The English Lesson

We have seriously dumbed down our speech around here. I know you're not supposed to use baby talk when interacting with your baby, and you should explain everything just as you would want it explained to you when talking to a toddler. We've never done it before, but this time around with Claire, we have really dropped the ball on vocabulary expansion. We use sentences like:

Mommy do it.
Mommy hold it
Daddy take it
No touch!

She uses the same types of sentences to communicate with us. So we're all on the same level. Tim and I talk to each other like this when the kids aren't even around. Caveman speak, or cavebaby speak... it's very efficient. And completely unnecessary for a child who will frequently take the child safety locks off the cabinet doors, dig around for what she needs in the cabinet, and then put the safety locks back on...

Score: Wall-3, Katie-0

This was a bad week for Katie's head. She slammed into 3 different walls and got 3 head injuries. I am a pretty calm person, I don't get rattled too easily, but the first time Katie slammed into the wall at my parents house, my mother gasped so loud she nearly sucked in all the air from the room, which contributed to Katie's panic. We held her down with an ice pack for so long, that the goose egg didn't get very large, and the bruise is already fading to a lovely yellowish gray. Thank goodness too, because our big family trip is coming up soon, and nothing would look worse in our family pictures than a huge purple lump on her forehead.

The next head injury was right under her eye. Again, forced ice pack, lots of screaming, and the bruise and swelling was pretty minor considering the force with which she she hit the wall.

The last incident was much worse, at least for me because there was a lot of blood involved. And we were at a friend's house... what could be worse than bleeding all over your friend's house? Katie suddenly was calling my name and stumbling toward me down the hall. None of the other kids could really tell us what happened, just that she must have tripped and fell into a corner. As she got closer to me, I could tell something was wrong, one half of her head was red. Like a horror movie. It started dripping down onto her shoulder, that's when she noticed it and started shrieking. I couldn't even see where the cut was, her hair was all matted and sticky with blood. We laid her up on the kitchen counter and used the hose from the sink to rinse the blood out. Eventually I found the source, and it was a pretty small cut, less than half an inch, but apparently head injuries come with massive amounts of blood. My friend assured me that her kids had all had much worse, deeper cuts than this on their heads and were turned away from the ER without stitches or staples. An hour on the couch auietly resting and watching tv, Katie was cured. What a rough week for her head... I wonder how many brain cells died during those ordeals...

Random Tidbits

1. Add these to the list of keys that have been broken off my keyboard: control, alt, d,z,x,c,b and esc. So now I have to guess where the z and x are because I never really knew. Thank goodness I hardly ever have to use them. Claire brought them all over to me announcing, "I broke it!" Like that was her goal for the day. She was so proud. Last week it was my space bar. Luckily it kinda snapped back on and works almostallthetime.

2. Our washer and dryer are stacked, and up on the top of the dryer is where I store a bunch of lunch boxes, coolers and insulated bags. Why do we have 13 of these things? 3 I can see, one for each kid. Oddly enough, not one of them is big enough to store all the drinks and snacks we need when we have a day trip planned so we end up using one of the bigger coolers from the garage anyway. Every time I do a load of laundry, and that would be at least once a day, no fewer than 4 of them tumble right off the top of the dryer. Today I am going to find them a new home.

3. I discovered that Tim has an emergency golf shirt in his trunk with his clubs. As in, "Honey, I had a golfing emergency today, I'll be home late, the guys wanted to catch a quick 18 holes..." hmmm, sounds a little like premeditation to me.

4. Katie made a "Do Not Disturb" sign for her bedroom door. She told me that when she takes it down I am allowed to go in there and clean it... well, how do you like that? Hmmph.

5. For 2 days in a row I have raced into our room as an afterthought and put a diaper on Claire while she napped. She is sooo into her big girl panties now- the ones that have Minnie Mouse on them- that she refuses to wear a diaper. I tend to forget during the day how close we are to soggy carpets and puddles. Do you know how hard it is to put a diaper on a baby all balled up in the fetal position? And I live in fear that she will wake up and her hour long nap will be even shorter.

6. I recently found out that there is, allowable by FDA standards, up to 6 rat hairs ground up in each jar of peanut butter. Needless to say, this has caused me some distress as peanut butter is a major staple of our diet. I can't bring myself to buy it, and the kids are getting restless- they eat a pb&j sandwich every day for lunch. I should just get past it- the way I made concessions to eating chocolate even after finding out about how many insects are allowable per ounce. This rat thing is just different to me I guess. But if you put them both together, my obsession with Reese Peanut Butter Cups is cured!

7. Claire, "Clue" as she calls herself, or rather, "Baby Clue" finally has allowed me to put her hair in piggytails! She is sooooo cute!!

