After listening to the song Beautiful Dreamer.

Everett: Stella are you a beautiful dreamer?

Stella: Yes Everett I am.

Everett: I'm a handsome dreamer.

Stella: You are Everett!

Missing!

It is always such a chore to get all four kids dressed to play outside in the snow. When I finally accomplished the feat I sighed with relief. All four kids at home that day and I needed a diversion for them to do while I cooked lunch.

The Glance family have a nice fenced in yard with ample amount of snow to play in. I had a to go outside a couple times to check on Sophia, who is the youngest, but otherwise they played fairly well with each other and were having a good time. The kitchen is right next to the back door and I would glance every few minutes to see what they were doing. After checking the food I looked out the window and realized I couldn't see any of the kids anymore. My first thought was that Franklin went in the front yard after I told him he couldn't. (He wanted to sled down the front little hill which would have most likely put him in the street.) They weren't there and I could find them on the side of the house. I started to yell each of their names hoping that they would hear me. I had no idea where they went!

The alley was my next place to look. "Franklin! Corbin! Austin!" I called over and over again. Franklin is tall enough to open the gate and I never know what they will want to do next. I couldn't find them in the alley and I wondered if the neighbors let them in their house. Although I doubted they would take in all four kids. Especially Sophia. I was getting worried and wondering how I could have lost four kids, One of them not even two years old yet!

I was standing in the back yard calling their names, when I heard Sophia's little voice say something. I looked over at next to the fence and saw a canoe that was tipped over and appeared to be covered in snow. But alas! It was not completely covered. I walked around it there were blue snowsuits peeking out from underneath. "Come out of there!" I said very sternly. I leaned over and saw that all four kids were hiding under the canoe. It was frozen in the snow so I couldn't tip it over. They evidently had heard me calling them but were trying to be very quiet so I couldn't find them.

I was pretty upset to say the least. Everyone except Sophia was sent to their rooms. I tried to explain to Franklin, the eldest, about why it is such a bad thing to hide like that without telling me or responding to me when I call. "How would you feel if you were taking care of TJ's (neighbor boy next door) puppy and the puppy ran away?" I asked him. "Not very good." he said with the most repentant look on his face that I have ever seen him have.

It was an interesting day. I think the story is quite funny now, I really wasn't that worried. Maybe because it didn't quite register what would happen if they really were lost. The thoughts of kidnapping were brief. Who would kidnap four kids? Anyways I am so thankful they are safe and sound. Oh I forgot to tell their mother! I will have to do that today.

Kids

Franklin (6) tells his brother Corbin (5), after Corbin said that he was going to ski to school this winter, "No we can't ski to school because we won't be allowed to wear our ski boots around the school."

As if that is the only reason they can't ski to school. The school is several miles away.

Why God Made Poop Smell

There are often times where I get a revelation of God's amazing creation. but today it was not from a place with beautiful scenery or a quiet tender moment. Instead it was found at my work sitting on the kitchen floor changing a diaper.

Most of the time we consider the smell of our human feces a bad thing. When the bathroom has an overwhelming odor from the previous occupant, when the dog dropped something in the wrong place, or when we have to use an outhouse and get a whiff of the you-know-what sitting there for days on end. Yes the smell is terrible, but what if poop didn't smell? Where would we be?

As a nanny the dirtiest part of my job has to do with the kids and their digestive system; putting the food in, and making sure they stay clean when it comes out. The little girl I take care of has super sensitive skin, so if she sits in anything too long she will develop a diaper rash quicker than you could say the the pledge of allegiance. Of course then I need to make sure then that if she poops that I change it as soon as I can.

There are a few ways to check if a diaper is full:
1. Dig through all the layers of clothing, unsnap the snaps, unbutton things etc, and get a good look and see if indeed there is something inside.
2. Touch the outside of the diaper and feel if it feels full. Bi product number one usually fills up the diaper easier than bi product number two.
3. Pick up the child and smell their posterior. By far the easiest method.

