My son is a super hero!

Timmy, my 6 year old, is cracking me up lately. A few months back we watched the movie “How to train your Dragon” and he became obsessed with dragons. So much so that when I asked him what he wanted for Christmas, he replied, “I want to be a dragon.” Of course that request wasn’t exactly something I could put under the tree.

One day he was climbing into the van and sliding the door shut. This takes some muscles to get it to shut. It absolutely drives Kate crazy. She usually has to try 2 and 3 times to shut it. But Timmy puts his all into it and shuts it on the first try most times. So one day I said to him, “wow Timmy, you are so good at shutting that door. How do you do it?” He responded as serious as can be, “it is probably my dragon muscles.” I just chuckled to myself, too cute.

Well, just a couple of weeks ago we watched “Iron Man” with the kids. Lately we have been picking out movies that us adults like, that the kids will like, and we just forward the parts that aren’t age appropriate. Granted the 2 hour movie is now 1 hour, but hey at least we don’t have to sit through another Disney one we have seen 16 times. So we watched Iron Man and Timmy was in awe. Of course, a man that can fly, what could be cooler. Well, now rather than attributing his “super powers” to being a dragon, he now thinks he is iron man. Today he went to my moms to get some rice for me. When he got back I raved at how fast he went there and back. I jokingly asked, “You were so fast, did you drive my car?” “No” he said. And then as serious as can be with the cutest little face ever he said, “I was just using my iron man power.” He is cracking me up!


Ya gotta love how they believe in themselves with there whole hear. I think we could all learn a lesson from our little 6 year olds!

So glad my life isn't boring

I was chatting with a friend today about daughters and dramatic exits. She was sharing a story of her daughters dramatic exit, which was quite funny(you can read it at http://marriagemattersjackson.wordpress.com/ it is the Jan.24th post) Anyway it just got me thinking about all the crazy things our kids do that drive us crazy. Yet even in the craziness where would I be without such stories. It is like I tell my husband all the time. “Babe, your life would be way too boring and predictable without me in it” Ya see my man is very logical and pretty smart if I do say so myself. He would never find himself in the crazy predicaments I get myself into. Such as losing my minivan at the Breslin Center(an earlier post), or deciding one day to highlight my hair with foils and bleach(earlier post), or trying to rearrange a room and having to leave the furniture in the middle of the room because my legs couldn’t push against the wall anymore cause they weren’t long enough and I was strong enough without that leverage(sure to be a post soon lol). Anyway, it is when I am in these predicaments I tell him my line, “Babe, your life would be way too boring and predictable without me in it” And as I thought of my four kids and their craziness, that obviously they come by honestly, I think to myself, “my life would be way to boring and predictable without them in it” And then my mind wanders to the successful people in Hollywood. What were they like. I mean you can’t tell me that at the age 7, Jim Carey didn’t drive his mom insane. Or seriously how many fires did Edison start as a teenager because he was fascinated with putting energy to work. And Einstein, don’t even get me started! I can see Timmy with that kind of hairdo himself. So the next time your kid is driving you crazy, or maybe they have their drama knob turned up too high, just think about how to help them channel that genius creativity. Who knows, maybe you will see them on the red carpet someday.

Friend day, 4 times 2 is how many!

Today was a ½ day. And the whole day just started out crazy. I got up this morning and had 4 sandwiches made when Josh reminded me that they don’t eat lunch on ½ days. Then at 10:45 I realized that school didn’t get out at 11:55 but actually 10:55. So I hurried Bo to get dressed. He is in this phase where he wants to pick out his own clothes. Being that I needed to have him dressed in 60 seconds I chose not to argue with him when he picked out a white shirt. Even though the responsible mom in me was thinking that “white” was not a good idea for this kid. But I threw it on him and managed to make it up to the school by 3:00.

I told each of my kids that they could have a friend over on this half day of school. Of course I have 4 kids of my own, so when they each have a friend over our numbers multiply quickly. Fortunately my older two seem to just disappear when their friends are here, so I just have to keep an eye on the younger hooligans. So far the day has been quite interesting. I went up to my bedroom when things got quiet, which is naturally a sure sign of trouble, and I walked in the kids bathroom only to find Travis and Bo brushing their teeth. I know, sounds like a good thing right? The problem was I have no idea whose toothbrushes they were using. I can’t say Kate will be to thrilled if it was hers. Then I walked into my bedroom to find every cough drop in the bag I had by my bed had been unwrapped and on thrown on the floor. I am sure this was my sons idea, it looked like his handy work. Later the little boys wanted to snack on more pizza. While eating they made up a game, instigated by my son of course. The object was to hit your head on the table. Yeah, I don’t get it either. All I know is Bo wopped his head on the table on purpose, said, “owe” and then laughed. “Well, there goes college”, I thought to myself. Once they were done eating, they started picking on the girls. So I just said the magic words of “play dough” and they came running.

