Grocery Store Blues

I usually take all 3 kids with me to the grocery store. Sometimes I wait until James gets home and then go- but that's a rare and special occasion. As I've said before, I think it's more important to tough it out, tantrums and all if they happen, and teach the kids to be responsible, respectful, obedient, and functional children of society. I'm raising young adults after all. Consequently, I don't stick them in the babysitting room either- if I go to that particular store.

Today, I figured we'd go in the morning to our grocery store and do our Math and some reading and spelling while we were there. James was walking around looking at prices and I had him tell me how many of each value there were on some price tags.
$7.99 - "That's 9 units, 9 tens, and 7 one-hundreds. Or 799 pennies. Whoa- that's a lot of pennies!! Or seven ninety-nine. Seven dollars and 99 cents." He'd rant and chant several of these and so on. He would get excited when he'd see a giant sign and run up to it and practically yell what the number was and what it meant. I rather enjoyed the people's stares and smiles at his enthusiasm. I had to tell him to simmer down a couple of times.

As we walked around, all the kids would say "hi" to passers-by, in their happy and squeaky little voices. Ireson would yell if he saw a baby. "Go see it Mom!"- He'd request.

Teagan and James would both read some words as we passed them or I'd give them something to put in the cart and they'd have to read it first. We also played the guessing/spelling game with some of the things on our list.

For example-"I'm an spicy dip that we eat with chips-what am I?"
"Salsa!"
"I'm white and I come from cows." Milk!"-they'd say and then they'd have to spell it. Fun, educational and intellectually occupying all at the same time. Who knew that the grocery store could qualify as a field trip?!

James and Teagan do this funny walking thing to entertain Ireson too. Sometimes, they'll walk while he rides, and strut their goofy stuff up and down the aisles and have him laughing his head off! I mean- the belly laugh that makes you think he might throw up if he doesn't get a break. They look like total goofballs as they come up with these hysterical dances and Ireson loves it! They could take their show on the road. Perhaps I should hire them out for other parents so they can entertain their kids too!

We got to the check out and I got in line that was over by the babysitting room. It has 3 giant windows. As I checked out I let the kids go and look through the windows and see what's happening. They stand there and look on in awe- much like observing animals in the zoo. I'm not kidding. They find it fascinating. The 3 of them stood there waving, and smiling and watching the 4 kids behind the glass. I saw another cashier walk over to the the lady that manages the joint and talk to her. She immediately got on the overhead intercom and made an announcement.

She said, and I sadly quote, "Attention customers, the Eagle's Nest [Babysitting room] can be a fun, interactive, and an educational place for your children -ages 3-9 years old. Please stop by today!"

I sighed in grieve disappointment. I sighed as I looked at the 4 TVs lining the wall with video games on waiting to lure in their next victim (3 were already occupied). I sighed as I looked at the big screen TV in the opposite corner playing a Disney movie that I find inappropriate for young children. I sighed because I didn't see a single book in that huge room! Not one! I sighed because of what our society has labelled as "fun and educational". Granted there was a train table, a kitchen area, and some great baby dolls and toys. But not one of them were being utilized by small fingers.

Thank you Lord that my kids don't ask to go in there. Thank you Lord that they had a truly "fun and educational" time with their mother and siblings interacting in a positive and responsible way learning life lessons. Thank you for the time we spent together laughing and enjoying each other's company. Now home for some more "real life" education.

Mr. Ross

When I'm doing one on one school work with one of the older kids, I have the other one go work with Ireson and be his Preschool teacher. Teagan especially loves this job as she gets to boss her baby brother around at her mother's request. They will usually do puzzles, read to him or do sewing cards with him while teaching him his shapes and colors.

The other day I asked James to go read to him. He gladly obliged. Ireson was excited to have some one on one time with his older brother and eagerly ran to collect some of his favorite farm books and ran over to James and climbed into one of our "Fat chairs." The next moment I looked over , I saw Ireson climbing up onto his brother's lap, as though James were a grown-up with ample lap room to hold a big toddler. James didn't even seem the slightest bit thrown by this- since this is what kids do when they have a book read to them!

James, practically pushed into a lying down position by Ireson, proceeded to read to him with no hesitation as to his own comfort. I reached for the camera to take a picture hoping they wouldn't notice, but Ireson did (striking his usual pose) and then James noticed.

Too precious.

The Good Book

After I put the kids down for naps, I usually go in to check on them about 1/2 hour later, if for nothing else but to check what pose they've struck as they fell asleep.
Today, about 45 minutes after I put the kids to bed for naps, I heard Teagan singing and I went to her room annoyed and ready to discipline her when I caught her reading in bed. As I was geared up and ready to discipline her for her blatant civil disobedience, I noticed that she was reading her Bible.

She looked at me with droopy, tired eyes and said: "I'm reading and singing my Bible to God like you Mommy."

Sheesh...way to make a mother's heart melt right?!

I gave her 5 more minutes for her to finish her biblical obedience and time with God and then she really needed to go to sleep.

I love these moments that reassure me that at least I'm doing something right!

Aspirations

Teagan's arms have finally started to grow long enough that she can decently reach to wipe her own booty after she has a dooty. She is like her mother in that she has seriously short arms in comparison to what they should be in proportion to the rest of her body. There is a test to determine this- no joke.

