Thursday, October 14, 2010

Lunchtime Drama

Half an hour ago:
The three four-year-old boys were yelling and fighting with each other, the two-year-old boy was sitting in his high chair at the table and had strewn macaroni and cheese all over the dining room and wet his pants (my fault for not being able to get him in time), the one-year-old boy was playing peacefully, and I was with Maggie in the bathroom, cleaning her up from pooping in her underwear and trying to keep her from smearing it all over the toilet seat.

And why do I want five kids again?

Now:
All but one four-year-old boy is sleeping peacefully, and the boy awake is reading quietly on the couch while I get some work done (and type this post).

Ok, maybe five is doable. Check with me again around dinnertime.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Feigning Sickness

Wow, I haven't posted in a while. Sorry.
Tjabe has been complaining of a stomachache off and on for a while, so we're cutting different things out of his diet to see if it helps. Nothing major yet, because we're not quite sure when his stomach is really hurting and when he may have just eaten too much (or just be trying to convince us and himself that it hurts). But what kid would want his stomach to hurt? Here's our conversation after lunch today. He'd been complaining of a stomachache earlier and was heading over to a friend's house after lunch to play. I wanted to be sure he wasn't contagiously sick before sending him over to Blake's (you're welcome, Addie) so he got the Inquisition. At this point he doesn't know that he's going over to Blake's yet. I'm trying to keep him objective in his answers.
"Tjabe, does your tummy still hurt?"
"No, not anymore."
"Does anything hurt?"
"No. But I feel just a little sick."
"Sick? Like you're going to throw-up sick, or stuffy-nose sick?"
"No, just a little sick. Like I-have-to-lie-on-the-couch-and-watch-Kipper sick."
At this point I know he's fine. He apparently doesn't get to watch enough movies and has found a way to try to wrangle some more TV time out of us.