Yuletide Medley

This morning Matthew informed me that he needed to listen to Christmas music.  I tried to convince him otherwise since it is not even Thanksgiving yet, but anyone who knows Matthew can readily predict that it was an exercise in futility.  So I turned on Rockapella’s Christmas album.  It is like Christmas “lite,” most of the songs being written just for them with very few old standards.  I figured that would satisfy him since it is one of our favorite albums around the holidays.  Matthew put up with that for exactly 2.5 songs and then he told me it was the wrong music, he needed Jingle Bells.  And the version of Jingle Bells he likes best is sung by Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra.  That is definitely hard-core Christmas music.

So I caved in and gave him the good stuff.  I admit it.  I let my three year old do Christmas music.  It was easier than arguing that I was feeling Scroogey and needed to eat turkey before I could be ready for holiday tunes.  But Christmas music is like an addiction and once he jingled his bells he wanted the “Fa la la song.”  So we Decked the Halls.  And then he was ready for Rudolph.  Right now we are Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree and before you know it we’ll be Roasting Chestnuts and taking Sleigh Rides.

And then I realized that I was having an inexplicable craving for peppermint and was seeing reindeer . . .

(Sorry it's so blurry.  One of my offspring changed the camera from auto focus to manual focus without me knowing and since Matthew is in no way cooperative concerning pictures lately, as soon as he realized I had the camera out he hightailed it into the other room.  There are no second chances for photo ops with him right now.)

A Shout Out For Nathan!

At our elementary school, they focus on one character trait each month (honesty, respect, responsibility, etc.) and one student from each class who exemplifies the month’s trait is chosen as the student of the month.  The trait for October was integrity and let me just tell you that I’m awfully proud of Nathan for being chosen as the student of the month in his class.  Integrity is the one trait that encompasses all of the other ones and I’m so proud of Nathan for making such great choices when he’s away from home.  I think it is easy to make good choices when Mom and Dad are standing next to you, but to make good choices when you are on your own can be much more difficult.  I couldn’t be more pleased that Nathan is able to do that. 

There was a special award ceremony held for the students and the parents and they received a certificate and coupons for a free kid’s meal at Appleby’s and Famous Dave’s and a free tub of cookie dough from Papa Murphy’s.  Here is what Nathan’s teacher wrote about why he was chosen:

“Nathan is a very responsible student.  I can always count on Nathan to do what is right and to do it correctly.  He often gets to do special jobs for me, because I can trust Nathan not to fool around and to finish the job.  Nathan is honest, truthful, obeys classroom rules and makes good choices when he has decisions to make.  Nathan is a caring student and treats others in a kind way.”

Way to go, Nathan!

One Of The Unfortunate Side Effects Of Having Had A Huge Monster Fire On The Mountain Behind My House Six Weeks Ago

It got cold.  And there was a mouse.  In my house.  Kev made a mouse corral out of boards and chased it out the front door.  But still.  Eauwwch.  And now I'm lying awake at night worrying about how it got in and how to keep the rest out.  And when I do sleep I have nightmares about mice and rats.  Not conducive to restful sleep.

(For those of you who are blissfully unaware of why I hate mice so much, check out the whole sordid tale here.)

A Linguistical Problem

We have been trying to convince Matthew that he is one of the boys.  There is a big enough age gap between him and Nathan that for a long time we have talked about Matthew and the big boys.  Now that he is old enough to do a lot of the things the other boys are doing, he gets bent out of shape when Kev and I talk about “the boys” going somewhere or doing something because he thinks that means he is not going to be included.

This is only the latest twist to a linguistic dilemma we have had for years.  When Matthew was about a year and a half old, I was having a conversation with him when he told me that the big boys were at school.  I told him that only Daniel was at school.  Nathan was at home.  Matthew looked at me like I was a little bit stupid and again told me that big boys was at school.  That was when I realized that he was calling Daniel Big Boys.  It’s not that he didn’t know Daniel’s name (If I asked him to point to Daniel he would) or couldn’t say his name (I’d tell him to say “Daniel” and he would), he just called Daniel Big Boys.  I would point to Nathan and ask, “Who’s that?”  Matthew would reply with, “Nannan.”  I’d point to Daniel and ask, “Who’s that?” The response was always, “Big Boys.”  About the time we moved into our house, Matthew gave Daniel a nickname for his nickname and just started calling him “Boys.”  I think Matthew was nearly three before he really started calling him Daniel consistently.

So you can see where our current problem began.  I think that somewhere in the back of Matthew’s mind he still thinks of “Boys” as being a proper noun, not a pronoun and definitely a word used in reference to someone other than him.

This Is Why I Was Crazy Enough To Have Kids

Today was Parent/Teacher Conference for all my kids.  Daniel’s teacher told me she wishes she had a whole class full of Daniels.  Nathan’s teacher told me he is a leader, a high achiever, and very possibly gifted.  Matthew drew me a picture and told his teacher what he drew.

Yup.  This would be one of those moments when I’m awfully glad I’m a mom.

