Oops

A couple days ago, the children broke the ceiling light cover in Abbie's room. I'm not entirely sure how they did it, but it involved swinging blankets at it. Abbie was okay with the new look for a day, but eventually the exposed bulb creeped her out and she demanded a new light cover.

We drove to the local home improvement store, bought a new cover for about $5, and brought it home. Abbie was so excited to have her cover back she asked for it as soon as we pulled into the garage. I told her just a minute, and carried the cover into the house with many other things. On the way in, I banged the cover against a chair and shattered it.

I guess I'll have to spend another $5 tomorrow.

Boom

A huge storm blew through town tonight. Someone down the street lost half a tree. Our house is fine, although hanging clothes outside to dry today turned out to be a wasted effort on my part.

Abbie was terrified when the storm hit, and by "terrified" I mean "screaming hysterically." She's never been bothered by rain or storms before, but the lightning, thunder, wind, and rain in this one set her off. I pulled her back into her room, which is one of the more sheltered rooms in the house, and did my best to entertain her until the storm passed. I sang, I read, and I asked her brothers to cheer her up. The last tactic as it spurred her to entertain her brothers instead. As she explained, "my brothers aren't funny; only I'm funny."

I know that showing fear is a sign of growing maturity, but I hope her fear of storms isn't going to be a long-term issue. I would be happy, though, if she would start showing some fear of time outs.

And the Answer is...

I finally found Ian's cow blanket tonight. It was inside the grill in our backyard. The boys are no longer allowed to take their cow blankets outside.

Moo?

Ian lost his cow blanket last night. He has slept with that cow blanket every night for almost since birth. He depends on the cow blanket to comfort him when he's hurting, calm him when he's upset, and entertain him when he's bored. And now it's been missing for over 24 hours. I swear I've looked everywhere inside and outside the house, and can't find it. He seems to be sleeping okay, but he misses it often throughout the day. If I can't find that cow blanket, he's either going to adjust and learn to soothe himself, or things will get very ugly around here.

Bob

We've never done much to trim the back of Abbie's hair, and it's several inches of matted mess. Abbie won't brush it, and she fights with all her strength if we brush it, so we usually let it go until birds try nesting in her hair. At that point we hold her down and brush her mercilessly until she has pretty smooth hair. A couple days later it's a matted mess again and we restart the cycle.

I've been threatening to cut Abbie's hair for a long time. Mommy won't let me, though, because she's afraid chopping off her hair will traumatize her. As proof, she claims that her parents cut her hair short when she was a child, and she still hasn't forgotten what they did to her. So we let it go, watch it tangle, and brush it out while she screams.

Tonight Abbie walked out of her room carrying a large chunk of hair. I asked her to turn around, and sure enough half of her hair was now shoulder-length. She found a pair of scissors that I foolishly left within her reach, and had gone to work on her hair. She said she did it to be like her brothers, who now have slightly shorter hair than she does. Mommy finished the haircut a little later, and now Abbie has an easy-to-manage hairstyle without us having to traumatize her. Of course a little later she asked if she could put her hair back on, so I don't think she understands the permanence of her actions.

You Can Lead a Child to Food, but You Can't Make Her Eat

Abbie's menu for the day:

Cereal (not eaten)
Mandarin oranges (Tory ate most of them)
Granola bar (Abbie carried it off to the backyard, so I don't know if she ate it)
Chips (1-2 servings)
Spaghetti
Chocolate milk (1 glass)

Abbie has a horrible diet. I suppose I'm to blame (partly), so I'm cracking down on the snacks. Notice that I limited the chips and sweets. When Abbie asks for a snack, I usually offer something healthy, which she of course rejects. This leads to her frequently telling me she's hungry. I respond by telling her that's because she won't eat what I offer her. Hopefully it sinks in eventually.