Anyhoo, yesterday evening, she went #2. When the task was complete she ran out of the bathroom all excited and proud and ran up to me yelling, "Mom, I went poop and I wiped my own butt! Aren' t you proud of me?!"

"Good job Teagan. How did it go? Do I need to check?" I asked.

She informed me, "No, it was awesome!"

"Awesome huh?" I chuckled.

Teagan: "Yeah, I'm the Awesome-est Butt Wiper Ever!"

Now there's something for all of us to aspire to.

Real Men

While throwing the football around with Lil' James this evening, I watched him as he intentionally stretched his natural ball-gifted-abilities to see how far, high, and fast he could throw the football while still maintaining accuracy, precision, and spin. Impressive he is to most who witness his natural inclination. Friends and family and gym mates often comment on how good he is at whatever sport we're playing at the time. I have to figure out a better response than, "Yes, he's good with balls!"

Anyhow, as he wanted to go "all out", he mustered up a bunch of gusto and threw the football at me with manly force. Due to the testosteronian gumption that he used, he fell forward and landed with his front leg out almost into the splits, arm stretched and flexed forward, and he held this Trojan-like stance until he could see how and where the ball landed. He looked like one of those "still photo shots" of a Quarter-back after an awesome pass. Yes, he too could have his own Calendar.

I caught the ball as I laughed at his pose. He responded to me very coach-like, as though I shouldn't be surprised at how he looked.

"Well, sometimes that's what real men HAVE to do, Mom."

To Know True Love is to "B" Loved

Definition of a "blankie" according to dictionary.com: A blanket, especially one used as a security blanket.

In the Ross household we call "blankies"- "B's." I guess it's our abbreviation for blanket. I've heard relatives call their security blankets this as well and I think it simply has stuck with me. I used to call my security blanket a "blanket." You see, my creative skills were evident even then...and yes, I still have it!

With each child, I'd purchase a pack of the all cotton, thick white cloth diapers. For James, I left them white, and for Teagan I dyed them pink, and Ireson's are blue. I figured with multiple duplicates of the security blanket- it makes losing and replacing them easier and not so traumatic! I have emotional scars from my childhood from losing my precious blankets! Each child has called them their "B's" and has used them since birth to fall asleep with and as a comfort measure. Ireson simply cannot go to sleep without his "B". We even have back-ups at Gramma's and Aunt Sarah's.

Well, the definition of a "B" has taken on additional meaning in our house.

Definition of a "B" according to Ireson.com: a blankie, a cloth diaper dyed blue to distinguish it from sibling's same style of "B", used for soothing or comforting a child in their youth, a must, a necessity for life, an absolute entity to general happiness, a hypnotic device used to lure oneself to sleep, used to adorn "'B -love" onto loved ones, and used for prodding and poking one's own ears and nostrils?!

When he could sit on his own, and had the hand control and the dexterity to accompany it- Ireson would take a corner of his "B" and tickle himself in his ears or stroke it back and forth under his nose. I'm talking about the kind of tickling that would feel like a bug flying around in your ear of a feather being stuck up your nose! For the average man, you could relate it to a modernized form of Chinese torture!
If you went up to him and asked him if you "could have some 'B' love?"- he'd share the same adoring and loving technique with you too- if you were so privileged!

His fondness and techniques for his "B" have progressed in the past 2 1/2 years since this new found skill erupted. He now prefers his "B's" to have a string (no longer than 1/2 inch), or a rip at the corner with a small tassel or such, to accentuate the tickling and effectiveness of self-donned "B" love. Thanks to Aunt Susie, he has also perfected the art of "face painting" with the tassel serving as the pretend paint brush head. He will trace over your features or pretend to draw whiskers or something on you as you lay there, the two of you, drifting off to sleep. Or, in my case, grin and cringe and bear it, until cuddle time is over and you can escape.

He has 7-8 "B's" to choose from and I keep 5-6 of them in the cupboard of his dresser. Three, however, are only worthy to be slept with since they posses the proper attributes for his security-companion sleeping. Sometimes though, I will check on him during his nap and he will have gotten them all out of the cupboard and I will find him sleeping on a mountain of B's.

Today I was cuddling with him before nap, and he was asking to "B" love me because he knows that this drives me crazy! He started to peruse his current "3-B" collection on his bed to decipher which one would administer the best method of torture to his loving and all too tolerant mother. The "B's" on his bed just wouldn't do so he started whining for me to "get the other ones, Mom!" So I grabbed the pile out of the cupboard and he carefully examined and sorted his B's until he found the proper one. To his surprise, he found 3 B's that were so blessed to carry the rare quality! I put the others back in the cupboard and laid down with them. With a B in each hand and a "this is the life" look on his face, he laid down and B-loved me. It only lasted a minute after I tackled him and tickled him and encouraged him to move on to B-loving himself. So he did and I looked on from the side-lines of the sport with a smile.

"Look Mom, two B's! Two B's for two ears!" (Simultaneously, inserting tickling strings into both ears here).
giggles and giggles....and then
"Two B's for two noses, Mom!" (Simultaneously, inserting tickling strings into both nostrils here with nary a snort or wiggle).

Notice the corner of the "B" by his thumb- it has the string. He had just hypnotized himself to sleep before I took this picture by stroking his left ear.

My day is now complete, now that I have been B-loved.