How To Make Kids Happy

This morning I stayed home from church with my youngest child because he had a nasty sounding croupy cough that no one wanted to be near.

My oldest son stayed home with us as well. (Note to self - this was a very, very bad idea. Never again let both children stay home when only one is sick.  It does not bode well for anyone involved.)

Not 30 minutes after my dear husband left for church, my oldest came trudging up the steps after I asked him to put a few items of laundry away in his closet.  He loudly declared, "Mom, I know the secret for how parents can always make their children happy."

I cheerfully reminded him that I did not, in fact, ask for advice on how to make my children happy all the time, but he continued to share anyway.

It went like this...


"Step 1: Tell your kids that they are going to take a trip to anywhere they want to go.
 Step 2: Tell your kids that they can do anything they want to for a whole week.
 Step 3: Tell your kids they can take a trip anywhere they want AND do anything they want for a whole week.
Step 4: Do it all again.
Step 5: Never have any chores for us to do ever again."

My goal is to raise kind, unselfish, responsible adult males.

I'm almost there, don't ya think?

YIKES.

Entering A New Stage

There are many stages of childhood that I enjoy immensely.  Learning to walk, learning to talk, first days of school, reading their first word, and the list goes on.

However...I have discovered recently that there are a few stages that I do not love so much.  

See this cute little boy?  See those perfect little baby teeth?

I love baby teeth. Smiles are adorable each and every time.

And then those perfect little teeth fall out.  

Or in our case, those perfect little teeth have to be pulled out to the tune of $300 to make room for those big teeth.  Big teeth that don't have enough room to fit.  Big teeth that are 5 times too big for the sweet little face they are overtaking.  Big teeth that are not as white, not as straight, and not as cute.

I do not love this stage.

"That's okay," I thought, "my little cherub still has beautiful eyes." Eyes that sparkle, eyes that dance, eyes with eyelashes so long every female is green with envy.  (It's easy to say this because he does not have my DNA.)

And then the eye doctor intervenes.  He declares a need for glasses.

And, poof, those beautiful eyes are now hidden behind Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle frames.

I do not love this stage either.

I know it sounds vain, and I do feel a little bit guilty.  He LOVES his new glasses.  He has been BEGGING for new glasses.  In fact, I gave him the look of death when he started telling the eye doctor that he couldn't see the letters on the wall.  I was sure he was doing it just so he could get glasses.

I was wrong.

I even asked if the eye exams were kid proof.  Turns out they are.

So, here we go.  Bad teeth, four eyes, and that interesting personality that seems to come along at some point in nearly every young boy's elementary years. (Don't pretend you don't know that personality. It's the one where "underwear" becomes every third word, and it is hilariously funny each and every time.)

It's a good thing I love him so stinkin' much.

My friends who have a few years on me keep reminding me..."Little kids, little problems.  Big kids, big problems."

This is not incredibly encouraging, but it does keep these non-issue issues in perspective.

In the mean time, does anyone want to bet on how many pairs of glasses we go through in the next 12 months?

UGH.

SNOW DAY

I LOVE snow days. There is just something about getting a break in the middle of the week and having nowhere to go.  Not to mention the chance to sleep in.  It's every kid's dream...and the dream of several teachers as well.

This time school was canceled (along with every other school in the state) before the snow even started.  Strange, but we weren't complaining.  It meant that I could crawl into bed last night knowing I didn't have to do the 5:00 a.m. race to help determine if we should have school or not.

Instead, my husband's pager went off at 4:56 a.m.  No problem, at least I didn't have to get up.

Then the pager went off again 15 minutes later, to disregard them from the call.  No problem, except that it was on full volume and sitting in the middle of the house.  I ran for it before it woke up any kids.  Thank goodness our lightest sleeper has moved downstairs.

At this point I was still thankful that I could crawl into bed...

...until the alarm went off at 5:50 a.m.  Someone forgot to tell the alarm clock that it was a snow day.

And lo and behold, my aforementioned lightest sleeper came lumbering up the steps at 6:30 a.m.

I love sleeping in on snow days.

UGH.

By 8:30 this morning,  my boys were already singing...

The snow is so BIG,
So strong and so fluffy,
There's no way that
Tomorrow we can go to school.
YA-HOO!

It may be a long day around here.

By 9:30, the table had been extended for a huge fort, lego battles had ensued, and a game of Yahtzee  was underway.

By 10:30, we did the full snow get-up and I shoved them out the door gave them each a hug and sent them on their merry way to go sledding down the road with the neighbor boys.

This afternoon we may pretend that it is 2007 when everyone still took mandatory naps.

I am sure, however, that they would prefer 2014 where they would happily tell me to take a nap so they can kill a few more brain cells on technological devices.

I just keep reminding myself...I may be tired, but at least I am at home!