January happenings...

Not a lot has happened since Christmas. Well, for one, there's no more tree. I think this Christmas was really special for Libby, she was even more aware of what was going on  than last year's. There was real excitement on her face when she saw her presents. Enzo was super excited, too. This year he actually got toys, unlike last year - where he got some bottle formulas that I wanted. Ha ha ha!

The Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22)

So even though Christmas was over, and it was more like New Year, Libby and Enzo kept on playing with the nativity scene, and kept on singing songs to Jesus. It was really cute. Actually Libby kept on singing over and over again, "Haaaaapyyy Birthdaaaaay, Jesuuuuus", even though I had told her countless times Christmas was over. She didn't care, which I'm glad. I told her she could keep on singing all she wanted, because the spirit of Christmas is a really good thing to be around, all year long.

Happy Birthday, Jesus! Jesus, I love you. 

It's almost Christmas!!

Still it was really funny to hear, "Today is Jesus' birthday!!", every day until we took the tree down. Well, they did it one morning that I was outside running. When I came back the tree was packed.

Skinny guy needs help

Cuddling a sheep

In other news, I don't remember when, but I made this brie with crescent rolls, an apple and brown sugar inside... I think it was Christmas day after the children went to bed. We ate it with crackers and drank a beer that Emerson had aged for a year. 

Sweet heart attack in disguise

I'm sorry I have to let Meredith, from The Office, explain to you how Emerson and I felt once we tried it. The whole cheese-roll-beer experience was awesome... 

The Office - Moroccan Christmas 

Somehow, Libby is drinking coffee lately. Well, not somehow... I'm not pretending my child makes her own coffee -  I need to own my actions here. Before she became this non-stop talking machine, I would tell her the coffee was very hot, and that she couldn't have any. Now she asks very politely to have some coffee in the mornings while I'm drinking mine. Even if I say it's hot, she says she'll wait until it gets warm, and I end up giving her like four or five sips out of my cup :S 

Once she tries it, she describes it as not very hot , or warm, or very, very warm - it depends. Sometimes she just says, "Coffee is gooood" [with a gut, German pronunciation]. She cracks me up! I  honestly don't know why God blessed me with this child. I'd like to tell you it's because I'm this amazing woman, but I'm not. She's really something. She is very smart, and very persistent, even with the wrong things to do. Like you'll read at the end of this post.

Oh... She also drinks lemon tea sometimes :)

Enzo is so cuddly. That boy is so sweet. He has me wrapped around his finger. I really suffer when he gets in trouble for hitting Sister or Mommy. He is very smart, but also very stubborn. I don't even know what adjective to use. Libby was so focused. She could sit still for at least half an hour coloring, and learning her letters, and doing stuff on the table. Lately, I'm trying to completely ignore Libby. If I start reading a book for Enzo, Libby wants to sit along and read with us. But I have to tell her to go and read somewhere else while I'm reading that particular book with Enzo; otherwise, she ends up on my lap, and Enzo gets up and leaves. 

But every time I get to sit down with Enzo, and make it all about him, he just laughs at me! I am here trying to teach him his letters and shapes, just trying to read him a book so he wouldn't be this ignorant 15 month old (I'm joking, obviously), and he just gets up, laughs at me, and leaves me there with my book! He wants me to chase him, and starts kind of playing with me, as if asking me to follow him. So I do. And we end up rolling on the carpet, me sucking on his neck, and on his belly, playing Oh, me! Oh, my! which it's just a nonsense game I came up with after we read that phrase on one of Dr. Seuss' books. I just love him so much. He is so different from his sister, and I adore both of them. He couldn't care less about his colors, he just wants to play :)

Anyway, I don't want to make him a momma's boy, but I'm a sucker for affection. I think that's my love language. I want you to hug me, and tell me you love me. My sweet daughter doesn't do that a lot - she takes after her Daddy. But my Enzo does, without even being asked. Who cares if he is forty and still leaves with me? That's why his daddy works so hard, ha ha ha!!

Peanut butter sandwich for breakfast

No, seriously... most of the time I am going crazy with these two. I am trying my best to raise my children with clear boundaries, even if those boundaries hurt most of the time when they cross them. I was reading an article on parenting and discipline some days ago. It really made me feel better because sometimes -almost all the time- I feel exhausted. Then I'm too hard on myself thinking I am this Cruella-de-Vil kind of mom in my everyday interaction with my children, because I correct them constantly.

"Stop worrying about being your child's buddy. You are the only one in the world with the primary responsibility of giving your child what he needs, not what he wants. Sometimes that means you have to lay down the law. Afterward you may have to go close yourself up in the bedroom and, with tears in your eyes, tell your spouse how bad you feel for being so hard on your kids. " - Chip Ingram.

This is me, like almost every day, and it gets worse when I see that other parents don't do it. It's none of my business how they raise their children, but I often wonder if I'm too hard on my own. But then again, I want them to do the right things for the right reasons as they grow up. No pushing, no hitting, no pulling, be gentle, be kind, no kicking Mommy, say please, say thank you, be polite, be patient... And the list goes on and on and on. And it's so weird, because Libby never pushes anybody because she knows she gets in trouble; she doesn't even push back - except her brother. 

Why is that? Why are we so willing to be harder on the people who love us the most? It's just human nature, I guess. I'm usually more compliant with other people than with my own mom... 

