My Brave Boy

John started out the week with a horrible no good very rotten day. I picked him up at school and was told he was just in time out because he kicked a boy in the head. I was SHOCKED! I wasn't even angry with him because it was so out of character and I didn't know what to think. Well within his character, though, was to pout, be angry, yell that he wasn't EVER going to talk about it, and something new...refuse to come with me to the car. Fortunately, when we finally talked it through (and I later verified this with the boy's mom after she talked to him), turns out it was an accident. John was kicking a ball just as the boy was leaning down to pick it up. After some long talks with both Mom and Dad, and pretty serious consequences (for his bad attitude...not the accident) John was given a to-do list. There were lots of apologies to be made, and that takes a lot of guts. I reminded him this morning that he needed to apologize to his teachers and ask them to help him apologize to the boy that got hurt. They reported that it took him all day to muster the courage, but he did it very well and explained that it was an accident. It may seem like a small thing, but I knew it would be a HUGE deal for him to be brave enough to do it, and he did. I was so stinkin' proud. It's things like this that show me my little boy really is growing up!

The Physics of Parenting

I've joked about this before, that I'd love to hire my kids out to a physics or chemistry class to model entropy. The second law of thermodynamics defines entropy as the natural tendency toward disorder. Today, John and Eve defined it as "feeding the fish" while I cleaned the bathroom. I should know now that when John comes to me and says "I hate to tell you this" that I'm going to hate to hear it. It's a form of tattling for him, but Eve is pretty capable of destruction, and it's usually warranted tattling. I came downstairs to find the entire jar of fish food (not only the contents...partially empties, but also the jar inself) in the fish tank along with the lid, and Eve's hands and arms up to her elbows. The floor was all wet. Needless to say, the bathroom hasn't been completely cleaned, but the fish tank has. Gotta love physics. A law is a law because it's proven time and time again. This is why I only clean during nap time.

Welcome Spring...or Summer!

The weather has been really summer-like the past few days. Since Ellie wasn't old enough for it last summer, she had a sort of initiation Monday afternoon. Yay popsicles!!!

Oooh, that's cold!

She figured it out and really enjoys them now, but isn't quite a pro like Eve was from day 1.

Zoo Day

Tuesday was just too pretty not to go somewhere fun and outside. So, we went to the zoo and renewed our membership. We were trying to beat the school rush, and there were only 2 buses there, so we were lucky. I'm finding, though, that it's getting harder to keep up with 3 kids and take pictures...particularly with lots of other school kids around. These are completely out of order. Some from the playground, which is enjoyed as much, if not more than the zoo. The fun thing about this trip was that Ellie actually paid attention to the animals and enjoyed watchin them this time.

Achooo!

Roar!

In the HEAD!

I know I can't do this justice in writing, but I have to try. Lately, every night we have to yell up to John and Eve to stop playing rough at bedtime, or close the door and go lay down. The conversations yelled up and down the stairs get old. I'm sure we could parent better through this, but quite honestly, once they're upstairs and we're settled in downstairs, we're too lazy to go back upstairs. It's bad, I know. Anyway, tonight's conversation was a little different and to again show our wonderful parenting, our response was stifled laughter (difficult to stifle, at that). Note: this is all yelled from downstairs to upstairs and vice versa
Eve (crying): John stop that!
Me: John, what are you doing to Eve?
John: She hurt me!
Me: Eve, what did you do to John?
Eve (not quite clear enough to understand downstairs): I kicked him.
John: In the HEAD!
Me: What did you do?
Eve: I kicked him.
John: In the HEAD!
Me: You kicked him?
John: In the HEAD!
By that point Buck and I were laughing too hard to respond (at John's inflection...not that he'd been kicked in the head), so we just yelled at them to get in bed and be nice. At no point was John crying, so I think we're OK.

