More Daycare-isms

School is swinging down, and the things my kids say is as good as ever!

Enjoy!

While folding laundry, I notice the tell tale signs that Adam was playing with some scissors.
Me: Adam, what happened to these pants?
Adam: OhmeGod (it's his new word...don't know where he got it from) something happened to them in the washing machine!
Me: No, I don't think it was the washing machine...
Adam: Oh, I 'member now - a dinosaur ate it.
Me: A dinosaur, really!?
Adam: well, maybe it was Isaac.  He likes to cut.
Me: I don't think Isaac would cut up your pajama pants...
Adam: *sigh* Okay, okay, I did it.

---

While washing up the kids for our afternoon snack:
Me: What should we have for a snack today?
Daycare boy:  Idunno.
Me: I know, let's have some carrots and dip!
Daycare boy: Do I look like a bunny?

---

After making the afternoon snack above (carrots, broccoli, cheese and crackers):
Me: Okay guys, snack is ready.
Daycare boy: *looks over plate* Don't you have any meatballs around here?

---

Daycare girl: Hey Adam, let's make (daycare boy) possessed and then he can join us!"
Adam: Yeah! That will be fun!"

Eeeek! They know my weakness!

So, after a rough morning with the daycare kids (not even gonna go there), and then a nap time filled with chaos and homework, I had a relatively nice afternoon.

I decided about 2 minutes after I woke up that I would not be cooking supper tonight. It was gonna be a leftovers or cereal kinda night...and I knew that I'd have to mow the lawn after almost a full week of rain...which was gonna be hard work.

I don't like hard work.

I did it anyhow.  I think my lawn is easily 1/2 an acre.  Well, probably not.  I may be exaggerating just a bit.  But, when wrangling 3 kids, 1 power cord and pushing that machine through thick, tall grass - it feels like that much.

My kids helped out.  They pulled the cord so that it was always out of my way.  They moved the lawn furniture and put away toys.  The three of them sat together with their halos at just the right angles.

They waited until I was almost done. I was hot, sweaty, tired and frustrated with the number of trees and bushes that I have to wind around in the back yard.  I turned off the machine, sat down and wiped the sweat from my brow.

That's when Adam pipes up, "Mom...can we order a pizza?"
Me: "no"
Then Isaac tries, "We'll pay for 1/2." (this almost worked last time)
Me: "no, guys, not tonight"
Then Iman chimes in, "Well....can we get slurpees?"

oooh...she hit me where it hurts.  On a hot day, after mowing a lawn - most people would grab a beer.  Not being a drinker, Slurpees are my drink of choice.  Oh, how I want a slurpee!!  I want to walk to the store and get one, but the ramifications are just something I'm not willing to live with!  3 kids hyped up on more sugar than they've had in the last week - and then trying to get them to bed so that I can get the rest of my homework done....just not something that I can do.

But oh...how I want a Slurpee.

Daycare-isms

It's been a long, long time since I was able to write one of these posts...we've been through a dry spell lately, but today they were right back at them.

"Stop being such a girly princess!" 
"HOLY GOD, IT'S WAININ'!!!"
"when my mom walks her shoes go 'click, click' and her boobies do this *jiggles about like crazy*"
While cleaning up a mess of blocks for about the 17th time today, my little dude looks at me and says, "Does my mom pay you enough to do that??"

6 days

I'm leaving in just 6 days.  I'm so excited that I could just burst right now.  I've been trying to contain it because Iman's birthday is on Friday --- I can't be more excited about my trip than her birthday now, can I?

Anyhow - while I'm in Mexico, I have another course starting.  The instructor is just awesome and has already posted up the first 4 units.  I really want to get at least 2 of them over and done with before I go (that's totally do-able) BUT...

(there's always a but, isn't there?)

But, I'm so excited that I can't even really concentrate! This course is on children with special needs, and normally I have a lot to say on it (it's something that really interests me a lot) but all I've been able to do all day long is run over the list of things I want to do in my head:

• recheck my bag - do I have everything (good thing I did that, because I almost forgot my pajamas!)
• write out a list of "things" for my mom while she's here (she's awesome and taking care of Adam.)  This will include things like his normal routine, his likes/dislikes, how to turn on the TV and switch it to the DVD so she can get a little reprieve now and then... etc
• write out a list of things for my older kids to do (feed the fish, clean their rooms, not make grandma never want to come back....you know, the usual).
• try to get that stupid sink fixed
• ^^ ditto for the dishwasher.
• write a note for Mr. Delusional to remind him that the light in my oven has been burnt out for months, and the dryer light just burnt out today.  
• remind Mr. Delusional to buy me printer ink so I can print out my reports to take on the plane.
• oh yeah, print out my boarding tickets
• ask for more donations (hint, hint peeps!)
  
