Chat-chick and chokk-it

My girls don't have the best pronunciation in the world…as I may have mentioned before. And it's so fun – I rarely correct their word creations. I'd much rather allow them to last as long as possible. I'll fix it before first grade.

Probably.

At least before middle school.

I promise.

But the latest mispronunciation led to a mis-communication that turned out to be quite entertaining. I apologize before-hand that I didn't take pictures. It wasn't until the end that I realized what I was dealing with or I would have.

So back to the beginning….

The girls got chapstick – otherwise known around here as chat-chick – in their stockings for Christmas. They love it, and use it every time they can get their hands on it, which isn't nearly as often as they like, since I keep moving and "hiding" it.

They also got "chokk-it" (chocolate) then, and more recently, and since the snow days hit, there's even more floating around in far-too-accessible places.

The other evening, C comes running in to tell me that T2 has "chokk-it" all over her mouth. Since my husband was baking chocolate chip cookies at the time, I figured he'd slipped her a cookie when I wasn't paying attention. She's a terrible mess with chocolate. I went searching for a baby wipe and for her. I noticed as I was wiping the mess off that it looked a little odd…not the normal chocolate look. And my husband said that he hadn't given her a cookie, so it wasn't his fault.

So we went on a hunt for the "chokk-it."

"Did you get chocolate out of a wrapper?"

Randommumblingandbabytalk"yes"moreunintelligiblebabytalk

"can you show me where you left the wrapper?"

She takes me into my bedroom, where I remember that I was eating dark-chocolate covered pretzel peppermint patties, and had left the package on my nightstand. Dark chocolate seemed a little more likely to have caused that mess on her mouth, but it still seemed not-quite-right.

She kept going, through the bedroom and into the bathroom, where I was trying to remember what in the world I might have left in my purse or school-bag.

There sitting on my bathroom counter….

….is a tube of mascara, with the wand loose next to it….

….she apparently thought it was "chat-chick," and had covered her lips with it.

"chat-chick," "chokk-it" – all sorta sounds the same out of her cute, mascara-covered little mouth.

Sigh. Life doesn't get boring much around here.

No Greater Joy

Conversation this morning in church:

Song 1 begins

C: I know this song! It's on my radio! (Thank you K-Love!)

Song 2 begins

C: I know this song! From "Kitchen" Bible School! (Love that 4-year-old interpretation…and thank you Crocodile Rock…or Dock…or whatever it was at VBS last summer. We LOVED the music!)

Song 3 begins. She doesn't know this one, but she's apparently coloring and paying attention at the same time

C: Why does she raise her hand like that when she sings?

Me: (Hmmm….how to explain this to a four year old.) To show that she really means what she is saying as she sings.

C: Oh. Huh. (aaaand back to the coloring)



You know, we thought about not going to church this morning. There were a couple upset stomachs overnight, and several wake-ups – for us and for kids. And there was no kinder- or children's-church, which meant both the older kids would be in with us, needing to be entertained and kept quiet. Not to mention the snow still everywhere out there. But when we got up, it turned out that it was still above freezing, so no ice on the roads. And we were awake. And in the end, it was the right thing to do. So off we went.

You know what else, it's really easy to think my kids aren't paying attention. That when the service isn't geared toward them they won't get anything out of it. And maybe they didn't pick up a whole lot, but to watch my son sing along, and to see my daughter processing what she was hearing and seeing, and connecting it to her everyday life…well, that sorta wakes me up. They aren't babies any more, that they won't really be aware of what's going on or what day it is. Three minutes at night reading through C's "motional" book (devotional book. I will correct it someday.) might not be enough of an investment in their futures.

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. 3 John 1:4

If that's true, it's my job. If that's true, my priorities are pretty simple.

My priorities are simple…my job is not. Whew. This parenting thing gets tougher every year!

Snow Days, Snow Days!

As I mentioned in my last post (a month ago? Seriously? Where does the time go?), I love my breaks. And that might just apply double to the surprise snow breaks. Like skipping a class in college, only better, because there's no guilt. Not that I skipped classes in college. Nope. But people told me how fun it was.

But snow days. God's gift.

And yes, we are today on day 4 of snow days.

I've got solo and ensemble contest in 2 weeks, and my kids are absolutely not prepared. And that's something of an understatement.

My husband's team has now missed two games, which they will have to make up sometime in the next two weeks before playoffs begin.

We've missed four days of school which I'm sure means we'll be in school past Memorial Day and will have to adjust our summer basketball stuff.

But the last few days have been all but perfect. Three days – right smack in the middle of basketball season – of absolutely uninterrupted time with my husband. Kinda like a second honeymoon. Ummm, well, except for the three kids hanging around here with us. But still…can I tell you how precious this time is?

