Andrea to her dad: The basement smells like fresh butt...I guess it's time for it to be cleaned.
I just keep walking and shaking my head.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Friday, January 13, 2012
Overheard Everywhere | More Overheard Quotes (Page 14)
Overheard Everywhere More Overheard Quotes (Page 14): Thus Racing Through the Full College Experience in One Day
College guy #1: We should get wasted.
College guy #2: We should wasted and go to the dining hall.
College guy #1: We should get wasted, go to the dining hall, and then throw-up.
Strangely enough I've done this! In college no less LOL. It's gotta be like a time honored tradition or something.
College guy #1: We should get wasted.
College guy #2: We should wasted and go to the dining hall.
College guy #1: We should get wasted, go to the dining hall, and then throw-up.
Strangely enough I've done this! In college no less LOL. It's gotta be like a time honored tradition or something.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Natural consequences
Sometimes as a parent nature has a way of disciplining our children for us thereby negating our need to step in. I'd like to highlight just such an occasion that occurred last week with my older middle child.
THE BACK STORY
My husband and I have told him a hundred times to stay off of the "hang ups", an exercise machine that turns you upside down to relieve pressure on your back while you do sit up, and a hundred times he's "forgotten". Over and over and over again we've caught him climbing on it and over and over again we've told him it's dangerous to play on it, it's for adults, it's NOT A TOY! Still his short term memory has refused to store that information into long term memory.
THE INCIDENT
Date: January 4th.
Time: 4:15 p.m.
At approximately 4:15 p.m. while the oldest child (15 years) was watching the younger two (5 years and 2 1/2 years) middle son decided to once again "forget" the rules of staying off his dad's Hang Up's machine. While the oldest was pre-occupied cleaning up the youngest the middle child took that opportunity to once again scale the machine. Unlike every other time before there was no adult present to tell him, for the millionth time, to get down it's not a toy. The lock on this particular mechanism was loose and the weight of said child at the apex of the machine caused an overbalance of weight which caused the lock to slip and slam the middle child into the floor face first.
MY DAY PRIOR TO THE INCIDENT
I work at a Community College full time. I work in the counseling/advising office. This loosely translates as I deal with grown adults that still think they're children and teenagers who whine and cry like they are toddlers. This particular day was my first day back at work after the long Christmas break. In short it sucked balls. I was anticipating a nice night at home with my family some dinner and an early bed time.
WHAT I CAME HOME TO INSTEAD
When I walked through the door ,after a bad day at work, I found the middle child, we'll call him Quasimodo, with a wash rag full of ice pressed to his broken and bleeding mouth. The toddler in a diaper and the oldest freaking out. *Le Sigh* Since turning around and pretending that I didn't know these children was not an option I assessed the situation. One chipped tooth, one loose tooth, and one broken tooth, swollen lips and two abrasion on the left eyelid, LOTS OF BLOOD! Mouth wounds bleed, well head wounds in general bleed a lot so copious amounts of blood are expected when head trauma is involved. The blood didn't bother me, the broken teeth alarmed me, and at this point I'm not freaking out. I've done the concussion thing before with my youngest so I knew what questions to ask him, I knew how to assess him and he checked out. He had a headache and his mouth hurt. Yeeeahhh cause you just got face planted into the basement floor genius. I placed my first phone call to the after hours dentist number and made an emergency appointment for him to come in the next day and have his teeth and mouth checked out. Since no teeth were actually busted out of the mouth the dentist felt some children's Tylenol for the pain and ice for the swelling would be sufficient. Sounded good to me so I drugged him and iced him and called my sister in law to come over and watch him because I still had volunteer work to do at the church that night.
WHAT I CAME HOME TO PART DEAUX
He puked. Lots! Not once but twice. My next phone call was to the pediatrics after hours exchange. I knew when I placed the call he had a concussion. I knew before they said anything that they were going to send us to the ER. I knew all of this and still I had to make the call. What I was not expecting was to be asked by the ER nurse if he was wearing a helmet when he hit the floor. First off he's not special needs, I know you were all thinking it it's ok I thought it too when she asked. Secondly this was not some planned experiment to see if the helmet would in fact protect his brains in the case of a head trauma. Thirdly no my kids, and I'd love to see the person whose kids actually do this, wear helmets while at home in the house because, and call me crazy, I didn't think it would be necessary to protect them inside their own home!
