The Making of Booky Punk Punk

This is the first time in Charlie’s life that we have carved a pumpkin together.   Luckily we got around to carving it before the squirrels ate it all.  
“Ok, that is weird, Dad!”

The kids were not really sure about scraping it out at first….

But Charlie got the hang of it after a bit.  Then Wendy played with her little animals and other choking hazards while we got down to business.  Charlie wanted a monster with lots of teeth and three eyes.  

After dinner, a bath and getting ready for bed, we went out in our pajamas to see how it looked lit. 

 

Afterwards, I interviewed them.  here’s the results of their  up past bedtime thoughts.  I thought Wendy’s description was the perfect name for our happy little pumpkin monster, “Booky Punk Punk”!

Happy Halloween!  

gifts in the midst of stress: poop on the deck

Its been a crazy month followed by an insane week of moving.  I’m loosing everything, down to one sippy cup, and my brain is not much better.  Still, I have seen the Lord at work in so many ways, encouraging me and giving me a thankful heart.  I feel like it wouldn’t be fair not to mention it.   Wendy has been a big encouragement to me.  Even though caring for her often interferes with my productivity, she makes me so excited to be alive and a mother.

Our Wendy is a pistol.  A fire cracker.  A spit fire.   I find myself marveling that someone so small can be such a determined force of will. 

Since moving into our new home, (it has a back door that goes out onto the back porch and has steps to the yard), she has been declaring “Out, Out Out!”   “GO”  and “Wok (walk)” and “Yea-ya, Yea-ya(Alaythia)!”   Then she brings me her shoes, puts them in my hands and sits down on my feet so that I will put them on her and take her outside to play with Alaythia.   When I do not comply with her wishes great screams and tantrums commence! 

Yesterday, after cleaning our old apartment all day, we walked in through the back yard, but dragged Wendy straight inside, much to her dismay.  I jumped in the shower with her to rinse off the cleaning solutions and dust before dinner and then wrapped her in her towel and sent her through the bathroom door to find Dada, who I had just spoken to about something else.  When I got dressed and met Jonathan coming up from the basement, I asked him where Wendy was, but he hadn’t seen her.  We had a short  moment of panic and then found her with her thunder-thighs and glory rolls all naked to the neighborhood, happily eating rocks out of a planter on the back porch.  (It turns out she doesn’t need my help to go “OUT” anymore.)  She looked up at us and grinned, then turned to look out over the yard, showing us her back side, and threw up her arms to roar triumphantly at the sky.  

As I grabbed her hand to lead her inside, I noticed she had left a pile of droppings on the deck and a puddle on the door jam.  All I could think about was how much I liked her—even more because she had just pooped on the floor and cared not one bit about it!  Thinking of her yelling out her victory kept me smiling all day.  So splendidly alive, this girl of ours!

watermelon faces

watermelon + dress refashioned from an old maternity top + favorite chair = Mama stops making lunch for a photo shoot.  right?  Of course, every time! 

It really is no wonder that she is exhausted after three hours of being awake!  This girl knows how to express her emotions and how to make sure we ALL experience them right along with her!

To her father, And his…
To the man who has stuck by my side in this high-seas adventure called parenting.  For the boy of my heart who knows how to be calm in the storm, speaks with wisdom, and who day after day, gives us the gift of FUN!  

Your children are blessed to call you Dada, and I’m blessed to be your girl. 
HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!

shooting the breeze

Wendy has started jumping in on the conversations belonging to the fully verbal members of the family.    Of course, not being able to talk has limited her ability to participate, but it has not dampened her enthusiasm for trying.   She patiently waits until she hears a word she recognizes and then loudly belts out her version of it.  It often has nothing whatsoever to do with the conversation.  Here are two examples:  (Charlie and Mama are reading a rather factual book about bats.  The discussion is about how they can fly without seeing. On the floor, Wendy is chewing on a Woody pez dispenser and determinedly trying to stuff a kid’s cymbal into her shoe.)

Charlie:  Dey can see in the dawk?  Like me, cuz I eat cawots?
Mama:  No, they can’t see in the dark, but they can hear so well with their ears that they they don’t bump into things.
Charlie:  But how do du bats heaw so good?
Wendy:  (ripping Woody out of her salivating mouth and getting up to come at us with an intense look on her face, all the while repeating in a hoarse, growling voice)  Ba-BA(Batman)!  BA-BA, BA-BAH(BATMAN)!!!!

