The Trenches

I haven’t been updating this blog as much as I’d like because, lately, life has just been so busy.  Sometimes I feel like we are constantly going, going, going and then at the end of the day, I’m not even sure what we did.  I can see why people sometimes refer to the parenting years as being ‘in the trenches”.  Some days you’re just trying to survive and make it through.  

Tactics we used just yesterday to get the kids to eat their dinner no longer work, so we re-strategize and try a new approach.  The bedtime routine that has run so well – bath, teeth, story, songs and bed – is suddenly disrupted by a rebellion so we have to buckle down, power through, and spend 45 minutes mopping up bath water, wrestling kids into the pjs and listening to a seemingly endless litany of needs… “I need a story”, “I need to go potty”, “I need a Band-Aid”.  Or in Mitch’s case ”Mama.. Mama.. Mama”.    

There are so many things that I love about the ages that my kids are at right now.  I love we can all play, giggle and have fun together.  I love their endless curiosity and how the smallest thing can make their eyes light up.  I love to watch their imaginations at work and I love the hugs and kisses.  But, even with all this, it’s still really, really hard sometimes.  I find myself nostalgic for the baby days.  They were, at least for us, so much simpler.  Our babies were easily transportable, they slept a lot more and they could sleep anywhere.  They couldn’t care less how we dressed them, they were more easily entertained and they didn’t put up a fight when it was time to eat.   That precious time went too quickly.  Now we’re in the trenches where just getting the kids dressed for the day can be a test of patience.  The other day, Evie burst into tears because her sleeves were too long.  A few days later, she lost it because the sleeves were too short and then because her socks wouldn’t stretch to her knees.  

Mitch would just assume run around in a diaper so getting him dressed can feel like a wrestling match (one that often ends in tears).  Seriously – the kid sees us coming towards him holding clothes and he runs the other direction.  And once we finally do get the clothes on him, we turn around to find that he’s removed his shirt and is in the process of trying to take off his socks…with his teeth.  *Sigh* 

Each day I find myself more in awe and filled with even more respect for our parents.  They dealt with the tantrums, the screaming, the clutter and toys and messes too.  They know what it’s like to not be able to take your kid to a store without them asking for 500 things in the toy aisle.  They understand how frustrating it can be to not be able to get anything done and still end the day feeling exhausted.  They how disheartening it can be to finish the laundry only to find the basket filled with dirty clothes the next day.  They understand how you feel when you just made your kids a nutritious dinner, but all they’ll eat is mac and cheese. They know how tough and overwhelming it is to balance work and family time and how completely chaotic it can feel sometimes.  They know because they’ve been there, survived it and somehow managed to stay sane.  And they still love us despite all that we put them through!  Many of the seasoned parents that I talk to say the same thing…cherish this time because it goes by so quickly.  That can be hard to do when you’re so exhausted and stressed out that you’re not even sure what day of the week it is.  But I also know that it’s 100% true.  My children drive me straight up bonkers sometimes.  But no matter what they do, I love them.  I love then so much it hurts.  So we’ll keep trudging through the trenches and doing our best to appreciate, amid all of the pandemonium and fatigue, those special, amazing moments we get with our babies. 

Evelyn's First Field Trip

Yesterday Evie and her Kangaroo class went on their very first field trip! 

Evelyn was so excited and she couldn’t wait to wear her navy LCC t-shirt and go to the Jacquemin’s Pumpkin Patch in Plain City, OH. The kids got to go to Pumpkin School and learn about all different types of pumpkins.  Evelyn’s favorite was the white ‘Snowball” pumpkin.  They also got to see a ‘baby’ pumpkin on a vine that still had an orange blossom and pick out a ‘pie’ pumpkin from the patch.  After a small snack, the kids were able to run around in the hay bale maze, go down the slides and play in the corn boxes (large grain boxes filled with dried corn).

