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Volume 4, Issue 6, Number 1
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June 5, 2000
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"Unintelligible ee peese"
My life: Dear heavens do I seem to have allergies. (Of course, this is EXACTLY what I said last summer, and I ended up pregnant.) Can you get allergies at age 31? I am so stuffed up and yucky. But it's not like a cold, I mean, I feel more or less OK, it's just that I constantly have a tickle in my throat. But my throat doesn't hurt. And I think Pumpkin and Stealth Baby have them too. Pumpkin has the same cough I have - like a smokers cough. BLA. And Stealth Baby's eyes are all gooey. But we had a rainy day where we didn't go outside at all, and the next day his eyes were clear - but then we went outside and by that night his eyes were gooey again. Hubby and I just went out and bought an air purifier for Pumpkin's room to see if that would help. We run it all night when he is sleeping. It does seem to help a little bit, although it seems like Pumpkin is also now coming down with a cold, so it's hard to tell if we are helping the allergies or not. I figure we CAN'T be hurting him any with cleaner air.
As I've mentioned, Tuesday's are my 'day off' when I take the terrorists to daycare and I spend a more-or-less leisurely day home with Stealth Baby. (Except he never sleeps for more than 30 minutes in a stretch.) And as I've also mentioned, our cleaning lady, Maria, comes on Monday. At some point in his short life, our now dead cat peed in the office, which is the smallest room in the house and one where I will sit (like now) on the computer for as long as the kids will let me. So I'm now extremely sick of this cat pee smell which I can't seem to get out of the carpet. Great, we have 2 decent carpets in the whole damn house and the cat pees on one of them. The other carpets are just shy of disgusting, so I figure that on Tuesday when the kids are away and the house is reasonably clean (because Maria cleaned Monday) I'll rent a carpet shampooer and clean the house. Well, also on that day Sharon and I were going to go out to lunch, however in the morning as I was leaving to take the kids to daycare she comes over and says she's feeling a mess and not in the mood to go out to lunch, but that to make it up to me she would love to watch Stealth Baby. (I think I mentioned to her that I was going to clean the carpets) So I'm like, oh that would be a big help. This should only take 2 hours. HA HA! SO She took Stealth Baby at 10, and I finished cleaning the carpets at 2!!!! She got to give Stealth Baby a bottle, which I think she enjoyed. Sharon also got to make fun of me for completely underestimating the time it would take to clean the carpets. I did go over and have about a 45 minute chat with her, so that was fun. The carpets now look about as good as they are going to get, given that three messy children and Hubby live here. Boy was that a job - but you should see the difference it made in the carpets! And the first person to spill on any of them was me! (ketsup!) But I was able to get that out with our little hand held Bissel cleaner. But I told Hubby - Dude do you OWE me for using my free day to clean damn carpets! I mean, it was a very satisfying endeavor, but I did miss having free time. It's like I try to stuff all my free time for the whole week into this one day.
The deck continues to get heavy use. Pumpkin calls it 'having a picnic.' Pumpkin, Precious and I have lunch out there maybe 3 times a week. I really enjoy being out there and eating out there. More than that, we've even been having dinners up there recently! (Thanks to Senor Psycho-man!) See, Hubby has never been a fan of eating outside. But, ever since Psycho-man put up his fence, Hubby has been very willing to humor Pumpkin and eat on the deck . See, I think he does it to irritate P-Man, although lord knows we don't have to try to get on his nerves. So we’re on the deck, kids banging around and yelling for attention and generally using their outdoor voices (and outdoor behaviors). It's been great for me, since I think it's a lot of fun.
Hubby is beginning to figure out what it is like to be the primary caregiver of 3 kids. Very funny. One day the kids were in the sprinkler - meaning Precious was in a swimsuit. I am making dinner and Hubby is in charge of all 3 awake kids - a rariety. A bit later he comes stomping in, snarling at me and holding Precious at arms length "Precious just pooped and she's not wearing a diaper and Stealth Babys in the backyard and Pumpkin is out front" (Snarl growl) so I just look at him and am like, "Hubby, please don't use that tone of voice with me. This is my life EVERY DAY." And I didn't even say - Excuse me but whose fault is it that Stealth Baby is in the backyard? It's not like he walked there!
