cute little girl

this is a picture A. drew of herself, with two long spiky pigtails.

(i also love how in her drawings the hands come out of sides of people's heads. tee hee.)

another peek into A's world

Me: Mm, this lunch is good. Do you think L. is enjoying her lunch right now, too?
A.: What? L. isn't eating lunch right now.
Me: Really? What is she doing?
A.: She's just riding her bus.
Me: Wait. Do you think that L. just rides the school bus around all day long?
A.(a little confused that I would even ask such a question): Yes.

I guess if you watch your sister climb onto the (school) bus in the morning and then you're there to pick her up at the (school) bus stop in the afternoon (and if you're 3 years old), it might throw you for a loop to find out that in between those two, she's actually at school.

drawing class

We sat down with our Calvin and Hobbes comic book and tried to duplicate, to the best of our ability, a character of our choice.
L. insisted that we also include the appropriate captions.

"Sad Hobbes", by A.:

some Calvins, by Mom:

Of course, L. chose the "Zombie Calvin" one:

it has begun (tee hee)

a game

If you are looking for a game to play with a preschooler or two and a kindergartner, here is one that suits all of their ability and interest levels.

First, cut out some pictures from magazines. An animal, an airplane, a football, whatever. Glue these onto little cards. Then distribute the cards and each person holds their card close so no one can see, and then they take turns describing their item or animal by giving clues to the others. It's loads of fun for the whole family.

But you must be aware that if you have a 2 yr old, his turn just might go something like this:

BR: "Uh, it's a cat."
Moi: "No, BR, you're not supposed to say what it is, make them guess!"
BR: "Ok. Uh, is it a tiger? No... Is it a football? No... Is it a cat? No... It's a farmer!"

i love hanging out with this kid

A. loves to draw pictures for her mommy. This one is a picture of herself and mommy holding hands.

_______

She really loves to be told how sweet and pretty (or awesome) she is, and recently has started to ask me, "Why, Mommy? Why do you love me so much?" or, my favorite: "Why am I awesome?" And then I will list all the many, many reasons.

She sends the love right back: "You know why I love you, Mommy? Because you are so sweet and awesome!"

_______

This afternoon I instructed A. to hold onto BR's hand while we crossed the street. She was full of smiles. "Mommy, I just think BR is the best boy that there is!"

[note: BR is just a tad oblivious to all this affection. His response: "I just did an outside burp! I am the burping son!"]

"why homeschooling is going to be awesome," or "things I didn't know when I was 5 1/2 years old"

L: "Mommy, I know something."

Me: "Yeah, what do you know?"

L: "There are little round balls on your tongue and inside there is something called taste buds. And when you eat something, or taste it, then the nerves carry a message to your brain and then that's how you know what the flavor is."

cuzzins in pjs

parading

There have been two parades in town in the last week. One of them was the annual MLK day March/Parade. It would be fun to march in, but it's a bit too far for us, still. Then there is the annual Stock Show Parade, where all kinds of horses and livestock walk through the downtown area on a weekday, during lunch hour. It's awesome.

They even had rodeo queens from various states and some dogs hooked up to a miniature covered wagon.

Did I mention that it totally rocked? Especially if you are 2 and 3 and you got to ride the bus to get downtown, and back home. And especially if you got to go with some of your best friends in the whole wide world!

A.'s world

A. noticed her daddy's receding hairline the other day:

"Daddy, where do you keep the rest of your hair?"

___________

"Mommy, I wish I could snuggle and cuddle with you ALL day long.

And you know what my favorite part about snuggling with you is? Farting."

this person is crazy

Aunt Kay showed us this waterslide video that really beats the pants off the other one we linked to last week.

i take it that's a 'yes'

Me: BR, wanna go to the Stock Show Parade tomorrow? There will be horses and cows and...

BR: And their POO!

holy reverence

You know that family that comes to church who just can't sit still in the pew and someone always has to be taken to the back for one reason or another, and they fight over crayons and spill cheerios and all that?


I'll give you one guess whether we are that family at our church.


Truth is, there aren't very many families at all at the very small parish church we attend, so one way or another, we are going to attract some attention. And it's not that the kids are even very badly behaved; I think we usually do pretty well. Usually. It's just that an hour is a very long time when you are 5, or 3, or 2 years old. When I have to go alone while Jeremy is at work or sleeping off his night shift, I dread what might happen.


So you can imagine just how pleased I was when they announced that there would be Sunday School for the kids last week (a rare event at our church).

Yes! I thought. It will be just BR and me--I can handle that. And for once, our family won't be so conspicuous!


BR and I sat toward the front of the church, with a few elderly parishoners in front of us, and the Missionaries of Charity (Mother Teresa's order of nuns) two rows up from us.


And he did great. Sat on my lap, quietly flipped through some books. Nibbled on some raisins. Evidently, he has even moved beyond the phase where he would shout or scream some variation of, "Is that JESUS? In the BREAD? JESUS in the BREAD! IT'S THE JESUS BREAD!!!"

Phew, he didn't do that. No, not that. This time, as the priest lifted the cup of wine, there was complete silence after the bell was rung and everyone was on their knees with heads bowed,


Bu-u-U-RP!

game day

It is COLD outside. Not as cold as North Dakota, but still. So we're staying in today, and playing games. We finished 'memory' and 'candy land' and the 'i spy' game, and they were okay, but what's really fun is to decorate the rug with all the cards...while wearing an Easter hat, of course.

Next, we played clean-up. BR tried to pitch the cards into the appropriate boxes.