This is her bed now

So lately they've been fighting over toys. Enzo likes to have what Libby has, almost always. And Libby lets go of stuff most of the time, but sometimes she doesn't. When she doesn't, she starts pulling away the toy, and Enzo pulls back, and I need to intervene. I do it gladly, but accidents happen very fast. The other day, she pulled him so hard that he fell on top of her, and he banged his mouth on the wall (well, the toy he had inside his mouth did), and he opened his lip. There was not a lot of blood, but Enzo's lip was swollen. Libby got a spanking :( Last weekend Libby was helping me make my coffee, and Enzo was waiting for his turn to help. But suddenly he hit his sister twice on her chest, out of the blue. Spanking for him :(

So by the time Emerson gets here around 5 pm, I'm opening a bottle of wine for dinner... I usually roll my eyes when he asks how my day was, and I feel awful by the time the clock strikes 7 pm because I just want them to go to bed until next morning. And I feel happy when they are asleep. I just wonder if this is all moms out there... Nonetheless, I am thankful for my children. Very thankful. Enzo is coming along way. He was pretty much a brutal infant. He would hit his sister all the time, pull her hair, smack me in the face, throw himself to the floor crying unstoppable - trying to get his own way. But I want to think we are winning the battles little by little. 

Picnic in the van after hectic morning-
Enzo is officially a Mexican

Now he can actually pat her sister in the back gently, and he usually looks at us when he does that (don't really know if he wants to hit her or not, but at least he doesn't). He also hugs her, and kisses her (they bumped heads on the door two nights ago because Libby let go). They roll down on the floor and tickle each other. And Enzo is signing More, please, and Thank you. Today he actually said banana. Also, he gives his sister her smoothie first, and then he drinks his. Libby would do this for him all the time, but it's time he learns to think about others, instead of just himself. Libby says all the time, "Ladies first, boys second"

Anyway, everybody is having an excellent appetite lately. They are no longer happy with a banana smoothie in the morning, and 1/2 c of oatmeal each. They want a yogurt, and some more fruit. Libby is a cheese addict, and could easily eat an 8 oz package on her own if I let her. 

We went for a picnic after Christmas, so that I could try my new running watch. It's really neat!! I think that was the last time we had a picnic, the weather has been very cold. 

We also went to the Katy mall  awhile ago. We ended up at a store for hunting gear, and stuff like that, can't remember the name. Emerson and Enzo had fun trying the 4 wheelers. Before getting there, tough, we stopped at the Rain Forest Cafe, just to look at the animals outside. Libby saw a crocodile but told Daddy, "I'm not afraid, Daddy. Jesus helps me". 

She also got very scared of a show the other day. It was the Super Readers she always watches, but there was like a lion that roared, and she came in the bathroom while I was taking a shower. I was out already, and she hugged me and asked me to carry her in my arms, and pray for her. I didn't know what was going on after I saw the lion, and how she looked at it. She asked me to pray several times during that show, and I just turned it off. Later with other shows, she still gets afraid, like she doesn't know what's coming, and I sit down with her to watch it.  It's sweet that she asks me to pray for her when she feels afraid. I want to believe she feels secure knowing God takes care of her, and that He listens.

My boys

Oh! Libby told Enzo the other day while reading The Cat in the Hat, by Dr. Seuss, "Look, Enzo! This is like Mommy and Daddy, Thing 1 and Thing 2. You see them, Blue Blue??" 

She says the funniest things when going night nights, like, "I see an ant. Hi, ant! Give me a kiss."

Enzo Blue Blue

So I said Libby is very persistent... She has kept on scratching a mosquito bite for more than two months, and it hasn't healed yet. We've tried talking to her, and putting some band aids, but at night she keeps on scratching, until it bleeds. She also pulls her lips. We've noticed Libby has some kind of anxiety to I don't what, and I was feeling bad because maybe it was my fault. Emerson's sister told us some children are just born wired like that sometimes (she is a psychologist), and I believe that's true. I still bite my nails, and I've done that since I was probably less than 5 years old. I didn't have a real worry in my life, but that's just the way it was. 

Anyway, Pamela advised us to write a story for her. For the longest part, I had been threatening Libby to put medicine on her, and she cried and cried because it burned. But she didn't stop scratching either. So we wrote the story. And I won't take long, but after an argument of how much I nag Emerson sometimes, and how much Emerson doesn't do stuff unless I nag, we put the story together.

I wanted to write it down on a notebook and draw it by hand, but we are not very gifted in the artistic department. Emerson just used the computer, and I really liked it. Pamela said it was good, but that we didn't tell Libby how to stop scratching.

Reading about little Liz

So now every time we read the story, we tell Libby that little Liz stopped scratching her face by asking Jesus for help. And that when she felt the urge to scratch, she would scratch a ball instead. So now, Libby is scratching some foamy balls she has. Pamela said we need to do that at least a week, and then we'll talk. It's only been one full day. I saw a little blood this afternoon, but not like before. She knows the story by heart now.

I have no idea if she knows that's her. She calls the little girl Liz, she has never said, "Oh, that's me!". It's funny, though, because the first time Emerson read her the story, she had a face like, "Really, is this all you've got?".  She instantly knew what was going on, but now she reads it over and over. We'll wait. 

I can do everything

By Mommy and Daddy