I was excited to be a chaperone.  I wanted to see Evelyn’s interactions with her friends and put some faces to the names she’s mentioned.  I was also happy to get the chance to talk with her teacher.  Evelyn really seems to love Miss Teri and she is seriously wonderful with the kids.  I was impressed at how attentive the children were when they were at Pumpkin school.  They were all so eager to learn!  I loved how all of the children sang “Thank you Jesus for our food” (to the tune of a nursery rhyme I can’t think of right now) before they ate their snack.  It was nice to get to know some of the parents too.

It was a great day all around!

Already October

It’s hard to believe that it is October.  Our days of warm, sunny weather are numbered and will soon be replaced by the crisp, cool air of the fall.  While autumn is one of my favorite times of the year, I’ll be sad to say goodbye to summer.  

There are so many reasons for this, but the one that I’ve been thinking about recently are the kid’s clothes.  Don’t get me wrong.  I love the warm sweaters, comfy sweatshirts, cute little boots, and holiday ensembles that the kids wear in the fall.  What I don’t enjoy is packing up the summer stuff.  In fact, I hate it.  When the season change, I put off sorting through the clothes for as long as a possibly can.  Both kids still have clothes in their closets that they wore last winter that won’t fit this year.  I need to sort through them and pack them away.  But every time I start to do it, I find a reason to put it off until later.  It is a tedious task.  Also, packing up their clothes is an emotional thing for me.  There are many that will roll their eyes and think I’m ridiculous and they’re probably right.  I just can’t help it.  Most likely, the clothes worn this summer will be outgrown by next year and that thought makes me want to cry.  Evie’s favorite yellow sundress won’t fit next summer and Mitch won’t be able to wear his “Awesome Lil’ Bro” t-shirt.  No doubt there will be other cute outfits, but it’s still difficult to fathom just how quickly these kids are growing up.  

Picture Post

Evie aka Smartie Pants

We are now three weeks into the school year and so far, preschool is going great! 

The night before, Evie starts getting excited when I tell her that the next day is a school day.  She usually goes to bed a little bit easier because I remind her that she needs a lot of rest so that she has energy for school.  When I pick her up from Titi’s house in the afternoon, she always flies out the door, bursting with enthusiasm and talking a mile a minute about anything and everything.  She’s so eager to get started when I drop her off at school that she barely remembers to give me a hug goodbye.  However, I’m still not really sure what she does each day because whenever we ask her about her school day, she is always very vague.  I know her class schedule and I have a general idea about what goes on, but I wish Evie would tell me more about her experience.  I’ll just have to keep asking!  To say I’m relieved that everything is going so well would be an understatement.  I wasn’t sure how this would all go, but so far, it’s been an easy transition for all of us.  I leave work on Mon. and Wed. at lunchtime to pick her up from the sitter’s house and take her to school.  This is very important to me, especially this early in the school year.  I want to have a presence in her classroom and for her teacher to know me.  I may not be able to make it work every single time, but I’m going to try.  Some days I pick her up from school and sometimes one of her grandparents pick her up.  I wish I could pick her up each time, but it doesn’t always work with my schedule and we are incredibly grateful for the help.  Yes, there is some running around and coordinating involved in having Evie in preschool while we work full-time, but seeing Evie thrive assures me that we made the right decision.  She was ready for preschool and it has been so good for her so far!

Evie is such a bright little girl (in my opinion anyway) and she absolutely loves to learn.  We recently started going to the big kid section of the library to check out what she terms “adventure books”.  They are mostly books about animals and dinosaurs, two of her favorite things.  When we first checked these kinds of books out, I figured we’d just look at the pictures, but that’s not what Evelyn had in mind.  She wants to learn about the animals.  She is fascinated by it and she’s not shy about sharing her knowledge.  For example, an a recent walk we saw a large bird…

Evie:  Mama look!  It’s an eagle.

Me:  Wow.  It’s so big.

Evie:  Yes it is.  I know a lot about eagles.

Me:  You do?  What do you know?

Evie:  Eagles have big nests.  They don’t get a white head until they are big.

Me:  That’s true.  So what do eagles eat?

Evie:  Mouses.  Or hamsters.  Maybe we should go to the store and get some mouse and hamster food to feed the eagles.

