Safe In My Arms

My Noah

I woke up to "THEY CAN'T FIND NOAH AT CHURCH!" John was distraught. My mom must have just called. I searched for my shoes and starting praying aloud. "Jesus, you know where he is. Please protect my Noah."
I came downstairs when the phone rang again and John was sobbing, saying "They found him." Where? "He was hiding." Is he okay? "Yes." I sat down. John stayed on the floor, relieved and overwhelmed.

We are so thankful that our son is safe. I'm thankful for friends and family that care and searched.

Christmas Prep and Suspense

I took Noah to pick out and purchase gifts for his brothers at the school's Christmas shop. They even wrap the gifts there and make tags so the gifts can be a surprise for parents too. While we were having Noah's gift choices wrapped, we talked about the presents being a surprise for Christmas. I thought it all went well.

Then we went downstairs to wait for Josiah and Nathan's dismissal. When Nathan joined us Noah proclaimed, "I bought you a gift, Nathan!" Of course, Nathan asked, "What is it?" I told him, "He isn't going to tell you." at the exact moment Noah blurted, "BUBBLES!"

Oh well.

Surprise. You still have to wait 'til Christmas, Kid.

The 1,2,3's of Potty Training

Here is the simplest advice I have for training your child to use the toilet.

First: Learn to count higher, much higher. In my experience, this ain't no 1,2,3.

Second: Teach your child to change their own diaper. Yeah, they don't like it either.

Third: Encourage your child to always seek out your spouse for the needed diaper/pull up change. If this doesn't help enlist your spouse's potty training assistance at least it will spare you some diaper changes.

Fourthly: Don't give up. It will happen eventually.

Fifthly: Try bribery. Chocolate and stickers can work wonders.

Sixthly: If your child has successes after coming home from someone's house, send them back there often.

Seventhly: Don't give up. I know that was number 4 but sometimes you need a reminder.

And, finally, when your child does get it (which they will... eventually) and he says, "I'm going to go poopy on the potty. Will you be so glad?" respond emphatically, "I WILL be SO glad!"

Congratulations, Noah, on your achievement!

It's a Foot Thing

Admission:
I have a dislike of untying and putting laced sneakers on my kids. If they can do it themselves, fine. If not, please put on an easier shoe. Thank you.

Story:
Once upon a time this morning Noah wanted to put on shoes. For some reason he went outside without anything on his feet.

I am secretly delighted.

When I went outside to check on all the gentlemen Noah asked me if I would find some socks for him. Pointing at his feet, I replied, "Don't you like having bare feet? See? Just like me."

His response?

"I don't have bear feet!! I don't want bear feet! YOU have bear feet! You do!"

I think I've just been insulted. But it sure was funny.

My Thumb is Kind of Dirt Colored Right Now

I can't say I'm good at gardening. Well, I could.... but I'd be lying.

It seems like I should be a natural "green thumb" since I have generations of farmers in my family tree but, obviously, it's a learned skill instead of an inherited one.

Nevertheless each spring I attempt to make a pretty spot in front of my house. If I don't (and I haven't in times past) I look at those "flower beds" in dismay all summer.

Today was that day. The day of gathering the tools. The day of wishing I knew where my garden gloves are hiding. The day of being cheered on by Noah, "Yes! Let's do it! Let's do this!" The day Nathan looked forward to me working in the garden so he could play my new video game. The day of being motivated by Josiah who had already started doing his own unapproved digging. (He had good intentions and he loves dirt.) Today: we tackled the garden.

And you know what? I like the finished product. I may not be able to tell you all the names of the plants in there but I think I could pull off half of them.

This. This is my garden.

Oh, okay. This is OUR garden. Thanks, Gentlemen, for all your help and/or enthusiasm.

Hearing Problems

"Mommy..."
"Yes, Noah?"
"Mommy!..... can you hear me?"
"Yes, Noah." (thinks "You're the one with the ear muffs.")

Moral of the story: Just because you can't hear doesn't mean someone else can't.

He Don't Need No Stinkin' Medicine

Noah's surgery went great on Wednesday. In fact, the nurses kept exclaiming how great of a patient he was. They gushed about him so much that I just had to ask what the kids usually do. "Oh", they said, "they wake up angry and want their mom and dad, thrash around, try to pull out their IV's..." *cringe*

Psh. And to think I had been embarrassed that he was doing his little squeak thing (which he does when he's a little nervous) instead of answering the nurses when they talked to him. Even that didn't last since he did warm up and start talking before the surgery.

What can I say? It seems my kids are perfect little patients! May they never have to be so again. A patient that is. They can keep on being perfect please. And maybe spread the perfection to other areas that need a bit of help? *sigh*

Noah was on his feet so much yesterday that I was practically begging him to sit on the couch and put his feet up for a bit so I didn't have to hurt for him. (Yes, I was having sympathy pains for him.) Apparently three seconds flat is all the time necessary for his feet to rest and recharge.

