Today I am home from church for the second week in a row. I had been feeling decent all week until Friday came and my cough moved into my chest. I now can get winded from climbing the stairs. I thought about going to my soccer game Friday night and then tried to lightly jog to the mailbox, just so see. And I was so tired just from doing that! Yikes! So no soccer game.
I slept decent last night, for the first time in a few days. It had been taking me an hour or so to calm my cough enough to just GO to sleep. And I've been coughing so hard with this dry cough that I've pulled or strained muscles in my sides. My body is exhausted and I've been pretty out of it. But today I feel significantly better so far. This is good. And even though I feel a little better and I'm sleeping better, Teancom seems to be at the peak of his not-feeling-well situation. His cough sounds as nasty as mine does, and he's been spending significant time sleeping in my arms at night. Which means I'm sleeping spectacularly! It's so tragic when such little people get sick. ... So far all of us have been hit fairly hard with this cold. Everyone, that is, except Miciah, who hasn't skipped a beat. Sometimes I wish I had her immune system.
My cough is becoming my best friend. It has taken over my social life and demands a lot of attention. True, it just takes, takes, takes--hence I don't see a long-lasting relationship for us. Eventually the emotional wear and tear will break us apart.
Teancom loves the Wiggles. And while Anthony is hot, there really isn't much in their shows for adults. Having said that, I know about the Wiggles history and their new lead singer and all that. How do I know this? I look it up. It is FASCINATING to me that a group dedicated to singing subpar songs directed at children has taken over the world and makes more money than most other entertainers dream of making. ... To add to my Wiggles knowledge, the kids got an older Wiggles video from the library. Back when Anthony wore green instead of blue, and Anthony did Captain Feathersword. I'd only read about this phenomenon and felt priviledged to observe it for myself.
Teancom came to wake me up from a nap the other day and instead of saying, "Wake up, Mommy," like he often does, he said, "Wake up, Jeff!" Yea for Wiggles infiltration!
I asked Teancom if he was tired. He said, "I not tiger! I a wion!"
Elijah has been Captian Destructo. It's amazing the messes he's been making. The kind that you admire because they're THAT impressive. And he's been uber hyper, too. Fun times over here. When Elijah gets hyper and destructive, he needs a nap. The boy only takes a nap once every 2 or 3 weeks or so. He won't take them unless he's exhausted, and then he stays up late on the day he takes naps. So it's a trade-off, really.
A few weeks ago I convinced him to take a nap on my bed by telling him that he only had to lay quietly with his eyes closed for 20 minutes and after that if he was still awake--which he probably would be, I told him--then he could get up. I set the timer and went back to get him when 20 minutes was over. Of course he was asleep because he falls asleep faster than any other human I know. I knew he would be asleep, so it was rather devious of me, really. But I forgot to put him in a pull-up, so he wet the bed. And he was sleeping on my bed. And so we spent that night on an air mattress in the living room. ... When he woke up from that nap, though, and cutely enough he didn't move from the bed but said, "Mom, can I get up now?" That made me happy. He is a rather obedient kid.
Yesterday he desperately needed a nap again. I laid down with him this time. I learned from last time and put him in a pull-up, which made him angry. He was crying and yelling at me and was very upset. I left him alone for a few seconds and then came back and laid down with him, giving him the same deal: We lay down together for 20 minutes and then he could get back up. I fell alseep for a little while because I'm sick and pretty dang tired myself. Before that, though, when we were just laying down, I would open my eyes every so often and if Elijah's eyes were open, I'd say, "Close your eyes, Elijah," and he would. I knew we had him, though, when I opened my eyes to see his open, too, and said, "Close your eyes," to which he responded, "Good night, Mom."
The boys are delightful to parent. I will someday write whole essays about the differences between parenting Miciah plus the boys all day and just the boys. Because it's amazing how different it is. Just thinking about it makes me want to cry and giggle at the same time.
Teancom is sitting next to me wearing his footie pajamas and eating cereal while watching Wiggles. His hair is spiked because he wanted to spike it just like Elijah. Course I sent Elijah to church and Teancom is home with me. So it's cute to see this sick little boy with snot dribbling from his nose, with spiked hair. It helps with the whole picture that his diaper is still nasty and unchanged, cause he doesn't want me to change it. Somehow that makes it extra cute.
