You Are a Bad Mommy!

GAB - showing off their cool socks before school one day. How cute are these kids?!

Well, at least I know I'm doing something right! Last week I took the boys to City Park to ride their Y-bikes, enjoy the nice weather and play on a new playground for awhile. We will be getting them new peddle bikes after Curt's semester is over so I want to make sure they get plenty of balancing experience now! When we got to the parking spot, I had told the boys they could ride on the bike path that went behind the little pond, but that they had to stay on the path and i would walk over to them once I was done getting stuff out of the car. After I had shut the car and begun walking toward Brady and Aidan on the path, I see Gavin has made the full loop around the pond and is RIDING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PARKING LOT! Now, it is the middle of a weekday on the far side of City Park and there is no one in this area but us, but the point is I don't want to them to think they can do that anywhere! So I yell Gavin's name and for him to stop a few times and he doesn't stop. I begin running back to our car, which he is heading for and I meet him there and let him know why I am angry. I take his Y-bike and tell him he is not allowed to ride it for 10 minutes. He is angry. ANGRY. He stomps off toward the grass with his bike helmet still on, looks back and yells, "You are a BAD MOMMY!". I literally had to turn my head away to stop him from seeing me laugh out loud at that.

Aidan - during "nap" one day he did not sleep, but was putting hats on himself. Yes, he was wearing two when i went in to get him.

AAAAANNNDDDD . . . Aidan also put two on Gavin while sweet G slept. Little scamp!

Brady after the UI Pow Wow - apparently waiting for nap time to be over just wore him right out! Nice monster face paint, huh?

Now, all of my boys show their anger at me from time to time, and I am OK with that. I don't let them say rude or disrespectful things without a consequence, but I do let them know that if they are feeling angry with me, they have a right to feel that way, but they will need to work through it without making things miserable for everyone else. Gavin usually spits, which usually gets him a consequence he doesn't like. Aidan usually pouts (which is rare, he usually does what we ask). Brady is working up a whole volume of comebacks saying things like "I won't EVER think you are pretty!" or "I don't need you for ANYTHING!", which of course he almost immediately (ok, within about 10 minutes) comes and apologizes for. It does take a lot more self control for me to not react to him when he says crazy stuff like this, but since he knows beyond getting consistent consequences, he gets nothing else, his defiance is short lived and his apology is pretty immediate. I still think my favorite example of learning the boys were listening to me was the first summer I stayed home with them. We were arriving at the Carroll's and Aidan was whining about something, and Brady says, "Aidan, whining gets you NOTHING." LOVE!

BGA - a little trip to Molly's Cupcakes is a great way to start off the weekend! Gavin is the best at picking out "good" flavors. A&B weren't as impressed with the ones they chose.

BGA and mom - cool counter seats at Molly's

Dad's done with the week! Time to celebrate Gavin!

This evening I was washing dishes after dinner and the boys were playing in our sun room since many of their toys were moved up there after our basement flooded a few weeks ago. They had been listening to Peter and the Wolf before dinner and were on to Barbar the Elephant. Now, they have heard this CD about a MILLION times, since when we lived in Doha, we pretty much listened to it 8 times a week on our drives to and from Creative Child. Aidan shoots out of the sunroom and stops in his tracks at our recliner and says "MOM! Barbar's mom DIES." I look at him and I say, "I know honey." His eyes are WIDE. He says "Barbar is really sad about his mom being dead." I tell him I know, I think it is sad Barbar's mom died too. He quickly stomps over to me in his walk he gets when he is on a mission and THROWS himself around my legs which just MELTS me. We give each other a big hug and a few kisses and he says, "Mom, if you die, I will be sad and miss you, but I am giving you hugs and kisses so they can go in your body and stay with you even if you die so you will know I love you." OH MY GOODNESS, how sweet is this kid? I tell him that I was giving him kisses and hugs so that they would stay with him forever and he would always know how much I love him. It was so priceless and perfect and I'm so glad to be in a place where we could have that moment and take the time for each other.

