Daegan's Acting Debut: March 2008

Well, it's been one year since our little man made his acting debut. I can't figure out how to post it in Blogger because I don't have the necessary program to shorten the video. So, here's the link on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-aeB_4ihDo

You have to fast forward to 3:20 seconds if you want to skip all of the children saying their names...sorry about that! I can't figure out how to edit the video file.

Next month he, Lilee, and Patrick will be trying out for Annie at a local community theatre. I'll let you know how it goes! If I can, I'll even post video from try outs:)

"I Yuv You, Too"

Holt is quite possibly the most complex child we have. Liliputian and Daegan wear their thoughts on their sleeves...Holt, well, he keeps to himself. Perhaps it's a result of his phonological issues, but more than likely it is simply his devious personality. Patrick has endearing nicknames for him: "Satan's Spawn, Serial Killer, etc.," and while I know he's kidding (sort of), Holt is most intriguing to me. I never know what each day will bring with him. Daegan and Lilee in their combined 12 years have never caused the chaos that little Holt Oxford Bennett has.

My running tally of Holt's nuances (if they may so be called) are:

Flooding our bedroom with water from an upstairs sink (nothing like water pouring through the air vent in the ceiling!)

Writing on the leather couch (on more than one occasion)

Getting himself kicked out of day care (an accomplishment he shares with brother Daegan)

Recently trying to choke himself to death at 2AM with a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle action figure (read in post from September)

Swinging from the bathroom towel bar (the residual hole is big enough to stick his small little fist through, which I'm sure he did with great interest)

Climbing the fence in the back yard (regularly) to escape to the neighbors (I think he believes they will offer him immunity from his crimes)

Pulling art work off the wall above the stairs (damage irreparable)

And most recently his Great Escape:

I came in after work about two weeks ago, set Holt down to eat a snack at the kitchen table, and proceeded to go have mommy time in the bathroom. About 3 or 4 minutes later I came out to find the kitchen table void of Holt and his snack. I assumed (yes, I know what the infamous "they" say about assuming, so, please, no comments from the peanut gallery!) that he took his snack upstairs. I too easily became distracted with picking up or some other such nonsense and about five minutes passed. It was then I realized the house was quiet--impossibly quiet even for sneaky little elf like children. I called Holt's name what must have been four or five times and didn't hear a sound. I looked in the back yard...no Holt, no sound. I came back through the house and went to the front door which I immediately noted was unlocked (we came in the garage door earlier). I still hoped for the best, that he was on the driveway or in the yard eating his chips...

What I was greeted with was a stranger walking my child, whose head hung low and shoulders slumped in obvious guilt, up the driveway, concern written all over her face. I can only imagine the horrible things she thought of me as a mother when she found my three year old walking down the main street in our neighborhood! This dear, dear woman stopped her car, parked it on the side of the road, and held Holt's hand as he showed her back to "Holtie's House."

Needless to say, I think I was a little more annoyed than relieved (I chalk this up to his repeated offenses) and knelt down in front of him, grabbed both hands, and said, "Holt, where were you going? Mommy was looking everywhere for you!" To which he responded, "I running away, Mommy." "Where were you running?" "I going to McOnald's."

Let's face it. The kid is a pragmatist; he knows what he wants and the only way he was going to get what he wanted that day was to walk. Holt Oxford Bennett is proof that you really can love the devil, especially when the devil says, "I yuv you, too, Mommy."

Marley & Me...a cause of great sorrow!

(Be forewarned...the ending of the movie is ruined in the words that follow!)

So, the plan for the Saturday after Christmas was to take the Bennett Three to Bedtime Stories, starring Adam Sandler. Uplifting, fun, and a positive distraction, right? Should have been! But unfortunately the movie was sold out and, thinking to not waste the family-time opportunity, we decided to follow Lilee's pleas and watch Marley & Me. What could be so bad about a movie represented by a poster of a cute Labrador puppy wrapped in a red bow?
Ugh. Let's just say that the intimated sex scenes were bad enough, but the absolute worst part was that the dog dies at the end...DIES! (Sorry if I'm ruining the end of the movie for this blog's followers, but I couldn't not blog about this!) Needless to say, Lilee was weeping as we made our way to the car. Daegan, who had been fine to the point of getting in the car, began SOBBING and did so uncontrollably the entirety of the twenty minute drive home screaming, "I don't want Marley to be with JE-sus! I want him to be ALIVE!" All this amidst retelling the whole story. (I have to admit, the English teacher in me was very proud that he could recall so many details!) I'm hoping in the end my kids won't need therapy, but I have a feeling I'll be hearing about this for a very long time! On a positive note, the sexy times did not seem to attract much attention...

