My son and I argued for quite a long time about his homework today.
Micah informed me that his homework was too easy, and since he wasn't dumb, he shouldn't have to do it. Personally, I find this to be a reasonable argument if the point of homework was to learn something. However, I'm pretty sure that that isn't what the point of the worksheets that his teacher sends home. She sends home tons of math problems. Simple stuff. Also his spelling and vocabulary words for him to write and define. He also has a reading log. It's pretty much the same thing every day. These aren't things for you to learn at home, they are things to practice so that you can do them faster and remember them at school. I told him about the real reason for his homework. He didn't like that.
Micah gave me a new argument and tried to establish a deal. If he could do his homework in 5 minutes, he shouldn't have to do it the next day. Pretty good argument, right? I thought it was good.
I started the timer. Three minutes, he had all the worksheets done. He pulled out the reading log and reads the top of the page "Read for 15 minutes".
Did I know that was there? Yeah...
I know, I kind of manipulated my son a bit, but after 3 hours of "I don't want to do my homework!" I feel justified. Homework is done.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Plans and Family
I love having my family visit. It's really nice to have them come and play with us. I love having my niece and nephew around. It's been so long that I hadn't even met my little niece yet and they hadn't met the twins.
Before I even begin to talk about the things that have happened, I have to say that I haven't always been this neurotic. I'm not a planner by nature, my life has made me that way. My son requires a whole lot of planning. He needs preparation so that we don't have meltdowns or chasing him because he ran away. Then there's the fact that I have 4 kids. While that may seem a bit crazy, it's really not with proper preparation.
That being said, I went crazy last week.
My brother Tony is the anti-planner. When he said that he was going to come down here and just wing it when it came to plans, I thought to myself that this would be okay, as long as I knew the day before what we were going to do the next day.
That didn't happen.
I think the worst case of anti-planning was when we were on our way to one activity when I got a phone call from him saying "why don't we just go to the beach instead?" I put up a few reasons why that wouldn't be my favorite choice and he just went around them. I went to the store and got my kids their swimsuits for this season (I needed to do that anyway) and then went back home to prepare for a trip to the beach.
I was freaking out the whole time too because the last time I'd been to the beach with my kids Micah had run away and we found him 2 miles away ( just realized I hadn't blogged about that particular incident, which is kind of weird considering the fact that it was so major...basically Micah wandered away when we weren't looking, the life guards found him an hour later 2 miles away and got him to get into their truck by telling him that the truck was going to Michigan...yeah, that made me so comfortable to know). It happened last summer, and I didn't take him back to the beach after that. I just couldn't.
Tony may be the anti-planner, but he cares about kids. He may freak me out for lack of planning, but he knew where all 6 kids were all the time. We made sure we took my mom also, which made it 4 adults and 6 kids. Not a bad ratio really.
Overall, everything turned out fine, but I just didn't enjoy myself as much without preparation.
Winging it with my kids just isn't my specialty. I seem like a pretty laid back person to some people, but really, 4 kids require planning in order to make my life even close to sane. I'm flexible in a lot of things, but I need at least a few hours notice for drastic changes in plans. Yeah, I totally blame my kids. On my own I don't usually plan anything. I don't need a plan when I'm just taking care of me. Those occasions are so seldom, though, that I don't usually have the opportunity to relax like that. I have 4 kids, and I like it that way. My kids have caused me to grow in the area of planning. I just don't think it's a bad thing even if it makes me seem neurotic when my family comes around. I'll take my "planner" label and go with it.
Before I even begin to talk about the things that have happened, I have to say that I haven't always been this neurotic. I'm not a planner by nature, my life has made me that way. My son requires a whole lot of planning. He needs preparation so that we don't have meltdowns or chasing him because he ran away. Then there's the fact that I have 4 kids. While that may seem a bit crazy, it's really not with proper preparation.
That being said, I went crazy last week.
My brother Tony is the anti-planner. When he said that he was going to come down here and just wing it when it came to plans, I thought to myself that this would be okay, as long as I knew the day before what we were going to do the next day.
That didn't happen.
I think the worst case of anti-planning was when we were on our way to one activity when I got a phone call from him saying "why don't we just go to the beach instead?" I put up a few reasons why that wouldn't be my favorite choice and he just went around them. I went to the store and got my kids their swimsuits for this season (I needed to do that anyway) and then went back home to prepare for a trip to the beach.
I was freaking out the whole time too because the last time I'd been to the beach with my kids Micah had run away and we found him 2 miles away ( just realized I hadn't blogged about that particular incident, which is kind of weird considering the fact that it was so major...basically Micah wandered away when we weren't looking, the life guards found him an hour later 2 miles away and got him to get into their truck by telling him that the truck was going to Michigan...yeah, that made me so comfortable to know). It happened last summer, and I didn't take him back to the beach after that. I just couldn't.
