Thursday, December 10, 2009

Whose Child Is This?

Lately I've noticed my kids doing some weird things.

Since I know that my personality contains NO weirdness whatsoever, I can only assume they get these things from their father.

What? I'm not weird.

Shut up.

Case in point: Child number one

This boy leaves for school at the unholy hour of 6:40 a.m. every day. He likes to wake up at 5:40 a.m., shower, eat breakfast, and sit for an hour -- waiting until it's time to go. I have tried sneaking in and setting his alarm back a bit, but he always catches me and resets it. I cannot convince him that the extra sleep in the morning is better than staring off into space for an hour. Because I feel guilty sleeping while he is all alone downstairs, I drag my bleary-eyed self down every morning and stare off into space with him.

He has also figured out that he can ask me for things and get a yes because I'm too tired to really process the information. Like this morning when he asked to have cookies for breakfast and I nodded? Totally thought he was asking for something else.

While I love and adore this child to no end, I really could use some extra sleep in the morning.

Child Number Two:

This child has recently become obsessed with J.R.R Tolkien's, The Hobbit, and has spent every waking minute reading it. When he's not devouring the book, he's following me around the house giving me a play-by-play of the latest chapter. He took great delight in sharing an excruciatingly detailed account of the giant spider that wraps people up in cocoons.

I love him, but really could do with a little less giant spider/cocoon detail in my life.

Child Number Three:

This girl has recently decided she is in charge of styling her own hair in the morning. I reluctantly gave up that creative control on the weekdays, and have tried to look the other way when she walks out the door sporting very creative buns or funky barrette placement (and usually a combination of the two). Today was Crazy Hair Day at school, and, honestly, I could not tell a difference from her regular hair days.

I love her and want her to be able to express her individuality while learning to master her own hair, but would it be wrong to send a note to the teacher explaining that I'm not in charge of her hair anymore?

Yes, I think we can safely blame the husband for all of these quirks.

Keep quiet, Mom. You know my hair always looked good. Especially those giant waterfall bangs.

21 comments:

mae said...

Yes. All the weirdness in my children comes from their father as well.

It's one of the laws of nature.

Travelin'Oma said...

They are TOO cute!!

Mrs T said...

Your kids are so sweet. Love that she does her own hair - my niece always wants to do hers too!

brooke said...

You're a better mom than I. My 6 year old (6 year old!) gets up every morning at 6:30, watches tv and gets in the bath and gets dressed and then wakes me at 7:30 to get him breakfast and out the door. He knows if he comes in my room before 7:30, it ain't gonna be pretty. I'm a terrible person (just typing this was embarrasing.)

Susy said...

I can so relate to story #3....:)

Jenny said...

Great snapshots in time. It's nice to remember these details. I'm having hair battles with my daughter except she doesn't want to do anything with her hair...she looks like a ragamuffin!

Anna said...

Ahhh, c'mon they got some of you in them too. I'm just sayin'

diane said...

Oh the hair battles. I too gave up control and let her express herself with messy pony tails, crazy buns,and my personal favorite the slinky bun placed directly on top of the head. Being a hair atylist this pained me to the core. Luckily, she is really good with a flat iron now and looks beautiful every day. I guess it paid off in the long run but it almost killed me. It just wasn't worth the fight.

Meggan said...

Those kids of yours are too cute. You did an amazing job capturing all of them. They grow up all too fast. And I understand. The day I have to give K her hair will be a very sad day indeed...

Cindy said...

It's amazing how each of them are their own little person with very different characteristics. I love hearing these stories.

Tristan said...

I loved these stories! You have such cute and fun kids!!

And I wouldn't feel guilty about letting your son sit downstairs by himself for an hour while you slept. If it were my kid, I would just figure they did it to themselves and they were old enough to take care of themselves for an hour. Not your fault the kid is a crazy morning person! HA HA! Sorry, I just don't get morning people. I get mad at my kids if they get up to early and send them back to bed.

Oh, and being a hair stylist, I can not give up the hair control like that. I think I would hyperventilate! But what a good Mom you are for letting her express herself ;)

Lauren in GA said...

Ahhhhhh, the "giant waterfall bangs." I rocked that look, too.

You crack me up. I love it when you say things like, "What? I'm not weird." and then tell us to shut up.

Great pictures of your kiddos.

Liz said...

Your kids are awesome. I still firmly believe that even though our kids are so exactly the same (right down to their reading choices), their weirdness definitely comes from their dads. Not their moms.

crystal said...

The crazy hair day vignette...hilarious! Mimi & I have compromised on me being in hair-charge every other day, but i really think they should not be allowed to experiment with their own hair until 7th grade.

Right?

I can't believe he's reading Tolkien! How old is that genius????

the wrath of khandrea said...

whose child is this
not laid to rest
on christie's sofa,
not slee-eeping
whom christie greets
with cookies sweet
while no one
their watch is keeping.

THIS, THIS is mackay, the boy
whose sleeping habits
rob his mom of joy.

HASTE!
HASTE!
to bring him ambien
this self-motivated child
of chrisss-tiiiiie.

Jessica said...

whoa...Andrea just put a little too much time into that comment. Am I right?

Your staring off into space comment made me laugh out loud.

And there was a girl in 7th grade who had waterfall bangs that were PERFECT. I stared at her constantly trying to figure out how they got so perfect. I think you only get that good at your hair if your mom lets you do your own. So you're helping Hannah's popularity.

Becky said...

I think giving up control and letting them be their own people is a hard thing to do, but the right thing to do. Good job on that!

calibosmom said...

We're having the same hair issues. All I ask is that she at least brush it and use shampoo. My son does the same with his books. He tells me ALL about what is happening and then insists that I read it too. I don't have an early riser-thank goodness!

Jake said...

Oh the hair. It is painful!

Halvie men are all early-birds. Blame it on Opa.

Linsey said...

Just staring off into space? Maybe you should learn to sleep with your eyes open?

I HATE the spiders in Tolkien books, loathe, detest and abominate them!!!

Ilene said...

I don't know what I would do with an early riser. I woke up at 8:30am because Dan woke me up getting ready for work. The kids kept sleeping until almost 9am. Love my kids.

Of course, I don't put my kids to bed at 6:00pm.

I need to try the Hobbit again. I just can't get over the endless pages of hobbit genealogy and geography. Snooze fest.