Made My Day!

Pam (Miss Mint) e-mailed me this tonight. It's really something to see your name as a designer in print. I love my hobby job. :)

Phone Call from the Easter Bunny

Aiden and I were playing down in the cul-de-sac with the girls his age who live on the street earlier this afternoon when Aiden ran home for a bathroom break and was gone for several minutes too long. When he returned, he was carrying a piece of the easter candy that had been double-bagged and hidden 7 feet off the ground on a shelf in the pantry. Luckily he had waited to show me the take from his plundering and asked if he could eat it before opening it. I was already fairly put out after wrangling him all day since he got off the bus in a foul mood (although his report from school said he'd followed the rules well) and him spoiling his easter suprises was the last straw. I told Aiden that the candy was not his but was the Easter Bunny's and we'd have to talk to him about Aiden's mistake tonight. At dinner I quickly texted my dad, added a clip art image to display when he called on my iPhone and waited. About 30 minutes later my phone rang & lit up with a HUGE picture of the Easter Bunny, which I showed Aiden and he ran away. I followed Aiden and flipped it to speaker phone so he could hear the slightly nasily, carrot-munching voice of the Easter Bunny himself. The EB told Aiden that it was not okay for him to get into things that were not his and that there would be no Easter candy given until Easter. Aiden listened in pure terror, half-hiding his face at some moments and at others, staring wide-eyed at the giant clip art bunny image still showing on my iPhone and nodding silently at everything the EB was saying. He could barely mutter his answers when we asked him to confirm he understood and agreed he would not touch anything of mommy's or any Easter candy. After the Easter Bunny had addressed the issue (while pausing to excuse himself as he munched on his dinner of carrots), he reminded Aiden that he was really good friends with Santa Claus, at which time Brian had to be completely excused from the conversation and I could barely control my snickering! Aiden said good-bye and Brian walked him back for bath time while I slipped into the office and my dad and I both burst into fits of laughter while I scolded myself for not thinking to grab the camcorder. His easter bunny voice was hands-down the funniest thing I've heard all year! I gave him a play-by-play of the day's events and Aiden's terror-stricken face until I had laughed away all my frustrations and chalked the day up to being one of the most hilariously memorable parenting experiences thus far. I was informed that "Santa" can be texted any time throughout the year as well should the need arise for a phone call from him. I have the best dad EVER!!! Poor Aiden. In a shaky voice on the verge of tears he asked Heavenly Father in his prayers tonight that the Easter Bunny wouldn't take away all his candy. I felt my heart soften and decided that maybe the easter bunny can leave behind on the shelf the big pink egg containing a ring pop that was the most prized of all the candy and the one he ran down the street to ask if he could open. Perhaps then he'd know his prayers were answered while the rest of the candy resides elsewhere so I can avoid any more loot & plunder attempts. My dad was exactly right when he told me I need to be grateful for Aiden's healthy body that was able to climb up the shelves (albeit such stunts could still land him in a wheelchair) and that he's mentally healthy enough that we get to celebrate and pass on easter traditions. I guess I needed that phone call from a wise easter bunny tonight, too! Love you daddy. :)

Christmas Cookies

'Twas the day before Christmas and one tradition must stand:
Decorating cookies! We chose a gingerbread man.

With Aiden beside Tay, rolling his dough,

Sam cleaned up the mess that rained down on their toes.

The dough was store-bought and as sticky as could be.
Tay cursed every stuck candycane, star and tree.
Ten is good enough! We won't need that many,
Especially since Aiden has the attention span of a flea.
Lined up on pans in neat, tidy rows
Were the christmas cookies, all ready to go:



Shapes for decorating and tiny dough balls
Each sprinkled with sugar - we had it all!



The last confection going into the oven
Was the cookie made by Aiden with his extra lovin'
Actually it was boogers and snot added to his mix
Let's not tell dad - it will be our little trick!
He pounded and rolled the dough with great glee
Then arranged his creation on his pan quite proudly.
Look mom I'm done! He said with a whoop.
A perfect replica of snowy dog poop:



Out of the oven it came when the timer went ding
(Only the coolest mom would bake such a thing!)
"This one's for Santa" said Aiden, "I'll save it for him!"
"That's so sweet, Aiden!" (Thank goodness for Sam...)
I think this year is turning out to be the best
Because holidays with humor totally lower the stress!
So each year when I feel there's just too much to do,
We'll return to the tradition of gingerbread poo.
Who can be grinchy with such a hilarity on their plate?
Especially years from now when we can tell Aiden's dates
Of how, at age 3, a tradition of bathroom humor was made
All because our family was blessed with the hilarious Aiden Kade.

Family Halloween

We had a fun family Halloween with Brian & Aiden dressed up like Vikings and Tay being their kidnapped fair maiden:





The kiddo just looks like a marauder doesn't he? This year he finally got the hang of dressing up for candy. :)

Hitting Mom is a BAD Idea...

