05.27.2012 -- New Leaves

A funny thing happened last night while I was hanging out with Charlie. He has been needing a lot of comfort lately to deal with teething pain. So... I end up holding him a lot, quietly looking at all the housework I have to do. Last night as I held Charlie, I ended up looking at my sister's Facebook pictures. I came across an image I hadn't seen for a long time (of Lucy and her cousin, Cameron) and clicked on it in order to comment. There was one other comment for that picture. Made by me. On May 26th, 2011. Exactly one year earlier. I had written "Awwwww."
Just what i had been thinking to comment. Pretty strange, huh?

It got me thinking about Change and Stasis.

More specifically, about how I have changed and not changed in the past year. I was able to think of a couple of things:

I have made progress in the yard and lost progress inside our home. Last year, we were much further behind in the yard. Now, it's easier to spend time outside because the boys' energy mostly translates straight to chaos when we're inside. The minute we step outside, they calm down. Besides being a little more calm, their natural inclination to hit and throw things has a much lower cost outside.

We aren't quite to the stage where I can turn them loose together alone outside, so the only multitasking I can really do these days is yard work and managing the boys outside.

Lucy can now read by herself and to her brothers, which opens our world to new options for reading time.

I am chasing Charlie this year instead of Gabe. Gabe is mostly old and wise enough to keep himself out of foreseeable danger. Charlie isn't, but he is getting better. The last time we went to a park, I only did one rescue, and that was to help Gabe come down from a spot he was uncomfortable in. Charlie handles himself pretty well on a playground these days.

I got new glasses (which I actually don't mind wearing). This morning I didn't wear them when we went to
church and I felt old and decrepit when I realized I'd been squinting and really couldn't see well at all.

Something else that's new: This week, I decided to try sitting inside the chapel at church again instead of in the foyer. (That's right, I decided--Brian gave me a little look that told me he thought I was a nuts, but he supported me.)
See, I had gotten a tip from a friend that had given me hope: dry erase crayons.

I spent some energy yesterday getting a bag ready with my new arsenal of weapons in my fight against loud, restless children, I had a talk with the kids before we left for church, and BEHOLD... 90% success!

It was really nice to be inside the chapel. Really nice. not exactly really easy, but good. It wouldn't have happened if I hadn't have had a conversation with my new neighbor, Amy. It's because of her that we are turning over this new leaf: sitting inside the chapel together as a family (again).

I also have Amy to thank for a couple of other new changes that I'm making. Hint: If the plan goes as planned, I should be posting here a lot more often, AND I will be seeing a little less of the grocery store and a little more of my garden.

Sometimes we just need a little kick in the pants.

02.22.2012 -- Charles the Great

Things to BLOG about in no particular order

shopping with Gabe
Christmas
Charlie's Birthday
point system and fish
gymnastics
Gabe's girlfriend
Valentine's day
windstorm
Thomas the Train

02.21.2012 -- Excuses

Charlie chillin' with Unka HAP

Ham

Pajama Buddies

RIP "Orange Coral"

It occurred to me the other day why I have been having such a hard time posting here: Charlie.

More specifically, Charlie feels the need to type while I am typing. Or, if he is not commandeering the keyboard, he is turning off the computer. And when he is sleeping, I often find myself doing other things.  Kids can really get in the way of blogging, see?  That realization helped me to understand that I am going to have to recommit to finding my way here more often when he is sleeping.

As I sit here, typing, it's a little hard to concentrate. I am thinking of all of the things I would like to get done today. The smell of my shirt is hard to ignore. I have been wearing it only about three hours, but it has already taken on the smells of.... sick children.  :[

My sister surprised me this morning as I was finishing making my bed. I was chatting away with her on the phone while I tucked in the sheets and put the pillowcases on the pillows. I was explaining Lucy's change of schedule to her, vaguely aware of Gabe trying to get my attention. (In all honesty, I was blocking him out because he had been yelling a lot about not wanting to blow his nose.) All of a sudden, my sister walked in the room as I talked to her on the phone and I realized that Gabe had been telling me "Aunt Monica is here! Aunt Monica is here!"

 I jumped.
I might have yelled a little bit.
We laughed. We.... didn't cry.

She took my 3 year old home with her for the day.

What a sister. Thanks, Monica!

01.04.2012 -- This is the Life

Here are some pictures from Christmas. Christmas was lovely--not stress free, but really nice.

I promise to blog about it LATER. I am including pictures from Christmas in this blog because, when I started this blog, I wanted to do my best to include images with text whenever I could. Today, I can include pictures from over a week ago more easily than any from today, so I will. But I will blog about Christmas LATER.

Charlie on Zoey

Naptime after grocery shopping

Saddle up, Chuck!

***

Tonight, after cleaning canned clam chowder from Charlie's eager face and body, after letting Charlie fall asleep in my arms in the quiet of a house without other children (Brian took Gabe and Lucy to get dinner), after convincing Gabe to visit the bathroom before putting on his new Spiderman pjs (while Brian read to Lucy), after moving our "operation" in order to keep Gabe company in the dark so he could or would fall asleep (while Brian stepped out to play late-night basketball)... I told Gabe a story.

