I actually used to enjoy doing the laundry. It was my excuse to sit down and watch a show while I folded clothes. That was before I had three children now it seems to have become the bain of my existence. Between the baby’s spit-up and drool and the messy eating and accidents from my other two, I end up doing laundry nearly everyday. If that weren’t enough, I never get through folding a batch without at least three interruptions, some of which last for a half an hour or more. If I save it till the kids are in bed and I’ve done my other nightly chores, I find myself too tired to finish it. I feel like I’m always in some stage of doing laundry–this is one of those things that gets better with time right? How old do the kids have to be before I insist they wash, dry and fold their own clothes? I’m considering starting them all on their own laundry at age 5, while I’m at it, I could start charging rent at age 10!
I’ve been frustrated at my lack of time lately and feeling like I’ll never have the time to do more than maintain the level that I have now. It was in pondering this dilemma that I determined to try having my preschoolers help. Today I had them try a variety of different chores so that I could determine which chores were best for each child and what I needed to teach each child to increase his or her repertoire of chores. Most of my surveying was with Isaac, as he’s the older and more willing of the two. We started off with the toilet. He did ok, but needed direction on where and how to wipe all of the surfaces, how to hold the spray cleaner, and how to squirt the toilet cleaner into the toilet, but for some reason he enjoyed the task. Later in the day he used the toilet and then reported that it needed to be cleaned again. I taught him how to clean a mirror (using the one in his room). At dinnertime I had him clear the table and rinse all of the dishes. He did these chores well and with little need for direction. Charlotte did the laundry and scooped the litter. She switched clothes from the washer to the dryer and unloaded the dryer when it was done. She did so well that I could actually walk away while she was working and she persisted through and finished. The litter didn’t have much to scoop, so that lesson will have to be resumed later.
It was a successful trial. I found a few chores that they could do independently that would actually help me. I think I may spend some more time training them before implementing a chore chart and rewards system, but so far so good.
I’m not really sure why Isaac has chosen tigers as his main fear, but he has. Each night he has to check all the locks before he goes to bed to make sure tigers can’t get in (because tigers don’t have keys). He whispers so the tigers don’t hear him until the doors are locked then he talks in a normal voice. Here are some of the things he has said about tigers:
6.30.08 (written by Zach) The boy worried that there were tigers outside trying to get in to "die" him. They were using ladders to come in from the sidewalk to the window. I told him that there were no tigers in Utah, but that if there were, and they tried to get in, I would boom them with my boomer. He asked if that would knock them over and make them say "aaah!". Luckily, Charlotte was the voice of reason. She told Isaac that tigers live in the jungle, not on the sidewalk.
8.20.08 Isaac asked Heavenly Father that "the cars that drive by that are too noisy will be bitten by the tigers" in his prayer tonight.
8.31.08 Isaac said he wanted a family of dogs with a mommy, a daddy, an Isaac, a Charlotte, and a Nicole dog. I told him that most people get just one dog. I told him that some people get a family of dogs. He said we are some people so we will get a family. Then he corrected himself and said that we are some people and kids. He continued by saying that the dogs would say "woof" and scare the tigers away so the dogs could keep the cats safe. As he continued to talk and postulate chickens were added to the equasion and he said the chickens would keep the dogs safe from tigers. When I asked him if he wanted a pet tiger, he said yes, but it would have to be in a cage and he used his hands to describe an inner cage and an outer cage and the outer cage would have a door but the inner cage would have no door.
I think the death of my grandmother motivated us to plan a trip to visit our only surviving grandparent (Zach’s paternal grandmother) in Seattle and I’m glad it did because we had a great trip.
Zach, Isaac, Charlotte, and Zach’s parents left for Seattle at 5:00 AM on Saturday (8-23-08) and arrived in Seattle at about 7:20 PM (Utah time). By all accounts the children did well and the trip up was uneventful. I flew with Nicole that evening leaving Utah at about 9:20 and also had an uneventful trip.
Today was the graveside service for my grandmother Ila Terry O’Bryant. She was a remarkable woman. From the time I was very young, I always remembered feeling an intense sense of love when I was around my grandmother. As I got older, I longed for and cherished the moments I had with her. I have felt a special closeness between us, partly because I was named after her first child who suffered a tragic death when she was 2.
Grandma was a wonderful storyteller. I loved to listen to her tell stories of her childhood and family life. I remember when we’d go to visit, I’d sometimes stay up and just listen as she talked with my mother. When I was older she’d tell me stories and show me pictures. I have fond memories of sitting on her bed listening to her tell stories. She kept all her picture books in the front room and I enjoyed looking through them and imagining what life was like when she was young.
8.14.08 Charlotte has been enjoying the Olympics. So far her favorite event is swimming which she called the "crying when I’m swimming show." As soon as they started playing the national anthem she told me that the men would start crying. Today when she threw a tantrum during Zach’s lunch break he went in to help her through it. He finally got her to stop crying by singing the national anthem. When he finished the song she said she wanted to watch the "crying and swimming movie."
