Saturday July 24th, 2010

It has been a LONG week of trying to keep David's hand bandaged.. No matter how many times we tell him "no-no mitten off" and he nods and repeats it, he goes into the other room and rips the gauze and tape right off. I finally gave up on Friday. Most of it is healed, the blisters have scabbed over and the skin is peeling revealing new fresh skin. The Dr said we couldn't take him outside unless it was wrapped well, and he kept it clean. Seriously? How can you make a not-quite-2-year old do anything? Last night we took him swimming for the first time since the burn, and he had a blast, was bandage free and doing well - then we got out. He immediately went into the flower bed started finding rocks to through, started picking up handfuls of dirt and tossing them around, dug in the grass and all around made us insane. I cleaned the area up pretty good after, but I'm still concerned.

Thursday July 15th - The "Tailpipe incident"

Had a pretty good day at work today, stayed busy and the day went quickly, left right on time, grabbed the kids from daycare and headed home.... Got David out of the car and put him down, closed his door, opened the front passenger door to get the diaper bag and my purse, and before that door shuts, he starts screaming... I go around the back of the car and he is standing there holding his right hand and crying "ouch!"

His hand is black and red - black from the grease and red from the burn.. He apparently stuck his hand in my tailpipe. I took him in the house and wiped it off with a wet paper towel and gave him an icepack. I go change my clothes and come back to it even redder, and him just holding it against his chest. I call Chris - no answer. I am NOT the emergency handler, and David is supposed to only sustain major injuries when there is a non-DeArman in the house who will do something besides spin in a circle waving their arms and saying "oh oh oh oh"

So I realized I had to man up. I called the extended care clinic and they said to bring him right in, so I put the kids back in the car and took him there. This took a whole 20 minutes from him getting burned to us pulling up to the clinic - by the time we were sitting in the waiting room to see the Dr, his little fingers had blisters all the way to his fingernails. They put some salve on it and wrapped it up with gauze. (Chris would have been so proud of me the way I held him while they did this with him screaming and fighting and me staying strong.... I had to sit in the waiting room while they gave him stitches on his forehead because I couldn't stand to watch them hurt him, and I didn't even go when he was circumcised.)

He immediately tried to take it off, so they gave me extra gauze and sent us on our way. We stopped by papa and grimmy's house to see them since they live right around the corner from the clinic, and that went SUPER WELL! David ran around like a crazy person falling in dirt and dropping his sucker every five seconds, and Emily managed to drop a cup full of milk in just the right way to make it explode all over the room, so needless to say, we were there for all of 10 minutes before I loaded them back in the car and hit the drive thru and came home.

David can't do anything with just his left hand, so watching him eat was slightly amusing, until he started pulling his dressing off again. I got super big gauze from our extensive first aid supplies and wrapped him a little more and tied it around his wrist. hope that keeps him until tomorrow when I take him in to see his Dr to have it looked at......Now - I need a drink and a bath I think!

Friday July 9th - Sprinklers & Licorice

Grandma Retta had to pick the kids up from Daycare today, because I had to work late, so it was 7:00 before I got to see them... When I showed up they were eating dinner. Emily and Matt were on the porch with Grandpa and David was inside in his high chair with Grandma and Aunt Jessie.

He decided that he would rather drink chocolate milk instead of eating, so he stood up in his seat and wouldn't sit back down. Aunt Jessie threatened him with a spanking but he just told her "no" so she got him swatted his butt and set him on the floor... He promptly replied "thanks" and took off, not even phased by the punishment, but stoked because she set him free.

I followed him outside just in time to see the sprinklers come on in the front yard... And I didn't react quickly enough to snatch him up, so I chased him to the end of the porch and then watched helplessly as he ran screaming and laughing through the sprinklers. It didn't take long before he was soaking wet.... But that did make him work up an appetite because soon he was asking for pizza.

Emily finally finished her dinner and got some licorice that grandma had been promising her.. Not ever wanting to be the bad guy, she gave David licorice too, even though he was still eating pizza, so as you can see above, he had pizza in one hand and licorice in the other, taking turns taking bites.. it was rather entertaining because it was the skinny rope licorice and he was having a hard time with it..

But I was exhausted and needed to get home, so I rounded them up shortly thereafter and brought them home for bath, jammies and relax time before bed. The car seat will probably be wet all night.. Hope it doesn't get moldy!

Thursday July 8, 2010 - Grandma Retta's House

Tonight after work I picked up the kids from daycare and took them to my parent's house... I try to go by there on Thursdays because the hubby is at work, and my nephew is usually there since his mom has a class... (and i can usually score free dinner)

The Dugga LOVES Grandma Rettas, they have a big wrap around porch where my Dad is always hanging out that has an ice chest that is always full of ice.. No matter how many times you yell or smack his hand that kid is in the ice chest pulling out pieces, licking them, and then putting them back. We finally had to pick it up and put it on a table to keep him out of it. Emily and Matt usually play pretty well together, riding the bikes and scooters around the cul-de-sac while we attempt to keep David occupied on the porch..

Not anymore! After last weekend's 4th of July Party, that kid WILL NOT stay put. I picked him up out of the street, the neighbors yard, and the driveway several times (swatting his butt each time) and deposited him back on the porch just to chase him down a few minutes later when he thought I was distracted.. until he discovered the plastic patio chairs were climbable, jumpable... and pretty soon, destructible.. He stood in the chair backwards and jumped until it tipped over (with him in it) luckily he has gotten quite used to taking falls and kept his head up, and didn't actually hurt himself.

