Bad Day

My kids can drive me absolutely nuts.  How many times do you have to ask/tell/scream something to have it get done?  With my kids you are lucky if it is no more than half a dozen for each instruction.

Kalan, my 4 year old, is the worst.  I blame it on middle child syndrome.  I also feel that I go somewhat easy on my kids as I clearly recall an experience from my youth.  My dad called me up to his room to give me some instructions.  He was sick at the time and I was trying extra hard to catch all of the details.  There was only one problem... the TV in his room was on.  I don't even know what was on the TV.  All I know is that as I sat there trying to catch his instructions and repeated "listen to Dad, listen to Dad, listen to Dad" over and over in my mind... I could not hear a thing he was saying.

I recall that experience every time my kids try my patience... so pretty much daily.  Well, Kalan was really pushing it... he was not wanting to help clean and was whining about something one of the other kids did to him.  I sent him upstairs to clean/cry somewhere else while I contemplated what genetic deficiency I must have passed on to him that gave him the ability to sit there and stare blankly as I change colors from the stress of trying to get him to do a simple task.

He was really hitting a stride with his whining as he climbed the stairs... then, without taking the whine out of his voice, he starts singing..."You had a bad day.  Your taking one down.  You sing a sad song, just to turn it around."

How can you stay mad?

New Career

I am not sure what my kids think I do all day.  I don't know if I really understood what my dad did all day.  I probably really didn't know until I was doing the same thing.

I am starting to think that my 4 year old Kalan wants me to start a new career.  He often prays that "Daddy will keep fixing things."  I just figured that he was impressed when I was able to repair the odd broken toy or fix the washer.

I am starting to suspect that he wants me to be a full time repair man.  Either that or the kid has an unhealthy fascination with the toilet.  I blame "Finding Nemo."  All drains lead to the ocean? Really?  Do we really need to tempt our young children's imaginations any more than usual?

I will tell you what does not go immediately to the ocean.  

1. Small cups... just big enough to get halfway through the S-bend.

2. Golf Balls... small enough to move through... but too heavy... they just sit at the bottom.

3. Entire rolls of toilet paper... and we are not talking about them being unraveled from the spool... just thrown in whole.

4. Tooth Brushes... not only do these not flush... they wedge.  This adventure cost me a new toilet.  After removing the old one from the bathroom, I was still unable to dislodge the toothbrushes.  I was eventually able to get them out with liberal use of artillery at the ward shot-gunning activity.

I have no idea what it is that sparks his imagination and makes him wonder "do the fishies need one of these?"  Apparently he thought they might need some butter today... two whole sticks of butter.  

Maybe they were baking?