The Impulse Purchase

There was no way we could leave the store without this...

She was just waaaaay too happy. And I'm a sucker for this kid. And I foolishly allowed the delusion to build in my mind that this might be just the thing that gives her incentive to sleep in her own big girl bed... hmmm. We'll see about that.

Puppy, Puppy, I love you!!!

Boppy-Boopy-Boo

We watched Cinderella. Claire was in awe. After the movie she had her new shiny wand and was dancing around in circles pointing it at each of us singing, "Boppy- Boopy- Boo!!"

Ammo and Too-kie

It was with much nostalgia and bittersweet emotion that I celebrated my baby girl's birthday. We took her to Sesame Place. She was totally starstruck and loved seeing all her favorite characters in the parade and shows. She loved the rides and enjoyed the wading pools and water attractions. Ryan insisted on bringing his wallet so she could pick out something and he could buy it for her, how that melted my heart for her to have such a loving big brother.

The pudgy baby is slowly disappearing from her face, but the sweet spunky toddler that is taking over is one of my favorite things.... well, it would be in the top 3 at least...

In the morning when she woke up we were singing Happy Birthday to her and talking about how she was born, and when Katie woke up and came in to join us, Claire announced, "Happy Birthday Katie!" When we explained that it's only Claire's birthday, her little face lit up and she seemed to understand this day was just going to be all about her. She got a Too-kie monster doll for her birthday, and carried it around snuggling it all day. A trip to the bookstore to buy "Goodnight Gorilla" a favorite book that we've had on renewal from the library for about a year, dinner out and a yummy Cookie Monster cake rounded out this exciting birthday. It's all about the little things, she's so happy and easy to please.

Claire with all her little friends!

Pool Time

Well, I survived my first trip with the kids to the pool for the season. As suspected, Claire was in heaven splashing around in the water. She was squealing and clapping as she ran through the fountains and kept wanting to wade deeper and deeper into the pool, chasing after the big kids. Of course she doesn't realize they are 2 feet taller than she is and can walk around the entire pool without the water ever being above their heads. So I got to get in with her, lucky me! The pool temperature is usually starting to be just right for me around Labor day when it's closing.... I was dreading the freezing temps of early June, but Claire was just so excited, how could I not be excited too?! No pictures of this event... it was crazy enough trying to keep track of this fearless baby without worrying about dropping a camera into the pool.

The only problem came when it was time to go home. She just kept yelling over and over, "NO HOME!!"

The Hand of God...

We did nothing to celebrate our 10th anniversary last year. Actually, not nothing, we spent the evening packing for a vacation- packing being on my list of chores that I hate the most. I hate packing almost as much as unpacking, and sometimes think it might be easier to just never go on vacations just to avoid those 2 unpleasant jobs. Actually, there is a suitcase in the hallway right now from our trip 2 weeks ago still waiting to be unpacked. Maybe I'll just leave the clothes in it for the next trip...


So, since our 10th anniversary was SO lame, we decided that this year we would definitely do something to mark the occasion. Anything, as long as we spent the day together... eventually it was decided that we would go on a hike, see a movie, relax by the pool, and eat out somewhere. My parents offered to play us for the day, God love them, and we sent them out in the morning with directions to the kids' sports events and embarked on our day without responsibilities.




The hike was amazing, exhilerating, and breathtaking. The Billy Goat trail through the Maryland side of Great Falls, definitely one to revisit. As we walked the mile from the parking lot to the trail, we saw warning signs of how risky this hike is, with some people needing a helicopter rescue! Yikes! Allow 4 hours for this hike, one of the most strenuous on the east... But we didn't see anyone coming out of the trail that looked much different than us so we thought we were qualified enough to handle it. And, we had all day if we needed it.




We stopped several times to enjoy the view, watch some rock climbers and kayakers, take pictures, and snack. Photos do not do justice to this beautiful part of our world. Who knew we could be so close to the city, but also right beside this. It was rock scramble after rock scramble with the occasional dirt path thrown in, and of course the intimidating rock wall we had to scale. I was just glad we weren't going the other direction when we arrived at the rocky ledge. Going down it might have been more stressful than going up! Every so often the delicious smell of honeysuckle or gardenias flowed out of nowhere, but we couldn't see any flowers, and butterflies as big as my fist were fluttering everywhere. A perfect day.


