"He Forgive Me!"

So Marcus and I are LOVING Caleb and Ethan sharing a room. The last two nights, we have just done their bedtime routine and left them awake to fall asleep without either of us there. We leave the door open, so any attempts to get out of bed can be promptly redirected. Both nights, they have talked for at least 45 minutes before Ethan fell asleep, and then Caleb followed shortly afterwards. Last night, Ethan was still a little wired after books and prayers, and he executed several small acts of violence against his brother during their chatting time. Each time, Caleb would wail and I would come in and ask what happened. Caleb would tell me, I would scold Ethan, and Ethan would apologize. Then I'd tell Ethan that if he didn't behave, he was going to have to go sleep in his crib by himself. Ethan would assure of his commitment to behaving and Caleb would jump in with, "I forgive him, Mama, don't take him away." The third time this exact scenario played out, I told Ethan that sorry or no sorry, he had crossed the line too many times, and he was going to have to go to the crib. Ethan's face crumpled up, he shrunk back into the pillow, pulled the covers up to his chin and wailed "NO! NOOOOO!! HE FORGIVE ME! HE FORGIVE ME! HE FORGIVE ME!" I'd never heard Ethan say "forgive" before, and in that context it was too hilarious. Needless to say, he got one more go-around with grace. As I was leaving the room, Caleb said in a quiet voice, "Mama, next time, you don't need to come. I'm going to forgive him every time."

I was humbled by his attitude, and I guess it had an impact on Ethan as well, because there were no more outcries after that.

Anything But the Crib!!!

As I've mentioned before, Ethan changed almost overnight from loving his crib to hating/fearing it, starting about a month ago. (We still have no idea why.) After he started sleeping with Caleb and the crib wasn't being used, I thought I'd start using it as Ethan's "big" time-out (like Caleb being sent to his room). One day, Ethan had been put in time-out several times in a row, so I told him if he did whatever again, he would have to go to time-out in his crib upstairs. His eyes got wide with fear and he exclaimed. "I NOT DO IT! I NOT DO IT! I NICE BOY!" And he was...I didn't have another hint of trouble from him. And I had discovered a pot of gold for keeping Ethan in line. For the past two weeks, it only takes the threat of being put in his crib to turn Ethan's attitude around. He can stop crying mid-scream, turn from a sprint and come back, and overflow with profuse, heartfelt apologies whenever a trip to the crib is mentioned. The best thing about it is that it keeps him from climbing out of Caleb's bed after we tuck them in at night. He knows that climbing out of bed or any other serious disruption will land him back in his crib. (I had to follow through on this threat once, and I thought he was actually going to pass out because it took him so long to breath between blood-curdling screams.) I know it won't last forever, but for now, I am using this tool for all its worth :)

Campbell Christmas in TX--Part 2

Back to stories and snapshots of Christmas in Texas...

No gathering of Campbell's would be complete without lots and lots of poker. We played poker for hours every night. As soon as the kids were down and the dishes were done, we were all at the table laying out our chips. This year, as usual, Marcus came away with the biggest pile of chips (he more than tripled what he started with), though no one person went too far in the hole to line his pockets :)

Since my brother's family planned to go back to their home in Fort Worth on Thursday and Friday (Dec 24 & 25) to celebrate Christmas with his wife's family, we did our Christmas at the lake house on Wednesday, December 23rd. For Christmas Eve, we watched the Veggie Tales Saint Nicholas video with the kids. We bought it at Walmart that afternoon having never seen it, and ended up liking it even better than we'd expected to. As I've mentioned before, I put a bit of effort into helping Caleb see this Christmas as a time of giving rather than a time of getting, and this video really reinforced that lesson. Then the kids all opened one present each before getting ready for bed. Caleb opened his Kidzone camera and Ethan opened his very real-looking cell phone with a working "voicemail" button, both gifts from Nanna and Papa. (Is this the age of electronics or what?) Both boys LOVED their presents and played with them nonstop until the bedtime drummer came drumming.

