Cold and flu season already

This morning as part of our morning we had to add another step into our routine. We had to line up the medicine and start dispensing. All three kids are getting eye drops for pink eye and antibiotics for ear infections. Fred is also sick with a sinus infection and has medication as well. Last week we visited the clinic five times in four days. The kids couldn't coordinate it well enough to all get sick at the same time so we had to keep going back to the doctor. Torii started it all with pink eye. We tried to keep him away from everyone else, but nobody listens to me. They don't want to play with each other unless they can't. We noticed Cordelia getting it the next day and then Rion the next. Rion also had an ear infection and the next day Torii woke up screaming bloody murder about his ear. Literally minutes after I got home with him Cordelia started grabbing her ear and complaining. So we have spent a small fortune on medicine and I feel like we have a small pharmacy in our house. They are all feeling much better and look much better as well. I can't wait until the week is over and the medicine is gone. I hate giving the kids the eye drops and they don't like being on the receiving end either. Poor Cordelia. I have to pin her down for any chance to get the drops in her eyes. That is one strong little girl. And we're all trying to get better so we can hold that cute Heidi later this week!

A conversation with Torii

Torii: When you get married who gets to pick?
Me: What do you mean?
Does the boy or the girl pick who to marry?
They both have to decide to get married.
No, no, no! (Mild tantrum here). The boy should pick who to get married to!
The way it usually goes, is the boy asks the girl if she wants to marry him. If she says "yes", they get married.
What if she says "no"?
Then they don't get married.
What if she says "maybe"?
Then the boy asks her again later.
What if she says "maybe" forever?
Then the boy can keep dating her or move on.
What's dating?
You know, they go on lots of dates to see if they like each other. If they like each other enough they get married.
Later that day:
What if all the girls tell me "no"?
Torii, if one girl says "no" to you, then she is crazy. (To this Torii smiles and gets a little twinkle in his eye).
But what if they all really say "no"?
The world is filled with girls and there is one perfect for you. You'll find her.
Again later in the day:
How old do you have to be to get married?
I'm not sure. Technically, maybe 18, but you should wait until after college.
After college I can get married?
Yes.
Then what?
You need to get a job.
Then what?
You buy a house.
Then what?
You have kids.
Then what?
(Deep breath) I don't know Torii. Whatever.

I don't know what Torii's obsession with marriage is lately. My best guess is that he is playing house with the girls in school and he gets to play the part of husband. The other day he told me he was going to marry "A" in his class. Or "B", (who happens to be "A's" identical twin sister).

Apple pickin'

After school today we went to Grandpa and Grandma's house to pick apples. Their tree was loaded. I took a bag full home and now I'm looking forward to some hot apple crisp. The boys want caramel apples. We all had at least one apple directly from the tree. They were really good.

Letters from Torii

Last Saturday as I was trying to get ready before we headed out for awhile, I let the Torii and Cordelia watch some TV so I could get done faster. Little Bill was on and that is one of Torii's favorite shows. I heard the beginning of the episode so I kind of got the gist of what it was about. Little Bill wanted to receive mail like all the other members of his family. His dad suggested that Little Bill write a letter to someone and then they would write him back. Torii that this was an excellent idea so I told him he should write a letter to grandpa and grandma. No, he wanted to write a letter to someone in school. Then I suggested that one of his aunties would love to receive a letter from him. Still, he insisted on writing letters to two girls in school. Twin girls. I couldn't talk him out of it so he wrote a letter to both girls. He got the letter to one of the girls, but the other isn't in his class and he hasn't had any luck getting his letter to her. He told me as he handed the letter to the girl in his class another girl asked him if he had a letter for her. He told her maybe next time. So now he wants to write a letter to her as well. Five years old and already passing notes to girls at school.

Games Torii plays

With Rion gone all weekend, it was funny how the household dynamics changed. It some ways life was a lot easier with only two kids. In other ways, not so much. It was incredibly nice not to have to break up any fights between the boys all weekend. On the other hand, Torii was left without a playmate so I became the substitute. Rion is perfectly content to play by himself, but that's not the case with Torii. He needs someone to play with. Since Rion was gone, I kind of let Torii make the rules for the weekend and what he wanted to do was play games. One of the first games we played was Hullabaloo. I never win at that game, but for some reason I was on a big win streak that day. By the third straight time I won, Torii was starting to meltdown. My streak went to six. I kept wishing he would win, but I kept winning. I started to laugh because it was somewhat comical. Finally he won. Then he began to cheat to win. And that's what Torii does. He's not really big on rules. With games or generally in life. When he's not outright cheating, he's making up new rules or bending the rules to fit his needs. I quit a couple of games before completely them, hoping he would learn to be a good sport and play by the rules. Today we played his Ladybug Game twice and he didn't pout once. He played by the rules and we had fun. Maybe it finally sunk in. By Sunday afternoon, I was pretty sick of games and really wanted to just veg out on the couch and watch football. But Torii is a sweet talker and there we were in front of the TV, playing a board game. It was a win-win situation.

Movie night

This weekend Rion and daddy went up north to the farm for the early deer hunting season there. Torii was a little bummed that he wasn't going so I let him in on something special I had planned for Friday night. He was so excited that he told everyone at school about it on Friday and wouldn't stop talking about it all evening. When he got home from school he was ready for Cordelia to go to bed so we could have our special movie night. It must have seemed like an eternity for him, but Cordelia finally went to bed at her regular time. Then we turned out all the lights, popped some popcorn, got out some movie sized boxes of candy, cold bottles of Coke and stayed up late and watched a movie. For our movie we watched Coraline. I liked it, but was afraid Torii would have nightmares from it when he became concerned about the "other mother" in it. After we talked about it, he realized it was just a movie and hasn't had any nightmares. Now he just has an obsession with poison oak and likes to pretend he is rubbing it on my arms. It was a fun night and I'll have to do it again with both boys. I think it made Torii feel really special getting to stay up late with mom. Sometimes the most simple things are the best things.

Knowledge is power

I'm beginning to rethink the idea of sending Torii to school. The kid is already pretty smart. And by smart I mean smart ass. He finds loopholes in everything and is sharp as a whip. School is only empowering him more and pretty soon he'll be smarter than me and then what do I do? Each week in school they learn an important characteristic such as being a good sport or being the best you can be at whatever you're doing. This week they are learning about being kind to others and not putting others down. The other day after school, Torii was taking his sweet old time getting into the house and I called him a slow poke. "No put downs! No put downs!" he shouted. I really couldn't argue about it even though I really wanted to yell at him to get his butt in the house that instant, but I let him be. He comes home everyday with new vocabulary and new ways out of whatever he is in trouble for. School is just teaching him how to irritate me more. I really don't know what I'm going to do when he is teenager. By then my brain will be on the downslide while he'll be on the top of his game. As Fred said the other day, "it'll be nice when he has a driver's license. Then after an argument, we'll be happy he can leave."