Day of Rest?

Something tells me that I shouldn't feel this exhausted at the end of a Sunday. It was a packed weekend though. Mr Sloth left work early on Friday so we could go car shopping, not having any babysitters we had to take the kids with. Bad idea. Demands fine, you can take her anywhere but Happy.....oh, boy! At least one of us had a grand ole time.

Saturday Mr. Sloth had to be at a political district convention starting at 7am. He spent the good part of the 6am hour burrowing for a sports jacket and dress pants so I was up a bit earlier than planned. After the third time waking me up to ask where something was I decided to find it myself. He was downstairs when I found he kaki pants. Instead of calling downstairs and waking the kids I just threw the pants downstairs and headed back to bed. A few minutes later he came in the bedroom to tell me that the pants were on the stairs not realizing that I had thrown them there just minutes before. So I took one for the team on Saturday and had as Mr. Sloth put it a "6 day work week". With our one car gone, and the regular weekend crew all gone it seemed just like a regular weekday. I allowed for a lazy Saturday morning for a number of reasons. First, in my heart I knew it was Saturday and was not prepared to work. Two, it would eat up some time with the kids. So I let the kids watch a show after breakfast which they never do at all let alone on a Saturday. Most Saturdays Mr. Sloth puts on "Blue Grass Saturday Morning" radio music and refuses to turn on the television. After some VeggieTales and a full cup of coffee I was much more ready to negotiate. I knew I had to plan if I wanted the day to go smoothly so I fished for ideas on facebook. I decided that after we were all dressed and some basic cleaning was done (laundry started, beds made) we'd walk to Adoration and then afterward let the kids play on the playground at the school. In an attempt to make Adoration last as long as possible I packed a bag of activities for the kids and some snacks for the walk there. The snacks went over well but the activities failed. Upon entering the chapel we saw our parish priest---that guy is ALWAYS at Adoration. Good sign, huh? It's a good thing he's there a lot because I'm sure he couldn't concentrate while we were there. At this point I'd like to point out that while I am often paranoid I've only had compliments from people about bringing the children as distracting as they are.

Happy was in his prime. Still early morning and well fed the kid was ready for adventure. A part of me feels that the designer of the chapel purposely made it feel like a jungle gym but I guess we'll never know. Happy loved to climb on and through the kneelers, talk to the large angel statues and attempt to scale the altar that held the monstrance.

My personal prayer time goes something like this.

"Hello Jesus thank you for.....(drag child off of something) Yes, Jesus, where was I? Oh, yes, thank you for.....(mouth the word "no" eight times before getting up and chasing child again)....Jesus....(whoops, that's gotta hurt) Um, where am I? Oh, yes, Jesus.....

It's a good thing Adoration is not about good feelings. I do enjoy bringing them and Jesus probably enjoys their presence more than mine anyway. Hmmm, that's an idea, perhaps I could leave them there alone. Their creator should qualify as a chaperone...

After about a half an hour we finally gathered all our random items from around the room and headed for the playground. I stayed later than ususal as I wanted to keep killing time and it was getting close to lunch. We decided to have a picnic. Demand loves picnics so I thought it was a grand idea, forgetting that I had a 14 month old boy. What do you serve at a picnic? Peanut butter and jelly of course, Sunflower butter for Happy since he's under 2 years old, but either way it's messy! After smothering himself and his coat in PB&J he then tried to attack our lunches. Plus it was windy. What I thought would kill time and save me from a messy kitchen just brought disaster. However there was a silver lining. We headed immediately upstairs for a bath. Demand and Happy play well in the tub and they play for a long time. Afterwards both kids were ready for a nap. They slept a decent amount and after they were up for about a half an hour Mr. Sloth came home earlier than expected. Sweet relief!

Later we went to a victory party for his candidate which happened to be a VFW bar and at bedtime but the kids did great. Once the kids were in bed we watched "Julie & Julia" which I really enjoyed. It makes you hungry though.

Today of course is Sunday and mostly went the same as always. I did request that Mr. Sloth get up first as I had the children most of yesterday. Then it was Mass and Sunday Sandwiches from Mr. Sloth. Yum, yum. Happy has odd naptimes on the weekend because of the excitement of having Daddy home. Sure enough what started with him wanting to nap ended with tears so we drove while the kids slept and then went for a nature walk. Afterward we headed home for brats and sliders before dragging the children to bed.

