Annoying Little Brothers

Little brothers are a special breed of kid. They some how learn to push every button their older siblings have and yet maintain that ever so cute and innocent look about them. Well, our 2 year old Prince is quickly learning to annoy his 3 year old sister. He can make her yell and cry at whim these days. Now, he doesn't usually hit her or do anything that actually hurts her because he is to cleaver for that and basically a very sweet kid.However, he will accidentally "on purpose" splash water in her face, which she hates, or sit on that last piece of puzzle she needs. He also wakes up first most days so he thinks its funny to yell "WAKE UP" In her ear while she is sleeping. Of course, there are other things he does and he adds new tricks to his trade every day. Yes, little brothers are a special breed of kid, one that many older sisters wish had never been created.

You Smell Bad

Today the Princess climbed up behind me and was hugging me and playing with my hair. I said sweety what are you doing? She said, "I'm smelling you!"  I had just had a bath so I thought she probably was smelling my shampoo, and my scented body wash. So I asked her how do I smell? She honestly answered BAD! I said, "That's not very nice to say, I just had a bath." So she said OK then you smell good, but not really. She would tell me what I wanted to hear, but she didn't want to lie to me. That's one of the things I love about small children. THEIR HONESTY!

Grandpa the Hero

Yesterday the princess was playing in her room when suddenly we heard the Princess wailing with great sadness. Grandpa rushed to her room to see what had happened. She tearfully explained that there had been a tragic pillow collapse and that her stuffed monkey was no longer breathing. He's dead she cried! Grandpa being a fast thinker performed CPR on the monkey and saved his life. Princess tells me at dinner that grandpa is her hero. I know what she means, he's been my hero for nearly 33 years.

Two Toddlers Two Kittens and a Partridge in a Christmas Tree

We are experiencing a strange Christmas phenomenon at our house this holiday season. Our Christmas trees won't stay decorated. Every morning when we get up they are undecorated and we rehang the ornaments and get the lights working before we leave the house for the day, then before we go to bed at night we have to decorate the darn things again. Now we have been doing this since the day after Thanksgiving and it is getting OLD. We all knew having 2 new kittens and 2 toddlers in the house that it wouldn't be easy to get them to leave the trees alone, but we felt certain that they would get tired of messing with them by now. Yes, we could spank the kids and the kittens for tearing it up every day, but they are just curious babies and it's their tree too. The Hub whom likes to be prepared for anything was smart to wire both trees so they would not fall over.The Hub can't stand a preventable disaster!
   Last Christmas on Christmas day we went to spend time with family at my sisters house. Her three kids last year were 6, 4 and 2 years old. Her Christmas tree looked like it had been run over by a truck, shook real hard and then abused some more for good measure. I asked her why her tree looked so bad and she told me that the kids and the dog had knocked it completely over 3 times, and once the two boys were pushing each other and the younger one ended up in the tree breaking several branches. They should have wired their tree.
  Well, when I wake up in the morning I'm sure I will step on the various ornaments that the kittens knocked off the tree and played with all night. Then when I come home from work tomorrow I will see what the grand kids couldn't resist any longer, and now grandpa has in his (to be super glued) collection because it is now broken. Luckily, we were smart enough to hang the important ornaments high on the trees and no one is losing their mind over how the trees look. Some people can be very annal about this kind of thing. No tree or ornament is more important than the children's happiness, we will even put up with those 2 darn kittens. THAT'S HOW MUCH WE LOVE THEM!!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving

It says in the opening statement for my blog that we are all trying to get along so we can be apart of our grandchildren's daily life's. This week the Princess had her daycare teacher put on her turkey that she is thankful for her grandma and grandpa. SO worth it!. But last Friday night I had plans to go out and the parents had plans for me to baby sit, which they had not asked me about and had just assumed that I had no life so I would do it. NOT Worth it. Together grandpa and I have changed the little Prince's diet and started him on dietary supplements because of his autism. I work with him daily now and we can see some improvement. SO worth it. The PARENTS still don't do their fare share of the dishes or litter box cleaning, but I get to read bed time stories to both kids every night and get all the hugs and kisses a grandparent could ever ask for. Living together like life and marriage and so many other worth while things is a matter of give and take. It isn't always easy, but it is always worth it. Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

The Unexpected Things In Life

You never know what life is going to deal you. Some cards are dealt and you say wow that was incredibly lucky that I drew that card. That would be the class I get to teach third grade to this year. The nicest group of students I have ever had. I look forward to every day with them, and though I know teachers are suppose to feel this way about every class they have, truth be told most don't because a few children that have horrible behavior ruin everything you try to do every day they come to school. Then sometimes you get dealt a card that seems terribly unfair such as the dreaded CANCER card. And on occasion you are dealt a card in life that  makes you say, Man I didn't see that coming and now what do we do?" Our little Prince that wouldn't walk until 18 months and doesn't talk much seems to be autistic. Luckily, he is very sweet and does let us hold him, but he doesn't communicate. Even at 2 years old he won't tell us he is hungry or thirsty. And he flaps like a baby bird trying to fly out of the nest. SO now I am like a grandma on high alert, I am manning the battle stations. He gets speech therapy and play therapy and I am pushing to get him behavior therapy.
I am also reading books on diet changes that might help and enzyme treatments. Yes, I didn't see it coming, but now that it is here I will do everything possible to help my little fellow. I know we all will because that what family has to do when less than fortunate cards are dealt, especially to a child!

Little Squirrel Nutkin

The Prince that won't eat his food has found something at daycare that he loves to chew on and he is driving his teachers crazy. He chews on (acorns)! He packs his cheeks full of them until he looks like a hamster planning to run away from home at night fall. When you go to hug him at school acorns pop out of his mouth like he is a gumball machine that someone just put some money into. Even when they go inside from the playground and should be in an acorn free zone, the boy still manges to find at least one acorn to pop into his mouth. We have tried everything to make him stop putting acorns in his mouth, they are after all a choking hazard, but he won't stop. I got the brilliant idea to make a container that he could collect them in, but after he pushed the acorn through the top he couldn't get them back out. The other kids loved collecting acorns and pushing them into the special container, the Prince still preferred popping them into his mouth best of all. I'm not sure what we are going to do with our little Squirrel Nutkin, but I did make sure that all the teacher's have a current CPR card at the daycare, just in case!