Ruben turns 3

How in the world is Ruben three years old! But I am ready for him to no longer be two. The week leading up to his birthday was one of those weeks where I contemplated sending him to a toddler rescue. Seriously. I was having major issues keeping the kid from hurting his sisters or tearing the house apart. A few weeks ago, we were over at the Hooker's house for dinner and the adults made the mistake of assuming that the noises from Levi's room were ignorable. Twenty minutes later we were all shocked at the absurd number of toys/books/legos/blankets/stuffed animals that the two boys had managed to pile in the walking space of the room. It took four adults and two toddlers a good 15 minutes to just find the floor. Since then, Ruben has been trying to recreate that amazingly fun experience in our own home but unfortunately mom keeps interrupting him just as he's getting going. I'm all for kids making a mess while they play, but I am not into the idea of making a mess merely for the sake of making a mess. So between interrupting his mess making and keeping him from hugging Iris quite so tightly, I feel like all I do with the kid is tell him "stop." I know that three year olds can be even worse than two year olds, but at least I'm hoping for a new challenge in my parenting career.

His actual birthday fell on a Sunday this year which is good and bad all tied up in one. It's definitely a hectic morning without seeing much of Dad (after not seeing him Saturday evening since he was preaching then too). But the day redeemed itself with a meeting of our PEACE group at our house. In between church and small group we opened presents with Nana and Papa on Facetime. Ruben got a big bucket of Duplos from Papa and then opened the awesome drums that Nana bought and didn't even touch them before moving back to the Duplos. I hope his love for building with legos continues at least through Christmas because I just scored a huge collection of duplos from a friend that will be coming out from Santa. So far, I'm not worried. He could build with legos and play with play dough all day and be one happy boy.

So I started doing this interview with June when she turned three so I should do the same with Ruben. I answered some of the questions for him because it took three sessions just to answer the ones he wanted to answer.

1. What is your favorite color? I weally yike black

2. What is your favorite toy? Train

3. What is your favorite fruit? I really like candy. I really like candy with that.

4. What is your favorite show? Max and Ruby

5. What is your favorite thing for lunch? 

6. What is your favorite outfit? surfboard shirt and slickie pants

7. What is your favorite game? He really likes one of Nana's brain games where you stack shapes according to the pictures. We've lost one piece but he still loves it.

8. What is your favorite snack? banana

9. What is your favorite animal? I weally yike all dogs named Nova

10. What is your favorite song? Monster Marching (Mice go Marching by Hap Palmer)

11. What is your favorite book? Cars and Trucks and Things that Go

12. Who is your best friend? Yevi (Levi)

13. What is your favorite cereal? Oatmeal squares

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? play in the backyard

15. What is your favorite drink? Yemenade (coincidentally, Levi calls Ruben "Yemen")

16. What is your favorite holiday? Halloween

17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? He has a special attachment to his pillow. No substitutions

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? cereal

19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? Hamburger

20. What do you want to be when you grow up? car-man

First world problems

So I usually start my blog posts with excuses about why it has been so long since I've blogged but this time I have a real reason. Since June, our internet has been spotty at best. Having worked in customer service myself, I find it incredibly taxing to call those horrible 1-800 numbers and listen to people product offer me instead of listening to my problem and working with me to solve it. We bought a foreclosed house so we know that the wires and bones of this house are all old and tired and probably need replacing, so no, I do not want to trouble shoot my modem for a $49.95 charge over the phone. I WANT SOMEONE TO COME HERE AND REPLACE WIRES. So goodbye AT&T and hello Comcast. We've never bought anything from a door to door salesman in our lives but when the comcast guy came around the neighborhood last week, we were done. And now I sit and write this post knowing that I don't have to look for that hideous red bar at the top of the browser telling me it isn't saving my blog post because the internet has once again gone out. And now it is even easier to type this blog post because the older kids are downstairs watching PBS kids on THE TELEVISION! In eight years of marriage we have never once paid for cable TV but since the Comcast guy came to our door just as we were contemplating making one more 1-800 call, he got a double sale (plus it was the same price as just internet and in six months I'll cancel it and stick with just internet). I feel like a real American now.