  
  
  
• let my mom know how my deep freeze is organized so she doesn't get lost.
• laundry - clean underwear is essential in this house!!
• Ironing....not cause I want to, but because I don't even want to face it when I come back.
• birthday party for Iman on Friday (daytime with a few of her friends, evening with the whole family)
• Saturday = family fun day/time spent together before we leave day/try to get to sleep because I have a long day of plane rides and apparently a bouncy, jiggly, vomit-inducing bus ride to the casita the next day.

Yeah...and I'm trying to get some homework done.

Dishwasher Woes

I've mentioned before about the issues with my dishwasher.  My lovely Mr. Delusional fixed it many times and has made me a very happy woman each time.

This time however - it was beyond his fixing abilities.  Sometimes it was filling, sometimes it wasn't.  There was no rhyme or reason to it.  We pulled the whole thing out thinking that perhaps the hose was kinked, but nothing worked. I gave up and have been doing dishes by hand for the last week or two.

Yeah, you read that right, I have been doing my dishes by hand!!!   


I know that there are people out there who don't have dishwashers and my complaints, to them, are likely whiny.  I did dishes by hand for far too long.  I hated it.  So, when we moved to our house and it had a dishwasher, I was in Lazy Hethr Heaven!  (too bad it also didn't come with maid service....ahhhh... that would be so sweet!)

Anyhow - back to me and my whining.  I've now been doing dishes by hand for a few weeks.  With the daycare kids here, that means that I usually do about 4 or 5 loads of dishes a day.  I. Hate. This.

So when I woke up this morning and saw the big red circle around today's date on the calendar, I did a little squeal of glee - today is the day that the dishwasher repair man was coming!!  The kids and I spent the morning coloring and baking and waiting for the moment the door bell would ring.

Finally - around lunch time, the van pulls up - the kids swarm him and the poor man is bombarded with questions:

• What's your name?
• What's in the bag?
• Why do you have a band-aid?
• You're not allowed to wear shoes in Hedr's house, you gonna take them off?
• Why do you have an orange screw driver?
• Can I see your screwdriver?
• Oooh - he has a flash light!  Can I play with your flashlight?

It went on for quite some time. Eventually I was able to feed them, wash them up and put them to bed -- meanwhile, Mr. Repair Man is tinkering around.  At this point, he's taken apart the entire machine - front cover is off, bottom piece is off, racks and screws and bits are all over the place.... and he's on the phone.  I hear him say "I've tried everything, I just don't know what's wrong with it."

Uh...so not the words I wanted to hear, hun!

A few (5) phone calls later, he's figured out the issue, and has to order a new part (water intake valve and also a new mother board 'just in case') and he leaves.

I still have no working dishwasher - I have to wait for the part to arrive and for a new service call to be booked.

Hethr's not happy.

It's only Monday and my Eye's Already Twitching

I thought that I would have a myriad of posts during spring break...however, it was quiet here.  My mother came and took my kids for 4 days (yes, all three kids for 4 whole days!) and with one daycare child sunning himself on the beaches of Cancun, another too little to cause much disruption, and the third happy to have me all to herself, it wasn't that bad.

Mr. Delusional and I enjoyed some much needed husband/wife time together as opposed to the usual mommy/daddy thing.  There's a difference.  A big one!

Anyhow - my mother eventually brought my kids back (yes, she had developed a bit of a twitch!) and soon after, my chosen son was back here (nicely tanned and full of stories) we were back into the swing of things.  Again, it wasn't that bad because my older two were here and each on loves to be the little mother hen to the daycare children. I was more like an observer than a caretaker.

However, all blissful things must come to an end.  Spring Break is over and we're back to our daily routine...and we didn't miss a beat.  Iman and Isaac each asked to be woken at 530 this morning to exercise with me.  No, I didn't bother waking them that early (I'm not that delusional!), but thought I'd wake them at 630 so we could have breakfast together.  That didn't happen.  They slept through their 7 am alarm....they slept through my 715 "wake up, you're going to be late" and their eyes barely flickered at my 730 "get up now before I get mad!"

We then had the mad dash for "I have nothing to wear" and let's not forget that "there's nothing to eat."  Eventually we got through the hair combing, face washing and teeth brushing and they were off.

Apparently that was the sign for Adam and the daycare kids to go totally psycho.  They fought over toys, they fought over noise, they fought over spots to sit, they fought over who was fighting.  It was horrible.  Then, as if someone waved a magic wand, they were nice and wonderful again....and a little while later, it was back to the fighting.  Needless to say nap time came and there wasn't even a fight to get into bed.  Everyone was very happy to crawl under their covers and grab some much needed sleep.  

