Uv Ooo, Uh Oh, and Throw!

The 3rd week of school has started for Samuel and Avery. They seem to be getting into a really good morning routine. Things are running smoothly in the afternoons too. Hector's been taking Samuel and Avery to school in the mornings. Every morning, as Hector, Samuel and Avery are heading out the back door, I always seem to say the same thing to them: "Bye Daddy. Bye Samuel. Bye Avery. I love you." And then Isaac usually follows with a short and sweet "Bye." But today, I said my goodbyes, and Isaac followed with his "Bye" and then said "Uv ooo (Love you)." Avery ran back and hugged him and said that she loved him too. Ah, it just melts my heart.


And speaking of Isaac... From about the time he figured out how to grasp an object in his hand, he has also demonstrated the ability (and desire) to throw those objects. If he could pick it up, he'd throw it. And if he couldn't pick it up, he'd kick it. And if he couldn't kick it, he'd try hitting it with something like a stick or a bat or a plastic shovel. At first, I thought this was cute. And so I would say "One, two, three, throw!" Mistake! I think I might need to file this under the "Things I wish I'd never taught my child" category. In addition to listing the "counting to 3 and then throwing it" game in this category, I would also like to add the "uh oh" game. This is the game I started playing with Isaac every time he would drop something from his high chair. It quickly became a game that I wanted to stop almost immediately after I started it. It just kept going, and going, and going. But at least the "uh oh" game has never really caused any problems. The "counting to 3 and then throwing it" game, on the other hand, has caused many problems and there has been more than one object that has fallen victim.


There was the time I was in Walmart and Isaac was sitting in the shopping cart, and I pulled up to the apples and was picking out a few. Before I could even realize what was happening, I saw something red and shiny fly by the side of my head. Isaac was yelling "Throw!" Victim #1 = the Red Delicious apples at Walmart...


Then there was the time when Hector came home from the store with oranges, and sat the bag down on the kitchen floor. Isaac started grabbing them out of the bag and tossing them all over the house. Just a few things got knocked over. Victims #2 and #3 = the oranges for Daddy's lunch, and the living room lamp...


There was also the time when Isaac thought it was a good idea to throw his toy hammer at Lid'l Lee, who was resting peacefully in the window at the time. Victim #4 = Lid'l Lee (the toy hammer seemed fine)...


And here is the most recent victim...

My kitchen timer!

Isaac knew what he had done..........

It's just too difficult for me to get upset with him. Especially when he looks up at me with those big, brown, puppy dog eyes, and reaches out for a hug, and says with a quiver in his soft, sweet voice "Uh oh, throw." As I picked him up and hugged him, I said "That's right Isaac, uh oh, throw. It's okay though, Mommy still uvs ooo."

This Old Chair

For anyone who's ever visited any place I've ever lived in over the past 20 years or so, you will more than likely recognize this chair. I've had this chair for a long time. I've had it since I was a child. I'm not really sure exactly how long I've had it, but I would venture to say that if this chair could talk, it would have a lot of tales to tell. The chair has lived in many different homes, in many different cities. There were times when the chair lived with different family members, but it always seemed to make it's way back into my life. I actually have 2 of these chairs, but I'm only talking about 1 chair in particular here, because the 2 chairs are definitely different. See, this chair has been broken for a while now. The top part that you sit on has been missing the screws that hold it down for more years than I care to think about. And to anyone who has ever had the misfortune of sitting in this chair, only to feel like the minute you sat down on it you were going to fall off because of the loose top, I offer my sincere apology.

Well folks, for my first "the big kids are in school now and I'm trying to find lots of creative ways to keep myself busy" project (whew, that was a mouthful), I fixed the chair!!! Yes, indeed! I finally found some screws that were long enough and skinny enough to hold down the top. I got out the electric screwdriver and it took me all of about 30 seconds to fix it. And then, because I felt like I owed it to the chair for all of the years I neglected it, I gave it a new paint job. It's going into Samuel's room at his desk. So, what do you think?


When Hector saw it, he said "It's blue." Yep, it sure is blue, Hec. Thanks for noticing. :-) But I like it, and so does Samuel. I painted it light blue, and then put a coat of darker blue over the top, and rubbed it off a little bit to give it a distressed look. And just so the other chair in this pair wouldn't get jealous (the chair that's never been broken... the chair that I'm sitting on right now while I'm typing this), I gave it a nice cleaning with some lemon scented Pledge. Are you thinking about the smell of the Pledge right now??? Well, let me just tell you, it smells really nice.

