new adventures

i remember the first time i ever had a bedroom all to myself. i was about 8 years old. before i left for a trip to stay with cousins, my parents asked me if i could paint my room any color what would it be? i told them either purple or blue. when i arrived home from my trip, they had moved me into a room by myself. the walls were painted a lovely shade of blue...baby blue. they had gotten me a new water bed too. i was in hog heaven!

well, little mother hen moved into her own room last week. we had been talking about it for months. she and captain adventure have been sharing a room off and on since he was a baby. but, she's seven now and started first grade last week and it is definitely time for her to have her own room. we moved sammysosa into the room with CA and LMH went to SS's room.

mr. hubby helped moving all of the big furniture and painting. we were able to do it in one day. she loves it! i'm really glad we decided to do make the move. we were really worried about how captain adventure would do with sammysosa. we thought of all of the naughty thing CA could do with SS in the room...climbing into the crib, trying to take SS out of the crib, throwing things into the crib, staying up until the middle of the night...you get the point.

so far, our fears have been unfounded. captain adventure has done really well. it took a few nights to get used to each other, but they love to be together now. sammysosa wakes up earlier than CA and starts singing and talking quietly to himself...he eventually gets really loud and starts yelling at CA to wake up. it is pretty cute.

little mother hen is so thankful for her own room. she loves being by herself and her attitude is getting better. she has been spending hours and hours up there just puttering around...rearranging her drawers, drawing pictures, stickering things. it's too cute!

i am so glad we finally decided to make the move. we're such wienies sometimes.

a conversation with captain adventure

in order to preserve what is left of my sanity, we decided to enroll our two older children in several summer activities. they were both required to take swimming lessons (much to their shegrin..."but i don't want to take swimming lessons. i don't want to jump in the water. i don't want to get water in my face." ) then they were allowed to choose a few other activities to be involved in.

one of the things that captain adventure chose was going to the camps offered at his school. each week they have a different theme and have educational activities that revolve around that theme. this week is pirate week. CA loves pirates, so this was a particularly fun week for him.

when i picked him up today, he seemed upset. here is the conversation that followed...

me: hi pirate! how was camp today?

CA: good. i'm not feeling so good today mom.

me: did something happen? is there a problem?

CA: yeah, there is a problem. i have a problem mom...(silence)

me: what's the problem?

CA: (sigh) people.

me: (what?! what 4 year old boy talks like this?) (hardly able to keep a straight face) what people are the problem?

CA: well, mom, people at my school. tommy threw two bottles at me today. a red one and a blue one. THEN i fell on the playground at recess. (head in hand) yeah. i fell.

me: i'm sorry you're having a bad day. do you want to go home and swing?

CA: yeah, i think swinging will help me feel better. want to see my lucky knees?

me: you have lucky knees?

CA: yeah. i fell on them today. they're my lucky knees.

they're his lucky knees.

our little gentleman

i always wonder if the things we teach our kids actually ever penetrate their little brains. things like: using good manners, thinking of other people besides themselves, being kind to others, etc. i mean, they don't really listen when we ask them to stop fighting, pick up their room, sit down and eat their dinner...so why would we expect them to listen when we teach them important life lessons?

not too long ago we were sitting in the kitchen eating supper together. mr. husband had made a delicous caesar salad as part of our meal. we were all just eating and visiting when i happened to look over and saw captain adventure starting to stand up. (we practically have to chain them to the chairs at meal times to get them to stay in their seats and eat, so i was immediately irritated...but, something made me hold my tongue to see what he was doing.) i heard him saying to grandma, "can i help you with that grandma jingly keys?" my heart melted. he had been watching her try to use the pepper mill so she could have pepper on her salad and because of her arthritis, she was having a hard time turning the mill. he saw her struggling, thought it through and offered his help. it was the most thoughtful act of good will i have ever seen come from his little body.

so, i guess they really are paying attention to us...listening to our words...paying attention to our actions...taking it all in. cool.

