Nov. 20, 2009 - Carlos update

This has been an interesting week and a half.  We've been very strict with Carlos' diet, but we did learn a few things.  If something says "dairy free" it usually has dairy in it.  That's confusing.  Usually it's lactose free, but still contains casein.  So we had given him several things unwittingly the first couple days.  Another thing I've learned is that gluten is in almost everything, or so it seems.  Meat, for heavens sake and tomato sauces.  Most meat is enhanced with brines or broths containing gluten.

Another discovery... you can't sub gluten free flour blends cup for cup from regular recipes.  I tried.  It doesn't work.  Baking without gluten is like starting over learning how to cook.  The rules are all different, and though we've had a couple decent results, they are never as good as the real deal.  And then, when you make a halfway decent bread or muffin... what do you put on it?

No butter (dairy) No jam (sugar) No diabetic jam (fake sugar) No margarine (still has casein).

I'm going to make a trip to the natural foods (hippie) store to look for a margarine that is supposedly casein and gluten free.

Through all of this, we've noticed no improvement in Carlos, and I'm running out of steam.

Last night as I prayed for answers, I felt directed to the beginning of 1 Ne. Chapter 18 (Book of Mormon for you non member readers).  It's Nephi's account of building the ship commanded of the Lord, and stresses that the work is curious and not according to the wisdom of man, and that Nephi is directed in his course by the Lord, while going to the mount oft to counsel with Him.  So, even though I feel overwhelmed, exhausted, sad, and completely lost, I know that the Lord will bear us up and guide our paths, just as he guided us to Carlos in the first place.

The kid has a purpose in life (aside from being a pain in the butt).  It's obvious he does when you look at his life.

Born to a poverty stricken mother with five children in Guatemala.  Somehow introduced to an LDS attorney in Guatemala (let's keep this simple and not focus on the lack of ethics this attorney later demonstrated, point is, because of whatever relationship introduced them, Carlos was to be placed in an LDS home).  LDS Family Services at this time is experimenting with it's international program.  Carlos is matched to another family.  We choose international adoption, and Guatemala through a series of "mishaps."  Circumstances cause that family Carlos was matched to back out precisely as we are completing our paperwork.  We start the process.  Guatemala adoptions shut down as the courts debate the constitionality of the Hague treaty.  The courts overturn the decision allowing adoptions to continue (only to be shut down a couple years down the road, not very long after Carlos' safe arrival). 

That's the beginning of the series of miracles that brought Carlos here where he has the opportunity to get every possible help and was introduced to the gospel.

There were so many times his life could have turned out differently, but the Lord has purposes for him.  I hope I can be tuned into the Spirit enough to figure it all out.

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Nov. 11, 2009 - The Demons of Carlos

I've never made it a secret that Carlos has bipolar disorder, but I think most people don't understand the whole story.  Because his bipolar disorder has ruled our home this week, this is a therapeutic post for me, and hopefully an educational one for you.

When we adopted Carlos it was the best time of our lives, but it was tough.  The drama that went with his adoption process, expecting to bring home a baby and ending up bringing home a two year old, the constant up and down for the almost two year period we tried to bring him home after getting his referral was torture.  When we got through the turmoil in country and were on our way home I just felt pure relief.  Finally we could just be a normal family.

Rewind a few days to the moment when our stupid attorney finally brought Carlos to us (a day late) in the hotel lobby.  They walked through doors on the opposite side of the lobby and as they rounded the corner I instantly recognized Carlos.  He was beautiful.  He clung to his foster mother and didn't want to come to us.  Seth eventually broke the ice by getting down on his knees and playing with little trucks with him.  From that moment on Carlos was completely enamored with Seth.  He ran around, splashed in the pool, ran dangerously close to the edge of the pool, up and down stairs... Seth and I were exhausted!  We had lunch with his foster mother and her adult daughter and Carlos ate voraciously.  I remember that my cheeks hurt from smiling so much.

We went outside the hotel and Carlos began to play in the sand of a garbage can ash tray.  I said, "No, kuckie." and tried to take his hand.  Instantly he threw himself onto the ground and screamed bloody murder.  It was a pretty intense tantrum, enough to make a bystander gasp.  We thought little of it.

From that day forward, Carlos was hyper beyond belief.  He had no fear.  He tried pushing us away in the hotel pool because he knew he could swim (he couldn't) and would fearlessly jump from the side over and over even if we weren't ready to catch him.  It was terrifying to be a brand new mother of a fearless child.

