This 20 minute video changed my world!
Monday, November 22, 2010
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Friday, November 12, 2010
Random
Lots has happened. Squeak's ear has healed nicely. Each time I have tried to get a picture he turns his head and smiles at me. He knows the drill, you smile at a camera!
Sweet Girl got glasses this past month. She is extremely far sighted so much so that her eye muscles were always stretched and it was giving her a headache. She is doing pretty well with them and likes them...most of the time.
Sweet Heart has made some huge steps. She has earned the privilege to have friends come over and have sleep overs once a month and to go to her friends' houses. She has worked hard on developing a morning routine so she can get to school on time. I downloaded (for free) and student control journal (it's a PDF at the bottom of the page on the right hand sidebar.) She has set to work on that and seems to be figuring what will work for you. Now she is getting up with an alarm clock! She only needs reminding a little in the morning. She helped me bring the the groceries the other day...without being asked! She is getting along better with Sweet Girl (part of the P&R.) She is managing her time so much better. She is learning to communicate better.
It's all a bunch of baby steps which lead to big steps. I asked her what respect looked like to her. She said hugs and kisses and getting help when she asks for it. I have noticed that respect is offering help and being listened to.
I had both of the girls take the 5 love languages for kids assessment online (also free.) That put some insight into their needs right now. I took it myself about 6 months ago and took it again. Things have changed a bit. More good information.
We got sweetie Heart a cell phone. Yes, I know she's only 8. But when I asked myself, "What would it take for Sweetie Heart to feel more confident in walking and going places alone?" a cell phone was the answer. Also because she walks to school alone and home from school some days it keeps her safe because she can call me.
Here's a conversation we had this week:
SH: Mom, what does hot mean?
M: You know what hot means.
SH: No, I don't.
:::You see where this is going, right?
M: Can you use it in a sentence?
SH: Kat said, so and so actor, is hot.
M:(trying not to laugh) Well, that means someone is handsome.
SH: Ohhh, I get it. I think he's cute, too.
And here's an experience:
I signed Sweetie Heart up for a free martial arts class at the school. She didn't really want to do it, but it is focusing on bullying and since she's already had a bit of that go on a couple of years ago Webby & I feel it is important. Plus, she is beautiful and smart and oft times those kids are the ones targeted.
She went last week and liked it pretty well, but didn't want to go this week. She told me she didn't want to go. I asked why, but she didn't have a reason. So I told her she needed to go. I was at the grocery store when I got a call from her cell phone. It was her teacher saying that Sweetie Heart was crying and didn't want to go. I told her she didn't have to go, but I was at the store so she was going to have to wait for me.
When I arrived at the school I sat down next to her and asked her what was going on. She said she didn't know, she was just tired and didn't want to go. So I was firm and kind, I told her she didn't have to go. If she decided to come home she would need to go to bed 30 minutes earlier. The choice was hers to make. She grumped a bit. She stalled. I told her we needed to go. She mumbled that she would go. I offered to take her down, she took my hand and we went down to the gym (they were still stretching when she went in.) Several friends said, "Yeah, 'Sweetie Heart' is here."
When I went to pick her up she stormed pasted me, arms crossed, giving me a dirty look. We got into the car and drove home. I didn't say anything about it. We just all moved forward. Seems like after a couple of minutes she moved on too. That's when she helped me bring in the groceries.
Enjoy the pictures!
Sweet Girl got glasses this past month. She is extremely far sighted so much so that her eye muscles were always stretched and it was giving her a headache. She is doing pretty well with them and likes them...most of the time.
Sweet Heart has made some huge steps. She has earned the privilege to have friends come over and have sleep overs once a month and to go to her friends' houses. She has worked hard on developing a morning routine so she can get to school on time. I downloaded (for free) and student control journal (it's a PDF at the bottom of the page on the right hand sidebar.) She has set to work on that and seems to be figuring what will work for you. Now she is getting up with an alarm clock! She only needs reminding a little in the morning. She helped me bring the the groceries the other day...without being asked! She is getting along better with Sweet Girl (part of the P&R.) She is managing her time so much better. She is learning to communicate better.