I haven't taken the time to blog in a whole month. I've had thoughts, a few stories to tell, but not enough time to tell them. I've been juggling kids, cooking, work, pretending to clean, and then collapsing in bed by 9:00. I had been grabbing time right after school and again right after the kids go to bed to do my computer stuff (you know, Facebook and emails and reading my favorite blogs). I thought things were going as smoothly as could be expected in the midst of the season when one night my husband interrupted my reading with a question: what did he need to do to get as much of my attention as my computer did? Ouch. He worded it a little kinder than that, but still, ouch.

I thought we were doing okay. Thought that waiting until the kids went to bed to be online was the best thing. How did I not realize that he was feeling the lack of "us" time? I forget, because he loves his job so much, that it isn't quite all there is. And I forget, because I'm so ready to do "my thing" when he's around to help out and I suddenly have TIME to, that maybe he needs me just as much as the kids do.

So I was stopped in my tracks. And convicted. And over the next few days, found that my thoughts and readings kept taking me back to that conviction. And to my husband.

And then, as if it were affirmation of what I was trying to do, along comes the snow. And not just a little snow. Enough snow that no one around here went anywhere for three whole days. Well, except to Sonic. The roads have been too bad that until today he didn't even try to have any kind of practice.

We'll pay for it in the next few weeks. And probably again in May. But for a few precious days, life's just been all about me and him and our three crazy kids.  And that is priceless.

Tuesday, Tuesday

Okay, so that's not a song, but I couldn't call it "Monday, Monday" again, and we're stuck in the same story.

Maybe I should have just called this blog the Chronicles of Courtside Chaos.

Want an update of last night? It wasn't pretty.

The marbles worked wonders…the kids kindly shared the Nintendo DS (see, mommy, we're sharing!!), and were very helpful…right up until bedtime. At that point, things with C went straight downhill. After strict orders to stay in bed or she would lose "Belle" and a marble, I caught her (not 5 minutes later) sneaking up to the door of T2's room, where I was currently putting the child to bed. Umm...how do you teach common sense to a 4-year-old? So, into her room I go. She knew exactly what was going on, because she was hiding the "Belle" doll behind her back and holding on for dear life. There was screaming. There was crying. There might have been, ummm, some yelling. I know, it doesn't do any good. I don't even feel better after I've let it out. But, good grief, it's hard to not.

Five minutes later? Repeat entire sequence with "Baby," the second doll she sleeps with.

My husband later pointed out that taking away both her sleeping comforts might not have been the best strategy for assisting her in falling asleep. Well, thanks, Mr. Brainy…where was that advice after last night's fiasco? Ha!

So we're two marbles down for C, and still going. I finally closed her door because she was still yelling. She hates the door being closed, so she "snuck" over and opened it. At that point she at least had the smarts to stop screaming so I wouldn't know the door was open. And I had the smarts to ignore her and the door, in the hopes that if she were quiet long enough, she would fall asleep, and I could sneak back in and return "baby," which was the deal we made when I left the last time.

An hour passes. Daddy comes home from the scrimmage and wonders why there is a light on in the kid's hallway. Well, I don't know, I sure wasn't going back there again to fight another battle after things finally got quiet. I was certain that she had turned on her lamp or closet light, and then had fallen asleep. I mean really, it's almost 10:00.

Yeah, if that had been the ending, this wouldn't be much of a story, huh?

So from somewhere, she had found a big fat black crayon, and – as a way to make Mommy feel better? – had drawn a giant picture of Mommy on her yellow wall with black crayon.

How sweet.

I'm sorry that in my absolute frustration I neglected to take a picture of the lovely drawing of "Mommy." It looked just like me, you know.

She's still alive this morning, in case you were wondering. And magic eraser took care of the crayon. And sleep took care of me, mostly.

Gotta go now – I'm going to go read a book to C while we're waiting for Daddy to come home. Maybe if she gets more attention before bedtime she won't demand as much after.

But you might pray for her tonight. I threatened to make her sleep in T2's crib. Probably won't do it….probably.

Monday, Monday

This week started off with a bang. And not a good one. Yesterday was chaos from beginning to end.

It shouldn't have been, because I had A Plan. Grocery shopping for the week on the way home from school, supper fixed when my husband came home from practice, a simple meal planned for the one night this week that he wouldn't be home at all until late…it was all a great plan.