Other signs came not long after.  Chasing his cousins around the yard until he dripped sweat, vomiting from the intensity of it and continuing on as if nothing happened.  The sound of him singing as we drifted off to sleep at night only to be wakened by him early in the morning.

The symptoms Carlos was experiencing were tiresome to deal with every day,  but we managed.  He was such a funny kid.  His personality was so much more developed than other children his age.

He was three when we knew we needed help.  He'd become violent when he didn't get his way.  He would say he wished he were dead.  He would thrash and scream and rage and have this blank look in his eyes and it would sometimes last a couple hours each time.  At its worst he was doing this three times a day.  I began to break down.  Seth and I were old school parents.  Kids listen to parents because they are kids, and if they don't they get a spanking.  Such was our reasoning because it worked when we were kids.  Carlos hit back.  At first as he increased, we also did.  It became apparent quickly enough that Carlos was a child who would never cower to authority.  It would have taken child abuse to get him to do it, and even then I'm of the opinion that Carlos is a child who if attacked would fight to the death.  Seth and I were running out of cards very quickly.  We tried other forms of punishment.  He wouldn't stay in his room, he didn't care if toys were taken away.  Positive reinforcement didn't work, because when Carlos viewed anything as an injustice, he acted out violently and lost all control.

We tried making some dietary changes.  We took away sugar, we eliminated artificial colorings and flavorings and preservatives.  We gave him vitamins and fish oil.  We found some relief when we discovered that melatonin helped him sleep.  Suddenly we had quiet evenings again.  That was a life changing discovery.  But the dietary changes didn't stop the raging, so we swallowed our pride - the pride that said only failures as parents medicated their children - and we went to the doctor. 

Over the next couple years we tried all sorts of medications which didn't work.  Some provided temporary relief, but mostly they did nothing.  Some even made him worse.  Our home was ruled by a child.  When we took a vacation to the coast two years ago, Carlos made the trip miserable.  At one stop he climbed under the van and refused to come out.  We waited a good forty five minutes all sitting around, tempers flaring, waiting for the master to let us know when we could go on.  Grabbing him and shoving him in wasn't an option - he'd remove his seat belt and threaten to jump out.

Through all of this I had sort of a battered wife relationship with Carlos.  You know if a spouse ever abuses you, you simply walk away and never look back.  When it's your child there's a level of self-sacrifice expected in no other relationship.  You take the abuse and count the days to 18.

After that trip we made another medication change.  Eureka!  The violence completely stopped almost overnight.  He was still hyper, he still had grandiose notions of his abilities, but he was non violent, and the raging with vacant eyes was gone.  It was a miracle for our family.  Carlos and I were finally able to bond more strongly than we'd been able to before.  I had recently started homeschooling him, and the time we had together helped our relationship grow by leaps and bounds.

Gradually we noticed some things that bothered us... he started lying more.  Now when he'd lie it was a cool lie, we couldn't tell whether he was telling the truth or not.  The medication came with risks, it made him gain weight, it had the potential of causing a heart attack in a child and tics which could be permanent.  We watched him closely and it was nerve wracking, but our home would implode if we continued the path we'd been on before - so in our eyes, we had no choice.  The doctors warned us about the extremely high suicide rates of children with bipolar.  Before the medicine I saw his future as a jail bird, or dead.  After his medicine I saw him having a normal life.

Because of the dangers of his medicine, several months back I began to wean him down on his dosage of Seroquel.  I wanted to find the lowest possible dose that would keep him stable.  We got him down to one pill a day, and he was stable.  About this time I began reading about SSRI's and how adults given them had reported lacking a sense of appropriate guilt.  After a while I decided that if Carlos was stable, it was worth trying some natural options to see if we could find help for him.  We dropped him to zero and after a couple weeks of being stable, thought maybe this could work.  A friend gave me some information about a doctor who has helped people with mental disorders come off of SSRI's to natural help for the past twenty or so years.  I figured I'd try it and if he back slid, we'd go back to Seroquel.

Then the confessions started.  Carlos began coming to me with everything wrong he'd ever done, including stealing (which was a huge surprise to us).  We took him back to the store to pay for the items and apologize, we worked through all the other confessions he made.  Some of them were innocent things like peeing outside.  The kid confessed everything he could remember.  This convinced me that there was something to the theory of Seroquel preventing feelings of guilt.

