Happy Holidays (a little late)

Welcome Little Buddy

We would like to announce that our Little Buddy joined our family this last week on Wednesday December 15th.  He weighed 7 lbs 3 oz, and was 18 in long.

A bumpy tummy

A few months ago, while shopping at Costco, Aurora and Guy were riding in the seats on the shopping cart.  Guy reached out and touched my tummy, and said, "I touched the baby."  Then he asked me, "Does Aurora have a baby in her tummy?"  I replied with a no, and then he said, "But she has a bumpy tummy." 
"Yes she does," I said, "But that is because she is still a baby, and babies lots of times have bumpy tummies."

A few weeks ago, while Aurora and Guy were playing on the floor, I overheard Guy asking Aurora, "Are you putting a baby in your tummy?"

I asked him what he was talking about, and he said, "But she has a bumpy tummy."  I thought, didn't we go through this already?  Well a while later, I noticed that Aurora's shirt had a bunch of lumps in it.  She had been shoving blocks down the front of her shirt.  She did have a bumpy tummy. 

Cinderella's first heartbreak

So today when I went to get Cinderella from Kindergarten, she was walking slowly, with her head down.  I knew something was wrong.  I then asked how she was.  She replied, "I'm not feeling very good."

"Why not?"  I asked.
"One of my friends sent me an elf note today,  (An elf note is a way that the teacher is having the kids practice writing, they take turns sending kind notes to other kids in the class.) and he also gave one to the girl who sits next to me.  Mine said, 'I like you.'  But hers said 'I love you', then he told everyone that she is his girlfriend.

I then asked her if she "loved" him.  She said "no"  So I asked her why it bothered her that someone else was his girlfriend.  Her reply was, "because it's not me.  There are 15 girls who have boyfriends, but I don't have one."

There you have it, from the mouth of a five year old.  I thought we had a few more years before this started.

My Rings

So I'm not a big jewelry person.  It has kind of been that way ever since I became a mom.  I sometimes wear earrings, but rarely.  I sometimes wear necklaces, but that doesn't happen much either.  However there are 3 pieces of jewelry that I try to wear everyday.  My watch, and my 2 rings.  One of those rings is my wedding ring, the other is a sapphire ring that my mom got me for my birthday one year.

Well right now I am pregnant, but unlike in all of the other pregnancies I have had, in this one, I am actually slimming down.  I have only gained about 8 lbs in this pregnancy.  However the baby seems to be growing correctly, and my doctor isn't worried, so I'm not either.  I have been eating healthier foods, and eating minimal amounts of sugar, and that is what I contribute my lack of weight gain to.

Anyway, back to my jewelry.  Well a week or so ago, I was getting ready to put Aurora in the tub, and I noticed that my sapphire ring was missing.  This was really odd to me, because the only time I take my rings off, I also take my watch off.  I have a habit of then sliding my rings onto my watch band, so that they are easier to find when I go to put them back on.  So it was odd to me to just be missing one ring.  I hadn't noticed it fitting loosely, and I have no clue as to what happened to it.  I checked all of the places that I had been that day that I could think of where it could be.  Coat pocket, on my bed under the pillow (possibly lost when I was taking a nap), pants pockets, counters in kitchen and bathroom.  No luck.  My husband and I rearranged our bedroom this last weekend, and did some deep cleaning in other parts of the house, but never saw it.  It has just plain disappeared.

Well today, the same thing happened with my wedding ring.  I know I put it on this morning, and this evening when I was getting ready to put Aurora in the tub, it was gone.  I have been watching ever since I lost my other ring, and it didn't seem to be fitting loosely, but it must have been.  The only thing I can come up with is that I must have slimmed down enough that slipped off my finger.  I know the rings are just material things, and my husband still loves me without my wedding ring.  But it just bothers me that I have lost both of them, and I have no clue how, or were to look.

"I'll be a big boy when I'm in Kindergarten"

So I have been working on potty training Guy for almost a year now, off and on.  I started putting more effort into it once I found out I was expecting but have really not gotten the kind of results I have been hoping for.

At first, he just didn't get it.  He didn't understand what his body's cues were.  We would sit him on the potty, and if he went he went if he didn't he didn't.  I know that is a normal starting place, but for him it seemed to last a really long time.  He finally got to the point where I think he knows the cues, and he can hold it, but he just doesn't care.  If I put him on the potty, he can and does usually go.  But if I don't make the effort to put him on the potty, he doesn't care to use the potty.  He will just go where ever he is, what ever he is doing, what ever he is wearing.  It is so frustrating at times.

