Who Says Kids Don't Get Exercise When They Play Video Games?

I'm going to miss these little guys. I've spent the last three weeks with them and it has been such a joyful experience.

From the second Kaden and Zac awaken in the morning, they are constantly busy. I don't think they even know what the term, bored, means.  They play video games and then act out various video characters in real life, taking on different personas as they don capes, swing swords, and shoot guns, becoming fearless avengers and caped crusaders. 

When they are not play-acting or running through the house, we tell stories, engage in activity time, and have funny conversations, like the time we were playing I Spy and I had the kids going for a while trying to find something blue. I had chosen Kaden's eyes. So we discussed eyes. Zac said his were black. I said they were dark brown. He insisted they were black. I said only his pupils were black.

And here's where I started laughing so hard I was crying, because Zac couldn't pronounce pupils. He kept calling them pukers. "I have pukers? What are pukers?" For some reason he was having a hard time pronouncing that word. And for some reason I couldn't stop laughing.

During exercise time, the boys would throw themselves on a huge stuffed animal, and I would have to say, "Come on, Guys, I'm the old grandma here, remember?" And they would sigh and begin again.

Throughout the day they were always doing something and yet, when their mother called to ask them what they were doing, they always said, "Nothing. Just staying inside." 

They would have her on speaker phone, and I would just laugh, wishing I could explain to her through videotape what doing nothing all day looked like. Just watching them is sometimes exhausting. Who says kids don't get enough exercise playing video games?

Going home is bittersweet. When I'm with one family member, I'm always missing the others no matter where I am. I'll miss you, but I'm hoping you'll get a chance to visit me in Illinois!

We All Live With a Yellow Submarine

My Marine son, his two sons, and I were discussing what the boys wanted to be when they grew up. Kaden, who I call my little scientist, is a brilliant little boy who truly is smart enough to make a brilliant scientist some day.

Zac, who previously told me he wanted to be a cop, has changed his mind. He now says he wants to be a submarine, just like his daddy. 

Close, Zac, but...no.

Before dinner tonight, when I was telling him that we were going to go out to eat, Zac said he didn't want to go out to eat. When I told him that he needed nutrients so he could grow up, he said he didn't want to grow up. 

"Do you want to stay this size forever?" I asked him.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because if I be a grownup, I won't have a dad anymore."

I didn't quite follow his logic, but I told him, "You'll always have your Daddy, Zac. Always."

Portrait of a Baby Sister

Audrey drew a picture of her baby sister, Avery. She told me she wanted the picture so she would always remember what Avery looked like that day.

Great job, Audrey!

My Conversation With A 9 Month Old

Don't Hurt His Peanuts

Today I am caring for Audrey, Nolan, and Avery. Audrey, Nolan, and I were lying on the floor trying to think of names that begin with each letter of the alphabet. Nolan got bored by the time we got to G and started playing.

After we finished the entire alphabet, drawing on a lot of our family names, since we have so many members, Audrey and I were still lying on the floor when Nolan decided he was going to jump on Audrey's bent knees and land on them.

At the last minute, however, she noticed him flying toward his face, so she raised her legs and caught him in what he used to refer to as his pirate parts (click the link). 

He leapt off her and said, "You hurt my peanuts! Don't hurt my peanuts!" 

That must be the child version of man nuts. 

Future Dad – Kids are Expensive

My son came in from Virginia the other day and while he, his two sons,  my oldest daughter, and I were eating dinner, Kaden asked about marriage and having kids. He said he wanted kids.

Curious, I asked Kaden, "How many kids do you want?"

"One or two," he nodded as if he was quite sure those were the numbers.

"Yeah," his dad agreed, thinking that any more than two would be costly, "kids are expensive."

Immediately Kaden responded, "Well, yeah, if you BUY them."

Oh, how I love our conversations!

The Clone Blog II

Health issues necessitate me writing another one of my clone blogs. Those issues are numerous. Final diagnoses: Pneumonitis; multiple right lung nodules, likely benign, but with no comparison cannot exclude neoplasm; left kidney upper pole low-attenuation exophytic lesion, likely a hyperdense cyst. Must follow up with CT scan in 3 months to compare.

So here I am, at home. Completely exhausted. Everything I do tires me. But I still suffer from insomnia (some things never change), so the night before last while I was awake for several hours, I had a bowl of cereal and watched a movie. The following morning I awoke at 8 a.m. (very late for me), made myself a breakfast smoothie, then became so overwhelmingly tired, I had to rest on the couch where I fell into a coma for several minutes.

I have to admit, I'm a little overwhelmed by what has been happening lately. I think I handled the breast cancer problem quite well. I've always said that nothing scares me more than not breathing. But while still dealing with the lung problem and continuing to take all my asthma and cancer meds, I've had to assimilate what occurred at my oncologist's office the day before yesterday.

During a routine mammogram, something "suspicious" showed up on the breast where I didn't have breast cancer. Whoa! Really? I decided right there that if I have breast cancer again, I'm NOT going through chemo and radiation again. The surgeon who cut out my tumor left a gigantic scar that deformed my right breast. If I have to go through that again, I'm having a double mastectomy.

And the CAT scan I had on my lungs while I was hospitalized showed some sort of growth on my kidneys. My kidneys? Are you serious? And then I remembered this lump that had been on my lower back for the past couple of years. I had asked a doctor what she thought about it, and she thought nothing of it, so I let it go. But now I know that the lump is probably the growth that showed up on the CAT scan. 

So all of these new conditions were found quite by accident but they require me to get another mammogram next week and a CAT scan on my kidneys next week too. 

In addition to those visits, I'm supposed to return to my new GP (who started this whole thing rolling by admitting me – thank you, Dr. Gowda – I'm not being sarcastic – if not for his quick appraisal of my breathing problems, I don't know how quickly my condition would have deteriorated). As a result of all of those tests and doctor visits, I think I'll hold off on seeing the pulmonary doctor again until after I return from Virginia the beginning of July.

If you know me, you will know this is killing me. I can't write for long periods of time, I can't crochet for long periods of time, and I can't do anything that requires physical effort without becoming completely exhausted. I suffer from dizziness and lightheadedness, which, I've discovered may be a result of my persistent low potassium count. The infection still rages in my lungs and if I could just get rid of that one thing, I know I would feel so much better.

So yes, to save myself from even more exhaustion, I have cloned this blog, which appears in all of the following blogs:

Writing Creatively

My Heart Blogs To You

Help For Single Parents

Theresa Wiza's Blog

Your Weird Dreams

Paranormal Minds

Product Favorites

All Craft Connection

Your Blog Connection