Zoo Week in Review

This past week was a busy one - but then most weeks are - this just had a different flavor of busyness.  There was a storm that blew through the city and dropped a little rain, leaving the air with a cooler feel and the skies darker.  Around here, things just felt stormy as well.

A few tidbits:
There is almost $4000 damage to our van from the recent hailstorm here, but everyone has their car in the shops already so we are waiting a week or two to send ours in.  At least it wasn't totaled.  Some of our friends found themselves car shopping once the insurance had a gander at their cars.  For now we are just a big gray golfball, hurling through the city.

We endured a fair bit of drama from Ben's school this week. It seems that my jokester son and a couple of his friends had tried to reach out and include a child they judged as lonely, which can aparently get a person in trouble for "Bullying".  The school conceded that it was probably more like "Pestering", which, knowing my son, is not so far out of his league.  To me, Bullying encompasses threats, fear, and physical harm.  Pestering, on the other hand has more to do with unwanted fart noises and other 13 year old boy jokes.  So after many hours of discussions, phone calls, written accounts, emails, and commiserating with other parents, the issue is declared DONE and we can all move on.  But it sure ate up a lot of my week.

My birthday was this week!  (I'm not 40 yet.  That's all I'll say!)  A few years ago I managed to finally give up my childish idea that my birthday should be a national holiday and just came to expect a normal day with a few nice surprises in it.  And so it was.  Mostly.  A friend brought me chocolate, my mother in law gave me a little money to spend on myself, and Paisley stopped by with a chai latte and flowers.  Jay took me to lunch and got me more flowers and a card.  (Lest you think that was all he did, he also schlepped all around my favorite mall with me last Saturday and got me a nice pair of shoes.)  So my day was going along swimmingly until I opened my email.

In my email was a notice from the older kids school (yes, the one I was already having issues with this week) informing the families that they had selected a new campus.  Yay for them, Boo for me.  This new campus is two and a half times further from us than the current one.  I already spend 2.5 hours per day just in getting my kids to and from schools and the thought of extending that...  Ugh.  How can I look at my younger children, learning about the world and developing their bodies and tell them that they have to spend 3-4 hours per day strapped down in the car?

For this and other reasons, this just would not be a feasible arrangement for us.  So I proceeded to freak out entirely. (Which involved crying for about 2 days.)

Since then I have calmed down quite a bit, and all is not settled with this move for this school.  There is still quite a bit of time before I will really need to panic (or otherwise figure out what to do) and I am resolved once again to let the future be the future.

In other news around here, Molly has added in several baby signs.  She signs: nurse, eat, drink, dog, thank you, cat, bird, more, shoes, and I think she has done all done and blanket at least a couple times too.  She has grasped this concept that she can communicate with us so readily that she wants to be able to tell us more.  She will fling her arms around trying to tell us something, but she can't figure out which sign to use.  Then there was grocery shopping. Because she can tell us what she wants now, she is more likely to get it, so she got so frustrated when we walked through an aisle with lots of cups and she couldn't understand why I wouldn't give her a drink when she signed it over and and over!

She also really likes baths and was on a mission to get one today.  She fell into the (empty) tub once, and then later managed to remove her diaper and try to climb into the toilet while Posy was in the bathroom curling her hair.

Molly also experienced her first oreo cookie today.  I hoped she would get all chocolated and gross, but she was a pretty dainty eater.  She first removed the top cookie, proving she is a genius, and licked at the filling a little.
 

She decided she didn't like that a whole lot, so she scraped that off the bottom cookie and just worked on eating that part.



Finally, she got to the cookie part.  She made a little slobbery mess with it, but not too bad.  I guess the real mess with have to wait for her First Birthday Cake.  (Two more weeks!)


In other news Max and Tessa got rave reviews at their teacher conferences, although Max's teacher said he has a hard time remembering not to sing all the time.

Jay hurt his back again, and has been hobbling around in pain all week.

And I managed to mess up the garage a little more in and effort to clean the garage.  Which I know sounds counter-intuitive, but is really progress.  I have to dig out all the clutter-infection to clean the wound so to speak.

And that, if you can believe it, is just a small sampling of what went on around here this week.

Some Recent Max Quotes

Upon waking in the morning: "Whoa! I slept like a deaf man!"

While building with legos: "Mom, have you ever had a poop-apple pie?"

Pondering at the dinner table: "Do elephants like eggs?"

Some weeks are like that.

