Simple Requests of a Child

Today after dropping David off at school (we put up new, sun blocking curtains last night, so he didn't wake up in time to make it to the bus!) I took the other two on a couple errands. We made a return at QFC & bought some ribs (since Dan won't be home for dinner tonight and he is the only one that doesn't like them, I thought I'd take advantage of the opportunity to make them tonight!), deposited a check, then went to Target to get a refill of David's ADHD meds (since I had a coupon for a gift card with purchase of a new prescription). Anyhow, I just went to Target Tuesday night, so I didn't have anything specific to shop for while they got the prescription filled. So, since Ryan's birthday is in 77 days and Katy's is in 34, we looked for what they want to ask for.

Ryan wants a Pokemon Diamond Version DS game. There are 6 Pokemon DS games (David has 2 of them), and it has to be the Diamond one. That's the biggest thing he asked for.

He also wants a Bakugan launcher, a Bakugan display case, and a big Bakugan. Oh, and maybe a battle pack (6 pack!) of Bakugan.

This is ALL he asked for.

Not that I think it's an insignificant amount to get - if we got it all it'd be around $100. We definitely don't want to spend that much. What impressed me was that he didn't even ASK for anything else! We went up and down all the toy aisles, and I kept pointing out other things to him. We looked at Legos, Star Wars stuff, matchbox cars...everything. He would see something that caught his eye, and I'd ask him if he wanted to ask for it for his birthday. And in his sweet little Ryan voice he would say "No, I just want the Bakugan launcher."

It was very humbling. Because if I went to Target and looked for everything I wanted, the list would go on and on! But my sweet little almost-5-year-old just asked for 4, maybe 5 different toys. And the one he is most excited about, the one he kept saying that he wanted the most, costs $14.89. A couple times he asked "Do you think you'll get it for me for my birfday?" I don't want to commit to anything and take away the excitement/suspense/anticipation, so I was still a little vague. But of COURSE I'll get it for him! Fifteen bucks for something he is SO excited about? Yes, I'll get it for you, my little Rynan!

"oh no, squirrel!"

I love how everyday events are exciting for children. Katy and I just went to get the mail, which is just a short little walk. But, being far more aware than I am, she suddenly became excited about seeing a squirrel. It then went under a car, and we walked past to the mailbox. As I was unlocking the box, it came out on the other side of the car and climbed on the tire. This was very exciting for Katy! Who would've thought a common little squirrel (like the one in the picture, but with a pretty scrawny looking tail) would be so exciting?

Then it went back under, so we started walking home.

"Oh no, squirrel! I miss it."

Well, what's a mommy to do? We went back and saw it again for a bit. It had come back out from under the car, and sat nicely on the driveway about 10 feet from us. What an exciting trip to the mailbox!

No "Screen Time" day!

This week is supposed to be Turn off the TV week. I forgot until Tuesday night, and decided to make a small but achievable goal of one day instead of shooting for the whole rest of the week. Yesterday we didn't turn on the TV or computer all day long! Everyone was sad about it at some point in the day, but we made it! In fact, I'm pretty sure I suffered the most. I kept thinking of things I wanted to do on the computer. The problem is I have no self control with computer time. No matter why I sit down (even for one quick email or to look up something), I would guess that I usually waste about an hour. Frequently more. It's really sad. So I'm doing this blog, then turning it back off for a while.

The good things about yesterday? Katy, Ryan, and I played a game in the morning when they usually watch a show while I kill time on the computer. It was fun! And the boys actually played together nicely while I read a book during Katy's naptime. We've gotten in the habit of having them watch TV for 2-3 hrs while she sleeps, so it was the time I was most worried about. I was really proud of them for only complaining once right at the beginning! And because I read a book in the evening, too, instead of watching TV/playing computer games, I went to bed at 10:30 instead of 12-12:30 like lately. I feel so much better today!

Now I need to figure out how to get these benefits without totally shutting everything off. We're actually thinking of canceling cable. We were planning on not having TV here, but got sucked in by the package deal. And our internet has been flaky lately, maybe we'll switch from Comcast to Quest. We have Netflix, that should be enough to keep us reasonably entertained. And maybe I should set hours to have the computer on or something. Or grow some self control.

