Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Melt My Heart

Lest you should think for a moment that my children, although they are quite talkative and like little duckies behind me everywhere I go, do not make my heart melt and drip ....I'll share a little sumpin, sumpin with you.. my three year old Isaac....and his affection for his "love"....

"Mommy, you are the cutest girl I've ever seen....you're my love."
"You're my love, too, Isaac."
(After kissing my hand....) "I just married you...because I kissed your hand.  That means we'll be loves forever."
"We will sooo be loves forever."
"We're loves, aren't we, Mommy?"
"Yes, baby...you are Mommy's love."

Good heavens.  Does it get any sweeter than that????

And another thing...after choring today, I come in and Jacob says, "Mom, I poured you some ice water."
"For ME?"
"Yes, Mom, because when I come inside after being outside and hot, I want some ice water.  I thought you might want some."

Goodness.  Melt.My.Heart.

I Am Going to Sit Down For 20 Minutes Without Getting Up...When I'm 98

This is a Mommy vent...  If you do not have children....If you have never talked to a talkative child (I mean, listened to a talkative child).... If you believe that children are to be seen and not heard....  If you are a meanie and think that you have perfect children, please discontinue reading and go back to your rainbow world with rivers of chocolate and sterile little bubbles...

Meanwhile....here in the real world.....

Where I live, several of the local theaters have free movies during the summer.  It's a great idea.  I can go and indulge my kids in one big popcorn and one big drink for $8.50 for them to share.  No...I do not make my own popcorn and sneak it inside in my pocketbook.  **** OH, wait...speaking of which... am I really backward?  I mean, is it fairly obvious that I spend nearly all of my time milking a goat, toting water buckets, picking blueberries...or cucumbers...or tomatoes....or whatever?  Because I say pocketbook.  Is that no longer "cool" terminology?  because I have received a few looks.  Am I supposed to be saying "purse" now?  Is "pocketbook" still socially acceptable?  ****  ok, I'm done...
So, anyway...I do not sneak homemade popcorn inside the movie theater in my pocketbook...er, purse... dang..you know what I'm talking about...
Because for one...the free movie is at 9:30 AM....like, in the morning.  Meaning I would have to leave somewhere in the area of 8:45/8:55 to get there early enough to have our popcorn and be in our seats by the time the movie starts.  Aha. Aha.
So, this morning, everyone is ready and out the door by 9:08...that's what the clock said...but, I knew it wasn't really that time because I set my clocks fast...so, I'll think it's later than it is...so, I'll be prompted to hurry... only I know the clocks are set ahead, so I can factor in how much time I really have...except that I'm not only ALWAYS running behind, I'm also bad at math...so, when the clock says 9:08 and I think that it's around 12 minutes fast, I get confused and end up calling time and temperature on my cell and then I know what time it REALLY is....nevermind.
Okay...so, we get to the movie and of course it has already started ..and it was The Last Airbender..(I know..that's an old movie.  Didn't you get the FREE part?)  The beginning of TLA shows a black screen with white words on it....meaning, that the entire theater was pitch black and so, I was walking in this unattractive haltingly cumbersome gait trying to follow the lights across the front and up the steps... and then we couldn't see the seats.  AT ALL.  So, then I have to pretend that we are enjoying the movie from the side..  leaning on the railing ... just me and my four kids...chilling on the side... and FINALLY the screen lights up and we can pick a seat... but, I did it all slow...like, "oh...I guess we can sit down now..if y'all want..."
So, Isaac is really good about the first 30 minutes...thanks to the popcorn.  And then he wants to sit on my lap..  and snuggle...and pull my head down and whisper to me...and point to the projector thingie at the back of the theater...and pull my hair over his head...and pull my head down again...and kiss me... like one of those loud, smoochy kisses...and then pull my head down again...which is all really, really sweet...because he is my love ... but, after about 30 minutes, you want to smooth your hair down that now looks like a porcupine and come up for air...only, I didn't because only an hour had passed and there was still some movie left.
