Book Repair

One might believe that a mother will have to deal with the same naughty behavior from child to child. Lots of times, Mayah will act out in some disobedient way, and Will or I will need to remind the other about moments or events when Judah had done or said the same thing. I feel like it is really easy to forget about the hard times with Judah, which makes Mayah's "in the moment" naughtiness seem so much worse. All kids act out. However, one child might do something the other would never have dreamed of doing. For example...

When Judah was a wee tot in his crib, he would wake up earlier than I was ready for him. To avoid getting out of bed, I would fix him a bottle (*gasp* "You gave him a bottle in his crib?!?!"...lay off, ladies. You've done it, too...you just lie about it when your doctor asks.) and give him five or six books to play with while I worked on getting out of bed or (heaven forbid) took a shower. Once I realized how well it worked, I would put the books in his bed at night before I went to bed. It worked out really well. If he woke up in the middle of the night or before 8:30, he learned that he wasn't going to be whisked out of bed. Instead, he would entertain himself and often go back to sleep. To all of you mamas who ask me how I teach my children to sleep past 8am, there it is. Neglect + learning to amuse oneself = babies who don't expect you to get them out of bed while it is still dark...okay...maybe not neglect. If you don't believe me that this tactic has it's merits, I had to drag Mayah out of bed at 8:45 this morning to make it to the 9:15 service at church.

Okay, moving right along. Knowing that this worked so wonderfully for Judah, I began to do the same thing when Mayah began to wake up too early. She, too, soon learned that waking up before Mama was ready wasn't going to fly. She, however, has a much more destructive side to her than Judah ever has. Instead of quietly amusing herself in her crib, Mayah took to tearing apart the books I would give her. Somehow, my strong little girl was able to rip the books at their seams. We have dozens of board books that are now just boards.

I finally decided to do something about all of the loose pages we have lying around our house. I went out to Staples and bought some loose leaf rings and began to punch holes near the spines of the books with my paper puncher. I then attached the pages together using the rings...so easy. I have, thus far, saved ten books from their impending fate in the dumpster.

William

Will turns thirty today. I know some of you are thinking, "No...come on! There is no way that handsome hunk of meat is already thirty!" while the rest of you are thinking, "Will is only thirty?" Well, no matter your secret thoughts, this blog is dedicated to my favorite man.
This is a photo of Will, Judah, and Mayah last year on Will's birthday. So much has changed! Most importantly, we have another baby (in case you didn't notice that Liam was missing). Will's leg is all healed up. Last year he had reconstructive surgery on his knee. He tore his acl while skiing when he was in college and, after ten years of inflammation and pain, we finally bit the bullet and got that thing fixed. I say bit the bullet because it was a preexisting condition, which means we are paying the full $6,000+ for the surgery out of pocket AND he was still in his brace while I was giving birth to our third child. I will let you imagine what that meant as far as helping out with a newborn. Another thing that has changed is that Judah is no longer in diapers! Something that is the same: my children still don't like wearing pants (I write these words as I look over at the kids watching Sesame Street in the buff.).


Will is an amazing father. My children adore their father. Liam is giddy when Will walks in the door. He is so patient with them. I have never heard him raise his voice at them. Even when they are freaking out, his tone is so gentle. "Take a deep breath" is his go to tactic. I am humbled by his patience. I feel so blessed to have a husband who loves his children so deeply.

This photo was taken last year when we went to Las Vegas for my big brother's wedding. Will and I don't take nice pictures together. We have ONE photo where we are both smiling and looking normal from eight years ago. I still have that picture in a frame waiting to be replaced by a more recent, normal looking photo. Will has this thing that he does with his eyes to amuse himself. His favorite time to do it is in a big group picture because it might not get noticed for a while. He is all about unexpected comedy. I think his dream come true would be that someone would call him years after a photo was taken to say that she just noticed how creepy Will looked. He is very patient with his jokes. My favorite part is how hard he laughs at himself once he sees the picture. He also LOVES to get in the background of stranger's photos and make this face. He doesn't even care if he gets to see the end result of his joke...now that's commitment.

This is one of the many reasons I love Will. He makes me laugh more than anyone on earth. God matched us perfectly.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WILL!! I LOVE TO LOVE YOU!!

