Please- Only One Baby At a Time

They always tell you to expect regression when a new sibling joins a family but really neither A or X had much (or any) regression after the younger ones came. But they were also older when it happened. A was almost 4 when X came, almost 7 when D came and 8 when K came. X was 3 when D came and 4 when K came. D was only 2 however when K came and apparently 2 is the magic number for regression in our house. She has been climbing in the Exersaucer to play in it. The first couple of times she got stuck and cried while waiting for someone to come rescue her. Of course, that didn't stop her from going right back in. Now she has learned how to climb out which is an improvement but we are still working on climbing in ONLY when K is OUT of the Exersaucer. The first several times D didn't seem deterred at all by the fact K was sitting in the only seat. All and all, no biggie and I thought if this is the big regression I can live with it.

Then one day I walk into the kitchen to find this...







Yes she had put on a bib, climbed into the high chair (I have no idea how- the girl's gonna be a gymnast) and was patiently waiting for me to feed her. And no, giving her food to feed herself was not acceptable- she wanted fed like the "ma-me" (baby) So I fed her a cup of yogurt with a baby spoon and she seemed very pleased with herself. I should add this is the same high chair she would NOT sit in happily when she was a baby.

She has not made a return trip to the high chair after I told her she had to eat baby food next time. Apparently, there is a limit to how much she wants to be a baby. Now if I could just get her to sleep in her own bed........

Because it is my blog and I can

and because I think it is an very important issue and the more people who make their opinion heard the better-
Tell your congresspeople to permanently protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Drilling will not result in marketable oil for at least 10 years and the oil is only predicted to last 6-12 months. Drilling is too big a cost for too little a gain.

What do you mean it's not Friday

So B is in California for the week. So that means pick up and drop off are all me. Tuesday we get up, everyone gets dressed with no problems, and we get out the door with no incidents at all (which is something of a miracle in and of itself) I drop off A and drive to day care to drop off the girls. I think to myself "Wow- I might even make it to work on time and I won't have to rush during drop offs" As I swiped my access card in the day care parking lot gate I realize that something was missing...

No, not one of the kids
but K's bag that has her blanket and food in it. Now the food we could live without since there is an extra stash they require parents to bring in case the kids are "extra hungry" I now know it is really in case "your mom is an idiot and forgot your bag even though it was sitting right by the door" But the blanket is a drop dead necessity- otherwise sleep would be out of the question. So we drive all the way back home (20 minutes), grab the bag (right where I left it by the door) and drive back. I got to work 45 minutes late...

Then since B is the coach of X's soccer team he promised I would bring the practice jerseys to practice. In what world was I going to be able to pick up all 4 kids, drive home, change a couple of diapers, wrestle shin guards and soccer socks into soccer shoes and get to the practice with the stuff (and kids and related kid gear) by 6:15. Not even bending the laws of time and space was I going to make it on time. Sure enough, I got there at 6:23. But otherwise Tuesday was uneventful

Then came Wednesday. It did start with everyone getting to where they needed to be WITH all their supplies and I made it to work within 10 minutes of when I should have. Now I teach preschool special ed and today was the first day of school. It was a hot day- we are now having a contest in the building to see whose classroom is the hottest during the day.

I'm gonna win! We have a wall of south facing windows that butt up against the asphalt parking lot. We only have 2 (okay 4 now since I "acquired" 2 from other parts of the building- why exactly does the copier need the biggest fan in the building?) but we have to keep the door shut or the preschoolers will wander out. Since I went to college to be a teacher and not a doorman- we keep the door shut. This means there is no cross breeze. We measured the temp after the kids left and the door had been open about an hour and it was 98 degrees in the room (which is 6 degrees hotter than outside) I have no doubt that during the day, with that door shut, it was well over 105 degrees. Where's that darn OSHA when you need them. The kids drank over 3 gallons of water. At that rate it is going to cost me $$$$$ to keep the water cooler stocked.

