Chocolate Underwear, anyone?

I guess my children think I'm dumb or something. Memaw and Pepaw came for Valentines Day, and they bought the kids lots of goodies including a bag of small chocolate hearts. On Saturday, Libby's game was at 8AM at Rosalia which is at least 30 minutes away. So Bob and the Pools got up really early and took her to her game. I stayed home with Madi.

When they got home, Memaw was looking for some stain remover for Libby's jersey. I asked her what she'd got on it . The whole inside was covered in CHOCOLATE.

It turns out that Libby was warming up for her game, and she put her hand up inside her jersey and pulled it out with her fingers covered in chocolate. They told her to go to the bathroom and clean it off. She was gone and gone and gone and gone. Finally Memaw went to go check on her, and she had chocolate ALL OVER her belly, back and sides.

She's stolen one of the little chocolate hearts and had put it down inside her shirt to save it for "later". Only she forgot that chocolate melts.

When I asked her how the chocolate got all over the inside of her shirt, she said "I have NO idea?" So I asked her if perhaps it had materialized there from another dimension? Or perhaps God had put it there when she wasn't looking????

She looked me right in the face and swore up and down that she didn't know how the chocolate got there. THEN she tells me that perhaps she laid her jersey down on top of some chocolate the night before and it had gotten on her jersey THAT way. Ummm...yeah....right.

Finally, I threatened to leave her at home while we went out to eat until she decided to tell the truth. So she is grounded to Carlie's room for the day today.

Chocolate Thief

II sat all four of my little kids down and explained to them about JB getting in trouble with the law. I told them exactly what he did, his arrest and about him spending three days in jail. I told them several times that he thought he could break the law and wouldn't get caught, but he did. And there's not anything that I can do to help him now, he has to face his consequences. I thought maybe that might sink in with them.

Well Saturday, Bob went to the grocery store. He brought me back a small box of individually wrapped Dove Chocolates as a treat.

All that afternoon, Libby asked me "Mom, do you want one of those Doves yet?" Only she was pronouncing it like it rhymes with Stove. She kept asking and asking. My mom radar was picking up something, but I never did put two and two together.

She must have been watching, because as SOON as I opened the box Saturday evening and left the room, she swiped one and took it downstairs. It just so happened that Bob heard her behind the couch crinkling the foil wrapper as she unwrapped it and asked what she was doing.

So not only did she swipe one....she had it planned out. Had she asked, I probably would have given her one. I called her on the carpet and chewed her out. I reminded her about what happened to JB when he thought he could break the law and get away with it. She had to stay in her room all day Sunday, coming out only for bathroom breaks and to eat.

Sometimes I wonder if it's ever going to sink in. Sigh.

Wild Night in 2004

The Wildness is still the same when you have as many kids as I do...its just the types of things they get into that changes

Feb 2004 - The kids are 5, 4, 2 and 1 years old.

I had the kids by myself tonight because Bob was running the clock at a Junior High Basketball Tournament. So I made them some dinner. Carlie had not taken a nap at daycare, so I'd put her down for a nap earlier. Before we could eat dinner, I caught Frank sneaking some marshmallows out of the cupboard without asking. He knows this is against in the rules and ended up in a tantrum where I had to hold him down. He hasn't done that in FOREVER. So I put him to bed for a while, and fed Madi and Libby. I made noodles in tomato sauce which everybody loves. By the time they were finished Carlie was awake, and I let Frank get up.

Frank was eating, and I was feeding Carlie yogurt which is her favorite. I'd just given Carlie a bite or two when Libby comes to tell me that Madi has locked herself in the bathroom (I imagine she had a little help, but can't prove it *wink*). So I have to leave Carlie in the high chair who throws a raging fit because she's not done eating her very favorite food...the yogurt. So I have to hunt up the set of little tiny screw drivers to spring the lock on the bathroom door. It only took about 10 minutes, but by the time I got Madi out she was so hysterical she was broken out all over in hives.