(In the car on the way to prayer group at a house where Charlie recently enjoyed playing in the back yard during a graduation party for their daughter. )

Charlie: Are we goin der to go outside and eat those yummy muwbewies(mulberries) again?
Mama: No, we are going to prayer group. We will stay inside this time.
Charlie: Why did we go outside dah last time we was dere?
Mama: That was a party with lots of people. This is just prayer group and we will all fit inside.
Charlie: It was Miss Mwee’s biwfday?
Wendy: (suddenly erupting from her car seat, in a loud, droning and very off-key tone) Ha Boo-yay! HA BOO-YAY! HAP BUTAY NEh yuh….hu…..nu… HAPT BOO-YAY!!!!

Wendy’s growing conversation “skills” have been all but ignored until I noticed her doing this yesterday. Since then, I have not been able to stop laughing at her.  Even though she seriously sounds like she has dementia and hearing problems, I love how intensely this sweet ‘goyul’ wants to keep up and be part of her family!

She Argues!

I had my first conversation, I mean, argument, with Wendy tonight as she was finishing up dinner .  

Wendy:  rubbing her fists up and down in opposite directions on on her chest, “Baaah”

Mama: “You want a bath?”

Wendy: more fist rubbing with an excited expression, “Baaah!  Bee-Bee, baaah!”

Mama: “Wendy wants a bath?    No, we are not going to have a bath tonight.  We can wash your hands?”

Wendy: crying, Baaah!!  Baaah, Bee-bee baaah!!!!! 

Mamma:  “No, Wendy, you already had a bath today.  But we can wash your hands!”

Wendy:  more fussing, throwing back head against chair, “Baaah, baaah!    Baaah!!!”  (pause)   Looking up at me, measuring my face, now in a high pitched voice, hitting palms against her chest, “Pee?”

Mama:  “Please?  Bath, please?   Sorry honey, no bath tonight.”   trying to change the subject “Are you all done?  Do you want to get down?”

Wendy:  cheerfully flapping hands, then pointing down,  “Ahh-daa, ahh-daa!”

Mama:  pretending to be enthusiastic, hoping she is distracted,  “Ok then, let’s get you down and go wash your hands!”

Wendy: rubbing her fists up and down in opposite directions on on her chest, “Baaah!”

Mama: […]

I am more stubborn than you, that’s what I am!

Memorial Day Water Fun

What fun it is to wake up and go on a little drive to a park, see our family, swim, picnic, slide and then come home again all in the same day!
         
I wish close proximity with my family was the norm for all my life, but I can honestly say that having a brother and sister  four hour drive away is the closest I have ever lived to my family since 9th grade.   That’s a sad thought, so lets not linger there.    Instead let’s look at this! And this!And this!
    

And after all that looking and laughing, let’s just agree that holiday’s truly are for
sharing with your family!  What a blast!

A chair my own size…

      I’ve often thought --
here, where table tops fit clean over my head
and the door knobs are so very very much out of reach--

I’ve often thought,
and I’ve often wished for a chair.
A chair just my size:
right height for my legs,
right width for my girth. 

A place to eat snacks while swinging my feet
Ahh, to enjoy a good book
from my very own seat!

A place for my behind to rest while I’m writing,
so I wouldn’t be so late with my
first-birthday-thank-you-note-sending!

Yes, it would please me so,
I’ve often thought
to have a chair just like this,
in my very own spot!

And this one surely would fit,
if only I could stop ending up
with my rump on the floor when I sit!

Study Break

It is that time of year again, when finals begin and Jonathan dissapears into the back room/office and we don’t seem him for many days while he studies and writes himself to exhaustion.  We’ve been keeping ourselves pretty occupied, without him, but occasionally the kids still break through my barricades and try to engage Jonathan in some play time. You may or may not remember my summary of Charlie’s complicated attempts to ‘distract’ Dada from work and study.  Wendy has been developing her own strategy for claiming Dada’s attention. 

Who me?It goes like this:  She walks in, puts a hand on his arm, looks up at him, babbles a few baby syllables and then he turns into mush….

It works every time.  Here they are working on their sword fighting skills, when he is trying to cram for an exam less than two hours away.  But that’s how it is with girls and their Dada’s!

Wendy Week: Happy 1st Birthday!

You woke up at 6:30 this morning, but that’s usual.  Dada brought you into bed to nurse. I love nursing you.  You love being done so that you can flop over on your stomach, wiggle your legs over the edge and slide off.  You head straight for the curtain to see your tree and check for birds and squirrels.  If you see one, you lean up on your tip-toes to watch it run or fly as far as you can.  Then you check on us, lying in bed, watching you, to see if we saw it too.   We didn’t, but that doesn’t stop us from talking about it with you.

