How To Tame Your Child

If only I could affirm Lennon verbally and say, "Yes, you are the master of your destiny. No one but you is really in control here. We are just here to guide you along the way" then maybe he wouldn't feel the need to push down anyone that looked smaller than him in an attempt to test that hypothesis on his own. But, somehow, I don't think that would do the trick. So, I guess we'll just have to wait this phase out and hope that no one gets hurt and no parents get too angry with our seemingly reckless parenting of him. Love and understanding, that's what he needs. He's testing all his boundaries right now. Checking to see just how much power he has over what happens to him and around him. I need patience. Lots of patience and lots of wisdom to properly parent this gem of a child. I love him so so much it almost hurts sometimes, but then he can make me boil with anger in an instant like almost no one else on earth has ever done.

Lennon feels everything deeply. He laughs boisterously and wails like an angry dragon when all is not well. Nothing is taken light heartedly, excepting maybe the "talks" we have with him when he is being a little jerk to other kids. The second time he hit Bianca last weekend, we brought him inside for his time out and to really try to get through to him that it was not acceptable behavior.

Shelby: Lennon, I want you to repeat after me: I will not hit Bianca again.

Lennon: Dee dop bee bee ddddddrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Ike dat Daddy? (biggest grin he can muster)

Shelby: Lennon, say I will not hit Bianca again.

Lennon: Drrrrrrrrrrrrrrr dddeeee daa daa bap. (looking like The Cheshire Cat on happy pills)

And, really, at that point what can you do? I'm sure in the end, whatever way we end up "messing him up" will be completely different from any way we ever imagined was possible.

I love you my little dragon!

AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

I almost killed Lennon today. He's been especially difficult for about the last ten days and the novelty has run out - to say the least. He peed in his pants on the floor of Claire's house this morning, had me pulled out of yoga later in the morning to calm him down at the child care of the gym, screamed and cried about everything in general ALL DAY LONG and then to top things off, he pooped in his pants at Amy's house. After pooping, he took off his pants and laid face down in the sandbox until I came to retrieve his poop covered self. It was everywhere. On his face, legs, you name it. I didn't think either one of us were going to leave that situation still in tact. I was pretty much not a very nice mommy immediately after this little episode and kind of let him have it after which he was surprisingly much much better. The whole rest of the night was bliss. Amy suggested maybe his poo was toxic somehow. Who knows. Emotionally toxic poop? Really? Come on life, I'm not that bored that you have to throw this kind of crap at me. I've learned my lesson, let's move on.

Standing at the kitchen sink this morning, wearing only a pajama shirt, Lennon was "cooking soup." Mia, Granmommy and I were eating our breakfast. Suddenly, Lennon gasps - "I NEED AN APRON!"

"That's not all you need." Laughs Granmommy

-------------------------------------------------------------

Poor little Lennon was up for a few hours last night throwing up. It seemed endless, yet we realized who we were dealing with. If he can eat the way he does why would we expect anything else from him when his body is expelling all that was in it? Today our usually ravenous little guy has only eaten a few pretzel sticks, a couple bites of a bagel (usually one of his favorite treats) and a few bites of sausage. We even went to his favorite restaurant, Pignones, for lunch and he just sat there not really touching his food. He even fell asleep in the car today on our way to the library. Hopefully he starts feeling better soon.

Tonight we are going to have a "slumber party" after Lennon goes to bed and watch First Knight. Mia and I just read the Tale of King Arthur and she is now in LOVE with the story. She just can't get enough of it. We read the Classic Starts version and yesterday she had Granmommy buy her the full length version for Easter that she is excited to work our way through. We're having lots of fun with Granmommy. The weather has been all over the charts, but nothing too severe at least. Hopefully we'll have some nice weekend weather to enjoy cooking some hot dogs outside over a fire or something fun like that.

