A morning at the zoo

Although five trips into public bathrooms with a double stroller, three in a twenty minute time-span, admittedly makes me a little crazy, we still had a great time at the zoo today. 

 
 

 

Dental hygiene

Kate and I bought Luke his first toothbrush Tuesday.  Much to my relief, after fighting with Anna every night for years, Luke loved getting his teeth brushed.

Tutoring

I've recently started tutoring a friend's little girl once a week.  I love it, and Kate seems to love it, since she gets to play with the girl and her sisters after the tutoring.  But, one thing was bothering Kate. 

I was putting away the tutoring supplies after our session last week.  Kate asked me about the markers I was packing up.  I said, "These markers are for when I tutor Amber."  She looked a little disturbed.  I thought it was because she was jealous she didn't have new markers.

"Mom," she asked me, looking a little embarrassed, "Can we just call it teaching?"

I thought a second, and then figured out what was going on.  We use the term toot to refer to flatulence.  I couldn't resist.  Trying not to smile, I asked, "Why, Kate?  You don't want me to call it TOOTering?"

She looked a little more embarrassed, and said, "Um... well... can we just call it teaching instead?"

I'm so immature.  I continued, feigning confusion, "Why?  Does TOOTering make you think of something else."

She didn't respond, and I continued, "Do you picture me sitting here with Amber and..."  At this point, I made an inappropriate noise.  Okay, a few noises.

She began to smile, but suppressed it.  She's really so much more mature than I am.  She said, "Well, I'm just going to call it teaching," and walked out of the room.

She's amazing.  If she can put up with the likes of me, she should be able to handle anyone who tries to tease her in school!  I wish I'd had half her amount of skills when I was in middle school.

Little fancy pants... and dress

Little botanist

A month or so ago when we were at the Domes, Kate and Anna got to pick out a plant to bring home.  (Since then Ruby, as the plant came to be called, has become a little green member of the family, getting watered every Sunday and Thursday and even getting a new hand-painted pot.)  While we were deciding on a plant that day, choosing from dozens of types of plants including many, many cacti, I repeatedly told them not to touch, that the cacti were really poky.

Recently, on a trip to Trader Joe's, we were driving through the parking garage when Anna excitedly exclaimed, "I see the really poky thing I'm not supposed to touch!  Look!  I see the really poky thing I'm not supposed to touch!"  I looked to my right and noticed the sign for Qdoba.

First time finger painting

Kate loved fingerpainting for the first time when she was 8 months old. 

Kate, August 2006

Anna loved fingerpainting for the first time when she was 10 months old.

Anna, December 2008

Luke... he did not like fingerpainting for the first time.

But, he did come around after a little while.

Ally, just like her sisters, loved it!



...and

When Anna found her Easter basket yesterday morning, we went through the contents together.  I took out the gifts one at a time.  "Ooh, a new summer dress," I said, "and a butterfly net..."

Anna got a little excited about the net.  "For butterfly fishing!" she said, and, taking the net, she pretended she was catching a butterfly.

"And some glow-in-the-dark bracelets, a Cinderella toothbrush," I continued, "a book and some eggs filled with jelly beans!"

Anna peered inside her now empty basket.  Suddenly, she was thrilled.  She reached into her basket and took out a handful of Easter grass.  "...and confetti!" she exclaimed.

Oh my gosh

We had a busy "first day of spring break" morning.  We'd went to the domes and the zoo.  When we were about a block from home, Anna was complaining about being tired.  I said, "I know you're tired, honey.  We're almost home.  As soon as stop, I'll get you out first so you can take a nap." 

Anna replied, "No!  I don't want to take a nap!  I'm not tired!"

Kate said, "OMG, Anna."

My five-year-old uses the expression "OMG"?  OMG!


This just in...