They should be waking up soon - I'm hoping they're in a good mood -- we're off to hop in puddles regardless of smiles or tears!

Big Words and Little Mouths

Back around Christmas time, my chosen son's father was building a super secret gift for his wife (a shoe shelf!).  I'm assuming that chosen son was around while the piece was being built because he was suddenly taking the hammer from the Little Tykes tool station, banging the wall and sporadically shouting, "Dammit!!"

Mom and I worked hard at eradicating this word from his vocabulary.  However, children being the lovely little sponges of learning that they are, Adam quickly picked up on this fascinating expression and began using it himself.  He'd say things like "Stop saying 'dammit,' dammit!" or "Dammit, (child's name) said 'dammit' again!"

So, while I worked hard at ridding it from my chosen son's vocabulary, I worked just as diligently at wiping it from Adam's.  It seemed to work well, I don't recall them saying it much past mid-January.

It must be understood, however, that we are dealing with children...more specifically, we are dealing with my Adam - a boy who shines a new light on the antics of childhood.  We'd been dammit-free for a little over a month when today, Adam got upset that I wouldn't allow him to munch on chocolate covered almonds for supper.

That's right, I am an evil, horrible mother who doesn't let her kids eat chocolate for supper.

Obviously enraged by the deprivation of all things chocolate, Adam runs a loop through my kitchen and living room screaming in frustration.  He stops dead in front of me and with tears in his eyes shouts, "You Dammit!!"


It was so wrong of me to do, but I laughed.  I laughed until I cried.  This just made him even more angry, but I couldn't help it.  I laughed and laughed and laughed.

In the end, we talked about the whole issue and how that's not a word that nice people should say...then we ended up having popcorn for dinner.

What?  Is popcorn not a complete meal?

Please Advise my Fellow Daycare Providers

I am incredibly lucky to have absolutely wonderful daycare parents.  They are thoughtful, understanding and respectful.  What more could I ask for?  It has taken me 5 years to find families that fit well with me and my philosophies...but I have achieved just that.

Sadly, that's a rare case.  I have 2 friends right now who are also daycare/dayhome providers who aren't so lucky.  Friend #1, let's call her Tracy, has parents who are disrespectful.  They send their children to her care when they are ill -- I know that parents have a hard time taking the time off of work, but when you send your kid to your providers house sick, every other person in that house is exposed!  It's horrible!  The sickness spreads from child a to child b...then to the provider's child or the husband or the provider...the next thing you know even the cat is sick and all because the parent brought their kid in when they should have stayed at home.  

Tracy also has an issue with a parent who says her child is potty trained.  Tracy has yet to see the child use the toilet (or potty) in her home and is constantly cleaning up wet spots all over the place (even her brand new couch!!)  I don't even know what to say about this.  I've just gone through the potty training phase with Adam and my own chosen son -- sure they still have the occasional accident, but not to the point that I'm stuck with a home drenched in urine.

My other friend, who we'll call Elaine has parents who just walk all over her.  "Hey, would  you mind keeping my 18 month old baby awake all day today so he sleeps on the drive home?" -- do you think about what effect this will have on the other children in the home?  What about poor Elaine who works a 12 hour day with no break, and now you're asking her to keep a toddler awake all day long?  She also has issues with parents being late (like hours late), or "forgetting" things like shoes or jackets.  

I just don't understand.

Granted, I have never been the parent who's bringing their child to a dayhome, but still, I would certainly hope that I'd treat the person who is essentially raising my child during the day with a little respect.  Would these parents accept it if someone treated them this way?  I don't think so!  Do I just live in a fairy tale world where people "do unto others..."

What are your thoughts??  What advice would you give these providers (either as a parent to a provider, or as provider to provider).

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

I'm sure that I've mentioned before my love for all things Seuss.  I love his stories, I love his art.  I love the messages that many of his stories send, and I love, love, love that his writing still inspires young readers today.  Dr. Seuss books are fun, engaging and (in my untrained and personal opinion) help children learn to read without any effort.

Since today is his birthday (and it's almost over, yikes!), the kids and I decided to have a Dr. Seuss Day.  We started off by reading some of his books: my personal favorite is The Cat in the Hat, but we didn't leave out One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish or Fox in Socks (another one of my favorites!).  We played a Cat in the Hat inspired game called Cat in the Hat I Can Do That!- which is so cool and so much fun.  We had the kids as young as 2 and as old as 33 playing and laughing and winning (we all won, of course!)