8.15.08 While watching the Olympics with us Isaac said "Now we feel good in our tummy because they win’d. If they didn’t win our tummies would not feel good?"
8.16.08 Isaac watched the track events for the first time. He ran with the athletes. When they’d say "Mark. . .Set. . .<<gunshot>>" he ran down the hall. He excitedly demonstrated how they jump hurdles to his father–it was quite an amusing display.
8.20.08 Today the kids played Olympics with aunt Krista. She taught Isaac how to start a race with your feet on an imaginary starting block, they practiced shot put throws, and then created their own sports. Isaac’s favorite was his own invention. It involved throwing a ball into a tree and you win if leaves fall down.
(The picture of Nicole has nothing to do with the comments except that it looks like she might be watching the Olympics with great hope for team USA)
This is an intensely personal subject for me, so this particular entry is not for the casual reader. I feel an almost therapeutic need to describe my emotions and the events surrounding my grandmother’s death. There are times when voiced words seem insufficient and bland, when only the written word can satisfy the need to pull out the emotions brimming beneath the surface–this, perhaps is one of those times.
On Friday August 1st at 8:00 AM my mother called me from Tennessee where she had just arrived the night before and told me that my grandmother had what they suspected was a stroke sometime during the night. My thoughts were immediately turned to the idea that my grandmother was dying. I remember another time that my grandmother was very sick and in the hospital and I wondered if it could possibly be the end, my thoughts were different this time than they had been before, it was as if I already knew that this was the end. I knew it inside, but felt the lack of confidence in speaking those words. So as I went about my day, the words ‘my grandma is dying’ seemed to echo in my head constantly. I stood in line at the post office and when I looked over at the elderly lady next to me I thought ‘my grandma is dying’ and I started to cry. At the gym as I peddled on the bike I thought ‘my grandma is dying’ and I cried again.
Omniture gave us some passes to Thanksgiving Point as part of the company party we had last week, so we took the toads up. Isaac was a little scared of the dinosaurs (I probably shouldn’t have told him they eat children), but Charlotte had no fear. Isaac kept reminding us that the dinosaurs were dead, so they were not hungry. I was pretty impressed at the displays; lots of good specimens. We were a little rushed going through; on the one hand, the kids got a little bored, and on the other, Isaac would get a little scared sometimes.
After the dinosaurs, we went over to Farm Country. This gave the kids a chance to see some goats, horses, llamas, cows, and chickens. No pigs, though? Some farm! A cow licked Charlotte, and they both got to ride ponies. Isaac cut a fine figure on his steed; maybe instead of building him a computer I should buy him some cows to herd. Speaking of cows, Charlotte managed to get licked by one.
Our last stop was the children’s garden, which was just ok. They did have a couple of little fountains that the kids played in. They’re the kind that sort of pop up from the ground randomly; Charlotte was looking at the hole for one, and got the whole thing right in the face. She’s a trooper, though; she shook it right off.
My sister-in-law (Heidi) sent me an article about funny things kids say as they grow up in "the church" and I figured I had a few to add to that list, so here are some relevant musings from our log:
Not too long ago: I had explained to Isaac that President Hinckley had died and that now we have a new prophet named President Monson. He must have been pondering that one day when he came into the room and said "What time will we get a new Jesus?"
Zach has been encouraging Isaac to be more specific in his prayers. One night as Isaac was saying his prayers and he said "thank thee for all the blessings" Zach prodded him by asking "which blessings" to which Isaac responded "Thank thee for blessing number 8 and blessing number 9."
7.24.08 It’s Pioneer Day Today. We turned on the television to watch the parade and we saw a pre-recorded message from President Monson (the current prophet) so I asked Isaac if he knew who that was and responded confidently "Heavenly Father" I said no it’s president. . . and he responded correctly at that point by saying President Monson.
So, I turned 30 last month, and I honestly didn’t freak out or anything, but then an elderly lady told me that she cried the whole day when she turned 30 and a gal in her 20s asked me how old I am and then apologized for asking when I told her my age.
Since then I’ve started to wonder about middle age and when one moves from young adult to middle age. I find that I associate myself with the young married crowd more than with the middle aged group. I’ve stared to look at the things in life that would qualify you for either group and it’s not looking good for my youth. We own our own house, we’ve got three kids, my husband has a real grown-up job and hasn’t been in school for probably close to ten years, and I’m in the Relief Society Presidency while he’s in the High Priest group leadership.
Whether I’m old or young, I think most importantly I’m happy. I’m happy with where I’m at in life and that’s probably why I still don’t care that I’m 30.
Isaac started making circles with his train tracks, when he ran out of circular tracks he started using other pieces and discovered that he could make some letters. First he decided that he wanted to write Costco with train tracks. After some finagling we were able to make the word Costco. As soon as we were finished he said "now let’s write Wal-Mart!"
