Thanksgiving 2011

This Thanksgiving I am most thankful for:

1.  Miss Jentry hard at work in her office. 

She spent several hours playing with all the exciting toys in Grandma and Papa's basement.

2.  Miss Anna...adorably greeting guests at the door.

I am certain I need to find her charming sweater dress in my size.

 

3.  Mr. Isaac...threatening to throw a dart at me while producing the cutest smile ever!

4.  Granny Mary, my mother, pianos, and little voices singing "Teddy Bears' Picnic".

5.  My mother's ability to use her grandchildren as yard hands! 

The neighbor even stopped to remind her about child labor laws.  No worries though, the kiddos had a blast raking up "tree hay" for the "horses".  The weather was beautiful for a Thanksgiving in Nebraska.

 

Our family enjoyed a scrumptious meal at the Taylor's new house in Alma and we even got to take a scenic walk along the lake.  

I am simply overwhelmed with the blessings God has given. 

Potato Head Party

My precious nephew, Isaac Lee, turned four one week ago.  How is this even possible?  How did the time go so quickly?  How could he be old enough to answer the cell phone, when I called to wish him a happy birthday?  How could he have the knowledge to tell me that his birthday is on November 16th?  How could he be too busy to have time to talk long?  I guess his new coloring markers were more important than listening to his crazy Aunt attempt to sing him happy birthday.

How could he be old enough to request a specific Potato Head theme for his party?

Mrs. P.

Mr. P.

How could my sister be creative enough to make him Potato Head cakes?

How could I have a daughter old enough to sit at the "big kid table" with Mr. Potato Head?

How could there be a third crazy kid already?  Where did the babies go?

 

How could a four-year-old look so profound and modelesque?

HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY ISAAC LEE!

Love, Aunt JJ

Leaf Nests

We live in a neighborhood with a lot of leaves.  To the average person this sounds wonderful, just as it did to me when I purchased the home.  It is shady in the summer and beautiful in the fall.  However, no one told me that I would be up to my ears in leaves this time of year.  If I don't clear them off the grass once a week, we might be buried alive.

Jentry decided to help me by making "leaf nests."

 

 She definitely made the task at hand a little more enjoyable!

A Lot of Fire

This week I received an e-mail at work from the director at daycare.  The subject of the e-mail was Accident and went a little something like this:

Hi Jan,

Just wanted to let you know Jentry had an accident this morning.  She was in the office for a think time, and just let loose!  She didn’t say she had to go to the restroom, so it must have caught her off guard.  She’s all changed and the soiled clothing is in her cubby, double bagged.  I don’t think it got on her shoes, but it is possible the tongues got a touch of it.  Anyway – everything is taken care of, I just wanted to let you know.

Not exactly what was I was hoping to read.  I was hoping for a little, innocent story about how Jentry fell and bumped her knee.  To be quite honest, all I really ever want from the director of daycare is an adorable picture of my little angel playing joyfully or learning studiously.  Nope....not so much?  I guess that is too much to ask for.

I responded and thanked the director for informing me. After all, it was nice of her to take the time to write to me.  This was her response:

She’s such a sweetie, she’s just got a lot of fire, but that’s a good thing!

My thoughts: A good thing?  Really?  I used to think so, but today I am not so sure.

No Supper = Empty Heart

I can now officially check off another requisite of being a mother.  Last night I sent my three-year-old to bed without supper.  To be very honest, at the beginning of the battle I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to follow through with my original threat.  However as the battle continued, I became more and more determined to stick to my guns.  After a ton of attempts to calmly reason, several trips to “think time”, and a few spankings, the hour long combat came to an end with a swift dump of untouched food into the trashcan. 

This was followed by a complete, screaming, sobbing meltdown.

