They ran my photo in the newspaper! :)

This has to be a quick post, lots going on and hubby is waiting for his turn to get some attention, but first, it’s your turn!

We had a super nice day today. Alan woke up early and took the kids out to breakfast again. I woke up late (7:30am!) and had breakfast and read the paper in peace. Then he texted me and said they were at a playground, so I put on my running clothes and ran over. Literally. We all came home together and the kids went outside to play with Parrish. The three of them had a great time playing together for most of the day! In the early afternoon Eve got tired and opted for quiet time. Then Parrish had to leave for an errand so Lex came in and had some quiet time. We got the wooden train tracks out of storage and Parrish came right over as soon as he got home. They played nicely in the living room all afternoon. I got the floors cleaned (well, as cleaned as they ever get around here!) and step one of the Lego man cookie decorating done. It was a very peaceful day.

Our neighbors have fancy outdoor furniture.

They all sat on this couch for a long time, doing magic tricks, making pipe cleaner flowers, coloring, and just hanging out. Us grownups left them alone (with a mindful eye from at least one of us!) and they enjoyed each others company for the morning.

Bagels and watermelon for lunch. Yum!

Eve

Eve found a green inchworm and decided to keep it as a pet. Her first pet! She named it "pet" and stuffed the plastic container full of leaves and things. She brought it in with her for quiet time and carried it around all afternoon. Around dinner time she came to me sadly and said she could not see her inchworm in the container. We dumped the whole thing out on the porch and could not find that worm. I wonder where it got to! Hopefully not crawling around her bedroom. She was sad but decided to set up a "trap" (the container laying on its side with fresh leaves inside) to catch herself another inchworm.

Lex "walked" his way from one side of the swingset to the other, swing to swing to swing.

Eve drawing a picture of herself finding the inchworm.

Ok, I’m out of time. Sorry. The pictures from the rest of the week will have to wait for another day.

We are venturing into new territory over here! I’m seriously considering signing the kids up for Splash Camp this summer, for which they are both excited. Eve also wants to do a karate camp. I may look into that. I’ve heard great things about karate for kids. Lex went to a Cub Scouts intro meeting tonight. I was not impressed but he said he really wants to join. I reminded him that the kids in his age group are all from the other elementary school and he said, “Great, I’ll make some friends!” Hmmm… it doesn’t start until fall so we’ll see if he’s still interested then. Things are happenin’ around here!

Happy Mother’s Day to all you hard working mommas out there! We started the day with quick morning hugs and then Alan whisked the kids away and took them out to breakfast while I slept late.

A heart from Lex

Then we went for a Valley Quest, which is a fun hike following a poem of clues, trying to find a “treasure box” full of stamps and a sign-in book. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time!

Off we go!

Eve leads the way, for about a minute, until Lex ran ahead.

Lex was in charge of reading the clues for us. He took his job very seriously.

Isn't this a cool tree?

Happy Mommy :)

"Us" pictures are hard with four people!

Happy kids

Mom is always on duty. Doling out the snacks. :)

Check out this cool turtle sunning itself on a log.

Then we saw three more turtles. A mommy and her babies, sunning themselves on Mother's Day. So sweet.

Catching frogs

Eve tried catching a frog of her own. No one had any success. Those frogs are quick!

Alan took some creative shots of the turtles as well.

The reservoir. It was a beautiful day.

We found several inch worms. Eve liked holding them and then putting them back on the ground "so they can stay alive."

I love this picture, but it would be perfect if the worm was on her index finger. Then it wouldn't blend in to her shirt.

The green inch worm in motion.

Eve is always one to stop and smell the flowers. She also picked one and ran it over to me, yelling "Happy Mother's Day!"

We came home for showers and lunch, then Eve and I gussied up and went to a Mother’s Day Tea at Grandma’s rehab. Eve LOVED dressing up and picking out my dress for me. It’s rare that I dress up and even rarer that I dress up and go out with her. I think maybe we need to do more of that. She loved it.

Eve helped me pick out my dress.

She has a lot more options than I do!

She got all dolled up. High heels and a purse. She even brushed her hair!

Puff pastry swans. Aren't they adorable?!

