A House Divided...

Well, you just can't get away from politics.

Last week, Zac, my mom and Seth, were sitting in the living room. I can't remember what brought the subject up, but the discussion turned political.

Now, most of you know the way the political winds blow in our house, but fear not--punditry is beyond the scope of THIS blog. Rather, I report on Boy Happenings at our house, and what follows is classic.

Perhaps it was one of the kid's presidential biographies we had gotten from the library which started the convo. At any rate, the kids started talking about the presidential race.


"Well, I'm for Barack Obama," declared Seth. Amused, we asked Seth why.

"I think John McCain brags too much in his commuhshul." We gently explained that is what political commercials do.

Zac stated with his usual calm matter-of-factness that he was for John McCain. "Barack Obama will raise your taxes," said Zac.

"No he won't!" Seth replied emphatically.

My two sons--the cold, calculating Republican or the bleeding-heart liberal...choose your stereotype.

Blane is clear

Good news--the doctor called me back yesterday to report that Blane's celiac blood panel is once again negative. We've had three clear tests since year 1, so I think we'll move to less frequent testing now. Thank you, Lord!

Blane's Birthday

Blane's birthday was last Sunday; Mom and Dad were here so we had a little family party. We went to Waldo's Pizza after church(they serve gluten-free pizza there in addition to regular). Blane wore his birthday hat from Bible class through the whole meal. Then it was home for ice cream cake. I made a "road" on top of the cake with chocolate sprinkles and put three new Hot Wheels on the blacktop. Unfortunately, there was more enthusiasm for the idea of a car cake than the actual eating of it (the adults all enjoyed it, however). Blane opened his presents (cars all, of varying sizes), then later received a visit from Grandma (Susie's mom) and Aunt Pammy. Grandma's present was a big hit---a car playmat complete with a set of cars! Blane spent hours playing with his motor vehicles and Scott made Seth spend most of the day in a different room than Blane as an extra gift to Mr. B. All in all, this was probably the most exhilarating day my little guy can remember in his short life.

Splinter

Blane came in yesterday afternoon with a huge spinter stuck in his right ring finger. He got it from the wooden benches outside. We're not sure exactly how he managed to get it in the way he did--it was nearly 1/4 inch long and traversed across the pad of his fingertip, just under the skin.

Scott was going to remove it, but just couldn't do it in the end. The splinter was completely under the skin--no end to grab, and he was going to have to open up a place just to have a chance to remove it. He just couldn't hurt his little boy!

This morning I took Blane to the doctor right after we dropped the boys off for school. Our pediatrician has urgent care hours in the early mornings and early evenings, which have taken advantage of on more than one occasion. It seems silly to take a child in to remove a splinter, but I just couldn't leave it in there until his well-check next Monday.

We got called back, checked in, and then the P.A. went to work on the offending piece of wood. That little boy of mine hardly uttered a peep as she opened up his finger and dragged out the splinter in three pieces! He talked to her about how he got the splinter, watched the whole thing and barely flinched.

For some reason, Blane has never really had trouble with needlesticks or even most vaccinations. I don't know what the difference is for him, but I hope he'll continue to be a cool customer when it comes to medical issues.

Glasses Crisis

Friday night we washed our windows. I'm sure you can think of much more exciting things to do at the start of your weekend, but they were horribly dirty, and Scott had reached his limit. Scott had bought the outside window cleaner that you attach to the hose (and everyone knows, if you have a squirting hose, fun is bound to break out). The boys got soaked, to their collective delight (even though Blane got a little too wet for his comfort at the end).

We came in to watch the Olympics at dusk. At that point, Zac realized his glasses were missing. Usually that just means he left them upstairs on on the bookshelf in the living room. Problem was, he had worn them outside, and there was some monkey business going on between Zac and Seth out there that involved removing the glasses. Uh oh.

Zac looked inside and outside--no glasses. We told him he would have to replace the frames with his own money if he could not find them (it's almost time for his eye exam, so we are going to pick up the tab for the lenses, of course). Poor Zac was fighting back tears all night.

