Right now I am eating crackers on the couch and the dog is giving me his puppy eyes. Too bad dog. And David keeps begging me to push the backspace button or the up and down button. Now he is making a big pile of pillows. I imagine he will start jumping. No. He came back to push buttons. I'll have to continue this post later.
Friday. Today. I will try this post again. Today is family lunch day at the school. And Lucas is getting some kind of award in an assembly today after lunch. The boys have basketball camp practice today after school. Because of moving, we missed the league sign up day so the boys are not on a team. Maybe this summer I'll put them in one. I'm not putting them in baseball either. I know I probably should but it's hard to pay $100 for t-ball when all they do is stand around and play in the dirt. And I really don't feel like putting Lucas in a league where he will have 2-3 hour practices. Maybe next year. Or maybe not.
Jon's deal signs and closes today. His hours have not really slowed down since being here. But at least we get a house and just a better way of life. I am happy he should be home early today and this weekend. Although it is suppose to rain. But my bathrooms need to be cleaned and laundry needs to be done which I can do if he can help watch the kids. The boys help clean too on Saturday mornings. But I still have to go in and kind of clean up their cleaning. Yeah, don't tell them this. But wiping down the whole bathroom mirror with a dripping wet washrag doesn't really clean the mirror. But he (micah) was so proud of himself for cleaning it. I praised him too. No need to damage his confidence. :) Also, vacuuming the stairs has never been easier since Lucas and Micah both love to do it.
Gracie is now 3
months old. It seems like 3 months ago was another lifetime ago. I mean I vaguely remember hibernating in the hospital room after she was born. Which is the best holiday a mother can have. The nurses bring you juice with pebbled ice and there is room service. And they even take the baby to the nursery to change her diapers. It's the best. Gracie loves to make noises and baby talk/babble. She loves to smile when you smile at her. She has sensitive ears so when her brother David yells at the top of his lungs "CHICKEN NUGGETS!!!" she doesn't like it and starts crying like she just got hurt. I too have sensitive ears and loud constant noises drive me nuts and sometimes scare me. It's true. I am weird. :)What is the deal with potty words? My boys think butt and poop are the two funniest words ever said. This brings me to the topic of swear words. Lucas and Micah asked me what a** meant as we were walking into church a couple of months ago. I say "you mean as. like for example "you are as cool as the other boy?" Lucas and Micah reply "NO, a**." I asked them where they heard the word. "Home Alone" the movie. Nice, I thought. So we tell them it means "butt" or donkey. They thought that was hilarious. But they know not to say it. So this was the introduction of swear words in our family. Literally walking into the church building on Sunday morning. I know our kids are really innocent an
d we have tried to protect them as much as possible. I am not sure if this is such a good thing or not. Knowledge is power so they say but I just haven't wanted to bring up swear words or other topics like alcohol to them unless the subject comes up. I do not know the the best approach to such topics when they are not exposed to them on a regular basis. A boy in Luke's class said at the Valentine party after he was done drinking his apple juice "It was like drinking a beer." First -- it was totally disturbing that a second grader said this. Second -- I was happy to see that the teacher rebuked him for saying it. I don't even think Lucas knows what beer is. Do I tell him what it is or do I let him bring up the topic whenever the time comes? Maybe some of you have your own wisdom on such questions. Please let me know. No judgments though. I already know I am flying by the seat of my pants when it comes to parenting:) hehe.Well, it's time to feed Grace and get ready for lunch. I might just put something nice on. Like a sweater. And Lucas will tell me that I'm fancy. I do what I can. smile.
*these cool pictures were taken by me. the day at the park was cold. and i'm officially a wuss when it comes to cold weather. (like 60 degrees) and they're fake ray ban glasses. i'm not that cool to own the real thing. hehe.
3 comments:
I'm glad to see I'm not the only one bundled up in 60 degree weather. seriously. soccer practice is me in many many layers and a blanket. and still cold.
Deanna,
When Elizabeth was about 4 she heard some interesting words (the neighbors next door were from Kenya, and the little boys--about 4 or 5 yrs old--learned English from the music they listened to, I think) which she proceeded to repeat later (singing them in a song). Concerned that her little brother, age 2, who was just learning to talk, might decide to imitate his sister, and wanting to avoid hearing those words come out of her mouth at Church and in other public places, we decided we had to do something about it. Not wanting to make a fuss (which we figured would encourage the continued use of those words) we made a rhyming game up. Whenever the words came out of her mouth we would make up a series of rhyming words, some real, like "luck" and "muck" and some just nonsensical. It actually worked, and pretty soon the words were forgotten.
With regard to alchohol, when it arises naturally in conversation "Johnny said the apple juice tasted just like Beer" for instance, we found it best to be very matter of fact in our response. "that's interesting. Beer has alchohol, and we don't drink anything that has alchohol. I hope Johnny hasn't really had any beer. It will kill brain cells, especially at his age;" Or something like that might have been our response. We thought that if we treated the subject matter of factly, without a great deal of fuss--from swear words to sex to alchohol and drugs--they would learn that they could tell us stuff, or ask us questions, and not get a negative reaction.
As for the potty mouth, for some reason boys--maybe girls too, but I really remember the boys doing this more--really like to say "butt" and words referring to bathroom activities. Sometime I will have to tell you the conversation that Owen had with our grandson Evan recently. It was pretty hysterical, from a grandparent point of view. My response at any age before 6 or 7 was to tell them those were "bathroom words" and they could say them in the bathroom but not in my kitchen. They sometimes went into the bathroom to say them. Kids are pretty funny sometimes.
They do tend to become more self aware around 7 or 8, and after that it is more of a testing "can I say this and get away with it" time (unless they are asking you what that word means, of course). I had one child who said "hell" once in the car, and when I told him to stop because that was a word we didn't say, he said it again, and said "you can't stop me." so I told him I that was true, I couldn't stop him, but I could wash his mouth out if he said it again. Mind you, we were in the car. So he said (very cleverly) "we are in the car and you don't have any soap or water. Hell." I pulled the car over and said "I don't have water, but I do have baby wipes." and wiped his mouth out with one. I guess they taste pretty nasty. He didn't ever test me with swearing again after that. Better yet, the other children in the car all learned from his example.
Raising children is such fun. They teach you more than you teach them I think. I really miss those days when they were young and full of wonder and questions. But I guess there are benefits to every age--they are fun as grown ups, too. And eventually they produce grandchildren, who are just a blast.
oh, and the potty mouth thing? Boys go through a fairly similar stage around 12-16, interspersed with burping and farting noises. sigh. Owen's favorite toy right now is a metal straw that he can tuck under his arm and blow through to make really great fart noises, after which he laughs hysterically. (It is hard not to laugh myself. But then, he is the youngest. I would probably not have allowed Peter to do that more than once.) (I think I'm a slightly wiser mother now, or else just more lazy.)
Anyway, thanks for the oportunity to share some of my fun memories.
--Linda
Funny, I love Linda's comments! I have been told that we just give them enough information that they can process for their age. When I was pregnant with Mason Harley and Cierra were about 5 & 3. One night one of them asked how (or where) the baby comes out. I wasn't prepared to talk about it and after thinking for a couple minutes I just told them that when they are older we'll talk about it. It was really quiet for a little bit. Then I asked if that was okay. Harley had already moved on to something else in her little brain. She didn't even care that I didn't really give her an answer.
I think the best time to talk about something is when it comes up. I think it's more effective that way. They don't want a sit down lecture about what beer is totally out of the blue, LOL.
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