He Sleeps

My little guy is sleeping.  I am awake.  This is a rare occurrence lately.  This kid will sleep through an alarm clock squawking next to his head (I think he may have gotten that from me) :-/ Then I try to get up... he is awake and very insulted.  I completely understand his need to be close to his mama; I'm quite fond of snuggling him too. I just wish he would allow me ten minutes to shower before he resumes - quite literally - being the monkey on my back.

Life with him isn't usually this intense; he's a very laid back little guy.  Considering the four teeth invading his mouth and my recent dairy indiscretions, though, I shouldn't be shocked that he's not feeling like himself.  Poor kid.  :( 

And now he sleeps.  And I breathe. Enjoy some tea. Knit. Eat lots of chocolate. Read an overdue library book. Listen to - and occasionally peek at- last month's Law & Order.  Ignore all of the stuff I really should be packing.  And ponder the amount of sleep I am missing.  Ah, multitasking!  I've always thought I wasn't good at it. ;)

And there's the cry...

ACK!

We are moving.  In one week.  (!!!!) I am at once sooo ready to move and completely unprepared.  We've had about three weeks to get going on this, and I'm still sorting through the things we don't want to take with us - never mind the stuff to keep. 

But I suppose if I do this correctly, I shouldn't have much to take with us.  This move will be nearly a transition into a new life... smaller house, smaller yard, smaller parking.  Thus, fewer dishes, fewer clothes, fewer toys.  No more storage! 

I can express neither how excited I am to do this, nor how surprised I have been to face all of the STUFF we have accumulated over the years.  Overwhelming fails to do it justice. 

After nearly two years, I'll be changing the name of this blog.  lol  Yippee! 

disclaimer: I mean no offense to those who enjoy the suburbs.  I just don't. ;)  Thanks for your understanding. 

Typical

Rhys came inside from playing with Charlie.  Charlie runs inside.  Charlie asks, in an acusatory tone, "Rhys! Why did you come inside!?"

Rhys replies, "I don't want you to punch me anymore." Charlie says something about needing to make sure that Rhys didn't lock him out. 

"Charlie, why are you always mean to me?"

I am now going to harass Mr. Gate Keeper at Autism Diagnostic Clinic in Meridian. Again.  :(

Why don't I go to bed?

It's 4am. I'm still awake! Not because I can't sleep, but because I can't seem to find the desire or energy to make my way to my bed. Where does this blasted inertia come from?

An infomercial is on in the background. Lost interest in the tv hours ago. Huh. That's a pretty cool mop... eew.

Stewing over the happenings of the evening. My Charlie has been an awful kid lately. Oh, who am I kidding? He's always been that way. :0/ Can't believe nothing has changed; nothing is easier. I just want to kick all of the people who told me that he would outgrow his terrible behavior. They said around 3, he would get easier. Then it was 4. Then 5. He's nearing 6 and he hasn't transformed into the boy I was promised. He's worse! Meaner and stronger are a bad combination. Enrolled him in karate in hopes that he would learn some respect and discipline. Nope. He's just gotten better at hitting and kicking me and his brothers. I've been wondering if they make straight jackets for children!

My dear husband's behavior has gotten worse too. What a great role model. :( Tonight I took Charlie's ninja sword from him; he was hitting everyone with it. David grabbed it from my hand to give it back to the boy! When I grabbed for it to take it back, I poked him in the nose. It was accidental but kinda hard. :0/ Before I could apologize or even look at his face, he knee'd me in the leg. And it hurt. :( I am amazed at how little control he has over himself in these situations. He reacts as if he's being attacked and I just don't understand why. What is it about getting poked in the face that triggers the fight-or-flight response in him?

Later on, I tried to explain to him that he *just can't do that*! Told him that there is a very fine line between freaking out on me -or our children - when he gets hurt and smacking us around just because he's angry. Stated that his actions were unacceptable. He stopped talking. Not sure that I want to stick around for the next escalation.

I'm not really into the Changing the Husband thing, but this has to stop. Don't know how to stop it. Sigh.

Well, I'm really going to go to bed now. Perhaps some sleeping will help me find enlightenment? I can hope :)

sheesh.

My kids are killing me! Slowly, but surely, they are killing me. Well, to be fair - Rhys and Oliver, together, on their worst days are half the challenge of Charlie on a typical day. I'm flummoxed.

