Kittens!

We recently expanded our crazy family by getting 2 tiny kittens from my cousin. She took her cat in to be fixed and the vet said the cat was already pregnant. My cousin couldn't stand his suggestion of "kitty abortion" so we benefitted by gaining Pansy and Rose. Let me tell you, these ladies are 2 of the sweetest kittens I've ever seen. They are calm, snuggle when they are wanted and entertain each other when all the humans are busy. Oh, and they are so extremely patient with the 4 crazies!
Pander likes to watch Pansy and Rose and sometimes brings his blanket out and lets Rose lay on it with him. He is very protective of them, and he loves to play with them. Fia has a history of being scared of animals. It stems from a long ago experience with my sister-in-law's dogs. The 3 dogs were excited to see Fia and as a group knocked her down. She was 2 and very tiny, and couldn't get herself back up. In the time it took me to cross the room (like 5 seconds!) she developed a lasting terror of animals. With Rose and Pansy, she has overcome that fear somewhat. She pets them, plays with them with a string toy and most importantly, doesn't scream when they walk by! (I don't think she likes dogs still.) Moo is a kitty lover. The cats have been drawn to her from moment one, and there always seems to be one of them on her lap. Moo gets a big ole grin and whispers "Rosie likes me Mama!" and it just melts my heart. But Noodle, oh Noodle, he's a different story. I cannot get the boy to stop harassing the poor cats. He is always trying to hug them, carry them, or just plain bother them. It's never intentionally mean, he just loves them too much! So far, we have gotten to the point where picking Rose and Pansy up is agains the rules. He still tries, but far less often and I think the cats appreciate it. And I appreciate that they are tolerant- not a single bite or scratch on any of the crazies, even though heaven knows I would have bitten Noodle by now if I were them!

2 Oozes

The first ooze involves Fia's eyes. The upper respiratory infection she has had for the last few days has apparently gotten worse and she now has an eye infection. That means this morning, when she work up, she had crusty eye boogies all over the place and her poor little eyes were so swollen they looked bugged out. We took a trip to the pediatrician, and now we face the joy of using eye drops twice a day for the next 5 days. Seriously, I think eye drops are the worst kid medicine out there!

While we were waiting for the dr. to come back with results of the rapid strep test (negative), the second ooze happened. Fia was sitting on the dr's table, coloring beautiful pictures with the crayons the office provides. She wrote her name and my name too. Suddenly she announced "I want to write Pander's name, but I want to OOZE orange!" I love it when kids say things incorrectly, it cracks me up. And since Fia is 5 now, its been a long time since she's had one of these little kid goof ups. I guess I better work with Fia on how to "ooze" the word use!

School-isms

Ugh. I despise having Pander and Fia in school! I never thought I would dislike the public school system, I loved being in it myself. I didn't consider myself  a "homeschool mom" because I lack organizational skills and I'm only slightly creative. But then the school-isms started.
School-isms are words, concepts and behaviors that the crazies pick up from kids at school and bring home. They are outside of our accepted behavior and vocabulary and are typically things the crazies would not be exposed to (especially at this young age) if they were not in public school.
The first one happened when Pander was in  4 year old kindergarten. He came home and told me he fell on the playground and hurt his boner. "WHAT?!" He calmly repeated what he told me, and added that his friend told him boner was another word for your bottom. Seriously, there are parents out there who let their 4 year olds hear that kind of language, even if they don't explain correct definitions to them. Due to school, my 4 year old was the dumping ground for their poor parenting.
Another school-ism happened with Fia this week. I brought a new kind of cereal home from the grocery store and she came into the kitchen and was very excited to see it. She pointed at the box and shouted "Oh. My. God!" Again, I was shocked and surprised at the language 4 year olds are exposed to. I corrected her a little harshly and told her we only use God's name when we are talking to or about him or in prayer. She started to cry, and I felt bad because I know she really didn't realize it was wrong and kids at school were allowed to say it. I ended up apologizing for over-reacting, because my irritation should have been aimed at the school and other parents, not her.
Tonight, as we were getting ready for bed, Pander unexpectedly blasted me with another school-ism. He wanted to tell me a riddle. "What do you get when you take away the N in fun?" Well, you can figure that one out yourself. I gasped "Pander!" and he said "I know its supposed to be bad, but what does it mean to say that?" and I had to sit and tell my 6 year old (who now has a lovely range of cuss words to choose from) that we were not going to talk about what it meant, that some words are inappropriate, naughty, or mean and that we just don't ever use them. He said okay, but I have a feeling I haven't seen the end of this conversation, wheels were turning in his eyes while he tried to digest what I was telling him. As he walked away he said "Don't be mad Momma, I didn't know it was that bad." And I told him "I know, I'm not mad at you, I just really need you to understand that is a very naughty word and you can never say it again."  At the end of the day, I am more and more convinced that my lack of organization and half-hearted creativity would be a better environment than being surrounded by all those nasty school-isms.