And of course this is all very important because no one wants to deal with a baby with a diaper rash, the stories I have would horrify you, and it wrenches your heart to see them in pain.

So what if poop didn't smell? It would be so much more difficult to check diapers, and just think of all the times you smelled poop and it made you able to avoid it? I don't want to go into the details of those types of situations, I am sure we have all had one with some product of creature digestion.

It is weird to say but I believe while God was thinking how to create us He also put thought our feces and designed our digestive system in such a way that poop would smell. That way it is like a danger sign to us- "STAY AWAY- YOU DO NOT WANT THIS AROUND YOU!" And just perhaps He thought of all of us childcare providers and mothers who would need to change their child's diapers for the next thousands of years. Thank you God! I am glad that it smells.

Playground equipment is not my friend

Okay so I did something really stupid today, and have a lovely bump above my eyebrow to show for it. Jeremiah, one of the little boys I take care of was playing on the playground. He called me to come over. I was sitting on a bench watching them as well texting. I got up and was still looking at my phone. Well I wasn't paying attention to where I was walking and all of a sudden I wasn't walking anymore or texting. I stopped, because my head conked into a low poll and a sound resonated throughout the whole playground. I sat down quickly and held my head in pain. I now fully understood why on all the cartoons when the characters hit their heads there are little starts that dance around their heads. I felt like there was a ton of celestial movement above my head as I tried to regain some sort of reality. I didn't go unconscious, so that is good. It just hurt really bad and made me a little dizzy. There were two pieces of the playground that had bars connecting between polls. One bar was higher way above my head, the other was perfectly even with my forehead. That was the one that decided to give me such a great story to tell.

A dad that was playing with his kids at the playground asked me if I was okay. He said he didn't see me get hit but he heard it. Great, just great.

I sat down for a while and the kids kept playing. Jeremiah came and told me that one of his friends from school was there. I looked to see a cute kids with a blue shirt on. There was another kid as well. I was glad because then they would have kids to play with as rested my head. Later I looked to see the same kid with a green shirt on. "Wait a second!" I thought, "Didn't that kid have a blue shirt on." "Hillary you must have hit your head harder than you thought," went through my mind. I looked around to see if anything else seemed an odd color. I was honestly afraid that my sense of color got messed up or something. Then I saw a group of kids with Jeremiah and sighed with relief. He was playing with two boys.... identical twins. Once with a green shirt on and one with a blue. Thank the Lord!! What an odd morning.

So I have determined that playground equipment is not my friend, although with all the kids I take care of I am sure we will resume our relationship at some point.

Science Museum

Yesterday was a fun day. Katy, Mike and I took the two boys I take care of, Jeremiah and Nathan Lucas, to the Science Museum of Minnesota. Here are some fun photos of us there.


All of us and the Dinosaur bones








Katy and I lounging on some couches and cuddling with some near by friends.

Nathan getting a kiss from a polar bear, and giving him a big hug.







Mike and the boys playing a xylophone



We found this on Grand Ave when we went to eat lunch.

Naughty Kids... but they are soo cute!

I have one of the best jobs. I take care of kids that I love dearly.

Nathan is two and a half and such a sweety! But lately has been a lot more naughty than usual. When I got there Doug his dad told me about the day before when he had to clean the couch three times before 11am. Once was Easter chocolate that was smeared all over, the next was due to a whole can of pop- Nathan had been standing on the end table holding it and tripped. There was another episode but I have forgotten as to what material was the method of that mess. Note: Their couches are about 3 weeks old. thankfully they have a protective scotch guard from which almost any stain can be removed.

Well I was also told about how he the day before gotten out of bed when he was supposed to be taking a nap. He was in his parents' bedroom. The first time he got out was to take picture frames off the wall. The second he got on the dresser and took Sheryl's jewelry out. The third time I cannot remember again.

