Dream Job

I am up for the sake of being up with nothing else demanding my time, energy or focus after a really really busy week. I worked myself blind this week doing three GNOs, a Girl Scout meeting and a marketing event. We've been to Stroller Strides twice, spend one afternoon at the zoo, Sammy's learned to read several new words, Aidan drew a cow, Noah chose his favorite animal, I've run a cumulative of 10 miles this week. Today I worked an eight hour day (in two shifts) out of the house, in addition to being up at 5:30 am, walking the dog, making breakfast, prepping lunch, and loving the stink out of my boys.

I'm feeling gratified, tired and motivated. I'm unbelievable grateful for being able to be a stay-at-home mom. Those boys would have to just get along without pants. It is still socially unacceptable for me to be without them. There would just not be enough time to do all the laundry that just bearly gets done as things are. So if I had to squeeze in laundry before 8am and after 6pm, somebody would have to do without pants. Sorry boys!!

Being out of the house all this morning, I assumed that the boys would neither notice or really care. After nap, Sammy, who has been known to flat out ignore me in the interest of giving Daddy all of his love and attention, curled up in my lap and said, "Mommy, I missed missed missed you. I was wishing you would read me a train story. You weren't here." That noise you hear is my heartstrings going flat from all the tugging.

So at the end of this week, at the end of this month, I am so glad that my little home-based business is growing. Today reminded me of why. And it's not because of the pants.

Fiona Murphy Wonderlich

At 4:33 am on Saturday March 25, Molly & Chris welcomed their daughter, Fiona Murphy Wonderlich ("Finn") to the world. She was a healthy 8 lbs, 13 oz. (!!!) and 21 inches long. All is well and they couldn't be any happier!

Love all!!!

Calling All....

.....aspiring runners/joggers/walkers!

The weather is turning.

I'm really going to try to get my jiggle jiggling in the early a.m. (like 6am) and occassionally at night.

If you are interested in a jog around Delaware Park either Monday or Wednesday a.m. or both, let me know. If you are up for a short evening run, Rocky and I like running for about 20 minutes after the kids go to bed.

So as not to spend another season bitching about the roll hanging over the pants and junk in the trunk, I'm trying to do something, anything everyday. If you want to join in, yes please! If you want company any other time, I'm probably game. Give me a call!!

Ms. Norline and today's Shainela day

This is Ms. Norline's last week as the head teacher of Sammy's class. When I first told him that she was leaving, he was crushed. He told us he was purple for the rest of the day. I think he's ok with it now. Everytime he's put crayon to paper this week, he's said, "this picture is for Ms. Norline." He even suggested that of the scribble he made on the MagnaDoodle.

He was particularly goofy when he got home from school. He told me that he was the only boy in the pool, that it was just Sammy and Ms. Norline in the Shainela room, that as the line leader he didn't take the class anywhere. Suddenly he got very serious and said, "Ms Norline choose Sammy for the line leader." He glowed and was so proud of himself.

I asked him about the other helpers. He said, "we have a silly name for one of the helpers. Sometimes we don't call the weather helper. Today Orli got to be the Meaty Us Oligis."

Whooops!

I was going to entitle this "Surrender", but I think I already have a post called that.

I really think Sammy was relatively easy to potty train because we were home all the time and I was pregnant and could park my roundness on the bathroom floor, reading for hours.

Aidan and Noah are interested in the potty. But finding the time and focus is so difficult. Sammy wants M&Ms everytime they walk past the bathroom. When one of them does pee, it is like punishment for the other who doesn't get the Ms. Sam needs to be in there all the time, calling the shots. Which books to read. Which songs to sing. And did I mention the constant requests for M&Ms. Our bathroom is not all that big and you put four people in there...even if three of them are pint-sized...and it is tight. And forget about giving any attention to our reason for being there!

I think I need to hang up the seats for a few months.

Or years.

Or until I hear, "Mom, I'd like to use the big potty since they don't allow diapers on the varsity team."

Outsmarted

When I am coming in or out of the house with everybody, I usually do it in steps. When we are getting ready to go, I bring what I can to the bottom of the stairs, then bring the boys to the car, then go back and get the paraphrenalia from inside the door. Coming back in, I shuttle stuff inside the door, then get the boys. The idea is that they are always safe and within eyesight. This method backfires when they are within eyesight, but behind the glass door on which Sam can work the deadbolt.

