The Questions and other ways I get information

I am in the habit of letting the car be my zone out place. I turn on the radio and just drive in silence or maybe poorly sing along to a song. One reason for this is that my hearing is really very bad- no joke I really should get it tested and get a hearing aid, it is on my to do list- so talking to the kids in the back of the van is almost impossible. Another reason is that poor Jack has inherited my awful hearing. When we talk in the car it goes a lot like this:

 Me: "Jack, so what do you think the weather will be like tomorrow for your field trip?" Jack: "What?" Me: "The weather for your field trip-- do you think it will be nice?"

 Jack: "What?" Me: "The weather?" Jack: words I can't hear Me: "Huh?" Jack: "What?" Me: "Oh never mind." 

Now if he starts the conversation imagine me with all the whats and huhs. It is frustrating. Finally, I am not great at the conversation thing in general. Pete is good at it. He can just come up with a topic and talk and talk about it and engage the kids. Me, not so much. So a few months ago I came up with The Questions. As soon as I pick Jack up from school I ask him these questions. 1. What was the best part of your day? 2. What was the worst part of your day? 3. What is one thing that you wish you could redo? 4. What is the craziest thing that happened today? Sometimes I throw in other ones like 5. Who was the nicest to you? 6. Who were you the nicest to? 7. Who was the meanest to you? 8. Who were you the meanest to?  I get to find out more than if I just asked- How was your day? I learn a lot about the kids in his class and how he interacts with them. Now how do I hear him? Sometimes I don't. There is a lot of yelling. A lot of waiting until the car is stopped at a red light. However, since he knows the questions I ask he can sort of pick out a few words and know what I am asking, and since I know what question I asked I can kind of fill in the blanks if I miss certain words in his answer. 

 The car gets me certain information, but I get a lot of knowledge about his life because I read to him at night. He gets a bit chatty at night. I learned a friend of his told him that Pokemon were baby. Jack really enjoys Pokemon, he even brings stuffed Pokemon toys to school. A lot of kids in his class bring dolls or stuffed animals to play with at recess. Jack has invented Pokemon tag which is sort of like freeze tag but people are holding Pokemon plushes. (I think). However, the day after telling me that this friend called Pokemon baby Jack did not bring his Pokemon to school. He took them out of his backpack and instead brought a football. It made me so sad. Peer Pressure. Grr. I attempted to tell him not everyone is interested in the same things and he shouldn't stop enjoying things just because someone else doesn't like it, if you like it that is what matters. Alas, I do not think I am very good at motivational speaking. This combined with a few other things lead to the talk about what a friend is and what a friend isn't. A friend doesn't tell you to miss words on your spelling test, a friend doesn't threaten to and then actually kick you in the balls whether you spell the words correctly or not, a friend isn't mean, a friend isn't hurtful, a friend doesn't try to make your other friends sad, a friend doesn't say obscene things even after you tell him you don't like it, and etc. So I guess it was more of a what a friend isn't talk. 

It is probably good the summer break is fast approaching. It will give him time away from this friend. However, it will mean that I have to find ways to entertain him. Argh!!!!! I feel like I will be saying-- go outside and entertain yourself-- quite a lot. 

In other Weigel family updates-- Meg is a rolling machine and is even beginning to scoot. She gets her butt way up in the air and then kicks her legs some to move forward. It isn't very graceful but she is starting to get around. Thomas is in a phase where he wears his pajamas practically all day and he changes into all of his pajamas at some point during the day. He will even wear all his pajamas/clothes at the same time. Luke still likes to draw, play play dough, he loves Superman and all DC comic guys, and he is still a very tactile person. Pete told me I had to stop saying that Luke was a sensual person and start saying tactile. Fine. He likes to touch, kiss, hug, and get right in Meg's face. However, when he keeps his distance she really loves it when he gets her to say goo. He is very patient with her too, so she ends up talking to him and smiling a lot--which he loves.

Picture time.

Thomas wearing most of his pjs. Yes, there were even layers of pants.

Pete made steak with wine sauce- Luke had 4 helpings and asked to have his picture taken with it.

Jack being crazy

The only picture where her hair is tame

I think my boys may be berserkers

Things you should probably know just so you feel better about your life.

- My son peed in the garbage can at school. I won't name names since this could prevent him from getting into college, but I think you know which one.

- A different son started saying Bitch, Bitch, Bitch last night. When I asked why he was saying it, I was informed because he wanted to practice it. Nice.  Then a different son said he knew how to make that word even worse. I think my brain just exploded.

- In the parking lot of the grocery store the oldest one, and the one who should of course know better, grabbed a rock, made eye contact with a driver, and then brought his arm back like he was going to throw it. He didn't, and I feel about 80% confident in saying that he never planned to. The driver was not amused.

- If you have ever watched Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood you know he says- Ugga Mugga. I have a child who has made this his eye rolling mantra when he feels frustration and like the man (aka- his mom and dad) are holding him down. I now hate Daniel Tiger.

-I wanted to take a picture of my dinner table but couldn't find my camera. It so clearly depicts the way our whole house looks. There are play dough containers/play dough chunks, food, toys, books, clothes, drinks, spilled stuff that I don't even know what it is, pens, pencils, and bags all over it. It is just one table and it isn't even huge, but all this stuff is just piled up. It is what our whole house looks like-every single room- I promise. I am scared to set Meg down for fear I won't be able to find her under all the mess.

-Even our dog, who is already crazy, acted extra crazy. I was watching this little video I took of the boys and in the background you can hear Tigran whimpering because he wants to go outside. Well, Tigran hears this and just goes berserk running around the living room, barking, and getting all out of breath. I just sighed and said- Tigran you are barking at yourself. I know you are getting old, but really.

-I feel as though I haven't paid any attention to my blond baby boy. He is full of his own quirks. Like he has to have things just a certain way. He needs his pillow with the Christmas pillowcase, he needs the pillow case placed over the pillow so that the zipper from the allergy cover is sticking out and accessible, and he needs the open part of the pillow case facing the outside of his bed because he likes to put his right hand in there while sleeping on his stomach. This is an absolute must. There is no wiggle room. Somehow he managed to get his pillowcase off his pillow very early in the morning when I wasn't about to wake up for any reason. The whole just go to bed thing did not work. However, throwing himself on the floor with pillowcase in one hand and pillow in the other crying and sobbing until he was snotty nose nasty-did work. This happened another time recently and Jack offered to put the pillow case on but he doesn't know the specific rules so this just made Thomas extra mad. Now Mommy is the only one allowed to do it. Yay for me.

-He also likes to taunt cars like his older brother. When a car drives in the parking lot behind us he will either use his hands as blasters and blast the cars as they drive by or will grab one or two large sticks and shoot the car as it drives by. I need to add that he doesn't just stand still. No, he runs the length of the green yard chasing the car and he gets as close to the parking lot as he can. Yelling at the car is an added bonus.

-I learned, by watching my son, that if you are at the grocery store in your martial arts clothing and run down the aisle then drop down to your knees that you actually slide quite far.

-Luke's favorite thing to do, or so it seems, is to poke his sister's eyes, squeeze her mouth, put his finger in her nose or her mouth, and squeeze her arm. He doesn't do it out of anger or dislike of his sister, it is more like curiosity or that he feels so much love he doesn't know what to do with it. He gets sent to time out for these offenses and he just sobs the entire time. You feel so guilty, but then he just can't stop himself and the next time he is next to her he does it again.

So there you go. Life with the boys is never dull.