That's Bologna!

Lately Mr.T has hit a silly phase. He’s got his jokes, his silly faces and his dress code... he insists on wearing his shorts backwards, usually with a drawstring hanging out as a tail, and he loves wearing girl dress-up – just to get a reaction. He’ll ask me daily, “Mom, will people laugh at me?” I usually suppress a giggle and tell him the public just may laugh but, taking my little boy in my arms, I insist that I won’t laugh and will always love him no matter what. “But will people think I’m silly?” he demands on knowing. “Yes”, I tell him, “people will think you’re silly”. And so he smiles and walks away triumphantly with his tail between his legs or his wings floating behind him. This shy little boy of mine likes to make people laugh; remarkably, he’s successful!

Our lunches lately have mainly consisted of a rampage of knock-knock jokes and periodic reminders to “eat your food please”. Typically these jokes are not in the least bit funny, but occasionally I’ll get a good laugh out of the complete ridiculousness of it all.
Today the jokes were on again, but this time we had some special visiting comedians. Mr.T started it by playing ventriloquist with his bologna. Soon everyone was in on it and each slice of bologna had both a face and character – complete with voice and intonation! Mr. T even named his bologna “Silly Wonka” (we are reading the “eccentric” Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory right now). BigJ split her bologna in two and after they were done telling their jokes, the pieces fell in love and got married. Little E’s piece was a singing dinosaur and really rocked the table!


All in all Mr. T and his siblings have taught me some valuable lessons. I need to laugh more, even at lunch time. It’s fun to laugh with others and not take things so seriously. And most important, it’s imperative to be able to laugh at ourselves, even if we are dragging our tail between our legs, and especially if we are flying high.

What thinkest thou?

I happened upon this blog and loved this "essay" she wrote about "keeping score". I'm curious about what you all think regarding this topic. Enjoy!

Heaven Sounds Enticing

I’m not afraid to die. I am quite certain that while I may be a little upset at an untimely death – for example leaving my children while they are young, or dying on “one of those days” where I have committed a more than minor trespass – I know my spirit will live on and hopefully I will end up at a fabulous after-death location (optimistically, heaven). I know there are people and places I will miss, but ultimately, I think heaven sounds practically perfect.

In my picturesque heaven there is NO STUFF. All those scriptures intended to hound all of us “natural men” with threats of not being able to bring all of our earthly treasures with us... those only entice and tease me with visions of life after death.

I consider myself a fairly organized person, but apparently I’m not very good at hide and seek. I give up, where do all you people with perfect homes (you know who you are) keep all of your STUFF! Your homes are spotless with no remnant of too small clothes or grown-out-of toys, and yet they have to be somewhere – one of you just had a new, and might I mention fourth, baby and she looks gorgeous in all that clothes you’ve been storing somewhere. This is an ongoing battle for me.

This past week we attacked a plethora of “projects”. Several of which consisted of reorganizing, moving and storing our STUFF in different spots of our house. We have gotten to the point where we feel like maybe we need a bigger house just to store all of our stuff. Perhaps a storage unit or a shed in the backyard filled with rubbermaids jam packed with STUFF. I have donated, sold and given away more stuff than I can count, and really, I feel like we need a lot of the stuff that we’re holding onto. I say that only half believing it since I just survived a summer in a two-bedroom hotel with very little stuff. I realize now how little we truly need, and yet we use a lot of it a lot. Does this designate a need? Are we the only family with stuff brimming over? Do any of you hang “Open with Caution” signs on your closet doors? Does anybody else out there wish they could just gut everything and start all over collecting stuff, but this time try to collect less stuff and store and house it more effectively?

I guess I’m at a point where I’d gladly trade my stuff for a place in heaven. My only worry is that after I die I enter a heaven where as heavenly beings we accumulate heavenly chattels and possessions. Maybe that’s why we’re warned we can’t bring any of our earthly treasures with us – they want a fresh start up there too!

Updates

*Mr.T has a rare disease called dysplasia epiphysealis hemimelica or "Trevor's Disease"
*BigJ has switched schools so that she can be in a class of 14 versus 28!
*LittleE is having nightmares several times EVERY night
*Mr. Man is saving us $900 by fixing the exhaust system on my car
*Nobody has won the argument on how we're painting the boys' room and so it has remained a pristine white
*We now have a third lightsaber in our house and yet they still fight over them... the kids and Mr. Man
*I started doing Christmas shopping with our Disney points!

Remembering the First Day of School

Wednesday, August 16th 2006.
While the date may not live in my memory forever, the events of today most definitely will. Today I sent my firstborn to school for the first time. What an event! BigJ's been waiting for this day for most of her life it seems, and I, with mixed feelings, know that it’s the right thing for her (and for my boys) but am not so sure it’s the right thing for me. I felt so torn this morning - sad, yet happy, uptight and quite calm. Anyways, it’s a milestone for both of us I suppose.

