Tiny Bit of Cuteness...

Today was not fun.

Eric stayed up very late last night (thereby interfering with my sleep).

Markos was especially whiney and defiant all.day.long.

The IRS changed our "status" to the dreaded (but not unexpected) "we will be sending you a packet informing you of what additional information you need to send us".  Or, as I like to refer to it, "we want to make this as hard as possible so that you will hopefully give up and we can keep your money, or at the very least, we want to keep your money for as long as we possibly can so we can earn the interest on it instead of you".

I had to wake Markos up from his nap (which he desperately needed) in order to get Kenzie to piano on time.

While at piano, the school nurse at Daniel's school called to report that Daniel would be coming home with a "closed head injury report" and I needed to be watching for signs of head injury/concussion.  Apparently, he and a friend smashed heads during recess and he had quite a large bump and bruise on his face.

Daniel came home and really did have a large bump and bruise just above his eye!

Lacrosse pictures.  Enough said.

The kids were fighting all evening.

Did I already say that Markos was being awful and wouldn't listen at all?

I walked into the playroom at Chick-fil-a after dinner to get Markos, just as a dad was furiously carrying his daughter out, cursing about how "that #*%$! kid bit her *$%!# toe".   

(Yes, that kid turned out to be Markos.)

Markos pushed it to the limit until we were driving home, telling me 'no', refusing to obey, just generally being a turd, so he was told that he had to go to bed early.  THAT did not make him happy.

Thankfully, prior to learning that Markos was, in fact, the toe biter, the awesome balloon animal lady who was working at CFA tonight made this for Markos:

 Thereby giving me a tiny bit of cuteness in a day of crap.

Sadly, she also made both boys these giant swords...

Thereby bringing an abrupt end to the cuteness.  

Praying for a better day tomorrow.

Yet this I call to mind
   and therefore I have hope:

Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
   for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
   great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion;
   therefore I will wait for him.” 

Lamentations 3:21 - 24

A Moment of Quiet

This morning, after getting Mackenzie up and off to school, then getting Daniel and Markos up, dressed, and fed, I sat at the computer to flip through the various blogs that I follow.  It was an especially loud morning for Markos (and that's saying something because that boy is LOUD all.the.time!)  It really grates on my nerves sometimes.  Actually, who am I kidding?  Most of the time! 

Anyway, I was enjoying a few moments of quiet reading on the computer until Markos came upstairs and began to screech and yell while playing right next to me on the floor.  I kept asking him to be quiet, but that seemed to just make him screech more.  While I attempted to quiet the deafening play, I was reading a heart-wrenching post by Linny at A Place Called Simplicity.  She is in Uganda right now and was posting about an encounter that she had.  Read it here.

Markos continued to yell at my side as tears began to roll down my cheeks.  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him notice that I was crying.  He immediately got quiet and began to come closer and closer to my side, his eyes fixed on my face.  I tried, but failed, to stop the tears because I knew that he was concerned.   Then, in the softest, sweetest voice, he whispered, "Mommy, poor."  I picked him up and sat him on my lap facing me.  He looked into my eyes and again said, "Mommy, poor."  He wrapped both arms around my neck and hugged me as tightly as he could,with his head snuggled against my cheek, continuing to whisper, "Mommy, poor; Mommy, poor."

When Markos gets hurt, he rarely cries and if he does, it's only for a very short time.  I want him to learn that it's ok to cry, and now that he has a family, when he does, someone will notice and will respond.  So I frequently scoop him up when I see him fall or bonk his head, snuggle him close, and in an exaggerated, sing-songy voice say, "awww, poor Markos....poor Markos".  

Now, he was attempting to comfort me in that same way, but he had the words just a little mixed up.  I wiped my tears and assured him that Mommy was ok, that I had just read something sad, but I was ok.  He quietly held me anyway and continued to whisper "Mommy, poor".

No, my sweet boy, Mommy is not poor.  She is rich!  Blessed beyond belief to have been allowed to participate in God's Kingdom and bring you into our families' lives!

Sports Overload

Eegads!  I don't know how people with more than one child involved in sports do it - especially single parents!  Kuddos to them, that's all I can say!!  Eric and I have broken our rule of one or two activities for any one child and Daniel is now playing ice hockey, deck hockey, and lacrosse.  Good golly, it's a good thing I'm organized.

The worst part of the whole thing is that both ice hockey and lacrosse practices & games tend to mostly start at 6:00 pm, which means we're supposed to be there at 5:00.  Umm.  That's difficult when Eric's helping with lacrosse, but he doesn't normally get home most nights until 6:30 or 7:00, has an hour commute home from work, and some of the games are "away" games which require us to leave the house by 4:15 or so.

When is a family supposed to eat?!  With one child who is allergic to almost everything and another who hates most American food, this is no easy situation!  But, we're surviving....so far.  Granted, tonight was only the first lacrosse game and this week was the first week of ice hockey.  :-)  My biggest comfort at this point is that lacrosse is a short season and is over the first week of June.  One week down, 8 to go.

