Joy Ride

Adam has discovered the joy of shopping in the car.  I rarely take Hunter to the store with me anymore, so we've been using the regular carts.  When we walked up to get a cart and Hunter saw the car, he immediately chose the blue one. 

I was holding Adam and trying to wipe it off with disinfecting wipes and Adam couldn't wiggle away from me fast enough.  He was so excited!

The boys rode well together for the first part of our trip.  I appreciated how nice they were being to each other.  When Jacob & Hunter are smashed in there together, fighting always ensues.  I've basically refused to take Jacob to the grocery store with me at all anymore because of this.  After a while though, Adam began to get territorial and started hitting Hunter.  Poor Hunter is always being picked on!  He eventually got out of the car since he was tired of Adam hitting him.  I'm not sure what to do with Adam's bullying.  He's too young to reason with or even punish effectively. 

I feel sorry for Hunter who gets beat on by him daily. 

Instincts

I have become accustomed to taking the quickest showers as possible.  The kids can rarely make it through my speedy shower without needing me for something.  Today was no different than any other.  The boys were playing on their cars, riding them through the house, when I saw an opportunity to sneak in the bathroom and get my shower business done. 

After about 2 minutes of my shower, Jacob came to the door.

"Hunter hit is car on his foot and he's crying!"

"Is he bleeding?"

Jacob was quiet for a moment as he ran back to assess the damage. 

Jacob:  "His foot is bleeding and it's getting all over the floor!"

"Go get a towel out of the laundry room and put it on top of it.  I will be there in a minute."

(As I am already drying myself off and rushing to get out).

I go out to find Hunter howling and Jacob is using the towel, not to stop the bleeding on his brother's foot that is dripping blood, but to clean up the blood that is already on the floor.  Apparently when I told him to put a towel on it, he assumed I wasn't talking about the bleeding foot.  Hunter's foot is fine.  He has a sore that used to be a blister that he keeps bumping on things and breaking the skin open again.  I properly bandaged his wound and happily complied with his request to go to bed even though it was only 6:40 p.m. 

The funny thing is, I had a feeling while I was taking my brisk shower that one of the kids would end up bleeding.  I thought about what I would tell Jacob to do if that happened.  It was strange that a few moments later, I was delivering the instructions I had rehearsed in my hypothetical thinking. 

A mother's instinct is a powerful tool.  It is as sure as the knowledge that whenever I lay Adam down for a nap, within 5 minutes, one of the boys will have to use the bathroom which is conveniently located just outside Adam's bedroom door.  And even though I have to drag Jacob out of bed for school every morning, I know on Saturday morning he will be up even earlier, all on his own.  And when I lock myself into the bathroom to..you know..they will be at the door within 30 seconds with a problem I need to solve immediately.  And when I decide to try and sneak in a rare nap while they are playing quietly downstairs, within 10 minutes they will be upstairs waking me up.  

Apparently, kids have pretty strong instincts too.

Bored

People who can find something to say on their blog every day inspire me.  I have been at this for a few years now and lately, it feels like I am posting the same news.  Documenting a holiday or a milestone or something funny the have kids said.  While those are all enjoyable (to me anyway), it just feels like it is getting monotonous and my creativity is not being exercised.  That is why I have been avoiding posting over here.  I have noticed lots of my friend's blogs I read are starting to get abandoned.  Some of them for more than a year.  It makes me sad since I do enjoy seeing what is happening with them.  Plus I understand the importance of journaling and this is really a wonderful way to document things.  In an attempt to ensure my blog doesn't go dormant, here is a summary of our day over here:

got Jacob off to school, actually exercised while watching Killer At Large..a documentary about the nation's obesity problem, which turned out to be a great workout motivator, got Hunter off to preschool, wanted to do something with someone, so I ended up over at Becca's (sis-in-law) house and hung with her for a long-overdue visit during my off-time, got kids from school, my friend/RS president asked if she could come over to VT me, I got a rare visit with a good friend, kid's friends came over from next door, invited their mom over to visit with me & RS president, invited family next door to go out to Chili's with us for kids eat free night, enjoyed dining with good friends, the kids actually behaved for the most part, probably because they were excited to have their friends out to dinner with us..a very rare occasion, came home, got kids to bed, caught up on all my blog reading, decided to attempt a post for today so my blog doesn't get neglected again. 

The end. 

P.S.  My entire house smells like Cintranella oil.  My oil order came in the mail today with a leaky bottle.  The package was opened and the entire house has been declared unfit for mosquitoes.  My friend said it smells like lemon pledge.  Well, what a great way to fool someone about the cleanliness of your house..unless they actually inspect the table top surfaces and discover the layer of dust that has accumlated in the few days time since your last dusting.  I.hate.dust.

Lucky

I love it when Jacob makes me smile without even trying.  This was for his homework assignment. 
The question reads,
"Have you ever felt lucky before?  Tell me a time that you felt lucky."

His response..

"every day becus Im the oldist"

Apparently he really treasures his title of "The Oldest" in our family.  He certainly fits into that role perfectly.   He is just the right combination of bossy, leader, good example, sweet to his brothers, a touch self-centered, always right, know-it-all & tease.  Not to mention he is a very forgiving guinea pig to us parents who are continually learning through him. 
The other kids will never have it as hard as he did. 
Poor Jacob. 
It's a relief that he treasures this role, and all the
(un)fortunate consequences it brings!

Jacob has become very talented at expressing himself through his words & drawings.  It is common for him to bring me a note like this when he is VERY upset.  I love that he channels his anguish into art.

It makes me smile!

They say you shouldn't cry over spilled milk, but sometimes it's all I can do not to cry over it.  Particularly on a hard day when my stress level is near it's peak.  This happens every day between the hours of 5 p.m. and bedtime.  Between dinner, baths & getting kids to bed, this is not the best time for a spill of any type of liquid to happen. 

On a more positive note, at least I didn't have to soak it up from the blue carpet that used to cover our kitchen floors.  Hooray!!!