State Wrestling

State wrestling can only mean one thing in the Owens house...wrestling is almost over!! Okay, that's not the only thing it can mean. It can also mean funnel cakes, strawberry smoothies, and some good wrestling matches. If you know me at all, you know that I am a basketball girl. I love basketball and am genuinely frustrated that Ames doesn't have a women's league. I would totally play...maybe. The other thing that you may or may not know about me is that I am way too insecure to ask people to be on my team. And I FOR SURE wouldn't be brave enough to just show up and get put on a team! This is the same reason I do not play Ames volleyball. As much as I would LOVE to be on a team, I can't bring myself to just get put on a random team...what if I suck...my glory days are over...I am way to competitive to accept it if I am not any good anymore.

Back to wrestling...sorry about that digression. So, I have always been all about basketball. I would go to wrestling meets in high school to support my guy friends, but I didn't pay close enough attention to know what was going on. Then I marry Will. Will wrestled at Central College while I was there, and often told me about his passion to coach some day. Almost seven years later and I am still learning. I am not going to pretend like I totally understand everything. I know a good number of the moves, ref signals, and proper things to shout, but I am so amateur. I have a lot to learn if my children are going to join their father in this passion.

It is a whole different world than basketball. One thing that cracks me up about wrestling fans is that they get annoyed if someone shows up to an important meet that has never shown interest before. When I was in high school, we were usually ranked #1, undefeated, and two time state champions and the stands were always usually empty until the boys game began. No one but our parents traveled to watch us play regular season games. We would have killed to have one or two more people show an interest and were jazzed when people came to our state games. We finally had fans, no matter how fickle they might be. Wrestling fans whisper behind your back if you just show up at state without having supported them before. They only want true fans :)

Okay, back to the reason for my blogging...Judah and I have been going down to state every day to support Will. Wednesday, I dressed the kids up in Gilbert clothes and got a photo of them with Will before he left. This is of Judah and I today at the meet. He has been to state every year since he was born.
Sister-in-law, Caitlyn, and Judah (also included: man behind Caitlyn picking his nose)

Judah posing with the wrestlers behind him

Judah really wanted to make sure that his cup got in the photo. It is, you see, his favorite color.

I love this kid.

Judah brought his "super hero animals" with him. We tangled them in Caitlyn's hair for fun.

Will on the mat during one of the matches

Judah and I plan on going back tomorrow. Thankfully, I have had some great friends and a super mother-in-law watch Mayah and Liam while we go. I am enjoying special Mama-Judah time!

Her Singing Debut

I have posted videos of Judah blessing us with his love for singing on this blog but never Mayah. Mayah has developed a new love for singing and dancing. Her vocabulary has exploded over the last few months, and I am still shocked when she throws out a long sentence or a new word.

We head to Mommy & Me music every other Tuesday for singing, dancing, and interpretive actions. This is a ministry that we have at our church, which has been going on for three (I think) years now. I started taking Judah when he was too young to do actions or sing along, and now that he is four, he still doesn't do actions or sing along. Here is a breakdown of how M&M usually goes: The 5 year olds stand in the middle like good examples and sing and do the actions. The 3-4 years olds sprint circles around the mommies and babies who are sitting around in a circle. Often times, they will dive under a table or hide in a bathroom. The 1-2 year olds do their best to avoid getting trampled by the older kids, occasionally spinning in circles to the music. The infants sleep in their car seats or lay on their mommy's laps. The mommies sing and do the actions. It is quite a sight!

I tell you this to give you an idea of why I am so shocked when I catch Judah or Mayah singing a song from Mommy & Me. This song is called Five Little Monkeys. If you didn't know the song, you wouldn't know that Mayah is singing at all. At first I thought she was scolding Judah for something. Enjoy:

Five little monkeys swinging from a tree,

teasing mister alligator, "Can't catch me!"

Along came mister alligator, quiet as can be

and snapped that monkey right out of the tree!

My two favorite moments: I love that when I ask her to sing, she goes back to stand at the spot where she was singing before I turned the camera on. It was as if she were performing on a stage. I also love when she is spinning circles and slips on a book. I love her.

Naughty Little Girl

Who me? Yes, Mayah, you.

Mayah is my limit pusher, as I have mentioned many times before. She is beautiful and wonderful and fantastic...and naughty. She has mastered her innocent and sad faces perfectly. I really do feel remorse when I have to punish her. She's good, folks.