Elijah makes lots of webs still. One of his best was at a friend's house. Him and his BFF found my friend's yarn and made a gigantic, spectacular web. Really, it was the best one he's ever made. They stretched it around, and then wrapped it around about 10 different objects spanning 2 rooms. It was cool. He will make webs and knots from anything that's remotely rope-ish. Including appliances with plugs--the cord is the rope. I am continually impressed with what he comes up with.
Yesterday he actually got his hands on real rope. Teancom pulled it out and Elijah started planning out his fantastic web. It was fun to hear him in the planning stages: "We'll wrap it around the lamp and then tape it to the wall and then over to the chair..." Pretty cute.
The tooth fairy forgot to bring Miciah her money the day she lost her tooth. The tooth fairy helper assigned to Miciah is named Snaggletooth (Rob thought that was very clever) and there is some debate in the house if Snaggletooth is a boy or girl. And of course we don't know for sure, since Snaggletooth hasn't said one way or the other. Anyways, I suggested she write Snaggletooth a note telling him/her how disappointed she was in his/her performance and that she now should get double what Snaggletooth was going to bring before. Miciah thought that was a good idea, and after she walked out of the room Rob turned to me and said, "Oops." Yeah.
She wrote Snaggletooth a note that said something about how he/she had forgotten to bring her money and that she thought he/she should now bring her double. She ended the note with "Ok or Not Ok?" Snaggletooth brought her a 50-cent piece (which doesn't fit in her piggy bank, but Snaggletooth has no way of knowing that, of course) and apologized for being late and then told her she should try to be a little braver next time she loses a tooth.
We sometimes promise Elijah a treat under his pillow if he goes to bed good. Elijah falls asleep really fast, but he sometimes needs some motivation to be still, and the treat works well as that motivation. The other day, though, it cracked me up to watch him as he first got up in the morning. It had been weeks, probably, since we'd promised him a treat, but he got up and the first thing he did was check under his pillow for a treat. It made me smile. Here's this cute little boy who hasn't complained at all about not getting a treat for weeks, but who still looks for that treat, just in case it's there. This would explain why his pillow is always on the floor when I go in the room--he's always checking for that treat! In fact, I thought that was so cute and so innocent and sweet, that we've started giving him treats a little more often.
My kids sit near the W's at church. They keep me sane and Elijah in particular really really likes them. JW will sit and draw with him and Elijah can't wait until I tell him that he can go sit with her. Sometimes what they draw or write cracks me up and I keep it. The kids draw on scrap paper and one of those scraps has been a form that asks for your name and address, stuff like that. This has been a fun form over time, because the kids love "filling it out" in entertaining ways. One of my favorite was Miciah filling out the form correctly and then the last line read like this:
Parent or Guardian: Robert Print name: Rob
One of the times JW filled it out for Elijah in the way Elijah dictated and it included the names of everyone in their family, everyone in our family, and then "Blanket". And that made me smile.
Miciah is writing and writing and writing these days. Her spelling isn't always on, but she's doing it all herself and that's awesome. One of my favorite spellings of hers is "wut" for what. She wrote me this note at church: "Im so glad wene mommy cums home! glad as I can be. clap my hans and clim up on her kney." This is a Primary song at church that is about being glad when Daddy gets home.
She was trying to write the word Autumn and came up with these alternate spellings: audum. odum. outumn. and odume.
Octopus came out octupus.
Elephant was elufint.
And Rebecca came out Rubbecku.
(and if you sound that out in sections, it's rub-beck-uh (the u sound). Pretty dead-on, phonetically.)
Teancom was walking around the other day saying, "I a robot" in a pretty good robot-voice, and walking stiffly. That cracked me up.
And that's the kind of randomness you don't see on TV. (Much of this was stuff I'd been meaning to write about earlier, and in a more coherent manner. Instead it came out like this.)
Tamra
1 comment:
Tamra! That hair! He is such a little stud! I just can't believe he has gotten so big. Sorry to hear that you are feeling sick. I hope you feel better soon.
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