Maybe we're doing okay

Sasha came home today with a paper crown, which Inesa was wearing when I got home.  She came into the kitchen to help me cook dinner, then asked me to bend down so she could give me the crown.  She gravely said, "You make us food, lotta food, and you keep us safe.  You the queen."  I gave her a big hug, then she yelled, "So I'm the PRINCESS!" 

Can't argue with that logic.

Best of times, worst of times

Today was kind of  a crappy day, both by parenting standards (I dragged Sasha down the street with no shoes on) and by kid behavior standards (he refused to put shoes on after refusing to stop yelling, "mom, mom, mom" after refusing to fold laundry after popping a bag in Jon's ear after tormenting his sister after...)

We also got a Christmas tree, and that was really exciting and special for both kids, and thus for us.  When we paid, they were giving out free hot cocoa and candy canes, and Inesa blissfully sighed, "I finally get to try a candy cane."  Another little boy looked at us sharply and said, "You've never had a CANDY CANE?!?"  obviously thinking we were the meanest parents ever.  We just grinned at him, to busy with our minty goodness to bother explaining. 

I would also like to point out that all four members of our household are sleeping on clean sheets tonight.  And that I spent about two hours helping both kids actually clean their rooms, as opposed to merely stuffing everything on a shelf so they can vacuum the floor like we do most weeks.  And that Mama and Papa got to go to a raucous holiday party tonight, where Mama scored a bottle of vodka in the white elephant exchange.  The kids were kind of jerks to grandma while we were gone, but hey.  Free bottle of vodka.  A reason to wear eye makeup.  And since grandma got to witness them on their very worst day ever, our first day home, nothing can shock her now.  (Well, I maintain that the trip home was their worst day ever, but when grandma came over to relieve us the next day so we could sleep, the kids still hadn't been to bed, so it was all one stupendously long bad day.)  Plus, I remembered to be Tooth Fairy for Sasha, who had six teeth pulled Friday, so he should wake up happy tomorrow, instead of ticked off like today, when I forgot. 

Questioning

This morning, Inesa and I were watching Reindeercam, a live feed of Santa's reindeer.  Santa came out at 8:00 to feed the reindeer (and his black lab!).  Inesa was fascinated.  Then she looked up at me and said, "Julia in my class says Santa isn't real." 

I said, "Well, SHE doesn't know what she's talking about!"

Inesa nodded and said, "We just SAW the real Santa.  Her computer must not show this station."

C'mon, Julia, let my kids have at least ONE year, okay?  Luckily, kindergarteners are aware that their classmates spread misinformation at times.  My real concern is the 2nd grade classroom, and I suspect that if it gets ruined for Sasha, he'll make sure Inesa doesn't get to believe either. 

Why yes, I did...

...just put the kids to bed a half hour early, because it seemed like a better option than murder completely losing my temper in a spectacular and regrettable manner.  It's possible that some degree of physical and emotional exhaustion was playing into the whole lovely scene, because the one who swears she's wide awake until she is actually laying down in bed didn't object in the least to that part happening so early, and the one who stalls and stalls still did so, but wound up settled down at the time the stalling usually begins.  I have a feeling this is a trick that will only work if we hardly ever use it, but I think tonight was a good benchmark of when we need to pull it out. 

obligatory cute holiday pictures

But bear with us, there are no actual costume photos.  Yet.  We were at their cousin's, and the kids were posing on top of the stairs, and there were already two photographers on the stairway itself, so I just said, "Send me some of those," forgetting both photographers are Film People. 

I think Jon got some on his phone at the end of the night, so maybe we'll be able to share those.

I also want to light the jack o'lanterns and get some photos of those.  Not because pictures of jack o'lanterns are particularly original or interesting, but because it IS the kids' first year, and they may want the record.  Of course, the VERY first pumpkins rotted by the weekend before, but we carved new ones the day before, and they still look good.  BTW, I always refused to buy those kits, because a) why spend the money when I already own knives and b) it's not like I'm going to be one of those people who carve Dracula's castle, complete with a mob storming the gate, carrying little tiny pitchforks and torches.  But they had the kits at the party where we first carved the pumpkins, and dang if those little saws aren't so much easier to use than a kitchen knife.  Sasha was able to free-hand carve a very cool face on his first try.  So when we did our second ones, we also used the (simple!) patterns, and although it kind of irks me to mechanize the art form, I also have to admit that my standard face isn't particuarly creative either.

The pumpkin carving featured this statement, "Can we play the be-quiet game now, because I want my pumpkin be very pretty and I no can think when everyone blah blah blah."  Given that a more typical version of this request is "AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHH!  WHY YOU ALWAYS BLAH BLAH BLAH TOO MUCH?  OKAY, I COME BLAH BLAH BLAH AT YOU" followed by a completely successful attempt to drive the talking sibling to tears via space invasion, we were more than happy to comply. 

and addendum: jack o'lantern shots:

 

And it felt great.

This morning was the first time since October 10th I didn't have something scheduled for the time both kids are at school.  I mean sure, I can always wash dishes, run a load of laundry, catch up on work email, make boring phone calls to insurance companies, etc., but nobody was expecting me anywhere at a specific time.

So, to quote Jean Auel out of context, I did what any red-blooded American housewife would do.

I went back to bed.

A little of this, a little of that

As of today, we're on Kaiser Dental.  I've never been a Kaiser patient before, although Jon was raised as one.  We took the kids to the dentist this summer, a very nice pediatric place literally up the street.  They got x-rays and cleaning, and then we were told that their teeth are in such bad shape that they would need to be knocked out for the work that needs to be done, because otherwise there would be such a long series of coming in for novacaine shots to work on them piecemeal that they were guaranteed a dental phobia for life.  So that would be, oh, five million dollars.  Per kid.  I may be off by a factor of 10 or so, but suffice it to say, the estimate was more than I've spent on dental care in my lifetime.  With our current dental plan--the one I've been on since I started teaching in '98--you start at 70% coverage.  It goes up 10% each year you have checkups until you're at 100%.  The kids can't wait 3 years for their dental work.  Kaiser's plan starts at 100% coverage.  Ergo, we'll be calling a Kaiser dentist tomorrow to make appointments.

Several times this summer, Jon took the kids to feed the ducks at a pond near Fred Meyers.  They usually rode their bikes.  Today Jon and Inesa went there while Sasha and I were at his swim lessons, which are across the street, so we all met up afterwards to distribute cracked corn.  Inesa exclaimed, "I like this.  The whole family is here."  Incidentally, the kids called both corn on the cob and popcorn "cracked corn" for awhile, because that was the 'corn' phrase they heard the most. 

Sasha's had behavior issues in various places lately.  We were embarrassed, because he overstepped some boundaries while at a neighbor's yesterday.  I talked to the dad after all our kids got on the bus this morning, and he said, "Hey, this stuff was how he got by for the last eight years.  You can't expect to fix it in three months."  I about hugged the guy.  What an empathetic perspective. 

Jon started a harvest job today.  This isn't directly kid related, but it's a Yay.  Both for the money and for the experience. 

After dinner, Jon tried suggesting that we give hugs for dessert.  Inesa and I, knowing there was chocolate cake in the kitchen, vehemently rejected this idea.  Sasha got up and gave Jon a big hug.  It was pretty dang cute.  He also gave Jon the last bite of his slice of cake. Somebody likes Papa. 

Our therapist told us that people adopt because they think having kids will be fun.  "But raising them won't be fun," she warned us.  "The fun part comes later."  I hear her, and appreciate her bluntness, but we do get a lot of fun parts now too.  I honestly think our kids are doing really well compared to how they COULD be doing.