Mister & Sister

Four

My beautiful boy,

You've been asking me every day for a few weeks now, "Mommy, am I four today?"  Well, buddy.  Today is the day.  You are four.  FOUR!  I can hardly believe it.  You're growing up so very fast yet when I stop and think about it, I can barely remember life without you. 

This year has been challenging for all of us.  Three was a tricky age.  You wanted so badly to be independent, to do things all by yourself.  You had your own ideas about what you wanted and what you didn't want, and those ideas didn't always mesh with what Mommy and Daddy wanted and didn't want.  You'd get frustrated, we'd get frustrated, and often a few of us would end up either in tears or very close to it.  There were lots of days that I felt like all I did was scold you for one thing or another. I'd lay in bed at night and worry that all of the attention I'd given you was negative.  That's an awful feeling for a Mommy, you know.  I'd tell myself that tomorrow would be better and sure enough, it was.  And it turns out the good days outnumbered the bad and we got through this challenging year just fine.  Now when we're "grouchy" with each other, we talk about it, apologize, and get on with things.  You're learning, Mister.

There've been so many positive things that have happened this year.  You learned to write all of your letters, you can count to one hundred and beyond, you're drawings are now quite recognizable, and your imagination is running wild.  There is not a day that goes by that you're not saying and doing things that amaze us, make us laugh, and just generally making us feel so lucky to know you and watch who you're becoming.  You still love to be a helper, especially where your Sister is concerned.

Oh, how you love your Sister.  You want to be the first one in her room when she wakes up and you simply must love on her before she's laid down for sleep.  Quite often you ask me to bring her to your room for play and when I do, you promptly dismiss me so the two of you can have your fun together.  Mostly this consists of you jumping on your bed while she watches but you both seem perfectly happy with that arrangement.  You want desperately to have a playmate here at home and Sister wants desperately to fill that role.  The problem is that as much as you both want it, she's just not quite ready.  All it takes is one little poke in the eye or a bump on the head and she's reduced to tears, you're upset that she doesn't want to play anymore, and Mommy's left to pick up the pieces.  The two of you are also learning to share.  Unfortunately, neither of you really seems all that interested in the concept with it's your turn to give up a toy or a book to the other.  And as you're quickly learning, since you're the older brother, quite often you end up giving over the toy or the book to your Sister.  In the beginning, this almost always resulted in a tantrum from you.  But slowly you're learning that it's okay to give over something just because it's the nice thing to do.  You're learning that little sacrifices for people you love are part of life.  And now when I try to protect your "treasures" from SIster's grabby hands, you're quick to say, "That's okay, Mommy.  She can play with that."  You're learning, Mister.

This year, you discovered how much fun it is to make friends.  We're blessed to live in such a great neighborhood and on a street filled with children your age.  You used to be so shy and reserved with other kids and now we have to drag you inside at night.  You've got your own little group of friends and it thrills me to see you interact with them.  Your friends are introducing you to the things that interest them and you're sharing your favorite things with them.  I'm seeing glimpses of the future when I watch you with your pals.  Ordinarily, that would scare me but there's something about you, Mister.  I see you compromising and sharing and laughing and taking turns and doing all the things you need to do to have strong, successful friendships and relationships.  You're learning, Mister.

I remember that about this time, four years ago, I was holding you in my arms after a long, hard labor.  You were everything I had dreamed of but I was absolutely clueless about what life would be like with you in it.  I had no idea what you would do to my heart.  I had no idea you would be my heart.  My  days with you, even the most challenging ones, are filled with joy and laughter and hope and love.  I am so blessed to be your Mommy.  I had no idea what you would bring to my life, but I'm learning, Mister.  I'm learning.

Knock on wood

It appears that both kids are much better today.  Sister, in fact, may have the opposite problem.  We haven't had a stool from her in 24 hours.  Oops!  She does have a runny nose but is much less fussy than she has been all week. 

Mister appears to be 100%.  He's been in time out once already this morning which seems to be a good indication that he's feeling just fine.  He slept like a rock, too, so I'm sure that is contributing to his recovery.

