Crocodile Soup

Robbie is staging a revolt to protest his naps.   When he cries, he looks like a cartoon character.  His mouth is so huge, you can almost see his tonsils when he throws his head back and wails.   The nap strike is my fault.  Poor kid doesn't get any naps on Tuesday because we're gone all day, so on Wednesday he glares at his crib like it's an alien from outer space.  He's in there crying right now.  I'd laugh, if he wasn't so pathetic, because every time I go in to check on him, he's standing without hanging onto anything...he's that mad.   Also, that little tinge of red in his hair must throw him full on into ginger territory, because he turns a brilliant tomato-ish shade every time he gets upset.   Hence his nickname:  Robster the Lobster.   Although he looks a little less lobster-y these days, and a little more like a vengeful nephilim with his kinda curly hair sticking straight up, and his face so red, his eyes blaze almost neon blue in comparison.  Adorably terrifying.

Jamie and Charlie are completely different.  Jamie is watching Babar on the iPad and Charlie is watching National Geographic Dinosaur shows on the apple TV.   The only common denominator is they're both using apple products to watch too much Netflix.   This will be the conundrum for my generation of parents.  How much to limit my kids electronic intake, and how much will I screw them up if I go too extreme one way or the other.  When I was a kid, my parents got rid of TV and that was that.  End of story.   So simple.   For me to do that, I would have to not only get rid of our phones, iPad, computer, laptop, but I would have to make sure they weren't around any friends who have phones, iPad's, computers, laptops or TV's.  Which would leave us with...no one.  Not that I even want to do that.  At this point, I try to make sure that netflix is just a low priority.  Something that can be done after school is over, violin has been practiced, and they've spent hours playing outside building Anasazi villages in the mud cliffs.   But even so, I feel guilty I'm ruining them for life.

Jamie is liking the violin...I think.  He definitely likes it a lot better than I do.  Irony's a bitch.  After hours and hours of listening to siblings screech away,  I swore to my mom that no child of mine would ever play the violin.  And yet here I am.  I don't even like the violin played well.  While I was listening to the Suzuki CD for the millionth time, I realized that I am probably going to be listening to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star for at least a year.  Kill me now.
I made him a foot chart, in an attempt to help him stand still.  And while it worked somewhat, he still managed to destroy the poor thing with his wiggling, and at one point, he scrunched it up between his feet and hopped away (after all, I only specifically told him not to move off it).   He loves his bow most of all, and will happily play all kinds of bow games.  His favorite is to stir up some crocodile soup which has shoulder rests, frog tears, and rainbow drops in it. 

 Jim is working from home this afternoon, and I'm not sure I like it.   Normally, his arrival home is the carrot on the end of the stick...spurring me on to clean the house, get a tasty meal on the table, and finish all my projects up.   My goal is to be the happy, smiling wife every guy wants to come home to (peacefully and sincerely happy...not manic, hysterical, fake happy).   When he's already here, the incentive is poof...gone.  I hate not having a finish line.  If I'm going to motivated to do something (i.e. clean the house before my husband gets home), there has to be a decent chance I can WIN, otherwise I won't try at all.  Stupid firstborn tendencies. 

 We went to the symphony on Friday, and accidentally didn't pay for it.  Not just me...but I didn't pay for our whole school.  And I'm the one in charge of that.  Ho hum.   I really try to be a responsible person, but I don't have a naturally structured brain, so I have to tediously build warning systems and shelves in a brain that's like wet banana peels.   Sometimes (clearly) they fail.   Today I called the symphony education director and begged for forgiveness, she was truly sweet and understanding.  For what it's worth, The San Diego Symphony is awesome.  Everyone is super friendly.  The music is amazing.  And they couldn't be more agreeable to work with (and I thought that before they were so gracious about an entire school group attending for free... ((no worries though, I am sending them a check...which crap, I still need to do today))).   Sigh.

While I'm sitting here confessing my failings, I might as well get it all off my chest.   I lost my paycheck from CC too.  Where did I lose it?  In the bank.  Yes, I tore apart my whole house and car, pestered my director while she was on vacation, generally acted like a crazy person, and the whole time my check was in the bank.  Right where I deposited it.   Also, I accidentally triple booked my Friday, thanks to my google calendar not syncing between my computer and phone.  What was I saying earlier about relying too much on electronics?  Maybe I should apply it to myself and not just my kids.

Aunt Patti got a pony named Geronimo.  Jamie is learning how to saddle him, so he can go riding more often.  Pretty much the gentlest horse ever. 

Charlie's got a fever again.

Jamie's front tooth is about to fall out...but in the meantime he looks like a hillbilly.

Robbie has a weight check and shots tomorrow.   Ugh. And double ugh.

(also, notice he's at the stage where diaper changes are like trying to wrestle an orangutan)