Meet "Eddie"

this cute girl

+

this: (knots cut out approx 1-2x daily)

=this Meet "Eddie"

time will only tell if this breaks the habit.

Willpower

Willpower is a funny thing. You may think you have a lot of willpower. Except for that one area. I love this quote by Victor Hugo-- People do not lack strength; they lack will.
I like to think I'm this type of person. Physically, I will keep going. Despite how tired I am, how down I am, whatever. I will make dinner for my family, take treats to the neighbor, play piano for the choir, read stories to my kids. I will work and work and work and work . . .
But, that is what's easy for me.
Do I have willpower when it comes to my tongue? Sometimes.
Do I have willpower when it comes to my emotions? Not as much.
That is not as easy for me. I can't will myself to feel a certain way about a situation. I can control my tongue more but the emotional side is tricky. I'm sure we've all found ourselves in situations where if we could, we would have willed ourselves to not cry, yet, unfortunately we can't. That is part of the human condition. So, until I botox myself an unfeeling mask of a face, with the smiles and laughter you may occasionally see an "undesirable" emotion such as me crying or heaven forbid, getting angry. Sorry, I'm working on it.

Beginning to see the light

People, I know we're not completely through but I'm feeling like I'm coming out on the other side. Things are starting to get better.
Before you get worried thinking this is some heavy topic (or excited thinking I'm going to share something deep) let me tell you I'm talking about our 2 1/2 year trial called Eden.
This child is something else.
I tell people that if you take all the horrible things your 2 year olds did and put it all together, you get Eden. She has gone through every horrible stage of a 2 year old. I ran into an old friend and she commented on my Christmas card and said "is Eden really that much trouble?". Oh honey, yes, yes, and YES! Here are just a few of the stages she has gone through--

makeup infatuation (still going on but mostly now limited to "lips" as she calls chapstick and any lipstuff). This led to makeup being colored all over my bathroom and numerous other things. I still have to be careful because I may walk into my bathroom to find her putting on mascara.
climbing onto the counter and getting into the cupboards- again, it's getting better. She will still sometimes climb on the counter to pour her own drink (another infatuation) but . . .better.
tantrums-getting better. You still may show up at my house and hear her screaming outside. (I put her out on the deck for the neighbors to listen to and not me) but it's less often.
Dog food and dog water-now that she's a little older she can get Zoe food and water and there's less of a mess.
Toilets-oh, toilets. In one week we lost 5 toothbrushes in the toilet. The next week, we had to replace our toilet only to find a little play cookie lodged in one of the kinks.
coloring on things-walls, floors, books, herself, the table, and on , and on, and on.
the fridge-ketchup is a favorite and easy to squeeze into the mouth.
nudity-she still likes changing frequently but usually asks now and, big step, keeps her underwear on. whew!
sneaking candy
hiding-oh, this was a bad one. Eden is a really good hider. And very quiet. I could search over the house for 10 minutes and still not find her. Telling her if she didn't come out in 10 seconds or she would be in a timeout didn't work. That doesn't really motivate her to come out, now does it?
Spitting/hitting- we are still in the throes of this but I'll take it when compared to some of the other stuff.
Well, this is just a start.
So, who's up to the challenge? What did your 2 year olds do and let's see if Eden did it too.

If you come to my house, don't be disturbed by . . .

...2 yr old panties lying on the floor. They are mostly likely clean and have only been worn for maybe an hour.

. . .being flashed by a 2 yr old while she is twirling in her dress with no panties.

. . .children chasing each other and screaming. It is only a little game we like to call monster.

. . .a dog with an exposed tail bone. (Is that what it's called?) Hey, imagine what you'll look like at 77.

. . .finding a random object in the toilet. Just come tell me and I'll fish it out.

. . .a 5 year old with a bald spot. Twisting one's hair is a dangerous habit.

. . .a dog/child rifling through your baggage. I'll try my best to remind you to put them out of reach. Or just don't bring anything you may not want a 2yr old or a dog getting into. Both acceptable options.

. . .a grown man playing xbox, or xbox 360, or wiii, or playstation, or playstation2, or playstation 3. Don't ask.

. . . A 7 yr old with braids and ponytails sticking out all over her head. She's learning to do her hair herself and experiment.

. . .graffiti on the windows. It is one of the FEW acceptable places to color that is washable.

. . .a mother who looks like she hasn't showered for days (she probably hasn't) and her hair looks like bedhead. (It probably is.)

That is all a part of normalcy chez Gough. I hope you understand.

