I guess a girl can only spread herself so thin before something's gotta give. And unfortunately, it's been this family blog that has taken a hit! I've been doing a lot of blogging over on my other site, where I am blogging about our new house, documenting our progress in getting it fixed up and move-in ready. I have sort of "forgotten" to keep documenting all the other important things in our life, like our kids! **GASP!**
Poor little Henny-Poo...... subsequent children always get the shit end of the stick. Just on Sunday I had to take him in to Patient First to get his eyes looked at. I knew it was pink eye, since my eyes had been getting more pink since probably last week. Anyhow, I decided to leave Kwabena home after we had left the mall (went to hang out with Heidi, Isabella, and Aiden and have lunch at P.F. Chang's), and just take Ohene on his own. The realization hit me that I have hardly ever gone anywhere alone with Ohene! It's always me, him, and Kwabena. Occasionally I get alone time with Kwabena, like if we run to Target together. But poor little Henny never just gets Mommy to himself. :( Maybe it will be different once Kwabena starts school next school year and I can pick Ohene up half day or something and spend some time with him. Or, if we were to do it now, we could have Kwasi go somewhere with Kwabena, and I take Ohene. Awwww.........
Anyhow, Kwabena is doing well, but has his up days and down days at daycare. His overall problem is not listening. He wants to do what he wants to do, and when he wants to do it. Last night I was so angry (well, not that angry, since I am not one to get that angry, but you know what I mean) with him because he was tuning me out (like usually) when I kept asking him to put on his jammies. Finally I got serious with him, and what does he do?? Cross his eyes to me, like I am a joke or something. I got frustrated and simply told him to go to bed, turned off his light, and left.
Well, of course, then the screaming and "Noooo!" started. I went back in there, Ohene on my hip (who's bedtime was further becoming delayed), and very seriously told him that didn't approve of his behavior, etc. I told him I will read him a story, but I was not going to put up with that type of behavior, that he needs to respect his parent, blah, blah, blah. Even though he appears to have been taking me seriously at that point, I don't expect it to last. That kid.......He's like 4 going on 14 or something!
Kwasi was saying the other night that he knows he needs to develop more patience with Kwabena. I will admit that he's frustrating at times. Sometimes he really is just being a kid. But the loud voice, and annoying laughter at high pitches can drive you mad! But, patience is key, and trying to redirect him would be better.
Overall, Kwabena is doing just fine with the move and all. We haven't officially moved in yet, since we're still ripping down wallpaper and we're having new cabinets installed next week. Plus, the house still smells funny and "old" in some places. So I have to work on getting that cleaned up. But once that's all done, we'll be set to move! All of our stuff is in the garage, actually. LOL Cleared out of the PODS!
I'll be happy once we're moved in and getting settled. Right now, it's been such an adjustment on everyone's part: living out of boxes, trying to squeeze in time to get work done around there, etc. And really, focusing on the house really draws attention away from the boys :( I would like to get to that place where the weekends are about US again, where we can just live and be happy together and not have to rush around doing this and that. I mean, I love doing this and that, but I also want to spend time with the boys instead of always thinking about all the other stuff I have to get done.
Let me take a moment to tick off a few things about our life, and our kids!
- Ohene can say "ball"! (And a few days ago I could have sworn he said "shoes" while holding his shoe, and said "down" when trying to get down from the bed!) I know this is around the time they start speaking, but it's still amazing. :) He understands so much now. I tell him to go throw something in the trash, and off he toddles. It's so cute! Some things he enjoys right now: putting other peoples' toothbrushes in his mouth (yuck!), playing with cars, writing and coloring (sort of!) with pencils and pens (maybe he'll be my little artist!), loves throwing things down and laughing about it, loves bottles of soymilk, and loves Mommy. Lately he's been so attached to me! So cute the way he grabs my legs and leans his head back and wailes for me to pick him up.
- Ohene is pointing at everything! I swear it seems like one day he couldn't convey much, and the next he's pointing, showing us what he wants, and actually babbling a sort of baby-talk that sounds like he's really trying to tell us things. He shakes his head "no" when you try to give him something, like a bite, and he doesn't it. He also loves to laugh when I tickle him. The minute I say in a sing-song voice, "Mommy's gonna TICKLE you!" he begins to squeal before I even get my hands on him! Too cute!
- Kwabena is obsessed with talking about "butts" and "buttholes" and "booty." OMG....typical boy, I think! I told him the other day each time he says the word "butthole" I am taking away a penny. And sure enough, it's ceased! However, "booty" is still his choice word. LOL He heard a snippet of this Wacka Flocka Flame (rapper) song called "No Hands" where the hook goes, "Girl, drop it to the floor, I love the way that booty goooo!" And of course, Kwabena heard the tune and now walks around mumbling the tune and then fills in at the end, "...booty gooooo!" Hilarious! Inappropriate, yes-- but still hilarious. He will outgrow it. And I make sure he doesn't catch snippets of our adult music! Oh-- but he purports that he heard a song that Uncle Kofi (Kwasi's brother) was playing on TV one day, and the next thing I know I heard Kwabena singing, "Girl where you get that sexy butt thing!" Ummm......... Thankfully he hasn't said it in a while!!!
- The other day Kwasi was showing Kwabena some pics of when Kwabena was a baby (on his computer), but of course, he's got HALF NAKED CHICKS pics that he has downloaded from the net who-knows-when, and of course, while flipping through--WHAM!--some of them pop up. UGH..... So there Kwabena sat, laughing, and saying, "Dadddy!! I want to see some more 'sexy'"! I jumped up to see what he was talking about, and then realized what accidentally popped up on the monitor. Ay yay yay.....So we were talking in the mall on Sunday and Kwabena sees Victoria's Secret down below and says, "Hey, Mommy, I see 'sexy'!" WTF?? So now my boy knows "sexy." Jeez........Gotta watch that....BIG TIME!
Kwabena read his first book a couple weeks ago!! It's called "Oh, Cats!" He's doing great with reading, although he still needs some help with words here and there. But I'm so proud of him! He's such a smart kid.
I still can't believe he's only 4. I peg him to be much older. I have been accused, at times, that I talk to him like he's older, too. I guess I just explain things to him that maybe kids shouldn't know?? I don't know.... Like when we were moving, Kwabena said we would be a Nana Ba's (Kwasi's mom's house) for a couple days. I said, "No, it will be 2 weeks." And he asked me how many days that was, so I told him 14 days. Miss Marilyn said that I shouldn't have told him, that I shouldn't give him too much information that he might not know how to process or understand or whatever. I totally disagree. I think as long as it's appropriate information, there's no reason why you can't keep your kids informed about things, as long as it's not harming them or hurting them. So he knows it's 14 days. So what. Better than him to keep asking, "Is it time to move yet?? Is it??" I don't know.....
Anyhow, all is well with Kwasi. He is busy with work, as usual. I think he's been enjoying the work we're doing around the house, too. At first, he was "afraid" of it, thinking it would be too big of a job for us (i.e. removing wallpaper), but we've been doing it successfully, and it's been nice having that bonding time in the evenings, drinking beer and working as a team on getting our house ready. :) I'm enjoying it, too!
Not much going on with me. My company may be losing the big contract, which means we may be picked up by another company. I hope not. I like this company. I have started, however, applying for some other positions within the company, on a different contract.
Well, better get some work done!