Tony may be the anti-planner, but he cares about kids. He may freak me out for lack of planning, but he knew where all 6 kids were all the time. We made sure we took my mom also, which made it 4 adults and 6 kids. Not a bad ratio really.
Overall, everything turned out fine, but I just didn't enjoy myself as much without preparation.
Winging it with my kids just isn't my specialty. I seem like a pretty laid back person to some people, but really, 4 kids require planning in order to make my life even close to sane. I'm flexible in a lot of things, but I need at least a few hours notice for drastic changes in plans. Yeah, I totally blame my kids. On my own I don't usually plan anything. I don't need a plan when I'm just taking care of me. Those occasions are so seldom, though, that I don't usually have the opportunity to relax like that. I have 4 kids, and I like it that way. My kids have caused me to grow in the area of planning. I just don't think it's a bad thing even if it makes me seem neurotic when my family comes around. I'll take my "planner" label and go with it.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Furniture and Stuff
My house is filled with furniture.
I mean, beyond the normal amount of furniture. Well, not really. If everything was in it's place we wouldn't have extras...but things just aren't in the right places.
Let me explain. I'm not a hoarder, just kind of lazy. I have a garage full of stuff. The thing is, this garage is converted to a bedroom. It was my bedroom until my mom moved in with my grandmother, then I took her room and stuff took over my room. It shouldn't be just filled with stuff. It should be functional. I am going to be moving my girls into that room because it's a lot bigger than their room and there are 3 of them so they can use the space. My mom will still have a room in my house, it will be where the girls' room is now.
Makes sense right?
I have to go through the stuff and get rid of most of it still.
Mostly it's books and old clothes that kids have grown out of. A few boxes of random things, some craft supplies...you know, stuff. Just stuff.
The thing is, by the time I actually get through cleaning the rest of my house every day, I'm tired and just don't want to think about that garage.
So my stuff sits.
I'd feel worse if I didn't have a whole lot of excuses why I haven't gotten around to it lately. Between my grandmother moving, GS cookie season, planning a wedding for my friend, baseball season starting, emergency gallbladder surgery, my husband leaving for a memorial service for his grandmother who passed away recently...the list goes on and on, but they really are just excuses. I should have done more by now.
So what does that have to do with furniture? We bought my girls some furniture for their new bedroom with the tax refund. It's still in boxes in my dining room. Then there's the furniture that my grandmother wanted my girls to have when she moved from her house to a small apartment. Yeah. Furniture everywhere.
It's starting to drive me nuts. When we first got it all in the house, I was pretty much useless because I was still recovering from my surgery. Tony did a lot of work in that garage, but sorting things and organizing them just isn't where his skills lie (unless the things are on the computer). If everything was just as easy as "move that over there" then Tony would have done it by now.
I'm pretty much recovered from my surgery. I still have a twinge now and then, so I'm not planning on lifting anything. Still, I need to get the sorting done so that Tony can lift and put stuff where it goes.
I don't wanna.
I know, grow up Supermommie! Get up off your chair and sort some stuff! Stop blogging about it and do it!
Okay, okay. You don't have to yell!
Nag. :)
I mean, beyond the normal amount of furniture. Well, not really. If everything was in it's place we wouldn't have extras...but things just aren't in the right places.
Let me explain. I'm not a hoarder, just kind of lazy. I have a garage full of stuff. The thing is, this garage is converted to a bedroom. It was my bedroom until my mom moved in with my grandmother, then I took her room and stuff took over my room. It shouldn't be just filled with stuff. It should be functional. I am going to be moving my girls into that room because it's a lot bigger than their room and there are 3 of them so they can use the space. My mom will still have a room in my house, it will be where the girls' room is now.
Makes sense right?
I have to go through the stuff and get rid of most of it still.
Mostly it's books and old clothes that kids have grown out of. A few boxes of random things, some craft supplies...you know, stuff. Just stuff.
The thing is, by the time I actually get through cleaning the rest of my house every day, I'm tired and just don't want to think about that garage.
So my stuff sits.
I'd feel worse if I didn't have a whole lot of excuses why I haven't gotten around to it lately. Between my grandmother moving, GS cookie season, planning a wedding for my friend, baseball season starting, emergency gallbladder surgery, my husband leaving for a memorial service for his grandmother who passed away recently...the list goes on and on, but they really are just excuses. I should have done more by now.
So what does that have to do with furniture? We bought my girls some furniture for their new bedroom with the tax refund. It's still in boxes in my dining room. Then there's the furniture that my grandmother wanted my girls to have when she moved from her house to a small apartment. Yeah. Furniture everywhere.
It's starting to drive me nuts. When we first got it all in the house, I was pretty much useless because I was still recovering from my surgery. Tony did a lot of work in that garage, but sorting things and organizing them just isn't where his skills lie (unless the things are on the computer). If everything was just as easy as "move that over there" then Tony would have done it by now.