It was a crazy day, but a good crazy. Each kid had a blast playing with their friends. No one ended up in the hospital and no one ended up crying with their feelings hurt, so that’s always good. And at the end they all pitched in and cleaned up with great attitudes. That sure makes it worth doing again! I guess I would say the only casualty was the white shirt. By the end of the day the “white” shirt had pizza all down the front, playdough on the elbows, spaghetti splattered on it from dinner, a stripe of grape juice down the very center and to top it off some splatters of chocolate cheesecake.

A good Grown-up

The other day I felt like I was having one of those, “I am the worst mom on the planet days.” I was fighting a head cold, so my patience bucket was lower than it’s usual low anyway. Some how we managed to survive the day. No one was sold and no one was duck taped to a chair so things could have been worse. I just felt bad for being crabby. Well, that night Kate just made my heart melt and I just knew everything would be ok. I was lying in bed snuggling with her. This is something she likes to do from time to time when I am tucking her in. I was lying there stroking her hair and I said to her, “You are a good kid Kate.” This is a phrase I say to them often and they usually give me a cute grin. Well that night Kate looked back at me and said, “You are a good grown-up mom.” And then followed it with a cute giggle. We were both just lying there laughing. In that moment I couldn’t help believe that despite my “not so proud” parenting moments, my kids know I love them and they are happy to be a part of this family. And that is all that really matters!

Cleaning House, it won't kill ya.

So tell me, is there some sort of encyclopedia, or internet site out their that only the 4th grade and up kids read. There just has to be some sort of informational reading out there that you gain privileged access to when you enter the 4th grade. I am sure what Not to wear, and who has koodies this week is in it. Right along with the aweful desease you will catch if you “clean”. The reason I say it is privileged access to 4th grade and up is because Timmy and Bo will just hop to it. Timmy does his chores as quick as he can to insure his computer time will be available. And Bo, who knows why he likes cleaning so much, but he does. Josh and Kate act as if they might get the plague, from making their bed, dusting, or putting their laundry away. Now they could, I suppose they get the plague from cleaning their bathroom, but I always sterilize the kids after they clean the bathroom, so we should be good. But never the less, you would think that I asked them to go out back and plant a field with a horse and plow. Whew. Kids, gotta love ‘em.

Cast Away!!!!

Cast Away Café. A place you go to let all your little Tarzans play. My sister and I thought we would be the “cool” parents and spontaneously take our kids to the “Cast Away Café” in Howell today. It seems though, that when Jess and I do something spontaneously, adventure always accompanies us. Surprisingly today things went incredibly smooth. I was actually ready to go before she was, which rarely happens. She is usually calling me asking how much longer, and I am always telling her a time subtracting 10 minutes from the truth just so it sounds better to her. But not today. Today the girl with four was first out the door. We met in Eaton Rapids where my kids piled into her car so we could ride together. The older three had their movie in the back and the younger boys were watching “Cars” in the middle, and Jess and I were sipping our coffee in the front. What could be better? The trip was perfect. That is until we walked in the door of the playland and realized we were not the only parents going for the “most coolness award.” In fact I think every parent in Howell and surrounding cities, and maybe some parents from Indiana, Ohio, and even the UP were there. Oh if we hadn’t driven an hour we would have turned around and left. Also, that choice would have taken us from the “Cool Parent” to the “Lame Parent” in one split second! So, seeing that they had a locked one way in and one way out gate, and you could only take the kids out that had the same stamp as you, we decided to face the crowd. It actually turned out great! They had a great deal on pizza and our little Tarzans used up all their energy and went to bed Great tonight.

I'm Cleaning??

I find it ironic when I work on deep cleaning one room in my house, the rest of my house falls apart. Today we had Travis over, so Bo was occupied for literally 7 hours straight, it was great. I decided to clean out my office. And I mean CLEAN. I cleaned out the big cabinet, and the bookshelf, and my desk shelves, and even re-arranged a bit. I also got up on a chair and dusted off the safe and the tall cabinet. Oh my gosh the amount of dust that was up there, I am surprised I can still breath. Finally, it was all done and I vacuumed it for that perfect clean feel. Ahhhhhh. It felt so good to stand in the middle of the room and take it all in. And then I stepped out of the office and into the part of the house that I not only neglected but a pair of 3 year olds had been doing there best to play in every room of the house. I stepped into the hall where I had piled my no longer needed items, and the kids stuff that I was no longer keeping in my space seeing that Josh and Kate both have their own rooms. The toy room had toys everywhere and was sprinkled with cheese crackers from the boys snacking at the little tykes kitchen. Moving on to the kitchen there were 2 dirty plates on the table with dried Mac-n-cheese on them, and shredded cheese all over the floor. I had given the boys a handful of cheese at Bo’s request of course, and when I stepped out of the kitchen they decided to refill themselves. Fortunately, I caught them in the act and they didn’t eat any more, but naturally I just left the mess cause I was busy “cleaning.” My couch pillows were all over my living room floor and when I heard Bo say that they made a surprise for me in his room, well I was just sooooo excited. I went up there to see they had emptied my linen closet of all the sheets, pillow cases, blankets and extra pillows to make a fort in his bed room. It looked more like a mountain that a fort, but they were pretty proud. And to top it off they emptied the dirty towels out of the basket in my hallway and had those strewn about their fort. When I informed them that they were dirty they were both willing to put them back in the basket. Crazy how I got one room REALLY clean, only to have the others get destroyed. But to be honest, it was all worth it. It didn’t take me near as long to pick up the rest of the house as it did to deep clean the office. It did help my clean up time when rather than re fold all my sheets and blankets I just wadded them into a ball and shoved them in the closet. I will just fold them after the next washing!

