Pomp and Circumstance

Today is the day my twin “babies” graduate from Pre-K and WOW is all I can say.

Looking at the 2 of them now, it seems hard to beleive (well sort of) that 3 years ago these were the same 2 little boys who hid behind the door at their 1 day/week class at the Y for 6 weeks straight or who cried and ran away from the van when I said it was time to leave for their first day of school at CPNS.

I remember the first day of pre-K and how J ran into the room crying – right into the arms of Mrs. M – oh how my heart broke!

Here we are 2 years later and they have grown SO much. The 2 little, shy boys, I thought would NEVER be ready for “big boy school,” are now 2 handsome “big” boys excited to ride the bus and go to kindergarten!

I am a nervous wreck about kindergarten. Will they make friends? Will they get teased? Will they be ok on the bus? But I guess that is just to be expected since I am their mommy and they are my first borns (at least I have until September to worry).

I am a little sad that my babies are growing up but I am also happy and excited for them to start this next chapter. Hopefully I will not be sobbing during the “End of Year” celebration today – then again it is my job to embarrass them in front of their friends.

Congratulations M&J Mommy is SOOOOOO proud!!

These little lights of mine – boy do they shine!

Today was the twins Easter show at pre-k (technically the Palm Parade). I bought them new polo shirts and even ironed their khakis before school (there would be other parents there and they had to look good). I took a half-day from work and was armed with my iPhone (completely charged) and a front row seat. This would be my “babies” last Easter show.

The piano started playing and soon I saw the twins marching at the front of the line and my heart skipped a beat. Look at how handsome and big my babies have gotten. They waved to me and the husband and I noticed their cheeks get a little pink once they realized how many people were there to watch.

They stood next to each other and would occasionally glance in each other’s direction (when not looking at the floor) during songs. I tried to hide my laughter when Josh would make a funny (probably embarrassed) face after each song (my aunt swears it is the same face I make).

Before we knew it the show was over. The crowd erupted in applause and the kids marched back to their classrooms. Another milestone over but many memories made.

The good, the bad and would it have killed her to put some lipgloss on

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Yesterday started off good. I was having a good hair day, there were no major catastrophes with the kids and, most importantly, I was wearing my slimming navy pants. Ok, I can do this, only 8 hours and my weekend starts I thought as I headed into work. I was also happy because last night was going to be my first Google+ “pow wow” with some blogger moms I had gotten friendly with and I was excited to try it out.

The morning went by pretty quickly. I was working on a very boring important project so that was keeping me busy. Around lunch time I started to get a nervous feeling  in my stomach. I had J’s parent-teacher conference after work and I didn’t  know what to expect. J is my 3yo with ASD (autism spectrum disorder) and he attends an autism pre-k class. J has been making wonderful progress this year, he is talking more and actually making sentences and being more expressive and even socializing with some of the other kids. However, he will NOT potty train and tends to be a bit stubborn (not surprising if you knew his brothers) and I knew this was going to come up at the conference. Ugh.

My other problem with the conference is something that has nothing to do with J, it is all me. When I see J making so much progress and acting like a typical 3yo, I start to think that maybe his ASD diagnosis was a mistake. I start to tell myself that his teacher/therapists will tell me J is “cured” and we can go back to “normal.”  This fantasy was squashed at our last conference so I wasn’t feeling too optimistic for this one.

Meanwhile at work, I was still diligently working on my boring important project and it was obvious I was not going to have it completed by 4pm. I went to update my boss on the status and she was actually happy (sort of) with the progress. We chatted for a minute or 2 about my nervousness over J’s conference and then came this …I just want to give you a little constructive criticism…

For the next 20 minutes I was given enough constructive comments to last me till the end of the month. The comments weren’t all bad constructive, I was told I was intuitive and just fail to use this  at work. After hearing the words clock and watcher I excused myself since I was now late for the parent/teacher conference. The whole ride to J’s school those words swirled in my head. Super, now I was late AND in a bad mood.  

I must have looked “great” when I ran in the classroom because J’s teacher asked me if I was tired before she offered me a tiny seat at a tiny table in the back of the classroom. J is not “cured” but he is doing great. His teacher and therapists told me his progress was excellent and he was a pleasure to have in class – he just needs to potty train and not be so stubborn.

I decided to treat me and the husband to chinese for dinner since I was tired still feeling sorry for myself.  The next couple hours were a blur of cleaning up, baths and bedtime  – and  trying to come up with 3 pieces of green clothing for everyone’s respective “green day” at school. Before I knew it, it was time for the “pow wow”. I was a little nervous about being on a camera but thought it wouldn’t be too bad, after all it was 9pm on a Thursday night. I logged on to Google+ and all of the sudden I was not only staring at the faces of 4 other mommies, I was also staring at myself . O-M-G was all I could think, would it have killed me to have put on some concealer or at least a little lip gloss before I met these women??!!

