Moving, Settling, and Chaos

The last few months have been filled with complete and total chaos. We moved at the beginning of September and still have not quite found our equilibrium. I find myself struggling with the day to day... and the super whiny kids... as we all try to adjust to these most recent changes.

For starters, the kids' toys have taken over and seem to be multiplying as though we had turned loose a few dozen bunnies into the house. No matter how hard we try, I can't seem to get a grip on the toy organization. We have managed to eliminate toys flooding into the entirety of the house, but the girls' room completely out of control. I'm at a loss as to what I should do, short of just throwing them all away... which has certainly crossed my mind a time or two.

We're trying to initiate and maintain a new policy for food. The food can no longer travel throughout the house. Instead, people are supposed to actually sit at the table and eat. This has been one of our most difficult challenges. Our girls have become accustomed to sitting in front of the television when they eat. Transitioning to eating at the table has been met with quite a lot of complaint. To be honest, I do not really care if they eat in front of the TV. The problem is that they rarely manage to keep the food on their plate or in their mouth. It gets scattered ... and stepped on ... or covered up with something and forgotten ... the list could go on. So the new rule has more to do with keeping the carpet clean than actually being concerned about their television habits.

One good thing is that Daddy gets to come home for lunch most days. With all the blessings that this brings, there is also a bit of frustration that goes along with it, too. Some days the girls really hate to let him leave when it's time to go back to work. Other days he doesn't get to come home because he's busy in court and then the girls are sad. And then some days they don't even notice...

Kira is starting to learn the calendar based on "school days" or "not school days." As you know, we home school so "school days" had no meaning to us - until Tyler. Yes - Tyler. He has completely changed the way our days operate. Tyler is 7 years old and lives a couple of doors down. He and Kira spend their afternoons gleefully playing in the trees and bushes around our apartment building. In fact, Kira has informed me that she will be marrying Tyler when she is all grown up --- IF that's okay with him.

My days used to start with the inevitable "I'm hungry!" Now they start with the inevitable "Is today a school day mom?" Followed by, "What time will Tyler be home from school?"

Yes, we've settled into a bit of chaos all because we decided to move. Sigh...

Competition

I just wanted to take a moment to share a bit of an observation...

I have heard a lot over the past years about how competition is not good for young children and their fragile self esteem. I have heard a lot about how schools are doing more to protect children from feeling as though they are competing against each other academically. I have even heard of sporting events that take place without the disadvantage of score keeping because the kids might be upset if they lost a game... (as if they can't keep score on their own).

I can't help but be amused by all this avoidance of competition when I see just how many competitive TV Shows there are these days.

 -- Chopped
 -- Iron Chef
 -- Dancing with the Stars
 -- Cupcake Wars

The list could go on and on and on...

It seems that television has overcompensated for the lack of competition in the school setting.