When I got home yesterday, my children were acting like wild animals in the garage. I was happy to see it. I had impulsively bought Michael a Punching Pillar - here's a link to see what one looks like: http://www.revolutionhealthstore.com/qxp89257_333181_sespider/everlast/power_tower_inflatable_punching_bag.htm
That was the best $20 I ever spent. Mike and Alesia were punching and hitting the bag as hard as they could. I might have to buy another one soon. I encouraged Mike to try out his karate kicks on it. I am hoping to get him going back to it in January - we missed a lot of classes due to my being sick.
If you have aggressive little boys [or girls] who like to punch and hit, I urge you to buy one of these nifty things.
I also can report success at the tennis experiment. I bought both kids good used raquets on e-bay, and yesterday they walked down to the courts to play. The courts were locked - need to figure out how to avoid that in the future - but they hit against a wall, and to each other a bit. Good exercise. Part of our pool membership includes tennis court privileges, but I have to figure out the tennis procedures.
Mike reported the first ball Alesia fired in his direction, he threw down his raquet and jumped out of the way. She has the ability to throw like a major league baseball pitcher. Mike has a strong left arm, too, so they might be formidable opponents one of these days, despite the height difference.
We watched The Kennedy Center Honors on TV last night. [See http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/specialevents/honors/] It's the only TV show [besides the Academy Awards] that I try to watch every year. The kids were NOT enthusiastic about watching, but sat there when I told them to, and behaved pretty well. Mike was more restless than Alesia.
Mother gave me for Christmas a pair of tiny handheld tape recorders that you clip onto a keychain to record notes to yourself. Mike took one and I put the other on my keychain. He was absolutely fascinated with it. He kept recording snippets of things, playing them back and giggling hysterically.
While we watched TV, Alesia did something she's never done before. She sat next to me on the loveseat and snuggled in, watching a lot of the program snuggled against me. Her cold is a lot better. She has had to be taught affection, because she got so little of it in Russia. I told Mother I was very gratified that she did that, because I have had to gradually show her that in families like ours, we hug and kiss a lot, and say "I love you" every day, and that's a good thing. I think she thought at first that we were really peculiar.
Michael has been a cuddly guy from the beginning. He loves to cuddle up to me, and spent most of his first few weeks home huddled up against me every chance he could get. Now, he has gotten affectionate with Granny and Alesia, too, when she allows it.
I generally make Michael brush his teeth in my bathroom every night. Last night I stupidly let him brush with Alesia in her bathroom. She thought it would be very funny to drop his toothbrush in the toilet. He came in my room pouting, and told me what happened. I told Alesia I will be taking her toothbrush away until she buys Mike a new electric toothbrush. I asked her why she did it, and she just giggled and said "I don't KNOW! Mom!" Then she added, "He can still use it. I cleaned it!"
Now, I am not a total germaphobe, but I couldn't deal with him using a toothbrush which has been in the toilet. So they will both be using manual toothbrushes for a while, and they will be brushing separately.
It never would've occurred to me as a kid to drop my brother's toothbrush in the toilet. The thought never crossed my mind. I did other dastardly things - like pulling apart his GI Joe limb from limb and dropping him down the toilet ["Let's see you get out of THIS one, tough guy!" I recall gleefully chortling.] or gluing his desk drawers shut. He kicked a hole in my door once. He once hung my dollbabies off the balcony, after passing sentence of death on them. At age 8, I locked all the stall doors in the ladies room of the Augusta Country Club, then crawled out beneath the doors and fled. Bruce and I used to sneak into the kitchen at night on our birthdays and eat the rest of the cakes, splitting them between us. We both skipped Sunday School routinely. We were high maintenance kids.
I had to take Mother in to the DMV this morning to take an eye test so she could renew her driver's license. She is 73, so she had to re-take the test. The woman behind the counter asked her if she was still 5'5. I nearly burst out laughing - she was never quite 5'5. My mother takes calcium religiously and has no trace of the shortening a lot of elderly women deal with. Mother said she was tempted to say "I've GROWN 7 inches recently" but she held it in. She then repeated Mother's weight and I again had to stifle a chuckle. Of course, I ain't telling anybody MY correct weight either...
I am trying to train Michael to keep his money in his wallet and put his wallet in his pants, every morning. He hasn't caught on, yet. This morning, we were headed to the drugstore, and he asked me if everything was on sale. I said "Yes, probably. Do you have your wallet?" Long pause. "No." I had to remind him about our talks about taking the wallet EVERY day. He argued with me. "But most of my money is in the box and I am SAVING it, like you told me!" he wailed.
Mother looked at me. "Well, yes, you did tell them to save their money."
Yikes! Foiled again! Hoisted with my own petard. "OK, so if you find anything less than $5 you can have it. When we were getting ready to checkou and leave, Mike brought me a toy and I said "How much is it?" He looked crestfallen. "6.99," was the reluctant reply. "Sorry, then put it back," I told him. I have to be tough sometimes.
Mother's birthday is next Monday, December 31st. She was born on New Year's Eve, and I was born on the 4th of July. Yeah, we like to party. LOL
Recent Comments