Personalities

I've often been intrigued and sometimes perplexed with how my kids handle social situations. Where did they learn to act the way they do? Was it me? Or is it an innate reaction to events that makes them behave the way they do? Probably, a combination of both.

Today, while at the mall in the play area while our house was being shown (or not shown - see next post), Emma and Zoe were enjoying the climbing toy and other little toys inside the play area. There was one circular toy hanging on the wall that had several little paths and a ladybug that could be maneuvred through the paths by turning the wheel back and forth. The goal was to get the ladybug "home." Emma could get the ladybug home and was enjoying this when a little boy no older than two years came over and started to play with the wheel, too. It's pretty much a one person toy. Emma let go of the wheel, let the boy take over, and came over to me saying he took the toy. I told her she had it first, but let the boy have it instead of telling him politely that she was still playing with it. I told her to ask him if she could have a turn, otherwise she would have to wait until he was done. She decided to run off and play with something else.

Enter Zoe, a few minutes later. The boy had lost interest and Zoe went to play with the ladybug wheel. She was having a great time spinning it around when the same little boy came up and tried to play with the wheel again. This time, unlike her older sister, Zoe would have nothing of it. She pushed the boy's hands away and told him "No." I watched her do this three times, and the boy finally gave up. I was proud of her, standing her ground. Even though I want her to be a kid who shares and is generous, I also want her to be a kid who doesn't let others push her around. I saw that in her today.

Selling A House Sucks!

Brendan and I put our house up for sale 3 1/2 weeks ago. Since that time, I've been busting my butt to keep the place clean and ready for any and all showings. Having three kids, age six and under, makes for many cleaning opportunities. Breakfast and three snacks, all before 10:00 AM result in a lot of sweeping of the floor and wiping down of the kitchen table and other surfaces. (Those of you without kids are wondering why any child that ate breakfast would need one snack, let alone three before 10:00 AM, but those of you with kids know exactly what I'm talking about!) I have cleaned my bathrooms more times than I care to admit in one week, mainly because of hand washing, teeth brushing, and potty accidents.

But what is really beginning to grate on my nerves are the showings that are either non-showings, or showings that I don't know happened. Three times a realtor has come and either not left a business card or not shown up at all. I don't actually know which, because I can't tell if a brochhure was taken or not, and THERE IS NO BUSINESS CARD! Keeping a house ready to show is a pain in the butt enough, without having to pack up your kids and take them someplace entertaining without costing a lot (if any) money each time. Then, after altering your children's nap times so someone who may or may not want to buy your home can look at it, you come home to what appears to be a no show for the scheduled showing. No message, no card, no nothing. It's more than a bit frustrating, and highly unprofessional.

By the way, it doesn't help that the neighbors who bought the house across the street from you less than a year ago just decided to list their house for sale yesterday.

Another Mispronunciation

Having a six year old son who is a voracious reader makes for some fun vocabulary coming out of his mouth. Tonight, in response to whether he had used the bathroom before climbing into bed was, "No way, Jose." However, instead of the typical "hosay" pronunciation of Jose, we were greeted with "jozay". It's how I'm going to say it from now on.

It's Batch!

We have a nifty toy called Music Blocks by Neurosmith that we got for the kids several years ago. It only gets played with occasionally because even though it is a very cool toy, we only have one cartridge of music that it plays, rendering it somewhat repetitive after three years of play. Basically, it is a music player with five different colored blocks, and each block has the same six different shapes, one on each side of each block. When placed in order, the blocks each play a piece of some music. Each different side plays the music from a different instrument. You can play all the same instrument in order, to hear the music played by a violin, or mix it up and have several different instruments play the same piece of music. You can also change the order of the music by moving the blocks into a different order, in essence creating a whole new piece of music with the five pieces of one song.

I finally purchased two new cartridges and they arrived today. One was called Jumpin' Jive Jazz and the other was Bach. Ian played them both with gusto when he returned from school, and even got Zoe in on the action, too, by dancing around the living room with her and changing the cartridge each time she asked him to. It was very cute and fun to see them interacting so sweetly together. Ian liked the jazz cartridge right away. He noticed that the Bach cartridge was classical music, like the original Mozart cartridge that we have. This is how he told me:

Ian - "Mom! The Batch is classical music, too!"

Me - "Yes it is. And it's pronounced Bock."

Ian - "Hey, Zoe really likes the Batch, too! She is dancing like crazy to it. These are both cool. I like the Jazz and the Batch. Thanks for getting them, Mom."

