Super Woman = Multi-Tasker with a touch of ADHD

I believe all mom's are Super Human Beings.  How else do you wipe a baby's butt, throw in a load of laundry, and send an email to your work address with a power point attached to it, all in one big SWOOP!  The other day I was doing just that.  I think sometimes I may even have a touch of ADHD.  Much of my thoughts are scatter brained with things like, folding clothes, should I enroll the kids into preschool, did I put that latch on the drawer that Thing Two was messing with, how many loads can I wash with this much detergent and where can I get it for cheaper, should Thing One go to tee ball...and ON and ON.  I blame my parents for this.  Yes there, I said it!

My parents,  Sarge and Mami always had me in an activity of some sort or other.  I remember when I was about eight years old I had Folkloric dance on Mondays, baton on Tuesdays, Girls Scouts on Wednesday, Gymnastics on Thursdays, and Fridays were reserved for family dining out time.  Saturday's I would be shuffled into the car so that we could go to East Los Angeles and go visit friends of my parents and go grocery shopping.  Sunday's, the day of rest were spent at church and lunch at the park.  My goodness!  I was a busy little child! No wonder it followed me into adulthood! If I don't have 5 million things going on in my life, I wonder...is something missing?

The other day I caught myself online looking for things for my kids to do.  Saturdays we spend at Gymboree and I was looking at Mommy and Me ballet classes for Thing Two.  Then I began to look at the tee-ball schedules for Thing Two.  We have already signed up for parent workshops at the library for Thursday evenings, which work like a preschool.  Did I mention that Thing One is taking two weeks of Fall swimming classes at the community center? I stopped and thought, this is what my parents did to me! OH MAN!  So I asked Mami, why did they involve me in so many things when I was little.  She simply stated "Oh mija, you asked to be in all that stuff and your face lighted up every time you went to your special activities".  So I wonder have I always had to have a circus running?  Maybe I do have ADHD!

Then I thought of Thing One and Thing Two.  Both of my lovely children like to be active, like to be stimulated.  If I ever saw an ounce of stress with all these activities I involve them in, I would certainly eliminate it.  Maybe my parents knew I loved all the activities and that it wasn't stressing me out and I was actually benefiting from all this activity.  I learned to multi-task and organize my time.  Imagine that! 

I can only hope Thing One and Thing Two can see it that way.  Until then, bring on ballet, tee ball, soccer, story time, and playgroups! 

You have a WHAT?!?!

Last night as I do every night I was bathing both Thing One and Thing Two.  I've never found it odd that I bathe my children together, even if they are a boy and girl, it's never been an issue for me.  Actually it was for the most part a time saver.  Two kids, one bath, killed two birds with one stone.

Back to last nights bath.  Since Thing One has been potty trained he has this quirk that he pulls at his private part all the time.  I've read this is pretty normal, for me it's mostly the fact that he yanks it so hard he may hurt himself one day.  So as I have always done I gently remind him that he does not need to touch it unless he is going to the bathroom.  So there was Thing Two yanking at himself.  I finally had to say "Thing One, stop pulling at your penis!".  Thing Two is in the repeat stage and follows her brother Thing One's every movement, so you can imagine what came next.  Thing Two points to her private parts and says "PENIS!".  My thought was, ok we haven't told her the name of her part.  I told her "No Thing Two, you have a vagina".  What ensued next brought me to tears.  Thing One looks at himself and says " I have a GINA too! See!" (points to private part)  I wanted to laugh so hard, but I kept it together.  Then I repeated to Thing One that he had a penis.  Thing One in his loudest 3 year old voice says "NO! They match mommy!"  Well I almost was crying from the laughter. 

So there I am, wanting to share this with someone and so I text message Big Cheese to let him know what had happened.  I don't know if he was a little perplexed and maybe even a little disturbed by the fact that this had occurred.  He just was confused.  What do we do?  Should we have them bathe together?  I guess at that moment I realized that we had different parenting styles.  I'm all about being open with my children, letting them ask questions and having the accurate information for them.  That is why I refuse to have Thing One call his private parts "wee wee" or his "pee pee".  He knows he has a penis and now he has a name for his sister's anatomy.  I guess some people are still a little closed off and private when it comes to children learning the correct terms for their anatomy, and that's ok. 

