What a conversation~ girl to girl-- this little word can cause quit the hup~la! To say the least! It is like telling someone Else's child "No" and have the crazy lady go off on you that children should not be told no-- but to learn by their own mistakes!
So when do children learn from their own mistakes? Do they learn when they touch the hot stove, when they hit another child and the child hits back, or is it when they end up in the emergency room? It is a cruel world out there! Children are reminded daily about the violence, lack of morals, drugs, racial wars......
Do you ever feel as if you are swimming up stream and the current is raging? I am sure you feel the same as I do! It is the hardest thing we teach our children and the most criticized topic out there!
Let's define RESPECT~ respect is NOT obedience! People confuse obedience as putting the fear into children and demanding respect. The ultimate goal in teaching respect is allowing children to choose to obey out of respect. Respect is an attitude. We give respect to elders, by being polite to others. This kind of respect is given to teachers, policemen.... etc.
The other kind of respect is one in which people earn towards someone who has earned it through something they have done. They earn this respect through a commitment that they accomplished or earned. We give them respect and thank them for their commitment and respect them out of admiration. Military is great example!
As parents, educators, caregivers, neighbors we need to work together and teach children both examples of respect. We want our children to respect others as they would like to be treated, we would like our children to treat other people better than what they expect to be treated. We need to put Christ in the manner of RESPECT. We want children to be honorable to themselves and to others within the community. And unfortunately sometimes it is not the teaching of respect that causes such a hup~la in our community, but the way people are teaching children how to respect and what they feel is acceptable and what is not. It is when we teach our children that their job is to prove that they are right and not accept responsibility for their mistakes. It is when we as adults overstep our boundaries as parents and do allow our children to be responsible for their mistakes. It is NOW that we create a child who demands respect but does not know how to give it. They demand items that they are unsure how to accept. They are children who do not understand how to behave in society-- they are the children that we do not see smiling when we smile at them!
So what can we do?
Teach our children to be honest! Teach our children to obey the rules and when they make mistakes teach them to admit it, apologize, follow through with the punishment and move on!
Be trusting~ show your child confidence. Allow them to make their own decisions. Give them guidance as they need it.
Be fair. Listen to your child before you jump to conclusions. Listen to both sides of the story.
Be consistent. Stick to the rules. And stick to the rules even when you don't totally agree with them.
Be polite.
Be a good listener!
Be dependable.
Be respectful of authority. Don't criticize those who are authority figures or leadership positions. Teach you child to be respectful of the differences of opinions!
"Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6
So the next time you are out and about and you see that unhappy child in the middle of a happy family~ maybe the child just needs a little smile and prayer!
God Bless all the parents who are teaching RESPECT!
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Champion
Today was the ultimate pinewood derby race. 4 boys and 2 scouts! Lots of cars! Henry usally creates the creative car of the race-- One year he had the most colorful car-- it had so much paint on it, it almost did not make it across the line (that was his Tiger year). Then we had the sarcophagus of King Tut, and then last year we had the Egyptian Pyramid. This year he wanted to go 'FAST' so he and Daddy researched how to make a 'FAST' car-- after many hits on the net-- they created the Luigi Mobile.It was bright red with a big L on the top!
It is so neat to watch the race. The Tigers (which is the youngest group of scouts) ~ they have the most creative & colorful cars. They add drivers, stickers, lots of paint, and they are usally the biggest cars on the track. As the boys get older-- they usally have one color of paint, a theme, and the cars get smaller and faster.
Well~ Henry blew away the rest of the cars! He was running at about 207.49 miles per hour down the track! His car was taking the lead before the cars got to the flat run way! He was so proud. I am not sure Henry has ever won first place ever! He was so proud!
Way to go Champion!
It is so neat to watch the race. The Tigers (which is the youngest group of scouts) ~ they have the most creative & colorful cars. They add drivers, stickers, lots of paint, and they are usally the biggest cars on the track. As the boys get older-- they usally have one color of paint, a theme, and the cars get smaller and faster.
Well~ Henry blew away the rest of the cars! He was running at about 207.49 miles per hour down the track! His car was taking the lead before the cars got to the flat run way! He was so proud. I am not sure Henry has ever won first place ever! He was so proud!
Way to go Champion!
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Pack Rat
Anyone who knows my husband~ knows he keeps everything! Everything has some sort of meaning from either his past childhood or his present childhood. There is a story about everything he keeps! At least he thinks he is still keeping everything!
