I'm finally taking down our Christmas tree. I've been in the process of taking it down for a few days now and I keep getting interrupted. Imagine that!
Our Christmas tree is one of my favorite things. Almost all of our ornaments have some meaning...places we've been, gifts from friends and family, the special ornaments I get for each boy every year and ornaments the boys have made for us. The tree is a big green collection of memories and happy thoughts.
Some people have beautiful, color coordinated ornaments, lights and ribbons on their trees with the ornaments spaced out perfectly. Our tree is so far from a designer tree, it's almost funny. Keep in mind that the tree is 7 feet tall and I'm only 5'1". I can stretch pretty far but can't reach the top. Also, keep in mind that I have two little people in my house who will remove and then run away with ornaments. Basically, my tree has A LOT of ornaments right in the middle. Every year, Mike returns from work, looks at the tree, giggles, then moves some ornaments to the top for me. I try my best not to move around any ornaments after the boys are finished decorating. Sometimes, it's inevitable if say a special ornament is too low or some creative person has put four ornaments on one branch. The big boys have some sort of photographic memory of ornament placement and will directly ask me why I moved their ornament.
As much as I love having it up, I'm also relieved when it comes down so I'd better get back to work!
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Heeerrrree's Johnny!
No, not Johnny Carson...I guess the title really should be "Heerrree's Winter3!" Remember the famous scene from The Shining when Jack maniacally peers though the partially open (well, hacked open) door? Take away the maniacal part and it becomes a scene from my life.
Winter3 is pretty good about going to bed and staying in bed...for a while. The problem is that as you know, he is everywhere and into everything. People say that no one wants a smart cat because of all the trouble they can cause. The same can be said about three year olds. Curiosity really didn't kill the cat...it stressed the life out of his mother. We just can't trust that Winter3 will stay in bed all night long. I have visions of him going downstairs in the middle of the night and trying to make soup, or call Ireland or start my car. I'd like to think that my son who is "skeered of funder" would be too fearful to go downstairs alone but I don't care to lay awake in bed debating that thought.
Sooooo...cue parent of the week music...we lock him in his room at night. Naturally, the one door of the house that doesn't close well is his bedroom. Since the knob doesn't close well enough to lock we've tried various doorknob covers which all worked for a while but which he eventually figured out and broke off. We stepped up our game by duct taping the door knob cover on. This too worked for a while and even well enough to lock me in the room (only for a minute, sheesh). He's worked so hard at the door (persistence is good trait, right?) that now it won't latch at all.
Our final move before we give up on this chess game is a chain lock like you might find in a hotel. So far, so good but this brings me back to my "Heeerreee's Johnny!" reference. Rather than an axe wielding murderer, I have a talking three year old. Imagine the little face squished in the door, "MomMomMommyMommmmyyyMama! Let me out!" The power to open his door, even if only that much, was exhilarating. After a few days, he gave up and doesn't play with the door much except at naptime and in the morning.
But he can't get out. And my life is no horror movie so even if I have a crazed three year old on one side of the door, I know that my sanity is safe.
Winter3 is pretty good about going to bed and staying in bed...for a while. The problem is that as you know, he is everywhere and into everything. People say that no one wants a smart cat because of all the trouble they can cause. The same can be said about three year olds. Curiosity really didn't kill the cat...it stressed the life out of his mother. We just can't trust that Winter3 will stay in bed all night long. I have visions of him going downstairs in the middle of the night and trying to make soup, or call Ireland or start my car. I'd like to think that my son who is "skeered of funder" would be too fearful to go downstairs alone but I don't care to lay awake in bed debating that thought.
Sooooo...cue parent of the week music...we lock him in his room at night. Naturally, the one door of the house that doesn't close well is his bedroom. Since the knob doesn't close well enough to lock we've tried various doorknob covers which all worked for a while but which he eventually figured out and broke off. We stepped up our game by duct taping the door knob cover on. This too worked for a while and even well enough to lock me in the room (only for a minute, sheesh). He's worked so hard at the door (persistence is good trait, right?) that now it won't latch at all.
Our final move before we give up on this chess game is a chain lock like you might find in a hotel. So far, so good but this brings me back to my "Heeerreee's Johnny!" reference. Rather than an axe wielding murderer, I have a talking three year old. Imagine the little face squished in the door, "MomMomMommyMommmmyyyMama! Let me out!" The power to open his door, even if only that much, was exhilarating. After a few days, he gave up and doesn't play with the door much except at naptime and in the morning.
But he can't get out. And my life is no horror movie so even if I have a crazed three year old on one side of the door, I know that my sanity is safe.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Little Drummer Boy
So much for dreaming of sugar plums. Winter3 dreams of drums. You might remember when Winter3 played the shovel and pail in the middle of the night. (http://www.aboyforallseasons.com/2009/07/boys-that-go-bump-in-night.html) His love of drumming on everything has not waned since then. I've actually said the following to him:
"Winter3, please stop drumming on the oranges."
