Tough Love

Ben is over 10 months now and I can count on one hand the number of nights he has slept through the night. (Hence the permanent dark circles anytime one sees me.) Part of the reason is cuz I am not willing to move James out of the crib, as he would never go to bed if I did, so Bens been in our bed. I havent wanted to fork out money on another crib cuz it just seems ridiculous, but i have been scanning craigslist for a while in hopes of a steal. Last weekend I finally found the steal I was hoping for- $20 for an excellent crib that retails for $120- seriously if thats not the steal of the month I dont know what is! So after the sanitization process was complete-(i am a germaphobe!) we decided to shake Bens world up. We have done the tough love approach for the older 3, but each time we do I just feel like the worst mother in the world. There is my precious baby screaming for me to come get them, but I let them exhaust themselves into sleep in hopes they learn to sleep on their own. And they do, but the whole time it rips my heart out. I hate it. But it really is for their own good. And mine too. So i do it. Last night Ben cried harder and longer than the previous nights so its not seeming to work as quickly as I hoped, but I am gonna try to continue cuz I dont think I can live much longer on two 3 hour stretches. Its a bugger.

Flagged?

Ok I have a slight miff with someone. Who in the world flagged my blog saying I have questionable material on here? Hello people- if you are talking about the previous post- and are offended that I was naked when coming out of the shower I was the one mortified! And really doesnt everyone who showers do so without their clothes on? I dont see whats so questionable about that.
OR if its because my kid asked me about s-e-x then you probably dont have kids cuz that how they get here. But whatever. I guess I should say that if you are offended I apologize- but I will most likely have embarrassing things continue to happen while I raise my kids. Its just a part of life and I write about it cuz its my journal! So there! Sheesh.

Mortified

Ben didnt sleep much last night. I couldnt get him to sleep until 2 and even then he kept waking up. So it was a bad night. Which of course set off my morning. I didnt get into the shower until later. But since the kids didnt have school today it wasnt a big deal. I got Ben down for a nap, and the other 3 went in to backyard to play, so it was the perfect timing. As soon as I got out of the shower and hung my towel to dry, I turned around and standing there was my Toast and his neighbor friend. Unsure how to make this less awkward, I calmly told Ty that he and his friend needed to go downstairs and back outside. Nobody moved in what seemed like an eternity, so I jumped back into the shower until the shock wore off the kids enough for them to move it back outside. Now my kids have seen me naked before. Unfortunately thats just the life of a mother- nothing is sacred- my showers are commonly interupted with them opening up the shower door to tattle on one another. But never before have they brought a friend upstairs to do so. I actually didnt even know the neighbors had come to play. SO I was a bit mortified. I think I need to go tell this kids mom, but I have never even met her. This is gonna be awkward. "Hi- I am your neighbor. your kids came over to play to today and they saw me naked." How the fetch do I explain this without it seeming like I am a nudist? I havent been this embarrassed for a while. Good heavens.

Dusty feet

Tonight I was getting the kids ready for bed and as part of the routine, they get baths, lotion, pjs, teeth brushed, scriptures, family prayers, then a few primary songs before hopping in bed. Daniel is working late, so I am wrestling and threatening the three oldest as none of them wanted to cooperate. anyway we start the scriptures and we are in 2 Nephi where its getting into the Isaiah stuff. Now I love the BOM, but really, Isaiah always has been a bunch of weird mumbo-jumbo for the most part for me. Even having fabulous religion and institute teachers back in the day it just never made much sense to me. So all 4 kids are being their crazy selves-whacking each other, running around, not listening at all, so I just rushed through it so I could get them to bed. As I am tucking Tyler in, he says "mom, why do kings lick each others dirty feet?" I had no idea what he was talking about so I said "what?" He says to me, "you said kings lick dust off their feet, or something like that." I vaguely recall a verse saying something about dust and maybe feet, but somehow I missed the licking part. So we went and looked up the scripture and sure enough its says something about kings and queens licking dust off of feet. I told him I didnt really know what it meant, then he responds, "well thats just gwoss. I wouldnt want to lick a kings foot even if it was clean." I have to agree with my kid. I wouldnt want to lick a clean or dirty foot either. I am sure it has a much deeper significant and not so gross interpretation, but from the sound of that scripture- its just messed up.

Sex Ed.

Tyler asked me today-"why do you and dad have sex all the time?" That completely caught me off guard. I was really shocked that he would ask me that because I didnt know his little ears ever heard that word before- I have not discussed the birds and the bees with him cuz he is 5- much too young to worry about THAT conversation, and Daniel and I certainly dont use that word when the kids are around, and they dont ever watch TV, so its not from that, and the movies they watch are all animated and they certainly dont bring up that word/subject. So where the fetch did my little Toast hear that word. I asked him if he knew what that word meant. He said, "no, but Kylie told me you and dad have sex all the time." I really didnt know what to say to him, so I told him that word is a grown up word and that it when he gets a little bigger, daddy will tell him more about it. He replies, "But I already am big. He can tell me now." I corrected myself and told him I meant OLDER AND WISER, and left it at that.

Until Kylie came home. I very casually asked her about her comment to Tyler. She said, "well, (enter friends name) told me her mom and dad have sex all the time, so I knew you and daddy do too." I asked her if her friend happened to tell her what that means. She said, " kissing?" To my relief my little daughter is still innocent. So I told her the same thing I told Tyler- thats its a grown-up thing, and that when she gets a little older we can talk about it, but in the mean-time its best not to go around talking about that with her friends.

So I have a question- at what age do parents talk to their kids about that stuff? Isnt 1st grade MUCH too young for that word to be popping up in kid conversations? And if you do have to address that topic at such a young age- how do you appropriately do such? Any ideas?

"YOU"RE BALD!!!"

Tonight I started to cut Bens hair as he had some long hairs sticking out all over the place, and it was looking kinda scruffy. I have been procrastinating this adventure cuz number 1- its really hard to cut an infants hair as they dont hold still. At all. and #2- I knew if I messed it up Daniel would want to shave it all off, just as he did with James when he was the same age. Well I started to cut and within the first few snips I knew I was doomed. I tried to make it look ok, but my attempts were futile. So while I ran to the store to grab a few things, my-dearest-darling-Daniel-whom-I-love-deeply-but-am-non-too-thrilled-with-at-the-moment, shaved my baby boys head. He is now BALD. And we are gonna have to continue with it cuz when it starts growing back in its gonna be puff-ball head and thats even worse. My poor baby.