How I Spent My Day

The majority of my day was spent:

• Doing laundry.
• Watering the lawn and garden in the vain attempt to keep them alive since it hasn't rained here in 37 years (give or take).
• Doing more laundry.
• Reading the book "Everyone Poops" to Josh and Cole.  Over and over.
• Singing REM's "Everybody Hurts" over and over again, only with the words "everybody pooooops... sometimes...". (See previous activity.)  (Now it's in your head, too.  You're welcome.)
• Rescuing Tess from the rooms she has locked herself in by closing the door.  As per usual (ALL of my children have done this), she placed herself right in front of the door.  So as she is sobbing because she is all alone, I have to carefully shove her out of the way as I open the door, making her even more upset.
• Unlocking doors because Cole has decided it's fun to lock doors.  It's like living "The Others".  (ALL of my kids go through this phase, too.)
• Cleaning.  Because there's always some part of the house that needs cleaning.
• Not editing papers.  Because it's between terms and there's not much going on right now.  This is good, because then I can get a lot more housework done.  But it's also bad because I would much rather be editing a paper than cleaning the kitchen.  Le sigh.
• Yelling at my laptop because it's getting old and is misbehaving by not letting the keyboard and/or mousepad not work very well at very inconvenient times.  
• Wondering why I yell at inanimate objects like my laptop.
• Cooking.  I spent a ridiculous amount of my day feeding other people.  Okay, it might actually be that much time, but it sure feels like it.

Stubborn Josh

Josh has been stubborn since the day he was born.

He's gotten a bit better about it as he's gotten older.  When he was little he would really freak out and be stubborn about every little thing, especially if he wasn't getting his way.  (For example...)

Yesterday was the first day of swimming lessons.  Spencer and Josh both took lessons at the local high school last year and they were very much looking forward to doing it again.  We got to the pool, had them shower, and then met their teachers.

This is the point where Joshie decided to pull a RAS.  (Random Act of Stubbornness.)  (Yes, I came up with that all by myself.  Why do you ask?)  He took one look at that pool, one look at his teacher, one look at me, and flatly refused to do anything.

He knew I couldn't do much about it because Cole was being AWFUL and I had to hold on to his arm with a death grip so he wouldn't go jumping into the pool, all while holding a squirmy-wormy and rather heavy Tess in the other arm.  The boy knows weakness when he sees it.  He knew his teacher wouldn't be too rough with him about it because they just met. (To her credit and Josh's surprise, though, she offered to pick him up while he was kicking and screaming.) 

I asked him what was wrong.  Was he scared?  Was he sad?  Why wouldn't he go into the pool?  He answered "no" to everything and gave me a look that said all I needed to know: he knew no one could force him into that pool and he was going to take full advantage of this opportunity to flex his stubborn muscles. 

He sat by the pool, watching his class, for the entire 30 minutes, a gloating smile on his face whenever our eyes met.

What Josh didn't know was that I used those 30 minutes to come up with a plan that would for sure get him into that pool by the very next day.

This ain't my first rodeo, kid.

Josh is the most bribe-able child in the world.  I could get him to pretty much do anything in the world if I offered him a candy bar.  But there are situations where I don't feel like he should be bribed/rewarded, such as doing chores around the house or behaving at church.  I expect him to do these things, no strings attached.  Swimming lessons is one of those situations - I expect him to participate!  (Plus, if I bribed him for one day I'd have to bribe him for the full two weeks.)  So I knew that my plan had to involve negative consequences for not getting into the pool - and lots of them.  But it had to be the perfect combination in order to be effective.

By the time swimming lessons was over and everyone was in the car, I knew exactly what to say.

Me: Josh, I've very disappointed that you didn't participate in swimming lessons today.  You loved them so much last year - what happened?

Josh: *scowl*

Me: Well, I know that I can't force you into that pool.  I won't ever force you to get in and have swimming lessons.

Josh: *smirk of triumph*

Me: But even if you decide not to do swimming lessons you will be in your swimming suit, showered, and sitting on the side of the pool, watching your class, every single day.

Josh: *slightly smaller smirk of triumph*

Me: Plus, there are several consequences to not participating in swimming lessons.  First, if you don't do swimming lessons, you will owe me the $35 I paid for the lessons.  That will come out of your allowance account.  Right now you only have around $17, which means you will owe me money.  For a long time.  That also means you won't have any money to spend on our big trip to Utah this summer.  Spencer will have money to buy things, but you won't because you will still owe me money.

Josh: *slight look of alarm*

Me: Second, each day you don't go in the pool, you will not be allowed to play Wii or computer.  This also means not watching Spencer or Cole or Daddy play. And since you didn't go into the pool today, that means no Wii or computer this afternoon.

