A funny Charlieism

On Thursdays I watch my friend Emily's two boys, aged very closely to my two, while she runs errands with her mother. So for about two hours, I am fully responsible for FIVE kids, the oldest of which is three.
Anyhow, generally the 4 boys play well together and keep each other well occupied, so sometimes it's even to my benefit. HOWEVER, there are also many small spats about who wants which train, who gets to go first, who did blah blah blah. So when I was making lunch and heard a bloody murder scream erupt from the playroom, I though for sure it was a scream of injustice and ran to see what was going on, a little annoyed at the perpetrator. When I got there Sam was crying hysterically and holding his left hand. I asked what happened, but he was crying too hard to speak. I asked the other boys what happened, and no one seemed to know. Upon inspecting Sam's hand, I saw that not only was there a complete bite mark on his finger, but also that the skin was actually broken. I demanded to know who bit Sam but no one fessed up. Sam finally snuffled through his sobs that it was "chawee" and I asked Charlie directly. He finally confessed and I took him to time out and told him to sit there until I came back. (As a side note, he did not cry or complain at all in time out, in broad contrast to my own kids who cry like it's the end of the world and often even yell things like "nobody doesn't wuv me anymore", and I guess it may have had to do with my calm sweetness because I was dealing with someone else's kid). When I called him out of time out, I told him we don't bite people and that it hurts. I showed him Sam's hand and told him to say sorry to Sam. He looked at me and said "Do you wanna know WHY I ate his finger?"
I nearly started laughing, but maintained my composure and asked why. He said "Because he knocked over my train so I ate his finger." I explained that no matter what happens, it's not okay to bite and we don't ever eat anyone's fingers.
Aaah, add that to the list of things I never thought I'd have to say...

How 'bout me?

Yesterday while Ryan and I were discussing his ugly rubber tree plant after painting our kitchen blue, Sam had his first "what about me?" moment as the middle child.
Me: "Ryan, now that the kitchen is blue and pretty, that plant has GOT to go. It's hideous!"
R: "At least it has history. What about your ugly plants over there?"
Me: "Unlike yours, those ACTUALLY have true history. That one was given to us when Jack was born."
R: "Was it really?"
Me: "Yes it was."
Sam: apparently listening to us from the table "How 'bout when I was bown mom?"
Yikes.

Jack's first signature

Jack wrote his name for the first time today, and I am so excited! I've seen him write letters before, but never actually his name in the correct order and semi-legibly! It's not exactly perfect, but for a 3 year old leftie, I'll take it!! Now if only I knew how to teach him to read...

One proud mama

Last week we attended a gym class for toddlers with one of our friends and neighbors. Jack was at school, and it was really the first time Sam would be doing anything like this alone. Most of the kids in the class were around three, and Sam being not quite 2.5 yet, was one of the youngest (albeit also the biggest!) kids in the class. I was a little worried at first how he might do, but let me just say he jumped right in there (literally!) and made his mama VERY proud! Not only did he follow all the teacher's instructions, but he did each activity WELL. In fact, many of the things the other kids couldn't do, Sam did correctly on the first try! The teacher even complimented him for following along so well and staying right with the class lesson plan. I watched as the other kids roamed around, ignoring instructions, or attempted to complete the tasks and my heart swelled with pride for my sweet Sammybear. It was his first opportunity to really shine without being in the shadow of his older brother, and shine he most certainly did. Way to go, Sammy!

Sam on a motorcycle

This was Sam's first time on a motorcycle. When we pulled next to it in the parking lot, he pointed it out immediately and wanted to "pway wif it" but I said we couldn't cause it was not ours. When the bike rider came out a moment later, he asked if Sam wanted to sit on it, and you can see he certainly did! I love when he gets a special chance for something like this all on his own. Jack was at school having his own adventures!

Ummm, Gymboree much?

You know you shop at Gymboree too much when:
Me: Sammy, you wanna go to the grocery store with Mommy today while Jack is at school?
Sam: No, I don wanna go to da stowe.
Me: But we need to.
Sam: I wanna go to a diffwent kine of a stowe.
Me: Like which one?
Sam: Like a MOVIE stowe.
Me: A movie store? What's that?
Sam: You know, you sit and watch a MOOOOVIE
Me: What else do they have at the movie store?
Sam: Socks.
Hmmm, there are socks right by the tv where I park the kids at Gymboree while I spend obscene amount of time sifting through the clearance racks. Maybe I have an addiction. My name is Miriam and I buy children's clothes.

Last day of preschool

Today was the end of an era around here. My firstborn just completed his first year of school. So maybe he only went one day a week for three hours, but still...and next fall both Sam and Jack will be heading off to preschool TWO days a week for three hours. I won't know what to do with all that spare time!