This was a custom-crafted, 100% from-scratch story designed to keep his attention from straying: a Mom Special.

There was this horse, see--and it always helps my kids if they get to name the main character, so we had a horse named "Jake." Jake-the-Horse had a bit of an obsession with... Batman! (The last book Gabe chose was a Batman book--all crime-fighting and heroism.) Jake-the-Horse reads all the books he can about Batman (on the sly, because he doesn't want anyone to know). Jake-the-Horse dreams about one day meeting Batman. One night, Jake has a fantastic dream about having an indispensable role in helping Batman save the day. Alas, he wakes and has to get a grip on reality. With the help of his horse friend, Gabe-the-Horse, Jake-the-Horse again comes to appreciate his own life and his own hard work. However... (Dun dun dun.) One day, Jake's dream comes true. Jake sees a stranger approach, dressed in black. He...looks...like...Batman! Batman's motorcycle has been tampered with and he needs to go help stop a criminal from hurting people. He sees Jake, finds Jake's owner, gets permission to take Jake, and rides off to save the day. Jake-the-Horse is a hero, (prepared for this fateful adventure by a strong work ethic and a positive attitude) and has weekly visits with Batman for the rest of his life.

After telling this story, I think I've stretched it long enough to let Gabe fall asleep. He isn't moving. He has been quiet the whole time. It's dark so it's hard to tell... The story seems to have lasted ten or twenty minutes--I really piled it on! I am feeling a little proud, actually. A few good character-building themes, some good vocabulary, a decent story-arc with opening, climax and and a poignant, happy resolution...

After telling this story, Gabe rolls over and says to me, "Mom, Batman is silver."

Gabe in bilibo

For those of you who are on the edge of your seats, dying to know what happened after Gabe told me that Batman is silver: he rolled over and fell asleep, holding Charlie's ear.

12.12.2011 -- Quotable

This morning has been one of the more challenging for me in recent memory. Following are some of the elements contributing to the excitement at the Tayler house this morning:

Refusal to go to school
Tantrums
Stopped-up kitchen sink filled with the contents of my dispos-all.
More tantrums and refusals

When I break it down like that, it seems really easy! Of course--if I stop to remember that on such a morning, it is obscenely rare that all three children are happy all of the time, and that I was trying to work on a time-sensitive project that requires a good amount of focus--I remember why I was struggling. It helped that eventually Gabe and Charlie took a nap at the same time, Brian came home to fix the sink, and Lucy eventually agreed to go to school.

Part of this project has involved a search for quotable thoughts on children in general. These are some that stood out for me today:


Boy, n.: a noise with dirt on it. ~Not Your Average Dictionary

Children need love, especially when they do not deserve it. ~Harold Hulbert

We've had bad luck with our kids - they've all grown up. ~Christopher Morley

You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for instance. ~Franklin P. Jones

Children are one third of our population and all of our future. ~Select Panel for the Promotion of Child Health, 1981

There was never a child so lovely but his mother was glad to get him to sleep. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

While we try to teach our children all about life,
Our children teach us what life is all about.
~Angela Schwindt

A child seldom needs a good talking to as a good listening to. ~Robert Brault

Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing up is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing. ~Phyllis Diller

Anyone who thinks the art of conversation is dead ought to tell a child to go to bed. ~Robert Gallagher

Any kid will run any errand for you if you ask at bedtime. ~Red Skelton

There's nothing that can help you understand your beliefs more than trying to explain them to an inquisitive child. ~Frank A. Clark

If there were no schools to take the children away from home part of the time, the insane asylums would be filled with mothers. ~Edgar W. Howe

There are no seven wonders of the world in the eyes of a child. There are seven million. ~Walt Streightiff

12.02.11 -- Cool Like James Dean

I have a number of talents. Being cool is not one of them. I am way too enthusiastic to ever be truly cool. I can be quirky and funny and fantastic, lovable and maybe even lovely, but never truly cool.

It's okay. I've come to terms with it.

And don't get me wrong--I like cool people, the world might be less interesting without cool people--I just think that being cool and enthusiastic are mutually exclusive. I think being cool would be boring. But, hey, I've never tried it. I wouldn't know.

And how, you may ask, would a person start thinking about something like the mutual exclusivity of coolness and enthusiasm?

Lucy said to me the other day, "Mom, am I just like Dad when he was little?" She continued, hopefully, "I am crazy, right, and I'm always doing stuff like he did, right?"

Undoubtably, Lucy was thinking of the many times we have tried to understand Gabe's tendencies by comparing him with his dad at his age. This leads to comments like, "He finds every corner and leads with his head."

I had to think for a minute before I answered Lucy. I told her that she is a lot like her dad, but she is also like me in a lot of ways, and in some ways she is just like herself. She was pretty disappointed. I didn't have the heart to elaborate... Because hey, who doesn't want to be like their fantastic, super cool daddy? She doesn't "lead with her head" as much as Gabe does. She is enthusiastic around people in a way that feels very familiar. Gabe is enthusiastic, too.... Anyway. I'm splitting hairs.

Happy Holidays to all of the cool people who happen to read this, and to all of the enthusiastic people, too.