So, Lila just told me she wanted some lunch and I was in the midst of being the Mommy Monster and "eating" Eli's cheeks to make him laugh. I asked her if she'd like some Eli for lunch and she said, "No." I told her that I was going to have some and started munching his cheeks again. She said, "No! We don't eat Eli." I asked her why not and she said,

"He just has germs on him. From your belly. That's why."

Stuff

I'm very tired this evening and I don't know that I have anything very interesting to say. Or maybe I do have interesting things to say, but not the energy or brain functioning to type them out. At the moment, I'm waiting for the last of our small group friends to leave so that I can come out of my room. I'm not able to participate in the discussions these days because of Eli's bedtime.

I could go out and mingle now that the discussion is over and Eli's asleep, but, due to the aforementioned lack of energy and brain functioning, I really don't want to.

I went to my second meeting of Smoothing the Way last night. That's a support group/training course for new homeschoolers. We talked about learning modalities, learning styles, and love languages. It was right up my alley because I love any label that can help me better understand myself and those around me. (don't worry though - i don't use them as little boxes to stick people in and then file them away.) I'm still trying to decide whether I'm a visual, auditory, or kinesthetic/tactile learner...

Articulate

I was just fixing a snack for myself (a pear - yuck - why do i force myself to eat healthy things?) and Lila was insisting that I was not cutting it up for myself, but for her. I finally relented and told her that I was, in fact, cutting it up for myself, but that I'd share it with her. I asked her to go get her bowl from the couch (where it had been left after an earlier snack).

She held up one of her hands (the one i had to torture her by removing a splinter from earlier) and said, "Actually, I have a bandaid on this one. I'd rather don't do it."

How do you argue with that?

If you need a reminder that she is, in fact, 3 years old, she also just told me that she's eating with a big Daddy Fork that's as big as her head and that I was eating with a little Baby Fork that's as small as my head. I'm not sure which image I find more disturbing - a fork as large as Lila's head or my head being as small as a salad fork!

The Most Beautiful Prayer

Shortly after I began doing the 60/60 Experiment, we had an idea to include Lila. We just explained that the watch beeps were to remind us to pray and then we'd pray out loud with her. It only took a couple of times for her to get the idea and then, whenever she'd hear the beep, she'd say, "Hey! We can pray!"

That lasted for a while and it got to be rather annoying, in a helpful way. I'd be oblivious to the beep or subconsciously putting off my moment of connection, when Lila would pipe up and I'd "have to" pray. Eventually, she started to lose interest, but we'd keep doing it. Sometimes she'd participate, and other times I think she might have been trying to block out my presence.

Well, every moment of this experiment was made worthwhile this morning. (not that i haven't seen God working in other ways as well, but this was enough even if i hadn't)

I was in our playroom/classroom, cleaning up before preschool, and didn't even have my watch on. I heard it beep from another room and only vaguely registered the sound. A few seconds later, Lila appeared beside me and said, "Let's pray to God!"

She got down on her knees next to me, folded her hands, bowed her head, closed her eyes (none of which we make her do when praying), and said,

"Hmm... Let's see... Thank you for school coming this week and please help me be kind and gentle to my friends. Amen."

She has been listening and she has been learning. Lila has offered her thanks to God before, but she has never asked for help on her own. What I am doing does make a difference and it fills my heart to know that God is using this experiment to make me a better godly example for my daughter.

Praise God for this beautiful child and all that He continues to teach me through her!

This is a cute little site to go to with your preschooler. You can dress up a fairie, turkey, or scarecrow and then print it out. Lila and I just did it and she especially enjoyed dressing up the fairie.

rock 'n' roll lila

Want to be a Blob

I just put my son down for bed, left the room... and I haven't heard a peep out of him. He must have been really tired! Lila, on the other hand, is running around the house (naked) and giggling like a maniac.

My resolve not to watch TV for a while is being sorely tested this evening. I've gotten too much in the habit of sitting down and blobbing after the kids are in bed. That's alright now and then, but not every night. I want Doug and I to start talking and playing games again. And I could do a much better job of preparing for school if I were not being distracted by SVU/CSI/Cold Case/House!

