Jordan's imagination

When Jordan was born I was told that she would probably never understand imaginary play.

In the last week she has sat in the backyard with Julia telling five year old jokes (you know the ones that only a five year old can find funny) and "roasted" marshmallows over the bonfire pit.

Then she came running in the house the next day telling me that Bop (Bethany) had gotten eaten by a shark (correct dramatic inflection and all). She also tried to convince me there was a shark in the hole in the living room wall.

The next drama was when she told me not to touch a pen because it was fire.

And she regularly pretends it is her birthday and brings us birthday cake from her kitchen. (her real birthday may be a let down after all the un-birthdays she has had this year). She is also serves us pizza off the window shade in the car quite often!

As JJ puts it - she has imagination down pat - it's her reality that needs work!!!

It's only Wednesday???

Okay - this is the week that will not end :) It was supposed to be my "vacation" week - I hired Heather to nanny for the week so I could work on carnival baskets for the auction at the carnival on Sat. I was going to hang out at PV all week with Karen and other volunteers working on baskets, chatting, being creative, having fun... On Sat I called Heather to see what she wanted me to have in the house for lunches and she said to get dinner staples too, she would start dinner - seriously - could my week get any better, a week with lots of adult time, a clean house (I knew Heather couldn't spend hours in my house and not pick it up) and dinner made - awesome..

ummm yeah....

Monday started out wonderfully - Heather came - I ran through things with her and headed to Prairie View. We got a great start on the baskets, creative juices flowing - okay there was the one Dora basket that toppled over and became a thorn in my side but Dawn rescued me and put it back together much more sturdily. Then the phone rang mid-afternoon and Heather says "I didn't do it"
"okay - what?"
"Your sink is overflowing, the dishwasher is running and it is backing up your sink."

This actually happens more often than I would like to admit - not fun but not a huge deal - although this time it was apparently running out of the bottom of the sink onto the floor. But after further conversation we determined that it was no longer leaking and I would deal with it when I got home.

20 minutes before I am supposed to come home my cell rings again.
"It is raining in your basement."
"o...kay"
"all over your computer"

UGH - apparently it drained through the ceiling and down to the basement and onto the computer. Poor Heather - I felt so badly for her.

I got home a little bit later and realized the U joint to the garbage disposal had come off the other pipe and it had run through there into the vent and through the ceiling vent downstairs and onto the computer - I got the u joint back on but we needed to head to dance. When we got home it was dark and I got the little ones to bed and started to conquer the sink issue. First of all I went downstairs to make sure all the water was cleaned up and everything dried - I turned on the light and it started to fizzle at me - okay leave that for daylight. Back upstairs - I took apart the sink and cleaned all clogs out and re-attached everything securely and poured drano down. (Let me add that I am working on Animal Farm questions with JJ as I do all this - plumbing and philosophy, neither of them strengths of mine!!) Then JJ realizes he has to print the homework he has spent ages getting done and needs to be turned in the next day. Ummm - no printer as it was in the rainstorm in the basement. No internet to e-mail it to anyone. I call Karen, leave Bethany and take JJ over to the Millers to print it. We are at the Millers getting it printed and thinking the night is almost over - I think the sink might have a few issues but am hoping for the best. Then my cell rings (seriously I might stop answering the thing) It's Bethany - "Jordan threw up" UGH!!!!! I tell Bethany to get her in the tub and that we will be home in a few minutes and I will deal with it!

In twelve years of parenting I have experienced my fair share of puking episodes - none of them pleasant memories - the next nine hours however take the cake as by far the single worst puking virus we have ever experienced. For nine hours Jordan threw up about every 20 minutes - violently - the first few times, violently enough she puked through her nose. I have not experienced projectile vomiting with the range she had - and I had a baby that projectile vomited. UNBELIEVABLE!!! And of course the majority of my towels are soaking wet from cleaning up the leaking sink!!

