Some things I sometimes still don't get

Why is it easier to keep track of kids at the park than at home?
(Yes, sick mom took kids to park today because it was too hard to keep track of them in the yard.)
How can kids hear the fridge being opened from their rooms, but not hear you tell them to do their homework when you're in the same room?
Why is "sauce" such a black and white issue, where 1/2 my kids hate food with it and the other half hate food without it?
How can the same child who hears the phone from upstairs not hear you tell him to turn off the tv because dinner is ready?
How can a child go from crying to laughing to NO! to Yeahahaha!, all in a minute's time?
Why can't an 11 year old smell like a two year old after a bath? (One is reminiscent of wet dog, the other fruit shampoo.)
How can same said 11 year old hold an adult conversation on preserving the environment and then suddenly ask for pre-packaged food from a drive thru?
How can I, as a parent, continue to love each member of my household more each day? It's a wonderful life.

Babies, babies everywhere!

It seems like a lot of my friends are pregnant/having babies lately....and there's nothing like seeing pics of newborn, or better yet,a 4-6 month old to make me wistful about how another baby wouldn't be "that" bad. Babies smell good, induce hormonal highs, and are warm, soft, cuddly. It's fun to watch them discover their body parts, their surroundings, their everything.
Now barring acts of God, there will be no more babies in our household. Six kids and their active schedules are enough for my feeble mind to keep track of. We have four in school, and only one more year before we have 2 schools to work with. We have/have had dance, bowling, tennis, swimming, football, soccer, scouts, AWANA, and discussions about racing cars, yes real cars.
Our kids are as diverse as a garden of wildflowers and I love every moment of it. And the day looms in the not-too-distant future where Huggies will a definite part of my past. That discovery stuff we all fall in love with infants for can be very trying in the toddler years, and launching a self confident five (or six!) year old to school can bring sighs of relief and tears at the same time.
We recently cut off the last of Si Guy's baby hair, that soft, fluff. He is almost three, and now has "kid hair" instead. That was hard. Half a dozen of my friends didn't even recognize him at first without those wispy blonde curls. But he had grown past them. It was time to let them go. Once he decides to potty train all hints of babydom will be in our family's past.
It doesn't mean letting go of the wonder though. Or the magic. Or the dreams. It's just "moving further on and further in." Enjoy the dawn of innocence my friends. The miracle of life in your hands has just begun.

Science City

Yesterday Science City at Union Station was having a $5 day. I spent the morning unsuccessfully looking high and low for a second adult to go with me. I contemplated leaving Si Guy at home. I contemplated not going. I did the unthinkable. After lunch I loaded up all six of our kids, ages 2-11, in our van and went, alone.
Challenge 1, parking. We were blessed to find parking fairly easily in an outdoor lot behind union station. Just as well our van isn't parking garage friendly. I had a friend share about the gate getting stuck and trapping all the cars in for a while on the same day.
Challenge 2: getting tickets. The kiosk outside wouldn't take debit cards. So we waited in line for about ten minutes so I could write a check. Then we walked across the building to find the elevator, and to the opposite end of the second floor to get in. Yes, we were in.
Challenge 3: Mom's endurance vs. kid excitement. Science city is like Wonderscope on steroids. Our kids loved "making" clouds, going on a dino bone dig, and plaing with giant musical instruments. There was a playground and play room geared towards younger tots, so a couple of times I kept the tiniest two (or three) while the older ones went to an exhibit that was more appropriate for their age under our oldest child's supervision. I could feel my heart beating in my head and my clothes felt like steel wool until they returned...which they always did. He is a responsible kid, really...and the others are very cooperative when future privileges are on the line. The only major mishap of the day was when the older kids were trying the pulleys princess P wandered out of my line of sight.
Our dear oldest child said "Don't worry mom. She's probably just in the pipes." The plumbing display was adjacent to where we were.
Sure enough, one smiling four year old face shows up in the upper level window of the pipes. Brother retrieves her, all is well....except where is princess D? Over on the other side of the pulleys playing the croc sculpture. Hasn't she ever heard never smile at a crocodile?
At this the point the museum was getting too busy, and my nerves too frayed from feeling like I'd lost both my daughters to keep it on.
So up the elevator we went. Played a couple tunes goodbye, then off to snack.
Kids full of ice cream and french fries. Mom had a diet soda in hand. All was right in the world.

I may not be over the hill yet, but

the top is fast approaching. As my closest dozen friends know from my text, a new list is ensuing. Ways to know you're middle aged.

1) Singing along with the music at the grocery store.
2) Seeing your friends kids graduate from high school.
3) Actually looking up when someone says "ma'am."
4) Looking at "anti-aging" products without laughing
5) Watching the NCAA tourney & thinking, are you sure all these kids are out of high school? They look so young.

Not that it's all bad getting older. It's nice being settled, never boring having kids, and with more responsibility comes more freedom. Now just to convince my "mature" 11 year old that.

What a weekend!

