Trouble, Thy Name is Tom

Three is the new Two

"Tom. Oh, Tommy! Why?!?!" Although I say these particular phrases 700 times in a day, I must point something out: "Why?!?!" is a really poor choice of question for a parent of a three-year-old. Anyone who has been in the trenches of parenting a child this age DOES NOT want to know the answer to "Why?!?!". The answer is disturbing, frustrating, distracting and occassionally funny. And, trust me, the funny answer is the one that will get you in trouble. If that three-year-old senses, in any way, shape, or form that you thought that he was the slightest bit funny...your day is done. He will find the next "funniest" thing to amuse himself (and you) with. DANGER rears its ugly head. Then we parents are in trouble.

I was doing laundry this past week. Sarah and Joseph were helping. The littles were in the adjoining playroom. (Side note*: I LOVE that our laundry room is right next to our playroom. I can just leave the door open and ref the game from the sidelines. So good.) Well, I thought they were in the playroom. Why were they being so quiet? I put the blockade up at the bottom of the stairs...they couldn't have escaped. Wait! What is that noise? Is that Thomas giggling? Oh no! I ran into the bathroom (which is also adjoining the playroom) and Thomas and Nathan were standing next to the toilet laughing. Thomas had the trash can from the bathroom upside-down and above his head, shaking all the contents into the toilet...as Nathan flushed them away. Or not away...because Mommy had to find rubber gloves and the plunger and pull dryer lint, dirty diapers, floss, wipes, empty toothpaste tubes, etc. out of the toilet before it overflowed. I grabbed one boy under each arm and put them on the couch in the playroom. The answer to the question "why?!?!" for this one: "Nathan wants to go on the potty train."

As I was plunging the toilet and saying a prayer for patience (in the best way I knew how, at that exact moment), I heard more giggling. I finished up as quickly as possible, washed my hands, ran into the playroom and found that Tom had emptied (with Nate's help) an entire jumbo box of disposable diapers. Not only did it look like there was a blizzard from the baby department at Target, but Tom had turned on the ceiling fan and was chucking said diapers into the blades to get them to fly around the room at top speed, hitting random things. I know this sounds innocent, but a diaper as a projectile is never a good thing. The answer to the question "why?!?!" for this one: "Nathan told me to do it."

 Yes, they helped me clean up. And soon after, they were banished from the bottom floor of the house. I thought maybe they needed something productive to do. Maybe they were bored. So I asked them to help me empty the dishwasher. I opened the dishwasher door and explained the rules. "You may get out your own cups and plates and silverware and put them in the children's cupboard." After I took away the steak knife that Tom was brandishing like a pirate (of course it was the first thing he reached for), we were all set. I quickly confiscated all sharp utensils and breakable dishes. This was something that both of them had helped me do NUMEROUS times. They LOVE putting things away. They love stacking their cups. They LOVE the children's cupboard. I am soooooo clever, I thought. Tom decided he was going to "pass" all the dishes and things to Nathan...and then they would play soccer with the cups that landed haphazardly on the floor. The answer to the question "why?!?!" for this one: "I don't know."

I know it seems as though I cannot control or keep an eye on my own child. Many people may think that this is because I have more children than I can keep track of. Let me assure you, if Tom were my ONLY child, I was a stay-at-home mom, my house were already clean, my laundry was already done, and my shower was taken before he woke up, Thomas would STILL have found some way to:

~ Draw on my walls with a permanent marker
~ Wet himself and hide his wet underwear and pants in the stereo speakers
~ Accuse our pet tortoise of being fat and bang on the glass cage
~ Pump all the soap from the bathroom sink into a drinking cup for someone else to discover
~ Pull the pillows off the couch and jump from the highest window sill onto his "landing pad"
~ Hide Lego pieces under the piano keys
~ Slide down the back of the tub and spill 3 inches of water on my bathroom floor.

That all happened in one day. I know you don't believe me. But it did.

