How to make a 5 year old look like an 8 year old in one easy step!!

Or, Jack got his new glasses today!!! :D
Doesn't he look smart?!?! :D I think he looks like a real braniac in them not to mention the fact that he now looks about 3 years older!!!


























There are tons of pictures, so you'll just have to bear with me!


























He seems to like wearing them for a while but they probably make his eyes hurt as it's a strong prescription and still needs to be increased, so he takes them off fairly frequently!
























He looks soooo big here!

























This one makes it look like he's busy working out some physics problem or other and would like us to not disturb him please!



























Here he is, helping Daddy put up the pool!

























Focusing intently... but not on top of it!
























Looking brainy and helpful!!!

























I was so proud of him today! We took him into the store to pick up the glasses and we put them on him... He said "WOW!!" and started looking around! He told us everything he could see! We walked around the store awhile and he spent so much time looking around him, he kept failing to look in front of him and plowed into store displays and passing customers!

Anyway, that's him. That's his look from now on I expect. How odd to think he'll wear glasses the rest of his life! Lucky for him they look GOOD on him!! :D

It's our Anniversary !!!

12 years of wedded bliss!!! ;D ( well mostly!! We have our days.....!! )

Run.... Run..... RUN......!

All the way around this time! All the way around!! :D Whooot!!!

I started running and counting my steps, run 50, walk 50, when I could do that then I would run 100 walk 100, a few days later then I would run 200, walk 100,... run 250 walk 100, ...run 350 walk 100 and so on.... today, for the first time, I did the entire run without stopping to walk ONCE !! Yeeee haaaaa!!!! I don't know how far it is, but it takes me about 11-12 minutes to run it... and there are hills...!!! It would be interesting to know how far it is, but the distance isn't the point... it's the getting there!!!

Yeahy me ! Yeahy me!! Happy dance!!!!!

....... of course now I have to decide if I'm going to start going around twice......... !!! LOL !!!!!

Weathering the Weather.

Here in NE we've had our share of stormy weather lately... we've had Shear Winds

Floods......

... and now last night, Tornadoes.

Happily for me and my family, we didn't see any tornadoes on the ground, but boy, they were close enough.... the air was THICK and so still... it was very creepy. The tornado sirens went off on three separate occasions and we spent three long hours under the stairs.... one dog, two kids, one cat, two adults, three rats, one gerbil and three fish. I'm going to have to install seating in there if we have to spend much more time sheltering! My knees were killing me and if I banged my head on the ceiling one more time I was going to come a little unglued!!!!

I'm just waiting for all this crazy weather to settle down so I can put the pool up!!!! I hope it's sunny where you are!!

Online Surveys...

Don't you wonder who it is they are looking for?!?! I fill out their questionnaires, time and time again, and am CONSTANTLY being told I "unfortunately do not fit the criteria for this survey " doubtless after having spent a good 15 minutes answering inane questions about bread or some other such nonsense.... It seems to me if they only want those folks who answer in THIS manner ( X, Y, Z) etc, then yes, sure, it's easy to make any survey say anything you want it to!!

Survey says "EH UH"

And as I already have one song in your head...

Try this one...!! This is an ad for the Discovery Channel... it is soooo addictive and so inspirational!!

No need to thank me!! :D

I love the whole world

Code Monkey!!

I'm afraid I LOVE this song and we are totally hooked on it. I found it months ago but my kids were playing it over and over again this morning....Now it's stuck in my head... I thought you might like it stuck in yours! :D

Share and share alike, that's what I was always told!! ;D

Code Monkey

Enjoy!! :D

Catch up! :D

Or, where the heck have we been?!





Wow, we've been really busy lately and I keep taking photos and planning to blog about them all... but then I don't get around to it and something ELSE exciting happens so I take pictures of that and then don't get around to posting those either...etc.





Let's see where to start... Hmm....we've been doing some school, but not enough for my liking. That's just the way it goes around here. I've started running thanks to inspiration from my friend, Sarah. I started running 50 paces and walking 50 paces. I increased my paces daily and yesterday I ran 550 paces, walked 100 ran 610 paces and was home! I nearly ran the whole thing! Today when I run I'll run 580, walk 100 and run 580... soon I'll be running it all.. which, frankly, seemed an impossible dream a few weeks ago! :D It's only running for 12 minutes or so, but much of it is uphill including the last stretch! Baby steps people! :D





Rex took me out to see Sex and the City for my birthday! It was a really neat movie and I enjoyed it tremendously. I loved the series too though, so what's not to love!?





We had terrible weather here lately, storms, wind, tree damage, tornado threats, floods... it just went on and on!! Now we have the aftermath... muddy waters, cornstalks high up on tree trunks and debris everywhere. I took tons of flood pictures.. I'll see if I can get some up here...

This may not be easy to see, but the road...?? it's gone. The railway line that runs across it washed away in several places throughout town and had to be rebuilt! We spent Friday fixing our house where water POURED into the basement and spent Saturday cutting up a tree that fell and touring flooded lakes.

We're recently become excited about Geocaching. We found several Geocaches using Google Maps alone, but for my birthday I got a GPS device which will make finding them easier still!! Whoo hoo!! I saw a T Shirt that said on the front "I use Multi Million Dollar Satellites to find Tupperware in the woods. What's YOUR hobby?"!!! I did laugh!! Rex thought that was hilarious... he SCORNS my Geocaching in favor of his hobby which is searching for graves !! Yup. ! He belongs to a group online where a person might post that he is from out of state and is doing family tree research. Perhaps he would like to find his great grandmother's grave and all he knows is she was buried in Ashland. Rex then goes to the cemetery, finds the grave, photographs it ( and maybe any others of the same family ) and posts them on the website. He gets a great deal of satisfaction from it and feels he is helping other people. Lah dee dah. I find Tupperware hidden in trees. I gain satisfaction from that!! ; P

We took Jackster to the eye doc recently. Hmmm. For years I have TOLD everybody there is NOTHING wrong with Jack's eyes. .... Ah. Turns out his eyes are sooo bad that he can barely see anything which would explain, as Rex said, why he looks so surprised when you throw a ball to him and is comes "out of nowhere" and hits him in the chest. Poor kid! His prescription for glasses is soooo strong that they won't give him it full strength as it might shock him off his feet! He is getting 1/3 strength to start with and they will slowly increase it as he gets used to being able to see!!! We found some really neat frames for him that you can screw up in a ball if you wanted to..... don't know WHY we felt the need to do that... he's such a delicate and gentle fellow!!!

Hmm... what else is new?? Oh! We have FISH. We now have NINE pets in this house. I should NOT be allowed to go to Petco unsupervised!!! :D They had goldfish on sale, so I got one for Jack! He LOVES to watch the fish. We asked him what he would like to name it and suggested a few options for him....

Goldy?? Dorothy??? BOB!?!!?

..."Wait, wait wait wait.." he said, holding up his hand

....."Nemo!" .... !!!

Nemo it is!!! We kept Nemo in a large vase by the computer and hoped he wouldn't grow too big. I was visiting a friend who has a green thumb when it comes to pets and plants... she is almost over run with fish who keep having babies.... yeah.... you guessed what happened right??? She sent me home with two more. ( Fame, and Fortune!) Well three fish in that little vase was too much fish. I needed a bigger bowl. I wanted something interesting... like a coffee pot, or a blender... but found in Goodwill a GIGANTIC vase with painted daisies on the side. I actually planned to scrape off the daisies, but everyone else loves them! The fish like all the room and last night we had fun feeding them mosquito larvae from our fountain in the garden!!! Honestly, when there is a Tornado watch it takes ages just to get all the animals downstairs !!!!!

So I think that's about it for now..... I'm sure I'll come up with some more news soon enough but as of now, that's your update!! I'll try and get some more pictures up soon, but I really should be cleaning the house! ( which MIGHT be why I am blogging... Procrastination QUEEN, that's me! )

I hope all is well with you and yours......! Take care now!! :D

Travels, travails and try~outs..!

We've been really busy lately! :D We took a quick trip to MN for a neat birthday party ... it rained the entire way up there... and when I say rained I mean it POURED!!! It rained so hard we couldn't see through the windscreen!!! We love driving in the rain though so no one complained! :D The party was lots of fun and we got to catch up with the MN tribe! Always a pleasure!!

