Do You Believe in Karma?

So I am a big believer in "what comes around, goes around" and it always amazes me when Zach is doing something he shouldn't be, karma always seems to have a way of getting him. If he's not listening the first time I tell him to go inside, he'll wind up slipping and falling. If he lets the dogs in when we don't want them in, they wind up taking his toys and he gets mad. The list goes on and on and it's a shame I can't recall some of the "finer karma" moments - because they have been classics. So I have been known to use the phrase, "karma is biting you in the butt." For a while he would get really mad and say "karma is not biting me" but somewhere along the way it sank in.

Tonight 14-month-old Natalie was standing in her high chair and after looking at me, I would tell her to sit down at which point she would get the sweetest grin and sometimes sit and sometimes remain standing. So after going to her maybe 7 or 8 times and helping her back on to her bottom, wondering why I am ready to part with the strap-in high chair, she stood up and then slipped a little and bonked onto her bottom. It didn't hurt her much, but she looked a little shocked. And then Zach chimed in, "Natalie, that is Karma biting you." It was so cute and nice to know that he is listening.

Boys & Motorcylces Take 2

Every year Zach receives some Toys R Us gift cards from sympathetic, generous family & friends for being the product of poor parental planning with a Christmas Eve birthday. The idea is that we will find him a 1/2 birthday present. So Zach was smitten at a birthday party with a 4-wheeler that hauled (in mom's opinion). And I knew (really, hoped) I had found his Achilles heel. But I just don't want him to feel like he gets everything he wants, so we made him EARN it by staying in bed for 7 nights (without getting out of bed). It didn't need to be in a row because I thought that might be too hard. We printed a picture of a 4-wheeler and each morning he could cross off a night. Of course the first night, it was my turn to do bedtime and he failed to earn the checkmark. Of the 7 nights he stayed in, 5 were for Dad and 2 for me - no surprise there. Ever since he has moved into a big boy bed - 16 months ago, he and I have been going round and round on bedtime. I have read parenting books, visited websites, talked to friends and family, tried many methods to try and keep him in bed, or in his room - hard love, lots of love, taking toys away, keeping toys, nightlights, no nightlights, gate, double gate, star turtle, flashlight, cuddling, not cuddling - you name it, I've tried it. He's fallen asleep on the floor, in his bookshelf, on the bed most nights - but needless to say, it's not been the highlight of my parenting. So I finally found a 12 Volt Motorcycle on Craig's list that was much more reasonably priced than Toys R Us so I jumped on it. We brought it home Thursday night and charged up the batteries. He was ready to ride on Friday, but the batteries were duds, so off to Toys R Us to get the new batteries - thanks Auntie Grammy, Pops & Samantha. Bedtime Friday night - different night, same story. He was out of bed for me 3 times - UGH! So we held tough and no riding Saturday - it did help that it rained. This consistency thing is SOOO challenging at times. But Saturday night he was great - for Ryan of course, so this morning he asked about it first thing after waking up. I don't think he got off the motorcycle more than 3 or 4 times before the batteries died - the kid was in Heaven for almost 2 hours! Ryan is off to Vegas for 5 nights for the International Association of Fire Fighters Conference, so I'm going solo for several nights. 1st night - so far, so good. Maybe that is why parents buy their kids cool toys, so they have something to take away if the misbehave :).

Here's some pretty big grins from our "dude." As I looked at the pictures, he is smiling in EVERY single one of them. And anyone who has ever tried to take a picture of Zach (or with Zach) knows that he isn't always game for pictures
(which we are working on by trying to take more and more).