Yes, I am that mom. Never would I think that I would ever be teaching one of my children to say "no." Yet there I was today, repeatedly telling my youngest to say "No" to me. Uh huh, the same child I have to teach to be louder.
This child has stealth abilities that rival any ninja's in history. He has been known to sneak into his older siblings' school boxes without witnesses. The only way we know of his trespassing is that he has had hair missing and our walls have been tagged. There is also the self-incrimination. Very often he will walk over to me to hand over the contraband materials before I know they are missing with a..."Here Momma, penshal (pencil)."
Today I asked him, "Are you supposed to touch this?" (referring to a stolen pencil). His responses were a mixture of "Mmmmm," "yeah" and "because..it penshal." Our conversation went pretty much like this:
Me: Are you supposed to touch this?
LB: Mmmmm
Me: Are you supposed to touch this?
LB: Yeah
Me: No, not yeah. You are not supposed to touch this, so you tell me "no." Are you supposed to touch this?
LB: Because...it penshal.
Me: Right, it's a pencil. Are you supposed to touch it?
LB: Yeah.
Me: No, you are not supposed to touch it. Say "no."
LB: No.
Me: Okay, you tell me "no"...are you supposed to touch this?
LB: Yeah.
Me: No. You need to tell me no because you are not supposed to touch this. Monkey boy, are you supposed to touch this?
Monkey boy: No.
Me: Kimi, are you supposed to touch this?
Kimi: No.
Me: Okay, LB, are you supposed to touch this?
LB: No, yeah.
Me: No, it's just no. Just say no. Are you supposed to touch this?
LB: Because it penshal.
Me: Right, we've established that this is indeed a pencil that you are not supposed to touch. Are you supposed to touch this?
LB: Mmmm
Me: No, not "mmm," tell me "no" when I ask you if you are supposed to touch this. Are you supposed to touch this?
LB: Because it...
Me: No! Not because anything! Tell me "no."
LB: No
Me: Okay, good. Now, are you supposed to touch this?
LB: Yeah.
By the 25th time, he finally said "no" as his first answer. However, if you asked him after that, the answer was still mmm-yeah-because it penshal. Trust me, this child has no problem saying "no" in other situations. Sometimes he is yelling it at the top of his lungs (you know, when I want him to be quiet) if someone is doing something to his person he doesn't like...such as bumping into him.
The other skill we were working on today was jumping. I had him stand up on a small stool and try to jump off. I've tried to get him to jump just on the floor, but he just raises his heels off the ground. I started off by taking his hands and helping him jump so he would get the sensation of being "airborne." When he tried to do it himself, the results were downright comical. I would coach him into position, getting his knees bent (that is a task in and of itself) and I would excitedly say, "Okay, now jump!" At which he would simply step off the stool. After a while I gave up, shaking my head, asking myself, "What kind of mom teaches her three year old boy how to jump off things?" I answered myself with, "The same mom who has to tell her other three year old boy to stop jumping off things!" Yes, I am that mom.
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Monday, November 19, 2012
Okay, messed up with the pics again...solved now
I will seriously get the hang of this...pics from last post are now viewable!
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Summer b-days and yin and yang
With the glitch I had with the old blog, I feel that I have to play catch-up with the photos. We had three kid birthdays this summer:
Sissy was first in July
Next came Kimi in August...I love this picture of her as this is so her. There she is with messy hair because she is such a spaz, and drool on her face due to excitement over Hello Kitty. When she first came to us, we had to remind her to close her mouth. We thought she might get dehydrated with all the liquid she was losing in her drooling. Okay, maybe that's stretching it just a wee bit....but just a wee bit.
Then L.B.'s birthday came in September (we don't actually know his real birthdate, but we celebrate on the date he was given). I make themed cakes for all the kids' birthdays. Sissy's had her favorite stuffed animal on it, and Kimi had (surprise!) Hello Kitty. L.B.'s cake has "Baby Beluga" on it as that was his favorite song at the time. He would sing at the top of his lungs, "Bayyyyybeeee Balooooooobaaaaaa" anytime he set his eyes on a sea creature that even remotely resembled a beluga whale. We avoided aquariums during this time period.