A couple weeks ago we began giving Carlos some natural supplements.  Monday he exploded.  He became violent again.  He did a lot of damage and then he escaped out his window.  I'd called Seth to leave work early to help me with him, and he picked Carlos up half a mile from our home.  We cleared out a room of everything, put a screw in the window and he's been there since.  We have him under close observation.  Since then I've been going through more emotion than ever.  Carlos punched me more times than I could count, injured my forearm and tried to destroy anything he could get his hands on.  Usually he is remorseful right away, but this time he has said he isn't sorry.  Today he's happy as a clam, but I know mentally he's not all there. 

Since Monday I've wrestled about the decisions we have to make.  Go back on Seroquel and have peace, but a son who lies and steals who can't be trusted and lacks a sense of guilt, possibly causing permanent damage to his body?  Try more natural treatments and live in chaos until we find the one, if we ever do?  It's one hell of a choice to make.

We contacted this doctor again who has suggested the following for Carlos:
No Dairy
No Sugar
No stimulants of any kind
Continuing with natural supplements

This doctor says that bipolar disorder is actually an electrical disturbance in the brain, and is a series of minor seizures.  To treat bipolar naturally, you treat seizures.  So for the last couple days I've scoured the web for information and found plenty.  I also found that many epileptics are triggered by other things like corn, soy and gluten.  Dairy appears to be one of the biggest triggers.

I'm walking by faith into this darkness and trusting in the Lord.  I have no idea how to make this lifestyle change, but I can't live with myself if I don't give Carlos my very best effort.  Sometimes being a mother means working the hardest you've ever worked before and loving harder than you've loved before on behalf of someone who is presently unloveable.

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Jun. 17, 2009 - Moral Relativism

I just finished reading The Abolition of Man, by C.S. Lewis.  It's a short but thought provoking read.  There are so many things swirling around in my brain today and no one to talk about them with.  I'm glad I'm not very smart, it must have been lonely to be Einstein and not be understood.

Anyhow, moral relativism always gives me a headache.  I don't know how people who ascribe to that way of thinking can get any sleep at all.  Thank goodness the boys can't grasp it, I can just imagine Carlos...

"Mami, I peed on the fence because I needed to go.  You only think it's wrong because you have been conditioned to think that way.  I say it's right because I value playtime more than I value modesty and cleanliness..."

Oh my. 

A couple of great quotes from the book:

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Jun. 17, 2009 - What about socialization?

On Saturday I attended the UHEA Home School Convention. One of the classes I attended was given by a home schooling pediatrician (not currently practicing). I thought that her perspective as a pediatrician was a little different and she addressed some areas I had not considered. I will do my best to hit on some of those points from my notes, in my own words. Hopefully I don't butcher it.

First of all, consider how you would define socialization. It seems there is a spectrum of ideas here.

From Answers.com :

Is this what you really want? What I find most people mean is this:

The ability to interact with others and understand the cultural expectations in society.

I'm afraid some people mean:

To be thought of as cool.

The lady teaching the class suggested a pyramid whereby one establishes proper socialization. See if you agree with it. At the bottom of the pyramid would be beginning to establish a personal identity. The next level would be to learn the norms, cultures and behaviors of one's own family. Followed by learning the norms, cultures and behaviors of others. When we've completed these steps we begin to modify our own identity based on our experiences. We begin to express our own beliefs and finally, when we are confident in them we begin to challenge society. We may revisit some of these steps as our personal identity will evolve with experience.

Keeping this pyramid in mind here are some point to ponder:

-Would someone who requires same age peers to understand who they are be well socialized or poorly socialized?

-If one has a solid sense of self, they are more likely to accept others, not feel threatened by views which oppose theirs, and be able to avoid mistrust and suspicion of differences. Therefore, developing a solid sense of self is likely the most important factor in being well socialized.

-The educational version of socialization is manipulative. You are taught to conform to rules which benefit school structure rather than real world situations, and are discouraged from challenging authority.

-Schools lack moral reasoning.

-Schools do not tolerate diversity. I'm not talking about racial diversity, but personal diversity. Conformity is the rule.

She also mentioned the Harvard Ethics program. Isn't Harvard supposed to be the cream of the crop of traditionally schooled kids? So when they noticed that their graduates were so frequently involved in scandal and instituted this program, what does that say about the lack of moral reasoning in our public schools? Is a person with a lack of moral reasoning well socialized?

-Home schools allow for less misbehavior (more supervision) while a child is developing their sense of self.

-Schools tend to usurp parental authority, offering a second set of rules by which to abide.

-The hierarchy of a family unit is more indicative of real life scenarios, rather than arbitrary reasoning. How many of your employers segregate departments by age?

