Kid Stuff

This will be a post about random happenings around here since I don't have anything too exciting to share. 

My living room has been clean for two whole days.  Know how I did that?  I locked the playroom door.  That's right. LOCKED IT.  M bought and installed a new doorknob for the playroom door and I keep it locked at all times.  It stays clean, my house stays clean, and if they want a toy they have to return what they were playing with before.  I feel a bit mean when I overhear the kids saying something like, "Quick, before mom locks it away!"  But I'm outnumbered and this house is huge.  I have a lot of things to keep caught up on.

Have you ever seen anything so ridiculous?  IJ has more decorations than a Christmas tree!  And I don't even have all of his patches attached.  You can see the back of the vest, but he has three, almost four, circles of "rounder" patches.  This pack hands out patches for everything.  We wouldn't have to fundraise so much if they didn't hand out a patch every time a scout wipes his nose or trips and falls. His belt is so full of belt loops he sounds like he has chains around his waist.

F finally asked for "Bobbi" which was her word for nursing.  I'm surprised it took her this long.  Every other kid I've ever had (except S) has been curious about nursing after the next baby comes.  So I said "Sure" and offered to nurse.  She looked at "Bobbi" and said, "I don't want that!"  I said, "Fine," and closed up shop.  She started crying and said, "I want that! I want that!"  I gave her another chance, but she has no memory of how to nurse.  But I could tell she felt better.

S and IJ had the next belt level test last night.  IJ finished his black belt (hooray) and S progressed to senior red.  M, being a judge, got to ask S his test questions.  He said, "I know you, so I'm going to give you the hardest, longest question."  S got it right- even though he kept switching "defective" for "effective" when we practiced at home.  I'm not sure our Korean master would catch how funny it would be if S said Taekwondo was the most defective martial art in the world.  For S's second question, M said, "Since you did so well on the first question, I'll give you the easiest question next."  This offended S to the point where he scowled for the rest of the test and refused to kiyap (yell) during his techniques.

 Thankful for My Little Helper

Although I know the boys hate traveling so far every week for Taekwondo, I really love when they and their dad are gone.  I like to take advantage of my girl time with E and F.  Yesterday I took the girls roller skating and to the playground.  Then I let E watch her favorite movie.  Sometimes we bake cookies.  And I always make Dutch Babies for dinner, usually with E's help.  Last night both babies were sick with a cold, tired, over stimulated, and crying, so I wouldn't let E help.  I wanted to just get dinner made quickly.  Which made E cry.  And I just found out a friend here who was due six weeks after me just had her baby and he died from meconium aspiration and a heart defect.  So I was crying.  All four of us were crying at the same time.  What a sight!