I've never seen my outogoing spirited ball of energy so quiet and shy. And yet, amidst her change in demeanor, SHE was still inside. And with 27 kids and one teacher, SHE had better be herself if she hopes to get an education. SHE had made this fun craft to put all her art and papers in so as to keep them from getting crinkled (a pringles tube with a picture she drew wrapped around it and contact paper over to protect). When I picked her up after the 2 1/2 hour absence, the first thing she did was reach inside her decorated pringle can to show me what she had drawn. The she told me what SHE had done. Apparently Mrs. Kindergarten Teacher had told her that "we don't roll up our pictures"... no, instead we smush them into our backpacks like all the other children and bring home a semblance of what once may have been a piece of paper with a drawing on it. I asked my sneaky child what she had done, since I'd just witnessed the un-rolling of said picture under scrutiny and was anxious to hear how the rolling had ensued. SHE answered, "I just waited for my teacher to walk away and then I rolled it up and put in in my container." Simple as that.

While I'm excited for my daughter to learn to read, to experience science class with rowdy boys with novel ideas, and basically thrilled for her to have yet another "teacher" in her life who will help her discover, entice her to explore her mind and her world, I also hope that as she grows and changes, more than a part of her will stay the same.

Overheard: Gender Issues

Our neighbour, who recently returned from being gone all summer, discovered that they have "hatched" four little kittens. The babies and their mother are residing beneath their children's picnic table which is perfect for small children to peek in and observe. My kids are entranced and utterly fascinated with every detail of these kittens. On the way to the grocery store I "overheard" BigJ and Mr. T discussing the following:

T: Where's the Daddy Cat Julia?
J: Ummmm....
T: I think he DIED!
J: No, he didn't die.
T: Yes he did. He DIED!
J: No. The Daddy Cat only comes home at night time. He brings them food.
T: So where is he all day long.
J: I don't know. He's working somewhere, probably working so he can find some food for his family.
T: Oh. Really?
J: Of course.
T: No he doesn't. He DIED!

Are all boys obsessed with death and bad guys... and are all little girls set in such sterotypical gender outlooks? I'm amused. Furthermore, it appears we'll be delving into numerous issues and subsequent conversations thanks to this fun little homeschooling project nextdoor!

Speaking of which, today was BigJ's first day of kindergarten and I'm working on writing a post that doesn't sound completely like an orbituary and hoping one day my pictures will want to upload ... stay tuned.

Charts

To work or not to work, that is the question. Whether the chart will work and whether my children will work because of it! I've made my fair share of charts and some have been complete failures... I'd like to share some of my successes! I find that the more interactive they are, the less reward driven and the more personal the better.

Here's a bedtime one I did for Julia right before Ethan was born. We took pictures of her doing each part of her bedtime ritual - being the born actress that she is, she LOVED the creating of this chart too! It was nice when I had two very little boys to be able to send her off to do her bedtime chart and have her report to me in between. We put this chart on a ring and then used an elastic to have it stay on her bedroom door. This worked great... now we do bedtime all together without a chart!

My picture taking is not nearly as good as my chart-making skills (sorry)! This was for daily chores during Julia's obsession with Little Red Riding Hood. Little Red is a cutout from a colouring book and she just travels along through the forest (with the help of sticky tack) with each tree representing a day of the week and a job to do.


We've had this one for a while... and it's almost time for a fresh idea. Julia is Elastigirl and Tyler is Dash... and they litterally are their designated super heroes while they run around doing their jobs! Ethan is ready to help too and I think their jobs can get a little bit "harder" so I need to come up with a new idea. But this one has definately been a hit! I printed off a forest background and then pasted the chores on. The Incredibles are laminated for durability and also have sticky tack on the backs.

With school starting, Julia asked for her own morning chart to help her get ready for school. I observed her for a while and she really takes forever to get ready in the mornings. I decided her chart would need some time limits if we were to ever get out the door on time! She starts by getting up at 7:00 (there's an analog and digital clock there to make it a learning tool too!). Once she finishes the activities listed beside the clocks she can write her name with a dry erase marker in the square. Later I may have her write a "word of the day" to help her with her spelling. If all goes well and the chart holds true she will basically be "ready for school" by 8:15. At this time she and the boys can come to me and ask for a SPECIAL JOB... if and when they complete it they get to go to the craft table to do a SPECIAL ACTIVITY. I stole this idea off of somebody who homeschools blog, but I can't find it again to give it credit. If they don't finish the special job they can't exchange it for a special activity and have to go find something else to do all by themselves - this hasn't happened yet! The "special activity" is beads, stickers, card making, gluing anything... I have a whole slew of craft supplies and ideas, and if I set it out the night before it's easy to grab and get them going. This is the time when I get to go get ready all by myself without any child banging on the bathroom door, fingers wiggling beneath the crack or faces peeking out behind the shower curtain! (Thanks for the idea anonymous homeschooling Mom - so far it has worked great and I'm amazed it's taken me this long to figure out a "getting myself ready chart!") Starting Wednesday when my little girl grows up and starts kindergarten, we will be heading out the door at 8:45 to walk her up the street to school.