That’s just one conversation of many that we have.  This week was letter ‘D’ week at school and she was supposed to bring in something that started with D to show-and-tell.  We were talking about different things that started with D and we mentioned dinosaurs... 

Evie:  Maybe I can bring my brachiosaurus to school!  Or maybe my stegosaurus!

Me:  That’s a great idea!

Pat:  Evie – what does a brachiosaurus eat?

Evie:  Plants and leaves.

Pat:  Why do they eat that?

Evie:  Um…because…what?

Pat:  They are vege….

Evie:  Because they are vegetarian!

Another night we were reading a book before bedtime.  Or I should say that I was sitting there and Evie was telling me about the animals on each page…

Me:  What’s that?

Evie:  That’s a blue spotted sting ray.  They have sting rays at the zoo, but they are not the same.

Me:  Oh I love this page!  (pointing to a picture) It has dolphins and whales on it.

Evie:  Mama!  That is not a whale!  That is an orca.

Me:  Ok…  (next page) Oh look! Pink flamingos!

Evie:  They eat lots of shrimp and that make them pink.

Me:  Seriously?  I didn’t know that.  I do you know about that?

Evie:  I don’t know.  I just learned it.

I think it’s safe to say that our girl has a love for animals and for learning.  I hope and pray that this thirst for knowledge continues throughout her life!

Crazy Mitch

Mitch is being kind of crabby lately.  I know it’s bad because even Titi told me that he was being particularly difficult.  She never says that.  Nothing really seems to make him happy.  He wants his cup, then he throws it down.  He wants a snack so I give him some Goldfish crackers and then he cries because apparently he wanted the entire bag and not just a handful.  Changing his diaper or his clothes has become really hard.  He wants to immediately roll over and get away from us.  When we stop him, he cries, arches his back and squirms harder.  He acts like he’s starving for lunch or dinner, but he doesn’t eat that much (Mitch not eating…gasp!).  Mostly that comes from not wanting to sit still at all.  Taking him to a restaurant is not much fun because he just wants to get down and run.  He likes to go outside so much that if we make any motion towards a door, he is right behind us trying to get out and crying when we won’t let him out.  He walks around taking things from people and saying “Mine!”.  He’s been sleeping ok, but he sometimes he still wakes up once a night, briefly.  When Mitch gets up in the morning, he usually pretty happy. Until I have to put him down so that I can get ready for work.  Then he loses it and screams and cries for me to pick him up.  And of course lately he wants nothing to do with Pat first thing in the morning.  The other morning I had to put on my makeup while holding him which was not easy.  If we tell him no, he gets really mad and throws himself backwards on the ground.  He’s really banged his head a few times, which only make him cry harder.  We’re trying hard not to give into this type of behavior, but man does he make it difficult sometimes!  He’s also started hitting, something we will not allow.  I got after him for doing something the other day and he went over and hit Evie.  I have no idea why, since she had nothing to do with why I told him ‘no’ and he didn’t hit her hard, but I immediately said “No hitting Mitch!”  Evie’s response was “It’s ok Mama.  He didn’t hurt me”.  I had to explain to her that it didn’t matter if she was hurt or not – we don’t ever hit.  I told Mitch that he had to be nice and sweet and give hugs…so he went over and hugged Evie.  It’s good to know that he’s still a sweet boy sometimes!

