Make a Wish

For the weekend Elijah spent time with Rob's parents for Grandson Weekend.  Every year they take all the grandsons or all the granddaughters and do fun activities with them and let them know that they're special.  It's awesome. 

This weekend was particularly well timed because Elijah's been driving me crazy.  He's really ... active.  He'll come home from school and run around the house laughing and screaming and whistling and play fighting with his brother.  It's a lot of a lot.  (I try to pretend that he got this trait from Rob.  But Rob isn't a lot of a lot of anything other than sweet and nice and gentle.  And then, at class last week, when I was really excited and jittery for no reason, my classmates asked, "Are your kids like this, too?"  And I had to admit that Elijah was.)  Having a quiet weekend was a needed change.

Though it wasn't completely quiet.  Rob's sister came down with her 2 daughters, and we had a full weekend of fun.  We went to Newport on the Levee where the kids got balloon animals from a very nice circus performer and we walked across the purple people bridge.  Then a picnic and Cold Stone ice cream. 

Later we went to the museum center and saw the omnimax film Tornado Alley.  The movie proved that I am not meant to be a storm chaser.  My thoughts were, "That's really neat looking.  Now run away!"  I asked Tank if he liked it and he said yes.  Then I asked if he wanted to grow up and be a storm chaser.  He said no.  Smart boy.

On the way out of the museum center we stopped to look at the water fountain.  It's gorgeous and fun and, most importantly for the kids, it's water.

They all got a penny to make a wish and Miciah and the girls ran to find the perfect wishing spot.  Tank stayed with me and Rob and thought for a second.  Then he said, "I wish Elijah were dead," and threw his penny into the fountain.

Obviously that's not happiness.  Rob and I immediately started asking Tank why he would say that.  We weren't mean about it, we just wanted to know what was going on.  Tank started bawling.  I picked him up in my arms and found a good place to sit.

Me:  You don't want Elijah to die.  You like Elijah.
Tank:  No, I don't.
Me:  But you like to play with him, right?
Tank:  No.  He's mean to me.
Me:  How is he mean to you?
Tank:  He hits me.
Me:  Oh, that's not nice.  Does he do anything else?
Tank:  He's bossy.
Me:  Oh.  Well, you like playing with him when he's nice, right?
Tank:  Yeah.
Me:  So how about we change our wish to 'I wish Elijah were nicer to me'?
Tank (reluctantly):  Okay.

Guess we'll have to talk to that Elijah about being nicer.  Cause when your brother's first thought for a wish is that you would die, something's gotta change.

Tankucles

Having boys is fun.  One of the thing that strikes me, over and over, is how aware they are of body parts.  Makes sense, I guess, figuring their particular anatomy.  Sometimes it creates fun moments, and this was one of them.  (If you're uncomfortable with a basic discussion of male sexual anatomy, then you won't want to read any further.  Fair warning.)

I was helping Tank get dressed for the day when this awesome conversation took place.

Tank:  "Mom.  There is a ball in my penis."
Me:  "Yes.  In your scrotum.  There are 2 balls, actually."
Tank:  "Yeah.  They're little."

I nodded and then tried to think of the technical name for those balls.  For some reason the name was escaping me.  But I knew who would know.  I called Rob at work.  I could hear people in the background. This awesome conversation took place.

Rob:  Hello?
Me:  Hey.  This is a really random question, but what's the technical name for the balls inside the scrotum?"
Rob:  Umm, ...  That's a really random question.
Me:  Yeah.  I just forgot the name.
Rob:  Uh, testicles?
Me:  Testicles!  That's it!  Thanks.
Rob:  Okay.

I got off the phone and immediately this awesome conversation took place.

Tank:  Tankucles.  They're called tankucles!
Me:  Testicles.
Tank:  Testicles?  Testicles is hard to say.

Honestly, tankucles is more fun to say.  Try it.

Sign Language

Here's a brief update about my schooling.

I'm more than halfway through my first ASL class, and it's AMAZING.  It's so great to practice my sign on a weekly basis.  I didn't realize how much I've missed it.  (Actually it's quickly replacing soccer as my favorite Release.  Weird, right?)

I was hoping to lay low, so they wouldn't know that I already knew sign.  But that didn't work.  My teacher called me out on day 1.  Turns out that there's a lot of sign that beginners don't know.  Basics like "right" and "OK" and "good."  :)  I have now received comments from my classmates like, "How much sign do you know?" and "Teacher's pet," and "I don't know how advanced you are, but can you help me?"