Sometimes it is a doozy of a day that can get you, sometimes it is a whole week. I have been extra busy mostly because of a week I had last week - it started of with a bang. Tessa came home from school with a fever the bloomed into full blown croup, and by the end of the day Max had it too.

On Wednesday the littles were still sick, nothing new there. But then James was hit by a car on his way to school! Talk about a heart stopping phone call. Thankfully, he was the one who called me - laying in the street, waiting for the paramedics, he called me. So I knew he couldn't have been too hurt. Still, I rushed over there and saw my poor baby in a lot of pain, being loaded into an ambulance. After a short stay in the ER, we discovered that he is very bruised and has a hairline fracture in a lumbar vertebra. There isn't a whole lot they could do for that, just tell him to get lots of rest and not jar his spine around.

Thursday began bright and beautiful with a visit from the vomit fairy. Three kids down with that one. It was a short virus though - only about ten hours. But still... little people who cannot understand that we puke in the toilet or a bowl can make a HECK of a mess.

It was interesting to discover that Max had some kind of vomit sensor for Lily. He would say, "Mom, Lily is going to throw up!" and 30 seconds later, I kid you not, Lily would fountain up her stomach contents. By the end of the day I learned to listen to him when he said that.

While it sounded like a horrible week, it was an easy week to focus on the good and to be thankful. James accident could have been so much worse in so many different ways. But he is fine (if sore) and the kids are all well again.

Cold Shoulder? Or Hot?

Me: Max, why is your shirt off?
Max: Because my shoulder was hot in it.

More Maxisms

While riding in the car earlier today Max asked if he could tell us a story. It was kind of hard to hear the story with the air conditioner on (and since Max sits in the 3rd row) but we could tell it was about a little boy and things he was doing.

Jay: What is the boy's name?
Max: Penis-boy
Jay: (trying really hard not to laugh) Maybe we should think of a different name...
Max: No
Jay: How about Peter?
Max: No, I like Penis-boy.

Ahem.

Then, later on we were shopping at Lowes. Max saw a big jacuzzi tub. He started throwing an all out fit because we wouldn't buy it on the spot. He actually continued with it for quite a while after we left the store. Throwing a fit because we wouldn't buy him a new bathtub... never heard of that one before.

Maxisms

This morning he came up to me and told me, "Somebody said cake!"

The other day he noticed that Jay was about to go out back and do some yard work.
Max: I have to go outside and get my boots on!
Jay: Are your boots outside?
Max: No.

New words:
Ski-spool (Preschool)
hoppy-tocko (Helicopter)

Chinese Fire Drill: Catholic Style

Picture this: 4 moms trying to go somewhere. Between them there are 14 children (present) of which 9 are in car seats or boosters of some sort, 5 are big enough for regular safety belts and one is still safely in utero.

Now picture these 4 moms trying to arrange these car seats into two vehicles (one seats 11, one seats 8) in such a way that all car seats can be reached and everyone has a good spot. While you are watching the car seat juggling in your head, take a glance at the thermometer, which reads "Hotter than Heck". And keep in mind that we are all running late to get to open gym where the little munchkins can run amok in (relative) coolness for a while so play the whole thing in fast forward in your head.

You now have your entertainment for the day.

Well almost - one more funny thing to share: When we arrived at open gym, Max took off his shoes and handed them to me. I turned around to put them in a cubby and figure out where to put my diaper bag and sling. When I turned back around Max was only wearing his t-shirt.

I mean he was ONLY wearing his t-shirt.

His underwear and shorts were on the mat next to him.

I screeched, "What are you doing????" and he calmly answered that he was getting ready to go swimming. While I dressed him again I explained that there was no swimming pool here, that there was a FOAM "pool" that you could jump in, but he didn't need to change clothes for that.

And then I had a heart attack as he happily ran off to play.

48

Max asked me at breakfast this morning, "Mama, what's 48?"

It took me a few moments to understand what on earth he was saying but after he said it a few times I told him that it is a 4 and then an 8. How else do you answer that one?

Then he asked, "What comes next?"

"49," I told him, "and then fifty after that."

And then he laughed.

Who knew numbers could be so funny?

Our EC Journey

Now that my graduation post is finally written, I will swing back to the other end of the spectrum and discuss baby stuff.

I have read about EC (Elimination Communication) for some time now, but never thought is sounded realistic. But things changed last week.