Daniel - #19 - ready to start the game

 

Game over - Bethel Park Hawks - 4, Canon MacMillion - 3 -  Woot!

Someone needs a bath (and a haircut!)

Dan had fun at his first game.  He played pretty well given that he really didn't totally know what he was doing.  The team is 3rd and 4th grade, but this year, they allowed 1st and 2nd graders to play on the team.  Dan is in 1st grade.  I was happy that they won their first game.  (Is it bad to admit that I was surprised, too, after seeing their practices!)  ;-)

Daniel is also on an older team for deck hockey.  (They also won their game,  on Saturday in a shoot-out.)  Daniel is 7, but we aged him up this session to play on an 8 - 10 year old team so he could stay with the same coaches that he's had the last 2 years.  (Oy.  Now that I think about it, this might be the season when he finally breaks a bone.  I'm still amazed that this has not happened as of yet!)

Markos wasn't really a fan of watching lacrosse.  Before we left the house, he was thrilled to be going to the game.   I think he was really just thrilled to be going in the "machina" (car).  He loves riding in the van - to anywhere.  He just loves being out and about.  When we first arrived, he was very excited about sitting in his new chair.

That wore off quickly.  Then he wanted to run around like a crazy child.  That wore off quickly (for his Emama!).  Markos threw himself on the ground a few times when I would attempt to restrain him from running out into the field (which he thought was a little funny at first).  His Emama, however, did not appreciate the tantrums or the extra mud that would be going home with us.

Therefore, Markos was eventually banished to his stroller where he could be strapped in.

I don't know about Daniel or Markos, but needless to say, I'm exhausted after his first lacrosse game!!!  If only Daniel didn't LOVE to play sports SO MUCH, then maybe I could say no.  But when your child plays hard, loves every second of it, is getting lots of exercise, and celebrates his shoot-out goals like this.....



how can you say no?

When Boys Play Dress-up

Both of our boys drive me slightly crazy (er, even more crazy) when they insist on seeing pictures on the camera every.single.time that I take a picture.  Seriously.  It's annoying.  I've decided recently though to just embrace their silliness in an effort to at least get the occasional really good picture in the midst of the silliness.  I have to admit that it's better to take four "silly pictures" for every one serious picture while they enjoy themselves, rather than deal with grumpiness, tears, anger, and flat-out refusals to have their pictures taken - which is what we dealt with (...and continue to deal with) with Mackenzie.

Tonight, the boys got into all their "dress-up" stuff.  They were insisting that I "take a picture", "take a picture", with every new outfit and every silly idea that they came up with.  I must say, the pictures are not the super adorable, sweet pictures that I have of Mackenzie when she was their age, wearing her little princess outfits, her dress-up shoes, her purses, hats, and necklaces, but they ARE cute....in a boy sort of way!  ;-)

Here they are, in all their boy-ness!

Markos as a knight

The obligatory "silly picture" following the knight picture

Daniel as a TMNT

Kenzie trying to get a hug

Daniel - still being a turtle

Daniel as a ??soldier??

My favorite of all the pictures!  Oh, the faces that Markos makes!!

I swear Daniel really isn't a violent kid, he just plays one in pictures!

Doesn't everyone feel the need to shoot firemen?  :-)

hee hee -- Another favorite

Do you see how happy Markos is about stopping the silliness for another hug?

Hmmm.  Interesting competition.  Hockey player vs. Knight

Take that!  A guitar to the head.  Thank goodness for helmets!

Yea.  They only pretend sleep.

And Markos doesn't really even pretend sleep very well!

But Markos DOES find Daniel to be hilarious!

The drama King

Do you see how concerned Eric is with all of this violence?

Homework I'm Happy Not to Help With

The older that Mackenzie gets, the less capable I am of helping her with her homework.  This is why (er, at least one of the reasons why) I'm grateful that I have a very smart husband who is a wonderful compliment to me.  You know -- I'm organized; he's creative.  I'm responsible; he's fun.  :-) 

Seriously though, given the fact that, for some reason when Daniel gets home from school, chaos breaks out every day and continues straight through until bedtime, I'm very happy to have a husband who is capable of and willing to help Mackenzie with things like projects and advanced math (which, just for the record, I could do back in the day.  However, my brain is now fried and it would take a lot of 'remembering' for me to be able to do it again, which means I'd definitely need more than 3 hours of sleep on average each night in order for it to happen and unfortunately, I don't see that happening anytime soon!!)

Recently, the two of them have spent many hours out working in the new shed on her big science project which is due on Friday.  They're doing a physics unit and were required to design and make a Rube Goldberg machine.  If you don't know what that is, Wikipedia describes it as:

A Rube Goldberg machine, device, or apparatus is a deliberately over-engineered machine that performs a very simple task in a very complex fashion, usually including a chain reaction.  The expression is named after American cartoonist and inventor Rube Goldberg.  Since then, the expression has expanded to denote any form of overly confusing or complicated system.

