The Kids Don't Appreciate Us

We moved into a new house over a year ago. Our new home is bigger with more bedrooms. That means Abbie gets her own bedroom and no longer has to share a bedroom with her brothers.

We bought the boys bunk beds a few months ago. They replaced the toddler beds they had been using. Now the boys can sleep in big boy beds without having to be treated like small children.

The boys immediately decided they both wanted the top bunk. Now they sleep together, happily sharing a bed.

A couple days ago, Abbie decided she wanted to share a room again. For the past few nights, she's insisted on sleeping in the same room as her brothers, leaving her beautiful, girly room child-free. I assume the cats sleep in there. Abbie sleeps in the empty bottom bunk in the boys' room. She would sleep in the top bunk with the boys, but they kicked her out on the first night. As least our children have some space.

There Will Be Blood

I found one of my law textbooks in Abbie's room. It was my Civil Procedure book, one of the ten-pound tomes that are ruining my back. One of the kids swiped it, carried it through the house, realized there are far more interesting objects in the house, and dropped it in her room. Ian, who may be the one who swiped it, stubbed his toe on the pages and bled on it. So now my Civil Procedure textbook is tainted with my children's blood. If I had any creativity left I could probably write an anguished poem about that.

Sick

Abbie is sick. She walked off the bus after school today crying, walked directly into the house, into her room, locked her door, and laid down on her bed to take a nap. Like I said, she's sick. We think she has an ear infection. We gave her some medicine and some ibuprofen, and she perked up. Regardless, she gets a sick day tomorrow from school.

Pink

The preschool called me at school today. Ian had pinkeye and needed to go home. When I arrived, I immediately doubted it was pinkeye because he didn't have, uh, pink eyes. His eye lids were a rosy shade of pink, though. Regardless of what I thought, the teachers were afraid he had pinkeye because of the streams of mucus flowing from his eyes.

I took him home and had mommy look at him. She agreed it wasn't pinkeye. He just has a cold that's infuriated his sinuses to the point that they refuse to drain mucus. The snot has nowhere to go, so it flows out of his eyes and congeals in a mess suitable for freaking out preschool teachers.

We now have a bottle of pinkeye drops that we're giving to Ian just in case. It's probably a matter of time before someone brings pinkeye home anyway.

Under Where?

The boys are almost 3-years-old. We figure they should be potty trained some time, so might as well start now. We put underwear on the boys tonight, and they threw a fit. Tory calmed down after about five minutes. Ian calmed down about 15 minutes after we dressed him in an overnight diaper.

When we last tried potty training a few months ago, they would wear underwear with no problem. Now they hate underwear. We showed Abbie in her underwear. We showed them mommy and daddy wear underwear. They wanted none of it. They may be old enough to realize we're serious about potty training this time.

Naked Breakfast

Mommy woke up Abbie yesterday morning. Abbie did not want to wake up and get ready for preschool.

Mommy: "It's time to get up."
Abbie: "No."
M: "It's time to get dressed."
A: "No. I go naked today."

If only the world worked like that, kiddo.

Hot Hot Hot

In response to Lynette's question of how the boys keep from burning themselves when they fill the bathtub without my supervision:

I worry about that. Honestly, though, I can't keep them out of the bathroom, and by the time I hear the water running it's probably too late to prevent potential scalding anyway. I, and the boys' skin, have a few things working in our favor when I hear the water run from another room.

One knob controls the bath faucet. It twists left and right to adjust the temperature, and moves up to start the water flow. It doesn't twist easily, so it usually starts pouring water at the same temperature setting as was used last time. Hopefully I was supervising the boys in the bath the last time the faucet was used.

Hot water runs slow in our house. Even with the hot water control on full blast, it takes a minute for the water to reach full temperature. By then there's an inch of cool water in the tub to buffer the temperature, and hopefully I've made it in there to check on them.

Maybe most importantly, our water isn't very hot. You'd have to hold your hand under the hot running water for several seconds to do any damage. Fortunately the boys are smart enough to pull their hands away if the running water is too hot.

Tubby Time

The boys' latest pastime is taking a bath. For the past few days, I've heard bathwater running while I clean the dinner table. When I finally get around to checking on the running water, Ian is already in the tub and Tory is in the process of stripping down to join him. I'm happy they're taking an interest in staying clean. I just wish they didn't insist on filling and refilling the bathtub every night. I'm afraid of what our next water bill will be if this keeps up.

Obama Wins in a Landslide

Obama won the election at Abbie's preschool. They gave us a newsletter when I picked them up this afternoon. The totals:

Obama = 28
McCain = 17
Santa = 1

They also have quotes from the voters. Some of my favorites:

"John McCain scares me."
"I voted for John McCain because Obama will make school go for another hour."
"I voted for Obama because he makes toys."
"I voted for McCain because Obama steals peoples' money."
"I vote for Santa Claus so everyone will get more presents."

Abbie won't say who she voted for. Obviously she believes in the secret ballot.

Vote

I just noticed a sign at Abbie's preschool saying her class will vote for president tomorrow. That's unfortunate since we haven't gotten around to discussing current events with her yet. We were hoping to wait another four years before we started pressuring her to support the correct candidate.

I'm guessing her class will vote for McCain. From what I know of our neighborhood, with its mix of military and upper-middle class families, he seems likely to get the majority of support in our neighborhood. But then there was that one preschool classmate I saw running around in an Obama t-shirt, so I could be surprised.

Mommy already voted in the real election. I'll vote on my way to pick up the boys tomorrow afternoon.

Crash

Mommy bought a Halloween candy dish a couple days ago. It was clearanced at a big box store, so it was cheap, but still cute. It's ceramic with a spring-loaded cat jumping from the center. Grab a piece of candy, and the cat bounces with the spring. At least that's how I imagine it works; mommy bought it too late to use this season.

The dish was packed in a box of Halloween decorations, waiting for someone to carry it into storage. Abbie, entranced by cat on a spring, pulled the dish out of the box. I warned her to put it down, and she dutifully set it on a table. A minute later, before I took time to put it away again, a boy picked up the dish and dropped it on the floor. It shattered into several pieces.

I've known for years that we can't have nice things in our home. Apparently we can't have cheap things, either.