Stories About Michael ...

These boys that God has given to me are truly a challenge on every level imaginable.  I grew up with sisters and boys sure are different.  Michael right now is my challenge partly because he's 2 and partly because he's Michael.  Here are some stories:

My Name Is Joshua ...

So Michael and I are playing ball on Thursday night.  He actually took a nap, which was good, but it also meant that he would stay up later in the evening (which is also bad).  He's being goofy and we are throwing the ball back and forth.  I was telling him good job Michael, good throw Michael, etc.  He looks at me and tells me that I need to call him Joshua.  I said, your not Michael anymore.  He says no, I'm Michael Aaron, call me Joshua.  He's such a crazy little boy!  So I go along with his game and call him Joshua.

So this morning, Friday, he remembered the game and has decided that he still wants to be called Joshua.  I said, well who in our family will be called Michael, and he said Sara is Michael. 

So Michael is now Joshua.  I guess we should have listened to Joshua when we were looking for a name for Michael.  He wanted us to call Michael, Joshua - LOL.  Then again, if we listened to Joshua, Sara's name would have been Lemonade.

Hyland Teething Tablets ...
On Wednesday morning, Joshua comes knocking at our door telling us that Michael is eating something white on top of his changer.  Two things alarmed me in that statement 1) that Michael is eating some unknown substance that is white and 2) that Michael has climbed on top of his changer all by himself.

Guillermo and I get out of bed at 7:30 in the morning.  We go get Michael off his changer and take a look at what he found.  Michael found and opened all by himself some Hyland Teething tablets.  Sara was talking about how they looked like marshmallows and that Michael was eating marshmallows.  Michael was MAD that we took him down from his changer and took away his marshmallows.

UGH!  Can I say that I was not having a good mommy moment!  I couldn't believe that he climbed up on his changer and found those.  They were 2 shelves up and not in front.  UGH!  Why does Michael do things that the other 2 never, ever did?  UGH!  Michael messed up my morning to say the least.  We then had to seriously look at everything else in his room and add more baby proofing stuff around the house.  After all, if he's doing this at 2 when he's locked in his room, what will he do in the middle of the night when he's potty training?  Yeah, makes us panic a little.  Joshua & Sara we trust and know that they wouldn't do things ... Michael we don't trust.

This little boy gets into everything.  Granted Joshua got out a Perm. Marker and wrote in books, on his floor, on his bedding, on books and that drove us crazy, but that was it, for the most part.  That's all he did bad truly by himself in his room.  Sara hasn't done anything crazy or out of the ordinary.  Michael however, gets into trouble all by himself.

I must say that I'm thankful that Joshua was watching out for him.  I'm thankful that they all play well together in the morning and were paying attention to Michael.  Thankfully, Michael did not have any adverse side effects to the tablets.  We don't think he ate much, it was hard to tell though.

I must confess that I was irritated with that little boy.  He messed up my morning plans.  I was planning on going to Bible Study, but I couldn't very well leave him in child care knowing that he ingested an unknown quantity of tablets.  If something happened and they didn't see it, it would surely be my fault, and I didn't want that on my head.  Yet, I was irritated to have my plans changed so early in the morning.

Jumping Off Table ...
So Guillermo and I are talking in the kitchen on Thursday morning.  He went to take Hershey to the vet to get her stitches removed (she's in full recovery - Praise the Lord!).  Guillermo was telling me stories of how the vet people just love her (so sweet!).  Well as he was talking and I was listening, Sara & Michael are playing in the living room.

It never fails, the moment I take my eyes off them to actually do something, like listen & talk with my husband, they act up.  UGH!  Somehow, Sara & Michael decide to climb on top of the coffee table, and Michael being Michael decided to jump off.  Well he jumps off holding a toy guitar.  Yep, you guessed it, he falls and cuts his lip on the guitar.  Thankfully, the guitar doesn't have strings or anything, but he lands on the neck and it jams into his mouth somehow cutting the front part of his inside lip.