Our Toys R Us was having a sale and was stuffed full of clearance items so after Aiden did so well at getting his flu "shot" (nasal spray version), I took him up there to play at the store while I tackled our list of birthday & cousin gifts. An hour later we're in the checkout line when I tell Aiden no, he cannot play with some tiny breakable junk toy by the register. He freaks out, begins screaming and trying to hit me. I wheel us up to the register to pay and he hits my hands, smashing them against the shopping cart bar then strikes me twice more on the arm as I ignore him and unload our cart. When my back is turned, he lands a blow so forcefully under my shoulder blade that it forces an exhale, I wince in pain and I can hear all the moms and grandmothers behind me gasp at the fleshy THUD from his strike. I turn quickly, eyes flashing with anger but controlling my own reactions and hiss that hitting is not allowed, then push our cart forcefully away from me so it rolls to an empty cart area near the door with Aiden still sitting in it. He screams, cries and wails at an enormous volume for the next 2 minutes while I finish my purchase. All eyes are on me. What else is new? I actually have a half-second to note that after hearing everyone gasp, my first thought was for Aiden's future success at school if we don't curtail this hitting and that the first familiar prick of embarrassment was extinguished by my next thought of what I should do to stop this horrible hitting problem. Who has time to care what complete strangers think!

I have Aiden apologize to me before I wipe his eyes, help him blow his nose and remove him from the cart. He walks calmly with me to the car, as if he has never misbehaved in his life. My back is dully aching the entire drive home and the car is silent as I work through in my mind what I should do. Hitting as punishment for hitting is never the right answer so that is out. Time outs, that may work for other children, are not reliable with Aiden because they spawn toy-throwing rages that only allow him more physical expression for his anger. (Even if there are no toys, he will rip the decor off the wall in his room and throw those, simply because he's been put in time out.) Difficult child and time-outs don't really work. I'd looked up several parenting things on LDS.org and all of it said to discipline firmly but with kindness. Okay....how? Another parenting book comes to mind that said discipline should benefit the recipient, giving them opportunity to learn instead of taking away the learning opportunity by putting the child in time-out. Fine. How? I then thought of how truly difficult Aiden can be and how Brian and I pray every night that we will know the right things to do for him that he may learn and grow well. I am nearly beginning to think "why is there so little help for me?" when an idea suddenly pops into my head and my mouth begins saying it before I have even thought it through but it's the best idea I've gotten yet! I tell Aiden that when he gets angry and his hands want to hit that it means they are not getting enough exercise and we need to do things that will help exercise them so they won't want to hit when he feels angry. I actually smile when I get the idea of what his "exercise" should be:



Last night I cooked dinner for a family who just had twins - their 4th and 5th children - so I had to cook for an army and my splattered stovetop showed it. Scrubbing is good exercise for hands that like to hit...



....and so is cleaning the TV...

...and unloading the dishwasher...

...and scrubbing out the sink with Comet...

...Windexing the back door glass...

...and cleaning all the sticky fingerprints off the hope chest.

Yep, hitting mom is a BAD IDEA! However when it came to meeting the demands of discipline with kindness in a way that taught him without using harshness, this idea was pure genius and totally inspired. And the more I watched him clean the more thoughts came to my mind about how this same thing can be used when he's not listening and obeying (needs to practice listening to cleaning instructions and following through) and to when he's refusing to do things (needs to practice doing more things, like household tasks, when he is asked to) and as a consequence to defiance, mess making and the general mayhem he creates, this will be a great way to teach through tactile activity that he cannot go through life wreaking havoc or he will be continually presented with such "opportunities for learning at home"! I guess it takes one really good whack in the back during our hundredth temper tantrum to create the scene for me to list out everything I know, confess the things I don't know and think "Okay, HOW?!!" before the moment is ideal for the perfect answer. Our tactile boy needs tactile learning and tactile discipline. It's pretty cool when prayers are answered just when you need it. :)

Favorite Things

We'll take a quick intermission to mention some of Aiden's favorite things while at Nana and Papa Bob's besides all of the fun activities. He has loved playing in the upstairs game room with all of the really cool games, puzzles, and toys.

But most of all he has loved the cats. If ever he disappears, and we don't hear him, we know that he has headed off to see the cats.

Who may not be as thrilled to see him as he is to see them!

Playing In The Creek & Ice Cream

Once we got home from Orr Family Farms Tuesday afternoon, it was time for Papa Bob to get home from work, which meant that it was time for Aiden to get to play in the creek while Mommy and Daddy got to out on a date for the evening.

The creek behind my Dad's house has been his pet project ever since they moved into their house in Oklahoma. Don't let this next picture fool you, even though there are toys in the background, I am sure that Aiden was put to work shoveling dirt for the next project! j/k

After all of their hard work and play, it was off to Braum's for some ice cream. Aiden's favorite color is orange, so I am sure that is why he ended up with orange sherbet. As to why the ice cream is bigger than he is, we'll never know.

Luckily, he doesn't mind sharing. "Here Papa Bob, help me finish this."