After that we drove up to Sioux Falls ( still raining, by the way ) and stayed in a fantabulous hotel with the most fantastic swimming pool ( which one day will be mine !! ) ... it was just heavenly. It was a Hilton Suites so we had a bedroom, living room and kitchen... it was splendid! We all swam out little hearts out before a late dinner. We were shattered so ended up with a fairly early night though I had SWORN I would stay up all night long just to enjoy the room! Ah well! Over night the wind grew to 60 mph. We couldn't open the hotel doors to get out to the van! It howled all night long! The next morning we were up with the larks to a beautiful but freezing day. The kiddies and I swam and swam some more before breakfast... ( please note.. if you swim BEFORE food, then at least hunger drives them out!! I would be in the pool all day PLEADING with them to leave if we hadn't used the "But aren't you HUNGRY??" ploy!!) After a lovely breakfast ( healthy for me, donuts for the kids, fried meat and such for Rex....!) we climbed back in the car, dog and all, and headed West. Yes. West. Right. That's not the way home is it?! Nope! We went on! For hours! To "Nebraska's Pompeii" !! Oh dear. I'd have taken them a LOT more seriously if they hadn't tried to pull that!!! Pompeii?!?! Anyway, we went to the Ashfall fossil beds! It was really worth the trip! ( remember, we weren't THAT far away!! ) The Ashfall beds are from when a volcano in IDAHO erupted and covered everything in North West Ne with a foot of ash. They have found many skeletons of Rhinos, Two toed Horses and so on all gathered together in what may have been a watering hole where they all perished. It's really something to see and staggering to comprehend. I really have a hard time coming to grips with time.... heck I have a hard time coming to grips with reality... !! The site also has an interactive time line comprising of a walk way... a loooong walkway, with a liiiittle red strip at the beginning. The little red strip is Man. The rest of the loooooooooooong walkway is Not Man...!! Ugh. It hurts my head.!! Anyhoo.... after a super time at the fossil beds and an INCREDIBLE time in the gift shop where I could have spent a thousand dollars and not regretted a penny of it... we headed off once more. This time, SOUTH!! We like to meander! :D We made a few more stops along the route ( including a small misfortune at Columbus where I mistakenly suggested we should try the "authentic" Mexican restaurant for some Vegan food... I ordered Bean Burritos for the kids and myself, only to discover, on my first bite, that the beans were cooked in.... Bacon Ends........ ooops. The homemade salsa MORE than made up for it though! :D So we returned home just in time for the kiddies to go to bed. We were amazed at the change in the flowers... all the bulbs were blooming, the lilacs were out, the place seemed so NEW and DIFFERENT. "I'm so happy to be HOME" Jessie sighed. "You were only here YESTERDAY!" reminded Dad!!! How could that BE!?!?? Four states, new and old friends, swimming pools, fancy hotels, swanky breakfasts, fossils, hours and hours of driving.... and only been gone one day?!!?!?! LOL!!!

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This week Jessie, Jack and I have been learning about Explorers. Jessie has been Lewis AND Clark... ( Jack wasn't much help in the Clarking process and wanted to play "Hige and Sick" instead. Ah well!! Jessie's task was to start at St. Lois ( the bench ) and map the back yard! She did a great job of it and even discovered a lost emerald mine along the way!!

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Today was Jack's first ever T Ball game... aaaaand it may be his last!! :D He was all psyched to play! He had his glove on, he went back to the van to get his ball, his bat and his helmet, the nice lady walked up to him .... and then Jack spotted a baby. Uh oh. Ignore the baby ignore the baby ( babies freak Jack out. He's always afraid they are going to cry... ) He did a good job of ignoring the baby and walked along with the coach assistant to where all the other kiddies were playing catch. He looked at them all, looked back at me, looked at Jessie and said "Oh no no no no!" Took off his glove, threw it to Jessie and walked off!!!! When we caught up with him we asked he what was going on and he said "YOU play, Yay~Yee, I wotch" !! Hmm. We sat on the bench together and we all watched the kids play. Jack would say "Hittin' time!" when it was time for the kids to catch the ball. He'd say "Quickwy!!" when they were running to first base and he'd yell " Cack it!" to the kids when they were trying to catch it!!!! Several uninterested yet still somehow over involved parents kept yelling to their kids ( this IS T BALL people!!) and Jack would pipe up "Keep you' eyes on the ball!!!" to the poor kids!!! LOL!!! When he'd had enough he declared it was time to go home and he said he'd like to watch "B'Ball on the fee fee" !!!

Sounds fine to me! I guess I just paid $25 for a shirt with Jack's name on it!!! :D LOL!!!!

AP Kids say the Funniest Things..!

Jack: "Dora ~Bo~ Bora??"

Mom: "What do you say?"

Jack: "Than' kooo?"

Mom: "No, not thank you, what do you say?"

Jack: "Sorry, Please, Than' koo" !!!

LOL!!! Pick one!!!

AP Parenting on a schedule! :D

I've always fought schedules.... NO!! Can't. Stand. Routine...!!! However, when I make 'em, they work so splendidly I wonder why I don't use them more often! :D We have a super schedule worked out for the evening. At 8 pm the kids head up to get ready for bed. They pee, wash faces, floss, brush and rinse their teeth, put their clothes in the laundry basket, then head to the bedroom where they put on their pj's and lay out their clothes for the morning. At 8:30 they are in bed and I start to read them a story. We're reading Little Women at the moment and the chapters are quite long so Jack usually falls asleep whilst I read. If not I sing a couple of lullabies after the story then it's lights out by 9 and I'm back down stairs for an hour before I go to bed! it works GREAT and the children love knowing what they need to do and not having to THINK about what to do next. I've made a schedule for myself for morning so that I don't forget to take my vitamins, feed the cat and so on. I've worked it so that I put the kettle on to boil for tea and whilst it's boiling I can unload the dishwasher! Clever eh!? :D LOL!! Now we've got these two schedules pretty much ingrained I need to come up with one or two more. I tend to start making dinner at 5 and we eat at 6. I try to clean the kitchen up before I put the kids up to bed, but sometimes we get carried away doing other stuff... a schedule will get me on track! :D We like to play games after dinner and last night I also got a walk in before bed time... a good thing I'm thinking! : D If I do it right we can get all these things in with ease! :D

Schedules, people. Don't have one? Get one!! LOL!!

Vegan Cook Books...!

The Vegan cookbooks I bought are fantastic!! I bought Vegan Planet by Robin Robertson ( 400 Irresistible Recipes with Fantastic Flavors from Home and Around the World) .. this book is awesome! I started to bookmark the recipes that looked the yummiest.... and now my book is literally frilly with page markers!!! One of our favorite recipes so far is Cranberry and Walnut Oatmeal cookies!! Delicious! We've also made Tuscan Bean Soup and tonight we are having Freeform Caramelized Onion Tart!! I can't wait!!!!!!

The other book I bought was The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen, Meat - Free, Dairy - Free Dishes from the Healthiest Region Under the Sun by Donna Klein. Out of this book we have tried Sauteed Cherry Tomatoes with Mediterranean Herbs.. and they were GOOD!! This book is also frilly with page markers!! Would you believe that all these choices are actually making it HARDER to choose what's for dinner!?!?! :D

Too ... Many... CHOICES!! :D

AP'ing the body.... The Eager Vegan

So...! For some reason, I forget what now, Jessie asked me what a Vegan is. I told her that a Vegan is like a Vegetarian, but a Vegan avoids any products that involve animals, such as honey, dairy, eggs, leather etc.... She decided she would like to try being Vegan too. I have wanted to be Vegan myself for sometime, but didn't want to force it on the family so this was a great opportunity for me! :D I took her for Mommy and Jessie day to Barnes & Nobles where I picked up two FABULOUS Vegan cookbooks! It took some looking, as many vegan recipes are "take soy meat product and soy mayonnaise, mix with soy margarine and soy sour cream...." BLEURGH!!!! The books I found were real recipes, with REAL vegetables and very little, if any, "fake" food!! We've done quite well for our first week! Jessie was pretty disappointed to find that she couldn't have her standard "Mac and Cheese" when we went out one day at lunch! Also, Ice Cream was out.... only now I have found a super Rice Cream recipe with Rice Milk! :D The only side effects we have suffered so far was an interesting and somewhat surprising reaction in the bowels department!! (Poor Jessie!!!) Suffice it to say she needed a bath.... that's all I'm saying.

We've begun a new schedule system! :D At night our routine is laid out and the kids follow it without any trouble! This leads to them being tucked up and sleeping by nine. I've finally given in and succumbed to going to bed at ten. I've found that getting that little bit more sleep makes the days just that bit nicer! :D

I'm working on a schedule for mornings... they really do seem to help us, much as I claim to despise them! I've always, since I was a small child, said I hated routines, but now I wonder how much of that was me just repeating what I'd heard from adults. Routines really do seem to make life SO much easier.... I'll let you know how they go! :D

The weather is just fabulous here at the moment, though we are predicted to have some storms today, with a moderate risk for severe weather. Marvy! Hubby is out of town today .. I LOVE getting bad storms when hubby isn't home. Just great! :D

Anyway, off I go for now. Just wanted to post a quick update on what's going on around here since I haven't posted for a long time and several people have been kind enough to remind me that they looked for updates! :D Thanks guys! You know who you are! :D

Toodles all...!! :D

xxxxx

AP Parenting the cat....!!

