A True Original

Although as parents, we love all of our children equally, it is very interesting to see how each child eventually finds it necessary to find or create his/her own role in the family and in life. Our younger son is at that stage right now, and I imagine he will probably be molding and refining for quite some time. At this moment in time (he is obviously still changing, growing, and maturing on a daily basis), if you asked me to describe Kaiden's personality, I would say that he is our rebel.

Kaiden, is incredibly bright (he can spew random facts about just about anything), but he is also happy to just skate through school while putting forth as little effort as possible. He is definitely not an authority pleaser, so a "C" is more than acceptable in his mind. Kaiden is also extremely gregarious. He prefers to be with people and he enjoys being the life of the party. When he's not out at a friend's house, I can often find him running around our house, singing Wierd Al songs, while doing yoyo or card tricks! For the record, he can yoyo far better than he can do card tricks or sing. Life with Kaiden is a rollercoaster ride at times!

Although Kaiden can tire out the best of 'em, I am enjoying watching him find his place not only in our home, but in society. He certainly keeps us on our toes. Now that I've shared a little background about Kaiden, I would like to share a couple of pictures with you:

This is the "hat" Kaiden chose to wear for Crazy Hat Day recently.






If he was going to wear a crazy hat, it was going to have to be over the top!


A week or two ago, I was asked if we had Scotch Tape. We did, and I told Kaiden where to get it. The next time I looked at him, much to my initial shock, he needed a shave!

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Schools in Alaska were closed for the last three days because of an usual January "break up" that created mass chaos. I decided that if the boys were going to be home, they might as well do some studying and work on some of their school projects.

I put the boys to work on their academic stuff and I proceeded to finish doing laundry upstairs. I had washed some delicate sweaters that needed to dry flat, so I hung them over the upstairs banister. As I was drapin the clothes over the banister, I heard Kaiden ask Logan to quiz him on the countries of South America. Kaiden was going through the map and methodically placing all of the city names with their corresponding dot on the map. First, Kaiden listed cities such as Rio De Janerio, and Buenos Aires. When he approached the dot for Lake Titicaca, he said the name, and then chuckled a bit. Face it, it is sort of a silly name to many of us Americans. The next city I heard Kaiden refer to was Crack-Ass. I laughed so hard my stomach hurt.

As you can imagine, I couldn't leave well enough alone. I then questioned what Kaiden had said and I repeated it to be sure I had heard him correctly. When I said it, the boys suddenly realized what Kaiden had said and how silly it was. of course, I had to explain that the city is Caracas not Crack-Ass, however, if it makes it easier for Kaiden to remember it for his test, then Crack-Ass it is!

My Boys Dabble in Politics

Two weeks ago, both of the boys came home from school and announced that they were running for Student Council. Logan decided he was going to run for President and Kaiden was going to run for Historian. As a 4th grader, the only office Kaiden could run for was Historian and the students had to choose one male candidate and one female candidate for the position.

To be honest, both Eric and I were surprised the boys expressed interest in running, considering the fact that they would have to make posters, and write and give a speech in front of the 3-6 grades. I have to admit that I was less than thrilled with their interest in running for office. I ran for Student Council several times as a child. I won the election a time or two and I lost a time or two. The sad thing is, as an adult, I don't remember holding office as much as I remember how I felt when I lost. As a mom, I think it's natural to want to shelter your kids from that same feeling, but on the other hand, as a good mom, I think it was obligation to support them in their endeavor. I won't lie to you, I also thought it was my perogative to lay out the hard facts. I explained that they were basically signing up to run in a popularity contest and that they both needed to be prepared to lose. I explained that they had been at their school for less than a year and that there were a lot of kids running for each position, which would make it very difficult to win. They both still decided to make a go of it.