The chat was great once I was able to postition the computer so my head was cut off stop staring at myself. It was nice to hear what other moms had to say about their lives and chaotic mornings.

Lying in bed, thinking over my day, I realized it was not the worst day. Yes the constructive criticism sucked (and I have gotten enough lately to last me a lifetime) but in the grand scheme of things how much does that matter? When I am 80 (god willing) I hope I not to be  remembered for what I accomplished at the office but rather for what I did as a mom. A mom who tried (sometimes successfully) to raise her 4 boys to be happy, healthy and kind people. 

ps – I PROMISE for the next cyber pow wow to have some make-up on 🙂

Holy Crafts!

I was diligently indexing at work today when someone stoped by my cube to ask if I had any tabs (numbers 26-50 specifically). Hmmmm, let me check, I say and open the bottom drawer of the file cabinet.

BAM! Artwork from 3 kids comes spilling out of the drawer all over the floor much to my embarrassment.  Oops, forgot I put that stuff there I explain as my co-worker smiles. Don’t worry about it, I have that stuff home he says.

So it’s not just me with the endless projects, drawings, connect-the-dots and various other holiday/season themed crafts taking over my space???

When the twins started pre-k last year I thought it was great when they could come home with a picture or craft.  I would hang it up on the fridge and show the husband and relatives when they came over.

Two weeks into pre-k my fridge was covered and I was out of magnets. Ok, no problem, I will just take the “good” creations to work and display them in my cube. I started off slowly with 1 picture per child but by spring my cube looked like a pre-k  art room.

The husband suggested keeping a storage box with the kids’ names on it for the “special” artwork. However, when the school year was over the box was jammed packed and we knew we had a problem. What the heck was I supposed to do with all this stuff?  Will my sons actually care that mommy saved all the stuff they made when they were 4, 5 and 6? Better yet, will their wives (or significant others)  want the boxes of stuff they made when they were 4, 5 and 6?? 

I am stumped on this one so I am asking you, what is your retention policy for kids’ artwork? Do you keep everything or only the special pieces? Do you throw stuff away? Do you scan the artwork and then create calendars for family at Christmas ? (no lie I met a mom who does this).  I look forward to hearing your ideas and suggestions. Now if you will excuse me, I have some shamrocks to hang up

You’re not my Mommy ANYMORE!

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It started off as any other Wednesday morning in the House of Chaos. L greeted me in the shower at 5:45 asking for a bottle and M soon followed telling me he wanted to watch tv (how I could help him while in the shower I havent figured out yet).

After getting ready I went into the kitchen to warm up the Keurig, make lunch, take the dog out, feed the dog, etc. when J announced that he was hungry. I told him to give me a couple of minutes to get organized and then I would give him his cereal (sans milk). He whined a bit but got interested in Nick Jr.

Fast forward to me getting ready to leave for work. I go into the living room to say my good-byes and get kisses when I hear the twins talking about show-and-tell today (yikes, why do I ALWAYS forget show-and-tell). J lets me know he is bringing in a car (as always) and M tells me he is bringing in the “Kill Zone 3” guidebook he got from daddy – Houston we have a problem!

“Kill Zone 3” is some game my husband plays (I couldn’t tell you what game system it is on) that is pretty much about these robot looking men killing one another with various weapons (ie: an ice saw) and driving tanks. NOT the type of book that would be welcomed at a pre-k run by a church.

I tell M the book isn’t a good idea because it will scare the girls. He tells me he doesn’t care. Ok, it is now after 7:30 and I am going to be late for work. I suggested other things (Legos, Transformers, cars) and none were to his liking. He was bringing in that book.

 NO! I finally said. Well with that his lip came out and started quivering and he yelled You are NOT my Mommy ANYMORE!! and went to cry in the corner next to the couch.

Ouch!

I know M didn’t mean what he, heck he probably didn’t even understand what it really meant but it still hurt. M is my first-born twin, my little bugman how could he tell ME such a thing? I am his mommy, the one who takes care of bad dreams, finds Bear before bed, buys him the sprinkle cookies from the food store and reads to him about Lego Ninjago. It wasnt that long ago he told me I was the Best Mommy Ever.

The words echoed in my head the entire ride into work. When I got to my desk I immediately called home to see how M was. Was he still crying? Did he feel guilty? My aunt (the babysitter) told me M was now bringing in either a gun he crafted out of bristle blocks or his Ninjago book and was happily eating a waffle and watching tv. And just like that it was over.

I am sure M will have worse things to say to me as the years go by,  but for now I am happy just being the greatest mommy ever.

ps – M brought in his Captain America figure with shield.