However, the day just wouldn't have been complete without our Green Eggs and Ham - this is one of the first books I ever remember reading.  One magical day my own daycare provider was flipping through those pages saying "I am Sam.  Sam I am" and it just clicked.  A whole new world had opened up for me and I was hooked on books.

Anyhow - I digress.  We read (a very worn and tattered version) of the Green Eggs and Ham and then got down to the dirty business of making and eating our own green eggs and ham.  Well...green eggs and turkey ham.

We started off with eggs...separated the yolks from the whites....you'll also need green food coloring (my picture is crooked, and I'm too darn lazy to fix it....live with it peeps!)

Then, I added a few (4-5) drops of food coloring to the whites and mixed it up. (oops, another upside-down pic!)

I put the green whites into the pan, and then topped them with the yolks.

While the eggs were cooking, my daughter helped to paint the (turkey) ham...just a little food coloring and water (a few teaspoons).

Once it was all together, we had us a "Green Eggs and Ham" meal!!

Now....to think on how to make something equally cool tomorrow.....

Saving my Sanity

So -- probably 2 years ago, I went all Flylady crazy and bought a bunch of her stuff.  The dusters, the "control journal" -- and a little book that she recommended called Saving Dinner.  I browsed through it, got distracted -- and left it at that.

Well -- after being sick of the same meal every week, I decided to give it another go.  I figured I didn't have much to lose.  If you saw my recipe book collection, it would become painfully obvious how many I've tried, and how many I've given up on.  I'm tired of trying and putting all this effort into foods that the family doesn't eat.

So, I pulled it off of my book shelf, blew off the dust and took another look at it.  I'm into week 2 of  using this - and let me just say, this book is awesome!  She has her recipes set in different seasons (so a winter, summer, spring and fall group)  She has a weekly menu complete with side dish suggestions (that's what always gets me when I make a meal!).   She has a grocery list -- nicely divided up into categories for you (such as produce, dairy, meat, etc).  Best part -- So far, it hasn't taken me more than 1/2 hour to cook my meals, they are healthier than anything else they would have eaten before AND most of the time, most of the family likes it.

That's saying A LOT.  You see -- if it were up to my kids, we'd have Spaghetti every night.  I'm lazy - so I'd rather just "cook" cereal.  Hubby's picky and likes his 4 square...it's a never ending battle!

I've been really sneaky with my meals so far.  I've told the family that we will be using this book for the whole year, and that I expect them to let me know what they think of each recipe.   We are rating it on a scale of 1-5; where 1 is please don't serve me this nastiness again!! and 5 is oh my God, I've died and gone to heaven!!  So far, most meals have been a 4.  That's something considering the range of picky eaters that we have!

We've had amazingly yummy things like Tuna Fusilli (sounds horrible, but was so good.  the kids each gave it a 5!), Sweet Bean Burritos, Herb Crusted Chicken Piccata (This was fabulous -- even though it was a little more black than nicely browned -- lol!), Ginger Beef, Romano Turkey Burgers (mmmm!!!), Fish Nicoise....etc...

It's been FABULOUS.  It's been fun to find some of the things on her shopping lists (like Neufchatel cheese....even the deli manager didn't know what it was -- but a quick google search told me I could easily substitute Cream Cheese).  Kale is a vegetable that I'd never heard of or even knew what it looked like -- but  the produce boy showed it too me...I was dubious when cooking it - but it's now my new favorite!

Her book has a bunch of recipes (also quick and easy) in the back for side dish options - BUT -- even better - she has "serving suggestions" listed under each recipe.  Things like "a big green salad and some roasted red potatoes" -- and she has those serving clearly marked on her grocery lists so if you don't want to make something, you can simply leave it out.

The menus serve 6...as in 6 adults - so we always have left overs.  My own family is eating fabulous, but my daycare kids are eating just as well - as the left overs often make it to their plates for lunches.  I nearly fell over when my little daycare girl (a very picky eater) ate 1/2 a chicken breast and a side of spinach and squash and then asked for seconds!

Yup, I'm sold.  I love this book.  I think you should try it.  Give it an honest to God try.  She only has 5 menus/week - so you still have the option to make an 'old favorite' or go out for dinner, or whatever.  So, my lovely readers -- if you'd like to check out the book, the link to it on Amazon is up near the beginning of the post, and my fellow Canadians - you're link is below.  I think the only complaint that I have is that it's written in US measurements (like "buy a 15oz can of ___") where as in Canada, everything is in grams.  It takes a little math okay, Google searching, but is oh-so-worth it.

I has a stress

Yup - I admit it, I am NOT superwoman.  Today did me in.  Here's the reason why:  I woke up.