Bonus - my sink was fixed!! I decided not to try the dishwasher again Mon night since I preferred not to have it raining in one room and a puking kid in the other :)

So about 6am Jordan and I finally fell asleep - my alarm went off at 6:45am and the day began - (can I just say that I have become way way too old for 45 minute nights????) And funnily enough Heather didn't want to come sit with a possibly puking child!! (go figure - help these days - just kidding) So I spent the day with a cranky toddler and a sickish five year old instead of making baskets and chatting with fun adults :). Thank goodness the puking had mostly stopped and I found Wiggles on Comcast On Demand! (Even Wiggles sinking Mandarin much to JJ's delight - my future Chinese scholar :))

By the end of Tues I had caught up on laundry (and by caught up I mean I was back where I was on Mon - prior to all the wet towels and puked on blankets) I had clean linens on Jordan's and my beds, no one else was puking - life was back on track!! I did have fear about the wisdom of serving homemade pizzas to the kids for dinner - red sauce isn't the best choice of food when there is a potential puking bug in the house!!

Everyone went to bed, laundry got folded, I was about to drift off to sleep about 10:30pm when I hear the water turn on in the bathtub upstairs - my heart sank. The only reason I could think of for the tub to be running in the middle of the night - unless the dog had suddenly grown opposable thumbs and decided to bathe herself - was that either JJ or Jessi had thrown up and then jumped in to get cleaned up. It took all my will power to go upstairs and check - I opened both bedroom doors - Jessi isn't in her bed but there is no sign of puke and no smell. I gently open the bathroom door and Jessi is in the tub. I say, "What are you doing?" (I can't decide if this is hysterically funny or truly scary) - she says "I don't know - I must have sleep walked" Right now despite the obvious scary consequences I have to say that the look on her face and her "I don't know" is still cracking me up - but then I am still a little sleep deprived!!

Then to top off my evening - my washing machine went on the fritz!! It gave me an error code but we have lost the book and I can't look it up because - no internet ( I seriously live a 21st century lifestyle!!)

Tonight however - my house is clean - thanks to Heather, we had delicious dinner - thanks to Heather, baskets are way ahead of schedule - thanks to awesome volunteers and Heather :). And I have exhausted my limited talent in plumbing, nursing, whatever area of expertise it takes to fix a washing machine that is giving you an error code and you don't know the code :), and pseudo carpentry ( I fixed the loose, about to fall apart chair this afternoon - pseudo because it is an IKEA chair so it doesn't really take much carpentry - ir any! Might have been more humorous had I left it however!!)

The end of the week can not possible be as exciting as the beginning but I better head to bed just in case...

An uneventful day in the life of the Moores!

I was trying to figure out what to write about today - it seems like nothing exciting, odd, unusual happened today. Then I realized why...

Yesterday was a pretty uneventful day as well - the usual - Timothy threw a banana down the stairs and then retrieved it, and he and Nathan filled Sadie's water with the now mushed banana, a few legos and a hamburger bun. As an extension of the previous day's water exploits Timothy discovered that he could take a cup from the toy dishes and fill it at the sink. He spent about 30 minutes going into the bathroom filling the cup and bringing it out to the play table, sitting down and drinking it. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Shockingly there were only a few drops of water on the floor.

So all was well - I even got a workout in at the gym during Kids' Club and City Lights last night. Then as I was leaving I got the voicemail from Renee (the leader of Kids' Club) - Jordan had pooped in her pants. UGH!! Not sure why this was so hard for me but it was. I feel like some days we take one step forward to take two steps back. And Jordie had been doing so well. And I felt badly for Renee - Kids' Club is for K-4th graders - worrying about poopy pants should not be part of her job!!! (Thank you Renee for being so awesome about it)

Then we got halfway home and Bethany cries out "where are my glasses?" City Lights had gone out to pick up trash in the wooded area near the church and she somehow had lost them. To which my reaction was "How can your glasses possibly fall off your face while you are wearing them and you NOT notice?????" But Bethany was pretty upset by having lost them so I realized patience and compassion were a better path. ( and yes - I still don't get it - but first of all she is truly my artsy kid - very smart, very responsible and yet somehow flighty in the midst of that!! Secondly, she has convergence insufficiency (her eyes don't face straight ahead) and is only very very slightly near slighted - she has the glasses to strengthen her eyes more than correct her vision)

So we head home grab a flashlight and Bethany looks for about a half hour with no success.

