March 28, 2007

Hello Everyone,
I feel like I've dwelt on myself and my problems for far too long in these email updates, so today I'm only going to talk about my boys. I haven't been telling enough stories about them, and it is the stories about my boys I will be wanting to read about many years from now, not the boring details of my life!
So, here's an update on my three little guys from the past few weeks.

Joseph's two bottom teeth are coming in very nicely. It is very interesting for him to inspect the little bumps and ridges that those brand-new grownup teeth have. No more loose teeth for now, and I'm glad for that since poor Brigham still hasn't lost any teeth, nor are any of his loose! Last week was sort of hard for Joseph, I'm sure it was the disruption of Spring Break and me being in the hospital, and him getting off his normal schedule, and all that stuff. Joseph really *needs* routine. So we had a few days of him resisting just about everything and having meltdowns and generally feeling miserable. But he is doing amazing now-- we just had probably the best school morning ever! He woke up happy (he's just like me-- NOT a morning person and tends to wake up pretty irritable), got dressed quickly, ate breakfast, put away his PJ's happily, and was buckled up in his carseat by 7:25, which has to be some sort of record. And once to school he jumped out, told me there was someone he wanted to catch up with, grabbed his backpack and was off running across the grass. A good start to the day. Last week-- I think Tuesday or Wednesday, Naomi and I took the boys to the mall to play at the kids place for a while. It was a rainy afternoon and I really needed to get out of the house. Anyway, Joseph was NOT having a good day and was being pretty ornery. He took his shoes off at the kids area, and then when we were ready to go, he didn't want to put them back on. I told him his shoes were his responsibility, and he needed to get them on himself. Well, he didn't want to, so we went into Claire's (Brigham's favorite store in the mall-- full of treasure!) where he had a mini-meltdown about me buying him a $5.50 package of 4 markers-- uh, I don't think so! Anyway, we were ready to leave the mall, and he still hadn't gone to get his shoes. So I told him we would be walking slowly toward the escalator and if he wanted his shoes he needed to get them, otherwise he wouldn't have any shoes for school because I wouldn't be getting him new ones. Well, we got all the way up the escalator and he hadn't gotten his shoes yet. So I started walking slowly down the hall, and I guess he realized I was serious, and he went down the escalator (crying), ran and got his shoes, and then came back up the escalator. I'm sure everyone was looking at this poor little boy-- barefoot and crying, and wondering where in the heck his evil mother was! I was watching him the whole time from upstairs. Anyway, he brings them up and I told him to come to the bench to get them on. Well, when he got to the bench impulse overcame him and he couldn't resist but to throw his shoes over the railing and downstairs again. Thankfully not hitting anyone on the way down. Sigh... So I told him I was sorry he made that choice, but we were still going to be going home, so if he wanted his shoes, he better hurry up! We started on our way down the hall again and once again Joseph, crying harder, raced down the escalator, found his shoes, and came back up. Lots more people looking at him this time. He caught up with us (we were going reeeaaaally slow), and continued to whine and insist that I put on his shoes. I told him I would be happy to help him if he sat down, but I wouldn't put them on him myself. Well, he didn't want to do that, so he pretty much cried the whole way out of the mall. But he didn't throw his shoes at anyone else! So that was probably our low point with Joseph. He has improved every day since and I'm really proud of him. I've been reading these two books about raising "strong-willed" children. I do not believe that Joseph really qualifies as a "strong-willed child," although he has some of those tendencies. Reading these books, I think *I* was certainly a strong-willed child (Mama and Daddy are chuckling to themselves at this point-- in only took me 30 years to figure *that* one out?), but Joseph not really. Anyway, they are both really good, not only for strong-willed children, but for good discipline techniques in general. My favorite one, for those interested is called "The Everything Parent's Guide to the Strong-Willed Child," by Carl E. Pickhardt. I think it is part of a series called "The Everything Parent's Guide to..." which is a little cheesy, but it is full of great stuff!

