Bummer for You

So....our Love and Logic parenting took a turn for the worst a while back when we started getting a little sarcastic in our intended empathy when the kids would make a mistake. Rather than saying "how sad" with loads of empathy, we would say, "what a bummer for you". It began with empathy, but apparently I had lost my empathetic edge because I started overhearing our kids sarcastically saying "bummer for you" when they were trying to make eachother cry. So...it continued as a joke with some different groups of friends. My best friends from Colorado traveled this summer to Portland and there were some remarkable moments to apply a sarcastic "bummer for you" tone to a sad moment for us (or actually - mostly TO eachother ABOUT other people we didn't know stuck in traffic and such....real holy, redemptive moments, if you will). Even in Mozambique, a poor fellow traveler got stuck with horrible diarrhea and after my story about the kids, the group just said to her , "bummer for you".

Anyhow, Adelaine lived it up this last week as she decided to not listen to several warnings and disciplines to sneakily eating candy. Because she knew she wasn't supposed to eat candy without asking (but apparently remembered something resembling candy in my purse) she downed 8-10 orange Vitamin C lozenges. The Vitamin C isn't a big deal as it is either absorbed in the body to do a little extra swine flu protection or released back into pee. However, the fact that they were sugar free lozenges (with the lovely clause of "may cause diarrhea"), really "bit her in the butt". I called Poison Control (as we are BFFs) and they told me exactly what would happen and it is exactly what did happen: She threw up some ripe Orange (in flavor, color and smell) loveliness all over me which turned into family bath time (where I'd like to note she told me I looked just like the Little Mermaid)....and she had some serious poop explosions. But, then she was fine. I wish she was little older for the "bummer for you" to really have a lasting effect as she was asking for candy bright and early the next morning. However, the true moral of the story was for me: keeping vitamin C in my purse and not being aware of my daughter digging in my purse was a needed bit of humility and awareness to keep me on my toes (thankfully my sleeping pills don't taste like candy or reside in my purse). However, my SEVERE gag reflex to the smell of orange (and the risidual vision of Adam using our steam cleaner on the carpet at midnight) reminds me that it is in fact mostly a "bummer for me".

Sugar and Spice and ever so Nice

I feel like we are always aware of how beautiful it is in Oregon and I feel like when I drive I am saying "look at that tree, can you believe the colors?" about every minute. However, since this is likely our last fall here (since Adam's Phd is done here soon and we will hopefully find a job somewhere soon.....or things will get a bit more exciting all around), we are just embracing every moment of this autumn. I am enjoying the fall and cider more than ever and we are walking on every crackling leaf possible. These are pictures of our jaunt today.

Speaking of ever-so-Nice - Lukas has taken great enjoyment out of continued pranks on Adelaine... He is actually remarkably sweet to her when it comes to including her in on games and things he is doing. If she is wrestling him really rough, he is VERY restraining with how he wrestles her back softly. However, these little stunts with his pranks are ridiculous. The latest is this: He took her polly pocket princesses (which she guards with her life...he only got them while she was sleeping) and put them in the dungeon (a.k.a. a little animal hospital toy that has little cages and keys). He then strung up the keys just high enough out of her reach that she couldn't reach it. So the scene of her missing her dolls, then looking for her dolls, then finding them in the dungeon, and then not being able to reach the keys was increasingly brutal. All the while, he was quiet with and occasional giggle til I said, "Lukas, knock it off" and he quietly got the keys and released his prisoners. don't know what to say? me either.