I don't know how to make him care.  I know it needs to be his choice, but I don't know how to incorporate it.  I have tried giving him a treat if he puts something in the potty.  He likes the treat, he likes to get it, but not enough for him to go to get the treat.  I've tried reading books to him on the potty.  All that seems to do however if make it so that when we are in the bathroom we are in there for a really long time, even if he goes right up front.  He won't ask to use the potty so that he can read the book.  I have tried giving him stickers for every time he sits on the potty.  Just like the treat, he likes the stickers, but not enough to go to the potty on his own initiative.

I have tried giving him rewards for staying clean and dry for a predetermined amount of time.  It worked for a little while, but then lost it's intrinsic value.  I have tried having him wear a pull-up, I have tried having him wear underwear, I have tried having him wear nothing.  He just doesn't care.  He doesn't care if he is a mess, he doesn't care if he makes a mess.  I'm kind of at a loss as what to try.

A few weeks ago when we were dropping Cinderella off at her school for Kindergarten, he told me he wanted to go to preschool.  I told him he can go when he can stay clean and dry, because they don't let kids who still make messes in their pants go.  Later that same day we needed to go to Cinderella's school and visit her class.  As we were walking up to the school, Guy told me that they didn't like him at this school, because he still makes messes in his pants.  I told him that they would let him come in the school, but he can't go to school, like a big boy, until he doesn't make messes in his pants.

Then a few days ago, he told me he will be a big boy when he is in Kindergarten.  I asked what he meant.  He told me, that he won't make messes in his pants anymore when he is in Kindergarten.  I asked him if he could be a big boy before he goes to Kindergarten, to which he said "no".  I told him he had to learn how to be a big boy so they would let him go to Kindergarten.  He said, that he would.  I asked him if he could be a big boy that day and keep his pants clean and dry.  He said, "No, I already put stinks in my pants."

On the other hand, Aurora loves to use the potty.  She will grab onto her diaper and if I ask her if she wants to sit on the potty, she will nod her head.  She is still in the stage, where she doesn't actually put anything in the potty, but she loves to sit on it.  I keep telling myself that I should just forget about trying to get Guy to use the potty and work on Aurora, but I have been trying to get Guy to use the bathroom for so long, it has become a habit, and one that is dying hard, while trying to get Aurora to use the potty, and I find that I still put most of the effort into Guy.

Oh well, I guess we will see what happens in 2 months when the baby comes.  I might have 3 in diapers, 2 in diapers, or just 1 in diapers.  But as to who, other than the baby, that will be still waits to be seen.

Cancer Update

The woman with cancer, Vicky, just passed away yesterday evening.  The good news for her is she is no longer suffering.  The bad news for her family is now they feel the loss of their mother and wife, and are left with enormous hospital bills, and funeral expenses.

To help relieve some of these expenses there will be a charity yard sale/ bake sale from 7:00-10:00 AM on the morning of September 18th, at the local elementary school.  Then we will be having a charity kickball tournament later that morning starting at 11:00 and going to around 2:00, also at the elementary.

If you would like more info please leave a comment with your e-mail address and I will try to get back to you.  Please feel free to donate any items for the yard sale or bake sale.  The only stipulation is for all food items need to be individually wrapped.  Also if you would be interested in donating funds, you can go to help4vicky.blogspot.com  and click on the donate button at the top, the funds will go to a paypal account that will be donated to the family.

Cancer

Isn't cancer a terrible thing?  Thankfully I don't have it, but there is a mom in my neighborhood that does.  She is 10-15 years older than I am and has 5 children.  The youngest is only 2.  She was diagnosed in April, and has now been given days to live.  Her husband has medical disabilities and is unable to work.  Up until April, she was the sole bread winner in her family.  As soon as she was diagnosed her husband started selling bottles of water to try to raise funds to cover medical bills.  1 bottle for $1.

Some women in the community who have been touched by this families situation are trying to put together some activities to raise funds to help this family.  If you would like to participate, or just donate an amount please send an e-mail to help4vicki@gmail.com

I'll give more info on the activities that are being planned as soon as it becomes available.  

