Excuse Me

Colby tooted.
C: Mom, my bottom 'excused me'!
M: Yup
C: Mom, my bottom burped!
M: Uh-huh
C: It did it again!
M: OK.
C: My bottom said 'excuse me' because it thought it was brown yuckie, but it wasn't.
M: Thanks for explaining.

SMILE!

Reagan was playing a board game with her brothers and I the other day. Dad thought it was photo-worthy, so snapped a few pictures. He told Colby to make his sister smile, which Colby took literally :). Um... you could have just told her "Say CHEESE!"

Bug Eating Leperchauns

The boys have yet ANOTHER cold. It's very annoying, this constant illness. It started out "digestive tract" in focus this past weekend, and led to "respiratory" by Monday. So Quinn and I were talking about the bugs in his nose.

Q: "How do the bugs get out of my nose?"

M: "Your white blood cells eat them."

Q: "WHAT are white blood cells?"

M: "Macrophages."

Q: "What's a leperphage look like?"

M: "Macrophage."

Q: "Faprophage."

M: "Macrophage."

Q: "Leperchaun."

So we googled macrophage (isn't Google wonderful???) and spent a good chunk of time this morning talking about the human immune system. Found some AWESOME pictures, discussed bacteria, which led to a talk about Vitamin C. The conversation continued over breakfast, where Quinn sneezed.

M: "Cover your nose, so the bugs don't come out!"

Q: "But I WANT them out!"

M: "But they'll make other people sick!"

Q: "How bout I sneeze on the stove, then?"

M: "Not a good idea?"

Q: "Why, will the stove catch a cold?"

M: "Uhhhh... no. But other people will touch it, pick up your bugs, and then get sick."

Q: "Oh. Then their leperchauns will eat the bugs."

M: "Macrophage. Never mind."

A Breakthrough

Colby had been having a rough few months - very teary and whiny, making a lot of bad choices, wetting the bed EVERY NIGHT. He started having accidents during the day the past few weeks as well. SOMETHING was going on with this little boy, and we assumed it was due to the new baby sister. Well, we decided to try having him sleep in a separate room from his brother. For the past 5 days, he's been on a mattress in Reagan's room. Know what? He's a different kid!!! Completely! He hasn't wet the bed ONCE in that time (a record!), no more accidents during the day, and he is a pleasant, happy boy again! How dumb can his mother be, not realizing that the boy hasn't been sleeping since getting bunk beds and sharing the top bunk with his brother! The boys were waking each other up, even though they would go to sleep together just fine (which is all I was witnessing). They really need their own rooms, but that would require some home renovations that we're just not able to do at the moment. So for now, Reagan sleeps by Mommy in her room, and Colby can take over Reagan's room. It's made all the difference in the world....

Quinn's Quotes

Quinn's been on a roll today...

Quote #1 (when daddy is showing mommy his new gun): "I'm supposed to raise both my hands like this now, aren't I?" It wasn't a stick-up, Quinn!

Quote #2 (when opening the bathroom door for his brother): "WELCOME TO POTTYLAND!"

Quote #3 (While patting his baby sister on the head and making an announcement to the general audience): "Ladies and GentleReagans!"

Quote #4 (During night-time prayers, when asked what he'd like to thank God for): "Temptation!"

He makes me laugh!!!

The Appetite

I am up at 6 am feeding the baby in complete darkness. I hear rumblings in the kitchen. What's going on? I investigate to find Colby, crying, on a stool in front of the refrigerator.
"Sweetie, what's the matter?" I ask him.

"I'M HUNGRY!" he wails.
I get him a yogurt, which he devours in all of 30 seconds or so, and then he puts himself back to bed and falls instsantly to sleep.

It's remarkably like Reagan in that regard - can't quite make it through a full night without having to wake up to be fed. I tremble at the thought of appetites during puberty.

Warmth

It's 50 degrees. That's warm, but not THAT warm. The boys took a sauna with Dad on Sunday, and decided that they were plenty warm to run around for an hour afterwards... buck naked. Well, at least until mom made them put on shoes (see, there in the snow bank instead of on his feet.... shoes!) I'm just excited that they WANT to be outside now. And that I don't have to put snow pants on them anymore!!!

Overheard Part II

Quinn (while playing with his toy cars): "You put your left monster truck in, you put your left monster truck out, you put your left monster truck in, and you shake it all about......"

Quinn In A Box

It amazes me how small a space they can completely fit into. This is the box for the bumbo seat that Reagan just got. Wow. They're really good at Hide and Seek, too!

Thought Process

Poor Colby has been getting in trouble alot lately, so we are trying to teach him how to make "good choices". This might be a little too much for an impulsive four year old boy, but we're TRYING to get him to ask himself the following questions before doing something questionable....

1. Will it hurt me?
2. Will it hurt someone else?
3. Will it cause something to break?
4. Will it make a mess?
5. (This one from dad) Will it WASTE SOMETHING?

We've been trying to talk out the thought process with BOTH boys, but I think we've got a little more work to do. I found Quinn climbing up onto the end table repeatedly, and then jumping off, and telling me "I made a good choice! I got off the table because I could get hurt!" Ugh. And, right after Colby finished cleaning up the wall after smearing make-up all over it, during my lecture about "good choices", he started pulling all the floss out of it's container. Thus questions #5. Rob told him "Colby, you're DOING IT RIGHT NOW!" He just said "oh. Sorry." Like he didn't even realize what his little hands were doing. It's not sinking in.

Jesus Laughing

Quinn: "Mom, what does Jesus laughing sound like?"
Mom: "I don't know. What does it sound like?"
Quinn (insert 'DUH' look here) "I don't know! I can't hear Him!"
It was a good question, though.

A New Family For Colby

Last night after our Mothers of Preschoolers meeting, Colby started following the wrong mom out in the parking lot. She jokingly asked him "Oh! Are you coming home with us?" He apparently DID want to go home with them, because he climbed in their van, buckled himself up in the back seat, and absolutely REFUSED to come out. Quinn, back in our van, told me "Mom, Colby doesn't like us anymore". Hmmmmmm. I physically forced Colby into our own van after about 10 minutes of cajoling - kicking and screaming. He cried himself to sleep in the van on the way home. I didn't think we were THAT bad!!!

Just Overheard....

Colby to Quinn: "No! I don't look like you! You look like me!"

Too funny.

Danger Everywhere

This constant vigilance keeping the children alive is draining. Colby was reportedly going to the bathroom in my bedroom. When it took longer than the required 30 seconds, I went to check on him. There he was, underwear around his ankles, holding a match and my hairspray. I know he knows how to light a match, as he's done it before. AAAAHHH! Bad combination. It would just be our luck that my children would explode themselves with household items. Disaster narrowly averted. At least this time.

This Mom Business

Some days, I think to myself "how will I ever survive being a mother?" Other days, like today, I think being a mom is the best job in the whole world. They are few and far between, these "good mom" days, but when they occur, it makes it all worthwhile. After school today, the boys had a snack (of HEALTHY not junky food), made books, learned spelling words with the refrigerator magnet letters, and then went swimming in the hot tub. Just a well-controlled, un-manic, productive preschool afternoon. It was so nice. Why can't every afternoon be like this?