-Uneven distribution of resources in traditional schools leads to abnormal group dynamics. When she came to this point she asked those of use who were traditionally schooled to think back to kindergarten and the box of scissors. There were never enough scissors for each child, and we were encouraged to take turns. Some of us got stuck with the lefty scissors that didn't work well, some of us had to wait. The louder, pushier kids got theirs first and weren't likely to turn them over until their tedious work was just right. Because of time limitations, those children with better access to resources were encouraged. They had more time to complete their work, their work was usually better as a result. We learned that the way to succeed was to be pushy, loud and selfish. In a home school environment, the mother is supervising the sharing. Even if resources were imbalanced, the mother would know and would be able to adjust accordingly. Siblings can learn to be less selfish without negative consequences.

-The family is a group environment where children can learn give and take. It is safe and non judgmental. There is a spectrum of personalities and personality flaws. In the family unit, children can learn to work on personal flaws without carrying the baggage of a label. Public schools are very good at segregating by labels, and labels are not easily changed. Some adults still carry this baggage. Home schoolers can refine themselves in a positive atmosphere while developing their sense of self.

-In your life, do you only interact with same aged peers? Home schoolers are more likely to interact with a variety of age groups and learn to speak comfortably with people of all ages. Which is better socialized?

-Home schoolers tend to involve themselves in groups by interest outside the home. They more naturally segregate by interests, rather than age or gender. How many people, like me, who were public schooled found that most of their friends from school grew apart from them as they aged? Like me, did you find that many of your high school friends didn't have much in common with you as you got older? Home schooled kids are more likely to retain long term friendships, because they are based on common interest.

-Home schooled kids can learn to make good choices by being present for the choices made by their parents. They are more likely to be there watching mother balance the budget, weigh the pros and cons of everyday decisions, watch how things are done. Most public schooled children have parents that do their errands while the child is at school. They are less likely to learn how to manage money, a household, prioritize, etc.

-Parents who teach their children at home have the control to decide when their children are mature enough to handle certain milestones which in a public school are decided arbitrarily.

-Home schooled children are less likely to be emotionally needy as they get more parental interaction from a parent that doesn't carry guilt about not spending enough time with their child. They are less likely to be spoiled with things from guilty parents. They are more likely to learn a good work ethic, because the parents don't carry the guilt of having a child spread too thin.

-Home schooled children learn to work through problems with their siblings. Being together, working together in a group dynamic and sharing common goals are more likely to take place in a home school environment.

-John Wesley Taylor authored a wide study comparing home schooled children to public schooled children and measured their self concept - a primary indicator of how one will function socially. Do you know anyone with a poor self concept who you'd consider well socialized? The result speak for themselves:
http://www.moorefoundation.com/article.php?id=54

I know my wording is not nearly as impressive as that of the teacher. This was an excellent info-packed presentation. There are so many benefits of homeschooling, with few cons. Hopefully after pondering on these points you will agree with me that home schooled children tend to be better socialized than their traditionally schooled counterparts, and at the very least, they certainly do not suffer from poor socialization.

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May. 19, 2009 - Dogs and Cats

Not about homeschooling, but what the heck, we're at the end of the year and I'm sick of talking about homeschooling.  I first read this several years ago in an e-mail.  If you've had cats, you know how precise this is.

DOG DIARY

8:00 am - Dog food! My favorite thing!
9:30 am - A car ride! My favorite thing!
9:40 am - A walk in the park! My favorite thing!
10:30 am - Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!
12:00 PM - Lunch! My favorite thing!
1:00 PM - Played in the yard! My favorite thing!
3:00 PM - Wagged my tail! My favorite thing!
5:00 PM - Milk bones! My favorite thing!
7:00 PM - Got to play ball! My favorite thing!
8:00 PM - Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favorite thing!
11:00 PM - Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing!

CAT DIARY

Day 983 of my captivity.
My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects.
They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets. Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength. The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape.

In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the carpet.

Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a ‘good little hunter’ I am. Bastards!

There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of ‘allergies.’ I must learn what this means, and how to use it to my advantage.

Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow — but at the top of the stairs.

I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches.

The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released - and seems to be more than willing to return. He is obviously retarded.

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Apr. 6, 2009 - Rotating can rack

Seth and I spent Conference weekend building a rotating can rack for our food storage.  If you've looked at the shelf reliance kind, you know how expensive they are!  Plus, who doesn't prefer wood over plastic?