They're Back

If they ever even left.  We've had another mouse sighting.  This time in a different part of the house, and unfortunately it was Cinderella who saw it.  I've seen one out in the garden, and I've had a few neighboors tell me they have had mouse problems too.  It sounds like it may be a neighboorhood problems.  Now to figure out what to do.  Personally I don't want a cat, but I prefer cats to mice.  But we will see what other options we can come up with.  Maybe just more traps for now.

Isn't it a great playground?

So tonight while they were supposed to be getting ready for bed, Guy found some little people toys in the girls room and decided to play.

 The big line looks like a typical Guy set up so I didn't think anything of it, till I heard him explaining it to Cinderella.

So if you look at the picture above you will notice that the line goes to the barn.  From there the person at the head of the line climbs onto the horses back, to get to the loft.

 From the loft there is a ladder.

The ladder goes to the top of the playground.  So the person follows the ladder to the playground and then goes down the slide.

 And into the waiting bus.  Oh, and the sippy cup is a prize for the winner.
 

And all the animals and people are lined up for this attraction.

Then Guy turns to me and says, "Isn't it a great playground?"

It amazes me the ideas these kids come up with.

Oh Snap!

OK so this post is a bit delayed.  A little over a week ago we caught our first mouse.  1 down, ? left to go. 

My husband apologized for not getting any pictures for the blog.  I told him that is perfectly OK.

Roses

So we bought this house a little over a year ago.  One of the things this house came with is some rose bushes in the back yard.  Last year with Aurora being born, and moving in in late spring, etc. Our roses didn't really receive any care. 

There where what looked like 3 bushes along the back of the house.

One right near the door that was just one little twig and got one or two blossoms last year.  Then the middle one had dark pink wild rose blossoms, and grew really tall.  Then the one on the other end is actually 2 planted close together.  One with light pink blossoms, and the other with white. 

Mid summer last year I pruned off the dead heads down to leaf sets of 5, as to the instructions I got from my mother, of how she cares for her roses, however they never bloomed again last year.

Well this spring, I wanted to make sure that I gave them the care they needed, so I consulted my mom as to what she does for her roses.  She told me she prunes them back to about 2-3 inches from the ground.  So that is what I did.  The one closest to the door appreciated the pruning and has grown quite a bit this year, but has yet to put out any blossoms. 

The wild rose has grown quite big again, and has finally started putting out blossoms again.  However I am slightly confused, I'll tell you why.  The first blossoms it has put out were the wild ones like last year,  but just this morning on a low branch I found some little pink rose buds, that as they are opening, don't look wild at all.

Light pink blossoms on middle bush.

The wild blossoms on the middle bush

Also my light pink rose bush, put out some blossoms that looked like what I expected them to look like, but then I also found this morning some dark pink, wild blossoms, like the bush next to it.

The wild looking blossoms on my light pink rose bush

If anyone knows more about roses than I do, and has any suggestions as to why my bushes are behaving this way, I would appreciate the insight.

Oh and yes I know there is morning glory all over my roses, I need to pull it out.  One step at a time.

We have a mouse

At least one.  There might be more.

A few weeks ago my husband and I  were in the kitchen getting dinner ready.  I have some 5 gallon buckets that I keep flour, sugar, wheat, powdered milk, and rice in on the floor of my pantry.  I had pulled out a bucket or two that day for some reason, and as I pushed it back in I noticed what looked like some grains of wild rice, or rodent dung.  I pointed it out to my husband and asked him what he thought it looked like.  His response was also rodent dung.    We figured that if there was a rodent problem we would see more signs, and we cleaned it up like it was rodent dung. Then I noticed what looked like some other types of rice grains on the floor.  We had had wild rice a few days earlier, and I just wrote it off as being rice. 

Also lately our refrigerator has started making this really annoying squeaking sound.  One day I had what I thought was a joke run through my mind.  I wanted to tell my husband that I had found the mouse that had left it's droppings in the pantry.  It is hiding behind the refrigerator and that is what is making the sound.  Well I never told him, and promptly forgot.

Until last night.  My husband and I were sitting in the living room talking while we were waiting for the kids to settle down so we could go to bed.  My husband was facing the stairs, and suddenly his eyes got big.  I was thinking it was something to do with the kids, but then he turned to me and said, "we have a mouse."  I was still confused, and thinking of the kids.  I think I asked him something about which kid he was talking about, when he said, "I just saw a little black thing come down the stairs and under the fridge."