So much for a light-hearted family outing.

I'm Telling God!

Ah, with three kids there is never a shortage of laughs...

I was a bit lazy getting out of bed Friday, the day after Christmas. The kids were in the room next door and I intermittently opened my eyes to see them playing with their new loot. Inevitably, Daegan and Holt got into it about something...admittedly I was too groggy and interested in sleep to open my eyes when the fuss began. But something Daegan said got my attention and I had to smile and share it here:

Contented laughter and shared play turned awry after Holt took one of Daegan's toys. What I heard went something like this: "Give it back, Holtie! Now!" (repeated several times). Rather than intervene as I usually do, I waited to "hear" (remember, my eyes were still closed) how my two little men would solve their dilemma on their own. Holtie, more the bully of the two, screamed "NO!" and I heard the distinct pop as he hit Daegan. I fully expected Daegan to come crying to me and waited in anticipation of just such a thing when he began to say, "I'm telling...[normally this where I hear "Mom!"] God!" While that was funny enough, it was the fact that he actually started talking to God right then and there that got me giggling out of my slumber. He said, "God! Holtie is being a bad boy. He took my Iron Man, he won't give it back even though I said, 'Holtie, give it back,' and he hit me! I want you to send him to the devil!"

Now, I admire that Daegan understands that good people go to heaven and bad people go to...well, you know...but, we of course had to talk about how it would make Mommy very sad if any of her babies weren't in Heaven one day. I must say, however, that I very proud that Daegan exressed his problems to God! I hope this is a pattern that continues:)

Santa Came to Town...Guess We Were Good Afterall!

The kiddos had a really nice Christmas. Santa was super quiet...we never heard a thing...and Lilee's inability to fall asleep until 1AM meant her sleeping in a little late on the Big Day. We were actually able to sleep in until 7! I'm not sure that was late enough for Nana and Pop Pop though, who stayed the night so they could witness all of the excitement ...

Daegan's most prized gift actually turned out not to be from Santa at all but from his Nana and Pop Pop. He got a rockin' new bike and helmet and has spent much time riding it around the downstairs of the house. Another day or two and I'll release him to the drive way. A week, and who knows, he may just be out in the wide open spaces!

Holt has loved every gift...literally. Not just his and Daegan's, but Lilee's as well! I think the Dinosaur Santa brought was a huge success, even though Holt hadn't asked for it. Elmo Live has been worth his cost already--Thanks Nana and Pop Pop!

As for Miss Lilee, the struggle of raising children without addictions to video games begins...at 7! LiliputianB got a Nintendo DS Lite with a puppy game and horse game. (Don't tell her, but I kinda wish we'd started with the virtual puppy versus the real one from last year!) So far Lilee is not too hard to get off the game and into a book though; she's more than half way through The Tale of Despereaux. Admittedly, I bribed her with a trip to see the movie in the theater if she finishes the book first! There's just something about a Kids Pack and sitting in front of the big screen that gets my kids motivated!

All five of the kids (Lilee, Daegan, Holt, and Daddy--who counts as two kids alone) are really loving their X-Box 360. Lego Indiana Jones and Kung Fu Panda are the games of choice, though it is really a struggle to listen to the kiddos bicker about how to play. What happened to the simple controllers of the ATARI day and age? I wish I'd kept that old thing!

Mommy's looking forward to Sunday when we will put the 360 away and take out Scene It Kids edition. That expansive DVD collection will finally be put to the test! Just how much do my kids know about kid movies...and should I be proud or ashamed? Hmmm. Good times:)

All in all Santa was able to satisfy all of the kiddos' wishes, even in this tough economy! Fortunately the Bennett Three have eccentric personalities but modest wish lists:)

Halloween 2008

So, I'm a little late in posting pics, but this Halloween was quite fun for the kiddos. The weekend before Halloween we went to the Kinsey Family Farm and the kids picked out size appropriate pumpkins. We spent the next evening carving them (unfortunately Daegan fell asleep beforehand). We're pretty sure from the pics that Holt's going to be an obstetrician when he grows up.

As for the big night itself, Daddy took care of shopping for the costumes (ahem). The only really tough part to the night was that Lilee and I struggled for about an hour as to what costume she would wear (the one she bought with Daddy was very sheer and far too cold for the 40 degree weather we had that night). So, I did what all good mothers would do in this situation and bribed her, telling her that she could wear my make up if she wore the warmer Elizabeth Swann costume rather than Tinker Bell's fairy friend. A few more tears were shed (hers, not mine) and she eventually agreed. I think she was a beautiful Elizabeth Swann and the boys shaped up pretty well too.

