Friendships at 5

Crazy 1 is now 5 years old, in kindergarten and already I am dealing with the I am your friend, I am not your friend issues with other children.

Crazy 1 likes everyone. I mean she truly likes everyone. There has never been anyone in her life that she has told me she does not like. I love this about her. When I ask her who her friends are at school, she lists everyone in her class. Girls first of course, but she even lists the boys.

A few months ago, there was an issue with one girl in her class, let's call her Girl 1, where she decided to inform Crazy 1 that she was not going to be friends with her on a particular day. This of course led to a meltdown at school as she is quite emotional. The Husband and I talked about it with her and I think she understood as best as she could that not everyone will like her.

A few days later, Girl 1 informed Crazy 1 that she would only be her friend if she wasn't friends with another girl, let's call her Girl 2. I was very proud of Crazy 1 that day. She let Girl 1 know that Girl 2 will always be her friend and walked away. Crazy 1 and Girl 2 seemed to bond right away at the beginning of the school year.

Now the issue is that at school, Girl 1 and Girl 2 have become partners in crime and tend to exclude Crazy 1, won't play with her, won't be her friend. There have been a few meltdowns over this at school and the teacher has stepped in to try and resolve some of it. Here is what I have done.

I told Crazy 1 that if she asks to play with Girl 2 and she says no, that's OK. Don't cry, just go and play with someone else. I don't care if she asks everyday, as long as she doesn't cry and just moves onto play with someone else. So far, most days, Girl 2 has not played with her, but there have been no more tears.

This part is hard for me as I want Crazy 1 to keep her innocence and be that trusting, liking little girl. It becomes difficult because I know that in life, not everyone will like you, and you won't really like everyone. A lesson I know she will have to learn someday, I was just hoping it would have been later, not sooner.

Last Year of the Dirty Thirties

My birthday just happened and I am now 39 years old. This is my last year in my thirties.

I am not sure how exactly I feel about this as I am now on my final approach to 40. I know I have some big decisions to make this year, most importantly if I am going to try for baby number 4, but I also feel like I am hitting a crossroads of sorts.

The Husband is pretty much certain there will be no more babies in this house. He is already overwhelmed with having the 3 crazies around. I on the other hand think that I still want just one more. It's pretty crazy to think that considering I still get little to no sleep, no personal space and my body has pretty much gone to pot.

I believe that the crossroad I feel I am hitting has to do with this as well though. I am putting off things in my life waiting on this decision. I am delaying getting into shape, I haven't really gotten the children involved in anything extra curricular and I think The Husband and I are just existing in our relationship at this point.

Although I am not unhappy with my life, I still feel I could be happier. I am not dreading the milestone of 40, just wondering if I have accomplished what I should have by now, and maybe take a close look at what else I want to do in my life, maybe compile the dreaded 'Bucket List'.

Here is to 39, and looking forward to 40!

What to Make for Dinner?

At our house we often have an issue with dinner, or rather the crazies eating what I make for dinner. I have always fed the crazies whatever we eat, but I find that lately it's become a challenge.

Crazy 1 is very picky. She does not like ground meat at all, tomato sauce is a big no-no and prefers her food to not be touching. This is difficult for me as I tend to make a lot of casseroles as I can make them ahead of time when Crazy 2 and Crazy 3 are napping and then pop them in the oven. Even if the casserole is all things she likes, she usually refuses to even try it.

Crazy 2 is not usually picky, but lately he has been picking up some of Crazy 1's bad habits. Today at dinner, all he ate was rice. I made a stirfry with chicken, cashews and green pepper (all things he eats) but he refused to touch any of it, even after Crazy 1 informed him that the chicken was 'Super Yummy!'.

Crazy 3 is still easy. He hasn't started on food other than purees, and so far will eat pretty much anything. He has some preferences, but there is nothing so far that he has refused.

If my children had their way, I think they would eat Macaroni/Cheese and hotdogs for every meal. I'll be honest, sometimes I am tempted.