hurmph

Still feeling under the weather, not so much sick anymore as just miserable, grouchy and tired ( no smart comments about that is the way I normally am). The boys also have the cold so we are going through tissue around here like it is going out of style. But we shall survive.

Things have been busy, there are lots of scouting things going on and school seems to be demanding a great deal from the boys as teachers try to get the last of the marks they need to have for report cards next month. It is wearing thin for the boys and they are showing their displeasure with the amount of work by beating up on other kids for looking at them sideways.

They are a bit of a force when they gang up on someone else, I wouldn't want to be the one getting hit. That being said I certainly am not encouraging the behaviour but am at a bit of a loss when it comes to getting them to stop. I think that the school should be doing something and they are not really doing much at all except lecturing them. That is bit like lecturing a puppy not to chew, it is what they do, they aren't going to stop just because you say to. The boys will defend one another at all costs because one another has been the only constant in the last 3 years of their lives.

Yesterday I got called in to talk to the teacher after school ( never a good sign) both boys were in trouble for various things. Then it came out later that they had also got in a fight with another kid at recess but didn't get caught ( he is a bit if a bully as was probably just as guilty so he didn't tell). We feel strongly that aside from talking about behaviour things that happen at school need to be dealt with at school otherwise the boys will always be in trouble. Yesterdays events were fairly serious and yet nothing was really done, standard school consequences but they seem to be willing to give the boys a break because of who they are and what they have been through.

So they spent yesterday afternoon playing separately until dinner and then once P was home we spoke to them each on their own about what had happened and about respecting other peoples space and such. It went well with Fudge, not so much with Calvin and surprise, surprise Calvin really didn't want to go to school this morning. Yes we have talked about home schooling as a piece of the solution but Calvin really needs to learn to be socially appropriate ( I know there are other ways to do that as well), Fudge loves school most of the time and I don't know if I am up to it.

I am at a bit of a loss, anyone out there got any creative ideas for getting kids to stop hitting?

ick

Fudge very generously shared last weeks cold with me and the rest of the family. He is on the mend and the rest of us are declining quickly. I am off to bed with a cup of tea, knitting and some chick flicks while to boys are at school. It is days like this that make me happy I am not homeschooling because I really need a nap and it is only 9:20.

still working

The washer is spinning, wrrrr, wrrr, wrrr, making all the sounds it should be making. I am reading blogs and drinking coffee. The wrrr, wrrr, wrrr, stops, then starts, I wonder why that happened then it happened again and again. By the 4th time I started to worry, the last thing we need is to have broken washer. I head upstairs to check it out. Fudge is standing in front of the washer, I ask what he is doing, he says " I was trying to see how it works but every time I opened the lid it stops" The washer isn't broken, Fudge is disappointed, laundry continues.



Fudge is home today, he woke in the night sound like a dying seal, almost croupy (is that a word? ) I gave him his puffer and settled both the boys back to bed, he got up this morning and had a mild fever, still sounded like his lungs wanted to leave his body. I kept him home, he seems fine until he coughs or sneezes... I'll give him to the end of the day and then decided whether he is sick or not.

We had a good weekend, yesterday was Family Day ( a new holiday here) and we went into the city to make snow angels at the hill. The idea was to get kids to make snow angels to represent all the kids in care in Eastern Ontario, it was a good idea, but there was not enough for the kids to do once they finished their angels. We came home and headed to a friends house where the boys ate way to many marshmallows and thought that walking over a hot coals in their winter boots might be a good idea (the boots and boys survived).

P solved my laptop issues by getting me a new one for valentines day, I got him a mug, he got me a laptop - alas it is a very nice new toy and all the keys work. Now comes the huge job of transferring the files from the old computer, which has all the files and pictures from the computer before that one as well. I also needed to get a new Internet card. We use Rogers wireless to have internet at home, to make a very long story short. I spent 105 minutes on the phone with customer service on Saturday, that is almost 2 hours standing in a Rogers store with my 2 children to get a new piece of hardware so that I can get online. I did get what I wanted and boys were amazingly well behaved but the 50 or so silly pictures of them on the model iphone will be amusing to someone at some point.

I am off to do laundry... good times.

protection

As a parent there is only so much I can do to protect the boys from the big scary world. We have spent the last 2 weeks fighting the "system" to protect Fudge from something we did not feel was in his best interest. It seems to of worked but the battle isn't quiet over yet, I also can't really talk about it here but lets just all cross our fingers and hope our fighting for what is best for him has worked.

But then there are the choices he makes all on his own, the ones I can't protect him from. At Beavers last night we made valentines for people we love and some paper flowers. Fudge is not in my group so I didn't know who he made his for till we got home

F - Mom can I leave my flowers in the car so I won't forget them
Me - Why in the car bug, who are they for?
F - Hazel
me - Who's Hazel?
F- She a girl at school, I keep telling her that I love her and she always says ewww gross and runs away. You said to make the flowers for someone you love.
me - Oh, well you better bring them in because I don't know whose car you'll be going in tomorrow. ( cause what do you say to that!)

