Daycare

"Daycare" was not what I wanted to do when I made the decision to stay home from work with my boys.  I knew that I was going to have to do something - I couldn't go from being the bread winner to being the bread eater.  I mean we wouldn't have the $1200.00 a month childcare bills but we still needed a place to live!  I was thinking about part time jobs at Principal and Starbucks.  There are 2 ends of the spectrum!  Then I thought - hmmm I wonder if Andy and Claudia would let me watch Miles.  There, problem solved.  Well, other people have gotten wind of my 'business' and now I am having to turn people down!!!  I am a little lazy sometimes and I don't know if I could handle a house full of children!  Anyway, I have decided to watch another little boy, Will.  He is 6 days younger than Bennett and his mom is a teacher I used to work with at the Downtown School.  He will be here on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday of next week while his mom is in training and then start full time August 18th.  I am so excited.  They were here today for a play date and Will is just the sweetest little boy.  I can't wait to watch him and Bennett play together.  What fun it will be!  The family I had to turn down was another teacher from the Downtown School.  Her little boy Cole is 3 days older than Miles.  It would have been like taking care of 2 sets of twins less than 9 months apart AND Harrison.  Holy cow!  I know I could have done it and handled all of the work, I just worry that Harrison would have gotten the raw deal.  In my experiences with in-home child cares, older children get told no more often and are left to their own devices more often because the younger children need more attention.  This is so totally not true.  Older children need just as much attention, just a different kind and I know how easy it would be to just sit Harrison in front of the TV to pacify him while I tended to the younger children.

Anyway, Bennett has a horrible diaper rash.  He has had diarrhea now for 2 days.  At first I thought he had eaten too much watermelon and now I think he might have had too much apple juice.  I bought some yogurt at the store to see if we can't 'thicken' him up!  I don't think he is sick.  Diarrhea is the only symptom he has.  Nothing else.  He cries horribly when I change his diaper.  He has never really had a rash so this is his first experience.  From his screams I can tell you that it really hurts!  I think I put half a tube of Desitin on him before he went to bed tonight.  Poor fellow.

Harrison is so funny right now when it comes to adults.  He is getting really comfortable talking and hugging and playing with them.  He has only met Kari (Will's mom) twice and today, the second meeting, he was just so comfortable with her.  I feel that we are going to have to start talking about personal boundaries and being respectful of people's space.  He is such an in-your-face loving child, but it is starting to come off as annoying (in my opinion).  I still want him to be comfortable and loving, but I want him to also know how to be seen and not heard.  I know that is old fashioned and maybe out dated, but I really want to teach my children respect.  I am the mama lion and when I find you annoying I am going to growl and smack you with my big paw!  How's that for respect?!!!! :)

Update

For those of you concerned about my sons head banging obsession, yes he is still doing it and he has finally given himself a bruise on his forehead.  Things that make you go hmmm...

Oops

I have a confession to make.  Sometimes I swear.  Not a lot and not anything totally vile, but the occasional swear word finds it's way into my vocabulary.  You know where this is going.  Today while playing Cariboo, Harrison stuck his key in lock to open the door and he said "Nope, no ball.  Damn It!"  I gave him my best, most serious mom stare and he said "Sorry, sorry..."  And then he corrected himself and said "Maann."  I gave a quick "That was inappropriate" and we went on playing the game.  But later I got a good chuckle out of the whole thing.  He is growing leaps and bounds.  He knew he was in trouble for saying something wrong and he dealt with it in the most perfect way.  He didn't get angry or mad or sad that he did something wrong, he just corrected it.  Way to go, Harrison.

Now, for all of you judging the way that I handled that - I don't care if there was a better way.  :)

Who needs a Bumbo?

I love kids.  Miles was being a little figgity today.  He wasn't unhappy, just not comfortable.  I held him, I put him on his belly, I put him on the couch, etc.  He just wanted to sit.  So I sat him!  Which led to Bennett wanting to sit and Harrison wanting a piece of the action as well.  I love kids!

Rub-A-Dub-Dub

Three boys and a girl in the tub.  

We will probably never have another picture like this.  Aren't they the cutest?!!

Carpet in the Kitchen

Honestly, who puts carpet in their kitchen!!!  Maybe you don't all realize this, but I hate my kitchen.  The cabinets are horrible, the stove is located in a place where I am sure someone will burn themselves just by walking by, the fridge is in the entryway and did I mention that it is carpeted?!!!  Anyway, I dropped 4 eggs on the floor this morning and now there is another giant spot I am trying to get out.  "Why don't you redo the kitchen or even just the floor?"  Well, it's so nice that you asked.  First of all, MONEY and secondly the floor is uneven so it would need ripped out down to areas that I know nothing about.  Someday, maybe...

Not much going today.  The weather was actually beautiful.  We have been getting a lot of rain and it has been crazy humid but today was not so bad.  The boys spent most of the day with Chris.  He got the weed eater out this morning and Bennett went crazy bouncing up and down.  Just like Harrison!  So they sat and watched Chris work for a long time.  I went out to see what was going on and decided to pick a few weeks and Harrison yelled at me because 'Mooommm!  Dad has the weed eater out!  Don't pick those!'  He's so helpful.