My husband and I have been married for close to 15 years. We were dating long before that! So it has been a LONG time! Right after we were married, my husband was determined to go into business for himself. PLUTA Construction was the name! Oh~ we were in business for one year~ before he took my advise and went to work for SOMEONE else! In the mean time-- we had a Big sign made for the van, business cards made, T-shirts, and LOTS and LOTS of sweat shirts made. The color scheme was green with white lettering. The logo on the T-shirts and sweat shirts were placed on the backs of the clothing~ the reasoning as you may be wondering--was so that as you drove by and said, "Wow~ what a great roof! I wonder who is building that? Oh- look on the back of those shirts it says "Pluta Construction". That was the reasonining!
Well, it has been 14 years ago ~ oh, what a memory!
As I was cleaning up the attic this fall-- there in the corner of the attic was a BIG box of Green sweat shirts! How have we kept these for that long! I had my older son Teddy help me carry the box down the steps only to not get the box in the trunk of the van before Ted would get home! Back up in the attic went the box. Reasoning~ someday-- he will be looking for a sweat shirt and we will all be proud to wear them! Okay- now that sounds all good-- but really-- we are going to wear a sweat shirt with an old phone number that has a new owner by now and an advertisement that no longer exists! Yeah--that won't happen-- especially when my husband back then was fit and thin-- and now he will not be able to place one arm in the arm hole without getting stuck!
So~ the next morning-- I drug that big box down 2 flights of steps and out into the van! First stop Salvation Army!
He did not even miss the box! The boys were not with me so all is good! He will not know!
Except~ the other night we were going out to dinner and man is it cold this winter! We are sitting at the town square awaiting for the light to change- when a homeless man walks across the street. Then I noticed the green sweat shirt with white lettering! Yep~ you guessed it! I starred forward trying not to make any eye contact with the burning sensation of eyes that were cutting deep into the side of my head! And the murmurring words spoken through the teeth: "Are those my fricken jeans, too?"
"Maybe........................................"
My husband and I have been married for close to 15 years. We were dating long before that! So it has been a LONG time! Right after we were married, my husband was determined to go into business for himself. PLUTA Construction was the name! Oh~ we were in business for one year~ before he took my advise and went to work for SOMEONE else! In the mean time-- we had a Big sign made for the van, business cards made, T-shirts, and LOTS and LOTS of sweat shirts made. The color scheme was green with white lettering. The logo on the T-shirts and sweat shirts were placed on the backs of the clothing~ the reasoning as you may be wondering--was so that as you drove by and said, "Wow~ what a great roof! I wonder who is building that? Oh- look on the back of those shirts it says "Pluta Construction". That was the reasonining!
Well, it has been 14 years ago ~ oh, what a memory!
As I was cleaning up the attic this fall-- there in the corner of the attic was a BIG box of Green sweat shirts! How have we kept these for that long! I had my older son Teddy help me carry the box down the steps only to not get the box in the trunk of the van before Ted would get home! Back up in the attic went the box. Reasoning~ someday-- he will be looking for a sweat shirt and we will all be proud to wear them! Okay- now that sounds all good-- but really-- we are going to wear a sweat shirt with an old phone number that has a new owner by now and an advertisement that no longer exists! Yeah--that won't happen-- especially when my husband back then was fit and thin-- and now he will not be able to place one arm in the arm hole without getting stuck!
So~ the next morning-- I drug that big box down 2 flights of steps and out into the van! First stop Salvation Army!
He did not even miss the box! The boys were not with me so all is good! He will not know!
Except~ the other night we were going out to dinner and man is it cold this winter! We are sitting at the town square awaiting for the light to change- when a homeless man walks across the street. Then I noticed the green sweat shirt with white lettering! Yep~ you guessed it! I starred forward trying not to make any eye contact with the burning sensation of eyes that were cutting deep into the side of my head! And the murmurring words spoken through the teeth: "Are those my fricken jeans, too?"
"Maybe........................................"
Fashion or Foe?
Well~ Readers it has been a long time and a busy year~ but I am back to blogging! I have had a lot of readers write and say that they are looking forward to hearing more stories about my boys! Alot has changed over the last year or so! I am now back to teaching full time and three out of four boys are in school! God bless their teachers!
So enough about that ~ I will be adding some of my blogs that I have been writing down and saving for time to post my blogs!
