I had cute conversations with the boys tonite as I put them to bed. Finn and I talked about his friend Taylor who came to play today...he nodded his head emphatically when asked if he had fun with her.They played with play-doh and climbed in and out of the little rocket ship hamper thing that we have in the front room and fought a wee bit over some toys. As per their age! He also said yes he liked the movie Peter Pan which they watched a little of before their bath. We talked about Tinker Bell and I imitated the pirate who says "walk the plank matey!" (or whatever!) and Finn thought that was quite funny so we said it again a few more times. Finn was tired and went down w/ a few little squeals but then it got quiet pretty quick.

Aiden and I had a scintillating conversation tonite about "way back, like in 1946" (his words, not mine-I know that wasn't that long ago!) when I explained to him that not all houses had modern plumbing the way we do. And that means they couldn't just go flush the toilet any time they wanted to! They had to go out of their house into the backyard and use an outhouse. Then I explained what an outhouse was. His eyes were big and wide at this point...haha...I had his complete attention! When it was cold and raining or snowing and freezing cold they had to go out there to go potty! We also talked about well water and how ppl. didn't get their water from a faucet in the sink but from down deep in the ground and they had to pump it up from the ground and they used buckets to bring it into the house. And when it was bath nite...like maybe once a week! or every other week... they would fill a big basin full of water and then they would all take turns in the basin-the whole family!- without changing out the bathwater! 

This whole conversation at bedtime when he is usually trying to manage a few more cheetah flips in bed had him wholly engaged with me. He wanted to know more and I wished I had a pioneer book with me so I could read it to him. I used to love Little House on the Prairie and maybe he and I can read that together when he gets a little older. But the conversation was good.

I said "are we SO lucky that we can get water from the faucet and take a nice shower or bath anytime we want to?" 

He said " yeah, but really good that we can flush the poop down!"

Wow-I've so much catching up to do here. Our little family has been busy since I last wrote. I will catch up more on that later. For now I have to recount what happened Monday morning when I woke up. I had heard Aiden out in the living room/kitchen for a couple of minutes prior to getting up-heard some banging of cupboards and I thought, water running. 

So I got up and just as I walked into the kitchen I was in time to see him leaning to the side and over the stovetop, trying to turn it on!!!!!!! I don't think he knows how to get the oven set as they are buttons but he does know how to turn the dials for the burners! 

...SIGH... and DOUBLE SIGH....

What is a Mom supposed to do with a little boy who has so much independence that he feels he can make a "cake" on his own? Which, in fact is what he had done. He has been on a "can we make a cake?" binge lately. He just loves to mix up the ingredients and once or twice we've let him do that making a "homemade" cake from scratch. So, he had already done that when I got to the kitchen as well as mixed it all up, put it in the pan and IN THE OVEN!

SIGH....

After scolding and then explaining (he burst into tears right away almost as soon as he heard me get the "NO Sir" out of my mouth, he knew he was so wrong) we talked about it. I didn't freak out on him b/c that wouldn't have done either of us any good.

So, on errands in town that day I purchased a set of hook and eye locks. It can go on the outside of his door.

Not something that I want to do... at all. But, we have to be able to do something here or this little boy is going to hurt himself somehow.

So that night I showed him the locks and we talked again about what had happened in the morning and why it was so bad.  He already had to tell Collin himself what had gone on. After discussing with Collin we decided to give him another chance. With the threat of the locks he knows now that he can only go into the front room where his toys are or he can stay in his room and read or play. If he fails to do these things, if he even gets into one cupboard in the kitchen or the refrigerator while we are still in our room- the lock goes up.

The threat is real for him and he was pretty much horrified by the idea of the lock on his door so... let's cross our fingers here and hope that his 5 year old impulsive mind doesn't get the better of him one morning! I am seriously crossing mine!

Ava's Birthday Wish

We are so awfully flat singing "happy birthday" here and Aiden is about to come apart at the seams! Still funny and cute!