Last night the cat was frantic! He was standing, shouting, at the top of the basement stairs. Something was VERY wrong and he needed me to fix it immediately if not sooner!!! He shouted and wowled until I simply had no choice but to check and see what was up! :D He led me downstairs in a big hurry and ran to his food bowl. Oh NO!!! ... ahem..... whilst the food bowl still had a great deal of food remaining in it, he was able to see the pattern on the bottom of the bowl and that was causing him a great deal of distress!!!! Herman likes to have his food bowl piled high at all times!!!! I rubbed his head, topped off his food bowl and assured him he would not be allowed to starve to death over night!!! Poor Kitty !! That was a close one! :D

AP Parenting the soul.

Well looks like another update is in order! :D I feel like I am finally managing to pull myself out of the darkness that has been this winter. What a long and miserable season it has been this time. I've been reading some good books that I managed to lay hands on through serendipity! I tore through Unconditional Parenting in the hopes that it would be the last parenting book I would ever have to read, but it ended up raising more questions than it answered leaving me rather frustrated with it. On balance the theory is a good one but certainly not one that can apply to all children and all families at all times. This lead me to realise that NO parenting philosophy can apply to all children and all families at all times and I need to take what I enjoy from the books and ignore what doesn't fit!! This may sound like an oversimplification, but it's a new concept to me!! All this time I have been trying to bend my children to fit the books...!! I have!! My children are just fine! I need to find a style that works WITH them rather than against them and it may well end up being a book I write for myself! :D

Another book I have enjoyed and one which has opened my eyes, is John Taylor Gatto's "Dumbing Us Down". Amongst many pertinent arguments he makes, one particular one stood out for me. He talks about today's society and it's proclivity towards "networking" rather than "community" ... in other words building relationships and investing time with a group of people with whom you have one thing in common ( a chess club, an art class, an online group etc) rather than investing time in real relationships and friendships, a "community". The networks allow you to feel you have "friends" but when it comes down to it, you don't. This can lead you to feel "lonely in a crowd". I've experienced this situation many times myself and I am sure many others have too. We feel we have friends, but when it comes to the wire, we have acquaintances at best. I have been working hard at making real friends lately and as such have found a deeper happiness.

One more book I am reading ( yes, I DO read more than one at a time!! ) is Endangered Minds Why Children Don't Think and What We Can Do About It... Jane M. Healy, Ph.D. What a fascinating and mind opening book! :D The author leads us through horrifying tales of children's brains and how they learn clearly showing how language has degenerated through the years and demonstrating how old heroes such as Sesame Street and PBS are doing a disservice to children today. She outlines how important it is to read to your children, and not just any books, not picture books, but "REAL" books with well rounded language and complex sentence structures. Having followed Ambleside Online on and off for a few years I have seen results of this with my own eyes and ears!! We read great books at bedtime, we are currently reading The Borrowers for instance. Both children lie in bed listening closely to the story. They are learning not only to listen, but to form pictures in their minds. They are hearing beautiful language which is not dumbed down to a level beneath them, but instead pulls their skills up and encourages their comprehension. I am only a third of the way through Endangered Minds, but what a book it is.

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(I'm trying to write intelligently about the books I have been reading but I am thwarted by the kids who seem DETERMINED to talk to me and show me this or that....!!! THIS is why I try to write at night.... when I am only thwarted by exhaustion!!!)
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Of late I have been working on my "self". I'm trying to kick the sugar habit, giving up chocolate, sugar, cookies and so on. I am trying to find time to read, to meditate and to exercise. I am also spending time with friends and trying to focus on what's important. Not sweating the small stuff. It's a goal...!! I'm also clearing out the house... spring cleaning. Moving the furniture about and freeing up some emotional and physical space!!!! Ahhhhhhh!!! It's a good thing!! :D

I hope you are all ready for spring, to emerge into the warmth and to let the sun shine on your skin once more..... It's really been a long time coming.

AP Parenting and parental pride! :D

Or, how proud I am of my hubby....! :D

The other day my dear and sweet daughter found the scissors and cut off her bangs. Seriously! She did!!! I know I shouldn't be shocked, but she is a SENSIBLE CHILD!!!! I honestly thought that those days were way behind us and we had got lucky!!! I was really surprised!! ( I know, I know, stupid me! ) The only way I realised though, was when I went in the bathroom and discovered a bunch of looong hair on the floor. I knew it wasn't mine, Jack's, hubby's, the cats, the dogs... etc!! ... I called sweetly down the stairs.... "Oh Jessie?!?! Cherub?!!? Did you cut your hair my sweet lamb?!!? " LOL!! ( or words to that effect...!! ) She came up the stairs and admitted that yes, she had, because it was in her eyes. She'd hacked it right from the roots!!!! GAH!!!!!!! Oh my!!! Funnily enough it really didn't look too bad, and yes, it sure did keep it out of her eyes...!!

I regaled my husband with the tale over our dinner table that night. He looked at me, shrugged his shoulders and said "Well, I guess they all do it at some point !" !!! and that was IT !!! I thought he'd go nutty!!!!! I suppose if she'd SHAVED it ALL off he may have been a little more verbose, but as it was, it was pretty darned low key!! :D

I'm proud of 'em both! Jessie, for taking the situation and fixing it all by herself! And hubby, for not going bananas and accepting that it's her hair and her head and if she wants to cut off her hair, then I suppose it's her business! ;D

What a pair! ;D

AP moment of the last 10 days..!

Or what happens when a family of four kids and their Magical Mama come and visit for 10 days...!! :D

We have had friends from MN staying with us for the last 10 days and it has surely kept us pretty darned busy!! :D We have a wonderful time when they are here and we have all sorts of opportunities to practice our AP parenting...!! We have noticed though, that by the end of the visit we are through AP'ing and tend to resort to short answers, loud voices and no tools. The kids all get along pretty well for the most part, the siblings fight with each other, but never with their friends, which, whilst frustrating, is also very sweet! :D I like that they don't beat up or pick on their friends! : D

It's hard for us, as Mamas, to pay attention to the kiddoes when we just want to be left alone to chat and drink tea! We just want the children to "go play" and expect them to get along by themselves. It doesn't always work of course. We have learned that they still need Mama time, even when they have really cool friends to play with. It's important for us to try and make individual time with each child to make them feel special. It's surprising how quickly you can tell when children aren't getting enough attention. We may think that they shouldn't need us with all the kids to play with and all the neat things there are to do... but we would be wrong. They still want to know they are special, they are loved and they are not just faces in a crowd. Since our friends left my children have been especially cuddly and close to me. They both crawled in bed with me last night and slept by my side... we're making up for lost time a little bit! :D

AP Moment of the day ~ granting wishes.

I may have mentioned this before, but life is so much nicer for small children if they can have their wishes granted.... if only in make believe! I read this is in one of my parenting books but for the life of me I can't remember which one now. It was probably Kids Are Worth It, but I can't promise that! The point is, if a child really wants to do something that just can not happen, it's a simple case of saying "You wish you could squirt water at Mummy all night long, don't you?" ... honestly, if you have guessed right and that is JUST what the child wants to do, then you are rewarded with a smile, or at least an acknowledgement that yes, that IS what I would like to do, but I know that I can't for a plethora of reasons....!! I did that with Jack tonight. He really wanted to squirt me with a toy from the bath and he was soaking the bathroom floor in the process. I wanted him to get ready for bed so told him to put the toy away.... he cried and cried. He was over tired and really needed to get to bed, but his upset prompted me to reach for the (t)rusty tools and see what I could remember. I dug deep ... and pulled out the old reliable "Wish Granting" !! :D "You wish you could squirt Mummy all night long, don't you?! " and sure enough, he sobbed out a "yes" ... and gave me a big hug!!

I really don't know why this works, I'm sure there's a good explanation for it, but sometimes it's best just to believe in the magic of it and trust it!! : D I've done this when he doesn't want Daddy to go to work " You wish Daddy could stay home all day, don't you?" ... yup. He's been heard, he's been understood, and he's been sympathised with. He knows that Daddy can't stay home all day and he KNOWS he can't squirt Mummy with water all night long either.... but it sure would be nice! :D

Satisfaction, guaranteed..... at least in theory! :D

AP Moment of the... wait.. how long has it been now!?!? :D

Hmmm..!! It's been busy around here!

We've decided we are going out of business... the Baby Making Business that is! We've decided it's better to just bite the bullet, say we are done and make it our decision, rather than feeling that nature is deciding for us!!! HAH!! WE decided people!! :D

I have been going through the baby room and bagging up and sorting out baby clothes, boppys, exersaucers, strollers, high chairs, slings, shoes, toys, mobies, bouncers... the lot!! All of it is going!! It's for sure going to be a clean sweep and is almost scary to do it, but I'm going to feel so much better when it's all gone. It was getting too much to walk into the old nursery and see all the reminders of how we have failed to make more babies!!! And hey, you know what they say!?! Once you throw out all your stuff you are almost CERTAIN to get pregnant again!! LOL!!! Well I'm hoping it's not true, but if it is, then heck, I guess we'll have to get ALL NEW STUFF !! LOL!!