All right, on to Brigham! Last Saturday afternoon, he was making one of his art projects, cutting some paper, and he was using my super-sharp sewing scissors (bad mommy-- why didn't I put those away?!), and he just snipped right through the corner of the tip of his left index finger. It sliced off the corner tip, through his fingernail. I was at the grocery store, so he ran immediately to Naomi and had her put bandaids on it, but it was bleeding profusely and bled totally through the bandaids by the time I got home. I looked at it and I was pretty horrified. I was on the verge of taking him to urgent care, but I realized there was very little they could do except clean it and bandage it, which I could do well enough at home. So we cleaned it and bandaged it again-- it just wouldn't stop bleeding, so I had to bandage it pretty tight to keep pressure on it. When Ben came home (he was at Fry's with Joseph), he gave him a blessing for it to heal and not cause him pain, and I gave him Tylenol before bed. He still woke up several times during the night, but was able to settle down and sleep again. Naomi slept in his room that night to keep track of him. So I've been rebandaging it every day, and yesterday night it looked much, much better. The day before I was thinking I really needed to take him to the doctor-- maybe they'd have to do some sort of skin graft or something! Probably silly of me, but I just couldn't see how the skin would grow back. It seemed like it had been cut off deeper than the skin layer. But yesterday it looked so much better and I think it will be fine. So that was Brigham's drama for the weekend. It really bothered me, and I had a hard time settling down myself and sleeping Saturday night. I kept thinking how dumb I was to not put those scissors away, and then I realized that we missed a birthday party for Brigham's friend at school at Pump it up, and if I hadn't forgotten, he would have been there and wouldn't have cut himself. And I felt guilty because poor Brigham STILL hasn't been to Pump it up-- what is WRONG with me?? But I think he'll be ok, and he didn't realize about the party which is just as well. His art projects were pretty cool-- on Saturday morning we went to the Texas State Museum and of course had to go to the gift shop. Brigham was looking at these small models of the state capitol, so when he got home he drew his own version of the capitol-- very detailed!, and cut it out. He was also working on a necklace and a ring-- also made of paper which he cut out very precisely and then strung on yarn for the necklace, and then taped in a circle for the ring. He is always busy doing things like that! He finally filled his old treasure box and just couldn't part with any of his treasures, but had no more room for more treasures, so a couple weeks ago we went to Hobby Lobby and got him a new, bigger treasure box. Hobby Lobby had a whole aisle full of really amazing "treasure chests" from small to really big! Brigham would have loved one of those full-sized $100+ treasure chests, but we compromised on a smaller one, and in two weeks, it is already filled up! They discovered this big boulder in our front yard had chunks of crystals that they could break off-- pretty cool, actually! So Brigham has a bunch of those in his treasure box, and then on Sunday Ben took the boys down to the lake where they found a desposit of old bleached out cow bones, which somehow also qualified as "treasure," so a large pile of those were brought home and filled up the rest of Brigham's treasure box! Ah, my funny little boy!

Mosey, Mosey, Mosey. What can I say about him except that he is three!! Full of cuteness and aggravation. He is getting better about bedtime, and I'm very happy about that! I can now read to him and then tuck him into my bed, and leave the room! We haven't had success getting him to go to sleep in the boys' room, he just can't stop talking to and annoying his brothers! But he'll lay in my bed and talk and sing to himself for like an hour or more sometimes, but eventually will fall asleep. It is really funny to listen to him talk to himself. Mosey is such a talker now. Last week my visiting teachers came, one of whom is in the nursery, and she was shocked when Mosey just started talking and talking (like he normally does at home). I guess he's still not talking at nursery, so it came as a surprise to her that he does talk, and quite well! Mosey is also at the age where he can be teased very easily by anything Brigham or Joseph do. To which he will generally yell at them, saying, "You are a BAD BOY Brigham!" Or whoever it is (usually Brigham, though-- Brigham does have his little snickerdoodle side to him and it is hard for him to resist teasing especially when Mosey is so easily provoked). Last week the boys were very interested in the Texas bluebonnets which have been springing up everywhere. So as we drive around town, Brigham and Joseph will point out all the bluebonnets that they see. Well, they thought it was quite funny to start calling each other "bluebonnet" which REALLY bothered Mosey. So one time as we were driving, Brigham was doing something to annoy Mosey and Mosey yells out, "You are a BLUEBONNET Brigham!!!" As if it were the worst insult in the world. Ben and I just cracked up over that one. Mosey has been doing this thing which I'm sure is totally normal for his age, but I just don't understand it. He'll ask me the same thing over and over and over and over again. I'll answer him, but it is as if he doesn't here me, or doesn't accep the answer or something, and he'll just keep asking me. Sometimes it is, "What did you say mom?" And I'll repeat myself, but he'll just keep asking and asking! Finally I just stop answering, but he'll keep on for quite some time. It really bugs Brigham and Joseph when he does this to them, and has been the start of quite a few fights. Couples should have to take courses on being a referree before they can become parents! Mosey can also still be very, very particular about certain things. Often he'll decide that I have to do something for him, and NO ONE else can do it. Whether it is taking him to the bathroom, or pouring him orange juice, it MUST be mom and NO ONE else! Last night Naomi had the audacity to pour him orange juice since I was busy reading scriptures, and Mosey had a fit on the floor for about 5 minutes. He did eventually drink the orange juice, though, so I guess Mosey doesn't quite qualify as a "strong-willed" child either. Thank goodness! Mosey is getting into art work, too, but he just cannot keep the lids on the markers, and just cannot remember that drawing is only for PAPER. Last week when Naomi got here, Mosey was colored quite completely in orange and red marker. So yesterday at Target I got a box of those Color Wonder markers that only show up on the Color Wonder paper. More expensive, but at least marker won't get everywhwere! Of course by last night 2 of the lids and one of the markers is missing, so maybe that idea wasn't such a great one. He just can't keep the lids on the markers! Naomi also observed that Mosey has only one volume level. Loud. No matter what it is he has to say, or how close he is to you, his volume is the same. This is not good at church. I've tried hard to get him to use a whisper voice in church, but he hasn't figured out what that is yet. I think it is a three-year-old law to be loud, though, so it's probably not entirely his fault. He is a good boy, though, and it is a joy to be with him during the day. He always keeps me smiling. He went with me to Target yesterday and we just had a great time talking about everything that he saw.

Ok, that's it for today. Have a wonderful Wednesday everyone!