Poop Delivery

Weekend morning:

T rolls into my room as I lay in bed after I told her to go to the potty trying to get 5 additional minutes of sleep.

T: 'This was in my potty!'

I though oh god she has poop! But then it dropped on the ground, made a noise, and rolled around. Then I am thinking it is a random toy.

Me: 'Okay give it to me and then go use the potty.'

She gives it to me. I look at it, not sure what it is though it doesn't smell and it is hard. I bring it up to my nose, and yes it is poop.

Nothing like a personal delivery of poop directly to your bed to get you up in the morning.

Just because

Some times you have a long day and it is pictures like this that remind me why I am working so hard.

Pride

I have spent some time at the soccer field expecting my son to kick a ball and run around. He sat on the sidelines eating the orange slices and distracting the rest of the kids.

I was the last parent in the pool during swim lessons because he was the only one that wouldn't let his parent exit the pool.

I spent many a days at daycare and school peeling him off of me and going to work with dried buggers and snot on my work clothes and sometimes slightly running mascara from leaving him.

There are a million other examples of my shy and clingy child. There are also a billion other examples of pride and love that I have felt toward him. So this might be a small reward but it filled me with such pride and joy to see his face when he talked about it and showed me his pride.

The 'award'. M brought this home with him. He received the most stickers in one month for being a good listener and a good helper at school.



The picture of the guy with his 2 cent prize. All of the only parent participating and snot melted away and I wanted to yell 'HA!' my kid did that! Yes a bit selfish but it felt good.

Eating disorder at 2?

Saturday night:

T comes out of her bedroom, door slams. Walking upstairs. Door slams again. I head upstairs to see what is going on. She is back in bed so I start to clean a few things up. Then the door opens again. T is standing in the doorway with a bag of pretzels. T hands over the bag.

Sunday morning:

The bag of pretzels is on the counter. T walks by and taps it, looks at me and says:

'Mommy put these up high please because I want to eat them.'

Some background - things that they like and eat when they are not supposed to go up on high shelves. I thought that was pretty funny. Please take it away from me because I can't control myself!

Colored Pencils

We got the kids colored pencils for Christmas. M wasn't doing much drawing or writing any letters and T was a little behind in fine motor skills. Colored pencils were recommended more than crayons and markers for these areas. So each kid received a box in their stocking.

I was very happy/proud when I started to see letters spelling M's name different places:





Then the little one took colored pencils into a timeout. That is a picture of the wall next to the stairs and the actual damage is much large than this picture. Pride was not the word I was feeling:

Can we get a new couch?

M and I are in the car. He is telling me about how he made a bed on the floor because his bed isn't comfortable.

M: My bed isn't comfortable so I made a new one on the floor.

Me: Is it too small?

M: No. The one on the floor is even smaller.

Me: Okay. When we move I was thinking we could get you a new bed. And you could help pick it out.

M: Yeah! Can we get a new couch too?

Me: Maybe, I hadn't really thought about it. Why?

M: So we can jump on it.

Me: Jump on it? You can't do that.

M: Well M2 said that we could jump on his house when he moved into his new house so I want to do that too.

It all makes sense when you have the right context.

Karate!

We tried soccer.

M: Yes I want to do Soccer!

Reality - We get to the soccer field, he spends his time on the team blanket distracting other kids. Kids leave the soccer field, he is out there on the field playing. At the end of the season he actually played a little but with one kid. I guess I should call that a success.

Me: Don't you like soccer?

M: Yes.

Me: So why don't you go out on the soccer field to play.

M: I want to play soccer but not with other kids.

Well that is going to work well!

He likes basketball but again - doesn't want to play with other kids.

I am thinking what can you do that involved other kids directly but isn't quite a team sport at the age of 4? Golf - I would love to have the next Tiger Woods (golf-wise that is) but I think golf might be a bit much. Swimming - we do that but he often throws up in the pool because he drank too much water. Tennis - maybe a little later. So the kid is low on confidence, doesn't socialize well, and needs an activity because the little people are getting crazy in the house all weekend with this weather.

Someone suggests karate. I email his best friend's mom asking what they think about it because I know M is more likely to participate with M there (I will call him M2 because they have the same initials) and they kind of have the same personality and they have had the same luck with M2 and activities. They are in. Now where to go. My girlfriend lives by them, her son goes to karate, they love the place, it is a 25 minute drive or so for me but we do it.

First day or karate:

We have a tour of the place and they get an individual evaluation to make sure they are placed in the right class. It goes well. They the sensei asks them some questions and lays out some rules. When to use karate, when not to use karate, how you should be a good listener her, you should look people in the eyes when they are talking to you, etc., etc. This is great! The boys where really good and they 'earned' their first belt. Now if only I could actually follow some of these rules.

Sensei: You don't just hit people at home and use karate on them. What would happen if you hit your Mom?

M: You get a timeout.

Me: In the background, I start to giggle a little and turn red. Not bad though I don't think they encourage giggling at the dojo.

Sensei: One time that you want to use karate is if a stranger comes up to and trying to get you into a car. (My mind is thinking this is great! Good life lesson!) Do you know what a stranger is?

M: Pause.....A Witch!

M2: Someone you don't know.

Me: In the background. I still haven't recovered from giggling from the other questions and now I lose it! I start laughing. Start to control things and then M2's Dad starts laughing. Well I am now crying!

M2's Dad and I decided to sign up for it because they kids did a great job in the individual evaluation. There was some crying when they went to the first class but I think they will get over it. M is showing me his straddle stance and we have to work on another one this week. I am hoping to have a stronger and more confident 4 year old after this experience. Now there is also an adult class at 9 AM on Saturday that I could take. Though I don't think they would appreciate the giggling. :)

Here is a little karate meets Star Wars at the play date after karate!