                          Then Charlie starts humming.  He does that every morning when he wakes up, and every morning I promise myself, that I’m going to get a recording of it before he grows out of this stage.  I love his morning songs.  He loves having the bedroom to himself to wake up in.   He takes a while to wake up, he likes to be alone, and snuggle with his blankets before he is ready to see anyone, but especially you, Wendy.  Your exuberant “Eye(Hi)!” is too much for him first thing.  Except this morning.  When I walk in and I tell him that it is your birthday today, he is immediately up.  Excited.  And he wants to give you a birthday hug.  You love it!

We have breakfast in stages, and video chat with your grandparents while you open your packages from them.  Charlie helps you.  You have no idea what it is to do something interesting by yourself. When you are bigger, you are going to fight for independence from his interest in your life just like you fight for independence from us. But you aren’t big enough for that yet. Right now, whatever you are focused on is better if you are next to him and he is doing it with for you. After presents, you take a nap.  This morning there were thunderstorms and Charlie was very worried about the noise, but it didn’t bother you at all.   You slept from 8:45 to 10:45 and woke up very refreshed.  Charlie wanted to get in with you, which made you bounce and shriek and bonk your head on the side of the crib.  Sometimes enthusiasm can be painful, but I love the way you don’t let that stop you.  You know its worth it for the fun!After some snacks we got dressed to go to the store.  I remembered we had some rain boots for you, and Charlie was so excited about going “mudin WITH Wendy!”  It turns out you rock boots.  I have never seen cuter knees in boots. Ever. To Market to Market to buy some fresh cream, white chocolate and bread
Home again, Home again, let’s bake up a cake, just like we said….I do have to say, this picture is reminding me that I adore the way you wave to everything and everyone we pass when you are in the stroller or any kind of cart.  It makes me feel like I’m pushing the Queen of England, or Miss America on a float….elbow, elbow, wrist wrist, touch your pearls and blow a kiss….Today, because it was your birthday, you and Charlie each picked out a little balloon.  Actually Charlie picked them both out.   A blue smiley face and a yellow smiley face.  You immediately began to gnaw on your balloon while Charlie hyperventilated about it popping and I repeatedly told him, it was fine and to let me be the Mommy.   Until I noticed that you had a strange golden smile—the yellow paint was coming off where you were licking the balloon—and then it was time for me to hyperventilate.  I only tell you this so that you will know, someday when you are a Mom, that sometimes you will make the very best, most well-intentioned mistakes.   And it is Ok.  Also, balloons are really not a toy, but they should be. Thankfully, you were just as happy to chew on the little plastic stick that came with the balloon for the rest of our trip.  After lunch and a glorious nap with your brother,  we shared a bowl of blackberries.   It makes me laugh how very anxious you get about making sure that your tray stays full when you are eating something you really like.  If you get down to the last five or six bites you start asking and crying for more as if you had none left at all.

  

Then it was time to go muddin!  Charlie was really excited about going with you! 

    You on the other hand, planted your feet, leaned over to touch the muddy water once or twice, and then signed to me in no uncertain terms that you were “All done!”  You watched the rest of the proceedings from the stroller, with a wary look. 

…Until we found a puddle that didn’t involve grass and squishy mud!Of course, after the muddin, we needed baths.  You and Charlie sang a bath-time duet.  Charlie was singing about the snack he was about to get.  You were singing for the pure joy of bathing (and being with Charlie)!

After your baths we had dinner.  I made a favorite: peas with chicken and rice in coconut milk, and a little ginger to flavor it.  You ate a LOT for dinner tonight!  

Then our neighbors, the Sandersons walked over to help us sing to you and watch you blow your candle out.  You weren’t really sure how to.  Don’t worry, we will work on that.   But Charlie was glad to help!

Everyone was happy to eat cake!    (I made the butterflies out of white chocolate. It was fun to imitate your first birthday cake, though mine is not quite the creation that first one was! )…Looks like you did a good job eating it yourself!Not many girls get two baths in a day.  Still, but I figured it worked out perfectly, since they are one of your favorite activities.  

There you are, Zu-zu, heading off to bed with sleepy eyes.   Full of rice and chicken and cake; fully ONE!   You sure celebrated well today! What a great first year!   I can’t wait to see you through other!  

Happy Birthday, Wen-d-dee-dee-deee!