Daddy, being the adventurous one of the two of us, took the kids to a haunted house in the neighborhood while I went to a neighbor's house for some liquid relaxation:). No nightmares resulted proving that the Bennett 3 have inherited their father's fascination for science fiction and the bizarre.

Prophecy Remembered

I don't know what brought this to my mind, maybe I was just reflecting on what awesome boys I have, but today I was thinking of a prophecy concerning at least one of them that was given to us several years ago. Here's the prophecy:

Patrick was at Subway buying sandwiches. The woman whose job it was to place the sandwich in the bag and ring the order dropped one of the sandwiches. Patrick told her not to worry about it, it was wrapped after all, and in the bag, so no harm no foul. She stood up, looked him in the eyes and said, "You were born on the 11th of September."

As you can imagine, Patrick was taken aback--that is in fact his birthday. He started feeling for his wallet, thinking maybe he had dropped it and she had somehow seen his license. His wallet was in his pocket. That, combined with what the lady next said, convinced him as I myself am convinced that the woman has prophetic abilities. She said, "Your son will make you very proud."

We obviously don't know which son she was talking about, but I think about her words often as I contemplate my boys' futures. There are so many possibilities for them, all which would make us very proud...I can't wait to see what the future holds, but I know for now that I need to cherish each of them and make sure they know every day how much they make me proud now.

The Spirit of Lilee

My Liliputian is an amazing little girl. She has the most tender heart and feels things that happen to others as if they are happening to her. I'll never forget when she was about one and a half and she attended a baby shower of a very dear friend with me. At one point, my friend was so overwhelmed by the expression of love from the room full of people that she began to cry. Lilee stood up out of my lap and walked over to my friend and said, "It's o-tay" and gave her a big hug. That, at a very tender age, showed Lilee's Spirit.

Her Spirit has been expressed many times since then, and several times in the last couple of weeks. About one week ago Lilee came inside sobbing. I couldn't imagine what could have happened to have prompted such emotion from her, but I finally gathered, between sobs, that a butterfly had died. Apparently a hornet stung the butterfly (Patrick had seen the event while mowing the grass) and the butterfly immediated fell to the ground, lifeless. The reality that the butterfly was dead was excruciating to her. Nature just doesn't seem fair to her...too often, I agree.

Tonight, as I was on my way home from tutoring, Patrick told me about a conversation he had with Lilee in my absence. Lilee was talking about a little girl with whom she eats lunch. The little girl said that she does not believe in God. Lilee asked the little girl how, if she did not believe in God, did she get warm when she was cold, because that is what the Spirit of God does--makes you warm when you are cold. I don't know what the little girl's response was, but I do know how very proud I am of Lilee's faith and of the Spirit God has given her which both warms her and my own heart as well.

On Almost Losing a Child...

Last night, as the girls (myself, my mother, Lilee, Michelle (mom's friend), and her daughter Grace) were on our way to dinner, I had a nervous feeling of disaster. It struck me so hard that the stop sign ahead of us came quickly and unexpectedly, despite the fact that I have approached it many times. There was just such a feeling of dread that came over me, and it stuck with me into the late hours of night until I went to sleep about 1AM. All of the girls were fine, so my feelings must have been unfounded... I had no idea that my feelings were a premonition of things soon to happen back at home.

I awoke this morning at 4:30 in my parents cabin to the loud ringing of the phone. Patrick had just returned from Northside Hospital Forsyth with the boys. I could tell from his voice he was both weary and emotional as he told me that Holt had been rushed to the emergency room with something lodged in his throat.

It took several conversations and some much needed sleep to get all the details, but Holt had woken up at some time in the night and decided to play alone in the playroom. Though not normally a child to put things in his mouth, he had decided to put a miniature action figure of a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle between his chompers. Something must have gone terribly wrong, because he made it down the stairs, a trail of bile following him, with the toy lodged deep in his throat. He was able to get to our bedroom (it was about 2AM) where Patrick woke to sounds of gasping and gurgling.

Holt could not respond to Patrick's questions but was breathing and, in a panic, Patrick threw him and Daegan in the car and rushed to Northside Forsyth about six minutes away. I wasn't there, but I can only imagine the scene as it unfolded: doctors took Holt into an emergency room and held him down to a gurney as he thrashed, gasping for air and afraid while they encircled his little body. Daegan screamed for his brother, afraid the doctors were hurting, not helping him. Patrick was forced to remove Daegan from the frantic scene, thus removing himself from Holt's side. When he got into the quiet of the ER corridor and in realization of the great helplessness one feels in situations such as these, Patrick threw up; the emotion was too much.

