Is This Normal?
The chaos that is the KerbersArchive for Ben
Ahhhh…
Today was seriously one of the laziest, most relaxing days we’ve had in a very long time, and I enjoyed it very much. Since we set the clocks back an hour last night, the kids were of course up super early, but we all laid around in bed watching cartoons for about 45 minutes before technically starting our day by getting up and ready for church.
After church, we came home and did very little the rest of the day. Both of the kids had a lot of fun working in their new Halloween coloring books from Aunt Theresa, and Ben worked especially hard on some sticker puzzles she gave him. Emma had a three-hour nap, which was desperately needed, and Daddy got a short nap in for himself, too. I enjoyed watching the Bears game without interruption for once. It was great, and they even looked good and won! We had a couple of battles over wanting more candy, but Ben didn’t beg for it too much, so I was happy with that.
It was one of those days where Dave and I look at each other, smile and say, “This is the good stuff, Honey.” The kids were in good moods and had fun playing with each other. The crying was at an all-time low, I think. Ok, sure, Emma did fall off the back of the couch downstairs, got a big lump on her head and cried really hard for a few minutes, but hey, no day is completely perfect, right? Overall, there wasn’t a ton of chaos in the house, and we all spent some really enjoyable time just chillin’ out together.
Halloween fun
The weather made us nervous all week, but luckily it pretty much cooperated in order for us to have a very fun Halloween night. It was a tad bit chilly, but thankfully the rain finally stopped.
We started the night with pizza, and Grandma & Grandpa Kerber joined us first. Then Aunt Theresa came, and finally Auntie M, Salina, and Bella rounded out our group. It didn’t take anyone long to finish eating…the anticipation of trick-or-treating was on the forefront of everyone’s mind. 
So after we ate we changed into our costumes (which luckily were big enough to leave room for a couple of extra layers underneath) and headed out. Ben the panther, Emma the lion and Bella as Magenta the dog made up our costumed group. 
Since Auntie M and Salina both came with us, the adults outnumbered the kids for once, which is never a bad thing!
We started down the street and the kids were into it right away. Emma had not napped this afternoon, so after only a couple of houses, she was getting droopy and was pretty far behind.
But Ben was very patient with both of the little girls. He would wait out on the sidewalk and I can’t remember him complaining once. After about 40 minutes of trick-or-treating both of the girls were ready to head in. Neither of them really knew what any of the candy was in the first place, and they were pooped from walking. Plus, Bella had other stops to make, so Auntie M and Salina were off.
Ben, however, was still ready to go. So Dave took him around one more block. Needless to say, his pumpkin was very heavy by the time they got home a half hour later. He was so excited about some of the things in there. It was too funny. By this time Grandma & Grandpa had gone home, but Aunt Theresa still had a bag of goodies for the kids. They both loved opening these, and we had to have just one more treat before bed.
Both kids had so much fun trick-or-treating. 
We ran into almost all of our neighborhood friends and saw some pretty cool Halloween houses. While Halloween is certainly not my favorite holiday, I have to admit that a smile came to my face on more than one occasion tonight. There’s not much more you can ask than that.
Oh wait, icing on the cake…the Illini football team beat Michigan tonight, too! Woo HOO!!
Welcome home, Mommy!
When I talked to Dave from Springfield last night, he told me that the kids would be very excited to see me today when I got home. But I had no idea how right he was!
When I walked in the door, I realized that the kids were downstairs with Dave. As I started down the steps, I heard Dave say, “I think someone may be home…” Then the screaming began. “MOMMY!” As I hit the basement floor, Ben threw himself at me for a huge hug, and Emma was soon to follow. They both came back for more hugs and kisses repeatedly in that first few minutes. That awesome reception surprised me. But even more of a surprise was how often the same scene has been repeated today. While I haven’t gotten any more screams out of the kids (not necessarily a bad thing) I have gotten LOTS of hugs and kisses and have been told over and over that they missed me so much.
I had a great time at the conference, and really enjoyed reconnecting several professional relationships. But nothing compared to today…coming home is always a treat, and this time it was even more so.