Let's punch out for the day! Or maybe just an hour.

“Do you ever have those days when you wish you could find your parenting time card to punch out and just go home? Well, I guarantee you are not the only one. I invite you to take a night out, enjoy some “parents anonymous” conversation, and bring home some tools to help you with that 168 hour work week.”

Go to my events page on my website, www.jamielightner.com to see the details about the upcoming parenting class in Jackson.

Sick or not?

“Bo, would you please just at least pretend you are sick, now that we are at the doctors office.” I said to my kid who although had a fever he was bouncing into the waiting room like a jumping bean. When it comes to taking my kids to the doctor I am a big “waiter”. I like to be sure there is a for sure reason we are there. Basically, my kids have to be missing a limb before I take them in. Well, Bo had been running a fever since Monday night but he just kept bouncing around the house keeping me busy as usual so I kept “waiting” to take him in. Well, last night at about 6pm, he said “Mom, I am tired. I want to sleep in your bed. Carry me, mom.” Whoa! I couldn’t find the phone fast enough. Seriously, Bo, tired, since when. Surely he must have the plague. I called the doctor the next morning. Of course he woke up all bright and cheery. And I began to doubt myself till he crashed again at noon. I thought I would take advantage of his movie moment and get some work done. And after an hour of resting he was back up trying to push buttons on my computer. Finally, time for the doctor and there he was all bright and cheery, still running a temp. Fortunately, the wait wasn’t long, so he only had time to rip up the paper on the patient table. And then the strep throat test came back positive. Seriously the kid, the jumping bean, has strep throat.

I dance like a "white" girl...still!

I AM BACK!!! You may have noticed I took two weeks off from writing. Or maybe your Christmas Break was just like mine and you were so busy your computer started to collect dust. Well, I feel like I am finally getting back into the groove of my life as a taxi service once again, seeing that my kids need a planner more than I do. I thought my first day back I would tell you about my break, but I went to Zumba so naturally I have to write about my “Latin Dance”
I was so excited to attend my first Zumba class. I mentioned a September post, that “I dance like a white girl”. And despite the real live instructor, which for some reason I thought might transform me into a hip swinging Goddess, well, I still dance like a white girl. I realized tonight I must be “right bodied”. What is so hard about just reversing the move, I don’t know. I especially loved the moment when she said those great words, “ok, let me show you the moves slowly,” only to find out her definition of slow and mine were quite different. I really needed the elementary version! Remember the letter people for learning how to read. I need little “zumba people” showing me step by step as if in slow motion over and over again. And to shake it, well I can handle the task with my feet planted, but tell me, how do ya “shake it” and walk at the same time. Then to make it even more crazy, she did this grape vine move with a full spin in the middle. I don’t know about you but coordination and me, hmmm, I was just glad I didn’t fall on the girl I spun myself next too. That would have been embarrassing. It would have made a good blog post I am sure, but lets face it, there are some stories you just don’t want to tell. The good news is, according to my very sweet, very encouraging instructor, I did well. When we started class she said the most important goal of the night was to keep your feet moving, keep your heart rate up, and sweat. So even though there were points I was just flailing my feet around to look busy, or bouncing left and right to go with the crowd, I managed to do what she asked of me. I have to say though, one of my favorite comments was made by the woman in front of me. Our instructor had us doing a “shake it” move, and then she said to switch and the comment was “switch what?” Apparently there is a “left” way, and a “right” way to “shake it” lol As we were stretching our instructor encouraged us to eat healthy after such a work out. She said going home and devouring a cheeseburger and fries would give us a stomach ache. So being the good girl I am, I did no such thing. I had a bowl of ice cream instead! I gotta say, although I only got about 10% of the moves, it was a lot of fun. Hopefully I improve and I can someday write a post about how I discovered my “inner Latin Soul.”