This picture really mirrors the two little boys. They really are yin and yang. Monkey Boy is fiercely independent, very physically active, and well, three going on 30. His latest conquest has been doing puzzles of the states. He particularly likes the one that has all 50 pieces as he likes to name a good number of the states when he puts them in the puzzle. This is also the kid that, when I was quizzing his older siblings on the countries of South America, he chimed in, "But what about Bolivia?" I had to tell him not to answer for his 12, 10 and 8 year old siblings. L.B. is, well, the opposite of Monkey boy (though he is very smart too).
One thing they do have in common is their big time love for the ladies. Here is L.B. enjoying the company of two lovely ladies (Southern charmers to boot!)
I think Monkey boy might just top LB in his "admiration" for the ladies. This sequence of pictures shows Monkey boy slowly getting closer to the group of girls assembled in the dining room for Sissy's birthday party. Here he is, admiring them from afar:
he starts making his way closer...
...until he just brazenly plants himself in the doorway to admire the view. Something tells me he will continue to enjoy the fact that he has two older sisters who will have friends over...
He came to me one day as he had made a revelation...
Yes, there were TWO "Jasmines" to drool over. Though he has commented that Jasmine is immodest because she shows her "belly belly." Doesn't seem to bother him too much.
Switching subjects, how would you describe the concept of "louder?" I found myself having to really work at explaining to LB what that meant. Now to any member of this family, that seems to be extraordinarily ironic. Our little man has a not-so-little voice. We call him "Obvious Man" as he likes to point out the obvious, in a very loud, excitable, somewhat shrill voice (Sissy calls it "his yelling"), and with great repetition. This trait of his is most noticeable when the kids are trying to watch a video. It usually goes something like this, "Look, car, look car. Car, car, car, look mommy car!" which is then accompanied by one of the remaining seven members of the family trying to shush him. Note that I used the word "trying," as we are rarely successful. Big D has commented before that he likes to look at LB when he is quietly, at those rare times, playing with something during a video. He says he has to watch him secretly, because if LB sees him looking, he will instantly start commenting on what he's doing. I understand as I try not to make eye contact during meals. If you do, he instantly gives you one of his cheesy grins and comments on what is in his usually quite full mouth.
Today he told me, and I am not exaggerating this time as I kept a running tally, 30 times that he had popcorn. I'm glad he likes popcorn. I'm glad that he likes to share his enthusiasm about popcorn with me...but 30 times of (in a loud shrill voice) "Look mommy, I have pacorn, pacorn, I have pacorn!!!! Look Mommy, look Mommy, pacorn!!! Pacorn!!!! I have pacorn!!!!" is a bit much.
So why in the world was I trying to teach him how to get louder? It's because the only time he is quiet is when he's sitting on the toilet, trying to tell me he's done. I finally hear him only because he starts complaining very loudly. I don't want him to use whining to get help, so we have been working on asking for help (which first came out as "Kelp pa-deeese". Since that phrase would only be useful for a sea otter, we worked on his pronunciation.)
Today I told him to say loudly, "Mommy, I'm finished!" LB: (barely audible) "Mommy, fished." Me: "No, say it louder.: LB: "Louder." Me: "No, not the word louder, say 'Mommy finished' louder." LB: (minutely louder) "Mommy fished." Me: "No, you have to say it louder so I can hear you from another room. Okay, I'm going to go in the other room and I want you to call for me." The minute I was out of sight, the very loud grumbling and complaining resumed. Me: "No, you were supposed to say loudly, "Mommy finished!" LB: (almost in a whisper) "Mommy fished." Finally, I called in the big guns for help. I called to Monkey boy in the other room to call for me. He did so, clearly and loudly, so I said, "Like that. Call Mommy like that." I had Monkey boy repeat it once more, and lo and behold it worked! I got a nice, loud, and clear "Mommy fished." Who says "Monkey see monkey do" is a bad thing?
Well, I have discovered that I have hit my limit for this month for uploading pictures on my new site. Once December starts, my quota starts over, so I'll be able to upload more pictures to copy onto the blog. So until then, Happy Thanksgiving to all!!!
