Flying diapers and belly buttons

I was woken on Friday morning by two deaf children screaming at each other repeatedly.

Brenden: Ethan, come here!  Come here!

Ethan: Brenden, look at this!  Look!

The problem is, neither one was wearing implants or looking at the other one, so they just continued to scream assuming the other one would eventually come.  Not the case - I had to go turn them both around to look at each other.  Then everyone was sent to find their cochlear implants.

One day last week, I was in my room changing Cameron's diaper on my bed.  Without looking, I tossed the diaper out my bedroom door.  This is what I always do - and then when I leave the room, I pick up the diaper and take it to the trash.  Seconds later, I was hit on the side of the head by a flying diaper.  My 3 year old has great aim.  He hit me right on the temple.  Evidently, he was standing in the doorway when I threw the diaper and it had sailed right past him, so he was returning it to me.  Since then, he has been throwing diapers at me - a lot.

The boys were out of school on Friday.  In the morning, we painted monster trucks.

Nolan went first

And then Ethan 

 Brenden waited patiently for his turn.

In the afternoon, the boys went out to play for a little while and then we made monster cupcakes - see post below.

This is the only picture I took of making cupcakes because

 the other children were doing things like:

tasting purple food coloring.

I asked Nolan if it was good.
Nolan: It only tastes good if it's warm.
Me: No, it's still not good if it's warm.
Nolan: Then why does it taste good in frosting?
Me: Because of the frosting.
His chin is still purple.

I don't know if I wore them out or if they were just cranky, but by 6:30, I had 3 out of 4 children crying - the other one was standing behind me spitting at me - and I was trying to quickly make dinner (you must try this!) so I could put them to bed.  I thought I had planned a great day for them and then it turned disastrous at the end.  Doug saved the day when he got home and sent Cameron and me to time-out in my bedroom with the door shut while he got everyone ready for bed.  I love that man.  Have I told you that before?  Well, I do.  Very much.

Brenden is writing a book.  It is 22 pages long right now and it is very exciting!  When I say 22 pages, I mean 22 full lined pages, top to bottom, with, generally speaking, no margins.  His wording and vocabulary impress me.  He wants it to have "specific details in the plot."  It is a mix of Harry Potter and Secrets of Droon, two of his favorite series of books, with his own twist.  The main character is named Zack Pegoata Cobur.  Some of my favorite parts:
"She saw the letter clutched tightly in Zack's arms.  Zack's mother was always fussy about the letters Zack got."
"... there was a pond with a sleek and slender dolphin"
"He made a swift move with his wand."
"Jabertooth let out a mad cackle."
"... Jabertooth was being escorted out..."
"Zack's body started tingling with excitement!  It was nightfall..."
That is just up to page 7.  The further he gets into the book, the better the phrases get.  His capitalization and punctuation are pretty good, but I have to say, I am darn impressed with his spelling.  It's an exciting story and Doug and I like to read it nightly to see what's been added.

Tonight at dinner, Brenden was narrating.  "(sigh)... he sighed"

Nolan get his cast off on Wednesday.  Yay!  No more scratched up furniture from a course cast, no more hobbling, no more wet floor after a bath, no more lots of things!  Maybe now we will be able to get his pants on!  We are limited to the pants with large leg openings.  He can finally wear both of his new school shoes.  Last time he had to be re-cast, but I asked Nolan and he says he thinks it is all healed and he won't need another cast.  We can all hope.  He's tired of sleeping on the floor.  He normally sleeps on the top bunk.  

Nolan was good all week at school.  I am relieved.  His teacher said she still has to do a lot of reminding to get him to stop talking and eat his lunch, but that is no surprise.  He does most of his dinner eating after everyone has left the table and he has no one left to talk to.  He really likes to talk.

Last Sunday in church, my friend was feeding her baby from a bottle.  Nolan is incapable on talking quietly.  He said, "My mom doesn't use a bottle.  My mom feeds my baby from her belly buttons.  She has great big belly buttons." 

Ethan is defiant at times and completely agreeable at others.  While I'm nursing, this is how things normally go:

Me: Ethan, put that back.

Ethan: No.

Me: Ethan, please put that back.

Ethan: No.

Me: Ethan, do you want to go to time-out?

Ethan: No.

Me: Then please put it back.

Ethan: No.

And then I do the old mom fake-out where I pretend I am getting off the couch to make him put it back and he usually either puts it back like I asked or runs out of sight with it.  He is starting to realize that most of the time, I'm not really going to get up.

Cameron is predictable.  You know - eat, sleep, poop, repeat.  The other night I fell asleep with him in bed with me and he slept for 8 hours straight.  Now if only he could do that in his bed.  I can't sleep well with him in my bed, but I was too lazy to get up and put him in his own bed.  I generally have a no-baby in bed policy, but sometimes being tired will make you break your own rules.

I feel like a horrible mother.  Cameron has changed so much since I have posted pictures of him - amazing how newborns do that.  I haven't even taken pictures of him to post.  That might have to be number one on the to do list tomorrow.  That means I better put the sleeping boy on my lap into bed and go to sleep myself.