Josh: *horrified look of disbelief*

Me: Finally, if you choose not to do swimming lessons, then you will not be allowed to play in the big kid pool at our neighborhood pool.  You will have to stay in the baby pool with Cole and Tess and me.  That's because if you're not willing to learn how to swim, I can't trust you to be in the big kid pool.  Your friend Kent is coming swimming with us tomorrow, so you think about whether or not you want to do swimming lessons.

Josh: *howls of protest and indignation!!!!*

The child was the first in his class to get into the pool today.

Parenting win?  I think so.

*satisfied mothering smirk*

Apparently Tess Doesn't Like Frog Pools

Okay, maybe the water was a bit cold.  And the boys scared her with the sprinkler.  And we all just kinda laughed at her once I got her out of the water and put her next to the pool.

Tess got back at me by pooping in the tub a bit later.  And then pulling out the entire contents of her linen drawer while I cleaned the tub.

I disciplined her by reading her only one story at bedtime (as opposed to 2) and giving her only 5 good night kisses (instead of 12).  It's all about the tough love, people.

Tough love and terrifying frog pools.

Bathtimes with Daddy...

... are always entertaining.

Coconut Oil

A few weeks ago I won a big ol' jar of virgin coconut oil from Jen's Favorite Cookies.  Sahweet!  (BTW, check out Jen's site.  It's chock-full of yummy goodness.)

Unfortunately, the oil arrived right in the middle of all our potty training drama, and then Dane came to visit, and then life got in the way, so I didn't get to open it up until yesterday when I decided it was time to make some granola. 

Here's the coconut oil.  I told you it was a big ol' jar!  Having never used coconut oil before, I can't say whether or not Tropical Traditions is better than their competitors.  That said, this was some pretty heavenly stuff, so if you're in the market you won't go wrong with this brand!

This is what it looks like in the jar.  Coconut oil is kind of solid at room temperature.  It has a light coconut aroma (imagine that!) and a light coconut taste (will wonders never cease?).  Yes, I did taste the oil by itself.  I'm not saying I'd eat it by the spoonful, but it was pretty tasty.  Not sweet - just coconutty.  (Yes, that's a word.)  ((No, no it's not.))

I've never really used a tried and true recipe for granola; I always just kinda wing it and use whatever is in my kitchen.  I found a recipe online that specifically used coconut oil just to compare measurements, but all of them seemed to use a ton of the stuff.  Even though coconut oil is supposed to be healthier for you than other oils, I didn't want greasy granola.  So if you decide to make some, I used around 3-4 TBL of coconut oil per batch.

Had I remembered it, I would have used Jen's granola recipe.  But I didn't. Dang.

I tasted the granola before it went into the oven (of course), and I swear I could taste the coconut oil.  It wasn't strong or overpowering, but it was certainly present.

While it baked, Tess decided to empty the contents of one kitchen drawer and stuff them all into the drawer under the oven.  Good job, Tess.

I swear, for a child who doesn't crawl, she sure gets around.  And always on the sly.  I never actually see her scooting and rolling, but I leave her in one spot, turn my back for 10 seconds, and then she's across the room. I'm pretty sure she has a portal gun or something. (Hmm... maybe I need to make her a onesie that says "Now you're thinking with portals!")

While the granola baked there was a lovely coconutty aroma in the kitchen.  Mmmm... coconutty.

And here's the finished product.  Surprisingly, it doesn't really taste like coconut.  Well, the coconut pieces do, obviously, but the rest of it doesn't.  I was kind of surprised and bummed about this, because coconut-flavored granola could only be a good thing.

No matter, I still lurve me some granola.  I've even convinced the kiddos to eat it by telling them it's just smooshed granola bars. 

This did not end my coconut oil adventures for the day.  I had heard that coconut was really good for dry and damaged hair, so I heated up a couple of tablespoons, rubbed it all over my hair, put on my oh-so-attractive shower cap, and let it sit for an hour before shampooing it out.  (Some sites said that you should wear the oil in your hair overnight and not bother ever washing it out.  These sites are crazy.)  My hair is definitely softer today, and even a bit better behaved.  (I still desperately need a haircut, though.  Bah!  I hate growing out my hair!)  I could definitely see myself using the oil on my hair a few times a month.  As long as I have some left over for granola.

Summer Shirts

We like to start off each summer with some bleach art t-shirts.  These are the designs the boys chose this year:

Spencer chose Portal 2.  Because he loves Portal 2. (Duh.)

Joshie chose Yoshi.  Because he loves Yoshi.

Cole chose Yoshi, probably because Josh chose Yoshi.  Joshie did not like this, so I made Cole's Yoshi face the other way, thus making it very different.  Problem solved.

I thought for sure they'd go for all the Lego Star Wars or Super Mario Brothers designs I made, but no dice.  Apparently I don't know my target market as well as I thought.  (Then again, I made these designs as well, so I'm not too far off.)

I learned this time that there is a difference between bleach pens.  The regular ones don't really work - you have to use the ones that say something like "bleach gel for whites".  Not sure why, but the one for whites works waaaay better.  Just a little bleach art tip there for ya.

