Life Update

Well, I am happy to report that all is well in the Cowles household......well sort of. Let's see we will start in alphabetical order.

Austin: This child is not only the sweetest child, but he is also the most clever. He has been flexing his lying skills on Charley and I lately by telling he has been behaving better than he actually has been in school (mind you he was doing this for about two weeks before he got caught). Then he got caught trying to pass off someone elses' spelling test for his own. That in combination was exhausting, not to mention the weekend long punishment that followed. I think what children don't realize is that grounding is punishment for the parents as well. Not only can they not do anything, but neither can we! Frustrating!

Anyway, Austin has now parlayed his two week long dysfunctional behavior to this week. He got a note sent home for talking and misbehaving. Now, I have tried several types of punishment for his bad behavior; soap in the mouth for lying, spanking for lying and not listening, sitting in his room, on his bed for hours, so on and so forth. None of which have made a real impression. Yesterday I decided to do what comes natural to mothers, THE GUILT TRIP. Ha Ha! This one may actually may be the one. I made him stand in the corner for about 30 minutes while I proceeded to tell him about my disappointment. I also threw in some stuff about planning the annual Disney trip without him. At this point I had him crying in the corner and I didn't even have to lay a finger on him. I went a bit further and made a big plate of steamed broccoli (which was really for me) and told him this was his dinner for bad behavior. I made him a floret before I gave him the bowl of spaghetti oh's that I had really prepared for him. I am not sure if this tactic will work, but it was worth a shot.

Charley: Last night while sleeping Charley received a phone call from our neighbor at 2AM! Both of us were sleeping pretty good and barely heard the phone. Well, our neighbor called us because he was up with their baby (she is two days older than Jack) and was standing by the upstairs bedroom window. While looking down at our house he saw a man (who he thought was Charley) at our front door. The guy was walking around our front porch with what looked like boxers, a t-shirt and no shoes. Then the guy walked over to their house pounded on their door and then left. Of course Tim (our neighbor) called the cops and they were there in a few minutes patrolling our streets. Needless to say the situation was scary and aggravating. All of our neighbors, including us always feel so safe in our little neighborhood. Then something like this happens and it makes you feel a bit violated. Granted, this could have been a sleepwalker from another street over, especially if he was wondering around barefoot and in boxers. Or it could have been someone casing our hood. I would like to think it's a sleepwalker and there is no danger. At least not for us anyway, can't be sure about the sleepwalker.

Jack: Mr. Man is going through his 3 month growth spurt. This means cranky behavior, hungry all the time and poor sleep patterns. Which in turn makes all of us like this, except for hungry all the time. I will admit it's a small price to pay to see the little guy getting so big. He is getting growing bigger and sweeter every day. His personality is showing a little bit more too. It's almost creepy how much he acts and resembles Austin. They even sounded the same as babies. Weird! We noticed that when we watched Austin's birthday video.

Me: I am back at work full time and missing my home life badly. Surprisingly it's been a pretty seamless transition. I already had to get up early to get Aussie ready for school, so that makes getting ready for work not too hard. I do miss Jackson, but I go visit him for lunch and it makes it easier to finish my day.

Well that's a recap of what's been going on lately at the Cowles residence.