Early Mornings

My family has been working together (unintentionally) to change my ways and become more of a morning person. I have been making an effort lately to go to be earlier (like 10:00pm early). I was forced into doing this because of the true morning people in my home, especially Brett and Todd.

It's a good system on school days. I like getting up at 6:30am and having time to get everything done without feeling crazy in the morning rush to get the kids on the bus. The only way I can feel refreshed enough to face the morning rush is if I go to by bed by 10:00 or 10:30pm.

The problem comes on the weekends (or other rebellious nights) when my night-owl tendencies keep me up doing this, that, or the other, until midnight. At least I have a balanced checkbook to show for my efforts last night, on top of a girls night out with my sister-in-law. But when 6:08am showed up I couldn't get myself back to sleep. I stayed in bed trying to force myself to sleep, with no success. I am dragging now.

Todd, on the other hand, has been enjoying a lovely morning. I am sure he was awake before 6:00am. And he was singing the National Anthem, reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid, practicing the piano, eating candy (!!), and just playing--all before 7:00am.

Brett was gone fishing who-knows-when, well before sun-up.

So, yet again, I have learned my lesson. It is impossible to sleep in, try as I might. The only way to feel good in the morning is to put myself to bed at a reasonable hour. To bed early tonight! Really!

(We'll see if I remember this lesson next weekend.)

Crying - An Unexpected First

Recently Todd shared with me that when he was watching a movie about a dog at Oma's house, it made him cry a little towards the end. Todd explained that the family in the movie moved to a new house and had to leave the dog somewhere, and the dog got out to go find the boy (or something close to that). We eventually figured out that the movie was one of the Lassie movies. I told Todd that I cry at movies all the time.

Only a day or so later I took my boys and our neighbor Logan to see Toy Story 3 at our local movie theater. There is a touching scene at the end when Andy is saying good-bye to his toys before heading off to college. My eyes started to tear up. I noticed that Todd, who was sitting right next to me, started wiping at his eyes. The scene continued. Tears were now falling down my cheek, when Todd rested his head on my shoulder. I rested my head on his. Then he linked his arm through mine on the armrest between us. We stayed like that for a few more minutes until the movie came to a close.

I can't tell you how much this experience touched me. It was such a sweet moment. Can it be that my son is maturing and developing empathy?
I certainly hope so.

Doggy Day Care

Kevin, this post is for you:

Todd and Ryan have been enjoying Magnum as he spends time at our house. It took him a couple of days at first to settle down, but Magnum now seems to feel quite comfortable and at home here. Jen has been staying busy at work, so Magnum has been spending most workdays at home with us. The boys have enjoyed having him around and will miss him when he goes back to you, his real master.

I can't really say that I will miss his shedding hair--Ryan snuggles on Magnum daily, so his shirts always carry some of Magnum with him. But Magnum has been such a sweet and patient dog to put up with all of the loving he gets from the boys. (I don't know, but he might even enjoy it.)

(Yes, that is fake poop on Magnum's back. Ah, the humor of grade-school boys--and their dads!)

Just wanted to let you know that we're doing our best to help take care of Magnum in your absence, and thought you might enjoy seeing the photos. Hope you're doing well.

Love, Becca and the boys.

Her Gift (and Baby Teeth)

With family that lives so near, it is nice to recognize the many special things we have to offer one another. For my design questions, I turn to my sister. (If I had an inkling to be more stylish, I would probably turn to her more...). For legal counsel and sound judgement we turn to Brett's father. We go to Brett's mom for our sewing needs: mending, hemming, making a wallet (see, anything goes!). For any of the following: questions about cars, borrowing a tool, removing a splinter, computer problems, strong muscles to lift and move, building a kitchen, identifying snakes, understanding the situation with the Deepwater Horizon, local geography, tying a rope, cutting down a tree, fixing...ANYTHING--we go to Brett.

