Lesson 34

This is going to be one of the rare (so far) lessons that you and your brother will share.

Well, we're coming up on the holidays again, I'm excited. I'm just dying to have everyone here and decorate our new house. I've been talking about Santa a lot to get you excited. I have a nice sized "ho ho ho stash" in the bedroom of toys for you and your brother for Christmas. I know, I'm weird. It's not even September quite yet. Dad put your new swing set together, and you LOVE it. So much in fact, I feel horrible that I can't let you play on it. It's a heat index of 105 this week. Instead, we went to Science City, Fritz's, and the planetarium this week. All air conditioned, all fun. Now that school is back in, there aren't as many kids running around. I called about you going to school, I still have 2 more years before you start. I'm glad, because I get to hold onto you for just a bit longer before you're having a life that I'm not in 24/7. There aren't many things that I think "Man, I can't WAIT until the kids are older." In fact, I can only think of one. Laundry. I hate doing laundry, I would rather clean an entire house than fold laundry. I don't mind washing and drying it, but folding it is torture to me. So, as soon as you're old enough, I'm going to teach you to do your own laundry. Which brings me to lesson 34.


Laundry. Here's how you do it. First sort it. Whites, towels/bedding, blue jeans, clothes you don't want to dry (usually nice work clothes or new clothes you don't want to shrink,) and colors. Wash anything you don't want to shrink in cold water. It will also help keep colors from running. If you are washing a new shirt or something that is a bright color, like red, for the first time wash it by itself. Fill the washer with your clothes, you don't want it to be so full it can't spin. Add soap, use the cup and line to measure. Add fabric softner (in our machine now, it goes in the center.) If you have clothes you don't want to shrink, when they are finished washing, hang them up on hangers to dry. Otherwise, put them in the dryer. The longer they sit in the dryer after it's finished, the more wrinkled they will get. Whites are washed in hot water, add a little (1/4 cup) of bleach IF they need it. I find it helpful to alternate loads by how much folding, that way it doesn't seem like I'm folding laundry all day. I'll wash whites, which is typically a LOT of folding, then follow up with towels or jeans since they don't have a lot of folding. After laundry is folded, PUT IT AWAY. In your closet or dresser. Not the floor. After you have washed, dried, folded, and put all your laundry away, run the washer empty on hot. This will help wash out any gunk from dirt or soap. We'll work on ironing another day.

Lesson 33

You're getting so big, and smart! Too smart. You've started thinking about how to get what you want. The other night, you wanted a cookie before bed. You knew I'd probably say no, so you started with, "Mom, have I been good today?" "Good boys sure love cookies." "Cookies help make me a good boy." So of course, I caved and let you have one. I remember when I was younger, I'd try to think 2 steps ahead to plan for what I could come back with. I think you've inherited that trait. There are other nights when you're not so cute. The other night, I had gotten your brother down for a nap before dinner. I planned to let him nap for 30 minutes or so, then let him stay up til 8 or 9. We're working on getting him to sleep a little later than 5am. He'd been out maybe 10 minutes, and you slammed a cup down by his head, waking him up, then you laughed about it. I was livid. I then spent the next 2 hours with a screaming baby while you'd say, "I woke up Mathew!" then laugh. I was so mad I couldn't see straight. It was only worse when I tried to put him to bed and you came to his room and woke him up 3 more times thinking it was funny. I had to take a time out for 5 minutes before dinner. Which brings me to lesson 33...

I love you. Even when you have me so made I could spit nails. You could kill 100 people tomorrow, and I'd still love you. I would make you take responsibility for your actions, but I'd love you. One day, you're going to have kids, and they're going to piss you off something horrible. There's going to be times where you really would like to just smack them. Now, I know we spank you. I would hope as you get older,  you'll understand the difference between discipline and abuse, but the big point to remember, is NEVER spank a child when you're mad. You've only had me that mad 1 other time. When I was about 3 months pregnant, you RAN off in Walmart. Just, took off running, no warning. It took me forever to catch you, and more than once, if another person hadn't seen you, I would have had to get security to help me find you. You got a spanking for that, but I waited until we got home and I wasn't mad anymore. It's ok to walk away from a child as long as you know they're safe. Cool off, come back and talk about what happened, and if you decide a spanking is needed, talk about it then. Just wait until you know you're in 100% control of yourself.