Despite our wild and crazy winds on Friday, the boys were beckoned to school to give their speeches. Only in Alaska does the school principal call you personally at 9:50 to let you know that (despite their earlier misgivings) school would in fact be in session and that the kids needed to be there to give their speeches by 10:30. I quickly had the boys get dressed and I ran the them up the hill to school. Since I was already there, I decided to sit through the 54 1-minute speeches. Logan was the very last student to give his speech. Talk about torture! To make matters worse, the results weren't going to be announced until Monday, so the poor kids had to wait through the weekend for the results.

The kids found out at 9:00 yesterday morning who won the election. I, on the other hand, had to wait until the kids arrived home on the bus at 3:45 to find out. If someone has asked me if I thought either of our boys would win I would have said, "no". If someone had told me one of the boys would lose and one of them would win, (based on personality and peer interactions) I would have guessed that Logan would win and Kaiden would not. You can imagine my shock when the boys got off the bus and I learned that Kaiden had won his bid for Historian and Logan did not win for President (he lost to two girls who actually tied and will share the duties).

I give both of the boys a huge amount of credit because neither of them seemed very affected when they came off the bus. Kaiden was not gloating because he had won and Logan was not crying because he had lost. Obviously, the best result for both boys would have been for them to both win, but aside from that, I think it was "best-case" that Logan lost to girls. I don't think the thought ever occurred to him that a girl was even his real competition. The funny thing is, both boys were a little miffed that there are only two boys on the entire Student Council (Kaiden being one of them). Apparantly, girls have been in the majority on the Student Council for several years running and my boys think there needs to be a change.

Now, I just have to figure out what exactly my role, oops, I mean Kaiden's role is as Historian. I joke about it being my job, but let's be real, we all know that as the mom, it's going to be my job to get Kaiden where he needs to be, when he needs to be there. It is also going to be my job to make sure he's actually fulfilling his obligation as Historian. As a parent, life's lessons can be such a double-edged sword. I tell ya', the things we do for our kids!

The Evolution of Kids

Logan's 11th birthday was on September 20 and it has kind of put me in a reflective mood. Not necessarily just about him, but about both of my kids and kind of just about my life in general. It's interesting to me to think about the way I thought my life, children and family would be like before I had a husband and kids. I don't know that my life has varied from my "script" too drastically, but there has been a different turn here or there. Today, I though I'd share some of my thoughts about my kids.

Before I had two children, I used to always hear people say that their kids "are all so different". I was the type who would hear those words, take them in, and think I understood them. Then, I had two children and I quickly understood first hand what all of those women were talking about. It never ceases to amaze me how two boys from the same parents can be so totally different from one another.


Our boys are 20 months apart in age. When we only had Logan, people would tells us how much he resembled his father in appearance (although my baby pictures tell a different story). If, when I was pregnant, you had asked me what I thought my kids would look like I would have described Logan to a "t". When he arrived, he was chubby with very little white hair, hazel eyes, and fair skin. Then I had Kaiden, though he looked like his father, they could have told me there had been a mix-up in the nursery and I would have believed them. He had dark hair, dark eyes, and an olive complexion. Whose baby was this anyway? Obviously my husbands! Even though my children's physical differences were obvious at birth, over time, they continue to break each others mold.

You see, Logan was perfect by baby standards. He slept through the night at some crazy early age, he never cried, etc. When Logan was a toddler things shifted a bit. He was extremely strong-willed and was full of energy. I can't tell you how many tears I shed and books I read on "strong-willed children", in an attempt to reign him in. Now, in hindsight, maybe I should have been less concerned. At eleven, Logan is once again my mellow, layed back, authority pleasing child. He is very well liked by his peers, he does extremely well in school (because it's expected and he doesn't have to really apply himself to get good grades), and he keeps his emotions in check almost to a fault.