Rowdy Baby Noodle

After we were "done" having kids, Jeff and I were talking about getting the permanent "all done" surgery. I was a bit sad, disappointed not to have another boy. I always dreamed of a houseful of boys when I was growing up. Then, one happy birthday later, before the surgery could take place, we were expecting #4! And baby was due 13 months after MooMoo was born!

My fourth pregnancy was very difficult, physically and emotionally. I had gestational diabetes with all my pregnancies, but it was most difficult to manage through diet with my last pregnacy. I also had terrible sciatic pain the whole time. But all of that was much easier than the news that our baby boy had a higher than usual chance of down syndrome. We had extra tests, met a specialist, changed from a midwife to an OB, and eventually were told that he had no actual physical markers of the syndrome, despite the initial tests. I still half expected Noodle to be born with Downs, and it weighed heavily on me for the last few months. During all this, the specialist mentioned that my due date was probably off, and I agreed with her. I forgot all about it due to the stress, and apparently it was never noted in my chart. So when labor was induced 2 weeks early according to my original due date, I was actually induced 6 weeks early. Noodle was born a premie, at over 9 lbs!

Noodle had some typical premie developmental delays. He was behind on speech and cognition so he recieved therapy for 6 months. He also had interesting sensory motor quirks, took longer to learn to chew, and hated texture in his foods. In fact, he is now 2 yrs and 10 months and today he ate his first "regular" veggie, a piece of broccoli. He still eats baby food vegtables for the most part!

Noodle is a lovey dovey, he snuggles and likes to pet my hair. He is also active, crazy, and a bit wild! He is the only one of the crazies who has ever had stitches, he is the only one who has fallen off the top bunk bed, and he is the only one who hung from the monkey bars before turning 3! He has a huge mommy attachment, and I have to say, I am a sucker for his pudgy little (often scraped or bruised!) face and he can wrap me around his finger just by saying "Wuv ooo Mama!"

MooMoo the Clown

After the adventure of having 2 kids in just bit over a year, you would think we would take a break for a bit, right? And we did...sort of. There are 16 months between Fia and MooMoo, the largest gap between any of our kids. Jeff and I decided we were going to be a 3 child family, and since we already had 2 so close together, we might as well have the third one soon and get them all out of diapers around the same time. In theory, it was a great plan...in practice, still good but more complicated by the addition of #4, but that's a later post.

MooMoo is my mini-me. She is quiet in front of other people, but the loudest of the crazies at home. She likes to play jokes on people, especially if she can do it in a sneaky way. She can be passive agressive, and even though she is younger than Pander and Fia, she can really hold her own with them. Oh, and Moo is stubborn as the day is long! She is so much like me that she even tried to share my birthday, but came 2 hours too soon!

MooMoo was a fairly easy baby. She didn't have the belly issues my older 2 had, she was very content and ate like a champ. She was born sucking hungrily on her hand, nursed like a pro from the moment she was handed to me, and didn't need anything beyond a full tummy to be happy. As she grew older, and started moving and talking, we started to see the mischievous side emerge. As soon as anyone vacates a chair (and I mean within a second), it is gone forever because Moo is an infamous seat-stealer. Why? Because she "likes a warm chair."

We call my baby girl MooMoo because when she cries, it is very dramatic and it sounds like injured, dying cattle. The drama is all hype, because as soon as you say "where is that dying cow?" she starts to laugh and can't maintain her fit. She is my funny bunny, and I am really enjoying this school year because we have mornings at home with just me, Moo and Noodle and I'm getting to see a hilarious, independant side to her that I haven't seen when the older kids are home. I can't wait to see how the rest of this year goes, and how MooMoo grows and changes with the opportunity to be the "big man" on campus!