Friday, October 31, 2014
Kids Have No Fiters
My 37 week old baby has said her first words, they are "Hey" and "Momma". I'm not sure whether to rejoice or fear the thought streaming through her mind. If she turns out anything like my other two girls, I am done for. As I sit back ad reflect on all the things the older two children have sad over the year, I ponder whether the little one can inflict any more shame upon me. Here is recap of the things my girls have said over the years.
My oldest child was about the age of three, and we went to the hospital for a well-baby check up. We were waiting in the line at the pharmacy when a female doctor stopped to admire the children. The doctor had asked my oldest daughter whether she liked being a big sister. She responded, "Yes!" with a strange look on her face. The doctor said, "You're so sweet!" then flashed my daughter a big smile. My daughter said, "Mommy look! She is missing a tooth just like me." I was mortified, but the doctor just laughed and explained that it was just a gap.
My middle child was three years old, and absolutely loved Usher's song "OMG". Nothing but for her to do but switch up the lyrics. Instead of singing, "Honey got a booty like pow, pow, pow" she sang "Mommy got a booty like pow, pow, pow." She sang this in front of my parents and other family members. We couldn't help laughing because it was true.
One day the girls and I were shopping in Walmart when we see a heavy set woman heading towards us. Nothing for oldest child to do but blurt out, "That's a huge lady!" when she was right beside us. I scolded her for not keeping her rude comments to herself. Even though she stated the truth, I had to let her that the truth is not always welcomed by the recipient.
About a month ago, my oldest child comes up to me and says, "Mommy, I'm sorry for pushing your tummy out and putting all those marks on it, it's our fault you are fat." I didn't know whether to cry or laugh and ended up doing both.
So last weekend we went to my parent’s house to visit. My father has some back problems and is undergoing physical therapy. As part of the therapy he has to do some stretching when he is at home. So my father heads into the family room and sets his mat on the floor. My middle child asks, "What is that?" My father replied, "Its an exercise mat, baby." So then she says, "So are you trying to get un-fat? Maybe you and mommy should going running, or are you too fat?" How do you begin to respond to such statements with a straight face?
My girls have cut me and my husband too many times to count, so I can only wonder what the little miss will say when she gets the chance. Has your child ever told your spouse that he/she has cruddy feet? Please share your stories in the comments below.
Mile Stones
Today my baby is 37 weeks old. She has two teeth, and eats almost everything she is given. I am a little saddened by her quick development for I now the peaceful is coming to an end. She was sleeping through the night by two months of age, and would take naps three times a day. Now the little miss is down to two naps on a good day and no naps every other day. Baby proofing the home is in full affect for now she is mobile. She started crawling just before she turned six months old, and pulling up on the furniture at seven months. Now when I go to take her out the crib, she is just standing there with a big smile. She is still not walking on her own, but she side-steps while holding on to furniture. The crazy thing is that she will not sit down unless she is eating or in her car seat. Every time I try to sit her down she will lock her knees or through herself back. If I do manage to get her into a sitting position, she immediately rolls to her side and starts to crawl away. She seems anxious about trying to keep up with her big sisters. The thing I find cute is that she is attracted to television commercials. She pays no attention to whatever program is playing, but as soon as it goes to commercial she is glued to the screen. Instead of playing with toys designed for her, she would rather play with our cell phones, the computers, and the game controllers. Ever time my husband starts play his PS3, she starts babbling and reaching for the controller. Its like she is saying, "Hand it over daddy, you aren't doing it right."
Right now it feels like this is the calm before the storm. I foresee our lives being flipped upside down in the midst of hurricane Sephra. Has anyone else been through similar events? Please share any tips you may have, or your baby's quirks.
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
Do you know what your child/children are capable of?
Parenting is no simple feat, and just when you seem to get the hang of it your child throws you a curve ball. Children are like sponges, they monitor and record everything they see and hear. They are curious and adventurous, and even courageous for they have yet to learn about fear. You must constantly keep your eyes on them for they are always developing new skills. The things they say and do will often have your head reeling in astonishment, bewilderment, and amusement.
As I sit and reflect on the experiences my children have put me through, I wonder how I've managed to stay sane all these years. It's no surprise that grey hair has started to streak the front of my mane. Let me tell you about an incident that I have experienced which had a flood of different emotions running through my head.
I was home alone with my girls for my husband had embarked on his first deployment to Iraq. At the time my oldest child was twenty months old and my middle child was six months. The girls were sharing a room and everything was quiet, too quiet to be exact. So I finished my workout on my elliptical machine and went to check on the kids. What I saw when saw when I stepped into the room had me in tears. I was struck with fear, amusement, anger, frustration, and helplessness. There was poo everywhere! All over the girls, the crib, bedding, and wall. On top of all that, I found my oldest child inside the crib attempting to change her sister. I had no clue where to start, and stood still in horror as I thought of the tasks ahead of me. I had no choice but to leave them be until I got their bath drawn, for to take them from their current position would lead to further contamination. Once the kids were bathed, I had to find a way to restrain them while I cleaned their room. I ended up putting the oldest in her high chair and the baby in her swing. If the car seats weren't outside in the truck, I might have used them. Toys were thrown away, bedding thrown in the wash, and I was crying as I scrubbed the remaining items.
Up until that tragedy, I did not know my oldest child was climbing nor that she was observing my daily actions. When my oldest turned one I had moved her out of the crib and got her a toddler bed since she had been walking for months. She had never went through the stage of escaping her crib because that obstacle had already been removed. So now the question was, how did she climb into the crib? Climbing out of cribs is relatively simple, climbing into a crib requires strength, flexibility or ingenuity. I was distraught about allowing my child to encounter danger, but I had to find out how she did it. So I put them back into their room and pretended to go away as I watched on from a strategic advantage point.
