The Inevitable

The day that I learned that I was having my first son, was the day that I knew that someday IT would happen.

On Friday, when I picked up Ty from school, I noticed immediately that he had red, puffy eyes and was holding the teachers hand. When I walked up, the teacher asked him: "Ty, would you like to tell your mom what happened today?" Ty muttered, "no". (Oh boy, what did he do?) The teacher then explained that Ty had punched another boy in the nose. This boy (for the security of those involved in the crime, we'll call him "Jack") had pushed Tyler. Ty then, apparently, punched Jack in the nose. Hmmm...on one hand, very upset. On the other hand, good job man, not letting people push you around.

I tried to be calm, yet tried to be a good mom as I told him how unhappy I was about it and walked him to the van. I called Jake on the phone, who was more on the "good job man" side than me, but still stood behind the fact that Ty needed to learn to not punch people as a general rule.

The entire way back home, Ty cried and told me how bad he felt. He kept telling me that he didn't "hit" Jack, he "punched" him. We went back and forth about how it's one and the same and it's not right either way.

Later that night, Jake really went into the play by play of what happened with Ty. In all of their talking, it came out that Ty had not in fact "punched" Jack, but had "pinched" Jack. So Ty claims, Jack pushed Ty. It made Ty upset and he grumbled about it for a few minutes; then he decided to go and pinch Jack's nose. Jack, being a first class tattler, went and ratted out Ty on the teacher. Really kid? What on earth possessed you to think that pinching someones nose was good revenge? Three Stooges? Muppets? C'mon, where do you get this stuff?

However, the story makes sense, if only because Ty honestly isn't clever enough to think of of word that sounds like "punch", that works in the sentence, I ______ed him in the nose. Also, Ty was ADAMANT about having not "hit" Jack. Maybe that's where the confusion was.

Sigh. What to do. We talked about not punching, or pinching. He went to bed early. When he punched, I was thinking of making him write a note of apology to Jack. But a pinch. I dunno. Kid pushed him. He had it coming. What's a mom to do? At this point, it's over and I'm just laughing. Thank goodness for the humor in it all. Thank goodness no one was hurt. Thank goodness I'm not getting sued or having to talk to the principal or the parents of another child. Not yet. Not THIS time.

One of my Favorite Blogs

This is the blog of a friend of my sister-in-law. She lost her husband to cancer last year, and she is so inspiring. I find myself sharing things from her blog often. Lesson from her latest post: I shouldn't have bad days either (compared to her, shouldn't even have bad "moments")

http://dearryno.blogspot.com/2011/01/today-was-great-day.html

Our New Scooter

Spreading Holiday Cheer

For a few hours over the past two days, my kids have spent time in the car while I've been making some special Christmas deliveries. I never knew that spreading holiday cheer could be so painful.

Yesterday, for example, I got lost and almost lost my patience too. Amid the conflict, Sadie was whining constantly about wanting to go home. I finally said "Sadie, I'm sorry, I'm lost and I'm unhappy too". Smarty pants replies, "but Mom, you got yourself lost" (implication: you should be able to "find" yourself). She's not entirely the sympathetic type.

Today, I got smarter about the whole gig. I discovered that pain-free Christmas cheer costs $9 and change, the cost of 2 Happy Meals and a LARGE Diet Coke.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all GOOD LUCK in these final hours before the big day!

Surprise!

This afternoon was one of THOSE afternoons. By 4pm, after returning from the school (after volunteering in Brooklyn's class) with a very angry, overtired baby; I decided to take action. I divided up cookies that I accidentally burnt last night, divided them into bags, and divided them up between my three big kids to go outside in the yard and "hide for the squirrels". Perfect. They were already dressed to be outside and it would give me time to feed Jackson put him down for a nap before dealing with the post-school, I have to tell you every detail of my day, I have a pile of papers for you to read, we should write a note to my teacher, I want to read my book with you, general MADNESS. So, having divided the cookies, I smugly went upstairs to feed Jack and complete my awesome plan. I was halfway done when the kids burst into the house: "Mom! Mom! You have to come see something we found!". Panic.

First thought: dead animal. Second thought: Half dead animal.
I calmly asked: "Is it alive?"
Answer: "Maybe"
Question: "BROOKLYN, did it used to be alive?"
Answer: "Mommy, you just have to see"
Question: "Can you please wait while I finish feeding Jackson?"
Answer: "No Mommy, really, you need to come see this, or it might disappear soon"

AHHHH!!! It must fall into that barely alive category! My kids have found some half dead possum or chipmunk or rat or maybe a squirrel. Apparently, it's still mobile...how I am going to clean up?...AHHHH!!! I am a huge germaphobe. Thoughts of rabies and haunta virus and other crazy animal illnesses are going through my mind.

So, I quickly put down Jackson, who was not impressed as he wasn't done eating and tried to calmly race down the stairs.

At the bottom of the stairs, I rounded the corner, glanced into the kitchen at my overly eager children and saw...

A sled. Full of ice. Sitting on my kitchen floor. Almost ready to "disappear" and not alive and not used to be alive. Just ice. Apparently, the kids were excited to find that their sled had filled with snow, melted and subsequently was filled with a large slab of ice. They had all worked to drag it into the kitchen to show me their find and ice skate in the kitchen.

Thank goodness.

Not Just a Mom

Sometimes, on rare occasions, I try to do something other than the dishes and laundry. 

I made “Colorburst Cupcakes” for Brooklyn to take to class for her birthday.  Not only did they have fancy frosting, but you can almost see on the side that there were three bright colors of batter.

 

These Peanut Butter Brownies were super-rich, but very delicious.

 

 

And these “Halloween Lanterns” were fun, easy, cute, and cheap to make.  Gotta love Mod Podge.  Too bad I’m posting so late, you’ll have to make yours next year.

What Have I Done Wrong?

I wish I was a morning person. I wish I could wake up perky and happy and ready to take on the day.

I don't.

I wake up tired, grumpy, and crabby. I say things that I don't remember but I would regret if I did. Of course, I still force myself sometimes to get up early, but I usually head to the gym or out to run and clear my head before I have to be a mom.

For the sake of those who do not know my kids. Let me define "early". For me, sleeping in is 7am. "Early" is 5am. Tyler (and most of my other kids) consistently wake up "early". There are multiple rewards, incentives, bribes, and threats in place to encourage them to stay in bed until 6am. Most mornings, at least Ty gets up earlier and goes downstairs and occupries himself. We made an overly big deal about his sisters "sleeping in". We can hope.

So, the funny part...

This morning, Ty comes into our bedroom. "Dad! You're going to be so proud of me! I slept in! The girls got up when there was a 5-4-5 on the clock, but I slept in until there was a 5-4-9! Which is bigger Dad? Who slept in?!"

Ughhhh....