Parenting Woes

Isis, Great Goddess, oh Mother, save me....I am turning into my parents.

As I was driving the car today, I could hear my children bickering behind me. I glanced long enough in the rearview mirror to see Aidan purposefully irritating Elliott, who was whining and screeching. And Norah was back there, screaming for me to, "no! go DAT WAY! NO DAT WAY!" and Elliott, in betwixt whines, would contradict his sister for the hell of it, and say, "no, Norah, NOT dat, way, DAT WAY! "

I immediately had a flashback to my youth, when my brothers and I would provoke each other and my dad would scream, "do you want me to pull this car over to the side of the road..." It took all of my might not to say a damn thing and to just keep driving (and turn up the radio adn drown them the hell out).

Then, at lunch today, all 3 continued the whine/fight/scream fest and I couldn't resist. I let out a "I can't take it anymore! You are all driving me nuts! Knock it off! All of you! Just knock this crap off!" As I stared at their little faces, I thought to myself, "son of pete. I am turning into my parents."

My little old married couple. Crotchety. Disagreeing for the sake of disagreeing. That is Norah and Elliott. Its cute, but its getting ridiculous. Disagreements sound like this:

N: I go outside
E: No go outside.
N: go outside!
E: NO go outside. NO NORAH!

E: I play train
N: No play train. Play trucks.
E: No orange truck. Play train.
N: NO Eddie. No truck. No no no.

or this one. I thought this was the best.

N: I farted
E: No fart
N: yes fart
E: NO FART
N: Yes! Norah farted, eddie!

I can only imagine what the teenage years will bring.

You did WHAT?!

Aidan, my darling 4 year old. You're about to start kindergarten in 2 weeks. You're smart as a whip. You can crank out 100pc puzzles faster than I can change a diaper. However, I have to question your line of thinking when you put that penny in your mouth. I've got to ask you, "WTF were you thinking?!"

Wednesday, 8/23, Aidan came rushing into the living room with a worried look on his face, saying, "oh no, mommy! i just ate sumfin' that was money." I started freaking out, thinking it would mean a call to 911 due to a coin being stuck in his windpipe, and asked him what he ate. He said, "it was gold like the water" (what kind of water you lookin' at, boy?! ew!). I asked him if he could breathe and he said yes, and said the money was now in his belly. Ugh.

Little Sponges

Friday morning, Aidan greeted me in bed.
A: "Mommy! Quinn [our cat] puked on the living room carpet! I saw it and I said 'geez!' and daddy said, 'jesus christ'!"
From the other room, I hear "I DID NOT SAY THAT!!!"
Well, whether he did or didn't, I am guessing Aidan picked that expression up, in its correct context, somewhere!

I guess I've called Norah a big girl enough times for her to decide that is what she is. So now if I see her climbing on something and I make an offhand comment like, "are you my little monkey?" she will say, "No. I a big girl." Or if she is purring and meowing (like she was in the car yesterday for about 15 minutes) and I ask her if she was a cat in a past life, she responds with, "No, I a big girl." If she's being goofy and I say, "you're so silly!" I bet you can guess her response! Yup.... "No, I a big girl!"

Yesterday we were driving home and the radio was on, but I could hear Norah singing something to herself. I turned it down and yup.... she was singing the ABC's. It was quite cute. Of course, she stopped once she caught me sneaking a peek.

Aidan's line of questioning seems to be neverending. Man. I thought maybe we skipped the "why" stage. No such luck. And the worst part is that I have no answer for some of the questions, like "why does red mean stop and green mean go?" But then there are the other questions. Questions like, "why do trucks and buses have big engines?" and "why do babies say mama and dada and why do they cry?" and "why do old people drive slow?" and my personal favorite, "daddy, why did you drive the wrong way that one time?" (he wont let him forget about it! ha ha!). Or this weekend it was, "daddy, why do you keep doing things wrong?" (not sure where that one came from!).
And there is nothing worse than getting scolded by your 4 year old. We were bickering in the car and he said, "would you two just stop it!" errrrr. oops.

Thankfully his kindergarten teacher will absorb some of his whys in 22 days. Whew.

And just a little misc. to end this entry: One of Aidan's favorite things to do right now is to re-enact the 'Hot Chocolate' scene from Polar Express. Its quite funny. He also likes to sing and dance a number from Jungle Book. But the boy has no rhythym. He's white through and through.

Potty Talk

Stop the Press!!
Norah asked to go potty!

I think my heart almost stopped. Normally, when asked oh-so-casually if she wants to use the potty, she will shake her head and heartily say, "no!" But not tonight. Nope. I didn't even have to ask her. She demanded that she go potty! Then when she was sitting there, she said, "I hear it!". Too funny, girlie. Too bad she was hearing things, because she didn't produce a thing.

I am just happy that she's actually sitting on the damn thing. Its a start.

The Age of Independence

And we're off...
Norah is insisting on picking out her own hairbow, her own outfit (often a pink dress, a blue dress, or a combination of pink and blue), and always, always the pink shoes. I think we're going to have to get many styles of pink shoes for fall.
Her most recent thing is putting her shoes on herself. She asks, "right feet?" and holds out her sandals, pairing one with each foot. She'll then slowly and methodically put them on, including threading the strap through the thingey and velcroing it shut. If we're in a hurry and I try to help her along, I get an emphatic, "I DO IT! I DO IT!" Crap. I guess I have to learn to give myself extra time now. Between her independence and Aidan's dawdling....
The independence is a new thing for me. Aidan never really got into it. Maybe its because he's a boy? Maybe its just his personality? He's just now picking out his own clothes, and that is because I ask him to. Needless to say, if it doesn't match, I don't send him back. I have to encourage every ounce of independence I get from that kid :)

On another totally separate note, Norah had a followup appt at the GI Clinic today at Children's. Her weight and height are both up....1# and 1"! Holy man! My girl had a massive growth spurt!