Ode to the Geeks

Scott blogged painlessly the solution to Cecilia's physics problem and I just figured out how to insert a link in my blog!

Good luck with the Physics, Ceil! You too will be a card carrying geek soon!

Overheard

Things you may have heard in our presence lately:

Sam:
"1-2-3-7-4-9-3-6" (teaching his brothers to count)
"Do I have crazy hair?"
"When can I ride in a helicopter?"

Me:
"Please stop throwing yourself on your head."
"Don't lick your brother."
"NO, putting things in your nose is not funny."

z-y-x...

To give Sammy something to do while walking the mall, virtually my only source of exercise in this dismal weather, I usually ask him to find all the letters in his name. We can also count a particular letter. Occassionally we'll try to find the entire alphabet.

Last week, we decided we'd go for the full alphabet. As a joke, I said, "do you want to do it forward or backwards?" He was feeling saucy and said, "backwards." "What are we going to look for first?" He says, "Z, then Y, the X, W,V, U." pause "T, S, R, Q"

This is how it continued. In reverse order right through to A!

I rarely indulge in bragging, but he's not even four and recited the alphabet in reverse!!!

The first time I did that was at 20 and I was, shall we say, not sober.

cat, dog, whoever.

Noah was around the corner, out of our sightline, yelling, "TAAAAT"...."TAAAAAT". I peeked over to see what he was doing. He was holding one kernel of cat food in an outstretch hand, calling Isabelle, the cat. Isabelle had run down the stairs to get away from the demon thing.

I gently explained to Noah that it was ok, Isabelle would eat when she was hungry. He immediately walked over to Rocky, the dog, and fed him the cat's nugget. Then went right back for another piece to reward the pet that was playing his game.

Any day now!

My dear friend Molly is due with her daughter today. She's bearing down on the tough waiting part. Send her some love and know that this picture was taken yesterday! How great does she look?!?!

Big kisses (mwah mwah!!!) to Miss Molly, Daddy Chris and la nouvelle bebe!

Clutter

I had a friend whose mom would indiscriminately throw stuff out. He’d leave a newspaper article folder on the coffee table. Gone. Receipt from a recently purchased shirt. Tossed. Brochure on, well, anything. Out. Car keys. In their appropriate place, but not on the kitchen table. He’d go looking for his mail and ask her about it. She’d never deny it, but would guiltlessly explain that she didn’t think it was anything.

I thought it to be an odd habit. Until recently. I now find myself heaping kid stuff together to clean it up, making a mountain of books, bin of trains, bin of Little People, parking lot of cars and pile of garbage. I no longer find all the pages of the little books, sort the crayons, etc. I healthily, happily purge the bits and pieces of kid’s toys and puzzles that have no matches, components, completions or otherwise apparent purpose.

I figure that if the toys don’t have all their parts, they’ll never really be played with again. So the purging is in fact necessary. Really who can blame me when in my bathroom alone, there’s four kids books, a 10 of spades, two buttons, the crayon formerly known as flesh, a stuffed dog, and the BC alumni magazine.

Suddenly I see myself 15 years from now, fishing through pockets for unimportant items just to proactively intervene against pending clutter. In the meantime, I am wrought with piles of mail, little weapons with no warriors, a trail of legos that would make Hansel proud and masterpieces just waiting to be made if only the markers, coloring books, crayons and water colors were in one place.

Sam's just funny

I told Sam we were going to "W Kids" (the playground in the grocery store). He said, "OK. But I'm an S Kid"

At the zoo, he was counting off for the polar bear about to jump in the water, "one-two-three- GO" The funniest part is the bear jumped. Then he told the other one, "Mister! Mister! Mister Polar Bear! Go get in the water with your friend. He's having fun in the water!"

He made up a song about cheese.

He told me, while his brothers were wearing red and blue coats respectively, that he was going to hold the red one's hand.

