A Voice from the Eastern Door
A Voice from the Eastern Door
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In an effort to teach my sons how about chores and responsibilities, I’ve really had to crack the whip. My struggle to enforce the clean up after yourself rule is an uphill one. A good example, I could ask Big Brother five times to hang up his jacket before he ever so slowly picks it up and drags it to his coat hook. Little Brother pretends he’s asleep when asked, or asks, “Why?” You really try not to overuse the phrase, “Because I said so, that’s why,” but it fits so well in such situations. Lately, I’ve been leaving their Legos out inste...
It’s February break and the boys have been hanging out with me. Since there was no school, my mom offered to take Big Brother for one night this week. She came and picked him up around lunchtime. He was so ready to get away from his brother and his mom, and get a break. You’d think he spent a year with us if you went by his demeanor. When really he had just slept over at his Tota girls Saturday night. For two days he didn’t want anything to do with us. He’d go in a room by himself and watch a movie or play. I’m sure winter carnival exhausted...
On Friday the kids were lucky and got a snow day. No school meant sleeping in and staying in jammies. They were so happy when they woke up on their own and realized that they had slept in and could stay home and play. Big Brother said, “Of all the days to use my homework pass I use it when I have extra days for it!” Two hours into the day we find out that one of his best friend/cousins was on his way over to play. Big Brother was ecstatic, he had wanted this buddy to come over the night before but it didn’t work out. They had a lot of fun a...
We do a lot of joking around at this house. Even when we have kids visiting we have to pull their leg or test out their gullibility. Last week we had a packed house. Both American and Canadian schools had a half-day so big brother had a busy afternoon. A few cousins got off the bus here in addition to one who’s getting to know us. During the day my husband came home and was getting ready to jump on his four-wheeler. One of the kids saw him putting on his facemask and grabbing a helmet. The little boy asked my husband, “Where are you going? Wha...
The last few weeks have been especially trying. You know that old saying bad news come in threes? Well in my case it’s more like multiply it by 3 and then maybe one more time for good measure. It hasn’t been a good season for me and washing machines. I went through two by the time Christmas rolled around. Faced with the kids having a good Holiday or a new washing machine, I started trucking the laundry between home and the laundry mat. Then right after Christmas our car broke down. The truck has already been off the road since October so I was...
Little brother is my little cuddler. He always has needed to be held or have to be right next to us to fall asleep. The only times he’s fallen asleep alone is in his car seat. On rare occasions from sheer exhaustion he would just drop where he’s playing. Since he was a baby I tried everything. There were times that he slept in his crib but he’d wake up about an hour later and scream for us. Then at eight or so months he scaled the crib to get out. After that it was safer to let him sleep with us than sleep with one eye open, waiting to hear...
When you have kids you can bet money on them embarrassing you throughout their childhood. They don’t do it on purpose but it is given in to this merry-go-round ride of motherhood. Now I have two boys who have no regard for what embarrassing antics they might put me through. After talking to my parents about certain things it came to my attention that I had no idea how many awkward moments have accumulated this winter alone. And the season isn’t even over yet! Hope you enjoy what has unfolded as much as my parents enjoyed laughing at my exp...
I hope everyone enjoyed their holidays. I know my boys did. Big brother had been counting down the days until Christmas break for two weeks before it arrived. All he wanted to do was stay home, sleep in and stay home some more--the ultimate homebody. Little brother is our bundle of chaos, who aside from loving to stay by our side, really loves to use all floor space for his little projects and playtimes. Of course we have to almost fight with him to pick up his stuff after he loses interest. Christmas Eve came with the boys being so excited...
I had planned on doing an article about things that we are thankful for around Thanksgiving but it didn’t work out. Once in awhile I find it good to give shout-outs to those individuals and programs in Akwesasne that we may take for granted. There are tons of good folks in our community who we may be shy to tell good job or thanks for stepping up. I remember back when I was a kid the lack of events, activities and playground equipment. In the last twenty years we have gone from one or two family events a year to a few if not more per month. A...
There is nothing that gets my kids off track like long weekends and school vacations. Little Brother went back to school this week with such a fight that I feared the future years of dragging him to the bus stop. All last week his school was closed for parent teacher conferences and Thanksgiving break. But he actually had an even longer break because we had to go to Ottawa for a doctor’s appointment the Friday before. So for ten whole days he was stuck to his mom again. When Monday rolled around he cried and begged to stay home “One mo’ day m...
Big brother has recently become more into having friends and hanging out rather than wanting to play video games or go to the playground. If we are headed to the playground he asks, “Who can we take with us?” He isn’t interested in just going with little brother and myself. Lately, most days we’ve had an extra child or two hanging out. I personally find that sibling bickering is squashed when you add a friend. Big brother is content and little brother who is forever the tail will go back and forth between his usual victim and a new unsuspe...
This weekend Big Brother turned eight years old. Leading up to it he had big plans but he kept changing his mind. He had overheard grownups talk about this new addition to the Carousel Mall in Syracuse. Once he heard that the mall had indoor go-cart racing, that’s all he wanted to do for his birthday. We explained to him that he wouldn’t be able to have a big party like he always does and go away for go carting. Big Brother didn’t care about presents and cake as long as he got to take a few of his buddies to race with him. I did a little bit o...
