Countdown

We are in countdown to Summer mode at the Smyser's.  We've worn out the Johnny Cash line about finding Noah's "cleanest dirty shirt" to wear to school.  Sometimes the homework folder gets opened, most nights, bedtime sneaks up on us and we're lucky just to get some teeth brushed.  It's embarrassing to say how often my kids are getting baths these days (I say the pool counts, Tim is more of a traditionalist).  I wrapped up 3 different schools last week and it felt like a colossal load off my shoulders.  I felt like I was constantly exceeding the 5 +/- 2 items in my short term memory and I haven't quite mastered a post-children strategy for recalling important information (writing things down only helps if you know where you wrote it!)  Typically it's 2:30 in the morning where my to-do list comes to me in crystal clear detail.  Then, there's Quinn.  The boy STILL DOES NOT SLEEP!  Sweet little monster will come in our bed and no longer demands milk and "Wild Cats" (Wild Kratts) at 4 a.m.- which is a good thing.  But he flips and flops, and touches my face to make sure I'm still there, apologizes for kicking me (bless his heart), and asks for water.  All of this after 3 measly hours of being in his own bed, one of which he spent yelling down at us to check to see what we are doing.  "YOU IN YOURS BED?" No. "OH."  "YOU WATCHING DASKETBALL?" Yes. "OH". 

Molly has successfully negotiated the end to her preschool experience and by "negotiate", I mean consistently protest and cry uncontrollably until I decided it just wasn't worth the effort.  I have enrolled her in Kindergarten and I can't envision a smooth transition but I'm hopeful.  I don't know what would possibly make a full day, five day a week Kindergarten more palatable to Molly than two days a week of preschool but trying to get into the mind of Molly is no easy feat.  In any case, we'll have two locations for morning drop off instead of three and I hope to maintain two jobs instead of three so I'm really hoping that our lives are a bit less chaotic next year.  Not that we ever plan for chaos...

I have to admit that things have been going so smoothly with Noah (relatively) that I'm not looking forward to Summertime Noah.  He has so many amazing qualities- entertaining himself is not one of them.  Maybe we created a monster by keeping him so busy but I tend to think we keep him busy because we know that keeping himself occupied has never been his strong suit.  We've got the usual lineup of camps, trips, and, of course, swim practice planned but that doesn't scratch the surface of the number of hours in a day to fill.  Molly and Noah have gotten better about getting outside and "exploring" but, with temperatures climbing into the 100s this week, I anticipate a lot of indoor play- whose idea was an open floor plan anyway (2400 Sq Ft and I can hear every squabble)!

I envision a lot of creek time in our future.

Benevolent Dictator

Quinn use to have a shirt that said "Benevolent Dictator" when he was just one and cute and smiley and NONVERBAL.  He has long outgrown the shirt but he more than grown into that title.  Although there is not much that is benevolent about Quinn at this tender age of 23 months.  He is demanding, exacting, fickle, loud and apparently needs less sleep than anyone else in the house.  I know this is usually when people say but ___ (insert: he melts my heart, his hugs make it all worth it) and typically I would but right now my head is so foggy that I can't think of any of the endearing things about him right now.  That's not true... If I say "Quinn, I like you", he points his finger at me and say "I lika you too".  And he's pretty damn cute with his brother and sister, even when he's throwing ball and non-ball toys at their heads. 

The good news is that as Quinn is getting more challenging, Noah and Molly are getting easier.  Noah, who has held the title of "Most Challenging Child" for seven years (albeit three of those were by default), is finally passing the crown to another sibling.  True to middle child form, the distinction is skipping Molly who always usually knows when to shape up.  She is so easy to have at home that I question the rationale of sending her to preschool against her will.  She is happy to do artwork or housework all day (Tim is better at engaging her in household tasks). 