Someday, I hope we'll all look back and laugh....

About 30 minutes ago, Elliott let out a blood curdling scream and was crying like he was hurt badly, and I took off running upstairs at warp speed. I busted open the door, thinking that either his leg was stuck or his crib collapsed or something equally as bad. Nope. What I saw was him cowering in the corner in his crib, practically climbing the net. Why? A bug. A crumb sized bug. He was crying hysterically and shaking and screaming, "bug! bug!". Gee. I know I am afraid of bugs, but crap, Elliott, I try not to show it in front of you guys! You've gotta chill out, little dude!

Today I took the twinadoes, sans Aidan, to visit my grandparents. Maybe it was because the older brother wasn't there that Elliott felt the need to lay down the rules, so to speak. He had this little plastic figurine that the kids call 'fireman' in his hands and laid it down on the picnic table and looked at Papa and firmly said, "MY fireman. Don't touch it. Leave it alone." Wow. Obsessive, aren't we? Again, he exerted his ownership when we got in the van to leave and Nana went to buckle Norah into her carseat. Elliott stood there and said, "No! My car! Not your car!" Geez, Elliott. Chill.

Often times, we wonder where Aidan inherited his gift of gab from. I mean, his daddy certainly can talk it up, but not like Aidan. We joke and say that he got that from his Uncle Ry. Aidan's nickname is "sir talks-a-lot". To put it meekly, the child never.stops.talking.

Yesterday, I was driving to the mall and I had a terrible headache and said that he could talk to himself, but asked that he not ask me any questions, because mommy just needed to chill and let her head rest till we got to the mall. Yeah...no such luck. I really wonder how a 4 year old's mind works....how they can go from one string of thought to something totally and completely different. The little dude was talking non-stop, all 'why' questions. It went something like, "why do we drive everywhere? why am i lazy like my daddy? why do we start out as babies and not grownups? why did grandma crush up my vitamins in my ice cream last time i was over there? why do i pee at night? when will the twins stop wearing diapers? what kind of backpack can i get for school? why... " O. M. G.....

Miscellaneous Miscellany

Life With Twinadoes
Double the trouble, but double the fun. We try to focus on how cute they are to get through the tantrums and the taking off in opposite directions and the egging each other on and.... well, the list could go on forever.

Norah is the mother of the two. I guess its appropriate, given that she is the older sister. Heck, even in-utero, she was the bossy one. Thankfully, she's toned down on the bossiness and has started to exude some cute motherly instincts. For instance, she insists that every morning when they get up, all of Elliott's stuffed animals (doggie, puppy, bunny) and his "D" (blanket) come downstairs with them. The other day, they must have gone to sleep without bunny without E realizing it. When they woke up, we could hear Norah over the monitor, all worried, "Eddie! Da bunny! Da bunny, Eddie! Da bunny!" over and over and over again. When daddy went up there to get them out of bed, Norah ran into the train room and got bunny for Elliott. Whew!

I am not sure where Elliott picked this one up, but he loves to pretend play with Norah and say, "here come choo choo! open wide baby!" It cracks me up every time I hear it.

Yesterday, both of them had speech together for the first time. Normally, its just Norah. It was interesting watching them together. Norah almost did a bit better, because she was repeating Elliott, who is much better with his expressive skills than she.
Elliott has been improving leaps and bounds in his speech. We just filled out the paperwork to go forward with an IEP for both of them with the school system. It was surreal for me to read the word "disability", over and over again. I don't view either of them as having any disability.
Anyway, I have a feeling that by the time it happens (about 90 days from when they receive my 'ok' ), Elliott won't need it. He's doing great. And he'll continue to receive speech about 2x/month through birth-to-3 until his 3rd birthday.

Off to School?!?!
September 5th is coming quicker than I anticipated. I can't believe that Aidan will be in public kindergarten!!!!!!! My baby!!!! He's really looking forward to it and he really needs it. I can tell that he's getting bored at home. Its hard to meet everyone's needs. I am excited.

I hate to wish time away. I really try to enjoy every day as it comes. But I remember last summer and how hard it was with these 3 kids, and I just couldn't wait till this year. I knew it would be easier. And it totally is. They play in the front yard and know not to go in the street. I can take them to the pool and they have a ball! I never thought I could take 3 kids to the pool! Yesterday I took them to the wading pool and I just sat there and was able to chat. Last year, i couldnt even leave their sides...not even a foot away! What a change...what a pleasant change! I can only imagine what next summer will be like. But like I said...I hate to wish time away.

"Sharing", as defined by a 4.5 year old

Let's set the scene:
Aidan is quietly playing with Lightning McQueen, driving him down the streets of a play city.

Elliott asks for some cars. Mommy picks out the cars that he requests.

Aidan spots Elliott having fun with one particular yellow car.

Aidan: "I want to play with that car."

Elliott: "No, my car. Ay-yee-yit pwaying wif it."

Aidan whines. Mom tells Aidan to patiently wait his turn.

All is quiet and suddenly, Elliott comes running to mommy, screaming. Aidan isplaying with the yellow car.

Aidan: "Look mommy. I am sharing. I gave Elliott the helicopter. See? I am a good sharer."

Um, not even close, bud.