The Curious Georges

Surrender, Dorothy

Our house is the Land of Oz and the wizard is the illusion that we can control it all.  I usually like to keep Oz neat and orderly, but I am going to have to give in for one room.  Now that the gates are virtually down, the Reign of Terror has begun.  Because of this, the monkeys have been wreaking havoc in the playroom.  That's okay.  What a better place to terrorize?  However, there's messy and then there's "dumped out every toy from the bins" insanity.  Calling it a mess would be too kind.  It's more like deranged chaos.  Oh well, I can't keep up this obsessive neatness.  Better to focus on keeping the kids alive.

Day Four of the Reign of Terror:  Already had to call Poison Control.  The monkeys (Dane & Logan) climbed on top of the counter to reach a shelf of contraband.  They somehow figured out the childproof cap of the children's vitamins and proceeded to shove as many of them in their mouths as they could.  I caught them when they were each in the process of chomping on four of the vitamins (a usual dose is 1/2 vitamin).  The folks at Poison Control were very calm and helpful.  They advised having the twins eat and drink right away. Luckily, they seem to be fine.  I foresee some scary diapers in the next couple days.  Ah, to be in Kansas...

PS  I think I put the fear of God in Dane because when he found an errant vitamin on the ground, he gave it to me instead of shoving it in his mouth.   We'll see if this leads to a vitamin aversion.  It's nothing that years of therapy won't fix.

Is it a coincidence that I bought these skull & crossbones pj's on the same day that I ended up having to call Poison Control?  In the literary and cinematic world, they call that

foreshadowing

.

Don't Fence Me In

Oh, sad day!  Dane has figured out how to scale the baby gates.  We have our family room fashioned into an over-sized playpen, or Baby Prison.  Sometimes the gates seems cruel, but unfortunately, they are always necessary.  I don't call our kids The Curious Georges for nothing.  Those who have seen our house will notice that every room has a latch on it because when the kids are not in "The Pen," they will wreak havoc.  I'm not exaggerating.  Their penchant for trouble-making is legendary.
Prior to yesterday, Dane was able to propel himself over the gate in times of extreme emotion (i.e. tantrums).  The intensity of his emotions would give him the adrenaline he would need to swing over.  Now, he easily slithers over "with impunity," as Barton says.  He doesn't have to be having a fit to do this now.  He just does it because he can and because it's fun.

All of our Little Georges have figured out how to undo the child safety latches so guarding them from hazards is nearly impossible.  Today, Dane got into the sunscreen and sprayed his eyes.  He's fine, but he complained up a storm and even claimed that "he couldn't see."  I'm hoping that this will teach him a lesson, but like Homer Simpson and his donuts, some things are just too tempting, regardless of how much they hurt you. 

Dane also unrolled a whole box of wax paper.  I caught him in the act and he tried to run away, but stepped on the wax paper, which slipped on the hardwood floors.  High hilarity ensued.

Logie and Nicole can't scale the gates, but with Brother Dane gone, Logan must follow.  Then, Nicole doesn't want to be left alone, so she wants out too.  Heavy sigh.  The Pen was our safe haven.  The family room had been stripped of all contraband and we even had to tape the fire place shut.   What now?

Barton calls the ongoing measures to thwart the boys, "fixing their wagon."  After Barton put a latch on the shutters in their room, Dane said to me, "Daddy fix wagon."  Dane is our communicator.  (Sorry, Barton, if you consider that a "label.")  He editorializes everything and gets extremely upset if you don't respond to his every utterance.  Hmmm ... wonder where he gets that?  Hint: it's not mommy.

Back to Curious George.  We have an old copy of Curious George and it's decidedly un-PC.  The Man With The Yellow Hat captures George from Africa and takes him away from his home.  They go to The Man's house and smoke a pipe.  George makes a prank call to the fire station and then gets thrown in prison for his crime.  The naughty monkey stages a prison break, then steals a bunch of balloons.  Finally, he is sent to live in the zoo.  Heed this, my mischievous little monkeys. 

Three Wise Monkeys:  Speak no evil; See no evil; Hear no Evil

Addendum to Rocky Raccoon

The morning that I returned from my trip to Cozumel, Barton called with some bad news.  Our gorgeous tree, the one that had housed Rocky, had fallen.  Luckily, nobody was in the backyard when this giant toppled.  We're trying to be Zen about it, but it's still very sad.  Into every life a little rain must fall and I guess that goes for trees too.

Don't Do That!

Danie's new expression is "Don't Do That!"  Yes, it's all CAPS for this guy and add an exclamation point.  He can't say it emphatically enough.  You don't actually have to be doing anything to elicit this response.  It's sort of a catch-all, "Hi-I'm-Two and I-Have-Lots-of-Angst" expression.  Logie has two speeds.   1)  I'm the happiest kid on earth and  2) I'm absolutely miserable so I am going to scrunch up my face and wail.  I prefer #1.  Ah, the Terrible Two's Times Two ...  gotta love it.

Terrible Two's?  Who, us?

In Praise of Praise

A while back, I read an article from The New York Times that claimed "An excess of praise may be doing kids more harm than good."  Citing a study of Korean and American children in eight grade, the article uses academic achievement as a gage to measure whether praise is effective.  The Korean and American children in the study were asked to describe how well they performed in math class.  39% of the American kids said they were excellent at math compared to 6% of of the Koreans.  However, the test scores showed that the Korean children scored much higher than their confident American counterparts.  I was disheartened to learn that I might be doing my kids more harm than good by being so positive about their accomplishments.

