More Pinetop Adventures

We ventured up to Pinetop over the holiday weekend.  I was a little disappointed to find out that we were missing probably the last cool days here at home before the scorching, 4-5 month long heatwave.  Thankfully, we had wonderful weather up north.  It was a treat to wear pants and jackets all weekend long!  Fortunately, I threw some in at the last minute.  I wasn't expecting it to be so chilly!

The kids were ALL sick during the weekend with coughs, colds and fevers.  Adam needed his nose wiped about every 2 minutes.  We didn't know if we would make it the entire weekend.  Trevor had to make a nighttime run to Walmart for some various medications so we could control their fevers, coughs and stuffy noses during the night so we could all get some sleep.  Adam was VERY restless during the night.  We had one good night where he actually slept the whole night thanks to some medicine and probably exhaustion.  It was very much needed for all of us.  The other 2 nights were not so great.  Trevor and I had some company tossing and turning in bed with us.  It was a fun trip and the boys LOVED being up there with their cousins, but we were very grateful to get home to our regular beds!! 

Library Books

My kids love to go to the library and pick out books. Hunter has been asking me to go lately, so when a friend invited us yesterday, we jumped at the opportunity. Every time we go, I struggle with getting Hunter to check out any fictional story books. He is just not interested, no matter how many I try to entice him with. He always gravitates toward the non-fiction books. Here is the a list of the books he chose:

The Fish Classes
Deserts
The Good, The Bad, The Slimy: The Secret Life of Microbes
Gone Forever: Stegosaurus
Classifying Fish
Woodpeckers, Toucans, and Their Kins
Komodo Dragons
From the Arctic to Antarctica
Curious George Colors Eggs (He only got this one because I pushed him to)

A few of the books he brought me that I didn't allow him to bring home with us us were, a book about Small Pox and a book about Evolution. It is SO hard to read stories to him! I can barely keep my eyes open. Much like when I was required to read these sort of books for school. My opinion how interesting they are has not changed over the years. He has also recently asked me to read the dictionary to him and Jacob's school yearbook. I'm not sure why he has such an interest in boring books but I hope that either his taste changes or he learns how to read to himself...soon!!!

Peas

Adam has figured out a new manipulation tactic. It's his new word.."Peas!" For example, when I am reading stories to him and announce that I am done he says, "Peas!" And it gets him another story..every time. Right now I am laying with him while he watches a movie at his request. He brought me a movie and when I said no, he said the magical word, "peas." So here we are. One day I will learn to say no to his "peas" and it won't be nearly as cute when he starts saying it correctly. But until then, he has me wrapped around his little finger.

Desperate Times...

Is it completely unheard of to ground your child from cereal? Maybe. That's just the sort of unheard of punishment you'll find here at our house when I am at my wit's end with one of my children. Specifically when Hunter is having a meltdown because I won't allow him to have cereal for lunch when he just had a bowl not even 2 hours ago for breakfast, that is the first threat that happened to spill out of my mouth. "If you mention cereal one more time..." What was his response? "CCEERRREEAAALLL!!!!!"
Did I regret it as soon as it was said? Of course. They eat cereal and only cereal every morning for breakfast. I knew that Hunter wouldn't suddenly become logical and avoid further mention of the subject. Self-control has never been one of Hunter's strengths (note he is still having meltdowns at age 5 in 3 weeks.) So the punishment had been dealt. This meant I had to figure out something else to feed my picky eater for the duration of the sentence..2 days. This morning when he asked for cereal, I reminded him of his restriction. He immediately crumpled into a heap of sobbing mess on the floor. I sent him to his bed. Trevor instinctively knew there would be trouble this morning when Hunter emerged from his room before 6 a.m. After some screaming, yelling and crying about cereal he finally calmed down. I went in to give him his breakfast options. He started to crack when I mentioned the first few but when I got to Pop-tart, he happily selected that and hopped off his bed. Was it the best breakfast choice? Definitely not. But what's a harried mom to do? She does whatever she can to survive all the challenges the kids throw at her multiple times daily. At least that's how this mom handles things! Someday my kids will do the same irrational things to their kids. And then I will giggle in a sinister way and know that justice has been served! Just kidding!

Yellow Belt

Jacob earned his yellow belt in karate today. We are so proud of his hard work and dedication. He LOVES karate. He begged to start attending lessons. His favorite cousin started the whole infatuation since he takes karate. I found a wonderful deal on classes for a month on a daily deal site so we decided to let him try it out, all the while, secretly hoping he would grow tired of it quickly as he had with t-ball. We weren't too excited to pay full price for future lessons. Well he wasn't interested in giving it up, so we decided to suck it up and let him continue. It has been really good for him and it is so exciting to watch him learn and improve. It is also enjoyable to watch him do something he absolutely loves.

Aunt Sabrina

Every time my sister, Sabrina, babysits my kids, Adam has a meltdown when its time to go home. When I pick him up to carry him out of her house, I feel like a kidnapper ripping a child away from his mother. He LOVES Sabrina. He even cries when she leaves our house to go home. He reaches out his arms for her while I am holding him when we say goodbye to her at the door. It's like he's saying, "Take me with you!" I assume it's because she lets him do whatever he wants. He doesn't enjoy being told no, which happens frequently when he is in my care. Trevor asked me, "Do you think Adam thinks Sabrina is his mom?" I'm not worried he thinks Sabrina is his mom, only that he wishes she was!

Handful

This little guy has been a huge handful lately. I am constantly finding him on top of tables & counters getting into things I thought were safely out of reach. I am also constantly cleaning up
after him from food he spits out onto the floor or his new favorite hobby, dipping wipes into the toilet and squeezing the water all over the floor. I feel like I'm running around in circles all day chasing this little Tasmanian devil. Yesterday he called 911. What are the chances that a 17 month old would dial 911 and push talk to make the call go through? Better than I assumed. While he was playing with it, it started ringing. I told him to bring it to me and he complied. The caller ID showed Mesa Government. I was surprised and answered. It was a 911 operator asking me if I had an emergency. I told her no and that my son had been playing with the phone. After she verified some info she let me go but not before informing me the police might still show up to make sure all was well. After about 10 minutes I assumed they weren't coming. Then Hunter came running out if his room yelling "A police officer is here!" (He was very excited.) I opened the door and greeted a Mesa police officer. I let him know that we were all safe and assured him I wouldn't let my baby play with the phone anymore. So if you live nearby and had an actual emergency on Friday afternoon, I apologize for monopolizing the system. I have noticed my kids get more and more difficult with each one. They also get louder. I didn't think any child could ever be as loud as Hunter. Boy was I wrong. I'm really wondering if I'll ever feel brave enough to allow #4 to make it here!