We've got a big weekend ahead.  Friday evening, we're having a little block/pizza party in our garage.  Mister's friends will all drive their toy cars over and we'll give him his new Jeep.  (And no, that is absolutely NOT what we paid for it.) Saturday morning, we'll get on the road bright and early to be in Wichita for Curt's skydive at 12:30.  Sunday afternoon, we're having cake and ice cream for Mister at Aunt Dev's house and then will head back home. 

Mister is very excited about his birthday.  He got packages from Aunt Julie and Grandma & Grandpa Eighmey in the mail yesterday.  He keeps talking about being four and I think it's time to explain to him that when you turn four, you can't talk back to your Mommy & Daddy anymore and you can't throw tantrums or whine.  I hate to spoil his birthday like that, but a Mom's gotta do what a Mom's gotta do!

Reporting from the sick bay...and it ain't pretty

I'm certain there is nothing worse than sick little kids.  Sunday, just as we got home from church, Sister let loose (literally) with the foulest, wateriest, stool she's ever had...and she's not showing any signs of them letting up three days later.  I finally came up with the brilliant idea of putting on two diapers at a time in an effort to stop the stained clothing. On both of us.  Ugh. Last night, she threw up at the dinner table.  It's a wonder she had anything in her tummy to throw up.  She's barely eaten anything all week.  Bless her little heart.

Mister, who has been terribly concerned about Sister, decided to join in the "fun" this morning.  He had climbed into bed with me when he woke up and the thought crossed my mind that he seemed a little off, especially since he was laying next to me with his eyes closed instead of jumping up trying to touch the ceiling fan.  He asked Daddy for breakfast (their morning ritual) and then went to go potty.  Only he had a whole lot more to get rid of besides potty.  The calmest puker in the world let it rip as he sat on the toilet, resulting in urp drenched pajamas, underwear, bath rug, and floor.  Despite his request for "pancakers", his breakfast consisted of applesauce and a Nutri-Grain bar.  Sister ate about twelve Cheerios and they both chugged their milk like it was their first and last drink. 

Shortly thereafter, Sister asked to take a nap so I obliged and as I usually do, headed off to take my shower.  First, I discussed with Mister that if he needed to go to the bathroom or his tummy started to feel funny he should come in the bathroom and tell me.  He assured me his tummy felt fine, so I left him sitting at the island clicking around on the computer.  The next thing I heard was a shaky little voice calling, "Mommy, I need you."  I had not yet made it to the shower but was otherwise indisposed and by the time I got out to the kitchen, poor Mister was soaked with vomit and every nook and cranny of the stool he was sitting on was full of it.  It was dripping into a gigantic puddle on the floor and running down the front of the island.  Every drop of milk and bite of applesauce and breakfast bar was somewhere on his person or in my kitchen in liquid form. 

The worst part is both kids are hungry and begging to eat.  Sister was crying and trying to get up the stairs at about 10:00 this morning and when I did let her up, she stomped right over to her booster seat.  Mister was wanting lunch at about 10:30 so I finally gave them each a few pretzels to see how they'd do.  Sister ate a few and quickly lost interest.  Mister ate his and hers and wanted more.  I managed to stall him off until (an early) lunch at which he ate a piece of bread, a slice of turkey, half a banana, a stick of cheese, a handful of yogurt raisins, a handful of pretzels, and two cups of water.  He wanted more but I managed to convince him that his tummy wouldn't feel good if he ate anything else.  (All I could think of was what that would look like in liquid form all over our new dining room table!)  Sister ate half a banana, two yogurt raisins, and two sticks of cheese and drank one glass of water before she declared that she was "all done" and wanted down.  She promptly blasted through her two diapers and off to bed she went.

Mister has been in his room (not) napping for an hour now.  We've had three false alarms.  He tells me he's going to throw up and we run to the bathroom only to have him tell me his tummy changed its mind.  Stinker.  I don't dare call his bluff!

Here's a little picture of my patients.  Sick or not, they're awfully cute and snuggly. 