I often miss a lot of what happens in the far back seat.  When I read this post to Kate, as she often wants me to do, I learned that the reason I thought she'd said "OMG" wasn't the case.  On the way home Kate had made up a song that she was singing to all of us that began, "I'm ready.  I'm steady.  I really like confetti."  Without my knowlege, Anna had made up her own version of the song that went, "I'm ready.  I'm steady.  I have poop on my head."  I only wish she'd said "heady";  it would have been much more clever.

The twinkies, 8 1/2 months old

It seems like they're getting pretty old,

but if they were the actual Hostess products,

they wouldn't yet be hitting their prime.

Ally and Luke are getting to be so much fun.

They've had a rough week or two.  Luke cut a tooth; Ally got a cold.  Luke got a second tooth, and Ally got an ear infection.  Then Luke got a cold, and today Luke got an ear infection.  But, usually, they're happy and content babies, and they're pretty easy to please.  If they'd sleep better, they'd absolutely be the perfect babies.

ALLY

Ally is a funny baby.  She loves to make Dave, me, and her sisters laugh.  She makes funny noises to get our attention, and she herself laughs easily.  Her latest trick is sniffling with her nose all scrunched up.  She knows that always gets a laugh.

She just learned to wave, too.  She first tried it a couple days ago, opening and closing her little hand as it faced herself.  When she saw the reaction it got, she immediately started to do it any time someone else waves.

She still loves to eat.  In fact, she now gets a little mad if I don't give her food when the rest of us are eating or even if there's food around.  A week or two ago I was cutting up cantaloupe with Ally in her high chair next to me. Ally noticed the cantaloupe, and she started banging the empty tray in front of her.  I was surprised, wondering if she was really demanding to have some.  As soon as I gave it to her, she devoured it. 

When we took Luke and Ally out to eat with us, Dave and I were eating an appetizer of tortilla chips with a bowls of salsa and refried beans.  Ally was so mad we wouldn't give her chips.  When we finally let her try some refried beans, she nearly ate them all.

She's still a Daddy's girl.  If she's got a choice, she'll choose him every time.  If he comes home from work and doesn't immediately pick her up, there's sure to be angry tears.

LUKE

Luke is such a sweet little boy.  He loves to cuddle.  He reaches his little arms around Dave and me as much as he can to get himself a good cuddle and hug.  He's started to pat me on the shoulder when I hold him, too. 

He's pretty laid back, not as much of an attention seeker as Ally.  In fact, he can be pretty shy when he does get attention, burying his face in Dave's or my shoulder or hiding behind his arms.

He's actually become a good eater.  He likes to eat off a spoon now, grunting if he wants more but it's Ally's turn.  And he's also doing really well with finger foods.

He recently learned to "give five," and he loves it.  He pats and pats and pats the hand that he's offered.  I was trying to teach Ally how to do it the other day, and Luke grabbed my hand, pulling it over by him so he could pat it himself.

He also likes to drum.  We showed him one time how to hit a drum.  A couple days later, I was holding him as I picked up the drum to put it away.  He immediately started hitting it with his hand.

He loves Mason.  He will sit and happily look at him.  If he's close enough, he'll rub his hand over him.  He's surprisingly gentle.  His love of Mason even transferred over to a friend's dog the other day.  He acted the same interested and gentle way with this new dog.

He's still a Mommy's boy, and I love it.  I love to cuddle my sweet little boy.

Luke and Ally continue to arguing over toys.  Inevitably they will want what the other baby has.  When Luke takes a toy from Ally, she cries angrily.  When Ally takes one from Luke, he cries a pathetic little sad cry.

Both Ally and Luke are starting to get separation anxiety.  It makes things a little hard because I don't get as much done as (I think) I need to.  If I need to move to another room, it's either endure some howling or go through the process of hauling two babies with me and getting them set up in that room and then repeating the procedure when I come back.

Oatmeal

Yesterday morning Anna asked for a bowl of oatmeal.  I love how she says that word, so I said, "All right!  Do you want bananas in your 'oh me no'?" 