We just can’t wait!
Today when I picked Ben up from preschool, the first thing he said to me was, “Mommy, next time we come to preschool it’s our pumpkin party!” There was so much excitement in his voice, and he had one o f the biggest smiles I had ever seen. So I decided that we should try on our costumes tonight to make sure that everything was all set. As soon as I got the coats on each kid, they were crawling all over the floor roaring (that would be Emma the lion) and rawring (from Ben the panther) all over the place. It was hilarious.
While I’m not the biggest fan of Halloween, it is definitely fun to anticipate something with the kids. While Ems is still not really sure what’s going to happen Saturday night, Ben remembers it well and is just so psyched for the big event. Let’s hope that Mother Nature cooperates with us so we can have all the fun we think we will!
Carve-o-rama
Tonight was pumpkin carving time! We had gotten a perfect carving pumpkin this afternoon, and after dinner we cleaned off the table and embarked in our adventure. It was decided by the kids that they wanted a happy face, so I drew the face on the pumpkin, and Dave cut the top off. 
As we expected, Ben wanted nothing to do with the “gross part” and Emma dove right in to scoop out the guts. 
So typical! It was cracking us up…she was totally into it. She said things like, “It’s digutsing” (which isn’t a typo…that’s phoentic Emma talk) with a huge grin on her face.
Since Ben was pretty much doing nothing during the entire “gutting” of the pumpkin, he decided he wanted to draw on his with a marker. He wanted very little help with this, and I was actually surprised at how awesome it turned out. 
Of course I had to use some serious persuasive skills to talk him out of drawing animals on it, and I also convinced him to put his name on the back so he wouldn’t write all over his pumpkin’s face. Once Emma saw him doing this, she wanted to do hers, too. I tried my best to help her draw a face, but of course she let me help with one eye before she yanked the marker away from my hand and said, “No, Mommy, I can do it myself!” Little Ms. Independent pretty much just drew some straight lines all over her pumpkin, but she was thrilled with it. In the meantime, Daddy was busy carving away on our big one.
Things definitely got a little hairy at times, and Mommy’s patience was tested big time, but overall, we had a great time, and the results were awesome.
Here we go…
Ben just threw up for the first time since he’s been a “big boy”. Dave and I were sitting downstairs watching TV when we heard him yelling for us. Dave quickly went upstairs and then shortly after I heard, “Honey, we need you up here!” Always a bad sign. I won’t go into details, but it wasn’t pretty. We both think that he threw up not because he has the flu, but because he’s so conjested that he gagged himself while coughing. He was also burning up with fever…it was up to 103.5°! That’s just so scary when you see a number like that on the thermometer.
Dave and I both felt so badly, but when he went to bed he was perfectly fine, so there was really no way we could predict this. He’s been stuffed up the last couple of days, but this fever just came from nowhere. Obviously, this means that Ben will be staying home tomorrow. Thankfully Grandma Kerber can come in and stay with him so that neither of us will have to take time off. I’m sure that he’ll get a lot of attention and cuddles from Grandma, too, which is always nice when you’re sick.
And so it begins…the cold and flu season is upon us, whether we’re ready for it or not. I have a feeling it’s going to be a long one this year, but hopefully I’m just being pessimistic!
The preschool cookout and show
This evening Ben’s preschool had it’s fall festival. It involved a cookout, complete with a big bonfire and a potluck dinner and a show by three of the classes. I have no idea how the school could possibly organize such an event, but again you could tell that they’d been doing it for years…things ran like clockwork around that place.
Of course, in a classic case of good timing, Ali and her family pulled up right after us, so she and Ben were glued at the hip all night.
It was a beautiful evening and as soon as they were done eating all of the kids were running around the church yard like maniacs. Thank goodness it was outside! Emma was in seventh heaven to run around after the big kids, and it never even dawned on her that she was two steps behind at all times. I so love that about her.
Ben had been talking about practice for their show and how they were all going to stand on the stage and “do their song.” I really had no idea what to expect, but this is what we got:
It was so much fun…for the kids and the parents. Oh, and by the way, I’m not sure how Ben got stuck at the tall end of the line, but he’s not that much shorter than all of the other kids in his class!