This is how my day went today:

• Wake up at 6am.
• attempt to spend the hour before my children wake up getting some reading done.  Failed because I spent it cleaning.
• Make lunches for the kids and Mr. Delusional.
• Chosen daughter arrives for the day, wants toast. I make it. She doesn't eat it.
• Children wake and finally get dressed (after 1/2 hour of nagging)
• feed all the children, get them washed up and out the door for school.
• Search for the walkie-talkie that has seemingly disappeared. (still lost for what it's worth)
• clean up breakfast dishes.
• put in a load of laundry.
• Chosen child arrives for the day.  He's talking a lot lately. 
• Adam and chosen toddler go off in a toddler talking duo.  It's funny/cute.
• Chosen daughter takes them "to the beach" - they must wear winter gear to the "beach"
• On their way to the beach, they find *insert suspenseful Jaws-type music here* an electric piano.
• yeah.  I was thrilled.
• The three children play with said piano at it's lowest volume setting (which is just a few decibels under bleeding eardrums)
• Yeah.  I was even more thrilled.
• They are happy though, and I can tell, because I can occasionally hear their squeals of glee when there's a momentary pause in the music.
• They are all running loops around my basement as they "dance" (hey, it's cold, there's not a lot of things they can do to get rid of the energy)
• They did the running/squealing/high-pitched piano playing for two hours.  Yes...Two Hours.
• Lunch time!  Yay.  Quiet.
• Chosen daughter refuses to eat anything except for her naked noodles.
• Nap time (otherwise known as bliss)
• During nap time I clean up lunch dishes, sweep, put in another load of laundry, finish my passport stuff, print off some papers for school, sit down to finish the Unit I'm working on now...and then relax.
• My tea kettle hasn't boiled yet - and they all wake up.
• They find the piano (how on earth did I forget to put it away??)
• We're back to the piano music/screaming like banshees.
• I lose my patience and shout at them (and take away the piano)
• they pout.
• I feel bad.
• Chosen toddler talks my ear off for the next 2 hours.  Like non-stop talking.  As in never stopping.
• I give up on feeding my kids a real supper and just tell my kids to eat a bowl of cereal instead.
• Argue with Iman about her homework.
• Get invited out to a movie (with an adult!!) - but can't go because hubby has to work late and I'm here with the kids.
• Shed a tear because I know I could have had a conversation that did not include the words: Iggle Piggle, penis or poop.
• Now - I'm simply waiting.  Waiting for them to pass out and hope and pray that I get a little "me" time. God, how I need some me time!

Toddlerized Terms of Endearment

Most families call each other little love names.  My father used to (and still does) call me his punkin (not to be confused with the gourd!).  My grandpa called me his sweet-pea.  I call my kids by their own little nick names - each one has some sort of special meaning for them.

My daycare kids have taken this to a whole new level.  It started on one of the very, very rare occasions that I treated them to McD's.  Adam teasingly called my chosen son "chicken nugget" and since then it's completely taken off.

Our day will go something like this

"Hi, Chicken Nugget!"
"Hi, Ketchup."
"Hey, Mustard, do you wanna play Legos?"
"Okay, Hamburger."
"Hey, Apple Pie - come see this!"
"Wow, Frosted Flakes, that's cool!"
(except they can come up with such a variety of names, it's mind-boggling)

And it goes on and on .  All. Day. Long.

But the best had to be when Adam was snuggling with me the other night.  He's all warm and fresh from his bath, curled up in my lap and looks up to me and says, "I love you, Sippy Cup, as much as I love Iced Tea."

A Post about Nothing.

Yup, this post is a bit like a Seinfeld episode - about nothing, yet everyone can relate (at least, I hope you can, otherwise, I'm really far gone!)

First, I'd like to apologize for the lack of posts - my excuses before were that I was so busy with all the school work, reading and researching that I didn't have time to blog; now it's all about...well...empty excuses.

It's not as if I have anything else to do.  You see, I've been avoiding my Shred workouts that I was oh-so-excited about less than 2 weeks ago.  Not a single one done since that first post.  Don't get me wrong, I think about doing it a lot, but just have zero motivation for it.

It's not as if the kids aren't inspiration enough for me.  You see, after being not-the-best provider for the last 2 1/2 months (letting them just play freely while I read/researched and occasionally giving up on that and getting down to build a tower or play with dolls) - now I'm in Super Provider Overdrive.  Yup, so far this week we have baked a cake, made a super-secret gift for moms/dads, made a funky gift bag to put the super-secret gift into, created a wall of snowflakes (that I got the pleasure of cutting to each child's direction -- and I have the blister to prove it), making another stick snowflake (sounds horrible, but is cute), decorating ginger bread houses, making the old time Elephant Popcorn (anyone remember that?) and ... uh.... oh yeah, I still have fudge and cookies on my list-o-things to do.  I have read stories until I've lost my voice (and unknowingly, gave my sweet little chosen child nightmares about wolves who eat children.  Thanks a lot Red Riding Hood!)