Which brings me to why today was uneventful (you were wondering where I was going, weren't you?) Brenda very very kindly took Nathan and Timothy for me this morning and Dawn and Jay very generously helped me spend the morning unsuccessfully looking for Bethany's glasses in the woods!! At least it was a gorgeous, warm day - perfect for being in a lightly wooded area searching for the proverbial needle in a haystack. So the real reason it was uneventful is that I didn't have the kids a huge chunk of the day (my parents take Timothy and Jordan on Thurs afternoon/evenings) However I can only imagine the blog entry I would be writing had I take Timothy and Nathan to look for Bethany's glasses this morning - that one might have ended up with a trip to the ER. Of course the flip side to my morning is that Timothy was apparently perfectly angelic for Brenda so she now doubts all my tales of his behavior :) It's all an act for you, Brenda, I promise :)

The best part of the day - we got a call in the late afternoon that the homeschool coop that uses our church went for a walk and FOUND Bethany's glasses!!! Not sure how we could have missed them this morning and they found them this afternoon but I am very very grateful!!!

Tomorrow should be another interesting day since Jordan is have a CT scan (to try and figure out why she gets chronic sinus infections and if surgery can help) and can't eat or drink all morning. That should be interesting - how do you tell a hungry/thirsty five year old with DS they can't eat or drink? I think I might just put her in the car and drive around MPLS for four hours :)

My sink runneth over

Sonny, JJ and Bethany replaced our upstairs bathroom faucet over the weekend. We used to have one that you had to pull up and it was really hard to do, Jordan couldn't get it by herself. In the interest of her independence we wanted an easier one. The old one had been missing it's stopper for years (this is an important fact as you will see :)). When they took apart the sink they found two toothbrushes and a screwdriver down the drain!

This new faucet has set Jordan and Timothy on a new hygiene crusade the last couple of days. They can both turn the water on and off and have washed their hands and brushed their teeth more times than I can count! This morning everyone else had left for school and Timothy wandered into the bathroom where I heard the water get turned on. No big deal - I was sitting in the living room working on the computer and calling my dad. I could hear what was going on so I figured if he was in trouble I would know it. All my toddlers have loved to play in the water and it's water - how much damage can it do? As I am talking to my dad, Tater comes out a little dripping (he was concerned his new Thomas shirt - thanks Dawn - was wet) but not enough to worry about.

I got off the phone and Sesame Street was about to come on - good time to go take my shower so I figure I better turn off the water and close the bathroom door. Uh yeah - with the new hardware the stopper that was missing before is no longer gone and apparently quite fascinating to Timothy. The stopper was in and water was pouring over the edge of the sink down the vent underneath. Th upstairs bathroom wasn't too badly flooded (due to the vent) but when I went downstairs I could have almost taken a shower without turning on the shower!!

So the big question - which is worse toothbrushes down my drain or water flooding through the vents? Hmm - prior to kids I never thought I would ponder these questions of the universe!!!

Naps appear to have left the building

He finally did it. Timothy can now climb out of his crib. I am surprised it took this long since he truly is my little monkey - could climb any and everything from the time he was about 7 months old but up until about three days ago he had chosen to stay in his crib. The honeymoon is over.

The other day JJ heard an odd banging and opened the door to Timothy standing there.
Yesterday Jessi came up to tell me that she thought Timothy was out of his crib - I was putting away groceries and said I would check in a minute. A couple minutes later up the stairs comes Tater - very proud of himself for his achievement of both climbing out of the crib and getting out of the shut door. I don't think he was so amused that my reaction was to pick him up and stick him back in his crib.

At the moment I am listening to him scream - he screamed when I put him down, it got quiet and then I heard the thumping of the rocking chair against the wall. Once again he is not amused that my reaction was to pick him up and plop him back in his crib!! What kind of mom am I anyway that I reward all the effort of escaping the crib to put him back in the very place he ecaped from??

I am pretty sure he is out again but maybe he will find a nice corner to curl up and go to sleep in :) JJ spent the first few nights of his big boy bed sleeping in the closet, under the bed and in the corner - it was a guessing game to find him - he did eventually decide that the bed was more comfortable. However in Timothy's case I think it is more likely pigs will fly before he falls asleep!!

Oh well, naps were nice while they lasted!!

Ahhh rain!!!

This morning was an awesome, wonderful, beautiful rainy morning. Yes is was horribly overcast and only 40 degrees but spring is coming - it was even a complete downpour, thunderstorm for a while. And for about an hour Nathan and Timothy played really well and I sat curled up on the couch reading. Amazing!!!!