The poor little guy, I was hoping he might forget about them between last night and this morning but the first thing out of his mouth was "where did you move the flowers to Mom?" I moved them out of the reach of the dogs but perhaps if they had eaten them the poor little guy would have a easier day at a school.

Sometimes wearing your heart on the outside makes life really hard.

you think that perhaps we have to much wine...

It's 10:15 am, Fudge just brought me a plastic glass full of wine - it took everything I had not to laugh at him. We started buying Naked Grape in boxes recently, smaller footprints, environmental choices and all that jazz. The boys have been told they are not to to touch the boxes, they have both tried it out, playing with the tap portion and moved on. That being said, the box is on the counter in the kitchen, in plain view. I heard Calvin, saying "no Fudge, your going to get in trouble!" but I ignored it, Calvin remembered that they are not supposed to play with it, Fudge disregarded the the warning and went ahead. Wanting to do something nice for me, nothing like a large plastic cup of wine first thing in the morning!

Did I mention that it is a snow day and they are both home all day.

My weekend, in pictures

Left to Right

• P thought burning the house down might be a fun way to start off the weekend, thank God for smoke detectors, we need a new frying pan
• peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, need I say more
• We got a new bed this weekend, it was supposed to be a king but the stairs didn't want to play that game so we had to go down a size, it was going to take another 10 days but i came close to tears at the store and all of a sudden there was one for us. Now we have a queen with a king size quilt which is something we had been talking about for awhile anyway.
• The delivery guys scratched up the stairs, i had to fix the paint, not really their fault it is crappy paint.
• Calvin went to a cub thing on Saturday, he didn't put on his snow pants and came home with boots so wet they were dripping - I am not sure exactly how this happened, that he got that wet but he did.
• Wine, Naked Grape in a box = happy
• It warmed up here yesterday, this fell off our house, that is my foot, a size 8 to give you a sense of how big it is.
• Clay is good for my monkeys
• Knitting is good for me, no matter how small the project.
• more clay, the other boy did that one
• Board games, also good fun on a Saturday afternoon.

Random Wednesday but on Thursday because I did not have minute to myself yesterday.

• It's still winter, I am mostly tired of winter and it is not really even close to over yet.
• It's Feb., P is a therapist, people are sad and tired of winter and he is very busy, that makes me sad and tired but it happens every year at this time.
• We went sledding last week, it was super fun, the boys were impressed that I got on a sled too.
• We bought a new bed last week, it comes tomorrow, I am beyond excited about it, yes it's just a bed but a nice bed and I thin that this is first time I have ever actually gone out and bought the bed I wanted. Shopping for it with Calvin and Fudge was amusing to say the very least.
• I yelled at Calvin this morning over something really dumb, Calvin loses it when we yell at him. I feel bad but I am human and he was really pissing me off. I will not be surprised when the school calls and tells me he has hurt another kid and needs to come home.
• My GP is driving me crazy, anyone local know a reasonably competent dr. who is taking patients, I know that is a rare occurrence in Ontario but I thought I might ask.
• I am in a knitting funk, to tired to follow a pattern but I have been spinning some this week.
• The school board has still not taken me out of the computer and my cell phone keeps ringing with requests for me to go and teach.
• My day today needs to include talking to almost every member of the team that supports the boys as we try to iron out the last of the adoption details.
• My coffee cup is empty, I need to make something else hot to drink because it is winter and cold.
• The boys have decided that making tea for us is a good idea, I mostly support it but I am a bit concerned about Fudge and the kettle, it might end badly.
• I think I should make tea and go spin, it will calm me down.

fudgeisms

Fudge is a character, that's putting it mildly. He is funny, has a wicked sense of humor and has personality to burn. He is always saying things that make us laugh out loud, sometimes you have to be careful because if he catches you laughing he'll keep up the show until all hell breaks lose.

The other day we were sitting at the table, he pipes up that he is going to have a baby ( he knows basic facts of reproduction but apparently was a bit confused). I correct and tell him that he can't have a baby, he is adamant that he can and so we have the sperm and egg conversation again. He says "well how does the sperm get there"? Before I can answer him, he comes up with an answer on his own. I know, it goes out my penis, down my leg, out my toe, across the floor, into the girls shoe, up her leg and into her privates, then the baby grows and comes out her belly button. This proclamation created much giggling between the boys and before we knew sperm was finding all sort of creative ways to travel and it babies were being farted out.

They never did get the correct information, they were far to silly by that point to listen to me but I did by them a body book, not a tell all book but a general book, it's good and has 2 pages on how babies grow but not how they get there... cause we all know it's a toe to toe thing.