Look who got big beds!

Will

Helen

These guys finally got big boy and big girl beds a couple of weeks ago. They were beyond excited. After spending an inordinate amount of time searching in vain for gender neutral bedding that I loved, I just went with a cheap green Target quilt with cars-themed sheets for Will and flowery sheets for Helen. They couldn't be prouder. And so far, no problems. There are definite advantages to waiting until almost 4 to take them out of cribs!

More Helen

So this morning, after we got to school, Helen walked over to the shelf in her classroom, picked up a large box of small Legos, made sure she had caught my attention, and, while looking me straight in the eye from across the room . . .

turned the whole box over so Legos spilled out and spread all over the floor.

Have I mentioned lately how much she gives us a run for our money?

Our Helen

On the way to school the other day we were talking about being good, listening to the teachers, etc. Helen assured us that yes, she would be good at school today.

But then she offered, nonchalantly, that she had been bad yesterday (something I had not heard about).

I asked her why she was bad, and she offered only that "Jenna was in my spot." Hmmm. So I asked her what she did when Jenna was in her spot.

She replied, simply, "I moved her."

Well-behaved? No. Resourceful? Yes.

A first

We got progress reports from Jumpbunch the other day. (Jumpbunch is one of the extracurricular activities offered at Will and Helen's school.) Will's progress report included the following:

"Will is always so sweet and well behaved in class."

Upon reading that, we realized that in almost 7 years (and 4 kids' worth) of parenthood, this is the first time we've had a progress report on one of our kids that includes the words "well behaved in class."

Thanks, sweet Will.

Happy Valentine's Day

Cort and I got these Valentine's in the mail from Will and Helen. They made them at school, with help from their teachers, in fill-in-the-blank fashion.

To: mom, dad

Roses are blue

Violets are blue.

You are tall

And big too!

Here is my Valentine’s message for you: You got Valentine’s

From: Will

To: Mom, dad

Roses are yellow

Violets are blue.

You are good

And happy too!

Here is my Valentine’s message for you: Bring cookies

From: Helen

Maddux kid-isms

It's been awhile, so here are a few more wise sayings from our kiddos:

Charlie:

At age 6 - "Guess what I was doing on the first day of my life? I was being born."

At age 6, while listening to a song on the radio - "Mom, this isn't a very nice song. It's talking about breaking a heart."

At age 6, to a june bug - "Hey bug - get out of here! Don't you know it's July?!"

Joe:

At age 6, this conversation with his brother who was blocking his way - Joe: "Let me through here!" Charlie: "You can't pass through here unless you tell me the names of the two best Astros pitchers ever." Joe, without skipping a beat: "Fine then. Mike Scott and Nolan Ryan."

At age 6, observantly, "Most things are made in China."

Helen:

At age 3, with a sneaky look on her face - "Did you hear that noise mom? 'Cause I did something."

At age 3, repeatedly, she used a prefatory "Maybe so" or "I think so." As in, "Maybe so I'm going to go to school today. I think so Will's going to come with me."

At age 3 - "When I'm a grownup I'm going to go to work at my own office. And I'm not going to have no Montessori work or free work. I'm going to have a TV and watch Dora. Like Daddy."

Will:

At age 3, repeatedly at bedtime - "I'm going to cry when Mommy goes bye-bye. Because I loooooovve you and I'm going to miiiisssss you."

At age 3, when told to be quiet because Daddy is sleeping - "And if I not quiet, Daddy might cry?" (I said yes.) "That's okay. I'll take care of him."

At age 3, while at home sick - Will: "Where's Daddy?" Me: "He's at work." Will: "Oh. I sorry." Me: "What?" Will: "I sorry you not at work Mommy. Because you're home with me because I'm sick."

At age 3, repeatedly, "But I want to be the rotten egg!!!"

At age 3, regarding soccer practice - "I'm going to listen to my coach. Because I weally, weally love him. And his name is Daddy."

At age 3, while discussing a football game on TV with me - Me: "If they get to the yellow line they get a first down." Will: "Did they get a first down?" Me: "Yes, but we didn't want them to." Will: "Why?" Me: "Because we're for the Texans, not the Giants. So we don't want the Giants to win." Will: "Oh. But the Giants will be sad."

At age 3, after the appliance repairman had recently fixed our washing machine, a few days later a light broke - "It's okay. The fixing man can fix it."

At age 3, regarding the toy bag from which they get rewards - "We are almost out of toys for the toy bag. So we need to go to the toy restaurant to get some more."

