Random Kid Things

We woke up to rain this morning, and I started singing, "It's raining, it's pouring," when Tanner chimed in and sang, "The snowman is boring." It could have been "the snowman is pouring", too, but either way it was funny. He reminds me of Shane. I love it when Shane sings, because he seldoms sings the same words twice. I absolutely love it.

Parker is usually with me at the table when I'm helping the kids do homework after school. He has to have his pencil and paper, too, so that he can work along with the kids, or he writes on their homework. I watched him try for 30 seconds or so, to try and grab the pencil like the kids do. He tried several different combinations, until he finally got it right. Now he holds it like they do whenever he holds a pencil. Of course, by the time I thought, "this would be a great video moment," it was over.

I have really been working on trying to get Tanner to use nice words and a nice voice. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. Usually he will at least say "please" and thus we have this conversation this morning:

Tanner (in a very cranky voice) - I want you drink , Mom.
Me - Say please in a nice voice.
Tanner - (still in a very cranky voice) - Please I have you drink!
Me - nicely, please
Tanner - I said please! (still cranky)
Me - say it nicely
Tanner - I said please! (even crankier)
Me - Say it in a nice voice
Tanner - I SAID PLEASE!!! (he's really mad now)
At this point I decided to drink the rest of the water and wait for him to ask nicely. When I put the cup down, he tried to take a drink, and then threw it across the room when he realized it was empty. I told him that if he wanted a drink, he needed to bring me the cup and ask me, please, in a very nice voice. For some reason what I said actually sunk in, and he did what I asked. Chalk one up for mom today: Mom 1, Tanner -so much more I lost count.

Shane has been working late, til 7 or later every night because harvest has begun. He is playing Zelda Twilight Princess, and the boys - Josh, Luke, Tanner - love to watch. They ask all day, "When is Dad coming home? Do you think he'll play Wheat tonight?" It's really the Wii, but they call it "wheat" because that's what Tanner calls it. They live for the moment they hear his car pulling up, and because the muffler may be gone, you can really hear him coming home. They run to the door and bombard him with, "Will you play "Wheat" tonight?" So he's playing right now, and trying to defeat a dragon, and Tanner keeps covering his head with a blanket and saying, "I can't watch!!" Of course, Josh and Luke keep shouting out what Shane should do, and Shane is doing all he can not to yell at them to be quiet, oops, I mean was trying, but lost that battle.

Luke found a hair comb today, I'm not sure where it came from. I mean, I know it's mine, but I haven't seen it for a looong time. So, he brings it to me and asks me if I will tape it to the back of his hand, Wolverine style, so that he can swoosh around with it and pretend to have claws coming out of the back of his hand. Mom is mean, of course, and says no, you'll claw someone. I could see him thinking, "How can I do this myself and thus avoid mom altogether?"

Parker watches the boys all day, as babies do, and the boys have discovered that several bugs have been gathering on the windows outside, trying to stay warm. (It's been a little colder here lately - fall is in the air!) Anyway, he kept pointing to the window and saying, "skush." I held him up to the window, not sure what he wanted, where he proceded to find bugs on the outside and would try to "squish" them by smacking the window where he saw them. He is all boy, that little one. He also loves to carry toy cars around all day, and drive them on the couches, tables, chairs, me, stairs, wherever he can drive one. He reminds me of Luke that way.

Well, I think that's probably all the fun moments from today. The not so fun ones I'll store away in my "I hope I forget this soon" file. You other moms will know what I mean, and probably you dads, too. I have been struggling with feelings of frustration as a mother, because with Shane gone so much, and more of the care and discipline falling to me to take care of, I felt like all I was doing every day was having to put out fires, yell at kids, and try to stay until Shane got home (which wasn't working very well.) I found a quote on Sunday, and was reminded by a friend, that I need to find the fun, and make things fun for the kids while we wait for Dad to get home. The quote was from President Hinckley, who was the president of our church until he passed away last spring. It says, "In all of living have much fun and laughter. Life is meant to be enjoyed, not just endured!" It puts things in perspective for me just now, and is something I'm trying to more of each day.