Affectionate Disobedience

For the last couple of weeks, we've been devoting a lot more attention to the area of obedience with the kids. I realized that I have basically trained them not to take me seriously until the 3rd or 4th time I ask them to do something, and by then I'm frustrated and end up using what I'll call an "less-than-sanctified tone" with them.

So we've been working on getting them to obey the first time they receive instruction. The greatest challenge has been remaining consistent, no matter how inconvenient it is for me. But it's actually begun to work - today I called Rach, Zekers and Kari Bou, who were playing in the snow, to come over to the van, and Presto! They all came right away. No cajoling. No yelling. Not even the need to call them a second time. I don't remember that EVER happening before. Not that they're that cooperative 100% of the time, but we're working on it. And they seem so much happier with clearly-defined boundaries.

Of course, Rachel being Rachel, she has to find a loophole to every rule. The other day, after I asked her to stay seated until she finished her dinner, she delayed obeying by coming over to me and giving me a hug and a kiss, saying "I just can't sit down because I want to show you that I love you." She's actually pulled this stunt before, and I've always thought, now what in the world do I do with this one? What kind of a jerk punishes her daughter for kissing her? I mean, does she lay in bed at night thinking of all the ways to stop me short, or does this just come naturally for her?

But this time, I calmly replied, "You know, Sweetie, the best way to show me you love me is to obey. Now sit in your chair, please - there will be plenty of opportunity for hugs and kisses later." As soon as she realized this wasn't going to end the way she had planned, she sat right down and ate her dinner - and asked to be excused when she had finished. And we gladly dished out hugs and kisses (and zerberts!) after dinner.

I'm really not sure who's being reprogrammed here - me or the kids . . .

About the Boys

The improvement to the left is due to 2 things:

1. Zekers' concerted effort to stop sucking his lips after seeing the picture of them online (apparently that left more of an impression than looking in the mirror)

2. The continual slathering on of Aquaphor

After several months of looking like he'd colored a perfect circle around his mouth with red marker, I hardly recognize my little dude, but I'm loving his new look! Thanks to everyone for the helpful suggestions.







In Malachi news: This little guy has by far the biggest appetite of all 4 kiddos. He drinks 11 ounces of formula, with rice cereal added, around 10:00 at night, and wakes up famished around 3, and again at 6. I suppose it's time to start feeding him actual bowls of cereal (I've been putting it off as long as possible).

I can't complain, though - he is such a good baby now, with so much personality. I've been able to leave him in the nursery at church for the past 2 weeks and actually be there for most of the service. The bizarre thing is, toward the end of the service, I have to make a tremendous effort to stay seated, and not rush to the nursery - not because I'm worried about him, but because my arms feel so empty! I've held him so much for the past 4.5 months, that we've almost literally become joined at the hip. (which is no doubt the idea behind the origin of the phrase)

One of the things I just love is that when he finishes his nighttime bottle, it takes forever to put him to bed, because we can't get him to stop smiling and waving his arms around.

Rachel and Zeke went to their first soccer class last night. Neither one of them has ever played before, but they had fun. There were about 12-15 other kids age 4-6, so I think Zekers was a little overwhelmed and not quite sure what to do. He has a few things to learn, like the fact that the goal of the game is not to grab the ball and hug it tightly for as long as possible. But hey, at least his lips weren't bright red! I figure, no matter what, it's good exercise, especially at this time of year when we've all been feeling a little cooped up. I have to say, the YMCA has been a gift from God this winter.

And This is Why I'm a Little Worried . . .

OK, I changed my mind about not putting up any pictures of Zekers, but you can see how bad it is. Any suggestions??

Just for the Fun of it

Kari Bou and Malachi have been cracking me up lately. Here are a few snapshots I couldn't resist putting up. (You won't be seeing any pix of Zekers until I can get him to stop sucking on both his upper and lower lips. He has a gigantic, bright red, chapped circle around his mouth that looks rather freakish.)


Our screaming baby has turned into quite the happy little guy.



Karis and Danny have found a new way to nap.


The kiddos had some friends over yesterday evening. Rachel and Alia are one month apart, Zekers and Micah are 6 months apart, and Kari Bou and Lydia are 1 year apart, so everyone had someone to pal around with, except for Malachi, who just enjoyed watching everyone play.



I'd give anything to know what was going through his head at this moment . . .



No one has actually ever seen Malachi's mouth closed - even in his sleep!

