An Easter moment

We spent another Easter at my mom's house. She has the best backyard for the Easter Bunny to visit. He was busy again this year hiding another 100-something eggs. Of all those eggs, my brother always dyes a special egg and hides it really well. The finder of thus egg wins a special prize. This year it was Dylan. The look on his face was just awesome. You could see it written all over his face that he just could not believe he was the one who found it. Once he got over it, his smile just lit up his face.

Deets and the winning egg (found in the compost pile)

Deets with his prize

What does the word "fight" really mean?

Over the past few weeks Russ and I have come to see that Brandon does not really understand what fighting means. He interprets anything that involves pushing, shoving and general horse play to be fighting. Although we are pretty sure the first incident he relayed did involve older boys getting a bit carried away, he has since been participating in rough play with other boys in his class.


He came home from school one day and over a plate of oreos I asked him what he did that day. When it came to recess he told me, "I don't want to tell you, because you might get mad." I prodded a bit more and he told me that he and another boy were fighting with someone on the playground. Well after a few more questions, it turned out to be play fighting. I had to explain to Brandon the difference between play fighting (everyone laughing while hitting and pushing) and real fighting (mad faces, mean yelling, crying and people getting really hurt). Now I think he gets it. It's definitely interesting to hear that he's starting to do more "boy stuff" rather than wander the playground by himself everyday.

Ok, this is a total "mom" post. So sorry!

Sorry, but I have to report that Owen has tackled the scariest part of potty training tonight. He's been saying for weeks that he wants to "go poo on the potty" right before bath time. No luck beyond the pee. Well tonight he was victorious. I left him in the bathroom for some alone time, and sure enough, I hear this excited yelling that he he went poo in the potty. I came in to this radiant smile. It was just awesome that he had no fear like my other 2 boys. He just decided tonight was the night and made it happen. He walked away with a fist full of M&M's which he proudly showed to his brothers. That's when Dylan whined, "When do I get M&M's?" He now has seen what he gets if he ever goes poo on the potty. I am hoping and praying this will be Dylan's turning point, and he'll stop being a non-pooing stubborn mule of a boy. Maybe, just maybe, Dylan will be potty trained before he starts kindergarten.

Why do they wait so long to tell you the important stuff???

All 3 boys got into trouble today for, I guess you could say being themselves. They were fighting and crying and carrying on, so I put all 3 on time out. After their time out, I sat down to talked to all of them about being brothers. We had this discussion about protecting each other when they are out in public, and how it should be the same at home and how we need to use our words and listen better.

Anyway, after this is all said and done, Brandon tells me that he and the neighbor were walking together at recess one day, when two older boys came up to them and just pushed them down. Well, the neighbor pushed back and so did Brandon. I guess punches were thrown and my boy ended up in the nurses office with ice packs on both eyes. Apparently this all happened "a long time ago." I was so pissed that I was never told. I vaguely remember noticing Brandon's eye looking a little red and asking him about it, but I got an "I don't know" answer. I'd say that was at least a month ago. I was relieved that he actually fought back and didn't just stand there while some older boy beat him up. I'm not happy with the teacher's response when Brandon told her what happened. She basically told him not to go to that part of the playground again. WTF! I'm so livid I can't wait for school to open on Monday.

What I hate is the uneasy feeling I have now just wondering what else I don't know.

Spring Break in Santa Cruz

I am very thankful the way the calendar played out this year. Typically Easter falls later in the month than it did this year, making it impossible for me to get away for spring break with my family. (My work schedule has me Sacramento bound between the 5th and 20th of each month.) This year with Easter so early, I was able to "relax" with the family on the coast for the week. I admit the rain did dampen our plans, but we still made it out of the house nearly every day to do something.

We spent a good 4 or 5 days at the beach and a couple more hiking in the forest. On two separate occasions, two of my boys were nearly run over by cars. If you find gray hairs on my head, you will know where they came from. Brandon was very nearly run over by the lifeguard truck because he had layed down in a hole right in the path of the beach patrol. He'd go huddle in that hole when he felt cold, and we thought nothing of it. When I saw the truck pass by on the beach, it slowly dawned on me that Brandon was laying in it's path. I looked back and sure enough the tire tracks head directly at him and then veer around his hole. I stood shaking my head, because I felt like an negligent parent and also because Brandon saw the truck coming and still didn't move. The lifeguard made sure to let us know Brandon shouldn't be where he was, because it was a busy weekend and if there was an emergency, a lifeguard may not see him laying in his hole. Talk about feeling like an idiot. All I could do is nod my head, because just the day before the beach patrol and paramedics had been called because a couple of people were pulled pretty far out by a riptide. Brandon for sure would have been run over that day.

The second incident happened the last day we spent at the beach. We were carrying our things back to the car. Owen was out ahead of everyone because he wanted to be first. We told him over and over as he reached the sidewalk to wait for us. "Owen, wait there!" All he could see were his brothers coming and he wanted to be first to the car, so he ran out in the street in front of a moving car. I just about died. I literally could not make my body move. I was frozen as I yelled my baby's name. He stopped and came back on the sidewalk looking completely confused. He had no idea what he did wrong. We were so lucky that driver had slowed down because Owen was standing right on the edge of the sidewalk. When he bolted in the street, the van was going slow enough that stopping wasn't difficult. I am so thankful for that careful driver!

Aside from those heart stopping moments, we had a wonderful time collecting beach treasures and playing in the water and sand. The hikes in the forest were fun too, but convincing all of them to go was difficult. They were usually too comfy in their jammies playing XBox games. In the end we forced everyone to go. Nisene Marks was lush and green and beautiful. Even when it began to rain, it was a wonderful place to be. The boys loved it.

The kids could have stayed longer in Santa Cruz. They just love it there. Who cares if they sleep on the floor. They wake up to views of the ocean, property ripe for lizard catchin, and the guarantee they are either going to the beach or the forest that day. They have it so good. If only they knew how lucky they are.