Shout out to the crayons!

This morning, (during Caroline’s nap), Carter and I got out the “craft” bucket.  He loves to paint, use markers, colored pencils, tape, scissors, stickers, dot-dot’s, etc.  As for me give me the coloring book with some crayons!!  Am I the only grown adult that still LOVES to color??!!  I was trying to figure out why I love to color so much.   Is it the soothing sound of the crayons going back and forth?  Is it my perfectionist personality of wanting to stay inside the lines and make it perfect?  I know this sounds crazy…but it is so soothing to me!  It totally relaxes me!  Maybe it takes me back to some childhood memory?  I don’t know what it is but I LOVE to color in a coloring book! 

The only time I get slightly frustrated, actually my blood pressure rises:), is when I am almost finished coloring a page and Carter looks over and tries to “help”.  Being a good mom I allow him to RUIN my PERFECT page.  I don’t say anything, but my type A personality sits there as my blood pressure rises, my mind races, and I try to calm the inner turmoil going on inside of me.  After all,  how many more years will he actually sit down with me and think it is “cool” to color?  The whole time we are doing “crafts” my sweet boy sits there and says, “Mom, this is so much fun!” , “Mom, I love staying home with you!” and “You are my very best friend!”

Is there anyone else out there that feels the way I do about crayons?  Come on, be honest!

Read Full Post »

Through the eyes of a child!

On Thursday I took Carter to the allergy doctor.  He has been breaking out about once a month in rashes/swelling/itchiness.  The doctor decided to have his blood and urine tested for a wide range of allergies/problems.  He was going to need his blood drawn the following day.   I of course would not be taking him to do this, Ben is MUCH better at all of this than me! 

After school on Friday Ben went to pick  Carter up to take him to get his blood drawn.  This is how Ben  broke the news:

Ben:  Ok Carter, we have 3 surprises for you today!  First we are going to go to the allergy doctor…(he wasn’t even able to mention all the rewards!)

Carter:  “Am I going to get a SHOT?!!!”

Ben: “Well, it isn’t actually a shot, they are really just going to take some of your blood.”

Carter:  “TAKE MY BLOOD!!!!!!!!! (crying and screaming)….what will they do?  Throw me down on the driveway and scrape my knee to get the blood out?”

Ben: “No, They will…” (interrupted by screaming)

Carter:  “Are they going to cut me open with a knife?”

Ben: “Well, uh…they are going to give you a little pinch”

Carter:  “With their fingers? Are you sure they will only use their fingers?”

Ben:  “No, they are going to use…uh… a little straw like thing”

Carter: “Are they going to suck it out?”

Still answering questions Ben convinced Carter to get out of the car.  The nurses were great with Carter and answered all of his questions :).  They put him up on the table and Carter insisted on seeing the needle first before he would lie down.  They stuck it in his arm, he gave an initial scream, and then he laid there and did great!  Ben said the nurses (as they were taking 9 vials of blood) were asking him if he had seen Santa and through a distressed voice he  would reply, “I don’t remember”.  They then  asked him what he wanted for Christmas, “I don’t remember”.  I guess he had temporary amnesia from the stress:).  After all of that he had to pee in a cup which he thought was a lot of fun!

As a reward Carter got to pick out his favorite ice cream…which had gummy bears on top (disgusting!) He then went to get his hair cut (which he loves)!  All in all Carter was really brave!  Even I don’t like the whole blood process, hence why I chose not to take him:).  When Ben came home and told me this whole story I could not stop laughing.  I never really thought about how it would sound to a 3 year old that someone would need to “take your blood”.  The pure innocence of his thought process of how exactly they would get blood out of him cracks me up!  You know his mind was racing!  Oh, to see the world through the eyes of a child again.

Read Full Post »

Shock and Awe Update: Proud Mommy

Last Friday night when Carter was so crazy at our friend’s house, Ben and I were talking about Carter on the way home in the car.  I realized he was listening and so I didn’t say anything too terrible, but I definitely wanted him to know how upset I was.  On Monday morning Ben was telling Carter how proud he was of him for being good that morning and Carter replied, “Dad, it’s because I heard everything you and mom said about me in the car!”  We were kind of shocked, kind of embarrassed, and really didn’t know what to make of it.  This was 3 days later.  This child’s memory is unbelievable!

