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It's that time again. Joshua has a weak eye, so for the past year, as per the opthalmologist's instructions, we've been patching his good eye every 3 months. He only has to wear it for 6 hours each day, and we do it for 3 weeks each time. It is not a fun time in our home when he has to start wearing it again. Actually, getting in on the mornings is the biggest struggle. He just hates to wear it, so it's all he can do to let us put it on. The patch itself is like a big round band-aid that sticks on over the eye. I actually have to trim the patches before we put them on so that it covers less of his little face (even though they are meant for children). You have to stick it on correctly the first time (which requires him to be still) because you can't take it off and do it again. Poor guy. He tries to be brave, but he really just hates to wear it not only because it's irritating to have it on, but also because it's just harder for him to see well out of his weak eye. Of course, that's the whole point, to make the weak eye work harder so that it becomes stronger. The opthamologist actually told us that if we didn't do anything to correct the weak eye, it would eventually just stop working and he would only use his good eye to see with. Wow - certainly don't want that! So, we carry on with the patch proceedings every 3 months and keep telling him how good this is for him. We've also tried to provide incentive for him to get the patch on in the mornings. You know, there is a fine line between reward and bribery, but we're hoping we're leaning toward reward. :o) However, because this is such an ordeal, we're trying a bigger incentive this time. In the past he's been able to tear off a link to a construction paper chain that we made, one link for each day he has to wear it. Other times he's been able to choose a sticker to put on a calendar for each day he wears it. This time we actually attached a piece of candy to a chart so that now once he puts the patch on, he gets to take the piece of candy off and eat it. Yeah, we're getting desperate. But one little piece of candy is worth not taking 2 hours to get the thing on every morning. Once he has it on, and after we get past the first couple of days, he does fine wearing it. He can't wait until the afternoon when he can take it off, but he usually doesn't try to take it off early or anything. Today is day 2, only 19 more days to go!
Can you tell it's Saturday morning? Sometimes I have to save up my ideas for posts until Daddy is home and I actually have time at the computer. Anyway, on with the post... There are times when I just stop and kind of step outside of a situation, realize what is happening, and just laugh. When you're the mother of multiple small children, there are so many situations like that. For example, I mentioned in a previous post that Luke (who was recently potty trained) is still working on not being afraid of doing #2 in the potty. This results in him waiting for days to actually go. So, whenever he does finally have to go, we move heaven and earth to make the blessed event take place. The last time he finally had to go, I scooped Micah up, then rushed Luke to the bathroom. It was close to Micah's naptime so he was getting fussy and didn't really want to let me put him on the floor. So, in a bathroom that's not much bigger than a large phone booth (enough room for a toilet and sink), Luke is on the potty, I'm sitting on a small stool on the floor, Micah is standing up next to me holding on to my leg, and Joshua is crowding in at the door in hopes that Mommy is going to read some books. Joshua is also excited because of the rewards that "Luke" gets for going #2 in the potty; Joshua obviously freely benefits from Luke's accomplishment. So, here I sit with all 3 of my children crammed into this little bathroom reading books like this is a normal place for the family to spend time together. In spite of the craziness, my children DO think this is normal, and Luke was able to do his business, for which we are all very proud of him. By the time it's all over, Micah was way ready for his nap, but Luke had once again proved himself an exceptional 2 year old boy.
I am constanty repairing things, particularly the boy's books . Even now there is a stack of at least 5 books on my desk that need to be taped up. Sometimes it's just that the binding is coming apart, but often it's because pages have been torn or the book has just been messed up by one of my crazy children. It's not that I mind fixing things for them. I'm just wondering if this is normal. Is it just because they're boys that they have the need to tear things up? Or are my boys extra-destructive? And how do I help them take care of things? In reality, now it's not so much that they are tearing up the books on purpose, it's just that they are so rough with everything. You would think that me growing up with 3 brothers I would be used to such roughness. And in some ways I am, but can we please take care of our books? I am grateful that they at least really enjoy looking at (and now actually reading) lots of books.
