Sledding Video

Brains and Brawn

Bei really enjoys swimming these days with his "gurggles"!

As I have blogged before, I do day care on Wednesdays for our little neighbor girl. Two events this afternoon struck a cord with me in regards to how children differ in their misbehavior and how smart they are to use their strengths. Here is what happened: The minute Vanna walked in Bei was a pistol. We usually have 30 minutes of music time where we dance to the Hokey Pokey and the Chicken Dance, etc...well he was a rascal and didn't want to dance and that meant he didn't want me to dance. Once he realized that wasn't going to stop me dancing, then he wanted me to hold him while I danced...ugh...kid!!!! So after lunch, Bei had been in a timeout once already and Vanna was headed for one soon, if she kept pushing her behavior. Basically, I am exasperated already...and it has only been an hour. We went down stairs and I decided that maybe if I did something visual for them to see, it would help them keep their behavior in check and they would try to get along with one another. So I told them that if they were good for 1 hour, then each of them would get a popsicle. I told them "I'm writing your name on the chalk board, so at the end of the hour if your name is still up here, then, I'll know that you get a popsicle." "Okay?" I get a deer in the headlight look from both of them and they go back to playing very nicely with one another. I get busy folding clothes and Bei gets up, grabs a paper towel, erases Savanah's name, and then continues to play with Vanna. Luckily, Savanah doesn't say anything to this, so I just go and write her name again. Bei gets up to go to the board and says "Vanna doesn't get a popsicle because her name is not on the board" and proceeds to wipe it out again. Bei gets a warning, he does it again, and he will have his name erased and no popsicle...little smarty pants... They are playing nicely again with a little peoples slide and each of them have a foam ball. They are taking turns letting it slide down the slide. Vanna's ball goes flying across the room. She quietly gets up and begins to walk towards her ball and as she is walking past Bei, she graps the collar of his shirt and drags him along with her so that he doesn't get a turn before she returns with her ball. It was actually quite comical because it was so unexpected and poor Bei didn't have a chance because he was being dragged backwards across the playroom floor.

Apparently, Bei's way in dealing with Savanah is cerebral, trying to outsmart me, so she won't get a treat. While Vanna is totally physical because I promise you, she will someday win the Iron Man contest...she is the most incredibly strong 3 year old I have ever met! I have to watch myself if I'm down on the floor because she likes to jump on my back and grab me around the throat with her arm...I'm usually gasping to Bei to "dial 911". Anyway, Bei kind of won in the end, he got what he wanted,because Savanah's name was taken off the board and she didn't get a popsicle. As most of you know, I am a softy and I gave her another chance to behave for the following hour and she did, so she eventually got her popsicle.

All I have to say is I have two smart kids on my hands that know how to use their strengths to their advantage.

Becky Home Ecky???

Spending some quality time with Grandma Dene and Katherine

It is Christmas Cookie making time again with Kathy!

I have to admit that I'm still learning this "domestication thing". Last night at 11:00 p.m. I invited my friend Kathy via email to come over and bake Christmas cookies with us. Well, I woke up late and I had a message on my phone from Kathy telling me she would love to come over and bake cookies...uh oh...I usually pick up at night after Bei goes to bed and wash my dishes, but being the bad homemaker that I am, I caught up on emails and surfed the web instead...much more fun and satisfying to me at that moment. My place this morning looked like a disaster! Here is where the "new" me, the mom me comes in...in my old world the first thing I would have thought is screw my house, I need to look beautiful when Kathy gets here. I would take a shower, do my hair, make sure my make-up is on to a T. I would have tried on at least 3 different outfits and I would have spent the entire two and half hours fixing myself up. And if my house was messy...oh well...at least I look good! I must measure my value and success differently now, because I immediately started scrubbing the pots and pans, swept the kitchen, cleaned the oven, swept the foyer and cleaned the toilet and bathroom sink! I don't even know who I am anymore....

Another story that relates to not knowing who I am any more is an incident that happened between Dan and Bei. Over Thanksgiving weekend we went out for breakfast and I ran to the bathroom right before we were going to leave the restaurant. Bei pulled a candy Starburst out of his pocket that he had gotten from the pinata the night before at Aunt Nanette's house. He just sat with it in his hand and so Dan finally said "Bei you can eat that." And Bei said "No, I have to ask Momma" Dan said "Bei, it is okay, you can eat it"... "No, I have to ask Momma"...."Bei, I'm your dad and I said you can eat it!" I walked up just as Dan said this with alot of frustration in his voice. Bei looked up and said real sweet "mom, can I have this candy"...."Sure Bei!" So the other night, we were laying in bed and Dan said out of the blue "Bei, who is the boss? Momma or Daddy?"...Bei shouted "Momma!" Wow! I've never been the boss of anyone before...this is kind of cool!