POOPY DIAPERS!!!!!

Bennett is definately the comedian of the family. If it will get a laugh, he will do it no matter the consequences. He is such a ham!! Being the youngest of four kiddos, I guess he decided he needed to be heard and he does this through humor. When I say humor, understand that I am talking about kid humor. Which generally includes, but not limited to, anything potty related and chewing or throwing food. What especially tickles little kids' funny bones is when you can combine the two!! A good example of this would be to yell, "Toot!" and throw a single goldfish cracker. This will cause the older three to go into hysterics!! As we began to potty-train Bennett, one of the catch phrases at our house became, "Poopy diapers!" I was focusing on how they were bad, yucky and only for babies, not for big boys. Bennett didn't really care about that aspect of poopy diapers, but he did realize the comic value of such a phrase. It started to become a regular event that everyone would be sitting quietly eating their lunch and the silence would be broken by Bennett randomly yelling, "POOPY DIAPERS!" As you can imagine, there was no going back to the nice lunch after this phrase is yelled. I encouraged the older kids to not laugh at this because it is not nice to talk about potty things at the table, and if they laugh, it only encourages Bennett to keep yelling yucky things while they are eating. After firm coaching (a.k.a. threatening that they would get in trouble if they laughed) and lots of practice, Bennett could randomly yell, "POOPY DIAPERS!" and the older kids would hardly crack a smile. I was proud of them and felt soon that Bennett yelling "POOPY DIAPERS!" would cease due to the fact that he was not getting any laughs. Bennett had other ideas. Anyone with children knows that when you are in a store, another couple (generally an older couple whose kiddos are grown) will stop to comment on smaller children, telling you how cute your children are and other such nice things. Since Bennett is not an infant, they will look at him and ask, "What is your name?" And what does that sweet little boy say back to them? You guessed it, "POOPY DIAPERS!" The older children nearly collapse on the floor into giggles when this happens. "POOPY DIAPERS" must be funnier as a name than just a random phrase. Lucky for me, he does have normal toddler speech which means that most people who aren't around him often do not understand him. I rue the day people do begin to understand him, because they will, of course, laugh which is exactly what he wants. So if you hear a child in Wal-Mart yell "POOPY DIAPERS!" just do me a favor and pretend he said, "My name is Bennett. Nice to meet you."

I Take a Nap Every Day!!

It's true!!! I take a nap everyday, well almost everyday. Are you jealous? You always hear people saying, "I wish I had a naptime," well, I am one of those people. But I should mention that I lie in the floor of my closet squished up against my shoe boxes (of which there are many.) I should also mention that my naps are only about 30 minutes long, because I then wake up with my hip and shoulder in pain because I have been lying on the hard floor. Why do I do this, you ask. Because I'm lucky enough to do so. Everyday after lunch, my sweet Jonathan washes his hands and face and goes potty. Then in a sweet small voice, he asks, "Mommy, will you lay down with me?" Of course, I can't resist. I follow him into the closet and lay down next to him, but not too close (he has never been a cuddler) then he grabs my hand and holds it as he drifts off to sleep. This has become a special ritual for me and I will miss it dearly next year when he is gone. It doesn't matter that I could be up mopping the kitchen floor, cleaning my bathroom, organizing family pictures, dusting the living room or folding a load of laundry (all of which need doing as I am typing.) Next year, he will go off to Kindergarten. Thus ending, leisurly lunches while watching cartoons, long afternoon naps, and playing computer games together cheering each other on. His world will expand by leaps and bounds. And our precious time is growing short and I am going to treasure every moment, even if it mean lying on the floor holding his hand watching him fall asleep. I pray that someday, when he is all grown-up, somewhere in the back of his mind, he will remember these naptimes.

I Wish for You All to Find a Dandelion in your Purse

A few weeks ago, we were getting out of the van at church, and because there are so many of us and the majority of us is children, we were running a few minutes late (which is totally normal for us).

The older three kiddos can get of the van on their own, so as soon as the car cuts off, they unbuckle and hop out. As they are milling about the car, I am grabbing all of the bags with all the "keep us busy during church paraphenalia." I jump out of the car and begin getting Bennett out of his car seat. While I am doing this, I can feel a child tugging on my purse. I look around and see Jonathan and tell him to go catch up to his sisters who are well on their way to the building because we are running a few minutes late, and he does.

We went to early service that day, so church first then Bible class. After service, Darrell and I begin the task of dropping of 4 individual children to their respective classes then we go back upstairs for the adult class. Please keep in mind, by this point I have been up for 4 hours and it is only 9:30am. I am beginning to look forward to my afternoon nap at this point, so I head for the doughnuts and coffee to pull me through.

