My boys are both big fans of Nick Jr's show Team Umizoomi. I allow them to watch it because it is frankly not as annoying as some other shows (ie: Dora). Today both boys were sitting watching as Milli, Geo, and Bot ran around on another of their typical problem solving adventures. The story today was that a little boy named Anthony attempted to mail a card or some other package to his grandma. He seemed to have forgotten to put stamps on the package.
At first glance, I simply thought that the moral was to follow the rules. In this case, remembering to put stamps on the package or the post office wouldn't deliver. Well, that was not the real lesson.
Team Umizoomi (Milli, Geo, and Bot) proceeded to hop through the mail slot at the closed post office, and find the package. Once located, they put stamps on it, then hopped into the mail truck, rode to grandma's house, and rang her door bell.
Today's lesson: don't forget to put stamps on your packages, or they won't be mailed. Or is it, breaking and entering, and tampering with mail is fine, as long as it's in the name of grandma?
When I first took on the 52 week challenge, I struggled to find 52 areas of my house that needed to be organized. The funniest part is that I definitely don't have an organized home, so this shouldn't have been an issue, As the weeks have gone on, I did exactly what I thought I would- added more. I'm now up to 42 different areas. This week, I tackled kitchen stuff, meaning that it was time to organize the following: utensil drawer, cabinets (2) with small kitchen appliances, pots and pan cabinet, two additional drawers, and a cabinet with all of my spices, flower, baking supplies, and some bowls and platters. Cleaning these out also meant that I had more items to add to my 2012 items in 2012 list. This list contains all of the items that I've gotten rid of in my house over the year. The goal is 2012 items in 2012. That means roughly 5.5 items per day. I picked up this challenge back in early April so I have some catching up to do. I should have roughly 671 items on this. I'm currently sitting at 184 items gone.
I'm over the moon that I no long have things jumping out on my head every time I open a cabinet. Here are my before and after photos:
I swore that when I became a mother, I wouldn't become a yeller. I grew up in a family where all of the women were yellers. If a child misbehaved, the next step was to yell, to make them listen. I'm not implying that the women in my family were always screeching mothers, but there were a lot of us, and the children don't listen well. Fortunately, there were a lot of hugs and kisses to offset all of the yelling. Growing up as one of those children, I promised myself that I would observe restraint, and punish misbehaving children with patience and logic.
A few years later, I observed the opposite of my upbringing. I was in Brookline, sitting outside of a boutique toy store. The mother had a 3 to 4 year old with her who was clearly angry because she denied him some sort of toy. The child carried on and screamed and stomped. The mother would quietly walk over, crouch down and try to have a logical conversation with him. This simply resulted in him yelling more and him running another 25 feet away. Imagine this scenario repeated 6 times. For me, it was yet another example of how not to reprimand.
Here I am four years and two boys later and I have yet to find the sweet spot. I understand that yelling all of the time doesn't necessarily help. Additionally, I get tired of yelling. I also understand that logic doesn't work with a stomping 20 month old. I can now understand why mama cats swat their kittens, and why others eat their young. My boys have the ability to get me to the last ounce of patience.
Today has been a yelling day. I swear they had a conversation in their bedroom this morning on alternating getting into trouble. If one is behaving, the other is not. I walked upstairs to move a load of laundry, and came down to this.
It's been a while. A long while that is. Frankly, I toyed with the idea of starting a Twitter feed on the ramblings of my now 3 1/2 year old, but decided that this would probably be a good way for me to keep a modern day diary. Either that, or it'll just be one more thing for me to neglect!
We live in the suburbs, in a rental. We have a whole 1300 square feet (approximately) to call ours, as well as a small patio/garden space. Our complex is large, and doesn't come without it's own set of problems, but overall it's not too bad. Problem lies with the fact that it's a rental. We cannot customize much, as each change we make means that we'll just have to pay more once we move out. Additionally, having a 3 1/2 year old, and 19 month old means that we have a lot of C-R-A-P crap. Tons of it as a matter of fact.
Since I'm limited to the changes that we can make, I am often "re-organizing." I strive to live a simpler life. In researching this quest, I stumbled upon some inspiration... ORG Junkie's 52 Week Challenge.
The idea behind this is to outline 52 areas of your home that need organization, and tackle one weekly. I have to admit, I do not have 52 on my list, rather, 33. I'm sure as I start tearing apart my house, I'll find new areas to tackle. I also found a message board that others were working on getting rid of 2012 items in 2012. I decided to pair the two together to see what happens...
Quick update. O had his 2 week doctor's appointment yesterday afternoon. He is growing steadily. He is now 21 inches (he was 20 at birth) and is up to 9lbs 12oz. He's almost gained a full pound since birth (he was 8lbs 13oz). His head was large like his brother's; although I can't remember exactly how large it was in the 75th percentile.
So apparently I shouldn't take on new hobbies. It took for my cousin to start a blog about her kids and life for me to remember I had one (http://lifeslittlerevelations.blogspot.com/). In looking back, the last time I posted was when our sweet little boy turned one. He is now almost two and a wild little man. We have also welcomed a new family member. O was born on September 4th, and N has been adjusting wonderfully. O is a sweet, peacefully baby, and N is in love with him. He checks on him several times a day and often talks about his "baby brudder."
Life with a toddler boy and a newborn has been fun. N had his first ER visit last night. He slid down a kid's slide at a friend's house and almost plowed into a 6 month old baby. C was there to grab him before he could hit the baby, but it also resulted in a strange "popping" sound. Suddenly N was screaming and wouldn't move his left arm. We decided it was best to take him to the ER to make sure nothing was broken. As soon as we walked into the ER, the woman at the reception desk said something about "Nursemaids Elbow." Once we were checked into the triage area, the woman in there also said the same thing. No x-ray done. He saw the doctor who quickly popped his elbow back into it's correct spot. Problem fixed. He's back to normal.
We're adjusting to our new found chaos. Everyday brings new challenges and new joy. How can it not with the two beautiful boys below!
Our little boy turned 1 on Saturday. He was a perfect birthday boy, and his party was a great time! Lots of thanks to our friends and family for coming out for his birthday. N had a great time, and we did as well. Unfortunately, all of the pictures taken are on my mom's camera, so I'll have to wait to upload some photos when she visits next. Until then hugs and kisses from the whole crew.