Yuck!  So he pulled out the fridge and found a ton of mouse droppings.  But of course no mouse. 

Today I decided to really clean the kitchen floor and get rid of any food remnants I could find.  I started pulling stuff out of the pantry, and found a ton of droppings in there too.  So now we have to set traps, and keep our kids out of them, and try to keep them from coming back.  I hope there is just one.  But there might be more.

Childrens and infant Tylenol and Motrin Recall

So this morning I was at the grocery store and while I was there I went to get some new infant Tylenol drops.  Well there weren't any on the shelves, of Tylenol or generic brands, and there was a sign saying that children's and infant's concentrated drops have been recalled. 
So I did some research and found out that it isn't only Tylenol, but pretty much all children's pain medication, and antihistamines.  I'm glad they catch things like this because I don't want to be putting harmful things into my children, but still it is a little frustrating when you have a baby who is screaming because she is teething, and Orajel only works for a short time.  Oh well I guess it is better than nothing.

There's a baby in my belly.

While this is an announcement of sorts, child number four will be joining our family sometime around the end of the year, this blog post is more about my children's reactions to this news.


One day, before I had told my children we would have a new baby but my waist was already starting to expand, Cinderella declared herself "Captain Diaper Change."  Of course something like that was too good to miss, so seeing as how Aurora needed a diaper change at the moment, I let her do the job.  She loved it so much she started claiming the right anytime a diaper needed to be changed. 

Currently we are working on potty training Guy, but he still wears pull-ups some of the time, and when he does a number in them, it is a big mess.  Anyway, Cinderella wanted to change him too.  I told her that probably only Mom or Dad should change Guy.  She then asked if she could only change Aurora's diapers.  I said "yeah, but when we have another baby in our family maybe you can help change it's diapers."  Her response to that was, "I hope there is one in there right now, because your tummy is getting big like there is one."

Well I didn't break the news to her at that point, but one day a few days later, we were having a girls sleep over at grandma's house while the boys  were at a fathers and sons outing.  I've been needing to take a progesterone supplement with this pregnancy, and I have been instructed to take it right before bed.  So Cinderella happened to still be up when I was getting ready for bed, and asked why I have to take medicine, and if all mommy's have to take medicine.  I then told her that I have a baby in my tummy.  She got a confused look on her face, and then said, "but you have a baby out!" 
"That's right, I do.  But I have one in too."
"You have a baby in and a baby out?!  Wow!  I hope it's a girl, what are we going to name it?......."  Yeah she was excited. 

Guy had a little bit different response.  He didn't say much immediately.  A few days later, we were all sitting at the table eating a meal, when Cinderella said something about the baby in mommy's belly.  Guy then responded with, "there is a baby in MY belly."  pulling up his shirt and sticking out his tummy.  I asked him if it was a big baby.  "It's a big baby, and it's a BOY. We are going to have lot's of babies in our family.  One of their names is Aurora, but I don't know the other's names."

Aurora of course hasn't really had any response, because she is still to little to know any different.  However her response in the end is the one I am the most concerned about.  She and her younger sibling will be about 20 months apart.  And she is a total mama's girl.  I don't think she is going to be too happy about another baby taking mom's attention.  Oh well I guess only time will tell.

Staying dry all night long

So Cinderella has been potty trained in the day time for about a year and a half, but she still has accidents at night.  So up until about a week ago she has been wearing a pull-up at night.  We ran out of pull-ups and I told her I wasn't going to buy any more.  Because as long as she had a pull-up on she made no effort to stay dry.

Since she has stopped wearing the pull-ups we have had an alarm set for 2:00 AM and we go in, wake her up, and help her go to the bathroom.  It has worked really well, and she has stayed dry all night.  Until last night.

Last night she came into my room at 1:30 wet.  We cleaned her up and she asked for a drink.  I was a little hesitant, but I also don't want my kids dehydrated, so I gave her a small one.  She came in again at 5:30, wet again.  I have given her drinks before in the night, after she has gone to the bathroom, and we didn't have any problems.  I don't think the drink she got before she went to bed, was any bigger than it usually is.  I don't know why it happened, but I would love any suggestions on helping kids stay dry through the night.

I am frustrated with Blogger

So if you take a look at my blog, you will probably notice that my cute pictures of my kids that were on the side are gone.  I removed them thinking I would easily be able to put them back.

