  Now that I'm feeling mostly better, I'm taking what energy I have to clean the house, room by room.  I hope I can get all the living spaces cleaned before the first parts are trashed again.

for whom the phone rings

My eldest has been having issues at school.  Mostly, she's having a hard time keeping her mouth shut, staying on task, and switching modes.  She handles disappointment fine, it's unexpected events that really throw her off. 

Anyway, lately,  every time the phone rings during the day, I'm afraid it's her teacher.  It's not that I don't want to work it out, I just don't know what to do.  I called my mom and asked her, she didn't have any advice, just a lot of empathy.

I'm trying to give the oldest goals and utilize positive re-enforcement.  I am hoping that this will encourage her to behave better.  

Daylight savings...

Note for the future:  When you have a child who likes to get herself up in the morning with her own alarm clock, make sure that clock gets set back for DLS too.  Otherwise you will have cheerful children bounding into your room at 5:30 AM just like it's Christmas.  When do I start getting that extra hour of sleep again?

night time insurrection

The family is miseriable with everyone infected with a cold.  The youngest was the first to show symptoms, and she doesn't seemt o be getting better yet. 

The man has been sleeping in the TV room for the past few nights so he can sleep more upright in the recliner and breathe better.  This gives me the whole bed and I can fall asleep to relaxing music instead of the car chases and explosions on TV.  BUT, the boy has been coming down to my room for the past 2 nights, claming nightmares and climbing into bed with me.  I think he senses that the man is not there defending the territory.

So instead of the tossing and turning and snoring and the TV to keep me from peacefully resting, I have the jumping and playing and chattering in my ear, and his obsession with playing with my hair.

Tonight, I am considering hiding.  The girls love it when I sleep over in their room.  I would be close-by if the toddler needed me, and the boy never thinks to look for me in there.

And with DLST coming up, I might actually get to "sleep-in" for an hour!

Halloween Candy Politics

Many parents have different attitudes about Trick or Treating.  I can't say what's right or wrong, only what is right for us.  We trick or treat in our own neighborhood.  There is about 1-2 houses per street that give out candy.  It's rude to leave your porch light on between 5 and 9PM on Oct 31st, and even more rude to decorate for Halloween if you don't give out candy.  Just saying.

(I will say my parents only let us Trick or Treat in our house.  My dad gave out the tootsie rolls from the bathroom and thought it was hilarious.  - - I don't like tootsie rolls)

But this isn't about to trick or treat or NOT to trick or treat.  This is about the politics of it all, and the the taxation.  There are several different types:

The Candy Communism:  After Trick-or-treating is over, all the candy is dumped into a community bowl/bag/box and shared among all.

The Candy Capitalism: Kids hoard the candy they like most, trying to make savvy trades with the candy they don't like.

The Candy Democracy: The candy-rich make donations to the candy-poor.  Like when there is a sick sibling who couldn't go trick-or-treating, the well children donate to the sick kid.  Many people let their candy-rich kids take their candy to school to share with their friends.  (I loved this as a kid because I actually had a chance to get candy I liked). 

The Candy Republic: My friend says he took candy from the poor kids and gave it to the rich kids in hopes that they would create jobs.  I don't think that works so well; BUT, taking all of the candy as parents and making the kids do chores to earn the candy (that already belongs to them, ha ha ha!) might be a logical option.

The Candy Anarchy:  Kids get to eat all of their candy whenever they want.  Usually dieting moms who want the candy-temptation gone ASAP.

The Candy Dictatorship:  Parents do not freely give the children the candy.  Their kids eat granola and fruit.  These kids are usually healthier than their counterparts, but it seems that they are no less hyper.

The Hidden Candy Tax:  Parents wait until the children are in bed, then go through and take the stuff that they like.


What do we do?  A little bit of it all.  It's candy anarchy/capitalism on Halloween night.  We share with the kid who is too little or grounded from the fun in a nice, democratic way,  then comes the hidden tax.  The next day or so, it's a candy republic.  Eventually it all gets dumped into a community bowl, and after a few weeks I discretely get rid of it all.  Because really, if it's lasted a few weeks, no body really wants it.


mmm... chocolate!