Sissy was first in July
Next came Kimi in August...I love this picture of her as this is so her. There she is with messy hair because she is such a spaz, and drool on her face due to excitement over Hello Kitty. When she first came to us, we had to remind her to close her mouth. We thought she might get dehydrated with all the liquid she was losing in her drooling. Okay, maybe that's stretching it just a wee bit....but just a wee bit.Then L.B.'s birthday came in September (we don't actually know his real birthdate, but we celebrate on the date he was given). I make themed cakes for all the kids' birthdays. Sissy's had her favorite stuffed animal on it, and Kimi had (surprise!) Hello Kitty. L.B.'s cake has "Baby Beluga" on it as that was his favorite song at the time. He would sing at the top of his lungs, "Bayyyyybeeee Balooooooobaaaaaa" anytime he set his eyes on a sea creature that even remotely resembled a beluga whale. We avoided aquariums during this time period.This picture really mirrors the two little boys. They really are yin and yang. Monkey Boy is fiercely independent, very physically active, and well, three going on 30. His latest conquest has been doing puzzles of the states. He particularly likes the one that has all 50 pieces as he likes to name a good number of the states when he puts them in the puzzle. This is also the kid that, when I was quizzing his older siblings on the countries of South America, he chimed in, "But what about Bolivia?" I had to tell him not to answer for his 12, 10 and 8 year old siblings. L.B. is, well, the opposite of Monkey boy (though he is very smart too).
One thing they do have in common is their big time love for the ladies. Here is L.B. enjoying the company of two lovely ladies (Southern charmers to boot!)
I think Monkey boy might just top LB in his "admiration" for the ladies. This sequence of pictures shows Monkey boy slowly getting closer to the group of girls assembled in the dining room for Sissy's birthday party. Here he is, admiring them from afar:
he starts making his way closer...
...until he just brazenly plants himself in the doorway to admire the view. Something tells me he will continue to enjoy the fact that he has two older sisters who will have friends over...
He came to me one day as he had made a revelation...
Yes, there were TWO "Jasmines" to drool over. Though he has commented that Jasmine is immodest because she shows her "belly belly." Doesn't seem to bother him too much.
Switching subjects, how would you describe the concept of "louder?" I found myself having to really work at explaining to LB what that meant. Now to any member of this family, that seems to be extraordinarily ironic. Our little man has a not-so-little voice. We call him "Obvious Man" as he likes to point out the obvious, in a very loud, excitable, somewhat shrill voice (Sissy calls it "his yelling"), and with great repetition. This trait of his is most noticeable when the kids are trying to watch a video. It usually goes something like this, "Look, car, look car. Car, car, car, look mommy car!" which is then accompanied by one of the remaining seven members of the family trying to shush him. Note that I used the word "trying," as we are rarely successful. Big D has commented before that he likes to look at LB when he is quietly, at those rare times, playing with something during a video. He says he has to watch him secretly, because if LB sees him looking, he will instantly start commenting on what he's doing. I understand as I try not to make eye contact during meals. If you do, he instantly gives you one of his cheesy grins and comments on what is in his usually quite full mouth.
Today he told me, and I am not exaggerating this time as I kept a running tally, 30 times that he had popcorn. I'm glad he likes popcorn. I'm glad that he likes to share his enthusiasm about popcorn with me...but 30 times of (in a loud shrill voice) "Look mommy, I have pacorn, pacorn, I have pacorn!!!! Look Mommy, look Mommy, pacorn!!! Pacorn!!!! I have pacorn!!!!" is a bit much.
So why in the world was I trying to teach him how to get louder? It's because the only time he is quiet is when he's sitting on the toilet, trying to tell me he's done. I finally hear him only because he starts complaining very loudly. I don't want him to use whining to get help, so we have been working on asking for help (which first came out as "Kelp pa-deeese". Since that phrase would only be useful for a sea otter, we worked on his pronunciation.)
Today I told him to say loudly, "Mommy, I'm finished!" LB: (barely audible) "Mommy, fished." Me: "No, say it louder.: LB: "Louder." Me: "No, not the word louder, say 'Mommy finished' louder." LB: (minutely louder) "Mommy fished." Me: "No, you have to say it louder so I can hear you from another room. Okay, I'm going to go in the other room and I want you to call for me." The minute I was out of sight, the very loud grumbling and complaining resumed. Me: "No, you were supposed to say loudly, "Mommy finished!" LB: (almost in a whisper) "Mommy fished." Finally, I called in the big guns for help. I called to Monkey boy in the other room to call for me. He did so, clearly and loudly, so I said, "Like that. Call Mommy like that." I had Monkey boy repeat it once more, and lo and behold it worked! I got a nice, loud, and clear "Mommy fished." Who says "Monkey see monkey do" is a bad thing?
