Christmas Part 2

Colby: "MOM! I didn't know we were so close to Santa!"
Mom: "What are you talking about?"
Colby: "It goes Chassell, then the North Pole! On the globe! We're so close!"

Yes. We're at the end of the world. Really.

Christmas

The boys have been having a hey-day with all the Christmas ads coming in the newspaper. They've been circling EVERY toy. Colby just asked me if he could just send the newspapers with the circled ads directly to Santa rather than having to write a letter. LAZINESS. Anyways, I was a little concerned that they were getting swept up in the hub-bub and missing the TRUE meaning of Christmas. So I asked them about it.

Mom: "Boys, do you remember what Christmas is all about?"
Q&C: "Santa! Presents!"
Mom: "No. What does Christmas celebrate?"
Q&C: "I don't remember". Uh oh. How soon they forget.
Mom: "Is it somebody's birthday?"
Q&C: "Oh! Jesus!" Yes.
Mom: "Jesus wants us to give to OTHERS in celebration of His birthday. It's not about the presents we get."
Colby: "But MOM! Jesus doesn't play with TOYS! He doesn't want these, I do!"
Great. Walmart has more influence over my kids than I do.

Sleep Study

We had a doctor come talk to us last month at our Mothers of Preschoolers group about sleep disorders in children. This doctor mentioned that it is NEVER normal for a small child to snore. Really? Colby has snored since an infant! He cited statistics describing children with poor quality sleep having issues with attention, focus, weight gain, and incontinence at night. HMMMM. Sound like anyone I know?? Anways, I figured it was worth checking out, to see if Colby was suffering from childhood sleep apnea. His sleep study was last night, and I have to say, he hasn't had a WORSE night's sleep in a long time. Colby was such a good boy - it took almost an hour to hook him up, and he sat there patiently, not freaking out in the least when they were strapping sensors all over his body (head, face, ears, finger, chest, legs....). Wires everywhere (probably at least 30!), and every time he turned over once asleep (which was frequent), one or another of them came off. Necessitating the sleep tech to come in, wake him up, and put it back on. Four to five times an HOUR. And, just because we were there in a sleep lab supposedly monitoring for such things... Colby didn't snore. Well, once for a few minutes, but that was it. And I assure you, I was awake most of the night listening for it. These people are probably thinking "What a hypochondriac that mother is"! We'll get official results in a few weeks. I sure hope we didn't waste everyone's time. Not that I hope he HAS sleep apnea. But if he DID, it'd sure be an easy fix by taking out his tonsils.

Semantics

Dad: (while rough housing with Colby) "I smell pee. What stinks?"
Mom: "Colby, did you wet your pants?"
Colby: "No. They WERE wet, but I've worn them long enough so they're dry again now."
Mom: "Go change your pants. Now."

UGH.

Literacy

My boys can READ! It is so exciting. It's just the coolest thing ever. Both boys spent dinner reading to Rob and I from different books. Simple books, but there was actual READING, and sounding out, and all that good stuff. I can't tell you how cool I think that is. Another milestone tonight, when I read the boys Pippi Longstocking at bedtime. There were no PICTURES. They were confused by that at first, but I explained how the pictures to this book were in their heads, and they could make them look like whatever they wanted. They thought Pippi was hilarious, and were laughing at the thought of a little girl carrying a horse. So obviously, they were imagining it all vividly. Just a long-standing dream of mine to be able to read chapter books to my kids at night, and instill a love of reading. And now I get that experience. I'm so blessed. I love being a mom.

For The Record

5 years 4 months stats for little boys:
Quinn - height 44.5 inches, weight 44 pounds. A perfect square.

Colby - height 44.5 inches, weight 41 pounds. A little more of a rectangle.

I know this compliments of various doctors appointments the boys have gone to lately, for completely random reasons.

Science Night at School

Last night was "Science Night" at the boys' school, wherein college students came to teach about various scientific principles. Colby didn't make it, as I didn't think it would look good to miss school but make it to the fun night =). So Quinn and I learned about Gravity and Color. Amazing to me how this little boy, from two introverted parents who wouldn't say "boo" as children, came to be such a confident, center-of-attention type kid. During the gravity talk, Quinn frequently raised his hand to answer questions, and bragged that he could balance a popscicle stick on his nose. While learning about rainbows during the color portion, Quinn importantly raised his hand when asked if anyone knew anything special about rainbows. This was his answer:

Q: "Yes. A rainbow was over our house once. At the end of it was a pot of gold."

When the other kids laughed and said that that only happened on "Leperchaun Day", Quinn got visibly indignant.

Q: "It isn't Leperchaun Day. It's St. Patrick's Day. And the pot of gold is ALWAYS there."

I wish.