Saturday came and went--the glasses did not show up. Even in the daylight, we could not find them outside. Zac wore his 2-year-old backup glasses to church Sunday morning.

Sunday afternoon, little Blane trots inside holding Zac's glasses! We asked Blane to show us where he found them. Blane took us to the ladder on the side of the swing set (to the monkey bars). Not good! We talked to Zac about responsibility in keeping up with his stuff, but we all were relieved.

Leave it to Blane to scout things out! I think it helps to see the world at munchkin-level sometimes.

First Day of School

Today the kids went back to school (half-day only). I thought it would never happen.

I heard Seth stirring around 6:45 am. He came in to our bedroom fully dressed and ready to go. He hopped in bed with me and began talking (what else?)
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"Mom, it was really WEIHD. I woke up at two-thuddy, and three, and at fohr-thuddy..."

"Well, Seth," sez I, "you were really excited about school starting."

"No, Mom! I wasn't excited!" Then he popped out of bed and ran to Zac's room.

"SCHOOL AY-LURHT! SCHOOL AY-LURHT! SCHOOL AY-LURHT!" he shouts in a monotone "robot" voice while ripping covers off of and jumping on his not-fully-awake brother.

Yeah right.

Zac quietly sparkled all the way to school (I think you know what I mean). His excitement shows in different ways. He could hardly have been happier with being a newly-minted third grader. Three of his good buddies are in his class. Plus, he's learning long division this year (he's actually excited about that).

I picked the guys up at 12:30. I stood out front and watched all the 1st grade classes come out and Seth's teacher walking down the sidewalk with a student in hand. No Seth. Zac arrived by my side, then said he would go check a possible meeting place where Seth might have gone. No Seth. He went to another place on the other side of the school. No Seth. I wasn't really worried that anything had happened to him, but I knew that panic for him must be building as the minutes went by. I caught Seth's teacher when she returned and she told me Seth was waiting for his brother in the classroom with the aide. Oh.

Zac went in and appeared in a couple of minutes with a teary-faced Seth. I hugged him and told him that I would never leave without him and everything was okay. "Daddy's plan didn't WORHK!" he wailed. Apparently I didn't hear Scott tell Seth last night to wait in the classroom for Zac (I had previously told him to come outside). Whoops! Poor baby! We got it all straightened out and Seth will meet Zac outside from now on.

We got home and the boys emptied their backpacks. There are always plenty of forms to sign at the beginning of school. I went through all of Seth's papers and put them back in his folder. Zac pulled his folder out, which was soaked in one corner. I asked him what happened; he didn't know (we later discovered that Zac had left his water bottle spout open and upside down in his lunch bag). So he had to spread all the papers out on his bed before we could deal with them. He was so cute about an hour later, as he would bring me papers so deliberately, one by one, saying, "Here's a paper for you, Mom!" Zac loves the start of school.

We have another half-day tomorrow, then full days start next week. Here we go!

No problem too small for the Almighty

A conversation between Blane and me:

Blane: Mom, does God have big hands?

Me (wondering why he was asking): Yes, I guess so.

Blane: Can he get balls off of roofs?

Me (thinking, "Aha!"): Do you have a ball that you need to get off a roof?

Blane: No, I don't have to get a ball off a roof.

(Of course. He just wants to store this piece of info away in case he ever needs it--you never know when you might need to ask the LORD to get your ball off the roof)

Me: Well, I suppose God can do that.

The End

Opening ceremony

Friday night we watched the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics. I have fond memories as a kid watching the Games, and remember seeing some of those classic moments, like the '84 men's and women's gymnastic teams and the skating accomplishments of Boitano and Hamilton (was that '84 too?) Anyway, it was a great lesson for all of us in geography and geopolitics--plus it was stinkin' fun to watch. At the end, when they had the pictures of all the world's children out on the field (weren't they projected up on the rim of the stadium too?), Zac said, "Hey, maybe we'll see somebody we know!" Yeah, maybe!