Then, the day ends, and we finally go to get everyone picked up. Now the logical (from a distance/time view) way is to get the girls and then A, but that means that I have to get all 3 little kids out of (and back into) car seats when we get A. Or I can get A and then go get the girls (X is at my school so he is already with me) I decide to get A first. We are running late due to some problems at work. I have a 7pm meeting and the babysitter is coming at 6:30- it is 5:10 and I have 40 minutes of drive time plus however long pickup takes. We get to day care and go to get K. Now the infant rooms at the center do not allow shoes in the room (so the babies on the floor don't get into messy shoe dirt) I leave both boys outside the door, where I can see them through a window and go get K. A has my big set of car keys. Next thing I know, X is on the floor crying and when he stands up blood is pouring down his face from a (small) cut above his eye. Apparently for reasons only he will understand, A threw the keys at X and hit him. Now I have to spend time stopping the bleeding. Once that is done it is 5:40 , we go get D and as her teacher puts on her shoes I hear "Did you pee through your diaper" Luckily her teacher was willing to change her. We finally get into the car- it is 6:00. I look down and notice a light on the dashboard is lit up. Yep, i'm out of gas..... we did make it to a gas station and the rest of the day was uneventful We did get home before the babysitter arrived (about 30 seconds before) but hey some days are like that.

I really hope tomorrow is less "interesting"

An easy summer in the pool...

After years of wondering if A was ever going to be willing to get in the pool without a life jacket, let alone swim on his own- we now have a swimmer. He still has more to learn but he can jump off the board and get to the wall and swim from the deep end to the shallow end alone. Yeah A!!


Of course, D is fearless and has discovered if she kicks her legs a hundred times a minute she can swim on her own too (with a life jacket) However, if B is holding K, then all of a sudden D "forgets" how to swim and screams to be "rescued"


And not to be forgotten, X is finally able to swim on his own with a life jacket. It wasn't until this year that he had the muscle control in his torso to keep his face out of the water. He is also big enough to touch the bottom so hopefully next summer we can work on swimming without the "floaty" vest


it was nice that they could all swim (to some degree) and didn't need held the entire time they were swimming. Of course, unless K is a Michael Phelps wanna-be, we will be back to having one to hold next year

Why My Floors are Always Sticky

Insider Trading Tip- Buy stock in...

Band-Aids cause they are THE fashion accessory for the under 5 crowd (at least here). No outfit is complete without several. No matter who needs a band aid, D has to have one too. This is her latest handiwork. I had our big box of Band Aids out to put one on K and while I was doing that apparently D took advantage of my lapse of attention to the Band Aid box to "acquire" a few of her own. She was caught when I followed the trail of Band Aid wrappers and found this...



We now have a new rule-No Blood, No Band Aid

It's Not Poison- Honest

As many of you know, K has had some feeding issues since she came home- the "strangest" of which is the refusing to take a bottle. If you think you get weird looks at the mall when you are breast feeding try whipping out a cup and see how people stare! Especially since K looks about 4 months younger than she is. I can only imagine what people are thinking. (and to explain for those of you who also might be thinking, "huh??"- In Ethiopia, children are breastfed so bottles and formula are not readily available, or are expensive. In the orphanage they cup feed the babies with these little tiny cups. Not only is it easier in terms of obtaining supplies but it is also faster and healthier since cups are much easier to clean than nipples are)

However- she also has this complete and total aversion to fruit (and juice and anything sweet) Many times kids from other countries have to get used to "American sweet" because it is so much sweeter than what they are used to but K is taking it to a whole new level. While she will eat baby food with mangos (try to find that easily...) bananas caused her to gag to the point she almost threw up on me. So just because I have a sadistic side-here is me feeding her apples just to take a photo of her reaction. (okay, not really, we are trying to gradually get her used to eating fruit- and we are at the point now where she will make faces for the first bite and then willingly eat the rest-except for those darn bananas)