Dear Miss Three and a Half

Dear Miss Three and a Half,

This letter is to inform you that you have been put on probation effective immediately.

This probation is due to the following violations:

Hitting your fellow co-workers
Persistent attitude of superiority, i.e. thinking that you know it all
Not open to correction
Running away when called for
Anger mismanagement, i.e. spitting and throwing yourself down on the floor
Inappropriate reaction to negative criticism, i.e. whining and crying
Belief that television must be on in order to get work completed
Not listening to management
Hiding from management when in public places, particularly in stores with clothing racks
Occasionally showing up at the work place in inappropriate work attire, i.e. stripping of all clothing
Intermittent lack of personal grooming, i.e smell of urine because of waiting too long to go to the potty

After repeated warnings, consider this your final notice. The next violation will result in either 1. being sentenced to your cubicle until you turn four in August at which point the management feels you will change this behavior or 2. being shipped back with your Oma to the Netherlands.

Sincerely,
Mommy
President
Dumoulin household

Who's on First...

I had one of those conversations with Lily that just confusing and frustrating like trying origami. You start it, try going different directions and then you have no idea how to make it work...much like the comedy "Who's on first, What's on second, etc."

So, my mother-in-law took me on several errands today. One was to Wal-Mart where I ran into Amanda - yay! Haven't seen her in such a long time. We swapped surgery stories. Anywho...we pulled into the Hobby Lobby parking lot for another errand, parked in a space and unstrapped Lily from her car seat. And, here is where the conversation began.

Me: Come on, Lily, let's go.
Lily: I see a card.
she proceeds to walk to the third row seat of the car. On her way back there she "ducks" underneath the seat belt which was caught on the arm rest of one of the second row seats.
Me: Lily, come on, we don't need cards to go into Hobby Lobby.
Lily: I want to get a card on the floor.
And with that she kneels on the floor of the van where I can't see her. The cards she was referring to were the ridiculous animals cards they are giving out at Chik-fila that you must have superman vision to even read. It comes with a plastic holder that keeps breaking sending these cards all over the floor of the van. Should have thrown them in the trash before we left.
Me: Lily, just "duck" back under the seat belt and get out of the van.
Lily: Where is the "duck" card? I can't see it. She is still kneeling on the floor of the van between the
Me: Realizes she thinks when I said "duck" I meant there was a card with a duck on it. No, Lily, there isn't a duck card. Just duck, I mean, go under the seat belt.
Lily: No, Mommy, I want to find the duck card. I can't see it. I wike (like) the duck card.
Mommy: There is no duck card. Come under the seat belt and let's go.
Lily: Where is the duck card, Mommy?
Mommy: Lily, get out of the car now or I will have to take you to the bathroom for a visit with Mr. Do-Right.
Lily: Ok, Mommy, I find the duck card later.

A quick note on the sanitary conditions of our pool

Sadie just ran into my room and announced that there are frog eggs in the pool. How she knows this, I don't have a clue. I don't doubt her because she is actually pretty accurate when it comes to nature knowledge. Lily heard this and declared to me that she was going to teach the tadpoles how to swim. I told her they already know how to swim. She insisted that she would teach them. She then scampered off to get her bathing suit on. Anyone know if that is a bad sign concerning the cleanliness of our pool?

OK - Lily just ran back in here, completely naked with suit in hand and announced she would get the eggs out of the pool.

Summer Fun

Because we knew that I would not be very mobile this summer, trapping me home with three children, we decided to purchase one of those large inflatable pools that comes with a filter system and chlorine tabs. Yay for sanitation! We got a deal on it and it has been the best $70 we have ever spent. It is basically a large bag with an inflatable ring around the top. Every morning right after breakfast the kids race to get their bathing suits on and usually, I don't hear from them for at least an hour. The process repeats itself after lunch and then again after dinner. It has been a sanity saver for me.

They have come up with all sorts of games to play - with pool noodles, with the hose, with water balloons, even piggy backing each other. They take turns jumping off the step Jay created using hay bales. It is very cute to see Ethan and Sadie make these major jumps and then Lily comes with her little quiet step-down. Consequently, they are browning up, particularly Lily who takes after Ansley's olive complexion.

However, as predicted, after a couple of hours, when it is about time for them to come in, the bickering begins. Someone plays too rough, someone is hit in the eye with the hose, someone is kicked, someone won't stop pestering another one, or someone (guess who) pees on the driveway (at least she has the foresight to get OUT of the pool). There goes the calm and enjoyable couple of hours and out comes the referee/clean-up crew!

Lily loves getting on her bathing suit. After several weeks of training she can finally do it herself. I have never had to teach a child how to get dressed on his/her own. However, Lily seems to be a little challenged in the dexterity department. She has come up with her own vocabulary for a two piece bathing suit. One piece bathing suits are called bathing suits. But, two piece suits are water panties and water shirts! Makes sense to me.

