So Many Groceries

My husband played golf with his father today and the children and I did things.   The biggest of those things was laundry.  There wasn't that much, but with two children who are experts in task avoidance and what seemed today like a lot of task drawing out skills, we took a while to get it done. 

There was to be a reward at the end.  I would help them, but only if they were actively working on their laundry.  My daughter wanted the reward and was very worried she wouldn't win.  I kept telling her there was no danger of her losing but she kept fretting.   After about the fifth time, I told her I'd give her a thousand dollars if her brother beat her just to give her an understanding of my certainty. 

When everything was completed, including changing my son's bed and doing additional laundry that had accumulated since washing the existing piles had started.   My daughter did indeed win and decided she wanted Mike & Ike's candy.   I said if they got in the car with me we could go to the grocery store and not only get her candy but some ice cream too. 

We got that ice cream but in the process, we got fruit and bread and milk and all sorts of other things we needed.   The children couldn't believe how full the cart was, which wasn't that full.   I think they need to help with the groceries more often. 

The Big Boy Update:  While my son was working on a retirement card for his art teacher, Mrs. Grace, my son said, "Tomorrow I start puberty."  I asked him if he was sure.   He said, "Yeah, I'm puberty man.  I already feel taller."

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter, in her hurry to beat her brother at laundry folding said to me, "I was about to take a break since Greyson was so far behind me but then I remembered the tortoise and the hare."

Escaped!

We lost the dog today.  Not our dog, the neighbor's dog we're watching.   You'd think we weren't taking our job seriously, but we were.   We were careful, knowing she is a gladiator of a dog with rippling muscles that are as strong as she is gentle and sweet.   That is, until she goes outside, where she transforms into a hunter. 

She was being walked by my daughter and one thing caused her to lunge, drag my daughter over (who took the whole thing very bravely) at which point her collar, which must have been used for a good long while, snapped at the seam and the dog was free. 

Charlotte gets loose from time to time.   Her general pattern is to patrol the woods for ten or fifteen minutes and then come back.   It's happened so many times that they don't even try and chase her anymore.   Her family, as her mother has said, are not gladiator in stature, and Charlotte has found different ways to visit the woods over the years. 

They rescued Charlotte from the SPCA, where they had been doing volunteer work.   And while her past is unknown, she had a gentle streak they loved and decided to adopt her.  We got on the phone with Lisa to tell her what happened today and my daughter said Charlotte perked up when she heard Lisa's voice on the phone. 

The Big Boy Update:  I came in to find my son watching Fortnite videos on the television today.   He loved the game and then wanted to have nothing to do with it for a long while.   It had become uncool.   Apparently, it's cool again. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  When we were getting ready to take Charlotte out today my daughter said, "I think he tail is almost a weapon" as it whapped against her and the door.   Our dog doesn't have a tail or rather only has one the breadth of a hand so the whole tail wagging was a new experience to my daughter. 

Emergency Math Teacher

Taking care of the neighbor's dog, Charlotte, has been a lot of fun.  She is laid back and sweet and full of muscles.   I had hoped we might be able to get the two dogs together, but the brief encounter we had didn't go well.   We need to have some more socialization on both sides as COVID-19 has affected everyone, including our pets.   Not to worry, though, my daughter and I are making sure Charlotte is getting lots of attention. 

When I was depositing a full bag from the walk with the dog around the block in some rather blustery weather this evening after feeding her dinner, I noticed this on the tool shelf and I had to take a picture.   This isn't a gimmick slogan or a joke, the company has been around since 1928.   It is just the wrong sort of slogan you want to have when a multi-year pandemic comes around with the same name:

The Big Boy Update:  Tonight before bed, my son was brushing his teeth when he turned around and said, "Let's play emergency math teacher!"   There were rules (he is good at making up rules) surrounding you, the player, running over and asking the emergency math teacher to give you a problem.   You had to solve the problem and solve it quickly.   If you got it right, well that's when I realized this was going to be one of those games where the rules were unending and the game was never starting.   I managed to get him to play a practice round in which his father and I successfully passed the, "What is eight times eight" question was posed by him, the emergency math teacher.   We may play more tomorrow.   I can't wait to see what emergency questions the emergency math teacher will ask me.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter loves animals.   She even loves slugs.   She has really enjoyed going over to feed and take care of Charlotte.   She sits down beside her, listening to her thump her tail on the ground as she wags it and pets her, telling her how much she loves her.   She has a very kind heart towards animals.   If she does something in the field for her career, it will be well-suited for her.   She still wants to own her own pet store...in Kentucky. 

Social Engagement

We had a social engagement tonight!  I'm saying that with an exclamation mark because it's been so long I've forgotten what it's like to spend time with friends.   

These friends are relatively new friends—sort of.   We've known them for years but only very casually at the pool and in passing during neighborhood events.   We found out we have even more in common and decided to get together tonight to play some games and get to know each other. 

Everyone has been fully vaccinated although we maintained safe distances throughout most of the night.  They have two small dogs who only want to be loved, petted, allowed to sit on your lap and be there with you.   We're going to have another gathering in the future but with children.  They have three younger children and I think my children would get along very well with them.

It was odd to be out and at someone else's house.  The children kept coming downstairs to peek in on these strange things called visitors.   We were feeling just as strange, I wanted to tell the girls.    It was nice, though, doing something that feels not normal now but was completely normal two years ago. 

