china

I know, I should be blogging about the run, since it's all I've talked about for six months now, but first things first.

Do you ever watch movies or sitcoms where the kids are over-the-top atrocious? They're climbing the curtains, swinging from chandeliers, running screaming through the house while chasing each other with dead things found in the yard? Before having kids, I thought that it was a little ridiculous the way they exaggerated the behavior of children that way. I also used to be the woman in the grocery store who shook her head at the mom in the isle whose kid was tantruming on the floor, or whining and begging for stuff. If that was my kid I'd just spank him already. Yep, that was me.

Ever see the movie Cheaper By the Dozen? I haven't seen the whole thing, but I've seen parts of it.

My house is totally like that. It's noisy in here. They run, they jump, they scream, they fight, someone's always doing something with the baby powder somewhere. Vaseline on the floor/steps/side of crib? Seen it. Poo? Don't even get me started. Kids who want to pee without turning the light on only to realize too late that the toilet lid is down? Yesterday.

Now I'm the mom who ignores her kids whining and crying in the grocery store. You don't like it, shop in the evening. I'm sure by the time I leave the store everyone in it knows the names of my kids. I've found the best way to keep everyone together and somewhat behaved is to just keep moving - fast, so that they have to jog a little to keep up. There's less mischief that way. Once in a while I lose one (or 3), but I figure that as long as I end up at home with at least half of them it'll still be fun here on Christmas morning.

Dinner time? Oh boy. That's a post of its own.

The other day I was telling Steven that Tennyson threatens to move to China, because he figures it's as far away from me as he can get. He's sweet that way. We were at the table, and they were in and out of their chairs, the baby was squealing (if you know us at all, you know what she does. Makes me want to rip out my own ear drums), they weren't eating their dinners, they were giving each other attitude, the look and the snotty voice. I looked over at Steven and said "I think I need to go to China. Too bad I don't have any money." Tennyson reaches into his pocket and says "Here Mommy, here's some money for you to go to China." He hands me a nickle. He was smiling and happy to help. Jordan says "I have money for you too" and gives me a toonie. Where they get all this money is beyond me. I think they shake it out of their piggies so they can carry it around with them. Steven (who had gotten up to fetch something from the kitchen) returns to the table. I showed him my monstrous pile of cash. "This is my China fund." Then Jordan realizes something; "Hey," she says, "Give me back my money. You just want to get away from us!" I laugh. She's so smart.