Christmas morning, we shared a big breakfast of bacon and eggs, etc, and then let the kids hit the presents. (We only did presents for the four boys this year.) The kids spent the rest of the day playing with their new toys. Thursday and Friday were really long, with Michael's family gone and NOTHING open in Gun Barrell City (even Walmart and McDonald's shut down Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We almost went stir crazy and drove home on Friday, but ended up sticking it out for the last night and having one more great evening of poker with Michael and Jennifer on Friday night. The drive home on Saturday went pretty smoothly. We were amazed both ways how good the boys were in the car. Don't get me wrong, it was still several bars below fun, but it just wasn't as bad as it has been in the past.

Campbell Christmas in TX--Part 1

I realize this post is coming about a month late, but due to an electronic failure, I just got the Christmas pictures in the mail on Friday. So here goes...

On Sunday, Dec 20th, Marcus and I woke up after only a few hours of sleep, strapped the boys into their car seats, and drove ~10 hours to Gun Barrel City, Texas. My dad had rented a 5-bedroom lake house so my brother's family, the four of us, and my parents could spend Christmas together in the same house. The house had not been previewed by anyone in our family, and the pictures and description on the website where my brother found it were misleading at best. Here is the customer review I wrote on Vacation Rental By Owner after we got home. (By the way, VRBO allows the owner to screen all reviews, so my negative review naturally did not appear on the website.)

My family (6 adults, 4 children) stayed at this lake house over Christmas. We liked the layout of the house because the preschool-aged kids had plenty of room to run around, but many other things were a disappointment. There were only 3 full baths, instead of the 5 advertised (the other two baths were half-baths...just a toilet and sink). At least 3 of the mattresses were VERY old, lumpy and so uncomfortable that it was difficult for my husband and I to get any sleep on them. There is no front door to the house, so one must enter through the garage (which can't be opened from the outside) or go through the fence gates and come in from the backyard. This was inconvenent, particularly when loading and unloading cars. The kitchen was haphazardly stocked and contained a lot of cabinets full of clutter, including old containers of cleaning supplies (which were a potential danger to our young kids). The dishwasher was tiny...less than half standard size. The bedding on one of the queen beds (the one our son used), did not even have a flat sheet. It was just a fitted sheet covered by an old, ragged comfortor of questionable aroma. The towels in our bathrooms were mismatched, old and smelled like mildew. Some pillows did not contain pillowcases. Something else that was a surprise is that the house is located across the street from a trailer park. All-in-all, the house was not what we expected it to be and we were disappointed.

So, though the house itself was less than pleasing, watching the four cousins play together all week made the drive worth it. My brother and his wife have two boys, Bennett, age 3, and Jasper, age 9 months. Bennett and our boys played hard together all day Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. There wasn't much to do in Gun Barrel City, but we did find a small elementary school park nearby, and we took the kids there when it was warm enough. The kids also played in the fenced back yard of the lake house each day. We also went to a nearby state park and hiked for as long as the kids would hike. We saw two deer in the woods and a beaver lodge out on the lake. Our boys always love hiking, and they weren't at all deterred from being outside by the cold weather. (I guess taking them camping with lows in the 30's has set their tolerance bar very low :)

That's all the time I have for today...more on our Christmas in Texas tomorrow :). Enjoy the pics!

"I Couldn't Change My Mind"

On Friday, the sun came out and the temperature rose to 60 degrees, so the boys and I spend the morning at the zoo. It was a beautiful morning, and the zoo was not very crowded (there are still plenty of people in Birmingham who think a high of 60 is not a good reason to go outside). We hadn't been to the zoo in more than two months, so the boys were PUMPED. Ethan jumped and skipped and exclaimed over every animal. Caleb was fascinated by the informational signs outside each exhibit. He wanted me to read every sign to him, and he was especially interested in what the animals like to eat. We'd been at the zoo for about three hours, seen about 2/3 of the animals, had a picnic lunch, and played in the zoo's Rock Park for about 30 minutes when disaster struck. I was changing Ethan's diaper in our stroller when I heard Caleb exclaim from the top of the rock park, "Uh oh. Momma, can you change me?" I climbed up to where he was and asked him what happened. Here is his reply:

"I was playing and then I had to go and then I did and then I couldn't change my mind."

Never heard truer words, my son. And so ended our morning at the zoo. :)