Harrison, Bennett and I went to the Science Center last Saturday.  It was pretty fun.  Harrison is getting into the parts where you connect the fact that something he just did caused something else to react.  This was very evident with the ball wall.  He kept moving all of the parts and then putting a ball down the basket to see where it would go this time.  It was great to watch.  Bennett stuck to the basics.  More WATER!!!  We also dug for dinosaur bones and saw a what I think was a T-Rex but it might have been a giganotosaurus.  This is new since I was studying dinosaurs.  Maybe I should keep up on things like this!  It might be important for a mom to know!

Paradise by Toni Morrison

I have been trying to decide how to describe this book.  It was a tough read.  I think I started this book back in April and it does not usually take me that long to finish one book.  The book begins and ends in the same place.  Morrison does a great job thoroughly confusing you all of the way through the book and then ties up most of the loose ends in the last chapter.  And I say most because she purposely leaves some facts out for you to imagine your own take on the story.  This is a book that deals with the idea of utopia and the fact that in the end, utopia always gets shattered by the people who want it most.  I do recommend this book to anyone who wants to be challenged by a book.  Not your ideals or thoughts, just your reading comprehension ability!

Hats

Bennett has an obsession with dress up.  He loves to put things on his head and neck and he is always trying to put on other peoples shoes.  We actually have to be careful where we leave the laundry because I have caught Bennett 'wearing' Chris' underwear (gross) on his head before!  More often then not, Bennett is putting on hats.  And the really funny thing is that he wears it for a couple of minutes and then takes it off and repositions it on his head.  Fun stuff for a 15 month old!

Douglas

When Harrison was born my mom got him a teddy bear blanket and the tag says "Hi!  My name is Billy."  Mom got James one as well and he was a puppy and his name was Rich (I think).  When Kaitlyn was born, Meredith's mom got Kaitlyn Kami and she was a pastel colored bear. Well, when Bennett was born I knew that I wanted one for him just like Billy, Rich and Kami.  I found Douglas.  Douglas would not have been my first choice.  He is white, for one thing.  He is a puppy and has baby blue trim and again, is white.  I didn't really want a comfort item for Bennett that would get dingy after many washes, but so far it has held up really well.  And Bennett LOVES Douglas.  We don't really let him bring Douglas out of his crib so the only time he gets to spend with him is in bed during naps and at night.  Every time I lay him down he hands me Douglas and I have to say hello and give Douglas a hug and then snuggle him into Bennett's neck.  And if I don't do that or forget, Bennett will remind me!  A couple weeks ago, while we were in Fort Dodge for Marc and Emily's wedding it was soooo cute to watch Bennett walking around with Douglas.  I can't even describe why it was cute, it just was.  The brand name for these is My Banky and they have the head and arms attached to a blanket and then the tail/body at the other end.  They are so cute!  I even got Miles one when he was born - it's name is Paddy and he is a frog!

My Life as a Zoo

Harrison had his 3rd day of Zoo Camp today.  He has a blast at camp.  He likes his teachers, especially Katelyn.  We have talked a lot about his cousin Kaitlyn and his teacher Katelyn.  And I guess there is another camper named Kaitlyn.  Too fun.  On Monday they got to feed the giraffes crackers and Harrison said the giraffe almost touched his hand with it's tongue but didn't.  He also made a finger print snake.  What he really couldn't stop talking about was the 'tomingos.'  I love the way he says flamingos.    It is so kidish and Harrison's words are so not kidish most of the time.  It makes me smile.  On Tuesday he got to see the lions and tigers and monkeys.  He told me all about how the one mama lion was sitting on a log and how the other mama lion was drinking water and walking around and how the Mufasa lion was walking around too but he wasn't thirsty so he didn't drink.  And they didn't get to see any cubs.  It was so fun to listen to him tell me about his day.  And he was so proud!  On that day he made a snake.  When I came to pick him up he had a tube sock on his arm and it was decorated and had a tongue on it.  He kept saying "Snakes say sssssssssss." :)  Today when I came to pick him up he smiled really big and whispered "I have a secret!"  "We rode the traaaaiiin!"  How happy he was!  Every morning Harrison has been hesitant to go to Zoo Camp.  I get the feeling that he thinks he is missing something by leaving the house.  He never has any trouble with me leaving him at camp such as crying or carrying on, he just keeps saying that he wants to stay home.  But, then he goes and has a wonderful time!  We will see what tomorrow brings.  

I have had a funny week so far with all kinds of kids.  On Monday, Ian's dad called and asked if it would be possible to watch him for the day.  Ian is a school ager that I watch after school during the school year.  He has some anger management issues that I won't get into, but is an overall good kid.  We had horrible storms the night before and were without power.  I guess Ian's camp was also with out power so they were closing for the day.  I said that was fine.  In the mean time Miles was not feeling well so he was staying home with Andy for the day.  OK.  Monday done.  Tuesday brought another school ager to the house.  Chris' boss, Bob has a daughter named Suzie.  She is here this week from Cedar Rapids and is coming to play with us.  So on Tuesday, it was Miles, Suzie, Harrison and Bennett.  On Wednesday, Ian's brother, Quinn needed a ride to Zoo Camp - he was going this week as well - so since my mom wasn't here, Quinn, Suzie, Harrison, Bennett, Miles and I all piled into the car for our trip to the zoo.  Andy thought he was watching a circus.  But it's just my everyday life as a zoo!  None of this would even be that big of a deal, but this is the first week all summer  that I have had to drive somewhere everyday, twice a day - the zoo.  Oh well - next week we will try and stay home, maybe. :)