Funny Story

The last few weeks Tyler has been complaining about frequent tummy aches. They generally happen Mon - Fri and miraculusly he doesn't have them on the weekends. This made me start to think......see he doesn't know it but I used to have those same tummy aches, at the same time, at his age. Mine were because I didn't want to go to school for various reasons; a test, someone was not being nice, scared, you know typical little child fears. Since I truly understood where he was coming from I asked why his tummy hurt. He only replied "when I look at this boy at school it makes my tummy hurt" Without the time to go into it further because, you guessed it, time for school! I emailed his teacher my concerns and she was on the case immediately. It didn't take long to get this response from her....

Lorinda,
I found out a couple of things from Tyler. There is a boy in our class who will frequently suck his thumb and that bothers Tyler. I'm working on that one with the boy's mother but it's taking time to stop the behavior. And at lunch Tyler said it bothered him when another boy put ketchup on his pizza. For that one I talked to the class as a whole about manners and making good choices while they were in the cafeteria. I also rearranged all of the student seats so that Tyler is not sitting near either of these students. I moved him closer to the front of the room so his view of other students is more limited and maybe that will help.

Let me know if he says anything else and I will work with you to help him. I really enjoy having Tyler in class and I don't want him or anyone else to feel uncomfortable while they are here.

Thank you,
Jenny Litwin

That's it! He is sensitive to grossness....he is my son! That night I asked him more about the boy and he said not only does he put ketchup on his pizza but when he has french fries and no ketchup he puts boogers on them and eats them. No wonder he has tummy aches, he has been tramautized for life! I will never look at a french fry the same again.

Sick Sunday

Today was one of those Sunday's where my boys woke up sick.....Daddy just gets worn out very easily these days and today was one where he had NO energy. Tyler had a tummy ache but after a LONG time in the bathroom he felt much better. So we stayed in our pj's all day, missed church and hung out playing games. Charlie was able to score a Wii this past week so we are all enjoying learning how to play video games standing up. Tyler's new favorite is Tony Hawk's Skateboarding, we didn't even know he knew who that was but when we went into the store to let him pick his game that is the one he wanted. I have to admit, on tv he is very good at skateboarding, I am quite certain that if we tried this outside with a real one he would be hitting the pavement hard and often. He thinks so too. As long as he can admit it.
We are going to start baseball next weekend so it really needs to warm up. Usually I don't miss any practices or games but I have all ready let them both know that I am NOT going to sit and freeze for two hours while they practice. Just not going to, no point. I can be doing more practical things like cleaning my house or shopping. I think I will chose shopping.
We all went to see Grandaddy yesterday as we do every Saturday. He was very proud of the fact that he slept all day. Man I can't wait to be able to do that, when I don't need to be doing anything else but sleep. I just can't even imagine a day. So that was all he wanted to talk about so we let him go on and on for a while then we left. We promised next time we would bring him some more crackers, the man loves peanut butter crackers! So much he thinks they are cookies. Maybe next time he can talk about that.
Off to get the laundry done, amazing when we are home all day how much stuff I can put off until later.

Looking for ideas

I need some cute craft ideas for children.....I am having a house full of niece's and nephew's for Easter and when I have them all here I try to fill the days with crafts and games. Does anyone have some cute Easter craft ideas for children ranging in age from 1 yr to 12 yrs? I have a few but always am looking for some more!

I don't want....

to be at work! It's raining & getting colder by the minute. I can't get all of the things I need to be doing at home out of my head. Laundry, dishes, vaccuming, dusting, etc. Just needed to get that off my chest.

Backyard Campfire

Hey Ya'll! It was an outside day all day so we decided to cook outside too! The kids loved roasting their hotdogs over the fire. Some (Tyler) was so hungry he didn't even let it cook all the way before eating it. He would take a bite, put it back over the fire, take a bite, put it back over the fire - until the hot dog was gone.

For a little fire pit we got a BIG fire going! Charlie was so proud!
My niece Kaite (9 yrs old) took this picutre......I just think it is so neat!
They all had fun lighting their marshmellows on fire.
Then eating them!

The Interpreter

OK many of you who know Charlie know he was born and raised in Boston. He has a thick accent when he gets going. On occasion I have to interpret what he says so that others understand him. TodayI had to do it for Tyler.

We started a reward system for Tyler so every time he completes something deemed "marble worthy" he gets marbles put in a jar. When that jar is full he will get to chose what he wants for a reward - it can be either something just for him or a family outing. On the flip side when he disobeys he gets marbles taken out.
We had an episode today that was worthy of taking marbles out of the jar. Daddy explained to him about why he was getting the marbles taken out and that he was going to lose 10 marbles. (It was a pretty bad day) So Tyler says ok. On the way to the kitchen where the marble jar is kept he pulls on my arm and I lean down. He wispers in my ear "But Mommy, what is a maaaable?" Yes it was extremely difficult to keep a strait face but I did it. I said not maaable honey - marble. The look on his face said he finally was getting what his punishment was. After he took his marbles out and we had moved on I had to tell Charlie. This was of course in between hysterical laughter!