Happy Mother's Day!

Silly girls

We came home to find that Alan and Lex had gone for a long bike ride to the ice cream stand. Eve insisted on quiet time, the boys were away, so I enjoyed a cup of tea (yes, I drink a lot of tea!) and the Sunday paper. It was great!!

Watching Barney's latest video on FB. The kids deemed him "silly" and wondered when he was coming home again. :)

Lex built a castle out of connectagons.

Eve put pigtails in my hair. I tried to take a sweet picture of us together and this is what she gave me!

We ended the evening with our normal pick-your-own dinner, then Alan did the bedtime routine so I could get started on Lex’s birthday cookies. Yes, his birthday is still two weeks away but the cookies I’m making for him are complicated and time-consuming, so I wanted to get started early. They will be a product of love, for the sweetest boy in the world, the boy who made me a mother in the first place!

I am a very lucky mother.

I hope the rest of you had a lovely weekend as well.

Oh, what a busy weekend it has been, and it’s only Saturday!

Last night Eve’s school hosted family night at the science museum. Free admission for students and families. We brought along our new neighbor who had never been there before! It was a lot of fun. Usually when we walk into the science museum I scan the place to see if I know anyone, and often I do. This time we knew tons of people! Most of Eve’s class and some students who had been in PreK with Lex. Lots of friendly faces. Everyone had fun but it was a late night!

Little scientists

This morning at 8am our new neighbor was knocking on the door. It was cold outside so we invited him in. The crowd only grew from there! When it warmed up a bit we went outside and were joined by other neighbors. Eve and I ran a few quick errands (KAF, cupcake fundraiser, and farmers market) and then right back to the playing. At one point we had eight kids playing in our yard! Like an impromptu party! It was fun, but exhausting. Eve gave herself quiet time after a brief meltdown. A bit later Lex just up and left a crowd of boys, for no apparent reason. When he came in I asked “what’s up?” and he said he just wanted to be inside for awhile. Self-imposed quiet time for him as well. Quiet time came to an abrupt end when the ice cream truck came down the street!! Second time I’ve ever heard it around here and the first time we’ve ever gone.

Lunch on the porch. Yes, Eve is wearing winter boots. Why, I don't know. She is also on her second outfit of the day already.

Goldfish, taking a swim.

Eve at the ice cream truck (in her third outfit of the day)

Lex had a hard time making up his mind. Eve danced to the (painfully loud) music of the ice cream truck while we waited.

Ice cream! (I could NOT get all of them smiling at once! Crazy family.)

Messy girl

Eve on her fourth outfit of the day! Not because she's a fashionista or anything, just because she kept getting so messy! Rock on the head means she's well on her way to getting messy again! :)

More playing outside. Around 5:30 everyone was getting crabby so I brought my two in for much needed bathes and sent the rest of the crowds away. You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here!

The view from my window while making dinner tonight. That is Lex standing on the hood of the police car in the background there. They came in shortly after this and went right upstairs for baths!

Tomorrow is Mother’s Day and we already have more plans than time for them. I’ll have to talk with Alan tonight about what we can actually get done. All I know is I’d like a family day, not a yard full of neighborhood kids day. :)

I have been crafting this post in my head for a week now. Debating about what to post, whether or not to post, will I even remember the details, etc. Sometimes when I’m lying in bed with the kids at night I can make it sound just right in my head. Of course that will not be the case now that I’m at the keyboard.

Lex
Children are such puzzles. Sometimes their behavior shifts suddenly and drastically and leaves you feeling confused and concerned. Such a thing happened with Lex two (three?) weeks ago. I went to pick him up one day and his teacher was there instead. She told me he’d had an AWFUL day. He was rude to his teachers, stubborn, obstinate, disrespectful, etc. Very unlike Lex and she was concerned. I think this was a Thursday. He and I chatted a lot and he said “I have no idea!” or “You know I can’t remember!” He gave me no clues. The next few days were a little better, but then he started up again. His stubbornness started to focus on writing. He refused to write in his journal or at reading group. One day his teacher kept him in for recess and he said, “Good because the weather hasn’t been very comfortable for recess lately anyway.” He spent time in the office, he had several meetings with the principal, he missed recess, he missed snack time, he was just a rude, stubborn mess.

