Anatomy of a birthday party

What happens when you get four 11-12 year old boys together for a 3 hour birthday party?

• One kid will get dropped off early, before you are set up and ready to go
• One kid will be late, causing a delay in activities and making the other kids squirrelly
• One kid will get hurt within 5 minutes of arriving, and will then whine about it till they leave
• One kid will not listen to any direction you give them
• One kid will be mean to at least one other kid
• One kid will refuse to participate in anything
• Four kids will cry "we're bored" half way through
• One kid will be mouthy
• One kid will be polite
• One kid will not like any of the snacks you offer
• One kid will plant them-self at the snack table and scarf down everything in sight
• One kid will use inappropriate language
• One kid will constantly bring up inappropriate topics, like flavoured tampons (I didn't ask)
• One kid will keep coming in the house, even though they've been told to stay outside (they are wet)
• One kid will keep holding the screen door wide open, even though they can see the cat plotting its escape
• One kid will be picked up late

• One Mother will enjoy quiet time at the mall while the party is going on
• One Mother will enjoy quiet time with an alcoholic beverage after they all leave

What do your children's birthday parties look like?

He's only 8!

You know you're old when you find yourself saying "Kids these days!"  I thought it today and it made me feel old!  My kid did something today at the not so wise age of 8 that I didn't do till I was in my 20s!


He played Truth or Dare at school.


With girls.


There was kissing.


He loved it.



Luckily he's young enough and we have a great relationship that he told me all about it. His dare had been to kiss Grace on the cheek and then she got dared to kiss him on his cheek.  Liam was all for this since he's had a crush on Grace all year.  When I asked him how the kiss was, he pretend to swoon and told me it was wonderful.  Too cute.

It opened up a great discussion on our walk home about respecting people and making good choices and how things like kissing and dating are best reserved for much later in life.  I knew these talks were coming, I just didn't expect them yet!!

Look what I won!

A new bag!

Thanks to Support for Special Needs and Cinda B for offering this great prize just for joining Support for Special Needs.  They are a great new community that is just getting started and has lots of support and experience to offer no matter what your connection to the special needs world may be.  So go check them out and join into some of the great discussions on the go.

Another good reason to have kids

you get to buy the toys and games you always wanted when you were little, but your parents would never buy for you!

La La La La Lemons....

Liam has to take something to "show and share" next week that starts with the first letter of his name. We have this great CD of kids songs that includes La la la la Lemons (first done on Sesame Street) so he is learning all the words to it to sing at school next week. And with a grand finale flourish (including Jazz Hands!) he adds " And Liam!" at the end!

Walk down memory lane with me and sign along!

Liam's new Do!

Liam went for a haircut today. We've asked him before if he would like to have his hair spiked, but he's always said no. Until today.

Feb 28, 2008 - Today's the day

that I work on being more patient.

I have found the last few days that I've been very impatient with Liam. Little things have pushed me over the proverbial edge, things that don't normally phase me. Some of it is from being tired no doubt, but it feels like it's more then that.

So tonight, if I feel myself starting to lose patience, I'm going to stop and ask myself if it's really worth getting upset over, and find a way to start again.

Dinner update:

An hour before dinner was even set to be served we had tears about it! (Liam’s, not mine this time!) He asked what we were having for dinner so I told him “Noodles, vegetables and pork chops”. Instant hysterics! “I don’t like that! What am I having? Do I have to eat that?” I kept an even keel and told him that we were not making him something different, this is what the family is eating and he should eat as much as he needs to so that he won’t be hungry.


Well, one lesson learned: Make sure to talk to Hilary BEFORE dinner about what approach to take so we can both answer with the same approach.


I had thought that we should just put food on the plate, put the plate in front of Liam and that’s it. If he asked if he had to eat it all then I would answer “only you know if you have eaten enough, so you decide how much to eat” in my most loving, supportive, non-judgement Mama voice. And I did do that. Only I hadn’t told Hilary that I thought we should try this approach. It just happened that his question wasn’t directed specifically to me, so Hilary and I both answered at the same time. And she answered with what has been our standard “you have to at least try everything on your plate” approach.


In the end he did try one bite of everything, including the parsnips. He did not gag or cry, and only grumbled a bit. Overall I would have to say that it was a pretty successful dinner!

5 year olds and food!

I am a huge fan of For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnson. She alway's manages to sum up my life just perfectly. Take this recent strip for example:

This happens almost daily at our house!