When the kids are away, Mommy and Daddy… go to Wal-Mart. Yup, Luke and Natalie went to Oma and Opa’s for a few days and what did we do on our first night “off”? We shopped! We:
1) Strolled leisurely around the store (sans stroller, ironically)
2) Bumped into someone we knew and chatted for longer than 2.75 minutes and with no interruptions
3) Bought all sorts of crap we could live without (except for the cheese slicer, I don’t know how we’ve survived without one all this time)

That was just the first night. The second night “off”, I worked until 7 pm and Mike napped. We did have lunch together, just the two of us, for Gyro Wednesday at Lou & Harry’s so we did still manage to take advantage of the free time.

I met my dad and stepmom halfway to pick up the kids tonight and wouldn’t you know it, Luke accidentally left his blanket at their house. His blanket is his most prized possession. It’s a small square of yarn I knit together for him before he was born. He has grown to love it immensely. He seemed okay with knowing it was gone and that Oma and Opa would be sending it in the mail. He was okay for the first 15 minutes into the drive home, but then he suddenly realized that he wanted it and just couldn’t survive another moment without it (Get over it, right? It’s not like it’s a cheese slicer…). He went ballistic. And stayed at Ballistic for forty-five minutes. He wanted to go back to Oma and Opa’s but that would have been at least another three hours of driving and I was not about to go that distance. He was just going to have to learn to cope.

I did stop the car at some point during the drive and I put my hand on his knee, looked him in the eyes and spoke calmly to him. “You can do this, Luke. You can go without the blanket for a little while. Just stay calm. Let’s count to ten.” And as I counted, “One, two, three, four…” you could actually see the tension in his face melt away. It didn’t last too long because he still had more fit to throw, but it helped a little I think. I eventually just exited the highway and took some back roads home and at that point he started thinking about the days ahead and was distracted enough that he almost forgot all about the blanket.

The rest of the night went surprisingly smooth. He was happy to participate in his normal bedtime routine; pajamas, stories, teeth brushing, potty time. He was even willing to go to bed with the toy alligator who followed him home from Oma and Opa’s. He even explained to me that he was using it instead of his blanket. Then about five minutes after I left him tucked in his bed he started calling for me, crying. He wanted his blanket. I offered alternatives. “Do you want the blanket Aunt Kari made for you? No? How about the blanket I made for Natalie?” No? Oh, you do want the one Aunt Kari made? Okay! No problem!” I have tried on several occasions to get him accustomed to using my sister’s blanket as an alternative but he has always refused. I don’t understand why, they were both made with the same yarn and the most important ingredient: love. Thankfully, this time it was found to be a suitable alternative because he never made another sound and is now fast asleep, clutching that little blanket his Aunt Kari so lovingly crocheted for him.

To top it off, Natalie was happy as a clam all night and went to bed without a fight! It was certainly nice to have a few days off but I am so glad to have my little monkeys home again.

My son and I have been learning a valuable lesson together. We are learning anger management and the art of counting to ten. Mind you, he is 3 years old so learning to count is not out of the ordinary. He has known how to count to ten for some time now. I am 32. I have known how to count to ten for much longer. So it is not actually the counting we are learning. That we already know how to do.

I have been trying to teach Luke that when he gets very frustrated or angry (which is often in the life of a fiercely independent three year old), he can calm down by breathing slowly and counting to ten. What’s interesting is that after a week or so of lecturing Luke with the “breathe, count to ten” mantra, I didn’t really see much of a change in his behavior.

It is true that kids follow after what we do, not what we say. I was very intentional about teaching Luke this lesson in anger management for a week or so before I realized I needed to take some of my own advice. If I keep having temper tantrums and make excuses for my behavior and never try to change it, how can I expect any different from my child? When I get very frustrated or angry (which has been increasingly more frequent lately) I can count too. I can breathe slowly and I can count to ten. So having come to this realization, I am really making a conscious effort to be more calm.

Less yelling. More breathing. More counting.

Do you know? It already seems to be working! Today at dinnertime Luke started to throw a fit because I wouldn’t let him sip his fruit punch and walk at the same time (I didn’t try explaining to him that even grown adults can’t walk while chewing gum, so of course a toddler can’t do it while drinking). He started to flip out when I took the cup away but I remained calm. Before I even had a chance to say anything more he stopped, took one look at the floor and then at me and said, “Ten. {deep breath} Five. {another deep breath} Four. Three. One. Ten.” Then he continued his walk to the dinner table, sans fruit punch, completely calm.

I don’t even care that the numbers were out of order, I’m just proud and astonished that Luke was able to calm himself down like that. Of course he knows how to count to ten, but when one is about to flip their lid they can’t be expected to worry about the details.

Luke hates corn on the cob. Just hates it. Or does he? You be the judge:

No Corn Left Behind

One of my favorite and most joyous memories from my childhood is singing in the car with my mom. We used to sing all kinds of songs, but the songs I remember the best were from this album:

Raffi: More Singable Songs

It’s a great album, and I highly recommend it. I also highly recommend this one:

Raffi: Singable Songs for the Very Young (this one actually came first)

The first Singable Songs album has a favorite song of Luke’s: Down By The Bay. So I am now an owner of both albums  I don’t know if you know Bay the Bay song (that’s what Luke calls it), but it’s a fun one. Luke and I sang the song over and over and over while driving back from a family reunion in June. It was a three hour drive. Needless to say, we ran out of verses but we did manage to make up some new ones. The song goes:

Down by the bay
Where the watermelons grow
Back to my home
I dare not go!
For if I do
My mother will say
“Did you ever see a….”

