My parents always say their grandchildren (they have 14) keep them young.

I think this only applies to grandparents.

If they’re your own kids, somehow they make you older. Or feel that way, anyway!

Between taking my dd to all-county band practice, to 3-yr-old time-outs and nightmares, to a very squirmy-all-over-the-place-and-crawly baby, I’m not feeling all that young!

So I’ve come up with a solution that could work for everyone. My parents can come stay with us for a few weeks. They can let the kids work their “make us younger”  magic on my parents.

Then dh and I can go on our own vacation and regain some of our energy!

Now I just need to find the cash and convince my parents….

My poor little guy has had nightmares time to time. Once it was alligators in the living room.

But a few nights ago it was an eagle beak dancing in his room. No eagle attached, just a big, scary beak. Kinda freaky, huh?

He woke up 2 nights ago and went in to his sister’s room and told her.  He climbed into her bed and after he fell asleep, she tried to move him back. He woke up and cried, very scared to go back to bed. So she put him back in her bed and slept in his the rest of the night.

Yesterday he went upstairs for naptime and seemed really quiet, which is unusual. Normally he just plays really loudly for a couple hours. I went up and found him in dd’s bed with a few books; he had fallen asleep. When he woke up, I asked him why he was sleeping in his sister’s bed. He was still afraid of the eagle beak!

I took him into his room and we looked around for it. We talked about real and pretend and dreams, and logically, he understands. But the emotion dreams contain is so powerful. He even looked under his bed and confirmed no beak under there.

Last night dh went to put him in bed. He started crying pretty quickly and wouldn’t talk to dh about what was wrong. Eventually dh brought him down and we were able to calm him down. He was still afraid of the eagle beak. I think he was afraid he’d dream it again more than it being there.

We put him to sleep in my bed and he woke up fine this morning. Luckily no bad dreams.

My dd was picked (she had to audition) for all-county band (for school) a few weeks ago. So on Tuesdays, I pick her up from school, take her to band practice, go grocery shopping, pick her up and on 2 Tuesdays a month, take her to church for activities.

She has a couple friends from church at band and I told her she could invite one to come home from band with her, we’d go out to eat, then I’d take them both to church. Of course, she took me up on that offer and that’s how my story starts out.

So…we went to Cici’s after band with her friend…I had my boys, too. Dinner was going well and the girls were having fun. I asked dd to go grab me one more piece of pizza before we had to go and she did. (she’s a good kid)

Then Pierce (3 1/2 yrs old) decided he wanted to get up. He slid under the table and RAN off, nearly knocking someone over. I grabbed the baby and chased after him. I took him (screaming) back to the table and tried to talk to him. He calmed down, but wouldn’t talk…he just tried to pull away (I had him by his pants so I wouldn’t hurt his arm).

After a few minutes, he escalated the conflict and started yelling again. I took him to the bathroom and tried to talk to him. He tried to open the door, but I picked him up and moved him away. And he screamed TOTAL bloody murder…seriously. Twice. Usually I can reason with him, but it was clear it wasn’t going to work.

I picked him up and went out to our table and told my dd to pick up the baby, we were going home. And out we went.

Ds kicked, screamed, hit, all the way out the door. Once we were outside, he said screamed he wanted to to go back in and eat dinner. This was a ploy to get what he wanted. Not a new thing. Once he gets what he wants, he changes his mind…it’s a power/control/testing limits thing.

So I eventually got to the car and buckled him in (which took 3 or 4 minutes, again, him screaming and hitting me and pushing the seat belt straps off.  At this point I was ready to tan his hide, but obviously can’t/won’t.

I drove the girls to church and dropped them off (my dh was there to bring her home after her activity; he has meetings). He came out to say hi and I told him what was going on, since the boy was still crying his head off, saying he wanted to go back.

My dh asked him if he wanted a hug and ds said yes, take me out. Dh wouldn’t (since I’d told him the background) and he knows as well as I do how ds works.  Ds pushed him away and screamed at him, so we both shrugged and closed the car door.

And he proceeded to fuss/cry/throw a fit all the way home. Even when we got home he continued it. He wanted me to leave him in the car. I wouldn’t. He wanted me to leave him outside by himself. I wouldn’t. So I had to lock our mudroom door (to the outside). I came in the house and left the door (to the house from the mudroom) open. He closed it and screamed at me for 5 more minutes to lock it. I wouldn’t.

After another 10 minutes, he finally calmed down and asked if he could come in the house with muddy shoes. I told him no so he peacefully took them off and came in. And was fine after that.

Crazy!!

I have a weakish stomach. Certain body fluids really make me cringe, gag, dry heave, etc. Like my husband or kids or anyone else blowing their nose. Or seeing someone spit. Bloody noses.

