Parenting and Puzzles

A couple of weeks ago as I was tucking Ethan and Brigham into bed Ethan felt his blankets and said "My blankets have pee on them." I said it is probably just water because I just washed your blankets, and he said "no, it is pee I can tell." So I asked Brigham "Did you pee on Ethan's bed?" He said "Yeah I did, because I don't want him to sleep in mine room." I stood there for a moment feeling quite angry and trying to decide what the best course of action would be. I thought that spanking and time out weren't the best option and since I already had Ethan's blankets to wash what is one more batch. I said "Ethan, hop up on Brighams bed and pee on it." He gave me a look like I was crazy and said "what?" I said "you heard me, hop up there and pee on Brigham's bed." He said "Okay" hopped up and peed on it. Brigham cried his eyes out and screamed his head off. If we had neighbors they certainly would have thought he was being beaten. He was so upset that I think he bawled off and on for about an hour. I gathered up both sets of wet blankets and started the wash. Don't worry both beds have mattress pads on them so it didn't sink into the mattress. I think Brigham got the message, and I'm sure I lost the award for Mother of the Year a long time ago :D It is funny because the older I get it seems the less I care about other people's opinions on what I should be doing with my kids and I do just what I think is best, and I don't really care if other people think I'm wrong. Last week we received the results of Ethan's muscle biopsy. They said everything looked normal so they are scheduling an EMG to see if they can find which nerves aren't working right. I felt discouraged that there was no answer to the puzzle yet. I guess this is just another lesson in patience. I am thinking of taking him to see an endocrinologist and maybe a urologist to see if we can get some answers from them. Brigham has been a bit of a challenge for me lately. Last week he got into the baby powder and pretty much used it all up in my bathroom. Hailey said "I'll help you clean it up." Her definition of cleaning it up was to brush all of the powder that was coating the bathroom counter into her hand and coating her face with it. I sent her out of the bathroom which also made a barefoot trail of baby powder across the carpet. Brigham also cut his hair, so I shaved his head bald. I think he looks cute with his bald head, but I hope that he doesn't cut his hair again. Spencer and Austin seem to trade off weeks as far as being the challenging child for the week. Spencer is getting to be a teenager and loves to argue and debate about everything. A couple of weeks ago we got a new puppy. Mainly it is Hailey's dog, but it is for our whole family. It is a St. Bernard and is such a cute mellow puppy. I let her choose a name for her and she chose Fluffy...lol. Fluffy is going to be a huge dog, and she has really cute long fur. We still have the other little puppy that was one of the puppies that a mama dog had that was dropped off. We consider it Ethan's puppy and he named her Leah. Leah seems to have one paw that is deformed but she is a cute little dog. It is cute to see Ethan with her because they both kind of have a funny way of walking. I love my little Ethan so much and just wish I could find the answer to what is wrong with him. Most of the time he has such a sweet charming personality that I love so much. Last night for family night we watched a movie on Mormon Messages called "God will Lift us up." here is the link if you want to watch it http://www.lds.org/pages/mormon-messages?lang=eng#god-will-lift-us-up After the movie Ethan talked about he knew how she felt. I was glad that I let the kids watch that message because I had already shown the one that I planned for family night and maybe Ethan and I both needed to hear that one. Yesterday I was trying so hard to be organized and get things done and I had dinner made before Taekwondo and the laundry was done and the general pick up of the house was complete. I left dinner in the oven when we left for Taekwondo thinking that it would just keep it warm for when we got back. Well I thought I had turned the oven off but I hadn't and so when I got back dinner was burnt to a crisp........literally black. I hurried and whipped up some pancakes. Before Taekwondo I had just gotten out of the shower and was combing my hair and I kept finding this hard chunk of something stuck in the back of my hair. It felt like a chunk of plastic, I couldn't get it to come out so I had to cut it out. The house just seems like I can't keep up on it and that is quite discouraging to me. However I came across this poem the other day and I think I should make it poster size and hang it up so that people can see it when they come into my house :) Well I was going to share it but I can't find it. IF you do please let me know the title. It is a poem by Carol Lynn Pearson about cleaning and finding dust behind her washing machine and what is really important.