Parenting 101: Lesson 38 - Winning the Battle with Trickery

When you happen upon your children arguing and it's very obvious someone's fibbing is the cause of the argument, the best thing to do is trick them into telling the truth. (Caution: This only works until about age 10)

For example: This afternoon the boys and Katie were fighting over the Xbox. Each had supposedly chosen a game to play in turn and it was Ethan's turn next. Katelyn argued that she never picked a game but both the boys said she did. Screaming at the top of her lungs, she insisted she absolutely did not have a turn to pick a game. Watch and learn...

Kate: "I promise I didn't pick a game!!!"

Me: "Ethan, what game did you pick?"

Ethan: "I picked this one."

Me: "Nathan, what game did you pick?"

Nate: "I picked this game."

Then, you throw in the curveball. Ask 'em fast!

Me: "Ethan, what game did you pick?"

Ethan: "I picked this one!!"

Me: "Quick....Nate, what game did you pick?"

Nate: "I picked this game!"

Me: "Quick, Katie, what game did you pick?"

Katie: "I picked this game!"

Aha! Case closed.

Little "Bratz"

First there were clay dolls, then wood dolls, porcelain dolls, and rag dolls. Then came Barbie, who scoffed and laughed at all the other dolls while she drove away in her pink corvette toting her purse and Ken. (yes, toting Ken.)

Then came Bratz dolls which make Barbie look like Mother Theresa. I mean, at least Barbie takes care of her younger "sister" Skipper. And she's become oh so many things over the years: doctor, vet....rockstar. Not only that, but she was responsible. She saved up enough CASH to purchase the Barbie mansion, 'vette, camper and kitchen set. Only recently did Barbie get her first credit cards and so far, I haven't seen her go crazy. I've yet to see Barbie Diamond-Studded Nightclub.


Enter Bratz. Partying, credit card totin', make-up laden, botox-lipped, half-naked, BRATZ. I can't stand them. They stand for everything I DON'T want my daughter to be. They're playsets don't include kitchens or babies, campers or houses. No. They include bar scenes, thigh-high boots and a "credit card swiping machine that makes real sounds"! Great.

Everytime Katie sees these shallow dolls, she comments on how cute they are. We were watching a commercial today for the latest and greatest hoochie doll and Katie says,

"Mom, did you see that?! So cool! I want one!"

Me: "NO."

Kate: "But mom! Why don't you like them?"

Me: "They're terrible dolls and they were made for snotty girls."

Kate: "No they weren't"

Me: "Yes they were. The toymakers thought that snotty girls didn't have any snotty toys to play with, so they made them some. And since you're not snotty, you can't have them."

Kate: "Oh. So did your mom buy you some?"

Oh snap!

How to tell if it's a boy...

One of Nathan's favorite things in the whole wide world is his cousin Dallin. Of course, recently, Pete & Miss added a little brother to the family so I thought I would show the kids the pictures on the Waldron blog.



Me: "Isn't he cute?! Dallin has a little brother now!"

Ethan: "Awwww..."

Katie: "Awwww...."

Alex: "Babbbbyyyyyyyy!!!"

Nate: "WHOA! Dallin finally got a brother. He needed a brother because guess why?! When his brother grows up into a child, he will be a TEENAGER! And it's always easy to tell if when a baby is born...if....if....they're a boy or girl."

Me: "How can you tell?"

Nate: "Well, brothers have long heads, no....long hair but girls have....um....uh...longer hair."

My Super Stars

Just thought I'd post an update this week so that someone would lose the bet of "how long Kirsten will forget the blog". Who lost? Jami? :-P

So, we had parent teacher conferences this week. All of the kids are doing REALLY well in school. They all scored well above the suggested benchmarks on the standardized exams. For example, we have a reading exam called DIBELS (not sure if that's a state standard or a national standard), but all of the kids scored at or above the benchmark.

In fact, Nate's class is supposed to be reading about 44 words a minute at this point in the year. Nate read 95! My boy! His teacher says he has great enthusiasm for school and wishes all of her students had his love for learning. (Awww....)

Ethan, of course, is still a braniac at math, but his teacher suggested he practice writing a bit more. So we're going to start writing letters to you guys on Sundays. I have Dad and Grandma's address, but no one else's. So, if you want a midget penpal, email me your address and you'll get a letter soon!

Katelyn is also doing great this year. I don't have the copy of her scores yet, but I remember them being above the standard. She is quite the little artist. She loves to color and design. I bought her a "How to Draw" book and she's just eating that up.

Alex is talking more everyday. His latest is "Go ride car. Go mountain, water, papa, Goooooo!" He LOVES to cook and insists on doing everything himself. His newest thing is walking. (i.e. no stroller or cart) He wants to walk everywhere, which includes the inside of Costco on a busy Saturday morning. Ugh. That is what nightmares are made of.

As for me....

When I grow up, I want to live here:

Mountains of Fun

On Saturday, we took a trip up to Mt. Lemmon with Mom and Dad. The kids had such a blast, I believe at one moment Nate said, "This is the best day ever I've ever had EVER!"

