Token Project Lament

The cute pictures have kind of taken over this blog's original mission statement. So here's the token update on the crazy stuff the kids get into.

Karen: Her latest display of displeasure is smacking herself in the face. As in "Do what I want now, or I will hurt myself again!" And she loves crawling all around the house (eating any goodies she find along the way) and finding any shelf or cupboard within reach. I'm sure you know what follows.

Noah: The little turkey pulled my knitting needle out of a pair of gloves I was making and used it to dig in the rocks outside. So, not only do I have to start over on the glove (I just can't pick up stitches...it never looks right afterward), but I had to use plier to straighten the poor little mutilated needle tip. And it will never knit smoothly again. :( Then I discovered he's also been using a stick to whack the leaves off all my plants in the backyard. The ones that the frost didn't get. :|

Sarah: Nothing too destructive on this front. Mostly just lots of back talk. Oooh, does she know how to push buttons. The worst project lately has been flooding the bathroom floor with water. Could be worse.

Lamenting...

You know you miss these exciting project updates.

Monday the kids emptied a good portion of a gallon of milk and what was left of the chocolate milk all over the family room carpet. They also dumped the Sunny D all over the kitchen floor. I called Rich at work to commiserate, and he just came home early (it was around 4) to help clean up. He mopped the kitchen while I steam cleaned the carpet.

Twice this week, Noah got into some open #10 cans of rice, instant milk, and powdered eggs. He thought it was really funny to mix them and throw handfuls on the floor. Did you know that powdered eggs don't vacuum very well? They're kinda...sticky. Ewww, yuck.

Noah's Continued Crime Spree

So, in the string of things perpetuated by Noah, we can now add nail polish and hair cutting. True, these issues have been thoroughly explored by his older sister, but it's always inspiring to see the next generation coming into its own. Don't you think?

So, similar to the painted-diaper-decorating of before, Noah got some gold glittery nail polish out and painted his tummy right above the diaper line...and inside the top of the diaper. Good thing the tabs were stuck tight, or we'd have had some difficulty removing it from sensitive skin, shall we say...which appears to have been the objective. :-o He and Daddy had a serious talk about boys and nail polish.

And after giving the rocking horse pegasus yet another trim (on top of Sarah's earlier episodes), Noah took some chunks off the top of his own head. I'm not entirely sure he didn't have help in this one, but he sure wasn't unhappy about it. The good news is that with him, I can just give him a buzz. Right in time for summer...and his picture appointment next week. :-/

Noah's Exploits

Well, Noah has officially graduated from henchman to villain. Up to now, he's participated in the projects Sarah comes up with. Well, no longer. He initiated his own plot to drive his mother crazy. Three times in the past two days, he's gotten into the paints from the preschool supply box (which is now on TOP of the cabinet, thank you). Carpet, couch, computer monitor screen, chairs, Sarah's shoes, etc. Fortunately, this is all Crayola Washable paints, and it's come off just about everything. But still. I wasn't looking for something to do that badly.

And this morning he also decorated himself. He had blue tempera paint all over his shirt and pants--and apparently his diaper needed decorating too... When I caught him this morning, I just looked at him. And he looked up at me and said, "That was naughty."

Oh, What a Morning

And it wasn't beautiful.

Noah was playing his "I'm not going to sleep" game last night again. He didn't get to sleep until 10:30, so he was pretty cranky this morning. I had to get up earlier than I prefer because we had to drop Rich off at work. We're waiting for a part to come in to fix the other car, so we're making do with the one car for the moment.

We went right from dropping Rich off to the clubhouse for Sarah's dance class. I got her changed into her dance clothes quickly, and we headed inside. Then Noah decided to pitch the world's biggest tantrum. Biggest. In the world. We're trying to walk the 30 feet from the front door to the dance room, and he is screaming his head off, flailing, and wrapping himself around both my legs so I can't move (while I'm carrying the infant carrier, of course). I managed to shuffle to the dance room, scooting him ahead of me. The dance teacher wasn't there yet, so I'm trying to get Sarah into her dance shoes while Noah continues to scream at the top of his lungs.

