Bits and Pieces

For about 25 minutes one day last week (it might have been Tuesday), I was completely caught up on my kids’ laundry. 

Megan is still one of the best for funny comments. The other day, Erin informed us that she had found one of Meg’s pacifiers under her bed and put it back with the paci stash on the dresser. Megan responded, “Thank you, Erin. You are a good finder.” She’s also quite the empathetic one. “Awww, it’s okay,” she’ll say if she sees that someone got hurt.  

Bedtime prayers are getting to be quite the adventure these days. We’re trying to teach the kids to sit quietly and listen while the others are praying. It doesn’t often work all that well. Instead, they take turns sitting on the little wooden rocking chair in their room to say their prayers. Whoever is sitting there prays, while the other two go on about their bedtime activities. *sigh* Erin tends to pray so fast and mumbled that you can’t understand her (we’re working on slowing down and praying intentionally, too). And Meg, who “doesn’t need your help” to pray, pretty much always says the same thing: “Dear Jesus, thank you for my day. Amen.”

On the other hand, Alex has lately been praying longer and more detailed prayers. Things like: “…and thank you that we do not have to be afraid because Jesus and God are with us…and the unicorn, too.” On another occasion, this concept came out: “Thank you that Jesus gave us the unicorn so we don’t have to be afraid.” I’m not sure who he trusts more…Jesus or the Dream Lite unicorn. 

The other day, while we were in the van, this conversation ensued:

Me: This Sunday is Easter. Do you know what we celebrate on Easter?

Erin: Bunnies!

Me: Nope.

Megan: Eggs!

Me: Nope. We celebrate the day Jesus rose from the dead.

(Several cheers of “Jesus is alive!” followed)

Me: And did you know, because Jesus is alive, he can save us from our sins.

Erin: …and dinosaurs!

We are very imaginative these days. Megan and Erin play with dolls and dress up clothes. They all three play pirate, puppy dog or dragon. They love to be firefighters or doctors. They also pretend to do magic. Alex, in particular, likes to wave something he’s decided is a wand and “make things away!” Thankfully, another wave of the “wand” brings them back again. He’s also started pretending very mechanical things. Like that there’s a lever that he has to pull, and then “oh no!” the lever breaks and he has to fix it. At my Mom’s house the other day, he was pretending there was a broken elevator in the bathroom doorway. He checked the batteries, he said, but it still wasn’t working. My mom told him he better check the fuses, and he said, “Oh yeah, I haven’t checked the fuses yet,” and proceeded to replace that imaginary piece as well. And all three kids regularly pull out their toolboxes to “fix” the television, a stool, their beds or some other piece of furniture or technology that has “broken.” It’s really quite fun to watch…at least until they grab the hammer to fix the TV!

Alex is still my collector. Recently Eric showed me a box Alex had filled with balls, rocks, play phones and the like. He called it a “box of boy.”

We had a living-room picnic the other day for lunch. We imagined all the neat things we’d be able to see in the sky or on the ground: kites, trees, birds, flowers, etc. They “counted” them and took turns trying to count higher. “I see 17 birds (count to 17).” “Oh, well I see 23 birds (count to 23).” This was the day that I realized the twins insert 100 when they get to 20. So it goes 17, 18, 19, 100, 21, 22…and on. I also think it’s funny that with Alex’s particular manner of speaking (F is usually pronounced as a B or P, for example), he pronounced 13 and 14 and “Burteen” and “Borteen” though they sound almost identical when he’s counting fast. I guess we should work on that, but I still figure that most of those quirks will go away soon enough (and probably very suddenly), so I’m not terribly worried about it. 

We started using a computer program to begin learning to read. So far, they think it’s a fun computer game, so I hope we can stay on it. I’m also interested to see how much Meg picks us just by watching along with them. 

So we have our house on the market now and are working to get a living space ready on the farm, just in case our house sells, you know, fast or something. So we talk a good bit about our new farm and finding just the right family to live in our house after we move. Meg has started announcing, “Maybe…when we go to our new farm, I can be a farmer, Mom. Like Daddy. Won’t that be cool, Mom?” Of course, then there was the time she was going to be a farmer “just like YOU, Mommy!” Obviously, she does not have a clue how far from being a farmer I actually am!

Speaking of selling our house, we have had 4 showings in less than a month. So that’s good. None of them have resulted in an offer, but as we don’t actually have a living space to move to yet, it can wait a little bit longer!

Anyway, back to random kid things…

My kids pronounce the flavors of sweet things as “choclick” and “banilla” – nice…

One day a couple of weeks ago, I pulled the couch cushions over to the staircase so the kids could jump onto them (Meg ran down) for some indoor activity time. They were upstairs playing at the time, so I just waited for them to discover it. As Alex headed down the stairs, her realized what it was and I heard, “Mommy…It’s beautiful!” They jumped for probably half an hour, trying to see who could jump higher. 

The other day, Erin took one of Timmy’s real diapers and put it (correctly) on Timmy’s stuffed giraffe. This next morning, I overheard her and Alex:

Alex: I think he has a dirty diaper, Erin!

Erin: I will get him a new one! 

(Alex removes and flings the “used” one while Erin runs to get another for the stinky giraffe. Good thing they aren’t in charge of the disposal of Timmy’s poop!)

 

We kept Meg in the family worship with us a few weeks ago. She colored and did a puzzle and jabbered at Eric and enjoyed her animal crackers. Then, just as Pastor started his invitation (bow your heads, please no one looking), she started to hum. Loudly. Finally, Eric and I both shushed her. She stopped coloring, looked at us and (I swear) rolled her eyes. Seriously, the child isn’t even 3. Yikes.

 

Erin and Megan were playing in the loft. Erin came to the rail and announced that she has a baby in her tummy (she had a hacky-sack up her shirt). Megan grabbed the 4 or 5-in blue playground ball and shoved it up her shirt. “Look,” she says, “I have a booby!”

 

 

Today, we dyed Easter eggs for the first time. They actually did very well, and it would seem that my fears of stained clothes, walls and floors was mostly unfounded. Lucky me!

 

And to finish up (since naptime just ended), Timmy will be 3 months tomorrow. He’s been sleeping through the night for over a week now, so I think I can mention it without jinxing us (I hope!). He started going 9:30 or 10 to 4:30. Then it was 5:30 for a few nights. Last night it was 6:30. So, praise Jesus, we may have officially gotten a sleep routine. I am very, very excited about this, needless to say. Unfortunately, he has started spitting up a lot more than. Not anywhere near as much as Megan used to do. But still, he’s done a lot of it recently. On the other hand, he has also been doing a ton of smiling, laughing, grinning and general responding to us recently. The kids love to make him smile (he is definitely ticklish), as do we, honestly. He’s generally a very happy little guy, and very easy-going. We definitely love him to bits.

 

 

Happy Thursday!

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