Sunday, April 10, 2016

Memoir of the Madsen Family Mom: February

February 2
Treating childhood sickness in a family with multiple children usually looks something like this-
*Child gets sick. Parents decide to wait it out on the basis that it's probably a cold or other virus
*36 hours later another child gets sick.  First child is still sick.  Parents decide to give it until the next morning.
*15 hours later, both children are still ill.  Parents take the children to the doctor and discover they both have strep throat, ear infections and impending pneumonia.
*24 hours later, a 3rd child sniffles.  Parents drop everything and rush the child to the doctor.  The child is diagnosed with the common cold.

February 8
I'm failing at motherhood.  Today Dash told me he hopes his dream to play in the NBA comes true because then he'll have to be at work a lot and his wife will have to stay home with the kids. Offended, I asked him what was so bad about staying home with the kids.  He answered -"Well I've seen you do it and it doesn't look like fun."
Ouch.
So based on the impression I am giving Dash, the idea of staying home with someone just like himself is downright depressing.
One of us needs an attitude adjustment. How long can I pretend its him?

February 10
I wish I had Sissy's confidence. All it takes is a bow in her hair, or a shirt covered in glitter or her Princess Sofia necklace and she is on top of the world. Never doubts that she looks amazing. Never looks at her reflection without beaming. I hope that feeling lasts and lasts.

February 15
Tonight at Family Home Evening, Sissy made a confession.  In her own words:
"Sometimes I make bad choices. Like when I pick my nose and eat it."

February 17
Sissy had a bad dream last night. I heard her calling out in her sleep "I just want to do it all! I just want to do it all!"
Every woman's dilemma.

February 19
Tag is at the stage where he isn't independently walking, but he likes to get in lots of practice. With my help. By clinging to my pant legs. For hours at a time. My knees are constantly covered in his snot. I love him with all my heart, but today I literally hid under a blanket in my room when I saw him coming. Karma though. When I emerged I found him playing with the toilet brush.

February 21
This weekend Dash and Colt had a couple of friends over for a late night.  Late night (def): friends get to stay over past Mom and Dad's bedtime, specifically 9 pm.
Listening to them play in the basement, I had flashbacks to a couple of gatherings Brandan and I attended with work friends in Upton.  Most of the guests would be casually drinking and about the time we were ready to slip out, several attendees would be a few sheets to the wind.  Small, sleep deprived humans are like drunk adults.  The later it got the louder and wilder the noises from the basement.  By the time I was ready to take friends home, several things had been knocked over, one boy was bleeding and everyone had said or done something they regretted (ie, admitting to having a crush, or swearing to play with someone else at recess on Monday).

February 25
Its amazing to me how different five kids from the same gene pool can turn out.  Dash is ultra-competitive and an organizer.  This week he created a two-on-two basketball tournament for all interested third graders to be played at recess.  He wrote up a complicated bracket and made a paper trophy.  He didn't do it all though.  I overheard him assigning a buddy to bring a candy bar prize for the peer voted tournament MVP.
Then there is Colt.  The other day he casually mentioned he would like to buy a football with his Buff Ticks, the reward money used at school for good behavior.  Without batting an eye he explained that he would have already bought one, but he keeps giving away Buff Ticks to kids that don't have enough to buy prizes.
Sport is the middle child and can carry a real chip on his shoulder at times.  He starts over half his sentences with a defensive, "What, Mom...?, whether I have said anything, or not.  "What Mom, I'm brushing my teeth!"  "What Mom, I like cereal!"  "What Mom, I just trapped the neighbor's cat under the piano bench with the couch cushions!"
Sis can be such a girl.  For instance, she hates scary stories.  One day I walked by her room where she was playing house and putting several of her baby dolls to bed.  She carefully tucked them into a blanket and then began a bedtime story.  "Once there were three little pigs. And there was NO big, bad wolf. The end."
And of course, Tagalong.  Screams for anything and the whole family comes running.  Such a drama queen.

February 29
Today I spent forever cutting windows and doors into three large cardboard boxes to make "houses" for Sport, Sis and Tag. After exploring his new home, Sport said, "Mom, you're awesome." No joke, I pretended not to hear him just so he would have to say it twice.


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