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tealth Baby's life.: Stealth Baby continues to be a gem of a child, abet one that doesn't sleep much. It seems that he is awake more than he is asleep during the day now. He's definitely a cap-napper. Happily he sleeps well at night, because he sure doesn't during the day. It's rather difficult to do things with the other kids knowing that at any random moment Stealth Baby could get up. I always have the monitor on, but if we're at the end of the street seeing Kenny's doggies, then I don't hear him and he's literally screaming by the time I get to him. (During the writing of this letter, he's slept for 30 minutes, up for an hour, asleep for an hour, up for 40 minutes, sleep 20 min, fuss, pacifier, fuss, pacifier, fuss, sleep 40 min. UP!)As I mentioned above, Sharon gave Stealth Baby a bottle. Actually it was even a bottle of formula because I didn't have time (or energy) to pump. So, much like Pumpkin, Stealth Baby takes a bottle no problem, and he even takes formula. That's cool. Hubby always manages to put Stealth Baby to sleep with the pacifier, but that doesn't work for me. Probably because Stealth Baby knows I have something better to offer if he continues to scream.
Finally, he's a very alert happy kid. He makes lots of 'ah-goo' noises, and smiles delightedly whenever he sees me. Hubby's mom said the neatest thing when Pumpkin was born (whenever he got so happy to see me). She said, "Is that the face that you love?" So I started to say that all the time. I love saying that to Stealth Baby.
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umpkin's life. The swingset has been a HUGE hit. HUGE! Since Kenny is so much bigger than Pumpkin we had one swing a little higher than the other. Those of you that are parents are shaking your heads saying "Big Mistake." So they fought constantly over who would swing on the big swing. So we made both swings, to the best of our ability, the same height in hopes of ending the arguments. Fat chance. One swing is like an inch higher than the other one and is the middle swing, so they still fight over being the middle. (Note to Julie: It is still a crime to kill your children, even if they do richly deserve it.) However, they want to play on the swings constantly, so that is wonderful.Pumpkin has learned to swing without being pushed. (May 21st) Hubby was SO proud. Look Julie, Pumpkin has learned how to pump his legs all by himself. (Puffed out chest.) Um, dear, no he hasn't. I work with him on that every morning. (Fathers are just clueless sometimes.) Which is true. Every morning when it isn't rainy (the weather has just stunk this year) we go out on the swings and as I push him forward I say. "Put your legs out Pumpkin, out out" and as he comes back I say, "Bring 'em back! Bring 'em back." So now he can get started all by himself! Hubby is still very proud since Pumpkin can swing and Kenny still needs to be pushed, but I say to Hubby, Kenny is not the person we should be basing any of Pumpkin's accomplishments on. Oh yes, Kenny has already fallen off the swing and busted his lip.
Pumpkin has started the 'lying' stage. I don't think he's lying exactly. Actually, I think it's partially my fault. See, I'll point something out to him, like a bat or a chipmunk, and then Pumpkin can't see it. But I'm like, 'it's right there' or 'oops, it's flown away.' So he's started to see things that aren't really there. He's always pointing out imaginary bugs to me and stuff. Now, this isn't a big deal. What is bad is when he blames things on Precious that he has clearly done or changes my answer to things (Daddy! Mommy says yes!). The other night we were having dinner on the deck, and since the table is too high for Precious we use her high chair out there. Pumpkin managed to knock the tray over the side of the deck.
So I at him at say, "Pumpkin!"
Pumpkin: "Precious knocked it over the deck!"
Mommy: "No she didn't. YOU did."
So he looks at me and says, "did you see me?"
Mommy: "Yes"
Pumpkin: "Oh." (Hubby and I both laughed out loud at the wonder in his voice.)
Unfortunately, several weeks ago Ms. Ellie, Pumpkin's swim teacher, tried to get him to swim a little to hard, and Pumpkin ended up with a large part of the pool up his nose. So now he won't go swimming. I took him on the 13th and he really didn't want to go in, but I convinced him to go. But he was unhappy and fussy. I assumed it was just because I was there. Well, Hubby took him on the 20th and Pumpkin point blank refused to get in the water. So we're going to back off and give him some time. On the 26th I took all three kids to Friday toddler swim. At first Pumpkin didn't want to go, but I convinced him Ms Ellie wouldn't be there so then he was ok. Of course, taking 3 kids swimming is easier said then done, and Precious almost drown while I was trying to feed Stealth Baby. I was trying to feed him and be discrete and this other women goes, "Gosh is your daughter in trouble?" Thankfully without waiting for my answer she grabbed Precious's head out of the water. It's very weird that Pumpkin is scared to swim. He dove in and had his head under the water. Hubby thinks he just doesn't trust the teacher any more, and that may be the case. I was really rough housing with him in the water - picking him up and throwing him around. So he got his face under and everything. I imagine I'll take him swimming again this Friday.