Me- "Your welcome."

Shocking News!!!!!

OK, actually, if you know my husband, this really won't come as a big shock, but I just discovered it today and thought I should share. I've been married 10 1/2 years, and while I suspected the following information was true, I had never confirmed it until today. While hanging up one of Brendan's shirts in his closet, I noticed that every single shirt was hung on the hangers the same way. All of them face the same direction. EVERY SINGLE ONE! Now, while many people might say this is the proper closet etiquette, even necessary for keeping your clothes neat and tidy, I say, "Hah!" I don't know which way my clothes hang, and I'm sure each one goes it's own way. The only reason I discovered this quirk in my husband's personality today was because I had put the shirt on the hanger the wrong way, and as I was haning it up I noticed that it was on the wrong way. So, as a good wife, I turned it around and hung it up his way. That's because I care.

Selling the Homestead

Two weeks ago, we listed our home for sale and hoped a buyer would come along, recognize what a fabulous house we have and snatch it up with a quick and wondeful offer. While we have had several showings, and a few repeat showings, no offers have made their way to us. While I'm enjoying the de-cluttered and extremely clean look of our house, I'm getting a little tired of acting like we don't live here. Stashing the menu I keep on the fridge everytime there is a showing, running down to the basement to put the laundry basket that has no permanent home underneath the stairs, maniacally reminding my 6, 3, and 2 year olds to NOT use the good towel in the downstairs bathroom but instead to use the dingy yellow one, making sure we only use our green and yellow towels in the full bathroom so that they match the green and yellow walls (OK, I like that last one.) It's not particularly fun living here right now.

The unexpected upside to all of this? I have become an exceptional housekeeper, one that I didn't know existed inside this skin. I clean both bathrooms, every week. I mop the kitchen, including the laundry room, entry way, and upstairs bathroom, every week. I vacuum upstairs every week and downstairs twice a week. I DUST. I clean the front of my appliances and I wash down the cupboard doors. I do laundry, fold it, and put it away - all in the SAME day. I make beds and keep both my dresser and closet clutter free. I don't know how I do it. My husband, who obviously has the cleaning gene that I do not, actually said to me when I asked him to clean up some toys in the basement, "But the showing isn't for three hours!" At which point I grumbled that I would do it myself. It's like aliens have come and taken over my mind. I don't do this much cleaning in a month, let alone a week. I think my husband secretly loves it. He may never openly admit it, but I'm pretty sure I've turned into the housewife he's always wished I was. I kind of like it, too, except for the hiding of the laundry basket.

Happy Easter!

Easter Chickens!!! Emma made these as gifts for the people she loves in her life. We finished them with Easter grass and a few treats. Have a wonderful Easter!

Zoe - Super Sandal Shopper

After dropping off eBay packages at the Post Office this morning, the kids and I headed over to Payless Shoe Store. I was on a mission to get Zoe a pair of white sandals for both the summer and Easter Sunday. She has been wearing Emma's size 8 princess sandals from last summer, but they are too big and are always falling off her feet. She also has adopted a pair of black patent size 8 shoes with rhinestones around the front, and wears them most everywhere I'll let her. She has no size 7 dress shoes, and I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone by purchasing a pair of white sandals for both Easter and summer fun.


We went into the Payless and headed for the size 7 shoes. There was a cute princess sandal, and an absolutely adorable white sandal with little multicolored bows on them. I offered the princess sandals up for Zoe's approval, and she emphatically pushed them out of my hand back onto the shelf with a strong "No." Before I had a chance to look at any other shoes for her I hear, "Dora!" come out of her mouth. Dora the Explorer is probably Zoe's favorite show on TV, so sandals with Dora and her sidekick Boots on them comes close to making Zoe completely, purely happy. We took the sandals off the shelf, took off Zoe's shoes and socks and tried on the Dora sandals. Zoe was so pleased she wanted to put her black rhinestone shoes on the shelf in the box and leave them at the store. We went up to pay, where I had to lift Zoe up so the saleslady could make sure both shoes were the same size, and we paid.

Time in store, less than five minutes.

As I left I realized that the sandals were not white and would not match any dress I pick out for Zoe to wear for Easter. Oh well, neither will the pink sparkly shoes Emma picked out while we were on a mission for her white Easter dress shoes. Neither of my girls will match on Easter Sunday, but they will be two of the happiest girls in church, with their pretty new shoes.

Spring Has Arrived

And with it's arrival have come my beautiful daffodils.