So here's what's worked for me. They've all taken more thought than work and are pretty simple to make. Feel free to copy... I'm always looking for and stealing ideas! What's worked for you? I need a new daily chore one for all three of my kiddos.

Brainy

Last night I was ignoring my children in an effort to play piano and regain my after-dinner-as-a-single-mother-sanity. Julia was doing everything she could to get my attention. Here’s my favourite attempt:

Having fallen to the ground after spinning around as close to me as she possibly could, Julia started crying hysterically – and with full body drama right at my feet! When that didn’t work, she approached me and declared, “I think I broke my brain. Maybe my brain fell out... it’s leaking all over! Oh, hi – I don’t think I remember your name. What’s your name?” It worked. I cracked up and she got her hug and her brain rubbed back into shape! That girl!

My New Best Friend

Coming home to friends is an added, and much needed, bonus. Thankfully we have some tried and true friends who have remained... some have moved on, and some new ones who have arrived. One new friend showed up on my birthday... really one of the greatest gifts yet. This is a friend who has helped me to let go and be a little less uptight about life. My new friend is willing to help in some of the worst situations ever... say when a child vomits (I hate even the sound of that word) in the middle of the night or when my potty trainers forget to use the potty - yup, my friend is there at those times to help me out. I LOVE this new friend and am glad to open up my home and feel like family. I hope you all get to be friends with my new friend, Bissell, and I know that if you do, your life will be better, cleaner and really quite exquisite!

Thanks Greg for a fabulous birthday gift! (Note: I've been asking for this for almost a year now and Greg swore he wouldn't give it to me - as it was "not romantic". I made the comment a couple of weeks ago that if I had this gift I would have a lot more time on my hands for romance! I guess that was the cincher.)

Primary Responsibilities

After a whirlwind weekend settling back in to our home, running errands, enjoying having Daddy around and even celebrating getting older and wiser, life has resumed and with it all of my responsibilities.

Yesterday we awoke early to see Greg off; back to TO for a couple more weeks to finish his "projects" while I tend to mine here. We went to "our" park for a couple of hours, played with some favourite friends and even went to a birthday party before I took off to a primary meeting. I'm busy clearing away spider webs, making new charts, trying to fill primary callings and also finding time to breathe and relax in my own space once again!

The kids are flying around the house in a daze at how many toys there are! They haven't even noticed the boxes of toys I have sold, given away or put aside for my sister. Julia is in heaven having her room back and is busy getting ready for kindergarten. This includes packing and re-packing her backpack with all the princess school supplies, trying on her back-to-school outfits over and over, and attempting to wake up before 9am. Tyler got his cast off on Monday(you should have seen the sand that came out of it) and is doing pretty good getting around. It breaks my heart to see him hobbling, but he's faring pretty well as a super hero once again. Oh, and he is also wearing boxer briefs full-time now. (The treat thing is a miracle cure!) Ethan is wearing pull-ups, and.... drum role please... I am no longer a consumer of diapers of any kind. Knock on wood, but this is exciting! Cost effective, time effective and mood effective! I am a happy Mama with a kindergartner, a preschooler and a toddler! And, I'm HOME!

Royal Farewell

We bid our royal castle farewell last Friday and spent the day as lowly homeless peasants. It wasn't so bad actually. We frequented two fast food restaurants and were treated to another spin at Woodbine Mall (with the indoor amusements park - "Fantasy Fair").

Since Saturday we have enjoyed staying at a cottage on the beach. A three bedroom cottage, mind you... Julia has her own room and settled in immediately. Upon entering the cottage her first exclamation was, "Oh wow! We have a stove!" So, yeah, life has been good. The beach has been lovely and the lake fabulous during the heat wave that even swept up to the snow-peaked Canadian north. Yesterday we experienced a scary storm and were without electricity or water for what seemed like an eternity with young, sandy children! But less than 24 hours later, we are back to normal and I can get back online - the true necessity here! Tomorrow we pack up our beach gear and start our trek home.

Our summer has been an adventure, there have been growing pains, and other pains... but all in all we have enjoyed being together as a family and we've more than survived; we have prevailed triumphantly!