Dining with Celebrities

I never know who I'm going to get when I see my children. In the morning lately, I've woken up to two Spidermen in the room. Tonight at dinner - a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle and a Power Ranger. Not that either boy has seen either show, but we have the costumes, and so there they were at dinner. They were talking about which superhero foods would make them grow the tallest. And then Quinn got very worried, because when he grew that tall, his head would hit the ceiling, and the ceiling would break and make a mess, and then Mom would get MAD. Messes are currently my biggest pet peeve, because they are constant, fully preventable, and require much too much of my time. I told him that, if by chance he grew 10 feet tall by eating pepperoni pizza for dinner, and the ceiling subsequently collapsed, I would not get mad, as it would obviously be an accident.
"Oh, Mommy doesn't get mad if it's an ask-i-dent? Like when I spilled my milk?" Yes. Like that, superhero.

Then Colby went into a long history of how, because he was a turtle and all, he tried "swimming" on the kitchen floor, which made Quinn mad because there wasn't any WATER on the kitchen floor, so he took it upon himself to give Colby a spanking. "Black superhero hit the turtle, and the turtle cried." Yes, I had heard the entire exchange when it happend. But how do you mediate a fight about pretend turtles swimming in pretend water, being reprimanded by a pretend superhero? It seemed pointless to intervene, so I didn't, until the hitting occurred, at which point parental instinct took over.

Life's not so easy when the house is full of superheros.

Beavis and Butthead

Sometimes, having 4 year olds is like living with Beavis and Butthead. I was singing a blessing over them tonight, to the tune of Edelweiss. It's very pretty. This is how it went tonight....

Mom: "May the Lord, mighty God, bless and keep you forever
Grant you Peace...."

Quinn: "heh heh heh. You said 'pees' ".

Mom: "Grant you PEACE, perfect PEACE, courage in every endeavor."

UGH.

Pre-schooler-isms

These were two statements in a row this morning, by two different preschoolers. Anyone care to interpret?

Colby: "The toilet seat is crunchy"
Quinn: "My shoes want a strawberry bar".

WHAT??

Chore Chart, here we come!

When the boys got off the school bus yesterday, I put their (brand new, first time worn) gloves, hats and nametags in their backpacks, hung up their coats, and put their shoes under the bench. By the time I got home from observation at the hospital, one hat, one glove, one coat, and one entire pair of shoes was MISSING. And both boys were coatless and barefoot playing outdoors in 40 degree weather. UGH!!! This morning getting ready for school was a complete scramble, with Quinn wearing last-year's too small coat, and Colby wearing last-year's too-small shoes, adult-sized gloves, and a bright orange hat that matches NOTHING. All this after the tantrum this morning about not being able to find ONE PARTICULAR toy, that Quinn just HAS to play with, despite the mounds of other toys he owns. I think it's time to start a chore chart, and give some responsibility to little boys for keeping track of their own things! Mom is already overwhelmed with daily things while 8 1/2 months pregnant -- and four years old is old ENOUGH, I think....

Thanks

The boys, in a continuing trend to get up at o'dark thirty, walked into my bathroom just as I was toweling off (I've GOT to get a lock for that door). Unphased, Colby just looked at me in my underwear and said "That's a big one, mom". Uh-huh.

Bedtime Story

I love the age of four. We still have our "moments", but overall, the boys are sweet, wild, and good boys. They have been up since six a.m. without a nap, so I wanted to get them to bed ASAP after dinner and a shower. They, however, wanted a book read to them. We negotiated, and agreed that they would lie down quietly in the dark, and I would make up a bedtime story for them, for them to listen to. This was the story:

"Once upon a time, there were two little boys named Quinn and Colby. They wanted some applesauce, so they went into the woods to pick some apples. Suddenly, a big, mean bear jumped out in front of them and started growling. GRRRRR. He wanted to eat their apples. Morgan, the black dog, jumped in front of Quinn and Colby and started barking RUFFF RUFF RUFFF . The bear was so scared, he ran away. And Quinn and Colby brought mom their apples and they all made applesauce for dessert. THE END."

Not the most creative, exciting story in the world, but short (which was my only goal).

Colby's response?

"That's such a GOOD ONE, Mom." Thanks little man. They're so easy to please at this age:).

The age of Irrationality

So, I KNOW they were tired on Tuesday night, as we got home late from our church meeting. And I KNOW that they got up way way too early for the next school day. It's just funny to me how that translates into irrational thoughts.

When coming home on Tuesday night, Quinn started crying for a HALF HOUR because he wanted to live in a GRAY house and he was stuck with a BLUE house. I told him our house was gray, but he was NOT buying it. He brought it up again yesterday morning. Very disappointed that we lived in the house we did, because he thought, apparently, (because we had to detour due to a car wreck on the way home on Tuesday night) that we were going to a new house and that THIS TIME it would be gray instead of blue. Sorry. We're not moving every time we have to go home a different way.

Yesterday, then, since they went to bed at 10 pm and woke up at 6 am, I knew the boys would be tired, and picked them up from school rather than having them ride the bus. Colby was already almost comatose by 1 pm. I told the boys we were going to stop by Grandma and Grandpa's house to give them something, and then go home and nap. Quinn INSISTED on stopping by Aunt Diane and Uncle Tom's house first. In MINNESOTA. I told him it was far far away. He said he was in the mood for a long trip. I told him they weren't expecting us, and we didn't know if they were at home. He said "I know! We'll look in a telescope to see far away and find out if they're home!" Good plan, but I did not have a telescope. When we arrived at Grandma and Grandpa's, he cried and refused to get out of the car to say hi for the first 15 minutes or so, because his mean mom refused to take him to Minnesota to visit Aunt Diane and Uncle Tom. Luckily, Grandpa's offer of icecream coaxed him out of the car.