Nurturing

I am a good nurterer. REALLY.
Okay, fine I'll present two sides and you decide.

Side One: So, it's that time of year again--REFLECTIONS. The PTA forum for kids to express their artistic creativity based on a theme. Mara wanted to do a song again; Asher wasn't interested in it at all. Maybe it was that the theme was "Beauty is . . ." which to boys, is a little girly. Once again, we did it the night before. I have a good excuse for my, oops I mean Mara's, procrastination. We were going to do it over fall break but unfortunately we all got the stomach flu. So, reflection's eve. I liked Mara's song last year better. It definitely took a little toning down from me before this song sounded more little-girlish and less "Hannah Montana-Teeny bopperish". (totally real words) Luckily, not many kids do it so she won first place again. She was really nervous at the awards ceremony and kept asking me-- is it me yet? I was really happy for her. Especially since last year we missed the ceremony. We won't go into that drama. Anyway, it was a great experience for her.But this was all her- the words, the melody, the piano accompaniment. Let me tell you- helping a 7 year old write a song is not easy. They sing one melody. And then the next time they sing it different. Here are the lyrics:

Beauty is a melody
Beauty is the sun
Beauty is a tree
Beauty is a butterfly
When the sun is shining
I shine as well
When it happens
I feel love
And beauty is always love
All of us together we feel beauty
And we create music and that’s beauty
And we feel the love and beauty
So try it.
And the world is beauty
If we all fall down that’s okay
It always happens, I don’t really care you see
I just think of beauty
But if death comes, that’s just the end.

If you listen to the song, you'll see that I managed to talk Mara into not doing the end of the song. You know, the death part. We just end it before that. Good call, right? I'm just helping her to hone her skills. Really. It's not about me, it's about her.

The recording isn't great but hey, it was the night before and we were very tired.

Side two:

Every night as a family as part of our bedtime routine we do our "blessing basket". We state one blessing that we had in our metaphorical "basket" of the day. I went to a parenting seminar ONCE (that's all I needed) that talked about teaching our kids gratitude- that it's a concept you have to literally teach them because they come to earth and grow up being fed, dressed, taken care of etc. They assume that's just how life is. So, I'm trying to teach my children gratitude. It's really working. Yesterday as part of his homework Asher had to "sound-spell" a list of 5 things he was grateful for. Here it is in all it's glory.

At least Eden made the list.

So, you decide, how's the nurturing?

The year of 3 costumes

Maybe, just maybe we went a little overboard with Halloween this year. You see, Jason had 1 costume for work, 1 for an adult party, and 1 for trick-or-treating with the family. By comparison, I only had 2 costumes. One for the party and one for family trick-or-treating. I don't think of myself as the kind of over-the-top person but maybe, just maybe, with Halloween I am. I like doing a theme. While my kids are young, I can get away with it. They also know, that's how we do things. So we decide together what the theme should be. This year's theme was decided a year ago. Star Wars. Everything in our house is Star Wars. Star Wars computer game, toys, make-believe, etc. So of course, that's the route we went. Mara chose to be Padme and I was Leia so for one night, she was my mother. She loved the role reversal! If only I could really give her a taste of her own medicine. Anyway, we had lots of fun. We won the best couple award at the party and a $25 gift card to Outback although I partially credit that to the fact that my friend and her husband left and he has an amazing Star Wars costume b/c he does Star Wars charity work as a hobby. So, thanks to her, we won. Trick-or-treating was a blast and for the 2nd year in a row, it was relatively warm. Eden walked around all evening saying "I Ewok, trick-or-treat" and was well-rewarded for her cuteness. All in all, an enjoyable holiday. Now onto Thanksgiving!

Popeye and Olive Oil

Star Wars clan at home getting ready to head out trick-or-treating.
The whole group out on the town: Jango Fett, Padme, "Vanilla" Mace Windu, Ewok, Leia

More pictures to be coming later of Jason in his "Captain Canuck" Costume.

To be grateful

1. I'm grateful my kids don't have the swine flu.

2. I'm grateful that they've thrown up 3 nights in succession (one at a time, taking turns like good kids should) and didn't spread it out over a few weeks or all get sick at once.

3. I'm grateful that I'm stuffed up so I couldn't really smell the vomit.

4. I'm grateful that my kids didn't have to miss school because of their sickness.

5. I'm grateful that I didn't have piano lessons the days they got sick.

6. I'm grateful Jason was home last night so I could get a break and some sleep.

So, as you can see, I have had a lot to be grateful for this week. What about you?