This has been an a emotionally trying week for a lot of reasons (among them we had to say good-bye to Jordie's speech teacher today who we LOVE - she is leaving our therapy place) and that hour of pouring rain was a little oasis in my week!!

Melt Down Day turns to peaceful evening :)

When Bethany was a baby I came up with a mantra to make it through the tough moments - "At some point they will all be asleep - it might not be soon, it might not be today but eventually they will all be asleep at the same time!" Given that JJ was a terrible sleeper and Bethany was a screamer - it was a valid mantra. I still live by that to some extent but now it has changed more to the knowledge that after all the melt downs life will come around to the laughter :)

Tonight after dinner Jessi decided to practice her lyrical dance - which was a great idea - except that she had to practice while dancing over the dog, Nathan crawling under her feet and Timothy trying to join in. But Jessi went with the flow and Bethany arrived home and they all danced together, or some form of movement, for the next half hour. Peaceful - maybe not by dictionary standards - but for sure by my standards. When there are six kids in the house, all enjoying each other's company and having fun - can't get much more peaceful than that - even if it is a loud peaceful :)

Oh - and JJ's eye is fine - just inflamed from the injury which is causing blurriness which should resolve as the eye heals - no damage!!

Melt Down Day

It's pouring rain and apparently my kids sentiments are echoing the weather. I actually am LOVING this weather - spring is coming!! YAY - I can actually see to get out of my driveway!!!

The morning was fine (okay I am a little groggy from staying out with soccer board friends too late after our meeting :)) but still breakfast at Ikea with Heather is always a good start to the day. And then both boys fell asleep on the way home - which never happens but I was pretty psyched that they did because we had an eye dr appt at 2:30 for JJ. JJ managed to get hit in the eye with a finger playing bball sun morning. He was okay Sun, Mon we noticed a bloodshot spot and then yesterday his vision was blurry in that eye. So in we headed.

I should have know that my day was taking a turn for the worse when I went to get Jordan off the bus and I could see in the window of the bus that she was crying. Usually she sees me and gets a big grin and waves. I met her at the door and she said "cheek" and started sobbing. We came inside and she curled up in my lap and sobbed. All I could get was that Joshua hit her cheek. (which is HUGE that she could name another kid and tell me what happened - but still broke my heart) She said it was an accident but these are one of those things that I don't know if she actually knows what an accident is or not.

After 45 minutes of on and off crying (I don't remember her ever doing this before!!) I called the school to try and talk to her para or teacher to try and figure out what happened. Apparently her para was out sick - I think Jordan has just had enough this week. Her dance teacher was gone this week - so there was a sub. Daddy is home - which is great but he has been traveling a lot and she was home with him the last couple of nights - she loves it but it throws off her routine which can be hard for her. So I think she just needed some of the expected to happen - not the unexpected.

I know that taking Jordan, Nathan and Timothy to a dr appt is never exactly fun - esp since this wasn't a ped appt - because it was a last minute appt it was with their general opthamologist at their non - kid friendly office. The fact it was during nap time did not help. We come in and they hand me stacks of paperwork to fill out (on a side note this irritates me since three of my other kids are patients there - can't they pull family info - come on we live in the 21st century, half the info I had given on the phone already as well!) Nathan decides it is time to start screaming at the top of his lungs. Timothy and Jordan think they are in Disneyland since the whole place is full of eye glass frames at counter height (did I mention it isn't kid friendly???) I tell Timothy and Jordan to sit down but they are both too worked up so Jordan just refuses and Timothy keeps jumping up. So I grab Timothy and hold onto him - against his wishes, by his jacket with the same arm I am using to hold onto Nathan, who screams if I put him down even so he is standing between my legs. Finally I put both boys down and let them scream for three minutes while I scribble out the medical history!! Sorry - everyone else who was there!! Get it done - bring up Wiggles on the IPod and manage to get them reasonably under control!! We did get called back almost immediately (maybe there is a rainbow to the screaming!!) The rest of the appt was okay - Jordan still was out of sorts and upset because she is used to being the one in "the chair" but we made it!! And of course they asked me all the medical history questions that I had had to fill out while letting the two boys scream - WHY? WHY? WHY?? Either verbally ask me or have me fill it out - WHY BOTH - with screaming toddlers??????