If it’s my kid (a little one) it’s easier. But once they hit 3-4 yrs old, it’s over for me. And if it’s someone else’s kid, forget it.

Pets really get me, too. I can’t tolerate cat vomit (rare, but it happens). My poor kids have to take care of it. Oddly enough, I prefer to clean up cat poop than vomit.

Dog is the worse, though. He’s pretty gross.  Cuz it comes out gooey and he licks it up as he’s throwing it up…..’scuze me while I dry heave…..*gag*

Ok, 2 things today.

Last night, dh got an IM from someone he didn’t know. It said, “u gonna pick up a bottle i’m ready.”

So we were coming up with things it could be about…his mind went to a baby.

“You gonna pick up the bottle (I left downstairs) I’m ready (with the baby, he’s hungry)”

I thought a romantic dinner.

“You gonna pick up the bottle (of bubbly or wine or whatever) I’m ready (with dinner).”

Of course there’s quite a few other things it could mean that aren’t G-rated like bottle of KY.

In other news, our baby crawled yesterday! He turned 9 months old Tuesday. He’s a full month ahead of ds1 at crawling and 2 ahead of my dd.  Time to baby-proof the house again.

Yesterday I took the boys out to play. I put Dean down on a blanket with some toys and opened Pierce’s sandbox. They played for an hour before Dean wanted to be picked up. That’s a long time for a 9-month old!! It was great. I did some more yard work (raked branches) and then dd got off the bus. After a bit, dh came outside and we did a LOT more work.

In the back, the contractors piled the dirt around the house. They had driven on it when it was wet and muddy, so it was really rutty and uneven. Dh got the bright idea to hook up a wooden crate behind our little John Deere mower to help grate it out.  Then he put a 70-lb bag of peat moss on it for more weight. It worked very, very well.

Then, being the kind of dad/guy he is, he had our dd sit on the peat moss and gave her a ride

It was great. Meanwhile, I was raking/shoveling more dirt that was in a pile on another side of the house. It’s all evened out now…much better, too.

So now we just have to wait to put out some more grass seed for the back. The side and front still need a bit of work (they dug a ditch) to get evened out then we’ll be done!

Remember the jumbo rice krispies I bought a few days ago?

I made krispie treats last night. I only did 2 cups of jumbos and then 4 cups of regular ones. I wanted to save some of the jumbos for the boys so I didn’t use the full 6 cups.

Anyway, they turned out good. A little sweeter than the normal ones and they added a touch of vanilla-honey flavor that was really nice. They were also richer somehow.

But maybe I was wrong…I don’t know…I’d better go test another one out just to make sure…

We’re planning our summer vacation trip. Yeah, we have to plan now because my parents and a brother/his family want to go to Nauvoo, IL on our way back from Wyoming/Utah (where all my family lives, where our main vacation will be).  So they have to get time off from work to plan the Nauvoo trip, so that’s why we’re looking at dates now. When you have 4 siblings and parents’ schedules to consider, it takes time to get it set up.

Anyway, our baby (ds2) will be one this summer.

The last long drive we took was the summer ds1 was turning one. We drove to Yellowstone.

We live on the east coast.

Long ways away.

And for some reason, we decided to drive all that way again. Either the pain and anguish of the last trip have worn off or we really are crazy.

I don’t do reviews or anything like that, since I started this for my family and for fun.

But, I did buy something you need to check out. The new Jumbo Rice Krispies. I got them for the baby as a snack…baby food snacks are so expensive.

I opened them up when we got home from the store and of course had to try them out. They are so good!! They really are a lot bigger than the originals and have a honey flavor. I gave both boys a handful and they ate them in no time. Baby loved them and didn’t have any trouble feeding himself.

They’d make some killer rice krispie treats. I’ll have to try that out.

I’ve heard stories of toddlers touching their mom’s tummy and saying, “baby!” then the mom finds out she’s pregnant a couple weeks later. I’ve also heard of toddlers knowing what a baby will be before it’s born…like they have a 6th sense about it. Happened to a friend of mine…her kid was right about the next 3.

Recently, Pierce has been saying he wants a baby sister. A couple days ago,  he said it again.

“I know honey.”

“Where’s my baby sister?”

“You don’t have one.”

“Where is she?”

“We don’t have a baby sister, honey. You have a baby brother and a big sister.”

“I already have a baby brother. I want a baby sister.”

Oh, my….

Just to see what he’d say, I asked him once if he wanted another baby in the house and he said yes. I asked if he wanted another brother or a sister. And that’s when all this started. I’m sure some is power of suggestion (though I’ve never encouraged, just asked). But now he’s got me thinking if he knows more than I do. Only time will tell, I suppose.