7 Quick Takes: Kinder-vent

 

1.  Monday was super stressful, because Alex’s behavior was out of control.  When Alex is out of control, his little copycat, Kristiana, is out of control too.  Further, Annie wanted attention too.  Alex was messing around during morning prayer and he distracted Kristiana, who for once had been properly participating.  I know that doesn’t sound crazy but I assure you that it was.  The noise in the room was so loud I could barely hear what I was saying at the top of my lungs.  I knelt down afterward to have a little private prayer, but 15 seconds later I heard a blood-curdling scream.  Mind you, the children were five steps away from me in the same room.  Alex had pushed Kristiana into the sofa and her eye smashed into something hard and she ended up with a shiner (the pouty lips are all hers).  It looked scary when it first happened.  It swelled up right away.  I was afraid he might have broken a bone in her eye socket.  We put some ice on it. 

The day did not get any better from there.  He jumped all over the furniture.  He ran outside our house when I went out to get the mail.  He jumped in the mud and took two big clumps of mud in his hands. I freaked out and yelled at him to get inside to wash up (we were supposed to leave soon).  While I was closing the garage door, another 15 second moment, he wiped the mud on the dog and all over the kitchen floor.  Mud just gets on my nerves.  Since our house is surrounded by construction, the family has been tracking a lot of mud into the house.  I have to sweep and vacuum everyday. 

I took Alex to karate for added discipline and to get out a little energy.  Alex’s karate instructor just had to talk to me about his behavior. Normally, he is perfect at karate.  But, his instructor had come to Annie’s baptism and to lunch at our house and witnessed shockingly bad behavior.  The whole day was topped off by a debilitating migraine that I had been battling all day.  I was pretty sure it was a reaction to MSG, but I don’t know what I ate (when did they start putting MSG in food again!).

2. On Tuesday, Alex’s behavior was just as bad as the day before, but since I no longer had a migraine I was up for laying the discipline on thick.  And that’s what I did, all day long, every inappropriate action was dealt with quickly, sternly and consistently.  I lost my head once when he jumped in mud at the library and was not listening to me when I asked him to stop.  I made him wipe his feet off on the grass.  Then he jumped in the car and jumped on the seats leaving muddy foot prints.  It was the muddy foot prints that made me lose it.  I am sure people could hear me yell for a mile.  By the end of the day, I felt I had gained some ground.  Alex needs consistency, rigidity, regime.  Even Kristiana knew I meant business if she slipped up (she is so cute when I send her to the time out corner).  I am most proud that the bad behavior was corrected without yelling or spanking.  I love it when we all act like civilized people, even the two year old.

3. Wednesday, Alex was perfect all day long.  Praise God, Hallelujah.  But, Annie was super grumpy with a runny nose.  She would not take naps and did not sleep well at night for days.  Thursday, was a long day.  Annie had been waking me at 4:30 a.m. for two days.  I had my Moms’ group book study and had not done the reading, because I hadn’t any quiet time for a week.  As soon as the other kids would go to sleep Annie would wake up.  I would get up early and so would Alex. I couldn’t win this week and I was really tired.

4. Alex received a book from his Godfather in the mail.  It was a collection of Curious George stories.  Oh boy, was this the perfect gift!  Not only does Alex love Curious George, but he learned something very important from the book.  On Friday, he sat down by himself to look at the book.  I kept asking him if he wanted me to read it to him and he said that he just wanted to look at it by himself.  Toward the end there was a story about the alphabet, the sounds the letters make and how to make words.  Well, he recognized some letters and sounded out the word.  Holy moly, did Alex just teach himself to read?! Yep, he did.  So we sat down and read him the story about all the letters and I am sure he learned even more.  But, for now the only word he knows is c-a-b.

5. Things seem to be calm and pleasant now.  I have a brief moment to write this blog and next week things will be just as busy.  Andrew and I have been trying to find time to play a game together.  We bought this one, Dominion, with a Christmas gift card.  It’s a pretty fun game.

6. K-dawg always steals my pretty shoes.  Then she walks around in my shoes—clip-clopping, sashaying, and saying, “Hey!”  Then when I try to take pictures of her royal cuteness, she runs away. I have to put them out of reach now.

7. Yum – I made these tuna cakes for dinner Friday.  They were excellent and healthy.  They did not taste like tuna.  I made the kids tuna cakes small and in the shape of chicken nuggets.  They ate them up without noticing they were not.  I have learned that if I bread any food in the shape of chicken nuggets the kids will try anything.  Since the kids ate these patties, I thought it was worth posting the recipe.

1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 Tbsp. butter
1 can tuna in water, drained and flaked
1 cup shredded zucchini (mmm, healthy)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/3 cup minced fresh parsley
1 tsp. lemon
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
1 cup seasoned bread crumbs, divided
2 Tbsp. canola oil

Sauté onion in butter.  Remove from heat.  Add the zucchini, tuna, eggs, parsley, lemon juice, seasonings and bread crumbs.  Stir until well combined.  Shape into six patties.  Coat with remaining bread crumbs.  In a large skillet, heat oil. Cook the patties until browned, about 3 minutes per side on medium heat.

I doubled the recipe, but used 3 eggs and 1 1/2 cups of bread crumbs.