She looked at me for a moment, almost disgusted, and loudly corrected me, "It's OH PE NO; not 'Oh me no'!"  Then she left, shaking her head.

Anna!

Anna was a little tough to take today.  Most of the time, her charm outshines her more difficult behaviors, but today was a hard day.  I'm not sure what did it.  It may have been one too many crying tantrums (or maybe seven too many), or maybe she knocked the babies over too often, or maybe it wasn't even anything she did.  It might just be my own irritability.  I have a pretty bad head cold, and Luke and Ally have been exceptionally crabby all week.

Anyway, I decided it was the perfect time to focus instead on some of the cute and funny things Anna said or did lately.

*This morning Anna wanted to get herself dressed while I got Luke and Ally dressed in their room.  I was impressed, because she was even putting on her own tights.  All of the sudden I heard Anna yelling angrily in the hallway.  I wasn't sure what was going on, because I was pretty sure Kate was still in their room.  After a moment it became evident that Anna wasn't fighting with Kate.  She was yelling at her tights, "Naughty!  Naughty tights!"  I suppressed a giggle and was about to go help her when she came into the room.  She had her tights pulled up all the way, but the entire foot of her right tight was still dangling.  She angrily explained, "My foot is... overreacting!"

*Later today we went to take a trip to Trader Joe's.  In the car, Kate was whining almost continually about how thirsty she was.  I told her we'd get a sample drink (which they always have) when we got Trader Joe's, but she kept complaining.  I told her we could also find the drinking fountain, but she kept complaining.  Anna must have gotten sick of Kate's whining, too, because she yelled, "Well, Kate, there's a lot of water at our house!"

*Anna has been telling random people that she loves them, like our contractor and the guy who delivered our couch on Wednesday.  It's pretty funny to see the looks on people's faces and, if I weren't always so worried about other people feeling uncomfortable, I'd love to hear the responses they'd come up with.  I usually rescue them during the awkward silence by saying, "Oh, Anna, that's so nice" which usually leads to the recipient of Anna's love repeating, "Yeah, that's so nice."  I had to laugh when, after the above conversation, our couch delivery boy was trying to leave and Anna held out her arms saying, "Hug?!"

*And, one last story... last, yes, but certainly not least...  A few days ago, we planted our seeds for the garden.  When we finished, I told Kate and Anna I wanted to take a picture.  It was a little hard from the angle I was, so I had them move a couple times.  Then I said I just wanted one more with their seed packets.  All of the sudden, Anna got a sneaky look on her face.  Then, for some reason I do not understand, she turned her back, and...  

Yep, she sure did!  I have absolutely no idea how she came up with this.

More bath pictures!?

It's pretty well known that I love bath time.  I just love giving the kids baths, seeing the babies' naked little bodies, washing baby feet, getting the kids nice and clean, even under their nails, having the older girls occupied and contained for an extended period of time... Bath time is perfect.  And I love bath time pictures. 

It may seem like I'm constantly posting pictures of my kids in the bath, but, believe it or not, there are many, many more pictures that I haven't posted.  To try to restrain myself a little, I've even stopped bringing my camera for baths most of the time.  The following pictures were actually taken on my phone.

Four kids in the bath and the little one said, "I'm naked; don't photograph me."

Their first bath in the big tub!

All my monkeys

I set up a sheet and the lights in the basement to take pictures of my dad's dogs as a birthday present for him.  To check the lighting, I snapped a picture of Luke.

Then Kate jumped in...

and so did Anna, and my mom brought Ally over...

So I got a picture of the whole bunch...

And we did finally get to the dogs...

Anna's shoes

Anna spent a month with her shoes on the wrong feet. 

Okay... that might be a slight exaggeration.  She doesn't wear shoes in the house and sometimes her shoes did wind up on the right feet, but every time she put her shoes on the wrong feet, she'd absolutely refuse to let anyone switch them to the correct feet.  And, since I wisely choose my battles (again, a slight exaggeration), that's the way they stayed, happily strapped to the wrong feet for every old woman in every store to comment on.

