a little heavy on pictures of the youngest

You're lucky I didn't write this last night. I finally broke down and bought Claritin D- the kind you have to buy from the pharmacist and practically get finger-printed for. I feel like such a criminal when I buy it that I avoid it as long as I can.

But Friday night I really couldn't breathe and so I bought the drugs on Saturday. Saturday night was fine, but last night? I was on some kind of decongestant trip. I tossed and turned and couldn't sleep and my mind started racing about the dumbest stuff: Henry's puzzles are still out in the basement. I should have had him help put them away. I have that chore chart that we never use. I really need to start using that with the boys. I shouldn't have bought that DVD for Henry without showing that he earned it somehow. There's a basket of laundry downstairs that I didn't fold yet...

People actually abuse these drugs because they WANT to feel this way? No thanks.

So.

Thomas had his first-ever soccer practice Saturday.

He did his usual shy thing, but I'm sure he will warm up to it. This league for 4-year-olds doesn't have games or anything, just practices. Luckily we have a very dear 10-year-old friend who plays many sports and gives us lots of hand-me-downs. So we are set for shoes and shin guards. But I have been informed (by my husband) that these shorts he's wearing are not appropriate, so they will have to make a trip to the sports supply store. (Roll eyes.)

Later on Saturday we went to the library and then to the grocery store. I did buy Henry the 101 Dalmations DVD and I did struggle with that decision.

When his teacher started reporting on Henry's day using 0-5 stars, the idea was that we would track how many stars he earned, and tie that in to a reward. Needless to say, the system hasn't really worked. He'll have an excellent couple weeks of 4 & 5 star days, but we won't happen to go to the store that weekend.

Then he'll have a couple rough weeks of 1 & 2 star days (even 0 stars one day this month), and I'll turn around and buy him a DVD. Maybe it's just me being a mushy marshmallow-spine mommy, but I find it hard to say no sometimes. Henry is a smart kid. But I'm not sure that he truly understands a consequence that is not immediate. I look in his eyes as I say "I know you want that DVD, but you can't have it because you kicked your teacher on Tuesday" and I don't see understanding there. All I see staring back at me is the blind desire for this DVD. And, if I'm being honest, I see the threat of a full-blown freak out if we don't bring the DVD home.

I am considering making it more of a daily consequence- you can't watch a movie after school if you haven't had a good day. But then I think about how hard he works at school all day and how chilling out with a movie probably feels so good to him, and I lose my resolve.

And sometimes I feel like all this talk about how many stars he earns just stresses him out. He starts to cry and shout "on Monday, I won't earn any stars! I will not be good!"
So, I'm a pushover. My secret is out.

Tommy's child-care provider has been doing more fun stuff with the kids. A couple weeks ago they planted zinnia seeds:

So this weekend Bill and Tommy moved them to roomier pots:

That squirt bottle he's using? It has provided HOURS of outdoor fun. Who knew that squirting water at stuff was so entertaining?

Both boys rode their bikes some more this weekend. I told Henry, more than once, that we were just going on a bike ride. I did not bring my money and we were not going to stop at Starbucks. But he did not believe me. This resulted in a few angry moments and about a quarter mile of him pushing his bike, rather than riding it. (I guess this was some sort of protest, but it really only punished him!) So, see, I don't always give in!

Tommy had a small wipe out, which led to the overuse of these cool band-aids:

Springtime feels really good. Having our whole family back home again feels really good. If we could just figure out the new VCR so we could record The Office, all would be right.