Hair Cut

We (or I should say Kevin) cuts all of the boys hair. It's pretty easy with the clippers and it seems logical and frugal and time saving.

Sometimes, the tools get left out. Last haircut the clippers were still plugged in and Ben got them and I yanked them out of his little hands before any damage was done. THIS time everything was uplugged (and still on the bathroom counter.)

The Damage:

The Fix:

The Lesson:

Always put the clippers up high, out of reach, and out of sight immediately upon finishing hair cuts.

Also, Ben is still cute even when he's bald.

Another Blast From the Past

Yesterday I was dealing with some major nap time madness of the variety which takes the 2 year old 2 hours to finally fall asleep. I was irritable and frustrated because I need Ben to nap so I can stay sane get anything done around here.



As I tried to remember what Eric and Mark were like at roughly the same ages Zack and Ben are I initially thought it was so.much.easier. Then I had a flash of memory that made me crack up at my selective memory. Oh, the things I repress!

One day, in our house in Georgia I put two small boys in their beds for naps. This was before Eric started PreK, and he was still technically napping, although obviously not well, so I'm going to say they were 2 and 3. Things were fairly quiet and I was happy that I won the naptime battle without an actual battle. Score one for Mommy! Only, then I went out to check the mail and heard voices. Being slightly slow, I wandered back inside wondering why I could hear them so well when they were in their room. I puzzled it over for just a second and stepped back outside. I can laugh about what I saw now. Then it scared the life out of me. My two and three year old boys had opened their bedroom window, pushed the screen out and climbed right OUT. There they sat, between the house and the shrub playing with toys they had brought out.

Sigh. This is when we learned about these alarms that were so loud that the kids were too scared to open the window! We've recently put this on the garage door since Kevin decided a hook and eye would be annoying. Something about wanting to be able to get in the house when he gets home from work.

Yes, this reminds me that they also were once crazy toddlers and I made it through that stage with them. Maybe I'll survive this too.

More Reasons My Nerves Are Shot

1. Re Potty Training. My child is going to be four in four and a half months and we just keep having issues. I should KNOW how to get through to him. And yet...So, I'm pretending like I haven't potty trained him yet and starting over. Again.

2. Big kids fighting. That's just self explanatory. I have a pretty high tolerance level for chaos (good thing since our family tends to be a teeny bit chaotic!), but an insanely low tolerance for bickering and picking at each other. Can't.stand.it.

3. And this is the biggie. Ben learned a new thing this week. He got into the garage (without me knowing) and the first I knew of it I heard the garage door go up. I ran out there and caught him just before he got to the street. Since he figured out that trick I've been making sure to lock both the door to the garage (which he can unlock but it's difficult and thus sometimes a deterrent), and also lock up the van IN the garage (which annoys me to no end for some reason.) On Wednesday I slipped and forgot to do this. I went to the bathroom and came back and didn't see Ben. I decided to peek out in the garage just in case and the door was wide open, and no baby. I freaked out and started screaming his name. I'm sure I looked like a nut, but fortunately I don't think anyone saw me. I ran a few houses down looking for him, then turned to home to figure out what to do. I shouted his name one more time, nearing panic, ready to call 911 for help and start knocking on neighbor's doors to help me look. And there he was. Standing at the entrance to the garage, looking at me like I had lost my mind. Little does he know how close he is to being correct. I haven't forgotten to lock that damn door since.

From My Childhood

Often I shake my head and wonder if the things my kids do are NORMAL or if I should worry when they do crazy things. Some of my favorite moments are when I see someone else's kid act squirrelly, or do something silly, or drive their Momma nuts. I know, that sounds so evil, but really it's just a matter of "Oh thank goodness it's not just my kids!" That feeling of not being the only one in the boat is a huge relief!

Recently, my 2nd cousin (hi Pam!) emailed me because she was remembering something my little brother did when he and I were kids.

