Babysitter needed

With all of the hustle of raising 3 children in a family, there must be time allotted for the individual (i.e. self), the couple, and then fun time with the kids. Often times I find it difficult to have fun because I mix up the roles of dad, professional, and husband.

Interchanging the roles are okay but I believe there has to a be a priority to things. With this in mind I must force the order as follows: husband, dad, and then professional...

Back from my segway, I NEED A BABYSITTER! I saw a soft add on Facebook about a student I used to teach. That is ideal because she is old enough (and in this case mature enough) to handle the responsibility that comes with the job. My children are 3, 4 and 9. The 9 year old is entering her Tween phase ("Grrr"). My 4 year old is the middle child, asthmatic, and if that weren't enough, is in constant competition with her other two siblings. Lastly my 3 year old is the only boy, new to the "Terrible Two's" phase, and I'll leave it at that.

The ideal babysitter would be old enough to not fall prey to any of the aforementioned strong personalities and needs. This babysitter would be mature enough to hold a 5 minute time out when needed and be able to multitask well. This person would be resourceful when necessary (e.g. able to give medicine to Ella, call if things could get out of hand, etc). Ultimately this person would be available to care for our children the way my wife and I would normally for a 3-5 hour time slot occasionally.

Do you know of that person?

The Race...

So this week Molly, Gabriella and I were doing our usual race to the car after dropping Quentin off. But this is where our race took a turn for the worse. Let me back up a little to tell you our brief race history and the details of the racing therein.

The history of our race is as follows: One day I raced Molly (holding Gabriella) to the car and she won. Another day we raced again (with the same format) and I won. Keep in mind that this all happens after we drop Quentin off for daycare at about 7 am in the morning. Back to where it took a turn for the worse.

In this final race something went horribly wrong. I will set the scene. It's dark outside. I'm holding Gabriella while Molly is set in her faux race stance ready to go. As she starts to run she yells go and we started from near the door for the daycare. We ran across the grass down a sloping lawn with a payment separating the lawn and the car. After I struggle to win I struggle to gain my balance and slow down then speed up just enough for a photo finish. Then all of a sudden I smack into our car!

I twisted my body at the last minute because I was afraid Gabriella would get any of the impact. While doing this I landed full force on the mirror on the passenger's side of the car. I kick myself for falling victim to "the race" but am glad to etch another great memory in the minds of the Hasty Kids.

What I learned at Daycare

When your child comes home from Daycare you have faith that they will learn the best; e.g. artwork, songs, habits, etc. This is not the case at our current daycare. Since September Quentin has come home with too many examples of what the ideal daycare should not look like.
Two incident reports, habits of my-way-or-the-highway temper tantrums, and an oral fixation (i.e. talking in a rude manner and licking just about anything).

We are doing better since our original outbreak. Quentin bit Gabriella on the back and that's what prompted this current post. Since then Quentin has been acting better but I am on my toes...

Christmas Pictures 2012

Shout out to Santa at the Montgomerryville Mall this week. His helpers made sure that the Hasty  kids were taken care of (even though Quentin was scared of him). Next year Quentin will understand because Gabriella was the same way he was last year.

What a hassle getting them there. I mean as soon as G & Q were in the car they started screaming because they were both tired and hungry; I guess. Both didn't even want me to buckle their belts. Gabriella was upset that her seat belt was sticking. Quentin was upset just because he could.

Afterwards, we went to Chili's across the street from the mall. The service seemed slow but the food was pretty good. It all went as planned but I just wish the kids acted nice in restaurants, being that Eileen and I like to go so much.

Tempter Tantrum part 1...

One morning this week Gabriella reminded me of the following: that she still thinks she is the boss in this house, she is an important child, and that she is relevant. Gabriella is all of these things and her need to tell me rolled into an AM-tempter-tantrum while my wife and I were hustling to get ready for work.

I am an advocate of time out but when you are short on time you can't/won't/don't time-out. Other forms of punishment came to mind but I settled on my particular favorite, which is taking their favorites away. Every Friday morning I get the children a treat on our way to daycare, etc. This treat is always sweet and (to be more specific) usually is a pop-tart or a donut.

I immediately eventually threatened her with taking the brown sugar and cinnamon pop tarts away on Friday. This didn't work and (to make a long story short) I eventually got of the door with our children to get on with our morning.

I feel the urge to break down exactly what her tantrum consisted of but I will spare you and save that for a later post (if I can remember). Gabriella has the strongest personality/attitude/will-power out of all three of the Hasty children and that will benefit her in the future. I just hope that she doesn't persist in using that will-power against me because I don't want to have to write about it again.