So can I just say that right now a quiet afternoon at home for the rest of the day is looking really, really good? I don't even care if it is quiet - it is in the confines of my own home - they can do whatever they want as far as I am concerned - I am home and I can see my muddy yard peeking through!!! Those two things alone are redeeming my day even as I write this!! :)

Make that Powdered Sugar and Soap

Apparently powdered sugar wasn't enough for the morning. Nathan and Timothy threw the water and dog food around the kitchen - so that floor is now sticky, crunchy and wet. Then Timothy thought that baby shampoo should be sprinkled around the living room. So now that is an ice skating rink (another lesson in cause and effect learned this morning - when you have dumped soap all over a wood floor and then you want to get to mom - you fall about ten times getting there!!)

My lessons - dog food and water clean up pretty well - powdered sugar and soap - not so great - we are on about five clean up tries for both of those floors - still sticky and slick!!! :)

Powdered Sugar Morning

Timothy decided to say good-bye to Jordan this morning by pulling a full bag of powdered sugar off the counter and dumping it all over the floor!! And then wondered why I wouldn't let him help clean it up by eating it!! So I learned two things this morning - first powdered sugar, even a whole bag, dissolves with hot water down the drain (I hope - I'll let you know later if my sink backs up) and even after cleaning it up and wiping the floor with a wet rag my feet still stick to the the kitchen!

Timothy has learned three things this morning - dumping powdered sugar does not mean you get to eat it - you just get kicked out of the kitchen by a frustrated mommy. And in another exploit - American Girl scooter helmets do not fit on toddler heads and when you then ride recklessly on that scooter (yes the one that is designed for dolls not toddlers) and crash you hurt your head!! At least he had the right idea in wanting the helmet on!

We are off to Target to see what destruction Timothy and Nathan can cause there - it is always entertainment with the two of them - at least Jordie is in school for this trip!!

TWO HOURS EARLY? The shortest competition experience we will probably ever have!!

Any of you that know me know I can be pretty flexible - but I like to have a plan. I am fine with plan B or C, sometimes we even get to plan Z. Sonny travels a lot unexpectantly for his job. It isn't that unusual for me to get a phone call or e-mail asking if it's a problem for him to be on a plane to x, y or z by that afternoon. Or to get one asking how much it would affect me if he didn't come home when expected. So I pretty much have a contigency plan in mind at all times :)

But today threw in a while new loop. We had JJ's bball tournament this weekend and Bethany's first dance competition. Bethany actually only had one routine because it was for a routine she was originally an alternate for and then got placed on the team. Her team competes later in the season!! Any of you in dance know that you find out the schedule the week of the competition. And the bball tourney schedule was all based on what games they won or lost. So based on those two things, and Sonny being ice fishing, I had about thirteen contingency plans for today. If JJ won and won then this would happen, if he lost and won then this, if he won and lost then this - you get the picture.

Bethany was supposed to dance at 4:34pm this afternoon. DanceXchange requires their dancers to be there 1.5 hours early - makes complete sense in case something goes wrong. I realized this morning if JJ won and played the 1:25 game I could actually watch it and even though it would be cutting it close we could still make it to Northrup by 3pm, as long as Bethany was dressed, make up and hair done before the game.

For once in my life I have to say - good thing JJ's team lost.

Because of that loss JJ played at 3:45 and his best friend's family was wonderful about helping out. So at 1:45 I was headed to pick up Jenna (one of the amazing 15 year olds at our studio) who was coming with me to help with Timothy, Jordan and Evelyn (Karla's cutie). My cell phone rings and it's Karla calling from the competition. She is calling to tell me they are running early and I say - no prob I am pickign up Jenna now and we are headed to the competition - we'll be there by 2:30 - earlier than what should have been necessary. I hang up thinking - "whew glad I am not watching JJ's game since there is no reception in the gym" - assuming the competition is like a half hour early.

So off we head to the U - as we are driving way further than I think we should be and I am about to call Karla (who has warned me the directions were goofed up) when she calls.
"Umm - I am just checking how close you guys are?" (keep in mind this is about 2:30 and Bethany is supposed to dance at 4:30!!!)
"we are on University but I think we went too far - wait - they aren't running TWO HOURS ahead are they????"
"uh - yeah!!"

