Part Two: Who ARE Those Kids?

I am the single mother of six children. Some people are amazed by that fact. To me, it's just who and what I am. My oldest moved out last spring, so I only have five children living at home.

Yes, I can SEE you shaking your head at my use of the word only.

My three oldest children are biological. My three youngest are adopted. Three are boys and three are girls. Yes, I have my own Brady Bunch. *snort* Hardly. Otherwise I KNOW I would have an Alice. And a Mike. For the record, at this point I'd prefer an Alice. I hate housework.

If you want to know the story about HOW I became a single mother read this.

Some of you know my kids from when I wrote before. Others are getting introduced. After this post, you'll all be up to speed.

Trace

My oldest, Trace, is twenty-three now. He moved out last spring and into a condo with his girlfriend Cody and her four-year-old son Gauge. Trace works full-time at a pizza restaurant and is finishing his last semester of collage. He is eager to get out of the food service industry and begin a career.

His girlfriend Cody is the owner/creator of LuandEd She makes the cutest monster bags and tutus. Be sure to check her store out.

Ross

Ross just turned twenty. He lives at home and splits his time between working as an assistant manager at a convenience store and going to our local community college. His major is still undivided. He currently has a girlfriend. Ross lives in a man-cave, otherwise known as our basement, where he happily resides with the 50" plasma screen TV he bought last spring. Needless to say, I don't see a lot of Ross, but he often bring me Starbucks mochas. I think I'll keep him.

Julia

Julia is thirteen and now an eighth grader. Julia is into everything drama, whether it be in real life or on a stage. She just found out she got the lead role as Millie in her school musical, Thoroughly Modern Millie. She is in Show Choir (think Glee) and Honor Choir. Julia has a heart of gold and loves children. She is a much coveted babysitter. If only she liked watching her siblings as much as she enjoys watching other people's kids.

Jenna

Seven-year-old Jenna is a second grader. A product of the Disney Channel, Jenna is hip and sassy, but is actually more sensitive than I expected. She's a girly-girl through and through and would rather play with her American Girl doll than kick around a ball. Jenna is very social and love her friends.

Ryan

Ryan is now four and in Pre-K where he gets speech therapy. Ryan was born with a cleft lip and cleft palate, but they were repaired in China before we adopted him at two and a half. Ryan likes things neat and tidy. He loves nothing more than to boss people around and tattle on them when they don't follow the rules, which explains his nickname: Officer Ryan. When Ross isn't around (most of the time,) he is the only boy in a sea of estrogen. God bless him.

Emma

Three-year-old Emma is the baby. Since the day I met Emma at three months, she has always had a strong will. A character trait to be admired, most of the time, but not when you are battling over the appropriate place to poop-- the toilet versus your panties. It's her very stubborness that helped her survive malnutrition in a Vietnamese orphanage and a case of RSV when she was four months old that left her on a ventilator for six days. While her tenacity can be annoying at times, I wouldn't change it for anything.

Pumpkin Patch

We took our annual trip to the pumpkin patch today.  While last year's trip was warm and sunny, today's trip was the opposite but it didn't seem to dampen any spirits.  The kids were excited because this year they got to go on a hayride!  But first things first. We went to the Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead in Overland Park, KS which has a model  Kansas farm for kids to interact with.  The best part is that the children's farm is free.

As soon as you walk in you are greeted by a chicken pen.  Emma was fascinated with the chickens.  Ryan was scared.  We then moseyed on to the dairy barn which had real live cows. The girls were excited.  Ryan was scared.

 

It also had a saddle right out in the middle of the floor which Jenna and Ryan had to try.  Contrary to the evidence above, Ryan is having a good time.  He just doesn't believe in smiling for the camera anymore.  He's moved on from the wink to a more stoic look.  In fact, his preschool pictures were on Thursday and his teacher told me that she had to literally be attacked by Elmo to make him smile.  I'm not sure which should concern me more: the fact that they had to go to such lengths to make him smile or the fact that he found his teacher being mugged amusing.

 

We then checked out the Indian village, complete with tepees.  The girls quickly decided that they had no desire to live in a tepee.

 

Next was the baby goat pen, which Ryan was afraid of.  He was completely content to stay outside and watch while...

The girls feed the baby goats.  Emma wasn't frightened at all.  I was more concerned that the goats might eat Toodee, who was in her left hand.