It's all a bunch of baby steps which lead to big steps. I asked her what respect looked like to her. She said hugs and kisses and getting help when she asks for it. I have noticed that respect is offering help and being listened to.
I had both of the girls take the 5 love languages for kids assessment online (also free.) That put some insight into their needs right now. I took it myself about 6 months ago and took it again. Things have changed a bit. More good information.
We got sweetie Heart a cell phone. Yes, I know she's only 8. But when I asked myself, "What would it take for Sweetie Heart to feel more confident in walking and going places alone?" a cell phone was the answer. Also because she walks to school alone and home from school some days it keeps her safe because she can call me.
Here's a conversation we had this week:
SH: Mom, what does hot mean?
M: You know what hot means.
SH: No, I don't.
:::You see where this is going, right?
M: Can you use it in a sentence?
SH: Kat said, so and so actor, is hot.
M:(trying not to laugh) Well, that means someone is handsome.
SH: Ohhh, I get it. I think he's cute, too.
And here's an experience:
I signed Sweetie Heart up for a free martial arts class at the school. She didn't really want to do it, but it is focusing on bullying and since she's already had a bit of that go on a couple of years ago Webby & I feel it is important. Plus, she is beautiful and smart and oft times those kids are the ones targeted.
She went last week and liked it pretty well, but didn't want to go this week. She told me she didn't want to go. I asked why, but she didn't have a reason. So I told her she needed to go. I was at the grocery store when I got a call from her cell phone. It was her teacher saying that Sweetie Heart was crying and didn't want to go. I told her she didn't have to go, but I was at the store so she was going to have to wait for me.
When I arrived at the school I sat down next to her and asked her what was going on. She said she didn't know, she was just tired and didn't want to go. So I was firm and kind, I told her she didn't have to go. If she decided to come home she would need to go to bed 30 minutes earlier. The choice was hers to make. She grumped a bit. She stalled. I told her we needed to go. She mumbled that she would go. I offered to take her down, she took my hand and we went down to the gym (they were still stretching when she went in.) Several friends said, "Yeah, 'Sweetie Heart' is here."
When I went to pick her up she stormed pasted me, arms crossed, giving me a dirty look. We got into the car and drove home. I didn't say anything about it. We just all moved forward. Seems like after a couple of minutes she moved on too. That's when she helped me bring in the groceries.
Enjoy the pictures!
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Just Call Him Vinnie
We've had our fair share of difficulty here lately. First, 2 weekends ago the kids got sick. All with different things mind you. But they all went down at the same time. From Saturday night to Sunday morning I went from one child to the next, finally getting 2.5 hours of uninterrupted sleep at 4:30am. I was able to take a 2 hour nap late Sunday morning and ended up falling into bed at 7:30pm Sunday night. It was rough. Then we had a couple of relapses the beginning of last week.
I thought all of that was hard but it was nothing!
Yesterday I went through the hardest thing thus far. Yesterday morning all was going pretty well. Sweetie Heart had left for school and I became inspired to get things in order at my house. So I spent a couple of minutes signing up for FLY Lady emails again and put on my apron. Before I got to cleaning my sink I needed to start pita bread. Squeak was crawling around and has been loving climbing up the stool, so I offered it to him. I have very fond memories of Sweetie Heart and I cooking together and I thought it would be fun. So I pulled out the stool, put some flour on the counter and proceeded to get started.
He kept reaching for the sink and him leaning off the side of the stool to get there was making me nervous, so I pushed to stool in front of the double sink, handed him a measuring cup and a spoon and went on my marry way. There was stuff in the other side of the sink but I didn't think he would be able to reach any of it. I stepped out of the room for a minute to help Sweet Girl do something.