The show was jaw-dropping, of course, and we let the guys stay up as long as they could to watch the parade of nations. The American delegation took a bit too long, but we called the still-awake Zac down to see them come in.

A bit more delicate was how to explain to the kids appropriately about Communist China. (Scott and I got creepy Soviet flashbacks when the soldiers goose-stepped the Chinese flag to the pole). I am of the opinion that we should never be ambivalent towards the evils of Communism, though it is shockingly easy to do since the Cold War ended. But how do you explain that to your kids?

We told the boys that there are some bad leaders in China who hurt and try to get rid of people who disagree with them or don't worship in churches they like. We also told them that the people there don't have the freedom we do, and we should be very thankful that we live in America. Hopefully those little tidbits of civil and global education will be fused together one day. In the meantime, it's been great fun to watch Michael Phelps kick everybody in the swim trunks.

Scary

Lately, Blane has been asking me about how he came about (not the B & B discussion, just about babies in mommie's tummies, etc.) I told him once that when he came out I was so happy that God had given me a Blaney, and he's really internalized that. He'll say, "Mom, God gave you a Blaney, and you were so happy!" to which I reply, "Yes, Blane, I was SO happy!"

The other day, we were talking about how my tummy was big at his birth.

"Mom, when your tummy was little, I came out?"

"No, Blane, my tummy was big when you came out. Then it got little."

Intense thought. "Did something in there scare me?"

School prep

School starts in one week! It's a good thing, because the boys are about to kill each other. Blane and Seth spend the majority of their days in separate rooms by my edict.

The other day, we went to Kmart to shop for Seth's backpack (his Superman one tore last year). He had specifically requested a green one. Kmart is not my favorite store, but it is close to our house and I did not have the stomach to drive to Walmart or Target AND do grocery shopping with the boys (remember my rule about only one store with boys if you can help it?)

Fortunately, we found some backpacks that were on sale (that put them within a reasonable price range--can anyone tell me why Kmart seems to have high prices along with their crummy stores?) Seth found a cool-looking green one that looked to have a longer life span than his Superman one last year. Lunchboxes were on sale too, so we took a peek at those. Seth chose a Batman one (yep--on sale too). The lunchbox apparently was trying to impersonate the Dark K. on his own. Except it came out looking squatty and out of shape--it's a lunchbox, after all. It had the Bat logo on its little gray "chest" and its utility belt (the bottom of the lunchbox) unzipped all around so you could slide a cold pack in. The "buckle" of the belt was a little tiny zippered pouch for lunch money. The funniest part was that the thing had it's own little cape on the top that flops over the handle. Scott, Zac and I took bets later how long the cape will last--we decided anywhere from 1 week to 1 month. I don't know what the people at Thermos were thinking. Anyway, it all makes for a cute selling package, which is all they really care about, I suppose.

Seth was pumped up and messed with the lunchbox features for a while. Now it is sitting in his room and waiting to carry his food to school. Woo hah!

Birthday Cars

Have I ever mentioned that Blane loves cars?

For over a month (pretty much ever since he has learned how close his birthday is) Blane has missed no opportunity to tell me that he wants cars for his cumpleanos. For instance:

-There is a large end-display of Hot Wheels at HyVee. He runs to them every time, pointing out the ones he likes.

-He saw a 1986 production of "Ralph S. Mouse" which featured a toy sports car (that the mouse drove--just like in "The Mouse and the Motorcycle"). He wants that car.

-He's asked me for a new hot rod more times than I can remember. He even has specs--black, and doors that open.

-He says that the family members coming to his birthday party will bring him a "box of Sallies" ("Sally" is what he calls a VW beetle--he has several as it is)

-He saw a crashed van on the cover of a book. He said, "I want that car for my birthday".

For the most part, I've been trying to tamp down expectations. Yes, you'll get cars for your birthday, but we'll have to see what kind they will be. No, you won't be getting a box of Sallies for your birthday. No, that car is too much money. Etc.

Us finding the balance between healthy delayed gratification and needlessly feeding greed is starting early with this one.