Jenna and Julia both had their turn feeding the goats too.

While Gauge found a new friend.

 

Next up was the tractor races because what farm experience isn't complete without tractor races?  The farmstead had an oval track for the kids to race their tractor tricycles.

Finally, it was time for the main attraction:  The Hayride and the Pumpkin Patch.

 

The five of us on the hayride.  I never got a picture of the wagon.  The wagon was pulled by 2 horses which completely freaked Ryan out.  When I came time to climb onto the wagon I had 3 crying children which caused quite the spectacle.  (Good thing I'm used to causing spectacles so it didn't really bother me.)  Ryan was crying because of the horse.  Emma was crying because I put her down to load Ryan onto the wagon and Jenna was crying because she wanted to sit on my lap, which obviously wasn't going to happen.  Once the hayride started, all crying stopped and Ryan thought it was fun.

 

Cody and Gauge on the hayride.

Once we got to the pumpkin patch there were many things for the kids to do.  There was a giant slide on top of hay bales.  While I got several videos of the kids on the slide, I didn't get any pictures.

 

The kids then went fishing in a kiddie pool for wooden pumpkins.

 

While Emma played in a watering trough full of corn.

 

We then moved onto search for the perfect pumpkins.  The entrance fee to the patch include a pumpkin for each person.  Ryan must have gone through about 20 pumpkins before he left with one.  Notice the happy little guy in this photo.

Compared to the scared little boy last year.  It's amazing the difference a year can make.

 

Here's the look I got from Jenna most of the day.  From complaining about her boots, to her whining that she was cold, Jenna wasn't a happy girl most of the day.

 

But she seemed pretty happy when she got her pumpkin.

 

Emma spent most of her time in the pumpkin patch picking up sticks.  She had no interest in pumpkins.  In fact, when given a pumpkin this was her response:

Some days I wish I could give a pumpkin a good spike too.

 

We knew it was time to go when spiking pumpkins wasn't fun any longer and Emma just wanted to be held.  Nevertheless, the pumpkin patch was a smashing success.

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Potty Power

Have I really sunk this low? Has it gotten so bad that I go over a week without writing a blog post and then when I finally write one I resort to bathroom humor?

Apparently I have.

My sweet little mischievous Ryan is 3 1/2. When we received Ryan a mere 12 months ago, he pottied and poopied in the toilet. We came home and he didn't. No surprise, this happens to most toddlers just adopted. But a year later and we were no closer to that Potty Trained Goal and I was becoming frustrated.

(Lucky for you, Ryan just had his 12 month post placement visit last week so I'll be including a bunch of photos we took to send to China.)

Sure the boy can read but he couldn't pee in a toilet. Of course I was frustrated. (No, he really can't read. But doesn't he look smart-- and cute-- holding that book?) You have to understand, I'm pretty laid back when it comes to potty training. I've learned the hard way that they ain't gonna pee in a toilet until they're darn good and ready. But Preschool was looming in the not so distant future and being potty trained was a must. I decided that potty training need to be jump started.

(You would think Gauge would be a positive role model, or at the very least exhibit some positive peer pressure. No such luck.)

So about a week ago, I decided that "today was the day" and I put Ryan in a pull up and began to set the timer on the microwave for 20 minutes. Every 20 minutes he peed on cue and his pull up remained dry. After about an hour and half, we moved to 30 minutes. When the timer went off and I took Ryan to the bathroom, his pull up was wet. I was beginning to wonder if he had some bladder issue, maybe his bladder was mini sized. Or maybe it was just too easy to pee in a pull up. Time to pull out the underwear.

(We needed a photo of just Ryan and I but he has started winking whenever the camera comes out. So I started making silly faces with him in hopes of getting something that didn't make him look like he'd just had a stroke.)

Yeah, that thought made us cringe, but I learned with both Julia and Jenna that sometimes pull-ups enable them to not go in the toilet. So that very afternoon, he started wearing panties, uhm, I mean underwear. (Sorry Ry, but Momma is so used to saying "panties" that I hope I don't scar you for life, or at least in the school locker room.)

He had one accident soon after putting his underwear on but it was only a very small one and he was dry after that. In fact, the next day I took Ryan and Emma to Lowe's with me and as I was almost there, I realized that Ryan as still in panties underwear. But the trip was uneventful, in that he didn't leave a Hansel and Gretel pee trial throughout the store anyway. Since then, he's done pretty well. He's had a few accidents. Once last week when I took him to the gym's Kid Club (child care)-- he didn't know where to go. The other time was at my brother's house. He was outside playing and perhaps too busy to stop and go inside to pee.

