The dreaded forehead wound

I got a call from hubby today to tell me that I needed to come home to see the cut in Evie's forehead. Apparently she had been playing with "duct man" at Menard's and a piece of him fell off right onto her head. Poor thing. It's not pretty, but it didn't need stitches. I have a forehead scar myself and I have always wished it would go away. Now I guess she'll have the same.

The power of a clean desk

A few weeks ago I cleaned off the table in the play room and put some of their office supplies (pencils, scissors--yes, I'm starting to leave them out, tape, envelopes, etc.) in little caddies. Since then there has been a flurry of writing, taping, mailing, and everything else. Letters are written everywhere. Colored masking tape has covered everything. We've gone through a whole pile of construction paper, a box of envelopes, a roll of scotch tape (Evie calls it "teeth tape" because of the dispenser), and mountains of masking tape. So, I highly recommend keeping a flat surface clean that belongs to the kids. The trick is keeping it clean since they never want to get rid of their creations.

Another cool thing: colored masking tape. You can get this from Discount School Supply and probably other supply places. We got 10 different colors and it has been so fun to watch them play with it and cut it.

Adults don't need sleep

Did you know that adults don't need sleep? Well, everyone knows that kids do most of their growing when they're asleep, which is one reason why they need so much. Spencer has been waking me up a lot at night for things he can do himself--going potty, putting on covers, fetching a toy that has fallen out of bed, etc. This morning he explained why.

"Mommy, I can wake you up whenever I want to. Grown-ups don't need to sleep because they're not growing anymore."

Boy, that clears a few things up for me.

Consequences

This afternoon I found chocolate frosting hidden among the stuffed animals behind the recliner in Spencer's room. This involved 4 no-nos:

1. Taking a treat-type food without asking.
2. Climbing to get the food.
3. Hiding food in a room other than the kitchen.
4. Lying about it (the kids claimed they were quietly playing with Legos)

So, Alan and I have decided a few consequences. First, the stuffed animals have been removed from the behind the chair until further notice so they can't hide things as easily back there. I'd remove the chair, too, but the door has to be removed before the chair can go and I just can't do all that on my own. Second, the box of Legos has been removed, probably for about a week, since they used the Legos as an alibi. Third, they won't get to watch their 30 minutes of TV for two days. That last one is mostly to drive home how important we think the food thing is, since it isn't the first time.

Do you think these are reasonable consequences? I'd say no treats, but they don't really get a lot of treats so it might be days before they were denied something. By then it wouldn't make any sense.

I wouldn't have figured out that they had the frosting except I found chocolate on their clothing. When I asked Evie where she got it she didn't know enough to realize that she wasn't supposed to tell me. I knew they were up to something but since I thought I had put up all the sweets I didn't think they'd be able to get any or think to try. I guess I underestimated them.