UGH - Seriously, why can't I have a conversation without them getting into trouble.  This little boy gets into so many things and is so busy.  Why is it when he's trouble he loves to laugh with the cutest smile and then of course, tell me I love you mommy.  Although, this time wasn't laughter, it was tears & crying.

Guillermo was home, so we rush to him and stop the bleeding, put some ice on it and make things better.  Michael seems to always find a way to get hurt.  He's a challenge!

I Am Your Fadther (kinda of how he says it) ...
So this morning I'm playing with the kids in the living room before Sara has to go to preschool.  Sara found an elephant to play with and a panda bear.  Michael found a dinosaur to play with.  He discovered that it makes noise and swings it's tail.  Sara gives me the elephant and we are all playing together.  The dinosaur is chasing the panda & elephant.  Michael has captured my elephant and I'm talking about how the dinosaur shouldn't hurt the elephant and such.  The next thing I know Michael is having the dinosaur say to the elephant, I am your Fadther.  Oh boy, can you tell they play star wars too much!

Last week, I was playing Star Wars w/Joshua & Sara (Michael was there but wasn't participating too much).   Anyway, they had me be General Grievous and Sara was Padame and Asoka.  So she "attacks" me and kills me and then she comes to me and says, don't die, your my Fadther.  Joshua of course, is upset, because General Grievous is not her father.  They are crazy, I tell you crazy!

Because I Say So & No ...
Michael has learned from a very, very, very early age to ask "why" and to say "no".  He says "no" to almost everything.  Of course, the funny thing is that when we put him in time out and then ask him if it's okay to hit, he says yes.  Go figure, for the boy who always says no, he will say yes when we are trying to discipline him.  I think he does it on purpose, but I'm not sure - LOL.

Well, this saying NO to everything is starting to drive me up a wall.  And then when I ask him "why" he will tell me "because I say so."  Can you see what a personality this little guy has already?  I am really truly hoping he "grows" out of this soon!!

Eating ...
Boy, Michael is stubborn!  I really need to let him starve, I really do (in a good way of course).  Michael is one of those kids who would rather you do everything for him, because he either likes being lazy or likes being in charge.  I'm not sure which, but either way, he really needs to learn to eat by himself.  His favorite thing to tell me at dinner is, No mommy, you feed me.  You feed the Michael.

Can I say that I am so, so tired of feeding this boy.  Mommy guilt hasn't let me let him starve yet, but I'm really close to letting him for a week.  As any mom knows, you want your kids to eat, especially healthy foods.  So Michael at dinner time, promptly complains how he can't do it and feed himself.  So I give in because at that point, I'm tired and so ready for them to eat and go to bed.

I really need to be firm with him, and hopefully, I will soon cuz this boy needs to feed himself with his own spoon & fork at every meal.

Frozen Waffles ...
So Michael one day decided that he didn't want to wait for the waffle to cook.  He said he wanted to eat it frozen.  I in amazement of what he wanted, decided, sure have at it (thinking he won't like it at all), gave it to him frozen.  Well, I was completely wrong - he LOVED it frozen.  Now he wants it frozen every morning, not cooked.

I told Guillermo about Michael's frozen waffles.  Well Guillermo didn't really like that he was eating them frozen and told me I need to cook them/heat them up for Michael.

So each morning now, I'm battling Michael demanding frozen waffles and me wanting to honor Guillermo's decision.  UGH!  It's difficult, because I frankly don't care if he eats a frozen waffle, it was previously cooked and then frozen, so I'm okay with it.  But because I love my hubby and want to honor him, I cook the waffles and the entire time, Michael complains.  Wow, can I have a more stubborn child?  UGH!

Thankful for Teachers ...
So we have been doing thank you sheets writing down what we are thankful for each day.  Michael randomly said one day that he was thankful for teachers.  I asked what kind of teacher and he said Bible Study teachers ... so sweet!  The ladies at Cornerstone Fellowship are so fantastic taking care of Michael (and Sara too).