(nearly) wordless wednesday

this is captain adventure. do i really need to say anything else? he has such amazing energy. he makes me giggle...i really enjoy his company. he truly is a neat kid. i wish i could be inside his head sometimes...i'd like to be there so i could understand why he does the things he does...like peeing on his bedroom floor instead of the in the toilet, or throwing rocks on poppy's roof, or standing in the bathroom sink, or spraying enough room spray in the bathroom that the floor is so wet that i have to get a bath towel to dry it...i just don't get it. he has been having a hard time lately...not sure why. i hope i can figure it out...i want him to enjoy life without causing such a ruckus with his shenanigans. he has such a cool personality. i don't want to crush his little spirit, but something has got to change.

bedtime shenanigans take 2

me: (standing in the bathroom waiting for captain adventure to come take a bath) CA, please come here and go potty.

CA: i alweddy did.

me: um, where did you go potty? i'm in the bathroom and you haven't been in here.

CA: (silence)

me: CA? is there a problem?

CA: i go potty in my room.

me: where?

CA: behind the door.

(this conversation was followed by yet another conversation about where big boys do and do not go pee pee.)


***************

and since i have your attention, here's another captain adventure story...

little mother hen: mahm! come quick! CA is being unsafe!

me: (running up stairs) what's wrong?!

LMH: CA was standing in the sink.

me: (i'm sorry, what?!) CA! were you standing in the sink?

CA: (big wide eyes) yes mama.

me: (l-o-n-g lecture about being safe, the need for CA to stop acting like a monkey/animal and start acting like a little boy, etc...)

seriously?! i can't believe the things he does. i don't even know what to say sometimes. other people who i tell stories about CA to tell me that boys are just like this. you have got to be kidding me. they really have no common sense. i just don't get it.

bedtime shenanigans

me: um, why aren't you in your pajamas? please put your pajamas back on. it is time for bed.

captain adventure: (sad face, head down) i can't. they wet.

me: what do you mean they're wet?!

CA: i pee peed in them.

me: how is that possible? you were awake. where did this happen?

CA: in va bafwoom.

me: (after checking the bathroom...the floor was wet, his clothes were wet, and the stool that he does not use for any reason was wet) CA, what is the problem? why did you wet your pants? i don't think this was an accident. was this an accident?

CA: yes.

me: you don't get in trouble for accidents. everyone has accidents. i don't think this was an accident. you thought you had a pull-up on, didn't you? and that is why you went pee pee in your pants. is that what happened?

CA: yes. i faught i had a pull-up on.

me: when you are awake, you go pee pee in the toilet. pee pee in pull-ups is for sleeping only. do you understand?

CA: yes mama. (followed by lots and lots of tears)

me: i love you CA.

CA: i love you too mama.

wordless wednesday

no, your eyes do not deceive you. that is a window and captain adventure is in it. he had been trying to get me to open his window all day so he could watch for birds. since i never move fast enough for him, he took matters into his own hands and moved bedroom furniture and placed it just so. then, using the aforementioned furniture, he climbed onto the window sill and stood/knelt there for several minutes...just looking out into the neighborhood. he was very proud of his macgyver skills.

"mahmmm!"

October 4, 2007
after being in my sick bed all week (since sunday) we’re now living in the midst of the packerton dump. but, i digress. today after spending the better part of 3 days in bed, i drug my ass out of bed. i waded through the dirty laundry on our bedroom floor, stepped on and crushed approximately 37 cheerios on the kitchen floor, then climbed over the pile of toys and blankets on the living room floor to get to the couch…where i sat my sick ass down to rest (it was a long walk from the bedroom!). just as i sat down, i hear a muffled voice yelling to me from the bathroom, “mahmmm! come wight now. i need your help wight now.” so, back over the pile of toys and blankets, across the kitchen floor (where something was really squishy) and into the bathroom. there i saw captain adventure, standing over the toilet…wearing nothing but his orange “monkey see, monkey do, monkey get in trouble too” t-shirt (he thinks he needs to be at LEAST 1/2 naked to use the toilet)…with a scared, sad, pathetic look on his face, he looks at the toilet then looks at me and said, “see, VAT, is the pwobwem. it’s a pwobwem. yeah.” the problem he was referring to is the fact that the little shield that attaches to the front of his potty seat had come off and fallen into the toilet and was now sitting quietly at the bottom of the toilet…next to his poop.
yeah, i’d say that’s a pwobwem. good thing mama keeps giant rubber gloves around for just such an occasion.