5 Hard Lessons

Here are a few of "life's hard lessons to learn" we have learned over the past couple weeks ;-)...

1. Don't assume your child is not paying attention and speak on his or her behalf.

While we were on our trip, my mom and I were in the car with the kids in the back. I was talking to my mom, never even turned to look at Hannah or give her any "in" on the conversation. I knew she was having a hard time staying awake back there and I casually and quietly said to my mom-"She's just tired..." Then she chimes in "No, mommy, I NOT tired!" I turned around, surprised, and saw her brow frowed at me like "Mom, don't speak for me..." I guess they really do know when your talking about them!

2. Soap cleans but is not much fun to clean.

The other day I walked through Bennett's room and saw a bottle of my face wash laying on his floor that they must have gotten out of my suitcase when we were unpacking. I saw it and thought "Hmm, I should pick that up and put it away." Then I don't know where my head went or if this is just the epitome of laziness but I just didn't- I kept on walking and thought it wasn't like they would do anything with it before the nest time I walked by it anyway.

Later that night we had been listening to hysterical laughter for quite some time. The kids were pretty wound up and playing and I was going to start getting them ready for bed and calmed down. I walked back into our front hall and immediately thought "OH MY GOSH" Bennett was holding the face wash bottle shaking it up and down and the top was unscrewed just sitting on top. They had made their very own slip and slide in the hall on our laminate wood floors. Well Bennett stopped thinking it was funny real fast when he was slipping and sliding so much and SO completely covered in soap that he for the life of him couldn't stand up. I hollered at Ryan for help to get him and take him to hose him down, while I had soap all over my foot and was going to try to keep Hannah from getting anymore on herself. Ryan took him to the tub to strip him down only to realize he was poopy--- only if you have one of your own would you get the problem this presents.... Anyways after we got he situation somewhat under control and made it back to clean up I realized what a fun task this was going to be. It's soap at least it's clean right? WRONG! It is the worst thing to clean up because all it does is lather more bubbles!!!! And not only that I also discovered the stream of it splattered all over his carpet. Oh... why did I not just bend over and take it to my bathroom in the 1st place....

3. Be prepared for curious children who don't understand the concept of a baby in the tummy.

I have heard before some people recommend you be sure to tell your older children you have a child in the "womb" not to be confused with tummy. Yeah, I kind of nixed that idea, maybe selfishly just thinking it is less awkward to talk about your tummy to a three year old and not your "womb".

Monday night when Ryan was at class I was sitting on the couch with the kids. Sadie was just kicking like crazy, so for the 1st time I asked Hannah Grace if she wanted to feel Sadie. I lifted my shirt some and put her hand on my tummy. It was too cute!!! She would smile and giggle every time she would feel my little kick boxer in there. I explained to her how Sadie was moving and we had a sweet little moment. A couple hours later I was tucking her in and she started lifting up her shirt and rubbing her tummy. "My tummy not big enough..." she started to say. I saw this going downhill, fast... luckily she smiled and said "Yeah, mommy's tummy big... Mommy, Sadie movin'???" It was really sweet. So it didn't end up going as badly as I may have seen it in my mind for a minute there, but it did make me realize- all this talk about babies in tummies really could put you in an awkward situation with a three year old, just start praying now it's not in public!!!

4. Discipline tactics can come back to bite you in the butt.

Tonight I had two instances of this back to back. I was trying to get the kids in the tub and they were at the table coloring. I knew if I could get Hannah sold, Bennett would follow suit. So, after much asking on my part and much ignoring on their part, I finally said "Hannah, I am not going to tell you again..." And her response was "OKAY mommy!! CALM DOOOOWN." After telling her not to talk to me that way (knowing she was again repeating what I say to her) we proceeded to the tub. after baths they were watching their nightly cartoon as I was going to start picking up toys. They had had one of their infamous "dump and run" sessions earlier and had made a hefty size mess. So I thought, this is ridiculous, they need to help clean this up. here is how the conversation went down:

Me: Hannah Grace....
HG: (from the other room) What mommy!?
Me: Come here, come help mommy please.
she comes
Me: Help mommy clean up... how about you put those blocks in the basket for mommy.
(I was optimistic, she usually really loves to help me clean up or do anything for that matter)
HG: No, mommy, you can do it, you put blocks in basket youself.... I hungry. (As she walks over to her snack cup of Cheerios)

Then I did proceed to tell her no, she was going to go put the blocks away and she did..... anyways, here is an example of where that came from- a few weeks ago I had told her to go find her blankies and baby and stuff for bed and she told me "NO mommy, I no want to find my stuff for bed, you get my stuff for bed." OOOH HO HO... It is times like that or when she whines for us to find her cup I tell her... "No, Hannah, mommy won't find it/ get it for you, you can get it yourself...." So I am beginning to think that maybe when I when I want to discipline her I need to keep my own mouth shut and let a bar of soap do all the talking... maybe that would fix our little problem.

5. Poops and Boots are not interchangeable.

There is this song on the preschool network that is about rain boots and they spell out. "B-O-O-T-S, BOOTS!" It's a catchy little song and I find all of us singing it often- even Bennett, even though he isn't really spelling anything when he chants the letter part. Well tonight Hannah was singing it and I had to just die laughing when I heard her spelling out the letters. She was not singing "B-O-O-T-S, boots!" She was seriously singing "P-O-O-P-S, boots!" She did it over and over and I just thought it was too funny! Out of any letters, that is what she was singing. Well dear Hannah Grace- I hope that is as far as the mix up goes. One we put on our feet, not to be confused with the one we put in our potty.