Traditions

Today M (child #2, age 8) asked what we would be eating on Thursday.

"Um, turkey." I replied.
"What about the roast beef? We always have roast beef."
"Um, no we don't." What Thanksgiving has she been going to, I'm thinking.
"Yes, we do." I'm sure she's thinking, Where have you been , Mom.

I cannot convince her that we have never had roast beef at Thanksgiving. Perhaps she is confusing it with Christmas when we usually do a ham, but either way she is sure there should be roast beef.

So to please my nearly protein-phobic 2nd child, this year there will be roast beef next to the turkey.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Subversive

The youngest of my five children, who we will call P for the purposes of this blog, has a few obsessive tendencies. She must put her clothes on in a specific order - panties (and don't call them underwear, you will insult her), pants, shirt, socks - or a melt down will ensue. I'm really not sure if I should just go with it or try to change it, but really she's 3 and the youngest of 5, so yeah I just go with it.

Her chocolate milk must also be made in a certain way. First you pour in the clean milk (that's just milk, but she must distinguish between clean milk and milk that we may have spiked with any medicine she may need at the moment but refuses to take) and then add the powder and stir with a spoon. If she sees you make it another way, she will refuse to drink it. Again, not sure if it's good for her future mental health to let this continue, but yeah, 3, 5, pick your battles.

Except . . . .

When she's not in the kitchen to see how I make her chocolate milk . . . .

I put the powder in first and then the milk . . . . and I laugh a slightly evil laugh.

Straight and Curly

No. 5 has been asking for months to have her hair straight. Today I took her in for a trim and decided to have them blow it out and using a flat iron on it so she could have her wish. Now she wants it like this for ever. She's not even 4! I am in so much trouble.

Makes My Heart Melt

Monday I came home from dropping the middle three kids at school to find a message from my oldest carefully written into the morning dew on the grass. Hi. That's all it said. But, ahhhhh. That's the nutty kid I love.

(sorry no picture, no camera in the car, but I did have a crabby toddler - nuff said)

Why

Why is it that the child who hasn't been able to stop coughing since late yesterday afternoon (I mean really couldn't stop, neither of us slept), who I kept home from school so that her coughing would not be a distraction, now hasn't coughed for over an hour.

And the child that woke up this morning with a cough but I sent to school because she wasn't nearly as bad off as the other, is probably coughing non-stop and her teacher is probably wondering why I let her go to school.

And I've made dr's appts for both and I called in sick to work so I could take them to the doctor, but now I'm second guessing whether or not the one really needs the doctor, but if I don't take her the coughing will start again this afternoon, but if I do the doctor will look at me like I'm crazy.

I just cannot win.

Tired

This morning before we began our errands, P told me she was really tired.

She fell asleep in the car between stops 4 and 5.

She remained asleep when I got her out of the car and woke up to tell me she wanted to ride in a cart. She promptly put her head down on the cart handle and continued to snooze.

P stayed asleep until I put her back in the car. I told her we were going home and she could go back to sleep. She looked awake when she insisted she was not going to sleep, but she was out before I finished loading the groceries.

When I laid her on the couch she opened her eyes long enough to request Max and Ruby, but not long enough to see that I complied.

Now more than 2 hours after she first fell asleep in the car, she is still out cold.

P is REALLY tired.

What Is It?

No, really. What is it?

I picked this flower from a friends yard and the image is my new most favorite.

But what kind of flower is it? I know I could Google it and I do have an idea what it is, but asking the Internet is so much more fun.

And if you are the first to tell me, I'll send you a free 5x7 print of this image (or one of the others in my etsy shop if you prefer).

You have your assignment. Now go.