Within minutes Master Splinter was removed and Holt was breathing once again. He was kept for a few hours of observation and fell asleep not long after the sensei was removed. (Wish we could say the same for daddy and mommy!)

Patrick and I have always been acutely grateful for the lives of each of our children. So much so that I have often (perhaps arrogantly) thought ourselves more sensitive than many other parents to the fact that we don't deserve our children and thus the weight of the responsibility for their care bears heavily on our hearts. But, grateful has taken on new meaning today. Today, we understand through experience what it is like to almost lose a child.

Out of the Mouths of Babes

A few of my favorites from the mouths of my own rugrats at some point in their lives (to be added to when to not do so would be neglecting the spirit of childhood...

Daegan is a very sentimental and loving child. He has recently been on a kick asking Patrick and I "where our heart is," to which we respond by showing him the location of our hearts in our chests. About a week ago, I was coming inside with the kids, Holt and I ahead of the older two and I heard a loud pop. I knew from the silence that someone had been hit. Sure enough, Daegan began crying and I asked what happened. Lilee stood looking guilty and Daegan, between sobs, heaved out "Lilee broke my heart!" (Lilee had hit him in the chest for throwing her Webkin across the room). It was the sweetest and saddest thing to hear him say those words! (12/28)

So...more days have passed than usual with my children not enlightening me with their vast wisdom, but today it finally happened--twice! First, Daegan, Lilee and her friend Lilianna got in a bit of trouble when playing on our water slide. Needless to say they were all put in time out. When the appropriate time had passed, the girls were asked if they knew why they were in time out, to which they replied correctly their wrondoings. Daegan, when asked the same question, stated quite accurately (and in all seriousness): "Because you told me to!" I'm not so sure a lesson was learned by him, but I sure did learn a lot about how to phrase questions with a 4 year old!

One evening, quite late, Lilee wanted strawberries. I thought, "No problem. Their healthy, she's hungry, I'll give the kid what she wants." So, as I'm getting them ready, she says: "If you eat lots of strawberries you'll get fat. Is that right?" I said, "No, strawberries are good for you. They won't make you fat." She then said, "Oh. So if you eat a few strawberries you'll be short!" Somehow along the way to learning to eat healthy, Lilee thinks you are either fat or short (I don't think she understands the word skinny).

My mom was taking Lilee and my grandmother (Lilee's GiGi) to an apple orchard somewhere in Jasper to get some, well, apples. So, on the way Lilee asks: "Nana, where are we going?" So my mother tells her they are going to get apples. Lilee promptly responded: "What the he - - do we need apples for?" My grandmother about died and my mom made Lilee repeat herself (thinking she had heard wrong). Nope...let's just say Lilee's vocabulary is vast; a sign of intelligence I think. (Or the direct influence of my brother, but it's hard to say which.)

Ah, the wonders of Harry Potter began early for Daegan. He was three when he proclaimed: "I want Pot!"--meaning of course he wanted to watch Harry Potter on DVD.

When my daughter was maybe two, we dealt with tantrums by saying: "Lilee, No Fits!" She would promptly respond by trying to repeat us: "No Sh--!" This became problematic when she would try to discipline other children who were throwing fits (particulary at church)...

You're probably wondering about Holt...well, truth is he is a man of few words ("eat" and "more" being his favorites). I think when he can finally talk we are in for an earful.

Words of Wisdom

Notes to self:

1) It is better to remove a child from the tub after he has finishedpeeing as opposed to while he is committingthe act. (Yes, even if his siblingsare still in the tubwith him).

2) If your four year-old is going to the bathroomand suddenly gets up and shuts the door and locks it, all is not okay. He is not looking for privacy, he islooking to paint--and, no, brown is not color I had intended for thebathroom.

3) Kids take things literally--that's why parents must be very sharp. Apparently, I am not. I mistakenly watched Eragon with myson and after seeing a dragon hatch from an egg, hedecided to break a few on his bedroom floor before anyone in the house woke up. I'm assuming he musthave been disappointed that the first was not a dragon--thus the second and third egg. Anyone know how to get egg out of the carpet?

4) Please excuse any spelling errors or runonwords as two year olds are fascinated with taking keys off of keyboards and I was not completelysuccessful at reattaching the spacebar.