I heard the crash of a glass breaking, a thump of Squeak hitting the floor and a scream. I ran back into the kitchen to see his head near a large piece of broken glass. I prayed that he wasn't hurt. I quickly picked him up taking a quick glance to see if he was hurt. I took him out of the room and looked at the side of his face. That's when I noticed his ear lobe was cut open! I quickly put my had over his ear and held him tight. I asked Sweet Girl to hurry and get me a phone and called 911. They were quick to respond and even called Webby to tell him what was going on. The rescue squad took one look at him and said we needed to get to the hospital. I held a clean bandage to his ear and took a ride.
In the ER they nurses and doctors were great. They asked questions and helped. Asked me how I was doing. Since it wasn't critical, they wanted to wait until 1pm to sew him up because they needed to put him under for it so he wouldn't move around. So I held him with my hand on that bandage from somewhere around 10am until 1pm when they took him. My muscles were screaming last night while my heart was breaking for my sweet little boy. It took them 45 minutes to sew him up. His ear was cut from the lobe almost all the way to the top and almost all the way through. The doctor said if it had gone 2mm deeper his ear would have come off! The doctor didn't even count how many stitches, he just said there were lots. There were a bunch inside to sew the cartilage up, which my primary care doctor told me was in 3 pieces, and then the outside. He didn't put a bandage on it because he said Squeak would probably just try to pull it off.
Squeak is doing amazingly well. He was feeling pretty well last night ate dinner, crawled around and stuff. He went to bed at 7:30pm and slept through until 5:30 this morning. He's been his old self today. I was going to try carry him around all day today, but realized pretty early that wasn't going to work. That boy is a mover. I even found him climbing on that blasted stool again!
All in all he did great! He never freaked out (I kind of did.) He cried a bit but not as much as I expected. He was even clapping and trying to climb away while we waited in the ER for surgery.
You know what they say...Chicks dig scars.
I thought all of that was hard but it was nothing!
Yesterday I went through the hardest thing thus far. Yesterday morning all was going pretty well. Sweetie Heart had left for school and I became inspired to get things in order at my house. So I spent a couple of minutes signing up for FLY Lady emails again and put on my apron. Before I got to cleaning my sink I needed to start pita bread. Squeak was crawling around and has been loving climbing up the stool, so I offered it to him. I have very fond memories of Sweetie Heart and I cooking together and I thought it would be fun. So I pulled out the stool, put some flour on the counter and proceeded to get started.
He kept reaching for the sink and him leaning off the side of the stool to get there was making me nervous, so I pushed to stool in front of the double sink, handed him a measuring cup and a spoon and went on my marry way. There was stuff in the other side of the sink but I didn't think he would be able to reach any of it. I stepped out of the room for a minute to help Sweet Girl do something.
I heard the crash of a glass breaking, a thump of Squeak hitting the floor and a scream. I ran back into the kitchen to see his head near a large piece of broken glass. I prayed that he wasn't hurt. I quickly picked him up taking a quick glance to see if he was hurt. I took him out of the room and looked at the side of his face. That's when I noticed his ear lobe was cut open! I quickly put my had over his ear and held him tight. I asked Sweet Girl to hurry and get me a phone and called 911. They were quick to respond and even called Webby to tell him what was going on. The rescue squad took one look at him and said we needed to get to the hospital. I held a clean bandage to his ear and took a ride.
In the ER they nurses and doctors were great. They asked questions and helped. Asked me how I was doing. Since it wasn't critical, they wanted to wait until 1pm to sew him up because they needed to put him under for it so he wouldn't move around. So I held him with my hand on that bandage from somewhere around 10am until 1pm when they took him. My muscles were screaming last night while my heart was breaking for my sweet little boy. It took them 45 minutes to sew him up. His ear was cut from the lobe almost all the way to the top and almost all the way through. The doctor said if it had gone 2mm deeper his ear would have come off! The doctor didn't even count how many stitches, he just said there were lots. There were a bunch inside to sew the cartilage up, which my primary care doctor told me was in 3 pieces, and then the outside. He didn't put a bandage on it because he said Squeak would probably just try to pull it off.
