And Don't Do It Again, Mama!

I keep a lot of Collins artwork and things that come home. Even after it's been folded in a million creases, crammed in his back pack, and smoothed on the bus. It's displayed proudly on the walls in his room. 

But the printed pictures of creepy looking I-don't-even-know-what-that-is where all he did was add stickers?  Garbage. Letter traces where I can barely discern the pencil line? Round file. 

Today I got caught. He went to throw something away, and I happened to be in the kitchen. He looked at me accusingly "How did this get in here?" (The garbage can) "Why did you do this, Mama? (With attitude.) You don't put my art work in the garbage! This is my artwork!" He picks it out (still clean, don't worry). I remind him that he did not see how it got in there, and he doesn't know who did it. He walks over, looks at me sternly, wags his finger in my face, "And don't do that again, Mama!"

I couldn't help it, I laughed at him. It was so funny that my four year old was using the words he ignores against me  all-out giggling. 

I again reminded him that he hadn't seen, and couldn't know, who did it and how. (Lawyer-in-Training?) And, please, show me what your artwork is about. It's on the counter, we'll show Daddy, and about the time that the counter clutter matches up with garbage day, it'll go away again. 

A Few Rough Weeks

In the middle of February it was decided that Collin had completed all of the Special Ed curriculum and would move to regular preschool.  We aimed for Spring Break, so that he would start the new school after a week off.  I mentioned to him that he would be changing classes, so the idea wasn't completely foreign.  He handled that by chiding to no longer poop in the toilet. For a month! I wanted to strangle something.

Now that he's switched schools, he pretends to hate it.  He tells me "My day was bad" every single day. But he stopped crapping himself, so it's an improvement.

This past weekend was super rough. Ethan had nasty diapers Thursday and Friday.  Saturday morning, Ethan woke up at 1:30, crying.  I was tempted to ignore it, but I cannot sleep when I know they're awake. I walked toward his room, and the smell hit me in the hallway.  I was dreading that diaper... But a diaper would have been preferable.

I cleaned up Ethan, the bed, the blankets, and the carpet, and spent two hours snuggling, rocking, singing, and doing anything else I can think of to help him sleep. Nothing.  Then he got sick again! Good kid, didn't fight me to be sick in the garbage can while I held him.

How does a two year old stay clean while being sick? He managed.

At that point I was done.  I cleaned up the room, changed the sheets agains, and woke up Tony (which is an act of God in its own right).  Ethan refused to stay in his bed, Tony and Ethan laid down and went to sleep on the floor in the middle of his room.

Then Collin slept in and wet the bed.

Since he was sick, we didn't give Ethan his allergy medicine.  Of course, the next night Ethan woke up coughing.  It took me another hour to get him to go back to sleep.  Monday morning, Collin was in my bed.  I had to carry him back while he complained that I was hurt his neck.  He's just lucky we didn't wobble and slam into the wall!

Now that I was awake I heard Ethan coughing pretty strongly, and his breathing rattled. It sounded bad, so I got him some water and cough syrup. But all that coughing wasn't enough to wake hm up, so I had to wake him to help him drink it.  Naturally he had a hard time falling back asleep.  About the time I got back in bed, Collin was walking his little self back in.  I have high hopes for sleep tonight, but little expectation.

Snuggles

Collin has finally gotten over his anti-snuggle phase. 

While Ethan was napping he said he was tired and wanted to lay down in my bed. Then he wanted me to lay down and snuggle him. Then he wiggled in close, gave me a kiss on both cheeks, and wrapped his arms around my neck in a big hug to go to sleep to. It was really nice!

At the office, we get these daily papers to keep up on the current events, but uneven have time at work to read them. So, I brought home my stack and started to read them while the boys had their down time before bed. Ethan decided my newspapers more interesting than his cartoon, and was reading with me. 

There were papers everywhere, and I'm going to pass them to my coworkers all wrinkled. 

Last night Ethanwanted to read them again, so we went and got one of my favorite kid books "Chica, Chica, Boom, Boom" and smuggled and flipped through the pages. His little "boom boom" is so cute!  He insisted on taking it to bed with him, along with monkey blankie, minion blankie, Mouse, and Captain America, while the mobile played him lullabies. It's amazing he has bed space left for him!

Annual Check-ups

Have you ever taken two kids to the doctor's office for an extended period of time? Seriously, I needed to go to work to recover from that kind of time off!

To preserve my sanity, and sick time, I scheduled the boys' appointments at the same time.  Aaaaand if we'e already missing school and work, we went to the Chiro while we were at it. 

Nothing bad happened at the Chiro, it just sucked up some of my kids' ability to behave in public. Once we got to the doctor's office, they were all out of "well-behaved with a sane Mama".  