A Rachel Afternoon

Any parent would agree that it's often a challenge to spend time doing special activities with each child on a regular basis - which is why I have been looking forward to this afternoon, when I had the chance to help out at Rachel's kindergarten class Valentine party.

It was pretty low-key; 2 other moms and I loaded 20 plates with cookies, candy and cupcakes, and helped the kids with their juice boxes, as they all handed out little valentines they had made for their classmates. Rachel loved that many of them came with tattoos! It was just fun to see how excited she was that I came to her class. She kept coming over and hugging me, and wanting me to meet some of her friends. I couldn't help but think that this most certainly won't be happening in 10 years; in fact, she'll probably hug me for not coming to see her in class!

Overall, I'm not a big fan of Valentine's Day, but I enjoyed watching Rachel and her little friends - all of them were so cute. Later, Danny ran a couple of errands with Zekers and Kari Bou, and Rach & I did a silly photo-shoot on the couch while Malachi drooled all over his mega-saucer.

*Sigh* She's growing up way too fast . . .

Culinary Paradise

There are 2 restaurants in the world that make my husband absolutely giddy: BW3 and Chipotle. What can I say? He's a man of expensive taste.

So when we discovered the earth-shattering news that not only was a new Chipotle set to open yesterday in a city near us, but that they would also be serving FREE burritos and drinks all day - well, we canceled all our plans (because with 4 kiddos we have such a thriving social life - haha!), and headed to said city around 5 PM for the feast.

When we arrived around 5:30, the line was out the door and ran down the length of the building. So Kari Bou and I waited in line while Danny and the other 3 weenies stayed in the nice warm van. They joined us about 30 minutes later, when we got to the door. It was high drama - an ambulance showed up shortly after our arrival for a woman who got to the counter to order and then passed out. Danny figured the excitement must have been too much for her.

Was it worth the wait? You betcha! I tried to get a picture of Danny inhaling his burrito, but I think he was a little embarrassed by the fact that I even had the camera out in the first place, so these will have to suffice.




Malachi sat and stared at Danny's burrito in total awe





Danny took this pic while we waited in line.

It wasn't until after we came home and put the kids to bed that I found out this was Danny's second trip to Chipotle - he'd also been there for lunch.

Regression

Malachi (or "Meat Biscuit", as Danny likes to call him) has lately added a new accomplishment: the ability to roll over onto his back. Unfortunately, he hates being on his back, so he then flails around wildly, yelling and crying, until someone (me) comes to rescue him. He has also mastered the "whole-body smile", which more than makes up for all his little crying fits.

Other than this, there's really not a whole lot to write about from the past couple of weeks (at least, nothing you'd want to read!). A cough and high fever have made the rounds through all of the kids, including Malachi, so I've been out of circulation and offline for a while. For about a week, I've had a sore throat that made it difficult to even talk. Not exactly an ideal scenario with four small children!

I can't quite figure out why every one of the kids seems to have regressed in some way over the past few weeks (with the exception of Malachi, who has nothing to regress from). Just after one of the below pictures was taken, at the mall, Karis had an accident all over herself and one of the rides at the mall. She's started needing a pull-up again at night, and has had several days full of accidents at home. Rachel has gone back to sucking her thumb, after 2 years of abstaining, and we've had to duct tape mittens to her hands at night once again. She actually asks for them if we forget - it's like she knows she's an addict and wants to quit but can't quite do it on her own.

We've also had behavior issues with Zekers both at home and at church. We've now become the family with the problem child - aaaaggghhhh! He gets multiple spankings each day, and at this point, they don't seem to be doing much good.

I sort of wonder if they're not all still adjusting to having Malachi around. I think Rachel goes to her thumb for comfort, and it appears that Zekers is just trying to get attention. Karis has been really clingy lately, too, so I wonder if hers may be an attention thing as well.

The one positive thing that's come of everyone being sick is that I've been able to spend lots of extra time at home just loving on the kiddos. We've read just about every book they own; and spent several days in our PJ's, snuggling on the couch. I've definitely enjoyed that!

And now, some pictures . .. .


Brotherly love



Before the pants-wetting incident, the kiddos had a blast a couple of weeks ago at the mall. The got to play while Mommy hit the sales!



The way Zekers likes to dress for a trip to Kroger



Malachi's (overly-enthusiastic) fan club



Look at me!!