When I try to edit the layout of my blog, it only shows me part of the layout.  The bottom part is cut off.  And there is no scroll bar.  Frustrating.  Well I got tired of my blog still looking like St. Patrick's Day, so I tried to change my background.  However that was on the bottom of my layout, so I couldn't get to it.  I removed the pictures to bring everything up, and was able to change my background.  But then I realized that the "Add New Elements button" must be at the bottom of the screen, where I can't get to it.  So I can't bring the pictures of my kids back.  Right now it is pretty frustrating to me.

We Like Books!

This is what I found my kids doing this morning.  I just couldn't resist taking  pictures.

 

Sewing

Sorry I haven't been blogging much this year, I've been a bit busy.

My brother got married in March, and to help I made some of the outfits for the reception.

I made Aurora's dress and shrug. The other polka dot dress that my niece (one of the other babies) is wearing. Cinderella's shrug. My skirt, and my sister one of my sister's skirts.
Then I also made another shrug for Aurora, while I was trying to figure out the pattern before working on the satin.

I also made one other shrug for Aurora, and one for Cinderella in my practice run. Those ones however didn't match the dresses. Well at least not Aurora's. So I felt compelled to make them Easter dresses that matched those shrugs as well.


That wouldn't be that much sewing for some people. But I haven't really done that much sewing in that short a time before. And for me, it was a big task. I'm pleased with the job I did. And it didn't really stress me, that much. But it did keep me away from the computer.

Schools

Cinderella will be going in to Kindergarten next year. Up until a few months ago, I didn't realize all of my options. I knew I could home school, but personally I don't know if I have the stamina to do that for my kids. I knew I could send them to a private school, but that seems to be too expensive for me. And then there is the standard district public school. Right?

Well a few months ago, I was out to lunch with a few other women who live in my neighborhood, and one of them started telling me about the charter school she sends her kids to. This was the first time I had ever heard of charter school. She had lots of praise to say about it, and because it is a public charter school it is as free as the district public school is. So I started giving it some thought.

I asked people that I knew what they thought of charter schools. I people had both good and bad to say, but most people were a little wary. Here are a few examples of the cautionary reviews I got.

• "If they aren't under a district, who knows what they could be teaching your kids."

• "Not all charter schools in this state higher certified teachers. You need to check and see if they are certified."

• "I don't know that it really matters that much where you send your kids to school, in elementary."

Then the school had an open house. My husband and I went and visited and talked to people at the school. Of course it was a night that was geared to convince people to send their kids there, so everything I heard was good. I asked about some of the negative things I had heard about charter schools in general, and I was happy with the answers that I got.

• They have really good curriculum, and have to meet guidelines imposed by the state. They teach the kids on a higher level than what you find in most district schools. For example, in kindergarten the children aren't just taught the alphabet, but are also taught how to read basic words. In math they learn basic addition and subtraction.
  
• They require all of their teachers to be certified in this state.
• The school offers really awesome extra curricular programs for the older elementary students (3rd through 6th grade). They have a drama club, ballroom, chess, choirs and orchestra, a homework club, a Korean club, a Spanish club and a science club.

My husband and I left that night, feeling like enrolling our daughter there would be a good choice.

The school has you enter your child's name in a drawing, and they pick who gets to attend. Children who's parents were the founders of the school, or have siblings there are given first priority, then after that it is luck of the draw. So I entered Cinderella's name. Now I knew that it was possible that she wouldn't be drawn, but that she could be. So I continued to research my options.

From my perspective, the only thing that the district school had over the charter school is location. Our local district elementary is only .8 miles from my house, and the charter school is 3.2 miles. OK so 3.2 still isn't that far away, but compared to .8 which is close enough that we can walk there in good weather, plus when you take in account the time that it takes to wait in the pick up/drop off line, and possibly stop lights, it could take an hour out of my day just to take her to school, and pick her up. That is a lot of time in the car.

So I had pretty much decided that we would go with the district school.

Then in February, it came time for Kindergarten registration. Accept I never found out about it, until a few days after. Now I know it isn't that big a deal, and I can take her in at any time during school hours and register her, if I have healthy kids and remember. Which unfortunately hasn't happened to coincide since then yet. So I still haven't registered her. "No problem. I'll still do it." I think.