As I sit down in class with my sugary loot, I look down at my grass green purse (I am trying to be more colorful in my wardrobe) and I see a bright yellow dandelion sticking out of the side pocket. I immediately wonder how it got there and quickly realize that Jonathan had picked it for me while I was grabbing everything to get out of the car for church and put it in my purse while I was getting Bennett out of his car seat.

This warmed my heart more than I can say. Jonathan has always been my tender-hearted one, but this was also thoughtful. He not only knows that I like flowers, but he noticed I was busy and didn't demand my immediate attention at that very moment and simply slipped the flower in my purse. And by God's grace that little flower held on through service not only staying in the side pocket of my purse, but also stayed extra bright yellow just to bring a smile to my face!

There have been several times this past couple of weeks that my mind has flashed back to that flower in my purse and it has made me feel happy all over again. Notice that I said flower and not weed. I know that in reality, it is a weed. But I cannot refer to it as a weed when it was given with such a sweet and giving heart.

So, my wish for all my dear friends is that you too may be blessed with a dandelion in your purse!!

The Itsy Bitsy Spiders

Hello!!
I'm still here. No I have not written as much as I would like to or planned to, but I am still here!!

There were so many times I have wanted to sit down and write/type my thought here, but life seems to be moving very fast. And with 4 kiddos there is little time to just sit down!!

I do have one excuse for not updating this blog and that is that we moved!! And if you have ever moved with 3 children and 1 toddler, you have my sympathy!!! Unfortunatly the move did not go off without a hitch due to the fact that the family is not complete. Darrell's transfer is stalled and he is still living 2 hours away. So I am playing the single mom once more.
Playing the single mom isn't too terrible except in the mornings trying to get everyone ready for school; I never seem to have enough hands!! This morning of course was no exception. Despite the fact that it always seems to be organized chaos, the kids really seemed to be doing well this morning.

As I started to comb my hair I sent the first kiddo to brush their teeth. About 10 seconds later, three children are running to me telling me that there is a spider in the sink in the bathroom. I tell them I will be there in just a minute to see about it and for everyone to get back to what they were supposed to be doing except for the teeth-brusher who was re-assigned to brush her hair first due to the spider in the sink. Everyone was shaking their heads in agreement. Just as I finish talking Emma informs me that the spider in the sink is a mommy spider. It took a second for that to register, but then I stopped looked at Emma and asked her how she knew it was a mommy spider. She replied she knew it was a mommy because there were lots of little baby spiders crawling all around it.

Needless to say, I was now more interested in the situation. I go the the bathroom with my half-brushed hair and she was right. There is a large spider sitting at the drain of the sink and lots of little baby spiders crawling all around. (Which by the way, I thought that spiders laid egg sacs then left the babies to develop and hatch on their own. At least that is what I learned from Charlotte's Web) I know decide the easiest way to handle the situation is by mass drowning. I turn on the faucet and start splashing the water onto the sides of the sink. This does work to some effect, but some the spiders must have sensed danger because they started to crawl out of the sink. I then use the water spray bottle to shoot them back into the sink. This water spray bottle makes a faint high-pitch whine noise. As the kids are watching me take care of the spiders with awe and admiration. Jonathan says, "Wow. I can even hear the baby spiders crying."

I hope the massacre did not tramatized Jonathan too much and he will one day be able to kill spiders for his own wife and children.

By the way, we made it to school on time!

First Words

As you know every parent anxiously awaits what their little ones first words will be. Of course there is always the cooing and the "da-da-da-da." But we really wait for that first word, the one that is actually understood by more than the mom. This is an important event in a parent's life as well as the child's.

My oldest, her first word: "book." As a parent, I could not have been any prouder. Since she was the first one, she had our undivided attention. We were on her time since I didn't even work the first year of her life. "Book" This meant, in my mind, that she would love to read, that I had taken the time and effort to read her books and I was proud!

My second, her first word: "baby." This was very appropriate given all that was going on in our house at the time. I found out I was pregnant when this sweet baby was only 4 months old. So as she was growing, so was my belly and there was lots of baby talk. I was alittle sad that her first word revolved around me. But I soon found out that "baby" was so much like her. She is my little nurturer and "baby" definately fits her personality.

My third, his first word: honestly I had no idea. You may think I am a terrible parent, but there is a reason! He had not spoken even the normal "da-da-da" and so the doctors decided it was time to do some investigating. He was 17 months and did not communicate with us at all, no pointing, no waving, no babbling!! After some tests, we discovered that there was fluid built up in his ears and he had 60% hearing loss in both ears. The doctors immediately suggested tubes. We had tubes "installed." And 2 weeks later, he started talking in 2 and 3 word phrases, so it all came so fast, that I don't remember what that actual first word was. I still feel guilty about this, and I didn't think it could get any worse!