They have a new nurse's assistant. It's a guy, and I don't think he has kids. He made me take off Collin's shoes (while holding onto Ethan) to weigh him. When Collin wouldn't get into the scale, I had to lift him into the infant scale (then go catch Ethan). Did then there was his height. Did we do Ethan while we were there?  Of course not!  Ethan still has to be down to his diaper to be weighed. I seriously would have stripped him right there, but he took us to the room, I stripped Ethan, and we went back to the scale. Not far away, just annoying. 

Oh, and since Collin is four, he needs a hearing and vision screening does it matter we took him to an audiologist  a year ago and he was within normal limits?  No. So now we're trying to get my uncooperative son to cooperate. Started out rough, and he kinda nodded instead of raising his han, but he finished. Now for the eye test (Ethan is wandering around in a diaper and socks). Collin and I stood on the line, while Ethan tried to wrench himself out of my grasp, and the guy asked what shapes they were. Andwers started with Circles and squares and something that looked like and apple, and quickly became cylinders, cubes, and something he couldn't recognize. My kid!

We get back to the room, Ethan is bored out of his mind, still just in socks and a diaper; and Collin refuses to strip down and wear the paper gown. He ends up in my cardigan, backwards. Spirit of the law, right?

What seems like forever, but was really not long at all, and Doctor is there and exam is fine. Except that Ethan needs a blood test and Collin needs shots. Why not get it done, right?

I hate holding down a screaming child while they get shots. I can ignore a screaming child like a pro, cause they're faking or having a tantrum; but holding them down when they're in pain?  That one is hard for me. Shots were done and off to the lab. Thank goodness it's all in the same building!

The lab was behind, and boring. Except for the water cooler, that was super interesting. Collin and Ethan were taking trips to the cooler, imagining independence; but in reality my eyes were burning the back of their heads. They had everyone there absolutely smitten! And Ethan got his blood drawn without a peep!

Maybe next year will be easier when they're older. Just maybe. 

Vacation Weekends

Because when on vacation, why not work?

Saturday, Tony and I had to go to Modesto. We took the boys to Nana and Papa's house. They ask me at least daily to go to Nana and Papa's house. They'd move out if we'd let them!

Collin has been asking to paint his bedroom green for months. I don't know where he got the idea, but he brings it up once a week or so. Sunday, we decided that this was the weekend to paint!  It was the first project we successfully finished in one single day!  Especially impressive since Collin was helping to paint. 

Would you believe I made it all the way around the room and the tape line actually matched up?  It did!  I mean, it should have, I used a level the whole way around the room, but when does planning actually make a difference with home improvement projects?  Almost never. 

Collin loves it, and I'll get used to it. I've been wanting to do something creative with his room, now I find myself planning Ethan's room decor. 

After a while, Collin got tired of waiting. And he was plain tired from playing at Nana and Papa's house, so he went to lay down and i let him watch TV. 

While I was painting, Tony was in the garage building shelves and creating storage space. It's so much nicer in there!

I even BBQ'd a nice dinner which the boys didn't eat, but Tony and I really enjoyed. It was a good weekend. 

I Love Shoes as Much as I Love Coffee

I had to go to Modesto today to retrieve my husband. I thought, I'll go early and shoe shop while he does whatever. I've been wanting to check out a particular store for some time. Due to small people, as I pulled into the parking lot, hubby texted to come get him. I was bummed. 

In the end, Tony went shopping with me, laughed with me when I asked him to hold my purse (it's magenta), and talked me into a couple of pairs of great heels I would have talked myself out of.

And then we went to lunch. It was a good outing!

A Pain in the Neck

When I finally get the boys to sleep and collapse into bed, I know that I won't get to sleep through the night. These two, together, are worse than a newborn!

Collin first came into our bed at 11:30, a mere 45 minutes after I finally fell asleep. He wouldn't go himself, so I stumble-carried him to Homs bed. Tucked him in, kisses and "love you's". 

A couple hours later was time for round two. Again, he wouldn't go to bed himself, so I stumble carried him. 

When my alarm went off at five, imagine my (non) surprise at his presence in my bed. Imagine, if you will, we have a queen size bed. Tony sleeps like the dead and cannot be disturbed. 

Therefore, he's got of the bed, Collin has a third of it, and I've got the sliver that's left over. Seriously, laying in my side, and my butt is overhanging the edge. That's how little space I had!

But it's time to get ready for work, so I stumble to the bathroom. And when I got to put my hair up I realize that I can't move my head without excruciating pain! I can't look to the right, look up, or even hold my head in its normal position!  I blame the child, sleeping like an angel, drooling all over my pillow.  

I've been to my Chiro twice today, and he let me borrow the electrical stimulation machine (I operated it for ten years in us office, I'm qualified!) and here I sit, end of the day, and I can still barely look up or to the right. Driving was something awful!

And when I told Collin to stay in his bed until my alarm goes off, he replies "I am!" I reminded him, "No. You were in mine and Daddy's bed three times last night. He stops, "oh." 

My children...