Getting Kids to Clean

At what age does cleaning stop being fun? Right now it’s pretty sweet having kids who think cleaning is a game. Last night they were fighting over who got to help wash the dishes. So I set them both up at the sink and I just dried and put things away. I can see a future where they are doing the dishes by themselves while I’m having a drink on the porch (wouldn’t that be nice?). But by that age they will probably be uninterested in helping and they will be moaning the whole time.

Until then, I’m going to take advantage of their desire to help with cleaning.

I also have to put my perfectionism aside and let them help the best way they can. They don’t always get things as clean as I’d like, but really I get most annoyed when they don’t do things exactly the way I do it. I find myself thinking it would be easier to just do it myself. But that doesn’t help them learn. I can teach them the alphabet, but if I don’t teach them life skills they aren’t going to be functioning adults. So, if I want their help I need to resist criticizing and just add some gentle guidance.

I can also try to make it as fun as possible. I don’t love to clean – in fact I usually try to avoid it. But if I can make it fun for the kids, it is also more fun for me. Last week we tried washing the floor with socks on our feet and playing slip-n-slide. They had so much fun that they have been asking me everyday to do it again.

Yes, we will be doing this again!

Managing the Heat

Sometimes I feel that one of my major jobs is managing the heat in the house. In the winter I’m trying to keep the heat in; plugging up holes where cold air is creeping in, stuffing towels in the windows that gap, opening blinds when the sun is trying to shine, closing off entire rooms that have electric heaters (expensive to run!), but often it comes down to moving a space heater around with me from room to room.

Now we are trying to keep the heat out of an old house without central air. We open every window during the night and have window fans bringing in the cool air. Then in the morning I have to run around closing them all and closing all the blinds so no sun can heat up the rooms. Last week there were several nice days that I was able to leave the windows open all day to get a nice breeze and it wasn’t too hot. That was heavenly!

But the last few days have been HOT, so we have come to the point in the summer that we really need to haul the window air conditioning unit from the basement up to our bedroom. I say we, but I really mean my husband. It is really heavy and usually results in banged knuckles and profanity mumbled under his breath.

Some of us deal with heat a little differently. The littlest one just ran inside nude – she was playing in a tub of water in the backyard after breakfast and got her pjs wet so they had to come off. Sometimes I wish I was 3.

Why do I read?

I’m just a few pages away from finishing the book I’m reading. But now the kids are waking up from naps and the quiet afternoon spent wrapped in blankets is about to come to a close. There are snowflakes coming down; probably one of the last snowfalls of the year. It is a day to stay inside with an excuse to read, and the gray skies are a fitting backdrop for the book I’m reading about the Holocaust. (The Lost Wife, by Alyson Richman). What a nice luxury to spend several hours reading! I’m learning about a different time, but mostly I read to be "entertained" by being immersed in the emotions and details of another life that comes with storytelling.

Photos After a Fire

My brother-in-law came to visit during Christmas. We both are interested in photography, so we took the opportunity to go to Black Forest and shoot photos in the fire area. Even though my husband has been there often for work, this was my first visit since the fire in June. We even had some friends stay at our house while they were evacuated. Their house was fine, but I've never had time to venture into the burn area. My heart goes out to all the people who lost their homes. This was so amazingly tragic.

However, for me it was also a good time to get away from the ordinary, be creative and collaborate. Here are few of my photos.

Playing with my little girl

Mia: "You are a monster. I will kill you."
After being hacked to pieces by her sword, and some moaning dying sounds from me...there is a moment of silence.
Mia: "You aren't a monster anymore. You are a giraffe.
But you are nice."
She turns around and flounces out of the room in her Tinkerbell costume.

I'm left stunned. I just went through a whole range of monster/animal makeovers and suffered a hideous death. Now I'm nice?? It's so confusing.

Cleaning

The microwave was disgusting. For a long time. I finally got around to cleaning it after a bowl of chili exploded. It was so bad I couldn’t ignore it any longer. I know, I know…I’m supposed to have a system of cleaning that helps me stay on top of things. And over all I think I’m better at keeping my house clean than I used to be. *scary* But there are still some things that I just don’t do well.

This morning I got a piece of bread stuck in the toaster. As I moved it, I saw the huge mess under, around, and in the toaster. Umm, I guess I should move it out a little more often.

My dresser is a dumping ground for many things without a home or in-transit. But somehow they get stuck there and stay for months on end until I get motivated to clean it off and find homes, or the trash, for those things. And it usually only takes a few minutes. Why don’t I just take care of it sooner? *sigh*

I think part of the problem is that I get dirty-spot blindness. Once an item has been set where it doesn’t belong, and it stays there for 24 hours, I no longer see it. It melts into the décor and I don’t notice it anymore. Until I deliberately stop to take stock and see how awful everything has become. But I’m not beating myself up about it; that is just the way I roll.

My husband and I joke that it’s a good thing when we have guests come over because it requires us to clean up. So if you get invited to our house, it might be for my selfish need to clean.