So, anyway...  when we got home, I had the beginnings of a little headache going on....and I still hadn't done my farm chores (because I'm really NOT a crack of dawn farm girl) so, I just wanted a moment of silence.  Just one.  But, I couldn't get it.  So, I went in my room and shut the door and said I was changing my clothes.  It took me a really, really long time.  Like, a really really really really long time.  And Sarah comes to the door and says, "Mom, are you done YET?"
"No, honey...still changing."
"How long does it take you?"
And then the phone rang....
"No, thank you, Mrs. (Local Newspaper), I repeat...I do NOT want to order at this time...even if the deal is so great that *normal* people wouldn't pass it up."
And then Isaac yells, "MOM!  Can I get in the T-A-R *pool*?"  (No, my three year old can NOT spell...the thing is...the older ones would spell out pool on occasion when they didn't want to get in but they knew if they SAID "pool" Isaac would want to get in and beg them to get in with them...  only, he figured out what they were saying based on context...  so, now he thinks he has to spell it when he says it...only he doesn't know how to spell it...)
So, I say...fine..I'll go outside and sit while he gets in *after choring, of course*...
choring is done and I'm sitting in my chair..  with my book ...which is about the spanish inquisition...which you know all about if you have kids...haha...
and then there are honeybees in the pool, so I get up and scoop those out...and sit back down.
and then there is another honeybee in the pool, so I get up ...and sit back down.
and then he wants to get out and have a snack and I'm like, yes!  they can all eat a snack and I'll relax.
and then it occurs to me that our new puppy has decided to go trotting off into the neighbor's yard...
     so, I get one of my beautiful children to go fetch her...and sit back down.
and then I realize she ran straight back to their yard...so, I get said child to get her again....and tell them to pet her and maybe she'll love us and want to behave.  (Sorry, brief trip to rainbow world)
so, we put her in her fence ...and I sit back down.
and then Isaac wants back in the pool, so I convince his siblings to get back with him...  and I sit back down.
and then Isaac gets out of the pool and goes in the house ALONE so, I plead with a beautiful child to check on him...
and he returns with BAD intel...not bad in the sense of inaccurate, but bad in the sense of "this don't look good'...apparently, there was a poop trail ....
sigh.  I GET UP.
My poor, poor love was very distraught.  apparently, he had some belly turmoil and it decided that regardless of conventional etiquette, it would decorate the hardwood kitchen floor...and leave a trail ON THE CARPET from the kitchen to the bathroom...and there decorate the walls while he was trying to sling his drawers off.  sigh.  
I comfort my distraught angel...clean him off...and send him back out to the pool.  And I clean the ...belly turmoil.
And then it's 5 pm and I say, "okay.  I'm setting the timer on the microwave for 15 minutes. I would like to sit outside and read for 15 minutes without interruption.  Can someone get me when it goes off?"  (Because I know that I will have 15 minutes to get the easy supper I have planned at least started and NOT look like I've been sitting all day..  SITTING ALL DAY.  RIGHT)
So, I sit down ....and in about 10 minutes, beautiful child comes outside and says, "Isaac peed in his pants.  Can I have a snack?"
***He was only joking about the peeing in the pants.
***He was not joking about the snack.

Are We Related?

A sure sign there is something in the blood: I walk into my two older boys' room and have to step over some things that they have set up on the floor.  I absentmindedly slide some things over with my foot, and when I realize I've messed up their stuff, I say in a voice that sounds unconvincing even to me, "I'm sorry.  Did y'all have that set up?"  To which my 12 year old replies, "No, Mom....I threw them down and they landed that way."  I have to admit.....I nearly doubled over laughing.  :)

An Hour Online is Technically not an Hour....When You Have Children

Okay... so, if you were to take a peek at my online history, you would likely gasp in dismay, raise your eyebrows, and think to yourself:

wow....she spends a LOT of time online...doesn't she have kids?  and a mini-farm?  and household duties?  and.... 

