More spilled milk, and lots of Tyler

Colin decided to join the cereal spilling fun.  It was so great.  He spilled it, then just sat there and watched it continue to spill out of his bowl instead of moving his hand to stop the cereal from spilling.  So fun.

You'd think I'd get smart and start making pancakes or eggs for breakfast.  But I haven't.  You can kind of tell from the above picture, but we got some new stools.  These ones are "giant"ones.  Eve's boyfriend moved and so kindly gave these to us.  Now they don't fight over the "big" stools, they fight over the "giant" ones.  And speaking of Chris, he totally ditched us for dinner yesterday.  I made dinner, cleaned the house and he went golfing instead.  It's not like he doesn't golf every day already.  (He's a golf coach.)  I may not be thinking so highly of him now . . .

I have lots to say about Tyler, but I have to tell a few stories about Brady first.  He's a funny kid.  The other day, he came upstairs wearing black shorts.  On the back, it looked like he had brushed up against some dust.  When I told him he had something on the back of his shorts, he kind of smiled strangely and "tried" to wipe it off.  It didn't come off, so I tried.  Instead of it feeling dusty, it felt greasy.  Then I noticed the streaking was all about the same width and realized what it was when I could smell my fingers.  It was deodorant.  I asked him why he had deodorant on the back of his shorts and told him to go change.  He didn't answer or change.  I told him everyone at school was going to laugh at him.  He didn't care.  He proudly went to school with his deodorant shorts.  It was still on there and visible when he got home from school too.  He said nobody even asked him about it.  Weird.

A couple of months ago before school, I was upstairs and Brady was downstairs with Isaac.  He was just watching him and very spontaneously said to nobody, "I just love this age.  It's so fun."  It was adorable. 

He's taken Isaac outside a couple of times the last couple of days.  Isaac doesn't wander like Tyler did.  He's happy if he can chase a few balls around.  Our neighbors have a couple of dogs.  Isaac loves animals.  Brady has taken Isaac over there a couple of times to pet the dogs when they're outside.

One day we were outside when the kids came home from school.  (I've been letting them walk home more, especially if Isaac is taking a nap.  Brady takes his responsibility to get the three younger kids home safely very seriously.  If they don't stay by him or listen to him, he takes them by the hand or hands and doesn't let go until they get home.  Of course, this usually means the younger child comes home screaming.  Brady's funny because he gets so frustrated and he tells me he tries very hard not to get too mad at them.  He just holds their hand/wrist very tightly all the way home.  I've told the younger kids several times they need to listen to Brady and stay by him.  Apparently, they'd rather learn the hard way.)  Anyway, on this day everyone walked home cooperatively.  As soon as Isaac saw them coming, he ran to them.  When he got to Brady, Brady scooped him up and gave him a hug and carried him back to me.  It was one of those moments that make being a mom worth it. 

And now Tyler.  In my last post I promised you a story about his previous favorite color, purple.  One day he was downstairs playing with Colin.  Somehow, Tyler hit his cheek on some part of the stairs or wall and it left a pretty big bump.  Tyler hates to have anyone look at his bumps and scrapes, but eventually he took his hand off and asked Colin if it was bleeding.  Colin told him, "No, but it's purple!"  And Tyler very calmly replied, "That's ok.  Purple's my favorite color."  Then went on playing like nothing happened. 

The bathroom downstairs smelled very strongly like pee.  I cleaned the toilet, all around the toilet, took out the garbage and it still smelled like pee.  I turned to the shower and I had a flashback to a couple days before.  Tyler and his cousin Andrew had been playing in the shower.  I was upstairs and heard them, so I told them to get out.  At that moment I knew what they had been doing.  I opened the shower to find a nice yellow ring all around the drain of the shower.  It was quite disgusting.  Fortunately, after I got that cleaned up, it no longer smelled like pee. 

And while we're on the subject of pee, one day Mia came running down the stairs yelling, "Mom!  Tyler, Andrew and Colin are peeing in the same toilet at the same time!" 

Another day, I was sitting in the living room and Tyler and Andrew came from upstairs where they had to pass a bathroom and opened the front door.  I didn't pay too much attention to them until everyone outside started yelling, "Tyler!"  He was peeing on the mat in front of the door.  Don't ask me why.  He just looked at me like it was the most normal thing to do and he couldn't figure out what the fuss was about. 

