Dressing Up

Princess and Pirate share a room. That's what happens when you have four kids in a three bedroom house. Eventually Princess will need her own room, but for now they're young enough that they can share and it's not a huge issue. They have one nightstand in their room, next to Princess's bed. In the drawer, she keeps all of her hair accessories, and her dress up jewelry. We gave away her dress ups about a year ago when they were too small, but the jewelry can be used forever. She dressed up as Fancy Nancy for Favorite book character day at school, and wore most of the beads and bracelets she had.

Pirate loves to dress up. He wears costumes 90% of the time. Let me tell you, there's nothing like being woken up at 6:00am to a miniature Darth Vader standing next to you asking for a Pop Tart. We don't have a ton of boy dress ups. We have a few pirate costumes (obviously), the Toy Story characters, Dark Bader, and Batman. Our dress ups consist of old Halloween costumes. I seriously saw Pirate trying to put on Trouble's Buzz Lightyear costume from last year. It's a size 18 months. Because of the new obsession with Batman, Pirate was trying to put on his own Batman costume from when he himself was 15 months old. It too was a toddler sized costume. Then he had a genius idea (to him). He found Princess's Batgirl costume from the same year. (I love themes for the kids for Halloween). He thought the cape on it was really cool, so he insisted on wearing it. The problem is that the Batgirl costume is a dress. At least he called him self Batman in it. I did buy him a very boyish Batman mask, but it still didn't really make it manly enough since he was continuing to run around in a dress. My husband finally cut the dress part off the costume, so now it looks more like a shirt with a cape. It'll do until we buy a new Batman costume for him.

The other night, I was sitting on Princess's bed with her, combing her hair after her shower. Pirate was going through her drawer looking at all her hair stuff. I think he'd like me to fix his hair too, but it's not possible with a buzz cut. (I do sometimes put barrettes in Trouble's hair because it is longer than Pirate's. My husband doesn't appreciate that at all.) So, we look over at Pirate, and he's decorating himself with Princess's jewelry. I think it's hilarious. I went into my room to talk to my husband, and Pirate walks in, completely covered in the jewelry and headbands. He had 5 neon colored stretchy hair wraps around his forehead, so his eyes were all squished down. Then he had on all of her beaded necklaces, some of them doubled around since they were so long. He had an arm full of silly bandz, and the other arm covered in plastic bangle bracelets. But the icing on the cake? He walked in to stand in front of our full length mirror to put clip-on earrings on his ears. I am kicking myself for not taking a picture! It was seriously priceless. My hubby took Pirate into his room and helped him put everything away, and busted out the Star Wars toys stat. Apparently there needed to be an intervention.

Time for new underwear?

I took Princess out to run some errands after dinner last night. Daddy is the clear favorite in the house, but Princess said it's nice for the girls to spend some time together. We went to the library because she's a major book worm, and made a few other stops. By the time we got home, Trouble was already in bed, and Donkey was having his bedtime bottle. Pirate was in his pj's too, but it was bath night, so I told him he had to take his clothes off.

I said, "Put your jammies on your bed and put your underwear in the hamper. You can wear the same jammies, but need clean underwear after your bath.". Pirate said no, that these were new underwear. I said that he needed clean ones after his bath because he had been wearing the same undies all day. To which Pirate replied, "Mommy, no. These are new undies. I sharted in my Brobie undies while you were out and put them in the hamper. These undies are new after I sharted in the other ones.". I laughed for a good five minutes. He doesn't know what shart stands for, but he does know what it is. While I was bathing him, he tried explaining what happened with the shart, but I needed clarification.

My husband said they were playing in the family room, and all of a sudden, Pirate jumped up and ran up the steps, without saying anything. A few minutes, my husband heard my favorite words, "Daddy, I'm done!". Apparently Pirate didn't quite make it to the bathroom in time, because he had the tiniest bit of poop in his Brobie undies. Thankfully, they are clean again, because they are a favorite, right up there with the Toy Story undies.

