a week ago today...

...a little girl turned 4!!

we had a triple layer homemade chocolate cake with a marshmallowy frosting (mmm...), animal charades, punch with sherbet, a blindfold game, lots of prizes, a 'mummy' game, and some good friends and family to celebrate with. As a special bonus this year, Grammy and Papa joined us, too!

before the party got started, we even had some time to do some sledding with Granny and Papa! What a great day. Congratulations, A.m.!

can you guess what she meant?

L. is preparing for her first school performance tonight. She told me that last night they practiced in the "Odd Victorian."

Tee hee.

she's on to me

I was trying to be sneaky, but I failed.

L.: "Mommy, why do you get two cookies and we just get one?"
Mommy: "Because I'm a pig."
A.(in a hopeful tone): "I'm a pig, too!"

"Hey Mommy, sometimes YOU look like that!"

excessive caution

Me: "Craft time, kids! BR, do you want to cut some paper with some little scissors?"

BR: "No, I can't! Josefine (babysitter) says that's dangerous!"

_____

Me: "BR, please go back to the table right now and finish eating your breakfast."

BR: "No, I don't want to! It's too poisonous!"

it's like the princess and the pea, in reverse

return of the (exasperated) Poobas

You, the faithful and loyal readers of RandB, might remember from this post that we're very fond of "Poobas" around here. Daddy especially likes to talk about them a lot.
This afternoon, L. decided to illustrate her father's fondness for Poobas. (That's a heart above Daddy's head as he walks, zombie-like, toward the gigantic Poobah.)

Apparently, Poobas tire of so much adulation. (I'm not sure if you can read what those two Poobahs are thinking about. They both have thought bubbles that say: "Enough is enough.")

language

In some ways, I was apprehensive about L. starting school. Kids can be mean, and also there was no telling what new concepts other children might introduce her to.

She came home one day to tell me that one of her friends (who seems like a good kid, and whose parents I have met) says the "S" word all the time. I was horrified! Five year olds, saying that word?

"Oh no! That's not good! Do other kids say it, too?"

"Lots of them do," she told me. "And you know what? They even think it's not a bad word!"

"Well it is!" I insisted. I just couldn't believe it.

Then I thought about it for a minute. "Wait a minute. What's the 's' word?"

She wouldn't speak it so she just whispered: "Stupid."

a simple Valentine treat

all you need is some strawberry yogurt and a heart-shaped cookie cutter.

put it all in the freezer for a couple hours and voila!

not exactly what I meant

When I picked up La Luz from school, I told her a bit about our day while she was gone. At one point, we had done some sorting through boxes and A. and BR had "helped" me.

Me: "Hey L., today A. and BR played with me down in the cellar."
L. (casual as can be): "Oh, was there a tornado?"

then, later:

Me: "Hey L, did I tell you that I had an accident in the car yesterday?"

L. (a little shocked): "You peed in your pants in the car?"

fraggle rock insults

A: "Mom-meee! L. just called me a Gorg!"

snow!

There hasn't been much lately, so we took advantage of the little bit we got yesterday.

pushing (and pulling) Prince BR uphill:

name calling

There is another L. in our L.'s kindergarten class! They have become friends and the other L. came over for a playdate over the weekend. I laughed to discover that they call each other by their first and last names, just like their teacher and classmates do. I tried to explain they didn't have to do that when they addressed each other, but they didn't seem to get it.

_________

Some of you might remember that when Aunt Kay was a little girl, she got fed up with all the extra and unpronounced letters in English words. French is (somewhat) more phonetically-correct and the spelling of words like "brought" and "though" with their silent "gh's" seemed pretty arbitrary (and silly) to her in comparison. She informed us one day: "I am going to change the spelling of my name. From now on, I will spell my name L-U-G-H and it will be pronounced 'Kay.' "

I guess L. has decided something similar. When A. asked her the other day how to spell her name, I overheard her answer: "P-U-B."

So, she might have been craving some fine English ale, or she might have just been messing with her sister. But I kind of think that, like her auntie so many years ago, she has had enough and has decided to liberate herself from the tyranny of the English language.

Bravo!

this mama is a sucker for little kids in overalls

daddy's day off

a fun and productive day.

First, daddy took A. out for a special breakfast treat.

and then he helped BR get dressed.

(let's just hope he is not as confused about the backs and fronts of patients!)

hmm...i wonder who made this sign?

two girls

A. and L. are kind of different from each other, as regular followers of this blog might already know. Here is a snippet from a conversation earlier this evening.

Daddy: "Who can guess which planet is up there above the moon? I'll give you a clue, it's sort of reddish..."
L.: "Jupiter! Or, the Rigel star! Oh, wait it's a planet...it must be: Mars!"
A.: "Helicopter."

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.