So I call Matt at work and cry: "I can't leave Thomas with a babysitter. He is too dangerous. We haven't been out on a date in months. I have put him in 15 1/2 time outs today. The 1/2 was for the time where he told me he had to go potty during his time out...and he went on the floor...so I had to clean it up...and he didn't do his time because he said he had to 'make more'...but he never ended up staying on the potty while I bleached the floor...he went up to his room and stripped his bed...and put the sheets on top of Nathan...and Nathan started screaming...and that is how I found a streaking Tom and a sheet ghost in the upstairs hallway. And I have had two pots of coffee. I think I brushed my teeth. I haven't used the bathroom since yesterday. I can't get any chores done because I can't take my eyes off this child. I sat him in a time out on top of the washing machine as I was folding laundry...and he took the spot cleaner from the shelf and started spraying me with it. MATT, I am at the end of my rope. Can we please buy one of those portable dog gates? I just need to know that he is safe while I go to the bathroom. The last time I brought him in the bathroom with me. And he pulled all the floss out of the container and ran around the house with it, trying to 'lasso' things." And I think I hear Matt chuckling on the other end of the phone. And I am grateful that we are only on the phone, because he may not have survived if he laughed to my face.

Silly Babies

I thought Sarah was tidying her room. She was actually in Matt's and my room, getting out Matt's clothes. She came down looking like this and saying, "I'M HOME FROM WORK!"

Sweetness

Bedtime around here is a blast...a blast of water from a fire engine hose, right in my face, when I am not expecting it. The children know all the right tricks to avoid bedtime. We have been going through this for nearly 6 years. It looks like it will continue for at least six more. Nathan is turning on his charm in this picture. I just wanted to document what I have to deal with each and every night.

Buzz is on the top bunk. How did he grow up so fast and assert his position as the top bunker?

Because this guy had already claimed his spot on the bottom bunk, and everyone knows not to mess with Mr. Boo.

Saint Joseph's Day Celebration

Thomas  took this picture while I was reading a story to Joseph on his Feast Day. I love the look of concentration on his face. He was engrossed in the story and I was so grateful to be able to hold him for the ten minutes that it took to tell the tale...and it wasn't about trains! Our little boy is growing up.

Joseph got a new Lego set from the family. He was thrilled to pieces!

We celebrated Matt because Saint Joseph is also patron saint of fathers.
Thomas gave Matt Cadbury Cream Eggs. He also opened them for his Daddy. He ate them for his Daddy, too.
Thanks, Boo!

Everyone was so helpful when it came time to open gifts.

Joseph picked out Matt's present all by himself. It was a Star Wars Lego set. It is very hard for me to tell who is most excited...but it might be Bean.

Happy Feast Day, Boys! We Love You!

Thank You, Great Grandma and Great Grandpa!

Easter arrived early this year, with Matt's grandparents coming in from Pennsylvania with a huge basket of goodies for the children.

We are all so grateful! The children are enjoying filling up their personalized sticker books, playing with their new Jacob's Ladders, and sampling their candies. We were so glad to be able to spend time with Great Grandma and Great Grandpa! Can't wait to see them again soon!

"FUN-IN-A-BOX"

We LOVE Dr. Seuss.

I feel like all his books were not just written to entertain children, but to make their parents feel not so very much alone. His sense of humor, intended or not, gets me through hard days.

It was raining here the other night, and the children were in a very bad place...until Matt brought home this Rubbermaid container for me. The moment I saw these pictures, it reminded me of a Dr. Seuss book we read at least 3 times a day.

"I know it is wet and the sun is not sunny, but we can have lots of good fun that is funny."

"'In this box are two things

I will show to you now.

You will like these two things,'

Said the cat with a bow."

 "'These things will not bite you.

They want to have fun.'

Then, out of the box

Came Thing Two and Thing One!"

"Then those Things ran about

With big bumps, jumps and kicks

And with hops and big thumps

And all kinds of bad tricks.

And I said,

'I do NOT like the way that they play!

If Mother could see this,

Oh, what would she say!'"

When the kids get really crazy, Matt quotes his favorite line from The Cat in the Hat:

"So, as fast as I could,

I went after my net.

And I said, 'With my net

I can get them I bet.

I bet, with my net,

 I can get those Things yet!'"

(This picture is courtesy of Joseph, who has discovered he likes to be on the other side of the flash.)

SUN!

I intended on taking one million pictures when we got outside yesterday, but I ended up putting on my sunglasses and soaking up some serious Vitamin D instead.

Really and truly, these few pictures show what happened the entire day. I couldn't get the children off their bikes. When I first opened the front door to let them out, Thomas cried because he wanted to put his winter coat and mittens on. He thought I was making them go out in the snow, unprepared. Nathan insisted on wearing his winter hat. Hysterical. Instead of fighting them, I allowed them to dress up. When they walked out into the sun, they stood in the front yard, kinda dazed, for about 15 seconds. Then they ran in circles, like puppies. They were so happy. Until they got sweaty and started crying for their winter clothes to come off. I don't know if I have ever laughed like that before.