This last week has flown by. Friday, princess P had her "evaluation" by Count Your Kid in. Good news! She's quite bright..and I was really worried she might be impaired because she is so far behind where her sibs were academically at her age, or that I had failed to teach her as well. Neither is true. Bad news: She's far-sighted.
So, how do you keep track of glasses for a four year old??? I guess we'll find out in April.
Like a couple of my other kids, she sounds kind of like Donald Duck, so she'll be in speech too. I expected that.
Friday afternoon Mr. M & I were switching back to our old bank, with the 5,4, and 2 year old with us. Talk about cat herding.
Then we move on to Saturday. PTA auction day. I took our oldest with me to help set up. He did really great. In the evening, we went back and he ate his share...and then some. Then he was more or less free. He un-helped in the big kid room, bouncing a ball around and being generally wild with some other boys...so I kicked him out. He helped in the little kid room for a while, quite sweetly playing with blocks with the preschoolers. But mostly, he wandered around scrounging for leftover food. Human. Vacuum. Cleaner. It's okay though, he earned it by transforming back into the super-helper at clean up time.
Sunday morning Mr. M stayed home to work, so it was just me and the kids at church. I spent Sunday School frantically getting ready for AWANA store that night...and service reading Christianity Today in the Library while kind of listening to the sermon. The kids choir sang adorably. Princess D was front and center. Chip was towering next to her. I could hear Bob clearly. Our oldest baled to help with the spot light in Kidz World. He LOVES the booth. That's my boy!
Sunday night, was a Sparkie store night. It went smoothly. Mr. M came with, and played with our puggle and Cubbie during their game time. Always an adorable sight.
And that is why even though it's Tuesday, I'm STILL recovering from the weekend today.

Do you hear something pop?

How long can a popcorn kernel be in a kids ear before he tells you about it?
Apparently, about five months...and even then he didn't tell us about it.

Sometime late last fall, Bob made a vague complaint about his ear. The thing is, he always has vague complaints of some sort...so we said, eh? They were just cleaned out in June. You should still be okay.

Around Christmas Break, the nurse at school called us and said he may need them cleaned out again. He seemed to have a little trouble hearing, but we could try the at home stuff first.

So we tried the at home stuff. He said his left ear was fine, but wasn't sure how well it worked for the right, but it seemed "a little" better.
Last Friday, the nurse sent a note home saying we should take him to a pro.
So last weekend, he and his Dad trotted over to the minute clinic to have his ears cleaned. He did have a lot of wax in his right ear, and an "object" behind it. Maybe a pebble from playing outside? They referred us out to get it removed.

So off they went to children's mercy, where the power washer rinsed out a popcorn kernel..and out yeah, he had an ear infection because it had been there so long. How long?
Bob doesn't "know" how it got in there, but he's pretty sure it was in October.
I suppose it was better than sticking raisins up his nose......

Happy Birthday Princess P!

May four be your best year yet.

Our lil "Miss Grace" expresses herself very freely. From her toothy smile to her "evil laugh" she's great fun all the way around. This has been her healthiest year yet, and the first one where she has not needed a nebulizer. This is something to truly be thankful for.
She's started losing some of her baby fat, and her speech is clearing up. She knows her colors and shapes, but really isn't that academic. Her favorite thing to do is still play in her toy kitchen and tend her "babies"...be they talking doll or her jaguar family.
And of course, she just LOVES to help around the house...especially spray the rinse dishes with the sprayer, run the broom along the floor to scatter the piles of dirt, and crack eggs and stir.
She makes me laugh at least once a day. She plays mostly nice with her little brother.
She still likes to be wrapped in a towel after her bath and carried off to bed to hear a story...so I guess there's a hint of baby left, but just a hint.
She's in the fairy phase, where everything in life is magical. A twinkle, and a sprinkle, and everything transforms. Hopefully she'll never grow out of it.

For the love of towels....

I have a very pregnant friend I called recently, and asked her to message me her bathroom colors. I'm sure she thinks I'm nuts, but the truth is, there's nothing more important than a great set of ridiculously soft, expensive towels with a new child.

I was blessed enough to have the ones I'd gotten as wedding presents when our first was born. First, it was something to gently lay the newborn on for his sponge-bath, without worrying about getting what was underneath it wet. The top of a nursery dresser was just the right height, and I had all the after-bath essentials there and waiting.
Then baby got a little bigger, too big for the sponge-bath really, but not big enough for me to be comfortable putting him in the big tub. So the towel lined the sink for his bath.
Then he got even bigger, too big for the changing area on top of the dresser. Then the towel served as a changing pad on a bed or the floor.
Soon we had a toddler, taking real baths in a real tub, surrounded by bubbles and toys.When he was done, he'd stand and hold his arms up, anticipating being wrapped in a nice, soft, towel. One of our children even substituted a towel for a blankie for a while.

The nice towels were great for mom too. A little bit of luxury, (like a shower) goes a long way when you have an infant. I'm sure my friend has lots of cute baby clothes, and toys and books by now. She's due any day. So even if she thinks it's strange, we're giving her a luxury set of towels.