Also, I have booked in a last minute "Spa-Care" day (a daycare day full of spa treatments...facials, mani/pedis and pajamas.)  So, I have more boys than girls -- they'll enjoy it just as much as the girls!

No, instead I spend my evenings in front of my computer in a complete brain fog mindlessly clicking links that take me to some of the strangest things that I've ever seen...and they all involve vaginae (yes, that's the correct spelling, all this time I've been saying "vaginas" but apparently that's wrong.  Who knew?)  Sorry to those of you who are vagina-phobes....it's not my fault...I read a link, find it interesting click on it and can't look away.  It's not porn (don't worry about that) -- but it is odd and leaves you thinking, "What the hell is wrong with the world??"

daycarisms

We haven't had any Daycarisms in a while - these children are such a rich source of humor and delight, I need to keep better track of what they say! Anyhoo - onto the daycarisms that I've experienced lately.

Child: Did you brush your teeth today?
Me: Yes, why?
Child: Cause your breath is nasty. It smells like my mom's coffee cup.
Me: Uh....thanks for letting me know.

Me: Hey, Isaac, would you get out the Uncle Ben's for me?  I want to make supper.
Toddler: Yeah! Uncle Ben is coming for supper!!!

My toddler has been the most "interesting" lately.  He's certainly developing an attitude -- don't know where he'd get that from.  Apparently he doesn't like to be told what to do:
Me: Adam, can you come pick up the Lego?
Adam:  Shhhh!
Me:  Hey...I asked you to come pick this up...
Adam: *furrows his brows* Hush!!
Me: Excuse me?  Come over here and help to clean this up.
Adam: *exasperated sigh accompanied by an eye roll* Fine, whatever.

After giving away a couch set that we were using in my main daycare room to a loving and deserving family, the kids come in on the following Monday and I get this:
School-ager: Well...you gonna fill it up with toys?
Preschooler:  It's like a giant surprise of nothing!!
Toddler: Why mommy? Why it all gone, mommy Hedr?

But the best of the week was this:
Preschooler:  Hey, Heather...got anything stronger than this milk?

Dear Universe, What have I done? - with updates

Today was one of those days where you just feel like Karma is out to get you.  Ever have one of those?  I should have seen it coming, but didn't.

• First, toddler freaks out because he didn't get to pee in the toilet before his brother.  I don't understand it either, so don't ask.
• Then, middle child freaks out because I wouldn't let him take the Nintendo to school.
• Then, daughter freaks out because she can't do her hair or get the toothpaste out of the tube.
• Hubby complains about his sandwiches lately (apparently, the meat is "stringy")
• Chosen children think my snack is "gross" (cheese, crackers and dill pickles, what's the issue with that?)
• Chosen toddler and my toddler quickly resume their toddler take downs after 3 days apart.
• Chosen child doesn't eat lunch.
• Chosen toddler has a nightmare at nap time and spends the next hour whimpering and shaking on my lap (poor guy!)
• I spilled my tea all over my school work.  No ink to reprint.
• 2 of 3 children arrive home from school.  This is an issue, as there is one missing.  How did the other 2 not notice this fact?
• 4 children and I don our coats/hats/shoes/mitts and dash to the school as I am in a panic on the phone as to the whereabouts of my lost daughter.
• She's found, in the office, crying because she thinks she lost her brother and chosen sister.
• We walk back...with my hefting two 30+ pound  toddlers on each hip.
• Luckily, I remembered to set my alarm.  Unluckily, I forgot to lock the back door which my son opened in his bid to get into the house first.  I was still 1/2 block away.
• Alarm goes off.  Son hides in his room.
• My new neighbors must think I'm crazy as I set down the toddlers to run to my house which has a blaring alarm.
• My new neighbor is surely convinced that we are all crazy as my toddler runs by and says, "Hi! My butt hurts. I need a band-aid on it."
• My new neighbor is even more convinced of my poor state of mental health as my chosen toddler shouts, "Oooh! Pretty Back Boobies mommy Hedr!!"
• Finally in the house, the next issue happens when chosen toddler picks up his juice cup and promptly spills cold juice down the front of his body - shirt, pants and socks are soaked.
• The cold juice so startles him that he falls off of the chair.
• The fall shocked him, and he cries loudly.
• At this time, daycare mom shows up to pick up her daughter.
• Eventually, child, juice and table/floor are cleaned up.  But there are no spare clothes for him.  I have to find some that fit - and the only ones have my local hockey team on them.  Dad hates the local hockey team, but that's okay, because dad rarely comes at pick up time.
• Just got a message that dad is coming to pick up.

