I'm Going to Cut Out Your Eyeballs and Other Cute Things Kids Say

So, I wanted to make this blog post about Maddie, since she recently turned six, but let's face it:  She's a people pleaser like her momma and doesn't really do much that gets my creative juices going.  She had a great birthday (I maybe only slightly influenced her decisions on what we should do that day - c'mon, I have the scar, I should get the goods).  We took her friend Lexi, and her mom (who happens to be my friend) out and went for some Mexican, some ear piercing, some nail painting and some movie watching.  All things every girl enjoys!  Unfortunately, some of the boys in the house (namely Zach) were unhappy with the fact that they were not invited on this girls day.  Although he insisted that he loves getting his nails painted (which is true), I told him that this day was just for Maddie so he would have to wait for his birthday.  In a flash of parenting genius (I don't have these very often, so they are memorable) I decided to distract him by asking him what he would like to do for his birthday.  He didn't take the bait.  He started with "Well, I'm not inviting Maddie and Lexi, that's for sure".  I said, it's okay, you can invite whoever you want.  What would you like to do?  He thought for a moment and said "I'm going to cut out everyone's eyeballs and go swimming in them."  Huh.  My parenting genius was failing me at this moment, so I just said, Okaaayyy.  He followed up with "What do you think is behind eyeballs?  Goo?  Stomach?" A recent Walking Dead episode popped into my head, so I answered "Goo, definitely goo."  He says, "Yeah, we could go swimming in that."  While I started to worry about raising a cross-dressing* sociopath (*see "I'm a Grill" entry), I decided I should probably redirect this little fantasy that Zach was having.  So I asked him, well, if that doesn't work out, what ELSE would you like to do for your birthday?  He thought for a moment and as I braced myself for more off-the-wall ideas involving decapitated body parts, he said "Or, we could make puppets.   Yeah puppets."

Shout Out to My Hubby

Wives prepare to be jealous.  Husbands prepare to have the bar raised.  Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

So, week by week in the trenches with four kids and a new puppy (that is a whole other blog subject) I think it is really easy for Matt and I to lose sight of our relationship with each other.  Our interactions are more like transactions, quick texts about who is going to pick up who and take them where for what.  This week I am out of state for a week…check that…seven full days.  That is a long time.  And I left my husband at home with a seven year old, a six year old, a four year old, a two year old, a 9 week old puppy and a three-page Word document trying to outline just what it is that we do every day.  And from Day One, just one day out of the trenches, and I am quickly realizing just how amazing my husband is.  It’s not just that he is willing to go along with the fact that I work part-time, but sometimes that part-time work takes me out of town (but he does).  It’s not just the fact that he has been one of those dads that doesn’t turn up his nose at changing diapers or giving baths (he doesn’t).  It’s not just that while we may have different approaches to parenting sometimes, he never hesitates to get involved when our family needs him (he does).  It’s not even the fact that no sane husband would take on the suicide mission that I left him on (he did).  It is the fact that he is willing to take 4 kids to family day at his work without his wife as back-up.  It is the fact that he had our kids make and deliver birthday cards for my best friend next door for her birthday this morning.  It is the fact that when he was dropping off at preschool and forgot a water bottle, he just ran up to Hy-Vee and bought one.  It is the fact that he monitored FaceTime with the kids giving them each their own turn to say hi to mom and tell me about their day.  It is the fact that he is amazing. Simply amazing.  And I don’t tell him nearly often enough, nor do I remember it when we are in the trenches together.  Instead, I let myself be diluted by the day-to-day nuisances that come with living in a house with a dude, four kids and a puppy and forget to appreciate just what an amazing partner in crime I have.  To be fair, I’m sure he forgets how totally awesome I am too.  For example, the other day we were driving and the new Pink song came on.  The one entitled “True Love” and he looked at me lovingly saying, “Don’t you think this song kind of describes our relationship?”  I said, I hadn’t really listened that closely to the words, but if it’s titled “True Love”, it must.  And he was like, “Yeah, like you know the part about wanting to strangle each other…that’s totally us.”  Did I forget to mention he’s a hopeless romantic?