Then yesterday, I happened to be looking at the blog of my neighbor who's children attend the charter school. They had had a ballroom competition, and the mother had taken some pictures. This reminded me of the extra curricular options. The school district that my parents live in, has had some problems lately due to a split in the district. The split caused a major deficit. To make up for this deficit the district has been cutting a lot of things. Many employees, teachers and others and loosing their jobs. They are doing away with a lot of the extra curricular activities the students could participate in. I also am aware that in our current economy there just aren't as much funds to go around and a lot of state programs are getting a cut in their finances as well, and there is talk of cutting funding for schools state wide. Now I know that this will affect state charter schools as well, but this particular charter school, at least in the past, has tried to balance it's budget in other ways than cutting programs. In our district the schools don't do field trips anymore, because of lack of funding. But the charter school, at least of this school year, is still doing field trips.

Anyway all of this was tumbling around in my brain suggesting that maybe I should give the charter school idea some more thought.

And then I read a different friends blog, about trying to make the choice about sending her son to a charter school. A lot of her friends had some good arguments that I hadn't thought of before.

One is that you can start the year off at the charter school, but if you decide it isn't what you want to do after all, you can change your child's school to the district one. But if you start in the district one, you may never have another opportunity to get into the charter school.

Another is the sibling preference thing. If I put Cinderella in the charter school right now, when Guy gets to be school age, I will have an easier time getting him in the charter school, if that is what I want.

Also because the charter school moves at a faster pace then the district ones, the child won't have as hard a time trying to keep up, if they start in Kindergarten instead of a later grade.

So today I heard from the charter school. Cinderella was accepted. So now I have to figure out which is really the most important to me. And get her registered, for one of the schools. And I only have 2 weeks to decide.


I hope this post made sense and isn't just a bunch of ramblings. But if it confuses you, sorry.

When do you keep a kid home from school?

So as the winter season has been coming to an end, my kids have been hit hard by all the illnesses that are going around. And there have been times that I have wondered if I should send Cinderella to preschool or not.

For me there are some givens. If they are running a fever, have no energy, have a highly contagious disease like "pink eye" (had that one last week), are so sick they are spending the day in the bathroom. That kind of thing. I keep them home.

But if the kid just has a cough, maybe a little runny nose? You know regular cold symptoms. They are still "sick" they could infect others. They aren't acting sick. Do you send them or keep them home?

Children on average have around 9 cold per year. Each cold can last 4-10 days. If I keep my kid home from school when ever they have a cold they could miss up to 72 days a year just for the cold.

Cinderella has asthma, and so she sometimes has a cough when that is the ONLY thing wrong with her. So do I keep her home when she is coughing?

Our elementary school has the policy that kids need to be in school unless they have a "verifiable illness or family emergency." OK so that makes sense, but what is a "verifiable illness"?

I don't want to get other kids sick, but I don't want my kid to miss the whole school year either.

So, when do you keep your kids home sick?

Silly Guy

I love watching my kids grow up. Guy is at a fun talking stage right now, and it is fun to see how his mind works right now.

One day he came up to his Daddy and me and said, "I don't have lots of thumbs on my hands." His dad replied "You don't?" "No, I have lots of fingers."

Guy also pronounces magnets as maggots. So he will ask if he can play with the "maggot" car. My husband one time was telling this to someone he was talking to on the phone. He then said, "I wonder if he will ask to play with Grandma's maggots when we go to her house." Guy heard this and replied, "Grandma doesn't have maggots!" I'll bet Grandma is glad she doesn't.

Aurora has started saying Uh Oh! lately. This has prompted Guy to also say it. Only instead of pronouncing it Uh Oh, he pronounces it, Oh Ko!

Guy has picked up an interest in dinosaurs lately. I purchased a little set of about ten dinosaur figurines, and they have become a favorite toy. These dinosaur's range in size from about an inch to maybe 5 inches high. Well this last week we borrowed a toy dinosaur from Grandma's house. This one is quite a bit larger than the others. One day Guy was looking for the largest of the small dinosaurs, and asked me, "Where is the big, huge, little dinosaur?"

My husband has been pruning our fruit trees lately, and one day when he was heading outside to do so, Guy looked at him and asked him if he was going to go break the trees.

This morning I told Guy we needed to do his hair. His response was, "I have a head because I am a boy." I think this means he doesn't have long hair. Well I told him, that yes he had a head, and it had hair on it.