The main reason I started over at the beginning was to correct some of my sign that's off or old or sloppy, and to improve my grammar.  And on that scale, class has been very successful.  I have corrected things as basic as letters and numbers and days of the week.  Re-wiring my brain has been an interesting process. 

So class hasn't been a cakewalk.  I feel like I'm learning just as much as my classmates, but on a different level.  Certainly I'm practicing as much as most of them, working as hard, and signing outside of class just as much (if not more).

It's great to go to outside events and just sign.  I've met a deaf man who is also LDS, and that's been fun.  He's really nice and he's introduced me to some deaf LDS resources.  I've also met lots of other students (logging hours for class, just like me - I have to get 8 hours of sign time outside of class).  It's interesting.  They'll see me sign and ask where I go to school.  When I tell them Cincinnati State, the response is often, "Why haven't I seen you around before?"  Then I'll tell them I'm in Beginning Sign 1.  One guy said, "No one will ever believe you're in Sign 1."  That same guy also complimented my sign, which was very nice of him, and then said, "No, really.  You're better than I am."  He's at the Advanced level, which is 6 classes above me. 

Bottom line:  I'm having the time of my life.

For Justin

If you are not Justin, then you can skip this post.

No, serious.

Here's where the hanging orchid is (and, in the first picture, where the potted one is for the time being):

And here's a video to give you a better perspective of it, and of where the potted one will go:

Oh.  My favorite part of the video is when Tank says, "Who are you talking to?" and I have to admit that I'm talking to myself.  Awesome.

Picture Pages, Picture Pages

Now that my Reader count is back in the single digits, it's time to move on to my next computer clean-up activity:  posting pictures on my blog.  So here are some pictures from the past month, with a little commentary.

It's a blurry picture, obviously.  (A 10-year-old took it.)  But it's Miciah decked out in an outfit that she thought made her look like a princess.  Super cute.

Blurry picture #2.  Tank, in a typical pose:  Laying on the floor with a few blankets, watching a movie from the library.  The balloon is funny, because Tank's friend Wyatt brought it over and Tank wouldn't have much to do with Wyatt or the balloon while Wyatt was here.  But once he was gone, the balloon was suddenly very cool.  It lasted for about a week and all the kids loved it.  Thanks, Wyatt's mom!

We've been painting, though none of our projects are done yet.  Here's the boys' room, at the start of the fun:

Trying out samples.  The room still isn't done, even though we started 3 weeks ago.  And still, unfinished, it looks better than it did before.  Oh.  We decided to go with the 2 green colors on the right.  2 walls striped, 1 wall the light green, and 1 wall the dark green.  I'll take more pictures when it's all done.

Our bedroom is close to being done.  All that's left is the trim, the outlets (which are being switched out), and putting back up curtain rods and curtains.  Here's what one of the walls looked like before:

And here's after:

My brother checked out the room and quoted a line from Curious George, "That's a lot of yellow for one man."  Love the color.  It's a nice change, too.

The kids participated in the Flying Pig Marathon again this year.  This year we let Elijah do it, too.  They do 25 miles in the months leading up to the marathon, and then they do the last mile at the race.  It's fun.

This is an older picture, but I think it's great.  Since we put in the Must Read Half an Hour to Play the Wii/Computer for Half an Hour rule, the kids have been reading a lot more.  It's great.  So this picture looks really sweet until you realize that they're reading for video game time. 

Also, Elijah has been reading a TON more now that he owns the entire Junie B. Jones collection.  He wants to take the books everywhere with him.  It's great.

I am personally most excited to introduce you to our amazing lilac bushes.  Why is this so exciting?  Well, for one, I love gardening (I'm sure I've mentioned this a few times).  And for two, this is what the bushes looked like last year:

What is that, 5 blooms per bush, if that?  Pathetic.  I feel like this year they've finally started growing and blooming and looking strong and gorgeous.  Hopefully next year they double in size again!

I Can Fix That! (Lazy Parenting Style)

A few nights ago Elijah's arm hurt.  He kept getting out of bed to tell me so.  The first time he got up, I took a look at the offending spot, on the inside of his elbow.  Normally it's Rob's job to play doctor--since he is Dr. Thacker, you know--but Rob wasn't around.  So I tried to be as professional as possible as I bent Elijah's arm at the elbow, pressed on it, swiveled it, and asked him if it hurt when he did anything in particular.  No red flags were going up.  The area was red, though.  I spent a little time wondering what might be causing the redness.  Then Elijah hit his arm a few times.  Ah.  Yes.  That would do it.

"Why are you hitting your arm, Elijah?"
"Because it hurts."
"Well, don't do that."

I sent him back to bed.