Can it be bed time yet??

UPDATE

• wrote a message on a friend's Facebook wall and everyone thought I essentially called her fat & ugly (okay, they were just joking, but still -- what was with that message?  THINK before posting, Hethr!!
• toddler woke up in the middle of the night with a night mare.
• I brought him into bed with me.
• He peed on me and my freshly cleaned sheets.

Puke and TV and Grumpies, oh my!

My kid is sick....again.  Can you guess which one?  It's probably no surprise -- Sir Pukes-A-Lot himself.

Yup. Puked at school in the morning, "forgot" to tell the teacher that he did, so sat the rest of the day in a dizzy, fevered haze until he came home.  I took one look at him and knew he wasn't right.  Why couldn't the teacher see that?

Anyhow--he's home today -- and watching TV.  We don't normally have the TV on during the day...I let the kids play, sometimes participate, sometimes sit back and watch...it's a play by ear thing (no pun intended).

But today, Mr. Sicky is watching TV...and a channel that's between the preschool themed things and the pre-teen stuff. It's a little disappointing.  And distracting.  And yes...annoying.  And for the record - Imagination Movers has cool, funky songs.  Just wish that I could enjoy looking at any of the characters on the show.  I know, I know, we're not supposed to discriminate and teach our kids about beauty and such...but man... I could use a little motivation to watch is all I'm sayin!

On to the grumps -- my toddler (no surprise again) has got a serious case of the grumps today.  Don't touch my ___, Don't talk to me, etc.  He even got mad because my little daycare girl was rocking her baby.  He sat there and screamed over and over, "Stop it, stop it, stop it!"

Yay.

2 more days until the weekend.  I think I can make it.

Wanna know what it's like raising sort of twins??

It seems that I complain that I lost my muse -- all the while she was hiding over at my friend's blog -- ask and you shall find!  You need to read the blog post that she wrote before you finish reading this....

Unlike Magz, I don't have real twins.  I have my "sort of twins"  My own toddler and his 4 month to the day junior playmate who's been in my dayhome since he was 6 months.  They have grown up together, loving, fighting, biting....they are more than friends, and sort of twins.

My sort of twins are at a time of exploring how they are both the same, or how they differ.

Adam will want a toy that O's playing with.  O will say: "no."  Adam will say "O's grumpy." to which O replies "no I not!" Then it begins: 
Adam: "Yes, you grumpy!" 
O: "No I not!" (growling)
Adam: "Yes, O, you grumpy!" growling back
This time, O is angry and is gonna let us all know.  He's so mad that he's shaking when he screams, "NO I NOT!!!"
And Adam, not wanting to be bested, screams back, "YES, YOU GRUMPY! I SAID YOU GRUMPY, YOU GRUMPY!!"

It will only be stopped by me physically removing one child from the other.  And then they will quickly realize that they have hurt the other's feelings.  Then it's:  

Adam: "I bring O his blanky, okay mommy?"
O will say: "Tank you, Adam."
We will sit, the three of us cuddling together, me drowning in blankets and ignoring the squirms and elbows that poke me in the ribs.  Then, O will say: "....Adam Grumpy right, mommy Hedr?"

And it starts all over again!

Oh Inspiration - where are you?

In case you all haven't noticed...I've been quiet lately.  I've lost my muse...I don't know where she went, but she has (I hope) temporarily vanished.

Oh - I'm not saying that there aren't things for me to write about.  My kids are, as usual, driving me crazy, my chosen children are not far behind...but there's nothing that jumps out and screams "blog about this!!" Which is what usually happens to me.

There's issues at school -- oh man, could I ever write about school -- but I'm not going to.  Not because they wouldn't make great posts.  They really would.  I have a lot of animosity and anger and resentment that's piling up because of one student.  I'd like to write if off as the misunderstandings that can happen via the emotionless internet -- and me just interpreting things differently than she's intending...but I don't think that's the case.  In fact, I think she is a bully hiding behind the relative anonymity of the screen.  However, that is as much as I will say on the topic because A) I have more integrity than that, and B) it's not going to help to make this molehill a mountain, and C) I'm not going to give this person any more attention than they deserve.

I've often brought into discussion the things that I'm learning at school -- but folks, this course is so god awful boring that I just want to tear my heart out.  It's horrible.  I cannot begin to express how dreadfully boring this class is.  Watching paint dry would be more exciting.  I. Hate. This. Course.