So when I put the kids down for a nap I thought perhaps something may happen. I first figured out that they were not suppose to nap in the same room although Jeremiah said "oh our parents always let us sleep in the same room." But that was not the case in talking to Sheryl so after finding Jeremiah trying to hoist Nathan up to the top bunk to "cuddle" with him then I separated the two youngsters.

The house was so quiet after that. So it was easy for me to hear an odd cell phone sound. I looked around trying to figure out where it came from. I then realized it came from the boys' room where Nathan was staying. I walked in and he was holding Josiah's cell phone in the corner. He saw me had shameful face on and said "sorry Hiray, sorry" so sweetly and sorrowful. It was soo cute. But I put him back in his bed and spoke sternly to him saying he had to stay there. He had some tears and then laid down. I then heard later sounds of money dropping. I went in and found him in the same place looking into a piggy bank. He again when he saw me said sorry right away. I spoke sternly again, a little more than last time laid him down. He started crying but I was firm! I walked out of the room and then laughed. He fell asleep thankfully.

I have to say that he is usually extremely well behaved, I think perhaps we just had a bad couple days. It was so hilarious though. I think one hard part about being a parent is being stern when your kids are so stinking cute! Yes I remember sitting at the table with the Lucas' exchanging looks with the parents that basically meant "they are being naughty but it is so hard not to laugh!" Lots of hands over mouths.

"I want to go shopping with Hillary and spend this money around and around and around." Elian said today with a grand sweep of his hand that held 95 cents.

Wet Feet- Cold Feet and Little Balls

I had a delightful day this Tuesday. It was very eventful to say the least.

I arrived at the Lucas House and realized that I had no where planned out to take the kids. I dropped the older two off at school and then decided, since it was such a beautiful day, that I would take the two boys to the Coon Rapids Dam. I had gone there on Sunday and enjoyed it thoroughly. I like to take the boys places where we can explore.

We got there and I had a great time watching their faces as they saw the dam. The water was rushing quickly through the chute and there was beauty everywhere around the river. I loved Jeremiah's questions as he asked about the river, the ducks, the ice, the dam and many more things. We then spent some time where the boys threw snowballs and ice chips into the river. It was funny because that was what my friends Mike and Joe did when we had come the Sunday before.... It must be a guy thing.

We left the dam and went on a path looking for the playground. We suddenly came to a very large puddle on the sidewalk. There was a stream running into in and out of it. So there really wasn't any way to cross. All around there were large pools of water. Finally I realized that one of the streams looked deep but was really shallow, not even up to soles of my shoes. We crossed and then I realized that we didn't have enough time to get all the way to the playground and back.

Instead of crossing back over the puddle on the path I thought we would just walk straight through the snow to the paved road, it was much drier there. Bad idea- snow can be very deceiving. About 8 feet from the street I heard Nathan start crying and then I realized why, my feet suddenly grew very cold and wet. There was about 4 inches of slush under 6 inches of snow. I picked him up out of it quickly and gasped as his shoes stuck in the snow. I couldn't put him down to grab the shoes and my shoes were quickly filling up with water. I yelled to Jeremiah to get his shoes and I rushed through the snow and slush to the pavement. Ah it was terrible- yet hilarious. Jeremiah exclaimed over getting his feet completely soaked and poor Nathan just didn't like it. Quite an adventure.

I was pretty impressed that our feet didn't get too wet during the few hours we were there, only to have them get completely drenched as we walked back to the van.

I was going out to lunch with my friend Katy and her mom after that, then another meeting directly after that, and then to my nanny job with Elian. So I had to be in my wet shoes for quite some time.

I took Elian to the park next to his house. A very odd phenomenon surrounds that area. All over are these little tiny balls, sort of like small beads except with no holes. Elian loves balls so when we find them he stops and exclaims "Hillary look, a little tiny ball!!" It actually takes quite a long time to walk because as he walks he scans the side of the sidewalk for little balls sticking out of the dirt. I am relating this story because something funny happened. I told him to stick the balls in his pocket but didn't watch him do it. Later I did as we found the 4th ball, and I laughed out loud as I saw that he was sticking them in the little groove of his zipper on his jeans. Only about 3 would fit there so I took them all out and put them in my pocket. I couldn't believe he was walking around with all of those in that groove the whole time we were walking. Not sure if you can picture that or not. Let me know.

