Oh.

Asher's new thing is 'Oh.'

He has passed into the stage we all hope to avoid...smartness and willfulness have increased beyond the ability to distract, and behavior begins to deteriorate to often-intolerable levels.  I can completely correlate a good deal of the change in him to the onset of room-sharing with Owen.  They both get less sleep this way, and even though it's not a dramatic effect, I especially see that my very sweet-hearted and amiable little guy gets edgy and less sweet with mild sleep deprivation.  It's unfortunate, but not much to do about it at the moment :}

Anyway...he's gotten his first whoopin's in the last couple months (less than a handful).  He deserved them fully!!  Yesterday Owen was bugging him a bit, and he pushed Owen to the floor, took in a large mouthful of forehead, chomped down and held until I pried him off.  Owen was in orbit.  Asher was gleeful.  So, Asher got some smarting smacks, diaper down, with a controlled but intense tone from his mom.  His consistent response to this event has been unflappable silence-- no crying or upsetness--and then when he's turned around to look me in the eyes and be told NO, he responds quietly, "Oh."

Asher.  We DO NOT bite.  That is a NO NO!
"Oh."
Biting is VERY OUCHY and NOT NICE.
"Oh."
You got a big spankybottom because you bit Owen!
"Oh."
Please go say Sorry, Owen.
"Oh."
[Toddles off and says, "Sowwy, Owaaaahn!"]

It is actually rather hilarious the way he looks me right in the eye and says 'Oh.'  Luckily, I have not laughed yet...usually too mad for that.  But it softens me up quickly.  I don't think the spanking accomplishes too much, but sometimes you feel out of options for those moments when something is really off the chart.   I do think he's gotten more naughty since the first one...sort of testing what will happen.  I kind of wish I hadn't gone there with him yet...it's always easier to let oneself go to that not-so-effective option prematurely after you've allowed yourself to go there the first time (in my humble experience).

He's also on a serious nap-strike, which is not helping matters.  Right before a new baby!  Of course!

But he's still edibly cute and mostly wonderful...just not quite as fantastically sweet as he used to be.  We all have our seasons!

Should I be surprised?

Boys went outside to play (unseasonably warm weather this late fall...awesome!), and I just now peeked out the window to check and make sure all was well.  I saw that the garage door was opening...followed by noticing that Owen was 'riding' the door to the top...held on to the handle at the bottom of the door and stayed on until it started to get pretty high, then dropped off and landed on the ground.

Oh my.

Christmas for Christians

Worth linking to.  Food for thought-shaping.  Some great ideas. 

http://jenhatmaker.com/blog/2011/11/29/the-christmas-conundrum

Celebrate!

Well, after a small blip around the time of grandparent visiting (note to self:  exciting events may induce need for sheet-washing), Owen has re-accomplished his goal and more and has been dry since late October.  Finally, I realized I needed to follow through on his reward.  So we had a little party!  This is what you get when the 4.5 year old designs (and mostly executes) the cake:

4 tiers, smurfy blue, and lots of SPRINKLES!  We are mighty proud of that boy, and it's awfully nice to hear him getting up, climbing down from his new loft bed, and taking care of himself at night.  In some sort of Stockholm Syndrome phenomenon, it was very hard to part him with 'the beeper'.  He just wanted to keep wearing it...sort of a security blanket I guess.  I told him that for the last 2 weeks I hadn't even been turning it on, but that didn't seem to matter.  I had to offer to give him a dollar bill in the morning if he slept without it, and that did the trick.  Here's the graduate with his prize:

Congrats, Owen!  We love you, Mom and Dad

Solved!

Ingenious mother-in-law and grandmother-in-law suggest solution and blue it is...looks great.  Thanks!!

