State of the House

How are we doing?
That is a complicated question.

Josie- doing well. Sort of working on potty training. She is going great guns as far as vocabulary, physical ability, etc.


Andy- testing the limits and almost too capable for his own good. I think he is ready for preschool to start again and we still have a month before it is time. He is scheduled to have the oral surgery next week so we have started talking about that a little bit.

Doug- is also missing not having preschool. Also testing the limits but not quite as much as Andy is. He is also the least likely to nap so I figure we need to work towards an earlier bedtime and just plan on not napping.

Jim- I don't think I mentioned it before, but he is looking for a job. He is trying hard to avoid Title I middle schools because he has definitely served his time. He is getting a lot of "kid" time this summer and doing a lot around the house. He has started picking figs in the backyard so if you want figs, let us know.

Me- up to my eyeballs in things to get done. I have some reading intensive courses on top of paper writing, on top of teaching a class and helping with orientation advising. I am not quite sure how I will get it all done, but hopefully I will get it all done. Of course what I really want to be doing it other things, but all in due course. I'm really hoping that not too many things spill over from the summer into the fall so that I can have a pretty clean slate in the Fall. Right now I am signed up for one Stats course and an independent study so it is a lighter load than I had before. I should also be taking comps in the Fall so perhaps I am at least getting closer to the light at the end of the "coursework" tunnel and can possibly see the "dissertation" tunnel in the distance.

I should be committed.

So it has been a very busy summer. I am surviving as far as I know but I don't think I will quite know if I have truly "survived" until all is said and done at the end of the term.
I long to do other things (beyond reading books and writing papers) such as working on this lovely 40 year old house (read this in a slightly sarcastic tone...I do like the house, but it is definitely a work in progress). There is a certain satisfaction to seeing the change in something when it has been updated. Unfortunately much of what we have done so far has been necessary and good but I long for more and time and money are constraining factors.

All that said, we found some "oops" paint and are working on the master bathroom. We are now committed to painting the bathroom because I started ripping out the wallpaper and the kids have thrown in their efforts at it too. We have mainly worked on getting the top layer of wall paper off and then I will have to go back and moisten and scrap the bottom layer off to get to the actual wall. There were a few spots where it was loose enough all of the layers of wallpaper came off and guess what we found.
.
.
.
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Even more wood paneling! It is white wood paneling, but oh my it is still wood paneling.
Whoever built this house sure loved wood paneling.

Like Glue

Andy is my child who is a little too capable for his own good. So, when I got home on Friday I found out that Andy had been discovered standing on the sink in their bathroom during quiet time.
Later I called him inside and he went back outside and I caught him turning off the water. He admitted that he knew he was not supposed to be messing with the water outside.

So, after having a long talk with him it boiled down to the idea that for a few days he is not allowed to be without a responsible adult to help him make decisions. Additionally, the adult gets to choose what they are doing and Andy does not.

It is really putting a crimp in his style. This afternoon he was obviously feeling the affect of a lack of freedom on his part. We had a talk about him asking himself "Would mommy let me do this?
or "Would daddy let me do this?"

I'm hoping this helps him think a little bit more before he acts. I realize that he is only four, and I fully expect him to want to do things like rock climb, sky dive, etc. when he is a teenager...but I also don't want him to be that child who slams his car into a tree and kills himself because he didn't think about consequences.

Mac & Cheese

When our babysitter comes over and serves a meal to the kids mac & cheese is a staple.

Yesterday I got home and asked Andy, my anything noodles guy, what they ate.
Mac & cheese was in there, but according to Andy Ben but something in his Mac & Cheese that was "spicy" and green.

I could not figure out what might be spicy and green. Pepper is black and my kids know what that is.

Later, I was putting dishes in the dishwasher and realized when I saw that pot that Ben had put pesto in his mac & cheese.

Breakfast

This morning I had a BLT.

Andy had just an L.

Or as he called it...a salad sandwich.

Toast, mayo, and lettuce.

I'm not going to complain.

Sportsmanship

I am getting the picture that I need to work on sportsmanship with Doug and Andy.
Last night I said "who can get their pajamas on the fastest."
Doug won and was mostly gracious about it. Andy was a bit tired and cranky and was devastated about not winning. We even had tears and pleading that he wanted to be first.
I did my best to explain that having good sportsmanship meant that you didn't brag about winning and you didn't whine about losing.

Then this morning the boys were racing to get clothes on. Jim provided some interference for Doug and so Andy won. Andy was not so gracious about winning and Doug was upset about losing.

So, beyond the play games and someone loses aspect, does anyone have any good suggestions for how to encourage good sportsmanship?

I suppose I could actually crack open the Sibling Rivalry book that the prenatal program sent me when I was pregnant with the boys....but I would love other things that worked.

Don't shoot the messenger

Message Sent: Daddy needs a basket for putting figs in.


Message Received: Daddy needs a fake basket.


Huh?

You have a what?

Josie was making a roaring sound.

Mommy: Are you roaring like a lion?
Josie: I have a dinosaur in my mouth.
Mommy: You do?
Josie: He's Nice.
He's my friend.

Hmmm...

So it has to make you wonder...
I put Doug in bed this evening and kissed him good-night. He called me back to say....

"Stay out of trouble mom."

Just what does he think I am doing?

A few days away

I was going to put a picture up for a post...but I got ultra efficient in my few days that it was me along at home and I burned all of the pictures from the laptop onto CD-ROMS.

I went home for a couple of days so that I could both teach a class and then go to a class.

I'm so proud of myself because I never even touched the TV. I was trying to make as much use of my time as I could. Here are some of the things I did:

• Water the plants
• Mop the kitchen
• Catch up on some online things for classes
• Pick up the house some
• Get some reading done
• Run some errands
• Work on some typing/papers for my classes

There is always more that I want to do, but I had to stick with the time I had. I felt very efficient without the family in tow...but I missed them terribly. It was nice to get back to them.