A little to the right, mom

Ethan has always been a sucker for a good back rub.  He takes after his mom like that.  Jared knows he can get me to stay up really super late if he just keeps rubbing my back.  Ethan is the same way.  You can get him to stop a temper tantrum by rubbing his tummy or arm or really anything.  Just start rubbing and he starts calming.  It's like a magic button.  I recently discovered that this trick works at bedtime too.  He could be chatting your ear off as he's climbing in bed, but start rubbing his back and within a few words he's slowed to a babble, then stopped altogether.  Within a minute his eyes are fluttering to stay open.  It's some kind of natural phenomenon really.  All I do is rub his back for a "minute" (he can't tell time yet and so a minute can be as long as I feel like rubbing for and is usually in direct correlation to how ornery he's been that day) and then have him flip so I can rub his tummy.  Just as long as both sides get rubbed, you won't hear a word of complaint about putting him to bed.  

Yesterday Ethan was being a pickle to his siblings all afternoon.  Pick, pick, pick, aggravate here, aggravate there, stir up some trouble over there and here and see how upset he can get everyone around him.  Needless to say, his siblings complied with his pot-stirring plans.  It's a phase, I'm sure, but I'm not too fond of it.  My mild-mannered, sweet talk'n, snuggle lov'n sweetie pie has...left.  I'm excited for his return.  Until then, I keep reminding myself that it's just a phase.  So by dinner time last night, my patience was more than thin.  It was gone.  That boy needed to be in bed quickly.  For my sake and his own.  So he had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich before daddy got home and then was tucked in by dad- who did not rub his back because he'd been naughty to mommy. He was asleep within minutes anyway.  Ethan's in that awkward stage where he really needs a nap in the afternoon, but if he gets one, he's up till 10 pm.  I find that idea HORRIBLE.  My mommy patience is wearing thin by 6 and any kids up past 9 will receive the full brunt of ZERO patience.  It's best for us all if the children are making their way to their beds between 7 and 9.  So Ethan can't get a nap.  But every day around 4 pm I find myself doubting that choice.  As I was yesterday.  The answer was to put that boy to bed fast.  

Around 3 am last night, Ethan comes tip-toeing in my room.  I usually sleep pretty lightly and woke right up.

Me: "Ethan, what do you need?"

Ethan: "Mommy, I really need a back rub.  I didn't get my back rub.  I can't sleep."  (He's been asleep for hours).  "Can you pleeeeease rub my back?" 

Who could say no to such pure sweetness???  No one, I tell you.  So I drug my poor sleepy body out of bed and down the hall to watch Ethan's eyes flutter closed while I rubbed his back.  I was pretty sure he was completely asleep and started to pull the blankets up when he promptly, and with quite surprising alertness, flipped over eagerly and said, "Tummy too!".  I just about burst out laughing at 3 am!  2 minutes later, he was out like a light.  

I understand, sometimes you just need a back rub. 

The Christmas Dinner that wasn't

Our family was sharing a particularly nasty stomach flu at Christmas time.  The children were praying for Jared and Owen that they would feel better by Christmas (so it wouldn't interfere with presents).  And I was praying that I wouldn't get sick until after all my Christmas work was done.  Since that wasn't finished until about 2 am on Christmas morning, I was blessed to not get sick until late Christmas morning (after presents).  The kids and I both got what we had been asking for :)
Since I was sick on Christmas Day, we decided to hold off on making our big Christmas dinner.  We figured we'd get to it in a couple days.  But then Owen got sick again. So we waited a few more days. Then Coleson and Ethan got sick.  So we waited a few more days.  Then Jared got sick all over again.  So we waited some more.  THEN I got sick again this past Sunday!! &%$@#  This stomach bug is the pits!! We've been rotating this for all of Christmas break. We can't seem to shake it. Anyway, yesterday afternoon I was feeling better, so I called Jared to see how he was feeling and if he was up to our belated belated belated Christmas dinner. He was. So I threw it all together.  Fortunately it wasn't too hard because we'd made a few dishes already when we thought we'd felt up to eating it, but turned out we didn't.  So those were waiting in the freezer.  I made up some rolls and put the ham in the oven.  Voila!
We finally sat down to our very belated Christmas dinner. I didn't feel like making it fancy like usual with our pretty Christmas plates and table ware. But everything was yummy.  Jared asked me if it was worth the wait.  I don't know, by then it was just kind of like, "let's just eat this food so we can get it out of the fridge".  Not the usually mouth-watering anticipation.
While we were chatting and eating, Owen started to choke.  Fortunately he could breath enough to cough, it was just a matter of him working out whatever had gone down the wrong pipe.  I pulled him out of his high chair to comfort him because he was scared.  And then what happened??  He threw up all over me.  Nice.  I really didn't mind too much.  I knew it wasn't because he was sick (that's gross) or gagging himself (that's aggravating).  It was because he really needed it out.  I just looked at Jared and said, "we were destined to have someone throw up at this meal. It just HAD to happen".  A nice Christmas dinner just wasn't meant to be for us this year.  Oh well. What can you do? We'll try again next year.