Since we are hoping for some kind of potty training miracle to fall from the sky and hit Max, was have potty chairs littered around our home right now in hopes of never missing an opportunity. Last Monday, I think it was, when Lily woke up first thing in the morning, I was changing her diaper on the floor. Right next to me was a little potty chair, so I figured, why not put her on it, she very often poops within the first few moments of waking up in the morning, maybe I can get away with not having to change one poopy diaper.

Well she didn't poop in it, but she did pee in it right away. Over the next several days, I put her on the potty each time she woke in the morning or after a nap and sure enough she peed every time!

I have also caught at least the first half of her morning poops most morning since then. The second half is trickier since it happens about a half hour later.

Yesterday and today she has started something new, sometimes when I try to put a diaper on her she thrashes around and pulls at it while I am changing her. If I put her on the potty then, she will pee right away and then she is fine having her diaper put on. A couple of times now I have been nursing her to sleep only to have her wake up and start thrashing and crying, fighting me like crazy, so I put her on the potty, she peed and then was perfectly willing to go to sleep.

My mind is so boggled by all this.

In the mean time Max is making a real effort to go in the potty. Since there is obviously no pressure on Lily to actually go in a potty, it has been easier for me to let go of some of the pressure I have been putting on Max as well. He has been spending part of each day in big-boy- pants and has had reasonable success in those. When things get really busy though, he is still in a diaper. There is a coveted yo-yo ball waiting for him atop the fridge for his first poop on the potty.

And just so you don't think I am certifiable, my goal with Lily is not to get her into panties before a year. I figure it is a few less diapers to wash and will keep her in touch with her body's signals of when she needs to eliminate. That is what this is all about. Most days we have caught 2-8 pees and 1-2 poops. she still goes in her diaper, and I would not expect her to hold it until I got her to a bathroom. But it is much easier to keep her dry and happy this way. It really hasn't taken any extra time, either. I have to change her diaper anyway...

After checking out a book from the library on Elimination Communication (The Diaper Free Baby) I realized that I have done this to some extent with most of my kids, I just didn't start this early. Usually I would introduce a potty chair shortly after a year old and put the child on it upon morning waking, before or after baths, or when Jay or I would go. Within a few months they all seemed to get the basic idea and most of them were fully trained by age 2. (Max was obviously an exception to this, but then there is always an exception to the rule, isn't there?)

But and 8 month old? This is completely new territory for me, but we are enjoying it all the same.

Clean Dirt

We found Max yesterday in the backyard squirting a bottle of hand sanitizer onto the dirt. He had already gone through half the bottle. When asked what he was doing, he replied:

"My ground is dirty! Someone spit on it!"

Random Thoughts on a Monday

After looking at the calendar this weekend I realized there are no free days left at all until after Easter. I need to find it somewhere inside of me to be super-organized.

Posy is one step ahead of me. I was looking at the giant piles of undone laundry last night while prepping the kids for bed. I told Posy to go and round up a uniform skirt (clean or dirty, it didn't matter) for Tessa, because I knew that Ben had clean uniforms. She informed me that she had made sure there were skirts for Tessa when she put the clothes in the dryer. How many 13 year olds can think ahead like that even for themsleves let alone for someone else.

I made it to the first of four sessions of the parish mission today. Well, I kind of made it. I got there right on time if it was starting at 9:15. But it had started earlier. And it was in the Church instead of St Bridget's Room like it usually is. SO it probably wasn't appropriate for Max to be eating his cheez-its and drinking juice. Oh well, I'll be better prepared tomorrow.

Lily had her first try at playing violin yesterday. She watched all through Tessa and Max's lesson intently, so Dasha put the violin (Max's 1/16th size) against her shoulder to see what her response would be. She immediately turned her head and sucked on it. Okay, so maybe she is not a prodigy. Yet.

We introduced Max to Star Wars. C3PO is now known as Seepah-wee-ah-doh. R2D2 is just plain R2D2.

I have dinner planned up to (but not including)Thursday and I even have all the groceries to make the stuff. Go me!

A Friday in March

I am going to grab moments as they hit me today and post what I can think of:

The garage is underway! We have been working on it and slowly but surely it is getting almost un-embarrassing. But you don't get pictures until it is done.

I found Max a little while after breakfast eating right out of the cereal bag in his sisters' room.

