Playing Catch Up

The past couple of weeks have been full of fun parenting moments. Let's document a few of them:

• Zander and Jake have (repeatedly) asked if we can go back to Germany. Jake says that he misses his friends and Zander, while he isn't able to really verbalize this, is just homesick. Jake "gets it" that we can't go back--Zander does not.
• The Magic Eraser has gotten more playtime than any other cleaner in residence. Zander and Izzy have colored on, I swear, every surface in the house. I know, I know! I hear you: Well, duh! Move the markers! This is one of those situations where having older kids and younger kids together isn't much fun. Sam and Jake keep leaving the markers where the little kids can reach them. Markers are pretty much outlawed in the house right now. They'll come back into play when I can look at a marker and not instantly feel steam coming from my ears.
• Izzy does not like cheap popcorn. I made a bag for the kids to share during a movie. Izzy's showed his distaste by dumping his on the floor. This was messy enough--but then he stomped on it. Sigh.
• Jason and I have been sharing our bed with three children for the better part of a month. We have had the odd child end up in bed with us over the past 14 years but this is the longest continuous stretch--and certainly involves more children than the norm! We're stuck in this odd place of enjoying it, knowing that it won't last forever, but really wanting a little space!
• We learned that eyeballs can bruise. Also, that when eyeballs bruise, your child cries bloody tears. That bloody tears are scary and make parents snap at each other. We learned a ton about our local ER--and that you should never allow yourself to leave an ER with a bruised eyeball without antibiotic ointment. A bruised eyeball frequently gets infected--and, if it becomes so, your ER wait the second trip through will be five times longer than the first.
• We learned that Izzy--who is frequently mistaken as our "tame" child--is going to be the death of us. (This may or may not be related to the eyeball story. You decide.

That's a little snippet of life here at our place--what's going on in your neck of the woods?