He's a little obsessed with the fact that he has a "weiner."  (When Brady was little he knew all of the correct terminology about male and female anatomy.  He never obsessed or talked about it that much, some of my other kids have been a little more vocal about their knowledge, hence my recluctance to focus too much on the correct terminology.  Somehow weiner sounds better than the alternative coming out of a 3 year olds mouth.  Brady was very intrigued with uvula's though.  He loved to see them.  He'd ask people who came over if he could see their uvula.  A few people were a little taken aback until I pointed to my own.)  He's constantly asking me if I have a weiner.  For a while he wanted to see my weiner.  Even though I've told him repeatedly I don't have a weiner.  One day he was playing with play doh so my big rolling pin was out.  He was playing with that for a while.  Then he stuck it in his pants, somehow he got it wedged in there so he didn't have to hold it, and said, "Look.  I have a big weiner!"  How do you not laugh at that?

Our hotel at Disneyland had a swimming pool and hot tub.  The last night we took some time to use them.  The swimming pool was freezing cold, so I sat in the hot tub along with a couple of other adults and kids.  Our kids kept coming over to it as well.  Tyler started to get in the hot tub and he said, "Ow!  It burns my weiner!  Mom does it burn your weiner?"  Of course I told him again I don't have one.  Tyler- "I wish I didn't have a weiner."  Me-  "Why not?"  Tyler-  "Then it wouldn't burn my weiner."  I tried to respond quietly and he was about as loud as he could be. 

Earlier that day while walking back to the hotel from Disneyland, Lance's mom tripped and fell.  Later, Mia said it was sad when Grandma fell.  Tyler said, "Why?  She didn't turn into a vampire."

Last week, Tyler was playing with these two lego people.  Do you want to hear their conversation?

 

"I'm a girl.  I don't have a weiner."

"I'm a boy.  I have a weiner." 

For dinner one day, I made grilled cheese sandwiches.  I asked, "Who wants a grilled cheese sandwich?"  Tyler responded, "I want a boy cheese sandwich!"

Before we went on Splash Mountain, we passed out poncho's for those who didn't want to get wet.  Tyler said very firmly, "I don't want a nacho!" 

I went to a friend of mine's baby shower months ago, (the babies are now 5 months old).  When I came back Tyler said, "You're not supposed to take a baby shower.  You're supposed to take a big shower!" 

One day after I dropped the kindergartner off I ventured to Kohl's to find bigger coats for my girls.  I've already lost Tyler there once so I knew it would not be fun.  He has no anxiety when he can't find me.  He just laughs and keeps running.  Anyway, I was looking at coats and he got too far away so I went after him.  He was stopped in front of the lingerie section looking up at two mannequins who had on only bras and panties.  He saw me coming, looked back up at the mannequins and said, "Oh.  Bye ladies," then took off. 

Every night before bed, I read books with the kids.  Instead of picking a book, Tyler took every single book off of the bookshelf. 

At first they were all in a big pile.  He would say, "Cannonball!"  Then jump into the pile like he was jumping into a pool.  Then he started making "snow angels".  When I asked him to make a "snow angel" the next morning so I could take a picture, since the night before I was not amused and more concerned about getting everyone to bed, he said, "No, it's book angels."  And this is what he did.

For a while he was convinced he was getting a jet pack for his birthday.  And not a fake one either.  He wanted a real one he could fly with.  He wanted a jet pack themed birthday too complete with jet pack cake. He hasn't talked too much about that lately.  Hopefully, he's moved on.  I have no idea where to get an affordable jet pack these days.

He made me proud one day though.  We were sitting in the van waiting for the kids and Tyler wanted to listen to some music so he was changing the radio station.  Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana came on.  He stopped and said, "Ohh.  I like this one."  At least he has good taste in music. 

When I told Lance that story, he said he didn't realize I was such a big Nirvana fan.  I can't say I've listened to Nirvana in years, but come on.  I grew up just miles from Seattle, the grunge capital.  How could I not be a fan? 

Crying Over Spilled Milk

For a while when I was growing up, it seemed someone spilled their juice at the dinner table every night.  As I recall, it was most often one of my brothers.  Well, we've had a nice run of spilled cereal at our house lately.  This is when Tyler spilled his Cinnamon Life.  It happens to be the third time in 24 hours that someone spilled their food.  Twice it was cereal.  I don't remember what the other food was.  I've blocked it out.  And notice Tyler's left hand is all wrapped up.  The night before he touched the hot iron.