And then a couple things changed, and suddenly the plan was falling apart. Now he's got coaches' meetings after practice on Wednesday, so who knows when he'll be home. Top that with the sudden need to go watch a few middle school games. Yes, he's a high school coach. Yes, he goes to most of his freshman games, on top of his own game nights. Yes, there are multiple middle schools that feed into multiple high schools in this district, and no, of course he's not allowed to "recruit" players from the middle schools. But a couple of years ago, a very strong message was sent that the high school coaches needed to be going and visiting at middle school games. Sigh. So last night he hit one middle school for their 7^th grade games at 5:30, ran home to eat with us, then up to another middle school to watch their 8^th grade game. And he'll do it again on Thursday. And is talking about doing it again next Monday after his own scrimmage. And that's on top of the scrimmage tonight and another on Friday night. Are ya still with me? Because I'm tired just thinking about it all. I've said this before, and it's still true – I really do love what he does. But to not have a single night home or together in a week? That's just crazy!

The underlying stress to all this is that we have guests coming to stay overnight on Friday, and I went into this week thinking that I would have help – with the kids and the cleaning – on three of these nights. Hmmmm…not so much.

Those overnight guests are reading this now and trying not to be offended/concerned…don't worry, the house will be fine, just not as good as I had hoped…and even if it were a pit we'd still want you staying with us. We're totally excited you're coming!

Okay, back to the point. What was it? Oh, yeah, the bang of a day yesterday. I apparently wasn't the only one not handling life well yesterday. Or maybe the kids fed off my tension. Because by the time I went to bed, I was just grateful that all three were still in one piece. Particularly the middle one, who, after a couple meltdowns, was given an early bedtime. Which in fact led to another meltdown. (Saw that one coming, didn't you!?!) A full 40 minutes after she "went to bed," she was still up and down, and I was holding on to sanity by a thread. And trying not to wake the others up by screaming at her. Because that would have just made all things beautiful, and besides which, she doesn't care. Really. She just sort of bounces through life unfazed by my anger or disappointment. (Boy, are we going to have issues when she's a teenager.) She finally gave up or conked out, and I took a long hot shower and tried to calm down. Do you see a problem here? The one causing chaos is sleeping soundly, while I'm up past my bedtime just trying to breathe. Ha!

Tonight has gone a little differently. I'm not above bribery. I've got glittery marbles in a jar on the mantle – different colors for each kid. Marbles go in the jar for positives, marbles come out for making me nuts bad attitudes. So far today, all marble moving has been into the jar. Kid with the most marbles in there when the jar is full gets to pick the family treat. It's a win, all the way around.

I hope.

We'll see how bedtime goes.

Tune in later for the next installment of the "courtside chaos."

Hey Daddy, There's a Dragon in the Driveway

This past week has been unbelievably busy, with evening activities (ie work) on more nights than we were home.  So I'm pathetically late with telling my Halloween story!  But better late than never...especially in this case!

Once upon a time, I bought an incredible child's Halloween costume.  It was during one of those after-Halloween sales, and I was just betting on the fact that T1 would eventually be able to fit into it.  It was just too cute to pass up!

When T1 was old enough to wear it, he loved it.  He wore it one year before it really fit right.  He wore it the next year when it fit just right.  (starts to sound like Goldilocks and the Three Bears, doesn't it?)

He even wore it the next year when the pants only went to his knees, and he could not be talked into being anything else.  It was still cute.

So I couldn't wait for C to get big enough to wear it...I just knew she would love it as much as T1 did.

Ummmm....

....yeah....

 .....not so much.

She was terrified...maybe...and she was mad...definitely....and promising her everyone would think she was adorable and would give her candy did NOT make anything better in her mind.  Taking these lovely pictures to show her how "cute" she was...well, that didn't work either.

She was not convinced.  And was not happy.

And aren't I a great mom??

Such a great mom, in fact, that 2 years later, I decided to put my youngest in that costume.  

  

I was sure she’d do better than C.  Well, sort of sure.  But just in case, I made sure my husband had the video camera out.   And sure enough….

….let the weeping and wailing commence.  She was of the same opinion as C.  And she kept trying to pull the hairy sleeves off of her arm.  (I wonder if they both felt like the dragon was eating them?)  Whatever the problem was, it went on and on….

(Check out the little bare toes!  Love it!)

And the oh-so-patient siblings with her...."is she ever going to stop?"

(Ummm, C, you didn't do any better!)

T1 was headed next door to a Halloween/birthday slumber party.  That’s one brave mom over there.  Five 2^nd grade boys all night after trick-or-treating?  Whew.

After he left, the wailing increased, so I went with the best “comfort” out there.

Hey, a Sonic drink always makes me feel better!

That and the chance – finally! – to get to run around outside cheered her right up, 

and all was well in the world again.

Oh, yeah, that and the candy.

 Isn't Halloween great?

Wonder what we're going to do with that costume now?

Not sure I can give it up.

It was just so much fun.  

And gave us such great memories.....

 

Right?

Someone's in the Kitchen....