A friend of mine walked with me through Super Target the other day and we cruised through the baby aisle looking at all the stuff... I am AMAZED at how things have changed in only 5 short years!!! They have such FABULOUS stuff, beautiful bassinets, car seats that are gorgeous, lovely clothes.....!!!! It certainly wouldn't be too hard to have to get new.. you know.. if we HAD to ! ;D

Actually it's nice to no longer think of the room as a baby room, but instead we will think of it as a tween room!! :D Our great friends from MN come over frequently with their tribe of 4 and the oldest girl and Jessie love to share a room. I've told Jessie that they can pick out some borders and maybe some paint and we'll make it more of a big girl space for when they come and stay!! It will be lovely to have it USED again! :D

Anyway, I suppose this is AP'ing me. It's meeting my needs by clearing out old memories and making room for new ones. It's taking charge of events, removing negativity and moving boldly on.

Onwards, onwards, ever onwards.

AP Moment of the century!! ;D Do you Caucus?! Of Caucus!! :D

I took Jessie to Nebraska's first Democratic Caucus today and have to say it was sooo exhilerating!!! I had a wonderful time and really enjoyed the atmosphere!! Jessie got to participate a little but more than anything she got to be there. She got to be a part of something that has the potential to be huge.

I've never been very interested in politics, despite studying it in college ( I was actually hoping for a psych class but it was cancelled!!) and since I haven't always been a US Citizen I really didn't care much about what happened in the White House. Things have changed!!! I am so excited for this year's election and am hoping to instill some enthusiasm in my daughter too.

Showing your children they can make a difference. It's the AP thing to do!!!

AP Moment of the day... Good LORD it's THURSDAY?!!?

Hooo boy!! :D The week is just flashing by and I have to say That Darn Cat is one of the reasons I am so behind !!! 'S'ok though cause we love her! Sorry! Him!! Yah... that was a shocker!! :D Our newest family member is a neutered male, so we may well be calling him Herman! ;D Get it?!!?

Gah!! Anyway, I'm worn out over here I'll tell ya. The kids have me ready for a short little vacay somewhere hot and beachy. Just me, a beach towel and an ocean. Ahhhh. I'd sleep. The entire time. !! :D It's so cold here at the moment with occasional bursts of above freezing temps. The cold and snow keep me from wanting to leave the house and the kiddies aren't all that keen on it either. Shuuuuuudddderr!!

That said it's not like I'm getting a lot done here IN the house...!! We're basically hibernating, shutting down and running on bare minimun until the days warm up a bit!!! We'll be flying before long, until then it's "Goodbye from me, and it's goodbye from him! "

AP Moment of the day ~ Pets are people too....!

So not only do I try to be an AP Momma to my kiddoes and an "AP" wife to hubby, I now find myself AP'ing the critters too!!! :D We had a brief explosion in the creature numbers so now we have one dog, one gerbil, 3 rats and one cat. It's only a matter of time before we get fish too as Jack would LOVE some fishies...!! The dog is scared of the cat and the cat is scared of the TV. The rats are scared of the dog and the gerbil is scared of everybody!!! The house is just fraught!! ;D So we have to make sure that each pet gets enough love and attention so it doesn't feel it's missing out somehow!!! I made sure to play ball with the dog and buy her some doggie treats today, the kids and I keep finding the cat snoozing on the spare bed and go and pet her for a while. Tonight I had the rats out for an hour so they could play and get lots of love and fuss!! They love to have their chins and behind their ears tickled!! and finally I opened up the gerbil tank, topped off her food and chatted with her a little ( that's more than enough attention as far as she is concerned!!! )

Now it's time to sit with hubby and try and make him feel a little special too... then to bed and tomorrow we begin again!!! First with the kiddoes and then down the food chain from there!!
;D

AP Moment of the day ~ You Tube?

Well today we had our first near miss with the joys of the internet. Jessie had been watching an educational video on chocolate and decided to do a quick Google search with the terms "How to make Chocolate" ... I'm sitting across the room and hear some rather punk music playing and ask Jessie what she is watching. "How to make Chocolate Milk" .. she said.

...

minutes pass....

...


"WHAT!?!?!?! WAIT!!!! STOP!!!!!!! TURN IT OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

A (very) large breasted woman ( thankfully wearing a (low cut) T shirt) was making chocolate milk by pouring milk and syrup into a glass and then jumping up and down vigourously. The camera was focused on the glass... which was held deep in her bosom.

Poor Jessie was just sitting there watching it and was probably pretty confused... especially as I scrambled to turn it off!!!! It's really hard to find the right buttons in time when you are flustered!!!!

So from now on You can Tube, I can Tube, Jessie.... she can't Tube. Yikes.

AP moment of Oh what a day.

For reasons I refuse to discuss we have acquired a cat it seems. This poor critter has a bum leg, possibly a disclocated shoulder, but that didn't stop her from belting off from me when we took her to the vets, 30 minutes away in the country. I had to climb into ditches, over railway tracks and through barbed wire to get her back and I look as though someone has taken a knife to my chest thanks to her VERY SHARP claws. Sigh!! :D Still, there were some bright spots to the day!

1) the vet, once I had re captured the cat, came over to chat with us. The cat was now ensconsed under Jack's car seat and there was no way anyone was going to be getting her our, so we chatted a little before we drove back home again. Jessie began to regale him with the tale of how we found the cat... she's chattering on , as she does, when he suddenly blurts out "How old ARE you!?!!" We explained she is 8 and homeschooled... he said he was amazed at how mature she sounds when she talks!! ;D ( I bow, inwardly!! )

2) Once we had the cat under the car seat I took the kids to Petco. Jack LOVES to go to Petco as he loves to watch the fish. You know we are going to end up getting fish too... right??! It's just a matter of time!! Anyway, he also loves to go apeshit and run away from me, usually resulting in my abandonment of cart and purse and chasing him around the store. Ha HAH. Not this time buster. Thanks to Parents Please Don't Sit On Your Kids I decided to ignore him. He ran off, Jessie and I walked towards the checkout. Presently we heard "Mummy!!" and here he comes looking all worried and accompanied by a friendly Petco assistant. Moments later he ran off again, announcing as he fled "Bye Mommy!!" ( a clear invitation to chase which I ignored again. ) I tried to explain to the bemused check out girl that I had lost my son but I wasn't worried about it ... and again, after only a minute or two he comes running up to me. "Hello Jack! " I calmly said as I took his hand and we left the store!!! Honestly the BEST trip to Petco we've had in years!! :D Yeahy! and Go Me!! ;D

3rd and final) On the way home Jack was talking and Jessie and I were trying to figure out what he was trying to say. Many of his words are very clear now, but once in a while we are stumped. Jessie said "I could write a Jack dictionary!" and I said what a great idea that was...
" but I CAN'T !! " she said. why not?! "Because he won't stand still to give me all the words!!" LOL!!! For some reason I thought that was really funny!! He'd have to stand still and give her all the words at once!!! ;D

Maybe it's just me!?!? :D

AP Moment of the day ~ I'm open to a little experimentation!

My smallest child loves Curious George ( or, "Norge" ) and likes to play on the George website on PBS kids. One of the things they show is a clip of children in a classroom doing an experiment to see what dissolves. Jack watches this clip over and over again. Today he obviously decided he had the gist of what they were doing and I spotted him hurrying into the kitchen muttering "Ditholves? ditholves?" ... he started tearing through the pantry, hauling out spice jars and filling large glasses with water...!!

" WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?!?! " I quietly enquired! (!ahem!) then, remembering my recent readings, tried again. "Are you hungry?!" I asked.

"No!" he said and carried on scouring the pantry.

I had no idea what he was doing!! :D Suddenly I flashed back a couple of weeks to where Jack was found floating bags of herbs, packages of pasta and other such items in glasses of water. It hit me with a rush... "DISSOLVES!!!" Hah!

"So, you want to see what will dissolve?!"

"Yes, ditholves! .... thalt " !!!

(thalt?! thalt?) "OH!! Salt!! You want to see if salt dissolves?!?! " ...

and so it went on!!! He would procure the necessary ingredient, find a glass and fill it with water then conduct his experiment!! When he'd satisfied his curiosity with one condiment, he would run back to the computer, play the clip again and find the other things the class had used!!! He tried salt, sugar and pepper, and one or two of his own making, including cinnamon, cold tea and some cold left over oatmeal!! ;}

He was happy for about an hour but what thrilled me the most is he did it all himself!!! I got down the items requested if he couldn't reach them and I poured a small dish of sugar out for him rather than give him the entire bowl ( I'm flexible, I'm not stupid!! ) but other than that, it was all his gig!!! He certainly had a ball and I figure he learned a few valuable lessons if nothing other than old oatmeal will not dissolve in cold tea and if you try and eat it it's pretty darn nasty!! :}

LOL!!

