Quoted & Noted

"It's accident (pronounced in the exaggerated form of "ax-see-dent"), I sorry!" he says, casting down his eyes and looking quite innocent and pitiful at the same time.

We hear this one ALL the time these days.

"It's ac-ci-dent, I sorry!"

You know, like today, after he'd shredded the napkin I handed him to wipe his hands - into a hundred tiny pieces all over the floor of my truck. How he managed to do that on the five-minute ride home, I'm not sure, but he did.

And he was very sorry. It was an accident.

Just as last night, when his brother tried to take a toy he perceived as his (but had laid down a long time before), he shoved him out of the way so hard he fell to the ground and, of course, started screaming.

"It's ac-ci-dent, I sorry!" he told me, holding the stolen toy behind his back. He was alternately looking at his brother as though he was crazy and looking at me as though he was completely innocent.

Surely you believe him, right?

A Little Diversion

Sometimes just leaving the house is all that it takes. Of course, that's not easily done with three toddlers in tow. But, after staring at the walls and the snow for weeks, we were all restless. Mommy decided to take the boys out for a little lunch. And you know how badly Mommy wanted out of she was willing to go to McDonald's yet again. It's still the only place all three kids will actually eat enough to pass for a meal (even if it is french fries and chicken nuggets).

And, no, I'm not actually crazy enough to take them all inside to eat, if you were wondering. The parking lots are still covered in snow and ice, even if the roads are mostly clear. And even if they weren't, it would be nearly impossible to get all three of them inside and seated, much less an order placed and brought to the table while they were safely and quietly occupied. I have often thought about it, wishing I was brave (or, depending on your point of view, crazy) enough to take the three of them to one of those in town with the indoor play place, but I'm not. Three boys, three different directions. One Mommy, one set of hands and not nearly enough patience. But I digress . . .

So, we did our usual drive-thru order and then simply pulled into a parking space facing the road. The boys always like to watch the traffic go by anyway, especially as close to the interstate as we were. There were lots of big trucks and buses and other interesting things to keep them occupied between bites. So we spent an hour in the parking lot, munching on french fries and chicken nuggets (and Mommy munching on the cheeseburger Connor said he wanted but really didn't). So much for Mommy stopping at a different restaurant on the way home and getting something tasty for a change. No, I settled on leftover french fries and the discarded hamburger, which won't be purchased again (at least not plain, the way Connor always says he wants it, because it's even less tasty that way).

And that was it . . . our diversion for the day. A couple dollars in gas money to leave the house and some birthday gift cards to McDonald's for lunch, which equals a little bit of sanity for getting out of the house for the first time in weeks. Because taking Connor (and the twins in the double stroller) to and from preschool in the snow yesterday, you know, before they cancelled the county schools for the day, that doesn't count.

. . . And Wait

More snow. More school closings. And more waiting . . . because with schools closing, that means our preschool site visit has been delayed. Sometimes I think my little guys must have the ability to control the weather. First, it was 60 degrees here in January, on their birthday no less, and we made it outside to play on the play set for the first time in months. And now this - a week of snow and ice, when they were supposed to be placed in preschool conveniently enough, and another snow day on the day Mommy was scheduled to do the on-site visit and meet with their teachers about setting a day to start!

Good Things Come . . .

To those who wait.

Not that I have been waiting very patiently or very well. I have never liked winter weather much, but I certainly didn't like it coming right in the middle of our transition from at-home therapy into the school system.

Of course, I should have just been thankful that we were one of the lucky ones with power and heat and all that the other essentials. And I was, but I also stressed about the unknowns . . . where the kids would be sent, when I could work on scheduling a site visit to meet with teachers, how to prepare them and us, working on getting eye exams for two largely non-verbal three-year olds (required by state law before entering school) . . . you know, stressing about basically everything.

Well, school is finally back in session after a week-long weather delay, and good news came early this morning. Two spots have opened up at the nearby school that we had expected and hoped they would attend, the one that is convenient both to our home and to Connor's preschool. Their paperwork is being sent today, and we should find out more information from the school tomorrow.

Not one to sit around after a week of waiting and wondering, I went ahead and called the school to get things started. Sure, I could have waited for tomorrow, but why? I had some basic questions, and I was sure I would need a day or two to arrange a sitter for the kids. A site visit with three little boys in tow is not what I had in mind. I will have questions. I want to look and listen and learn and get comfortable with this new phase in our journey. That's hard to do when you're wondering what mischief your three little boys are finding every second in a new place with all kinds of distractions. And that is assuming that they're not all screaming the place down, which is a pretty big assumption. I foresee a lot of tears and screaming the first few visits to the school, regardless of whether they stay or not.

So, the good news is that the process is started, and it's going in a direction that will make my life a bit easier as I carpool three kids between three different classrooms. The bad news is that there is still so much left to do and so many unknowns.

But, so goes life . . . you just have to take it one step at a time, one day at a time.

Oh, and you also have to hope that the twins don't get any more sick than they already are right now. Xander has a good case of the sniffles, which cherry Tylenol seems to be helping. Sawyer was a little later in the game this time, he now has that and a random incident of throwing up all over the floor this morning. That, of course, followed falling asleep last night from 5 p.m. to about 2 a.m., dancing and screaming the night away, and then falling back asleep from 6 to 11 a.m. So, here's hoping that they actually feel good (in terms of health, at least) when we actually begin the transition.

Snapshot Sunday

Clearing winter storm. The sun comes out and begins to melt it all (and our favorite tree even stood back up without any apparent damage)!