This one is a Charlie story~ Charlie is a piece of work! A quilt in the making. The other day he was with me in the store and asked for a kit of fake mustaches. He held on to this kit through the whole store-- they were $1.99. So on Saturday he wore a black mustache the whole day! Sunday I told the three younger boys that they would get to go to Wegman's and pick out thier favorite candy before we went to see The Frog and the Princess~ as we are going quickly through the store-- Charlie is walking behind me-- telling everyone he sees Good Morning~ people are just saying Good Morning back-- looking at us as if we had two heads. Now keep in mind-- the goal in this store is to get to the bulk candy-- and get out! I have three boys and there is one way in and one way out!
We finally get up to the register and Charlie is now in front of the cart putting the candy on the register belt. He looks at the older gentleman and says "Are you checking out my Uni-brow?" That is when I noticed that the child has put one of his mustaches across his forehead! And low and behold~ the man in front of us had the BIGGEST Unibrow that I have ever seen that was not on TV! "You are checking out my unibrow~ This is the newest style! Everyone wants a unibrow!" God Bless the wife of this old man~ she could now longer fake smile when she realized her husband was loving this! People were peeking over the register to see this site! They were now pointing and snickering as these two Unibrow boys were showing everyone the best part of the Unibrow~ "Mom~ Did you know that when you raise your Unibrow-- you can make them touch your hairline!"
Oh-- the proud moments you stand and say:"That's my boy!"
"You know what else I need Mom? I need to get my teeth pulled out like this guy so I can take them out and smile this big with my Unibrow!"
So enough about that ~ I will be adding some of my blogs that I have been writing down and saving for time to post my blogs!
This one is a Charlie story~ Charlie is a piece of work! A quilt in the making. The other day he was with me in the store and asked for a kit of fake mustaches. He held on to this kit through the whole store-- they were $1.99. So on Saturday he wore a black mustache the whole day! Sunday I told the three younger boys that they would get to go to Wegman's and pick out thier favorite candy before we went to see The Frog and the Princess~ as we are going quickly through the store-- Charlie is walking behind me-- telling everyone he sees Good Morning~ people are just saying Good Morning back-- looking at us as if we had two heads. Now keep in mind-- the goal in this store is to get to the bulk candy-- and get out! I have three boys and there is one way in and one way out!
We finally get up to the register and Charlie is now in front of the cart putting the candy on the register belt. He looks at the older gentleman and says "Are you checking out my Uni-brow?" That is when I noticed that the child has put one of his mustaches across his forehead! And low and behold~ the man in front of us had the BIGGEST Unibrow that I have ever seen that was not on TV! "You are checking out my unibrow~ This is the newest style! Everyone wants a unibrow!" God Bless the wife of this old man~ she could now longer fake smile when she realized her husband was loving this! People were peeking over the register to see this site! They were now pointing and snickering as these two Unibrow boys were showing everyone the best part of the Unibrow~ "Mom~ Did you know that when you raise your Unibrow-- you can make them touch your hairline!"
Oh-- the proud moments you stand and say:"That's my boy!"
"You know what else I need Mom? I need to get my teeth pulled out like this guy so I can take them out and smile this big with my Unibrow!"
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Poopy in the Potty!!
Good morning, Bloggers!
My adventues this week involves potty training! The dreaded adventures!
When my oldest was a baby-- I could not wait until he was pooping on the potty. Peeing on the potty. Until, he was- then the spur of the moment shopping was put on poopy hold! Everywhere we went he had to pee in that store. We started only shopping at stores with clean potty's. Everytime we got in the car-- he had to go. It was like the favorite scences in a movie, where the child goes to the bathroom, gets completly bundled for snow play, and just as they were ready to send the child out to play-- they had to go to the bathroom. Now that is reality!
With my second child, he wanted nothing to do with being potty trained! He was almost going on 4 before he would successfully go to the bathroom. It was awful! And to make matters worse we had an infant-- I would never recommend two kids in diapers! That makes an expensive trip to the store. When Charlie was born I had already started working full time at the hospital. I would work 32 hours over the weekend, get up on MOnday, teach at a local homeschool co-op and then go back to work and work for another 8 hours. This made for Tuesday, to pray the boys would sleep in and try to catch up on putting everything back together from the weekend!