AP Moment of the day ~ No comparison!

Or, don't read other homeschooling blogs if you don't want to feel like an inefficient,- deficient, something else ~fishent- homeschooling- layabout -slacker Mom!! ;D
or words to that effect!! :D

Today I thought I'd peruse some of my favorite Homeschooling blogs. I love to read what everyone else is up to, always of course, in the vain hope that I will be able to say "PAH! We do SOOO much more than that!!!" .... Hmph. I'm clearly reading the wrong blogs!! :D I won't name names... you know who you are, but some of my FRIENDS * sideways glance * are I'm sure conspiring to make me feel like a nonce!!! :D Yeah! That's it!! They work together to come up with fanciful schemes and then write blog posts about them JUST TO MAKE ME FEEL LIKE A SLACKER!!!! ;D LOL!!! Well... I'll show them! We do all SORTS of school at our place!! ;D .....

Today Jessie decided she wanted to work more on her new passion... Wizardry. Yep. She wants to be a Wizard. Or she did, until some smarty pants told her that a Wizard is a boy. So she now wants to be an Enchantress. She asked if I was happy that she would be the first Enchantress in the family since she couldn't be the first artist. Of course I was well into my third scotch and soda by then so my reply was less than coherant. I hope. She wore purple Wizard robes all day long, walked around wearing an amulet of sorts, carrying her small dead owl and her books. Apparently they are spell books. Uh huh. She spent some time online searching for spells ( computer studies? Right?!?! ) and then carefully and of her own accord, wrote them into her spell book. ( handwriting!) She then practiced the spells until she could say them with her eyes closed ( memorization! ) and recited them carefully ( public speaking !) When the wished for Unicorn failed to materialize ( comprehension!!) she did not give up ( perseverance! ) but headed back to the computer to try again!! LOL!!! This counts, right!?!!? I mean, she plans on trying to make Gold next week, so that will be Chemistry covered!!! And perhaps we'll be able to weave in Social Studies as she discusses her plans with the fire marshal! ;D LOL!!

I suppose I need to stop reading other people's blogs and focus more on our life together. No one has a perfect life, despite outward appearances, and although from the outside I'm sure our life looks a little Kooky to say the least, inside it's all heart!!! :D

( with a little bit of Magic thrown in!!)

AP Moment of the day~Poop Happens!! ;D

Well... it finally happened!! :D

Jessie and I were in the front room together working on something or other this morning when suddenly from the living room we heard "HURRY!!! HURRY" and Jack ran into the bathroom in a mad panic!! He slammed the door behind him and I jumped up and ran to assist!! :D I opened the bathroom door only to have him shove it closed again yelling "NO!! Go 'way!!"

"Don't you need help?" I asked? ( Pleaded, begged...!!)
"No!" he calls back.

I decide that this is his big moment and I walk back to the front room and Jessie and I sit and wait to see what will happen next. Suddenly a half naked Jack BURSTS into the room with a flourish and spreads his arms wide "TAH DAH!!!" LOL!! He had taken himself to the bathroom, removed his pants and pooped ALL BY HIMSELF!!!!! ;D YEAHY!!!! Jessie and I gave much cheers and kudos to him and he beamed with pride!!!!! A moment later I realised that he would NOT have wiped...... so we quickly headed back to the bathroom........ 'D

However! It's a milestone people!!!! It's a HUGE milestone!! :D

AP Moment of the day ~ Puddle Jumping!

It was 64 degrees today!!! SIXTY FOUR!!! That's just crazy! All the snow is melting but for a tiny bit on the North side of the house. We went for a wonderful walk wearing short sleeves and little else!! The warmth of the sun on our faces and the smell of the warm earth was such a simple but deep pleasure. Ahhhhh. I could feel my blood pressure falling...!! :D

Jack thought it would be wonderful to stomp in every single puddle he could manage and I decided I wasn't going to stop him! It's just water after all! :D Jessie was careful to walk AROUND the puddles as she was wearing a pretty skirt and didn't want it getting wet. We'd walked quite a long way when we discovered we would have to walk through a very deep and large puddle... there didn't seem to be anyway around it!! Jack was so excited and Jessie asked if she could take off her shoes! SURE!! Why not!?!? It's not every day you can go bare footin' in the middle of winter for heaven's sakes! We stopped alongside the puddle. The dog lay down to rest and the kids had at it!! :D The stomped, splashed, sperlooshed and essentially played like they hadn't played in a long while. Curious as to the effect, I casually mentioned that as long as we were playing in the water, we would miss Cyberchase on TV if we didn't hurry and head home!

"ACCCKK!!! We must hurry and GOOOO!!" yelled Jessie.

"Hmm... " I asked her..."What's more important? TV? or Real Life?"

Jessie thought for a moment....."TV!!" she yelled.... laughing!! Then she said "Just kidding!! Real life of course!! Besides, who knows WHEN we'll be able to jump in a puddle this big again!?!"



Simple pleasures, folks!

AP Moment of the day ~ If I ignore you, maybe you'll go away?!

Or at least you might stop throwing a fit and tearing around the room blowing raspberries?!?? No?!? :D

Hot on the tail of the fabulous advice I've been sharing from the Parents Don't Sit On Your Kids book comes this little gem.... Ignore your children's terrible behaviour!! S'right!! Ignore 'em!! Now it does seem to go against the parenting grain, to "let them get away" with bad behaviour but any parenting philosophy that actually suggests I do LESS than before is a winner with me!! ;D Kid goes crazy?! IGNORE!! Child beats up sister?! IGNORE!!! Child stands in front of TV with arms akimbo in order to block as much of the TV screen as is physically possible?? IGNORE!!!!!! Sounds kooky, eh!? :D So naturally I thought I'd give it a whirl!! I'd asked Jack to go the bathroom before watching a movie and he took that as his cue to run, whooping, from the room. Normally this would result in a little noise as I would delicately skip after him in joyous fashion quietly calling out his name in little pixie whispers whilst fairy dust shot out my ass..... ( or something not at all like that...!) but this time... IGNORE. "OK Jack! " I said. And I turned and walked away. Momentarily Jack tears into the kitchen and goes "Nya nya ny Nya Nya!!" wiggling his tongue and fingers at me in a clear attempt to provoke me into a chase. I look at him.. "Are you ready to go to the bathroom, Jack?" He runs off, giggling. "Ok Jack," I said and I turned and walked away. He ran in and blew raspberries at me. He tugged on my jeans' pockets..... to no avail. I simply would ask if he was ready to go the bathroom and without an appropriate response I would turn and ignore. This went on for about 5 minutes when suddenly he decided he was ready to go pee so I could help him with his movie. He went straight into the bathroom, I helped him with his pants and then helped him with his movie, not once mentioning his acting out. It worked like a charm!!!! He's realizing I mean business. I'm giving him one shot to do something then I will help him with it. He is learning that acting up will not get him the attention he is seeking, but he will get positive attention if he does as he is asked! :D

We'll see if I can keep it up! :D

AP Moment of the day ~ We're having a heat wave!

It was 54 degrees today!!! Whoo HOOO!! The sky was blue, the sun was shining... the snow was MELTING!!! The kids and Daddy went outside and had snowball fights, played on the sled and generally made merry in the remains of the white stuff! It was a glorious time for them all!

Meanwhile my internet connection has been shady at most lately and if you know me well you know how happy that makes me.... * please note sarcasm and eye rolling here * so I am posting this quick now and will hopefully post a better post later today....!

AP Moment of the day~ Get out, get out, GET OUT!!!!

Or, what to do when the weather finally gets above freezing! :D

It was above freezing, in fact it was in the 40's today, for the first time in a month I'm sure. We have been cooped up now for what feels like MONTHS and today was the first time we've been out in a while! It was like getting out of prison (I imagine!!! ... I don't have first hand experience of that!!) the sun was so bright! The air smelled so good!! The sky was so blue, the birds sang so sweetly!!! We spent the first few minutes blinking in the bright light and looking about us like transplanted Moles... hauled out of our dark and musty depths and thrust out into the open and the crisp, clean air!! We stared about us as we walked! We splashed in the puddles left by swiftly melting snow. We made up Haiku on the fly and I honestly FELT smarter as we strolled!!! We identified birds, we counted trees, wings on birds, legs on dogs, hands on sisters...! We read STOP signs and house numbers, we named colours .... in short we shook out the cobwebs of our minds and took one giant stride towards spring!! :D I LOVE Nebraska for it's spring~ in ~the~ middle~ of~ winter~ness!! You don't get that everywhere and it was JUST what we needed!! :D

Tomorrow's forecast..... SNOW!! :D ( not really! I have no idea what the forecast is! ;D )

Little kids say some funny things!

