Tales of Tucson and the Twos

This has been a long month. Must have something to do with starting the month in one state and ending it in another. And I haven't quite figured out the logic behind it yet, but switching to a two hour time difference is much harder than it should be. We managed to overcome a thirteen hour time difference when we went back to Indonesia for Christmas a year and a half ago--and that included two-year-old Logan and seven-month-old Raelyn. A week or so later, and we had flipped our days and nights. Then we move to Arizona and it takes forever to adjust back two hours. The kids are finally waking up at or a bit after 6:00, but we had to put up curtains for that to happen. I don't know if we'll ever get back to 7:00 wake ups. Most of our boxes are unpacked, though the dismantled boxes have taken over half of our garage. We've never moved to a similarly-sized house before, so it was a bit of a surprise to find that even with the same amount of space, it's all distributed differently, so things don't fit the same way they did before. The two older kids are sharing a room--by choice, I might add. They love sharing a room. I don't know that I love it quite so much--mainly at night when they won't stop talking or singing for hours. [They no longer nap in the same room. It was most assuredly not working.] But I'm also glad they have fun together! Speaking of the kids...

...so when Logan turned two, I had prepared myself for the ominous "terrible twos." I was all set to take them head on, no hesitation, I was ready. But then, the twos were wonderful. I mean, there were still frustrating days, of course. But the overall year, he was great! He was a pretty verbal kid, so communication wasn't an issue most of the time. He obeyed pretty well for a two year old--and being told no mostly made him sad, not angry. And he potty-trained so quickly, I don't think I believed it for a while. And I remember thinking, "If the twos are as bad as it gets, I've totally got this!" But then he turned three. And Lord have mercy, it's like he got replaced with an identical evil twin. I specifically remember we were at In-N-Out one day, and he walked up to the counter and so sweetly asked for some stickers. A little while later one of the employees came up to me and said, "Oh my gosh! If there won't so many people around, I'd steal him from you! He's just so adorable and sweet!" Obviously she was joking. But for just a minute I wanted to say, "I won't tell if you won't." Now don't take this the wrong way, I love my son. And I loved him at three. He just tested my patience a lot. The fours have been a vast improvement, I will say that. But see, he set me up to believe that the year to fear is the threes. That the twos are a breeze. [I promise I'm not trying to rhyme on purpose.] But y'all. I now fully understand the true definition of the terrible twos. My sweet little Raelyn is... well, she's the all encompassing definition of the terrible twos. I'm possibly about to lose my mind. And my voice. And my sanity. I'm ready to return my mom card. But apparently they're non-refundable and I just have to learn how to parent a terrible two year old. She will not use the potty, no matter how many bribes are offered. She endlessly tortures her big brother. Any and all consequences are either ignored or only escalate the situation. [Often both, since ignoring a consequence such as "stay in timeout" only brings about more consequences that then escalate the situation.] I've run out of consequences, y'all. And I think she knows it. All that to say, I miss Waco. For many reasons, of course, but in this moment, I miss it because I miss Mother's Day Out. We would be a week away from both of my older children going to MDO twice a week for 5.5 hours per day. I would get a break from these terrible twos. But instead, Logan gets to go to a preschool three days a week for 3 hours per day... and Raelyn stays with me. All day. Every day. Lord have mercy on my soul. However, if you happen to ever see Raelyn when she's not mad or being stubborn or being bratty, she's pretty adorable.

Other than the lack of an MDO program for Raelyn, we're adjusting to life in Tucson pretty well. Between us and the four houses around us, we have fifteen kids, 7 and younger. And we often go outside in the evenings and the kids take over the corner with an inordinate number of bikes, scooters, balls, and kid-sized cars. Logan loves it! Our neighbors have a pool, and we've gone swimming with them a few times. It's been great having such friendly neighbors with such similarly-aged kids! There's also a huge Asian food store here! I didn't have time to walk around for long, but I'm looking forward to going back one of these days. I'm still figuring out how to go out with three kids solo--I tried it today and it was probably the worst decision I'll make today. Maybe even all week. My precious Ollie does not like any baby carrier. If she's sleepy enough I can eventually get her to sleep in the Ergo. But if she's awake, she will scream the whole time. And this from a baby that 95% of the day is completely silent. She literally hardly makes any noise at all. Unless you put her in a carrier. Needless to say, our trip to Walmart this morning was our last mom + three kids Walmart trip until everyone is older. That or it has to be at a time when 1. Ollie is sleepy enough to fall asleep, 2. We don't need to buy much so the cart can be used to hold children instead of food, or 3. It's an absolute emergency. But most likely... all three. Curbside pick-up it is!

Kid Stories/Quotes:
- Often, when Logan gets hurt or is upset about something I say, "Sorry, Bud." Well... Raelyn has taken note of this. Now, whenever Logan is upset, [typically by something she's doing] she just says, "Sorry, Bud." He doesn't seem to like it much. He yells at her, "Stop calling me Bud! Call me Logan!" To which she says.. "Sorry, Bud."
- Logan: Mommy, I think we will have to go back to Texas for CG. (CG is our small group back in Waco.)
- Logan was telling the preschool director at his new preschool that his favorite Bible story is David and the giant. She was asking him some questions about it when Raelyn said, "I like Zaccheus."
- Logan: Mommy, can I go outside?
  Me: You can go in the backyard. What do you want to do?
  Logan: I need to search for some rocks.
 You may not know this, but here in Tucson, instead of grass in our yards, we have rocks. They're really really not hard to find. But he's so proud of himself every time he finds a new rock. I'm trying to muster up some enthusiasm. But I mean... the odds were really in his favor.
- Ollie sleeps at least nine hours straight every night. Then she's awake for about an hour and then naps for another three hours. She's a chubby little thing, so I know she's getting enough to eat... but I had no idea this much uninterrupted sleep was possible at two and a half months. Now I'm just worried that once she rolls over and we have to stop swaddling her, all this sleep will be but a distant memory.