Pardon my French

This morning I was busying my self in the kitchen, mostly ignoring the screams of my children as they both played and fought under my feet. But then suddenly I heard Mylie say something that made me tune in.

She was lying under the dining room table saying, “Butt Wipe! Butt wipe! Butt wipe!”

I was startled, but tried not to give it too much attention, so I casually asked, “What are you saying?”

She smiled and repeated it, but I realized it sounded a little more like “Butt Why.”

Still perplexed, I realized I should find out where she was learning such atrocious language, so I could know whose mother to tattle to. So, I calmly asked, “Where did you learn that?”

At that point, she motioned up to the bottom of of the chair under which she was lying, and said, “Right there!”

When I poked my head under, I saw the bright orange factory sticker that said, “Inspected By:” with someone’s scrawled initials. She pointed again and said, “See!? Buh-Y!”

She was sounding out the word, “by,” and although we’ve made great progress lately with our reading skills, we still get stuck a little on those tricky letters… Like the ones that are sometimes vowels and sometimes consenants.

I was so glad that our morning lesson got to be on the sound the letter Y makes and what initials are, instead of on the appropriate and innapropriate use of languange. The good news is I don’t have to go have any smack downs with any little butt-wipes brats for teaching my kid naughty words!

So, for the last year, I’ve been slowly working at getting my life more in order. Now, I realize it’s an impossible goal. I realize everyone (especially anyone with children) feels like she’s on a hamster wheel, running like crazy and going no where. But it’s always good to make improvements, right?

I handled the learning curve from 0 to 1 child with ease (in my opinion). I felt like we understood her, and we got on a good routine very early on. The switch from 1 to 2 children has been less smooth. I’ve struggled with being out numbered. I’ve had much more difficulty getting out. And for the life of me, I still can’t get on a good routine that works a majority of the time.

A portion of this I chalk up to the fact that my brother has been living with us since last July. And even though he is usually good at helping out when asked, even on the best of days, it’s still an extra body in a small house. And I’ve recently realized that he arrived just at the point when I should have been starting to settle into a routine. And since that time, it’s been nearly impossible to establish a good one.

Nevertheless, I try. And I try. And I try. And slowly, I’m making progress. I’ve started trying to go to bed earlier, and to get up to work out at 6am. On the days when I manage, it makes my life go so much easier (though it’s hard to remember that when the alarm goes off!). And I’ve also been using some of the helpful hints at Flylady, which is an incredible resource for those who haven’t seen it before.

One of her best hints is to get up early (before the kids) and to shower and get dressed to the shoes. This also includes doing hair and makeup. So, I’ve been trying, and occasionally succeeding (baby steps). And the funny thing is, not only do I feel better, but wouldn’t you know it, I get tons more compliments. Crazy, huh? Makes me slightly embarrassed for how I paraded around before. But nevertheless, it’s nice. And when I saw this comic in the paper yesterday, I cracked up. There’s something about the Baby Blues comic that is nearly ALWAYS applicable to my life at whatever point I happen to read it. They’re so darn funny. Hope you enjoy it like I did!

Unfortunately, I couldn’t get this picture any larger. You may have to click on it for a slightly bigger version.

I know that the main purpose for a blog like this is all about bragging, but I do try to keep it to a minimum. However, every once in awhile it eeks out. This, for example, is what I found the other day when Mylie called out “Look what I did, Mom!” I was nervous that I might find something broken or destroyed, but I was happily surprised when I came around the corner to see this little construction. Okay, I know it’s simple. But the balance and symmetry of the thing just spoke to me. And I’m pretty sure what it said to me was, “Your child is brilliant.” I’m sure it also mentioned something like, “Her steady hand means she’ll have a great career as a brain surgeon.” Or something like that…

They both have colds, runny noses and goopy red eyes, but is there a sweeter picture? I will say, it seems like it’s taken us awhile to get to this point. At first, Mylie was the world’s greatest big sister, watching out for the baby and guarding him from the wild wild world. But then he started moving around. And getting into her stuff. And generally destroying her single-child life as she’d known it, and it seemed like all we ever heard were screams and shrieks, and all we ever said was “Don’t grab that out of his hands!!”

But in the past few months we’ve turned a bit of a corner. Sure, there’s still the sibling issues that will always be there. Let’s face it, siblinghood is a dog-eat-dog world. But these little moments are springing up more and more. Like in the shopping cart today at Costco when Nolan snuggled into Mylie’s shoulder for a good 10 minutes in the shopping cart. I hardly dared to breathe or even look at them (tough feat when you’re not tall enough to look over them), lest I ruin the moment. And later in the afternoon when Mylie decided it was even more fun to push Nolan on his swing than to play on her own. Or like the other day when Mylie announced that Nolan was her best friend. Or like last week when they played together in our Harry Potter closet under the stairs, laughing and cackling for 30 minutes in their own private fort.

Yes, I’ll take the shrieks in return for moments like these when the only appropriate word is: “Awwww”

“Easter’s my best!” That would be a direct quote from Mylie, who loves holidays and it just so happens that whatever holiday is currently happening is usually dubbed her “best.” We did try to spend a good deal of time this year describing the true meaning of Easter, but we’d be lying if we said we didn’t all enjoy a good Easter egg hunt! We had a great little one at a church just down the street, and took one of Nolan’s good friends with us. So fun!

Nolan, showing off his basket to friends, Jessica & Jackson.

“Is it time, yet?”

Field of dreams…

Nolan, walking the line, scoping out the spoils, and making a game-plan

More pre-hunt studying. It’s serious business.

A new tactic… Nolan decided that since he couldn’t grab the eggs yet, he could get a stick and poke at them from outside the designated lines…

Mylie thought she might try the big kid hunt this year, but at the last minute she decided she couldn’t wait, and joined the baby hunt, for which she still barely qualified (ages 0-3).

It took Nolan about 0.5 seconds to figure out what to do with the eggs and where to put them.

The process got slower, however, when he realized there was candy in each egg, and had to stop and open it before he put it in the bag.

They drew 4 door prizes for each age group. Out of the four drawn for the 0-3 age group, our children got 2. Yes, that’s right. Both Mylie and Nolan won a door prize. We were so proud. Here’s Mylie with her gift pack.

And Nolan with his Baskin-Robbins gift certificate that he has so graciously agreed to share with Daddy.

And a few more pics of the actual Easter event in the Winters’ home. The Easter Bunny was good to us all.

Easter is, apparently, Nolan’s best as well, judging from the look on his face.

And this one, just because they look so darn cute all dressed up for church.

This is what happens when you turn little boys loose in the backyard. The fingernails are my personal favorite. And no, he’s not crying because he’s just ingested dirt. He’s crying because I wouldn’t pick him up and transfer that mess on to me!