Good grief!!! So we turn around take some scenic route back, almost run a red light, miss the turn because it isn't actually a turn, turn around, take some odd back streets, miss the next turn, start to pull into the parking garage, pull a u-turn and finally pull up in front!! ( Sorry Brenda - I promise I told Jenna not use my driving today as an example!!! :) Bethany by this time actually has her jazz shoes on under her tennis shoes. Bethany, Jessi, Jenna and Jordan jump out of the car and run into the building,

Next problem - Karla has already warned me that parking is a nightmare but I decide to try the garage right there - at this point I really could not care less how much is costs I just want to get parked and make it in to see her perform - I had warned her I didn't know if I would make it. As I pull into the garage I think "wait - I have Jordan - I can park in handicapped!" no luck! UGH - I drive to the next level - and miracle of miracles - there is a spot about four spots away from the elevator!! YAY!! I grab Timothy and we run for it!!

Usually when you walk into a competition there is a check in desk and they direct you to your dressing room. No check in desk, no one I know - ugh!!! I take a deep breath and think - I knwo Jenna is with her and can help her get her lashes on (the only thing she still needs to do) and I know Karla saw us pull up - so I am pretty confident she is where she is supposed to be. Jenna is amazing so I know she can handle Jordan. I really want Bethany to know I am there but I decide the best thing is to head towards the noise and just watch so I don't miss her.

I got to the back of the auditorium and ran into a couple DanceXchange mom's who offer to direct me to the dressing room but I am worried about missing the dance. I have just decided to go try to find Bethany when I look in and they come on stage!! YAY - didn't miss them!! And just to brag for a minute - Bethany blew me away that she could get on stage ten minutes after being thrown out of the car after being lost, and have that much composure!! Go girl!!! I was so proud of her!

You would think that would be it - but afterwards I walked up and down like 8 flights of stairs (carrying Timothy I might add) trying to find her and Jenna, Jessi and Jordan. Finally I found the three Js and Karla and Evelyn in the back corner of the auditorium and they knew Bethany had come in with her team to watch the next DanceXchange dance. Finally I saw her get up and went and told her I had actually seen her dance. She was pretty close to tears because she was certain I hadn't made it!! Not the greatest feeling to know she had had to go onstage thinking I wasn't out there but all's well that end's well.

The final time count? We were actually driving back into Eden Prairie at 4:34 - AFTER having sat through the awards ceremony!! CRAZY!!!! Bethany had dance 15 minutes before we were even supposed to have arrived!! By 5:30, when the awards ceremony was scheduled to start we were driving into our driveway, after takign Jenna home and stopping at the bookstore!! Thank God that He knew it was going to happen and put things in place for us to get there!!! JJ lost the game, it wasn't my first competition (that would have sent me over the deep end I think :)), Jenna was with us so I knew I could just drop Jenna at the door and Bethany was all ready to go before we got there!!! Just keeping things spicey - wouldn't want life to be boring and predictable!! Pretty sure we will never have another competition experience that we are there for only two hours, compete and awards within that time!!! And new note to self - contigency plans must include dance competitions running shockingly early!!

I have become THAT mother...

I think it's official - I have become THAT mother
the one I used to roll my eyes at
the one I claimed I would never become.

Which should teach me a lesson about being too judgmental!! But then my opinions and judgments getting me in trouble could probably be a whole book by itself.

When my oldest one was in preaschool, JJ's teacher used to send home "what we did today" slips every day. There would often be a note reminding parents they had forgotten to do x, y and z. I used think, "good grief, how hard is it to get that done" How naive I was - I am now THAT mom - the one who forgot it was her 8 year old's star of the week this year!!

Before I had kids I swore no kid would ever sleep with me - that lasted about 48 hours into parenting my first child. JJ was the perfect baby BUT he never slept. Now the rule is that when they turn five no more sleeping with me. Well it was until Jordan. Right now I would just as soon she come down and climb in bed with me halfway through the night so I am not us at 5am discovering what she has gotten into! Yes - I am THAT mom!