When I go back to check on Carlie...she is happily eating the noodles off of Madi's tray and is wearing them all over her. I guess I should be glad she wasn't eating them off the floor or eating cat food.

I then begin the bathing process. I call it a process because bathing four kids under the age of six is NEVER a simple chore. Since the bad incident a few weeks ago where Madi pooped in the tub while Libby was in it, Madi has had a phobia about poop in the tub. I had put Carlie into the tub first, and some of the noodles in her hair washed down into the tub. So when I tried to put Madi in the tub she started bawling hysterically again screaming *No Poop, No Poop, Carlie Pooped.* SOOO...I had to drain the tub with Carlie in it and refill it with clean water. At least now I have two kids clean.....two to go. Libby is in and out quickly and easily, and I am glad of this. Then I assume that Frank will be easy too. Well he was...except for the fact that Madi had gone back into the bathroom when I wasn't looking and threw a roll of toilet paper into his bathwater. Frank's supposed to have the door locked while he's in the tub to prevent such accidents from happening.

SOOOOO....I get all that cleaned up. In the mean time, I am about a month behind on Foster Care Logs which I'm trying to get caught up by Wednesday. Libby's teacher sends home a poster TODAY saying she's the Student of the Week this week and please put pictures and captions on it BY YESTERDAY. Hmmm...how do you do that one? And Frank's homeroom teacher calls while I am dishing Toilet Paper out of his bath water to ask me to please bring two bags of chips to his Valentine's Party on Friday.

Bob walks in the door a few minutes later and cheerfully says *Hi Honey, how was your day?* and can't figure out why I looked daggers at him. LOLOLOL.

Granny's Response

Oh well, those are the happy times you will remember twenty years from now. LOL Love, Mom

Aunt JoLynn's Response

Hahahaha! I am dying laughing at Madi not wanting to get in the tub cause she thought Carlie pooped in there!!

Snack Wars - Part III

For our third installment, we'll talk about the case of the missing Push-Up. I had purchased a box of them from the Schwann Man, and they were SO good. The kids loved them. I let them each eat one.

About an hour later, Madi came and told us that Frank had gotten another one out of the freezer (with out asking) and was eating it. Frank knew that she was going to go tell on him. I hollered at him to come in. He comes in with empty hands and his best innocent look on. I ask him if he'd eaten a second Push Up and the halo on his head practically GLOWED as he said "Well no, I didn't eat another Push Up.!!"

Madi chimes in "He did have a second one and he put it in the trash outside!" Well Frank is smart enough to know when the gig is up. He confessed.

Now Frank is a GERM-A-PHOBE. He cannot tolerate eating or drinking after anyone else, and he's easily grossed out. Bob made him retrieve the offending Push Up. It had one bite taken out of it, and was slightly dirty from its brief visit to the trash can. Bob made him eat it....dirt and all.

Frank tried to die, but did manage to get it down. Actually I think once he got the dirt licked off of it, he rather enjoyed it. I don't think he's swiped anything out of the freezer again.

We'll have to wait and see what the next saga of the Snack Wars will be. I'm sure there'll be more to come.

Snack Wars – Part II

The next issue we had with snacks was over snacks stored out in the garage. I have a shelf that sits in the garage right outside the door to the kitchen. When I have extra food items, I’ll sometimes store them out there.

I had purchased a case of apple sauce in individual containers from Sam’s Club and stuck them out on the shelf. Then one day in the garage, I notice that there are empty apple sauce containers out there.

I’m telling my Mom on the phone about the empty containers I found. She always tries to stick up for Frank and Libby. So she says “Well maybe some mice got into your garage and ate the apple sauce.” Ummmm….last time I checked Mom, mice don’t use red plastic spoons to eat apple sauce!!!!

