A Week

A week has gone by since my last post, and what a fast week it was.

My husband did a little bit of computer updating, and that has made our computers run better. I like the new operating system.

Megan is getting more teeth, even though her Auntie Beth told her no more teeth until Thanksgiving. I think she just wants to be prepared for the big dinner she'll be smelling in a little over a week. The good thing is, even though she is cutting four teeth, it really seems like no big deal to her. She is crawling, pulling up, finally eating some solid foods, and sleeping well.

James is on the brink of full blown 2yo-ness. He has all the mobility and dexterity you could wish for, but no judgement. He seems oblivious to the fact that no one else in the family seeks out joy by emptying the oatmeal box on the floor. He blissfully finds joy in playing in chocolate milk powder on the floor of the pantry. Today he opened the door to go out into the garage, only to cry when the door closed behind him. (note to self, lock garage door during the day) He is also experimenting with the art of tantrums, but we are nipping those in the bud pretty quickly.

Jack is growing and growing and growing. He is coming along in school just fine. He has such a sweet heart, I get comments from a lot of my friends that he is a sweet boy. I have to agree.

Laura is growing in her faith by leaps and bounds. She contemplates God on a level that I know I wasn't at her age. Her questions usually begin with, "Mom, this is a question about the Bible" and proceed on to . . . .

1. "I am pretty sure I know this, but was Jesus alive up in Heaven before he came down to Earth as a baby?"

2. "How did those women keep those things on their heads?"

3. "Does God know His own future?" When I responded yes, she said, "Oh, yeah, because He knows everything. He even knows what He looks like, but we can't see Him until we get to Heaven" When I reminded her that Moses had gotten a glimpse of God in all His brightness and glory she said, "Yeah, if we saw Him we'd probably just faint over dead"

We are in the middle of our church Missions Conference and Laura has been soaking in all the information that she has been learning about the different countries in the world . . .so far Colombia and India. She asked if tonight we could "play India" and sleep on the floor of our living room (Since most families in India only have that much room of their own) with nothing but a light blanket. I said I'd have to make that decision later . . .

My Easily Distracted Life

So there I was, sitting on the living room floor, looking through some new Weight Watchers Cookbooks that I got a garage sale this weekend. Some of my family members are following the program, and since they will be visiting in a few weeks (woo hoo) I thought I could make meals from there and they could stay on program. (I was on the floor so I could let the babies crawl all over me while I am doing this job

So I went to eamil my SIL to tell her about that, but then there was an email from my husband about library books that need to be returned.

As I am still sitting a the computer I hear Laura and Jack say something like "We're going to take James out front to play" 15 seconds later when I process that through my brain (It sometimes operated on a delay) I jump up, run outside and reclaim the 18 month old, explaining to the kids that they cannot be responsible for their baby brother outside. And lock the door so he can't sneak out.

So I bring James back inside and find the pantry door open with 6 packets of instant oatmeal (Thankfully still unopened) on the floor, along with a Wii Remote, the broom and dustpan on the floor, and a few Leap Frog fridge letter magnets on the floor. Hmmmm, what has the baby been up to?

So after a quick lesson on how to put the magnets back on the fridge I pick up the oatmeal packets, sweep some extra magnets toward him, replace the the broom to the closet, and take the Wii Remote back to the box under the TV (Where it belongs) and then see my cookbooks on the floor.

Sigh.

Now what was I going to do? Oh, yeah, email my sister in law about the cookbooks.

No TV

We have always had a TV. I like TV. We never really felt the need to restrict time on TV, and our children have not had difficulty limiting their viewing to the shows that we had approved.

Lately though, the kids seem to be turning to TV when they are bored. And hearing the TV now for some reasons produces stress for me. (I can feel my body stressing when I hear it turn on)

Our friends' TV broke (or died, or something in the middle of that) So they have their computer, and a small TV in the parental bedroom. And they are doing fine. I know several people who survive with very little - no TV.

Laura asked me the other day, "Mom, do you think we could go without the TV?" I told her that I am sure we could. Today, we are. They watched their Jelly Telly. And I must confess we are easing the transition by watching a Netflix movie Horton Hears a Who. But we are done with our schooling, have done a few chores, and one of the two children is worn out and relaxing while he watches it.

So, hopefully, this will be a start of something better for us during the day.

Laundry Day!

It's Laundry Day!

Aren't you happy too?

I have recently come across a concept that has never occurred to me . . .

Limiting my children's clothes.
To just enough sets that they need to get by.
So I am not so overwhelmed on laundry day.
So that we can fit their clothes in their dressers.
So when I say go get dressed they don't come down looking all silly.
So that on laundry day I can be as happy as Megan is here!

Questions

1. Has anyone seen the red dustpan?
2. Where should I start Laura and Jack in the new math curriculum we got?
3. Will this new Math curriculum confuse them, bore them, make them frustrated?
4. Where is the second Wii Remote?
5. Will Megan be over her stomach bug anytime soon?
6. How many hours of sleep will I get tonight?
7. Is my usual sitter available to watch Lou (the beagle dog) if we travel for Christmas?
8. How much do I love my husband that I am letting him play Madden football on the Wii while the Office Wedding is taking place? (Yes, the DVR is running)


Just a few of the questions (plus many, many others *trust me*) that are going through my head tonight.

James For Hire

Available: One toddler, almost 17 months old
Skills: Besides running, climbing and drooling, said toddler is skilled in the dishwashing arts

This is how he loads the dishwasher:



Here is how he unloads a dishwasher:

Skills

Lesson learned today:

Just because my children have the skills equal to the task at hand it does NOT mean that they have the judgement equal to that skill.

Huh?

So there I was . . . surfing the Internet . . .I mean, feeding Megan and researching home school resources . . . when I heard the dryer buzzer go off. I promptly asked Jack and Laura to remove the laundry from the dryer. Typically, when they empty the dryer they also check to see if there is a load to be transferred from the washer to the dryer.

There was.

The skills were there . . . using their step stool they were more than capable of transferring the wet clothes over. They still can't reach the button to start the dryer, but hey, that's fine. And it was my saving grace this time!

I went to add a new load, and start the dryer. For some reason I checked the clothes in the dryer and discovered that they were SOPPING wet. So much so that the walls, floor, and dryer itself were sprinkled with water. (No doubt from their journey from washer to dryer) There was a pool of water on the floor in front of the dryer, as well as a pool of water sitting at the bottom of the dryer after I removed the wet clothes.

And the washing machine dial was sitting there, just about to hit the "drain and spin" portion of the cycle.

So their judgement didn't equal the skill.


(And, yes, you can start a load of laundry with the drain and spin cycle to remove excess moisture from your clothes)