(clockwise from the empty seat) Jennifer, the newest neighbor who cooked all the delicious food and brought all of us together, Dianne, who's been in this house for over 20 years, Claire, Walderi, one of Jennifer's friends, whose name escapes me, and of course Shelby

Pics before church

Helping Daddy vacuum out the car

"Look out kid, that beak woman is about to peck you with that long pointy witch snout!" Awesome nose photo.

No explanation could do this shot justice.

Some of the kids at the Easter brunch at The Brill's house

Lennon, Kaylea, Sammy and Ruthie

We got this tiny little Christmas tree almost four years ago when we were first in Malden and The Brills have taken care of it for us all these years. Kevin said he thinks it will be ready to cut and use in about five years, so hopefully it will make the trip to Texas in another two.

These two are getting so big and beautiful

Mia cries almost every time we leave Naomi because we see them so rarely these days now that we're in different towns and different schools.

All the kids at The Brills brunch. The food at the brunch and the dinner was DELICIOUS!

Mia and Mateus with their "next door Grandma" She was teaching them how to distinguish birds and painting with them during the babies naps

Lennon can make a bigger mess than I ever thought possible

Painting the pin wheel Eileen gave him to paint

Mia chose a two color scheme for her pin wheel and Lennon pretty much mixed all the colors together and called it a masterpiece

Celebrations and Poop

How many times can you celebrate one holiday? Well, for us this Easter the answer to that is seven. First off, one day last week our awesome next door neighbor, dubbed "The Next Door Grandma" gave all four of the kids an Easter basket filled with goodies. Egg shaped sidewalk chalk, bubbles, water activated growing creatures, coloring books, and little wooden painting projects. They were all overjoyed and declared her the best neighbor ever!

On Thursday Claire hosted a party here at the house where the kids hunted for eggs with bags that they decorated just before the hunt, hit a pinata, which Lennon called a "peeonah," had cupcakes and played around in the woods behind the house a lot.

Then Saturday morning we went over to the Brill's house for another Easter party. There we had brunch an amazing egg hunt and lots of playing on the swing set in the Brills garden. They also gave us some strawberry plants to take home and put in our garden.

This morning we got up and went to church at The Cambridge Vinyard, a nondenominational charismatic church. It's where my mom's group meets on Monday mornings, so Lennon was already very familiar with the childcare there and had a really fun time and another egg hunt while we were in service.

After we got home and put Lennon down for his nap we went downstairs for an Easter brunch hosted by our newest neighbor, Jennifer the Aggie. The whole house got together and had lunch out on our new patio behind the house. It was the first time the whole house has gotten together for anything and we had a great time.

After Lennon was up from his nap, full bellies and all, we drove back over to The Brill's house for an Easter Sunday turkey dinner. The kids played a lot outside again and Mia even has a little bit of a tan on her face just from the last few days of nice weather. We're finally home and the day is coming to an end. However, as soon as I'm done posting this I'm going to have to go crazy cleaning the house cause it's a total wreck right now.

Our sixth celebration will come next week when the Easter Bunny visits our house while Granmommy is here with us. We thought we'd save decorating eggs and all that for when the kids had a grandma here to enjoy it with them.

Oh yeah, the poop part. Lennon has been dubbed The Little Leprechaun lately by my friends. He is just so precious, but oh so naughty! He's not doing anything mean to other kids, just testing cause and effect and seeing how much power he has in certain situations. He also is still having accidents now and again, and the "accident" today takes the cake. He had already had his underwear taken off and was only wearing pants (from a tiny pee accident) when he apparently pooped on the Brill's patio and walked away as if nothing had happened. The girls ran across it and came to tell us they thought they had found some poop. After inspecting it and Lennon we realized what had happened. I had to take several deep breaths to get through this one. It was tough, but after we got him cleaned up and in fresh clothes that Suzanne gave us we went back to the party and had a nice time. Shelby and Kevin cleaned up the patio poop and washed it away with bleach while I was cleaning up Lennon. I think I actually got the better end of that deal.

Happy Easter!