Pigeon!
I took half of a personal day this afternoon so that I could go on a field trip with Ben. Pigeon Party! was at the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts and Tomorrow’s Promise Learning Centre got to go. In my car was Ben and two other boys. Let me tell you, there is not much better than 4 yr. old conversation. At one point Ben told his little friends that we had the biggest house in the whole wide world. I got a big chuckle out of that one! I wish I would have taped them, because I can’t begin to replay it here.
We got to the Performing Arts Center and climbed the “millions” (Ben’s description) of steps to get into the theater. 
The timing was great, because as soon as we sat down the show started. We all loved the show. It was funny, the songs were super cute, and really, there’s nothing better than a show in which you can shout at the performers! I think the show really represented the books on which it was based really well.
Once the show was over, we walked back out to the van, stopping to pose for a picture 
on the steps of the Arts Center. After sitting in the darkness of the theater, the boys were blinded by the bright sunny day. We rode back to school, and my chaperoning duty was officially over. I even got an hour of free time before school was done, so I enjoyed some time to myself. Overall it was great use of half of a personal day. I’m so glad I was able to go…both because I loved the show and because I could tell Ben loved having me there. It was awesome.
The flu shot, part 1
We decided to get flu shots for both of the kids this year. Emma already had a checkup scheduled last week, so it was easy to simply add the shot into that visit. I knew she would handle it fine. There were a few tears, but she stopped crying pretty quickly, and was singing by the time we left the office.
Ben, on the other hand, was a bit more of a concern. I told Dave that he had to take Ben to get his shot. I figured he would flip out, and I knew that I was not strong enough to help him through it. Let’s face it, I’m a shot wimp myself, so being brave in the doctor’s office is not really a message I deliver well. So Dave scheduled the shot for this afternoon. He had brought it up to Ben last week, and Ben stressed out immediately…asking a million questions about getting the shot. He was having a very hard time understanding why he had to get a shot when he wasn’t sick. Try explaining the concept of preventative shot-giving to a four year-old.
So Dave picked up Ben from Danielle’s early, and Ben was so excited to see him. When they got into the car, Dave explained where they were going. Ben had a few questions, but overall was pretty ok with the idea. They went into the doctor’s office, and he was still fine. Then in the little playroom, he burst into tears. But that didn’t last long. They called his name pretty quick and he and Dave walked back to the room. Dave told me that the needle was huge, which made me even more glad I wasn’t there with him. But Ben handled it great. He did cry when he felt the poke, but as soon as he got the Scooby Doo band-aid, he was done crying. When I got home from work, he was at the table coloring, and was all excited to pull up his shirt sleeve to show me the band-aid.
I was so proud of the little guy. I know that he was scared to death, but he was brave and handled the situation great. Now we just have to do this one more time…because kids’ flu shots are given in two doses the first time they get one. Seriously, doctors? Don’t you get how tough this is??? Stay tuned for part 2 in a month…
A banner day
Today when we got home from school the kids were playing and I unpacked Ben’s backpack. I pulled out a paper that was about the number two. It said, “Color two clowns” and he had scribbled over them completely. It said, “Trace the number 2″ and he had traced the dotted twos at the bottom of the page. It was really his first real academic paper, which was cool. But that wasn’t the exciting part. At the top of the page there was a big E in tentative wavy lines with a super skinny and rather tall B to the left of it. 
Ben had written two out of the three letters of his name! There were also scribbles on both sides of them, like he had tried to write the N, too.
“Ben,” I said, “What is this letter at the top of your paper?”
“Its a E,” he said, “I maked it all by myself. And the B is by it for B-E-N.” He had a super big smile on his face.
Words can’t really describe how proud of him I was. Two weeks ago I was panicked about writing letters at all, and now he’s already 2/3 of the way to writing his name. I’ve been proud of his accomplishments in the past, but this was one of the best feelings I’ve had in a long time. Way to go, Ben!