Jersey Girl

This isn't anything new, but I haven't posted it and don't want to forget about my little Jersey girl. I suppose it's just a product of the way she pronounces her "r"s. Either way, Eve sounds like a Jersey Girl, and we didn't teach her that. For example, she likes to kiss Buck on his beard, or his "bee-yad" as she says. She likes to sleep with her "bee-ya" or bear...easily confused with beer. She also likes to brush her "hey-ya". Is that more Boston? I don't know. I just know it didn't come from this mouth! We kind of figured when John started saying "you bet!" that it was somehow genetic since Buck doesn't say that much anymore. Where the "bee-yad" thing came from, though, we're not quite sure.

St. Patrick's Day

John has been really excited about St. Patrick's Day this year. I wasn't quite sure why. They had a party at school, made leprechauns and such, but I couldn't figure it out. Finally he told us it was because the giant box of Lucky Charms I bought. It all makes sense now. We've been counting down the days multiple times a day for over a week. Anyway, a few mischeivous leprechauns made a little mess in John and Eve's room last night. John found the note, but didn't think twice about the mess because he assumed Eve did it. I read the note, which apologized for the mess and was signed by the leprechauns, and explained that Eve was still asleep. Then he was thrilled! Once he saw all they had done in the room, he went to the rest of the house (where they had not been) and noticed all the other messes they had made. Nice try. They moved the table into John and Eve's room and had a tea party with Eve's animals.

Built a pretty cool tower with all the green legos and toys.

Rearranged the letters of their names on the wall

Lined up books and clothes hamper on the bed.

As I said, John was super excited!

Eve on the other hand, hasn't handled the switch to daylight savings time well. She had come to snuggle with me in our bed around 6:45 and was not happy that we woke her up around 8. When she saw what had been rearranged, she was NOT amused, grabbed a few things that had been "misplaced", said she wanted the letters put back where they belonged, and headed back to our bed to go back to sleep.

Fast forward 30 minutes or so, she started her bowl of lucky charms and the trauma of the morning was immediately erased. A spoonful of sugar. We've never had lucky charms before (me included). I thought they were disgusting, but was amazed that Eve and even Ellie knew to go straight for the marshmallows.

A little extra residence time with only 2 teeth to chew, and a shamrock hat quickly turns into a green tongue. No pinching this one!

Books

Eve has a few obsessions, one being princesses. She got a book for Christmas with 3 stories. We've re-taped the binding a few times. She's just now starting to show an interest in books, but she's been obsessed with this one since she got it. She knows almost every word, and was reading it to herself. Oh, and this green dress (along with a few others) is also an obsession. She's also become quite fond of reading the Grinch. Her favorite part to read aloud is when he says "Pooh pooh to the Whos" because that's potty talk (I haven't been able to explain to her why it's different from poo poo, so we just go with it and say he's the Grinch and he's not being kind). She also likes to pretend I'm the Grinch and she's Cindy Lou Who and says, "Why are you taking our Christmas tree? Why Santy Clause? Why?" It's about the cutest little darn thing you ever saw!

Garden

This weekend John and Ellie went to Lowes with me to buy cow manure. Usually we discourage potty jokes, but this time I thought it was OK, and kind of encouraged it a little, so we had fun. We spread it and were ready to plant. Monday after lunch I let John stay up during the first part of nap time to help me plant. Here is the picture for week 1. If you look carefully in the bottom lefthand corner you can see a few zucchini plants we started inside. Otherwise the plants are too small to see. Top left we have watermelon, some plants and some seeds. In the middle, front to back, we have carrots, yellow onions, green onions, broccoli (some seeds and some plants), and peas. On the bottom right we have cucumbers (some seeds and some plants) and empty space in the back for tomatoes and peppers. Hopefully cow manure is the secret and we'll have a little luck this year. We'll see!

Spaghetti

John usually complains about spaghetti, and Eve usually doesn't eat much of it. For some reason, though, maybe since Ellie was trying it for the first time and leading the way, all three ate it ALL. OK, maybe it had a little bit to do with the bribe of taking them out for frozen yogurt. At any rate, they (as you can see) loved it. No big surprise for Ellie. She had a slow start with food, but once she got used to it (I think maybe the textures), she hasn't found many things she doesn't like, as evidenced by her thighs. Spaghetti made its way to the top of her list.

Sometimes, OK most times, things get a little silly at the table.

