Favorite Age

I was reading through some other mommyblogs and ran across one who was asking people to comment on what their favorite age of their children was. Of course I probably wouldn't be able to find it again to post a comment on that blog, but it made me think about it.

There's no easy answer to that one. They are all my favorite age :) My first "quippy" response would have been up to a month old - because they're sleeping most of the time ;) but of course that's not true. It's actually the most boring time because they're not really doing much but sleeping (and eating and pooping). Of course it's the most miraculous time - you are busy just watching them, checking them out, amazed at how tiny they are (even if it's your second, you just don't remember your first being that small) at how beautiful they are.

I have loved every age my children have been. You might think someone would say that those toddler years were not their favorite because of behavior issues or the frustration of that age. But really, every day he is adding new words, new phrases, new abilities. And it's all so very exciting. Of course his behavior is atrocious at times, but what toddler's isn't? In reality, those times when he's being cute totally outweigh the times when he's hurling his toys across the room at me :)

I just feel really lucky that he's not too attached to his toys, as most small children are. The couple of times we've been visiting family out of town, my niece is really bad at sharing her toys (because she's 2! aren't they all at that age?). Everything my son picks up yields shrieks of "that's mine." My son will just give it to her and find something else. He's had virtually no experience at sharing his toys. But I'm sure that if she were visiting us, my son wouldn't care what she played with. He plays like that at home, from one toy to the next in two seconds flat. The times that I've taken him to a playgroup, he's never fought over a toy - if someone wants what he's got, he gives it to them w/out any hesitation. I find that completely amazing. I expected that he would be right there with the other kids fighting over toys.
**edits

There's only been one time where he's shown an attachment to a toy. We were in the waiting room at the car dealership while they gave our car an oil change. They had some really lame old toys. When we were ready to leave, he had this wooden fire truck. I told him it was time to go and he clutched that fire truck to his chest and I had to pry it out of his hands and explain to him that it wasn't his and we had to leave it there.

Part of me really wanted to take it. It was something he really wanted, and he'd never expressed that kind of interest in a toy before. But I knew that there was no way I could let him take it. Sure it was old and stupid and they probably wouldn't have missed it - and he so desperately wanted it! But I couldn't do it for many reasons. First of all it would have been wrong. I would never knowingly steal something. Secondly, it would send my son the wrong message. He needs to know that a person can't just take things they want. Thirdly, it would have set a precedent. He would think that he could take a toy from wherever whenever he wanted. Can't have that! ;)

Anyway, back to the favorite age... haven't met one yet that's not my favorite :) so far they are so adorable at every age. Baby B is now a little over 5 months. She's rolling and scooting all over the place! She's going to be crawling soon! And she is soooo smiley and happy! Baby smiles and laughs are the best things in the world!!! :)

Bad start to the day

:( I feel so bad. for about the 5th-7th time this school year my daughter has almost gotten on the school bus without my saying goodbye to her. I just barely got up in time to tell her to have a good day before her bus came. The bus comes at about 5 after 7. So early. I always try to get up by 6:30am, as that's usually when she comes down to get ready.

School started for the year about 2 weeks after I had baby B. I was really bad about getting up that first week. But I don't think there's ever been a day when I haven't at least said goodbye quick before M got on the bus.

She would probably rather I didn't get up ;) she's pretty independent. She'd rather do it all herself. She probably hates it when I get up right away and make her change clothes ;) she will try to wear the same jeans all week. try to wear t-shirts on below zero days... and she will wear the worst clothes she owns to school (and then wear her good/decent clothes on the weekends when we aren't going anywhere!) Yesterday I almost made her change clothes. She was wearing this t-shirt over a long sleeved shirt that looked like a dress. I told her that, and she said it was supposed to be that way, it was a shirt she got from the D.A.R.E. program at school and they ordered them big for some reason (I think she was making that part up but?)... how can I not let her wear it to school? So I didn't make her go change...

Since that first week of school I've been pretty good about getting up. There's only been a few times, like when the little ones were sick and up all night - or the few times that D has been particularly restless in his sleep or gotten up at 2am and not gone back to sleep until 5... Those times I've flown out of bed at 7am, realizing what time it was, and rushed out to say goodbye to her.

Anyway, I can hardly wait to see what she's wearing when she gets home from school.

Ahhh. Back from Travelling

Ever travelled over 400 miles with an infant, toddler, 10 year old, husband and wiener dog? It's not the most desirable thing in the world.

One hour into our trip 2 things happened. The baby pooped all the way through her clothes. Luckily I was nursing her at the time, so no spoilage on the car seat. And thankfully I had packed an extra outfit in the easily reachable diaper bag (but only one, so I was really hoping it wouldn't happen again!)

The second thing was that it started snowing big time. We knew that they were predicting snow, so we were prepared to drive the distance in snow. We just thought that most of the snow would be somewhere in the middle of our trip. It lasted from the first hour until the last hour. So we had 2 hours (of an 8 hour drive) of snow free driving.

Very shortly after our first stop (an hour into the trip) the baby had a meltdown and I ended up having to climb in back and sit between the two car seats for the rest of the trip. That was so not comfortable. But every time things seemed to be under control and I would think about going back up front, things would start to get hairy again.

I don't know which is worse. Dueling meltdowns or when they take turns having meltdowns...

