Charlyn’s Web

Pop! Thwup!

Col. Panic bought his son a toy shotgun. Oh joy.

I don’t know what it is about mothers and guns. I know, there are mothers out there that have no issue with them. I know mothers who hunt. Overall, I don’t have problems with guns… until my son’s hands grasp one. I know this is a toy gun but it still sends chills up my spin when I see him push it up at his chin and inform me it hurts when he fires it there. It causes my nerves to tingle when he fires it over his sister’s heads or points it at them. I keep repeating to myself- he is a boy! He is a boy and it’s a toy! because, somehow, that is supposed to make it better.

Pop! Thwup!

Then, of course, there is the constant noise associated with such a toy (Pop!). Darts whiz by and land (Thwup!). It’s especially fun to fire both barrels at once.

PopPop! ThwupThwup!!!

And the constant commentary.

“I missed it Mom!”

“The darts stick to the window without licking them first!”

“Can I fire on your calendar with the lighthouse figurines?”

Do you value your life?

“Can I shoot the camera traps?”

(Yes, they are still on top of the closet, gathering dust but don’t you dare take them down!)

Fine, but I’m not crawling up there to get them.

“Did you see that shot?”

“Guess, is the gun loaded?”

“Guess, are the shells in the secret compartment?”

“Can I shoot this box of cookies?” As he takes aim from four inches away.

Pop! Thwup!

I finally gave him some cracker boxes to use as targets but I guess they weren’t satisfactory enough because they didn’t fall over when hit.

Pop! Thwup, ping!

What was that? Oh, just a dart hitting one of the afore mentioned lighthouse figurines. He wasn’t aiming at it- honest.

There are round circles on the windows now, but he decided to not shoot at the TV. It’s important to be able to see it, you know.

He couldn’t understand why I wasn’t sympathetic this morning when he lost two darts outside. He had shot at a bird and then couldn’t find the dart. Then he shot at at butterfly and that dart can’t be found either. The ground is covered with little yellow leaves that make finding the little yellow darts difficult. The thought that went through my adult head was “um, didn’t we learn anything from the first time?” but I kept my mouth shut. I did track down one of them, because I am a little twitchy and my brain wasn’t in gear. It was lying in plain sight on the gravel; it must have camouflaged itself when they were looking for it.

Pop! Thwup!

His Father, the ever brave Col., has gone off to the quiet of his ‘hoffice‘ and left me alone to deal with the constant noise.

PopPop! ThwupThwup!

You see, The Col. didn’t buy it to give his son a fun toy. He didn’t buy it to give his son joy and the desires of his heart.

No, it is another tool in his nefarious plan to drive me slowly, totally insane.

Pop! Thwup!

HP reading to his sisters. What precious gifts from God they all are!

(click thumbnail to view larger photo.)

HP has discovered the joys of swatting flies. He will get the fly swatter and go a swatting. I will not fill you in on the running commentary that flows forth as he is engaged in this activity. It’s best this way, trust me.

He decided the other day that we should leave our door open, rigged up with a screen with holes just big enough for flies to get through. When the house was full of flies we would then shut the door and put him to work with the swatter.

Then comes the kicker: I could pay him for each fly he kills.

Somehow I just don’t see the benefit for me in this scheme.

“I can’t stretch out! It’s uncomfortable!”

I couldn’t muster up sympathy for the Oh So Clever Brained One who decided that he would rather sleep on the metal slats of his bunk-bed instead of on his mattress. The mattress was pushed aside leaving a small wedge of space between it and the wall for him to sleep. There he was, all jammed in, with his pillow and blanket quite pleased with himself.

Oh woe. Oh agony.

Oh to be young and lame brained.

HP has had a continual fascination with airplanes and farming. When he was very young it was all things that had motors then morphed into a fascination with trains. Then, someone gave him his first airplane and that was the end of the story- or the beginning. He had those little dye-cast airplanes surgically attached to his hands. I had to limit the number we took with us on shopping trips or we would have had the whole fleet along.

Then, it was time for the tractors to be working the fields and his attention shifted. Farming was the thing. Tractors and farm “implements” were the fascination of the day. As the summer turned to fall we began to wonder where his attention would fall next. At Christmas he received some planes as gifts and we were back flying again!

So it has gone for the last few years. Spring/summer rolls around and out comes the farm equipment, fall arrives and the planes come out. The fascination for both seems to be waning some though. But I think planes still hold the strongest.

The heavy decision of a seven year old- should he be a pilot or a farmer? At one point he decided that he would farm in the summer and fly in the winter.

He’ll probably end up being a spray pilot.