RECAP
Middle son a.k.a. Quasimodo climbs up on his dad's Hang ups machine after being repeatedly told not to. The lock on the machine comes off and he's flung face first into the basement floor. End result after a day and half at the ER is a concussion restricting him to limited physical activity one chipped tooth, one loose tooth, and one broken canine.
NATURAL CONSEQUENCES
Quasimodo is effectively grounded due to the concussion. He's not allowed to participate in P.E. class at school, he's restricted from playing on the playground or participating in any activity where a head injury could occur. Due to the state his mouth is in he's restricted to the type and consistency of the foods he can eat. Soft foods only which rules out any of his favorite foods such as pizza, spaghetti, eggplant Parmesan or any of the other foods we usually eat for dinner. Milk and dairy based products such as yogurt and soft cheeses are highly recommended to help strengthen the teeth that are injured and keep them from prematurely falling out. Last but not least headaches and mouth pain expected to last for a minimum of a week and up to two weeks.
I, with all of my creativity as a parent, could not have come up with a better consequence for disobedience. Hopefully this has driven the point home that we don't play on things intended for adults and when our parents tell us no it's for our own good.
THE BACK STORY
My husband and I have told him a hundred times to stay off of the "hang ups", an exercise machine that turns you upside down to relieve pressure on your back while you do sit up, and a hundred times he's "forgotten". Over and over and over again we've caught him climbing on it and over and over again we've told him it's dangerous to play on it, it's for adults, it's NOT A TOY! Still his short term memory has refused to store that information into long term memory.
THE INCIDENT
Date: January 4th.
Time: 4:15 p.m.
At approximately 4:15 p.m. while the oldest child (15 years) was watching the younger two (5 years and 2 1/2 years) middle son decided to once again "forget" the rules of staying off his dad's Hang Up's machine. While the oldest was pre-occupied cleaning up the youngest the middle child took that opportunity to once again scale the machine. Unlike every other time before there was no adult present to tell him, for the millionth time, to get down it's not a toy. The lock on this particular mechanism was loose and the weight of said child at the apex of the machine caused an overbalance of weight which caused the lock to slip and slam the middle child into the floor face first.
MY DAY PRIOR TO THE INCIDENT
I work at a Community College full time. I work in the counseling/advising office. This loosely translates as I deal with grown adults that still think they're children and teenagers who whine and cry like they are toddlers. This particular day was my first day back at work after the long Christmas break. In short it sucked balls. I was anticipating a nice night at home with my family some dinner and an early bed time.
WHAT I CAME HOME TO INSTEAD
When I walked through the door ,after a bad day at work, I found the middle child, we'll call him Quasimodo, with a wash rag full of ice pressed to his broken and bleeding mouth. The toddler in a diaper and the oldest freaking out. *Le Sigh* Since turning around and pretending that I didn't know these children was not an option I assessed the situation. One chipped tooth, one loose tooth, and one broken tooth, swollen lips and two abrasion on the left eyelid, LOTS OF BLOOD! Mouth wounds bleed, well head wounds in general bleed a lot so copious amounts of blood are expected when head trauma is involved. The blood didn't bother me, the broken teeth alarmed me, and at this point I'm not freaking out. I've done the concussion thing before with my youngest so I knew what questions to ask him, I knew how to assess him and he checked out. He had a headache and his mouth hurt. Yeeeahhh cause you just got face planted into the basement floor genius. I placed my first phone call to the after hours dentist number and made an emergency appointment for him to come in the next day and have his teeth and mouth checked out. Since no teeth were actually busted out of the mouth the dentist felt some children's Tylenol for the pain and ice for the swelling would be sufficient. Sounded good to me so I drugged him and iced him and called my sister in law to come over and watch him because I still had volunteer work to do at the church that night.
WHAT I CAME HOME TO PART DEAUX
He puked. Lots! Not once but twice. My next phone call was to the pediatrics after hours exchange. I knew when I placed the call he had a concussion. I knew before they said anything that they were going to send us to the ER. I knew all of this and still I had to make the call. What I was not expecting was to be asked by the ER nurse if he was wearing a helmet when he hit the floor. First off he's not special needs, I know you were all thinking it it's ok I thought it too when she asked. Secondly this was not some planned experiment to see if the helmet would in fact protect his brains in the case of a head trauma. Thirdly no my kids, and I'd love to see the person whose kids actually do this, wear helmets while at home in the house because, and call me crazy, I didn't think it would be necessary to protect them inside their own home!