A little while later he was wailing softly to himself.  Except it didn't end up being just to himself because he woke up his brother.  I wasn't happy.  I got him out of bed and told him to lay down on my bed so at least he wouldn't disturb his brother by his wailing.  Sensitive Mother to the rescue!  I advised him that the best thing to do would be to calm down and go to sleep.

Shockingly, he kept wailing to himself.  By this time I was looking at the clock, wondering if I could stall long enough for Rob to come home and take care of things.  I decided it would be too long to wait.  I'd have to come up with a solution myself.  (Again, bed time and medicine are Rob's areas of expertise.)  And I thought of it!

I got Elijah out of bed again and asked if he'd like some medicine to help with the pain.  Medicine fixes everything!  I sent him to the couch so he wouldn't see my sneak.  I got out the dosage cup and poured in some juice.  It's juice that Elijah doesn't like, so I knew he wouldn't recognize it.  I brought it to him and he gratefully drank it down.

"It tastes funny," he said.
"Medicine often does."

I sent him back to (my) bed.

There are all these studies about the power of placebos, and I was banking on that to work.  Clearly there wasn't anything Wrong with his arm.  But I was still feeling bad when he was crying 5 minutes later.  Then 10 minutes later.  Not enough time for even Tylenol to work, I told myself.  At the 15 minute mark, when I was re-thinking the whole placebo idea, he finally quieted down and went to sleep.

Whew.  Lazy Parenting works again!

A Mother's Day Post

There's been way too much going on, and way too much that I want to write about.  Hence, I've written nothing.  Here's a list of what I want to write about.  In your head, please use my super-speed hyper-excited voice.  It'll make the list sound like it's all one long run-on sentence.

I want to post about:
The new pictures up in the living room and
The changes in my bedroom - it's yellow and it's awesome! and
We're halfway through painting the boys' bedroom and
We planted everything - the weather is nice enough, did I tell you?! and
My ASL class is awesome and
My Mom and Dad and Grandpa were in town and
I'm playing soccer with my brother, hurray! and
Things are going around crazy in my head, but I'm being calm anyway, mostly, so you wouldn't even notice unless you actually are reading this post in my super-speed hyper-excited voice, and then it would be more than obvious, but let's keep that between ourselves, shall we?, yes, good!

And there you have it.

On a high note, it's Mother's Day this weekend, which means that the kids make cute things for me.  I like it when teachers have the kids write up "facts" about me.  Like how old I am and stuff.  Here's a best-parts version from Elijah and Miciah.  True things in blue.  False in red.

Elijah
How tall is your Mom?  30 inches
How much does she weigh?  90
What does she do around the house?  do disis!
What is her favorite hobby?  read
What is her favorite TV show?  no favorite TV show
What does she cook?  cake's
Where does she like to go?  pnara  (that's Panera Bread)
Why is your mom the best Mom in the world?  it's because she love's me - followed by 30 !'s

There was a short answer/fill in the blank part.  These were my 2 favorite of his:
My tummy is happy when my mom cooks chocolate cake because: it taste's good and it make's me feel special and it make's me feel glad and it make's me giggly - followed by 9 !'s
My mom's hugs feel great!  They remind me of: the holy ghost - followed by 15 !'s

Aww.  And he did pretty good on the true/false thing.  I do actually make cakes and I like Panera Bread, etc.  He just has no concept of height and weight.

Miciah
I think my mom is about 5 feet 0 inches tall and weighs about 120 lbs.
My Mom loves it when I... make things for her.
But she doesn't like it when I... Scream and Shout.
My Mom's favorite thing to do around the house is...  take naps
My Mom's least favorite thing to do around the house is... clean up after the kids.  (There's a picture showing me with hands on hips saying, "Boys!")
If my Mom could do anything she wanted for a whole day she would... sleep.

Seriously?  I would sleep all day?  I said, "Miciah, I wouldn't sleep all day.  That's a long time!"  "You do love to sleep."  Sure, but a nap is one thing, and sleeping all day is another.  Am I right?

Elijah was adorable.  His grade put on a Mother's Day Tea at school and he wore a dress shirt to school just so he'd look handsome for it.  Doesn't that just make you want to give him a hug?  They always read Love You Forever, with the kids saying the song that's repeated throughout.  It's a brutal experience.  Robert Munsch is a jerk/genius.

I like that the adorable Elijah experience was paired with Miciah's assessment of me pretty much being a lazy mother who would prefer, MORE THAN ANYTHING, to sleep all day.  Keeps me grounded.

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there, including and especially my Mommy.  You're still the best Mommy ever!