Anywho, we've been thinking of building one of these for a long time.  Last week I found plans online for this do it yourself rotating can rack made of cardboard:
 
Check it out

I decided to make this.  It took quite a long time, but it worked like a charm.  I would never have thought you could make something that sturdy out of cardboard and wood glue, but when we disassembled it while coming up with our own plan this weekend, we discovered that it was quite strong and tough to pull apart to our surprise.

Well, there were a few things we didn't like.  Yes, it was virtually free, yes, it rotated cans and held about 12 - but it was ugly.  I could have painted it, but by then it's not virtually free anymore.  It was rear loading, which when you leave enough room for your arm to do the loading, seems a terrible waste of space.  It took forever to cut the cardboard!!!  And who wants to wait for glue to dry anyway?

So here is a picture of what we came up with:

Our version holds twenty of the vegetable sized cans in each section, so 120 cans.  It is front loading and unloading.  We plan on building another one with slightly smaller measurements for soup cans.  The smaller campbell soup sized cans tend to turn sideways and get caught up in this one, but it will hold 24 of them in each section when we complete it.  We plan on making that one, and another one like this, but with 9 compartments so that it will take the entire length of the shelf.

If anyone is interested in measurements, leave a message and I'll work on it.  If not, then I don't want to bother with making up plans.

Here is another pic of the unit in progress. 


As you can see, we used cleats to hold the shelves in which gave us something to attach brads to as we went along.  It was pretty slick and cost $25 for the plywood and the brads.  You could easily do this with something less expensive, like OSB, but we wanted a nicer finish so we spent a little more.

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Mar. 30, 2009 - Carlos, soccer aficionado

Soccer has suddenly become a renewed obsession for Carlos.  Washing his socks the night before a game will not do.  He will fret and worry unless the uniform is washed, folded and neatly stacked awaiting a game at least several days in advance.  Yesterday I heard him say, "Oh no!  I only have six more days to get ready."  Silly lad, because just the day before he was tearing it up at his first game back for the spring season.

A few shots of the game.  Carlos scored four goals for his team.



This next one is my favorite because Carlos is a little tank.  Look at all the hands trying to hold him back.  The funny thing is that the other coach kept accusing Carlos of pushing, but he's definitely the most abused (and not phased) kid on the field.  He doesn't even notice.  This same determination and tunnel vision gets him in lots of trouble at home!

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Mar. 24, 2009 - The Incubator

I thought I should elaborate now on the project that would have electrocuted me had we lived in the good old days.  All it really did was to give us a minor light show for a millisecond and melt a little copper... hee hee.

Carlos and I are building an incubator for school.  Yesterday we hooked up the light and after the aforementioned lapse in brain power, we managed to get the thermostat working properly.  Carlos monitored temperatures for a while with the thermostat in different positions to see what gave us the least swing in air temperature.  We're getting close.

Today we will be dismantling the old computer to rob from it a fan.  We'll see just how this changes things.  We hope it keeps the heat more uniform in the incubator.  We will have to shape some hardware cloth to keep chicks out of contact with the wires and direct heat, as well as an egg turner, and a sponge for humidity with an access tube from the outside so we don't have to open the incubator.

We are building this in a cheap styrofoam cooler, and I wish I'd have saved the old coleman hard cooler we had... it would have made for a much nicer finish.  Now I'm considering using a non working mini fridge the next time around.

We'll post pics of the finished product when we can, and maybe we can snap some cool egg candling pictures to post too.  If all goes well, of course we'll post some cute fluffy pictures at the end of our experiment.

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Mar. 24, 2009 - How not to wire a thermostat

IF i would have taken the time to think about it, I would have realized I was wiring the thermostat wrong, because of course, a thermostat is just a power interrupter.  It makes sense that the two screws are an in and an out on the same wire.  Not thinking, I connected the black and the white each to a screw.

Arcing is neat.

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Feb. 7, 2009 - Buster

A temporary lapse in judgment ended with a new addition to the family.  Meet Buster!
He is a 3 year old miniature dachshund.  He's a very mellow dog and doesn't make a peep unless he sees another dog or thinks he hears an intruder (Carlos this morning).  We've had him less than 24 hours, so time will tell if he just has us fooled.  You can also see our work in progress in the background - the new mahogany finish on our cabinets!

***Edited to add that Buster liked the taste of Luke too much, and was a short lived pet.  He didn't have a problem finding another home because he's a sweet dog (with everyone else).  Apparently Luke needed a little height on him to stop being mistaken for an appetizer.