I was ironing a pair of Lance's pants upstairs (which I rarely do since I hate ironing) when someone came to the door.  I closed the door and hurried downstairs.  It was my Girl Scouts cookie order (two boxes of Samoas, my favorite, and not just because I spent three months there one summer, and two boxes of Tagalongs.  Yum!  I was really good and actually shared the cookies with my kids, as much as I didn't want to.)  When I was done with that, dinner was ready.  I got busy with all the serving and cleaning of everything that goes with that and totally forgot about the iron.  Tyler "finished" his dinner.  (He never really eats it.  I'm not sure what his deal is.  He'd rather eat bananas, apples or yogurt, which isn't so bad, so I let him more than I should.)  He went upstairs in my room and put his hand on the iron.  (I'm pretty sure my iron has an auto-off feature, but I guess it hadn't been long enough.  It was at least 30 minutes though.)  I put it in some cool water and gave him some ibuprofen.  He kept it in for a while, then he'd take it out.  Of course it would feel better for a few minutes, then start hurting again.  And he start crying, "Ow, ow, owwww" until he got it back into the water. 

I wasn't going to take him in to the doctor.  He had three blisters at the base of his fingers so it wasn't too bad.  I checked online and they recommend going in if it's on a hand or foot.  So I called a nurse at our Dr.'s office.  She said I should bring him in simply for the fact they have some special cream they put on that takes the heat out so it stops hurting.  I loaded everyone up and headed for the Dr.'s.  Fortunately, they have an after-hours clinic.

My other children were being oh-so-helpful with their comments and stories.  Mia kept asking me if he was going to get a shot.  Then she told him over and over he wasn't getting a shot.  I'm not sure if she didn't believe me, but she also kept asking me over and over if he was getting one.  Brady told about the time his friend burned his hand which involved an exhaust pipe falling off of a tractor.  Tyler somehow misinterperted that to be his hand fell off.  He kept telling us, "They're not going to cut my hand off though, right?"  Between the constant reminder of the possibility of a shot and the idea of his hand being cut off, he wasn't too thrilled about going to the doctor.

Tyler was feeling pretty good when we left, but by about halfway, he was screaming and kicking in pain.  I felt pretty bad for him.  The doctor looked at it and said it was a mild 2nd degree burn, which I knew already.  They put the magic cream on it, wrapped it up and sent us on our way.  They let him choose what color wrap he wanted.  He chose blue.  (That's his favorite color now.  It was purple for a while.  There's a story about that I need to share at some point.)  They gave us the rest of the roll to use to rewrap it for the next couple of days.  On the way home, and several times after that, Tyler said, "Wouldn't it be funny if a girl burns her hand, and she wants blue, and it will be all gone!"

And here's Chloe's spilled Trix.  This was the fourth spilling event in 48 hours.  She and Mia had pillows and blankets on their stools because they didn't get the "big" stools. 

This pictures shows the mess a little better, but it's blurry.  My camera doesn't like to take pictures in focus inside unless the flash is on even when there's obviously enough light.  Irritating.  I'm not sure why they're the one's who were crying.  I'm the one who got to clean it all up.  I hate cleaning spilled milk.  It goes everywhere and you have rinse it over and over so it doesn't leave a film all over the floor.  I'm just glad we don't have carpet.  Our first house had cream carpet in the dining room and I hated it.  Fortunately, we only had one child then.

This little boy didn't spill his cereal.  Instead he was enjoying a banana muffin with chocolate chips in it.  He loves those.  He had about 6 muffins in a 2 hour period.  It's the only food he literally begs for.  He stands at the edge of the counter with his hand up as far as he can reach saying, "uh, uh, uhhhh."  It's funny from him because he's usually so incredibly laid back.  He'll sit in his high chair at meal times and make no noise at all, even when he's usually the last one to get food since everyone else is sure to let me know what they want and don't want.  He just sits there as patient as can be until I can get him his food.  It's adorable.  Although, it's mostly just him who's just plain adorable.

Snow Finally!

We finally got a significant amount of snow.  As soon as Brady saw all of the snow outside he said, "I'll go shovel the driveway."  It melted my heart.  Then he took 20 minutes to get ready and eat breakfast which left only about 10 minutes to shovel the driveway.  It was pretty windy last night, so some of the drifts had about 10 inches of snow.  When I came out to load the kids in the car to take Brady to school, I got to see what Brady had spent his time doing.  About 3 ft from the garage behind my van he'd piled up all of the snow he'd shovelled so far.  Part of me thought it was hillarious, but the other part of me that hates being late and is usually irritated in the morning because I have to ask everyone nicely about five times before I start getting angry before they actually listen to me and get shoes and coats and into the car got the best of me.  I was not happy.  I later apologized and told him it would have been funny had we been going to the store, not when we have somewhere to be at a certain time.  Of course then he told me it was just really heavy so he was having a hard time shovelling it so he started piling it up there.  I win the bad Mom of the day award.  I know you're jealous.