Squeak is doing amazingly well. He was feeling pretty well last night ate dinner, crawled around and stuff. He went to bed at 7:30pm and slept through until 5:30 this morning. He's been his old self today. I was going to try carry him around all day today, but realized pretty early that wasn't going to work. That boy is a mover. I even found him climbing on that blasted stool again!
All in all he did great! He never freaked out (I kind of did.) He cried a bit but not as much as I expected. He was even clapping and trying to climb away while we waited in the ER for surgery.
You know what they say...Chicks dig scars.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
What in Blue Blazes!!
Are you ready for this one?
We have mice. They live in our basement. Now you know this is going to be great story don't you?
I don't like mice much. If they live somewhere else I am fine with them. But they love my kitchen and I don't love them there. So I set traps. My old method of disposal was to grab the spent trap with a bag stuck over my hand, turn inside out and throw away. I got this great hint from my friend Dorothy. Set the trap then put it in a paper lunch sack. That way when the trap has been spent you just close up the end of the bag and toss it out. This works great unless the mouse still has use of most of his legs.
Last night I put a trap bag on the kitchen counter where he left traces of himself last night. This morning when I checked the bag the trap was gone. What?!?! Well, you know what that means don't you. The mouse didn't die and dragged that trap somewhere! I was not looking forward to finding him later. Then I moved my container of tomatoes and saw the trap and mouse. I quickly took care of it. The End.
Okay, that's not what happened. I jumped away and screamed. Seriously, what did I think he was going to do, attack me?? I always jump and scream. This, of course, brought the girls attention the attention to the trap and mouse. They wanted to see. Okaaaay, knock yourselves out. That's when they noticed that it wasn't dead. I had assumed that it had died there, it hadn't. Oh goody!
So I grabbed a plastic bag and prepared/ braced myself. That's when the chaos ensued. The girls had seen the mouse and it was soooo cute. So now I'm about to kill a poor, defenseless, cute little animal. It doesn't help we were talking about having a pet this morning at breakfast. Correction, they were talking about having a pet. I was talking about how much they cost and that, no we weren't getting on any time soon. Only the mouses leg had gotten trapped so he was able to use his other 3 to drag the trap across the counter.
I look at Sweetie Heart. She is standing there stiffly, looking at me, a little red in the face. I know that look, that is anger, full blown about to burst. She asks me to let it go. That would require me to get near it, not a chance! She offers to do it, but I don't feel like I can do that either because what if it bits her, who knows what kind of diseases it is carrying. The plague was carried my mice you know. Okay, that's a bit over blown, but still. Plus it will probably die anyway, and if it didn't then it will just come back into my house. No, thanks. To her credit she did stay composed. She offered other solutions. I wish I could have said yes to one of them.
I hear Sweet Girls reaction before I see which is a full blown temper tantrum and begging fest asking if we can please keep it because it's soooo cute. There is a red face, tears, but most of all the eardrum piercing screams.
I walk into the other room. Sweetie Heart is still standing there and calls to me that the mouse has run back into the bag! Miracle of miracles. I ask her to tip the bag up so he can run out. I grab the stapler and staple the bag shut before anything else can happen and take the mouse out of the house.
The antics continue. I go upstairs and phone Webby to see if he has any suggestions. They follow continuing their behavior. He chuckles. Honestly, I would too if someone else were telling me this story. He talked to them a bit. He explains things to both of them separately. Sweetie Heart does her best to explain to him why he is wrong and giving her solutions. Sweet Girl actually seems to get it. Huh.
So that is the end of the story. Did you laugh. I think I will now.
Off to set another trap.
We have mice. They live in our basement. Now you know this is going to be great story don't you?
I don't like mice much. If they live somewhere else I am fine with them. But they love my kitchen and I don't love them there. So I set traps. My old method of disposal was to grab the spent trap with a bag stuck over my hand, turn inside out and throw away. I got this great hint from my friend Dorothy. Set the trap then put it in a paper lunch sack. That way when the trap has been spent you just close up the end of the bag and toss it out. This works great unless the mouse still has use of most of his legs.