Poop on the floor

It happened. I knew it was inevitable. I knew there was no way I could have 3+ kids and NOT end up with poop on the floor eventually, but I have to admit it was shocking nonetheless. You get three guesses who did it. That's right. Sam. And one guess to figure out who found it (and I'll give you a clue there, too...it wasn't me, Jackson, or Ryan...hmmmm). LUCKILY, I saw it in her hand BEFORE she ate any, because I swear I would've put her up for adoption under those circumstances with a note attached to her that said "I love her dearly, she is perfect in every way, but after what I witnessed, I'll never be able to kiss her again. Therefore I want her to go to a home where she can still be kissed." Whew, so we dodged THAT bullet. I hope no one ever has to conduct a human waste blacklight test in my house cause it would be beyond disgusting.

Having a girl

Olivia has changed so much in the last few weeks, with all her new party tricks in her bag and her personality really taking shape. Yesterday there was the whole pretending to talk on the phone thing that I remember each of the kids doing. There is something painfully cute about a baby holding random objects up to their ears and beaming while they say "HEDDDOOOO!" Today, however, she proved there are definite innate differences between boys and girls. Ever since the boys were her age, they have pushed cars and trains around, built things with blocks, and loved to play with balls. They declined pretty much all stuffed animals, dolls, dollhouses, etc. This morning when they emptied the plush toys bin, they rediscovered the baby dolls I gave them when Olivia was born. I had these great ideas that they would love their babies and want to copy everything I did for Olivia on their own little babies. They played with them for about five seconds, and Sam would occasionally put a baby to his boob and pretend to breastfeed, or slam a baby into the crib saying it needed a nite-nite, but they never really got into the whole baby doll/nurturing thing. The dolls were, however, covered in marker because apparently the only use the boys found for them was as a canvas. Olivia quickly beelined to the dolls with her stealth military crawl, and took them over. She smiled at them and talked to them and held them close to her. She slobbed all over them, causing the washable marker on them to smear all over her own face and make them look very close to triplets. She screamed with horror if the boys tried to take one of them from her, and she spent quite some time just turning them around and talking into their baby faces. I thought it was a fluke, but when she awoke from her nap this afternoon, she again found her way right back to the baby dolls and spent even more time playing with them and declaring them her own. And I couldn't help but think to myself how glad I am to have my own sweet baby girl, so different from the boys and rough play to which I have grown accustomed. So many things to look forward to...

Echoes

Today Jackson said something to me that I say to him all the time. It was so sweet.
J: "Hey Mom, Guess what?"
Me: "What?"
J: "I love you, mom."

It seemed today was a day full of love from the kids, and the boys showered me with unprompted thanks and i love yous all day long. Very rewarding. It probably didn't hurt that I bought them toys and chips at Target and made cookies...aah, bribery. Gotta love it!

Pwease, Sir.

The boys have both been working really hard on their manners lately, which makes me proud and cracks me up every day. They say excuse me when they "toot" or burp. They say excuse me when they need to interrupt me either from a conversation or some other engrossing task. They say please and thank you without being prompted or reminded. But Sam has begun saying "Pwease, sir" when asking for things at the dinner table, no matter who he is addressing. So dinner sounds like this (imagine a loud child's voice, about 10 decibals above where it needs to be and usually adressing ME)
"MORE SALSA PWEASE SIR.
I NEED A NAKIN, PWEASE SIR.
MORE MILK, PWEASE SIR."

And Jackson's need to follow instructions exactly made Ryan crack up tonight while trying to discipline him.
Bathtime was over and the boys were in their pjs. They came to their room to select a library book to read before bed, and Jackson wanted to play cars. When Ryan sent him to choose his book, he became agitated and made a disgusted face at Ryan while saying he was FWUSTWATED with us. Ryan told him to apologize and was met with more defiance. He calmly said "Jack, come stand right here" and put his finger to a spot on the play mat right in front of him. Jack walked over, and nearly fell, losing his balance from trying to put both feet on the tiny spot Ryan had pointed to. We both burst out laughing. Jack was too intent on getting the spot right to even laugh at the situation. We have an extreme people pleaser on our hands!

Tidbits

My mom and grandmother were here this past weekend, and the kids LOVED having the extra attention! Saturday night when we put the kids to bed, Sam had one of his crying spells and cried about everything under the sun. When we finally just closed the door and went out, mom and I waited outside their door listening to them talk. At first, Jackson was yelling at Sam to be quiet and just go to sleep. But after a few minutes, Sammy started saying he was scared. Jackson said "But Sammy, see that dot up there (the smoke detector)? It keeps us safe." Sam said "But, Jashon, the skwatchy monster gonna get me and eat me all up." And Jack said "Mom says there's no such thing as a scratchy monster, Sam." And Sam said "Yeah, Mom says 'There's no scratchy monsters. It's just shadows.'" After we came downstairs, we could hear them softly singing the theme to the musical Annie "Tomorrow" softly together in their room. Who knew they actually listened when I talk? Not me!
Olivia is doing all kinds of new tricks now, including waving, clapping and saying YAY!, pointing to things, saying "Uh-oh," pulling up, cruising, and pretending to talk on the phone (with the remote). These are all things I remember the boys doing, but it seems like she's just flying through the milestones and I can hardly believe she will celebrate her first birthday NEXT MONTH. Yowza.