The Hair Dressers

The boys often like to fix my hair while I'm doing something (like blogging at the computer ;) ). As long as it doesn't hurt too bad, I let them have their way with it. This morning, they were doing just that, when I felt Colby rub something plastic down the back of my head. I didn't think much of it, until he said the following:

C: "We'll make this hair short, then we can turn you into a boy!"
M: "WHAT?"
C: "I'm using this shaver thing to make your hair short!"
M: "What is that???? Give me that!" It was a razor from the bathroom, with several strands of my hair in it.
C: "Don't you want to be a boy?"
M: "NO! I want to be a girl!"
Q: "If you were a boy, you could be our dad."
M: "You already HAVE a dad. "
Q: "But then we could have TWO dads. A tall dad, and a short dad. You could be the short dad."
M: "I don't WANT to be a dad. I want to be a mom, and I want to be a girl. NEVER shave my head again!"
C: "Sheesh, Mom."
Q: "Whatever."

I am SOOOO unreasonable, I know.

A Wonderful Developmental Step

A first for Colby, and a developmental milestone which we have been AXIOUSLY awaiting for...well.... 5 years. Last night, Colby got up in the middle of the night, went to the bathroom, and then went back to bed!! He's been dry through the night for a WEEK now. This is HUGE. Do you know the time and money we'll save on laundry costs? Do a little dance!!!!! Wooo doggy.

An Evening Out

Because mom has a cold and was more than a little crabby today, Daddy suggested we load up the gang and head to Applebee's for dinner. I didn't object. The boys, however, seemed STUNNED. It was 5:30 pm, and already fully dark.

C: "This is a night time trip! A trip in the dark!"
Q: "I can't SEEEEEE anything out here!"
C: "Mom, the movie store is open at night??? I didn't know any stores were open at night?"
Q: "Can we please drive with the lights on? I can't SEEEE anything!"

I had to think back long and hard, and.... it really HAS been quite awhile since we went anywhere with the kids after dark. They acted like it was the first time ever. My goodness. We were home by 7 pm. It just gets dark early around here!

For the Record

First marking period in kindergarten, and parent teacher conferences this past week. I was a little nervous. The report came back pretty much as expected, though. Fine motor skills not so great, all academics on track. And CANNOT. SIT. STILL. (What, MY boys??????) The teacher, Rob and I brainstormed some ideas to help with the fine motor stuff, and we now have a new, readily accessible craft cart in the kitchen filled with anything their little hearts could possibly desire in order to cut, glue, color, or draw. Rob kept asking the teacher "But you said they're SMART, right? You meant that? You're not just being nice? They're actually SMART?" ;). He SOOOO wants them to be engineers like him! Heck, they're already taking after his handwriting. I'm sure they'll make wonderful engineers. Oh, the other problem the teacher brought up, which of course we have known about since they were babies, is that their dang pants will NOT stay up. Despite adjustable waist bands. Despite belts. Despite everything. The kids don't have BUTTS. I went out and bought them sweats with drawstrings. Those seem to work better than denim at least. Who knew that the fact they don't have rumps would come up on their report cards??????

In God's Image

Sometimes the boys can be so PROFOUND, it shocks me. Because it comes from the mouths of the same children whose favorite words are "poop" and "butt", and cannot seem to keep gum from out of their hair. Anyways. Last night's dinner conversation, instigated by a rain storm outside.

Colby: "Mom, when it rains, does it mean that God's angry?"
Mom: "No! It means God loves his world! He sends rain because the plants are thirsty! He's giving them a drink!"
Colby: "How does God make rain?"
Mom: "I have no idea."
Colby: "He can do ANYTHING."
Mom: "Yup, He can."
Colby: "I can do anything, too, like God."
Mom: "Well, we have rules to follow. And God has power."
Colby: "No! When I play with my toys!"
Mom: "What do you mean?"
Colby: "When I play with my toys, I can make ANYTHING happen, just like God can!"
AHHHHHHH. Imagination. I was starting to get it. Yes.
Rob was staring at Colby during this conversation like he was listening to the Wise Man on the Mountaintop. Obviously dumbfounded. Both of us were. Colby noticed that we were both staring incredulously at him, so he leaned over and gave me a hug.

Colby: (Taking the words right out of my mouth) "Oh, Mom, WHAT are you going to do with me?"
Rob: "I'll tell you what she's going to do. She's going to write down what you said on the computer!"
Rob's getting good at recognizing "bloggable" moments in our life ;)

Bald

Colby got gum stuck in his hair today. In the same exact spot Quinn did less than a month ago. I cut it out, a little too short, and he had a big bald spot in the middle of his forehead. Not good. So I decided to give him a hair cut to "even it out". To even out bald, though, you have to shave pretty close, so I got out my clippers, which are decidedly dull. After 10 minutes, the kid looked HORRIBLE. Bald patches here and there, with long strings elsewhere. AWFUL. Like someone had torn his hair out by the roots. Rob, ever so helpful after the fact, said "why didn't you use peanut butter to get it out, like everyone else does?" OOOHHH. Duh. I called my local hairdresser at home with our hair emergency. She was INCREDIBLY gracious and agreed to fix my son's hair on a Sunday afternoon, at her home. PHEW! Colby now has a very very very close-shaved crew cut, but at least it's all basically one length.

Quinn just came up to me, crying. When I asked what was wrong, he said "But I want to be bald, too!!!"

I'll be making another hair appointment soon, I guess.