At age 3.5 - this one is priceless - "Mom, when I get to be a grownup I'm going to sit on the bathtub and watch YOU poop."

At age 3.5, on the way to the doctor's office - Will: "Mom, when I grow up I'm going to be a doctor." Me: "You are? That's great. You'll be a really good doctor." Will: "Yes. And then next year when I grow up, I'm going to be Spiderman."

At age 3.5, when admonished not to say the line "Excuse me, you're biting my butt" from Madagascar - "But, it's funny. And I like to say funny things."

Marathon Math

The Houston Marathon route goes right past our street corner. The kids love to watch the runners and cheer them on (sometimes bringing out the musical instruments for extra entertainment).

This year, one of our good friends ran the marathon. The boys had a great time tracking her progress on the internet. Because of the microchips on the bib numbers, every runner can be tracked on the internet as they pass each 5 kilometer checkpoint.

As we were eating lunch, our friend passed the 30K mark. Joseph thought for a second and then said, "So she's gone 18 miles." Which, after considerable deliberation, Cort and I figured out was pretty much right.

So we asked him how he figured it out. He said, "Well, Mom ran a 5K and that's 3 miles. So there are 6 5Ks in 30K. And 6 times 3 is 18."

Yep. Math is definitely his strong subject.

Spelling for first graders

The boys' list for this week's spelling test includes the words little, who, butterfly, nearby, multiply and -- as "challenge" words -- repetition and onomatopoeia.

Is this really first grade?

Healthy Skepticism

Will: "Mommy, is it gymnastics today?"

Me: "Yes, it's Tuesday, and you have gymnastics today."

Will: "Oh, is Helen going to gymnastics today too?"

Me: "Yes, Helen is going."

Will: "Is Helen going to listen at gymnastics?"

Me: "Yes, I think Helen will listen today at gymnastics."

Will: "We'll see, Mom. We'll see."

This is what a snow day looks like in Houston

HISD closed all the schools across the district for a snow day. This is what a snow day looks like in Houston:

One of four VERY disappointed kids who woke up to find no snow

We did get a little ice and a lot of cold, for Houston. It turned out to be mostly a stay-inside-and-play-games sort of day. Cort and I stayed at home too, so it was at least fun to get an extra lazy day!

Ice on the basketball goal

Just look at those icicles!

Wordless Wednesday

More Work-Life Balance

Sunday, Cort left for a two-week trial. Come to think of it, he was pretty busy preparing for it the week before. That's a total of three weeks, at least, without Dad as we are used to him.

Wednesday, I have to file a brief in the Texas Supreme Court. I'm also a procrastinator. This used to work well for me, when I could hole up for a weekend and work into the wee hours, with no one else to worry about but myself. It does not work so well when I am responsible for four small, busy, and exhausting people.

I have put Will and Helen in gymnastics classes on Tuesdays. I leave work a little earlier than usual on Tuesdays, pick Will and Helen up at around 3:50 from school, take them to gymnastics class which starts at 4:10, then go pick up Charlie and Joseph from school at 4:30, and return to pick Will and Helen up when gymnastics class ends at 5:00. At that point, I've got all four kids and the gymnastics place is crazy busy (and huge). The first day I did this, I could not keep track of even two kids at once. They were running all over the place and I couldn't even find them, much less get clothes changed and get them all to the car to return home. We have since set some ground rules.

Which Helen did not follow last week.

That brings us to today. It's Tuesday. The brief has to be finished today in order to be filed in Austin tomorrow. And I have to leave today by 3:45 to make gymnastics.

We could easily skip gymnastics. Except: Today, the plan is to take only Will to gymnastics. The plan is for Helen not to go - as a consequence for not following the ground rules last week. I think it will make an impression. If we skip gymnastics altogether today, the consequence goes out the window. I can't expect a 3-year-old to really link a consequence to her actions two weeks earlier. It just won't have the same effect. More importantly, I've already told her that Will is going and she isn't. If I don't follow through, I will have lost all credibility. Losing credibility with Helen is something I do not wish to happen.

So, I can do this. I've gotten four hours of sleep the past two nights. I got up early this morning, had everything ready before the kids got up, and managed to get all the kids in the car and dropped off at their respective schools before 8 o'clock.

The brief will be mailed to the supreme court today.
Will will go to gymnastics.
And Helen won't.

The things we do for our kids. My guess is that she's never going to appreciate this.