"Winter3, please stop drumming on the apples."
"Winter3, please don't drum on ANY fruit."
"Winter3, please don't drum on your baby brother."
He and Mike sometimes get together for jam sessions...Mike on the cheapie electronic drums and Winter3 on the cheapie keyboard. While Daddy loses himself in the drumming, Winter3 really gets into the beat. He'll stop playing the keyboard, pump a little fist in the air, give a "woo!" and then continue on.
He sets up "drums" for himself consisting of cups and an old dvd as a cymbal. Unfortunately, my spatula handles usually disappear from the kitchen and become drumsticks.
It was no surprise when Winter3 put "a big drum set like Anthony Wiggle's" at the top of his Christmas list. Santa, to his credit, said something like "hell no" to that request. Maybe when he's bigger. We convinced Winter3 that "a big drum set like Anthony Wiggle's" would never fit in the sleigh. Perhaps a 3 year old boy sized drum would be a better idea. And so a music set fit for a three year old boy appeared under the tree Christmas morning, complete with drum, drumsticks, maracas, castanets and to almost everyone's dismay, a horn. But that's another blog entry to be entitled, "toys that disappear in the dead of night."
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Next Time, A Fern
Spring7 has an incredible imagination and comes up with many plans and ideas. Most of these ideas and don't go anywhere. For example, he thought he might like a hawk for a pet so he could walk around with it on his arm. Keep in mind that he's terrified of large birds that swoop around. I think he just liked the idea of how badass he'd look walking around with a hawk on his little arm. Then a neighbor emailed us a picture of a hawk sitting on her playset eating a fresh bird. Out of concern for his little brothers, the idea of falconry as a hobby went out the window.
One of his most recent grand thoughts was that he wanted a cactus. If you say, "A what?!" you won't be the first. After all, this is the child who sprayed himself in the eye with air freshener because he was curious about how it came out of the can. (Yes, he's fine. It hurt ALOT and he smelled like pumpkin spice for a couple days but he's fine.) We decided just to ignore the cactus idea to see if it went away.
It didn't. We made a deal that if Spring7 helped clean out his room...going through old toys, clothes, papers etc. and cleared a safe spot for a cactus, we would get him one. He worked and worked and got everything done. Spring7 assured Mike that Home Depot sold cactus plants and off they went.
They proudly returned with a $3 cactus named Spikey. He had two long arms made of a bunch of round spike covered pieces. The pot was wobbly because the arms were so long but I really wasn't ready to tackle the repotting of a cactus. Within the first 24 hours, Spring7 had been poked in the fingers a couple times and once in the mouth (haven't figured that one out yet!).
Then the first crisis, as Spring7 watched me, I picked up Spikey to think more about the pot situation. While I'm looking at the pot, one of Spikey's arms fell off and broke into 5 or 6 spike covered balls and rolled all over the floor. Spring7 yelled, "You killed Spikey!!" We cleaned up Spikey's parts but now he was really wobbly. A few days later, Spring7 found Spikey on the ground, dirt and spike covered pieces everywhere. He's still with us and is much more manageable now as he's just a small pot with three ground level spike covered balls.
I suspect Spring7 wants something to care for but next time we'll go for something a little more leafy. Hey, maybe that could be the new plant's name...Leafy!
One of his most recent grand thoughts was that he wanted a cactus. If you say, "A what?!" you won't be the first. After all, this is the child who sprayed himself in the eye with air freshener because he was curious about how it came out of the can. (Yes, he's fine. It hurt ALOT and he smelled like pumpkin spice for a couple days but he's fine.) We decided just to ignore the cactus idea to see if it went away.
It didn't. We made a deal that if Spring7 helped clean out his room...going through old toys, clothes, papers etc. and cleared a safe spot for a cactus, we would get him one. He worked and worked and got everything done. Spring7 assured Mike that Home Depot sold cactus plants and off they went.
They proudly returned with a $3 cactus named Spikey. He had two long arms made of a bunch of round spike covered pieces. The pot was wobbly because the arms were so long but I really wasn't ready to tackle the repotting of a cactus. Within the first 24 hours, Spring7 had been poked in the fingers a couple times and once in the mouth (haven't figured that one out yet!).
Then the first crisis, as Spring7 watched me, I picked up Spikey to think more about the pot situation. While I'm looking at the pot, one of Spikey's arms fell off and broke into 5 or 6 spike covered balls and rolled all over the floor. Spring7 yelled, "You killed Spikey!!" We cleaned up Spikey's parts but now he was really wobbly. A few days later, Spring7 found Spikey on the ground, dirt and spike covered pieces everywhere. He's still with us and is much more manageable now as he's just a small pot with three ground level spike covered balls.
I suspect Spring7 wants something to care for but next time we'll go for something a little more leafy. Hey, maybe that could be the new plant's name...Leafy!
