The Secret Garden - Spoiler Alert: It's a story about an ugly, cross girl whose parents die of cholera and who is deserted by the servants soon thereafter. (And that summarizes chapters 1-3)

I just started reading this book with Katie and Jacob tonight. (Well, more with Katie because Jake was out like a light by the 8th page.)

She really liked it, even though we stopped at the end of each section to talk about things that happened. Like, say, CHOLERA ("Where is the cholera, Mom? Is it NOW??"), a little girl being left alone when her parents DIE from the cholera ("What do they do with the people who die, Mommy?"), a little girl being totally FORGOTTEN when all of the servants (who don't really like her anyway) DESERT the house, and the same little girl being described as "cross" and "ugly" for the entire first three chapters... I didn't really remember any of this from when I read the book.

Come to think of it, maybe I saw the movie. Where they summarized lots (and LOTS) of the first chapters. I think that's why all of the story setup is vaguely familiar but still surprising.

But, Katie seems to like it. She was "imagining the story" when she closed her eyes and didn't actually fall asleep, so I guess we'll continue on.

(Jacob can join us. This story is great for putting him right to sleep!)

Speaking of Katie, she's been sick all week. She started puking on Sunday and was FINALLY well enough to go to school today.

I knew she was better because, 1) she was no longer vomiting up ONE ounce of water she tried to drink, 2) she was able to keep some actual FOOD down, and 3) she wasn't the polite little girl she had been.*

*Oddly, my kids lose most of their demanding side when they get sick. Not just puking sick, cough and cold sick too. Dealing with the symptoms is gross, and messy, and a lot of hard work to get through, but it's kinda wonderful too. Because it's not everyday that my kids are all, "please" and "thank you" and "may I" and no one is fighting or exclaiming about how the other kid did them wrong...

Is it weird that I'm a little nostalgic?

Not that I like the puking or anything, it's just a nice change from the yelling and arguing that I see more often than I would like.  And I'm expected to mediate for the arguments when there is clearly no answer that won't result in one or both kids being furious with me.

(My newest approach to fighting/arguing is to put both of them in time out when they start up. They both know in advance that this is what will happen, and I usually ask, "Oh wonderful children that are the sunshines of my life [I may be paraphrasing a little bit here], are you fighting? Because if what I hear is fighting you will both go to time out..." because I'm a softie and don't *actually* want to punish anyone. Luckily, that stops things from progressing, or at least pulls it back from the hitting phase, where no one is a winner.)

They *do* get along a lot of the time though. And they bond over school (Katie's the teacher), Spongebob, books (Katie's the reader), games on Katie's nook (Katie's the game planner), and Katie mothering her brothers, and that makes me proud.

Just too bad we can't stretch that "a lot of the time" to include the other 80% of their waking hours.

Jacob is... Quirky.

<p>So. Every morning Jacob wakes up and fusses because he doesn't want to get up. He says it's too bright, school is stupid, he's too tired, and "eeeaaaaaahhhhhhaaaa". (I don't know what that means. It's just some kind of nails on chalkboard sound he makes when he's... displeased. It's awful. Especially first thing in the morning. Or anytime.)

When he can *finally* be coaxed from bed, daddy helps him get dressed and then it's my turn to oversee the teeth brushing/bathroom stuff. This goes pretty smoothly for the most part, exept for one tiny, little, horrible thing.

Jacob has issues with water.

Oh, he loves to play in it... He can play *in* it forever and his hands and feet can get all pruney and he's fine, but get a drop of water on the kids' clothes and it's the end of the world. Like, must-change-my-shirt, can't-wear that, why-can't-my-shirt-just-be-dry horrible. First thing in the morning. Quirky, right?

So this is what's been happening every. single. day. for about 2 weeks...

I take a shower each morning (just as I have for longer than Jake has been ALIVE). When I get out on the shower, water drips onto the floor (not rocket science, right?).

Jacob always manages to find one tiny drip with his socks.