Stuck

Tonight we had a first, and of course it had to do with Trouble. Typically at night, my husband puts Trouble to bed. He goes to bed before the others, because he needs the sleep, and because we need the relief of him being contained in his crib. Tonight, I put him to bed. My husband was doing some yard work, so I took care of bedtime. When I put Trouble to bed, he was not happy. He knew his sister and brother were still up. But, he went down ok because he was tired from playing outside all day.

Princess and Pirate were ready for bed, watching some shows in the family room, and I was feeding Donkey his bed time bottle. All of a sudden, I hear Trouble screaming at the top of his lungs. It wasn't his normal complaining cry, where he just wants to get back up. I sent Princess up to see if he was OK and to turn on his music for him. She said his leg was stuck in the crib. I laid Donkey in the pack & play, and ran up to see what was wrong. I can't even accurately explain the position Trouble was in. He was on his hands and one knee. His right knee was on the mattress, and his left knee was behind him, stuck in between the bars. And by stuck, I mean stuck. It wouldn't budge for me. I pulled from the inside. I pushed from the outside. It wouldn't move. In my mind I flashed back to Full House (my favorite show as a kid) where DJ was babysitting and the kid got his head stuck in the banister and they used margarine to try to get him out. Instead of breaking out the butter, I ran outside to my husband and he came to the rescue. My sister in law had stopped by, so she helped pry the bars apart a little while my husband pushed Trouble's leg back through. Thankfully he wasn't hurt, just shaken up from being stuck. Also thankfully, the crib wasn't broken - it being the only place Trouble can be contained.

More tales of a Lifeguard

Having Trouble as a child means lots of stories. Putting Trouble in a pool will make for many more stories. I mentioned before how we joined the community pool this summer. Up until this week, I was able to get away with just taking Princess and Pirate. Pirate is almost 4, so he's still young enough to play in the baby pool, but he wants to get in the big pool with his sister. His feet can't reach the bottom, so he uses an inner tube (floatie) and gets around pretty well with it.

As we all know, moms have tons of superpowers. However, we don't have enough hands or sets of eyes to help several children at the same time and help them in different pools. This is why I usually only take the oldest two kids to the pool. The other night, I was feeling bold, so after dinner, I told my husband I was going to take Princess, Pirate, & Trouble all to the pool for 45 minutes after dinner. The pool closes at 7, so it was a perfect time to go. This was Trouble's first time at the pool. Princess is able to be in the big pool by herself, only in the 3 feet, and she usually makes a friend pretty quickly. Pirate started complaining right away that he wanted to get in the big pool, but I told him no because Trouble couldn't get in it. This night, everything went smoothly. Trouble loved the little pool and everyone had a great time.

The next day, I guess I was still high off of our good experience the night before. I decided I could be Supermom and take all four kids to the pool together. We had an early lunch, Donkey had his bottle, everyone was changed and we were packed up and at the pool by 12:20. I knew we could only stay an hour and a half tops because Trouble would need a nap. With a kid like Trouble, naptime is is priceless!

We got to the pool and were very lucky to get a table with an umbrella at the baby pool. I set out all of our stuff (which is a lot for five people), put Donkey's stroller in the shade, and let Princess go to the big pool. Trouble went in the pool right away. Pirate is a little slower to get moving, but he eventually got in the pool too. I didn't even get our toys into the pool before Trouble was hauling butt across the pool to grab someone else's. It's an unwritten rule that all toys in the baby pool become community property. But still, I didn't want him taking other kids' stuff. I brought him back to the side of the pool where our table was. Donkey started crying. He needed a nap, but couldn't get comfortable in the carrier in the stroller. I pushed the stroller around the baby pool to calm him down. When we got back to our spot, I parked him, but he was still upset, so I pushed the stroller back and forth in place, while watching Trouble and Pirate in the pool. I turned around for a second to see if Donkey was asleep, turned back to the pool, and Trouble was under water. It's only 18 inches of water, so I couldn't do a dive in save like I did with Princess a few weeks back, but I did have to run in and grab him out. It didn't seem to phase him at all. He was wriggling out of his towel and wanted back in the pool. Donkey finally fell asleep, so I could sit on the edge of the pool with the other two. I stood up for a second to look at Princess in the big pool, and Trouble was under water again. Another save for Mommy. My first instinct was to just leave the pool. Pack everyone up and go home. But since Donkey was asleep, and we had made it this far, I figured we could stay.