One particular day, I traveled to the Eastern side of Harrisburg, to goto Target! I love Target- and I love their deals! So we made the 30 minute trip. Just as I was getting the boys out of the Minivan-- I smelled Poop! Not just any poop, but poop from a 4 year old and poop from an infant! Yuck!! I grabbed the diaper bag from the back-- No diapers, No wipes! The worst thing ever is that I had just spent $50 the day before on diapers and wipes at BJ's. So that last thing I wanted to do was spend more money on diapers,but I had no choice. We rushed back to the diaper isle, looked over our choices. For Charlie, I grabbed Target brand-- the cheapies, cheap wipes, the kind your fingers go right through with the first wipe! Now, for Henry-- the one you would think would be potty trained by now! Ah-- a deal-- at the end of the row was pull-ups on clearance-- $5.00 for a box with a $3.00 coupon-- Now I do not feel awful buying these diapers. The only thing wrong with the pull-ups was that they were Hot PINK with princesses on them. Now one thing you don't know is that Henry-- loved Princesses when he was little. He was totally into them. He wanted to dress like them, act like them... oh- it just goes on from there! So when I had to deal with buying diapers and buying girl diapers-- I went with the price and who is going to see them,but me!
Well, this $2 deal would be the best deal ever! When I got them on Henry-- I told him--- "Now, Henry. Look at these Princesses! Now-- you don't want to pee on the princesses do you?" The look on his face was priceless! "Now-- if you really like princesses, you can't poop in the castle!" (which was the scence on the back!) He was so tramatized!
Later, that night we were at a baseball game for my oldest-- when Henry had to poop and pee. We were sitting on the bleechers-- when he told my husband he had to poop-- "Just go in your diaper!" Yeah--those are always words of husbandry wisdom! "I can't! I can't poop in the castle!" My husband just looked at me with confussion! He pulled down Henry's pants to see what the child might be talking about-- to see the Hot Pink Princess Pull-Ups! Well, anyone who has sons-- will know the look on his face to see his SON-- in pink!
Well-- to make the story shorter-- that is all it took to potty train Henry! I found that parenting will make you do things you never thought you would ever think of, do and or say! And our child's accomplishments are OUR accomplishments-- even down to pooping in the potty! You know--you where one of those Mom's who heard other Mom's jumping up and down calling poopy all kinds of weird names, telling everyone about the little poopy in the potty! And looking at the Mom and thinking "I will never do that!" Until, the day where out of days,weeks,and maybe months that precious little boy looked at you and said in your frustration, "I love the way you wipe my butt, I love it when you clean up my poopy," and the day they refused to poop in the diaper-- the excitment you get! You must tell the world!
My adventues this week involves potty training! The dreaded adventures!
When my oldest was a baby-- I could not wait until he was pooping on the potty. Peeing on the potty. Until, he was- then the spur of the moment shopping was put on poopy hold! Everywhere we went he had to pee in that store. We started only shopping at stores with clean potty's. Everytime we got in the car-- he had to go. It was like the favorite scences in a movie, where the child goes to the bathroom, gets completly bundled for snow play, and just as they were ready to send the child out to play-- they had to go to the bathroom. Now that is reality!
With my second child, he wanted nothing to do with being potty trained! He was almost going on 4 before he would successfully go to the bathroom. It was awful! And to make matters worse we had an infant-- I would never recommend two kids in diapers! That makes an expensive trip to the store. When Charlie was born I had already started working full time at the hospital. I would work 32 hours over the weekend, get up on MOnday, teach at a local homeschool co-op and then go back to work and work for another 8 hours. This made for Tuesday, to pray the boys would sleep in and try to catch up on putting everything back together from the weekend!
One particular day, I traveled to the Eastern side of Harrisburg, to goto Target! I love Target- and I love their deals! So we made the 30 minute trip. Just as I was getting the boys out of the Minivan-- I smelled Poop! Not just any poop, but poop from a 4 year old and poop from an infant! Yuck!! I grabbed the diaper bag from the back-- No diapers, No wipes! The worst thing ever is that I had just spent $50 the day before on diapers and wipes at BJ's. So that last thing I wanted to do was spend more money on diapers,but I had no choice. We rushed back to the diaper isle, looked over our choices. For Charlie, I grabbed Target brand-- the cheapies, cheap wipes, the kind your fingers go right through with the first wipe! Now, for Henry-- the one you would think would be potty trained by now! Ah-- a deal-- at the end of the row was pull-ups on clearance-- $5.00 for a box with a $3.00 coupon-- Now I do not feel awful buying these diapers. The only thing wrong with the pull-ups was that they were Hot PINK with princesses on them. Now one thing you don't know is that Henry-- loved Princesses when he was little. He was totally into them. He wanted to dress like them, act like them... oh- it just goes on from there! So when I had to deal with buying diapers and buying girl diapers-- I went with the price and who is going to see them,but me!