At least on the drive home I was able to sit in the front seat for the first three hours! :) But it always seems to take much longer to get home...more breakdowns (of course you don't want to say "breakdowns" or "blowouts" when talking about a road trip... I made the mistake of telling my mother that we had a couple of "blowouts" on our drive last time - of course she assumed I meant tires, when really I was talking about poop-throughs!).

I don't know if it's better to stop more or less often. They definately need a break from the car seat every now and then, but then they never want to get back in and you think it would have been better not to stop... we try to only stop a couple of times...

Now comes the part I really hate: coming home to a house in need of a cleaning :( the kitchen fairies did not come while we were gone... here it is 2 days later and I still haven't done the dishes or laundry, or unpacked... and it smells like something crawled into the fridge while we were gone and died. It probably doesn't help that I have some serious leftovers in there! Ugh. I guess that's what I'll start with, as I just don't want to open the fridge again...
More about the travels later...

Ugh!

Apparently my daughter M has been eating food off of other people's trays at lunch. The day before yesterday she started coughing and saying she had a sore throat. Yesterday baby B, who just had her 4 mos shots on Monday, woke up all congested!!! And toddler D has been sneezing. Last night I had a severe headache and beginning signs of congestion. This morning my husband woke up sick! And he has a job interview on Friday! Complete and total sucky timing!

We had rescheduled B's 4 mos appointment twice - once because we were picking up my step-daughter on that day for X-mas (that was the only day her mother could drive to meet us halfway), and the second time because she was sick - both of the little ones have just gotten over the last cold that M brought home from school. My husband and I are just both livid!

Why in the world is M eating off of other kids' trays at school??? As if we don't feed her! She probably tells kids at school that we don't feed her or something. She has eating issues. She is always hungry. She dreams about food. She asks for special things for breakfast before she goes to bed at night. Since she's gotten email in her room she has started emailing me to see what is for dinner.

When she first started spending time with us she would just eat and eat and eat. She could absolutely eat my husband under the table. She would eat anything and everything. She would have seconds, thirds, and sometimes fourths. She was quite skinny. There must have been food issues where she had been living. Essentially, she was living with a step-father and her younger brother and sister. I know that she was never given money for lunch and would have to eat peanut butter and jelly for lunch everyday.

Fairly soon after she moved in with us we had to start cutting her off after seconds because apparently she was vomiting quite a bit - we found vomit in her trash can in her room... She really hates being cut off after seconds, and will still always ask for more - especially if it's something she likes. She won't leave the table if there's still food on it. She is completely driven by food. When she has money, she spends it on food. She's been with us for over 4 years now, over half her life - she's never gone hungry, there's always been plenty of food - I would think she'd be over it by now. I just really hope that it doesn't follow her for the rest of her life. And I hope to God she stops eating leftovers off other kids' trays at school!!!

The Joys of Co-Sleeping

Last night our toddler, D, woke up at 1am. Talking to himself, pulling my hair, kicking my back... my husband had gone to sleep with his head opposite of us three (me, D and baby B), hoping to get some sleep. For some reason D had been pulling his hair and kicking him all night... last night he must have realized it was me he was pestering, so then he crawled down to the other end of the bed and snuggled in with the husband and then started pestering him - that was at about 3am... then he started really talking to himself, flapping his appendages everywhere and loudly chewing on his nails... I don't think he ever went back to sleep. As soon as I got up at 6:30am to get our daughter, M, up for school, he was right behind me...
...and boy has he been something else all day! His OCD has been going like wildfire! For an hour straight it was "mint, mint, mint, mint, mint." Then at dinner he remembered that last night we ran out of "juice in a box" and that's what he wanted tonight. "Juice in a box, juice in a box, juice in a box, juice in a box." He even took his nap today with no problems. He probably needed a longer nap. He usually isn't this bad unless he hasn't had his nap. And of course the baby had her 4-month shots today :*( and has been feeling yucky all day and night.

The House of (Control) Freaks

I am a control freak. I admit it. My husband is also a control freak (whether he admits it or not). Sometimes it can be quite frustrating. He thinks I should do things his way, I think he should do things my way... sometimes we really clash. But other times it brings us to the same page - we will agree on certain issues or we can have a great understanding between one another.

Regardless, it is something else that we have both passed down... to our toddler at least. That, or he's been paying too much attention to our 10-year-old daughter's behavior. She is also a control freak, to which I can not claim ownership over. She was a control freak when she came to live with us. She was my husband's niece before we adopted her. But whenever I tell her to do something it's always either "I was just going to do that," or "I knew you were going to tell me to do that," or "I know." And of course she will never do something without having to tell her, unless it's something you don't want her to do or she shouldn't be doing... or she's always racing me to do something.

My toddler has taken it upon himself to start yelling at himself. He is continually telling himself what to/not to do before I do. He'll climb on the couch and tell himself to get down - then he'll yell at himself to get down (I just know he's mocking me). He'll say "put straw bick in" before he takes the straw out of his juice box. "put arm bick in sweeve," "put stocks bick on," "keep shoes on," "no climin," "don't touch it," "don't twow it." It's a little on the wacky side, but in reality he's also telling on himself. He's letting me know when he's about to do something he shouldn't. Of course he continues to do it until I step in and reaffirm what he's just told himself.

New blogspot

I started this blog on blog.com at http://thepoopiepatrol.blog.com/ but unfortunately they want you to upgrade to their "premium" service in order to place html code on the sidebar. Ok, I'm just not willing to pay to blog in order to do that... so here I am moving yet another blog to blogger ;) even more convinced that it's the best blog site out there...