A lesson in sharing

When I dropped my kids at summer school today, their teacher told me a funny story that happened yesterday. She said #1 was laying down at nap time and had his finger in his nose. He pulled out his finger and asked her, "Would you like to have some of my booger?" She said he had such a sincere face that he actually wanted to share it with her. I guess I should celebrate the fact that he has learned a lesson in sharing rather than cringe with disgust, right?

Just a spoonful of yogurt makes the medicine go down!

#1 has been prescribed some medication that has to be swallowed whole, so we have been working on teaching a 5 year old how to do it. We started by using the Mini M&Ms and a cup of cold water or milk with a straw. We asked him to take a sip first so that his throat was cold and wet and might make the pill slide down easier. Next we put the M&M on his tongue and asked him to drink from the straw.

At first, he would have a mouth full of water or milk with the M&M but I would see his jaws chewing the M&M before swallowing it all. Every time he swallowed an M&M without chewing it he got to have 5 M&Ms as a reward. He finally got the concept and we started him on his trial pack of medicines.

One day he accidentally chewed the pill so I made him swallow it anyway. BIG MISTAKE! The medicine is a time-release medicine so it made him incredibly sleepy at school (he fell asleep in the hallway at school while waiting for his classmates to finish going potty and was sleeping on the playground as well). Lesson learned!

When I mentioned it to his teacher, she said that as a child she had a hard time swallowing pills herself, so here are a few things that helped her:

1. Dipping the pill in butter to make it slide down more easily
2. Putting the pill onto a spoonful of yogurt or pudding (since you don't normally chew those things).

Anyway, some days have been really rough getting him to take his medication and others were fairly easy. Yesterday we went through 2 cups of milk, 2 cartons of yogurt, and after an hour of trying he accidentally chewed it so I made him spit it out. Today was a breeze and only took a few sips from a straw of his juice box.

I thought I'd share these tips I learned in case you have little ones who need to swallow pills too!

Let's snuggle..then again let's not!

My youngest son came up to me last night with a mischevious grin on his face. He wanted me to hold him so my heart melted a little bit as I anticipated his sweet snuggle.

Right after I pulled him onto my lap, he tooted, then climbed down and walked away giggling.

So much for snuggle time...that's a boy for you!

Birthday party for the cousins

My niece K and nephew C's birthdays are a few days apart in April, so they decided to have a combined birthday party at my parents' house. They rented a blow up moonwalk that was a big slide, served cotton candy, and did face painting, with a pinata to top it off. The kids had a ball!

Last field trip of preschool

I attended the twins' last field trip of their preschool career. It is hard for me to believe that they are finished with preschool, even as I type this. We went to the Downtown Aquarium and saw many fish, sharks, and other reptiles. We touched the stingrays, rode the train, and ate a picnic lunch. Since the boys were in separate classes that were in different places, I spent the first half of the trip with #1's class and the second half with #2's class. It's hard to be in two places at once!

Every time I am with the preschool group on a field trip, I come home with a bigger sense of appreciation for their teachers. They do a fantastic job juggling their responsibilities of keeping track of that many kids in public but at the same time making it a fun and educational experience for them. Their patience and love for the kids amaze me.

I am so blessed to have my children at Northland Christian School, where they are loved on and have so many opportunities to experience the world through fun and exciting field trips!

Swimming at Mimi's house

Problem: Mommy did not pack swimsuits over the Easter Holiday because she thought it would be too cold to swim.
Solution: Heat up the hot tub and swim anyway!

Ahhh...so many problems are easily solved because my in-laws live in the country, where it doesn't matter whether you are wearing a suit or not! Plus, their grass gets 'watered' by our boys so they won't have to run inside to go to the potty. :)





P.S. Yes, Matt was wearing shorts!

Easter pictures (a bit belated, I know)

Let the Easter Egg hunting begin!


#3 hunting eggs


My niece K


My nephew R


My other nephew R


#2 showing off his prize egg collection


#1 was proud of his treasure of eggs


My nephew R is the son of one of the biggest UT fans I know.


Checking out the goodies in their Easter eggs