So we really haven’t had much opportunity to discipline Carter this week because at home he does really well.  It is only when he is around his friends that he gets totally wired and spins out of control!  Well, last night was going to be the big test because we were going to the LST Christmas party.  I didn’t even send him to school, because I wanted to make sure he got a good nap.  I was totally prepared for Carter to act up.  I had already gone through all of the scenarios in my mind of how and where to punish him.  We typically go over all of the rules while we are driving over, but for some reason I decided to take a different approach. 

Yesterday at lunch I started saying things like, “I am not worried at all about you tonight” “I know you will do great” “We don’t need to go over the rules, because I know you remember” “I know you will have fun and play nicely” “It’s going to be the best night ever!”  That is really all it took for my perfectionist to play right into my hand:).  He did great last night, not perfect, but great!  I was so proud of him and could not stop telling him so last night before bed!  Sweet Carter looked at me and asked, “Mom, is God happy too?”

 Well, as all mommies know, what works one day doesn’t always work the next!  So I will take my little victory and pray it keeps working:). 

Read Full Post »

My Little Doll

Could you just eat her up? Seriously, I cannot get enough of her.  She is truly like a little baby doll.  She is at such a sweet age right now.  If I could freeze time it would be with her at this age.  She is very independent and is totally content to play by herself.  You will find her always carrying around a stuffed animal or baby doll under her arm, it is precious.  The other day she began feeding her babies their bottles while making a sucking noise with her mouth:).   Oh, and she absolutely ADORES her brother…no one can make her laugh like he does!

I think she has a crush on her daddy because all day long she asks for him.  She isn’t simply saying his name, she looks at me and asks in a question.  It is so funny.  If we get in the car to go anywhere it is the first question she asks..and when it begins to get dark outside, and she realizes that daddy will be home soon,  she begins asking again.  I was told she never asks for me when I am gone.  Therefore, it is a confirmed crush!

We are having so much fun with her right now!  She doesn’t talk back or talk our ears off for that matter:)  We haven’t had to seriously discipline her yet so we both still get to be the “good guys”!  She still runs to meet us at the door with a kiss.  Ben and I  love to be the first one in her room in the morning and are still fighting over who gets to go get her!  She is truly our treasure!

Read Full Post »

Shock and Awe

It is a good thing I wrote such nice things about my son when I did, because the last two days he has been terrible!  We had a post-Thanksgiving dinner with some friends last night and he was pretty much in trouble the entire time we were there!  Once he is punished he can’t snap out of it, then it  is completely down hill from there.  Ben and I are at a total loss.  It doesn’t seem like ANY type of punishment is working with him now…and the main problem is that he has NO FEAR of us anymore.  I feel like we really stay on top of him and don’t let him get away with things, but it doesn’t seem to matter.

I know that this is a phase and will pass, but I came home last night from our friends house totally bummed!  We have that child, you know the one everyone leaves saying, “Can you believe so-and-so:)”.   So I sat on the couch staring at the Christmas tree thinking, “What are we going to do? What is going to work? I can’t believe how terrible he was!  I am sooo embarrased!  I’ve already tried everything!”  To be honest, I was thinking all of these really negative thoughts about my sweet boy.  When I finally pulled myself from the couch I came to check the computer.  (Ben had already gone to bed and  thought I was totally over-reacting.  He agreed that Carter was terrible, but said we will just start being tougher in the morning:))  I read through my previous posts and was reminded of how sweet Carter truly is.  I know this is just another part of parenting…probably the hardest part.  I was convicted to go to his bed and pray over him, which I did for a long time! 

  I finished praying and I was walking out of his room when I remembered Philip and Aimee (my brother-in-law and sister-in-law) telling us about a punishment tactic they refer to as shock and awe!  This is a no warning,  zero tolerance, immediately removed from the situation, as many times as it takes tactic:).  So I woke up this morning with my battle gear on ready to persevere!  Friends, it is shock and awe time!  Wish us luck!

Read Full Post »