JJ and Bethany and Jessi never used to leave the house in clothes that didn't match or gasp - were on backwards or inside out. And no child could go to bed in pajamas that didn't match!!! Now as long as my kids have on clothes I am pretty much happy (and the pjs ?- half the time Jordan just puts on a new outfit of clothing :)). This is a combination of deciding that if they are wearing season appropriate clothing we are winning the battle, they are expressing their personality, and that I want to celebrate every victory with Jordan - if she picked out her own clothes and they are covering her body appropriately I am not going to squash her success by insisting on "fixing" it so her shirt is on frontwards and her pants are right side out and her shoes are on the right feet. I never understood the awesomeness of this acheivement before. And Jordan has designated herself to get Timothy's clothes for me every morning - which is actually one big sister job she can do!! So know when you see my kids less then perfectly put together - know that I have become THAT mom!

Some moms can tell you all the ins and outs and information about their kids therapies - I can tell you that Jordan goes to therapy! She has great therapists - that's their job to know how to teach her. So while other moms watch eagerly during their kids' therapy sessions to see how and what is being done. I gladly relax with a book in the car while the boys sleep. Yes - I am THAT mom!!!

I used to believe that if you had five kids it was easy to fall into them parenting each other. And that that was a bad thing. And I would never do it! Famous last words - they do parent each other but it isn't a bad thing - it is an amazing thing!! Sometimes they need to be reminded that I am the mommy, they are the sibling. But for the most part I am watching incredible relationships develop between them, and an incredible sense of confidence in my older kids. So yes I have become THAT mom!!

I used to think that only a terrible, self-absorbed mother could ever forget to pick up her child from the bus - yesterday I became THAT mother.

But before I became THAT mother I never imagined that I would be scheduling CT scan for one kid and delivering stool samples from another all the in the space of an hour, both for medical issues we can't seem to diagnose or correct. And that that would not be out of the ordinary. I am THAT mother in part because my life has become THAT life!! And that is okay because THAT life includes MY kids!!!

Yesterday April made a comment that we have discovered my limits - and yes I think she is right. I guess five and half kids is where I have reached my ability to keep schedules straight on a day that isn't "normal", to have reached the point of wanting to crawl back in bed after two drs appts and three conferences with all the little ones in tow. By yesterday afternoon I was done with Jordan's defiance, Timothy's screaming and Nathan's whining!

Somedays it is hard not to be frustrated that I have been in toddlerhood for sooooo long - it seems so endless!!! And sometimes hopeless. Developmentally Jordan is about 2-3 years old so I currently care for three toddlers. Have I mentioned I am not really a toddler person to begin with? For the most part Timothy is in the fun stages of toddlerhood - except when he is screaming! And when he is surpassing Jordan developmentally which is hard to see! But I am not a mom who wants her children dependent on me - my goal is to teach independence!!!

One of the benefits of five and half kids (and probably my older age :)) is that I have reached the place that I can laugh at myself for being THAT mom!! :) I am comfortable with who I am as a mom. I have accepted who I am - my house will never be spotless - or even completely picked up, I will be the mom in jeans and a sweatshirt, and as much as I am their mother- my kids and I are a team to get through days like yesterday!! I make mistakes every day and I aologize to my kids when I let them down and at the end of the day I know they know I love them!! I know they know I will be there for them and I love being with them - even after days like yesterday :) When I look at my kids and I think of all we have come through and will still face - I know it is okay that I am THAT mom!!

Flushing the toilet

Hmmm - I think Jordan has gotten too smart - I have started telling her she has to poop to get chocolate (after she pees three times in a hour in order to get a piece) and suddenly she has miraculously learned the art of flushing the toilet - but only after I have said you have to poop to get chocolate, not just pee - hmmm - wonder if she is hiding the evidence that wasn't there so I have to take her word!!

And is this something I celebrate or mourn? The crazy twisted lives we live as special needs parents :)

The Terrible Twos Myth

Why do they call it the terrible twos? This has always been a mystery to me!! I can't tell you how many parents I have talked to that think they are getting through the terrible twos only to be shocked by the even more challenging threes!! I always say that the twos they are exploring their world, the threes they are exploring their defiance. But the flip side to that is the number of people who say "my 18 month is already in the terrible twos"

Yup - pretty much right where we are!!!

This morning after getting spanked for dumping out the fourth cup of coffee in two days Timothy decided to participate in his other favorite activity - throwing toys over the railing to the landing. (Are you sensing the trend of destruction here - liquids dumped out, toys thrown every where - oh yeah we are definitely in the destructive phase!!)