I LOVE the way Jack talks. Jessie used to say some cute things too. She would say "A way a guis a wah woos " for I want a drink of water!!! I don't think I'll ever forget that!

Jack says "Sassoo" for Lasso, he says "Nam~nam" for hammer and "Foo fipher" for screwdriver!! I LOVE it!!! I'm always telling him "Say Lasso!!! Say Hammer!! Say Screwdriver!!!" LOL!! He's so obliging!! He'll always say them for me!! And he giggles too.. he knows it sounds funny! But I don't correct him!!! I don't want him to say it "right" !! I want him to say it his way! I LOVE it!! :D

Other Jackisms as I think of them....

"Fee fee" TV
"Boonan" Brecon ( our dog!)
"Burbil" Gerbil!
"Wats" rats
"Schoop" soup
"Peee yo" pillow
"Gicky" sticky
"Heffy" heavy
"Big an stwoooong" Big and strong
" up an ears" up stairs
" down a nears" down stairs
"Wuh one" that one
"Up a down" upside down
"doin up" ( actually this sounds more like "door knob" ) means "Going up" or pick me up!
"Yey yeee" or these days "She' shee" Jessie


Also...!! "BOWN it!" for Found It!
"Gikken" for chicken
"mawl" for Small

I may add some more to this list... I hate that his speech is improving!!! It means I'm going to forget how he used to say things!!! It's sad when they grow up... exciting, but sad too.... "}

AP Moment of the day ~ Making chores FUN! :D

I'm an eeejit! ;D All these years I've been cleaning my floors the old fashioned way.... hands and knees, scrubbing away with my bottle of vinegar solution and paper towels... woe is me....!! ;D Actually the kitchen is about 2 foot square, so it's not all that much of a toughie, but still, the key part here is I have been doing it!!! Twerp! :D I finally let go and let the kids have a turn!!! I had them put on their swimsuits and socks, filled a tub with hot soapy water, gave them a couple of small towels and let them have at it!!!! Who knew cleaning the floor could be such a treat!!! They were giggling and laughing!! Sliding around the floor and swimming across it on their bellies..... Never again.. well... ok, not for some time will I clean the floor the old fashioned way again! ;D I imagine I might have a hard time getting them to do it this way when they are in their 20's, but hey, who knows!! ;D The floor looks sparkly clean, the kids got exercise, had fun, kept busy, worked as a team and giggled...!! Win Win Win! ;D

AP Moment of the day ~ Amazing...!

You may or may not have picked up the hint that I am quite keen on the latest book we are reading on our booklist, Parents Please Don't Sit On Your Kids, by Clare Cherry. I was reading more of it at the dinner table tonight ( a treat Jessie, Jack and I indulge in when Daddy isn't home for dinner! ) and came across an interesting little chapter. The author suggests using gerunds, which are nouns, created from verbs. These words always end in "ing" and are used as gentle reminders for children. !! I was intrigued and read on.... The words she uses are those such as "Waiting", "Not touching", "Walking" and so on. I really thought the woman was a kook. Jack was at the table and had basically given up on dinner. I looked at him and said "Jack, Eating!" ..... and wouldn't you know it, he picked up his fork and ate right away!! Hmmm... a fluke, thinks I, but I vowed to try again soon. Well, after dinner it was time to go up to bed. I needed Jack to help carry some things up the stairs but he had a whistle in his hand and refused to put it away until morning. I said "Jack, Putting away!" .. and he went and did it!!!!! Immediately!!!! I don't know what this magic is, but it WORKS!!! I said to him "Carrying!" and he picked the stuff off the stairs and hauled it up, no questions!!!! :D

Gerunds. Mother's little helpers!! ;D

AP Moment of the day~ Doing it their way! :D

I had a talk with hubby last night and it emerged that much of my stress is in my head alone. I always tend to get stressed by thinking hubby would be annoyed by the behaviour or actions of the children, so in order to prevent him being annoyed, I yell at the kids instead!! This yelling, it turns out, is more annoying to hubby than the behaviour of the children! AND he expects the children to be children, he is charmed by our daughters snarky attitude and wiseacre comments. He is amused by her free thinking~ness and also amused by Jack's "curiosity" and boy~ness!!! Hmmm. All this time I was running around like a headless chicken trying to stop them being themselves so that Daddy wouldn't be annoyed.... and a) that was more annoying and b) he wasn't bothered at all!! :D

SOOO today we tried things a bit differently! :D I tried to stay very laissez faire about everything. I told Jessie she didn't have to ask permission for so many things any more. She knows the way things are here and she knows the way I feel about things. She should feel free in her own house to get a drink, get snacks, leave the room (I'm kidding!) without asking permission. She asked if she could have some gum. I HATE gum. She knows this! :D We have some gum that is all natural and I don't mind that... it's supposed to be actually GOOD for her teeth and I was seen chewing some, so I knew she'd want some too.... OK, the new way...
"You don't have to ask me any more, Beans. If you want some, get some!!!"
She looks confused.
"If you want some gum, please just help yourself. Only ask me permission for things that are more serious...."

**blink blink**

" sooooo...... can I have TWO pieces!?!??!" she asks!!!!!!!!!!!! GAH!!! This is going to be harder than I thought, but for BOTH of us!! LOL!!

Later in the day I noticed Jack opening the cupboard under the sink and taking out the furniture spray polish. He was muttering to himself and I heard him say "Cweeeening"!!! Uh oh. This gets messy!!! I leaped up and asked him if he was going to help me clean!!! He proudly said YES!! so I offered him my feather duster!!! What kid could resist a feather duster!! ( Yes, it has purple feathers if you were wondering!!) so he happily dusted for some time... but the call of the spray polish proved to be too much, so I handed him the dust rag, showed him how to spray the can and took him to a VERY DIRTY wooden table!! 'D Have at it, kiddo!!! ;D Looks like I can go with Jack's flow pretty easily!! :D

At this point I do have to brag.

Ahem.

Today I had a migraine headache which was getting steadily worse and I was fresh out of Excedrin Migraine. ( the stuff rocks!! ) I held out as long as I could but even Jessie could see I was in a bad way. "You ought to go to bed" she offered!! Bless her!!

Jessie had spent the day studying China. She decided she wanted to be able to write Chinese, and so went off from there! : D She had chosen to have Sushi for dinner. I put the rice cooker on, laid out a packet of tuna and some Mache greens.....and I headed up to bed!!! Jessie and Jack made dinner themselves!!!! I came down as they were getting it ready and I offered to help but it was unnecessary! They had it covered! ;D Jack had a new "recipeeeeeeee" he wanted to try and so I put his stuff in bowls on the floor and let him have at it! He added salt, pepper and Dorothy Lynch dressing to his meal and apparently it was darn tasty!! They did such a great job today of letting me sleep and of taking care of things.... There was no yelling, everyone was well behaved and I made sure to talk to them kindly and respectfully rather than bossing them about like minions!! It worked well !!!

(This has mostly arisen from the latest chapter in "Parents Please Don't Sit On Your Kids" where the author points out that we speak terribly to children but we speak kindly to strangers!)

We'll see how tomorrow goes!! :D

AP Moment of the weekend!

Or rather, Jack is a nightmare in hotels...especially this one!! :D

We had a lovely and fun weekend with our friends despite the 10 hours of driving it involved! :D
We stayed ( in the -13 degree temps I might add) at a hotel with a pool, hot tub and sauna! It was raaahter chilly though and the windows got icy on the inside! The kids all thought it was a hoot to put their handprints in the ice... nuts!!

Anyway, I really had to put my parenting hat on a lot of the time this weekend. Jack is renowned for running off in this hotel. He can get out the room in a flash. Literally we were all standing in the room and he **POOF** was gone. He'd gone so fast that when we, seconds later, looked out of the door neither hubby or I could tell which way he had run to, so we both had to fly off in opposite directions and catch him. He laughs and giggles the whole time he is running.. he really enjoys the chase and having spent 5 hours sitting in the car and being a really good boy, I'm not surprised he needed to get his energy out a little. We let him run. We'd call him back and run away from him so he would chase US, then he'd turn and run away and we'd chase HIM... we all got lots of exercise!! :D

Another event occurred which tested my parenting skills and I came up with the goods!!! Jack was bound and determined to putz with the heater in the room. He wanted to mess with the controls and turn up and down the heat etc.... with it being as cold out as it was I wasn't going to allow ANY messing about with our one heat source!! Realising that to tell a child "Don't" do something is basically telling them "Think about nothing else until you can't help but do the thing you were just told to not do..." I instead told him... "TOUCH THE CHAIR!!" ....so there he sat!! Looking intently at the heater... and reaching out to touch the chair!!!! I was so proud!!! :D

Baby steps, people. Baby steps.!!!

