…Are you ready to get out yet?

“No, Mama,  I still have to kwub it!”I do declare I may have just discovered the best way EVER to entertain a toddler and get my shower cleaned at the same time—with no effort to me at all!

(The scary looking orange goop is homemade  finger paint for the bath (courtesy of Christine).  It’s made by mixing together 1 cup of clear colored, tear-free baby shampoo or dish soap, 3 tablespoons of cornstarch and food coloring.  You can even divide it out into lots of different colors if you have the enthusiasm.  Turns out it is a great scrubbing agent as well!)

Can I hear a huzzah for child labor!?!

Sometimes

Sometimes you might wake up much before you should.  You might wake up six or seven times before you should because the baby has a cold.  In fact, you might all wake up while it is still dark.  And then you might try to make the best of it by snuggling in bed as long as you can.  (Probably only five minutes before you are wrestling in bed.  But sometimes that five minutes will seem like a miracle because boy toddlers do not, as a rule, have snuggling quietly in bed on their ‘to do’ list when they first wake up in the morning.) Sometimes—I take that back.  Always-- this type of morning pairs well with coffee (stirred with an alien-headed children's spoon from Ikea, if that is the only clean spoon).  It wakes up your mouth. Sometimes, when it might or might not be a Fall morning outside, but it is too early to tell—Sometimes when you feel too cold and tired and creaky to get up, you should make scones with your sleepy hands.  Warm buttery scones with almonds and cherries.  They warm up the kitchen.  They warm up you and take out the creaks.            Sometimes you should just leave the dirty dishes, kiss Dada good bye, and put Sister down for her nap….….and play a good game while the sun rises…Sometimes you just need to celebrate when little things go your way.  Sometimes you need to put your contacts in to go outside to look at the fog.  Sometimes, for fun, you repeat the new word you just learned over and over, “Fog.  Foggity Fog.  FOG—fog!”Sometimes the cool wet boards wake up your bare feet.  They remind your toes of mountain grasses with clinging dew--of when you were a little girl and early dawn was an exciting, splendid, secret time of day.   Your spirit might even feel a little refreshed.  Might even reach out and remember Creator-God. Here. Now. Sometimes one of the people you love most might choose that moment to tell you that he can make a face “just like Calvin, Mama!”And then you might be surprised to hear yourself laugh.  Sometimes.Because as a wise two-year old in our house says to keep himself from crying when a ball hits him in the face or when life doesn’t go his way, “Sometime dat what happen, Mama.  Yeah.  Dat happen sometimes.”

Yes, Lord, sometimes this life is what happens…  For the portion you have given me--the portion you have chosen and promised to be enough for today (oh help me see it is enough!)—for this portion I do I will choose to give you thanks!

Charlie’s Prayer

At dinner tonight:

“Der God, tank you for nana and Papa and Uncle Jon and Nana and Papa and Nana and Papa and and and … and…”

[mom prompt: “and Grandma?”]

“and Grandma and Grandpa who sings ‘no body but you’ and my food and meat balls and pagetti and my plate and my knife and my pasta and my cheese and my napkin and Mama plate and Mama food and Mama ploon and baby sistuh and (glancing around now) and ow table and my chair and baby sistuh bouncy seat and bumbo and the fan and table and my chair and mama chair and and … and…

[mom prompt: “in Jesus name…”]

“in Jess name, Amen, you got ta say Amen, Mama."

C and A do Ballet

Much to Jonathan’s chagrin, I signed Charlie up for a free ballet class offered by one of our seminarians. Alaythia spends Wednesdays with us and so I thought it might be a fun activity for them to do together. Today was their first class. So we ate an early lunch and got dressed up in our ballet clothes. Of course Alaythia wore pink tulle and looked like she was trying to set a trend for next year’s fashion runways. Charlie did not. He wore his ‘ports shawts’ (sports shorts) and ‘neakews’(sneakers). They were both very excited. Getting these three car seats into the back of our Honda Accord has got to be one of the spacial triumphs of the year. (Acclamations can be sent to Kaybn, Alaythia’s dad.) In fact the first time I tried to close Alaythia’s door it just popped back open again. Turns out it needed a firm hip check to latch properly! But fit they did. And we were off to ballet class in the pouring rain!Parents weren’t allowed to stay around and watch, so I sneaked this photo just as class was starting. (Can you believe that carpet????) Apparently there will be a recital in December and they are learning a little bit of the dance every week. Today they learned first and second position and how to jump in those positions, as well as something called a passe. Charlie also informed Jonathan that they touched their toes. They get a lollipop at the end of every class, so motivation is high to return again next week! Doesn’t Charlie look manly against that sea of pink froth? Stay tuned for more C and A ballet adventures!

Back Blogs

Just thought I’d let you know I’m inserting a few blogs from the first month of Wendy’s life that I wrote but never got around to posting.

Here is one month into our lives with Wendy:  Getting to know you, getting to know all about you....

Here are my thoughts on Wendy being diagnosed with reflux just like Charlie was:  Reflux Revisited

my carnivore….

… refuses a bottle.  All bottles.  All binkies.  She only accepts flesh in her mouth…my flesh, that is. (Such a cute little thing to cause so much trouble, no?)

We have spent a small fortune on all sorts of different plastic shapes for her mouth.  (rejects pictured below) To no avail.  They all get the same treatment, some gumming and a final thrust out by the tongue, often accompanied by loud purple-faced crying.  Though I am proud of her for trying to achieve the success of being “Fattest Baby EVER”, I do wish her driven attitude towards eating would allow me the occasional date, or even being at work without our babysitter having to drive her and Charlie to me so she can nurse.  Yes, we have sunk to that.

Charlie’s proverbs and witticisms

Here are some wise and useful words from our two-and-a-half year old: 

“Sometimes it is hard to talk when you have a big amount of apple in your mouth”

“When you walk in the rain, you get wet.”  (Looking up at me through wet eyelashes, while dragging his umbrella behind him)  “Yeah, that’s how it woaks, Mama!”

“I not food, Dada, food is food!  Food is foooood!”  (This phrase made its screeching debut when being chased by Dada, who was pretending to be hungry for different parts of Charlie’s body.  It has since been adopted by the adults in residence because of its pith, irony and overall veracity. )

“Let I do it” (The grammatical charm of this phrase is wearing off as quickly as we approach 3!)

“What’s this/that is?”  (Tricky conjunctions aside, Charlie is a boy who knows he wants to know what he doesn’t know.  He is the master of noticing what he doesn’t have a name for, whether it be an aberration in a book illustration or a beetle on the sidewalk.  This is our version of the dreaded ‘why’ question and it makes it appearance about 978 times a day.)

“When you eat chokwat, your mouth gets chokwaty.”  (What more need be said?  I do believe a ‘chokwaty’ mouth is one of life’s true joys!  Amen?)

“Excuse me, I have a word!  I have a word to say to you.”  (This phrase is the result of a failed attempt on my part to get him to not interrupt our conversations.  It was meant to be said once.  In practice, however, it is repeated at increasing levels of volume until the adult conversation has also crescendo-ed  to such an extent that we finally notice that we are all yelling to be heard and cease.  At which point Charlie then says calmly, sweetly even,  into the silence, “Excuse me, I have a word, Mama/Dada!”)

“You say the wrong word, Mama!” (This sentence is very handy when you live with the sleep-deprived mother of your baby sister. It is especially useful in dicey situations demanding obedience--when, for instance, she has just commanded you to put your leg into your shoes, or asked you take off your pants when all you have on are shorts.

Happy Four Months, Wendy!