Timothy thinks this throwing activity is the best - and laughs with every toss. His mom finds it less so - as does whatever sibling's turn it is to clean the landing!! So today after the fourth or fifth throw and having been told "no" more than once I told him that if he threw what he had in his hand over the railing he would get spanked. He looked at me, his eyes twinkled mischievously and he purposefully turned and threw!! Then quickly covered his bottom with his hands and sat down!!

Uh-huh - all you people out there wondering how much a 20 month old understands? I am here to answer the question - EVERYTHING!!!! :)

Today's roller coaster

This morning was one of those mornings where nothing I touched went right. Timothy dumped every liquid he could find (coffee, milk AND water) all over. Nathan helped by dumping the dog water - twice!! Somehow when I made coffee this morning something went wrong and even though I was standing RIGHT THERE filling the dishwasher I didn't notice the leaking until the entire six cups were all over the counter instead of in the coffee pot! Timothy drew on my book, the dining room table, a chair, - make that two chairs, the floor and the door. Apparently he is following in his sister's footsteps - at least he didn't draw on the dog!! (Yes, Jordan has done this to poor Sadie - in both green marker and red nail polish - and can I ask what kind of dog sits still for that?). I boiled the macaroni dry as I was discovering that I had thrown a Pull Up in the washing machine. (Let me be very clear that Pull Ups and diapers were NEVER meant to go through the wash!!) Fortunately the washing machine seems to have survived and I re-washed all the clothes and seem to have solved the problem! Timothy mixed the basket of clean clothes with the basket of very dirty wet clothes. Guess what that created? ALL dirty clothes! And Jessi came home from school sick!!

But then at dance this afternoon I watched Timothy, Nathan, Bethany and Jordan playing in the lobby. And it is moments like those that are why I LOVE my life so much!! Bethany was giving Timothy and Jordan turns spinning around which would make them each dizzy. Nathan crawled over to join the fun and Jordan ran circles around him which had pretty much the same dizzying effect. Then Karla had the video from Sat dress rehearsal on so Jordan showed off some Jordan hip hop moves, which Timothy sort of tried to emulate in a Timothy bouncing sort of way :) In the midst of all of this Jordan and Timothy were fighting over Nathan's hood - Jordan would put it up and move away to do something and Timothy would come over and pull it down. Then Jordan would realize it was down and run over and put it back up. To which Nathan giggled like crazy, as he tried to keep up with them!! These truly are the precious moments and really they make spilled coffee mean diddly squat!!!

Timothy - Mr Shy....NOT!!

Friday morning I had a carnival meeting and then needed to distribute a box to each classroom to collect donations for classroom baskets!! Timothy was had a blast. He likes to pretend he is shy, up until a month ago, did the SCREAM every time I left him any where (for twenty seconds until I was out of sight). Friday he completely blew his shy cover!

First we went in the gym to get stuff out of the storage room, Mrs Susan who used to be a para in Bethany's classroom a couple years ago, came over and grabbed him while I got the boxes out and stacked on the cart. So here is this twenty month old toddler playing ball in the middle of a gym of third graders. Then when I went to leave we just stuck him in one of the boxes on the cart where he had a grand old time chilling with his sippy cup. And doing the parade wave to anyone we passed!! Pretty funny.

Then we ran into Mrs Byrne - JJ's first grade teacher - who he ran right up to and she picked him and took him to her class while I dropped off a couple of boxes and chatted with one of the teachers. He jumped back on the cart for a few minutes then realized we were by Jessi classroom so he jumped down and ran in yelling Jessi, Jessi. He ran over to her and completely looked like he was going to join right into the class!!

All in all it took me about twice as long as I expected but I think Timothy made friends with at least half the staff.

Which was great but makes me sad about all the potential changes coming to the EP district. My kids are all Prairie View kids, all the people we talked to have all had one or more of my children in class or have had their own kids on teams with mine - and knew Timothy when he was teeny tiny!! I love that Timothy could go to a school where our family already has a history!! And it makes me sad that all that could get mixed around. But it is what it is!

One quick other note - I met four staff members on Fri all of whom said, "oh you are Jordan's mom! - I just adore her" Apparently my fourth has created quite her own reputation already!!!