Well, this $2 deal would be the best deal ever! When I got them on Henry-- I told him--- "Now, Henry. Look at these Princesses! Now-- you don't want to pee on the princesses do you?" The look on his face was priceless! "Now-- if you really like princesses, you can't poop in the castle!" (which was the scence on the back!) He was so tramatized!
Later, that night we were at a baseball game for my oldest-- when Henry had to poop and pee. We were sitting on the bleechers-- when he told my husband he had to poop-- "Just go in your diaper!" Yeah--those are always words of husbandry wisdom! "I can't! I can't poop in the castle!" My husband just looked at me with confussion! He pulled down Henry's pants to see what the child might be talking about-- to see the Hot Pink Princess Pull-Ups! Well, anyone who has sons-- will know the look on his face to see his SON-- in pink!
Well-- to make the story shorter-- that is all it took to potty train Henry! I found that parenting will make you do things you never thought you would ever think of, do and or say! And our child's accomplishments are OUR accomplishments-- even down to pooping in the potty! You know--you where one of those Mom's who heard other Mom's jumping up and down calling poopy all kinds of weird names, telling everyone about the little poopy in the potty! And looking at the Mom and thinking "I will never do that!" Until, the day where out of days,weeks,and maybe months that precious little boy looked at you and said in your frustration, "I love the way you wipe my butt, I love it when you clean up my poopy," and the day they refused to poop in the diaper-- the excitment you get! You must tell the world!
Friday, February 8, 2008
That's No Baby!!
Now, this little story is a couple of years old-- however-- I felt it was worth the write!It came up at work the other day, as we were discussing the mere fact of how boys are so curious of their bodies and what their bodies do, how they make noise, how funny and how stinky they can be. And If i may say it-- once a boy has found his private area-- do they ever let it alone?
My Charlie, is the one with the most questions-- one day he asked me if I had a penis? I want to be honest, but... (long pause) I don't want them to know about everything! So I told him, "No, Mommy's have Pee-Pee's". And that was that! Until the day we were in BJ's. (and ever notice how loud a bathroom can be when someone say's something that you don't want others to hear?) I pulled him inside the stall with me, and all of a sudden, "Ah-HA-- you do have a penis--- I hear you peeing!" Yeah-- there we go! You know as we shopped that morning in BJ's-- I knew just by looking at the woman's face who was in the bathroom that morning!
Now, a couple of years ago--about 4-- I took my 2 boys and new baby to the Washington DC Zoo-- if you ever want to see a beautiful zoo-- this is the place to be!! I love Zoo's-- we are members of the Pittsburgh Zoo-- this way we can go to all the participating Zoo's in the USA for FREE!! You can't beat that! So-- off we trucked that morning to Washington DC to the Zoo. It is about 3 hour ride from PA! So, we get to the Zoo. There was hardly anyone else there-- the animals were out. The day was beautiful. Baby monkey's, baby elephants, panda bears, baby ducks,-- nothing beats watching Mommy's with their babies! It just shows how nurturing a parent can be and how we can all relate to each other. Some more than others, like I think the boys are a good combination of the Tazmanian Devil and Gorilla's! And their father is more like Big Black Bear-- stuck in the honey tree. Why move-- you got the goods all right in front of you!
So, back to the babies! Every baby we saw- I made a big ordeal about! The elephant nursing, the mommy monkey picking bugs off the baby's back and eating them, the baby ducks swimming all within reach of the mommy! Then we came to the Kangaroo's. The boys wandered around the side of the fence and I had the stroller on the other side. And right in front of me hopped a mommy kangaroo with her baby in its pouch! This was so exciting-- when eles do you see this. Only on TV. This is something the boys just had to see! I was so excited calling them back to me like the Mommy Duck-- "Hurry, Hurry, you have got to see the baby!" With all the commotion, a school group was passing by, and they too came running over to see the baby kangaroo inside the Mommy's pouch! I started teaching the children, oh- how small that baby was and how it had to crawl into the pouch and nurse for so long until it pokes it's head out of the pouch! What a miracle!
