And Then There Was Vomit

Sorry for the gross title (not really sorry). Did I lose anyone? No? That's why you're my people.

My 3-year-old has been a special kind of awesome lately. The ladies over on Rants from Mommyland mentioned a "cupcake baked by the devil."

Yup.

One of my friends pinned an article on Pinterest about how to manage your anger toward your children and I seriously raspberried the computer screen. Then I crossed my arms, stomped my foot and tossed my hair (I have an excellent tantrum teacher). It was just one of those days.

So today. We went to the Y, the boys had gymnastics and then I promised the kids the BLOCK ROOM. The block room has padded walls and floor, which is a good thing because it is filled with foam shapes of various sizes all ready to be stacked, rolled on, leaped over and generally made mayhem with. The block room is my children's favorite place.

Three-year-old played beautifully in the block room. She ran. She leapt. She didn't fall apart when the crazy boys (it was full of crazy boys, not just my own) knocked her down. At one point she ran up to me and asked, very concerned:
"Mom, are we real?"

Yes.

"Am I real?"

yes.

"What about daddy?"

I'm not sure if she was really pondering the existential nature of life or not, but apparently learning we were indeed real made her feel all kinds of better because she was charming! She hugged. She kissed. She listened.


And then there was vomit.

And when the dust had settled and she was in the bath and I had a second (while watching her thankyou) I checked some of my places online and discovered an old acquaintance had died in a terrible accident, and another friend-of-a-blogger-I-have-read was killed by an infection after giving birth. This is in addition to the other tragedies I've learned about this week (and there have been MANY).

And I hugged her little face and decided maybe the anger articles was worth reading after all.

Oh, hi.

Many things have happened since I last blogged. Many. Big things. Like moving across country. And having a baby. Okay, mostly those two things. So I won't make excuses about not blogging I'll just start again. Yay!

I have a six month old daughter. She is perfect. I also have three other children. I believe they were perfect once (maybe not the redhead...). I promised my husband no more children because even though I love her perfect baby cheeks and I could squoosh them and snuggle them and kiss her all day, loving babies is not a good reason to keep having kids. Because you know they grow too fast. Anyway, right now I'm just basking in her perfectness.

Meanwhile, almost-three-year-old is not potty trained. I wonder if this should bother me? She also likes to drink her milk in baby bottles. No real reason other than preference and I say, whatever. A glass of milk in a bottle every day isn't a big deal. I know some people think I should fix this little habit of hers. And I think, why? Who decided a sippy cup was more socially acceptable and so all toddlers must use sippy cups. She drinks everything else from a cup. She just likes milk in a bottle. And frankly, she spills less.

Also, I signed the twins up for kindergarten, and 1. It freaked out this former homeschooler. I promised myself we would reevaluate often and definitely before first grade. 2. They wanted the boys in separate classrooms as a matter of policy. Really? Maybe that's great for some twins but I really, really think it would be bad for my boys. Some things I get to decide as the parent. I'm taking control on this one or I'm yanking them from the system. End. Of. Story.

I wish I was as relaxed about all the little things I do that aren't socially perfect. My house isn't as clean, my clothes are not pinterest perfect, my body is a bit lumpy-bumpy (remember the four kids part?) I snuggle and kiss my daughter's perfect cheeks and I'll go to bat defending my kids quirks, but my own?

We don't all have to be the same. The end.