We soon found ourselves sitting in an outdoor patio for lunch, right beside a family with 2 whining obnoxious kids. Normally that wouldn't bother us, because we bring our own whining obnoxious kids with us to balance it out... but Tim looked annoyed and wanted to move inside the restaurant instead. They had just gotten their salads, who knows how long they would be there with those kids pouting and fussing. The parents weren't even trying to quiet them down. Just as Tim was reminding me that the whole point of today was to get away from that kind of noise, a huge gust of wind came and blew their table's umbrella up out of it's stand and crashed it down on the table, knocking their plates around. Ahhh, the hand of God. They decided to pack up everything and move inside and suddenly we were there alone to enjoy our meal. A perfect day.



Our next adventure found us poolside with our ipods and books. I haven't enjoyed a few hours of peaceful solitude at the pool like that in a long time. Of course I love playing and splashing around at the pool with the kids, but this was a totally different experience! Eventually we realized we were ready for dinner so we went to Maggie Moos and had a huge ice cream sundae for dinner before catching a late movie. A very full day, but also very relaxing. A perfect day.



The kids got some awesome grandparent bonding time, they went to the movies and out to dinner after their soccer games. By the time we got home that night, they were snuggled up having a sleepover with Gma and Gpa. It was a perfect day for them too.

The Newest Colonial Soldiers

Downtown Philadelphia: we've been wanting to visit for a while, but just never squeezed it into our weekends at Sesame Place over the years. This time, we made a special trip and wanted to do a simple walking tour of the historical downtown area... the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and Betsy Ross's house were what I was aiming for, anything else would just be icing on the cake.

Everyone walks around dressed in character from the 1700s, it was really something to see. We stumbled onto the most amazing experience for the kids. We heard some fifes playing in a little courtyard and wandered over to take a look... it's always better when you don't try to plan everything out too much..... The next thing I knew, these 2 Army Generals were calling all the kids to come "enlist" for the army and join in for some soldier training. After some gentle prodding, we finally got Ryan to join Katie who had bolted over to the line of children. They paraded the kids away, practicing marching and then handed them some long wooden guns for "Musket Training." I've never seen Katie so excited and happy as when she was swinging that gun around! After their training session they all got little certificates and orders to ship out the following morning at 5am. The rest of the day that's all they could talk about!

The cutest new recruits!

Charge!!!!

A salute!

Claire's Song

I find myself referencing almost anything Claire does as "the cutest thing ever..." but bear with me. She sings now, and it's the cutest thing I've ever heard. She sings Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Itsy Bitsy Spider and the ABCs none of which sound like the actual song, but she has the melodies down so you can guess what she's singing. Her newest trick is to make up her own lyrics. Today, she composed a lovely tribute to 2 of her favorite things in all the world. It went something like this: (to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle)

Mommy, boobies, mommy, boobies

Mommy, boobies, mommy boobies

Mommy, boobies, mommy boobies

Mommy boobies, mommy boobies... tada!

Things to Remember about Camping

We took our first camping trip over Spring Break... just a one nighter- kind of a practice round to see if we're up for "those" kinds of vacations. Which, given my fear of insects, Katie's intolerance of heat, and Claire's innate ability to find sticky substances and smear them all over herself, I had my serious doubts that we could handle it! Plus I'm not keen on sleeping on anything other than my pillowtop mattress. And don't get me started on using leaves to wipe... So here is what I will take away from this experience, and refer back to should we ever attempt to repeat this little adventure.


Don't eat at Sonic. After 3 hours in the car you need a little airing out and leg stretching! And for heaven's sake find a restaurant that uses plates!

Make sure Claire is asleep the entire time the tent is being assembled so she doesn't wander off and get lost.

Learn to assemble tent in less than an hour.

Don't let the most clumsy child carry the lantern. Although, a huge fiery "Pumpkin" moon can be breathtaking and cast enough of a glow to find the way back to the campsite after the lantern was rendered useless.

Roughing it shouldn't involve 2 iPods, a laptop and 2 cell phones... good grief!

S'mores are just too darn messy!

April is a perfect time to camp in the Outer Banks- no bugs are out yet!

People who are afraid of the dark should not drop their lantern/night light!

On any given trip, our van is packed up as perfectly as a Tetris board... each item having its own exact placement in the cargo area. This is Tim's area of specialty. He will spend an hour just packing the car. And then I'll say, "Whoops, I need to grab something out of that bag right there," on the bottom of the stack no doubt. So in the morning after camping, I thought I'd help out and start packing up the bags. Of course I was doing it all wrong and I heard ALL about it...

The Perfect Mother's Day

No, that wasn't sarcasm... this year, Mother's Day was truly a perfect day! I enjoyed breakfast in bed and a nice, long, hot, uninterrupted shower, Tim researched some new projects to do with the kids involving paint and fingerprint poems that I had not heard before. Have I really been out of teaching long enough to have new fingerprint poems written without my knowledge? Then we spent the day hiking and wandering around the old town of Harper's Ferry, WV. There was a beautiful blue sky and fluffy white clouds surrounding us all day.