Mayah has also finally developed an attachment to her mama. For a long time, Mayah appeared to be indifferent to Will and I. She seemed to love us just as much as she loved everyone else in Ames. While other little girls were pining for their mommies, Mayah was leaping out of my arms to snuggle with the stranger sitting against the wall. Now, she can't handle the tragedies of life if I go to the bathroom without giving her an invitation. It is a clear injustice if I defer the responsibility of getting her some milk to Will. This girl LOVES her Mama.

The other day, the kids and I were getting ready to go somewhere. I bundled myself up first and went outside to start the car. I told Judah and Mayah to get their shoes on, and I would be right back. For some reason, the Suv was parked on the side of the road instead of in our driveway. I got inside and started to pull it backwards into the driveway so I wouldn't have to lug the kids an extra five steps to the road. I looked in my rear view mirror as I was driving backwards into the driveway and noticed the door was open. I slammed the brakes and jumped out of the car. Mayah was inches from my back tire, shoeless, coatless, and screaming because I was leaving her.

It was terrifying. I was so scared and so mad at the same time. All I could think about are the stories I have heard about moms backing over their kids. I love that she wants to be with me now, but this new desire and her tendency toward misbehaving can be dangerous. What am I going to do with this little girl?

Who Knew?

So, I am either an amazing mother or completely clueless. Yep, those are your options...black and white...either or...which will you choose?

Judah is four years and two months old. He has zero interest in anything crafty. He doesn't like to draw, paint, collage, color, or cut. The only thing that can keep him occupied longer than five minutes is play dough. Whatever...I'm not worried about his development or attention span or anything really. I just rarely break out the craft supplies for him anymore because he will play with them for less time than it will take me to get them out.

Judah is, however, very interested in letters and reading. He knows what all of the letters are and what sound each letter makes. He is even reading a little bit (a very little bit). However, he simply refuses to work on writing. I have gotten preschool-like books from Target that we go through, but Judah always skips the writing letters parts. He just doesn't care, and I am okay with that...I mean the kid is only four. He will even rarely sit down at the table during preschool when it is time to work on worksheets. I'm not sure what else I have to tell you to get you to believe me that this kid has no interest in writing or drawing...I will assume I have made my point.

So tonight, Judah found some markers that GranDeb had gotten him for his second birthday. I went and got some construction paper for him to try them out, hustling as I assumed his interest would be held for a short time. He drew a city first and then stated that he was going to write his name. I stood behind him and was SHOCKED by what I witnessed. This boy has never written his name before. He has never had me show him how, nor did he stop to ask which letter was next. He just wrote it. Am I too amazed, or is this normal? Does a kid just decide he wants to write his name the way a kid decides he wants to be potty trained? What other things can this kid do? Maybe next time he says he wants to email someone, I will just step back and see what he can do. Or maybe he can fix supper tomorrow night or change the tire next time we get a flat. Oh the possibilities...

Like a Rolling Stone

Sometimes I wonder at the parenting choices I make. Sometimes I say things that I think are funny. And sometimes Will tells me they aren't.

Are you aching for an example? Judah has really gotten past the "whiny" stage for the most part. Sure he still has his moments of scrunching up his face and pouting, but comparatively, he is quickly reaching big kid status. We occasionally have to remind him to use his big kid voice or take a deep breath. These are the grown-up ways to deal with a whiny kid, right? Well, in addition to those, sometimes I sing a little Rolling Stones to my kids when they get in the "but I want that" state.

No, you can't always get what you want.
You can't always get what you want.
You can't always get what you want.
And if you try sometimes, you might find
you get what you need.

I'm not sure why I get such joy out of singing this to my kids. Judah now sings it to Mayah when she whines...do you think less of me?

Okay, so this morning Judah really didn't want to go outside in the cold to get in the car for Mommy & Me. He just kept saying, "I don't wanna go outside. I don't wanna go! I wanna stay in here where it is warm." (This kid might not look like me, but he and I share the same brain.)
I went out to put Mayah and Liam in their car seats, and when I came back in, Judah was begrudgingly pulling his coat on and singing to himself:

I can't always get what I want.
I can't always get what I want.

It was so hard for me not to laugh. It was so sweet how he turned it around and was coping with his situation.

I am now picturing Judah in school singing this to his friends... or his teacher *gasp*...or me if I want him to do something.
Me: "Judah, I want you to pick up your room.
J: "But, Mama, you can't always get what you want..."