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Revenge is Best Served Cold
Spring7 and Winter3 love each other. They play together, wrestling and laughing. Spring7 talks about his little brothers all the time. They can also make each other crazy. Unfortunately, they've reached an age when bopping each other and then running away is a favorite thing. Spring7 hit Winter3 and when he got in trouble this was his defense, "But Mooommm, he hit me! I was just following the golden rule, 'Treat others as they treat you.'" That led to another conversation, of course, about the REAL golden rule.
This morning, I found Spring7's checklist for today.
"Play wif Dad and frisbee
Punch Winter3
Hug Mom
Play wif Fall2"
The punching isn't acceptable but I love that he has it on the checklist in between playing and hugging.
This morning, I found Spring7's checklist for today.
"Play wif Dad and frisbee
Punch Winter3
Hug Mom
Play wif Fall2"
The punching isn't acceptable but I love that he has it on the checklist in between playing and hugging.
Monday, October 19, 2009
A Baby Rooster
Our boys share bedrooms...the two older ones are together and the two little ones are together. We've had to tweak bedtime routines for the older boys and deal with some brotherly fighting but overall it's worked out fairly well.
The younger boys have been great together. Winter3 goes to bed first followed shortly by Fall2. When they wake up in the morning they laugh and talk. Winter3 brings blankets and books and sits in bed with Fall2 playing until I get them up. When they were smaller, the boys would sometimes fall asleep together in the crib, all tangled and snuggled together.
Every so often, Fall2 wakes up very early. Like 4:30 or 5 a.m. early. He'll go back to sleep but since he's convinced that it's time to wake up he makes it his mission to wake up his brother. Through the blessing/curse of the baby monitor I get to hear the entire exchange.
It starts with Fall2 calling Winter3 in a normal, conversational voice and progresses from there.
Fall2: "Winter3....Winter3....Winter3"
silence
Fall 2: "Winter3Winter3Winter3!!"
silence
Fall2: "WINTER3WINTER3WINTER3"
silence
Fall2: "WINTER3 [SHRIEK! SCREAM! SHRIEK!] WINTER3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Winter3: [in a very sleepy voice] "whaaaaat?"
Fall2: "Yay! Yay!" [followed by much hand clapping and cheering because who wouldn't be excited to start the day?]
I can thank my lucky stars that Winter3's body tells him that it's time to go back to sleep. At this point, if he ignores his brother, Fall2 falls back asleep. Sometimes, I head over to the room, cover Fall2, pat him and try to convince him that five people in the house are indeed trying to sleep.
This morning, I opened the door to their room and didn't see Winter3 in his bed. I noticed him curled up on the heating vent behind the rocking chair with a blanket over his head. He hasn't slept out of his bed in a while now so I asked him why he was sleeping on the floor. Winter3 told me, "I tryin' to sweep. Fall2 keeps yellin' at me." Sure enough, Fall2 had gone back to sleep but only after his brother was out of view. Poor little boy! He can't run away from his brother but he can hide!!
The younger boys have been great together. Winter3 goes to bed first followed shortly by Fall2. When they wake up in the morning they laugh and talk. Winter3 brings blankets and books and sits in bed with Fall2 playing until I get them up. When they were smaller, the boys would sometimes fall asleep together in the crib, all tangled and snuggled together.
Every so often, Fall2 wakes up very early. Like 4:30 or 5 a.m. early. He'll go back to sleep but since he's convinced that it's time to wake up he makes it his mission to wake up his brother. Through the blessing/curse of the baby monitor I get to hear the entire exchange.
It starts with Fall2 calling Winter3 in a normal, conversational voice and progresses from there.
Fall2: "Winter3....Winter3....Winter3"
silence
Fall 2: "Winter3Winter3Winter3!!"
silence
Fall2: "WINTER3WINTER3WINTER3"
silence
Fall2: "WINTER3 [SHRIEK! SCREAM! SHRIEK!] WINTER3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Winter3: [in a very sleepy voice] "whaaaaat?"
Fall2: "Yay! Yay!" [followed by much hand clapping and cheering because who wouldn't be excited to start the day?]
I can thank my lucky stars that Winter3's body tells him that it's time to go back to sleep. At this point, if he ignores his brother, Fall2 falls back asleep. Sometimes, I head over to the room, cover Fall2, pat him and try to convince him that five people in the house are indeed trying to sleep.
This morning, I opened the door to their room and didn't see Winter3 in his bed. I noticed him curled up on the heating vent behind the rocking chair with a blanket over his head. He hasn't slept out of his bed in a while now so I asked him why he was sleeping on the floor. Winter3 told me, "I tryin' to sweep. Fall2 keeps yellin' at me." Sure enough, Fall2 had gone back to sleep but only after his brother was out of view. Poor little boy! He can't run away from his brother but he can hide!!
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