The Big Boy Tiny Girl Pineapple Update:  My son took my daughter's 3D printed pineapple this morning. She didn't like it and yelled at him.  He didn't like being yelled at so he held her pineapple hostage until she did exactly what he wanted, which was to apologize.   He didn't like it when my husband grabbed the pineapple away, making his arm hurt.    I talked to him about anger and exacting revenge.   My daughter was probably taunting him in some way but he was the one that took action.   I don't want him to become a bully and this type of behavior worries me.   I hear it's a phase.   I hope so. 

I Can't Find Tigger

The children were nestled, all snug in their beds.  When out from Alexa comes, "I can't find Tigger!"

The children didn't like stuffed animals much when they were younger.   They never needed anything to go to sleep from a comfort animal perspective.   It is only now, much later in life, that they both seem to care about stuffed animals.   Perhaps they need them more now for some reason, or maybe they didn't find them cute and adorable when they were younger.  

Today, they have become important to each child in different ways.   Both children are collectors, but my son wants to have his stuffed animals manning sentry duty on the top bunk in his bedroom.   My daughter wants to have them as close to her as possible, sometimes to the point I don't know where her body fits after she lays her bed out at night. 

My son recently has wanted certain stuffed animals to be in the bed with him.   He seems to find nothing embarrassing about this at all, even though lots of things embarrass him in other aspects of his life, his parents included. 

Tonight, after the children were both in their beds with the lights out, I was in the kitchen cleaning up when my daughter dropped in on the Alexa in the kitchen.   She said in a nearly panicked voice, "I can't find Tigger!"  I didn't say anything, wondering what would happen next.   About three seconds later she said, "oh, never mind, I found him.   Alexa, hang up."

The Big Boy Update:  My son made an entire chess set out of clay in art class.   He fired it in the kiln and then put glazes on them to indicate the two sets of pieces.   He had the set laid out on the dining room table this evening.  They're going to spend the night with Nana and Papa tomorrow.  Maybe he'll take them to play chess with Nana.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter came down after lights out and said, "Dad, I forgot to give you your inspiration."   She had a foam golf ball she gave him so he would have it for inspiration in the upcoming golf championship he'll be playing in.

What Do You Keep?

Part and parcel with children in school is artwork they bring home and proudly show you.   Or in the case of my son, freaks out about our interest in his work initially only to then, after having it sit in the house for a bit, tell us it's okay for us to look at it now.  

That's not entirely fair about my son; some of his work he brings home he is immediately and urgently interested in having us look at it.  But he is his own worst critic and much of what he completes at school, for whatever reason, time being the biggest factor, he wasn't able to do the job he wanted to do on the project. 

My daughter is interested in her artwork, but a lot of the time she forgets about it in her backpack and when we ask her about it when we prepare for the next day of school, she's grown detached from it and isn't as interested. 

On the whole, there are those pieces each child loves and has a special feeling about and there are other items they aren't as attached to.   There is one thing though that they both feel strongly about and that is that nothing should ever, ever be thrown away. 

And this presents an issue for us and most other parents: what to keep and what to "misplace".   For instance, tonight I made some calls about three items my daughter brought home.  On one page she put about fifty dots of green paint from a paint dauber in no particular order or pattern.  The second item was interesting, but it was clear her braillist helped her do most of the assignment as it was meant to represent something specific.  The third piece was an interpretive cloud three-dimensional work.   That one went in the attic. 

Someday we'll go through what we've kept and likely cull it a bit.   We've kept more than we expect to long term, but that is mostly because if the children are going to ask about it, we want to be sure we can bring it back out for them.   They never do though, children move forward far more than they look back. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son brought home what amounts to a doodle today from school.  He left it on the counter in the kitchen with the words, "What do you see?  There are five pics."   I got three and my husband got three. 

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter's, "little sausage" as she called her big toe the other day is injured.   It was run over by one of those electrified children's cars.   She was trying to push it off the curb when it jolted forward (or something along those lines, I still don't know the exact story) and her toe was run over. It was jammed and her chiropractor helped in that regard.   It's getting better, but now the joint higher up is bothering her more.   I told her it was going to take time to heal.   I refrained from reminding her how shoes were sometimes helpful at keeping your feet safe.   She needs the tactile information her feet give her.

8:30PM

A tantrum is being had here.  There was a tantrum this morning as well.  My son has had a hard time getting up in the morning.   He has been very, very angry about, well, morning.  He's taken it out on my husband and me and anything that was in his wake.   The challenge for him is to get up and get ready for school on time.  

We tried setting a plan for the mornings, listing out times each thing was to happen by such as getting up, being dressed and downstairs or having their teeth brushed and shoes on, and then there was the important final one of not forgetting to bring a mask in the car for school.   

Today, my son's reaction to morning was just too much.   It has happened too frequently and he's always having a hard time waking up.   So we changed bedtime to 8:30pm.   At 8:00 tonight my son lost it.   He isn't tired now and doesn't want to go to bed.   I'm hoping we can reset his sleep clock soon if we keep this enforced.   They're getting older so we've let them control their bedtime more lately.  In his case, he seems to be a night and not a morning person. 

The Big Boy Update:  My son got out of the car this morning, looked at it and said, "Mom, hash tag wash me:   

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter and I are listening to the same audiobook.   It's a series for children not unlike Harry Potter that I'm very much enjoying titled, The Keeper of the Lost Cities.  Not only is she not telling me what's happening when we listen on the ride to and from school, she's remembering to move the location back to where I left off when she stops listening so that I'll be right where I was when I get in the car next.   She's twenty or so chapters ahead of me but she always remembers where she was.