It's now after 11pm and after cleaning the kitchen and doing some home school prep work I am beyond exhausted. There is no reason for me to be awake. In fact I should be reading for book club, but here I am. Less than an hour until Monday, oh where did the weekend go?!

Too Cute

So I had a nice post written yesterday but never got to finish it and I've decided to just give up. I'm too tired and honestly it was probably too long anyway.

I will share two cute stories about the mini-Sloths though.


Last night Obscure was over before we all went to CCD. Happy and Demand were still eating dinner and the adults were standing around just waiting to head out. For some reason I joked to Obscure that when I head to the Nut House he would get custody of the kids. He said, "I don't think that's a good idea." Demand immediately said, "I don't think it is either." It was fantastic!

Earlier that night I was in the bathroom getting ready for CCD and Happy wandered in and started playing next to the bathtub. He kept trying to climb in and I kept saying "No". Then he walked over to me and pulled on my legs until I turned around. Once he realized he had my attention he then tried desperately to take his shirt off. It was his way of telling me he would like a bath. It was so adorable and I felt bad that I couldn't oblige.

A similar story happened today. Bible Study ends at 11:45am so we are home around noon, an hour after lunchtime and really close to naptime. First things first, I changed his dirty diaper and decided to leave his pants off as he was about to eat.(Yes that's what I said.) He then kept tugging at his shirt insisting that we take that off as well. He was fussy during his short lunch so I decided it was naptime. He impatiently stood at my feet as I prepared a sippy cup of milk and when I was done he snatched it from my hands and started to walk upstairs himself just in his diaper. He was REAllY ready for a nap and meant business!

I will now try and muster up the energy to take a bath and get some reading done. It will of course involve me dragging my tired body past the gross dirty kitchen but it might be worth the risk.

Family Investments

The Sloths have been starting to make some family investments this past week. I've started to collect more books and materials for Demand's homeschooling. I mean I guess in the end its for all the Sloth children's homeschooling but specifically for Demand right now. Demand is making great headway in her reading program which inspired me to decide on and start ordering the rest of the material we'll need for the year. We're going to do a mix of preschool & kindergarten right now. We feel she's ready for the kindergarten material right now but the preschool curriculum looks like so much fun and Happy will love it too. If she seems bored we'll switch over to kindergarten. We'll start in May as soon as I have the first few weeks ready and then take a break when baby is born in the fall.

Today I ordered the main curriculum, I bought a faith formation program online at a homeschool-swap forum and only had to pay for shipping. Since the preschool program is really heavy in crafts I did some shopping today to start stocking up on supplies. I have almost everything I'll need for the first month. I've started to gather everything into a big tupperware bin so it's all organized and together. I've started to look rearranging shelves in the playroom to make room for all the new books and supplies. As soon as Mr. Sloth makes the copies I need I can start working on the prep-work for projects. So exciting! Demand did some of the shopping with me and is starting to get really excited. Tonight, if Amazon decides to start working properly I'll order some more books and supplies that have been sitting on my wish list. I haven't decided on whether or not I'll order the kindergarten curriculum yet, but I may start looking for some of the supplementary books.

Our next bit of excitement is a near future purchase of a van. We're just waiting to get paid again. It could be this week or it could be six months from now. We're keeping our fingers crossed. We completely own our car, which is great, but after almost seven years of sharing one car that's too small for our family we really need a second car. Today was just a messy day of car swapping that made me long for that precious van I dream of owning some day.

Ah, a girl can dream! Now let's see if Amazon is working yet...

Even Better Than We Thought

I thought I would continue with the updates on the kiddos. Even though Demand has come down with some kind of bug she's still insisting on learning to read at nap time. As of today she is up to thirteen words! She's retaining everything we go over and every day picks up more and more and she's really interested too because since she's been sick we've taken candy off the table and she still wants to learn. Fever and all she still wants to learn. I'm so proud of her. If she seems distracted I ask her if she wants to be done and I'm more than willing to stop but she insists we go on. I think on Monday she'll be able to read her first book in the program. (We're talking VERY simple books) The Sloths find this really exciting.