What do you consider quiet?

This afternoon I went to a thrift store for an hour and came home refreshed as if I had spent the past hour at a deluxe spa, not a storefront full of used household and clothes items. But the truth is, I could have been anywhere and relished the sound of the world around without the voices of our three beautiful children. Lately, when I finish buckling everyone into their carseats (the 5 point restraint system and Ruben are quite a match), I find myself closing the passenger side sliding door and walking incredibly slowly to the other side of the van enjoying the leisure of those ten feet where I am certain I will not have a single kid interruption. At night I often feel like it is a waste of good quiet hours just to sleep away. Kids almost always sleep at least until 2 am before starting to stir so I have from 8:30-2 to myself and I feel I should spend that time more productively. However, by 9 I'm usually ready to just eat more food and sit on the couch so I'm usually asleep by 10 to avoid eating triple bedtime snacks. Karl's been down for the count with allergies for the last two days so I've been limited in my time spent away from the kids. When I think back on it, the only time this week I was totally kid free was on Wednesday night from 7-9 as I practiced with the praise team.

Having three kids is awesome and we haven't written off the possibility of having more, but I looked around our living room this afternoon and felt like there are an awful lot of people in our house. June was coloring at the kitchen table and Ruben was on the floor with play dough. Karl was stretched out on the floor and Iris was sitting and laughing at everything. And there I was staring around the room thinking "what have we gotten ourselves into!?!"

I think partly this new revelation coincides with Iris' new milestones. She's sitting very comfortably on her own. She can even remain sitting when Ruben insists on invading her personal space, but his new favorite game is tipping her over which she can resist for a minute with loud screeching while I race from which ever room I was in to catch her when she topples. Iris tipping is not a cool game, Ruben. She also has gravitated away from short cat naps in between feedings and toward two longer naps each day. We haven't had a regular nap schedule in this house since before we lived in this particular house. The idea of scheduling in time for naps around our already hectic schedule is daunting but Iris is content to spend at least one nap in the carseat while we're out and about. For all of our own wellbeing I can't be home all day to let our youngest child sleep two naps in her bed. I need to get out of the house once a day at least or else I am no fun to be around. I mean it.

Speaking of naps, Ruben needs to start taking them again. By 3 or 4 in the afternoon he has no self control, no volume control, and an unending desire to touch his sisters on their faces. Most afternoons this week, I made up a late afternoon errand just so I could take the opportunity to use that five point safety harness to contain the boy. He doesn't voluntarily nap. It nearly always takes physical restraint to convince him to sleep. Although, today he fell asleep at the table while he was eating peanut butter toast for an afternoon snack. Not a great snack to fall asleep on. But when he's not tired and out of control, he is such a sweet kid. His new favorite phrase is "I yuv my yittle sista SO MUCH." And he does. He's always aware of where Iris is sitting or sleeping and he always wants her to be away and smiling at him. And Iris puts up with so much physical love from Ruben. In fact, I need to explain some elementary psychology to this baby because she is totally reinforcing his negative behaviors by constantly smiling and laughing after he tackles, tips, mauls, or licks her.

While Ruben was sleeping this afternoon, I was reminded how awesome June is. We spent our freetime doing a kids' yoga video, coloring "homework," and making pizza and chocolate zucchini bread. She desperately wants to be helpful and to plan just how everything is going to happen. And she wants to do everything WITH someone else. It's so wonderful and yet it can be such a pain when Ruben is in attack mode in the afternoons. He'll hurt her and she'll know she should step away and yet she so desperately wants to be with someone she goes right back to the abuse. School is such a blessing for her because it gives her 15 other people to be with instead of these three lame-o's at home.

While I miss quiet things and time spent without the weight of another human being in my arms, I'm trying to enjoy this stage of life. At least while I'm sitting here typing, I've been able to decipher my own voice coming through the chaos even if at times I feel like no one listens to a word I say. Have I mentioned that afternoons tend to get a little hectic around here? If anyone has a good suggestion for getting a nearly three year old to revert to napping again besides narcotics, feel free to come over and try it out. I'm ready to go to more thrift stores.