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Jan. 30, 2009 - My new blog description

I read this quote recently and loved it so much, I decided to place it permanently on my blog description.  It eloquently states the beauty of homeschooling in a single sentence.

"We want our children to feel that each fresh lesson gives them an 'open sesame' to a fairy palace full of treasures worth the seeking; that they are the inheritors of all the heaped-up gains of past ages, not slaves doomed to a treadmill of weary monotony." [Kathleen Warren, 1903]

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Jan. 29, 2009 - Free exercise of religion?

Watch this!

This couple is being questioned by NY state as to the sincerity of their religious beliefs when seeking a waiver for refusal to vaccinate their children.  I know some people in our homeschool group who have been treated rudely by whoever it is that you must go through in Utah, but this is just outrageous.  It makes me think I need to keep a list of scriptural references and quotations of prophets which support my personal beliefs.  Apparently religion doesn't count unless it's an officially endorsed teaching of a certain denomination.

I am reminded of the poem:

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I was not a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

 

Could we change the wording on this poem to homeschoolers, vaccination refusers, polygamists?  When are those of us who don't belong to one of these groups going to stand up and fight?  What authority do a group of citizens have to tell me how I must raise my children?  They were entrusted to me by God.  Where have they derived this authority?  I know where my authority comes from.

I wish this were some rare case where those in positions of power have been over reaching, but it isn't.  The course of my own life, my own pursuit of happiness has been roadblocked by rules and regulations at every turn, and all I want is to be self sufficient.  We live in Rome.  The people want bread and circuses and until someone comes for them they are happy to keep things going so long as they get their pittance.

The virtues of the country of my birth have gone through my hands like water, no matter how I've cherished them and honored them.  We will repeat once again the mistakes of old, we are no special exception to history.  Those virtues though will remain cherished by liberty loving people the world over.  They will passed on, and one day they will rise from the ashes again.  Until then, I fear that the following is coming to fruittion right before my eyes:

"If we are not willing to pledge our lives, our efforts and our sacred honor then we must one day spend our sunset years telling our children what it once was like in America when men were free."  -Ezra Taft Benson
 

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Jan. 27, 2009 - Be careful what you ask for...

So Carlos was working on a rhyming worksheet today.  The object was to read a series of words and then to write rhyming words next to them.  Carlos did great!  What words can you think of that rhyme with the word sit?  Who wrote this worksheet?

"What's this?" I asked. 

"$hit."

"Um..." I began with a puzzled look.

"You know, like 'Oh $hit!'"

"Yes, uh, you you realize that's a bad word right?"

"Uh huh."

"Okay, good job."

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Dec. 22, 2008 - Boys DO have cooties

I've almost abandoned this blog, but times have been nuts.  Maybe this blog will explain.

Yesterday:

As I woke and got ready for church, Christmas was in the air.  The kitchen was full of dirty dishes from making popcorn treats the night before, the boys were fighting, and our charming Christmas tree decorated with paper airplanes,  toys thrown in by the boys, and a baby Jesus who is about to make a getaway on a toy four wheeler twinkled in the corner.  Frantically I struggled with the printer to make some things I needed to go with the Christmas lesson in primary.  The printer never works on Sunday.  Seth says it's because I'm supposed to prepare everything on Saturday.



At church a teacher does not show, and we are stuck teaching an extra class.  Carlos' class.  Of course he sits in the back ready to heckle the entire time - but other than that did surprisingly well.  We barely had enough cards for the extra kids, and not enough treats... so the treats were put on hold until after church when we could deliver them.

The class behind us had sharing time, so they were wild as their teachers were occupied.  I tried to referee them as they discussed nipple rings, and sang "snow is falling on my wiener" instead of snow is falling on my toes.

Boys have cooties and they must be pretty bad for eight year olds.

In sacrament meeting Carlos throws a fit that Luke has more treats than he does because the nursery leaders gave him a Christmas gift.  He is being obnoxious so I threaten him with a grounding if he won't go out into the hall without a struggle.  Struggles are dangerous territory with him!  He puts his nose in the corner per instructions (and motivated by more threats whispered by mother in his ear) and I tell him to come back in when he can be nice.  He comes back in.  He's not nice.  After three tries I tell him just to stay in the hall until church is over.

After church as we deliver the treats we'd prepared for our class, Carlos whines that we are mean because we won't give him one of the treats.  We manage to ignore this without losing our tempers with this very crabby child who has been nothing but negative all day.  We're extremely worried about Santa following through on the no toys for naughty children threats.  Yikes... it's not looking good lately!