Now for Happy. The weaning process has been easier than I thought but there have still been some tears. I can't believe how easy nap time has been. Earlier this week he was still nursing to sleep for a nap but he stopped cold turkey no problem by switching to our nighttime routine. I was a little nervous when Demand, who is sick, requested to to nap and it was earlier than the usual time. Thankfully Happy seemed equally tired and all went well. Today Happy fell asleep before Demand and I even finished our lesson AND he slept for a full hour and a half. I couldn't ask for a better transition. Last night however, although Happy went into his crib without fuss halfway through the nighttime routine saw me in the hallway and possibly remembered the missing element. There were many tears but Mr. Sloth pushed through. Another sad moment was today I was in our bedroom getting clothes ready and I looked over and saw Happy resting his head on the nursing chair. Now there is a very good chance he was just cuddling the chair or trying to climb it both are common characteristics of Happy. Just the same it made ME sad to think we may never have our cuddle time in the chair again.

Before you get too impressed at how quickly and easy weaning is going you should know that I have been nursing him at night, but not without reason. We would otherwise let him fuss a bit but with Demand having a high fever we need to keep him quiet. Plus, if I'm honest with you and myself I'll admit that I enjoy our late night cuddles and it's as much for me as it is for him. So we still haven't gone 24 hours but we're close.

A bit more about Happy. I cannot tell you how much I enjoy one year olds. Something about miniature walking people who think they can talk that are a constant joy. Both Demand and Happy are learning more and more each day but Happy is showing pride for the first time. There is nothing cuter. Not only does he want to do everything his sister is doing but he has a mind of his own as well. He's really into coloring, throwing and moving rocks half his size (which is scary). He'll bring me shoes (anyone's) when he wants to go outside. And he'll bring me empty cups and bowls when he wants more of something. (Instead of just crying for more). He's also starting to answer yes and no questions...sort of. Today he brought me one of his socks. (The other one was still on.) I asked if he wanted me to put it on. As he walked away he shook his head no, but then he brought me one of Demand's shoes so I don't know exactly what his plan was.

Hopefully Demand is better soon so we can have some more cute stories from her world.

Progress

Big steps in the Sloth household these day.

First, Demand.

For well over a month she has been outright asking us to teach her to read. She's always loved books and we read a lot. So with the glory of homeschooling we decided to move ahead and start her kindergarten reading program. It's three steps but since she's known the alphabet and what each letter says since the age of two we were well past the firs step. First day of learning didn't go very smoothly but lesson number one of homeschooling is be flexible so I adapted. Instead of working at the table first thing in the morning while Happy played in the living room I decided to wait until Happy was asleep and then start. Recently Demand and I have been napping together in my bed and I read her some of the "Boxcar Children" before we go to sleep. (First of all she's sleeping! Can you believe it?!) So I thought I would try to teach her to read during this time. It is quiet, we're alone, and it's cozy. I also threw in a bribe. One piece of candy for each word she legitimately reads on her own. Wouldn't you know it she read four words. First thing this morning to asked to 'read' again and she read even more words today plus she was able to read a word in one of her 'real' books.

There was an added bonus to today's naptime. I've decided that it's absolutely necessary to wean Happy. We'll both be sad but it needs to be done. I'm just working up the courage. Our biggest obstacle will be naptime. Happy is usually so tuckered out by naptime he quickly falls asleep nursing. Today I nursed him for a bit but then we went in his room. I thought I would try and do their bedtime routine and see what happens. It worked! The only difference was that I gave him a sippy cup of milk. He wasn't happy with the situation at first but once he realized that Demand and I were sticking around and heard me start to read he slipped into to his sleepy-time routine. He sat there flipping through two books , playing with a few stuffed toys, or sometimes even laying down drinking from his sippy cup. Meanwhile Demand and I read a few books and then started our reading lesson. At first she was getting her candy rewards right away but she was doing so well that at one point I asked to read something and she told me with a mouthful of candy that she needed to swallow first. So we decided to stock pile the candy until the end of the lesson. Five minutes later we were done so I laid down. Seeing me lay down, immediately Happy laid down, rolled over and went to sleep. Demand was soon to follow. Both children asleep in their own beds. I'm as shocked as you are.