Now, a couple of these "City" kids started asking-- "Where's the baby"-- and I pointed-- look there it is-- and because we were all tring to see it the Kangaroo kept turning it's back!
Then it hopped right up to us! Now this is exciting.......... Until the Mr. Teacher of the group leaned up to me and said, "Mam, That's no BABY!" I just looked at him and looked closer at the "baby"-- Nope that was no baby.
Then my oldest son looked at me and said, "Momma, is that a penis or a baby?"
Now, how was I to know-- I have only seen baby kangaroo's on TV!
So, with that-- I gathered my children and drove home the 3 hours in the car as the boys' slept-- hopefully not dreaming of babies!
My Charlie, is the one with the most questions-- one day he asked me if I had a penis? I want to be honest, but... (long pause) I don't want them to know about everything! So I told him, "No, Mommy's have Pee-Pee's". And that was that! Until the day we were in BJ's. (and ever notice how loud a bathroom can be when someone say's something that you don't want others to hear?) I pulled him inside the stall with me, and all of a sudden, "Ah-HA-- you do have a penis--- I hear you peeing!" Yeah-- there we go! You know as we shopped that morning in BJ's-- I knew just by looking at the woman's face who was in the bathroom that morning!
Now, a couple of years ago--about 4-- I took my 2 boys and new baby to the Washington DC Zoo-- if you ever want to see a beautiful zoo-- this is the place to be!! I love Zoo's-- we are members of the Pittsburgh Zoo-- this way we can go to all the participating Zoo's in the USA for FREE!! You can't beat that! So-- off we trucked that morning to Washington DC to the Zoo. It is about 3 hour ride from PA! So, we get to the Zoo. There was hardly anyone else there-- the animals were out. The day was beautiful. Baby monkey's, baby elephants, panda bears, baby ducks,-- nothing beats watching Mommy's with their babies! It just shows how nurturing a parent can be and how we can all relate to each other. Some more than others, like I think the boys are a good combination of the Tazmanian Devil and Gorilla's! And their father is more like Big Black Bear-- stuck in the honey tree. Why move-- you got the goods all right in front of you!
So, back to the babies! Every baby we saw- I made a big ordeal about! The elephant nursing, the mommy monkey picking bugs off the baby's back and eating them, the baby ducks swimming all within reach of the mommy! Then we came to the Kangaroo's. The boys wandered around the side of the fence and I had the stroller on the other side. And right in front of me hopped a mommy kangaroo with her baby in its pouch! This was so exciting-- when eles do you see this. Only on TV. This is something the boys just had to see! I was so excited calling them back to me like the Mommy Duck-- "Hurry, Hurry, you have got to see the baby!" With all the commotion, a school group was passing by, and they too came running over to see the baby kangaroo inside the Mommy's pouch! I started teaching the children, oh- how small that baby was and how it had to crawl into the pouch and nurse for so long until it pokes it's head out of the pouch! What a miracle!
Now, a couple of these "City" kids started asking-- "Where's the baby"-- and I pointed-- look there it is-- and because we were all tring to see it the Kangaroo kept turning it's back!
Then it hopped right up to us! Now this is exciting.......... Until the Mr. Teacher of the group leaned up to me and said, "Mam, That's no BABY!" I just looked at him and looked closer at the "baby"-- Nope that was no baby.
Then my oldest son looked at me and said, "Momma, is that a penis or a baby?"
Now, how was I to know-- I have only seen baby kangaroo's on TV!
So, with that-- I gathered my children and drove home the 3 hours in the car as the boys' slept-- hopefully not dreaming of babies!
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Hamster is Loose-- Again!!
For my younger son's 7th birthday-- he begged and pleaded for a pet hamster. I have issues with my children wanting things and myself remembering my childhood and giving in to their wants and needs! Now, I do have a limit-- but it is so overpushed when they look at you with those big eyes, and tell you how they will take care of it, clean up after it, love it, and never have to be reminded of it! This can get one in alot of trouble, I mind you!
So, when I talked to my husband about Henry's need for a pet- He did not even think twice, "Is it alive?" "NO!"-- "Are you out of your mind?". (He grew up with NO pets!) So, I took it upon myself to buy the cage for his 7th birthday.
The day of his party, we allowed that gift to be last, oh he was so excited about getting the cage, that it almost did not matter that there was no animal in it! We took him to the pet store and he picked out his pet hamster. She is a beautiful light tan color with beady red/pink eyes! We bought him a book on how to take care of her, what to feed her, what not to do with her! He named her "Angel".