I’m not sure what the issue is.  It could be teeth.  I know he’s getting molars on top (and probably on the bottom too) because I can feel them.  It could be his age.  He’s learning and growing so much these days that sometimes I forget how young he really is.  He can climb on furniture.  He can go up and down the steps with ease.  He puts these two talents together often with his new obsession – going into Evie’s room.  Give him 30 seconds and he will be out of the room, up the stairs and in Evie’s room.  Once there, he will knock all of her stuffed animals off the top of her toy box, climb up and look out of her window.  He can also get on and off our bed and has unplugged every night light we have upstairs.  I need to find some nightlights that sit up high and don’t need to be plugged in because I have no idea where the other ones are.  He eats whatever we eat.  He wants to drink from a big cup instead of a sippy cup (if you are over our house, guard your cup!).  He runs instead of walks most of the time.  He’s not saying many words, but he understands everything.  He wants so much to be big kid, but he’s only 15 months old.  Heck – Evie was barely walking at this age!  I think that the limitations that come with his age can be frustrating for him.  He can’t do everything that Evie does (although he does try) and that makes him mad!  This also leads to fighting between him and Evelyn.  Most of the time, they get along great and play very well together.   But there are times when Evie is trying to do something just for big kids and Mitchell will not leave her alone.  I’ve explained to Evie that Mitch loves her so much and he thinks she is so awesome that he wants to do whatever she does.  Evie can be so sweet and patient with him.  But oftentimes she’ll yell “Mitchell!  Stop!!”.  Sometimes I break it up and remove Mitchell for the situation or distract him.  Other times, I ignore it and let them work it out (as long as working it out doesn’t involving hitting).  Evie has come up with some pretty creative ways of avoiding Mitch, such as putting the popcorn bowl on her head so that he couldn’t reach it. 

It’s obvious Mitchell is in a difficult phase.  But despite it all, he can be such a fun, sweet, smiley, snuggley little boy.  He loves to give kisses and hugs.  He loves to play outside and take wagon rides.  He has a ball at bath time and he gleeful giggles warm my heart.  He loves to play with Evie and Crosby.  He has fun zooming his cars around the house.  He loves to ‘wrestle’ and roll around on the floor (typical boy!).  He likes blowing on our bellies and making fart noises (another typical boy thing I’m sure!).  He loves to hide in my closet and giggles like crazy when I ‘find’ him.  He absolutely adores all his grandparents and gets the biggest kick out just being with them.  At bedtime, he loves to sit on my lap and listen to me read him stories.  And when the stories are finished, he loves to rock with me and listen to lullabies while sucking his thumb.  He loves that thumb!

It’s funny.  After listing off all of these things that Mitch loves (and that I love about Mitch), the difficult times don’t seem so bad.  I find myself smiling just thinking about him.  Yes, they can be frustrating at times.  But making these lists reminds me that you have to take the good with the bad, and that sometimes the things that frustrate you about someone are also the things that you love the most about them.  I love the good, the bad and everything in-between about my sweet boy!

Evie starts preschool!

This past Wednesday was Evie's first day of preschool at Linworth Children’s Center.  Pat and I were both nervous and excited for her.  In the weeks leading up to her first day, we spent time talking to her about what school would be like.  We explained that she would need to listen to her teacher and follow the classroom rules.  We reminded her to be kind to the other children and remember her manners.  We checked out books about going to school from the library and we got her a new backpack along with some new school clothes.  We did the best we could to prepare her and get her excited for the start of school.  

My big girl

We were fairly confident that she would be just fine on her first day since she’s a fairly social little girl and she loves talking and meeting new people.  Thankfully, we were correct and she did great!   She had one tiny moment when I was about to leave the room, but her teacher came over, took her hand and led her away to color a picture.  I snuck out and had to tell myself not to look back and hover.  When Pat and I picked her up a few hours later, she ran into our arms, happy and excited to tell us about her first day. 

 It’s a little surreal for me that she’s already in preschool.  I know that she’s only 3 and it’s only for two days a week, but still.  This seems like such a big milestone.  She’s growing up so quickly and I’m not sure I’m ready for the tremendous influence friends and the outside world will have on my baby.  It’s true that she’s gone to babysitter since she was three months old, but this is different.  The sitter’s environment is so small and she’s grown up with several of the children there.  Preschool seems so much bigger (even if she does only have 9 kids in her class).  The kids at preschool are all her age, instead of younger, so she’s more likely to be influenced by them.  Hopefully it’s in a good way (and hopefully she’s a good influence on them as well!).  I hope and pray that this year is a good one for her.  I look forward to seeing her grow and change, but my heart aches a little too.  She will always be my baby, but she’s leaving the baby years behind for good whether I’m ready for it or not.