November is rushing by

Hi all.  I have officially lost at blogging once a week for a year.  I made it all the way to November, though!  And, I must say, given my extreme all-or-nothing personality, I am most proud of the fact that I'm still going to blog even though I don't have a perfect weekly streak. :)

Hank was mad one time about what was offered for dinner.  When I told him he had to eat a little of everything he said, "I never be your friend."  I explained, "Well, I love you but it's my job to make sure that you try healthy foods."  Then he went with the stance, "I kind of like you and I kind of don't like you."  Then he told me how to respond. "Now, you say, oh, you kind of like me and you kind of don't like me."  He's been through the same routine with Matt when it came to eating.  He told Matt he would never look at him again.  When Matt told him that hurt his feelings Hank said, "Well, I little bit like you and a little bit don't like you."

Hank has been on a huge pb & j kick.  Once when he was helping to locate the peanut butter he said, "Dad, I see the peanut butter.  And you say, 'Good eye.'"

It never gets old having a son named Pete.

Jane's glasses broke and we fixed them with superglue three nights in a row.  The first two nights I tried and it lasted less than a day.  The third night Matt gave it a go and it went much better, which is not a surprise given his patience and meticulousness.  Anyway, after they lasted all day at school Jane told me that Matt fixes glasses better than I do.  Jack quickly and very defensively interjected with, "That's rude!  You sound like a teenager!"  I don't know where they got this teenager stuff because all of the teenagers that they actually know are perfectly lovely individuals.

One of Pete's most frequent words is "Sah Sah."  He loves those applesauce pouches like there's no tomorrow.  And, since he's our fourth and we have completely given up on any sort of responsible parenting, he has an unthinkable amount of applesauce pouches on most days.

The kids have been watching some sort of Puffin Rock television show on Netflix.  It is about a brother and sister Puffin (I think).  Anyway, a cute little brother Puffin went up to the big sister Puffin and hugged her and said, "Baba loves you."  There was so much emotion at our house over this.  Jack ran up and hugged Jane and Jane cried real tears.  While wiping them away Jane said, "I didn't know you could cry cute tears."

Speaking of art, Jack came home from school with an empty Kleenex box and a marker lid.  He was so excited to make a robot and put the marker lid in the back to pretend it was the battery.  He told me, "Mom!  It's my first art project I made out of trash!"  Apparently, I have many more trash projects to look forward to.

Oh, speaking of Jack, we cut his hair.  He came home from school one day with a big chunk of his bangs missing.  He told me he cut it at school with scissors.  Matt wasn't home and I didn't have the patience for a scissor-cut so I got out the clippers.

In Jack's first grade classroom, I guess they have a station where you can write notes.  Sometimes Jack has notes from other students and sometimes he has notes for me or Matt.  One time he told me, "You guys should write me notes sometime.  I don't get a lot of notes."  So, a couple days later I wrote him a note about what a cool kid he was and how glad I am he's in our family, and stuck it in his lunch box.  That day, after school, he was the most helpful kid ever.  He did everything I asked, the first time I asked it and didn't complain about anything.  The next day was Matt's turn to be at home with the kids so I told him that he should probably write Jack a note.  Matt made a note, gave it to Jack and Jack said, "Mom told you I'm not getting so many notes, right?"  And Matt said it did not have the same effect.

Pete is crazy, you guys.  Like, really.  He is starting to talk but prefers to scream like a wild animal.  He also loves nothing more than to destroy something.  He loves dumping out any small items he can find.  He dumps out all the kids toys.  He loves taking things from the pantry and dumping them out.  He loves to find boxes under the bathroom sink to dump out their contents.  He even loves unwrapping dozens of tampons and throwing them in the toilet.  On this particular day he kept himself entertained by doodling on a cabinet with a Sharpie.

But, you guys.  Pete is also cute.  This is a good thing, because it helps us love him.  Matt is especially good at recognizing the good things about Pete and helps remind me to pay attention to the times that he really does warm my heart.  It makes it all worth it.

Somehow the stars aligned this past weekend and I got my homework done in order to go out with the family on Saturday night.  We ate at Kneaders and then swung by the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point.  We practically had the place to ourselves and I was pleasantly surprised that we handled going out with all four kids pretty smoothly.  The kids were great!

So, a little bit of bad news.  I got a cold a couple weeks ago and the first sign of the cold was that my bad ear started draining and draining.  Like, I couldn't go anywhere without a cotton ball in my ear.  I went to my ENT who apologized that my ear hasn't healed well since the surgery and thought that once my cold went away the drainage would to.  He also prescribed ear drops and antibiotic pills.  For long-term care I was told to buy this medical device to puff anti-bacterial and anti-fungal powder into my ear once a week.  Well, the bad news is that my cold has been gone for over a week, I've taken all my medicines and my ear is still actively draining.  I hate to jump to conclusions but given my past experiences, I can't help but worry that this isn't leading anywhere good.