RECAP
Middle son a.k.a. Quasimodo climbs up on his dad's Hang ups machine after being repeatedly told not to. The lock on the machine comes off and he's flung face first into the basement floor. End result after a day and half at the ER is a concussion restricting him to limited physical activity one chipped tooth, one loose tooth, and one broken canine.
NATURAL CONSEQUENCES
Quasimodo is effectively grounded due to the concussion. He's not allowed to participate in P.E. class at school, he's restricted from playing on the playground or participating in any activity where a head injury could occur. Due to the state his mouth is in he's restricted to the type and consistency of the foods he can eat. Soft foods only which rules out any of his favorite foods such as pizza, spaghetti, eggplant Parmesan or any of the other foods we usually eat for dinner. Milk and dairy based products such as yogurt and soft cheeses are highly recommended to help strengthen the teeth that are injured and keep them from prematurely falling out. Last but not least headaches and mouth pain expected to last for a minimum of a week and up to two weeks.
I, with all of my creativity as a parent, could not have come up with a better consequence for disobedience. Hopefully this has driven the point home that we don't play on things intended for adults and when our parents tell us no it's for our own good.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
In with the new year out with the old one
2011 went by fast! So fast in fact that I don't remember most of it and what I do remember wasn't good...so ya know I wish I could forget that part!
So here's what I know so far about 2012:
All of the presidential candidates graduated from clown college. I know this because they are all a big joke!
My husband has defined a new word for procrastination. It's called procrastidon't. That's when you procrastinate to the point that it just doesn't happen. As in my husband is so far past procrastination that he's a procrastidon't. Yes it's my word and I've created it and defined it expressly for him!
I have a new "martha stewart" project. I'm going to use these butt ugly plastic crates and cover them with fabric to re-purpose them into sweater bins in the hopes that it will contain the clothing clutter in every one's closets. I mean sweaters just take up sooo much room in the drawers it would be nice to have a way to contain them without just leaving them sitting on a closet shelf.
My stepson seems pretty determined to live with us. I'm not sure why since he seems to have a hard grasp of rights vs. responsibilities and privilege vs. needs. This I do know there is no way given the balance in our household and the hard won peace that I'm prepared or ready to have him living with us full time. I really believe there is a point where parenting leaves off and guidance takes over so whatever parenting was going to happen would have to have been done by the time the child is 13. After that it's an act of God or Divine Intervention to change what someone else has done to that child. In short my stepson is way too much his step dads brainwashed automaton for me to even want to take on that challenge. The only problem is as long as I'm married to my husband I really don't have a choice and if he's going to be around my sons I'd rather be there to oversee the interactions between them so I can correct them when needed. What is that Elizabeth calls those "teachable moments"? Yeeaaahh I had plenty of those moments over the winter break! It's just mind boggling to me that he wants to live with us when before he never seemed to care one way or the other and I'm a disciplinarian I believe in consequences for your actions both good and bad. So IDK go figure..I guess it's true what they say and children crave discipline.
Gavin will be six years old this year! I don't know where the time went but I've got a ton of pictures to look back on. This year I've decided no birthday party. I think it's important to realize what you're good at and what you're not good at. I'm not a social butterfly or a party person. I don't enjoy planning those things they stress me out and leave me feeling exhausted by the end of it. This year I have a different plan instead of a birthday party I'm going to let him invite two of his friends over for a wii game night. They can come dressed in their pj's, have pizza and apps, and play the wii till their parents pick them up at like idk what 9 or 10? No party, no fuss, no muss, but it's still a celebration :-) !!
Andrea is getting her drivers permit next week! You know unless her dad decides to be a procrastidon't and not get her birth certificate. That girl is very excited to drive and I'm just as determined to NOT be in the car with her when she does. I don't even want to think about her turning 16 this year and being able to legally drive!
Magnus will be 3 in July which means he'll be starting preschool in August. My littlest baby is growing up as well :-( I know he'll love school though so I'm excited for him to reach that milestone and feel like a "big boy".
Some of my favorite kidsaying's from 2011:
Magnus: Mommy I love you but I not a baby.
I love you more when you give me candy.
Back off me bro I'm Magnus!!
Co..co..come at me bro!
I Pastor! You give me that now!
Gavin: Life in time out sucks.
I'm not coming out from under this desk till you teach me something.
Liking you and loving you are not the same thing! (wiser words were never spoken)
My all time favorite because it demonstrated to me that he IS listening when I talk was the explanation he gave his 12 year old stepbrother in the car about why I wouldn't allow war games in the house: Gavin to his stepbrother: You can't play those games in our house because Magnus and I are little kids and we have young developing minds that shouldn't be exposed to that much violence, bad words, and inappropriate content.