We ordered pizza and had ice-cream cake (which he knows is there since my sister's birthday on the 2nd, because every time we've been there since, he walks right up and says "birfday birfday birfday birfday birfday caaaaaakkkkkke!" at anyone who will listen) and had a few minutes of peace while he devoured that, although as soon as his cake was gone he screamed so hard we thought he must have bitten his tongue or gotten brain freeze, but it turns out he was just pissed because he was out of cake.... so my mom gave him the rest of hers.. AWESOME!

But now both kids are in bed, and I'm finally getting to rest... It seems each day has gotten a little better than the last since I started blogging.. It's like he knows I'm talking about him and trying to make a liar out of me..

Wed July 7th, 2010

Today was a "stay at home with Dad day"... I didn't get to witness first hand, but I heard all about it and received these pics via text while I was at work... The morning went something like this:

Dugga wakes up, wonders around until he finds sis coloring, and presto! BREAKFAST... mmmm green crayons...

A little while later he decided he needed a snack, and instead of asking for one, he just decided to get it himself, so he climbed up on the counter, crawled over to the coffee pot, bypassed the bowl of sugar and helped himself to the powder coffee creamer... In case you have never eaten dry coffee creamer, it creates a paste as soon as it gets wet that is a horrible mess, and is very hard to clean off. But he is getting smarter, trying to avoid a spanking, he tells Dad he got on the counter to get a lid for Dad's coffee cup, and hands it to him with a smile, trying to charm is way out of trouble.

Then he decided he needed to freshen up, so he goes into his room, pulls down the basket of miscellaneous baby items that we keep on his changing table and decides to coat himself in baby powder... And so the paste thickens! He had no explanation for this, when Dad asked him what he was doing his one word reply said it all "mess"

Sis wanted him to come play with her, but he wasn't feeling it so she pins him down wrestler style and sits on his back until his screams bring Dad to the rescue... But don't feel bad for him, not an hour later Dad had to pull him off of her and spank him for continuously biting her legs...

Tapenyaki - Tuesday July 6th, 2010

Tonight after work I came home rounded up the family and headed to Gozen Japanese Restaurant for some Tapenyaki... The crab rolls were delicious, the chef was very entertaining, David and Emily laughed and clapped for the show... There were a few incidents of the high pitched screaming that can only be described as a noise that should be taped and played for terrorists as a form of torture to get them to talk.. And a few sword fights with the chopsticks, but other than that dinner was awesome...Even if David did shove his mouth so full of chicken he had to spit it out (it looked like he was vomiting..glad nobody else was at the table with us!)

On the way to the car in the parking lot the dugga spotted a rather large puddle and before Chris or I could stop him, he made a beeline right for it and jumped and jumped until I caught him... I don't know why I bother buying that boy new shoes.

Sunday July 5th

We had a GREAT morning! David slept in until almost 11, Emily stayed the night at her papa's house, and I got some good one on one time with the dugga. (David's nickname)

We only had two disagreements, one over him pushing the buttons over and over on my washer because it sings a song when you turn it on, (i must have pulled him out of there 3 or 4 times in a 20 minute period) and once getting in the car on the way to the store... He likes to put his arm all the way to the shoulder into the trailer hookup on the back of my trailblazer... And I of course responded "dammit, look at your arm" because it was so dirty, and then i heard all the way to target.."dammit, dammit dammit dammit"... my little parrot.

Now both the kids are napping, and armed with magic erasers (super strength) I am making my way through the house cleaning up yesterdays wall art.. Found 7 spots in all!

4th of July

This morning started out relatively normal.. I woke up to the kids yelling at each other, Emily sitting on the floor in David's room talking to him through his crib. I get them up, feed them breakfast and wait for my husband to get home from his shift on graveyards...

After getting dressed, and trying to get the kids dressed quietly while Dad is asleep, I blow-dry my hair and start putting on my makeup... Sensing that the house is too quiet, I go check on the kids.. Emily and David are sitting in her room with the door closed. I open the door to find them squeezing all of the lotion out of a brand new bottle onto a towel on her floor.. (at least they used a towel and it wasn't directly onto the carpet) I pulled the tube of lotion away, handed out spankings and admonishments, and then went back to my room. A few minutes later, I come out to find David in the hallway with a dry-erase marker in his hand. I look around and don't see any damage, but Emily informs me he wrote on the wall in their play-room. I take the marker away, hand out ANOTHER spanking, and take them into the bathroom to brush there teeth.

When we are finally ready to leave, I head out to the living room to grab the diaper bag and hit the door. I look up to see a HUGE area of marker all over my custom painted living room wall. I yell some more, spank some more, and then get a towel, and try to clean it... NOT COMING OFF! I tried a dry towel (it's dry-erase, technically that SHOULD work), a wet towel, and glass cleaner... NOTHING... so frustrated I gave up and took the kids to the BBQ at my moms, hell bent on giving them away today.. But, after many hours of laughs and water balloon fights, and all around good times, I just couldn't bring myself to do it.... Love those kids too much.

The Beginning:

After only 22 months with my beloved son (and belive me, we DO adore him) I have come to the conclusion that my child is CRAZY. We never have a dull moment in our house between our daughter (Emily-4) and our son (David-22months)... I am constantly yelling David don't! Whether it be to keep him from eating cat food, to keep him from putting things in the toilet, or to keep him from attacking the dog. We have tried all different kinds of behavior control - spankings, time-outs, taking toys away, etc.. and have come to the conclusion that there is NOTHING we can do, but sit back and try to direct him down the right path and hope he doesn't seriously hurt himself (again) or anyone else.

So I have decided to start a blog for multiple reasons -
the first is that some of these stories are too incredibly funny not to share.
the second is as a way to maybe get some helpful hints on how to deal with difficult children
but the most important is to let people know... Their kids COULD BE WORSE (they could be like mine!)