So that evening, the whole family is in the kitchen area getting ready for dinner. I casually mention to my husband “Bob, be sure that you don’t give any of that apple sauce out in the garage to the kids, because I accidentally dumped a bunch of it in the cat litter and got cat pee on it. I’m going to throw it away.” Frank and Libby’s eyes got as huge as saucers. And I haven’t had any trouble with them taking snacks out of the garage since then.

The Snack Wars - Part I

For some reason, it is very very common that children who have been abused and neglected will horde/sneak/steal food. Frank and Libby have both struggled with this issue over the years. It goes away for a while, and then will come back suddenly with a vengence.

We've tried creative ways to resolve this over the years. And please note that healthy food (ie apples, oranges, bananas, cheese) is ALWAYS available in my house, and a request for a healthy snack is seldom turned down.

This past school year, I had three kids in elementary school. I decided that it was too expensive to buy them all a hot lunch every day, so we'd begin packing a lunch. I bought little bags of chips and Pringles. I made it clear to everyone that these were expensive and were for school lunches ONLY.

A couple of months went by and I cleaned Frank's room out. Behind his bed, I found a MOUND of empty wrappers from candy, snacks and chips. He was sneaking them out of the cupboard and taking them downstairs to eat them. We'd had this problem in the past, so it wasn't a big surprise.

So I showed Frank that I'd found his "Stash". And I told him there'd be consequences the next time I found empty wrappers down in his room. A few days went by, and I found a second set of wrappers in his room. I showed them to Frank, and he tried to tell me they were from a long time ago, and I just hadn't found them when I found the other wrappers. I know this wasn't true, because there was a half eaten powdered donut in the pile, and I'd just bought them the night before. I was also finding wrappers in Libby's room, but in a much smaller quantity.

So I thought about it all that next day at work. Grounding him from snacks hadn't worked, time outs hadn't worked, spanking him hadn't worked...so it was time to try something new. Most of what he'd been sneaking were the bags of potato chips and Pringles. So I went to Dillons that day on my way home from work. I bought $75 worth of chips and junk food....twinkies, ding dongs, candy bars, chips...the best. I also bought a small plastic container and filled it full of the snacks. I placed the container in the cabinet. I lined all four little kids up and told them that they could have as much stuff from the snack basket as they wanted (imagine cheering children)....there was only one condition.....they must STEAL the snacks from the basket without me catching them doing it (now imagine four kids with their eyes bugged out of their head). My intention was to take the thrill out of stealing the snacks. When they stole something out of the basket, they had to bring the empty wrapper to me the next morning.

The little girls really weren't interested one way or the other. Frank was absolutely FURIOUS. He said he would NEVER steal a snack out of that basket, and I couldn't make him. I calmly replied that was fine. Libby just couldn't believe that she could steal something out of it and wouldn't get in trouble. She asked me several times "And I won't get in trouble, right?"

Libby "stole" something out of the basket two nights in a row, and brought me the wrappers. That took all of the fun out of it for her, and she didn't bother it for a long, long time afterwards.

Since Frank was the one who was taking the chips in great quanities, I had additional things planned for him. Later that night I fixed a good meal of lasgna...which is one of Frank's favorites. I fixed a big plate and set it in front of each girl. When it was Frank's turn, I fixed a plate heaped up with potato chips instead. I told Frank that since he had such an uncontrollable desire for potato chips, that as a good Mom, I was going to ensure that he got all the chips he needed. Frank would eat chips for breakfast, snacks, lunch and dinner until he got his fill. Again, Frank was FURIOUS. He pushed the plate away and would not eat a single chip. When he got up for breakfast the next morning, the little girls all had a bowl of cereal....and Frank had a bowl of chips. He absolutely could not believe his eyes when I set the bowl of chips in front of him. Again he wouldn't eat them and started crying. He wailed "Moooommmmmmm......could I PLEASE just have some healthy fooooooddddd????"

So we talked about it a while, and he decided maybe he COULD exert some self control were the chips were concerned and not steal them out of the cabinet any more. And I gave him a nice healthy bowl of cereal to eat.