Well, I have discovered that I have hit my limit for this month for uploading pictures on my new site. Once December starts, my quota starts over, so I'll be able to upload more pictures to copy onto the blog. So until then, Happy Thanksgiving to all!!!
Monday, November 12, 2012
Really back in business this time!
Got the photo problem solved, and photos are in! The formatting is kind of different, and for some reason it still shows the box at the end of the post saying you can't see an image. I don't know why it says that, there is no image to be seen. So you can just use that to learn how to say the image can't be seen in seven different languages. :)
Saturday, November 10, 2012
We're back in business!!! And with obnoxious vacation photos!
Oh, it's lousy being so technologically inept! After much time spent trying to figure out how to get photos on here, I think I finally found the solution...at least for now???
Anyhow, in starting a new blog, I couldn't help thinking back to life after I had started the old blog. Images of chocolate chips strewn across the kitchen floor, walls and doors "tagged" by budding artists, a batch of mini donuts with the tops licked off came to my mind. Life was so crazy back then. I mean, crazier, back then.
That there is the wonder twins getting ready to go to the store with me. Monkey boy has my purse and the keys and offered to drive. Their dad was working and I had to run to the store, so I took the WTS along. Believe it or not, they were great. Times have changed.
Can you identify this foot? Perhaps it's not who you think...
Did you guess this guy? He likes to mix and match clothes, especially when they belong to other people
Here is the whole ensemble
That there is the wonder twins getting ready to go to the store with me. Monkey boy has my purse and the keys and offered to drive. Their dad was working and I had to run to the store, so I took the WTS along. Believe it or not, they were great. Times have changed.
Can you identify this foot? Perhaps it's not who you think...
Did you guess this guy? He likes to mix and match clothes, especially when they belong to other people
Here is the whole ensemble
Here is Kimi's Hello Kitty dress, on backward of course.
A few weeks ago we went down to San Diego for a trip to Legoland and the San Diego Zoo. We went with our friends, another homeschooling family, who have four kids. Traveling around with ten kids total was as crazy as you'd think, but terribly fun as well. Lots of headcounting. Their kids are great and I only lost one of them when I was in charge. Hey, she was safe...with a park attendant...we got her back, okay? So here's our pics from the trip
There's Dad and LB on LB's first ride ever. Can you guess why this particular helicopter was chosen
Legoland has some fun water features. Monkey boy was in his element
Kimi was trying to be ever so dainty holding up the skirt on her skort, and getting soaked anyway
Bob is just too cool for school here.
Do you know why LB is so happy? It's because he is NOT getting wet
Big D is doing pushups, I guess that's what older kids do in a kiddie water play area
Striking the Darth Maul pose (yes, Darth Maul is made of Legos, including his cape
Family picture at Legoland that we did not pay $12 for, or whatever the park rate is for photojacking you at the entrance of the park
Family picture with our church bulletin before we got into the zoo for free! Yep, a lady came up to us as we were getting ready to buy tickets. Seems some families cancelled in her homeschooling group and she had free tickets. Thank you for the providence of God!
This is our friend Karen posing with all ten kiddos. That'll be me minus two some day! Which is slightly alarming looking at this photo
Isn't this an appropriate picture of Monkey boy with a monkey like creature (okay it's an orangutan)
Sissy and a seal
LB has an ape on his shirt so I had to take this picture
as well as this one
On our way home we stopped by and visited our friend Nate, a navy pilot
There's Nate looking all "Top Gunnish" with Kimi admiringly looking on
There was the obligatory stop to get pea soup at Anderson's (a central CA tradition
This is Kimi and Monkey Boy dressed as fighter pilots. I don't think this is regulation flight wear, but anything goes with the government.
Glad to be back, in more ways than one!
There's Dad and LB on LB's first ride ever. Can you guess why this particular helicopter was chosen
Legoland has some fun water features. Monkey boy was in his element
Kimi was trying to be ever so dainty holding up the skirt on her skort, and getting soaked anyway
Bob is just too cool for school here.