What can I say? Noah is a tough little guy.

Can't See the Fog For The Clouds

Our latest snowfall is in meltdown mode this morning. The temperature has reached 40 degrees and rain is falling. A lot of rain. A lot of melting. And fog. (Some may say it's a gloomy day but not I. To me it is a sign of spring getting closer.)


During the early drive to Nathan's Pre-K, I pointed out the (I thought obvious) fog to Nathan and Noah. "Wow. Look at all the fog."


Noah squeaks, "Where?"


"There. All around. The clouds are sitting down real low."


"I don't see it!", chirps Noah.


"Yes, you do! It's all around." I try to clarify: "It looks kind of like smoke."


Nathan adds his two cents. "I think it IS smoke."


"No, it's not smoke; it's just the clouds have come down low."


After a moment of consideration Nathan shares his theory: "I think they are maybe making this a spooky road."

Those dang road crews! Always up to something.


"It's not spooky. It's just clouds."


As Noah continues to search for the fog, Nathan does his brotherly duty and teaches him all about how "froggy" the low clouds made the road.


"Fog. It's foggy, not froggy." (At least I didn't see any frogs.)


Who knew a seemingly quick observation would brighten my day with their fun curiosity and imaginations?

Good Enough to Wear Underwear!

'Tis the season.

No, not the holiday season. *shakes head sadly* The bug, germ, sickness, fever, cough-your-head-off season.

We don't make a practice of participating in these "festivities" but this week the boys went all out.

It all began (or reared its ugly head) Thursday afternoon when I naively rejoiced to hear the words, "Mommy, I want to take a nap." out of not one but two of my fine young gentlemen. Seemingly, out of nowhere, there were fevers and coughs and lethargy and snotty noses. 102.8 degrees is not something you want to feel on your little one's forehead.

(Even our dog got caught up in the spirit of things and had a double ear infection.)

Nathan felt so poorly that I suggested he wear a pull-up. He even felt so poorly that he agreed to that idea. Who wants to have to make that trip to the bathroom when you don't even want to make any unnecessary move?

And so continued the next day.

But. This morning. Upon getting up to check on the boys. Nathan is awake AND up. He greets me with a sing-songy "Mommy! I'm wearing underwear because I'm going to go potty on the toilet!"

O Happy Day!

The fevers are gone.

'Tis time for a new season. Of health. And underwear.

Lots of Bodies

Overheard on the way to Nathan's Pre-K.

Nathan: "See that?" *points to the cemetery as we drive by* "There are BODIES in there."

Noah: *surprised gasp* (This in itself had me laughing inwardly.) Then a comforting "That's okaaay."

Nathan: "It's NOT okay! People DIED! From our TOWN!!"

I wish I had real life DVR so I could rewind and see the expressions on their faces as they had this passionate discussion. Is there anything cuter than a 4 year old and a (nearly) 3 year old having a serious discussion? Probably not.

Wishful

Rainy Days

Treasured Moments

Noah gets into his favorite and well worn book.

Go Dog Go!

Big Plans

He didn't walk a mile... but he did try a few steps. Being big is a lot of work.

Ponytails Are Safer!

Some young, single, fashionable women may wonder why it is that mothers with young children tend to wear their hair in ponytails. Well, I'll tell you...

Once upon a time (exactly 48 hours ago) in a place very close to here (approximately 8 to 10 feet from where I now sit), I attempted to take a quick shower. Now I only had two young ones in the house and I let them play in the fenced-in backyard thinking that perhaps there would be less screams of bloody murder if they had more room in which to entertain themselves. Well, I was right on that account.

As I am enjoying the warm water washing away the tiredness and dirt and stickiness and, well, you get it, I get so far as to finish shampooing when Nathan knocks on the door. (No surprise there.) "What?", I ask. Nathan's voice comes through the door, "Noah got out the gate!" "WHAT?!", I repeat. "GET HIM! GET HIM!" Yes, I did sic my son on his brother. I hurriedly rinse off and grab a towel hoping to God that I don't have to run out front in this state or that the neighbors are gone or inside or something, anything other than outside to witness this spectacle that is unfolding.

I rush to the side door and, thankfully, am able to stop short. Noah is in my car. No, he's not allowed to play in my car but he's not in the street and the neighbors can't see us! I tell Nathan to shut the car door. Yes, I did. I had Noah shut inside the car because he doesn't know how to open the doors from the inside yet. Now with Noah under wraps, I commanded Nathan to stand by the door and keep an eye on his brother.

With my children once again contained, I could rush through getting dressed before promptly retrieving Noah from the car, yelling something about never leaving the backyard without permission until enough loud words had been spoken to satisfy my angst.

Then I took a dog leash and tied that gate shut.

The end.

P.S. My hair just had to go without conditioner until the next available shower. No hair was damaged during this story.

I Love Post It Notes

Do you have any random thoughts today? You can play along on your blog by clicking on Supah's Post It Note below OR leave a comment here OR, even better, play along AND leave a comment!

