Spare the Rod..

If only corporal punishment were legal. I've been feeling like that a lot these days. I sware, my kids would respect me a WHOLE lot more. I know as a child, I was deathly afraid of my dad's leather belt. And the switches in the back yard, that I might have to go pick myself for a good switching.. My kids on the other hand, they just laugh at me when I tell them they are gonna get a spanking. In fact, Lauryn laughed at me the other day after I spanked her.. and I hurt myself even more then I ever thought of hurting her. I don't spank my children often. It takes a lot for me to do that. I think there are times when it is needed. Mostly in my house, as a wake up call, when I've run out of every other option.. to let them know I mean business. Not that my business hurts, like I said.. It ALWAYS hurts me more.. physically!!

I went to a Mindful Parenting class, to learn how to better handle my children when I'm frustrated with them. To be more conscious of my parenting, and to find other ways at handling them, because, what I'm doing, just doesn't seem to be cutting it. At least with my middle child. And at most, it taught me to take deep breathes, and walk away if needed. My children are still very young, but they are SO DAMN SMART!

Lately, Lauryn has been giving me some SERIOUS attitude. Not the kind of attitude her sister has, with the drama, and the "valley girl" attitude. I keep trying to tell Ashley, that she lives in McCleary, and not "Cali".. but whatever. She thinks her tractors sexy. Lauryn on the other hand, has straight up attitude. I can't tell whether it's her birth sign, Scorpio, or just her stubborn-ness, that she gets from her father. A combination of both, or just that she's got some straight up evil in her. But the girl thinks she can do whatever the hell she wants! I know a lot of it, she's getting from her "new school".. but criminy. I don't know how much more I can take. Lately, when I tell her no, or tell her that she can't ride her bike down the driveway without an adult, or some other irrational thing I won't let her do, she straight up screams at me, and makes a hissing sound. I sometimes think she might be a little possessed... Or she'll tell me that she hates me, and she "doesn't like my attitude".. The attitude of telling her NO that is..

Like Friday evening for instance, I was driving home from picking the kids up at daycare. I had to go to Olympia to pay a bill directly after that. We didn't get to go home first. And Lauryn was MAD about it. She wanted to go home and ride her bike. She didn't like my attitude, at that moment.. So she took it upon herself to take her empty cup, and throw it at the back of my head!! I wasn't mad, I didn't even yell or scream, I simply sat there in awe, that my child had just done it. I didn't want to give her the satisfaction of knowing I was mad, nor did I want her to know that I thought it even a little bit funny.. mostly because I couldn't believe she did it. (go ahead, laugh out loud a little, you know you think it's funny too)..


I turned around and told her that it was unacceptable that she did that, and explained to her how she could of hurt me, and made us get in a wreck, you know, the RATIONAL way, if there is such a thing as explaining something rationally to a 4 year old. But I tried anyway, and I informed her that she would be going to her room when we got home, so she could think about the way she was acting. She responded by telling me that she didn't like my attitude. Big surprise there, eh?

And today, she was being mouthy in the back seat. Most kids, will mouth off to one parent, and know that it's DEFINITELY not ok to do it to the other i.e. DAD. But not Lauryn. She's got BALLS! She sat there, and I don't even remember what she was saying, but she was really getting under Josh's skin. We then started to talk about how we could deal with such a thing.. It's not like we can pull her over and beat her. It's not like we can do ANYTHING. The words we are using, AREN'T working, the punishments we use AREN'T working.. nothing works. She just doesn't care. She's the boss. Well, she thinks she is anyway.. I just feel like I'm at my wits end with her. Every button of mine, she knows how to push.. and push, and push.

So all the while she's being mouthy in the back seat, and Josh asked her if she needed an "attitude adjustment" aka, a spanking.. She replied, " I don't want a spankin.. I'll tell on you, and you'll go to jail!" WTF!? She's 4!!!

What on earth are we going to do when she's 14~!!

And that goes to show you what kind of society we live in. One where parents are AFRAID to touch their kids, and make them show some damn respect. She's 4. How on earth, does she know about people going to jail for abusing their kids. And she's FAR from being abused.. lol. Spare the rod, spoil the child. yep, that's my kid..

I'm a young parent, but a pretty good one, if I don't say so myself. I'm really hoping it's just a phase she's going through, but Lord help me. My strong willed 2nd born child, I sware, is going to be the death of me.. If she doesn't send me to jail first..

Lead me not in to temptation.