I (in my most patient of voices, you know, the one that makes me sound like a crazy disney princess?) humor him and tell him that they will dry, but he doesn't care. All he can say is that his socks are wet. And I know from past experience that his feet aren't going anywhere near his shoes till those socks are dry.

So, I grab the socks he didn't wear from the day before (they were wet, doncha know) and put them on him. He's fine with that. And today's socks have now become tomorrows.

So today, imagine my surprise when Jacob gets through his morning routine with no water/sock drama!

Thinking I'm in the clear, we start getting shoes and coasts on. Gramps comes in from outside to get Katie to the car. Leaving behind tiny amounts of... snow. Watery, drippy snow.

All is fine till Jacob gets to the kitchen and goes to get his shoes on... and steps in a little bit of water from Grandpa's boots.

Insert big sigh here.

Luckily I had the socks from the day before so he had dry socks.

Tomorrow I'm going to put his socks in his shoes. Duh. Why didn't I think of that sooner...

When you wish upon a star...

My mom wish list...

1. Sleep seven nights through without being woken up by the odd sensation that someone is staring at me while I sleep (scary the first couple times it happens) or fussing because they need to go potty RIGHT NOW... or just randomly talking (loudly) in their sleep.

I'm at about three nights a week of (blissful) uninterrupted sleep right now. Big cheers for leaving the infant phase!

2. Plan ahead for birthdays and holidays. Like having outfits ready *before* the day of the event (and gifts I don't pick up from Target on the way to the party).

3. Expose my kids to more culture and learning experiences. You know, once I think I can handle jaunting off with the three of them on a whim. To places where we'll end up visiting a restroom on every floor (twice, because when I asked if anyone else had to go, you know, since we were already there, everyone, EVERYONE said no). And doing this at an age where they will understand that they have to act like refined children instead of like a bunch of loveable, but nutty crazies. Oh, and bonus if I don't end up dripping with sweat because the crazies fed on each others' energy till they were all bouncing off the walls (and it might not be acceptable to use a stroller for a 7, 4, and 2 year old) and I become more interested in finding the nearest exit to get our of dodge before things get REALLY bad... AND finding a bathroom because someone has a tiny bladder and won't be able to walk another inch unless the bathroom is in sight.

(Of course, I'll still hear the dreaded "Mommeeeeyyyy, I have to go potteeeeyyyyyy" as soon as we're in the car on the way home and... I've just exhaled all of my tension in anticipation of a nice, peaceful ride home.)

4. Ummm. Maybe substituting their current shows with more...  educational television?
(I doubt that iCarley and SpongeBob are not considered educational TV. I'll admit I find SpongeBob... entertaining. But educational? Probably not so much. Bummer.)

5. Learn that crazy math Katie will be doing in school before long (or at least a few of the newfangled math terms *she* knows NOW but that sound like craziness to me... math mountains anyone?).

6. Spend more time with Jackson. Poor kid gets lost in all of the noise with the older kids and he's so funny and kinda chatty at 19 months.

7. Keep cheering the kids on, but not in the weird "you can be anything you want to be" way. No, instead, in a more realistic, "if you work hard at something, you might be able to reach your goal... maybe."

(I told Katie about *my* childhood dream of becoming a vet. And how that dream changed after I realized it wasn't all petting cuddly animals and wearing a crisp, white coat. There would be a lot of school and some animal dissections and the possibility of having to perform *gulp* "real" surgery as a vet... Well, those realizations changed my mind really quickly.)

And isn't it better to be honest when your kid's dream (of the week) is to be a princess? Of course, I gave her my blessing to try the princess thing, but asked her to get her education so she would have something to fall back on.

8. Add another set of eyes to the ones already on the back of my head. But these should have xray vision to see through walls. Cause kids are sneaky and my mom superpowers need to step it up a bit.

There are more, but I'll stop here... It's bedtime and I have to pry Katie's nook from her hands. Her iCarley intake is at maximum (which means it's getting late, and I can't listen to any more screaming teens tonight).