Good news and bad news and good news

The good news is that it's getting darker earlier which means the kids are going to bed earlier which means I have a few extra minutes in the evening which means I should be able to start blogging on a more regular basis again.  Whew...what a run on sentence that was!!

The bad news is that my SD card is damaged and I can't seem to find the time to go buy a new one, so I can't even fill blog space with pictures of the kids.  Sorry!

More good news, though.  Mister's birthday is fast approaching.  Curt's skydive is scheduled for this weekend as well.  That means I absolutely MUST get an SD card.  So ultimately, there will be new posts AND new pictures coming soon.

Brilliant, isn't she?

Really, Sarah? Really??

Sweet and sour Sister

Sister is at that really fun age where she's doing new things every day.  Earlier this week, I witnessed her first full blown tantrum and because it was her very first one, I found it wildly amusing.  I can't remember for sure what I "did to her".  I think I made her get down off of the coffee table that she was standing on top of.  All I really remember is that she looked at me, scrunched up her face, burst into tears and flung herself to the floor all in the most dramatic fashion she could muster.  Then she rolled over onto her tummy and hit the floor with her hand.  Girlfriend was mad and she let me know it!

This morning, there was a far more pleasant first.  She came to me in the kitchen, fussing (fake half crying) to let me know she wanted something and couldn't get it herself.  I picked her up and said, "What do you want?  Can you show me?", to which she clearly responded, "Okay."  With that, she pushed herself down and led me into the master bedroom, patted the bed, and said, "Up!"  Our first real conversation.  It nearly melted my heart.  Of course when I wouldn't put her on the bed to jump, she flung herself to the floor and that was the end of our moment.

Celebrate good times

C'mon! (I'm all about the earworms these days.)

If you read yesterday's post (is anyone still checking in on this blog?) you know that we celebrated our seventh anniversary yesterday.  Actually, to be more accurate, we did our celebrating on Sunday.  Thanks to a good neighbor, we were able to leave the kids at home and go out alone for the evening.  It was a beautiful night and everything was just perfect.

We had an early dinner in the Power & Light District and the weather was perfect for dining al fresco.  Our steaks were delicious and the atmosphere in general was just pleasant and happy.  It was great to be able to have complete conversations without interruption and to eat our food simultaneously.  I had to stop myself from reaching over and cutting up Curt's steak.  I'm so used to spending five minutes getting everyone else's food ready for them to eat that I didn't know what to do with myself! 

After dinner, we walked around the corner and down the street to The Midland to see Vince Gill.  If you ever have the opportunity to visit this venue, do so.  It is absolutely beautiful.  The detail is amazing and the staff does a wonderful job of welcoming you and making your evening pleasant and easy.  I've actually been looking at their schedule to find other shows we'd enjoy seeing, and a lot of that is because I was just so charmed by the theater itself.

Vince Gill was as fabulous as I'd hoped.  I've seen Vince perform live four times now and he never disappoints.  As the gentleman behind us said, "There are entertainers and then there are artists and this man is an artist."  I will go to a Vince Gill show every single time he's in this area if I can.  He played for nearly three hours and it was so simple and beautiful.  His "band" on this tour consists only of himself, and three other musicians...one on keyboards, one on standing base, and one playing something called a cajon.  It was an all acoustic evening.  We realized that Curt may have been one of the youngest people in the audience which suited us just fine.  I think we're finally too old to stand and dance around and sing at the top of our lungs at a concert!  Oh, and did I mention our seats?  No?  How does THIRD ROW grab you?  We were literally ten yards away from him.  And the funniest part of the night?  I realized at the intermission that I was sitting next to two girls who I hadn't seen in about 30 years or so who lived in a neighboring town from where I grew up.  What are the odds of that?

There is one more anniversary "event" that will take place in a few weeks.  This was my gift to Curt.  He was supposed to go this weekend but we had too many other things going on, so we've pushed the date back to October 11.  That gives him plenty of time to think about how crazy it is to jump out of a perfectly good airplane!

Seven years ago...