To start with, I wouldn't let you view my history...just for that very reason...but IF you did....here's my explanation...
Let's just take any day of the week ending in D-A-Y, and some, if not all of this, is included in my early morning attempt to view my email and facebook.  (by the way, I could possibly have a slight addiction to facebook based on the aforesaid kids/mini-farm/household duties/etc that constantly call my name..but, that's a post for another time)

I open my eyes to another day...that's not really accurate.  I think how good the bed feels when it's time to get out of it...I think back on how many times one of my four wardens woke me up at night for some reason or another...  and then I stumble out of bed, because I know it's important to be a responsible adult and wake up before 10 am...  plus, I have an older farmer friend who likes to call around 8 am in the mornings and it's really hard to get that I've not been sleeping, non-gravelly, I-really-am-a-goat-milking-I've-been-up-since-the-crack-of-dawn-farmgirl-voice thing on demand. 
I get to the kitchen and open the laptop cover thinking I just need a few moments to have some cappuccino and gather my wits.

MOM!  I need some noodles!!!  (Yes, I have said before and I say again, my three year old thinks that despite that the fact that we live on a mini-farm with fresh goodness all around, he MUST have his ramen noodles for breakfast...I am still waiting for this phase to pass)
Can you make me some french toast?
Can I play on your computer?
Mommy!  Will you get me some apple juice?
Hey, Mommy...you wanna hear my dream? (Mom!  Can I have some apple juice?)  I dreamed that I was in that one Harry Potter movie...you know the one where ----------- (Did you start my french toast?  I'm starving!) and then Malfoy said -------  and then I said---------- and I had the wand and----------  wasn't that crazy?  Did you hear what I said?  You want me to tell you again?

Okay, okay...  pour the juice, get out the pan for the french toast, start some water boiling for the capp-- and log on to facebook.  ohhhhhh....red flags.... silent early morning interaction.  SILENT.  the best kind of morning interaction...if you are NOT a morning person.  which I am not.

I start to reply on fb ...the thought is taking form in my mind...I am laughing to myself.. Are you making my french toast now?  Mommy...  are my noodles almost done?  Dang...the noodles.  What was I saying again?  Oh, nevermind.

The noodles are boiling, the cappuccino is ready, I have resisted all attempts to to have my computer carted off by the little band of scavengers that I'm playing chef to, and the eggs and goat milk have been whisked for the french toast....while the pan is heating...

Where was I?  Oh, yes.... commenting....dang...the pan's smoking....

Nine pieces of french toast sit steaming on plates...  juice is poured...noodles are half-eaten and then abandoned in favor of a piece of french toast with syrup...at any rate, everyone is, at present, putting something in their mouths besides the swift intake of oxygen to fuel the never ending stream of talk...
So, I sit with my capp- and comment... which means I just had, like, an entire thought take seed and then follow through to fruition.  Fascinates me on the rare occasion when that happens...

And then here comes my sweet Isaac...my "love"....as he refers to himself...  and he decides to climb up on the barstool and sit on the counter between me and facebook.  I poke my head around the side of him to finish my thought and he moves his head over in mirror of my movement....

So, I do a swift duck and weave to the other side....MIRRORED..  dang, he's good... and all the while he's smiling sweetly...  like he's not actually aware that he's making me lose my place in the riveting thread I am engaged in...

So, I slide him over to the side, and say sweetly...hang on juuuuuuuuuust a second and let mommy finish typing this ONE thing...  

To which he gives me his sweetest look, puts a soft little hand on each cheek, turns my face to him...giving me a fish face in the process because I am still (albeit, in complete futility) trying to finish my comment...  and says, "I just want to kiss you, love."...and since you can't argue with that...   I kiss him quickly and say again (maybe not quite as sweetly)... juuuuuust a second...

"Hey, Mommy!  You could read me this book....about the snake.  I'll do the snip! snap!"  (because this book actually has a plastic snake head at the top that you can make go "snip! snap!")

"Ok....but, I'm only going to read you ONE...just one"

And so I read it ...  I'm not even sure of what I said...  it must have been correct because he snipped and snapped at all the right places....

And then finally.... FINALLY...
"Ok, I read you one ...now scoot over for a second."

"Just one more, Mommy"

And then I have to pull out the last ditch effort....the big dogs...

"Ok, Mommy is going to the bathroom now...  you.wait.here"