On a related topic, my boys can't seem to keep things out of their mouths. Joshua, the almost 5 year old, is the worst. He forever has some toy, or his shirt, or a book, or whatever in his mouth. Luke is still sucking him thumb, so he's not quite as bad about putting other things in his mouth (though he still does it). But, for real, do other kids do this? Obviously Micah is starting to do this more and more, but he's only 8 months old. That doesn't really concern me, but Joshua should have grown out of this by now, shouldn't he?
We have this little poster that tells us what the weather is going to be each day. There's a little place to put the proper weather forecast in it, so it has to be changed each day according to the weather. We've had this thing up for months (since we did "W" week and studied weather), but the boys are still totally into it. I, of course, have a few other things to think about than whether our weather poster is correct or not. However, almost every morning one of the boys goes ballistic if the weather is not correct. There have been times when I'm in my room at the back of the house and one of the boys will come screaming down the hall like his hair is on fire, "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" And I'm wondering what in the world has happened now. Then they burst into the room to tell me that it's sunny outside but the weather says cloudy. :o) It's very important to have the proper weather on display. Maybe one of them will grow up to be a weatherman...
Today at lunch Joshua, out of the blue (which is how he always does things it seems), says to me, "Mommy, there is only one God who is in 3 persons, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. Right?" So, I just turn and look at him and brilliantly reply, "Yes." He did kind of catch me off guard. I'm sitting there wondering where he learned that from when he goes on to say, "That's what it said on Sumo of the Opera." (Thank the Lord for Veggie Tales!). He then continues the subject by asking what exactly does that mean. Hopefully my answers were sufficient enough to not only answer him but reinforce the concepts in his little mind. You never know when it will be time to answer theological questions with your children (who are under 5 years old). Doesn't it say in 1 Peter that we are supposed to always be ready to give an answer? :o)
So, a little news on the potty training front. Luke continues to do fabulously; I'm still amazed. He's even staying dry at night and during nap time. So impressive, really. He is a little leary of doing #2 in the potty, which makes him basically hold it for days. We started offering incentive to encourage the #2 issue. He gets a cup of juice at the next meal and a new little car if he goes in the potty. Juice is a MAJOR motivator for Luke because they rarely ever get to drink it; we just drink water here. And apparently the juice and car are a major motivator for Joshua, too, because he's constantly asking Luke if he's gone, ready to go, needs to go. It's actually quite humorous. But at least the motivation is causing Joshua to encourage Luke in his new endeavors and be excited with/for him when he finally does it. I truly am grateful for how well Luke has done!
Luke, though fast approaching 3, is still just 2. :o) I really think he started his 2-ness somewhere around 18 or 20 months. He seemed to do everything earlier than Joshua did. Joshua didn't enter the terrible twos until his second birthday. Luke hit it early, but mostly in the boundless energy kind of way. Overall, Luke's "2" year has been mild compared to what we remember of Joshua's "2". Maybe it's because Joshua was the first 2 year old that we ever actually had to live with, much less raise. Or maybe it's because now Joshua is 4 and we also have Micah. Whatever the difference, Luke's "2" hasn't seemed that bad. Granted, "3" is on its way and that was even more difficult with Joshua, but we'll save that for a different post. For now, let's just talk about the ways Luke does exhibit the fact that he is still 2. Sometimes he just more energy than his little body can contain. He wakes up before any of the brothers and just can't wait to start the day. From the time he could run he has, at times, just run up and down the hallway yelling. FOR NO REASON. He just has that much energy and feels the need to release it. Today was one of those days. You know, when you compare your child to the ball in a pinball machine, just bouncing off the walls (at 7:30 a.m., mind you). And I mean literally bouncing off the walls or Mommy or his brothers or whatever else happens to be in his direct path. Does the term "tasmanian devil" bring a picture to your mind? He's not being bad or disobedient, he just literally can't contain himself. Thankfully he's not always like this. Sometimes, especially as of late, he displays his 2-ness by being overly emotional. I just feel sorry for him in those times, poor guy. At times the smallest thing can set him off and he will just start sobbing. We ask him what's wrong and he just says, "I don't know." When Joshua did this we were always trying to figure out why he was crying, what the problem was. We finally figured out that it was normal for him to do that. With Luke, when he just has more emotion than he knows what to do with we comfort him, love on him, then distract him. It usually doesn't last more than two minutes and he's back to pinball mode anyway. I can only imagine this is magnified with a little girl. Wow.
