January 28th-February 3rd

(1/28) Tough day today.  We covered substance abuse and fetal alcohol today in babies.  I'm really not much of a baby person, or didn't think I was, but hearing those babies cry and seeing what happens is awful and I would have reached through the screen to pick them up, if possible. After I grabbed the kids today, we just played upstairs in their room and they ran amok and were the happy little people they are and that was pure therapy.


(1/29) Covered punishment vs discipline today, as well as race / culture and fostering a healthy identity.  I think I would have been overly kumbaya about race & culture without realizing how important that sense of history and identity is when carving out who you are as a person.  The discipline section was really interesting and I have a new perspective on how I will handle / have handled certain situations. We've done a working lunch at class, so were out early enough to beat C getting home from school.  I ran some errands so he could get back and play his bean collecting game (lol) and not get so mad that I ruined his whole day by coming early!  Ha. D really likes the barrel of monkeys game at Kathy's and I've notice he does a similar game at home, which involves flinging the crayons on the floor and (mostly) picking them up.  I didn't get them all cleaned up today however, and the dogs helpfully cleaned them up for me.  Yum?


(1/30) Lots of speakers today talking about the adoption / placement process.  Lots of success stories and it felt good to end on a high note.  We took the kids out to dinner tonight at our favorite restaurant.  We tried having the little boys sit in regular chairs, but D kept getting down and running off.  Our favorite waitress was there and she got a hug from J and helped me wrangle a wandering D.  We ate our weight in sushi and came home for bedtime.


(1/31) Back to work / normality for us and the kids were at Kathy's.  I have to admit, I'm kind of bummed class is over.  I feel like I learned a ton and have some new tools for ye olde toolbox.  If nothing else, I feel like I can be a better parent to my own kids.  After work, I brought the kiddos home for dinner, and then Nanan arrived to watch them while I went to book club with the gals.  She said it took them all over an hour to settle in for bedtime. Yep, that's about right.  I have been going in and finding C dancing around with the music up and light on (and this is an hour after the littles supposedly have gone to bed).  He always asks "What?!" when I come in to prod him along on the getting ready for bed process.  He will eventually learn to just ignore the littles, but has made it hard on himself by encouraging them to yell "LIE DOWN!!!" when he walks in.  So they do.  Every. time.


(2/1) Took the boys to C's hockey practice today.  D woke up really early and started in on the "LIE DOWN!!!"s at 6:45a for the second day in a row.  He has a runny nose and was fighting some serious zonies on the way to practice at 10a.  The littles ran around for about half of the practice and then D just fell apart.  I ended up putting them both in the stroller and just walking around.  Logged almost 3 miles at hockey alone!  After hockey, C really, really wanted to stop for egg rolls, so we stopped and grabbed some lunch at the store.  Fed the kiddos and put the littles down for a nap. I tried to fall asleep as well, but kept getting interrupted by the child that doesn't have enough Legos. Of course the one that really needed the sleep was up first a was a D-saster most of the afternoon.

(2/2) Super Bowl today, and I'm stoked - not about the football, but because I have the house to myself to be as lazy as I wanna!  Well, after the littles go to bed anyway.  C had a hockey game this morning (1 goal & 2 assists today!) and then he and Dad went to a Super Bowl party at a friend of ours. It would have been fun to go to the party, but I'd also be chasing around the littles and keeping them out of everything, which is none too relaxing.  So we stayed home.  We had a rivoting day watching Cars twice (J asks for McQueen every time we turn on the TV), taking naps and playing here at home.  We know how to party.

(2/3)  Work day for me and Dad has the kiddos.

At the beginning of this clip, the way J says "DENTON!" cracks me up. He slipped off his chair earlier this week, and while I was comforting him, D crawled up and started in on the puzzle. J wailed, grumbled "DENTON!" wailed some more and then got down to work on the puzzle.

Words:

D: Nomas? (Thomas)
C: Be-do? (Despicable Me)
J: McQueen!

At the crack of dawn, or when C comes in ~
D: LIE DOWN!!! LIE DOWN!!! LIE DOWN!!!

D talking about a sleeping J (I always say "Nigh-nigh, little boys!" when I put them to bed)
D: Little boy, little boy!

Or, and I love this... when D is mad at J ~
D: *mutter mutter* Little boy!

D: GET DOWN, RIGHT NOW! 1....2....3....4....5....9.
So bossy!

D: No courses! (while unplugging my computer cord)

J holding McQueen while wearing McQueen ~
J: McQUEEN, McQUEEN, McQUEEN!!