Ooh, our anniversary is this weekend (the 26th) and I got a fabulous gift for Doug! I can't tell you what it is until after he's gotten it though. My own husband only reads my blog about three times per year (when i specifically ask him to do so). I'm afraid, however, that if I put a "secret" on here, then he will decide to visit on his own for once. Anyway, I'm very excited! Actually, I got him two gifts and both should make him laugh, though they are very different.

The Facts of Life

Lila just asked, with complete exasperation, "Why do my panties ride up my tushie every day?!?"

Stalling

Am... so... sleepy.... Want... to go... to bed.... Must... clean... house.... Am... stalling... with blog....

Have you ever listened to a 3-year-old try to deliberately pick a fight? It usually begins with a seemingly innocent question, such as, "Why is it getting dark?" And then you, the parent, walk into the trap and answer with something logical (if slightly simplified), such as, "Because it's night time and the sun is going to shine on another part of the earth." GOTCHA! Now the 3-year-old comes back with, "Nooo! It's not night time!"

Much to Lila's chagrin, I refuse to engage in these absurd arguments. As she sits there, usually in the back seat, and tries to antagonize me with her powers of contrariness, I politely explain that I'm not going to argue with her. That usually only makes her more angry, but what can I do?!? I'm not going to actually have an argument with the child over whether or not it's night time (or whatever the chosen bait is). A few times she has even responded with, "Yes! I want you to argue with me!" We've decided to find a debate team for her when she gets older.

More of a Tangent than an Update

For those who live in Austin, you might be surprised to know that Freebird's has a really good kids' combo deal. You can get a cheese quesadilla, chips, and a drink for less than $3. I have a policy on Lila's food that I won't pay more in dollars than Lila is in years of age. That means that I currently won't pay more than $3.15 for her food. (don't worry, we don't deny her food altogether. she just eats off our plates.) Most places charge at least $5 for their kids' plates.

Anyway, I think there was something important or amusing I was going to relate... Oh, no, it's neither amusing nor important, but it might be of interest anyway. I rented The Happening and watched it last night. I truly don't know what I was thinking when I rented a creepy movie to watch while Doug was out of town. Thankfully, it was more of a Fascinating Creepy than a Scary Creepy.

I thought it was quite good and worth watching. I was mildly irritated by the environmental message at the end, not because I disagree, but because I GET IT ALREADY and I'm tired of watching that poor dead horse being beaten. Oh and I will warn you that there are some pretty disturbing images, especially at the beginning of the movie. But aside from all that, I enjoyed it!

"That ain't no happy child!"

Eli is on the bed next to me, screaming. I would like to scream too. Unfortunately, we have small group members showing up any minute, so I should probably not be found in a state of hysteria when they arrive. This is what happens when I put him down for his last nap of the afternoon and he refuses to go to sleep. He cries for 45 minutes instead and then I have to get him back up because it's too close to bedtime for him to go to sleep anymore.

Within an hour, he's a screaming maniac. It's too early to put him to bed for the night; too late to put him down for a nap. So we just have to try and keep him happy until bedtime. That means that one of us must be holding him constantly and probably also bouncing around in some way.

I would really like to walk out the door right now and not come back until they are both asleep.

Please do not leave comments about how sweet my children are or platitudes about enjoying these days before they are gone as that is guaranteed NOT to improve my mood. You may, however, leave comments about how you have days like this too, and how you have considered selling your children to gypsies before.

Thank you.

Things I don't want to talk about

Yeah, that whole "getting the kids to sleep" thing - I don't want to talk about it.

I have been a snotty mess all weekend. Actually, I've been sick for the better part of three weeks and I'm getting really tired of it! I think that what's going on now is mostly a heinous allergy attack, but it's compounded by the ulcer in my throat. Hmm... I don't want to talk about that either.

So, UT beat OU yesterday! Woot! Lila and I were gone for the first half of the game, but I got to watch the second half and it was the first fun game of the season. The others have been so one-sided that I lost interest pretty quickly and wandered away from the TV. Apparently Doug and Eli were watching the game before Lila and I got home and it sounds like it was very cute.

