Learning Bye Bye

I know Oliver loves our wonderful babysitter Kendra but when he heard my voice the other day (I was upstairs) and realized I was home, he went and got Kendras shoes one at a time to give to her saying 'Bye Bye'.  He even got her coat.  (He is the almost two year old).

Don't ignore sounds

No matter how tired you are, don't ignore the banging sounds coming from the other room.
All four chose a side to band on with whatever toy they could find.  I guess I should be glad they didn't find hammers.

Pictures

It takes about six tries to get a picture of Michelle with her eyes open.  She told me "My eyes are camera shy."

Blizzard

This was yesterday

This is today

Same Chair.

What kids do after you put them to bed

They did not go to bed looking like this.

IT'S SNOWING!!!!!!

I love winter!!!!!

OK, I'm bragging

Michelle got a Student of the Month Award. Her award says

"It is a pleasure to award Michelle as Student of the Month because she is such a wonderful student. Michelle is one of the most polite students in our class. If she needs something, she always says "Excuse me", first. She is a good listener; follows directions well; works well with her friends and has excellent work habits. We are all fortunate to have Michelle in our class this year."

Cheese or Beer?

We were all watching football last night with Jade's brother Chris and he jokingly asked Michelle to get him a beer since she was up getting some water.  I told her to tell him to get off his lazy butt and get it himself.  Then about two minutes later Elliot came down with a slice of cheese and said "Here Uncle Chris.  I couldn't find a beer."

New Dog?

Michelle came back from camping with Jade and some cousins, one of whom brought a puppy.  Michelle said she wants that dog.  We said you have a dog.  She's sitting right there and her name is Coco.  She said 'I mean when one of our dogs dies'.

Baby with a Knife and Fork

I know, I know, it's dangerous.  But he's happy and QUIET!!!

Is my cooking that bad?

I have to practically force feed Oli mashed potatoes but this he eats on his own.

Eating Sugar?

I was cleaning Oliver's tray and I saw Elliot licking his hands and the sugar bowl next to him. I asked if he was just eating sugar now and he said No, I'm drinking it too - indicating the cup next to him.

Eat the Dog?

I told Claire I forgot to feed the dogs this morning and she said "I wanna eat Coco."
So I said "You want to eat Coco?" and she said "yes".

Too Quiet?

These are just a few of the things I've found when I realize I haven't been interrupted in the last five minutes:
1) Two kids sitting in a living room chair eating peanut butter out of the jar with their hands.
2) Two kids sitting in the middle of a pile of powder that has been spread from one end of the kitchen to the other.
3) Two kids dumping a box of 3" finishing nails onto the floor, picking them up, and dumping them again.
4) Two kids sitting in front of the pantry eating Crisco out of the container.

It's never one or three or four. It's always two. I don't think any more than that are able to do something bad quietly.

Too Friendly?

Michelle has always been very friendly but took it to a new level last weekend. She came running in to get me telling me there was someone I needed to meet. I didn't recognize the woman waiting outside the door but it turned out to be my neighbour three houses down. It turns out Michelle decided to go find some more friends by knocking on strangers doors and asking if they had kids. I thought she was playing with her friends already. Luckily, this woman thought it was odd and had Michelle bring her to her house so she could let us know. SCARY. I hate having to tell Michelle about 'stranger danger' but...

Amazon

I'm going to have to rethink my Amazon account and how I've set it up to order so easily. Elliot has discovered the toys on Amazon. We don't let him use the computer because he's too young and I'm afraid he will accidently delete important things. But sometimes he sees a commercial (or every commercial) for something he wants. If it seems reasonable we will look it up and see how much he needs to save to get it. But today, there was a video with the toy and I left him to watch it. As soon as he discovered all the links to other toys we lost him. He was in toyland all day. I'm just waiting now for the UPS man to deliver a couple dozen toys Elliot ordered by accident.

Diapers

So Claire, who is almost three, was potty trained. Then, I don't know what happened but she completely regressed. Started leaking in her underwear and changing them every time she went. Now she is back in diapers. I tried asking her if she was a baby, and even singing a little song - Claire is a baby, baby, baby, but she just started singing and dancing along. So, I am back to two in diapers:(

Food you can Carry

Oliver only wants to eat food he can carry while he walks around. Is that weird?

My Day

So this has been the worst week. Well, not even week, just two days. It all started Wednesday morning when I woke up and thought it was Saturday. I was sure it was Saturday for about half an hour then I realized it wasn't but my babysitter was coming so it had to be Thursday. Then I remembered she started college this week and switched to Monday and Wednesday. It was only Wednesday. This has happened to me a lot but it was always the opposite. I woke up Saturday thinking it was still a weekday. Then Jade calls from work and says I have a softball game at 5:30 so he won't be home until the kids are in bed. Anyway, that was yesterday.
This morning Elliot threw up, Claire unrolled a whole roll of toilet paper and put it in the toilet. I had a bottle of hand sanitizer on the kitchen counter. I left the kitchen for five minutes and when I returned Claire had sterilized her right leg with the whole bottle. Fun day huh?
At least I got to have some fun at my neighbors son's birthday party. I knew it would be a great time when the invitation said Tacos and Marg's.

First Chapter

This is the first chapter. I welcome any feedback.

“Don’t move,” he said, his arm around my neck, gun against my temple.

I suppose he was used to fear and obedience because his attack was lazy. His arm was loose, he hadn’t pulled me tightly to him, and his gun was touching but not pushing against my temple.

All big mistakes.

I elbowed him high in the diaphragm. Not a light little jab either. This wasn’t some movie where you hit the bad guy ten times and he still keeps coming. I gave it all I had, and let me tell you, that’s a lot. The result is typically stunned pain and breathlessness and this was no exception.

Before he had time to recover I smashed the back of my head into his nose and felt the satisfying give of bone and cartilage and knew it was broken. I crushed his instep with my foot, high heels being particularly effective, while grabbing the gun and twisting his hand inward till he released. Before he had a chance to catch his breath I spun away, faced him and hit him hard in the temple with the gun, knocking him out.

My breath was steady and heart rate only slightly elevated. It had been two years since anyone had threatened my life but some things you never forget.

I grabbed him under the arms, pulled him down the hall to the kitchen, and dropped him on the rug. I got a roll of duct tape from the junk drawer and taped his hands together behind him. His legs I taped together mid calve down to his toes then rolled him on his side. I didn’t want him taking the easy way out by choking to death on his own blood.

I like duct tape better than rope. First, everyone has duct tape. It’s a little suspicious to carry enough rope around to tie someone up. Second, it’s much harder to get out of, especially when taping a much bigger area than is really needed, say halfway up the leg or arm. No one is getting out of that without a knife.

I never considered calling the police. They had their way and I had mine. My way was more effective in getting to the bottom of things. No warrants or probable cause. But there was a call I did need to make and I couldn’t do it from my phone. If my instincts were right, and they usually were, this man on the floor would have an untraceable cell, either on him or in his rental car. The rental car was an assumption on my part, but again, I tend to be right about these things. I searched the man’s pockets and bingo, found the prepaid cell and some keys from a rental car.

Using his phone, I dialed a number I had memorized two years before.

“Check 8734CharlieTangoWilco,” I said.

“Hold please.”

“Speak,” a voice commanded.

“Am I compromised?”

“No.”

I hung up. There was no need for more than that, but the answer confused me. If I hadn’t been compromised, then who was trying to kill me?