How does that quote go? Lead me not in to temptation; I can find the way myself". I like that one. I always find it, or it finds me. It's lurking around every corner, in every shadow, and once every fleeting moment of 15 seconds. It's there. It's always there. It's like this drug, it's addicting. I can't get enough, but it makes me even sicker in the end. I've never been strong in that aspect. I'm so weak I can't carry a tune in that department. My knees get soft, and I want to fall to the floor.

A temptation is an act that looks appealing to an individual. It
is usually used to describe acts with negative connotations and as
such, tends to lead a person to regret such actions, for various reasons: legal, social, psychological (including feeling guilt),
health, economic, etc. Temptation also describes the coaxing or
inducing a person into committing such an act, by manipulation or
otherwise of curiosity, desire or fear of loss.

But for the first time in my life. I am strong. I face temptation head on, and I tell it. I am not weak. You will not conquer me this time. You will not make me think this is what I am, or who I am, or even who I want to be. I am happy with what I have and the temptation, is just that.. it's full of regret, anxiety, depression, all the things I need no more of. So here I say it.. TEMPTATION BE GONE!! I am the one who is in control, and it is I who will make the decision to overcome. I am done with you. I'm happy with what I have, and the grass is NEVER greener...

The Rooster

Since we just celebrated the Chinese New Year, Ashley had been learning about it at school. She brought home a cheat sheet of the Chinese Animal Zodiac. She spent the evening studying it, and figuring out which animal each of us are.

She is a snake. I a Rooster, Lauryn is a Monkey, Logan a pig and Josh is a snake also. That was last week.

Tonight we were sitting down at dinner, and the Chinese Zodiac came up again. Ashley needed a refresher on what my Zodiac was. I told her I was a Rooster, and Josh piped up with "that's because your cocky." The conversation went a little something like this..

Josh: "That's right, your mom should be a Rooster, cause she's cocky".
Ashley: "What does cocky mean?"
Josh: "It means your big, and tough, and mean, and you know it."
Ashley: "Well, you should be a Rooster then."..




ahh, out of the mouths of babes.

The Toof Fairy.

It's a little late to sing "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth".. but she's doing it anyway. Her first one on top became loose around Thanksgiving. She pulled and she tugged, and she wiggled with all her might. So much so, she even got in trouble for it at school. She tried convincing everyone she knew to pull it for her, to no avail, for weeks. Almost a month. She wanted to sing that song. It didn't work.  Two weeks ago, right after New Years, she spent the night at Grandma's, and since it was finally hanging by a thread, grandma grabbed some thread and pulled that puppy out.  The tooth fairy left her $5. I felt jipped. The tooth fairy at my house, left me 50 cents when I was a kid. I called Grandma's tooth fairy out on that one. She responded with "cost of living went up". The next day the left one was loose. Ashley was yet on another mission. She was determined to get that one out too, because she wanted more money. If you've ever met my kid, or ever read any of my blogs about her, she is obsessed with money. If she has a hobby, it's collecting money. In jars, in piggy banks, in the actual bank, in her purse, in her drawers. If she finds it in the dryer, it's hers and she stashes it. So getting that $5, gave her an itch that needed to be scratched. She needed that other tooth out for the money. Yesterday morning, it was really loose. I went to work, Josh stayed home with the kids yesterday using up another day of bereavement leave. I called home to check to make sure Ashley made it home ok, and he informed me that she came home with the tooth box. It's this little box the kids get when their teeth fall out at school. (whoever invented that must be a millionaire). When he informed me, I shuttered... CRAP. This tooth fairy has no money! Tomorrow is payday! Why couldn't she wait one more day!! But that's the story of my life. Always a day late, or a dollar short. 

Last night, I was getting the kids ready for bed after their bath. Ashley was being impatient and she wanted her tooth. She was afraid I was going to forget. (secretly, I was hoping she was, so I could hold off another night, she's a smart one!). I was trying to get Logan in to bed, so Josh grabbed the tooth box and helped her put it under her pillow. Sometime during the night, she came in to our bed. She wanted to cuddle with me. I wanted her to go back to bed, but I was too tired to fight it. She's been craving some mommy time, since the other two have been sick they've been getting more attention. So I let her stay, and we both drifted off in to an uncomfortable dreamland. 

She got up this morning, got ready for school, and it seemed like she had completely forgotten about her tooth. Until all of a sudden she darted for her bedroom, and came back with her big toothless grin. She said "She left me $5...ahh man, I was hoping for $15!" I told her she had some wishful thinking. Apparently another little girl in her class lost her two front teeth at the same time over Christmas Break and got $15. Are you freaking kidding me? I can't keep up with this local tooth fairy!  I thought getting $5 was more than enough. The Tooth Fairy who visited our house last night, left $5 more, which is more than I was planning to scrounge up to leave under the pillow! 