"I would be remiss if I didn’t stand up and publicly thank my husband. . . ." ok, it’s not fast Sunday , but I did want to blog about my amazing new sink! First of all, I didn’t really believe Zach when he told me that he had a birthday surprise planned until he told me that planning to go to lunch with my sister might spoil his plans. Then I really started to wonder, but I feared that I would get my hopes up so I told myself that his surprise was that he was going to bring home one scoop of vanilla ice cream in a Styrofoam bowl with no toppings (it was one of the least exciting surprises I could think of). The night before my birthday he told me that the surprise was that another couple would pick us up and we’d all go to the Temple together. I thought it was a nice surprise for him to have gone to the trouble of making all the arrangements, but I was further surprised when I walked in the door and saw this beautiful new sink and faucet installed.
Isaac said the next day as he was eating his toast "the sink matches my toast!" then later he ran in and exclaimed with great excitement "all the sinks in the house are white!"
I’ve been rather overwhelmed with the addition of the third child. I was wondering how we could ever get to six or twelve or thirty if I’m so overwhelmed now and it occurred to me that I’ve gone through a stage of being overwhelmed with the birth of each child and each time things have eventually gotten easier and it didn’t take too long before I realized that I actually could handle the amount of children that I have. This realization should be encouraging to Zach because he has started talking about number four and I think my response has been a look that indicates I might just kill him in his sleep!
So I think the math goes something like this: Two kids is three times as hard as one and three kids is barely holding on to sanity (at least at first). I got to a point where if I made it through the day without losing it, I counted it as a good day and I despaired that I’d never accomplish anything ever again because I was too busy with all my children to even sit down and write a letter or check my email!
Luckily things have gotten better–look I’m even blogging again!
Seems like the months have just raced by. Starting with Nicole being born on May 6th, we’ve just had one adventure after another. We’ve had Kathleen’s family in town, which is blessing with some challenges. I’m an introverted person sometimes, and I’m not a great host. Luckily Kathleen makes up for that. I was glad the toads had a chance to get to know Grandma Bunny, Grandpa Bird, and Uncle Brian better. I was also glad for the chance to take a nice long drive with Grandpa Bird; we’re very different, but I felt like that trip was a great chance for us to get to know each other better and improve our bond.
Work is a little nuts. I’m trying to keep track of everything, but I’m so busy managing multiple projects it’s like playing Whack-a-Mole sometimes. It’s good work, and while it’s hard to explain what I actually do, the field is really growing and it’s a good place to be.
My dad and I are building a shed. You could say we’re over-building it; it’s going to be fantastic. 12′ by 12′, very solid so far. The walls are up and we’ll be doing the roof this week. This is the first step in the larger war to come. We have typical Orem soil, which is about 4 parts rock to 1 part dirt. You may think I exaggerate; I’m not. Oh, it’s also about 1 part puncture weed. I had to get a solid tire for the wheelbarrow. Anyway, finally some progress on that front. See some pictures below (thanks Mom!)
Finally, I have a new calling in the church. It’s a little different than I was expecting, but I’m up for it. It means some changes, but it’s a good thing. I think we’ll be blessed. Of course, we’re always blessed.
Anyway, just wanted to give an update of things. Enjoy the pictures below.
I guess that’s actually more due south than southwest, and even a little east. Grandpa Bird and I took some time to go see some sights, and had a pretty good time doing it. We were able to see Mesa Verde, which I’ve always felt is under-appreciated as a National Park. On the flip side, it’s nice because it’s a little further out of the way, and the crowds aren’t too bad. The crowds at the Grand Canyon were awful; traffic wasn’t as bad as Yellowstone, but the crowds were as thick. It makes me hope some of my favorite remote spots stay relatively obscure.
Anyway, it was a good chance to spend time with my father-in-law, and we saw some great stuff. Pictures below.
We got permission to bless Nicole on the 15th this month, which is also conveniently Father’s Day. We have extra family in town who wanted to be a part of the moment, so it’s nice the ward was able to accommodate us.
Church is at 11 AM, so get in touch if you need directions. I think we will probably arrange for snacks afterward.
This is the final post of a long day, and here are some pictures for you to look at. Everything went very well, especially considering Nicole was born almost a month earlier than we expected. She seems like a healthy, sturdy little kid. Kathleen is in good spirits too. Some photos:
Well, she’s officially here. 6 lbs, 2 oz, 18" in length. About 3 weeks early, so technically, she’s premature. That’s probably because Kathleen was thinking too much about labor these past couple of days.
Everything looks great so far. She’s normal on all the tests and seems very content. I’ll follow up on this post with some pictures once I’ve got a chance to doctor them and upload.
bain of my existence. Between the baby’s spit-up and drool and the messy eating and accidents from my other two, I end up doing laundry nearly everyday. If that weren’t enough, I never get through folding a batch without at least three interruptions, some of which last for a half an hour or more. If I save it till the kids are in bed and I’ve done my other nightly chores, I find myself too tired to finish it. I feel like I’m always in some stage of doing laundry–this is one of those things that gets better with time right? How old do the kids have to be before I insist they wash, dry and fold their own clothes? I’m considering starting them all on their own laundry at age 5, while I’m at it, I could start charging rent at age 10!
, but I did want to blog about my amazing new sink! First of all, I didn’t really believe Zach when he to
