Confectionery Exorcism

Around the same time every year (this time of year to be precise), it becomes glaringly obvious that sugar does strange things to my children. Almost as soon as it comes into our house en masse – cradled in smiling plastic pumpkins, clutched tightly in sticky hands – the changes begin.

At first, it’s just small stuff. A little snap at a sibling. Less tolerance for correction.

But quickly things begin to escalate. Unexplained tears. Voices perpetually raised to volumes that would shatter glass. And the fighting. Oh, the fighting!

Part of me is proud that my kids go so incredibly, off-the-wall crazy is the presence of high fructose corn syrup. It means they’re not used to it. And that’s a good thing.

Another part of me though – the part that is slapping my forehead and shaking my head as I write this – wonders why (oh, why) I let this happen every year. Year after year after year.

But I do. Because I’m nothing if not a sucker for tradition. I like seeing the kids dressed up in their various costumes. I thrill at the incredulous stares of the newbies as they carefully try to process this strangest of holidays. (Could they really be about to dump a bunch of candy in my sack? Just because I’m dressed like a giant rodent?) Halloween is a day for children if ever there was one. And I love watching the magic of it all soak into my kids.

And so I suffer the sugar that soaks into them as a result.

But, because I’ve never been accused of being long-suffering, I eventually break down and perform a confectionery exorcism. Sometimes the demons just have to go.

This process is painful; drawing poison from a wound. But I banish the candy in an attempt to purge the sugar-induced madness that infests our house. And the kids… resist. They cry. They scream. They throw tantrums with the strength of ten Grinches plus two.

And then they wake up the next day, the previous night’s dreams undisturbed by sadistic saccharine whisperings. They ask if they can watch Charlie Brown’s Thanksgiving instead of It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and I breathe a sigh of relief. Because I know the madness has stopped. The demons have been exorcised.

At least until this time next year.

Our Hallow’s Eve

Last year, Alexander was a little bummed. He wanted to be a pirate for Halloween, but he couldn’t talk anyone else into pirating with him. I might have condescended to do a little “wenching,” but that would have meant two more costumes. Yeah, like that was going to happen.

So, around about November of last year, we started planting the seeds for this Halloween. Wouldn’t it be fun to dress up like the characters from Peter Pan as a family? You bet it would! Just think of all that costume fodder... Pirates. Indians. Fairies. Mermaids. Little animal-skin-covered lost children. A boy in tights. In short, something for everyone.

As late as this September, we thought we had the whole Peter Pan thing sewn up. But that’s when I made my fatal mistake. I suggested that someone other than Lij dress as the title character. I mean, come on! Dyl has the red hair and everything. Can’t you just see him sailing around as the spirit of youth? I could.

But that was a deal breaker for Lij. There was no way he was playing second fiddle to his younger brother. And just like that, Alexander’s dreams of being a pirate were dashed for a second year in a row. (Because like I said… two more costumes?! When I was already tethered to my sewing machine for a week straight making the four I did make? Are you kidding me?! Okay, moving on…)

Since I’d already put my foot down and any character that totes a lightsaber or a wand (I thought I'd blogged this... guess not. So, you'll just have to trust me. They've so done the Harry Potter thing too) was forbidden, Lij decided he wanted to be Superman or Spiderman or some other generic superhero. And – mean Mama – I vetoed again. (My apologies to those whose children dress as said keepers-of-the-peace, but my kids can be so much more creative than that. I just love their out of the ordinary costume ideas. Plus, I don’t feel that many, if any, of the superhero movies made lately are young kid appropriate. So, I pushed them to think outside the box.) Here’s what they came up with…

Lij decided on Mickey Mouse. (No idea why. But I think he turned out pretty cute.)

And what’s Mickey Mouse without a little Minnie? (Hooray for a least one child who’s still young enough that she doesn’t give me lip about what she does or doesn’t want to dress up as on Halloween)

Dylan was attached to the Peter Pan idea for longer than the rest, but about two weeks before d-day he switched his costume preference to a knight instead. (See Mom, there are times when procrastination can be a good thing :)

And Nicholas – always the peacemaker – decided that he would split the difference and go as a Mickey Mouse knight (Dyl had a lion on his shield, Cole had a Mickey silhouette). Whatever makes him happy, I guess…

Mickey and Minnie

Two very stylish knights

Run away. Run away.

Oh, I get it… they picked knights so they could get in some sanctioned fighting.

Learning how to mouse

Nice parry, old man!