Thursdays would be a really nice day to have a clone of myself to be in two places at once. Bedtime and picking up Posy from choir (40 minute car trip) happen at the exact same moment. But I really can't think of a day when it would be BAD to have another one of me around. Like today, one of me could hold the baby while the other one does vast quantities of laundry. Then when the baby goes to sleep, that one of me could mop the (sticky, gross) floor.

Lily likes to suck on her toes. I can't think of anything cuter than a baby sucking on their own toes.

While I nursed Lily down for her nap, Max found a Sharpie. 'Nuf said.

I received an email from someone interested in my rosaries!

Just found while cleaning the kitchen: a cup of water with three q-tips soaking in it. It boggles the mind...

Also found: two mostly empty juice boxes put back near-but-not-in where the juice boxes go.

As of 11:30 AM, I have washed two loads of laundry, folded/hung up two loads, tidied the family room, cleaned the kitchen, fed Max lunch, and about a hundred other small jobs not even worth listing. But the list of what I haven't gotten done is still FAR longer. There, the dryer calls!

Christmas Greetings from the Groft Zoo! Things are crazy around here as always, but here is a brief update about what we have been up to.

Paisley – A senior at Bourgade this year, she is looking forward to turning 18 in March and moving out to begin living the college life. She is working two jobs right now as well as keeping her grades up. She directs two children’s choirs and is working at a skateboarding shop. In her free time she shops and hangs out with her friends.

James – 15 now and itching to be 16 and drive! He is active in the youth group and continues to make trips a few times a year to help build houses for the poor in Mexico. He plays bass, guitar, and piano as much as he can, and has been performing monthly at an Art Walk downtown.

Posy – Nearly a teenager! She will be 13 in February. Posy loves to help people, she is always at her Nana’s helping her out, and she is invaluable around here. She works very hard in school to keep up her grades. She loves to read and hang out with her friends. She is involved in two choirs, one with her Grandpa and one at our parish.

Ben – 10 years old and always has his nose in a book! He has a wonderful imagination and way with words. He is always a joy to be around. He started band in school this year and is playing the trombone.

Tessa – started Kindergarten this year! She is so grown up and is definitely all Girl! She loves to play dolls and house and has discovered arts & crafts. Her favorite activity right now is coloring. She loves to give her creations to anyone she cares for. She recently began violin lessons.

Max – turns 3 on Christmas Eve. He loves to talk, although his lisp makes him hard to understand sometimes. He is very loving and very much a little homebody. He also began violin lessons with Tessa. We were blessed to find a lovely teacher who is working patiently with both kids.

Lily – the newest Groftling. Lily is now 3 months old, she was born on September 14, delivered by her daddy because the midwife hadn’t yet arrived! Thankfully the midwife arrived only a few moments later. She is a beautiful baby who loves to be swaddled and snuggled. Her siblings all adore her.

Jay & Jenni – Jay is working hard testing tanks and every spare moment Is taken up by singing. He is putting together a CD and hopes to have it out early in 2008! Jenni stays home with the kids and tries to keep the peace and keep the house from being condemned. She sews, scrapbooks, and reads when she can but those times come seldom with a tiny baby in the house.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you! May you be blessed and safe in the coming months!

Amazing!

This past Sunday, while we were waiting for mass to begin, Max was watching the violinist warm up. So I let him go out into the aisle to watch her a little closer. She motioned to him to come and touch her violin.

He walked over, ever so tentatively, and touched it. Then she handed him the bow and showed him how to move it over the strings. While he did that she helped him play "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". He was enchanted! Then she looked up to me and said, "I have started children as young as two and a half before."

Well, I thought, we can't just pass on an opportunity like this! This past summer I had started trying to find a Suzuki teacher for Max and Tessa but they were all too far away so I gave up. This nice lady may not be a Suzuki teacher, but I figured she had experience with very small children. So Jay and I talked and decided that we would do whatever it took to get the kids into lessons with her.

I called her last night. I am so amazed at how blessed we are.

• She will start them this Saturday.
• She will come to OUR HOUSE to teach them.

AND... (drumroll please) she is certified in the Suzuki method.

I am totally doing the happy dance!

Where Did Max Go?

The evil twin is here, but Max is nowhere to be found. My previous Max, who threw fits a couple times a week has spent so much time screaming this morning that by the time we left for school (7am) his voice was already scratchy and hoarse. Not that it stopped him from continuing to scream.

He is a little happier now, we are home and the TV is on... Bella Dancerella is playing while he flies Buzz Lightyear off the ballet barre. Whatever works at this point!