We also found a worm on the way back, a very large worm sticking out of the dirt. He exclaimed "What is that worm doing Hillary?" I love it when he asks that.

I'm a Bad Mom! (not really)

Today was a busy day in the morning. I got to the Lucas house at 9am. I heard Nathan the 2 1/2 year old yell my name from upstairs- and I smiled. I take care of the boys Jeremiah (5) and his brother a couple days a week now. I love it. They are very well behaved boys and like little brothers to me. The last 5 months have been filled with activities. I take the boys out so their parents can work in peace in their home office.

This morning we went all around town. First was a new experience of getting a little boy's hair cut. "Just feed him as many suckers as it takes" Sheryl told me before we went. Nathan did such a good job and didn't even get scared of the plastic over thing.

After exclaiming how handsome he was we headed off to the library. I had been to this library a few times with the boys. So they knew their way around, this morning though it was overrun with more kids than I had ever seen there, i believe around 35-40 kids all under the age of 5 most likely.

I don't worry about Jeremiah as much because I assumed he knew his way around, the place is not that large. So I was reading Nathan a book and glancing every once in a while at Jeremiah while he was playing with the puppets. I looked up then and realized he had left the puppets. I was going to go check what other activity he was doing. Looking for a bright blue sweatshirt (I really need to keep having them wear bright clothes, it helps) I saw him sitting at a table. After a second glance I saw his face was all red and he was crying. I wondered if he got hurt. There was a lady standing next to him.

He saw me and ran to me. "Oh here is your mom!" the lady said. I knelt down and he hugged me. "Well I am not his mom but..." I said as she left. I held him and he put his hands in my hair. After some prodding I figured out that he felt lost and couldn't find me. Normally I don't think it would have been a problem but there were so many kids and mothers! I held him for a while and told him not to wander off again. He shook his head yes and calmed down. I was glad to see him smile again I brought him to Nathan. Jeremiah is such a tender guy. He loves his brother and feels things deeply. I love him. He gave his little brother a hug and they started playing.

We also went to McDonalds that day and Northwestern Bookstore. It was quite jammed packed morning. Sheryl said she is training me to be a mom when I told her all that we did.

I told this story to my family and that is when I got the phrase from Carrie "You were a bad mom!" I laughed and had to repeat it.

Treasure from the Unknown

I can't help laughing. Yesterday I had one of the funniest experiences.

I will start out by saying when I change a little kid's diaper I often joke and ask them if they have a little "gift" or "present" for me. I might have even used the word "treasure." Yesterday I was changing Elian's diaper and low and behold I found about $4 dollars worth of coins in there!! (It thankfully was just a wet diaper.) I couldn't stop laughing. How in the world did it get in there? He had one of those lovely things that go under the bottom and snap so he couldn't put his hands in his diaper. I was so confused.

Today I talked with Amy his mom and she said she was confused too- but for a different reason. I had put the money in a wet wipe on the counter and forgot to tell her about it. She was wondering how it got there because the day before she couldn't find the money anywhere. They had been playing with it and Elian had it in his front pocket on his overalls, she found it missing soon after.

We came to the conclusion that he was trying to put the money in his front pocket again, but put it down his shirt instead. It fell all the way down and slipped into his diaper!

I must admit yeaterday for a second I wondered if this was a new provision from God. He put coins in fish... But little kids' diapers? Not sure about that yet.

Can't imagine how that would feel in there all morning.

He Likes to sleep with his arms above his head.

Elian

Ah yes Elian my little charge, (wow doesn't that sound old fashioned) I mean the little boy I nanny for is playing the blues now. Not because of me though. No I try to cheer him up, but he is just too sad.


Just kidding of course. This was a happenstance picture while he was blowing on his harmonica. I think he is so cute. Don't you?