We took our little Sunshine in for her 3 year checkup last week. She wowed the Doctor with her smiles and laughs. She was cooperative through the whole thing- even when the Doctor pulled some built up ear wax out. Our Doctor is moving out of the area and she will be sorely missed. We’ve been with her through all those infant check-ups, three times over. She sat through my list of questions with number one- once she was so anxious to see my list she grabbed it from my hand. (Tip for all Doctor appointments- make a list! I get amnesia when I enter that small room.) Some how the list kept getting shorter with each kid. She is verbal and we shared the same type of humor. Now, with fewer and fewer appointments ahead of us (Lord willing), we will not get to know the next one as well.

Anyway, how the children grow! For those of you who don’t have kids or for those that it’s a foggy memory- to monitor the growth of children they are put on a chart that determines what “percentile” they are in. If a child is in the 50th percentile then they are average- 50% of kids are shorter and 50% are taller.

Here’s the stats-

TG- 36 pounds (close to the 90th percentile) 40 inches (90th percentile)

KJ- 37 1/2 pounds (just under the 50th percentile) 43 3/4 inches (75th percentile)

HP- 62 1/4 pounds (just under the 90th) 53″ (4′ 5″- Over the 97th percentile)

KJ looks like she is still the “Pixie” of the family. As a perspective at three she was 30 pounds and 38 1/4 inches.

KJ has figured out how to pump herself on the swing! What fun!

Hans learned when he was a month from being four and he still loves to swing high- then jump out.

KJ is four and a half so she was a little slower in learning it but I also didn’t work too much with her on it. She’s been having fun swinging away out there.

Finally! Hans’ front tooth came out! It was hanging there by a thread when it was knocked out while playing this morning. He wasn’t sure if it was the Brute or KJ who did the final deed but it’s done! No more loose teeth for the moment.

Our thanks to Rachel and Devin for getting him to work on it so much on Friday night. The adult tooth looks to be about half way in and the baby tooth just didn’t seem to be getting any loser until then. Hans tends to be a weanie (did I say that?) and didn’t want us to pull it.

Only 18 more to go.

“Rachel is falling in love.” Kirsten stated.

Rachel is an older teen we know. Kirsten has been interested in this development.

Yes, she is.

“Who is it?”

Remember, we met him once when he came to get her. Real big guy.

“With a cowboy hat?”

Yes, I think so.

“I think it’s her brother.”

Oh, no! It wouldn’t be her brother.

“Why not?”

Just give it a few years and you will understand.

Hans has told Talia that he will marry her when he grows up. Give that a few years too.

On another love subject:

Talia has started to spontaneously say “I wuv you, Mama!”

Sweet words for a Mama to hear.

I know that it is boring to check a blog multiple times to find the same entries starting at you. I will try to update more often. Now that I actually have a blog, I find I have a bit of writers block. The reality of finding something interesting to write about on an almost daily basis can be overwhelming. The kids don’t do THAT many funny things. From the overwhelming number of comments being left, I can tell that everyone thinks what I write is fascinating. Come on now, don’t be shy! A little (positive) feed back is helpful.

My parents came for a visit this weekend. They normally come on Friday afternoon and stay until Sunday, leaving when we go to church. It’s about a 200 mile drive, all freeway (dull). After they got here Brett pointed out that Monday was a holiday (for him anyway) and that they could stay longer. I wasn’t sure that they would want to do that but they did! A quick call to the neighbor taking care of the animals and it was all set. The kids enjoyed having the Grandparents around for a bit longer, we had some good conversations and Mom got to play lots of card games on the computer. I guess everyone had a good time.

Although Dad did have to go to church… for the record, the building is still standing. It’s always a mystery as to how things will go with the service since we don’t have a pastor and get by with fill in speakers. This speaker was one I hadn’t heard before but did a fairly good job. I think he used quite a few “Christian” words that may not have meaning for others.

Talia is the best “pee-pee” dancer! The other two didn’t do that too much but Talia does it anytime, anywhere. She even can “dance” when she is sitting down! I do the dumb thing of asking her if she has to go, to which she usually answers “No!” I watch her for another two seconds and then escort her to the bathroom. As we have noted before, when you have a bladder the size of a walnut and have to go when it’s half full- it’s a pretty frequent event.

Kirsten shouts, as they run through the house: “We are the fighting shoulders!” Personally, I am glad that my shoulders are not fighting.

Hans’ adult front tooth is coming in behind the baby tooth. It is causing both front baby teeth to point out- like buck teeth. The baby teeth are shifting around some causing a gap on one side. We keep encouraging Hans to wiggle them so they will come out but so far no luck. Every time this happens, I think- this is the time we’ll have to go get them pulled but so far that hasn’t happened.

My good friend, Boo Boo, sent a link to the most interesting article. A must read for parents! We think we are doing a good thing to build up our kids’ self esteem by telling them they are smart…. think again! There have been actual studies done on this and the information is in the article.

The boys (Brett and Hans) had their ears lowered. It was really needed as their ears were getting pretty high on their heads and they looked pretty shabby.