And after all that hard work outfitting our crew, we just had to get a picture of the four of them together. When will we learn!

Trying to get a group shot: Take one...

Take two...

Take three...

Take four...

Take oh-who-knows… I’ve lost count.

Close enough...

Happy Halloween everybody.

A Few Words

Alexander doesn’t like it when I get mushy about him. He’s humble like that. The attention embarrasses him. And so I respect his feelings. Which is why he’s not mentioned much. Not because I don’t love him. Because I do. But because he doesn’t like me to. So I don’t.

me and him, september 2009

So, let’s talk in hypothetical for a moment, shall we?

Hypothetically, I know this guy who has gotten better with each passing year I’ve known him.

This guy is humorous, loves a good joke. He likes to see me smile and will try to keep me laughing even when I don’t think I can find it in myself to be happy.

This guy is one of the best fathers I know. Selfless and tireless in his daddy duties. His kids love him. They wait all day for him to come home. And they climb on him all night after he does.

I know a guy, hypothetically, who is talented. Immensely so. He has no free time and yet he’s written two novels. Because he loves to write. And because sometimes, talent just can’t be stifled.

This guy, who has absolutely no free time of his own, gets up early just to make sure that his wife is able to accomplish her goals. Because he knows that her free time is at a minimum too.

Hypothetically, this guy I know is amazing. Every day, he makes me want to be better. Every day he makes me glad that I know him.

And every day he makes me over-the-moon appreciative that I’m married to him. Eight years this month. Eight truly wonderful years – just the beginning – with a truly wonderful guy.

me and him, october 2001

Hypothetically speaking, of course.

Baby Crazy

Alright, raise your hands. How many of you saw this one coming?!

I, for one, was genuinely and truly surprised! After all, I thought we were well through with babies around here. Apparently fate had something else in mind though.

Huh? No. What are you talking about?

Okay, let’s clarify. I am NOT announcing another pregnancy. Oh my! You all certainly jump to the wrong conclusions. No. The title of this post refers to Maddy. Because in the past few months, she has gone completely and absolutely baby crazy.

And I’m baffled by this. I was a total tomboy after all. And she has three older brothers for crying out loud. But I guess you just can’t fight nature. And baby hungry she will be.

It all started when we went to the children’s museum for Nicholas’ birthday. That was her first real exposure to “baby dolls,” I suppose.

When we saw how much she loved those dolls, I dragged out one of my old Cabbage Patch Kids to donate to the cause.

(I actually had two identical red-haired, blue-eyed Cabbage Patch Kids as a little girl. I always thought that I should have had brown-haired ones – I mean weren’t your Cabbage Patch Kids supposed to look like you? But when mine were purchased, in the height of the craze, choice was not an option, so I ended up with redhead ones. Funny that I ended up with a ginger-haired daughter too, huh? But, I digress…)

Maddy absolutely loved my old doll. So much so that when her brother’s found the doll’s twin hidden in a closet, they just had to secure her release and deliverance to Maddy. Who was – of course – overjoyed to now have two baby dolls!

She even rounded up the previously ignored doll her brothers gave her last Christmas to add to her growing collection.

Now each time she enters her crib, she will not rest until her arms contain not one, but all three of her doll babies. She wraps her arms (almost all the way) around them and kisses each of them goodnight. And then, over the baby monitor, we get to listen to her talking and singing to them until she drifts off to sleep.

Maybe having a few more babies around here isn’t so bad after all.

A Bit of Bragging

We just had a parent/teacher conference today.

Elijah’s teacher said he’s already reading at the level that they except kids to have mastered by the very end of first grade. She said their class won’t be starting chapter books until the spring, but she thinks Lij would really benefit from starting them now. (We had already started him on them earlier this week.)

She also said that Lij helps her out tremendously by being kind and a friend to everyone. He is especially considerate of those who seem lonely or picked on and has been moved next to a little boy who is having a hard time adjusting to first grade. Since moving next to Lij, the little boy started talking again – something he hadn’t been doing yet this year because of shyness.

We also talked about Elijah’s focus issues – which we were well aware of! But through discussing it together, the teacher and I now feel that his lack of focus may be from lack of educational challenges. So his teacher is planning to “step up” his work and see if that helps with his focus.

I have to say, something about going to school and sitting in those little desks transports me right back. It’s hard to remember that I’m a parent now and a partner with the teacher. I just can’t shake the feeling that I’m about to get into trouble :) Hearing such wonderful things about my little first-grader sure did my heart good.

So I just had to do a bit of bragging!