Free to a good home!

My kids are very strong willed. They have their own minds and are not afraid to voice their opinions. Parker's favorite sentence, I think, up until about a few months ago was "No, I not!". Avery adores her big brother and wants to copy everything he says and does. Guess what her favorite sentence is!?! It drives me nuts that she says this...this was her first 3 word sentence. Go figure!

our time out spot is by the front door...it's a great spot...no toys, books, or TV near it. Problem is Avery thinks it's fun to go to time out...but only when Bubba is there. She likes to keep him company! It drives me nuts! I think the next time Parker is in time out, I will grab Avery and go into her bedroom until time's up for Parker so that Avery doesn't go over to him. They don't play. They usually just sit there quietly...together...as if trying to unite against the enemy Mommy.

Here are some of the conversations I have with the kids daily (a few million times a day!):

Scene: Avery pours a bucket of toys out after Parker just cleaned it up - not to play, but just to do it and walks away.
Me: "Avery, if you're not going to play with the toys, you have to clean it up. Put back in bucket, please." And then Parker and I sing the clean up song I made up when Parker was around Avery's age "clean up, clean up, it's time to clean up, clean up".
Avery: "No, I NOT!"

Scene: Parker is standing too close to the TV or reading a book way too close.
Me: "Parker, move away from the TV" or "Parker move the book back"
Parker: "No, I NOT!"

Scene: Avery needs a diaper change.
Me: "Avery, let's go change your diaper."
Avery: "No, I NOT!"

Scene: I'm making lunch, Parker's playing with his cars/trains, Avery is whining b/c she can't get a book or toy.
Me: "Parker, please help Sissy."
Parker: "No, I NOT! I too busy."

sorry for the pic quality...this was on my iPhone. This was time out the other morning...Parker got sent there for giving Avery a little whack on the head. Nothing hard, but still unacceptable behavior. He whined at first, but went without too much of a fuss. Avery decided to keep him company...he laid his head on her lap and she started to play with his hair. They didn't talk, but sat there for 3 minutes. Mind you, when Avery is sent to time out, Parker stays away b/c he knows better, but Avery barely sits there for 30 seconds. I do send her back and she usually cries about it. Afterwards, I talk to her calmly and explain why she was sent in time out and she needs to apologize. 

this is what Avery does when you tell her to do something she doesn't want to do: she closes her eyes and shakes her head. I think she thinks you can't see her when she closes her eyes. 

I should say that my kids def have their sweet moments, but lately it seems the sweet moments are being out numbered by the crazy moments. Usually, they end up doing what I ask them to do, but it takes me helping clean the toys up, taking Parker's hand to move him away from the TV, making a game out of it (racing Avery to her room, pretending to be a train/caboose), or counting.

looks like he's in trouble here and is giving flowers to the aggrieved person, but this was right before Christmas. My mom had just driven down and brought camellias from her garden. Still...this is the look he has when he is in trouble. 

Lucky I think they are adorable b/c there are times when I want to put them out on the front yard with a sign that says: "Free to a good home!". I'm kidding...kind of...maybe...

I read my friends' status updates on Facebook about their sweet little angels and then I turn and look at my wild and crazy kids and sometimes I have to do a double take b/c I swear I saw horns and tails. Maybe their wild antics are causing me to see things...maybe it's the bottle of Scotch they caused me to chug down (ok, totally joking on that last part...it was vodka...ok kidding again!).