I think I was about 13 which would have made him about 7. Eric will be 7 very soon. It's hard to remember my brother being that age. We were home alone and I was supposed to be keeping an eye on him. I vaguely remember trying to read and he was driving me a little crazy. I clearly remember him putting a shoe in the microwave and it did nothing. (One of MY shoes by the way!) I think at that point I went to my room and kept reading. It NEVER occurred to me that he would put something else in the microwave. Something else being the television remote control. Suddenly he ran to me saying the microwave was SPARKING and I went and sure enough, craziness in the microwave. I opened the door and soon realized the remote control no longer functioned. When mom and dad got home, I played cool like I thought the remote just needed batteries, not mentioning the incident. I sincerely was hoping and maybe even praying that it would work. Okay, so my knowledge of electronics maybe wasn't great. I let my parents go to the store, buy batteries, and only when that didn't work did we fess up to the microwave incident. To the best of my memory the microwave still worked... we got a new remote control. I only slightly remember getting in trouble for LYING (by omission, but still...) I'm sure some punishment was enforced but I can't recall what it was.

I do remember that when Jason was questioned WHY he did such a strange thing he answered "because when I put the shoe in it didn't do anything." That's little boy logic if I've ever heard it!

I share this story because, although it wasn't particularly funny back then, it is hilarious now. Frightening, too, because I have to go through 7 year old boyhood FOUR times!!!

Sometimes Maddening... But Mostly Funny

I've been wracking my brain lately. The boys seemingly have fewer and fewer and fewer clothes, pairs of socks, undies. Now, I do laundry every.single.day. Usually two loads a day. The rules of our house entail children putting their dirty laundry in a hamper, preferably the downstairs hamper, OR the washing machine (in the event that it is empty) on a daily basis. If you are a parent you surely know how often this rule is followed. Rarely. Several times a week I send them upstairs to collect alllllll of their dirties and bring them to me.. I even let them "throw them overboard" from upstairs to down as an added incentive to actually do it. Despite all of this we still have this problem of where the heck are all of their clothes. I have no pants, I have no underwear, and I want to pull my hair out because I just washed it! Eric's cubscout tee shirt... missing. We have three school tee shirts to wear on Fridays (only two kids going to school SURELY out of three we can come up with two, right?) and this morning we could only find one. It's been driving me insane.

This morning while I was hunting for socks, Mark says "Hey momma, there's clothes in the cooler!" (This probably requires the explanation that much of our camping gear is stored in Mark's closet) I looked at him funny. "I couldn't find my hamper so I've been putting it in the cooler instead."

This explains SO much!!!

SPY!!

I always say I wish I had a way to monitor the house at night to see exactly when the boys are up in the morning because they no longer come straight to me. Mark is the earliest riser and there are many mornings I know he's up before six, but I also suspect it could be even earlier.

Take Sunday night, for example. I woke up to a thud. Not a loud thud, mind you but it was obvious somebody was up. Kevin got up and caught Mark had gotten into the pantry and was opening up the marshmallow fluff I had bought at the grocery store. He actually had the inside seal partly open. This was at 4:20 am.

I don't know what he would have done if we had not heard him. Consume the entire jar of fluff? Turn on the TV and watch cartoons until an hour that would have been acceptable to be awake. These are the things I am dying to know.

Kevin and I have been talking about ways to solve our night time dilemma for awhile. We strongly believe that Mark is sleep deprived, leading to many of the cranky behaviors we see in him. So on Sunday afternoon Kevin discovered that our web cam has a motion detector video setting. Meaning we could set it up to record any time there is motion in the house when we have it turned on. It saw Mark walk down the stairs and go straight to the pantry. Unfortunately, it also caught on tape (errrrr, or rather the hard drive) Eric getting up and wrapping himself in the couch blanket and sleeping on the couch. As well as Ben going to my room and back up the stairs several times. Ben actually spent quite a bit of time in my bed, but I didn't realize he was up and down so often.

The only downsides to the video thing is that unless we wake up from the noise they make (and they are typically very sneaky!) we will not know until morning, also there is no way to tell what time the "action" occurred. To me the time is more important than watching their ornery little selves bound up and down the stairs.

However, we have a plan to solve the issue. We can just put a clock radio on the kitchen table at night and it will show the time for every little video clip.