When the dance teacher got there, I picked Noah up around his waist and tucked him under one arm and grabbed the carrier with my free hand. I hauled Noah and Karen through the clubhouse back out to the van, with Noah screaming, "I don't wanna go to the car!" the whole way. I pretty much locked Noah in the back part of the van to scream and took Karen into the front seat with me because she was starving by this point. So I fed Karen while Noah screamed. The. Entire. Time.

When Karen was done, I asked Noah if he wanted to get out of the car. He did, so I told him he needed to calm down and get control, and he settled down for the most part. I mopped his face with a couple of tissues, and we headed back inside. Once inside, he began screaming again and wanted up. I picked him up and waddled back to the window outside dance class towing a toddler, baby, diaper bag, and carrier. I put the diaper bag and carrier down and just held Noah (who promptly fell asleep) until class was over. And yes, I'm that talented--I also managed to write a check for a recital costume and February classes.

By the way, why is it that children gain about 30 pounds just by falling asleep?

After class, I waddled back out, carrying the now-sleeping toddler, diaper bag, and baby-in-carrier. We got outside when Sarah realized she was still wearing her dance shoes and left her street shoes in class. And no, of course, she couldn't run back by herself to get them. I had to carry everything back with her. About halfway, a woman leaving the clubhouse saw us and walked Sarah to get her shoes so I could stay put. And then another mother from the dance class helped carry Karen and her seat to the van. (Thank heaven for compassionate people.) And we drove home.

Where I had 1/2 hour to shower and get Noah a clean shirt, etc. before getting back in the van to meet Rich for lunch. (We were meeting one of his Woodbadge patrol buddies and his family for lunch.) And of course, at this point, Karen decided she'd had enough of being in her seat. Not that I blame her, but... So she screamed the entire time I was in the shower and getting dressed and...pretty much until we pulled out of the driveway and the vibration put her back to sleep. Poor kid. And she'd been so nice last night--she slept from 8:30 p.m. until 5:30 a.m.

At least lunch was good. Karen slept, the kids were in a better mood, and Schlotzsky's is yummy. Maybe I can finagle everyone into naps this afternoon. A Mom can dream, can't she?

(Wow. This blog is great for journaling, huh?)

2-year-olds

Now that Sarah appears to be over most of her destructive phases (the make up, the nail polish, the potions, the dumped food...), of course it's Noah's turn.

He's a little devil some days. Today, his favorite pastime was poking Karen in the eye when I wasn't looking. He was up till almost 11 last night because he kept getting out of bed, playing with toys, trying to climb into Karen's crib, etc. I was pretty proud of myself for not losing it--just returning him to bed firmly every time I caught him out. And yesterday, I caught him in the middle of his big sister's bed with scissors, merrily cutting a giant hole in the middle of her sheets. He managed to cut a small hole in his pants and shirt while he was at it. And of course, he's trying to give up napping, which gives him plenty more time to get into mischief. I just have to shake my head and sigh.

Oh, and on top of the late night last night, my husband woke me up around 5 a.m. (when he was getting ready to leave me for a Scout 20-mile hike) to let me know that the hamster has gotten out. We searched the house, but no luck so far. She's still loose around here somewhere. Hopefully she'll come out of hiding when she gets hungry. (Ha ha. Like there's any shortage of food on the floor she can scavenge.)

Drat that Harry Potter

Sarah is obsessed with potions. At 4 years old. And unfortunately, she realizes that there's not much Mommy can do to stop her while feeding the baby.

So, today while I was nursing Karen, Sarah and her henchman got out a dozen or so bottles of things from my bathroom sink and cupboards. While Sarah is mixing her potions, Noah is putting shimmery gold lotion hands all over my basket of clean laundry and down comforter...not to mention squeezing it all over the floor.

Granted, this is not much worse or different than the last dozen or so potion episodes (aside from the new loads of laundry this time). Obviously, the consequences I've been assigning have no meaning. She knows she's not supposed to even be IN my bathroom, but the tradeoff is apparently acceptable. And also she "forgot" she wasn't supposed to make potions.