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recious's life. Let me say how much I love Precious. That she is a sweetheart and a cutie, and I wouldn't trade her for anyone. But she is beastly at the moment. We are trying to get her to work on her words, under the assumption that she wouldn't scream in frustration (all the time!) if she could express herself. This does actually work - she'll start shrieking because she can't get her shoe off, so I'll come over and say, as calmly as possible given the fact she has not only woken up Stealth Baby, but is probably disturbing children in other houses, "Use words please. Do you need help? Can you say, 'Help me please?'" So then sweet as pie she says "[unintelligible] ee peese" and gives you a smile as bright as day. The problem is, she still shrieks first. We've had some limited success with dinner time, anyway. Instead of shrieking to be let down she says, "[unintelligible] eee!" (excuse me.) She has quite a repertoire of sentences, but you have to be in the correct context to be able to distinguish them from each other.Having kids does indeed cause amnesia! I keep thinking to myself, "What the heck did I do with Pumpkin at this age?" But nature takes care of it's own! I have this saying - that a child will teach the parent the best way to parent, IE, a loving parent with an open mind will learn from their child what that child needs. Precious has proven this to be correct. I'm thinking, I have no idea how I entertained Pumpkin at her age - and then she drags her stool over to the sink to help me wash dishes. Oh yeah! Play in water! That's how I survived!
PS Precious is quite good at kicking a soccer ball! It's really cute to watch! She even manages to kick it while it is rolling to her! A natural!
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hat has happened since last we talked: Well, Kenny and James continue to basically live here. On Memorial day Kenny was here from noon until about 8:30, and he only left around 5 because he had a 'headache' (He didn't get his way and ride the middle swing) and for a half an hour when we had dinner. It's been nice in the evenings, so we've been hanging out on the deck. Hubby sprayed our roses and 2 of our bushes for bugs, so we didn't want the kids running around the yard. However, Kenny saw us so he quickly ended up on the deck as well. So James is out in the street riding his bike by himself. Eventually he comes to the end of the driveway and calls for Kenny - supposedly because he wants to know where Kenny is. Now, he knows sure as shooting where Kenny is (where he always is!) but simply wants an excuse to come up on the deck too because he's lonely by himself. So Hubby calls out "You are cleared to enter!" (IE, he can undo the gate at the top of the deck steps and come in.) It ended up being a fun night. Precious and Pumpkin were eating yogurt when Kenny came up, and since Kenny is always hungry (it was 8pm and he hadn't had dinner yet) and Precious wasn't going to finish hers (she was mainly playing with it anyway), so I gave it to Kenny. SO then James comes up and is looking at them eating yogurt - so I got everyone another round! And James was obviously hungry too because he finished off what Kenny didn't eat. Needless to say, James loves me.I had James and his friend Dean weed my front garden. I gave them both 4 dollars an hour. I know they would do it for 2 bucks, but that seems like very little money. They were thrilled with me and both weeded for 2 and a half hours. (There goes 20 bucks!) Actually, they did a good job and it's not like I'm getting it done. Also, since the weeds they are pulling is that awful crabgrass - well, it was making the front lawn look like crap and big spikes of it were growing through the bushes. They really had to dig deep to get the roots. As an added bonus, I let them dig up all the daffodil bulbs because they were diving me crazy. The boys LOVED that! We did one half of one garden and got a whole wagon full! And they are always looking for money, so I'll probably have them do more weeding.
At some point I am going to buy landscaping fabric and put it down and then put some mulch down and forget about it! But the bushes are spaced kind of wide apart, so I don't know what to put in between the bushes, if anything. Instead of mulch I could put down white gravel ~ that would be pretty. Don't know. But this weeding BS has got to stop! I actually enjoy weeding - I enjoy getting the roots out and digging and getting muddy. But who has the time?
Well, I know you guys love the weather so I'll take a minute here to complain about ours. It has been really really weird. I mean, it's like June and in the 60s? With it down to the 30s at night? Get real? One day it was 95, and the next day it was 70. No wonder we all have colds. On the 24th Pumpkin, Kenny and Precious played in the sprinkler all afternoon, and on the 27th it was 50 something degrees!