Oh the places we will go...

 After a Summer of smooth sailing, reality hit.  Jess went back to work and I officially began my Monday/Tuesday baby sitting duties. I never made claims that having the three of them at the same time would be easy, peaceful or any other adjective that would translate to not needing some sort of miracle to survive.

The day started off calm.  One at a time, my precious angels awoke.  First Josh, then Jayden and finally Jaycee.  Each of them were groggy for a bit and were content to stare at the couch until the invisible shackles slumped from their shoulders and they could finally move.  I sat still and quietly much like a cage cleaner who gets locked in a cage of lethargic lions and is trying not to be noticed.

 

As if some imaginary gun shot in the air, they all scrabbled like rabbits.  The rest of the morning I spent chasing, looking for, scolding and spinning in circles.  Then Jaycee bolted for the bathroom.  She had to take her morning number 2.  As I was heading to check on her I see Jayden out of the corner of my eye, squatting with a red face and teary eyes behind the rocking chair.  Clearly she is also creating a work of art in her diaper.  As I head over to handle that, little Josh tugs on my leg.  I pick him up and quickly realize that he also answered natures call and has successful filled his diaper with foulness.

I take the baby to the changer table and we are followed by Jayden.  I lay him down and start to take his diaper off.  As I do this I see Jayden is trying to help me by removing her diaper as well.  Normally this isn't a probably except for the fact that she has a round brown ball about to roll out.  As if on cue, Jaycee begins to yell "I'm all done!" every 4 or 5 seconds.

I somehow manage to get everyone taken care of without getting poop on the walls and am already exhausted.  I look at the clock hoping it is close to 2:45 p.m. (when Jess gets off work) and let out an unintended groan when I see 8:22 a.m.

I realize how far out of my league I am when I have to confiscate Jayden's foam baseball bat after she went on a 4 minute long reign of terror hitting anything breathing in the head with it and after fighting a 10 month old for my bowl of cereal. I decide its time to cheat.  I throw them in the car and we hit the road.  Destination: unknown.

Part 2 to this story to follow...

Another talker...

Jayden has really started to express herself lately.  Her vocabulary seems to grow every day.  She tells stores and jokes and she even lets us know when her brother is crying.  She is a natural comedian and is a happy girl (most of the time).

One of the funniest traits that has emerged from her is her constant need to keep track of everyone.  If she is home with me while her Momma and sister are out, we need to have a jayden style conversation to establish there whereabouts:
Jayden: DADA (very loudly, we are still working on volume control).
Me: Yes Jayden
Jayden: DADA Where Momma
Me: Momma is at the store
Jayden: DADA, Where Jay D (Jaycee sounds like Jay D when Jayden says it)
Me: She is with Momma at the store
Jayden: DADA Jay D at store
Me: Yes
Jayden: DADA, Momma at store
Me: Yes, you are correct

After establishing this, she is content.

The other day we went to the park and took the dog (Mishka or Mish for short).  When we finished at the park we loaded the kids up then Mish in the back of the car.  We got about a half mile away and Jayden started frantically asking where Mish was.  Jayden is determined that she will never leave a family member behind, including the dog.

Little Jayden Rylee is such a sweet little girl.  She loves her sister and her brother and is really becoming her own little person.  She has a wild streak in her that mostly comes out at night and she loves teasing her big sister.  Actually she just loves the reaction she gets and Jaycee is not short on that.

Word to the wise and potentially left behind: always do role call and check-in with Jayden and she'll make sure you are accounted for...

A little boy...

I am not sure why it took me so long to finally put pen to paper on our newest edition (not so new, he's 3 months old). I feel like I was waiting to see what profound thoughts would hit me or what amazing lines I could write. Then I realized that there isn't any need for that. Not that Joushua Gunnar isn't a wonderful baby. He is worthy of the most profound of profound statements. But I think what I have noticed is that I love this little guy just like I love his big sisters.

I'm sure as he gets older and his sister get older, I will realize there are some differences on my role in their lives and I'll gain a better understanding of those differences as time goes on. When we found out we were having Jaycee, I hit the books hard. I wanted to know what I was supposed to do to turn this little girl into an independent and confident woman someday. After all the research I determined the best thing I could do was be there for her and show the example of the person she might one day want in her life. Then we found out Jayden was on her way and the same rules applied.

When we found out Joshua was on his way, I instantly began piling on the expectations of him. Poor little guy wasn't even here yet and he had a to-do list! After much thought I figured out those expectations weren't on him, they were on me. Its my job to show him what a man is. This spiraled into a whole philosophical internal discussion of how to measure a man and what makes a good man.

I had a soccer coach once that had a motto. When I was feeling a little fancy or added an extra juke when it wasn't necessary, he'd kick a ball at me and make me do four up downs while I spelled the word "K-I-S-S" out loud. Keep It Simple Stupid. I have the same role for him as I do for his sisters. Be the person I want him to be in his life.

I have three reasons in my life to become a better man now. When things get confusing K-I-S-S...

The Artist...

One of the fun side effects of Jaycee going to preschool is the heaps of crafts and art she creates. I am always amazed how much her teachers do for their projects. I can imagine how hard it would be to try to keep 15 four year olds from tarring and feathering themselves and each other when they have art time. Also, their ideas are very creative and make me realize that anything can turn into an art supply if you look at it correctly.

Jaycee enjoys art so much that she draws during free play activities too. At the end of the day when parents are picking up their little ones, there is a file box with a folder for each kid. In it the teachers put the art they can take home or various nick knacks they collect in the folders. When Jaycee first started, they would put her free play drawings in there. She usually did 2 a day and they consisted of random lines and colors that she was interested in. Inevitably when you asked her what the picture was, she would say "a rainbow". As time went by, her drawings got a little more complex and she began to draw faces.

Then, one day, the pictures stopped; there weren't any pictures in her folder. After about three days, I asked Jaycee if she still liked to draw. She said yes and that she drew a picture of Jayden that day. The next time I came to pick Jaycee up, her teacher stopped me on the way out and walked me over to Jaycee's cubby. The cubby is used to store extra sets of clothes or extra items brought in. Well, Jaycee's cubby was doubling as additionally drawing storage. Needless to stay, I had quite a stack to tote home and she clearly had increased production from the basic 2 a day to more like 5 a day.

Part of our daily post preschool wrap up is examining Jaycee's artwork and gaining insight into her inspiration. She likes to draw pictures of her family and we all have very specific characteristics. Brother is very small, Jayden has short hair, Jaycee is always in the middle of the page, mama is usually next to brother and has the longest hair. As for me, I generally look like a hispanic Shrek. I am the only one who is drawn exclusively with brown crayon while everyone else is a pink shade and I have a very large and round face. The funniest part about Jaycee's art is that she always remembers to "sign" it. Her signature is a squiggly line usually toward the bottom of the page. That's when it occurs to me that she is a real artist. She never lets her work go uncredited...