Keeps a cup of water with a terrycloth frog in it in the bathroom. He checks on it, feeds it, talks to it and plays with it. [we do have a dog]

In the middle of a walk, turned to me to say, "A rickshaw has more wheels than the tricycle in 'Vroom vroom on the Doe' [which is actually Vroom Vroom on the Go a book that goes with his Leap Pad]

As only a three year old can, he talked to the baby giraffe, called him by name and said good-bye when we were leaving.

Started a knock-knock joke. I played my part with "who's there?" He evidently forgot the rest and said, "SAMMY"

Above Water

This may or may not have a solid point, just a serious gripe.

After a minor leak turned into a major plumbing project, I got everyone out of the way to my mom's for the weekend, leaving Scott to deal with it and Mikey & Lisa to have to live with all of it. The house was a mess when I left and it's worse now. There are easily 6 loads of clean, albeit unfolded laundry, toys everywhere, foot tubs to wash, a winter's worth of dog crap on the front lawn (and it's getting warm), a fridge full of leftovers with no hope of a good dinner in its folds. There are live piles of dirt around my house. I have a freakishly discolored front tooth. My brown hair is the color of the offensiveness on the front lawn. I walked in the door with 6 bags, not including the grocery bags, to unload and put away. I had two voicemails from consultants on my team.

I don't know what to do first. At least I didn't. The twins went to work on Sam's trains which they'd been away from for three days. The kitchen is clean and I think I want to just take a book in there and ignore the rest of it!!! BUT I MUST do wash, the twins favorite blankets have, we'll just call it wetness.

I've got a consultant to launch tomorrow and another consultant launching her first recruit. They are promising. It is exciting. I couldn't be happier for them. I'm really happy to see the team growing. I have no time to talk to anyone right now.

Next I'm off to scoop poop. I'm scheduling in folding/hanging laundry for after the boys go to bed and I can have some wine to dull the ache in my neck while straining to reach the top of the pile.

Like there isn't enough to bitch about, now I hear that South Dakota and Mississippi are out there restricting access to abortions! Just when I thought my head was going to be above water.

Go Fish

Normally I am ethical and honest. When it comes to children's games, I'm as slippery as they come. If I can shorten a game of Candyland, I'll switch the cards when he's not paying attention so he won't get the cursed candy cane that sends him all the way back to the beginning. Or as I did today, I will fudge things to make sure I don't wollop him twice in a row.

Today we were playing Go Fish. My first hand: 1-1-4-7-7. Sam's first hand: 2-4-8-9-10
In other words, I win....quickly.

The second hand was similar. In other words, I was going to end up with one card to which he had the match. So when it was my turn, I lied....ok I admit it...I lied and asked for a 2. He didn't have a 2 and nor did I.

Well about 10 turns later, he pulls a 2 and happily announces, "I have a 2 just like you, Mommy. Can I have your 2?" I said, "oh, where is my 2? Hmmm, I don't know where it is?" "You had one, Mommy? Let me check your hand."

busted.

Monkey See

Sammy wants so badly to have attention. Sammy wants so badly to be with his brothers. Sammy wants so badly to be left alone. Sammy is three and a half. It's an on-going quandry.

I try whenever I am able to give Sam devoted attention and some solitude; I try to sit and read with him alone, play a game or just hang out with him.

In the midst of all this I also try to give Aidan and Noah individual attention, help them all foster relationships with each other and still not govern every interaction they have. Whew, just writing that makes me want a cup of coffee.

So that is our day-to-day in a nutshell. Aidan and Noah want to do what Sam does. Aidan and Noah want to be where Sam is. Aidan and Noah want to have what Sam has. Aidan and Noah say what Sam says. Sam likes to screech at the top of his lungs. Aidan and Noah always chime in. From time to time, he lets one of these glass-shatterers rip in the car. I try to remind, encourage and command him to stop since I'm convinced that one day I will swerve off the road because of it. The larger problem is that once he's done it once, I've got Monkey See and Monkey Do chiming in and not stopping. I often encourage him in all sorts of behaviors by telling him that he to set a good example. Sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn't. But it is another way to reinforce without lots of telling him what to do.

Well, during one of these screaming episodes, I told Sam to knock it off, the boys kicked in. A few seconds later, Sam screeched again. I said, "Sam, stop." He said, "Mommy, the boys are setting aren't setting a good example for me."