You don't have to teach kids to misbehave

Our old pastor used to say that you didn't have to teach kids how to misbehave, but you had to teach them how to behave. His point was that we are born with a sin problem. Today there was some more evidence to support this statement. It was about 5:45PM. I was putting away dishes and getting dinner ready. Matthew was playing on the floor by the dishwasher (or where ever else he rolled or scooted to in the kitchen) and Sam was playing in the pantry. He likes to close the door to the pantry and search out interesting items on the shelves.

After a few minutes Sam abruptly left the pantry. Usually his evacuation of the pantry is a result of my cajoling, redirecting or distracting. He doesn't usually leave on his own without good reason. I didn't think too much of it as I hadn't heard any loud crashing or anything of that sort. I continued putting away the dishes. Moments later Sam rolled into the kitchen riding his digger/dozer. There was some crunching noise as he rolled by the pantry--well, he was probably 3 feet from the pantry. I wondered where some sand or rocks came from that he was apparently rolling over and worried about scratching the floor. I immediately had him stop and get off the dozer so I could examine it and the surrounding floor. I knelt down and looked closely at the floor to see it was sprinkled with green decorating sugar. I followed the trail to the pantry and saw, shall we say, a large pile of it in the pantry next to an almost empty bottle of decorating sugar which used to be almost full. I asked Sam what happened and he fessed up that he spilled the sugar. And apparently he knew it was not a good thing to do since he had ran away and not told me what happened. This was probably the first incident of spilling that I did not see him commit and how did he respond? He ran away. Typical human nature. Hope no one will notice. Hope the blame is pinned on someone else.

I told Sam to stand back so I could clean it up. I felt Sam knew what had happened was wrong, but I also knew it was the result of an accident, so I didn't engage in any disciplinary action. I just put the decorating sugars up higher in the pantry. Anyway, I swept up the sugar from the kitchen floor, then I went to get the hand vacuum and started vacuuming. Sam, bless his little heart, finished up with putting the dishes away (at least the ones he could reach). I didn't ask him to, he just did it.

The pictures are of what we got from Santa this year. Matthew rolled right up next to the trunk of the tree and started pulling on the string of lights, so I pulled him out and then took his picture. Safety first, Kodak moments second. What a great present!

First Christmas program

Yesterday we had our first church Christmas program. On Saturday we had practice. When we arrived the little kids were going to their Sunday school classes for some crafts while the older kids practiced their part of the program, then the little kids were going to practice. Sam ran into his Sunday school room, sat down at the table and was ready for his activities. He didn't even notice that I slipped out to the kitchen to help prepare food for Sunday's brunch after the program. The teacher said she would come and get me if he needed me, but he seemed to be doing fine. I wasn't sure how it would go as I've always stayed with him during Sunday school and other church activities.

Two hours went by and I was still in the kitchen and Sam was still practicing. I snuck into the church sanctuary at one point to see how Sam was doing and he was in the front, practicing the songs with all the rest of the kids. After awhile Jason called to say that I was needed at home, so I went in to get Sam (they were finishing up) and was greeted by some of the other parents telling me how good Sam was. I was surprised. He sure is growing up fast. He melted down at the end when the teacher tried to put Sam's sheep costume on him...he didn't want anything to do with it. Other than that he began his stage career in good form.

When we arrived at church the next morning, however, Sam had a death grip on me and would not let me leave without some serious crying and screaming. We went to his classroom to practice the songs before church and he would not leave my side. I tried guiding him toward the other children and would stand nearby, but that resulted in crying and screaming. Then we went to put on the costumes and Sam again would not let me put him down without extreme protestations and would not put on his sheep costume without extreme protestations. I managed to get on his furry sheep shirt, but the sheep hat was not going to happen.