Then a few days ago, she asked me if her shoes were on the right feet.  I said, "No, but that's fine.  Let's go." 

With urgency, she insisted, "Change them, Mommy!" 

"Change them?  You want me to put them on the right feet?" 

She did.  I complied.  As she walked away, she let out a dramatic sigh of relief and explained, "Now the prince will marry me."

I looked over and saw Kate with a somewhat sneaky, but very proud smile.  She explained how the day before she'd tried to change Anna's shoes and, as usual, Anna wouldn't let her.  Kate told her that Prince Charming wouldn't marry her if her shoes were on the wrong feet, and Anna let her change her shoes.  Kate ended with a proud declaration, "I helped you, Mommy!"

It seems, once again, Kate was more bothered by a situation with Anna than I was, and, once again, she did a better job convincing Anna to cooperate than I did. 

And, for now, I won't worry about the psychological implications of my three-year-old changing for a man, I'll just be grateful that her little toes are comfortable!

Peek



a



Luke!

   

Ally

Prunes

I was trying to feed Luke and Ally prunes when Kate asked what they were.  I explained, "They're prunes.  I'm hoping they will help the babies poop a little easier.  They're made by taking plums and drying them to turn them into prunes, just like grapes turn into raisins.  Then they take the prunes and mash them up so babies can eat them easier."  Kate nodded. 

Luke didn't like the prunes and kept spitting them out.  After a while Kate asked, "What's wrong, Lukey?  Don't you like your dried up mushed up plums?"

Secrets

This is one of my favorite pictures I took lately.  It really looks like Luke is telling Ally something.

But what does he say to her?  Just look at her reaction:  "Really?!"

And then, I swear, they looked at me like, "She has no idea!"

Divine vision

I took the kids to a gardening store yesterday.  I'd never been there before, but I had bought a $10 Groupon worth $20.  When we arrived, my stomach sunk as I noticed all the fancy, breakable trinkets at high prices.

As we walked in, I was too preoccupied with maneuvering the double stroller down the narrow aisles and keeping an eye out for things Kate or Anna might accidentally break to notice a 4 foot garden statue of Jesus we'd passed.  So, I was baffled when Anna began yelling, "I see God.  I see God!  Mommy, I see God!"

Sensitive

Luke is generally easy going. He rarely gets upset, so when he does it really gets to me. His expression is simply heart wrenching.





Shy little charmer

Last weekend, Kate and Anna went to stay at Grandma and Grandpa's house while Dave and I used the time to get our newly finished basement family room all set up, including shopping for a couch and making our old playroom baby-proof. 

During this time, Dave and I did find time to go out for breakfast at the Pancake House with Luke and Ally.  Luke quickly became the star attraction.  A woman behind us kept smiling at him.  He'd smile back for a moment and then get too shy.  When I was holding him he'd bury his head in my shoulder.  When he was in his highchair he'd have to cover his face with his arms.

I later caught that shy look on camera.

Spring Stay-cation

For months Dave has been trying to sell me on a trip to St. Louis.  I finally consented, and we made plans to go this weekend.

Then Wednesday morning, after another sleepless night, Dave came to the realization that it wouldn't be fun to stay in a hotel with two babies who each wake up three times a night and two preschoolers with their own sleep issues.  Not to mention the 7+ hour car ride. 

I was fine with skipping the trip, better than fine, except we'd told Kate and Anna, and they were looking forward to it.

So, I made a poster and presented them with a new, "better" idea: A stay-cation!  We'd stay home, camp out in the basement one night, go on little day trips, go out to eat, and have a couple movie nights.  They were sold. 

For two days now, Kate has been talking non-stop about our upcoming stay-cation.

Yum!

Luke loves to take his shoe off and suck on it. 

What happens if he can't get it off, if Mommy makes a knot he can't untie? 

Look how wet that shoe is!