The weather's been gorgeous, so I can't complain about that.  I've got my house in relative order, so I can't complain about that.  I created a meal plan so that my family wouldn't be stuck eating cereal with no milk or pasta with ketchup because there is no sauce....I have to do this because the dreadfully boring class takes me hours and hours and hours of research with nothing to prove for it - not even an essay or a research paper.  Just a link (or two) sent to the instructor to prove that I do have google abilities.

Life is normal right now.  I did not realize this -- but normal is incredibly boring.  I think I thrive on the excitement that is chaos.  Sure, I complain about it...but I really enjoy it.  I need to find me some chaos.  Anyone know where I get some??

what a week

So, this week has been interesting to say the least.  First I had my imagination get the better of me and convince me that I had bed bugs (plus side to this, my house has been cleaned from top to bottom --- there is not a dust bunny left here, let alone imaginary bed bugs!).

For those of you who don't follow me on facebook (and what's with that, huh?  Join us, we have fun there!) - you'll know that my kids have sent me to puke city and back.  My son came home from school, went straight to bed, and proceeded to barf all night.  Now -- if you've read the above paragraph, you'll note that I just finished cleaning my house (including all the linens) -- well, I had to do the boys' room all over again...because the little man got it too and they both managed to puke in the bed.  Nasty!

After the boys started feeling well enough to jump all over one another and snag granola bars from the pantry (they think I don't know that they do this...silly boys!) -- I got sick.  I got sick, sick, sick.  The kind of sick where you're hot and cold and sore and just want to curl up and die.  So...I suffered through that for a bit....only lasted the majority of the night, and I now feel right back to normal again.

This morning, I woke up, went to make coffee -- and realized that I was out of coffee!  If any of you heard that strange sound this morning, it was the tortuous screeching of my soul as it learned that we'd be functioning "sans caffeine" today.  Luckily - a daycare parent saw my status on facebook and brought me a nice fresh cup of Tims....mmmm....Tim Hortons.....yum.



Moose 1, Dino 0

 Then, I decided that since everyone is feeling better, we'd be going out to the Jurassic Forest that I've talked about before.  We get there (first ones!) and there's a crew set up with wheel barrows and electrical wires and other assorted tools.  They proceed to tell me that some of the dinos may not be working because a moose attacked them.  Yeah...you read that right.  A moose went on the rampage and attacked some of the dinos!  I would pay some good money to get some video of that incident.  There were only 2 dinos that weren't functioning, and 1 brontosaurus that had a tail being supported by a ladder type thing...the others were being worked on and the guys would turn them on for the kids as we passed.  The kids asked what they were doing, I told them they were cleaning up the dino poop so the forest wouldn't stink -- they thought that was great.  I'm not really sure what was going through the workers' minds as my daycare girl repeatedly said "Thanks for cleaning the stink!"

So -- that's my week in a nut shell -- how was yours?

Warning - Job Rant

I love my job, I really do.  I love the chosen children that come into my life every morning.  I love the extended "family" that I get every day...

BUT...

I really wish that parents would respect my rules.  I only have 3 daycare families right now - 2 of whom are fabulous and the other one just doesn't seem to get it.  I don't have many rules for parents...really...how hard are these to follow??

1.  Please don't bring outside food in -- it's brought anyhow.  I'm not talking the tail end of a piece of toast or whatever was eaten in the car on the way here -- I'm talking a full out bag full of snacky things.  I mean, I have more than enough food to feed these little munchkins all day long.  When you bring in food from home, guess what -- it causes Tiny Toddler War.  Your child may not be the toddler, no -- but the fruit loops that she brings are akin to dropping an atom bomb in my play room.  I work hard to ensure that the children get tasty, nutritious food.  Stop sending your kid here with CRAP.

2.  Please don't bring toys from home -- yes, your little doodle-shnuckums loves her teddy bears and barbies with 1000s of pieces.  I don't.  I also don't enjoy the search for said toys at the end of the day.  Nor do I enjoy the fighting over said toys during the day.  Nor do I like the "Look at my new toy, isn't it beautiful? DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH IT" that comes out of your princess' mouth.  Nope.  Don't like it.  Do you realize that I have an entire basement that is devoted solely to daycare?  Do you realize that I have teddy bears, dolls, barbies, kitchen areas, books, cars, blocks, puzzles, crayons, paper, glue....and thousands more things here that are more than enough for your kid to play with.  Please tell me why you need to bring another thing in here?  And don't get mad at me when I can't find the stupid toy and refuse to look for it at pick up time, because, you know what?  I told you not to bring the damn thing in the first place.

That is all.