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I love it when I go check on my kids before I go to bed tonight. It is especially entertaining when the hallway light sort of wakes Aaron up. You see, when he is in that semi-sleep/semi-awake state, he tends to talk in his sleep. Last night, that happened.
As soon as I turned the light on, I saw Aaron moving around in his bed. First he lifted his head, then moved his feet around a little. Next, he sat all the way up, started feeling around the foot of his bed, and said, "Where is she?"
Now, when situations like this occur, I take full advantage of it and instead of just laying him back down and kissing him goodnight and telling him to go back to sleep, I encourage the conversation by playing into it. Here's how it went down last night:
A: Where is she?
M: Where is who?
A: Sadie. She said...{garbled/mumbled stuff I couldn't understand}.
M: She said what?
A: {repeated the garbled/mumbled stuff}...and then I came back but she isn't here.
M: Well maybe she got tired of waiting for you.
He then laid back down and went to sleep. I thought it was just so sweet that he's dreaming about his sister :)
Yesterday, we were at the kid's music lessons. Aaron takes guitar lessons, and Sadie takes piano, and we are fortunate that both their teachers are at the same studio and that there lessons are at the same time. However, they rarely start right on time. So today, Aaron's lesson started just a little before Sadie's. Aaron requested to learn the song "Fireflies" by Owl City. So his teacher looked the song up on YouTube and started listening to it to figure out the chords. That's the way his lessons go.
Sadie hears the song while she's waiting for her teacher and she starts singing and dancing along with the song. She gets to the part that says "I'd like to make myself believe that planet earth turns slowly." After singing this part (and really emphasizing the "slowly" part), she looks at me and says "When it's windy, that's because the earth is turning faster."
I love the way her little mind works :)
Our house is becoming a minor Noah's Ark. We keep taking in more and more animals! And I am no Noah. Not exactly an animal person. Don't get me wrong. I don't hate animals. I just don't like to be bothered by them. I don't mind having other people's animals around (for the most part), and I enjoy petting a dog or a cat. But having to make sure they are fed and watered daily, and that they have somewhere to keep warm in the winter or cool in the summer, or finding someone to watch them when you're out of town. I just don't see pets as really being worth the hassle.
But my husband does. And my kids do. Or at least, my husband and kids love the idea of having pets. They very quickly assure me that all pets will be taken care of and that I won't have to worry about them. And then as soon as we get said pet, that promise lasts only a few days...maybe a week or two.
So, every year, we tell our kids that if they keep their grades up and their noses clean in school, we'll buy them something special. For Aaron one year, it was a 50 cc dirtbike. Sometimes it is much less spectacular. But this year, Toby made a big deal about it. He told them we'd get them WHATEVER they wanted. Holy smokes! What was he thinking?
Aaron debated back and forth between a few things. Sadie immediately stated that she wanted a bunny. And never once waivered, even when we tried to tempt her with other things (because we really didn't want a bunny). So, Toby bought a bunny cage at an auction for a dollar. And we looked into buying a bunny back in May, but never really followed through. Finally, 4 months later, we have a bunny.
As of right now, the poor thing is nameless. She had originally wanted a solid white one so she could call it Angel. But Toby and Aaron thought the pink/red eyes were freaky, so we talked her out of that.
She is a Holland Lop, which was recommended to us by a breeder as a good pet quality rabbit, especially for little girls because they love being held like a baby, and cuddled, and will even let you dress them in baby doll clothes.
So, any ideas for names? Right now, some that Sadie are considering are Sophia or Sparkles. We're open for suggestions :)
Aaron finally decided on an aquarium (very much influenced by Toby, who was really the one who wanted one). We got this aquarium back at the beginning of June, not because we like Aaron more, but because you can easily find fish and aquariums year-round without having to put much effort into it. And because Toby really wanted it.
So now, we have a dog, a cat, a rabbit, and a bunch of fish. And I am putting my foot down. No more pets allowed!
Oh, and to explain Sadie's face in those pictures...she went to a friend's circus-themes birthday party and they had a face-painter there. Sadie wanted a "rainbow butterfly." So cute and sparkly. What more could a girl want?
So Aaron has been wanting to get to play a *new* game on the the computer. And by new, I mean new to him. He played it at his friend's house, and now thinks he needs to get to play it here too. As with most new video games, I told him I needed to research it first. Today, he finally made me sit down and do that research. Although I didn't find the type of reviews I was specifically wanting, I did find some resources and feel somewhat okay letting him try it. But with one condition.
I told him that if he wants to get to play this game, he has to behave. I gave him specific details of what I meant by "behave". He has to mind us, watch his attitude (he's getting to that point where he thinks his parents are totally ignorant of all things important), and be nice to his sister. Then, I hit him with the bomb. IF he can do that, he can start playing the game on Saturday.