His teacher and I brainstormed together. Trying to pinpoint if something happened. Perhaps someone insulted his writing (his teacher told the principal that he’s the best writer in the class!), or someone wasn’t being nice to him at recess, or they were challenging him at reading group. We came up with A LOT of ideas! She tried a few things. I tried a few things. Nothing. She said he was more stubborn than ever.

As a parent I was left worrying about him (is something happening to him at school that he won’t tell me?!) and worrying for him (will he become that kid that the teachers all dread?). Also, of course, concerned for the teacher. She has a big class and doesn’t need to be dealing with this nonsense. Part of me hoped mine wasn’t the only problem child, but of course for her sake I sort of hoped he was.

Last Wednesday I was volunteering in the library and she came up to chat. She told me the principal had had a long conversation with Lex and was concerned about the situation. She was pleased with how the principal was handling it and agreed with him that we should all have a meeting together. He is a perfectly nice guy but I don’t want to go to the principal’s office!!

That night I decided we needed a new plan. Instead of trying to figure out what the problem was, I decided to try and just get past it. Perhaps something happened weeks ago and Lex was just stuck. He is a sameness kind of guy, after all. Perhaps he didn’t even know what the problem was anymore. So, remembering how well a sticker chart worked for us last year, I decided to try the same thing again. I proposed the idea to Lex and he loved it. He even made his own chart. We decided to hang it at school and ask his teacher to dole out a sticker at the end of the day if he has a good day. Five stickers in a row earns a small prize. Guess what? He’s like a whole new kid. Problem solved. Five days later his teacher said he has been cooperative and sweet and a pleasure to have around. “It’s like we have the old Lex back again!” she told me today.

Lex and his new sticker chart. His first prize was a picnic dinner in the living with Mr. Poppers Penguins.

I’m very pleased, but left kind of scratching my head. Was there a real problem? Had I tried this sticker idea after the first bad day could we have avoided the whole situation? Several people have commented that he’s playing me to get treats, but I don’t think so. I think he was truly having problems at school and just couldn’t handle it. What the problems were though, I guess we’ll never know.

At least I’m not being called into the principals office anymore! :)

Eve
Eve, on the other hand, is a perfect angel to the world while simultaneously killing me slowly with her tiny whines and foot stomps and other rude behaviors. Each individual occurrence is tiny and not a problem, but they build over the course of a day until we end up screaming at each other. Parenting at it’s finest. For the past few weeks I have been hoping she gets it together, gets past this phase, straightens up, etc. I have also been dreading the pre-teen years with this behavior!

Two nights ago while I was washing away the evening’s fight with lots of wine (kids were already in bed, don’t worry!) it occurred to me that “hoping” doesn’t really count as parenting. Maybe if I were a little more proactive… but it’s tough when the behavior is so small and happens anywhere and everywhere. Not like hitting where you have a clear consequence.

So I devised another plan. Another sticker chart. We now start each day with a half a roll of nickels in my pocket. Each time Eve is rude or disrespectful, stomps her foot, doesn’t stop her incessant noise after someone has asked her too, etc., I visually and obviously take a nickel from the roll and put it in my other pocket. If she has nickels left in the roll at the end of the day she gets a sticker on her chart. Five stickers in a row earns her a prize, just like Lex.

I thought for sure she would take a few days before she got a sticker, but guess what?! Yesterday was the nicest day we’ve had in a long time! She only lost five nickels, three of them at bathtime when she was protesting Alan bathing her. She happily earned her sticker. She’s only lost three so far today.

A very happy Eve with her new sticker chart.

Is this problem really solved? Was it really so easy? Why didn’t I do this weeks ago? Will the nice behavior continue if we stop doing the nickels? If not, maybe I’ll just do them forever!

—

Overall I think I earned a few stickers myself for these two accomplishments. At least a pat on the back. I’m going to say bribery is ok as a last resort. That’s my professional parenting opinion and I’m sticking to it! I now have a son who likes school again, a daughter who is happy and cooperative, and a husband who doesn’t have to come home to a miserable me every evening. Win-win-win-win!