Hide and Seek

This week with hubby out of town, I needed to find alternative child-care arrangements. A friend (whom my kids know well enough but one who had never watched them a full day) generously offered to come to my house for the day. My day started off with a hormone headache which was compounded by three hours in stale cigarette smoke and not enough lunch. I was just pulling up to the curb at my afternoon appointment when my cell phone rang.

"Joy? I just need you to listen." Okay
"Your son is missing." What???? He wanted to play outside and someone snatched him.
"Are there any places in the house where he likes to hide?" Are we sure he's still in the house?

After asking questions and confirming that there was no way he could've gotten outside, nor was he in any of the bathrooms, I was really confused and growing more concerned. She had checked through the house at least twice already.

The younger kids were reportedly playing nicely in the living room, so I sent my friend on a treasure hunt.
"Check the cupboard behind the couch."
"What about the coat closet - he can open those doors and used to hide in there a lot."
"Did he crawl into the dog's cage downstairs? We were talking about it yesterday."
Where could this kid be? He's never done this before.... Is she sure he's in the house?
"Go upstairs. He sometimes goes in my closet or my bathroom. Check under the bed, too. It's a tall bed."
"What about behind the rocking chair in Thing Two's room?"
"Check his closet - he can get in there and it's hard to get out."

Sure enough, that's where he was. Hiding in his closet. I apparently maintained a calm veneer, but inside my imagination was filled with police helicopters and bloodhounds. At that moment, Todd came home and in relief, my friend hung up. I didn't have the opportunity to decompress as I then attended my afternoon appointment with another 2 hours of stale cigarette smoke. And I think I have yet to get the full story, but in the words of Pa Ingalls, "all's well that ends well."

Sinking Sand (i.e. the stock market)

Over the past few months, I have noticed that I am doing certain things less often including opening any investment statement, listening to the Wall Street reports of the day and taking in any media regarding the economy. I did manage to catch that the unemployment in Michigan is 8% (which really means that 92% of people ARE employed). I know people who can't get a call in to the unemployment office as the lines as so busy. Our investments would bring only half the value of a year ago if we decided to cash them out (which we are NOT going to do...).

There is a lot at stake for many people - jobs, businesses, homes, retirement income. It's stressful. It's emotional. It's discouraging. It's only money. It's not eternity. One of my favorite hymns has been playing through my mind and I wanted to share the first verse:

My hope is built on nothing less

than Jesus love and righteousness.

I dare not trust the sweetest fame

but wholly lean on Jesus name.

On Christ the Solid Rock I stand

All other ground is sinking sand

All other ground is sinking sand.

Thing One and I were talking about 'scawy sings' (scary things) tonight. We talked about a special verse from the Psalms that he knows well enough to repeat on his own. "He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty." As one of our favorite characters from The Pond puts it, "My friends, we are well taken care of."

Warning - Not for Children Under 3

One of the kids' adoring Tantes (aunt) bought my daughter some hair clips. We had been discussing how she (the daughter) doesn't like things on her head and in her hair but... her hair is growing in and I'd like to hold it back with something. Just hadn't found what I wanted. I'm not really up with the "doing the hair" thing. Mine rarely gets brushed. This is what Tante came up with:

Times 15. There are 16 of these little buggers in a rainbow spectrum of colors. And, they are cute!

They are not cute when Mama steps away from the lunch table to check on potty-boy and returns to find my little bugger using her hair clip to scoop yogurt into her mouth. I'm pretty sure I caught her on the first swipe as there was more "wo-gut" in her hair and on the barrette than on her face. Good for me. Did you see how tiny they are? Definitely swallow-able size. Bad for me. If I were receiving punishment from an old-school teacher, my lines would read: "I must not leave my 18-month old unattended with objects intended for children over 3." There is a reason they put warnings on stuff you know...

We All Fall.... Down!

You may need to hike up your volume to hear the her singing. And please take some Dramamine prior to watching.

No More Babies

Today is my daughter's half birthday. Since I celebrate half-birthday's, I put together a little "day in the life of..." to commemorate both her step into toddler-hood. These images were collected over the past three days and by no means capture all aspects of her.

She's really a morning person, often greeting us with "mo-nin'" when we get her out of her crib. She gives hugs to "bun-bun" and "ugy" upon waking and insists I give them kisses. After breakfast, we watch out the window yelling "bye! Soon!" (as in, see you soon) to those going to work.

Favorite toys include blocks, books and anything brother is playing with. She's quite the accomplished builder.

If I am preparing lunch after 11:30 am, it takes me twice as long as it's hard to do anything with a little person attached to your legs.

However, once we get eating, it's all fun and games. "Wogut" (yogurt) is a family favorite. This picture was taken prior to spoon proficiency.

I typically get a lot done during nap time, but lately she's been practicing "crib gymnastics" which includes about 60 minutes of jumping, throwing things, removal of clothing, screaming, shrieking, singing, crawling and bouncing in bed. And also leads to less comfortable sleeping positions.

Eating is also a favorite activity.

Unfortunately, so is walking around with a cup. Since I don't use valves, we have a 'kitchen only' rule with the cup. That often leads to..... tears & tantrums.

This week was very exciting for new milestones... we are learning to jump, can use three words in a sentence (yay dow good = lay down Isaac, good dog) and have discovered a love of climbing. In fact, quite absent from the photos are all her renegade trips up the stairs to play in the diaper pail, the toilet or sit on her potty and climbing to play with the printer buttons. I some great cardio in today!

Yup. this means I'm preparing supper. Favorite bedtime songs are "a-ways" (The Lord is my Shepherd), "a-night ... a-day" (Angels Watchin' Over Me) and she is beginning to help pray by filling in blanks we leave and naming some of her favorite people (like Daddy and Bwoler (brother)) for God to bless.

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

Bathroom Candy

This is me and the little one ignoring the leftovers gathering bacteria on the table. My hubby surprised me by ordering, receiving and setting up a new computer in our kitchen (awwww, how sweet!). I'm hoping it will allow me to blog a little more frequently since this computer doesn't take over 5 minutes to load up a new webpage or new program. Thanks Sweety!

In other news, I have a new strategy regarding the keeping of chocolate. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm.... chocolate................ The strategy has several tiers of protection and will-power ain't one of 'em.

1. Don't purchase chocolate. This method fails when chocolate is received as a gift or if I have an intense craving, which happens about once a month.
2. Don't open the chocolate. This only works when the chocolate is reserved for something special, such as a dessert or special occasion and is purchased no more than one week in advance. And even then, there's more at the store!
3. Store chocolate in difficult to access locations including top shelves, freezers, sealed in several layers of zip-loc etc. After a while it becomes such a pain to get it out each time, I just move it to an accessible location. But this works for a while.
4. Keep chocolate in the bathroom. I discovered this as we use "en-en-ems" to help teach our son to use the potty. For as much time as I spend in the bathroom, I am not tempted. It is the bathroom, but I think the real reason is accountability. It's much harder to sneak off upstairs to the chocolate stash. Most of the time when I'm up there anyway, at least one of the kids is also with me and there's no sneaking anything past either one of them. Now my moral delimma is whether or not it's okay to use my toddlers for accountability partners rather than weigh if it's okay to eat an entire package of Oreo's in two days....

What We Are Up To

I think this says it all....