I thought I should post since I haven't posted in a long while. Part of the reason that I haven't posted is that I am so boring. Nothing out of the ordinary happens much. I do have lots and lots of the same old, same old. Greg on the other hand has lots of things happen to him, but he doesn't have time to post about them. If you didn't know, he had his birthday last week. He turned 32. He has had a couple of sleep studies done recently. He continues to help people as the bishop. He got some really cool presents for his birthday and father's day. I don't want to tell too much because I keep thinking he will blog about it one of these days, and I don't want to steal his thunder, although, he would probably say he would LOVE if I would do it for him.
Anyway, I am looking for some parenting advice. My kids have been fighting a lot lately. It seems our home is often filled with screams and shrieks these days. There is also a lot of she did this and he did that going on. It has been my experience thus far that usually that means one or more of them is in need of more personal attention from me or Greg. It continues to be very difficult to find one on one time with each child, though. How do you do it? Lizzy is particularly struggling. She always feels like she is put off and ends up screaming at me to get her things and do things for her. My unforunate response to this is that it makes me want to be around her even less. My head aches from all the screaming! I have this book that I have been intending to read, called "Siblings without Rivalry", but I haven't gotten to it yet. I am up for any suggestions. I know family life can be more pleasant than this.
One quick story about Ben. He is becoming quite independent these days, not all in good ways. He pretty much helps himself with whatever he can, whether I want him to or not. It is not uncommon for me to find him rummaging through the pantry with an open box of crackers at his feet. Anyway, we went to the grocery store the other day. Our store has those little carts that are like little cars where the kids sit up front and down low, like they are driving. The only bad thing is that Ben usually screams and pushes out all the other kids. So we were in the checkout aisle putting our food on the conveyor. Ben was down in the truck cab and the other kids were helping me load everything on. I leaned over to get something out of the cart and I heard Ben say, "Mmmmm". I looked down in there and he had swiped a candy bar off the shelf (it was Baby Ruth if you want to know) and managed to open the thing and had started to chow down. He was thoroughly enjoying himself. I just took the wrapper and put it on the conveyor empty so we could pay for it. The other kids of course got candy as well. The checker, and I. got quite a kick out of that. Ben continued to "mmmmmmmmmm" his way through the whole thing, peanuts and all.
Well, sorry I am so boring. If you are not asleep yet, feel free to make a comment. Oh another side note. I listened to the "Thief Lord" on tape. I really enjoyed that. I think some of you have read the book. Anyway, ciao. Boring people rock!!
5 comments:
Kids screaming and stealing candy doesn't sound boring to me!
I agree with Todd, I don't think you're boring at all.
The story about Ben is hilarious! If Lawson had been there, I'm sure he would have been "Mmmmm!"-ing with him. Quite impressive that he was able to get it open and everything.
I wish I had some great advice for you on the parenting issues. Unfortunately, since I quite often don't feel that I can even handle the pair of kids that I have, I have no clue how to make it work with 4! It's definitely very difficult to give out the one on one time that kids would like/need to have. I'm still trying to figure out to do with the alien monster that inhabits Alia's body on a somewhat regular basis. I kept hoping that it just had to do with us moving, etc., but I'm not sure it is quite that simple. She still seems to be having problems with aggression, though it is getting a tiny bit better. I haven't been feeling the greatest myself lately, and that definitely doesn't make me a patient and understanding parent to respond to her outbursts!
Do you think that Lizzy is having a harder time now that the older kids are not in school anymore and are home all day? And by the way, what were the sleep studies for? And were you able to find out anything?
Keep the posts coming - there are lots of us other "boring" people out here who enjoy them lots!
Sorry, Tammy. I wish I had some wonderful words of wisdom for you, but it all sounds pretty normal to me. How old is Lizzy? Remember how Anna used to do that not too long ago? I'll bet she will grow out of it, too. Girls scream. Just be glad the boys are far enough apart that they probably won't get in too many fist fights. What a FUN age Ben is!!
I've found that the best way to give one on one time to your kids is to only have one kid. But I guess that only works for so long. We need to find some cool shopping carts for Kathryn to sit in because she now refuses to sit in the regular ones so we either have to carry her the whole time while she tries to squirm out of our arms or we let her walk and have to tell her every 30 seconds to stop pulling stuff off the shelves or to get out of someone's way.
Aren't kids fun? I have some advice, hold on for dear life. The problems only change, they never go away. As soon as you have one thing figured out, something else starts. I am tending Preston for 3 days while his parents and Shu-hua (Ya-ping's sister) go to Vegas. Nan also works tonight so I will have both kids. I am so glad that Mark is home!
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