Tonight was CCD which means the kids are exhausted by the time we get home. I somehow managed to slip Happy into his crib without nursing him first. He was tired enough to just move along with the routine. It will be great if we can be just as successful in all our adventures tomorrow. Oh, and by the way, 90% of why today went so smoothly was that I actually got out of bed at 6am like I plan on doing every day instead of staying in bed until I have to get up. I was out of bed, showered, coffee made, breakfast started and had some time with the Bible before the kiddos even left their room. What a difference it all makes for the Sloth family.

Early Spring Pictures

Picture update. After taking some ridiculously cute pictures of Happy today at Wal-mart of all places I thought I would add some pictures from the last month. The first few are from St. Patrick's Day. The kids looked so cute in their green get up. Then there are a few random pictures, some of Easter cupcakes and the last are from our trip to Wal-mart today.

MarchApril 2010

Happy Easter!

Demand has become well versed in the Paschal Mystery. She has learned more than I ever hoped from her Good Shepard classes. Many times I find myself thinking, "Well I guess I don't have to teach you that now." Some mornings, if I've had my coffee early enough I'll read Bible Stories to Demand and Happy over breakfast from either the Children's Bible or her Magnifikid! so she was really excited about Palm Sunday and the Tridium. She knew the events of Holy Week like the back of her small little hand. Every day she would ask what day it was hoping for some big event. Finally Holy Thursday came and Demand proudly recapped the events of The Last Supper. She's been really in to pretending the Last Supper the past few days. She definately knows what happened on Good Friday but I thought we should discuss more details. In the afternoon we did the Jerusalem project that was sent home from the Good Shepard program. I thought it was great for adults too. There was a blank map of the walls of Jerusalem and then you pasted pictures of buildings from the Passion of Jesus on the correct numbers. It really get a good time line and layout of the events. Holy Saturday is an odd day so I read the story of the burial from her Bible and it mentioned that Jesus was pierced with a lance. Upon learning that Jesus was cut in the heart with a sharp knife Demand wisely declared, "Knives are for food, not people!" Yet another thing I don't remember teaching her but I'm glad she recognizes.

So today was Easter Demand is a realist and was of course interested in a delivery of candy for breakfast. According to Demand the Easter Bunny is small (about the size of a grapefruit) and pink. Although excited for the Easter bunny she was a little freaked out. Demand and Happy woke up with their empty baskets outside their door. The Easter bunny hid eggs throughout the house and two piles of goodies in the living room. We thought Happy would be more interested in going directly to his highchair for breakfast and not in collecting eggs but we were proved wrong. He got down and started putting eggs in his basket right away. It was more than adorable and he was rather good at it too. Demand got just what she wanted for Easter a chocolate bunny just like on Veggietales which she promptly began to eat. Happy started in on his Gerber fruit strips and he made quick work of one too, then again this kid likes breakfast before a diaper change.

That brings me to my next point. The Easter Bunny works for the enemy. Sugar and television is not good breeding ground for Joy. There was more than one temper tantrum before we even got to Mass. Once at Church Demand was very excited to see what color the priest would wear and what color the tabernacle would be, sure enough she was right and it was white. She also liked how the statues had been uncovered and loved hearing "Alleluia" sung. Her teacher had told her that she'd head a lot of "Alleluia" during Easter. After Church we had another Easter Egg hunt this one with real eggs and outside hidden by mommy. Happy didn't care much for eggs this time he was just thrilled to be outside. After a nap that seemed more work than restful it was off to Grandma and Grandpas for yet another egg hunt. Demand likes her egg hunts. At dinner Demand wanted to play Last Supper but I don't think her cousins knew what she was talking about and when she told me to say "This is my body" I said, "Take this asparagus and eat it, this is your vegetable" she did not appreciate it. Sorry kid I'm not going to blaspheme on Easter.

So that's been our Easter so far. We have about 50 plastic eggs with candy to eat along with bowls and baskets full around the house as well. Poor baby sloth has gotten a significant amount of sugar today in the name of rejoicing. Tomorrow we'll work on remedying that situation.