After that, Trouble was only allowed to sit in the baby pool, right in front of me, and if I even thought of standing up or turning my head, I got him out of the pool first. At adult swim, Princess joined us in the baby pool, and I felt accomplished that I had all of my kids near me and everyone was having a good time. We lasted the full hour and a half. 90 minutes may not sound like a long time. But with 4 kids at a pool, it feels like a lifetime. The clock didn't tell me it was time to go. Donkey woke up and started crying because it was time to eat. Trouble started whining and crying because he was exhausted. But, we made it. I made it. Even if I never attempt it again, I know I survived one time with all four!

Life as a Lifeguard

Mommies have millions upon millions of jobs. We are nurses, waitresses, chefs, maids, launderers (not sure if that's a word or not, but it should be), chafeurs, grocery shoppers, errand runners, you name it, we do it. During the summer, we become lifeguards. I personally never took a lifeguard test at a pool or beach, but I have been tested by my kids, and luckily I have passed every test (so far).

Around Memorial Day, there was this insane heat wave going on here, where it reached a bazillion degrees every day for a week. I bought a new pool for the kids, one made of hard plastic that had a little slide molded into it. The slide is a little small for Princess, but she still has room to play in the pool part. [side note- every time I try to type pool, I type poop first... you can see what I'm usually writing about.] In the past, we have had the inflatable pools. We're so classy that my husband would inflate them with a leaf blower. Yes, I just admitted that. Anyway, this hard plastic pool looked good, so I bought it.

Memorial Day was the first time we used the pool. Princess and Pirate played in it while Trouble and Donkey were napping. I was able to sit in my chair next to the pool, and stick my feet in it. I was relaxing watching them play with their toys and try out the slide. Enter Trouble... his nap was over, so my husband brought him out to try the pool. My sitting time was over. I ended up standing in the pool because of how Trouble kept trying to drink the water, stick his face under water, or go down the slide backward. I wish this lifeguard would have gotten overtime pay that day.

There is a community pool down the street from us. We've been a few times, but never considered joining it until this year. A few weeks ago I took Princess and Pirate with my sisters in law and nieces and nephews. There is a water slide in the deep well. Princess went down it when she took swimming lessons two years ago. It was not a good experience. But on this day, all her cousins were going down the slide and she wanted to go too. Thankfully, I had enough sense to walk over with her and not just let her go with her 13 year old cousin. I talked her through exactly what to do, come up from under water, and swim right to the ladder on the wall. She was ready. She was excited. She laughed going down the slide. She was smiling when she came back up. Then I saw it, the fear on her face. I yelled to her to swim to the side. She started to, but she wasn't strong enough. She started to go under. I dove in the pool and grabbed her before I even had a chance to think about what I was doing. I pulled her to the side and got her out and she started crying. She was embarrassed. She finally calmed down and we were able to enjoy the rest of our day.

Man Overboard!

Pirate fell in the toilet this morning. He's really good about taking himself to the bathroom, and usually doesn't even tell me he's going #2, until he's done, and I get the "Mommy, I'm done" call. Sometimes I question his pooping timing, like he has to go right when I start feeding the baby, or conveniently as soon as I say it's time to clean up the playroom. Anyway, today he went, called me, and I wiped him, same as always. It's still not completely clear to me how this happened though.

He has a Thomas the Tank Engine potty seat that goes on top of the regular seat, one of those things so kids don't fall in the toilet. He also puts the stool in front of the toilet I guess as a footrest and to help him get onto the toilet without a problem. When he's done, he stands up on the stool and I take the Thomas seat off and put it behind the toilet, then I wipe him and he flushes, etc. Somehow today, I took the seat away before he had turned around for me to wipe him, and he lost his balance. It all happened so fast, and I was right next to him, but all of a sudden, he's in the toilet, with his legs bent over the outside of the bowl, just looking at me with fear in his eyes. He didn't say it, but I could tell he was thinking don't flush me. I fished him out right away, and he was fine, but he did have a little scratch on his back from it hitting the back of the bowl. To add to my stellar parenting moments, I laughed and told Princess all about it as soon as the ordeal was over.