We're keeping Noah busy because that is how it works best.  He's swimming 2 times a week, doing piano and we are considering gymnastics since he treats my furniture like a pommel horse.  People think I'm crazy for having him in so many activities but I tell them they haven't seen crazy until they've seen me cooped up in the house with three wild kids (2 of which do not entertain themselves particularly well).  Which is the scenario I'm faced with this week of Thanksgiving.  Fortunately, reinforcements (grandparents and Tim) will arrive tomorrow so I have one rainy day with no plans and three beautiful, healthy, energetic kids to try and entertain.  Hopefully the little dictator will take a long nap!

I just want to read

Molly woke me up at 5:45 this morning.  After a long week, all I wanted to do was sleep in.  But Molly had other plans.  I had a feeling she might so I armed myself with entertainment, an iPad, before going to bed.  I didn't anticipate Quinn joining the party at 6:15.  And these children don't want to cuddle at this hour.  No, it's wiggling and talking, and demanding.  In general, after a morning like this, my day (and my mood) never seems to recover.  Today was no exception.  I was cranky, short-tempered, and wanted nothing to do with the mound of laundry, the sippy cups with curdled milk, the whining, the tattling... I just want to read.  I've got a trilogy downloaded on my Kindle and book one has grabbed my interest.  All day long, between changing diapers, dishing food, refereeing arguments, and trying to figure out what the baby is screaming about, I stole moments to read.  Of course the demands don't stop while I'm reading, but I dodge, defer, ignore and plead with the kids- "I'll get your baby in a minute", "You need a wipe?  I'm coming", "Quinny's scratching your face?  Don't put your face by his hands!"  And now I've got all three in bed and I've can hear the baseline of C+C Music Factory's Everybody Dance Now blaring from next door.  I know I've said that it would be nice to have full time neighbors- both of our immediate neighbors are part timers.  One we never hear and the other has a party 80% of the time she's here.  The band is done but they've got the dance party mix pumping now and I just can't curl up with a book with "ice ice baby" blasting in the background.  And Tim's working overtime tomorrow which means my weekend of recovery from the chaos of our week will not involve much in the way of actual rejuvination.  Maybe next weekend!

March Madness

Not any extraordinary madness, just the run-of-the-mill madness that comes with having 3 children.  Everyone is healthy and happy (for the most part).  Noah started basketball this year and it has tranformed our whole house.  He is now able to go outside (on his own) and shoot hoops (on his own) for up to 30 minutes (on his own).  This is big monumental.  This boy has not shown any proclivity for entertaining himself in the 5 1/2 years he's been walking.  I think the only reason he tolerated solitude prior to walking was due to his limited mobility.  So the boy LOVES basketball.  He even chooses to shoot hoops before playing his Nintendo DS (miracle of all miracles).  And the kid is pretty good.  And he's not afraid to tell you.  He scored 8 points in his second game and he's been offensive minded ever since (I'm now shouting "pass" instead of "shoot it").  Tim and I are having a blast watching him play.  He's also doing swim team which started out tenuous (tears before every practice) and his turning into something really positive.  He just finished Polar Bear Club where the kids are rewarded for swimming at least 3 times per week through the winter months.  And last month he was awarded "Swimmer of the Month".  So, for Noah alone, we have been committed to 4 afternoons a week of practice. 

Then there are Molly's activities.  She is in preschool two mornings a week.  She never wants to go and never wants to leave.  She's also been doing ballet for about a year and she loves it!  It is the perfect activity for her: dressing up, silly music, and lots of mirrors.  She's in heaven.  We've also got her back in swim lessons after a brief hiatus from lessons where she spent the majority of class on the steps.  She's been back at it for about 6 months and what a difference!  She's a fish!  I've been mentally cataloguing her favorite (or as she says "fravorite") sayings so that I don't miss out on recording them for posterity.  One of my fravorites is her use of "whobody", as in, "Whobody wants to play babies".  This girl is a one-of-a-kind!