The Trip

It takes about an hour to drive up the mountain so that leaves plenty of time to talk about how the bears will eat us and we might fall off a cliff. (My kids don't get out much... they were a little paranoid.) So, on the way up the boys ask if there are bears. "Of course!" I say, "but they won't bother us. We probably won't even see one."

"But what if we do mom?"
"Well, Grandpa has a gun and he'll use it if he has to."
To which Nate inquires, "Grandpa has a gun? Is it heavy assault, light assault, medic or artillery?"

Yeah, I know. Too much Call of Duty...

Then, they started to notice how we were getting higher and higher up the mountain. I started hearing a whole lot of "Don't look down!" and "AAAHHHHH!!!" But as we crossed a few bridges, they noticed the cages and walls built to keep the rocks from sliding down the mountain.

It's funny how literal kids can be. I'm thinking when Nate had his lesson about the Great Wall of China, he believed that actually meant the kind of stone they used or something, because the following conversation about the bridges ensued...

Nate: "Wow! It's the wall of China!"
Ethan: "No Nathan. The wall of China is bigger, like that one." (pointing to the next bridge)
Nate: "That IS the wall of China!"
Me: "Boys, the Great Wall of China is in CHINA."
Nate: "How do you know THAT mom?"

You can see my face, can't ya? lol

The Trail

We made it up the mountain without falling off bridges, being attacked by bears and we even saw the Great Wall of China! They were soooo excited to go exploring and hiking on the trail around Marshall Gulch.

The Crew ready for some adventure!

Grandma and Alex throwing rocks in the stream. Grandma found a worm. "Eww!"

Here's Alex chucking some rocks in the stream. (None of the videos are more than about 30 seconds, so they should load quickly.)

Here's Nate trying to build a dam.

Olympic Rock Throwing

Every time Alex threw a rock, he would wait to see if it hit the water. If it did, he'd wait about 5 more seconds before throwing his hands up in the air like a gymnastic dismount and declaring "I WIN!" (Also in this video is Ethan throwing a ginormous rock into the stream right behind me, thus soaking my backside!)

"Papa, I win!" "Cheese!"

We started hiking the trail which , at times, became very narrow with 6 ft drop offs. Katie and Alex were fearless, running up the trail. Ethan started freaking out about falling and out of nowhere Nate screams "I don't wanna die!". So I tell Mom, "Hey, I need to help I-Don't-Wanna-Die Nate up the trail. To which Mom replies, "OK. I'll take I-Don't-Wanna-Fall-Ethan." Ha!

Once we started crossing the stream, Katie wanted to show us what she was made of: soaking wet shoes. She kept hopping across on the rocks before Grandpa could show her the best way. Nate eventually followed suit. Wet Monkeys! Alex, however, got to ride on the "Papa Carriage" across each stream.

"Yeah, I got a sweet ride. Check it out."

Of Picnics and Dams

We stopped for lunch near another small stream. Grandma and Grandpa brought sandwiches and goodies. We chowed down and then went over to the 6 inch deep stream where the Rock Dam was being constructed by engineers Kate, Nate and Ethan. As the water pooled up, Alex decided it was time for a swim.

Here you will see the documentary of not only how the dam was constructed but also how much half-naked babies enjoyed it.

America Rules

Nathan: "Mom, why does everyone call the world 'America'?"

Me: "They don't, Nate. America is only one small country in the whole world."

"But, how many other countries are there?"

"A lot. And they each belong to a continent."

"You mean like North America.....South America....Europe and Mars?"

"Mars is a planet, honey."

"We have planets on EARTH?!"

Welcome Back Slacker!

Yeah, yeah. Shoosh. I've been busy working, cleaning, slaving.....OK not really. I'm just lazy. But here's a look back at the last 13 months I haven't posted anything. Here we go with a gazillion posts....

I'm dating the posts with what should have been their original post date. Just so I can remember when the pics were taken later. So, if you want to see all of the new posts, click on the years/months on the left and it will show you all of the posts for that month.

Kirsten

Flashback

Here's a few images from way back when. *sigh*

Baby Nate at the beach with Disneyland Grandma. "Go swim big blue water!"

We went to visit Grandma and Grandpa Murray just after Katie was born. We took Ethan for a walk down to the river and he picked flowers for Mommy.


Ethan holding a newborn Katelyn.

Katie's 2nd or 3rd trip Disneyland (I know. We've been so many times, we've lost track!)

Bond. Baby Bond.

Some nights I let Alex lay on my bed to watch Curious George to calm him down for bed. Sometimes he falls asleep, so I'll take him to bed. This night, he fell asleep and I went to take him to bed, but he woke up. So I put him back down for a few minutes because it was still early.

I leave the room and as I'm walking back in I say, "I'm going to check to see if Alex is asleep".I walk in the room and he is putting on his sunglasses so I can't see if his eyes are open or shut. Turkey.