PJ Day at The Academy

I declared today a pajama day here at the Academy. L and Z have done some math and handwriting, but they are still in their superhero pajamas. In between lessons at the kitchen table they've been under blankets on the couch. I originally was just going to call a pj day because of J, but here is a comprehensive list of their ailments:

L says that his nose and neck hurt. He's fighting what I think is a mild cold.

Z woke up this morning, ate breakfast, then told me that his tummy was hurting. I gave him a Tums and told him he could either go lay down in my bed or in the playroom (J was still sleeping on the fold-out couch in the living room). He went to my bed and slept for an hour.

J woke up crying (close to hysterical) last night that his head hurt and he was running a 103.3 fever. I ended up sleeping with him on the fold-out couch. He's got some serious green goop around his nose, but I'll spare you any more details.

Before I left for retreat this past Friday I thought M was getting the infection N had. Cr tells me the M spent Saturday coughing, crying because it hurt to cough, and crying. He had a bad cough when I came home on Sunday and Cr told me that he sounded much better. We thought he was continuing to improve, but he just came up to me crying, coughing and holding his hear saying that it hurts. I'm taking him in to the doctor this afternoon. I think J will tag along just to let the doctor get a quick glance in his ears.

However, N is doing better. He's been on an antibiotic for an ear infection for a week. He's back to eating, jabbering, and exploring.

It's snowing again. I'm looking forward to Spring and fresh, germ-free air!

A Conversation with The Monkey

I returned from a weekend women's retreat yesterday afternoon, and M has been ending almost every thought directed towards me with "Mommy". I think that means he missed me. Here's a conversation I had with him as he was watching me bake this afternoon.

M: "I want to watch you, Mommy. What are you making, Mommy?"
Mommy: "I'm making cinnamon rolls for Women's Bible Study tomorrow." (there was intentional emphasis on "Women's Bible Study" so he didn't think he'd be getting a roll for dinner)
M (with enthusiasm): "You're making cinnamon rolls to take to Jesus, Mommy???"

Maybe I Should Change His Name to "The Accountant"

Yesterday, on our drive over to church for dinner, Cr pointed out a company he'd interviewed with in the morning to all the boys. He told the boys how some of their parts were in stuff NASA uses, and that when you walked in the front door there was a big picture of an astronaut. Cr's thinking was, of course, that the boys would be amazed and impressed since they like outer space stuff.

The only response was from L (the boy who likes to earn a quarter for getting his brother out of his crib, searches the house for loose change, and has his brothers trained to give him any money they find):

"And how much would they pay you for doing that?".

Poor Baby

L went up to get N up this morning to earn a quarter. L came running back downstairs holding his nose and telling me N threw up in the middle of the night and there was no way he was going to touch him. I ran up, and sure enough N had thrown up, and spent the rest of the night rolling around in it. I bathed him, and now he's just laying on the living room floor letting his brothers pat his back.

Poor Baby.

Happy Valentine's Day

We were out of routine yesterday, and the boys had chocolate (thanks, Grandma B!) at lunch. They can (sort of) handle being out of routine, and they can (sort of) handle having chocolate, but I was reminded yesterday afternoon that it is a fairly volatile combination when both occur simultaneously.

We went over to church for dinner last night. The boys were not on their best behavior and they were having a quite near impossible time not following their little boy desires of running and play fighting with their friends. We decided the night before that since there were no kids events or nursery (there was a guest speaker), we'd have dinner together and I would bring the boys home.

We (barely) made it through dinner, and as I was driving the boys home there was a bunch of whispering. Then there were requests for scissors. I granted this request after J promised he wouldn't cut his hair. We walked into the house, and there was more whispering. They needed paper, and they needed me to stay out of the school room. I agreed. This led to more whispering. Then L walked up to me (trying to appear nonchalant), and asked "Just out of curiosity, how do you spell Happy Valentine's Day? I just want to know."

Hmmmmm....what could they be up to?

They disappeared to the school room and after about 30 minutes they all reappeared with Valentine's Day cards for me. A large heart cut out of red construction paper accented with blue cutout squares from L, J, and M. Z worked on a card independently and it was a small red heart cut out of red paper, glued on a blue square card with a hand drawn flower. I love my boys (and yes, everything was spelled correctly).

Maybe This Should Be Our School Song

Thanks to Amy at The Foil Hat for sharing this!

No Identity Crisis Here

M is always the first boy up. He normally wakes up and thumps down the stairs on his bottom yelling "Ma! Ma! I want juice!" (or chocolate milk, depending on his mood).

This morning I poured him his chocolate milk and went to the computer to check email. He came up and started pushing me in the knees and grumbling about something (it really is amazing what I've learned to tune out over the last 7 years of being a mom of boys). He finally got my attention with a rather hard wallop. I realized he was summoning me to sit in the recliner so he could "sid in [my] wap".

As I was holding him in the recliner, I told him "M, you're incredible." He responded, quite offended, with "Ma, I NOT Mr. Incredible. I Curious George!".

At least he knows who he is.

My Mom pointed out in the post below that in the Title I called M the Monkey, but then only referred to him in the post as the Peanut. To eliminate any possible confusion, M is known as both the Monkey and the Peanut.