Which reminds me of the weirdest thing I noticed yesterday. I had this vague feeling of not allowing myself to do something I like to do, so I kept thinking I shouldn't eat or go shopping. Um, no. It wasn't Fast Sunday. Just no screen time day. It was weird that my mind connected those things!

Mommy's Turn!

No, Katy, you can't watch "Little Einsteins" right now! There are three loads of laundry to be folded, plus one in the washer, one in the dryer, and one waiting to start. I get to watch a Mommy show while I fold clothes!

Punch out!

HECK YES!

at least?

"At least I made a mess...sorry about that, Mom."

Spaghetti is not a Ryan-friendly meal.

Are you sick of blogs about poop?

Well, too bad! I have exciting news! Katy just came over to me and said "poop." I took her to the bathroom, took off her pants and diaper, sat her on the toilet, then got a book to read to her. A few pages in I heard her pushing, and she pooped in the toilet!!! I am so proud of her! She's still a month and a half shy of two!

"poo poo!"

Katy just told us she had a poopy diaper. I checked, and she didn't. So she sat on the toilet for a few seconds before saying she was all done. I put the diaper back on. A couple minutes later she was back, announcing "poo poo!" again. This time she really was! Our 22 month old daughter knew when she needed to go! Yahoo!

I know girls are earlier than boys, so maybe this isn't that exciting. But from a mom with two boys, one of whom is still only 95% day/10% night trained at 4 1/2, this is VERY exciting to me!!!

FHE!

Sometimes we're good and have a nice Gospel lesson for Family Home Evening. Sometimes we're bad and forget to do it at all. But sometimes, probably more than the other two combined, we do a family activity and pass it off as FHE. Not quite as good as actually teaching a lesson, but building family bonds and memories nonetheless. Tonight Dan and I played with duplos with the kids. A good time was had by all. Here was our biggest "tall," as Katy calls them. It couldn't be even one block taller in this apartment!

And no, I don't know what's wrong with my husband. Hopefully the kids don't get it.

It actually cost less to do EVERYTHING in Washington than it cost to just renew tabs in Utah. Go figure!

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"Ryan needs to!"

Dan just called to say he's coming home an hour early tonight so he can go get our Washington license plates. Lest you think I'm a lazy homemaker, our last car died 2 years ago the night before I left for my parents' house for a week, so Dan bought our Pacifica while I was gone, so I'm not on the title and therefore not able to get the plates. I've been really frustrated lately by working hard to get the living room clean in the morning, then nobody seeing it before the kids mess it up again. So my plan was to wait until 5:00 to start straighening the living area. That's not going to work if Dan is on his way! So even though most of the mess is Katy-induced, I paused the show the boys were watching and asked them to clean up. And David whined a bunch that Ryan needed to help (Ryan left because he suddenly had to use the bathroom as soon as it was more fun than the activity at hand!). David's been doing that a lot lately. If I ask them both to do something, David spends so much more energy making sure that Ryan does it than he would on just doing the whole thing! It's really ridiculous. Seriously, it is more important to him that Ryan helps than that it gets done and he gets to watch the show. It's really irritating. Especially because this is the giant mess they don't want to clean up:


Since I've been typing they actually did get to it, and the show is back on. I guess they just needed to get some whining out of their system. Which is...pretty much...exactly...what I'm doing right now...

my Katy girl is a girly girl!

If I had planned beforehand on doing a post on the many ways my Katy girl is a girly girl, I could have put up lots of pictures of her playing with bracelets & rings, putting on any shoes she can find, etc. But that's not what this particular post is about. This is about one moment that reminded me, yet again, how different my baby girl is from my baby boys.

Tonight I decided to indulge in popcorn for bedtime snack. We're at Grandma & Grandpa's house, it's Spring Break, time for some fun! So I got 4 bowls out (would I really be expected to sit and watch without eating?), filled them up, and started eating. Ryan was in the room not getting his jammies on, but the other two were at the table eating nicely.

Then I walked by Katy's seat. And this is what I saw:

I asked her "Who is this bowl for?"
She told me "The baby!"

I then remembered seeing her get down, run and get a small bowl, put it on her chair, then go back to the table to eat her popcorn. For some reason I didn't really think about what she was doing. She put her baby in the chair and got her a bowl! What a sweet little girl!