Four turning 94

My daughter has said a few funny things lately and I don't want to forget them.

At dinner two nights ago I was really tired and not really looking forward to bed time. I told Dan so. Then Charlotte's little voice perked up and said, "It's like I always say, Life is hard sometimes."

Today at the park Charlotte and Greg were playing really well together. In fact they were playing so well we stayed there for three hours. I was keeping an eye on them and watching Greg follow Charlotte around each of the areas. Then I noticed that Greg was not with Charlotte so I asked her if she knew where he was. She said, "Oh! I dropped him off at the little kid play area." Just like she's 16 or something.

A Great Saturday

We made new zoo friends with the otters.

We got a lifetime first riding in a model A at the Olmstead County History Center.

Anyone got $1000 just lying around?

A few nights ago Dan asked everyone at dinner if they could buy something right now what would it be. Charlotte, of course, said the cowgirl toy set. His answer? A new TV. That was it. Just one item. Immediately a list popped into my head and during the next few days that list got longer and more organized. Then I realized I needed to stop thinking about this. I've got lots of things already and my life is so very blessed.

Then today my sister wrote a post about being bummed about turning 30. Wouldn't it be nice if I could surprise her for her birthday? Yeah, $1000 just isn't in the budget for something like this.

I Like My Kids

My kids are a bit overwhelming right now. Greg says "No" automatically to everything. He is two after all. Charlotte seems to be experimenting with being mad at her parents. I keep thinking that we should be settled and established right now, but, of course, that's crazy. I don't feel like I'm settled. I'm sure my kids don't feel settled right now either. All this has made for a few days where my kids say, "I'm bored" and I say, "So am I!" Having all of us bored makes for more negative interactions all around. Then Dan comes home exhausted and we all turn to him wanting him to entertain us, which isn't fair.

With all of this going on I feel like I've had a lot of complaining about my kids in my heart, on my mind, and slipping out my mouth.

Tonight at dinner I asked everyone what their favorite part of the day was. Dan said coming home. I said painting with Charlotte and Charlotte said cuddling with me while we watched a movie.

Here's what I realized today. Not only do I love my kids, I like them. I think they're fun. I want them to know that I want to spend time with them. I never want them to think that I don't want them around. There will be a time when they no longer want to spend time with me, I don't want that to come sooner because they think I don't want to spend time with them.

I will try to remember that vocalizing things make them much more frustrating to me. And also that little ears hear more than I think and they understand sooner than I think.

Entrepreneurial Art

When Grandpa Greg was here Charlotte fell in love with a cowgirl hat, riding stick pony, and cowgirl toy set. She's been saving her money in her princess bank for a while now. She has also been doing all she can, when she thinks of it, to earn some money around the house. Daddy even helped her count her money once to see how much she has. She almost has enough for the cowgirl toy set, but earning money has been slow going since she's not been around Grandpas.

Last week I gave Charlotte some cardboard, paints and her paint brush. For days we heard about how she was having to work so hard to get her paintings ready for "the show." (How did she come up with this idea?) If we wanted to buy them ahead of time they cost "sixty seventy dollars" but if we waited to buy them at her show they would be $1. So we decided to wait for the deal. She amassed a hefty pile of cardboard masterpieces ("portraits and landscapes" are her specialty) and they were waiting patiently on the counter for the show.

Trying to come back to a normal wake-sleep schedule after working nights for a week was a bit rough for Dan. Saturday at dinner it hit hard and he just seemed so tired and past being able to deal with family life. I said, "Daddy looks sad. We should do something special to cheer him up." Charlotte's eyes lit up and sparkled as she came and whispered in my ear, "We should make him a card." Not wanting to actually help Charlotte with card making I said, "You should give Daddy one of your masterpieces." She got even more excited by that idea and ran to get one.

After sifting through them to find just the right one for him she walked over to him, tapped him on the shoulder to get him to lift his head off the table and said to him, "Here this is for you." We waited a moment to admire the painting and how selfless and cute this little four year old was. After Daddy said how much he liked it she said, "And if you want to keep it it only costs $1."

The good laugh that we got out of that surely was worth $1 and Daddy said he's going to hang it up in his locker at work. Who could argue with that sort of salesmanship!

I think she might just have enough now for the cowgirl toy set.

Serious Stuff To Laugh About

Oh boy, night shifts are hard on the family! Or maybe it has just been a hard week, I'm not sure. Here are some of the thoughts I have had this week that hopefully I can laugh about now.

First, and not surprisingly Charlotte got sick after the fourth of July (which was amazing and lovely). Tuesday night I got about four hours of totally interrupted sleep. I was actually pretty scared by the severity of the puking this time, but all is well now. At around 4 AM I was holding Charlotte in our green chair so she could sleep upright. I was thinking about how I could never be a breaking and entering type of burglar because you never know what's on the other side of the door. Like in our house that night, some unsuspecting thief could walk in and then have Charlotte puke all over him. No, I did not think about how those people would probably be worried more about guns or knives. It was the possibility of being puked on.

Secondly, there have also been a lot of runny noses in our house. I'm thinking allergies, but since I've never taken them to be tested for that type of thing I don't know. Yesterday I was busy washing anything that may have touched the sick one. I walked by the sofa, where the sick one was told to not move from, and saw that one of the sofa pillows looked funny. I picked it up and there was green boogers all over the thing. Not wanting to jump to conclusions I asked who had done this. Then the sweet little chocolate eyes looked up to me and said, "I did it mama. My nose needed to be wiped." As if that's a totally normal thing to do when you're nose is running. I thought perhaps when I ask that I need to have a more menacing tone. Perhaps that would strike fear into her.

Lastly, Greg broke my kitchenaid mixer this morning. Honest first reaction: let the beating commence. Unfortunately I don't actually believe in beating my kids, which I guess is a good thing since I would have missed out on dress up time today. He decided to wear a cape, mardi gras beads, a tie, a diaper, princess heels and carry a purse.

Jumping Into The Deep End

Today is Dan's first day of actually working. His first rotation is General Surgery for three months. This week he is working nights (6pm-6am) in trauma. His very first weekend as a resident and he's working trauma during the 4th of July!

I'm confident in his abilities as a doctor, but he doesn't really have any experience with the computer systems, this new hospital and all the staff in it. Yikes! I hope he does well.