We make a trek out to the hot tub to calm the kids a bit.  Carlos of course thinks it's a swimming pool, and it is not very relaxing for us.  Some record sized boogers emerge from Carlos, and we tell him to go inside to blow his nose.  Did I mention that boys have cooties, and apparently they are well established by six?  "Fine then I won't come back!" is his response as he walks through the house without his towel, making puddles everywhere.  He's good at idle threats too, and comes back.  "I have to go pee!" yells Luke.  We're thankful he made the right decision if you know what I mean.  I take Luke out and decide my soak is done.  He goes upstairs to pee and promptly slips on one of Carlos' puddles and smack his head on the tile.  As I bring Carlos a drink in the hot tub, I remind him what towels are for.  Luke runs around naked while I confirm the details of a family party with my Dad.  We are in no mood for a family party.

I look out the window after hanging up the phone and wrestling Luke to get a diaper on, and Carlos is running through the snow in just swim trunks and bare feet, doing somersaults.



The next hour or so is full of "When is the party mom?"  We're in no mood for a party.

We decide to watch Mr. Kruger's Christmas after watching the Christmas tree teeter and totter from too much abuse and too many paper airplane collisions and retrievals. 



As we finally relax Luke sticks out his booger loaded finger, smiles, and sweetly asks, "Want some?"

We did not make it to the party, and did I mention boys have cooties and they come down with them at a pretty young age?

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Sep. 25, 2008 - Why being a stay at home mother has fried my brain...

"I need some eye cream." she said as she gazed in the mirror.  After spending the night with a 30-something pound two year old's head crammed in her back and waking at 6:30 a.m. to her six year old playing the guitar, she was tired. 

"Mommy, mommy, miiiiilk!" cried the two year old who was less like his own person and more like a talking appendage of hers.  "Come on, mommy!"  Silently she looked again in the mirror and noticed the extra pounds around her midsection.  Looking down at the still whining appendage who was now screaming his request, she sighed.

In the kitchen she reaches for the nearest sippy cup for the appendage, who is now screaming, "NOOO!  That one, mommy!"  Trying to read the appendages mind, she reaches for another cup.  "NOOO!"  He shrieks.  Third times the charm as she reaches in and the appendage smiles, "Yes.  This one.  Yay." and releases from her leg to jump excitedly.  The detached appendage runs to the refrigerator and pulls out the milk.  "Me do it!" he says as he struggles to carry the milk to her.  She takes the milk and begins to pour it into the cup.  "NOOOO!  ME DO IT! ME DO IT!" 

She helps him to pour the milk which almost makes it into the cup.  "Chokat in it." he says sweetly.  She opens the pantry and retrieves the chocolate milk powder.  "Me do it!" he says.  She reaches for a spoon.  "NO! ME DO IT!"  She sighs, as she recalls the puddle of milk already on the floor, and carefully holds the cup and powder as closely together as posible while he scoops out some chocolate milk mix and almost gets it all in the cup.  She reaches for the lid, and pauses.  She realizes of course that he will want to put the lid on by himself, so she hands it to him.  The appendage shakes his head.  "You do it." he says.  She begins to place the lid onto the sippy cup when the two year old screams, "No, me try!"  He struggles a moment with the lid which is almost all the way on when he says, "Me shake it!"  Before she can stop him he does.

Running the bathwater for the chocolate covered appendage, the six year old enters the scene.  "Mommy," he asks quietly, "can I have some chocolate milk?"

It's 6:38

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Sep. 22, 2008 - Naaaaaaasty!

So we've been studying ancient Egypt and today we began our chicken mummy.  Yuck!  We used a store bought chicken for this and got the smallest one we could find.  We were supposed to take the guts out, but the packaged chicken isn't even sold with them anymore.  We washed the chicken in hot water and dried it, then with rubbing alcohol.  We mixed up a salt rub with baking soda, baking powder and salt and added some spices.  We filled the cavity of the chicken with this, and then put it in a freezer bag filled with more of the salt/spice mixture.  Apparently this salt will be wet from the oozing chicken tomorrow and we get to repeat this.  The whole process will take almost six weeks.

They say that after the first week we'll only need to tend to it about once a week.  Yuck-o.  The kid better remember this one!

As we were reading about the death masks that they put on the mummy I wondered, where will we put the chickens death mask since he no longer has a head or neck?  I think the mummification is enough and we'll give him the old heave ho.  If I feel really ambitious we'll dig a tomb and throw some gold "buillon" cubes in there with him.  Somehow I doubt grave robbers will be interested.