And for wiggly teeth, we turn to Donna. After years of being a kindergarten teacher's assistant before moving here, Donna became quite the expert in baby teeth. Fortunately, she moved in two doors down from us right before Todd started losing his.

I don't really have a problem dealing with the messiness of children or with the blood that comes because of accidents that are bound to happen. But, as one who has a slight phobia of losing her own teeth (read: my nightmare), pulling my children's teeth is not something I am prepared to do. Ryan injured one of his top baby teeth sometime last year. All seemed fine, but a recent bump caused the tooth to become loose before he lost any of his lower baby teeth. The dentist said that she could see his adult teeth coming in on the x-ray, so there was nothing to worry about.

The tooth had been a little loose for almost two weeks, but a little bump yesterday (during my piano lessons) caused the tooth to loosen more and bleed (quite a bit--and my poor student had to witness!). Blood? No worries. Super-loose tooth? Time to call in reinforcements. We went ahead and started dinner before Donna arrived, but Ryan was struggling and was clearly uncomfortable. A few minutes into dinner, Donna arrived and - *pop* - that tooth was out and ready for the tooth fairy. [Todd, in a quiet aside, asked if Ryan could get $2.00 instead of just $1.00. They are saving to buy a cool Lego set, after all. No secret about the tooth fairy in this house.]

What's great about Donna is that she knows when a tooth is ready to come, and won't pull it before then. And when it's ready, the tooth is out before the kids even know what happened. My boys trust her as the tooth-pulling expert, and I am grateful to have one of those in the family!

I told Ryan that he was officially a big boy. He replied, "So, I'm six now" (even though he knows that his birthday isn't until September). It will take me a little time getting used to seeing my baby with his missing tooth. I was talking to a woman at a chorus rehearsal last week. She talked about her twenty-something year old son who was still her cuddly boy. I told her that my little Ryan would always be my cuddly baby as well. Rat-tail, gap-toothed smile and all.

[We couldn't figure out what my special gift was, though one of the boys offered, "maybe for cooking something." Thanks for the effort.]

What Will I Do With My Time?

"Summer" ends in four weeks. Only four more weeks until school starts back up.

I am not looking forward to getting rid of my kids the way some parents do after having them around all day/every day. I like having them around. And they play so well with each other and with their next door neighbor, that it's not hard for them to stay busy. My problem is organizing my time so that we have a chance to do some of the activities and outings that I want to do with them before summer ends. We have done a few things like going to Big Kahuna's, playing Mexican Train Dominoes, making popsicles, water skiing, picking ripe red tomatoes from the garden, going to the library, hiking a trail at Rocky Bayou State Park, swim lessons, and just lounging with the family, among other things.

However, I would also like to do some of the following before the summer:
Go to a summer movie
Pick blueberries
Go canoeing
See the manatees in Wakulla River
Hit a state park or two
Go scalloping
Make more popsicles
Do a craft or two or three

And while I want to enjoy my time with the boys while I have it, I find that I am already looking ahead to what I might be able to accomplish when I have a full day of my own time. Of course, as I look forward to this time I do it in an attitude of procrastination. Like, why bother organizing my paperwork and balancing my checkbook now? Better to just wait until school starts.

Other projects I dream of finishing:
Sorting through and getting rid of seldom-used clothes, movies, and stuff
Ironing
Organizing all my photos
Sewing a dress-up cape and Ben10 costume (just in time for Halloween!)
Sewing my Christmas advent calendar
Cleaning the ceiling fans/general dusting (...nah!)
Detail vacuuming around the baseboards (...maybe)
Organizing my recipes and making weekly menu plans
Hanging pictures in dining room and family room
Painting exterior wall of the former screened porch
Catching up on blogging (is that even possible?)
Learning German (now I'm really dreaming...)

We'll see how successfully I organize my life come August. In the meantime, I am determined to put those big projects aside and use my last month to have fun with the boys. In fact, I think I'll attempt "Make more popsicles" right now.

Hope you're having fun with your summer.