Random Kid Things

We woke up to rain this morning, and I started singing, "It's raining, it's pouring," when Tanner chimed in and sang, "The snowman is boring." It could have been "the snowman is pouring", too, but either way it was funny. He reminds me of Shane. I love it when Shane sings, because he seldoms sings the same words twice. I absolutely love it.

Parker is usually with me at the table when I'm helping the kids do homework after school. He has to have his pencil and paper, too, so that he can work along with the kids, or he writes on their homework. I watched him try for 30 seconds or so, to try and grab the pencil like the kids do. He tried several different combinations, until he finally got it right. Now he holds it like they do whenever he holds a pencil. Of course, by the time I thought, "this would be a great video moment," it was over.

I have really been working on trying to get Tanner to use nice words and a nice voice. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. Usually he will at least say "please" and thus we have this conversation this morning:

Tanner (in a very cranky voice) - I want you drink , Mom.
Me - Say please in a nice voice.
Tanner - (still in a very cranky voice) - Please I have you drink!
Me - nicely, please
Tanner - I said please! (still cranky)
Me - say it nicely
Tanner - I said please! (even crankier)
Me - Say it in a nice voice
Tanner - I SAID PLEASE!!! (he's really mad now)
At this point I decided to drink the rest of the water and wait for him to ask nicely. When I put the cup down, he tried to take a drink, and then threw it across the room when he realized it was empty. I told him that if he wanted a drink, he needed to bring me the cup and ask me, please, in a very nice voice. For some reason what I said actually sunk in, and he did what I asked. Chalk one up for mom today: Mom 1, Tanner -so much more I lost count.

Shane has been working late, til 7 or later every night because harvest has begun. He is playing Zelda Twilight Princess, and the boys - Josh, Luke, Tanner - love to watch. They ask all day, "When is Dad coming home? Do you think he'll play Wheat tonight?" It's really the Wii, but they call it "wheat" because that's what Tanner calls it. They live for the moment they hear his car pulling up, and because the muffler may be gone, you can really hear him coming home. They run to the door and bombard him with, "Will you play "Wheat" tonight?" So he's playing right now, and trying to defeat a dragon, and Tanner keeps covering his head with a blanket and saying, "I can't watch!!" Of course, Josh and Luke keep shouting out what Shane should do, and Shane is doing all he can not to yell at them to be quiet, oops, I mean was trying, but lost that battle.

Luke found a hair comb today, I'm not sure where it came from. I mean, I know it's mine, but I haven't seen it for a looong time. So, he brings it to me and asks me if I will tape it to the back of his hand, Wolverine style, so that he can swoosh around with it and pretend to have claws coming out of the back of his hand. Mom is mean, of course, and says no, you'll claw someone. I could see him thinking, "How can I do this myself and thus avoid mom altogether?"

Parker watches the boys all day, as babies do, and the boys have discovered that several bugs have been gathering on the windows outside, trying to stay warm. (It's been a little colder here lately - fall is in the air!) Anyway, he kept pointing to the window and saying, "skush." I held him up to the window, not sure what he wanted, where he proceded to find bugs on the outside and would try to "squish" them by smacking the window where he saw them. He is all boy, that little one. He also loves to carry toy cars around all day, and drive them on the couches, tables, chairs, me, stairs, wherever he can drive one. He reminds me of Luke that way.

Well, I think that's probably all the fun moments from today. The not so fun ones I'll store away in my "I hope I forget this soon" file. You other moms will know what I mean, and probably you dads, too. I have been struggling with feelings of frustration as a mother, because with Shane gone so much, and more of the care and discipline falling to me to take care of, I felt like all I was doing every day was having to put out fires, yell at kids, and try to stay until Shane got home (which wasn't working very well.) I found a quote on Sunday, and was reminded by a friend, that I need to find the fun, and make things fun for the kids while we wait for Dad to get home. The quote was from President Hinckley, who was the president of our church until he passed away last spring. It says, "In all of living have much fun and laughter. Life is meant to be enjoyed, not just endured!" It puts things in perspective for me just now, and is something I'm trying to more of each day.

Outer Space

I've seen the fun things my mother and sister can do with a little bit of paint and a lot of talent. I, on the other hand, have a lot of paint and questionable talent, but I decided to try my hand at giving the boys a room in outer space. I found some fun quilts online at JCPenny's, and then tried to match the colors and the theme by painting the planets on their wall. They really wanted me to paint their walls black, but they are already afraid of the dark, and I was afraid that would push them over the line, so we kept the walls blue. I painted the planets, and a rocketship, and will put up glow-in-the-dark stars on the part of the ceiling that drops down a little. Most of the ceiling is that sound panel stuff, so I don't think they would stick there very well.

Before:


After:


I think it turned out pretty good, but I'm not sure if I like Jupiter and Saturn as well as the others. I may have to do a little touch up, but overall I really like how it turned out. You probably noticed the hanging bar on their wall that serves as their closet. The project this winter, when my husband is home on the weekends, it to go out one of their walls and add a closet in. I think this will make their room seem a little bigger, and almost finish up the changes we wanted to make to their room. For now, I'm feeling kind proud of myself, seeing how this turned out, and has gotten me thinking about what to do in the little boys room. I'm thinking sports....

The Losing Battle

My poor little Parker has quite a losing battle this week with head wounds. Two weeks ago, he was sitting outside with my one the front steps, which are concrete. He leaned over to watch an ant that was crawling on them, lost his balance, and hit his forehead on the next step, leaving quite a scrape. (You can see what's left of that mark on the picture right in the middle of his forehead.) Last Friday, he was pushing on the window bubble that we have covering our outside basement window, trying to see inside it, when the bubble broke and he fell into the window well. Hence this wound:


He cut one side of his head, and bruised the other. It didn't seem to shake him much, he only cried a little bit. Then last night, about 8:30 he got this one, which had to be super-glued at the ER. He took the cushion off the couch downstairs, and then tripped on it, causing his head to hit the board in the couch frame. He cried for a minute or two then, too, and then seemed to be fine. The Dr. said it didn't need stitches because the edges of the wound were close enough together, but he did close it up with super-glue to prevent him from having a great big ugly scar there. He hated the Dr. and nurses trying to touch him, and cried more from them being close than any pain he was in.


This morning the kids all "oohd" and "awwd" over him, and he kept pointing to his head as if to say, "Yeah, I got an owie. Give me more attention." But when they tried to hug him, he pushed them away as if to say, "Yeah, I got an owie, but I'm tough. Leave me alone!" He's been fine all day. He just looks like he has one angry eyebrow until the glue wears off. I'm just hoping that we're to the end of the head injuries to this poor little guy. He's tough, but I'm sure people somewhere in this town will think I'm abusing him. (That goes to another story that I may tell another day.) For now, I'm just thinking about making him wear a bike helmet wherever he goes. I just don't think he'll go for it.

"Mom Paul Clayson"

We thought we were doing a good thing the other day, teaching Tanner his full name: Tanner Paul Clayson. However, I'm starting to regret it because every time he's mad at me, I get this face:


and this name - Mom Paul Clayson! - said in a very angry voice. I guess that's what comes of trying to teach him his name, and perhaps from calling it out, in full, every time I get upset with the little monkey. Maybe I to teach him that his full name is "You're the Best Mom Ever Clayson." Then when he gets mad at me, I still win.