Pink and Tap Dance

Gannon has his moments.  This morning, I watched with pride as my sweet boy lead 40 people at See You At the Pole.  He was thoughtful in his prayer.  He was mature in his presentation.  He prayed for his administration, for his teachers, and for unbelievers in his school to come to know Christ.  I didn't wear mascara to the event for obvious reasons. 

Have you ever noticed, though, that days with your kids can be pendulum-esc?  By the time we left Bible Study this evening, I was ready to string him UP a pole.  

To understand Gannon, you have to understand his slightly obsessive personality.  He finds something and he LATCHES. Like a leach.  For a long.....long......long........long...........time, sucking the life out of every person, thing, idea, or thought in contrast or contention to his obsession.  

Recently (for the past number of months), My Little Pony has been the "rock" in his brain.  If there can be a hyper-focus of an obsession, Pinkie Pie has been Gannon's.  The color pink is his new favorite.  He wan't to try out for the character of Pinkie Pie.  His Sunday School class were making sheep, so he colored his pink and named it Pinkie Pie.  He wants a bed set.  My nine year old son wants a Pinkie Pie bed set.

  

Please understand that him liking My Little Pony (MLP for short) and he being a "Bronie" does not bother me.  What bothers me is the constant search for ANYTHING that might be even REMOTELY related to MLP and fixating on it to the detriment of everything else.  Tonight, at Bible Study, he convinced several kids to bring him pink shirts next week so that he could wear pink every day. 

He sees pink everywhere.  He sings the MLP theme song in the shower.  He saves up money for the minis.  Annika (2) and Siri (6) were not this bad about Frozen.  And Frozen was Baaaaaad. 

 Tonight was the end of it for me.  I don't know what specifically broke the camels back, but I was done.  I started yelling.  

Me:  "I AM SO TIRED OF THIS OBSESSION!  I CAN'T EVEN HAVE A NORMAL CONVERSATION WITH YOU BECAUSE MY LITTLE PONIE TAKES OVER"

Gannon:  "Actually, PINKIE PIE takes over!  I CAN'T GET IT OUT OF MY BRAIN!"

Me: "Gannon, it's OVER.  This obsession is DONE WITH.  I can't handle your disobedience and arguing over a TV SHOW!  You need to find a new hobby!"

I said that, and this happened....

(scroll past the picture)

Gannon:  " A NEW HOBBY!?!?!?!?!?!?!  LIKE WHAT?!?!?!?  I DON'T EVEN KNOW!?!!?!??!? THERE ARE TOO MANY CHOICES!!!!! LIKE CROCHET, OR TAP DANCE!!!!!! HOW WILL I EVER PICK!!?!?!??!"

I stopped the conversation to take the picture and tell you about this.  Crochet or tap dance..... 

I'm sure he'll find something.  

*This was published with Gannon's permission

Gannon, tequila, and a Mexican jail

I love to travel.  Loooovvvveeeee.  I love to plan experience, to meet new people, taste new foods... I have wanderlust and I have it bad.  You should check out my travel blog The Jolly Camper.  It's less funny and more camp-ey.

Tonight, we had a great time with our friends, the Warrens.  They are our pastors, our dear friends, our kids best friends....really more like family.  We like to do stuff with the Warrens, and we refer to it as the "WarNig *event*".  We've had the WarNig Christmas, the WarNig Camping Trip, the WarNig Thanksgiving, a WarNig 4th...The WarNig "bottomless cup" hockey game.....you get the idea.  So tonight, there   were drinks, laughs, and trip planning.

The kids played upstairs while the adults brainstormed. We had initially tried to plan a camping trip for the first few weeks of October, but we kept having "oh, yah, we have *insert event here* that day.  So, no October camping trip.  Somehow, Mexico came up.  Mexico.  I've never been to Mexico!  I think running the Beach to Bay Marathon Relay in Corpus Christi is the closest I've been to our southern neighbors.  Mexico came up, and somehow, between 4 exhausted adults, a bottle of McAllen 18, a cup of coffee, and midnight conversation, a camping trip to Padre Island National SeaShore with a day trip to Playa Bagdad was scheduled.  SQUEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  A trip to put on my count down!  (Yes, we're leaving the continent for Spring break, and YES we're finishing up the lower 48 states this summer...but a CLOSE trip!  Fewer than three digits in the number!!!!!)

