DISQUS

You know, I can't remember at what age my kids appropriated the computer. Since three of them are teenagers, and the fourth a "post-teenager," they basically run the internet these days. They thinks it's cute when I log on to check my email. This allows them to take a break from facebook, IM-ing, repositioning satellites, contacting aliens, landing the space shuttle, and, um, homework (riiiight).

Ah, memories. I remember when my daughter, age 6, came into my bathroom one evening and managed to cover the entire room with, um, stuff. It had to be seen to be believed. If she had thrown up on ME, I could have at least stepped into the shower. I still don't understand how she missed the toilet while hitting every other exposed (and unexposed) surface.....

Speaking of karma...wait until you have a teenager. They love it when you play your music in front of their friends, ask their friends questions (!), show up in public....Aahh, payback...

Well this certainly brings back memories. After a (mostly) sleepless night, I had apparently fallen asleep sitting up on the sofa, when my five-year-old daughter asked, "Hey, where's Billy?" Uh oh, it was 3:30 and I was supposed to pick him up at 3:15. That was probably the fastest I ever loaded up two babies and one little girl, and we flew to the school. There he was, the LAST child to be picked up, sitting calmly and talking with his teacher. She was really nice about it, but I felt terrible. Of course he was about eight at the time, so he could understand my explanation.

I remember dropping off my b/g twins at preschool for the first time. They had discussed it between themselves (at age 4) and had decided to go into two separate classrooms instead of sharing one. The Montessori school was wonderful, and had no problem letting us choose either way. My two older children had gone through preschool to first grade in the same school, so I knew it was a safe place and offered an excellent education. It was only going to be from 8:30 to noon, yet I cried all the way home. It was so quiet, but I missed my two little buddies....

As the mother of twins (plus two older singles), I would like to point out that the diapers were not a big problem. Lack of sleep was the problem. Once they were able to sleep at approximately the same time, life improved and my sanity crept back to a reasonable level.

I do, however, remember the baby cravings. Holding and playing with a friend's newborn baby is what tipped me over the edge, solidifying my decision to "try again." The result of this was the aforementioned twins...

who will be turning 13 (!!) this year.

Four out of four of my kids used binkies. They were able to give them up by the time they were 3 1/2 years old, on average. The older two have perfect teeth, but the younger two (B/G twins) needed palate expanders when they were 4. (At about $500 each....). The dentist insisted the binkies go, but warned me to give them back if they started using the thumb. The twins and I discussed the situation first, and decided to keep the binkies on the dresser at night, in case of "emergencies." It didn't take long.

As a mother of four, two boys and two girls, you'd think I would have a good answer for this.

My first, a boy, was terribly picky. We won't even mention vegetables. He would, however, always eat pastina (tiny star noodles) and chicken broth, or any other pasta with butter.

He outgrew his pickiness when he became a teenager, and proceeded to eat anything that wasn't firmly nailed down.

By contrast, both of my lovely daughters had (and still have) very sophisticated palates. Whatever I ate, they wanted to eat.

My other son was also picky, but at least he liked tomato sauce on his pasta. And ketchup on everything else.

I guess my point is, what worked on one would not necessarily work on the others. Offer variety and let them "help" prepare it.