Later we were sitting at the table and Cinderella started getting mad at her head for thinking about something she didn't want to think about. Guy then wrapped his arms around his head and said, "stop head, stop thinking of that!" Which was a repeat of his sisters comment. Cinderella then asked him what he was thinking of. His reply was, "I am thinking about....... my head. I have a head on my hair, because I'm a boy."

This afternoon Guy was asking me where the big dinosaur is. I told him I didn't know, and asked him if he knew where it was. "In the potty room." "The potty room?" I asked, "in the bathtub room." he replied. I then asked what it was doing in there. His reply, "It's not doing anything."

Last but not least, Guy has been getting his star vitamins again lately. However this bottle has a few that are broken in it. One day at breakfast, Guy was given one that had one of the tips broken off the star. When he picked it up, he turned and glared at Daddy and said, "Daddy ate part of my star!"

What do you want to eat?

So lately my husband has been thinking a lot about planting a garden. He has been asking different members of the family what they want to plant this year. Last year Guy chose carrots, watermelon and squash, and would like to do the same this year. Cinderella chose pumpkins, and corn on the cob. I think she would also like a repeat.

Well today I was making a menu for next week. I asked Guy what he would like to eat next week. His reply was "carrots." I asked him what he wanted with his carrots. His reply was "watermelon and squash."

Wipes and locks

So I order my wipes from Amazon. I was a little late this time, and ran out of wipes before the others showed up. I knew they had been shipped, but didn't know when they were coming. So I logged onto my account to see when they were scheduled to be delivered, so I would know if I needed to go to the store and buy more wipes or if I could survive with just the ones in my diaper bag.

Well Amazon told me they had been delivered. So I looked on my porch and they weren't there. I decided to get my shoes on and walk around the house and see if I could find the box. I had seen a UPS truck on my street this morning, so I was hoping that was it, and I could find it somewhere. Nope. Not in my front yard. Then I noticed a box on the porch across the street. I went and looked and sure enough it had my name on it.

So I pick it up and carry it home. I get to my front door, try to open it, and it is locked. And no I don't have my keys on me. It is 35 degrees out side, and I am wearing short sleeves, and no coat. My kids are in the house, but they are doing quiet time and Cinderella is the only one who knows how to open the door. So I ring the bell and pray that she hears me. She did, after I rang it lots of times. She looked out the window saw it was me and came to open the door. Then she noticed that the dead bolt wasn't locked, and tried to tell me through the door that it wasn't locked and I was being silly. Finally she opened the door.

Hmm. I need to be more careful about making sure the door isn't locked when I go out it seems.

Attached

So years ago when I was going to college, I had to take a Child Development class. In this class one of the things we talked about is attachment.

The teacher told us there were 3 different kinds of attachment. 2 of which are unhealthy, and one that is healthy.

The first is under-attached. Mom can leave and the kid doesn't notice or care. Mom can come back and the kid doesn't notice or care.

The second is the healthy attachment, I don't remember the name. When mom leaves, the kid notices, but doesn't get too upset, and recovers easily. Has fun when mom is gone, but is glad to see her again when she comes back.

And the third is over-attached. Mom leaves and the child screams. The child refuses to be comforted while Mom is gone, and won't be happy until she comes back.

Now to a certain degree these are stereotypes, because there is no mold that really fits everyone.

The thing is, they didn't tell us what causes the different levels of attachment, or what to do about the unhealthy ones. I think with my kids I have dealt with all three kinds. Ironically in the same order. Cinderella could care less if I left, and HATED to have to leave when I got back. She still does.
Guy notices when I leave, but doesn't have a hard time with it, and is happy to come with me when I get back.
Aurora is way too over-attached. If I leave she screams. And refuses to be comforted. Most of the time. There have been a few times that she is OK, but those are very few. She is better for someone she is familiar with, like Daddy, but she still cries for him too. It is worse if she is hungry, tired or both.

The last 2 times we have left our kids with a baby sitter who wasn't family, we have come home to find the baby screaming, the baby sitter upset, and the sitters mom here. I don't mind that the sitter called her mom. But I feel bad that my baby screams so much that the sitters have a hard time. It makes me feel bad for even calling a sitter. But there are sometimes that I need one.

So what do you do?

Has anyone else dealt with a baby that screams without Mommy? How do you handle it? And how do you do baby sitters?