And then finally, this game:

[Fashion tip: if you want to look Extra tough in your bulldog shirt, make sure to accessorize appropriately.]

we're clear on genre around here

The kids love to watch 'blooper' videos on youtube. Kids wiping out on sleds, animals doing crazy tricks, that sort of thing.

As we watched one clip earlier this evening about a giant waterslide someone constructed in their backyard, L. was curious: "Mommy, is that a non-fiction movie?" Then, just to make sure I understood her meaning, she added: "I mean, is it a made-up story or not?"

a productive morning

Today was L.'s first day back at school after a long Winter Break. The rest of us kept busy this morning, playing hard and working hard. We packed up almost all of the Christmas decor, swept, dusted, and so on. We took the occasional break to play basketball and to try out a new block set.


These two are my big helpers.

They took all the ornaments off the tree (for once it was legit), picked up all the toys so I could sweep the livingroom, and at one point, I gave them dust rags and let them have had it.

As I swept the hallway I was lost in my own thoughts. Finally, I tuned into their little song: "Mopping the floor with the toilet water, mopping the floor with the toilet WATER!"

"WHAT did you say? You're doing WHAT!?!"

A. happily explained that it was just a mistake, and BR spontaneously--and very cheerfully--switched the words of the song to, "Just a mistake, just a MISTAKE!"

I think you might have to be 2 or 3 to understand how it could be a mistake to drop your rags into the toilet and then accidentally start mopping the floor with them.

A livingroom fort

Our dad is the coolest.

Fraggle Rock

P-roc's mom got us the first season of "Fraggle Rock" on DVD. We are addicted.

Sometimes it gets a little scary and you need to hold someone's hand.

Christmas

I forgot to take pictures of the kids in their Christmas best.

So instead, here they are with their "disgusting" (as L. calls them) false teeth, from their stockings. (L. refused to pose because they were so disgusting.)

(look at those cheeks!)

Uncle Garrett came from Chicago, Gramom and Grampa from the East Coast/further East, and of course we celebrated with Kay & Dave & Baby C. It was a happy Christmas, but with a note of sadness. We learned last Tuesday that the kids' great-grandfather (and Gramom Lisa's dad) had passed away that morning. Lisa and Tom had just visited with him the day before, braving the East Coast snowstorm, and were so thankful for that. He died peacefully, and at home, which is what he would have wanted.

We were all happy to be together, and especially thankful for the company of family at Christmas.

me: "Hey guys, you've been eating lunch for almost an hour. Time to wrap it up."

A.: "Like a present?"

why we are in no rush to upgrade to a larger-than-3-foot tree

(this happened twice already--today.)

1/2 Birthday

Since L's birthday is in June, we wouldn't get a party at school. So we celebrated her half birthday instead. It coincided with the last day of school before the holidays, so we did a combined caroling/cookie decorating/birthday party. In the top photo, she is wearing the birthday hat and her reindeer antlers at the same time.

The Kindergartners went from classroom to classroom throughout the whole school and performed songs for the other students. And L's teacher is just the coolest. She has a great sense of humor about everything, is totally 100% chill all the time and has got all 27 of her students completely under control. And she plays the guitar. She rocks.

The school building itself is really old and well-maintained and parts of it are really beautiful. For example, this huge staircase and the stained glass in some of the classrooms (the colors are not very bright in the photos, but you get the idea).

flash (flood)

(warning: some disgusting content in this post)

BR is potty training. We are working on timing, but it can be very tricky. He is a little confused about whether to inform me before or after there is a puddle on the floor. He doesn't quite understand that "Quick, Mommy! Take me to the potty!" is really no longer relevant once the trousers are soaked.



On my end of things, I am no longer very fazed about the process (usually). I am not even embarrassed about having to mop up a mess under a coffee shop table or whatever public place we happen to be (usually); I always carry a change of clothes and underwear, and then the rest of it... Well, really, third time around there is not much he can dish out that I haven't already handled before. (With grace and poise, of course. Always).

I guess if I had to point to the particular moment when I knew that I reached "Experienced" Mom status when it came to diapers and potty training, it would have to be a couple of months ago. That morning, I woke up earlier than the kids and somehow successfully (and miraculously) snuck into the bathroom without waking anyone up on my way there. I showered and even washed my hair before any of them realized what was happening.

When I eventually made it upstairs to BR's room to pull him out of his crib, the stench was fairly overwhelming. The diaper had not held up, and his sleeper, sheets and blankets were a freshly browned hue.

Ordinarily, this would lead to an interior self-pitying monologue about how this was no way to start the day, and then probably something sarcastic like how I didn't need more laundry to do today, thank-you-very-much. I would grit my teeth and then reason my way into believing that although it was not BR's fault that the velcro bands on the diaper didn't do their job, maybe he could grow up just a little faster and figure this out on his own... That sort of thing. (I know, I am so mature, right?)

But that day was different. My first reaction was just to shrug calmly. "Huh. Look at that," I thought. "Oh well. And who cares, anyway? I can handle anything today because I had a shower!"

very hungry caterpillar, i mean, baby

this baby can eat. he can really eat. Here are some shots of him post-bottle. With a full tummy, he is one happy guy:

We enjoyed our times with Baby Cousin so much, can you tell? I especially like the way his face lights up when he sees his Auntie Claire.

Observe:

cousins shaking hands

Personally, I like the improvised finale.

(no audio)

we've been using this...

...to help with the before-school morning routine. It's been working pretty well.