I made some hot chocolate from scratch, you know with the actual cocoa powder, sugar, water and milk, to try to make up for it.  The other six kids (we have a couple of cousins over) at my house played in the snow and I knew they'd want some after they came back in the house.  They used up all of my powder stuff the other day when they played in the 2 inches we got from the previous storm.  I even bundled Isaac up and took him out.  It was pretty much his first experience in the snow.  He was too little last year and we've hardly had any yet to take him out into.  My sister-in-law thinks the snow suit is ridiculous, and it kind of is.  I'd say it's definitely vintage.  It even has a string to tie the hood.  I've had it since Brady was a baby, that's almost 11 years.  I think my mom got it from a garage sale or something too, so it's even older than that.  Since my kids that age usually wear it only a couple of times, I figure there's no use replacing it.

Here's Tyler with another vintage item.  His hat used to be Lance's when he was little.  The pom pom on top has lots a few strands of yarn and Mickey Mouse is coming off, but my kids love to wear it.  And yes, he's eating the snow.  Probably tastes like cat food.  Fortunately, I overheard them talking amongst themselves about how you don't eat dirty or yellow snow. 

And here's Mia loving on Isaac.  She loves that boy.  She's a good big sister. 

Here's one of my favorite pictures of the day.  I didn't even pose it.  I put Tyler's mittens on the bench before he went in and the other kids just followed suit as they went in.

I'm glad we got some snow the kids could actually play in.  Now, Spring can come.  I'm ready for warm days.  Some of my Tulips and Daffodils are starting to poke through.  I love to see that.  Spring is my favorite time of year.  Hopefully it comes soon.  January and February seemed long and I've had very little desire or motivation to do more than just the basics.  I haven't worked on any of my little projects I always seem to have going, or at least in my head.  I even bought some fabric to make my girls a couple of new skirts and I've done absolutely nothing with it.  When I bought the fabric, only Brady was with me.  He was a little jealous as he told me I'm always making things for the girls, but not him.  I asked him what he would like me to make him.  I offered to make him a skirt.  He decided it wasn't so bad that I never made him anything.

Isaac has been changing from a baby into a toddler.  Fortunately, he's still a momma's boy, so he still likes his snuggles.  He definitely says "Mama".  When I'm gone, he'll stand by the back door waiting for me to come back.  As soon he hears the garage door open, he'll run to the door saying "mama, mama".  He does the same for Lance.  He even says "mama" when he gets home.  He says "nigh nigh".  I think he's referring to his blanket because that's the only time he gets it usually.  He's usually very happy to go "nigh nigh".  I'm pretty sure he said "up" the other day although I don't think he's said it again.  He can sign "please", "thank you", "drink", and "all done".  He will usually only do "please" and "thank you" when Mia has candy he wants and she tells him to say it.  It's still adorable.  He has signed "all done" a couple of times when I've been feeding him yogurt and he hears the spoon scraping the bottom.  It's pretty cute. 

He has started to be a little tease.  When I tell him to go get his coat, he'll go over to where his coat is hanging.  When I get it off the hook, he'll start laughing and try to run off.  Then he'll turn around and come almost back before he takes off again.  So cute.  As much as I think I shouldn't encourage it, it's too cute not to laugh. 

He hates having his feet touched.  He's very squirmy when I put socks or shoes on him.  He can hardly stand it.  Trying to cut his toenails is a bit of a workout.  It just drives him crazy to have me hold his foot.  He doesn't like it when people try to tickle his feet either.  He just pulls them away and stares at you.  He gets this all from his dad.  Lance has very sensitive (and unattractive) feet.  He doesn't like having his feet touched at all.  It works out well for me since that means I never have to massage his feet. 

When he gets his feelings hurt he bows his head and puts his fists to his eyes and just pouts.  He doesn't usually cry unless he's really upset.  He just gets the saddest look on his face.  Then he'll peek through his hands once in a while.  It's so adorable and sad at the same time.

When I try to sit at the computer he finds every toy he has any desire to play with and brings it to me.  Then he wants up on my lap while he plays with them.  He gets up and down about every 30 seconds and usually ends up hitting his head on something.   After he gets bored with his toys, he tries to help me type or use the mouse.  That may help explain why I haven't posted a new blog in over a month.  He has a tendency to take over my computer time.  He's still a happy, easy-going boy.  Pretty soon I'm sure he's going to start trying to follow the example of his older brother, and that's a little scary.  Tyler is a boy all his own.  I need to do another complete post just about Tyler.  So many stories.