On one hand, my picky child has been eating foods I never imagined would pass his lips. Pizza, spagetti (the sauce, at least), gravy on his mashed potatoes! Charlie showers on his own now. And he's done beautifully at school. Loves his teacher. Adores riding the school bus.

The problem comes when he isn't at school. He has regressed to where he was before the wonder of preschool--back to the tornado of a child I had hoped I'd seen the last of. Enlisting little Rhys as his accomplice, Charlie has been emptying hampers full of dirty laundry and throwing the clothing around the room. He's been urinating in my house! Pouring milk on my kitchen floor. Coloring on my furniture with pink sidewalk chalk. Spitting at me. Ripping entire boxes of tissues into tiny pieces and tossing them around like confetti. Escaping through windows and climbing fences and pulling down blinds and curtains and breaking windows on my van. The two little delinquents sneak upstairs and throw things out the window. Toys, candy, books, cd's, pillows... anything they can get their hands on. Today it was snaps. An entire bag of snap pieces rained down on my driveway.

I should take this moment to clarify that though Rhys surely makes his own contribution to the chaos, he never does anything like this on his own. His largest motivation, it seems, is pleasing his big brother. While I suspect that Charlie's motivation is to con Rhys into doing the dirty work.

I just can't keep up anymore. I'm drowning. I really wish that someone would take me seriously about my trouble with Charlie and HELP me!

Quikie Update ;)

Been so long since I blogged! How has it been since the end of March?! Wow. Looking back at the past few months -- in an exhausted, bleary-eyed daze, mind you -- nothing really stands out. I'll probably kick myself for that statement soon, but for the moment, let's look forward, shall we? :)

Being past midnight, my little Charlie - my first baby! - starts kindergarten TOMORROW. I've impatiently anticipated this day for years (so has he); yet, now that it has arrived I can't believe that the school years have come already. Charlie is so grown up now! Quite the little character too. ;) I'm so excited to see what this new chapter in our lives will bring. And so not excited about getting up so EARLY. ug.

Rhys has been getting speech therapy a couple of days per week this summer to work on his k, b, and g sounds. He's had a blast in "school" and he's much easier to understand now. ;) Now I'm trying to come up with a last-minute, affordable preschool option for him so that he can continue getting regular interaction with other kiddos his age (who don't beat him up!).
Oliver is a hoot! Quite the charming little fellow. :) He does a lot of talking now; unfortunately, it seems that he speaks a foreign language. Been working on sign language a bit with him and trying to teach him English. ;) He really gets a kick out of me doing the signs for him - even more so when his brothers help - but seems to think that those hand signals are just silly things that everyone else does.

David is finishing his fifth year with CableOne this month. Another "where has the time gone?" scenario. He gets along well with his co-workers and is well respected for the excellent work that he does. I'm so proud of him :) He's been trying harder lately to be a better father and husband. Most days, I can tell. ;) The other day, while visiting Judy and Dennis, David's parents, Rhys wanted Daddy to read books with him - not Mommy, not Grammie, Daddy! Melted my heart. There are few things more beautiful to me than a man being a great dad. :)

And I've now given up a whole hour of sleep! Hope you appreciate it. (hehe. ;) ) Until next time... :)

Now what was I gonna say....?

Last night, as I was nursing my tiny one to sleep, I was planning a blog post about something that he'd been doing all day long. Now that I stop for a moment to write it down, I can't seem to recall what it was. Bah! Mommy Brain.

So I'll just tell you about how he's growing up too fast.
My little guy turned 1 last week. -- I know, I can't believe it either! It MUST be a trick; he can't be more than 4 or 5 months old. We had a little party for him with cupcakes and friends. His brothers didn't want to leave Grammy's house just for Olly's party. But they did insist that we save them each a cupcake.

He visited his doctor yesterday. Getting bigger, but still pretty darn little. Just under the 3rd percentile for weight. Doc was very surprised by how "really busy" he is. The only times he was still were when she'd talk to him and he'd play bashful. Then right back to up - down - up - down - climb - "help" - down - in the cupboard - need a cup - have to play with the faucet - where is the koala toy? - want to nurse - no, didn't really want to nurse - chew on mom's nose - "hey, what's that in mom's bag?" - "why would you put me down??? **tear**- and so on. Doc may have found him to be squirrelly, but Oliver's the calmest babe I've had.