Emotional Wrecks

The kids were very emotional yesterday. I’m not sure why. I *think* it was because of a busy weekend. But we often have busy weekends. And on Sunday night we made sure to get them home and to bed on-time and with a normal routine. Yet yesterday, they were very sensitive. It might have just been a case of being a 4-year-old and a 2-year-old. Who knows.

One minute they would be playing nicely, then…tears and blood-curdling screams. Because “he won’t use the right color marker”, or “she is playing with her babydoll and I don’t want her to”. Seriously. There was no blood, everyone had their appendages. Just two kids who were feeling strong emotions and didn’t know what to do with them.

To see a funny blog about kids crying: Reasons My Son is Crying

A friend of mine gave me a book about the emotional life of a toddler, but I haven’t read it yet. Mostly I just roll my eyes (when they can’t see me) and let them work it out. That usually results in hitting, possible blood-shed, time outs, and more tears. Sigh. Maybe I should read that book. 

Just a little more sleep

I know it was my fault.

I was laying in bed thinking about my friend who recently had a baby. I told myself that I needed to journal about what it was like to have a newborn because I am starting to forget.

Now that we have a 4-year-old and a 2-year-old, things are different than they were, well, 2 years ago. They eat solid food, they can tell me what they want or need (although they don’t make the distinction), they are not wearing diapers (except at night), and they play together without my supervision without killing each other (most of the time). And, my children now usually sleep through the night.

Usually.

Well, sure enough, about 20 minutes after I said those fateful words, my daughter started crying. So, I went in to soothe her and get her tucked back in. I was back in my bed for about 20 minutes – you know, long enough to just be starting to fall back to sleep – when she started crying again. And coughing. Ugg. My husband fled the room in hopes of getting some sleep in a quieter part of the house. So I brought M&M into bed with me. I thought that if she could sleep with me that she would be so comfortable that she would sleep soundly. That didn’t happen. I was constantly being kicked, rolled on, nudged over, and then there was the coughing and snoring. She is only 2 years old, how can she make so much noise?!? So I don’t think I really got any decent sleep all night. I now totally remember what it was like to have a newborn. Thank you very much; I’d rather forget.

With babies back-to-back, it was about 3 years of little to no sleep. That is something the books don’t tell you. They like to lure you in with the promise/hope that your baby will sleep through the night by 6-8 weeks old. I read that even if you have a ‘needy’ child he should be sleeping through the night by 10 weeks. Well, I either did something wrong (I tried everything), or the books are wrong (I have met more families with similar scenarios to ours than those with good sleepers), or my expectations were wrong (8 weeks, really???) because my children didn’t sleep through the night until over 14 months old. That is MONTHS not weeks. And it is still not a guarantee that they will sleep all night. Every night we talk (plead, beg, lay-down-the-law) to our daughter about staying asleep all night. We even got a clock, which changes color in the morning when they can get out of bed. It helps. I can often hear her wake up, but she doesn’t usually cry anymore, she just stays in bed until the clock turns green.

I’m glad for this new phase of life. A life with a little more sleep. I didn’t say a lot more sleep, I know that is not likely to happen. Just a little more...

Kids Food

Today I’m playing with the new toys I got for Christmas. I received some fun bento cutters to make cute shapes out of veggies, etc to add to my kids’ lunches (or bananas to my husband’s breakfast, like this morning). Previously I had tried to make my own shapes with just a knife, but these cutters are so much easier to use.

It will be fun to see all the things I can come up with. I have some inspiration on my Pinterest board to keep me going. 

The Day After...

There is a conspiracy to keep me from writing. As soon as I find a few minutes to sit down there is some new tragedy to attend to. Today it happened toward the end of lunch…I was done eating but my children (especially the male child) were still picking around on their plates using their best stall tactics. So I thought I would do some writing while they finished up. But as soon as I got my computer out, one of them spilled his milk. 

All over his chair. 

And the wall. 

After I got that cleaned up then there were requests for more food. Then one had to go to the bathroom – with assistance, of course. But finally all settled down so I could pound out a few words.

This morning was quiet… as far as there was very little talking and very little fighting (yay!), but it was filled with lots of new noises from the new toys and frequent asking if they could have more special treats (aka Chocolate). They have had so many sweets in the last few days that they now think it is normal and complain when I don’t give into their incessant pleas to keep the sugar high going. But even with the greatly reduced amount of sugar (or perhaps because of it), It was such a good day for them to be at home just exploring their new treasures. The last few days were a bit overwhelming for them as they spent so much time with family and opening the presents. Even though they enjoy it, it is a bit stressful. They are in their dress-up clothes, everyone is watching them, there are sooo many gifts, there are too many sweets, and they have to pose for too many pictures. Today they get to stay in their PJs and really take the time to play with everything.

And I get to linger over my cup of tea and catch up on Facebook and email.

But because of all their playing there are now toys EVERYWHERE. They will play with something for awhile, then walk into another room or just turn around and suddenly they see something else new. So the last hot item is discarded and traded for the new widget. This is not a recipe for a clean house. But since they are having so much fun I will not make them clean up until naptime. Then the challenge will be to find space for everything. I will have to purge their old toys soon.