Well, so tonight I had HELP in the kitchen. Remember last night when I said tv was my friend during dinner prep? Yeah, it didn’t work tonight. The girls (ages 2 and 4, remember) decided they wanted to help. And blame it on temporary insanity, I didn’t chase them out. Or bribe them with snacks. I let them stay in there. And “help.” I was making quiche (bacon and swiss…can’t wait to see how it turns out!), and I figured it was probably something I could handle their kind of help with.

We survived. I’m fairly certain supper survived, too, but we’ll have to see. It smells good, at least! I do think that I said “no, don’t do that!” and “no, put that down!” about a million times. And I have no idea how I ended up needing to wash 6 different measuring cups and three measuring spoons when I think I only used a couple! Well, other than the fact that that particular drawer is directly in front of where they were standing, so spoons and cups kept coming out to be dipped in the bowl. Grrrr. If and when I do this again, we’ll have to rethink the standing areas!

I’m fairly certain they enjoyed it, though. And with any luck, having helped fix it will make it more appealing to eat. My kids are not terribly picky eaters…they’re just random. Things they loved at one meal might easily take 2 hours to eat at another. Since I’m on my own for supper tonight, without the mean voice of Daddy to back me up, I’m truly hoping for easy!

Especially since getting supper ready was so decidedly NOT easy!

Let There Be Peace On Earth (or at least in my living room)

I’m currently enjoying my favorite time of day. The after school rush is done. This involves post-nap temper tantrums from the girls – pretty much daily – because they woke up and Grandma isn’t here anymore. It’s a great ego boost for me, let me tell ya. Each and every day. Occasionally it involves a snack, too, usually as the bribe to stop crying. They need one, though, because it’s basketball season now, remember, and supper is late. So it's justified. Really.

So now those things are out of the way, and all three kids are in front of the tv. Some days that’s simply so I can know they’re not getting into trouble while I’m in the kitchen trying to get supper fixed. Today it’s “Martha Speaks.” And today, soup is already bubbling on the stove, and I’m here at my computer. So today is even better than usual, because I get to sit here with them, enjoying them enjoy the story. And learn about the word “ominous.”

I’ve heard all the warnings about too much tv, but I just love that my kids learn about those extra things that it doesn’t occur to me to try to teach! Several years ago, T1 was 3 or 4 years old and we had just gotten in the van and were driving out of the neighborhood. He was in the back with one of those “find it” toys.

By the way, if you have small children and haven’t gotten one of these, I strongly recommend it! They are awesome for trips, although there is the danger of whacking oneself in the head during the vigorous shaking motion that remixes everything in the tube and allows different objects to be found. Don’t ask how we know that. It was painful for one small child. And hilarious. But don’t tell them I’m still laughing about it!

Anyway, he’s looking through the tube, searching for the objects, and I hear his voice, “Mommy, I am engwossed. I am thinking of this and nothing else! Engwossed.” When I finally sorted through the small-child-pronunciation and discovered he was saying “engrossed,” I cracked up. And pulled out the cell phone to call and tell “daddy.” Thank you Pinky-Dinky-Doo for a lovely moment of mother-son time! And thank you childrens’ programming for providing me with a few moments of peace in my day!

This moment has been brought to you by the letter C and the number 3!

Ah, moment over – chaos begins again.

Mr. Sandman

I miss sleeping through the night.

I used to get to do that.

Then I got pregnant, and right off the bat (all three times) I started having to get up two or three times at night to go to the bathroom. Then I got bigger, and back aches or leg cramps would wake me up. Of course, once I was awake, I’d get up and go to the bathroom. And then it would be all over – there’s no going back to sleep after that. I’d lay there and think of things to worry about. Or things that ought to be done. By the end of all three pregnancies, I was anxiously awaiting the day the baby was OUT, and I could get more sleep. (People laugh when I say that…I know new moms don’t get much sleep…it was still more than I was getting while pregnant!)

So, yeah, then there’s the new baby thing….up every few hours to feed the baby. And some of those feedings take for.ever. Oh, plus the trip to the bathroom. Each time. (Sensing a theme here?!?)

So now my kids sleep through the night. Mostly. But do I? NO! I still get to wake up every few hours and take myself to the bathroom. And – guaranteed – if I get out of bed, it’s gonna be a while before I’m back to sleep. I thought at one point right after child #3 finally started sleeping through the night that maybe I just needed to re-train my brain and body to sleep through the night. (Yeah, I know, probably wouldn’t hurt to cut back on liquids after supper, too.) So I took sleeping pills for a short stretch to attempt that “re-train.” It didn’t work. (Surprise, surprise) I am now apparently mommy-programmed to wake up periodically just to listen to the silence to make sure that all is well. And to worry about whether or not everyone is still breathing. Although I do usually resist the temptation to go to each room and check on them, thankyouverymuch!

I don’t suppose there’s any chance I’ll outgrow that, is there?

I miss sleeping through the night.

I used to get to do that.

I think.