Outlets

"Said Miss Clevel it seems to me, he needs an outlet for his energy. A chest of tools might be attractive, for a little boy who is very active."

-Ludwig Bemelmans

My kids are always in need of a way to get out their energy. They all have different ways that I find work the best for them.

I haven't found Isabelle's yet. When she is upset or doesn't want to cooperate she throws a tantrum and falls on the floor. She doesn't care how hard the floor is or what is going on around her. In this picture she is at the airport protesting the unfairness of not being able to run where she wants. I need a trick to dealing with her but so far I am losing. She was so mellow until she learned to walk a few months ago that this all came as a surprise.
When Xander and Brevan are cooped up for too long things are not pretty. Recently they got some chalk from their Oma for memorizing the first two Articles of Faith. It was really too cold outside for this, but after 15 minutes they were tired and cold and happy.

When Xander starts to get grumpy he needs to work. If he is given some odd job to do he works hard and has a great time. This is him sanding the walls in the new room. He did such a great job there wasn't any putty left in some places and it had to be redone. It started out as a punishment but he thought it was the best thing since Riding the Front Runner to Ogden.
One day everyone was fighting so I gave them all clorox wipes and had them scrub things. I thought they would be upset but they thought it was fun. It did stop the fighting though and I guess that was the point. They were all happy and playing together afterwards. Isabelle even helped. Another time I had them scrub parts of the floor. I think I might have discovered something wonderful. Less work for me and happy kids!

I scream, you scream!

Ice cream is one of those things that I have a love/hate relationship with. I love to eat it, and I hate to clean it off of kids. My kids all go through a head-napkin stage where they think that their head is a napkin. They get their hands as messy as possible and smear it all over in their hair. Sometimes I think it is done deliberately to try and get a bath. The worst is noodles, especially in red sauce, followed by ice cream. Luckily the boys are out of the hair-napkin stage and Isabelle only does it occasionally now. That doesn't mean that they always find their mouth though.

I understand that eating ice cream can make a mess around a person's mouth, but on their forehead? Xander is very talented.
When you want a cone and don't believe in actually eating the cone it takes a lot of skill to get every last bit of ice cream out with your tongue. Brevan has mastered it. There is no way to have a clean face if this is your method.
With babies we usually give them an empty cone and avoid the mess all together. It usually takes them quit some time to realize that they are being completely ripped off. This is the day Isabelle made that discovery and so we reluctantly gave her some ice cream. Some messes are worth a smile like that.