Child development

Anna came up to me while I was cleaning the kitchen after dinner, and she said, "Mom, I've been really thinking about something.  I walk around thinking about it, and I think about it when I'm in bed at night."

I asked her what it was.

"You know how I have thoughts and I make choices?  Well, everyone has thoughts and makes choices, too...  It's hard to explain."

I told her I thought she was doing a good job explaining it, and I sat down with her and she explained more.

"I mean, I knew that I had thoughts, and I know that I make choices, but then one night in bed, I realized everyone else also has thoughts and makes choices."

As I sat there listening to her revelation, I flashed back to a class I had in Child Development in college.  It was like Anna had passed over one of Piaget's levels of development all at once, and was verbalizing this development.  It was kind of surreal.

Anna continued, "I don't know.  It's really hard to explain.  Do you understand what I mean?"

"Yes, I think I do."

Doubting it was possible, she asked me to tell her what she meant.  I repeated what she'd told me, and she was so surprised I understood, that she said, "Wow, Mom.  You've thought about this, too? We're so much alike!"

Ally

She's a spunky one.  She has two new phrases.

If she disagrees with something we've said or done, she will frequently ask us, "Is you kidding me?"

And, a few times now, when we've asked her why she thinks something, she's looked at us and asked, "Isn't it obvious?"

There might be a third, although I've only heard it once.  I was helping her get on a pair of shorts, and she told me she didn't want to wear them because, "Them is babyish."

I told her, "Ally, when you still need help getting dressed, you do not yet have a basis to call anything babyish."

A baby

Ally came into the kitchen, "Mommy, I want a baby."

"Well, we're not having a baby."

"Please!  I weally, weally want a baby in our family."

"I'm done having babies.  You were my last baby.  You and Luke were my last babies."

"But mom!  I can't hold Lukey!"

I just smiled and gave her a "well, that's the way it is" look.

Then she ran off, and I heard her yelling, "Lukey!  Lukey, where is you?"

Curious, I followed her.  She found Lukey and asked, "Lukey, can I hold you?" and she wrapped her arms around him and tried to lift him onto the couch.

Oh, Anna...

Anna wanted to knit a hat for a friend's toddler.  Kate and I showed her how, and she was doing a great job.

As she was nearing the end, she commented,  "Every time I do something, I do great.  I'm amazing.  I am an amazing child.  Right, mom?"

Well, she doesn't lack in self-confidence, I guess.

Nicknames

I had been reading an alphabet book to Ally and Luke before bed.

They kept pointing to the letters in their name.  As we finished, Luke was joking that Kate had stolen his K and his E for her name, and Ally said Luke had stolen one of her L's.

It got me thinking about if Ally would want to be called Alison when she got older, and I told her.  "When I was your age, my name was Kristy."

She told me, "When I was your age, my name was Ally Kristal."

I rolled my eyes and said, "Oh, really?"

Luke climbed over to me, and said, "And my name was Kristal Luke."

That's all Dave's genetics.

Employment

Last week at the cottage Anna climbed in my lap and we were cuddling.  She said, "Mommy, I always want to cuddle with you."

I said, "Good.  Even when you're a grown up and have a job, I want you to cuddle me when you come home from work."

She looked at me like that was the most ridiculous thing she had ever heard, "I'm not going to have a job.  Joey is!"

I wasn't even sure where to start...

Road construction

We were driving home from the cottage Saturday night, and there was a lot of construction.  Two thirds the width of the road was blocked off with barrels.  I was having to straddle the rumble strips in order to drive through, and I was a little tense.  I'd ask the kids to all be quiet so I could concentrate.  (This is something they've taken more seriously since I backed into a parked car earlier this month.)

After a while, Ally quietly asked, "Are they fixing the road? What happened to the road?"

I took a breath and explained, "I think it just got old."

To which Ally replied, "No, I think that a car crashed into another car... and then a monster ate the road."

There has been a lot of car-crash talk since the afore mentioned incident, but a monster eating the road?  I didn't say anything; I just kept concentrating on my driving.  

Then Ally, having rethought her idea, commented, "I don't know if a monster ate it. It's not very tasty."

So big

I overheard a snippet of Luke and Ally's conversation as I cleaned up the breakfast dishes.  

Ally was standing on her chair, telling him, "Lukey, I this big."

"Yeah, Ally, but how did you get so big?  Did you have to eat yucky stuff?"

Bilingual

Luke proudly told me, "I can laugh in Spanish."

Luke adores Kate

Ally had an overtired meltdown during Kate's "cuddle time."  When I came back, I found Luke had taken over.  He apparently did so well cuddling that he put his anxious sister, and himself, right to sleep.

Uhhhh...

As the kids were getting their swimsuits on, I overheard Ally say, "Lukey, you look so cute with your 'gina, I mean, penis there."

She must have noticed that I heard, because she told me, "Him looks like him has a little tail!"

"Tonight," by Smashing Pumpkins came on the radio, and Luke declared, "We sang this song in Bible school!"

"This song?"

"Yes! We sang it in Bible School."

Either Luke was confused or that's a pretty cool Bible School!

Another bedtime prayer

And here was part of Luke's prayer the next day.

"God, I'm sad that Daddy broke his toe so badly.  And God, I love Mommy, because she is so nice to me.  And Ally is sometimes not nice to me, but I love her too.  And..."

Sail away

One of the things I love the most about the cottage is the kids getting to entertain themselves by theirselves, using their imagination and nature.  I purposely have only let them bring a handful of different toys up there, and thankfully the TV gets only a few channels when they do ask to watch it.  So, they've become a little like Huck Finn, making rafts and sail boats and catching frogs.  They've also started their own club in the clubhouse, complete with a pledge!

The Baba Sailboat

Luke wanted to make his own ship out of a box.  He added a sail and floated his, Ally's, and Anna's babas around.  He later added an anchor made from a stone and water filled milk carton.

The Noodle Raft

Anna and Luke made this, 

with a little bit of frustration and a little bit of parental help from their mom.

Jumper Marie Melb-Hoff

The kids and our neighbor kids caught a frog and spent the morning researching what kind of habitat she needed and constructing it.  They took suggestions and voted on a first and middle name and combined their last names for her last name.  They caught bugs for her, and then, realizing they couldn't give her the care she needed, decided to release her in the evening.

Bedtime prayer

It's not exactly "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep," but it's pretty comprehensive.  I think it stands a chance of becoming a new classic.

Here is Ally's bedtime prayer tonight:

Thank you, God, for taking care of me.  

Thank you, God, for giving me a hotdog every time I want a hotdog.

Thank you for this beautiful life you gave me.

Thank you for my wonderful doll.

And thank you, God, for delicious milk.

Amen

Twin love

Ally, giggling, says, "Mommy, look at Lukey."

"I know," I respond, "He's sleeping."

"No, Mommy," she says, giggling more, "Look at him's mouth!"

Then she just giggled.

Poor Luke.