maybe I should've had my tonsils out

Friday night after work brought me to my knees literally. I got home from working at the Spot at 11 ish and could barely make it in the house. I had spiked a temp and crawled into bed with the chills and sweats. I even managed to get up at my 2:30 am alarm to wake Parker up to pee. I made it until 6 am when I sweated Bear out of bed to get me Ibuprofen and orange juice. Parker came in at 7 am and we headed downstairs. By 7:30 I set him on the couch with cereal and milk and a movie and told him to let daddy know that I went to the doctor. (Daddy and Emmitt were still sleeping). I walked into the actual Emergency Room with a sore throat. I sort of felt stupid for doing it but I had to find out if I was really positive for Strep. If I was I didn't want to infect my family or daycare. And of course by the time my culture comes back and I have taken a good 15 minute nap the doctor comes in and looks at me. She says "you still have your tonsils?". She has remembered me back when I had all my strep episodes when Parker was a year old, she remembered treating Parker the time he has tonsillitis last summer. I stammered and said, well he had his taken out! Then followed that by, I really don't have time to have mine taken out. I mean, does anybody have an extra 2 weeks out there? 2 weeks to recover (at my age), be off of work, not cook, not do other mommy things....I just can't swing it! But having my tonsils out is definitely in my future, I am just not sure when. I have tried making Emmitt an appointment with the same ENT (that Parker had) for his ears and tentative tube placement and can't hardly swing that one! So when we do make it to Duluth, I'll be sure to schedule an appointment with the doctor to at least discuss my case.
I took the shot of Penicillin in the "hip", ahem butt, and I am finally starting to feel a little more human today. Saturday I took a 2 and a half hour nap, Sunday a 2 hour one and last night I was in bed at 8 pm! God help me...

almost four year olds should listen, right?

Oh my 3 and a half year old is so trying these days. One minute he is the sweetest, most caring, well mannered little boy and the next he is defying each and every word we say. He is currently watching a movie, in my bed, wearing underwear and jammies. The whole thing is not normal. I never let him stay up "late" (it's 8:25 pm), never let him go to bed watching anything, don't prefer him in my bed, especially wearing underwear! But I just needed some peace and quiet (yes, to blog) and to have a moment alone.

I took him and two of his cousins to a movie tonight. We went to UP! Three boys under 5 and me carrying popcorn up the wahzoo barking at them to sit in their seats (that 2 of the 3 are too light to hold down on there own) was a sight to see. I am starting to wonder if people really think I am that crazy/obnoxious all the time. I think part of me wants Parker to behave a certain way, the way people expect, and it just isn't possible. My mom, sisters, mother in law have said at times "he's fine" when I am thinking that whatever he is doing to make me crazy isn't fine...maybe they are right. I try not to say, "he's a boy", "he's only 3", but really he is a boy and is only 3! So tonight I pick the boys up for the movie, they are all giddy about seeing each other and heading to the movie theater. We get inside and Parker starts running around like a wild child. Why? is he acting like that in public? I swear, it isn't him! I honestly think he can't control all this pent up energy. We get tickets, I am constantly looking around and counting the 3 heads that I feel should be glued to my leg, standing nicely in line...I am after all the lady with the money for snacks. We get to our turn in line and nobody but the 5 year old (Jake) can make a decision about what color slushy to have. Once that is decided, Parker changes his mind about Nerds and wants Mike and Ikes...so way too much money later I start handing off the snack boxes, look to the heavens and say an extra prayer about not spilling it all on the way down the dark slanted walk way to our seats. We find a row with the least amount of surrounding innocent bystanders and plop down. I start crawling on the dirty floor to get them all situated in their chairs and incorrectly open the Nerd boxes (those things are worthless!) and realize that neither of the 3 year olds are heavy enough to hold down their seats without watching the whole movie with their knees in their faces. So I sit between the two of them and basically sit spread eagle and get one of the best ab workouts I've had in a long time.
Two-thirds of the way through the movie, Parker shouts that he has to pee (he has this thing with public places-and it usually is poop!). So I leave my cousins kids, ages 3 and 5 in a theater, alone! I think I figured they wouldn't go anywhere (which they didn't...thanking the heavens above again!). Race out of the bathroom in one of the fastest pee breaks ever and get back into the theater to only walk 5 rows too far and past the 2 little heads I couldn't see over the seat backs...thank God (again) for the lady behind me who flagged me down.
A scary dog part comes on and Parker says he wants to leave. I quietly whisper in his ear that it is almost over (as I am digging in my purse for the cell phone, really wondering if it is time to go yet). Then he starts in. Blowing fart noises with his mouth, rocking his seat up and down, slurping his drink, and all and all annoying me to the fullest. I ask him to stop. He doesn't. I warn him sternly that if he continues, we are leaving. He pauses. Then starts in again. I think he really knows that I wasn't going to pull Garret and Jake out of the movie, as they were being little angels, but that I was (to a point) dangerously threatening. Now I don't know if I just didn't want that behavior out of him while we were supposed to be out having fun at a movie or if it really wasn't that bad at all. He wasn't really being loud, just "busy". And he is 3 (and a half). Right?
But I started the "you are almost four, you know, so you should really (bend at my will)...."
Like right now brings me back to wearing underwear in my bed. He will be four (in November) and is still wearing pull ups at night. I really don't think he needs them, but when he wears them, he pees in them. I honestly think he does it on purpose! It's making mommy crazy. We'll ask him, "where did you pee in your pullup?" A: "ummmm, in the kitchen, I was just walking and a peed". Or (I love this one) "I just peed a little, that's okay, it was an accident, I didn't do it on purpose, not a lot, just a little". CRAZY!!!
So a few days ago I trucked over to Kmart and bought some of those washable pads you stick under old people when they wet the bed (I know they can't help it) and put Parker in underwear. The first night I put him in his favorite jammies. Whichever of us goes to bed last, drags our soundly sleeping 3 year old out of bed to stand in front of the pot and pee. He goes right back to sleep and then around 1 am, pees the bed. I wake up at some point each night, just to find out that I have missed the opportunity to get him to go on the toilet and have to change him and his bed pad and then he wakes up dry. This has happened for the last 3 nights. Last night he wore his favorite boxer shorts to bed and peed at 1:30 am. So do I really set an alarm and drag him out of bed more than once? I think I might? I am getting sick of washing all that laundry. The pads work on the mattress but not the covers. We don't let him drink after 7 pm, but forcing dehydration on my child to save an extra $20 bucks a month doesn't really seem that nice. But I really like sleeping through the night...so any ideas out there??