Until my fourth. He did not say much at all. I was very worried that history was going to repeat itself and we would have to get more tubes. The doctor checked him an said there was no fluid, he was just taking his time. So we have anxiously awaited his overdue first word. His first words: "On Guard!" He uses what ever he can find and uses it as a sword and repeats over and over "On Guard." This is modeling after his big brother of course, who sleeps with the foam sword.

After looking at the progression of my children's first words, I think it just goes downhill! We started intellectual, then we progress to things going on the the household, then we just don't remember, and if that isn't bad enough, we finish off with very defensive phrases. When Haley said "book" I remember thinking that this said alot about me, now that Bennett is saying "On Guard" I am thinking what does this say about me? You always have to be on the lookout for the enemy (which is probably an older sibling!) and ready to defend yourself! I definately think that with his first words being "On Guard" there is no telling what we are in store for!

It Just Makes Me Laugh

I think that it is so funny what I used to say before I had kids. Most of the sentences probably began with: "I won't let my children. . . " or "My children will never. . ." Then when reality hits and we are actually confronted with this little human, our entire belief system seems to shift. These little humans are basically horrible roommates. They never help pay the rent, they eat all my food, do a horrible job of cleaning up after themselves, and they can be very dramatic. So you have all these different personalities trying to live together in harmony under one roof.

All children are different, and their habits are different from their siblings. As a parent, I must learn to deal with each child differently. Some battles with one child are not worth fighting, while others you must take a stand.

One battle right now that is just not worth fighting is the sleeping arrangements. Having 2 girls and 2 boys makes it very convenient. In a 3 three bedroom home, we have the master bedroom, the girls' room, and the boys' room. This looks really good on paper, but does not seem to translate to real life.

My sweet little Jonathan who is 3 will not sleep in his bed. I actually do believe that he does not sleep as well in his room (but maybe I am just telling myself this). He actually sleeps, every night, in the floor of my closet on a bed of thick blankets that we have made for him. It is definately darker and quieter.

I would have never believed that my child's "bed" would be in my closet floor (before I had kids). But it definately makes him happy even if I can't get in my closet anytime after 8:30pm at night.

The newest addition to this unusual bedtime routine is a sword. As a gift, he was given a Nerf sword with a soft exterior so that if he hits a sister, the wound will not be too tragic. But in case of a surprise attack, he is convinced that he must sleep with this sword. After we put him to bed, we can hear the occassional outburst when he yells, "On guard Mr. Bad Guy!" After a few minutes, he quiets down and goes right to sleep.

If someone would have told me that I would let my toddler sleep in the floor every night in my closet with a toy sword, I would have laughed and thought they were crazy. And now I am asking myself who the crazy one is?

I'm Running Late (as usual)

So, I am starting a blog!!!
This is for several reasons:

• -we have recently moved farther away from family so I thought that it would be a nice way for them to keep in touch if and when they choose
• -this will be quicker than traditional scrapbooking and yet it will serve as a record (easier is better)
• -a it will help me (the mom) vent, laugh and cry to others.
• Of course, I was going to start this blog on January 1st. You know, New Year's resolutions. I began the initial set-up a few weeks prior to that, but just didn't get to the actual posting until now. Better late than never. (Sometimes I feel like that is my life's motto.)

Christmas is over once again. It is now January 9th and my Christmas decorations are still up. Usually I am ready to take them down by December 27th, but this year I am enjoying them longer. However, my toddler's patience is at an end and he has begun to take the ornaments off the tree, so this weekend, the decorations are coming down before he breaks something.

Along with the Christmas decorations going up, so do the Christmas movies and the Christmas music. I am generally ready to get rid of these before Christmas even gets here! This year my kiddos wanted to listen to "The Polar Express" soundtrack everytime we are in the car (which is alot). We always must start at the beginning. The CD starts with train noises then my 3 year old starts yelling "All Aboard!" Even though we are in an enclosed van driving down the highway, he still yells it. The toddler now claps to the music!! We all get excited as the fast-paced songs rolls along.

The next song on the soundtrack is "When Christmas Comes to Town." This song is the reason that I am not looking forward to putting away the Christmas music this year. When my three older children are singing such a beautiful song in unison and off-key, it is absolutely precious!! It really surprises me that even the 4 and 3 year old know the song perfectly. The end of the song: "And all the dreams of children, once lost will all be found. That's all I want when Christmas comes to town." Everytime I hear my children sing this, it warms my heart. It gives me hope that they are getting message to do good and be good.

Of course, the next song on the soundtrack is "Rockin' on Top of the World" by Aerosmith and the 3 year old really likes that song.