We departed the Warrens with as much excitement as two families totaling 12 people can muster at near midnight.  Lists were swirling in my head.  Packing...weather in Mexico in November...food....leaving on a Friday after school....Kids birth certificates, I probably need to order a few more copies...I started thinking out loud.  I think out loud, loudly.

Gannon caught on.
"MEXICO!?!?!?!  WE'RE GOING TO MEXICO!?!?!?!?!"

So, the way Gannon processes things is unusual.  If you've read more than one of these blog posts, you've probably figure that out.

"Yup!  All of us!  In November.  With the Warrens."
It wasn't immediate excitement.  You could almost hear the wheels turning.  What. Would. He. Say.

"Well, I hope I don't end up in a Mexican jail from drinking too much of that drink you warned me about."

I have no recollection of warning him about tequila, but I can honestly say, I
feel like this was a parenting win.    

SIXTY NINE DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pee and Boogers

Annika is a fairly cute 2 year old.  She's strong willed, articulate, and passionate.  She's been dubbed "the dictator" by the older two for her finger pointing-firm speaking, which she adamantly denies participating in.  She's stubborn.  OOOOOooooooohhhhhh is she stubborn.

Potty training has been a beast.  Her vehement denial of using a bathroom or pull ups left me damp and crying more than once.  This was one of those times.

Participating in team building has been an important...no...essential portion of campus transition.  I'm a school nurse.  That's my full time gig.  I still dabble at the hospital on weekends and holidays, but school is what I love most.  Moving from high school to elementary has proved interesting.  Pregnancy scares, fights, STD's, and illicit drugs have been replaced by anaphylactic peanut reactions and lost teeth.  Getting to know my admin team is imperative to effective communication for the well being of the campus.  

Tonight, we met for team building at a local taco joint.  I got the kids bean and cheese tacos and threw quarters at them to keep them quiet on the claw machine so I could enjoy a few quiet minutes over nachos and a beverage.  None the less, they made their every-3-minute rounds to make sure I knew Gannon had a drink of Siri's soda, or that Annika was playing the claw machine with Gannon's quarters, or that someone had dumped an entire salt shaker out and was licking it off the table (it was Annika).  Thanks for the report, guys.  I didn't previously realize your in insatiable love for micro-justice.  News to me.  I'll get right on the micromanagement of your lives in a booth of a taco joint.  Because you can't self-regulate for 3 freaking minutes.  Seriously.

I finally had Gannon and Siri zoning mindlessly over a game of "Equestria Girls" on my phone, and had Annika on my lap.  Straw to lips.....driiiiinnnnnnkkkkkkkk. Then, mid sarcastic joke about having too many kids to my vice principal, I felt warm.  Warm and damp.  Then dripping in my shoe.  SERIOUSLY!?!?!?!?!?  I GAVE HER QUARTERS TO BE GOOD.  And she peed on my leg.  Great.

I realized in that moment, that this is what being a mom is.  It's sitting with a plat of nachos, a strawberry frozen beverage, and my vice-boss, in a puddle of urine, and acting like it's totally normal.  Shoes.  For the love of God, why isn't she wearing shoes.  "Get your shoes, please, it's time to go home and take a bath."

Home we go.  It's going to be better at home.  We'll have baths, watch a quick show, and fall asleep to be ready bright and early for the Friday of a three day weekend.  The thought was a shadow as I laid in bed with Annika screaming in my left ear that her nose hurts, as Gannon cries in my right ear that he "really really really didn't mean to get his blanket stuck in his ceiling fan".

"Gannon, sit down and be quiet.  Did you turn your fan off?"  Thankfully, over zealous to please Siri is on top of turning off the fan.  "Annika, blow into the napkin so you're nose won't hurt."  *blow* "Oh for the love.  What is that.  Is that a bead?!?!?!"

I'm ready for another drink.