(My absolute most favorite picture of Ryan and I together. I love it so much I had a 5x7 made.)

I would consider his potty training mission to be pretty successful. He still needs a pull up at night and has had a few accidents at nap time, but that's to be expected. Five down and one to go. (Oh, I made a pun!) Now if Emma would just realize that the potty chair is for peeing or pooping and not her royal throne.

Child's Play

So what have I been doing during my absence? Putting my kids to work, of course.

What mother doesn't dream about her children fanning her with palm fronds? What? Not buying it? I didn't think so. This was the end of our excursion to Crate and Barrel Monday afternoon.

The first part involved my children rolling around on rugs in the displays.

What can I say? They don't get out much.

But they got outside on Sunday.

I was busy rearranging my patio and hosing it off when my children commandeered the hose. What else could I do but sit on my boo-tay and watch. You can thank (or curse, you be the judge) Cody for prompting me to grab my camera.

No, I didn't acquire any children. Some of the neighbor kids decided to join in the fun.

Who needs toys when you have an empty apple juice jug and some water?

Emma's in her own world.

Oops.

Fill it up again.

Why aren't our jugs getting full?

Nothing phases this girl, not even a hose being sprayed at her.

Sometimes you have to take matters into your own hands.

How does the water keep getting out?

** This isn't my usual chatty post, but I'm working my way there. Bear with me.

Mommy Runs Away: Part One -- Nearly Childless

I've decided to name my trip "Mommy Runs Away" even though I'm not sure it technically qualifies as "running away" when I have one of my children with me. I think it mostly does because I only have 1/6 of my children. You be the judge.

I realize I don't leave for my trip until Thursday morning but my children left me on Wednesday afternoon so Wednesday counts as the beginning. Although Gauge isn't technically staying with Grandma the entire time (just while Cody works) he was as excited about going to Grandma's as Jenna and Ryan were. From the time they woke up until the time they left all I heard was "when are we going to Grandma's?" Around lunch time I finally had Jenna call Grandma to get a definite time so I could start the official countdown. Grandma and Grandpa were coming at 3:00.

Here they are lined up with their individual suitcases. (Ryan just woke up from his nap so although he wasn't Mr. Chipper, he was really wanting to go.)

Since Gauge wanted to go so badly and kept asking where his suitcase was while I was packing, I got the okay from Cody for Gauge to go with the other kids and spend the evening. Cody and Trace picked him up just before bedtime.

Suitcases were loaded into the trunk and they scrambled into the car. I had to call them back out. "Where's my hugs and kisses goodbye guys???"

Hugs and kisses were delivered, booster seats adjusted and strapped in. They were ready to go.

And as they left I could hardly get a wave goodbye.

Emma woke up from her nap to discover she was an only child and she was the most delightful child I have ever met. She let me give her pigtails and just walked around talking and playing. She was totally reveling in being the only child.

I took advantage of being nearly small child kidless and we went out to dinner at Trace's favorite restaurant, The Salty Iguana. (Okay, I admit it, I didn't want to cook.) Emma continued in her happiness by expressing herself in dance.

Sometimes a girl just has to get her groove on. Especially when sporting sassy pigtails. The sass continues though. She should be asleep right now getting ready for our early morning wake up but she apparently doesn't want the fun to end. She's crying to get out of bed. Where's a bottle when I need one???

For her silly, not me.




Don't forget to drop by Teresa's blog Continuing the Journey. She's having a raffle to raise the rest of her money for her adoption of precious Molly. A chance is only $5 and there's some awesome prizes-- in fact there's even more now! Three more prizes have been added. In addition to the 1) autographed copy of Silent Tears by Kay Bratt, 2) the Pirate and Princess costumes and 3) 7" Sony digital picture frame there is now 4) a Swarovski crystal bracelet with a bead that says "mom" 5) a Vera Bradly tote, your choice of color and 6) an 8 pack of movie tickets to Regal cinemas.

And if that's not enough, if you tell Teresa (or me) that you got to her through me and I'll enter you in my own drawing for a There's Always Room For One More mug (and Crack bars) and a $25 gift certificate to Olive Garden.