Update: He also spent some very happy minutes emptying Tessa's dresser and taking all the drawers out.

No Paparazzi, Please!

Max was looking all cute and clean this morning, so I thought I would take (or try to) a REAL picture of him... like a portrait. Ha. He didn't think so:

But in the end - after letting him take pictures of me - I got some lovely little pictures. :)

Mission accomplished!!!

Some Days are Like That

Picture this:

What you hear: *splat* *crash* *wahhhhh*

What you smell: chocolate

What you see: 2 year old who has vomited the m&m's he stole this morning (splat), stepped in it, slipped and fallen into it (crash, wahh), rolled over and is trying to navigate out of the vomit (which he is now covered in head to toe) while crying hysterically.

What you realize: the washing machine is beeping because it is *again* malfunctioning.

Baseball is done

We have survived another lovely year of Summer League Baseball, and it really didn't even get all that hot (at least for me - sitting and watching in the shade) until the last couple of games. Friday night was closing ceremonies and is also Adoration at our parish, so after eating our (unimpressive) hot dogs, I walked over to the Adoration Chapel with Max and Tessa.

The Adoration Chapel at our parish is nice because the wall from the vestibule into the chapel is glass, so I can sit right outside of it with the kids and not disturb anyone. So we sat down outside the glass and I had Max sit in my lap. I pointed at the monstrance and told him about how that was Jesus. Before I could get another word out, he jumped up out of my lap, ran to the glass wall and started banging on it!

I pulled him back into my lap but he wriggled away as fast as he could and started trying to open the door!

So, to allow those who were actually able to pray a little peace and quiet, we made our exit. We'll have to go back soon when it is not so crowded. :)

Return of the Vomit-Monster

No, not me... poor little Max has a stomach virus.

Last night I had trouble going to sleep, good thing too. At about 11:30 I heard Max cough once or twice and figured that he was chugging his water too fast. But after a few minutes, even though he was VERY quiet, I could tell he was awake and standing up in his crib. (Because you know, the crib just sounds different when they are standing. I don't know how I knew, I just knew he was standing up.)

So I went in to him and there he was standing at the end of his bed, very quietly and patiently. I said, "Time to lay down now." and he (pacifier in mouth) just pointed to his pillow. At first I thought it was a wet spot and his sippy had come open (wouldn't be the first time!) and then I saw his sippy, nicely closed, sitting right at the side where I had put it before he fell asleep. Then he started to retch again and I realized what it was. Ugh.

I caught the remainder of the puke with his blanket and set him on the floor so I could strip his bed. Of COURSE we only have one crib sheet and mattress pad! I ran it downstairs, pillow and all and, by the grace of God, I had actually left the washing machine, not only empty, but standing OPEN when I finished the laundry last night. I shoved the stuff in (pillow and all - if washing didn't ruin it the puke had so I figured why not?)

We got the boy settled on a blanket on our floor for the rest of the night. You could tell he felt so yucky but he never complained or whined once. He threw up two more times but then slept nice and late.

Hopefully that was enough to get it out of his system! (But I am not holding my breath!) I just feel so bad for the little guys who just don’t know WHY this is happening to them!

Just a Normal Wednesday

Day three with no car. The only thing good about that is that DH took the need for Air Conditioning very seriously and got it right in to get fixed. But I am stuck still.

We got the security system last night and installed it. Ahhhh, I cannot tell you the relief. Now I just have to figure out how to use it.

Max is being really cute right now. He is pushing his step stool up to each light switch and turning them on and off. Then he turns it off and moves on to the next one. He won't let me change his diaper (not that I am trying very hard) because he doesn't want me to take his feet pajamas off. He cries and throws a fit every day when I take those off him to get him dressed.

Yesterday was Tessa's birthday, we gave her a princess bike and a princess helmet. I would have taken a nice picture of her yesterday but I never got around to brushing her hair.

I feel nauseated. It toned down quite a bit for a week or so but I am having a bit of a relapse. What really stinks is that my body can't tell when I just need to burp, it thinks I am going to throw up. So I get this HUGE wave of nausea that has me dizzy and sweating, when all I need to do it release a tiny little burp and then I am fine.

So today I will just sit tight here in the house, maybe I will feel good enough to tackle the laundry a bit, and the kitchen. And if we get the car back (Please, God!) then we will go to the church soup supper and I won't have to make dinner.