State of the Family #34

Just diving in today, I know it has been forever. (OK, so I dove in, but didn't finish for 5 days - I started this on Monday!)

Miss Thumb Sucker continues to add words, and even a few phrases, to her vocabulary every day.  I probably can't even count how many words she can say any more.  She has added (to name just a few) bite, please (although she prefers to 'sign' this, she will say it out loud if the reward is good enough), water, milk, 'where it go?', outside and downstairs.  She continues her ornery ways and if she keeps on this track she will definitely earn the "most ornery child in this house" award.  She is constantly climbing on our dining room chairs and onto the table, climbing on top of the toilet (that is if she isn't trying to play in it), and running out any door that might be cracked open leading to escape.  I really can't think of a waking moment where I am not chasing her down or pulling her off the top of something.  She is going to be the child that gives me a heart attack.  I just can't keep up with her.  Other than orneriness and talking, she hasn't been up to  much, but really these two things keep her pretty occupied.

Miss Firecracker has been having some good weeks.  The 'sparkle' reward system seems to be working fabulously.  She hasn't gotten out of bed (except for the night grandma babysat) or thrown a major fit since the last report.  She is loving the nice weather (aren't we all!) and wants to be out there 24/7.  She thinks it is a tragedy that she has to come inside to eat and sleep.  It is going to take some getting used to the bumps and bruises and scrapes of spring/summer for her though.  The regular 'drama queen' she is, any little fall is a complete catastrophe.  We are going to have to take up stock in Band Aid because it is the only thing that gets her to calm down in a relatively quick manor so we can get back to playing.  This fact is only made worse by the fact that my little 'tomboy with a tiara' only wants to wear dresses, skirts or things that twirl (she takes after her Aunt K!).  This type of wardrobe does not bode well for bike riding, ball playing and the falls that go with them.   It is even worse due to the fact that she reacts to Band Aids the same way as her mother.  If she wears them for more than about 24 hours the place where the  Band Aid is stuck to your skin gets all red, irritated and itchy.  Try telling a 3-yr-old that she has to take her Band Aid off. . . yikes!

Count down is on for Noisy Man now.  His birthday is less than a month away.  He has changed birthday party themes 3 times now, but has settled on pirates, thankfully.  It started off with Star Wars (which is NOT a favorite of mine by any means) and then moved on to Wild Kratts (a new wild animal show on PBS Kids), but finally found a birthday supply catalog in the car and saw all the cool pirate stuff and decided he could wait for Wild Kratts until next year.   This is a good thing, because Wild Kratts are very new and I can't find a single party item for them yet.  Pirates will be fun and easy.  His birthday wish list is quickly growing a mile long!  His fighting ways have continued and he constantly looks for ways to irritate and fight with his younger sister.  Mostly just Miss Firecracker, but has even been caught causing an incident or two with Miss Thumb Sucker as well.  We are trying to really reward him for the times he plays with them nicely and protects them like a big brother should.  Like this past week when mommy got home from a Pampered Chef show and set her utensil case on the floor.  Miss Thumb Sucker, of course, saw the opportunity and, of course, grabbed the largest and sharpest knife out of the bag.  Thankfully, Noisy Man knew the danger and alerted daddy right away.  He was greatly rewarded for looking after her and mommy won't be making that brilliant mistake again.  It makes me shudder when I let myself go to the 'what ifs' of that scenario. 

Daddy has been a superhero for mommy around here lately.  He has been helping out with lots of housework and helped organize one of the areas of our storage room.  He even came home for a couple hours on his day off last Friday so that I could go out and check on my Pampered Chef stuff that was at an open house.  He kept them all the next day while I was at the 2nd day of the open house and then took me out for a date that night to see the awesome new movie Soul Surfer.  I highly recommend it.  He played 'farmer' the other day, rushing to get some kind of grass planted in their 60 acre plot on his dad's place to grow feed for their cows before the rains came.  He even snuck in a round of golf earlier this week with a friend.  I always like it when he has a chance to go out with friends.  It seems all he ever does is work (at the office and out at his dad's place) and hang out with us.  He kinda needs to get out more!

Mommy has been busy trying to find time to get in 8-12 mile runs and three 5 mile ones during the week.  Last week I was gone about every night of the week for something whether it be groceries, a huge garage sale I was very excited about, but largely disappointed with, PTO meeting (where I think I might have gotten myself into some trouble by volunteering to be the Vice President for next year - still thinking on this one though as it would mean I am the President the following year), and Pampered Chef open houses.  I recently remembered (dangerously) how much I love to read.  My latest 'blogging for books' book was a #3 in a 3 part fiction series.  So, I ran to the local library and checked out the first 2, by the suggestion of a friend who had read them and highly recommended getting the full series in because they were so good.  She was right.  I have barely been able to put them down.  That is when I am not taking care of kids, playing legos, cooking meals, cleaning up messes, running errands and changing diapers.  How in the world have I forgotten how much I love to read!?!?  HA!  Seriously, though, when it comes to a good book, I find the time.  I just checked out the first 2 books on Tuesday and I already finished the 1st one and am about 1/3rd of the way through the 2nd one.  I just carry it around with me wherever I go and when I can sneak in a paragraph or two I sneak it in.  Be looking for the blog on the 3rd book soon!