I'm pretty much recovered from my surgery. I still have a twinge now and then, so I'm not planning on lifting anything. Still, I need to get the sorting done so that Tony can lift and put stuff where it goes.
I don't wanna.
I know, grow up Supermommie! Get up off your chair and sort some stuff! Stop blogging about it and do it!
Okay, okay. You don't have to yell!
Nag. :)
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Girl Scout Cookie Sales
I know, some of you are tired of hearing about Girl Scout Cookies.
Me too.
The sale ends on Monday and Becca might not reach her goal, though she will be within a few (like maybe 20) boxes of it. Sad, huh?
Her goal was ambitious. She wanted to sell 750 boxes of Girl Scout cookies. At $4 a box, I couldn't help her out THAT much. She has gone door to door, sold at 4 different churches, came up with a marketing strategy for my Facebook (the Girl Scout Cookie Fact of the Day), had a "lemonade stand" in our front yard several days, sold at booths with the troop, made fliers and advertised in her Daddy's and Grandma's offices and asked everyone she knows if they would like to buy. There are few things that she hasn't tried in order to sell.
Right now we are at 658 boxes, and that doesn't include her hours for selling at the booths. We're looking at about 75 boxes for that. That's 733...a really frustrating total.
So here's my delimma. I'm not the type of mom to just buy the other 17 boxes. It's her work that should get her to the goal. I've done a LOT for her, but still, the majority of the work that has been done came from her. She is 7 years old and has a LOT to be proud of. The thing is, there is only one other girl in the troop who will hit and has hit the 750 goal. That girl has special needs and really isn't great with people. Becca loves her. She loves hanging out with her. Going to Disneyland with her friend was really her goal. The other girl will go without Becca, but she really wanted her to be there. She's not the kind of girl who will be outgoing and find a new friend. Becca wanted to go be her friend.
One thing Becca will not do: she will not go around exploiting her friend's needs so that she will get that sympathy box of cookies. It's something we don't do around here. I don't go advertising that my son has autism so that people will do things for us, and I won't do it for any other kid with different needs either.
The other thing is that while Becca did the majority of the work, she asked quite a few people who the twins will be asking next year as well. This is probably the last year that she will get her total up that high unless she does something more than what she did this year (and believe me, this was drastic enough for me, if she does more next year, she will be more on her own).
So here I am. I have one of those parenting dilemmas. Part of me wants to go walk the neighborhoods again begging, but Becca has to have that idea. I asked people on Facebook again because Becca asked me to, but she has to have the ideas. I'm leaving the ball in her court. I'm frustrated, but not going to Disneyland isn't the end of the world. Becca has good reasons, but the reality is that she has to earn what she wants. She deserves something special, but it doesn't have to be Disneyland.
Me too.
The sale ends on Monday and Becca might not reach her goal, though she will be within a few (like maybe 20) boxes of it. Sad, huh?
Her goal was ambitious. She wanted to sell 750 boxes of Girl Scout cookies. At $4 a box, I couldn't help her out THAT much. She has gone door to door, sold at 4 different churches, came up with a marketing strategy for my Facebook (the Girl Scout Cookie Fact of the Day), had a "lemonade stand" in our front yard several days, sold at booths with the troop, made fliers and advertised in her Daddy's and Grandma's offices and asked everyone she knows if they would like to buy. There are few things that she hasn't tried in order to sell.
Right now we are at 658 boxes, and that doesn't include her hours for selling at the booths. We're looking at about 75 boxes for that. That's 733...a really frustrating total.
So here's my delimma. I'm not the type of mom to just buy the other 17 boxes. It's her work that should get her to the goal. I've done a LOT for her, but still, the majority of the work that has been done came from her. She is 7 years old and has a LOT to be proud of. The thing is, there is only one other girl in the troop who will hit and has hit the 750 goal. That girl has special needs and really isn't great with people. Becca loves her. She loves hanging out with her. Going to Disneyland with her friend was really her goal. The other girl will go without Becca, but she really wanted her to be there. She's not the kind of girl who will be outgoing and find a new friend. Becca wanted to go be her friend.
One thing Becca will not do: she will not go around exploiting her friend's needs so that she will get that sympathy box of cookies. It's something we don't do around here. I don't go advertising that my son has autism so that people will do things for us, and I won't do it for any other kid with different needs either.
The other thing is that while Becca did the majority of the work, she asked quite a few people who the twins will be asking next year as well. This is probably the last year that she will get her total up that high unless she does something more than what she did this year (and believe me, this was drastic enough for me, if she does more next year, she will be more on her own).
So here I am. I have one of those parenting dilemmas. Part of me wants to go walk the neighborhoods again begging, but Becca has to have that idea. I asked people on Facebook again because Becca asked me to, but she has to have the ideas. I'm leaving the ball in her court. I'm frustrated, but not going to Disneyland isn't the end of the world. Becca has good reasons, but the reality is that she has to earn what she wants. She deserves something special, but it doesn't have to be Disneyland.
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