GASP! "Saturday! WHY??? Why do I have to wait until SATURDAY? Why can't I play it tonight??????"
Keep in mind that it this is on Thursday night, less than 30 minutes before bed. So really, he has to go ONE WHOLE DAY, being nice to his sister. Wait ONE WHOLE DAY! What a mean mom I am, but finally, he agreed (not that he really had a choice).
After this, Sadie came into the room and said, "Mom, I will try to be nice to Aaron so he won't be mean to me so that he can get that game."
What a sweet little girl. First, she wants her brother to be happy and is willing to help him get what he wants. But most importantly, I think she is FINALLY starting to see that the way she treats Aaron affects how he treats her. Or at least I hope that's it. A mom can always dream, right?
So, I have this thing against spiders. Really, not all spiders...just the big ones. The ones who would have guts if you stepped on them. I just have a hard time getting the nerve the kill any creepy-crawly that will snap, crackle and pop on my shoe, or I guess actually under my shoe. Even with a fly swatter, I just can't do it. I will sit and stare at the spider with the swatter in ready position for ever trying to get up the nerve to actually do it. And yes, I do realize this issue is insane. I do know that I am much bigger and presumably smarter than the spider, but that doesn't matter. And it isn't true that the spider is more afraid of me than I am of it. Not possible. I'm getting a little panicky just typing about big spiders...
So, here at our house, the main spider we deal with is a wolf spider. And they can get pretty big. And, if it happens to be a mom, she carries all her millions of minion babies on her abdomen, so when you smash it, they run around all over the place. Usually I make Toby kill them, and I watch in terrified fear, and Sadie screams while Toby misses on purpose and lets the stinker run around for a few minutes.
The real problem is when Toby isn't here. Like last night. I saw one in my bedroom! I stared at it for a minute and looked around the room for options, knowing full well that even if I did have my shoes, I still would probably not be able to actually squash it. The kids were in bed, so I couldn't even make Aaron do it. Then, to my horror, the monstrous thing ran under my bed! UNDER MY BED! I still get queasy just thinking about it. Holy frijoles! How can I sleep, in the dark, with my eyes closed and everything, knowing that there is a ginormous spider plotting who knows what under my bed.
So, I went and crawled into Aaron's bed with him. (I couldn't sleep with Sadie because her cousin was staying with us and was sleeping her.) So, for all those nights of my kids sneaking into my bed, last night Aaron got to return the favor :)
Lately I have been thinking a lot about something someone told me when Toby and I got married over 14 years ago. I was told about this couple who had been married for 50+ years, and they had never spent a single night apart from each other in all those years. At the end of the story, I was left with the impression that that was true love, and what makes a marriage great.
Shortly after our nuptials, Toby had to go out of town for training with his work, and I was left home alone. I remember feeling some dread that we wouldn't be like the couple in the story I had heard about.
Since then, there have been many many more nights spent apart, whether it has been because of either Toby's or my work, or because of family things or other outings where one of us couldn't tag along. For a long time, I had that regret of not being able to tell our kids about how perfect our marriage had been and that we never spent a single night apart.
But now as I think about it, I don't have guilt or regret. Instead, I think it has made our marriage stronger. We have both had to manage on our own. Sometimes we're alone with kids, and feel a bit like a single parent for a few days(thankfully only a few days...loads of respect for all those single parents out there)and sometimes we are all alone...no kids, with a nice quiet house that often very quickly becomes way too quiet. And we have that time apart to decompress if we have been getting on each other's nerves, and that time apart to be able to realize how much better life is with the other than without. It makes us appreciate each other. I can't speak for any other marriages. I don't know if this would be good for all marriages, but it has been good for ours...
Or at least *I* think it has been. You may need to check with Toby to see if he feels the same :)
So we are down to less than 2 weeks until the kids go back to school, and every year at this time, I begin to look forward to school starting back, but at the same time, wish summer would last forever. It is odd to have these conflicting feelings where I long for the routine that the school year will bring, but also dread the full schedules we will have. I look forward to the kids learning new and exciting things in school, but dread the homework that the kids will have to drudge through. I look forward to the kids having a set bedtime and wake-up time, but know that I will absolutely miss the freedom of summer. I am ready for my kids to not be bored, or spend all their time and energy focused on annoying each other (or maybe their real goal is to annoy me), but will miss the spontaneous tickle fights, game nights, and trips to the pool, Discovery Center, or friends' houses. I am looking forward to fall getting here so I can make soup and chili and watch football, but will most definitely miss every day feeling like the weekend and not even know what day today is.
I know I should just focus on the here-and-now and enjoy each moment to its fullest. I know I shouldn't wish for some time to get here sooner, because before long, these moments with my kids will fly by and be gone forever. So that is what I am going to try to do. Make these last days of summer fun and lazy and try to keep my kids from driving each other, and me crazy :) Wish me luck!