AP Parenting goes on the road!

Today the kids and I decided that since we have pet rats, we might as well use their smarts to teach them some neat and fun tricks! Since we DON'T have as many smarts as they do, this was met with limited success but I did manage to make a "click" trainer for them, using the top from a jar of apple sauce!! Later in the afternoon I made the mistake of taking the kids out to the store. You'd think I'd have learned from the library van debacle, but to be honest the weather was sooo horrendous this morning I would have been criminal to take them out then. So and therefore we could be found once more chasing Jack up and down the aisles of Petco and wrangling him and wrestling his solid little body at the checkout trying to prevent him from a) leaving the store or b) ripping open any packages he may find. I do believe he is getting worse and I am at a total and utter loss as to how to deal with him. My stress is going down thanks to the hormones, but honestly I'm still stuck. HOW do I deal with this!?!?! It's impossible and incredibly humiliating. So, whilst standing at the checkout I noticed a click trainer! It was MUCH louder than my jar lid and only a buck. I picked it up and added it to my pile thinking I'd use it on JACK. We went on to Target ( I know, I know, I wouldn't have gone anywhere but Home if I had an option. I adore Target but knew that Jack was going to be a nightmare. ) We walked in and the first thing I did was buy a bag of popcorn. I told Jack that as long as he was good he could have a piece. I told him he had to walk with Mama and each time I said "Walk with Mama" and he did, I clicked the clicker and gave him a piece of Popcorn!!! LOL!!!! He was walking along with one hand on the cart and his mouth open...!!! LOL!!! I felt like an idiot and also like some vile parent who treats her child like a dog!!! The clicker was SOOO loud!! It seemed to work for a while until he lost it, I grew hot and tired and we basically just battled our way around and out the store.


GAH.


Onto Happier News!! We are going to Minnesota in the morning!! What do you mean "Where's the Happier News!!!???" LOL!! Yeah. We're taking the coldest weekend of the season thus far... and we're going somewhere colder yet. For one night. To Swim. !!! If it wasn't that I was going to see one of my dearest friends and someone who can give me some ideas on Jackster and his weirdo behaviour, believe me, I'd be staying home in front of the fire. But no, we're off on a wee road trip! :D

Wish us luck. And please keep me in your thoughts as this particular hotel is laid out in a square and there's nothing Jack loves more than running around and around it hell for leather with one or two adults tearing, panting behind him. * sigh *

AP Moment of the day ~ starts earlier than you think!

Hubby encouraged me to get up first this morning and get a shower right away. It's a good thing to do, get a jump start on the day... I told myself as I was showering!! I stood there, dazed and let the hot water pour over me and consoled myself with the thought that at least I would be able to have some time to pay the bills and get myself ready for the day before the ki......?? Hello?! Jessie??!! JACK!?!?! Good morning Children.... now hop on out the bathroom while Mummy finishes her shower in peace. Yeah. So much for an early start!!! We were all up early BUT it was a great day!!!! We got sooooo much accomplished and we weren't rushed at all... the house remained reasonably tidy, the children were well behaved I DIDN'T YELL ALL DAY!!!!! And I even, and I'm not kidding here, realised I was HUMMING TO MYSELF whilst putting the lettuce back in the fridge!!!!!! LOL!!! I was really amused!!! I did lots of school with the children! I played WITH Jack. I made an effort to be THERE for him and I took his hand a lot and encouraged him to do things with me and help me. It really seemed to help him. For instance tonight the children were racing up to bed. Jack was already really tired poor guy and he fell and banged his nose on the floor. He started to really cry... I tried to comfort him but he would not be consoled. I noticed a basket of laundry waiting to levitate up the stairs and fold itself and return itself to drawers and closets, but since it seemed to have lost it's magical powers I asked Jack if he could help me carry it up... as he was so "Big an' Stwong". His face lit up, he stopped crying and he and I carried the "Vewy Heffy" basket up the stairs. That's distraction folks!! A parenting tool!!! ;D

I think the hormones are finally kicking in because I noticed I don't feel quite so stressed today about things that would have had me yelling even a day or so ago. It does help that I went to bed early last night too....

Early to bed, early to rise,
makes a mom nicer... a pleasant surprise! ;D

AP Moment of the day ~ Urine a hurry!

Firstly I really want to thank all those people who reached out and contacted me about yesterday's post. It is so sweet of everyone to offer comfort and support and it was and is, very much appreciated. Thank you.

Today was a better day. Overall I think they are improving... obviously there are ups and downs, but the trend is mostly upward!!! I'm trying to not sweat the small stuff. I think I do far too much of that. I'll tell you what. It's very hard being an AP parent when your tool bag has a hole in it and your smallest child seems bound and determined to drive you to the nuthouse ( or jail! )

It's almost funny really. Jessie was such a sweet little girl. She really was no trouble at Jack's age. I certainly don't remember it if she was. She was a treat. Jackster....hmph. Not so! He was fine for the most part today but BOY you can tell when he hits "TIRED" !!! He just gets impossible~!! He'll shout "NO!!" at you and I'm left wondering what on earth I'm going to do now!!! I can't catch the little swine, and if I did, THEN what?!!?! LOL!!! I tried using the Disney voice again and it really does seem to work though it seems horribly false !!! Jessie always looks at me, shocked, when I start it as if I'm about to start levitating and spinning my head around! It certainly doesn't sound much like me, but it does force me to think "nicely". He has to believe that I am being genuinely chipper or he'll just run for the hills! I have to come up with really GOOD reasons why he ought to go pee!!! The fact that he may pee his pants? Not good enough. The fact that I might be mad with him? No concern there. ACCKKKK!! Just GO to the bathroom already!!??! but then it's HOW do we go to the bathroom?? Do we race or do we walk backwards?? Do we hop like Kangaroos or do we crawl like dogs???? Hmmm??? Why should he eat dinner? Get dressed? Put on shoes? Get in the car? Hold my hand on the street? Turn off the TV? Put down the rat? Not throw the ball in the house? Not hit his sister???????

LOL!! It's physically and mentally exhausting just coming up with rationale after rationale and then remembering to implement everything, following through, having a routine. Sticking to a schedule, allowing him choices, letting him do stuff himself, not doing too much for him, helping him succeed, not letting him do everything, showing him (again, because I KNOW he knows ) the difference between stripping the bed and making the bed.... between throwing the ball and rolling the ball, between putting the cushions ON the couch and throwing them off the couch ( and then leaping on it!! ) Aye aye aye.

Sorry all!!! I really didn't start this post with the intention of slithering into a heap of complaints! If I didn't love the kid it would be so much easier!! I'd ship him off to school each day with nary a backward glance. As soon as he came home it would be dinner and then bed!!!! But he's so damn endearing!! He's just like his bloody father. You just can't stay mad at the buggers!!!!! ;D

Grrrrr!!!! Well I keep telling myself it's just a phase. This too, shall pass... this too, shall pass!!
It's my new mantra!!

Non AP Moment of the day ~ When you reach the end of your rope

...hang on.

Oh dear. I have a horrible confession to make. I actually slapped Jack's legs today. Ugh. My worst parenting moment. What a mess.

In retrospect it was a disaster waiting to happen. It was past lunch time, Jack had eaten, but not as much as I would have liked. He had spent a lot of time playing alone this morning, we were all in the same area, but I wasn't playing 'with' him. He was tired. Very tired. We were behind "schedule", meaning I like to be out the house AND BACK by noon if I can do it, and we had to go to the library van, drop off the recycling, go to the dry cleaners and go to the grocery store. And it was already past two. I was getting fraught, trying to hurry along the kids to my schedule and they were slow as cold molasses. We dropped off the recycling and got to the library van without too many hassles in the end, but once in the van Jack started behaving like a maniac. He's usually fine there and will often fall asleep lying on the van floor reading books! Today he was just into stuff. He took DVD's out of their boxes and refused to give them back. He tried to pull the handle to pull in the step. He tried to DRIVE THE VAN!!! ( it was running of course and he went behind the driver and was on his way to driving it himself! ) I would take him away from the situation and have him yell "NOO!!" go limp and fall to the floor. He weighs a ton and is really hard to maneuver if he doesn't want to go. He started trying to take apart the fire extinguisher then ripped a sign off the wall and threw it through the book drop slot. We were only there a total of twenty minutes! I suppose on reflection I was not handling this well as I was anxious to chat with the library van lady, Rebecca. I hadn't seen her in six weeks and we usually use library day as a chance to catch up and chat. I was embarrassed by Jack and frustrated that we couldn't talk as he was being so difficult. I knew he was tired so I said I would take him out to our van and he and Jessie could wait there for a minute and I'd come back for our books and stuff. I tried to carry him out the van and he again went limp ... I carried him down the steps and across the car park to the van. Along the way he started kicking me and banging his head into me .... I was really hurt and offended and angry and so many other things. I stopped walking and, yelling, I told him to stop it or I would get really angry and he was NOT to kick me. We started walking again and he started kicking me and headbutting me again and he was yelling, I was yelling... and then it happened. I slapped his legs. He started to cry and I just felt angry and devastated. I put him in his seat in the van and Jessie sat next to him. I went back to the library van and tried to cool down. When I returned to the van he looked very contrite. I apologised to him and to Jessie for hitting him. I have NEVER hit my children before and I am appalled how quickly it happened. ( although, as I said, in retrospect it had been building for a while. )