...at this time, I was sitting in a chair getting my hair and makeup done for my wedding.  I had five hours left until I married the best thing to ever happen in my life.  Those five hours seemed like an eternity and these last seven years have seemed like my whole life, not just seven years.  It's so hard to remember my life before I met my husband and I think there's a reason for that.  He IS my life.  Everything that came before him now seems so inconsequential, so unimportant.  I can hardly bear to think of where I might have ended up without him and I know I never want to find out.

I love you, honey.  Thanks for finding me and making me realize I was always looking for you.

We're still here

• Having Mister home every day has put a serious dent in my blogging time, among other things!  We're still looking into other options for him and apparently have plenty of time to continue looking as we've heard nothing from Ms. Jennifer regarding a return date.  Just as well, I suppose.  We looked at the preschool at our church and have a few other places to check into before making any decisions.
• Our weather here has changed drastically.  Thankfully, the heat and humidity are gone and today I would even say it's downright chilly!
• I've been scrambling to go through closets and figure out what fits the kids going into fall/winter.  I managed to find some great deals on the clearance racks last year so Mister is pretty much set.  It makes me a little sad to say that I can now shop for him in the little boys department and get away with an XS there, at least in shirts.  For the most part, though, he's still wearing "toddler" sizes as most of his things are 5T.  He's filled out so much this year but he still needs the adjustable waist on all of his pants.  Sister, on the other hand, had exactly two things in her closet that fit her for fall.  I've been having a blast scouring garage sales and eBay for some really cute things at great prices.  She's going to be even more difficult to fit than Mister was, I think.  She's very tall but very thin and most of her length is in her torso, not her legs.  So for the most part, she's wearing 18-24 mo or just 24 mo in pants and 24 mo and some 2T in shirts and dresses.  She also requires adjustable waists.  The strange thing is that she still has ridiculously small feet.  I have no idea where she gets that!  Anyway, thanks to my fabulous online Mom friends, we're pretty much set for shoes for a while.  All that's left for both kids are new coats, hats and mittens/gloves and they should be all set. 
• We'll take delivery on a new table and chairs tomorrow.  My poor little set that I bought when I moved to San Francisco is slowing but surely falling apart.  We found a very nice, affordable set at Nebraska Furniture Mart that will get us through the destructive kid years.  I'm very excited about it!
• Sister's vocabulary is starting to explode.  She still has her favorite words...Momma/Mommy, Daddy, BupBup (which means both Frisco & Lacey), Corin, oh man, bye bye, hi, hello...but now she's added see you, no, night night, and a few others. 
• She's also mastered the fine art of tattling.  Mister can get away with absolutely nothing anymore.  If he does anything to her, she stomps into the kitchen crying (real or fake) until I ask her what's wrong at which point she demands to be picked up.  I generally take her back to the scene of the crime where I find Mister waiting with his explanation.  Usually the first version goes something like this:

            Me:          What happenedd?
            Mister:      Oh, nuffing.
            Me:          Tell me the truth.  I need to know what happened so I can help her.
            Mister:      Well, Sister was trying to get my ________ so I just took it away from her.
            Me:          Ohhhh.  Well, next time put it where she can't reach it.  
                            Now give her a hug and apologize.

           By this time, Sister couldn't care less about whatever it was she was tattling about.

• I've got Halloween costumes figured out for both kids and am in the process of putting them together.  They're going as a matched set again this year but I know you'll all be disappointed that what I've chosen for them won't be half as embarrassing for them as last year's costumes were.
• We've got lots of fun things coming up.  Curt's coed softball league has started up again and he may even start playing some pick up basketball at church on Sunday nights.  We have a "date" next Sunday night to see Vince Gill at the Midland and I'm so excited I can hardly stand it.  THIRD ROW SEATS!!  Volleyball season is also in full swing around here so we've got dates on our calendar to watch Jessica and Adrienn play when they're in the area.  Throw in a couple of birthday parties and our schedule is pretty full.  Next thing you know it will be holiday season!
• Did I mention that I beat my husband in a game of PIG this evening?  With a baby on my hip?  That's right.

And finally, here are a few pictures to make up for my lack of posting.  I think this six day stretch is officially the longest I've ever gone without any sort of update.  Oops!