So am I going to separate them in the shower?  I suppose eventually I will have to. For now I think it's pure and simply an observation for both of them and they are learning about the uniqueness in their own body.  Others may have other opinions about what I do, but I see nothing wrong in what I am doing so far with them.  So what did I say to Big Cheese?  Well that's easy, the same thing I do with Thing One and Thing Two.  I let him ask questions and I gave him accurate and concerete answers.  Sometimes Adults need to be approached the same way as young children. ;)

You Are Not Alone

Reading to his baby sister

Growing up I was the only child in our household. My sister was 13 years older than me and was out of the house by 16. She moved out and shortly after that moved to another state. I really didn't get an opportunity to build that sibling relationship. I always felt cheated of that relationship of sibling everyone else had. Of course my friends would tell me I wasn't missing out on anything. They would tell me horror stories and tell me I was lucky I didn't have to share anything with anyone.

You see, that was just it. I didn't really have someone to share that special bond of growing up in the same household and sharing that experience. I was the typical lonely only child. I may have experienced more bonding with my parents because I had no others to bond with. From the time I can remember I. wanted to have more than one child. I wanted my children to have the same special memories and the bond of being siblings.

Cut to my years of struggling to even conceive. I almost lost hope of even having one child, let alone more. It was a very sad realization that I may have to raise a lonely only. I think it was just a very hard moment all together to accept that a child would grow up with no connection to a sibling like I did.

When I got pregnant with Thing One I was both surprised and elated! All I could do was think of him and how happy I was. Labor was actually pretty good, enough so that right after I gave birth to him I said to the nurse " I will be here next year!". Maybe I was filled with endorphins at the time from giving birth. Big Cheese looked at me crazy when I blurted that out. He already had two teenage sons from a previous relationship and this was not an option.

With Big Brothers

From the time I had Thing One I knew he should have a sibling, and not just his two older brothers. He needed someone to share crazy family stories, someone to talk to as an adult and just have that bond. Big cheese was against it. For me I pushed forward with the idea like a presidential campaign. Finally he agreed that when Thing One would turn one we could try.

Our first vacation away from Thing One was when he was 8 months old. What happens in Vegas doesn't always stay in Vegas! I was pregnant again, a little sooner than I anticipated. I cried, and not because I still had a baby and I was pregnant, I did it out of happiness. Thing Two would never be alone.

Thing One was 17 months old when his sister Thing Two showed up. I worried so much about how they would get along. Would they get along? I thought, well maybe he won't want to hang out with his sister as much. So many worries! Thing One couldn't be bothered by his new sister for awhile. He kissed her but he was just happy to be himself and walk away. I'm sure it was just his age but it still made me worry.

Why is she here???!!!

Thing One will be three years old soon and Thing Two just turned a year and a half. She follows Thing Two everywhere. She wants to do everything he does and I can see the admiration she has for him. It still worried me that Thing Two was not quite as affectionate towards her as she was with him. He sometimes seemed bothered by her hugs and kisses.

I like Super Why, because my brother does!

I went to pick up Thing One from the baby sitter for his swimming lessons the other day. Usually I pick up Thing Two as well and drop her off at home to stay with Mami, but that day Mami wasn't feeling well. I left Thing Two with the baby sitter and took Thing One with me. I had already anticipated Thing Two would be upset to be without her brother and myself. What happened next surprised me. Thing One looked at me and asked "yiyi?" (His name for her). I explained to him that she was staying there and we were going swimming. He threw himself on the floor and screamed "No! No! No!" I had to pick him up and put him in the car kicking and screaming. The whole time he was reaching out and screaming for Thing Two.

I brushed it off as just a reaction from the change of our normal routine. After swimming I dropped him off first and was going to pick up Thing Two. When we got home Thing One was running into the house and said hi to Mami, but the person he was calling for was"yiyi, where are you?". He went from room to room. I brought her back home and he ran to her hugged her and kissed her on her head "MUAH!" She was just as happy to see him.

It was a sigh of relief at that moment for me. It was just too precious. They would always have each other, even if somedays they didn't like each other or shared the same interest. They would ALWAYS love each other.

I really do love her ! <3