Once we have an idea of how many times and which little boys are up in the night we will be able to find ways to keep them in their beds until an acceptable hour. At least that is my hope.

Who knew parenthood would turn us to spy tactics and surveillance? I surely did not.

Notice little boy in the lower right. Now he has a nice bed. If you can answer the question WHY? I'll be eternally grateful.

School Vacation Day One: The Pickle Jar

Yesterday was going pretty well. We got up and did our usual morning routine at a slightly slower pace, and then went to the gym. Things were going great! Not much fighting, I was feeling pretty calm about the things that weren't going well (and this is really the key, I've learned) and I started to think about lunch. Mark wanted pb & j, Eric a cheese sandwich. They have to want opposite things every single choice, but I was okay with it. Grilled cheese and pb & j it is! Everyone is happy. Then they started talking sides and they wanted pickles. We had just bought a huge, ginormous jar of pickles at Sams so I got it out and put it on the counter. I opened the fridge and got some leftovers out for me, and cheese for the grilled cheese. I turned around and before I could put the stuff down...

CRASH!! Glass breaking, Zack crying. Zack was bleeding so I went into crisis mode. I cleaned him up and upon seeing his finger thought he'd need stitches. I also thought I'm no doctor and maybe I'm wrong. I hoped for the latter, but started gearing up for a long afternoon in the ER.

Thank goodness for friends! I called my friend to see if she could come sit with the boys. To be honest I was first going to ask her if she could come tell me if I was overreacting or not, but then the amount of blood coming from his finger told me I needed medical help.Thank goodness for Mark, who when I shouted "Someone bring me the first aid kit!" ran and got it right away. Thank goodness for my neighbor who came over until my friend could get here. Which was seriously 5 minutes, but I couldn't think about anything except getting out that door and to a place that could help my buddy.

My older kids were on my not so nice list (watch out, it's not too late to call Santa!) as I walked out the door and they were both in tears because I wouldn't let them eat the pickles that were on the floor, amidst glass and Zack's blood. I left with one behind the couch, and the other in a puddle of tears. About PICKLES!! Nevermind the fact that their brother was going to get stitches. Clearly we need to work on compassion and not being total selfish little brats. I usually don't call my kids names ESPECIALLY on the blog, but Selfish Little Brats fits nicely in this case.

Long story short (and it was a looooooong time in the ER) he now has 3 stitches in his middle finger and some dermabond on his other hand. He'll be all better soon.

So, first day of Christmas Break... survived. But not by much. We'll see what day 2 brings. Hopefully lots of quiet, peace and loving sweet children who play for hours without fighting. Hey, I can dream.

On My Shopping List

On my shopping list for today:

Toilet seat locks - it seems Ben has discovered what the toilet is for, however still likes to paddle in it. Ew. I've had other kids that liked to play in the potty, but I could just shut the door. He opens the door, and if I put a gate up he climbs it.

Something to make it so Ben can't turn on the water faucets. He climbs on the toilet and then on the counter and turns on the water. I have nightmares of him flooding the bathroom while I sleep. I only say this because when I woke up this morning with him on the bathroom counter and the water running. Luckily I got there before any messes were made or kids drowned, but I don't think I'll always be so lucky. Anyone know if this kind of child proof device exists? They are just the regular round handles.

Looking into getting the "Mark detector" back out and re-dubbing it the "Ben detector."

Flashback... Mark's always been an early riser. When he and Eric were 2 and 3 and Zack was just a wee little baby Mark used to like to play "camping." Unfortunately this entailed taking the contents of the fridge outside into their little play fort. We finally did get a lock for our sliding door that was way up high so they could not get out, but Mark found more mischief to get into. True to personality, Eric was happy to participate, but also happy to announce "It was Mark's idea." Finally, I decided the root of the problem was when he woke up he never came and got me, so I would wake up when the craziness escalated past an acceptable point. So Kevin made a little alarm for Mark's door. It went off as soon as he left his room, so I could get up and keep both eyes on the boys. I think it's time to revisit this technique.

I'm off to take boys to school and then to the doctor to find out what is wrong with my foot. I don't remember hurting it but it HURTS.