It’s become that time again. The boys have begun to want their mom or their dad all to themselves. It happens when we baby-sit a lot or our schedule gets so busy that we haven’t been given the chance to really listen to their stories as well as they’d like. Little brother just seems to want his dad to do everything for him. A few days last week I was told I couldn’t take him to the bus stop because he wanted only bubba to take him. If I have to run to the store little brother chooses to stay home with his dad even if has spent the last two day...
When raising children you are responsible for so much. We teach them to share, encourage them to be brave and give them a shoulder to cry on. We listen to their fears and try to coax them to overcome them. As they grow and their world gets bigger so do the problems they’ll face. We teach them it is wrong to hit by example and mediate squabbles so that there is no payback, repeating, “Hands to yourself and do not use hurtful words towards each other.” I tell my boys it’s not our way as kaniekeha. The lessons that are hard are when they deal wi...
Lately Little Brother has become quite the little pretender. It’s hilariously cute, the things he comes up with and it’s fun to watch. A serious look will come across his little face, you know the wheels are turning. Then off he goes in a full out sprint to get what supplies he needs for his latest mission. His favorite construction project is making forts. He’ll drag the blankets and pillows from every one of our beds to a spot of his choice and begin. One wall is the couch and the front wall consists of pillows. Finally he chooses a wall...
As I’ve written before, I took little brother out of daycare back in April and had spent most of the time keeping him busy and happy. We had a few one-on-one months while big brother finished up school. The summer was a juggle of playmates, sleepovers, and lots of trips to playgrounds. As the school year approached I was looking forward to a few hours to myself. I enjoy my children but it’s been a while. I thought maybe I’d finally get to read those last ten chapters of the book I’ve dragged to all those playground trips. Or maybe I’d get...
After working hard on his speech, little brother has been talking really clear. He still has his cute mix ups with his t’s and k’s. When he says them they sound like d’s and g’s. A few others too, but you get the idea of what he is trying to tell you. Now that’s he’s got the hang of expressing himself and others understand him, he’s begun to open up to anyone who will listen. He never was too shy, so he makes us laugh with the things we catch him talking about. Here are twenty of my favorite quotes from this week. This is comes from both the...
The brothers have started school. Big brother was so ready to go back. After a few months of his Brother’s sabotage antics he was frazzled like one of those stressed out mothers we see in Walmart. A few days before school he had his outfit set out on his dresser. His first day back was no sweat. He barely allowed me to snap a photo before he took off. When the bus came he ran off and didn’t look back. Off to the third grade. Little brother also picked his own outfit. But he’s more of the last minute type like me and set out his clothes at be...
It was time to do school shopping again and for the first time I was done a week and a half early! I usually wait right until the weekend before school, but I had the opportunity to go this past weekend instead of next. What a relief to have it done and have all their new stuff tucked away in the drawers waiting for the beginning of a new school year. The reason why I would always wait until the very last minute with Big Brother’s shopping was he would grow right around the end of summer, every summer. Then he shoots up again about a month i...
Little brother has made a habit out of always outdoing himself. Just when I think that there is no way he can outdo a previous stunt or sneaky adventure he ups the ante. I should have known when he was giving me heart attacks all through his first year that he’d be something of a handful. As soon as he could crawl around he crawled right up a shelving unit before I could run the ten feet to grab him. Now I know why they sell bookshelves with the strap you drill into the wall. Someone somewhere had a baby just like mine. When he learned to s...
We have been trying to go on a family camping trip for the whole summer. We were trying to hold out for Sandbanks in Ontario but there was never availability. So this past week we finally made our way. We gave up on going to Sandbanks and opted for a few nights in the Adirondack Mountains instead. Everything was packed and our boys were so excited to go on a mini vacation. We made it as far as the edge of Plattsburgh and our truck broke down. We got it towed to a shop nearby and sadly it couldn’t be fixed right away. We decided to get a h...
We hadn’t been to my grandmother’s in over a week so we were overdue for a visit. Usually they are short because little brother manages to get her so nervous with his endless jumping and running in and out of her house that she can’t have a conversation with me. Big brother has outgrown that age of bouncing around. He’s big enough for her to trust in all areas of the house and has been taking the upstairs tour each time we go over. My room used to be upstairs at her house. Also, that’s where my dad’s room was. Big Brother likes to look throug...
There is a rule in our house that if you are mean to your brother or talk back you get put on weeding the garden duty. The boys like to help in the garden just fine, as long as they get to pick when they do it, and can leave to play when they feel like it. Being a form of punishment has proven to be better than any time-out or taking away TV or toys. Big brother said one day, “having to weed the garden when we fight is the worst. I am outside just looking at my trampoline and swing and I just want to go play.” Even though little brother is onl...
Being the only girl in a house full of boys has its perks. For example, none of them want to go watch a girly movie. If I need a few minutes to myself I announce that who ever is in the room has to help me scrub or clean up. The front door slams so fast you would think I shouted, “bomb”! The brothers love me in their own special ways. Big brother, always being the type of kid to wear his heart on his sleeve, will tell me he loves us or sit with us on the couch. Little brother is not so much the gentle kind. If he randomly decided that today he...
When it comes to being a mom you do tons of ‘letting go’. You have to let go so they can take those first steps. Let go of the bike seat so they can learn to ride without your help. Let go of their hand in the water when they are getting the hang of swimming. Let go when they go to their first sleepover. Sending them to their first day of school is a big one. You let them go off on their own. Tonight I am busy packing for Big Brother; he is headed on his first vacation without us. My mom is taking him for five days for a grandma and big bro...
