While playing Twister tonight, Luke was explaining to Peter how to tell his left foot from his right foot. Luke said, “Peter, which hand do you write with?” After Peter figured this out, I told him to put the foot he doesn’t write with on the blue dot. Somehow this advice still left him confused! 🙂
Yesterday I went to the eye doctor to have Peter’s glasses repaired (Bethany had bent them up pretty bad). I have only been to this office 2 times and was pregnant with Candice both times. As soon as I walked in, the receptionist said, “Oh, you had your baby!” Then, even though I only had Bethany and Candice with me, she started talking about my other three children and made it obvious that she remembered in detail what each child was like.
I was absolutely amazed!! Sure, it kind of stands out when someone has 5 children, but she remembered all of my children individually and stood there talking to me like I was her best friend come to visit!
It was nice to walk into an office and not be treated as just another nameless face!
This is an from an email I sent Luke in November of 2005. Anna was five years old and going through a bullying stage.
I just caught AM shaking her fist in front of P’s face. I told her not to ever do it again and that shaking her fist in someone’s face is part of being a bully. Then I asked her if anybody had ever done that to her, wondering where she had learned it. She said “no,” so I asked her where she had seen it. She said she had seen it on a movie and that it was a bad guy doing it. I said, “You saw a bad guy do it, right?” She nodded. I asked her if she wanted to be like a bad guy, and she said “no.” I told her that if she doesn’t want to be like a bad guy, she doesn’t need to do things she sees bad guys do. I think that impacted her more than anything else I could have done.
I guess Bethany took us seriously when we said not to waste food! 🙂 Actually, we had been eating chocolate, and there were still little bits on the plate. I guess we’ve all been guilty of licking the last flavorful bits from a plate…but I bet we weren’t this cute doing it.
Luke is teaching the boys to take showers instead of baths. They are both excited about taking showers like Mom, Dad, and big sister! And the best part is, I now only have to bathe Bethany and Candice!! Of course, I’m sure they will still take their share of bubble baths!! But in the meantime, bath time is suddenly half the job it used to be!!
Candice has been here for 10 days, but I am just now getting around to posting a picture of her. Her birthday pictures can be seen on flickr. Here is something more recent (taken today):
The other day I asked the doctor how much cough medicine to give Bethany for a night-time cough. I was shocked when she told me that the FDA no longer recommends giving cold medications to children under 6 years old! She told me to give Bethany warm juice with honey in it. I left the doctor’s office with raised eyebrows thinking “warm juice with honey…this is going to be a long night!”
I try not to give my children too many fluids at bedtime and am not big on giving them something to drink when they wake up at night. But with no other option, I tried it, expecting to have to give her more several times throughout the night. Amazingly enough, I did not hear a single cough that night!! I guess these old remedies work better than I thought!
To read more about the FDA’s decisions regarding cold medication for children read this article.