:)

Why so many rooms in my house are shades of beige...or...Tales of a color wheel reject

For my brief bit of personal time today (whilst younger naps and elder has his video time), I will share one episode in the saga of poor paint-picking skills which has played out during my adult life.  I know when I like something, and I know when I don't.  Problem is, I don't know how to achieve the former when it comes to paint.  I am picky, but need a class in interior decorating.  There are a couple of rooms in my house currently with colors so displeasing to me that I still feel stress about them, even though they've now been that way for years (because they're some of the few rooms that aren't beige or brown and my poor color-loving husband will not let me change them to something more muted :).  I think he'd rather have a wrong bright color than no color at all, and these are the little things that are not worth getting in fights about, right?   I personally love shades of brown, find them soothing, and able to coordinate with anything...then a few colored accessories are all you need for it to look passable.

Well, it's been time to paint the bathroom for a while, and I've been dreading it.  Even I did not want another beige room this time.  So, I picked neutral tile, white fixtures, and wood flooring.  Any color should work, right?  Theoretically, but I know my track record.  So, I decided to do something smart and find a shower curtain that would bring some bold pattern into the room, and combine colors I'm interested in trying with the beige of the tile and browns of faucets and floor.

Voila, on super discount at Kohl's this morning.  PERFECT.

And indeed, I think it will look great in the bathroom. Dark brown to match floor and faucets, light khaki to match shower tile, white to go with fixtures and beadboard and some spunky blues and greens.  I bought super-discount awesome light blue towels while at Kohl's and then headed over to Lowe's and picked the perfect green paint, a light shade, drawn right from the curtain.  Finally.  This is the way to decorate!!  I was so proud of myself.  (And Asher was only going crazy with all this shopping toward the end, so even that wasn't a disaster.)

Draped the shower curtain in the room to see if I still liked it...check.  (Floor is darkish brown wood, can't see it.)

Then started putting up a little paint just to make sure in the daylight (Reuel has to do the painting tonight...carpal tunnel OUCH during these last few weeks of preggo-ness).

I opened the can.

WHAT?!!!! 

I knew it was a disaster before the first brush stroke.  It was seriously perfect in the store.  I even conferred with two other women picking paint colors as I did.  But oh my, it is the color of newborn you-know-what in real life, and the sickly yellow-green next to the shower tile makes the particular shade of neutral in the tile appear quite pink.  I don't think that comes through in the pictures.  So, all neutrals are not created equal.  I think this tile is pinky-brown, and that does not work at all with the yellow-green paint.  On the other hand, the background of the shower curtain is pinky-brown-khaki.  So shouldn't that tie it all together??  I may just let the kids splatter paint the walls.  Seriously, if I did not get it right with this approach, it is just hopeless.  Do you know how many gallons of paint I have wasted in my life??  Sigh.

Maybe I can get away with a less yellow green (there's also a more olive green accenting the green flowers in the fabric).  But this little exercise has left me burned again.  Why didn't this work?  For any readers who are tsk-tsk-ing the shallowness and overworry about something as trivial as paint, I heartily agree.  Send me a color chip that works and I will gladly move on to something that deserves more attention than this :}  At least we have a working bathroom!!  :)

Embarrassing.

I have been prideful in my nose-snubbing of Black Friday shopping...I would rather pay more and/or not be sucked into unnecessary purchases than be part of the consumer melee...but oh my goodness, I actually left the house at 3:30am and bought a washer and dryer at 50% off from Sears this morning.  So I've lost my mockery rights.  Sigh.  Maybe a new washer and dryer will make laundry fun?  (Doubtful.)

We went to the cousin's for Thanksgiving feasting on fried turkey and fixin's...yum!  The kids just love going there and getting big kid attention.  Thanks for entertaining them!!  It's like vacation (I don't get away from them much, it's true).  So much to be thankful for, despite my aching back, belly, feet and feeling that any moment all day could be bedtime.  And missing my Dad.  But oh how rich we are in every way and blessed beyond what is deserved, for sure!!  The glass is way more than half full.

Owen wore his 'Daddy jacket' for the first time to the festivities yesterday and would not be parted with it.  Said to his cousins, "I like to wear this because it keeps me warm...and it makes me look handsome."  Hah!  Perfect chicken-chasing wardrobe...!