I’m also loving listening to the Blue Plate Special today. I’m ready to pack away the Christmas music for this year. I’m also packing away a note of things to remember next year. Like how many cards to order, things that went well this year, and things to not do again.

Thanksgiving

Danny’s family came into town for Thanksgiving. He has three brothers who all live in different time zones, so we always try to cram as many activities into the time we have together as we can. 

It is always fun, but a bit tiring. Danny laughs at me when my “social quotient” gets filled up. That’s when I head to the bath with a book.

But Danny and my kids never seem to tire of family activities. Although there were a few meltdowns after long days filled with sugar. The kids got spoiled with lunch at McDonalds, playing at the park, building Lego’s with cousins, overload on electronic devices, etc. You know, all the fun things uncles and grandparents do for the kids.

The adult kids have a tradition of going to Old Chicago for drinks. I was so happy to be able to go this time…for several years in a row I have been pregnant or nursing or sleep deprived. It was a fun time to catch up with the brothers (and sister-in-law), and this year we got to meet a girlfriend. Then another night we went out to Jack Quinn’s. On Friday night we had a birthday party for our niece, then the boys went out again on Saturday night (that is the night I stayed in like a hermit). We also visited a few coffee shops and restaurants for lunches. We watched football, played games, and ate more food.

Whew. Like I said, lots of activity.

So, let's do it again next year!

early Thanksgiving

This weekend we had an early Thanksgiving get together with my family since we can’t all be together for Thanksgiving. It was nice to spend this time together. And we didn’t eat turkey – there will be enough of that this week. 

My family likes to play games…my husband does not, but he’s a good sport and will humor me for special occasions. Gage has not had much exposure to games yet, but he had great fun on Saturday. For him it is not about playing the games; it is about the cool pieces that go to the games. At one point, while we left him unattended, he got ALL the games out and ALL the pieces out. It was an epic mess in our living room. But with many hands working, we got it all put back together quickly. 

So that he could start dismembering everything again.

Gage with Uncle Ben

Our Italian menu: homemade spaghetti and ravioli (I make the pasta dough…Danny runs it through the machine. There is less fighting that way.) Antipasti was provided by my sister and her husband. It was so tasty and we snacked so much that we weren’t really hungry for lunch. But in true thanksgiving fashion we went ahead and filled our bellies to bursting. 

I even tried to get fancy with the name tags. 

Then we had spiced cider and pumpkin pie. That's when we all had to undo the top button on our pants. Good thing I wore legging with elastic.
Gage didn't remember having pumpkin pie before, so he was excited to try it.

success!

M&M was also a fan

 A good time was had by all.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Halloween

This year we did not do a lot for Halloween. In the past we have decorated the house inside and out, created great costumes, and hosted a HUGE party. For various reasons we decided not to do that this year. We did dress up (my favorite part of halloween) and go to someone else's party with a group of our friends. We decided very last minute to all go as the characters from Clue and I think we pulled it off pretty well.

Then it was time for my kids to dress up for Halloween. We decided to not take them trick-or-treating; Gage-a-rooni still gets pretty freaked out by a lot of things. So we opted to go to the Harvest Festival at our church. It was great. They had bouncy houses galore, both inside and out. My son could barely contain his excitement when we pulled into the parking lot and he saw everything set up. There were also some fun carnival games and a magic show. There were a bunch of things for older kids too, but we didn't check it out. It was also nice to be able to ration the amount of candy our kids got. There was a ton available, but at this age it is pretty easy to distract them with something else.

We were blessed with a beautiful sunset, while we were surrounded by shrieks of laughter from millions of kids all around. As it got dark, we moved inside (to another bouncy house) and kept going. Gage-a-rooni was throughly worn out when we finally peeled him away and got him in the car to go home.

Pumpkins

Ah...Fall is here. Well it has been here for awhile, but I'm just now writing about it. And tonight it is supposed to get down to around 14ºF, so we are quickly moving into winter. But on Halloween I had a crafty moment that I'd like to share, so here it goes.

You know how you look at Pinterest for hours (oh, is that just me??) and you repin all these great ideas about fun things to do with your kids, but you really never do them? Well, I did one!

I saw an idea to use mini pumpkins and decorate them like cute little nature creatures. So fun!! (do you hear the Pinterest euphoria in my voice?) So I took my kids to the grocery store and they each picked out some mini pumpkins - while we were there my son suggested that we also get some donuts.
So we did.
With our pumpkins and donuts safely home, we grabbed some bowls and headed outside to gather leaves, twigs, seeds, etc to glue to our pumpkins. It was a gorgeous day and we had a great time collecting all the things we would use. At first, when I told Gage-a-rooni what we were doing he wanted to "collect" a toy car he had left outside, then some sidewalk chalk, then a piece of plastic. I had to keep redirecting him to natural things, and he eventually got the idea. M&M had no difficulties collecting things. She had great fun running around picking things up.

Then we got our bounty inside, and after eating our donuts, we went to work on the pumpkins. I was armed with the hot glue gun, but the kids picked out the things they wanted to put on their creatures and where everything should go. 

 Our finished creations were, um, interesting.

But my kids are so proud of them. It was a lot of fun. 

And the donuts were tasty.