It is 10:50 p.m. on Tuesday, December 28. Dave and I are upstairs in the TV room. Dave is watching a movie on the big screen and I am totally enthralled in my new book from Christmas.
All of the girls have been in bed since 9 o'clock or maybe a hair earlier. I first tried Nicole at 8:40 but she came out and Dave put her back in and told her to go to sleep.
Hannah and Ashley have found it fun this Christmas break to sleep upstairs in the guest bedroom. For this night, Hannah has the bed and Ashley gets the mattress on the floor.
At 10:35, Dave and I hear a noise coming from the door behind us. Dave can see that standing in the doorway is Nicole.....in her coat. She's told to come to the couch so we can chat with her. As she bounds around the corner, we see that she is no longer in her pjs. She has changed into a turtleneck shirt, her winter coat and I can count three pair of pants. She can't speak clearly because she's sucking on a life saver.
Oh dear! She hasn't been asleep in her room like we thought. She's been playing and eating Ashley's life savers from Christmas!
She sat on my lap for a moment so we could talk and I counted four bracelets on her wrist. Hmmm.......
The movie has now ended. Dave has snickered a bit as I've been talking to her and asking what she's been doing in her room. She replies that she's been playing and eating life savers. I asked her if she made a mess and innocently she tells me yes. I asked her if she is going to clean it up tomorrow and she innocently tells me no. This is what brought a chuckle from Dave.
I pondered for a moment about asking Dave to take her back to bed because I was afraid a panic attack would come along with seeing the mess in the bedroom. However, I braved myself and took her downstairs.
Upon entering the bedroom, I see that she has emptied out the entire bottom drawer of her dresser and the clothes are piled on the floor. There is not one pair of shorts left in the drawer.
She has also opened all five packs of Ashley's life savers and scattered them along with the tiny pieces of paper on the floor. This time when I told her that she would be cleaning up the mess in the morning she hugged me and said, "ok mom!"
We located her pjs in an attempt to get her ready for bed once again. I mentioned earlier that I had been able to physically see three pair of pants that she had on so as I started taking them off, I was counting in my mind....one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Yes! She had on seven pair of pants! she asked me while I was taking them off if she could go swimming. Where in the world had this come from?!? Then after reaching the end of the seven pair of pants, I came down to a swim diaper! I said, "where is your pull-up?" She ran to her dresser and pulled it out. She had exchanged it for a swim diaper and wanted to go swimming! Silly mom!! What were you thinking?!?!?
I could have been mad as I was removing all of the clothes but I couldn't help but chuckle myself as I was counting. This time she said she understood that it was time to stay in bed and go to sleep...guess we'll see. She's been in there for 15 minutes....pray tell if she's asleep or unloading drawer number two!
Never a dull moment with this three year old!!
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Making My Heart Hurt
Kids are amazing. One minute they can drive you crazy and the next minute they can tell you a story and it can totally make your heart hurt.
There are times as a mom that you wonder if you're even getting through. Are you teaching them anything or is everything you say going in one ear and out the other. My conversation with Hannah tonight totally brought to my attention that she is learning and turning into an amazing young girl.
Hannah worked in the cafeteria for lunch yesterday at school. During a regular school day the students are assigned a table to eat at. From the conversation, I'm guessing that when you're a lunch worker, you can eat lunch at any table.
While driving in the car, I asked Hannah how her day at school went. She told me about today and then asked if I wanted to hear a story about what happened yesterday. The way she said it I immediately thought it was going to be about someone at school teasing her. This is not what I was expecting:
"You know how when it's your first year at Edith Bowen you're kind of scared and really don't have a lot of friends? There's this one girl that's new at school and yesterday she was eating lunch at a table all by herself. Naomi, Erica, Sami and I thought we'd go sit by her and eat."
"Naomi had some other friends sitting at another table. We were walking to sit by this girl and Naomi's friends starting yelling for her to come and sit with them and she did. Erica followed Naomi and then Sami followed Erica. I didn't want this girl to sit by herself so I still went and sat by her."
"I really didn't know what to say to her and I really liked her necklace so I told her that I liked it and it made her smile. She finished eating and then said she was going to go and said good-bye. The others started saying for me to come and sit with them because I was by myself but I had already started eating so I stayed there."
"Mom, what would you have done? Would you have sat by this girl that was by herself or would you have gone with your friends?"
With tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat, I ask, "Did you finish eating your lunch at the table by yourself."
Hannah: "Yes but it was ok because I didn't want the girl to sit by herself and she finished eating and had to go. I had already started eating and I didn't want to pack up my food and move."
Wow! My heart was/is full! What an amazing girl! It really did make me wonder. Would I have been as strong as Hannah and been able to sit with the girl or would I have followed as the other did and go sit with my friends?
These small acts of kindness do prove that things do get through.
There are times as a mom that you wonder if you're even getting through. Are you teaching them anything or is everything you say going in one ear and out the other. My conversation with Hannah tonight totally brought to my attention that she is learning and turning into an amazing young girl.
Hannah worked in the cafeteria for lunch yesterday at school. During a regular school day the students are assigned a table to eat at. From the conversation, I'm guessing that when you're a lunch worker, you can eat lunch at any table.
While driving in the car, I asked Hannah how her day at school went. She told me about today and then asked if I wanted to hear a story about what happened yesterday. The way she said it I immediately thought it was going to be about someone at school teasing her. This is not what I was expecting:
"You know how when it's your first year at Edith Bowen you're kind of scared and really don't have a lot of friends? There's this one girl that's new at school and yesterday she was eating lunch at a table all by herself. Naomi, Erica, Sami and I thought we'd go sit by her and eat."
"Naomi had some other friends sitting at another table. We were walking to sit by this girl and Naomi's friends starting yelling for her to come and sit with them and she did. Erica followed Naomi and then Sami followed Erica. I didn't want this girl to sit by herself so I still went and sat by her."
"I really didn't know what to say to her and I really liked her necklace so I told her that I liked it and it made her smile. She finished eating and then said she was going to go and said good-bye. The others started saying for me to come and sit with them because I was by myself but I had already started eating so I stayed there."
"Mom, what would you have done? Would you have sat by this girl that was by herself or would you have gone with your friends?"
With tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat, I ask, "Did you finish eating your lunch at the table by yourself."
Hannah: "Yes but it was ok because I didn't want the girl to sit by herself and she finished eating and had to go. I had already started eating and I didn't want to pack up my food and move."
Wow! My heart was/is full! What an amazing girl! It really did make me wonder. Would I have been as strong as Hannah and been able to sit with the girl or would I have followed as the other did and go sit with my friends?
These small acts of kindness do prove that things do get through.
Ashley's Concerned
Ashley: "Mom? If it keeps raining, will the snow melt?"
Me: Probably.
Ashley: "Then Santa is going to have to come in his one HORSE open sleigh with wheels and not in his sleigh with the reindeer!"
Yep....I can totally see the concern.
Me: Probably.
Ashley: "Then Santa is going to have to come in his one HORSE open sleigh with wheels and not in his sleigh with the reindeer!"
Yep....I can totally see the concern.
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