Loud chaos

Swim lessons are finally over.  And William didn't do one bit of swimming.  He floated holding on to the rail and "walked" along the edge with his hands.  I didn't really expect him to be swimming by the end.  I didn't expect him to flat refuse to swim either though, but he is definitely more comfortable in the water overall than when we started.  I'll take whatever level of success I can squeeze out.  We'll see what happens the rest of the summer.

Patrick is becoming more and more verbal.  Not necessarily adding more words, but more often than not, we can figure out what he wants if he's making a request.  And if the kid gets started - he just keeps going.  He'll sit in the backseat and just go on and on about something.  Then William gets started too and it just never ends.  **yay** No, really, it's cute.  Loud but cute.

Patrick is even starting to play independently.  Without me in the room or engaged with him.  It's awesome.  If I can get him into the choo-choos - I can make dinner without a baby on my hip or crying at my feet.  He will happily sit in the middle of the track and drive the trains around him.  I bet his imagination is just as good as his brother's - oh the adventures they will have!

Jake and the Neverland Pirates has been on basically constantly all week.  So maybe instead of Buzz & Woody for Halloween - I'll dress the boys up as Jake & Cubbie.  The costumes would be a LOT easier to put together for sure.  I found myself singing the theme song while grocery shopping ALONE on Saturday.  Maybe they need to go outside............ ha!

We did have a great family evening planting monkey grass this past week.  The boys had their little shovels and were going to town in the tote of leftover grass.  Then the water hose came out and we had a water party with the mister.  Sam would squirt them and then they would run giggling just to turn right back and ask for more.  So so so cute.  Of course, they wanted me to get in on the fun, and truthfully, that was fine with me.  It was hot and monkey grass has surprisingly deep roots.

Positive Discipline is finally starting to pay off in a real way.  Atleast I think so. William is doing a better job of listening, behaving, and has even started to figure out on his own when to say he's sorry and what for.  It's showing up in small ways, we definitely still have multiple daily struggles but I can see the hard work & patience paying off.  He is really is such a sweet boy with humongo feelings he needs help with.  New favorite sentence we're working on - "I'm having a rough morning/day."  Favorite part of all this working - lots of random "I love you Mommy".  So glad all that parenting research is paying off - nothing wrong with finding new ways to do something.  Especially when they make life better & easier in the long run.  (if you're interested - http://www.ahaparenting.com/ is a great place to start)

Random - I read something the other day - gist : We hold children to a higher standard than adults - not allowing room for a bad day, rough morning, wrong side of the bed, etc.  Treat them like human beings, with real emotions, etc etc.   Thought that was interesting.  Am definitely going to be fitting that in to how I interact with the boys.  One more ounce of patience added.  I'm sure they'll appreciate it.

Exciting news - I begin a two month trial of Flex Time on Monday.  My hours will be 730-330, 8 hours, no lunch, but I'll be off in time to pick William up from PreK (when that starts in August).  This is going to be AWESOME for a multitude of reasons.  1.  I get to work basically at 7:30 anyhow but work until 5 (I do workout at lunch - so that usually goes a little over an hour with a shower - but still, long day) 2.  More time with the boys.  I've always been a little upset that their teachers spend more time with them than when do, especially during the week.  This will be just one tiny way to chip away at that - and when afterschool activities begin - I can be the one doing the driving - not arranging for someone else to do that.  I also get to be the one helping with homework, etc.  Being the PARENT.  I was spoiled by my parents being teachers - I definitely will do whatever it takes to give my boys a version of that.  3.  We won't have to pay for after-school care.  Mini-raise for the Rumers!  Seriously, it'll be a couple hundred off the bill list. I'll take the breathing room.

So - I get to rise to the challenge for two months and hope the higher ups agree that it's working just fine.  Luckily, I'm on the International team - so since our peeps are hours ahead, the earlier I'm officially there, the better for them.  Fingers crossed!!!  This would be huge for our family in so many ways!


## so much has happened since I wrote most of this s but here you anyhow. Next I'll tell you about Switzerland and maybe even include some pictures of the monsters. He. I know that's the only reason you tune in. Ha.

Loves.