Andrea: Said while explaining venereal diseases to me and my younger sister Lafon on her visit up here: That stuff is broken yo! If you have sex you'll be broken and then you'll have kids and they'll be broken! So If you have those diseases you need to keep that stuff to yourself and remove yourself from the gene pool.
Said while explaining a scary cartoon: That stuff is Pixelated!!
Why do all home wrecking hoe's seem to be named Lisa?
That's it for 2011 folks here's hoping 2012 brings us closer to whatever our goals may be.
So here's what I know so far about 2012:
All of the presidential candidates graduated from clown college. I know this because they are all a big joke!
My husband has defined a new word for procrastination. It's called procrastidon't. That's when you procrastinate to the point that it just doesn't happen. As in my husband is so far past procrastination that he's a procrastidon't. Yes it's my word and I've created it and defined it expressly for him!
I have a new "martha stewart" project. I'm going to use these butt ugly plastic crates and cover them with fabric to re-purpose them into sweater bins in the hopes that it will contain the clothing clutter in every one's closets. I mean sweaters just take up sooo much room in the drawers it would be nice to have a way to contain them without just leaving them sitting on a closet shelf.
My stepson seems pretty determined to live with us. I'm not sure why since he seems to have a hard grasp of rights vs. responsibilities and privilege vs. needs. This I do know there is no way given the balance in our household and the hard won peace that I'm prepared or ready to have him living with us full time. I really believe there is a point where parenting leaves off and guidance takes over so whatever parenting was going to happen would have to have been done by the time the child is 13. After that it's an act of God or Divine Intervention to change what someone else has done to that child. In short my stepson is way too much his step dads brainwashed automaton for me to even want to take on that challenge. The only problem is as long as I'm married to my husband I really don't have a choice and if he's going to be around my sons I'd rather be there to oversee the interactions between them so I can correct them when needed. What is that Elizabeth calls those "teachable moments"? Yeeaaahh I had plenty of those moments over the winter break! It's just mind boggling to me that he wants to live with us when before he never seemed to care one way or the other and I'm a disciplinarian I believe in consequences for your actions both good and bad. So IDK go figure..I guess it's true what they say and children crave discipline.
Gavin will be six years old this year! I don't know where the time went but I've got a ton of pictures to look back on. This year I've decided no birthday party. I think it's important to realize what you're good at and what you're not good at. I'm not a social butterfly or a party person. I don't enjoy planning those things they stress me out and leave me feeling exhausted by the end of it. This year I have a different plan instead of a birthday party I'm going to let him invite two of his friends over for a wii game night. They can come dressed in their pj's, have pizza and apps, and play the wii till their parents pick them up at like idk what 9 or 10? No party, no fuss, no muss, but it's still a celebration :-) !!
Andrea is getting her drivers permit next week! You know unless her dad decides to be a procrastidon't and not get her birth certificate. That girl is very excited to drive and I'm just as determined to NOT be in the car with her when she does. I don't even want to think about her turning 16 this year and being able to legally drive!
Magnus will be 3 in July which means he'll be starting preschool in August. My littlest baby is growing up as well :-( I know he'll love school though so I'm excited for him to reach that milestone and feel like a "big boy".
Some of my favorite kidsaying's from 2011:
Magnus: Mommy I love you but I not a baby.
I love you more when you give me candy.
Back off me bro I'm Magnus!!
Co..co..come at me bro!
I Pastor! You give me that now!
Gavin: Life in time out sucks.
I'm not coming out from under this desk till you teach me something.
Liking you and loving you are not the same thing! (wiser words were never spoken)
My all time favorite because it demonstrated to me that he IS listening when I talk was the explanation he gave his 12 year old stepbrother in the car about why I wouldn't allow war games in the house: Gavin to his stepbrother: You can't play those games in our house because Magnus and I are little kids and we have young developing minds that shouldn't be exposed to that much violence, bad words, and inappropriate content.
Andrea: Said while explaining venereal diseases to me and my younger sister Lafon on her visit up here: That stuff is broken yo! If you have sex you'll be broken and then you'll have kids and they'll be broken! So If you have those diseases you need to keep that stuff to yourself and remove yourself from the gene pool.
Said while explaining a scary cartoon: That stuff is Pixelated!!
Why do all home wrecking hoe's seem to be named Lisa?
That's it for 2011 folks here's hoping 2012 brings us closer to whatever our goals may be.
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