Healthy kids = happy house?

My middle child turned 4 last month. Despite her advance in years, her behavior has been less than exemplary lately. However, she was still wearing pull ups at night, and decided herself that she wants to sleep in panties now and that is going very well! So I am pleased with her making that choice herself and cooperating when we wake her up for bathroom breaks in the middle of the night. Also, you probably haven’t heard the story about her swallowing a quarter, but she did. Back in Sept or Oct, she had pocketed a quarter she found in the sandbox at the park and then later that night came to me teary eyed with her hands on her throat saying the quarter was stuck in her throat. Since she was able to talk and tell me what happened (when I asked for details, she said she was holding the quarter between her lips and it “walked” down her throat and got stuck) I knew it wasn’t a life threatening situation and was relatively calm about it. Eventually we had her stomach x-rayed to make sure there was nothing left behind, and the quarter appears to have left the system, so that is good news too.
Nahtay, who isn’t quite 2 yet, has a tremendous vocabulary and appears to be picking up on numbers and the alphabet without much coaching so that is impressive. He is also one sly dog when it comes to behavioral matters. He’s been spitting as an act of protest so I’ve been putting him in the corner on time out (I have to physically sit there with him as he doesn’t stay there by himself – not sure how effective it is, certainly not efficient!) and then he has to apologize after his time out. Now when I say he will have to go on time out if he is spitting, he automatically apologizes without being told to – although he continues to spit.
To wrap things up, all of the kids seem to be in good health and reasonably good spirits which is something to be thankful for!

This is an experiment.

I had this inspiring idea while reading the blog of another mom I know that perhaps blogging about how awesome it is to stay home with your kids makes you appreciate the experience a little bit more.  Of course I appreciate the fact that I have my children, and get to spend these precious times with them instead of giving them to someone else to care for, and that we are able to get by on one income, but it is often overwhelming and frustrating too.

I had never really understood the appeal of blogging about the day to day activities of one’s life – unless you are extremely clever and witty, or do something truly impressive.  But telling the story of diapers, preschool and after school activities just seemed sort of mundane, and perhaps self-absorbed.  Now I have a suspicion it may serve a higher purpose, and this is my experiment to find out.  If it works for me, I’ll share this blog with all the friends and family who may like to know what adventures diapers, preschool, and after school activities bring us and I suppose they’ll enjoy reading it because they don’t get to immerse themselves in this existence.

In the meantime, let’s just cross our fingers that I can keep a positive perspective amidst all the poop and tantrums!

P.S.  This post was written with Sativa wiggling on my lap, insisting we play with her new birthday presents, and licking my face.  I told her, for the 4th time this week, not to lick me.