Thank you God for my Body ...
So Sara & Michael are getting ready for lunch.  Sara decides to pray and goes on & on, Michael starts copying her words and as I'm listening he's telling Sara that they need to be thankful for their body.  Evidently Michael is thankful for his body - LOL!

Want to go in that grocery store ...
Poor Michael thinks that every errand we run is to the grocery store.  As we were walking the dog, we went over to Starbucks for a morning snack for the kids.  Poor Sara doesn't know what the name of the place is, just knows that it has a green sign.  The shopping center has CVS/Pharmacy in it and as we are walking by, Michael says that he wants to go in that grocery store.  Oh boy!  He's upset when we walk by it again and don't go in ... I don't know why, he loves shopping and loves grocery stores.

Joshua ...
Quick Joshua story ... today he writes down what he is thankful for and then shows it to me once it's all done ... he wrote down his butt.  Yep, he's learning to spell and quite proud of it!  Oh boy!

JCPenny's Potties ...
So my mom called today to let me know that JcPenny's was having a sale on Christmas dresses.  I always buy Sara's dress there because they are so cute!  So after school, I tell them we are going to stop by the mall to get Sara a dress.  She's excited to say the least!

So when we get to the store, I have them all go potty, no sense going over to the kids section only to have to go back to the potties.  Okay, everyone went potty, hooray, off we go to the kids section.  We get there and start looking around.  Sara looks at me and says she needs to go potty again.  UGH!!!!  We were just there, why didn't you get it all out when we were just there.  Seriously!!  So we go back to the potties. 

They have a "waiting" area and we wait for her.  Joshua is fascinated with the little dispensers that you can put a quarter in.  Well he's starting to read everything and I see his mind working.  He asks me, what's that word with the T there?  I say, I'm not sure and it's not working.  Then he sees a word with the word N on it.  I Read the word to him - it says Napkin.  I say it must be like a wet wipe for your hands - LOL.  He's not quite sure I'm telling the truth, but let's it go thankfully!!

Well, Sara is finally all done and I have to go help her with toilet paper.  Such is the glamorous life of a mommy!  We finally wash our hands and go back to the kids section.  She finally picks out a cute navy blue dress (although I liked the ones with red, grey, and black spot, but she did not).  We wander around a little while longer, finding some pants on sale for Sara, cuz her 3T's aren't fitting any more.  We get in line and Joshua declares that he has to go potty again.

Seriously!!  Again???  UGH!!  Don't worry mom, I can wait until after you pay.  Great, thanks Joshua!  So we go back to the bathrooms.

Oh did I mention that the bathrooms are right by the elevator?  Did I mention that Michael is obsessed with Elevators???  Yeah, he's talking & talking & talking about wanting to go into the elevator, wanting to push the button and why can't we go in it ... yep, taking 3 kids shopping isn't fun, nope, not really fun.

So, Sara, Michael & I decide to wait outside the bathrooms for Joshua.  Sara has decided that she is tired and loudly declares that she wants to sit.  Well we are literally right next to the doors to the bathroom as she says this.  A group of employees is walking by and waiting to get on the elevator.  They start laughing at what she said.  Her sit didn't quite sound right and sounded more like it had an "h" in it.  Thankfully, one of the gals says to her co-workers, no she said sit, look that's what she's doing, she's sitting.  Phew!  Really, I didn't teach my kid to say that word, especially not when it relates to going to the bathroom.  Oh boy!!  Mommy doesn't say that word ever, and neither do my kids.

It was embarrassing, yet funny at the same time!  Thankfully Joshua was in the bathroom so he didn't hear the play on words, because I'm sure he would have learned a new word from that conversation!

The End ...
Okay, PHEW, that's enough stories today ... I'm tired of writing.  Aren't my kids crazy?  I tell you ... they are the most challenging thing I've ever encountered.  They are both rewarding & frustrating.  They are ever so loving, which amazes me!  That the best part, how they at the end of the day will always say I love you!  So sweet!!