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.

Poor Babies :(

Rhys is kinda being a butt head today. Not quite sure why, other than he just spent a few days at Grammie's house with Charlie and is, perhaps, feeling a bit neglected by Mama. I've been trying to give him extra attention, but he has been taking his frustration out on Oliver all morning, culminating in Rhys tossing the cat at little Olly. Poor baby has scratches all over his face and we are all upset now. Oliver, because his face hurts; Rhys, because he knows that I'm angry with him; and I, because Oliver is hurt and Rhys is sad. Sometimes, this Mom thing is tough. :(

(I'll post a couple of pictures of Olly's face as soon as I find my camera cable. It seems to have wandered off...)

Okay, here are a few...

Good news is that the scratches are healing nicely. But little Olly is going to have a "prison scar" for a little while.

Never Stand On Things With Wheels

OK.  So this was dramatized a bit.  He just happened to be holding his little skateboard when he fell into the box.

But I couldn't pass up the opportunity for a small lesson.

And the opportunity for some cute photos.

What can I say?  He doesn't hold still much anymore. ;)

Poor Dumb Dog

Mopey Miles
Originally uploaded by cocoafairy

Miles came home a few days ago from a week long stay at the Idaho Humane Society veterinary hospital. He had eaten approximately two pounds of chocolate and was deathly ill. The wonderful folks at IHS took excellent care of him and kept him company when we couldn't be with him. Each of the first few days they were amazed that he made it through the night. Then his kidneys failed. They started getting better, then his liver stopped working. All the while, poor Miles is vomiting every couple of hours and having intradermal fluids administered. He's definitely a tough guy. Still sick, but slowly returning to normal.