saying goodbye to '09

i have to say, i am not too sorry to say good bye to 2009. its been a painful crawl to the end of the year. m. has really been impulsive lately. when his therapist first mentioned her concerns about him being impulsive, i think i sort of half listened. mostly what i heard was this is a way to get him into school with k., so i went with it. but last night, when the third catastrophe in one week occured i had second thoughts.

we were at a party with good friends last night and suddenly from the other room i heard that gut wrenching cry that makes all mothers stop dead in their tracks. unfortunately for me, i knew that cry all to well. upon investigating, i discovered that m. had fallen and hit his head pretty hard on something (turns out he made contact with the coffee table after tripping over a fallen friend). soo hard, in fact, that he had an indentation from the impact. my first thought was please do not let us have to go to the ER again this week! honestly, i wasnt sure i would walk out of the ER without having been interviewed by child services. on christmas eve m. managed to set a fire in his bedroom with a trick involving electricity and a common bed pillow that would make even macgyver jealous.

two days after christmas we visited the ER after m. pulled a large bench down on his head. we are still trying to figure out how he managed that. thankfully i have a wonderful neighbor who came and sat with the other boys while j. and i took m. to the hospital. as it turned out it was a clean gash that glued together again nicely. of course he was rewarded for his good behavior by getting a giant popsicle at 10pm from the nurse. every morning since then he wakes up and says "hey mommy, what are we doing today?" i reply' "i dont know m., what do you want to do today?" and he says "lets go to the doctors for popsicles!!" and then at some point later that day it is likely that i will discuss with j. if his latest antic is worthy of that visit to said dr. after all.

which leads us to the indentation in his head last night. you know its a bad goose egg when a mom of triplets says "oh my, i have never seen a bump that bad!"

all this is to say, i am actually really starting to worry about just how impulsive m. is and what lies ahead for him. so as i say goodbye to '09 i am resolving to try to stay one step ahead of all of my kids this year, without being a helicopter mom. and as i ring in twentyten with girlfriends next weekend on an overnight trip to national harbor in DC i can only hope that i wont get a phone call that involves details about any sort of emergency room visit, bloodshed or fire starting.

merry, merry christmas

its beginning to look a lot like christmas

only 3 days to go and i am checking off my list. tree in stand and decorated. check. christmas cards in the mail. check. presents bought and hidden. check. snow. check to the tune of 20+ inches!! all that is left to do is wrap gifts which is proving to be a challenge because the snow has brought the holiday break to us by express delivery as opposed to the ground delivery that i selected. here is hoping that school is in session tomorrow!! in the meantime, here are some recent pics to keep you entertained.

m.

im pul sive

--adjective

1. actuated by or prone to act on impulse.

2. inclined to act on impulse, rather than thought.

3. acctuated or swayed by emotional or involuntary impulses.

REF: see pic below

happy 3rd birthday sweet boys!!

i can not believe that 3 years have passed since i was wheeled into the operating room, preparing to meet you. i can not believe that we once weighed you boys in grams, celebrating every miniscule increase! i can not believe that even though you joined us 9 weeks early, you have made such tremendous strides and are now attending preschool and riding the school bus like big boys. i can not believe that today you are three years old. look how big you have gotten...

"because i said so"

i think we have all heard the phrase "because i said so" snarled our direction through gritted teeth at one point or another in our childhood. as a child i know i didnt realize the frustration level the adult must have been experiencing and the control it took for them to utter that phrase and not something else. these last few weeks, my six year old has been pushing me to the brink and i have found myself snarling clever things like "because i said so" or "because i am your mother and i make the rules!" what is it about being 6 years old that is soo rough i am wondering?!

this morning at the busstop went something like this:

me: gee, i am glad it finally stopped raining.
f.: me too, now i can play tag today.
me: well, its pretty muddy and slippery out there from all the rain, i dont think that playing tag is a good idea today. maybe you can play something else, like rock, paper, scissors with your friends.
f.: i have to play tag, its the only fun thing i get to do every morning.
me: f. i really dont think its a good idea.
f.: fine, i will play zombie tag, we will walk like zombies. but i am still playing tag.
me: (sigh)

then i proceed to get everyone out of the car, get m. and k. all ready with their backpacks and waiting for the bus. it is such a busy intersection and busstop that i stand there holding m&k hands. f. runs off to play with his friends.

f: (in tears) moooommm, i cant go to school today.
me: why not?
f: look at me
me: (now noticing he is covered from head to toe in mud) well, go wait in the car, after the little boys get on the bus, i will take you home to change

finish waiting for bus and get the little boys on the bus. return to the car and prepare to take fin home to get him changed.

f: mmmooommm, why didnt you tell me not to play tag???!!!

top 10 things i want to remember about our trip to disney

we had a fantastic trip, pictures to follow. but before the memories start to slip into the oblivion of my mostly useless brain, i wanted to record some of the things i want to remember:

1. f., who sometimes gets carsick on the 20 minute trip to granny and pops only got carsick twice in the 30+ hours we spent in the car. thank you dramamine.
2. getting some special mommy, daddy and f. time to spend one night at the t-rex restaurant at downtown disney and f. wanting to do a bit of shopping for his brothers.
3. our first ride with the whole family, the safari ride in animal kingdom. m. was way more interested in the other jeeps full of passengers than the animals strategically placed along the way.
4. m. and k. enjoying the tram ride from the parking lots just as much as any of the other rides in disney.
5. m. falling asleep in the "finding nemo" musical in his daddy's arms.
6. m. and k. being a bit more brave then their older brother in any show that included 3D glasses.
7. going to the nighttime parade and fireworks and listening to m. say "the hurrade is coming sooooon!" fivehundredandtwentysix times.
8. the character breakfast with all my family. k. loves characters soo much, but apparently not soo much after his food has been delivered. i think he thought pooh was trying to eat his fruit.
9. skipping through the magic kingdom listening to christmas music with my family all wearing shorts.
10. listening to f. giggle uncontrollably while m. shouted "this is lots of funny" when we were trying to get everyone to fall asleep in the hotel on the way home.
11. floating around the lazy river at the townhouse resort with my whole family. (ok, i know thats 11, but deal people, it was super cute!)