Mom with her boys before the 2013 10K River Run (BAG)

Waiting to give me my high five to get me through to the finish line! (GAB - bottom to top)

Curt is in the final throes of the semester and thank goodness for that! :) For all of us! We have already started talking with the boys about how I am going to go to work part time (in a few weeks, YIKES!) and dad will get to stay home with them and my work won't involve as much night and weekend stuff that dad's school has needed. At first they were a little skeptical, but now they talk about it (especially Brady, our external processor) a lot and how dad loves them so much and wishes he could be spending more time with them, but he will when school is done and i go to work. I feel so blessed to have had these last two years staying home with the boys and i wonder WHERE THE TIME WENT. seriously, because it has flown by. even on the long days, it has flown by.

Aidan wearing his thobe from Sulayim and Hamad!

Gavin and Grandpa K eat fritos on their PB&J - WHAT?!

Brady at the HyVee cooking class and story hour

Last night I was cleaning up a bit after the boys went to bed and I found Aidan's big rabbit and little rabbit in the middle of the living room floor. It stopped me in my tracks and made me a little sad, but also happy at my little boy growing up. In the beginning of March, I found Brady's froggy in between the car seats, THREE DAYS after we had come back from Des Moines, where he must have thrown him. He hadn't even mentioned that he was looking for it. Now, even 6 months ago, not having their animals would have sent us into a whole house search in order for the boys to go to bed, and let me tell you, we have DONE that a few times. Now, they are big enough that their lovies aren't as NEEDED by them any more, which is a good thing, but just another reminder of how much further away from being babies and toddlers they are and how much closer we are to them being school aged and more. I read something from a blogger not too long ago that talked about how we have all of these milestones we celebrate for the "firsts" - the first steps, words, solid food, smiles, bikes, etc but that we don't do anything for the "lasts" - the last time your kid holds your hand as you are walking with them, the last time they let you kiss them before they go to school. I thought to myself, "the last time we have morning snuggles. the last time they ask for a snuggle on the couch after dinner. the last time they just want to sit and talk with you about their day or things they have been thinking about . . ." This blogger said, in some ways we don't WANT to memorialize those things, because if we knew they were the "last" would we ever allow them to end? and they might make us more sad than just being able to see it as a natural part of the maturation and letting go process that is parenting. This struck a chord with me in so many ways. Man, do I love these boys.

Paul Ramsay - Hypnotist extraordinaire (AGB)

Last weekend Curt and I were able to meet up with our old friend Paul in Amana, IA. He was in Iowa doing his college circuit and we were able to have lunch with him and the boys before his flight left that day. The boys were asking all kinds of great questions based on what we had told them hypnotists do, like, could he make one of their brothers act like a chicken? I'm sure Paul appreciated that. After a lively lunch Brady asked him if he hypnotized kids and we were all like, "uh, no, not usually." when he asked why (of course Brady asked why) Paul had such a GREAT response. He said "You know why? Because kids are great at just being who they are and having fun, but adults aren't as good at that as kids. So sometimes, adults need to be hypnotized to relax and have fun and just be themselves. So you should feel really good that you are good at being yourself." I just LOVED that.

After the lunch the boys didn't eat because they were too busy playing with or drinking their chocolate milk, we still had more time before Paul needed to go and Curt and I wanted to catch up with him. Fortunately I hadn't had time to return the library books, so Curt brought the whole bag in from the car. After trying to get our attention for a few minutes goofing around, we were firm about telling them they needed to read their books on the couches and allow the adults to talk for a bit. And they did. Not for 5 minutes, but for what seemed like a half hour. All three of them sat on a couch and looked through their library books and giggled at the funny parts and traded books and were SO WELL BEHAVED. Now, here it would be tempting to think it was all because Curt and I are awesome parents. and certainly our philosophy of helping them learn to entertain themselves and not always sticking them in front of a screen aided this moment in happening, but I really credit this to our kids. They love to read, they are interested in learning new things, they like spending time with one another, sometimes they like spending time away from dad and I (blessing and a curse all rolled up in one), and they like the independence I'm sure they felt sitting separate from us on cool, cushy couches just reading books like they saw other adults do in the cafe. I tell you, however long or short that was, it FELT like an actual break for Curt and I too, which does WONDERS for getting back in the game of parenting after a long week (or semester!).

Brady the photog!