 As I read that definition, I have to chuckle just a little thinking that this was the PERFECT project for Eric to help with.  :-D

Anyway, they did a great job and had fun working on it together.  Dad/daughter quality time at it's best!  Mackenzie designed it, they tweaked her design together, came up with how to build it, and then went to work together.  It turned out very cool and they managed to get their first successful runs tonight and were able to videotape it for her class.  Good thing the teacher allows them to videotape any large projects or projects that can't easily be moved to the school.  I don't think they'd want to risk the mess with Mackenzie dropping Mentos into Diet Coke in the classroom.  Yep, leave it to Eric and Mackenzie to incorporate this into the machine.  It's cool, but if you ask me, a waste of some perfectly good Diet Coke.  (See?  This is why it's good that he helps with these things!)

And there you have it!

My Sweet Boy, Emama's Not Going to Starve!

 Just a short update on Markos' adjustment in the eating arena.  Thankfully, week by week, things are getting easier.  He's still extremely picky, but at least the fear of starving and the panic it brought about has disappeared.  I no longer have to continually offer Markos food.  He will come to me if he's hungry in between meal times.  He will also stop eating if he's full instead of cleaning his plate every time he's given food.  He will even choose playing over eating at times if he's having fun.

I no longer have to load his plate to overflowing with food, most of which I knew he wasn't going to like and therefore wasn't going to eat.  When he first came, he insisted on "tilick food"  (big food) every time I fed him.  If I only put a small amount on his plate for him to try, he would cry; insist on "tilick, tilick"; get angry; insist "NO TINNISH!"  (no little); swing at the table, at me, at his plate.  Now, he understands when I say, "try it and see if you like it.  You can have more if you like it."  He has even stopped checking, "tinnish, more?" when I do that - meaning, 'I will try just a little but I can have more, right?'.  I can now bargain with him over the foods that I know he likes to get him to try new things - ie. if you eat one bite of broccoli, you can have more baked beans.

Here are some of his favorites:

• bananas
• chicken nuggets & fries from Chick-fil-A (but ONLY from Chick-fil-A!  He "no like different chicken" - aka chicken nuggets from any other fast food restaurant)  :-)
• waffles (breakfast EVERY morning)
• dabbo (bread - but only the whole grain wheat bread or cinnamon bread)
• sega (meat - plain, cut up hamburgers)
• shy (hot tea - which he drinks every morning also)
• apple juice (thank goodness that we have been able to transition him to apple juice from the super thick mango juice and papaya juice that he drank when we first came home)
• Ethiopian food (I have almost used up that which I froze before we left so I guess it's time to make some more or to go back to the ET restaurant!)
• corn chips with spicy salsa (I have resorted to counting this as a vegetable.  If the schools can count ketchup as a vegetable, then I can count salsa!  I actually buy the all natural, organic salsa which contains nothing more than tomatoes, onions, peppers, vinegar, and spices so I think it's justified!)
• chicken with rice
• baked beans

He still hates:

• all things vegetable!  (seriously, I haven't found a vegetable yet that he will eat - aside from the previously mentioned 'salsa vegetable')
• most things potato (potato chips even repulse him, but he will eat fries)
• all dairy (he won't eat cheese, won't drink milk, doesn't like yogurt)
• onions and garlic (with a passion!!  He smells almost everything before he eats it and I am not kidding, if it has garlic or onion, he almost always wrinkles up his nose, makes his yuck face, and refuses to try it.  Only exception thus far - the salsa vegetable!)
• most new things or things that look different

So, it's going ok.  I'm praying it continues to get easier and he starts eating more soon because with Eric's food allergies and all of Daniel's food allergies, I really don't need another picky eater in the house.

But, here's the interesting thing that I have picked up on over the past few weeks.  Markos gets very concerned if I don't eat when he eats.  I noticed it a while ago, but didn't really put it together until recently.  If I give him lunch, and I'm not hungry but sit with him at the table, he will keep insisting, "Emama eat".  Even if he's eating his very favorite food and is hungry, he will try to give me some of his food.  "Emama eat!".  A week ago, I got out a bag of Twizzlers and there were only 3 left.  I had already eaten one before he came over, so I gave him the 2 that were left.  He was totally excited and happy to get the two, until he saw that there were none left.  Then, with a sad face, he gave me one of his, insisting, "Emama eat".  I told him it was ok, that he could have it, but he kept insisting, "Emama eat".  I told him I already ate one, that it was ok, but he was still insisting, "Emama eat".

I can see the fear and the hurt in his beautiful eyes when he says it - "Emama eat".  He knows hunger.  He's lived it.  He's had one Emama give her food for him and his brothers and sisters to eat.  He lost her.  He doesn't want to lose another Emama, so he'll give his food now.  Oh my poor sweet boy, this Emama's not going to starve.  Trust me.  I could stand to skip a few meals, but I'll be sure to do it when you won't notice so you won't worry about me.  I'm always happy to eat some chips and salsa with you!!  After all, it IS a vegetable, so it's healthy, right?!

Say Yes!!

Oh, how my heart breaks for children who don't have a family.

Say Yes!!

And this.....

Can become this....
 

This....

Can become this...

Say yes and be blessed!!