I opened the garage and they took out their vehicles and helmets. We took breaks for food, bathroom and therapy, but stayed outside until it was too dark to see anymore. Amazing. Thank you, God!



Boo is totally sticking his finger through the holes in Baby's helmet.

The funny part about this picture is the book on the flower bed behind Joseph. I forgot to mention that Nathan, along with his winter hat, wanted to bring out his favorite book: A Charlie Brown Christmas. Again, I wouldn't fight him on this one. I knew he'd drop it the moment he realized what the outside world felt like.

  At bedtime snack, I was looking at the children around the table and enjoying everyone talking about what they did outside. When I looked at Nathan, he was talking with his hands like his Daddy. It made me giggle. They look so much alike.

Cold, Cold Days

The babies have runny noses. Some still have coughs. I cancel playdates. I cancel birthday parties. I don't even take them to the grocery store anymore. They miss Church. I keep them away from the harsh wind and severe cold.

I am beginning to wonder if 100% healthy is over-rated and unattainable.

Bean says to me, as she blows her nose again, "We are always going to be sick. Forever!" She cries at her chapped hands. "I have to wash my hands all day, every day, FOREVER!", she claims. I calm her down and reassure her that no one can be sick forever. But I have this tugging at the bottom of my heart...an ache to get out of the infirmary, mixed with doubt of having a clean bill of health anytime in the near future for all four children.

Weather here has been dismal. Some sun. Some snow. Lots of rain. Lots of wind. Lots of cold. The forecast for today is sunny and warm! I told the children last night about the heat wave coming our way. Buzz would like to know if he can sleep outside on his bicycle. I get it, honey. I totally get it.

I am  ready early this morning. I feel like it is Christmas morning, with my stomach doing somersaults. Fresh Air! Hopefully there will be pictures to share of a sunny day spent outside today.

In the meantime, I thought I would post these. 

I feed the children early. Some days, they eat before Matt gets home from work. Then Matt and I get a "quiet" dinner while the children play peacefully with full tummies. On Monday, it was quiet while Matt and I ate. Really quiet. I saw Buzz dragging some blankets up and down the stairs, but I guess I wasn't really paying attention. Boo brought up some bean bags. Bean brought up some sleeping bags...and pillows. Baby stood at the top of the stairs giggling and running back and forth from the front room. I thought maybe they were cleaning up from our weekend "sleepover" in the playroom. Silly Mommy.

Yikes.

Ok, seriously?! Look at Baby. How old is this child?

Buzz, showing everyone how high he can jump. So tall, that one.

Bean, always the ballerina.

Boo, sweating and giggling.

Fun Facts

I made bread for the first time on Ash Wednesday. Real bread. Like, I had to knead it by hand for 8 minutes. It was an incredible process. The whole house smelled good. The children waited by the oven for the last 3 minutes and were so eager to taste it! There was something really fulfilling about sitting at the table with all four of them, watching them enjoy something that I had made with my own hands...that wasn't macaroni and cheese.

Buzz received this sticker book for Christmas from his Godparents. They know him too well. It is a Lego sticker book. He eats with this book, sleeps with this book and cries when it is time for school because he doesn't want to leave this book. The other children are helping him memorize the names of each and every Lego guy...there are well over 200!

 Yes, that is a diaper. A clean one. But still, a diaper. Boo will do anything for a laugh. And I mean ANYTHING.

This really happens. Matt cannot get down on the floor with the children without getting sat on, bounced on, and wrestled.

This really happens too. This is to show you (and me) how patient Bean truly is. All she wanted to do was read a book. Nate wants attention and a playmate. I love the last-ditch effort of his feet in this video. Brothers are something special.

Happy Thoughts

When I was in high school, I had a friend who always seemed to be a little too happy. She never stopped smiling. Even when it seemed the world around her was falling apart (which it frequently does when you are in high school) she always had something positive to say. She was so enjoyable to be around, and drew people to her with her sweetness. I asked her one day why nothing depressed her. She showed me a worn-out notebook. A Happy Thoughts Book, she called it. It listed everything in the entire world that she was grateful for. At age 16, she had over 735 Happy Thoughts. She added more every night before she fell asleep. She said to me, "When you are grateful for the things you have, you don't really have time to be sad about the things you don't have." I remember being in awe. I had no inner surge of, "Wow! She's right!" But, being a teen, I wanted to be just like her. So I went home and started my own Happy Thoughts Book.