The Effects of Spring

Spring is here!

And with Spring came Spring Fever. Noah has a severe case of it. His case of Spring Fever is so bad that no weather conditions dampen his pull to the Great Outdoors. No amount of "Wait" "After lunch" "In a minute." "Not today." or other related terms are acceptable. His mantra is Must. Go. Out!

It is so bad that I've had to bolt the doors. No, not the dead bolt (he knows how to undo those), I have to do the latches that are up so high he can't reach them with a chair. Otherwise, if I do such things as shower, vacuum, go upstairs, or turn around for a moment, he's gone!

Welcome, Spring. I do hope you are bringing your warmer weather with you too. For Noah's sake. And, well, all of us. Hopefully before I find a tower built to the heights of the door latch? Please?

P.S. The flower pictured above is in the Dominican Republic. I wish my yard were so green.

Freedom is Work

Noah recently moved into his "big boy" bed. He is thrilled about it. However, he is adjusting to the freedom this bed offers. He quickly realized he can get up and investigate the rest of the bedroom after the door closes for the night.

We'll hear movement above us as John and I are downstairs. Sometimes Josiah or Nathan will come downstairs to file their latest grievance. "Noah is opening and closing the closet door." "Noah is turning the nightlight on and off." "Noah keeps talking."

Then one of us, usually me it seems, will go upstairs and "remind" Noah that it is bedtime and he must lay still, be quiet, and go to sleep. He will reply, "Okay."

So far it hasn't been necessary... but the crib is still up and I'm not afraid to use it.

So Noah is learning that you must be responsible with freedom or you can lose it.

Don't Stop Now!

Some days you just have to wake up and get a head start on the day.

That's today for me. I'm hoping to get a lot accomplished so that I can "cling to the clean" again. Alas, my previous clean abandoned me.

I don't get a head start the same way that Noah has been -throwing everything out of his crib except himself while waiting to get out of bed- but I have managed to attack the dirt and clutter this morning. The biggest task is yet before me: the boys' bedroom. If you don't hear from me by tomorrow... please send help.

I've Been Robbed

It seems that regular people are learning more and more about forensic science. Even the very young ones seem to know how to cover their tracks.

Hey, Noah. You need to wear TWO gloves in order not to leave fingerprints. Also, don't let the camera catch ya in the act of stealing your mom's Dr Pepper! Better yet. Hands off!

Homecoming AND Homework

I received an email from John while I was gone telling me this:

It is starting to hit Josiah and Nathan that you are not here, Nathan has cried a few times and Josiah has come close but is trying to be the big brother I guess, Noah is still content knowing that you are still irking.

Aw. I didn't want my boys to have a hard time. It surprised me that my energetic, ornery-leaning Nathan was having the worst time of it. I thought my baby, Noah, may have a rough week since he doesn't like to see me leave for even a short trip to the store but his thought that "Mama irk" (interpretation: Mommy is at work.) satisfied him the entire time. Josiah? I wasn't sure how he would handle it but I think he did great.

My journey home began early in the morning, one week ago. Once the trip home was underway, I was looking forward to seeing and hugging all of my gentlemen. We called from Pittsburgh and asked them to meet us at Grandma & Grandpa's house. Upon our arrival, there were squeals and smiles and BIG hugs. Nathan kept telling Grandpa and I, "I am REALLY happy to see you!" Josiah jumped into my arms to hug me. Noah grinned from ear to ear. I couldn't have asked for a better homecoming.

Can you tell that they missed me? Certainly not from this picture.

~PART 2~

John started working the next morning so I quickly had to get back into the swing of things at home. I was told that Josiah had to do a book report for school, his very first book report, and that John saved that for me to do with him. We had three evenings to do it and John and Josiah had already read the book. The first evening, we didn't have the construction paper required but we read the book again. I bought some construction paper and I started helping Josiah follow the instructions the second night. It was not successful but now he knew what he wasn't supposed to do.

It's hard to get Josiah's picture sometimes. I had him show me his dollars that Grandma has given him for Valentine's Day. Sneaky, eh?

I'm not sure that Josiah will ever want to do another book report with me again. His report was to have six pages attached and folded accordion style. I kept pestering him with directions.

Follow the instructions. You have to focus on what you're doing. Use pencil first then go over it with markers. Write neatly. Draw the picture right here. Keep your letters the same size. You better write that word again. What is the setting? Please don't drink over your book report. Do you remember the main characters? What pictures do you want to draw that will tell the story? You don't have to draw the same pictures that are in the book. Be careful with the paper. Don't wrinkle it.

And so on... until is was finished. *whew*

Yes, I do have perfectionist tendencies. "Hi. My name is Sarah and I'm a perfectionist. I have been relaxed about the state of homework for 3 days now. Oh wait. I forgot something. 0 days now."

I think his first-grade book report turned out well. His pictures? They may need some explanation. But I think this format was a great way to get him thinking about the aspects of his book and how to tell about the story.