Sick Or Treat

The week of Halloween started off rough for us.  Kev got sick on Sunday and on Tuesday morning was diagnosed with strep. When I started getting a sore throat on Tuesday afternoon, the doctor started me on antibiotics as well knowing that I’d been exposed to strep.  Then Matthew threw up and started running a fever on Tuesday evening. Knowing it was strep and that our regular doctor would not be back in his office until Thursday, I ran him to the instacare and we gave him his first dose of antibiotics two hours after his first symptoms.  Which, consequently, was a great choice because having the antibiotics that early meant that he felt fine by Wednesday morning and had no other symptoms.  After several days of recovery for everyone, I caught a cold which was in no way deterred by the antibiotics I was still on due to the fact that it is caused by a virus.

In spite of all that, I managed to get all the costumes ready (barely) and the boys made it to all their activities.  I finished up the last costume pieces at 4:15 on Thursday afternoon and the boys were ready to go for their school parade and parties on Friday morning.  Daniel also had a short fourth grade Halloween program where I heard a new song that made me giggle:

“My Darlin’ Frankenstein” (To the tune of “My Darlin’ Clementine”)

I was working with my test tubes
In my laboratory fine,
When one day I broke my glasses
And I made poor Frankenstein.

He was charming, he was handsome,
And I nailed his head on tight.
Oh, his teeth were sharp and pearly
And his eyes came out at night.

Oh, his nose, I made it quickly
From a rotten apple core,
And his tongue was big and purple
And it hung down to the floor.

Chorus:
    Oh, my darling, oh, my darling,
    Oh, my darling Frankenstein.       
    You are lost and gone forever
    I’m so sorry, Frankenstein!

Helping me out in the kitchen
We were baking up a cake,
When he fell into the mixture
And got mixed up by mistake.

Baking nicely in the oven,
Oh, the cake, it turned out fine.
Told my friends those lumps were raisins,
But those lumps were Frankenstein!

Chorus:
    Oh, my darling, oh, my darling,
    Oh, my darling Frankenstein.
    You are lost and gone forever
    I’m so sorry, Frankenstein!

Although we had intended to carve our pumpkins on Monday, that didn’t happen so I took the boys to the pumpkin patch on Friday afternoon.  Friday evening we attended our ward Fall Festival where the boys played games for prizes that were mainly non-food items, which I was very pleased about.  Not only did the boys not need a bunch more sugar, but it meant that Matthew got to participate in everything but the cupcake decorating.

Saturday was definitely a Halloweeny day.  We started the day with ghost pancakes.  Nathan liked the chocolate parts the best.

 In the afternoon we finally got our pumpkins carved.  Daniel carved an owl, Nathan carved Frankenstein, and Matthew wanted just a jack-o-lantern.

Our traditional spooky dinner consisted of hot mummies and haunted greens.  It is a bit hard to tell, but all the croutons were Halloween shapes.  Matthew was excited about our “monster dinner” for days because he helped me go shopping for the ingredients on Wednesday morning.

After dinner the boys got into their costumes and braved the rain to go trick-or-treating.  Matthew even deigned to get his picture taken after both Daniel and Nathan posed for their photo ops.  I wasn’t even going to try, but when Nathan was done Matthew announced, “It’s my turn!”  I got one great shot before he started pulling faces and after about four photos he declared that he was done and walked away.  But at least he let me take pictures of his face!

So our weekend ended with all of us well-fed, only slightly sugared-up, and mostly healthy.

Liberal Interpretation

When we read scriptures with the boys each evening, we always take a few minutes after we read to talk about it so that the boys can begin to understand what the scriptures are teaching us.  Kev was gone this evening so I was in charge of scripture time.  Our reading included 3 Nephi 27:28-29.  "And verily I say unto you, whatsoever things ye shall ask the Father in my name shall be given unto you.  Therefore, ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you; for he that asketh, receiveth; and unto him that knocketh, it shall be opened."

Our discussion of those verses went something like this:
Me: “Does that mean if we knock on a door Heavenly Father will really open it?”
Daniel: “No.”
Me: “Then what does it mean?”
Matthew: “Ring the doorbell!”

That very effectively ended our discussion as I had no response for that.  Out of the mouths of babes?

Monster Stew

 
Today was Matthew’s Halloween party at preschool.  One of his teacher’s traditions is to make Monster Stew.  Each child was assigned to bring an item to add to the stew and since Matthew has so many food issues, I pared down the recipe to feed one and provided all the ingredients for his stew.  Several days ago we measured everything out and put each ingredient in its own ziplock bag so he could make his stew at school.  Then we put all the little bags into one big bag and I sent him to stick it in his backpack.  When I arrived at preschool today to help him make his stew, I found crow eyes floating around in the big bag.  I thought I must not have zipped up the bag tightly until I discovered there were only two raw fish left, about half the dragon hearts, and just more than half of the squishy worms.  When I asked Matthew if it was him or someone else, he readily admitted that he helped himself to his ingredients before school rolled around.  (Sigh)  At least he knows when eating things on the sly to only eat foods that have been "Mama certified" as "Matthew friendly."  If he isn't sure it is safe, he never eats it without asking.

His other "turkey" moments for the morning included shucking off his costume as soon as he was in the door at preschool (they always take off coats and boots so I can see his logic in this one since he was wearing a fire fighter coat and boots) and refusing to stand with the other kids for a class photo of everyone in their costumes.  He tried to sneak off into the background while the others happily stood together in the pink rectangle.

At least I never have to be concerned that he won't know what he wants out of life.  He always knows exactly what he wants, often much to my chagrin.