When the children's portion of the program started, Sam and the other kids were supposed to go to the front of the church and sit in some chairs in the manger scene. Sam went up there without me, but cried very loudly and desperately for mommy. It was awful. The first picture is fuzzy, but I think you get the idea (we're still figuring out the new camera). My options were to either take him back to our pew or sit up front with him as some other parents were doing with their wee ones. I sat up front with him. That's the second picture. He was consoled in a few moments. So we both got to be a part of the program. Poor Sam. He did so well in practice, but wasn't ready for the big show without some assistance. I wasn't really all that surprised that Sam wasn't ready to participate in the program without me, I was more surprised that the practice went so well. Someday, when Sam is older, I will look up at him  in the Christmas program and reminisce about how I used to have to sit up there with him and he wouldn't leave my side. As it is, I am still needed.

Craft time

After an unsuccessful trip to the bookstore for Christmas shopping (unsuccessful because I forgot my wallet), we returned home for some craft time. Today's craft: coloring. Sam isn't too crafty, preferring instead to play with cars, but he actually got into the coloring for maybe 20 minutes or so. Matthew (after an unsuccessful attempt to nap) also got involved with the crafting, but he mostly played with other toys at the table. He did get his hands on one marker and proceeded to color his face and we are thankful for non-toxic, washable markers. I didn't get a picture of the colored-on face, just a close-up of his cuteness during table play.

At one point Sam decided he wanted to fingerpaint, so he got the fingerpaints out of the cabinet. He said something like, "Want to paint" and I said something like, "No, put them back" and the next picture is Sam's interpretation of "putting them back".  Notice the symmetric placement of the paints with the wine bottles. I don't think my dad ever imagined that the wine cabinet he made for us would be multi-purpose in this sense, but here it is. Usually the paints are stored in the cabinet on the left.

All about Matthew

I thought today I'd write some about Matthew as his posts are often limited to sleeping and other bodily functions. But he does other stuff too. Like yesterday and today it sure seems like he is waving. I got some video of it. You can determine for yourself what he's really doing. Maybe he's just flailing his arms around. That's entirely possible.

And he is eating like crazy these days. Two weeks ago he decided that he likes solids. For about a month prior to that I would mix up some cereal, he'd eat a bite or two and be done. He just wasn't interested. He would chew on the spoon for a long time, but didn't want any food on it. I wasn't too worried because he is obviously sturdy enough without the solids, but I was hoping he take to them pretty soon and give me a break from providing milk.

So now he's eating probably a few tablespoons of cereal and a few tablespoons of veggies or fruit once a day. His favorites seem to be peaches and sweet potatoes. The peas always get a funny face out of him and reluctance to try any more. We'll keep trying though. Matthew also likes to be involved in the solid feeding. So here's the strategy. I use two spoons. I scoop up a little bit of food and hold the spoon about 8 inches in front of Matthew. When he's ready, he reaches out and grabs the spoon. I push it toward him so he ends up grabbing the handle and not the scoop. Then Matthew and I direct it into his mouth. He holds onto the spoon for awhile, chewing and sucking while I load up the other spoon with some more food. Then I hold the new spoon in front of him. When's he ready he drops the old spoon (hopefully on the tray, but often on the floor which I why I cover it with newspapers) and grabs the new spoon. This process repeats until Matthew is done. It's really pretty easy to tell when he's done. He simply will not look at the spoon with more food on it again. He plays with his bib, makes fists and squishes around the food in his hand or looks around, but he very distinctly will not look at the spoon with food. It's amazing how kids can communicate at such a young age.

On a final note, I finally finished Jason's sweater. I started it two months ago and it's done. 

Stir crazy

The kids haven't left the house since last Thursday. Jason says they don't understand they've been in the same place for almost a week, but I think Sam may be going a little crazy. Or maybe he's just driving me crazy. Yesterday before his nap we started heading upstairs and he laid down on the stairs. He then started trying to go up the stairs while laying on the steps with his feet first. Hard to imagine, isn't it? Imagine sliding down the stairs on your belly, head first. Then imagine that in reverse. That's how Sam attempted to go up the stairs. He met with little success.