He slept on the way into town and Jessie waited with him in the grocery store parking lot whilst I grabbed what I needed. He slept for a good long time and was a sweetheart all afternoon. At dinner time he started to act up again. He didn't want to eat, he wouldn't sit at the table and so on. My nerves were shot and I was ready to just give up with it all. Suddenly inspiration struck. I'd been listening to Jack playing on the PBS website and the "GOOD JOOOOOB"s were driving me nuts, but I suddenly realised that's what he needed to hear. I've started to talk to the kids as grown ups and forgotten that Jack is only five and really five going on three mentally, so since insisting he eat his food wasn't working I put on my best Pre~School~ trainee voice and said "Hey!!! Jack!!!!! Look HERE!!!!! It's a Tooomato!!! You llllOOOOVE tomatoes don't you?!!? I bet you'd like to eat that one up, wouldn't you!?!?! Can you catch it with your fork?!?!!? You can!?!?! GOOD JOB!!!" he loved it!! He grinned, he smiled.... he ate all his food and then some!!! *sigh* I'm exhausted!!!! Raising Jack is exhausting. There are moments in my day where I wonder why I bother and I really don't like being his Mum..... but every morning, when he scrambles up to get into bed with me and he says "Mornin' Mamma" I forgive him all over again.

This time I hope he forgives me.

AP Moment of the day ~ Let go and giggle

I am such a stressed out Mama these days. So many things seem to get to me, so many things, so much "small stuff" ... I'm missing the big picture. I've been very worried about Jessie and her homeschooling, whether she is doing enough, learning enough, smart enough, polite enough, kind enough... ENOUGH!! enough!!! We did a lot of math today, but this time I really made a big effort to sit back and try and let her figure it out for herself. She complained to her Dad that I don't give her enough time to figure it out for herself... Oooops. It comes from my fear of being judged a poor mother AND a poor teacher. As a homeschooler it's hard to get a good feel of where your child "should" be in comparison to other kids. There is such a wide range of normal it's hard to pick out the spot she should be at. Ahaha! you should be right THERE and you ARE so that's GREAT! Mamma rocks. Rather, what happens is one friend's daughter is rocking the times tables, another has all the presidents memorized and their shoe sizes to boot..!! ( not really !!) whereas other friend's children are more artistic and eclectic and kick butt at sciences and general knowledge..... WHERE DO WE FIT!?!?! LOL!! In school at least my child would be in a group of, say, 30 kids. I would know if she was doing better than, worse than or as well as the others! I worry so much that she may fall behind ( and it would be all my fault and everyone (including myself) would blame me if her life gets screwed up 20 years from now!!) that I make myself and her sick with it!! Today though, was a better day. We've been weighing the rats now for 13 days and have a pretty good sample of their growth rate. We had just been writing down their weight each morning. Today I showed Jessie how to plot it on a chart. I made up the chart and she plotted each rat's weight and joined the dots! It looks really impressive and she was pretty proud of it. We're going to go on and try and extrapolate out and see how big the rats would get if they continued at their current rate, we're also going to see who is growing fastest and who has grown the most etc!! It's been a heap of fun. This afternoon I happened to be looking on a math website to see what third grade kids ought to be learning. We'd covered, in one way or another, all the stuff they had mentioned!!! LOL!! And I was worrying!!!!!! So tonight, I let go. We had a great evening playing ghosts and running around giggling and laughing together... Much more healing. I'm going to try a whole new approach to our schooling. More laughing, more living, more fun, less stress.

I'll let you know how it works out!! :D

Kids say the funniest things!

This morning I was prompted to remember my children's first words. Jessie's was HAM! or rather hhhhhHHHHHHHHaaaaammmm !! She loved ham!! :D but I couldn't for the life of me remember Jack's. I wracked my brains until finally I turned to Jessie in exasperation and asked
"Can you remember Jack's first word?"....

She looked at me, perplexed and asked

"Today.......?!!?"


LOL!!!

AP Moment of about a year ago! ~ Standing up for your kids!

This morning as I was considering the comment made by Special K with regard to the dentist's office, I thought back to a couple of times where I was pretty pleased with the way I handled a similar situation.

Jessie had always wanted to learn to ride. A local ranch was offering lessons and I took an excited Jessie along at the appointed time and we watched as the horse was saddled up and she prepared herself for her first time on a horse. The instructor was a nice enough woman... we'd not known her very long and had met her one time before. She got Jessie up on the horse and after only a few minutes she asked Jessie to hold her arms out at her side like airplane wings. Jessie did it quite well. Next Jessie was asked to lean all the way over the side of the horse and touch her toes, first on the left side, then on the right. This is all in an effort to teach her to balance on the horse, but it scared her terribly and she really struggled trying to do it.

"I can't!!" She said, whilst trying her best and not reaching.

"Yes you CAN. Come ON" Insisted the instructor.

Jessie tried again but was really scared and having a hard time reaching all the way down to her feet. She needed to change the way she was sitting and bend from the hips, but again, this was her first time riding!!!

I could tell she was scared and could tell that she was also trying really hard to please the teacher. Before much longer the lesson ended and Jessie and I left the ranch. I asked her how her lesson was and she started to cry.

"I tried to do what she said, but I'm scared I'm going to fall and I can't do it..." she sobbed.

I felt horrible for her and comforted her as best I could whilst I tried to think of what I could do to help the next time.

When the time for the next lesson arrived I took a moment beforehand to speak to the instructor.

" Jessie has been taught by me to not do ANYTHING she doesn't want to do just because someone tells her to, ESPECIALLY if it is something that scares her or doesn't seem safe. She hasn't had time to get to know you yet and you are asking her to do things she doesn't feel safe doing. I think it would be a good idea if maybe you spent the time getting to know each other first so that she can decide for herself if she trusts you, before you ask her to do something that she might feel is dangerous. I would really appreciate it if you would take a little more time to GAIN her trust before you ask her to trust you! "

This seemed to work and I was really pleased to see that the next lesson the instructor went to great lengths to make Jessie feel safe on the horse and to show her that she could be trusted. This was over a year ago now and Jessie LOVES her lessons and her instructor and today they have a great relationship.

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Last Halloween our family went to a picnic put on by the company hubby works for, for all the employees. It's a fantastic time on this incredible pumpkin patch with so many activities and things for children to see and do!! We really enjoy it despite the humongous lines to get in!! We met up with another family with two daughters, whom we really like. The girls are a year and two years older than Jessie and have been to the pumpkin patch many a time, so they were very excited to show her around. They wanted Jessie to go into an old mine ( pretend of course!!) which they assured her was very tame and not at all scary. Jessie is pretty wise and does NOT like to be scared. She gets a bit jumpy in the pumpkin patch because it gets dark and there are obviously quite a few scary things about. She refused to go in the mine with the girls. They kept insisting it was not scary and the more they insisted, the more adamant she became that she was NOT going in. ( good for her!! ) The mother of the girls was trying to encourage Jessie to go in and said that it wasn't scary at all.

"Go ON Jessie" she said " Don't be a spoilsport" !!!!

WHAT!?!?!!

This from the mother of the girls!!!! I looked at Jessie and said to her, "Jessie! Never feel you have to do anything that scares you just because someone tells you to do it or tries to make you feel bad for not doing it, .....even if it IS a grown~up!!!!"

The mother was quite shocked by this, but I was really surprised an adult would say such a thing to a child.

I talked to Jessie about it and said that the girls seemed like they were being sincere and they wouldn't want to scare her, but if she really didn't feel she wanted to do it, then that was OK. Jessie thought about it and I suggested that maybe I would go through with them if that would make her feel better. She thought it would indeed! We all walked through the mine and it really wasn't scary at all...in fact at the end there was an optical illusion where it felt like everything was spinning around you and made us all quite dizzy!! She thought that was great!!! Once we were out she and the girls decided they wanted to go through again and this time I was free to wait outside!!!!!

I hope I am doing the right thing, I don't know. I hope that by allowing Jessie the freedom to follow her instincts she will have confidence in herself for the future.

I guess I won't find out if I did the right thing for another 30 years or so!! ; D It's going to be a long wait!