Monday, April 27, 2015

PLEASE, Flush The Toilet!

I had an epiphany last night. :)

I don't know about you, but I have 2 kids in my home that rarely flush the toilet. No matter how much I ask, plead, beg, or bribe, it just doesn't happen often enough! 

What's the big deal? Well, if you have this problem, you know. No flushing leads to a stinky bathroom & a hard to clean toilet. Both drive me nuts! 

Admission...my nose is my nemesis. If I had a super power, it would be my incredible sense of smell. However, I do not yet know what benefit this holds for me. So far, it seems to be my down fall. Think about it;
-he who smelt it dealt it (Yikes...)
-if you smell the poopy first, you change it (Bummer for Me)
-I dislike foods with a strong smell (Sometimes Sad)

Needless to say, unflushed toilets bother me. And on to my discovery~

Last night I was watching my older daughter as she finished going potty. I was just waiting to see if she would think to flush. Then I started to wonder..."WHAT is she doing?" She had one had on her right ear and the other on her left ear. Then she reached for the handle...Yes, victory! ...Wait, no...She slowly puts her hand back to her ear and then again, reaching slowly to the handle and again back to her ear.  She then proceeds to lean down with both hands on her ears and tries to flush with her elbow.  Awww...How sad.  Even though she is not diagnosed with sensory processing issues, I know that she has a hard time with noises, but I never quite correlated it to why she "couldn't" remember to flush.  Of course, it now makes perfect sense!  I would have a hard time doing something that was painful or overwhelming when it happened.  Now my other "non-flusher" does have sensory processing issues.  When she does flush, she does the "Flush and Run".

Do you feel like you have more patience and grace when you understand what and why your kids do things? I'm always asking the kids to think about what they are doing, but sometimes I need to slow down and really pay attention to the kids so that I can better understand each of them!

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Tooth Fairy Trickery




Does the Tooth Fairy always make it to your house the very night your kid looses a tooth? I have found that she is often overwhelmed with teeth and can take a day or two to get there.  With 6+ kids, and a steady rotation of kids at the age of loosing their teeth, you would think that the Tooth Fairy would be well seasoned and quite on top of it!

Well, it may surprise you to know that the more kids you have, the busier she is! Surprisingly, it can take days for that beloved fairy to show up! 

The older kids at our home know this well and have forewarned the newbies. They confidently inform the younger kids that the longer you wait, the more money you can get! Sometimes it shows up all glittery and sparkly and often with a special note! 

Little G, determined as she is, pulled her newest loose tooth yesterday on January 1st. She was gravely warned that this could be a VERY busy tooth day!! So this morning when she came stomping into my room yelling, "Mommy, LOOK!!",

I just calmly said to her, "Oh honey, you know the Tooth Fairy was very busy last night." Little G was quite disturbed and I realized she had something else to say. She finally got out that the Tooth Fairy had come...but had not taken her tooth, but had instead left her someone else's tooth too!!  I looked and noticed that her tooth had dried out and split in two. I tried to explain this to her, but she was convinced that it was someone else's tooth.  Since we hold onto teeth for days at a time I, of course, already knew that as teeth dry out, they crack.

She whined about the Tooth Fairy all day.  She was so very let down.  But we reassured her that the Tooth Fairy would return!  Hope she isn't as disappointed next time.