Methinks the Twos Might Be Terrible

Ben is an individual. He has such an opinion about everything and it's a teensy bit hard to manage sometimes. He's in an age with almost no impulse control, and it's hard to enforce the rules amongst his SHRIEKING.

He's gaining words daily, though he still does not have very many. However, NO, he has down, and uses it very often and emphatically.

Recently, we were at a friend's house and he was sitting in a chair. Zack tried to get in the chair with him and Ben put both arms out and declared "NO" with a kind of growl like I've never heard out of such a little guy. I couldn't stop laughing

Last night I was bathing him and he ripped the wash cloth out of my hand and declared "NO!" His eyes said the rest "I'll do it myself thanks so much!" Then, it was even worse when I was trying to get him out of the tub. "NONONONONO," complete with kicking and screaming. Ay yi yi.

As I was getting his diaper on it was "Go WAY, go WAY" Now, we aren't 100 % certain that he is actually saying go away but it sure does sound like it. However, he'll often walk through the house saying in a sing songy voice "goooo way, go way, go waaaay" as if he's trying out the phrase. Where on earth did he come up with that? Anyway, after the angry tirade of "go away" I got an even angrier (more angry?) chant of "No NO NO NO" as I put him in his pajamas.

If this is 20 (and a half) months I'm not sure what I'm in for when he's actually two.

Ben Loved the Cake Too

Ben's birthday cake was a bit of a fiasco. And not in the cute one year old dive into the cake with gusto sort of way. I had put these sprinkles on the cake. Cute little star sprinkles. He even had his own small cake to destroy and make a huge mess with. I have no doubt that he would have loved it. Except, those star sprinkles... he choked a little on one and wanted nothing to do with the cake after that. In fact he just cried. So we were done with the cake festivities. He made up for it with Zack's cake.

Yum!


Mom, this is SO good!


And then when his was all gone, he went to check out the brother's leftovers.


Everyone else enjoyed the cake too, but no one was as enthusiastic (or messy) as Ben.

Keeping Me on My Toes

Ben has an unhealthy obsession with the garage right now. Actually he has quite a few dangerous interests these days. As mentioned in previous posts, the toilet. Of course, he can't just splash in it, he wants to be in it. He puts things in it too. All the other boys have been told to make sure the bathroom door is closed, but oh yeah, wait, Ben can open doors.

Next major annoyance thing is he has this need to be on top of things. The table, the stepstool (if it gets left out), the couch, living room end tables, just whatever his little legs can climb him to the top of. Which is a lot of things really. Yesterday I caught him sitting on the back of the couch. My first thought was "WHO put him up there?" And then I got him down and watched for a minute and realized, he got up there himself. And was really quite happy about it. It was really cute all except for the possibility of his head cracking against the tile down there. So, I spent the rest of the afternoon pulling him off.

Alternating, of course, with getting him out of the garage. I think I need more of these little things.

I confess that in spite of the fear all of these adventures cause me, I love it (all except the toilet stuff... that is just gross). I don't "allow" it in the interest of keeping him safe. It is cute and terrifying all at once.

Some Random Thoughts

Before we headed out for the free movie today, I wanted to post some random stuff. None of it ties together at all, but here it is.



Yesterday morning, I woke up and Mark and Zack were the only ones up. Mark wanted to play on the patio and I said "heck yea!" I checked on them a few minutes later and there was PEE on my patio. I asked "WHAT is this?" And Mark said "I just had to pee really bad!" I know this is a pretty common boy thing to do, but it's a first for us. Pee goes in the potty people! Is it really that hard?



Zack sees a paper with letters on it or a book and says "I read it" and then says "A... B... C..." today he saw a paper with words and a picture of an eagle. He says "A...B...C... bird!" Funny stuff!



Mark Complains about pretty much everything.



Ben, who I haven't posted a picture of lately, is getting tooooooo big. He's my sweet, busy boy and those cheeks sure are kissable!

We are off to our free movie and I'm leaving with this thought... Is a movie still free if it costs the mom her sanity? I guess we'll find out.