CSI

CSI. Yep, that's been my life for the last few days.

I feel like I'm constantly eyeing Allison, trying to catch her in the act of thumb sucking. Or I'm looking for clues to see if she did it some time and I didn't see. Is her thumb shriveled and pruney? Is the Hoof polish stuff picked off?

She actually caught me a minute ago.

We've had a very busy morning. When we dropped Clay off at school earlier today, we took in a couple bags of items for the food drive the school is doing to help re-stock the shelves of Harvest Food Bank. Then we went on our way, off to Bible Study Fellowship.

We're in Matthew, and today's lecture was really great. I am mulling all kinds of things in my head right now: How to tell the difference between an authentic or counterfeit Christian. How each of us is, this very moment, either actively pursuing growing as a Christian or we're stagnant. Our lecture leader asked each of us what we've learned since the study of Matthew started in September and what we've put into practice in our lives from those lessons. And then she asked us, if we aren't learning anything or putting it into practice, to consider if we have hardened our hearts. (Just in case you're interested, we're in the first part of Matthew 13, especially verses 11-17.)

Makes me wonder how many times I've hardened my heart to one of God's insights out of laziness, stubbornness, or pride. More than I want to admit. I've definitely got some praying ahead of me.

From BSF, I went to a lady from church's house. She watched Spencer and Allison last week for me so I could go to a BSF seminar, and I didn't have the checkbook to pay her. So I ran that by, and asked her to watch them again next week, because my BSF group is having a fellowship and I've only been to one so far this year.

The kids asked for Pal's, and Frenchie Fries put a major dent in what little self discipline I have, so we went.

Next stop... the library. Bruce thought since it'd be a cold weekend, we could check-out a couple movies for the kids. He doesn't know yet that I picked up a chick flick, too, though.

Then home. Finally.

I put the kids in their rooms for an hour pretty much every day. It used to be nap time, but now it's just quiet time. No electronics. Just quiet play.

As I was leaving Allison's room I saw that the polish on her thumbs was gone. I asked her if she was going to suck them if I waited until after quiet time to put it back on, and she said no. But I spied through a crack in her doorway. Only, I didn't catch her, she caught me, and even asked me to stop spying on her. So we went downstairs and put the polish on right then.

Not only am I snooping on Allison, which is where I get the "investigation" portion of my CSI days, but my boys gave me an interesting experience last night into what a crime scene might look like.

It was time to start supper and I went upstairs to pull my hair back in a pony tail, because it's long enough to do that now (goody for Bruce, but I'm sick of it already!). The kids were playing with their Star Wars Light Sabers in Spencer's room. These were last-minute gifts from "Santa", bought while we were at Disney because Spencer was so disappointed not to be chosen for a Jedi training thing. We were big time suckers on that one. Kind of like the Moon Sand from last Christmas that now stays at Great Grandpa's house because nearly all his house is linoleum and is easier to clean.

The kids have been fighting like crazy for about two weeks now. I'm just about numb from it. Over stupid stuff. "Mom, he called me a cry baby." "Mom, she looked at me mean." "Mom, he laughed at me for.... blah, blah, blah." They are spending much more time alone in their respective rooms because of it.

But yesterday, they were so sweet!

Clay was helping Spencer clean his room. They were making the bed, building a fort, etc., before the light sabers were pulled out. When I heard Spencer screaming while I was pulling my hair through a rubber band, I figured he was just mad about something that Clay had done, and I was in no rush to find out what it was. Unfortunately.

But then I heard running in addition to the screaming. First, the herd bounded down the stairs all the way to the den, then back up the stairs all the way to our master bathroom. The real kicker was when Clay started chanting: I'm sorry, Spencer. It was an accident. I'm sorry.

And then Spencer threw open the bathroom door, and I saw the most blood any of my kids has ever leaked in one setting. Spurting from his nose. And Clay was as pale as a sheet and looking like he was a dead man walking.

And you know my first thought?

Great! There's a trail of blood from bedroom to den to master bathroom.

It's not that I wasn't concerned about Spencer. But he's the kind of kid that I know he's okay quickly because he stops crying pretty much the minute you put your hands on him. He's a physical-touch love language kid, and once he was in my arms, the crying went to a whimper.

Blood does something funny to me now, as a mom of three kids. It's about the only time all emotion gets shut off. I become a robot, to get done what needs to be done. After the fact is when the shaking starts and my mind goes to all the "what ifs".

After reassuring Clay that he wasn't going to die anytime that day by my hand, I put him in charge of watching Spencer to make sure he was properly stocked with tissue and pinching his nose to stop the geyser. Funny how they can get along perfectly when necessary.

And then I went on a blood cleaning foray. It took a while. A long while.

Here's what my kids learned. If someone is bleeding, they need to get to, and stay in, either the kitchen or bathroom where the floors are easy to clean. Someone else needs to get mom or dad! They also learned that mom still trumps Santa, and all things he gives can quickly be removed from the house when I deem it necessary. Yesterday it was necessary.

Here's what I learned. I can clean up after three kids with a stomach virus just fine, thank you very much. But the metallic smell of vast amounts of blood just about does me in.

CSI, I tell you.