The Katie Chronicles: Sleepytime Nomenclature Edition

 This morning, on the way to school, we were talking about an upcoming slumber party and the sleeping, or lack thereof, that will ensue.

Katie: Mommy, girls get beauty sleep but what do they call it when boys sleep?

Me: I think it's still beauty sleep. Boys can be beautiful, too, like Daddy.

Katie, thoughtfully: I think it should be called handsome sleep whenever boys do it.

The Katie Chronicles: Neighborhood Explorers Edition, Guest Starring Ethan

Well, it was a rough evening in Kidville. After we got home for the evening, Ethan and Katie were playing outside and joined up with some neighborhood kids that they hang out with a lot. It began to get dark and time for dinner when one of the neighborhood parents came to ask if her kids were in our house. I knew Jerome was outside calling the kids in but apparently he and the parents of the two other kids were all roaming the neighborhood, searching for missing offspring. We figured out quickly that they must all be together but they weren’t answering parents’ calls, which is a no no. (Our kids have free range of a two or three block area, including a playground and some woods, but they can’t go outside the range of our voices, including inside someone’s house, without letting us know.) When I heard Rome’s car start up, I knew we’d gone to Def Con 2. A few minutes later, I heard Rome’s car pull back in the garage, the door open, and sniffling everywhere as the kids came in. Rome’s spidey sense had told him that they had gone to their favorite babysitter, Alex’s, house. She lives about 300 yards away as the crow flies but several blocks away by normal navigation, and a couple of blocks outside their allowed range. He had found all the kids there, happily playing with rocks. (What did Alex’s parents think when a pack of neighborhood kids showed up and asked for their daughter?) Rome apparently gave them The Talk to End All Talks in the car on the way home, perhaps at a volume a teeny bit above normal, because they came in, sat on the couch, and cried. Rome started in with part two of The Talk to End All Talks, also known as “And Another Thing…” but Ethan saved him the trouble by tearfully providing a rundown of all the things they’d done wrong and what he’d done wrong as the oldest in the group of kids. Dinner was a sober affair, with lots of “yes m’ams” and “no, sirs.” Ethan said the grace and he even threw in a note of thanks to God “for our kind parents” and asked for help following the rules. We always discuss our favorite parts of everyone’s day at dinner and Ethan’s favorite part was “learning his lesson.” (Perhaps a career in the ministry is in his future? He’s got the conscience for it.) Don’t tell anyone that I’m secretly glad I have kids with enough chutzpah to push the boundaries on occasion – I’m a fan of the “free range kids” philosophy...one of their evening’s adventures had included Katie falling out of a tree she’d climbed – but I’m also a fan of kids not disappearing in the dark, too. So lessons have been learned and good times have returned to Kidville, minus a privilege or two. And how was your evening?

The Katie Chronicles: The List Maker Edition

I come from a line of list-loving women, and Katie is carrying on the family tradition.  A month or two ago, she made a list of all the things she wanted to get done on a particular weekend.  The items were:
Call Chandler [her friend] to see if she can play, yes or no
Play in my cichin
Shop
Mack my dish [a Food Network-inspired item]
Shoos and unbrella [?]
Pool
Play withe AJ
Play on my mom computer [I don’t know if this is missing the ‘s or if she has invented a computer just for mothers]
Read a book
Do mathe [is this my child?]
Eat ice cream [yep, she’s mine]
Do 2 ABC orders [homework]
TV
Ask to go to SKZ [Sky Zone, a trampoline jumpy place]
Cook with mom or dad
Rit a note
Eat penuts or nutse
Snugol [snuggle]

So there you have it, a 7 year-old’s priorities.  Lots of food, lots of playing, lots of food-related playing, all topped off with some snuggle time.  Sounds like a great weekend to me.

The Ethan Update: Throwback Edition

At Ethan's school, kids sign up for feedback sessions where teachers and students can give them feedback about things that they can improve on. Then they implement the feedback and they can sign up for promotion. If they get promoted, they get additional privileges and "pay" in their token economy. Ethan recently went up for his first feedback session and one of the main suggestions he got was that he needs to let others answer in class. Since I was a child in the 70s, my first thought was, "Dear lord, my sweet Ethan is Horshack."  

The Katie Chronicles: And So It Begins Edition, Guest Starring Ethan

The scene from our house, starting at 5.36 am: "Mommy! Mommy! THE ELVES ARE BACK! Look, look, look! Oh, I'm going to write mine a note to give Santa! But I can't touch her. Mommy, where should I put it? The elves are back! THE ELVES ARE BAAACK! Hello elves! Daddy, can we watch Star Trek? Because I told my elf I'd show him Star Trek.

The Katie Chronicles, Nature Girl Edition

Both kiddos were running around the woods of northeast Georgia this weekend on separate Scouting camping trips.  Jerome and I got some much-needed couple time and the kids got some fresh air and Scouting accomplishments. Katie has returned to the nest and been smothered with "I missed you" hugs and kisses. Now we're in the Guess What phase. "Mommy, guess what? We got to go *horseback* riding!" "Daddy, guess what? I made my own fire like you taught me!" Based on that happy but tired little face, I'm guessing Crash phase is coming soon.

Parenting Math

Parenting involves a surprising amount of math and there are two common parenting math mistakes that people make (including me before I lived this).  The first is the assumption that having two children is twice the work as one.  Logical, yes, but not true. When you have two children you have to manage each individual child, plus the relationship between them.  You have to teach them how to get along or at least refrain from killing each other. "Her hot dog is bigger than MINE!" and "He's looking at me!!" and "Yesterday you gave her two goodnight kisses!!  Why do you love her more?"  And so on. If your kids are extra prone to fighting or you have one with a special need like ADHD or sensory issues, multiply up as appropriate.  So, it's not 1 + 1 = 2 in terms of workload.  It's 1 + 1 = 3.  The other parenting math mistake is that having one child is 1/2 the work as two.  Wrong again. One child is quieter and, when something is mysteriously broken or stained, you have less detective work to do, depending, of course, on the maturity level of your spouse.  But when you have two children, they can play together at least some of the time and the older one can help the younger one, when not administering noogies and purple nurples. Only children, especially before they're too young to go over to neighbor's houses, look to you to amuse them.  Unless you enjoy playing endless rounds of Candy Land or inventing science experiments out of peanut butter and cat litter, it's a lot of work.  You have the most adorable coworker in the world, but it's work nonetheless.