So as I type, I think...he isn't really all that bad. He can be wonderful. Most of the time he is. He plays with Emmitt well, but bosses him around a lot, takes his toys away just to hear him yell (which sets Bear off immediately). But when he starts tuning me out and not listening I lose it! I can't stand it. And he knows it...he likes seeing mommy and daddy throw temper tantrums. That's what they are to him. So I started all over again with the Love and Logic theory. The (stupid) sing-song one actually works. When Parker is dinking around, let's say, not eating...we just sing-song "uh-oh, looks like someone needs a little alone time in his bedroom" and he starts eating. Albeit temporarily. But really, if he was hungry wouldn't he just eat the food before him? It makes me nuts! But when he flat out ignores one of our "requests"...oh boy, look out. We both are "yellers" and we both hate it. Our moms both but the fear of God in us with one death glare. It was all over for us if she started yelling...we were scared for our lives. So how come we can yell until we are blue in the face and it doesn't work worth a damn? Or ask nicely...that doesn't work either. Or an arm grab...nope. I do not want to raise these boys to maniacs in public places or anywhere for that matter, I feel they need to learn their place and behave...but at what point do they really know better? I would rather just stay home and not take them anywhere...because it really isn't all that much fun when we go...but then again, he doesn't listen at home and can run around like a wild child...so, what to do?

Tiny Twins Tee Ball

Click on the picture for full info...let Steph or I know if you would like your child to play...

at the shack

We hit the shack many times throughout the year. The kids seem to just know when we head down the shack road. Their moods lift and they get giddy. Parker especially and Emmitt just follows his brothers lead. We headed down one Saturday afternoon with just lunch and playtime in mind. It was perfect. We brought a small cooler of just turkey brats and sippy cups. A beer (or two) for Bear and I. The shack always has the essentials, like ketchup and mustard and chips in a sealed Tupperware. We had the boys fetch up sticks for the fire pit and grilled ourselves a mighty fine lunch.

Emmitt was pretty fascinated with the whole experience. Last summer/fall was his last time there and he was just a baby then. He was double socked with the final layer being wool socks just to make the puddle boots fit. He took a few diggers just to get used to the feel of them.
Parker brought his four-wheeler along and had his brat on the back of it while riding laps around the shack.

Wish I was that happy carrying sticks!
We had a lot of logging done last year at the shack. It is sort of sad to look out the building and see rubble and chips where the huge trees used to stand. Bear and Don tagged a few trees to be left untouched. We found 2 pines and they happen to be the same heights as both boys right now. They are now named trees: The Parker Tree and The Emmitt Tree. They stand side by side just off the trail behind the shack. Each season it'll be fun to see who is taller.

Parker scooped up a random cattle bone that Papa Don left behind. A cattle bone in one hand and a brat in the other...yummm

Just carrying sticks high over his head to the fire pit. He is excited with the littlest tasks...at the shack that is. Lately at home and at daycare he is trying his limits to the fullest. I had to take out the good old Love and Logic book this morning and read the "not listening" chapter again.

Daddy put Emmitt on the old wire wheel and he stomped on it in those little green boots. He would squeal and smile at daddy and the new sound it made and would do it again.

Em just hung out at the picnic table and pounded a bag of chips.

The boys in their glory and matching white undershirts feeding the fire pit. Parker got himself dressed that morning and managed to squeeze into one of Emmitt's shirt...which is why his belly is hanging out in every picture.

Like I said, the boys are different kids at the shack. They are happy to just be outside. We are at ease because we don't really need to worry about them getting into anything out there. They just play and run and point and get excited about things like sticks and tracks in the mud. Someday they will just go out to the shack with daddy and hunt wild animals and I am going to stay home for a week by myself and do nothing...well maybe take a bath, read a book, sleep in and watch movies that are rated more than a G.