Last night I put a trap bag on the kitchen counter where he left traces of himself last night. This morning when I checked the bag the trap was gone. What?!?! Well, you know what that means don't you. The mouse didn't die and dragged that trap somewhere! I was not looking forward to finding him later. Then I moved my container of tomatoes and saw the trap and mouse. I quickly took care of it. The End.
Okay, that's not what happened. I jumped away and screamed. Seriously, what did I think he was going to do, attack me?? I always jump and scream. This, of course, brought the girls attention the attention to the trap and mouse. They wanted to see. Okaaaay, knock yourselves out. That's when they noticed that it wasn't dead. I had assumed that it had died there, it hadn't. Oh goody!
So I grabbed a plastic bag and prepared/ braced myself. That's when the chaos ensued. The girls had seen the mouse and it was soooo cute. So now I'm about to kill a poor, defenseless, cute little animal. It doesn't help we were talking about having a pet this morning at breakfast. Correction, they were talking about having a pet. I was talking about how much they cost and that, no we weren't getting on any time soon. Only the mouses leg had gotten trapped so he was able to use his other 3 to drag the trap across the counter.
I look at Sweetie Heart. She is standing there stiffly, looking at me, a little red in the face. I know that look, that is anger, full blown about to burst. She asks me to let it go. That would require me to get near it, not a chance! She offers to do it, but I don't feel like I can do that either because what if it bits her, who knows what kind of diseases it is carrying. The plague was carried my mice you know. Okay, that's a bit over blown, but still. Plus it will probably die anyway, and if it didn't then it will just come back into my house. No, thanks. To her credit she did stay composed. She offered other solutions. I wish I could have said yes to one of them.
I hear Sweet Girls reaction before I see which is a full blown temper tantrum and begging fest asking if we can please keep it because it's soooo cute. There is a red face, tears, but most of all the eardrum piercing screams.
I walk into the other room. Sweetie Heart is still standing there and calls to me that the mouse has run back into the bag! Miracle of miracles. I ask her to tip the bag up so he can run out. I grab the stapler and staple the bag shut before anything else can happen and take the mouse out of the house.
The antics continue. I go upstairs and phone Webby to see if he has any suggestions. They follow continuing their behavior. He chuckles. Honestly, I would too if someone else were telling me this story. He talked to them a bit. He explains things to both of them separately. Sweetie Heart does her best to explain to him why he is wrong and giving her solutions. Sweet Girl actually seems to get it. Huh.
So that is the end of the story. Did you laugh. I think I will now.
Off to set another trap.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Capable
Have I ever told you how capable my kids are? No? Well, they are just look at this!
I think the greatest thing is Sweetie Heart figured out how to hang her own clothes on the line.
Sweet Girl usually asks to do the laundry on her own. She even helps me! If I was sure she would use too much detergent I would just let her do it all on her own. I have total confidence that she will be doing laundry all by herself in the next 2 years. That will make her 7! Score! Yet another reason I love my front loader!
After I took the video and pictures both the girls asked if I took them to show to Vicki. They know me so well!
I think the greatest thing is Sweetie Heart figured out how to hang her own clothes on the line.
Sweet Girl usually asks to do the laundry on her own. She even helps me! If I was sure she would use too much detergent I would just let her do it all on her own. I have total confidence that she will be doing laundry all by herself in the next 2 years. That will make her 7! Score! Yet another reason I love my front loader!
After I took the video and pictures both the girls asked if I took them to show to Vicki. They know me so well!
Monday, September 13, 2010
Little Ditty
This is a song Sweetie Heart made up and she and Sweet Girl preformed the other night. Sweetie Heart has an amazing talent! And see how well they get along when they aren't fighting!
If this upload works expect more videos soon!
If this upload works expect more videos soon!
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