Notes From The Shoe: July 2012

So, as you can see, I do love the blogger app for Iphone…it makes it so easy to share all the spur of the moment pictures I take. Now if I could just figure out a super simple way to print directly from my iphone I’d be set.

But I do want to catch up on the kids before they go back to school (IN TEN DAYS) and since Hannah and Ben are both napping and Caitlin and Matthew are over at a friends house (and cleaning is absolutely not an option) I figured this was a good time.

Caitlin is about to start fourth grade. In spite of having to wear uniforms, fashion is still pretty important to her; this year she announced that she would please like to have some Nike tennis shoes instead of the generic Target ones we normally get. Matt and I were a bit taken aback (isn’t it too soon to need on-brand shoes? I don’t think I got my first pair until I was in high school!) and tried explaining that those brands cost money and that our budget was probably not going to stretch much beyond the generic Target brand shoes. Caitlin then gave us the, ‘oh, okay. I understand. I’ll live. Even if I’m the only one who has to do without Nikes. It will be fine. I’m sure I’ll still be able to make friends” look. $50 later the smile is back on her face. (What?!! Friends are important!) Aside from all that, Caitlin continues to grow up into a good, dependable child. She loves to draw (our running joke is, ‘how do you catch a Caitlin? Set a trap with a blank notebook and pencil. You’ll have her in no time”) She just started the last of the Harry Potter books and is completely obsessed. The child who has always said she will never get married now says she will never marry anyone except Harry Potter. She doesn’t even mind being teased about loving Harry Potter!! Right now she is saving all her allowance for the Legos Hogwarts Castle; she already has Hagrid’s hut and loves it. She is really not looking forward to school starting but is very hopeful that her best friend Annabelle will be in her class. We shall see…

Matthew will start third grade this year which means joining Caitlin at the Academy (the school for 3rd, 4th & 5th graders). He is not really all that excited about school starting either. This summer he has gotten very much into Legos and can make the most incredible creations (Matt thinks he could become an architect). He recently started reading the first Harry Potter book after hearing Caitlin go on and on (and on and on and on and on) about how wonderful Harry Potter is. I think Matthew just wants to check this guy out to make sure he’s good enough for his sister. Lately, one of Matthew’s favorite activities is to play “Survivor” outside in the woods; a game where he will either try to build a fort or gather pretend supplies for surviving in the woods (and making sure to come inside for frequent snack and water breaks…it’s tough surviving out there!) Most of the time this game is just fun, but the other day when we had some friends over, it did not go so well. First Ben came in from the woods all itchy, followed by the rest of the crew…who had the worst case of baby ticks/poison ivy/poison oak you have ever seen. Matthew’s leg looks like he took a red sharpie and tried to cram as many red dots as he could to it (tick bites). Ben’s scalp was black with baby ticks and it took me all of 45 minutes to remove them. Caitlin is covered in poison oak and is so very itchy all the time. I’ve had to dose the older two with benadryl for the past two nights because they cannot sleep with all those itchy spots! Hannah was the only one who seemed to escape..she has a few patches of poison oak but nothing serious. I thought for sure that Matthew would never want to go in those woods again, but the very next day he was ready to go out again! (granted he did have long pants on this time. He’s no dummy!)

Hannah is the only one of the four who is counting down the days until school starts (Ben might, except he cannot count yet). We got uniforms the other day and she LOVES them. She will be starting pre-k in a full time program. I know she will enjoy it but I do hope that it is not too long a day for her. Fortunately I will be at school the first seven school days subbing for a first grade teacher, so I’ll be nearby if anything comes up. This makes me happy and I think will make it easier for me to let her go. (she’s so little to be starting school!) She has started to really play with Ben-not always, but enough so that I can see a bond growing between them. She tends to be more motherly than buddy toward him; in the games they play she is always looking out for him, or teaching him in some way. Pretty cute. What isn’t cute however is how much she fights with her older brother. Those two have a classic love/hate relationship. When they get along it’s wonderful, but when they don’t it is AWFUL! They both are excellent at antagonizing the other and these fights will escalate to a point where both of them are clawing their way up the stairs to be the first to tattle on the other, and then it’s a screaming match of, ‘MOMMYMATTHEWWASLOOKINGATMEANDSAIDIWASGOING MARRYTHISBOYWHOIHATEANDHENEEDSASPANKING/MOMMYHANNA TOLDBENTOSPITONMEANDHEDIDANDSHESHOULDBEGROUNDEDFOR LIFEEVERANDEVER!!!!!’

Which pretty much leaves me exhausted. The first few times this happened I tried to solve it diplomatically but by the end of my explanation about why we should be kind to one another, they had already left the room and were buddies again. So now? I just race to the door and shut it before they can get to me. Very effective!!

Ben (or Ben-da-roo) continues to aggravate the life out of me, all while making sure I stay firmly wrapped around his little finger. He can be the biggest monster, but also the sweetest little man. Ultimately he is a total control freak, which is why we clash so often. There’s really only room for one of us, and since I’m bigger, I win. Most of the time. Ben is currently enrolled in a day care for the week I am going to be teaching at the elementary school (it was originally going to be three weeks but at the last minute, budget cuts decreed that the girl could only have 9 weeks of maternity leave instead of 12) but even though it’s only a week, I want to see how he does in that kind of environment. If I ever do get a job I will put him there full time, so it would be nice if he loved it. One weird thing that Ben has started doing is sleeping on the couch at night. We put him to bed around 8 every night, in his own bed, with the door closed, and a strong reminder of NO COUCH! However, the next morning, we wake up to find him (along with all of his animals/toys/blankets) passed out on the couch in the living room. I have no idea why he is doing this, and since it occurs in the middle of the night, I don’t know how to make him stop. Right now we are of the mindset that it’s not doing any harm, so we are letting it go.

He is mostly potty trained (except for bedtime/naptime) and will be turning 3 at the end of this week. Since he seems to have outgrown his distaste for chocolate, I’m pretty sure we’ll do chocolate cupcakes and presents for the occasion.

So that’s all the news! Which means it’s time to unload the dishwasher and fold the laundry. Yippee!!