So we informed her that the tooth fairy leaves her as much as she thinks the teeth are worth to her, and that she needs to remember to brush as much as she's supposed too, so the Fairy will leave her more money for the tooth. She replied with "Ahh man!! I forgot to brush it before I put it under my pillow". I had to remind her that she needed to brush them BEFORE they fell out, not after, and she came back with "Well Josh takes his teeth out to brush them!".. 

How do you respond to that!? 

Fare Thee Well

Baby No More..

I knew it. I JUST knew it. I knew, the second I cut his hair off, and yes, those precious little curls, that my baby would be gone..


It's strange. His haircut has made him a completely different kid. Like Lauryn with her hearing, she's not the same quiet, loving kid. No she's more like an extremely opinionated, outspoken little girl now. Anyway, this blog is about Logan, not Lauryn.

His hair chopping session was great. I was getting tired of chasing him around the house trying to brush it to make him appear somewhat of a well taken care of child. Not like the ragamuffin he is.. =) I was getting tired of the snot in his bangs and then crusting to his head. I didn't want to get rid of the curls, but the last time we tried that, he ended up with a mullet.


A mullet that was somewhat unnoticeable to most, but to others, he somewhat resembled Joe Dirt in his younger years.





So I did it. Saturday, I took him in and said, I want it all chopped off. She showed me this super cute picture of a style that I really liked, where it was still kind of long on top, but short in the back, and it could be styled. Needless to say, that didn't happen. Logan was deathly afraid of the short little Asian woman coming at him with scissors in hand. He clung to me for dear life, and screamed like a banshee. A tone he's seemed to perfect lately.






See he wasn't happy.


He had to sit on my lap, and she just started chopping. I thought she knew what she was doing at first, but I think she was more worried about getting it over with than actually getting the style I wanted. Oh well. It's just hair right?
After a bit, he calmed down, and let her cut the rest of it.
But look at those curls, and how long it was in the back. WHAT WAS I THINKING??






And here he is all done..

My little man, now runs around the house screaming when he wants things, throwing fits, and has MUCH more attitude than he did before. I'm sure alot of it has to do with age, since he just hit the 18 month mark on Christmas. He's officially a waddler.. not an infant, and not quite toddler yet.. but man..
















Watch out world, he is baby no more..

Manners anyone?

I've never wanted to punch so many people in the face all at one time as I did last night. We went to Zoolights, and I imagine part of the chaos is because of the crazy weather we'd been having and so many people missed out attending during the actual season, and everyone thought it was the last night. Little do most people know that it's open until next weekend.. (just a little FYI). Anyway, it was the only night that all 3 of us, my mom, my sister and I, would be able to make it at the same time. So we went and took just the girls.

It was insane! People are so rude. Never mind you're trying to take a picture, I'm just going to walk right in front of you, and STOP. Or forget you have 2 little ones with you, I'm going to PUSH you out of the way and trample on your kids at the same time.

What happened to the days when vacationers, or sightseers, were actually encouraged to take a picture? Remember when people would OFFER to take a picture of your whole family for you, so the odd man out taking the picture wasn't always missing? I kid you not, last night, people were pushing people to get out of the way to get a picture in the infamous Zoolights Circle.



We didn't push anybody. We patiently waited our turn..and look, MOM IS MISSING!! Nobody offered to take our picture...

Then there were the kids that nobody paid attention too. Like the 12-13 year olds running around practically knocking my kid down on every turn. There was no real chance to stop and actually ENJOY looking at the lights with the kids, because the "big kids" were so busy rushing through and crowding everyone out of the way. It was so crowded.. I got whacked in the vajayjay (as Oprah would say) with a glow in the dark sword that made attack noises by some kid who was frantically swinging it this way and that. And all his dad said was "I TOLD YOU TO WATCH WHERE YOU WERE SWINGING THAT THING".. My mom made the comment, "he probably was watching where he was swinging it".. lol.

I have a LOT of patience. Sometimes too much. My sister on the other hand has NONE. She made a comment to my mom and I about the lady who practically stopped in the middle of our picture pose of the girls, and the lady turned around and stared at her. I thought we might have had WWF right there at the zoo. I was waiting for it, really, I was.

Seriously, I just don't know what happened to courtesy, manners, and being polite in public. No wonder the kids these days have none.. Their parents don't either!!!
We made it through the night though, no black eyes, bruises or missing teeth, (besides Ashley's of course).. so I guess it was alright. I think next year, we'll go on a Wednesday...