It's gone!

Tyler spent Friday with his Papa. I told him that Papa had pulled all of my teeth growing up and he was a great teeth puller! I knew that when I got home that day I would no longer have to look at the dangly tooth. I got a phone call at work and on the other end of the line was the most excited boy! He just had to let me know that Papa had succeeded! The tooth fairy paid us another visit last night and depoisted another $5 into the piggy bank. What happened to getting .25 for a tooth?

Happy Valentines Day!

I love the thought of Valentines Day.......we just decided in our first married poor years that it was a luxury we could not afford. Then it stuck. So for 17 years we have not celebrated this day dedicated to love. That doesn't mean we don't do it for Tyler though!!! We got him his very first Webkinz. Now I had heard of these wonderful stuffed animals but I had NO idea the extent of owning one. This is no ordinary stuffed toy,no,no,no. You get (have) to go on a special website and adopt your animal, give it a name, clothe it, feed it, play with it, love it, earn money to buy it things, and keep it alive! WOW! I think my little man is going to learn some serious responsibility because Daddy's first question of course is "can it die?" to which Tyler responded with a horrified look. Being new to this hole thing I really don't know.....can a webkin die? Very sad thought for my little man who LOVES his Spider Dog! Anyway, we made our way through the site and had some fun playing games, earning money and buying Spider Dog the cutest sweater.

Dear Mr. Weather Man,

You have lately lost my confidence in your ability to predict the weather. You would talk about "severe weather" and "you may want to check to make sure your child has school" only to wake up to NOTHING! So last night when you kept coming on the screen inbetween commercials telling me that some more of your so-called severe weather was coming again I laughed! I didn't believe you because you know what they say about the little boy who cried wolf?!? Well Mr. Weather Man, you were right! We actually got some ice, and now I look outside to some snow falling. Thank you Mr. Weather Man - you got it right and have once again instilled some trust in your forcasting ability.

Any ideas?

Ok, I think I have stated this before.....I don't pull teeth. The sight of the tooth hanging, the sound it makes when you pull on it just sends me through the roof. I know this is going to be something that I will have to deal with over the next few years because Tyler has a lot of teeth in his mouth that need to fall out. I think Tyler has inherited this lovely trait of being grossed out. Of course it probably has a lot to do with me and my distorted faces and holding my ears shut TIGHT when he even wiggles it. His other front tooth is ready to come out but I won't pull it and he won't pull it. I even got him to watch his friend pull out their tooth on another blog. It almost gave him enough courage to do it but he "just can't!". Are there any non-gross ways to pull a tooth!?!

No School!

When we picked Tyler up from school this afternoon we were given a lovely surprise.....No School for the next 3 days due to widespread illness! What! I work, Charlie works what are we going to do? After we got over the initial shock we had to make some last minute schedule changes and thanks to dear friends and family Tyler won't be home alone.

Moving on

Today was the LAST basketball game for Tyler. Daddy and I decided to just sit and enjoy it so no pictures or video's. Of course today there were plenty of picture opportunities so I will never just sit and watch again! He got his end of the season trophy....I will have to put that up later. I even forgot to take the picture when we got home! His team ended the season 9-1-1. I just realized that is 911 and yes they needed help sometimes but he really learned some basics this year that he didn't know last year.

After the game we went to see Grandaddy. He was having some trouble today but when his new girlfriend walked in the room he lit up! I have never seen my Grandfather this way. It was hysterical! He was a love sick puppy. Too Cute!

I am going to try to keep everyone posted more often with just normal every day to day stuff instead of waiting until an event that has picuters. I don't know how this will go because I am busy enough right now with work, leading Team Kid at church and now I have taken on directing VBS for the summer. I am going to be a crazy person very soon. But maybe this will be the outlet I will need to just let it all out!

Baseball

Background for this conversation: A few weeks ago Tyler announced that he no longer wanted to play baseball. Conversation in the car yesterday (sign ups were yesterday for the spring season)
T: Are we going to go sign up for baseball today?
D: I thought you didn't want to play anymore.
T: (pause) Well, I am completely good at it after playing last year.

Were does vanity end and parent encouragement begin?

Super Bowl!

Anyone who know the Rivers family knows that we are die-hard Patriot fans! Of course Charlie being from Boston is the driving force behind this passion. Once again the Patriots are in the Super Bowl and highly favored to win.....so if that happens it will be a very happy time in the Rivers house. If for some reason the good Lord sees fit for the Giants to win we will need A LOT of prayer!

Go Patriots!