I'm not sure why I've held onto this chair for as long as I have. But when I found this quote, I felt like it put it into better perspective for me. It is from one of my favorite authors of all times; Author Unknown. :-) "A house that does not have one old worn chair in it is just a house. But a house that does have one old worn chair in it is a home. It has a soul."

I like it! This old chair has served my family well for many years in the past, and it's kind of neat to think about the fact that it will serve my family well for many more years to come.

Won't You Please Consider Donating Towards "The Cause"

Yesterday, I was reading through my email and came across an email from someone I have not heard from in over 2 years. The purpose of the email was not for "catching up" with one another. Instead, it was to inform me that her child was participating in a school fundraiser, and I was being asked to consider donating towards "the cause." What's "the cause," you ask? Well, to help pay for private school tuition. Hmmm..... I guess it never hurts to ask, right? I'm sure that private school is very expensive, because I know how much public school is costing us! And since I'm not quite sure how I feel about donating towards the cost of private education for her child, for now I have chosen to take the cowardly approach, and simply not respond! :-) But, I have decided to start my own fundraiser on behalf of Samuel and Avery. I am currently accepting donations of small bottles of water, juice boxes, Goldfish crackers, pretzels, raisins, mandarin oranges, chocolate chip cookies, Oreos, Cheetos, Doritos, Little Debbie snack cakes and muffins, apple cereal bars, Cheerios, Snack Pack pudding, Snack Pack applesauce, and crackers (saltine, graham, and animal). And what is "the cause" that you will be making a donation towards, you ask? Well, for your generous donation, you won't get a tax right off, sorry! But you will get the satisfaction of knowing that Samuel and Avery truly won't eat us out of house and home. :-)

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Keeping Up With Our Work

This past summer, I implemented a chores system for Samuel and Avery. Part of their new chores included cleaning their rooms. I didn't care how they cleaned it, just as long as they did it. Samuel would go into his room, and would take 1 toy at a time, and would put it away in it's proper place. It never would take him very long though, because his room always pretty much stays fairly clean, because that's how Samuel likes it. Avery, on the other hand, would go into her room, walk right down the middle, and would push the toys off to the side using her feet. She would "make a path" and announce that she was done cleaning her room. And although the point of this was to allow them some independence when it came to their own room, as well as teaching them to take responsibility for their own things, Avery's room gradually became more and more unorganized and cluttered. I finally broke down yesterday and cleaned it. I couldn't take it anymore! Isaac and I stayed in her room for around an hour, getting things back to a state of cleanliness that I could be content with. Isaac was sitting in a chair at Avery's table in her room. I watched him get on the chair, and then off again. On, off, on, off... He would pretend to type something on her computer and then he would get off the chair and go to her kitchen set and would start to move things around. He'd go back and sit in the chair and would type some more on the computer. Then he'd get down again and go to her bookshelf and move some things around. And then it dawned on me. This is a game that Isaac and Avery would play together. She would pretend that she was the Mommy, and Isaac was her son. She would type on the computer the list of chores that needed to be done that day, and then Isaac would need to go clean it. I know! Poor 3rd child... But Isaac never complained about it. In fact, he always seemed to like it. And so Isaac was playing this little "game" all by himself yesterday. And when I caught onto it, I started playing with him, and it seemed to make him really happy. For all of the times I've had to tell Avery to be nice to her baby brother, and to put him down, and to give him back that toy, and to play with him softly, and to stop making him do her chores, the bottom line is that she really does love her baby brother and he really misses her. I can tell. So, yesterday afternoon when Avery got home from school and went into her room, she of course noticed immediately that her room had been cleaned. I told her that Isaac had played their "chores game" while she was at school. Avery got a huge grin on her face and said to Isaac "Oh, Bubba! I am so happy to see that you are thinking about me while I'm at school, and that you are keeping up with our work." She gave him a big hug, and I left the room while they played the "chores game" together. That's okay, really. I don't need to get credit for being the one who cleaned her room. Just seeing the look in Avery's eyes, and hearing her tell Isaac that she was thinking about him too during the day, was all that I needed at that moment. I'll let Bubba get all the credit for "keeping up with our work."

Counting Down The Days

Last night, as I was getting Samuel and Avery ready to go to bed, I told them that they had school again the next day. "Woo Hoo, it's your 2nd week of school!" They were not excited about that news at all, despite my enthusiastic tone. And then Avery asked me how many more weeks she has left of Kindergarten. Good question... Let's find out. I got out the calendar and we counted 36 1/2 more weeks of school, or 172 actual days left of school. Man, that made me feel a little less excited too! So, we decided to focus on a closer date, Christmas! Did you know there's only 16 1/2 more weeks, or 113 days before Christmas? Now, that's a date we can all get excited about!