Now let me explain to you about Henry-- Henry's name means "Ruler of the household, his kingdom! And he lives up to that without a doubt! He even has the favorite color purple--because purple is royalty! So that puts you in mind of where this is heading! My dear sweet, Henry!
Henry-- is the middle child. And everything you have ever read or heard about the middle child-- is SOOOOO-- true! At least, it is with Henry. Henry is super sensitive, smart (he is so smart), caring, and so wishes everyday that he was an only child. Especially, from his younger brother Charlie! Boy-- do the two of them go at it almost everyday! Charlie calls Henry "Dramatic"-- and that really sums up Henry!
So, we bring Angel home, place her in her cage! It was really fun to watch her, go round and round in the wheel. Sit up and listen to her at night, chew and chew through the cage and go round and round in the wheel. Did I mention-- chew all night on the metal cage!
Then a friend gave us some tubes for the cage-- now this was fun. I tried to turn it into an engineering lesson-- how can we make her cage more fun! And as if, 6 different tubes weren't enough-- we ran out to the store and bought--$50.00 more of tubes, an outhouse, look out stations, tube fasteners, a ball... And 3 more girl hamsters. The other boys realizing that I was in a daze, a bad place, looked at me with those eyes, and showed me 3 baby hamsters. So we left the place with over $100 worth of hamster stuff and 3 more baby hamsters. We did not tell my husband! No way-- I would let him in this surprise gently! I would let the children tell him as he came in the door. They would yell out in excitement has he would be tring to get in, pushing the dog out of the way, tripping on the toys in his path, and falling over the kids all at the same time! That to me seemed the best way to approach the situation!
So, now we have 4 hamsters. Angel in her cage, and Ruby (Teddy's hamster), Mary Jesus (Henry's),and Charlie (you guessed it-- Charlie's hamster). Now, the funny part is that Mary Jesus-- kept jumping on the other hamsters-- so by the end of the week I talked him into just Mary. There just seemed something wrong with having a sacred name on a "dirty" hamster who rode the others and she too was a female!
Now-- this story comes to a quick end-- within 3 weeks the stinky 3 hamsters all got ill and died with in 24 hours of each other. Those boys were cleaning their cages everyday-- and they bit them, and were wild little things-- they peed on everything-- yuck! And those tubes, they were off and out the door with in days-- once I realized how stinky they get, and how they drag the food up through them and pee in them (there are holes in them and everything falls through)-- they were off and out!
And so they died of some disease! And to make matters worse-- the dog dug them up and ate them right in front of the kids-- so we walked around after the dog for a couple of days, picked the poor soles out of her poop and reburied them outside the fenced in yard-- we got all of them back, but Charlie! So- for about a week-- they buried all her poop,, just in case!
So, now Angel escapes her safe little domain! She is gone. It was little over 2 weeks. We were putting little treats out for her. Putting her cage on the floor. Nothing seemed to work! Finally, we put her cage back down in the basement! And poor Henry, sobbed everytime he thought of her! It is all that one Mommy could stand! So, last Friday-- I brought home Koda. Koda is a little black bear hamster. I bought him at PetSmart. I went in looking for the $9 girl hamster and came home with the $20+ boy hamster. They know how to work the Momma! The sales girl showed me how you can do anything to this little guy, and how he would nuzzle the chin, and he never-- ever bites! (Angel bit everyone-- except Henry) She even bit Sammy on the nose when he got to close!-- So home came Koda!
Henry was so excited-- he ran to the basement-- set up the cage- the boys were so excited-- they were bonding with this little guy-- even Sammy was holding him (squishing him-- he is not gentle)-- and he never even opened his mouth to bite! We finally put the kids down to bed. They were so excited! And by this point--my husband is not even saying a word-- it was like he thought that I could not hear his head shake and see his eyes roll everytime he passed the cage!
Then we noticed something--- why, yes, there she was--- Angel-- she came up to see or smell what the new "hot" item was in the house! I believe "crap" was the word out of my husbands mouth. It was not the idea of having two-- it was the idea of the Two we had--- Angel-- a girl and Koda-- a boy! And with that Henry remarking of how we needed to get a preacher or priest to the house to get them married-- after all it is around Valentine's Day!
Angel-- now has a brand new chew-through (at least for the time) cage-- and Koda who is on the other side of room is in his!
Happy Valentine's Day!
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