Out of Hand: January 2018

Drama and Theatrics

Wednesday, January 31, 2018

We are unable to exit our home promptly. One of my school-aged children completely shuts down if we are late. Today, sister stole his lunch, which we noticed just before the bus arrived. He frantically began making a new lunch between screaming and hyperventilating. After the bus left us, sister coyly came upstairs from the playroom with his lunch in her hands. Yes, I wrote "sister stole lunch" in the "reason for tardiness" line. I invite the school to come lecture my children.

The other school-aged-child never, ever feels a sense of urgency. There could be a fire burning at his side and he would not move until surrounded on three sides with just one way out. He is consistently 15 minutes late for school. It's not annoying at all.

Monday, January 29, 2018

We had some family and friends in town. Somehow, I only have these photos...

Sister introduced us to "Secretariat" and stayed overnight with us.

With first godson. He turns 16 this year!

Sister and group with Fr. Pavone.

Silence.

Hubs sent me out yesterday afternoon because I needed silence. It had been far too long. Five hours of silence was the best therapy possible.

I spent 90 minutes here.

Friday, January 26, 2018

"This is my quiet space. No one can come into my quiet space."

Except Mr. Serious. "I want to play with him with silence all around us."

Monday, January 22, 2018

"My dweam is to wuv."

Each day, this one comes home from school telling me that a different girl gave him a hug.

Sunday, January 21, 2018

Saturday, January 20, 2018

The kids had a wonderful time last weekend and each received their favorite gifts. Each day one of them says they love Pop Pop and Grandma and asks when we are visiting.

Sunday, January 7, 2018

I am definitely passing along my love of photography! <3 Maybe we will get a pro out of the bunch... The Firstborn started this by asking for a shot of him and the baby; and then everyone else needed a photo.

Each of these had either the Engineer looking or Mr. Serious looking or a piece of plastic in the background. (Yes we threw it out because it's a choking hazard.) I blame Amazon about that last part. They love to deliver packages during the witching hour.

Big Brother did not want to delete a single one of these. When I asked him which one was the best, he said he loved ALL of them.

Saturday, January 6, 2018

Thursday, January 4, 2018

He looks so much like his dad's family, in my opinion. I see a lot of Pop Pop in him:

Wednesday, January 3, 2018

Our sweet Engineer is our ever elusive one. He is very sweet and affectionate and also gets bored and acts out, which makes me wonder about kindergarten-preparedness. His teacher thinks holding him back will make things worse because he'll get bored. She has zero concerns about his intelligence. He is like this sweet angel at his core:

He is always comparing himself to his brother. I would do a lot to make this stop. Here he drew a picture and wrote Big Brother's name (the backwards "s" gives it away) as though it would somehow be better that way. (He seldom writes his own name. Not sure if perfectionism is what's holding him back...) It's a slice of pizza, which is a true sign of love around here! <3

Here is a class photo. (Sorry for the blur!) They've since added two girls. He is starting to enjoy the schedule and predictability. He really does well when he understands expectations and has firm consequences with lots of hugs mixed in. Here's to some big decisions in 2018!