Come again?

The other day, my son came to tell me he had cleaned up all the crumbs under the kitchen table. I was telling him how thankful I was that he had helped me out without being asked (he had picked them all up, one by one!). I could tell he was proud of himself for making my workload easier.

He replied with a big smile, "And I did it all without any carbon dioxide!"

Letter-perfect?

My two year old has continued to surprise us with the number of letters he knows. Quite on his own, he has learned S, W, M, A, F, and more.
Tonight, he was playing with some letter blocks, and I asked him to identify an "A" and an "I". Then I asked him to identify a "W".
His answer was "That's a "D.W.", Mommy!".
If your life is like mine, you understand his answer. Apparently he has been watching too much Arthur.

What if. . .

Recently, a friend of mine mentioned that her husband was home sick with the flu. He had felt it coming on the night before, and since he is a doctor, he was debating canceling his cases for the next day. In the end, he did cancel and stayed home to recover.

This made my friend and I wonder - if we are sick, can we cancel our "cases" for the next day? We both have four little "patients" that we care for 24/7. Would our calling in sick look something like this:

Thursday evening, as you begin to feel achy and start coughing: "Children, Mommy has to call in sick tomorrow. I can't make your meals, help you go potty, change your diapers, or break up your fights. I will just lie in bed all day, resting, sleeping and maybe watching a little TV now and then. Thanks for your understanding."
The children look at Mommy as if she just said she was a Martian with three heads. Then they laugh, assuming this is all a silly joke. Mommy is sometimes really goofy.

Friday morning, when the flu has taken over your body and you think you might die soon: Mommy lies in bed "resting", trying to ignore the cries for juice, the TV remote, bandaids, and bottom-wiping-help. Eventually she feels horrible guilt and gets up and does the bare minimum, all the while feeling like her head is stuffed with cotton candy.

Friday afternoon, desperately hoping for a nap while the little ones sleep: Mommy lies in bed again, attempting sleep for this short period that will be allotted her. The older ones wander in out with various requests for really important things, like logging onto the computer and having fingernails clipped. Soon, after a few minutes of shut-eye, the baby starts to cry.

Friday night, waiting for Daddy to walk in the door with more anticipation than a child on Christmas Eve: Mommy lies on the couch, having given up the notion of being in bed completely. The TV is on the Disney channel, as it has been all day. Some of the children are running around the house wildly, scattering toys under the furniture and fighting with homemade weapons, while others are sitting in front of the TV, eyes glazed over and in a trance. Daddy walks in and gets an exuberant welcome from the children. He quickly hugs them and comes over to check on Mommy. "How do you feel? Did you get some rest today?"

Saturday morning, feeling more like a human again: Mommy wakes up to start breakfast, laundry and do damage control from yesterday. Daddy rolls over in bed and says, "I don't feel too well, hon. I think I've got the flu. If you don't mind, I'm just going to stay in bed today."

This isn't exactly a democracy, but. . .

My husband and I (as usual) are having a bit of trouble agreeing on a name for our soon-to-be-born baby. If it is a girl, we are set. We have been saving the name Katherine Claire (Katie) since our first son was born, three boys ago. But if it is a boy, we are less certain. Here are our choices, in no particular order:

Jacob - possibly nicknamed Jake

Ezekiel Thomas - nicknamed Zeke

Augustine - nicknamed Augie

Theophilus - nicknamed Theo

We realize Theophilus is a mouthful, but it is a beloved family name, and we think Theo is not too unwieldy. The other three are just names that we like, all with rich Biblical meanings or important early church figures.

SO - please vote! Make a comment and let me know what you think! I've enabled the anonymous feature on this post, so you can vote even if you don't have a blogger user id.

Honesty is the best policy, right?

Me: (Trying on a maternity dress for church, talking to my almost 9 year old daughter) "What do you think of this dress?"

Daughter: "It's old-fashioned. No offense, but you look like a Pilgrim. You just need a bonnet."

Sleep, schmeep

I believe my children have formed a coalition against me. It was begun many years ago, when my first two children were little. I think, during the day when my back was turned, they spoke in their toddler/baby language to each other, discussing who would wake Mommy up the following night. "I'll take the 4:00 a.m. if you'll handle the 5:30 wake up call", one would say to the other. They always cooperated beautifully (better than any of the children seem to on any other matter). Without fail, they would follow through with their carefully laid plans, waking me just when I would drift back off to sleep.

Since we have added two more children, the older two have passed on their expertise in this area. My younger two have now carried on the torch (with the occasional help from my 7 year old in the early morning). Take this morning, for example. My four-and-a-half-year old took the midnight "I've gotta potty, Mommy!!!" run. My 7 year handled the 5:44 a.m. "Where are the bandaids, Mommy?" And then my four year old returned to handle the 6:00 "Can I sleep with you, Mommy?". After I let him into bed, I rolled over and hoped for a little more shut-eye. Just as my eyes were closing, my two-and-a-half-year old starting crying in his crib. "It's not fair!" I said to my husband's back. Thankfully, he was getting up for church and let me sleep a bit longer.

Anyway, I'm sure sleep is overrated. I mean, I haven't had a solid night's sleep since late in 1999. I haven't seen any negative effects so far. So I fall asleep while driving. . .that's normal, right? If I stand too still, my head begins to nod, but whose doesn't?

I'd love to ponder this a little longer, but I think I need to squeeze in a nap before church.