I took the kids shopping today

If you think I must be crazy, you're probably right. If I didn't start out crazy, the kids made sure I was in a frenzied state of mind by the time we got home. I seriously thought I was going to lose it.

I don't get Nathan. He shows the most genius of all my little geniuses. He has a burning desire to learn and gives it more attention than anyone else. He has a serious selective hearing problem.

Today the kids were in a double holding pattern. They didn't hear me until they heard it double. Nathan's holding pattern is normally double the other kids. So I got to give Nathan a lot of extra attention...most of it negative. Does it bother him? Not that I can see. He just makes his own decisions and sets out to act upon them, mindless of rules, restrictions or rewards.

Is that a side effect of genius?

And then I saw him with his thumb in his mouth at bedtime. He must be trying out new hobbies. Right?

Ugh. I can't decide if Rebekah is sharing unusual amounts of "Nathan DNA", or if she's just 22 months old. She's done pretty well in her toddler bed. Doesn't get out at night. Has a harder time falling asleep. I've found her on her dresser a couple of times and one minute after returning her to bed with a swat this afternoon, found her in a pile of shoes playing dress up. I dropped her in her crib and she was asleep in 5 minutes.

Daniel has a hard time stopping. Whatever he's doing, he has to do it another time or two AFTER he's been told to stop. Whether babbling, spinning his plate, poking someone, etc, his brain is in the slow lane sending the messages to the offending body parts. That's when I have to put my brain in the passing lane to keep my hands from circling his neck!

And Leah? If I'm going to be crabby about my kids, I should be fair and attack them all. Leah can go from angel to screaming in 2.6 seconds. She screams if her shirt won't come off, she screams if it won't go on. She screams if she can't open something or if she can't close it. She screams if Daniel looks at her or Nathan won't share. And you should hear her every afternoon about 11:30 when we have the daily battle: nap time.

OK. My kids do have redeeming qualities. Maybe you are even familiar with some of them. Hold that thought because I'm too grumpy to hand out compliments. And now I have to go upstairs and growl at someone who is out of bed.