And, finally, Quinn.  Poor Quinn has gotten very little virtual exposure so his records are going to have some sizable gaps.  Just to get some recordkeeping out of the way: He walked just after his first birthday.  His first word was "uh oh".  His first teeth came just before his first birthday so mama stopped nursing him just after his first birthday... ouch!  His top two teeth just came in a few weeks ago and it was pretty miserable here for most of their descent.  Drool. Snot. Blowouts that have made us shelve the cloth diapers.  Inconsolable night wakings.  That about sums it up for us.  We seem to be getting a reprieve (4 down, 16 to go).  Despite all of this, the boy is pure sunshine.  He's got a bit of separation anxiety but if all of his peeps are in one spot, he's a happy camper.  His favorite thing on the planet is balls.  And he's digging the light sabers.  But he wants to be outside with big brother playing ball.  And he's more into the toilet than Tim and I remember the other kids were.  That kid has a sixth sense for the bathroom door being open.  And Molly has a hard time remembering to flush.  Yeah, ewww!  Here are some pics from the last few months:

Birthday Boy!

Summer morning

I'm sitting at the kitchen table across from Molly reading my new book on my computer (just found the kindle app for PC- technology blows my mind!). She's painting a picture for a friend's birthday tomorrow and she looks so beautiful that I had to stop reading and write a little bit. She sucks on her bottom lip when she's focusing on something (or trying to go to sleep) and when she's looking down, her eyelashes are so long it looks like her eyes are closed. Her hair is in two french braids (rarely done because she typically screams and bolts when I try and french braid her hair). Last night she calmly sat watching Popeye as I braided her hair. Her hair is almost always disheveled but I think the look suits her well.

The one time her hair looked neat was on the day of her baptism. We had a good chunk of the Brady and Smyser clans up to celebrate with us. Molly looked beautiful in her white (princess) dress. I used a blow drier and a straight iron on her hair and it looked adorable (although the spots where she had cut her hair a week before were more noticeable). The baptism went well- neither kid made a peep while being held over the baptismal font. We loved having everyone at our house for the weekend- we hardly saw our kids they were so busy playing with their cousins.

Noah is re-enacting his Kung Fu Panda 2 DS game. His playing style has not changed in the last 4 years, he has just gotten new material (and more sophisticated ways of "killing bad guys". The same is true for potty talk. Nothing has changed, just more material. He's in basketball camp this week- Tim and I are trying to play it cool but we're both secretly hoping that he decides he loves basketball. He showed a minute of interest in basketball and we both jumped on it. We bought him an adjustball basketball hoop for his birthday, got him a Jr. ball and enlisted the grandparents to get him basketball gear. At one point he asked, "Why did you get me all basketball stuff for my birthday?" He seems to like camp so we'll see how it goes...

Quinn is up in his crib fussing so I'll have to update on him another time. He's pretty easy to summarize- he's a doll! Smiley, happy (except for now), easy- doll!

More Molly gems

We've graduated from "No look me", "No touch me" to more sophisticated reprimands and threats.

In a 10-minute time period while Tim put Molly down for a nap:

1) Why are you so mean?

2) Your breath stinks.

3) You need to wash yourself

While Molly and I took a bath, she asks me, "Why are you touching me?" I told her that I didn't have any other place to put my hand and she replied "If you touch me, I'm gonna kick you."

The Bagel Song

So, this morning at breakfast- there really should be a different name for this meal if it occurs in the early 6 o'clock hour, like the distinction between breakfast and brunch- Molly and I are sitting at the table:

E: Are you going to stay with me while I finish my bagel?

M: What?

E: Are you going to stay with me while I finish my bagel?

M: Do you remember the bagel song?

E: No?

M: Do you remember the bagel song?

E: No, I don't remember.

M: Remember, it goes like this: Bagel Song... Remember?

E: I don't remember.

M: I AM remember.

E: Then tell me the song.

M: Bagel song. Remember?

At least I had a cup of coffee first.