Eli was propped up in one corner of the love seat while Doug sat on the other side and ate his lunch. Eli was just staring at the football game, but every once in a while he'd look over at Doug, scowl at the food he was not getting to eat, and then grin at his Daddy. They were just chillin' on the couch, watchin' football!

Baby Stuff

I'm listening to Eli fuss as I try to get him to go to sleep on his own. At 3.5 months, when he was still in our room, I would put him down awake and he'd go to sleep with little to no fuss. At that time, he was also sleeping from 8:30 p.m. to 7 a.m. When we moved him into Lila's room, we were suddenly unwilling to let him fuss because we didn't want him to wake her up.

We started rocking him until he was totally asleep and then putting him down. He then started regularly waking up in the night again. Due to that, and some severe bedtime drama on Lila's part, we've moved his bedtime half an hour earlier than hers and I'm trying to get him to fall asleep on his own again. Tonight is the first attempt and it mostly seems to be making him angry, so far.

I'll give him one more minute (for a total of 5) and then go in and try to relax him, but not all the way to sleep. I'll keep you updated...

Oh, Eli also got his first "solid" food today - extremely runny rice cereal mixed with breast milk. He thought it was quite good and at it all up. He also tried to eat his bib and the spoon.

I Hate Ragweed!

Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it! Hate it!

Not a Story about my Children

If I am feeding Eli while Lila is in the bath, I sometimes turn the TV on because there's only so much time that can be spent in contemplation of a nursing baby, no matter how cute he is. I did this last night and ended up getting totally sucked in to a ghost movie on the SciFi channel. (An American Haunting, in case you're interested.) Doug ended up sucked in as well and we watched the whole thing. It wasn't the best movie ever, but it was good enough that I was completely creeped out after it was over.

There are a few things we do while getting ready for bed at night. For me, one of those things is cleaning out the kitties' litter box, and this I did, with only slightly irrational fears that something was going to jump out of it and scare me. When I was carrying the bag of goods out to the trash can, I remembered that all the windows on the playhouse were open and there was a chance of rain. There was no way I was going into the dark backyard and inside a small dark house after that movie, so I decided to ask Doug to do it for me.

I went back inside, finished the rest of my little pre-bed chores, then found Doug and asked him to be chivalrous and do me this favor. He agreed, and, with only minor grumbling, found his shoes and headed for the back door.

At this point, I should probably tell you that one of the other things I do before bed is set the alarm. Since I was operating on auto-pilot, I went ahead and set the alarm as usual, without thinking about Doug needing to go back outside. I should also tell you that, for some unholy reason, opening the back door when the alarm is armed makes it go off instantly...

So I'm brushing my teeth when I hear this remarkably loud noise that sounds something like a banshee, or at least what I imagine a banshee would sound like, if they existed. I then hear the sounds of Doug running for the alarm keypad (halfway across the house, in the laundry room) and slipping and sliding on the wood floors along the way. Charlie, apparently, was in the path of this running and slipping, and was already understandably disturbed by the noise, so he freaks out and starts running and slipping too.

Unfortunately for him, he chose the same destination as Doug and thought that he was being chased, which freaked him out even more. All of this seemed to last much longer than the few seconds it actually did and then Doug reached the keypad and the alarm finally stopped. It had only taken me half a second to realize what was happening and I was fighing very hard to control my laughter when Doug came into the bathroom, looking like he had seen a ghost, and informed me that I could go out and close my own stupid windows.

He was all bark though and went on to close them after all. That gave me a chance to laugh and him a chance to recover his sense of humor about the situation. It still cracks me up. That one's going onto my List of Reasons I Wish we had Video Cameras Installed in Every Room.

The children, incidentally, slept through all of this, despite the fact that the alarm is right outside their room. Amazing.

[cough cough]

Things have been nuts around here for a week! Lila was sick, I was sick, Eli was sick, I was still sick, Eli was sick again, Lila was sick again... I think we are finally all well now. Or mostly well. Eli is still a bit spotty - more so than usual, I mean (see photo). He's also politely requesting some milk, so I have to go. At least I got a brief update in.