Do you know why LB is so happy? It's because he is NOT getting wet
Big D is doing pushups, I guess that's what older kids do in a kiddie water play area
Striking the Darth Maul pose (yes, Darth Maul is made of Legos, including his cape
Family picture at Legoland that we did not pay $12 for, or whatever the park rate is for photojacking you at the entrance of the park
Family picture with our church bulletin before we got into the zoo for free! Yep, a lady came up to us as we were getting ready to buy tickets. Seems some families cancelled in her homeschooling group and she had free tickets. Thank you for the providence of God!
This is our friend Karen posing with all ten kiddos. That'll be me minus two some day! Which is slightly alarming looking at this photo
Isn't this an appropriate picture of Monkey boy with a monkey like creature (okay it's an orangutan)
Sissy and a seal
LB has an ape on his shirt so I had to take this picture
as well as this one
On our way home we stopped by and visited our friend Nate, a navy pilot
There's Nate looking all "Top Gunnish" with Kimi admiringly looking on
There was the obligatory stop to get pea soup at Anderson's (a central CA tradition
This is Kimi and Monkey Boy dressed as fighter pilots. I don't think this is regulation flight wear, but anything goes with the government.
Glad to be back, in more ways than one!Saturday, November 3, 2012
The search goes ever on and on...
Well, looks like I did not in fact beat the system here. I tried to upload more pictures and it said my storage was full. So..the search is on again for a site for unlimited storage. I have another place I'm trying, but so far have been unsuccessful in uploading pictures.
In the meantime, a few updates:
We're getting closer to getting our paperwork to China. We need a final approval on our homestudy which will get sent to immigration. Immigration then has to renew some paperwork and then our agency can forward our dossier to China. So quite possibly we will be traveling to China next summer...again...in the hot, humid, summer. That would make us three for three in summer China trips. The upside is that you tend to lose weight when you sweat so much!
L.B. is doing well, picking up more English all the time. He is still way behind, physically, according to a physical therapist, which was not news to us. It's funny, when we tell some people about how he was misdiagnosed and yet we still have to work on basic gross motor skills with him, they often respond with, "Oh but that's no big deal!" I understand that in comparison to having a child with cerebral palsy, coaching your youngest of six (who is three years old) how to hold a fork, how to get his head through the correct hole on a shirt so his head is not poking through the sleeve, how to climb the stairs using just his legs, how to get in and out of the car and carseat, how to stand up without hiking his rear end up in the air, how to step over a cord that is lying flat on the ground, how to hold his head still so that when we wash his hair he's not moving like a bobble head, how to step onto a six inch high step stool without falling off, how to turn around in the shower so the water is not hitting him in the face, how to bite into a sandwich hard enough so that when he pulls his head away the entire contents of the sandwich doesn't come with him, etc. etc. etc. is really no big deal....to someone else. Oh, trust me, I'm not looking for sympathy. I know anything goes when you adopt and that life will not get any easier with two more. So no, no sympathy. Encouragment mixed in with laughing with me and sometimes at me? Absolutely. Thankfully, I can say I get plenty of all of that, especially the laughing at me part. :)
I have to tell a funny story that is going to rat out my very close friend, Dana (sorry, Dana, remember you love me!!!):
I took my half dozen to a wedding reception which was in the backyard of our friends' house. Let me just stop here and say that I would not recommend this activity for future reference. We sat down and one of the first things to happen was that Kimi decided to play the cymbals with two wine glasses by hitting them together. I'm not sure what made a louder noise, the crashing of the breaking glass or the gasping of her mother when she saw what happened.
The reception was lovely and the kids really were doing well. After dinner it was time for the toasts and all we had was a bottle of wine at the table. My good friend who loves me very much came over and gave us a bottle of sparkling cider. I poured some for all the kids but decided that I would just drink water. After the first toast, Sissy said, "Mom, I don't care for this. It's kind of sour." I said, "Yeah, sometimes it does taste a little sour. You don't have to drink it if you don't want it." As I reached across the table to get the glass from her so I could try it, I happened to glance down at the bottle of sparking cider. I didn't know they put warning labels on sparkling cider. Hmmmmm. I turned the bottle around and read "Raspberry Sparklintini." Something about the "tini" at the end made me investigate further. In fine print it said, "a spumante." As in, sparkling wine.