Don't you smile! (one of our favorite games)

Tubbie Time!

Like I've mentioned before, we've split tubbie time into boys and girls (except Ellie gets to stay in the whole time...lucky girl). Every now and then, though, I pull out the bubbles and throw them all in together. I posted pictures before, but I thought these turned out better. They really like to make mustaches and beards out of bubbles, and Ellie is taking it all in...

and sometimes it's terrifying!

OK, lots of times it's terrifying!

Ellie the Crab

Ellie has learned to wave intentionally, and it's her new favorite trick. I've tried to get video, but she's also discovered the camera, and is more interested in trying to eat it than performing tricks for it. She sometimes waves with one hand, but often waves with both. She reaches them out wide and overhead, grins as big as she can, and opens and closes her fists with her palms facing her head. Mom said she looks like a crab...and she hit the nail on the head. It's so cute!
In other news, Eve just called me "homey cracker" this morning and cracked me up! We were eating crackers, so that's where that part came from. The homey part is a long story, but has to do with the babies on the bus (verse from wheels on the bus re-written by Eve) wanting to go home...or homey to be silly. I promise we don't typically talk like that at home, and we're carefully monitoring what she watches on TV!

More Johnisms

The other day I was fixing lunch for the kids and me. John asked why I was fixing lunch for myself. I explained that I get hungry and need to eat, too. He replied, "You need to think of us first, and not yourself." I was a bit shocked and didn't know how to respond. To his credit, I've talked a lot about not being selfish and thinking of others before ourselves. When I sat down to eat, well after they had started, I intentionally asked "Who was the last person to the table? Who do you think I thought of first?"
I may have won that one, but a few days later he schooled me in theology while we were driving to a birthday party. Our conversation...starting with John...
"Do you think God needs a spacesuit?"
"I don't know. Why do you think He might?"
"So He doesn't get hit by one of those spinning rocks"
"God isn't like us. He doesn't have a body, so He can't get hurt. He doesn't need to breathe, He doesn't need to eat, and He doesn't get tired."
"Yes He does!"
"He does what?"
"He gets tired."
"No He doesn't"
"Yes He does. After He created the world and all the animals and people He rested."
Point well made, son.

Monday in school John's teacher Ms. Medlen asked him if he was going to sign up for soccer. He said, "No, I'm going to sign up for construction." I'm not sure if the YMCA offers that, but we'll check.

10 Fingers 10 Toes...

10 Months before you know! 10 months have flown by! (Especially since I just posted her 9 month picture a week or so ago). Ellie is a great eater! Can you tell? She still nurses 2 or 3 times a day, eats almost anything we put in front of her...and that's almost anything, and loves her straw sippie cup. She's cheated and had strawberries, cake, ice cream (thought the cold might bother her, but she didn't give it a second thought) and peanut butter. Perks of being #3. She pretty much bypassed baby food and eats most of what we eat unless it's too much for only 2 teeth to handle. She's still a very happy baby, but likes to have someone's attention (preferrably Mom's). Her new-found love is clapping. She discovered it yesterday while we were having a family dance party. She loved watching John and Eve dance, as did I. She kind of waves sometimes, but I don't think it's intentional yet. She's still a little sensitive and a bit of a drama queen but we'll see what becomes of that as she starts bumping her head more often. The time is coming soon because she's easily pulling up on things and daring to let go sometimes. So far she's either caught herself or been cushioned by her diaper. The fall is still inevitable because she has no balance, but she's brave to let go. Oh, and she's at the stage where she thinks it's hilarious when something falls off your head. It's fun when it's easy to make them laugh. What a treat! She really is a doll.

Ellie's 9 Month Pictures

A few weeks late, but here's Ellie with her bear at 9 months. I had to prop her up on a chair to get a picture. She kept crawling toward me when I sat back with the camera, and she's getting a lot faster. She's actually pulling up to standing on her own now, but not often. When she was propped up on the chair it started sliding, and without hesitation she started stepping along. Uh oh!

Check out those rolls!

Her new favorite thing...now that it's warm enough...is swinging. Can you tell she thinks it's fun? She laughs and laughs.