Taking all four by myself to the park is not easy. I often rely on the kindness of friends to help- like today when I had to go searching for Teddy who is fast and takes off to hide in the boxwood maze. I often forget to bring the dog home. I often find at least one child crying at some point.
Nelly loves to swing. Scottie does not love to swing and will shake her head no if you try to put her in the swing.
Teddy:”I want a tiny puppy this big [gesturing with his fingers something the size of a grain of sand] to keep at my house.”
ALB: “What will you do with a tiny puppy?”
Teddy “Hold it in my hand and kiss it. And feed it small pieces of gum.”
Tonight Dayani brought Teddy the tiniest puppy charm. He was overjoyed.
Teddy “Can I keep it forever? Can I put him under my pillows?”
ALB “Just don’t forget to feed him in the morning.”
Whoever rifled through my car last night didn’t steal a thing-they left the headless LEGO people, the muslin blanket, the sippy cup with old milk in it, the 4 rocks, the French baby sweater, the stuffed panda mirror, the Ergo, the cleats, and even the copy of Tatler.
ALB: “You dont have to eat anything but you have to eat either a bite of salmon or a spoonful of lentil salad if you want dessert.”
C:(mellodrama high, unfortunately reminding his mother of herself) “I can’t. I can’t do it. What am I going to do? This is terrible.”
ALB:”Well it is your choice. You don’t have to do anything.”
C: “I’ll eat the lentils. Wait, I can’t. I’m afraid. “
ALB:”What is the worst thing that could happen if you eat the lentils?”
C: some laughter
ALB “Will you burst into flames?”
C more laughter
ALB “Will you explode?”
C more laughter
ALB “Will a dragon bite you?”
C laughing, then eating the lentils
“No.”
Ecstatic and relieved that Charlie has eaten the lentils but more importantly that he can laugh at himself and that he has a good sense of humor I decide
to try to push my parenting skills and use some principles I have been trying from parenting books on how to expand your child’s palate.
ALB “I know you didn’t like the lentils but what did they taste like? Were they sweet? Salty? Bitter?”
C “They were gross.”
Charlie carried his new LEGO alarm clock radio (another attempt to keep them in their room past sunrise) into Scottie and Nelly Nels room tonight for an impromptu dance party. They could not have been happier.
The boys have been fighting over an oriental trading company catalog all day.
Last night I showed MJ the oversized LEGO head storage container-as big as something from a Greek entablature-that I got for the boys in the hopes they’d think cleaning up LEGO is fun. MJ suggested we put it in their room so when they woke up in the morning they would thrill at the cool gift. I thought it probably wasn’t a good idea because Teddy would wake up and be terrified by it at 4am. Why happened? At 3:46am Teddy came
Screaming into our room in a total fit of fright.
Charlie have Scottie and Nell each a big hug and kiss before they went to sleep. Just moments after I overheard him trying to teach them to fetch.
Charlie has been staring at the same page in this birthday party supply catalog for two days. It has a child in a knight costume presiding over an elaborately set table. He has always wanted a football or basketball party but now says he wants a knight party. I hoped he was excited by the decor and table settings, taking after his mother. When I asked him why he liked this party theme so much, he said “Because this kind of party comes with slushies to drink.” In the plastic bejeweled child-size goblets were slushies.