Oh, and Tess?  She didn't get one.  Mainly because she has lots of clothes and didn't really need yet another onesie.  Plus, she didn't care.

Brace Face

A friend of mine recently commented on the fact that Spencer doesn't get much face time on my blog anymore.  Was this on purpose because he's getting older?

Um.  No.

I had actually been thinking about this lately.  It's not that I don't want Spencer on my blog, it's just that 8 year old boys just aren't as dang cute as 1 year old girls or as interesting as cantankerous 3 year old terrors.  Spencer's been mobile, eating solid food, and house broken for years now, so none of that is big news.  And during the school year he's in school for the majority of the day, so he misses out on a lot of prime photo ops and blogging fodder.

It's not that Spencer isn't interesting - he's quite the character!  He's still as friendly and talkative as ever.  His humor is developing, and he's almost figured out the nuances of sarcasm.  (Side note: he had a Big Bang Theory Sheldon Bazinga sarcasm moment the other night that was awesome.  As in, he had to ask if I was being sarcastic.  Haha.) ((I was, surprise surprise.)) (((BAZINGA!!!)))

Spencer is generally a really big helper around the house.  If I ask him to do something, he'll do it.  (Unlike Josh, who will whine and cry and basically have to be threatened.)  Spencer is really into computer games, just like his father.  He thinks it's funny that I don't know all the stuff that he knows about computer games.  He thinks it's awesome that I have a Steam account (username: The Wooden Spork), but doesn't understand why I don't play on it more often. 

He's really into Pokemon cards, and as a reward for his homework chart I finally let him buy a pack of 50 - heaven for a boy his age, apparently.  He's also really generous, because he gave quite a few of those cards to Josh so they could both have some.  They sit in the back seat of the minivan and compare and contrast the qualities of each card. 

My throat just got a little tight and my eyes welled up thinking about that.  Spencer is such a good, nice boy.

Not that he doesn't have his moments.  Oh boy, does he have his moments.  People always warn me about how Tess will be when she's a teenager.  No worries there because I'm getting plenty of practice now - prea-dolescent boys can be HUGE DRAMA KINGS!  There's the sobbing and whining and the "that's not fair" and the stomping of feet and the gnashing of teeth.  And I know I'm not alone in this because I've talked to other moms of 8 year old boys and they are all quite similar in this respect. 

But back to his more positive qualities.

Spencer's gotten his Bobcat in Cub Scouts and is now working on his Wolf.  He loves going to Cub Scouts, but I think it's the socializing he enjoys more than the actual Scouting.  He takes after his momma that way.  He also takes after his momma in that he is a born reader.  That child loves to read.  Every night he reads at least one page of his scriptures and then at least 30 minutes more of whatever book he is working on at the moment.  (And often longer - I've had to tell him to go to bed several times since summer has started!)

Spencer truly loves his friends and prays for them every night.

Spencer is a good big brother.  He LOVES Tess.  Actually, he LOVES all babies.  I could totally see him being an excellent pediatrician when he grows up.  (Assuming I can get him away from the computer games...)  No one can make Tess smile like Spencer can.  It's funny/sad because he really wants to pick her up, but she's just too heavy for him.  Oh - did I mention that Spencer is still stick thin?  The poor child has zero body fat, making swimming a difficult and cold experience to say the least.  (Not that that stops him - he loves to play in the water!)  He takes after his daddy in that respect.

And speaking of genetics, which we were in a kind of round about way, Spencer unfortunately inherited my awful genes when it comes to teeth.  The poor child is 8 years old and has already had his palate widened - twice - and is now moving on to braces.  This is not entirely just for cosmetic purposes; if we don't do all that we're doing to his mouth now, then down the road he would have to have a ton of teeth extracted to make room for them all.  And I figure that the more teeth you can keep in your head, the better off you'll be in life.  So orthodontics for Spencer!

As you can see in the photos, Spencer is showing off his new braces.  They're only on the top 4 teeth, and they're there to move a few things around and to make sure there's enough space for the teeth coming in.  He was quite pleased that he got to have red rubber bands, but the magic wore off a few hours later once his teeth started to feel sore.  I can totally empathize with him, as I went through all of this and more.

Here's another picture of Spencer's new brace face.  It's pretty much the same as the one above, only this one has a creepy Joshie stalking in it.

I also needed to get a photo of these two in their outfits.  Why is it so difficult to teach boys about what matches and what does not?  And why do they not care?  Well, Spencer's close, I mean the colors go together.  But stripes and plaid?  Um, no. I seriously don't think that Josh even really looks at what he's grabbing out of the closet.  Just whatever is closest suits him just fine! 

Oh well, it's summer.  And anyone who judges me for how my children are dressed probably do not have children of their own and haven't fought this sort of battle yet.

So, there's your update on Spencer.  Hopefully this little wake up call will help me keep him more in the loop in the future!