And that’s where you fill in the blank

“Did you ever see a moose kissing a goose?”
Down by the bay,
Down by the bay…

and then it starts all over again with whatever you can think of that rhymes. Raffi offers lots of different rhymes, such as:
A whale with a polka-dot tail
A bear combing his hair
A fly wearing a tie
A llama eating his pajamas

And when you can’t think of any more:
“Did you ever have a time when you couldn’t make a rhyme?”

Since we sing this song a lot (and sometimes take really long drives) we have a whole collection of additional things you might see down by the bay:
A duck driving a truck
A frog sittin’ on a log
A cat swinging a bat
A boat that wouldn’t float
A snake baking a cake

I’m sure there are more we have come up with but they are escaping me at the moment. How about you? Can you think of any to add?

I don’t remember what Luke was doing, but when I asked him to stop he asked me why? (because that’s what kids do) I answered, “Because you are driving me crazy.”

And he replied, slightly confused because we were in the house, “But we are not driving.”

You can’t get anything past him.

A common exchange between my son and me (keep in mind it’s way cuter when you hear it):

Luke to Momma: “You’re my good boy!”
Momma: “I’m not a boy!”
Luke: “What are you?”
Momma: “I’m a turtle!”
Luke: “No, you’re not a turtle. You’re a Momma!”

It’s official. Natalie is mobile. She made her first forward motions a couple weeks ago while we were up north on vacation. While those first moments are exciting, it doesn’t even compare to seeing the look on her face every day as she’s cruising down the hallway or across the living room rug; she’s all full of smiles. She is accomplishing so much and she knows it.

For the record, she is now eight months old and a day. She is still ginormous. She’s just shy of 20 pounds and who knows how long. We estimate her to be around 29 inches. She’s growing out of her clothes very quickly and thank goodness it’s sundress weather so we don’t have to worry about the length of pants and such. Dresses work fabulous but they do make crawling a bit more challenging for her.

She is starting to show some personality and while very different from her big brother, they have some similarities as well. They are both pretty laid back, happy kids. We do not deserve this rich life we live. Thank ya Jesus! 

Luke has a new toy. His cousin gave him a really cool book for his birthday but it happened to be one he already owned. So we’ve been holding onto it all this time and finally took it to the store to exchange it for a new toy on Monday. For the past 30 hours all I have heard about is Buzz! Buzz Lightyear to the rescue! To infinity, and beyond!

This kid loves Buzz so much, he prayed for him five different ways last night before bedtime. And then he inserted his name into every other person’s name he prayed for: “Thank you Buzz Mommy, thank you Buzz Daddy, thank you Buzz Natadee…”

Luke talks to Buzz, and Buzz talks back. Buzz helps him find lost toys and rescues him when he’s falling off the couch. He’s a real friend, that Buzz.

This kid absolutely loves his new Buzz Lightyear doll action figure and he doesn’t want to go anywhere without it. Yes, just like Andy did in Toy Story. In fact, I almost think that Buzz has taken Blanket’s place in Luke’s heart. (Almost.)

I had a rough week last week. In short, I was stressed about money. In the past seven years we have learned so many valuable lessons about budgeting and living beneath our means and staying out of debt. Were it not for that, when Mike lost his job two years ago we would have been totally screwed. But we weren’t. We breathed in and out and then said to each other, “We’re going to be okay.” First of all, God has never let us go hungry. He has always made sure we have everything we need and more. Second of all, we have very little debt now and low monthly living expenses.

Mike has been working a part time job since April and that has been helping to cover the portion of our monthly expenses that my income does not. He’s driving for a limo company. It has been a huge blessing. He can take the jobs that fit around my schedule (nights & weekends) and it’s something he loves doing. He loves to drive and he enjoys meeting new people. We knew things would still be tight and we would still need to be careful to stay within our budget, but it’s been a good thing.

And then last week. Last week we were informed that our monthly expense was going up effective now. The short notice and the impact it is having on our household budget sent me into a tailspin. I have been running the numbers and looking for areas to cut and Mike is trying to get extra work, but on paper it still doesn’t look like it’s going to be enough.

There is no question that we need to figure out how to get our income up. And what I want to do is obsess about it and plan and scheme; basically I want to solve the problem. But I can only do so much. We as people can only do so much. God is the sovereign one. He knew this was coming and we have to trust that he has a plan to get us through it.

I get nervous that we won’t have enough money to provide my children the things they need. Then I sometimes regret that we won’t be able to also give them the things they want. God has a wonderful way of putting things into perspective for me and he sometimes uses my own children to do it.

This afternoon my son said to me with a smile beaming across his face:

“That was fun Mommy… I love you.” 

What had he just done that he found to be so fun? He rode the mechanical horse at the grocery store. How much did it cost us? Two cents.

“Mommy!”

(Pause)

“Mommy!!”

(Mommy rushes out of bed and opens the boy’s bedroom door)

“Where’s my blanket?”

He does love his woobie.