Rear View

This school year brought with it long, and sometimes very loud adventures. Lilee, Daegan, and Holt all began going to Ocee Elementary School in Alpharetta. This means my morning and afternoon commute is often full of lively laughter, uncontrollable giggles, and on rare occasions the early morning grumpies--me, not the kids;). My camera was close at hand one recent afternoon, providing me the perfect opportunity to snap a shot of what I get to see every day during my commute...



I have to remind myself daily that NewsTalk750 really isn't all that interesting anyways and that one day I will miss these loud, boisterous hours of commuting.

Not So Terribly Toothless Afterall

Well, we avoided it for three years, but the day finally came when Mr. Daegan had to have his front tooth removed. See the root (pardon the pun) of the story below:

When Daegan was two he fell off the stairs of our front porch, hitting his tooth on the concrete. While his tooth was a little discolored, I couldn't bear for him to be toothless for five years, so the dentist kept an eye on it at his yearly check ups. Recently, x-rays revealed the necessity to remove the little booger and, to my surprise, Daegan couldn't have been more excited. (Past visits from the tooth fairy in Lilee's honor left him a little jealous I s'pose.)

In fact, Daegan loves "the tooth store" (i.e. dentist), the name he affectionately calls the brick and mortar building from which he always emerges bearing tiny gifts. Today, however, it was not the gifts that held his attention, but instead he was at once enamored with the idea of breathing in "laughing" gas. Once administered, D's procedure went "perfectly" and he has been very proud to show off his lack-of-tooth to everyone he meets. In fact, he has been such an angel during and after the extraction that I intend to ask where I can purchase the gassy bottles of happiness for future occasions of pure necessity!

As for me and how I'm coping with my baby losing his tooth in a most unnatural way, well, I'm doing just fine. It is both cute and ironic that my eldest babies have "lost" their front teeth together and while Daegan's will take about two more years to grow in, for now it is a great source of laughter for Liliputian and Mr. D and something I'm very happy they are making memories of together.

I've often wondered at God's sense of humor.

Lilee and I are polar opposites which is why she is so quick to make me laugh...and pull my hair out.

Lilee loves nature. I can't count how many times I've asked her to not bring leaf piles in the house, pick up flies with her fingers, encourage the neighborhood ducks to come on our driveway (they leave lovely piles of...well, duck poo). So, when her room was being cleaned Friday I was not completely shocked at the pile of leaves found under her bed--which crumbled into billions of pieces, impossible to remove from the high pile of our carpet without moving her bed to vacuum. When questioned about the leaves, the story she gave admittedly made me laugh.

We have a lovely butterfly bush in the back yard and Lilee is aware that butterflies were all once caterpillars. The prospect of raising her own caterpillar and then having her very own butterfly pet was too great and apparently overruled my edicts concerning leaves in the house. So, Mr. or Mrs. caterpillar lived under her bed on a nice pile of leaves....for who knows how many days...which were found while cleaning Friday...with no sign of Mr. or Mrs. caterpillar anywhere.

I hope Emerson ate it.

Simple joy, simply Holt

Holt didn't say "Mommy" until about two months ago...he's 3. "Dada"--yes, "Nana"--yes, but "Mommy"--no. Now, granted it's not the kid's fault. He is Apraxic, but nevertheless, I've inwardly sulked over the fact. Being called "Nini" for a year and then "Nonny" was less endearing than it probably should have been. But, it is true that those things you fight for mean the most once attained. When Holt finally said "Mommy" (after 7 months of speech therapy and my saying "ma-ma-ma-ma-ma-me-me-me-me" every time the poor boy tried!), my heart became a syrupy mess and nothing tasted sweeter than kissing his tiny little lips over and over! Such simple joy, such a simple word, and yet so profound to a mother...

Learning My Own Lessons

Summer came and went and I didn't do much with this blog and, honestly, I haven't felt a bit guilty about it until recently. You may have noticed the quote that opens my page, a small insight found in Stephen Dunn's "The Vanishings." It's a poem I love and one I therefore teach. I teach it to my seniors when trying to explain to them why we should write...how in the doing we preserve our legacy for better or worse.

I don't think that I meant to be a hypocrite, but intention does not erase facts does it? Somehow I figured the photos and status updates I post to MySpace or Facebook were sufficient to tell the transformations of my life. My family deserves better than that; I deserve better than that. The power of technology too often becomes the loss of power in one's personal life. I hope to gain power over my memories and those moment that create me by using this blog. So, on with it!

June 11th 2008

Summer is officially in full swing at the Bennett house. Mom's finally getting the hang of being home with the kiddos and they are getting used to mom as well. We're taking the day easy and laying around the house.