In Marine Corps boot camp we are taught how to scale obstacles such as walls; one method was called the "chicken wing". We learned to climb over a bar by throwing an arm over the bar and bending it to form what looked like a chicken wing, then we used our momentum to bring our leg up and twist our bodies over. My daughter used this very maneuver to climb into the crib. At what point did she learn how to do that? What else is she capable of? Through careful monitoring I saw that she could climb the selves of her closet, and climb over the baby gate. I thought stacking one gate on top of another would be a deterrent, but she found out that she only had to apply pressure to knock them out of place. This is when I realized that I was raising an escape artist/ criminal mastermind.
One time my eldest daughter locked herself out of her room and so I had to get a screwdriver to pop the lock. She replicated the action every chance she got, if my bedroom door was locked, she would get one of her toys to pop the lock and let herself in. She was only two years old and my privacy became non-existent. At my mothers house she attempted to unlock the pantry door- which is sealed with a key lock, with a piece of spaghetti! At three years old she noticed the motion sensor in the kitchen of my parent's house. She saw that every time she entered the room the light would go off. Nothing for her to do but army crawl across the floor to find her that the sensor did not detect her at that level.
There are many more stories I will share about my clever, crafty, and meddlesome children; however I will save them for future blogs. I hope I was able to share some insight into the struggles of parenthood, or at least provide you with a good chuckle. What are some of the challenges you faced as a parent or even babysitter?
T.C. Reaves
As I sit and reflect on the experiences my children have put me through, I wonder how I've managed to stay sane all these years. It's no surprise that grey hair has started to streak the front of my mane. Let me tell you about an incident that I have experienced which had a flood of different emotions running through my head.
I was home alone with my girls for my husband had embarked on his first deployment to Iraq. At the time my oldest child was twenty months old and my middle child was six months. The girls were sharing a room and everything was quiet, too quiet to be exact. So I finished my workout on my elliptical machine and went to check on the kids. What I saw when saw when I stepped into the room had me in tears. I was struck with fear, amusement, anger, frustration, and helplessness. There was poo everywhere! All over the girls, the crib, bedding, and wall. On top of all that, I found my oldest child inside the crib attempting to change her sister. I had no clue where to start, and stood still in horror as I thought of the tasks ahead of me. I had no choice but to leave them be until I got their bath drawn, for to take them from their current position would lead to further contamination. Once the kids were bathed, I had to find a way to restrain them while I cleaned their room. I ended up putting the oldest in her high chair and the baby in her swing. If the car seats weren't outside in the truck, I might have used them. Toys were thrown away, bedding thrown in the wash, and I was crying as I scrubbed the remaining items.
Up until that tragedy, I did not know my oldest child was climbing nor that she was observing my daily actions. When my oldest turned one I had moved her out of the crib and got her a toddler bed since she had been walking for months. She had never went through the stage of escaping her crib because that obstacle had already been removed. So now the question was, how did she climb into the crib? Climbing out of cribs is relatively simple, climbing into a crib requires strength, flexibility or ingenuity. I was distraught about allowing my child to encounter danger, but I had to find out how she did it. So I put them back into their room and pretended to go away as I watched on from a strategic advantage point.
In Marine Corps boot camp we are taught how to scale obstacles such as walls; one method was called the "chicken wing". We learned to climb over a bar by throwing an arm over the bar and bending it to form what looked like a chicken wing, then we used our momentum to bring our leg up and twist our bodies over. My daughter used this very maneuver to climb into the crib. At what point did she learn how to do that? What else is she capable of? Through careful monitoring I saw that she could climb the selves of her closet, and climb over the baby gate. I thought stacking one gate on top of another would be a deterrent, but she found out that she only had to apply pressure to knock them out of place. This is when I realized that I was raising an escape artist/ criminal mastermind.
One time my eldest daughter locked herself out of her room and so I had to get a screwdriver to pop the lock. She replicated the action every chance she got, if my bedroom door was locked, she would get one of her toys to pop the lock and let herself in. She was only two years old and my privacy became non-existent. At my mothers house she attempted to unlock the pantry door- which is sealed with a key lock, with a piece of spaghetti! At three years old she noticed the motion sensor in the kitchen of my parent's house. She saw that every time she entered the room the light would go off. Nothing for her to do but army crawl across the floor to find her that the sensor did not detect her at that level.
There are many more stories I will share about my clever, crafty, and meddlesome children; however I will save them for future blogs. I hope I was able to share some insight into the struggles of parenthood, or at least provide you with a good chuckle. What are some of the challenges you faced as a parent or even babysitter?
T.C. Reaves
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
Introduction
Hello everyone and welcome to my very first blog! Before I dive into the thrills and chills of parenting, let me introduce myself. My name is Tamarra Reaves and I am the a mother to three amazing girls, and the spouse of an active duty Marine. My oldest is 8 years old, the middle girl is 7, and the youngest is 7 months old. Due to military service we do a lot of moving. As a result of the frequent changes in location, each of the girls were born in different states. My oldest two girls have been to three different schools in the past three years. For the past seven years I have been a stay at home mom, experiencing motherhood in all it glory, trials, and tribulations.
Parenthood is an wild adventure in which there are no maps. You can read all the self help books, practice with other peoples kids, or work with kids, but you will never be fully prepared. Like many moms I comb the internet trying to figure out what the children should be doing at each stage of growth, what is normal, and cures for every ailment; however, I have come to realize that every child is unique, and that there are just some things you'll have to learn through trial and error.
As I share the outlandish stories of some of my tribulations and achievements, I welcome you to share your advice, comments, and stories. I ask that all comments be respectful and courteous so that this can be an enjoyable experience for all. I hope everyone finds something they like, and I look forward to your comments!
Tamarra Reaves
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