blame it on six

I've been busy. For a while I felt like I had my life pretty well under control- there were a few years there where I was feeling all giddy about getting to 'be grown up' having our kids and a home was fun and the livin was easy. Along came six. Not the number of people- the age SIX. Which, now that we're on to seven with Billie, I can see was just like a mood swing that lasted a year. But guess who's birthday is coming up soon? My kind, helpful son who has just happened to turn AWFUL in the last few months. Here we go again....
yikes.
Why didn't anyone tell me that six was the year from emotional hell?!!
And then we had to figure out a strategy...because our non-yelling-time-outs didn't seem to be making anything better. If only there were some kind of time out that lasted a year...that might have been useful.
I decide to go with the 'no punishment' option. Bill thinks I'm insane. We really NEEDED time outs when there were 2 and 3 very little kids around and that worked well for us for many years. But, I don't see that working forever. I think now they can start taking on the idea that you do the right thing because you respect others and because it is the right thing to do, not just to avoid punishment. So...that's what we've been working on here. That, and having family visits, attending an absurd number of bbqs and birthday parties before people leave for the summer, Bill getting moved right up to a higher position at work which involves busier days during work hours, taking Turkish lessons, keeping Cort from darting off to the bathroom when no one is looking, weekly field trips to augment homeschooling, Billie and Jackson being 'official' 2nd and 1st graders- continuing our 'lesson's through the summer, reading reading reading, pool time and playing outside. Then there's Bill who wanted to climb Mt. Ercyie with some friends and then he came up with a work-out plan and then he had the gall to actually STICK to his new plan, he's running five miles for 'fun' (??!!) and doing all this other excercise-y stuff with those fit-type people like running races and Saturday morning bike rides all over the hills of Turkey. I remain committed to a nightly snacking pattern and my yoga class is on hiatus for the summer so I am alone in my couch-potato status in the family. phew. i think that's it.
But I'm going to start blogging again, with renewed commitment- so that there's some record of all the life that's happening here at the speed of light.