My kids have been horrid lately. I hate to say that, but it is true. They have been fighting with each other, but most of — they are fighting me on everything single thing I ask them to do. In their defense, every single one of them is sick. And I am sick, which makes it all a little less manageable at the moment. But my mind got working, and I came up with a little chart, that so far….has worked like a dream.
It is really simple.
When they are asked to do something, if they say, “Sure Mom”, and then immediately do it, they get to move forward one spot.
If they don’t I can move them back.
Once they reach the end, they get a special date to either ice cream or donuts.
I’ll tell you what…I wish I had made this chart two weeks ago. I have little worker bees trying to do everything they can to earn their special dates! And so far, Scout has Navy beat, but she isn’t too far behind.
I love the chart.
So do my kids, but Scout didn’t like the fact that there was not a donut representing the “donut special date”, so he added one himself.
(And got caught in the act!)
It was really hard for me to say that I liked his brown scribble in the middle of my perfectly cut out ice cream cone.
But if a messy chocolate donut gets the word “sure” out of their mouths more often, I am all for it!
Navy stayed home from school today to be with her fellow sickie.
I had to get a few things done — like brushing my teeth, but my kids like to be held when they are sick. And only by their mom. So I had to resort to YouTube Elmo.
YouTube — usually I find you pointless and a waste of everyone’s time.
But this day, you were only viewed as a lifesaver.
Since my little girl is sick, I told her we needed to get in our Vitamin C — and fast!
So we went out to our orange tree that is full of oranges, and picked a bunch.
Then we sliced them open and started juicing.
She was a great help, and loved the juice sans pulp.
(I made it extra pulpy because I love it, so we just strained hers.)
I am pretty sure she got her daily dose of C — and then some.
But here is that funny face of hers.
What, I was about to take a picture of her smiling?
There was no way she was going to allow that!
…
Does anyone know the best vitamin for curing this bigger problem?
My three kids are all sick.
Navy is the worst with a fever and cold.
Dash is just the green machine.
And Scout has a cough that hurts my throat when I hear it.
Or maybe that is just my throat that hurts, because I’m sick too!
When it rains, it pours.
Look at this cheeser!
Lately, every time I bring out my camera, this is the “smile” I get from Dashy.
Pretty bad.
But darling at the same time!
From this dirty mutt….
To this squeaky clean climbing fool.
All it took….was one good bath.
Dash wasn’t feeling well and napping, so I had Tristen bring him an hour late to church. Before I left, I said,”I didn’t fix his hair, so make him look cute.” I should have known.
Look who showed up at church an hour later?
Alfalfa.
But the cutest alfalfa I have ever seen!
Thank you Tristen.
I thought it was hilarious.
Mom — she didn’t have my same sentiments.
(Remember when you brought Scout in the blue terrycloth onesie that said something about milk on it. That was maybe worse!)
Life was very exciting for Navy on the day I asked her if she wanted to have her very own birthday party. She was SO excited and said, “I CAN’T believe that I get to have my very first birthday party!” I told her she could invite whomever she wanted, but that maybe we should make it a girl party. She was into that whole girl thing, but insisted that RoRo and Grey needed to also be there. So they made it as “guests” of Scout.
The theme: Art
The decorations: simple as Navy “painted” the town rainbow with one stroke of her paintbrush
The guests: Cute little girls with a few stinky boys tucked in
The set up: Art stations over easy-to-clean tile
I was a little worried that the art wouldn’t hold their attention for too long. But about 45 minutes into it, I had to close most of the girls down.
I liked the idea of already having a picture where they painted in the lines, because they were meticulously trying to make theirs little masterpieces.
The painting was a success.
Then it was game time. We played “Pin the paintbrush on Navy” — literally.
Navy didn’t know she was the pin board, and had a pretty funny reaction to it!
So as Navy stood there like a statue, each child had a real paintbrush with some duct tape, that they tried to pin onto Navy. Whomever got closest to getting it in her hand was the winner.
Our next “art” project was decorating cupcakes. Each girl got tweezers, and I told them how important it is to make food look like art so that everyone will want to eat it. And then they each got a cupcake and went to town with tweezing a variety of decorations.
Meticulous.
Meticulous.
Kind of meticulous.
Then it was present time. I have to admit that Navy’s latest problem with getting attention and acting silly or making sour faces had me worried. But she did a good job of getting presents and being really gracious.
Then it was off to one last game until the parents arrived — musical chairs.
This particular round was a battle between RoRo and Navy for the final chair!
Guess who woke up during musical chairs?
And went straight to the cupcake table and acted like a little vacuum.
This boy who ended up shirtless in his high chair — soon after.
It was a really simple and fun party. I know Navy loved it, and has told me different details that were fun ever since. I have to say that I was REALLY proud of her. I remember when I was such a little brat at my “stationary party”, my mom sent me to my room for part of it. But my little Navy was perfect. She was sweet, helpful, inclusive and very appreciative.
Basically, I couldn’t have asked for more from my little Flamenco dancer.
(Dash insisted on his own glasses after he saw me with mine.)
Dash has very few words in his vocabulary.
Very few.
The words he knows are: Mama, Dada, More, Whoa, Bubbles, Ruff Ruff, Bella, Nana (for Nonnie), and maybe a couple more.
Some people are questioning his intelligence.
Not me.
He doesn’t have to say a thing for me to know the kid is a genius.
All you have to do is observe.
This boy copies everything!
After Micah walks into the house and wipes his feet on the doormat, Dash follows by wiping his little feet.
After I blow my nose, he grabs his own tissue and blows — sound and everything made by his mouth.
When Navy puts her doll to sleep, Dash finds something to put to sleep in the same doll bed.
After I brush my teeth, he insists on me putting toothpaste on the brush he grabbed.
After I cover my mouth to cough, he covers his own.
When Scout gets on his scooter, Dash gets on his.
When anyone laughs hard, he immediately takes it as his cue to laugh.
When I mix something in a bowl, he grabs his own bowl for some mixing.
My little copy cat can do about everything I can do.
But somehow – when he does it, it is WAY cuter!
Sometimes Scout and Navy are like peanut butter and jelly.
Other times they are more like oil and water.
I’m glad to report that lately, I have had my fair share of PB&J.
Halle-stinking-llujiah!
In just the last 24 hours, I have witnessed two pretty sweet scenes.
Bed time is atrocious at our house lately. Both kids try to excuse themselves out of bed for up to two hours. It is absurd. But last night, after Navy cried for a bit, everything was calm very quickly. I went in to see if both kids were dead or something, and I saw Scout in Navy’s bed cuddling her. When he saw me, he said, “Mom, she was just so sad that I came into her bed and put her to sleep. I think I will keep my arm around her so she has a great night.”
And then the next day, after Scout got really hurt, she ran over to the rocking chair and summoned him up there. She made him lay on her lap and she cuddled him, rubbed his back and sang to him to make him feel better.
These two have the ability to be the sweetest of the sweet.
Now it is up to me to figure out how peanut butter and jelly remain the staple food in our home.
Wish me luck!
| DESIGN BY