Then there's our dear Kaiden. That kid has always, and continues to, give us a run for the money on a daily basis. Kaiden didn't sleep through the night until he was three and he cried incessantly for a very long time. Mom was his only comfort and if I wasn't around, there was hell to pay! The funny thing is, when he was a toddler, Kaiden was our easy one, he was so mellow and very introverted. We thought for sure he was going to be the easier kid as he got older. So much for perception!!!!!! Kaiden is still a pretty emotional kid, but I certainly would not classify him as and introvert these days. He talks non-stop and would play outside with his friends, roaming the neighborhood 24/7 with his skateboard, bike, and scooter if I'd let him. Although my son is incredibly intelligent, he could really careless about his grades. Hey, as long as he gets a C he thinks he's doing alright (ARGH!!!!). Oh yes, and the best part about our dear Kaiden is that NOTHING is ever his fault. He has become a master at trying to twist things so that it becomes clear to the world that even though he did something inappropriate it wasn't really his fault. How can you not love this kid????

My husband and my in-laws will tell you that aside from Eric's looks, Kaiden is all me. The hard truth is, they're probably right. I was a difficult child for my parents (as far as behavior goes at home), but outside of the home, I was a great kid. Kaiden seems to be much the same way. Fortunately as an adult, I still have some of the same qualities I did as a kid, but I have learned how to channel them differently. Hopefully Kaiden will learn to do the same. Don't get me wrong, I don't think for a minute that Logan will always be fun and games. I'm sure he'll regress back to his toddler days at some point and will be a handful again, but until then, we'll count our lucky stars.

I guess my point in all this is that it's amazing how much your children change and how their personalities continue to evolve over time. I've always said that I can't have a "favorite" because my kids fall in and out of favor with us on almost a moment by moment basis. We have come to terms with the fact that both of our children are a special blessing to us for very different reasons. Although Logan tends to be the easier kid, life would certainly be less eventful if we didn't have Kaiden. Even if it's easier to focus on the negative traits from time to time, we would never trade either of our kids. They have both brought something very different, special, and fulfilling to our lives.

It's For You

As my children quickly become "tweens" (I think that's the new phrase for pre-teen), I knew it was inevitable. I knew that one day the phone would start ringing for them more than it would ring for the adults in the family. Considering the fact that I only have boys, I wasn't sure at what point this phenomenon would actually start occuring. I can tell you now, that the time has come!

I AM SO SORRY, MOM AND DAD!!!!!! At least in this day and age we have caller id and we can quickly tell before we even pick up the phone if the call is for us or the kids. I now understand that for my parents, it was a craps shoot everytime they picked up the phone. Until yesterday, my children rarely paid attention to the phone when it would ring. After my tirade yesterday, it is now their responsibility to look at the caller id and to decide if the incoming call is for Logan or for somebody else.

The up side to all of this is that at least we don't have girls calling the house yet!!! Logan is a video game junkie and apparantly his friends are too. Logan has one particular friend who will call to encourage him to login and play some online game (don't worry, I know what game they're playing and what they're doing. It's all on the up and up). They'll then hang up the phone. Once Logan starts playing the game, Dustin will call back several more times in a very short period of time in order to discuss the latest happenings in their online realm. Logan has another friend who calls. They will have a very brief conversation, they hang up the phone, and the minute Logan walks away from the handset the boy calls back. I don't get it!

Yesterday was the final straw for me! It was 11:00 in the morning, my boys were laying up in bed still, playing a video game and the phone rang. It wasn't for me. I answered it because I knew the boys wouldn't it. I proceeded to holler up the stairs for Logan. Being the prince that he is, Logan chose not to even acknowledge me. He has a way of tuning me out under the hospice of not hearing me, so I assumed he didn't hear me. I was wrong...as I walked up the stairs, hollering at him once more, it quickly became apparant that Logan has my "number". He knew that if he ignored me long enough I would bring the phone upstairs to him. Needless to say, that is the last time he'll play me for a fool (for a while anyway)!

After a long rant and rave, I made it quite clear that since the phone rings more for Logan these days than it does for anyone else, he is now in charge of looking at the caller id. If the call is for him, they need to answer it, if the caller is someone they don't recognize they need to holler for me or the answering machine needs to pick it up. Their slave is officially on strike!!! I guess the moral is: let me know if you need my cell phone number.