Jay's Perspective

Jay entered our bedroom where I was (no surprise here) lounging on the bed. He had just returned from Wal-Mart where he picked up a prescription and a few other notables. He was really stoked because the pharmacy had accidentally filled his prescription twice. They let him purchase both at the same time (is that legal?), thus giving him 4 months at one time. After commenting about this victory, he had an "aha" moment. See, his prescription is somewhat of an amphetamine, helping him with weight control. I, on the other hand, still pop a muscle relaxer only at night when I am feeling the ouches. So, his "aha" mention was: Our medications are symbolic of our personalities. I am all hyped up while you are just sort of there." I laughed pretty hard and thought it was funny. But, now that I type it, I am thinking that wait a minute...

Facebook

Ok - After prompting from a friend, I have set up a Facebook page. It has been a complete time vortex for me, but hey - I am just lounging around anyway. Over did it at the wedding reception last night and have had some odd pain today. Bummer. Anyway, search for me. You never know who else you might see! They are easy and fun to set up. I hope to find more "friends" soon.

Boy drama - age 6

Last night we went to a wedding reception for Sadie's teacher. Because of my surgery and recovery, I was not given clearance to attend the wedding due to the lengthy amount of sitting that would be involved. However, we arranged for another family to take Sadie to the ceremony and we would meet up with them at the reception (which I was given the ok to attend).

Sadie had been looking forward to this wedding for quite a while. All week she would ask, "How many more days until Miss Adkins' wedding?" I knew she was building up a lot of excitement and anticipation which can only mean one diagnosis for Sadie: emotional overload resulting in meltdowns. I have experience with Sadie in this area, so I planned accordingly. I started getting her ready an hour before her pick-up time so that we could have at least one meltdown and still be ready on time. It is just her nature. I have found it is easier to let her just get it out at this age rather than try to stop it. At this juncture she just can't deal with the intensity and complexity of her emotions. They are few and far between and last only a few minutes. We are working on it and I see little improvements, but until it is resolved, I just plan ahead.

We hot rolled her hair and after several attempts to style it, one flailing upstairs to her room, we reached a compromise. She wore a very stylish dress that had a halter tie, sequins and even some tuile on the bottom, brown sandals (which I advised against), a pink pocketbook and lots and lots of light purple lip gloss, applied over and over again. Interesting several mothers mentioned to me that they almost didn't recognize her because her hair was so styled.

We received a call from Sadie as she was leaving the wedding with the other family. "Mommy, can you bring me some other shoes? These sandals hurt my feet." Ok. "Mommy, can you tell Ethan and Lily that I miss them?" Ok. See you in a little bit at the reception. I packed a small bag with two possible shoe choices, a pair of socks and several different hair bows/clips to cover my bases, thus avoiding any issues that might arise.

Being a teacher and obviously a lover of kids, Miss Adkins had a special room ready for kids attending the wedding (which there were many!). There were coloring books and crayons and a lady that was specifically in charge of the room. The kids also had their own, at their height, buffet line of chicken fingers, french fries and juice boxes. In addition to the Mario Brothers-themed wedding cake (I am NOT kidding - it was great), there was an ice cream bar with toppings. I thought this was the smartest idea I have EVER seen at a reception. How incredibly kind of her to put so much thought into making sure the kids had a great time as well!

Sadie had already decided what boy she was going to ask to dance with her, at least a month ahead of time. It was a boy she has been in school with since the early-2's class in preschool. Unfortunately, he is not into dancing. She was crushed, but not beaten. She moved onto to several other boys. One, thankfully, danced with her. It began as some jumping up in down and ended with swinging each other around. At that point in time, gone were the hot-rolled curls, the hairclips and in place my usual little sweaty, tomboy Sadie whose hair didn't even looked combed! She continued to ask other boys from her class to dance - each one turning her down. Now, she was quite down trodden. She came to our table, flopped down and cried. No one wanted to dance with her. I had to explain that boys, in general do not like to dance. They don't understand it and frankly, with rare exception, aren't very good at it. I also had her look on the dance floor and see how few boys were there. No little boys were there and only a handful of men. Case in point.

When we got ready to leave, Sadie was exhausted and spent. She couldn't contain her utter emotional waste as we said goodbye to the new Mr. and Mrs. Newell and broke down crying...again.

When she got into bed, I laid down with her. I wasn't sure I would be able to get up again, but could tell she wanted to discuss the evening. After mulling over the lack of dance desire of most boys, I offered up that she should put that down as a desirable quality for her husband. Of course, this should be after knowing he is a man of God. That way, she will always have a dance partner.