LaLaGirl - Twinfinite Chaos! Parenting Multiples and Dealing with Autism
LaLaGirl - Parenting 2 Sets of Twins and a Child with Autism
Lexi and Nikki presented their bug reports yesterday to their 1st grade classes. They did so well!
Pablo and Mallory did these same reports when they were in first grade – can’t believe that’s been two years ago already!
Lexi’s assigned topic was the spider, and Nikki had the flea. They spent weeks researching, writing, creating a visual aide, and practicing their presentations. Lots of work, but they learned a lot!
Paul and I were so proud of them!
Kayley started her junior year yesterday, back at the school I pulled her out of a year ago. Things have changed dramatically for her over the past year, and I’m sending her back confident that things will be awesome. Look at my big girl!
Yeah, that was last week at this time. Oh, the memories – such good, happy, quiet days they were. And now, here we are, back at home again, bickering and fighting and turning construction paper into confetti faster than you can say, “Snow Day.” The bitter cold has kept us housebound. Not just any old bitter cold, either. Cold as a witch’s titty cold. We’re supposed to see 23 degrees below zero tonight. Thursday’s forecasted 35 is going to feel downright tropical.
The kids are missing school and their friends, but they’re keeping me on my toes. Today, I didn’t get to sit on my sofa at all, because every last cushion was used to create a fort or a horse to ride on. The kids made their own lunches, and they set up a picnic right in the kitchen. Pablo impressed the heck out of me, fetching all the ingredients to make his very own bologna, cheese, and strawberry jelly sandwich. *bleah!* Hey, if he’ll eat it, I don’t care. Here are my monkeys, chillin’ in the kitchen today:
Oh, I hope I can access my extra patience tomorrow! We’re all sort of struggling to be kind with one another, while everyone is a little bored, and a little disappointed about the things they’re missing out on. Maybe we’ll shoot for a spa day tomorrow, and do everyone’s nails. Think that’ll keep ‘em happy?
I wouldn’t say this has been the longest track-off in history. No, that honor goes to the track-off that occurred two years ago at this time, when I had all my children at home for five weeks and I had to spend that whole time unpacking from our move. But still, this break has gone on for awhile. The last day of school was December 17th. So much has HAPPENED since then! Christmas! New Years! Kayley’s beau Matt came to visit! The girls turned 6! I lost my mind! Oh, wait, that still hasn’t happened, but I feel like I’m right on the edge. Now, I’m feeling like there’s an end in sight. We’re into the final stretch! I need to buy lunchbox snacks and get Pablo a haircut and do a shitload of laundry. I need to start making my kids go to bed before 10. And we REALLY need to work on shoe-tying. I did say I was going to make sure the girls mastered it before track-on, didn’t I?
I cannot WAIT for that first day, when I can come home and sit on the couch and listen to the sound of … NOTHING. No Spongebob, no bickering, no squawking, no maniacal laughter, no “she hit me back!”, no Disney Channel, no iCarly, no Taylor Swift, no ratchety trucks being driven around the kitchen at breakneck speed, no whining, no crying, no teasing, no singing the wrong words to Wham’s “Last Christmas”, no begging for food, no whining about being bored, NOTHING. It’ll be epic.
The first day of school, that is! My kids are SO EXCITED to be heading back to school – well, TO school for the very first time, in Nikki and Lexi’s case. They’re starting kindergarten! And guess who is JUST as happy about all of this? MOMMY! Yeah!
People keep asking me, what am I going to DO with myself? I have no idea. I’d like to think I’ll spend time getting pedicures and shopping at Target all by my lonesome. Unfortunately, I’ve already spent all my money on this:
And I still need to buy more pencils. Why in the world do 2nd graders need 48 sharpened pencils? Forty-eight? Seriously? For each kid, mind you. And my kindies need 24 each. I’m going to have to buy new batteries for our pencil sharpener!
Well. Here we are. Friday! A week ago at this time, Mallory was being diagnosed with pneumonia, Pablo was in the middle of a bad spell with his reactive airway disease, and the little girls were coughing like a pair of barking seals. And little did we know that day, that in just another twelve hours, we’d be rushing Pablo to the ER because of major abdominal distress. Our house was like a sick ward, with the smell of Vicks Vaporub hanging thickly in the air, the constant hum of the humidifier, and that loud ass nebulizer buzzing away every four hours, right on schedule.
Contrast that with today! The kids are using the toybox lid as a sled, and sliding down the entire flight of stairs to the basement. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and my little barrel of monkeys finally seems to feel better. It’s about fucking time, that’s all I have to say about that. I’m not certain we’re completely in the clear, as Pablo was just running a fever yesterday – but we’re 180 degrees from where we were a week ago.
We’re midway through the big kids’ track off from school. They got out on March 26th, and they don’t go back until April 20th. That’s three long weeks to spend at home with mom, and the last time they tracked off from school, I damned near lost my MIND! Of course, they were off for FIVE weeks that time, and it was right as we were moving into our new house. This time seems to be going a little better, in spite of the fact that we’re living in the quarantine house.
I fully expected to be clawing at the walls by now, after the seemingly endless snow and cold wind we had that first week, and the whiny sicko children this whole second week. But here we are. Just one week to go, and I’m already feeling sad about them going BACK to school! What? What’s going on here? Shouldn’t I be doing pirouettes around the living room at the very idea of restoring a small amount of order to my house? I’m not at all! I’m really ENJOYING having my kids all home, watching them make up little games and stories, doing art projects, destroying my house.
I’ve only got one week left with them! We need to really make next week COUNT! We’ve got to make our museum trip! We need to plant flowers! We need to ride our bikes to the park! We need to go get haircuts and eat sushi and buy new shoes! And we need to do it SOON, before we start wearing on each other’s nerves!
We’ll see what tune I’m singing NEXT Friday, when they’re heading back to school after the weekend!