I pointed this out to "Aunt Dana" and asked if she (a non-drinker) had tried any herself. She replied, between fits of laughter by both of us, that she had had two glasses! I explained to her that if she would just stop hitting the Jack Daniels she might be able to detect a smaller concentration of alcohol in other drinks.
Despite Aunt Dana's best attempts to get my kids sauced, no one cared when I confiscated the "sparkling cider"...except one kid. Any guesses??? Yep, Monkey Boy protested saying, "But I like this mom, it's good!" At the end of the night when we were preparing to leave, I noticed Monkey boy walking around our table taking sips out of any glass he could find. When I asked him what he was doing he said, "I'm trying to find more of that special juice!" Special juice indeed.
I'll be sure to let you know where we'll be "moving" so I can post incriminating blackmail pictures of my kids again!
In the meantime, a few updates:
We're getting closer to getting our paperwork to China. We need a final approval on our homestudy which will get sent to immigration. Immigration then has to renew some paperwork and then our agency can forward our dossier to China. So quite possibly we will be traveling to China next summer...again...in the hot, humid, summer. That would make us three for three in summer China trips. The upside is that you tend to lose weight when you sweat so much!
L.B. is doing well, picking up more English all the time. He is still way behind, physically, according to a physical therapist, which was not news to us. It's funny, when we tell some people about how he was misdiagnosed and yet we still have to work on basic gross motor skills with him, they often respond with, "Oh but that's no big deal!" I understand that in comparison to having a child with cerebral palsy, coaching your youngest of six (who is three years old) how to hold a fork, how to get his head through the correct hole on a shirt so his head is not poking through the sleeve, how to climb the stairs using just his legs, how to get in and out of the car and carseat, how to stand up without hiking his rear end up in the air, how to step over a cord that is lying flat on the ground, how to hold his head still so that when we wash his hair he's not moving like a bobble head, how to step onto a six inch high step stool without falling off, how to turn around in the shower so the water is not hitting him in the face, how to bite into a sandwich hard enough so that when he pulls his head away the entire contents of the sandwich doesn't come with him, etc. etc. etc. is really no big deal....to someone else. Oh, trust me, I'm not looking for sympathy. I know anything goes when you adopt and that life will not get any easier with two more. So no, no sympathy. Encouragment mixed in with laughing with me and sometimes at me? Absolutely. Thankfully, I can say I get plenty of all of that, especially the laughing at me part. :)
I have to tell a funny story that is going to rat out my very close friend, Dana (sorry, Dana, remember you love me!!!):
I took my half dozen to a wedding reception which was in the backyard of our friends' house. Let me just stop here and say that I would not recommend this activity for future reference. We sat down and one of the first things to happen was that Kimi decided to play the cymbals with two wine glasses by hitting them together. I'm not sure what made a louder noise, the crashing of the breaking glass or the gasping of her mother when she saw what happened.
The reception was lovely and the kids really were doing well. After dinner it was time for the toasts and all we had was a bottle of wine at the table. My good friend who loves me very much came over and gave us a bottle of sparkling cider. I poured some for all the kids but decided that I would just drink water. After the first toast, Sissy said, "Mom, I don't care for this. It's kind of sour." I said, "Yeah, sometimes it does taste a little sour. You don't have to drink it if you don't want it." As I reached across the table to get the glass from her so I could try it, I happened to glance down at the bottle of sparking cider. I didn't know they put warning labels on sparkling cider. Hmmmmm. I turned the bottle around and read "Raspberry Sparklintini." Something about the "tini" at the end made me investigate further. In fine print it said, "a spumante." As in, sparkling wine.
I pointed this out to "Aunt Dana" and asked if she (a non-drinker) had tried any herself. She replied, between fits of laughter by both of us, that she had had two glasses! I explained to her that if she would just stop hitting the Jack Daniels she might be able to detect a smaller concentration of alcohol in other drinks.
Despite Aunt Dana's best attempts to get my kids sauced, no one cared when I confiscated the "sparkling cider"...except one kid. Any guesses??? Yep, Monkey Boy protested saying, "But I like this mom, it's good!" At the end of the night when we were preparing to leave, I noticed Monkey boy walking around our table taking sips out of any glass he could find. When I asked him what he was doing he said, "I'm trying to find more of that special juice!" Special juice indeed.
I'll be sure to let you know where we'll be "moving" so I can post incriminating blackmail pictures of my kids again!
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