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Sep. 1, 2008 - Lola's first egg!

We've been waiting for our favorite chicken Lola to lay her first egg.  Today it finally happened.  Another unknown hen has started giving up some eggs with dark speckles.  Here's a picture.  It's kind of hard to tell the color in this picture, but it's sort of a light mossy green.  Yay Lola!  We also got our hugest egg yet from one of our Australorps, she was really clucking and letting us know about it right before hand today.  It came after this group, making today's total 6 eggs from our faithful gals in the coop.

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Aug. 25, 2008 - First Day of School

We are officially back to school today!  Despite having a crazy mess thanks to a weekend camping trip, the day went well.  I'm a bit behind and this blog update is not going to help, but we'll get back into the swing of things soon!

Today we did our chicken chores which I'm counting as part of the day - he's learning a lot of great lessons on responsibility from them, as well as some harder lessons (we recently slaughtered a few of them).  A couple of the hens have begun to lay and they are pretty reliable at an egg a day.  I suppose it's possible that more than two are doing it, but judging by the looks of the eggs and placement in the nests (and under the slide)  we think it's just two.  They are brown eggs, and one of them lays speckled ones.

After the chickens we had a devotional.  We are learning Old Testament stories right now.  Today's lesson was on the pre existence and the battle in heaven.

We then moved onto math, which was pretty much a review from last year.  Then onto language lessons and happy phonics games.  I was surprised how easily Juan Carlos read the words when it was a "game" and can tell that our major problem last year was motivation.  I think he'll make incredible progress with Happy Phonics and some obnoxious reading material like Captain Underpants or something similar.

He had his karate lesson, sign language and history.  We learned what history is and different ways that we discover it.  He tried his hand at some archaeology by digging into a castle of pressed sand that had a treasure inside.  He really enjoyed that.

I wasn't as prepared as I'd like to have been for Luke, and he made a gigantic mess of the house while I helped Juan Carlos.  Hopefully as we get into our new schedule I'll get better about posting pictures up here.  For now, I'm very well prepared for Juan Carlos' curriculum, but limping along with everything else!

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Jul. 3, 2008 - Silly Boys

I'm holding Luke right now who is obviously hot.  It's his own fault though.  He has decided that he wants to wear superman pajamas all day, over his regular clothing.  He loves singing these days and one of his favorites has become Old MacDonald.  His version is something like this.

Donald ha a farm, E E Oooo!

On that farm had cows, E E Oooo!

Moo moo here, moo moo here

Moo moo Donald ha  a farm, E E Oooo!

He alternates between cows and chickens. 

His other favorites are The Itsy Bitsy "Bider" and Popcorn Popping on the Apricot tree.  His recent obsession with popcorn chicken (the only meat he will eat) has caused that song to morph into Popcorn Chicken Tree.

Carlos, who has recently viewed Kung Fu Panda, is practicing his martial arts skills.  For someone who has still not been able to get into a class, the moves he's invented are actually pretty decent.  I was watching him through th window the other day and he was in a fighting stance getting ready to fight with his friend Adrian.  Flexing his arms, I overheard him say, "I've been eating my vegetables!" 

Thankfully these two kids seem to be getting tough enough to handle each other.  The fight constantly.  They have an extremely dysfunctional best friend relationship.

Carlos is also obsessed with Speed Racer.  We got the old cartoon version and he will sit and watch it for hours if I let him.  He and Luke are certain they have what it takes to be racecar drivers.  Recently I had to console Luke who was distrought that I wouldn't let him drive the van home from the store.  He had climbed into the drivers seat and put the key in the ignition and I had to pry his little hands off the steering wheel.  There was no convincing him that he was too little.

My free bottle of excedrin is almost gone...

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Jul. 3, 2008 - The Goat in the Backyard

So a couple weeks ago I was awakened by a goat in our backyard.  I got out of bed to see where it was, but couldn't see anything.  Still, every so often I would hear clear as a bell that famous goaty "ehh" sound.  We went camping after that and the first morning back I heard it again.  I layed there and listened to it, and noticed that as our neighbors roosters would crow, the goat would often follow suit.  Ding!  The light went on and I realized that it was not a goat at all, but one of our roosters trying to figure out how to crow.  We haven't decided which one is doing it, but whichever one it is, obviously, is severely impaired.  Can it hear itself?  For the love of Pete! 

So until this thing figures out how to sound like a bird, I will be awakened by the sound of the stray goat every morning.

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