I think he's managed ok, though, since he's got to spend a good amount of time in the basement with Jason lately. Jason has been getting things prepared for drywall installation (which started yesterday). He's enjoying using a tape measure and screw drivers and basically he mimics everything that Jason does. Except for using the saw. He is terrified of the saw. Jason doesn't use it when Sam is in the basement, but he expresses some fear just hearing it below us. I think he's more scared of the saw than the vacuum.

Matthew seems to be doing fine being cooped up indoors. We're reading lots of stories and playing with cars. He enjoys trying to stand at the ottoman. We usually spend some time in the kitchen and I get out the measuring cups and bowls and the kids play with them. Matthew usually just chews on the items, but a few days ago Sam decided to mix up an imaginary birthday cake. It tasted good. We also set up a car wash...a tub half full of soapy water. Then Sam takes his cars and plays in it for awhile, saying the cars are getting a carwash. Such are the days of winter. 

Let it snow!

So I'm sure you heard we got an excessive amount of snow yesterday. Yes, the Metrodome collapsed. Yes, we got maybe 15 inches of snow since Friday night. I went to the grocery store Friday afternoon for a regular quick trip and was overwhelmed by the harried shoppers stocking up on essentials for the weekend's innundation. Come on, this is Minnesota, people! 15 inches of snow does not mean a being snowed in for a week!

The kids enjoyed watching the snow plows come by yesterday morning and again this morning. The first picture is of them looking out the window at the plows. I don't think Matthew could see very well, but he sure was excited to be standing next to his brother. He's still pretty precarious when standing on his own, so there's always a adult close by, but he is getting steadier each day. He also is getting up on his hands and knees a lot more and I'd put him at about 2 weeks from forward crawling.

Sam opted not to help Jason with shoveling and the snowblower, preferring instead to watch from inside the house. He did mention wanting to build a snowman and we will probably try that sometime when it warms up. It's supposed to be in the 20s by mid-week, so we will maybe venture out at that time. Otherwise, we're staying in as the single digits really aren't appealing.

The second picture is our deck. There is quite a lot of snow on it from the past few storms. I guess we won't be using the sliding door anytime soon. The other picture is out our front door. I tried to take a picture of the mailbox, but...you can't see it. It's not that it's a bad picture (well, it is kind of a bad picture, but I really didn't want to spend much time outside), I can't see it either. It's just to the left of the driveway, maybe you can make out a piece of it. 

The mystery kitchen smell

Have you ever had a smell coming from somewhere that seemed to be inexplicable? We have for about the past week. It was coming from the garbage/sink area. Our garbage is a slide out cabinet just to the left of our sink. I first thought it was the garbage and changed it daily for a few days. The stink remained. Then I suspected the garbage disposal. I thought I had perhaps gotten some grease or something down the disposal when I was cleaning up after the pot roast that we had earlier in the week. But I vaguely remember the smell starting before the pot roast. Regardless, I tried to clean the disposal. Did a round of bleach. No change. Tried baking soda and vinegar. Boiling water. No change. Yuck. Finally last night I stuck my head directly over the disposal and it smelled...fresh. It wasn't the disposal.

I had thought the smell was worse under the sink so my next thought was something with the plumbing. I briefly entertained taking apart some pipes, but Jason deterred me. And the garbage area still smelled, even when there was no garbage in it. Hmmmm....What could it be? I was fearing some plumbing in the walls or floor or something. Being a novice, I really had no idea.

Then today I removed the garbage can and looked deep into the cabinet behind it and saw...two diapers. Two old, smelly diapers. I experienced a strange blend of disgust and relief. I had found the culprit. On occasion Sam throws away the dirty diapers for me. He likes to help out and I can only assume that the diapers didn't quite make it into the garbage can and instead were placed behind it.

I sprinkled a generous amount of baking soda over the area and hope that takes care of any lingering odors. The mystery smell is no longer a mystery.