When I had a chance to really think about it, I realized that to measure success in terms of test scores versus confidence levels is subjective.  To me, the happiness of my kids is more important than a number on a piece of paper.  Confident kids are happy kids, in my mind.  I love to see the look of pride and glee in my kids eyes when I shout, "Hurray, you did it!!!"  Further, when it comes right down to it, if you are to measure an effect in terms of achievement, often the most successful people are ones who believe in themselves, regardless of their IQ or education.  There is A LOT to be said for bravado.

I felt somewhat vindicated when I read a recent article in Parents Magazine called, "Discipline for Softies."  The crux of the article is that children respond best to positive reinforcement when being disciplined and that "praise works best when you give it with over-the-top enthusiasm."  According to Alan E. Kazdin, President of the American Psychological Association, the only way to really "lock in" good behavior is to praise that behavior emphatically.  Yea ... a big "Rah-Rah" for all of us cheerleader mom's!

One behavior that we'd been anxious to "lock in" with Sister was for her to sleep all night in her room.  For 1-1/2 years, Nicole slept with Mommy and Daddy and while it was sweet to share our sleeping quarters with The Bug, as she approaches her 4th birthday, we were realizing that something had to be done about this.  We bought her a new full-size bed with adorable bedding and crossed our fingers that this would be enticement for her to sleep on her own.  We were expecting a MAJOR transition time (with tantrums and tears), but she actually did quite well right away and would stoically stayed in her bed until midnight or so when she would come down for a comfort check.  Barton would take her back up to her bed and this pattern continued for a couple weeks.  Then we decided to institute a star-system, which has worked like a charm. She earns one star for each night that she stays all night in her own bed.  When she earns 3 stars in one week, she gets a reward (aka bribe.)  From Night One of The Star Chart, Nicole has stayed in her bed all night.  Gotta love BRIBES ... and PRAISE ... LOTS OF PRAISE!!!

The Bug, Fast Asleep in her Big Girl Bed ... Go Bug Go!!

Where the Wild Things Are

The boys have taken their nap-time shenanigans to yet another level of craziness. Their new game is lifting their mattresses off the beds and walking on the wooden slats.  We removed the infamous hamper because they were using it as a pedestal to reach the stuff on their shelf and make mischief of one kind and another.  So they've now taken to throwing objects at the shelf to see which items they can get to bounce off.  Fun fun fun!  When life gives you lemons, make lemonade, they say.  In other words, when mommy exiles you to your room, create your own wonderland, complete with carnival-style tossing games and walk-the-plank a la Peter Pan.  I call them "Wild Things."  Just waiting for them to say "I'LL EAT YOU UP!"

One of my ways of escaping the stress of these mischievous little devils is to focus on celebrity gossip.  I can't help it!  I'm a slave to US Magazine.  Throw in celebrities who have children and I'm even more enthralled.  Case in point:  "Brangelina." They may or may not have it worse than us.  Yes, they can afford to hire oodles of nannies and cooks and personal assistants, etc, however, the more people you add to the mix, the more complicated it gets (especially when 6 of those people are kids).  Talk about a carnival-like atmosphere!  I'm sure that Brad and Angie thrive on chaos.  With the arrival of their new twins, they better thrive on chaos because that's what they're getting.

So, I know that these celebrities keep trying to one-up each other with the different names.  Have you met my son, "Table?"  No, it's pronounced "tah-bla," as in the French way.  Oh, and that's his sister
fenêtre ... it means "window" in French.

We've got Nicole Kidman with Sunday, Baby, Sunday* (who was born on Monday). Rachel Griffiths named her son "Banjo."  And how could we forget Gwyneth's "Apple" of her eye?  It's just getting to be a bit much.  I was trying to remember what Brad & Angie named their little boy and I kept thinking it was "Xerox."  That would be weird, even for them.  It's actually "Knox," and then I had an epiphany ... all their boys' names end in X!!!  Maddox, Pax, Knox.  Oh, I get it ... how clever are those Jolie-Pitt's?!?  I bet they're getting a good chuckle out of that one.

By the way, they named the girl twin "Vivienne."  She'll stand out just because her name is somewhat normal.  Check out other strange celebrity names here.  I seriously feel sorry for Dan Cortese's son "Tabooger."

*click here to see a Youtube video of George Bush singing "Sunday, Bloody Sunday" (only if you're really bored)

 

Mischief-making brainstorming session

Let Chaos Reign

Dane & Logan have been having a slumber party every night before they go to bed.  The fun and frivolity lasts for about 1-1/2 hours.  We hear banging, shouts of joy and inevitably, tears.  Having a twin, especially of the same gender, is having a constant companion, a partner in crime.  When your best friend is always with you, it's just too tempting to NOT have a slumber party every night.  Eventually, the boys tire themselves out and pretty much "pass out" wherever they emitted that final gust of steam.  Barton checks on them every night before he goes to bed and often records the aftermath of their frat parties:

Rocky Raccoon

Have I told you that I LOVE living in Austin?  Yes, it's true and not a case of "methinks she doth protest too much."  One of the things I am loving is that I feel like we can really commune with nature here.  In San Jose, we'd get squirrels in our backyard, but that was about it.

A couple days ago, I was having a really bad day when I saw a deer in the greenbelt, just outside of our fenced backyard.  I decided to take this as a sign that good things were a comin'.  (Funny how I believe in good omens, but not bad ones!)  Anyway, this beautiful creature was so majestic and graceful and its presence somehow made me not want to not sweat the small things, as they say.

A few days ago, a baby raccoon appeared in our tree.  The three little Georges were thrilled to see this tiny striped friend peering out from the tree branches.  Barton was worried that Rocky's mommy may have abandoned him, so we were happy when he was gone the next day.  I guess even raccoons need Mom's Day Out!