Milestone

We have reached a HUGE milestone here at the Welborn house. Lauren has sucked her thumb since about two weeks old. She never wanted a pacifier and would only suck her thumb. We knew this would be an issue when she grew older as far as quitting, but as we all know, Lauren is VERY strong-willed (even as an infant).

Well, we told her that when she was eight, she would have to stop. We even gave her the option to cut down at the time (about 4 months ago) or quit "cold turkey" on the day of her birthday. She chose the night of her birthday. That night we started with "Thum" which is a solution to coat her thumbnail. It is spicy and does not taste good at all. She did NOT like it. She even tried to snow Clark into painting the wrong thumb. (It only worked once!)

Lauren actually accused Clark of painting her tongue at one point. We tried really hard not to laugh at her. She was serious. We would catch her running to the nearest sink, followed by the sound of rapid spitting. Woe to anything that may have been in said sink at the time.

Tonight, however, we have reached the end. She has not tried to suck her thumb for several days and had not realized that we had not painted her thumb for several days as well. She is not feeling well and asked if she could suck her thumb just for tonight. I told her to give it a try and see how it felt. (with ulterior motives, knowing what would happen) She tried and took it out and tried again. It got really quiet and here's what happened:

Me: What's the matter?
Lauren: It does feel right.
Me: You don't want to suck it?
Lauren's Thumb: But I want her to suck me.
Lauren (through tears): It doesn't work anymore. I want to suck it, but my mouth has grown up but my thumb has grown down.
Me: I guess you don't need it anymore.
Lauren: Why didn't you put me on a pacifier or stop me earlier. This way I wouldn't remember it.

It was really hard not to feel sad with her at this point. We snuggled a bit and she ultimately did go to sleep.

Sometimes its hard to grow up and be a bigger guy..

The Cave

Now that Heather has moved out, Alex has gotten his room back. Clark and Aaron built a bed to end all beds. It is tall enough for Alex to sit under it and not hit his head. There is a nightlight under there so they can play. The entrance to the "Cave" is made form two pillowcases hung on end. Lauren and Alex play under there and sleep under there. Today, Lauren had two friends over and the next thing I know they are telling ghost stories under the bed. My nephew was here earlier and the three of them were very funny. One of them was under the bed, eating the others (pulling them under the bed). The ones being "eaten" were being VERY dramatic, yelling and moaning. It was hilarious. The only incident so far was the leaping from the LEGO box to the bed and not making it. There was some pain involved then so maybe a lesson was learned. (I can hope, can't I?). We need to make one addition. We need to get stairs so Alex does not have to leap in, though I do think he likes that part!

Fire

So, I am not able to use my oven yet. Several days ago, we had tacos (homemade) and my husband decided to heat up the crunchy shells in the oven on the racks. It seems that the bottom rack was too close to the burner. When we saw the flames, we became concerned. We, of course had an extinguisher and were able to put it out without any damage. However, it has taken us several days to get all the extinguisher residue out of the oven. I am not comfortable with cooking in there while there is even the chance of something being left. All our meals have been on the top of the stove or bought. What fun. I am not griping, but my husband is home. He is not working. He could be taking care of this stuff. I am working, part-time mind you. Then, picking up carpool kids and snacking them, separating them, homework, etc. Keeping up with the laundry, dishes, and on and on and on. GRRRRR! Oh, well...deep breath and back to the business of life.
XXOO

Tag, I'm it

8 TV shows i watch
1. House
2.In Plain Sight
3.The Today Show
4.Phineas and Ferb

5. Hallmark Movies
6. Lifetime channel

7. Do I have time to watch?
8. I don't have TIVO
8 favorite restaurants
1.sushi

2. hibachi
3 .Abuelo's
4. On the Border
5. Chili's
6 .Taco Bueno
7 . Arby's
8. Braum's
8 things that happen to me today
1. See previous blog

2. Scheduled a 504 meeting for tomorrow
3. Went to work at the school
4. got homework for Valentine's party
5. blogged the tape story
6. printed off some colorblind info
7. picked up carpool kids
8 . sent my husband out for dinner. (see next blog)
8 things i look forward to
1. bedtime
2. my husband getting a job
3. spring break
4. being able to take my little guys to Disney
5. things to slow down
6. the end of girl scout cookies
7. baseball season to start
8. my laundry to be ALL done
8 things i wish for
1. full time school
2. patience
3. a stress- free house
4. my children's happiness
5. enough money to retire
6. Lauren to find her way (in life)
7. Alex to be safe (from everything)
8. Aaron to get through teenage years with as little angst as possible
8 people i tag
1. Leslie ( who already tagged me)
2. Renee (who won't blog anymore)
3. I
4. don't
5. know
6.anyone
7. else
8. to tag

If you want to answer back, blog, or email, or respond to this and copy, paste

Question of the Day

So I look up and ask: "Lauren, why do you have a ball of blue tape?"

Answer: "I had to take it off Alex."

LOONG pause.

Big sigh...Shake of the head

Background: When Heather moved out, we decided to move Alex back into his room. Aaron is VERY excited!! It seemed to be a perfect time to paint the walls now that the room was empty. Clark is in the middle of painting, so there is blue painter tape laying around.

Back to the fun....

It seemed that Alex thought it might be fun to tape himself up. It was him... he did admit it. When asked why on earth you would want to tape yourself up, he just shrugged his shoulders.

I don't think that he taped himself to anything, but Lauren did have to peel tape off of him. Now, to be honest, I am sure that she had a certain amount of fun peeling him.

Why do I think that this will not be the last time that something strange like this happens in my house??