To preface, I was trying to get supper on the table a little earlier than usually, as we go to Bible study at 6:30 on Monday evenings.  I put a cup of white milk on the table in front of Jentry’s plate.  When she got to the table, she quickly demanded chocolate milk instead.  I normally would not provide her with the option but have recently given into a small amount of chocolate syrup, as this has proven to result in a higher intake amount.  There was a cup of already mixed chocolate milk leftover from the night before in the fridge, so I quickly grabbed it and put it in front of her.  Little did I know, this was not going to be the quick fix in which I was hoping.  Jentry then desired the chocolate milk be placed in the cup where the white milk was residing.  As any reasonable parent would do, I said “absolutely not” to this outrageous request.  This was proceeded by the previously mentioned screaming, sobbing meltdown.

Jentry continued to wail all the way to the church and would periodically sob, “I’m hungry!”  I was less worried about her going hungry and more concerned about what she might say to the caregiver at church!  Would they suspect that I was truly starving my child. Yikes!  I was tempted just to turn the car around and go back to the private confines of my home.  Then I realized that I could not allow my three-year-old to control my evening plans and so I forged ahead. 

An hour of play time in the nursery completely distracted Jentry from the previous debacle at home.  She didn’t mention food, or should I say the lack of food, until it was time to crawl into bed.  She then said, “But I didn’t get to eat.”  When I asked her why not, she pretended to be completely clueless.  I quickly reminded her why she did not get to eat and confirmed that it would be very wise of her to never act like that again.  She went to sleep without another peep but with an empty tummy.  I went to sleep knowing that I had done the right thing but with an empty heart. 

Too Much Candy...Again

Last Tuesday evening, Jentry acted just fine.  She seemed absolutely normal to me.  She ate all of her supper so that she could pick out a piece of candy from her newly acquired Halloween stash.  Of course, she haggled me until I agreed to two pieces instead of one.  After an in depth inspection of each piece and careful consideration, she finally chose two Andes Mints. 

The rest of our evening was typical.  She took a bath, put on her jammies, brushed her teeth, watched Dora, etc.  Jentry did not show any signs of feeling ill until we began reading books.  She started complaining about her tummy hurting.  I suggested she go to the bathroom, as this usually fixes the "illness."  She sat on the toilet but nothing, so we went back to reading books.  Then she began holding her tummy again and moaning.  I assumed she probably had some cramping from gas and that she would soon feel better.  Then she coughed, brought her hand up to her mouth, burped, and spit out a small amount of saliva.  This scared her and she said with much concern, "Did I just throw up?"  I reassured her that, no, she had not thrown up and handed her a Kleenex.  She then thought we needed to go back to the bathroom and wash her hand.  Good idea, I guess, then back to the books. 

We were only a few minutes back into reading when she started complaining again.  This time I decided it would best to just go to the bathroom and get away from my nice, clean sofa!  She stood in the bathroom for awhile and I encouraged her to spit in the toilet.  She wanted to go back to the couch, and when I said we needed to stay in the bathroom she became very anxious.  She said, "Mom can't we just go to the doctor? Just take me to the doctor!"  I told her that the doctor's office was closed.  She replied, "Well, when am I going to feel better?"  Finally, she ran to the toilet and there it all went.  She whimpered a bit and asked me to hold her hand. 

In that very moment, I had such mixed emotions.  1. I was feeling so bad that my baby was sick.  2.  I felt horrible that my baby was scared.  3.  I felt so thankful that I could be her comforter.  4.  I was ecstatic that she is now big enough to communicate her sickness and make it to the toilet!  5.  I was sad again that my baby is getting so big.

When she was finished, her special Barbie mouth wash came in quite handy.  She said, "I feel much better now mommy."  She wanted to finish reading her books, but when we got back to the couch she said, "I just want to go to bed mom."  I tucked her in with a trash can on the floor next to her bed.  She suggested I put it right next to her on the bed, but I convinced her that was maybe not the best idea.  From 9:15 pm to 1:30 am she woke up and called for me five times but never did get sick again.  We both slept in Wednesday morning, ate breakfast and were back to our regular routine by noon.  I was so thankful Jentry's ailment was just a onetime event and immediately blamed it on the all of the candy, of course.  Jentry is now terrified again of eating too many sweets. So far, my tactic is working just as well as it did when she got sick on Valentines Day.  Fabulous!