I chuckle to myself now about the things I wrote back then. I think I was grasping at straws. It was a good place to start. I needed a little jump start. I needed to remember that there is A Reason for everything. That there was Someone to be grateful to...even if it was gratitude for red popsicles and fresh-cut grass (Numbers 2 and 6 on my list, respectively). Fast forward 12 years.

The "winter blah" has hit home. I believe, where we live, it is called Seasonal Depression...a real diagnosis. Without realizing, I let myself fall pretty far. So... I talked to a priest. Talked to my husband. Talked to my mother. Talked to a friend. The message was the same: Remember to be grateful.

 Monday morning is the best day to start with an attitude of gratitude. No particular order...just trying to get started.

#1. This man, showing God's love to me here on earth.
 (Grilling in freezing temperatures because his gestating wife had a craving.) 



#2. This relationship

#3. These Babies



#4. This relationship


#5. The 32 single socks in my laundry room that I just cannot manage to find pairs for...because the children helped me sort the socks
#6. A warm house on a snowy day
#7. Faith
#8.Family
#9.Friends
#10. The kids wanting to help me with the chores

Happy Saint Valentine's Day!



The Love Multiplies.

When we had one child, we were on a power play.
With two children, we played man-to-man defense.
With three, we switched to zone defense...and the kids had a power play.
Four, we were double-teamed.
 I don't think there is a term for 5 on 2.

We pulled in the driveway. The snow started falling hard. It was getting cold. The children were spent, as we were just getting home from the circus we call grocery shopping. I was trying to unlock the front door, with Nate on one hip and Tom on the other. Sarah and Joseph were fighting over who would get to be the line leader and enter the house first. The door opens, and we all trip up the step into the house. Sarah looks at Joseph and says, "Mommy is so strong. She can carry three babies at once!"

That's right, Bean. The new baby counts too.

Passing the Torch

When I was pregnant with Sarah, I read approximately 34 books on pregnancy and 12 books on parenting. We were going to raise her "by the book". If I could talk to my past-self, today, I would say, "Delusional Anne, take a breath. Those books all have contradicting themes. You are going to harm yourself trying to be the best, firm, soft, rule-oriented, lax, natural, hi-tech mother around."

One good thing I DID take away from all that literature was the urgency to teach my children to read. What a huge gift reading has been in my life. If I could teach my children to love doing anything, it would be reading.

Matt understood that he wouldn't be able to escape my pregnant dreams of perfection, so he promptly began reading to Sarah in the womb. Dr. Suess, Robotics and Design, Dilbert cartoons...these were all favorites (Matt's Favorites). He was so patient and understanding and compliant, my Matt. Maybe he feared for his life. I guess I was a little intimidating as a pregnant, first-time mom.

Anyway, after Sarah was born, I continued to read to her. And read. And read. By the time Sarah was 21 months, she had memorized one of her favorite books and could "read" it to anyone. The Hair Book, by Dr. Suess. I was so proud. She would sit in her rocking chair, with a basket of books at her feet and pore through them. Then she would start all over again.

I was practically neurotic about making sure I read to BOTH children after Joseph was born. He didn't seem as interested, and didn't like to be held as much, so as soon as he learned to climb down from my lap, he was off doing his Joseph thing. I figured as long as he was in the same room and hearing the same words, maybe it would still instill that desire to learn. Joseph reads books now, but only by himself.

When Thomas was born, I am afraid I let time escape me. I rarely had time to read. But even when I did, Thomas had ZERO desire to hold still. He would rip the book out of my hand after the first page and chuck it across the room. Thomas further displayed his dissatisfaction with the written word by swiping his arm down the bookshelf, at least three times a day, to knock all the books on the floor. Then he would dance on them. Uh-huh. This really happened.

I tried to read to Nate. I really did. But he liked the taste of books more than the sound of my voice. Of the library of books we had, there was an attrition rate of nearly 25% whenever I tried to read to him. Only recently did he realize that books were enjoyable. Now, he will walk over to the bookcase, pick out one of his little chubby board books and find the nearest, breathing mammal. He will back on up (he should come with a warning sound) and sit down without looking at his target. He sat on Thomas' head three times last week. Just recently, though, Nathan found the perfect lap. A well-trained tongue, if you will.

Yes, I know he is as big as she is. But she loves the audience and he loves the books! There is almost nothing so sweet as hearing Sarah read to her brothers. Now, even Joseph and Thomas bring her books. My sweet, sweet girl. I'd like to think that it was my insistance that provoked her brilliance. But now I know that I can't teach or force that. I am just grateful that she is so generous with her gift.