What an adorable little church from the 1800's! The chiming of the bells welcomed us to town as mass was just getting out. If only we had been a little earlier, we could have gone to church here!
Thomas Jefferson said that the view of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers converging at this point was worth the voyage across the Atlantic. "Really?" Katie commented..."Just a big old rock and some trees?" She has a totally different idea of the ideal view involving a huge field of pink flowers with a rainbow overhead and a pink sunset in the distance!

They did have a good time climbing on Jefferson Rock!
My little hiker!
Look at this cute little tiny town! We ate lunch in the "Rose Garden" of a little restaurant- it felt like we were eating in someone's backyard. We probably were! And when we stopped for ice cream, there were 3 or 4 people in line ahead of us and the cashier was flustered. She made a quick call on her phone saying, "Better get down here right away, we're swamped!" I had to laugh!
We walked along the railroad tracks, hoping a train wouldn't pass by and scare us all to our deaths. They were very loud! And poor Claire fell asleep and missed the ice cream!

One final note for next year, in case we forget about the red berry smoothie stain on the stairs... don't let the clumsiest kid carry the tray of breakfast food!

The Mother's Day Celebration

Katie and I had a wonderful afternoon at the Mother's Day celebration at her preschool! We planted flowers in a cute little wheelbarrow, and her teacher went waaaay overboard in the gifts that they made: picture frames, a boot filled with flowers, a vase handpainted with little fingerprint bugs, and cookies in a jar with recipe and chefs hat! Adorable stuff from my little artist!
Sadly, on Mother's Day morning, Katie's teacher lost her home and all of its contents in a massive fire that brought out firefighters from all the surrounding areas. Luckily her and her family made it out alive, but I cannot imagine the anguish of having to start all over. The preschool is collecting donations for this family of 6 who was babysitting someone's baby chicks and the heat lamp caught fire and torched their entire home. As if you need one more reason not to raise baby chicks...

Going, Going, Gone

Going...

Going...


Gone!

Toddler Speak

Communicating with Claire is a little bit like talking to Lassie, if Lassie also could do charades. Her language development is happening so fast, she learns new words every day, and talking with her is so much fun. I just don't remember it being so much fun when Ryan and Katie were learning to talk. Katie jumped right into complete sentences so there wasn't this awkward phase of trying to figure out what she was saying. And Ryan was always ahead of the curve in language development and articulation although we did have some fun when he was learning to pronounce the word "truck" without using the "f" sound...

Anyway, maybe that's why having a conversation with Claire is so much fun. The other day she half told/half acted out an interesting story which explained why the front of her nightgown was smeared with green goo. It went something like this:

Me: reading stories with Katie, hearing Claire run down the hall: "Hi Claire, what have you been doing?"
Claire: "Hi Mommy." Points to her mouth, "Teeth"
Me: Were you brushing your teeth?
Claire: Nodding, "O-peen." Then squeezing her hands together, "Smoosh. Mess"
Me: Did the toothpaste squeeze out and make a mess?"
Claire: Nodding, and waving her hands around like a mime fingerpainting a masterpiece
Me: "Uh-oh. Is it all over the bathroom counter?"
Claire: Shaking her head "Towel"
Me: "Did you clean it with the towel?"
Claire: Nodding and pulling me off the bed and down the hall to the bathroom
I followed her and where she showed me the towel, covered with toothpaste and the counter which she had cleaned up very nicely. She started clapping her hands and I praised her great job of cleaning up her mess. Then she slowly pointed down at her nightgown and whispered, "mess" as if I hadn't noticed that huge green glob of glue immediately and she was saving it for a surprise ending to her story!

Unwinding after a Long Day...

Ahhh, that's nice and relaxing!

No Beesh

We don't know what it means either, but Claire says it... all the time. Running down the hall, arms flailing, yelling, "No Beesh, No Beesh!!" Tiptoeing quietly whispering, "No beesh!" We can't figure it out, but I'm sure it will become one of our treasured family inside jokes.

Manners and More

No mom wants to have that grabby child at playgroup with no manners! We always model good manners from the beginning, hoping that they will be instilled at the earliest age possible. Claire has had "pees" down pat for a while. As she's snatching your food, toy, book, chess piece etc out of your hand, she does it with a smile and a "pees." She also is starting to say thank you when you give her something, although it sounds like the tiniest little baby sneeze, "t-yoo" but it is still music to my ears. Now she also has mastered "you-me" so when she coughs, toots, sneezes, hiccups, or burps, it's followed by a "you-me." And if you cough, toot, sneeze, hiccup or burp, she will be running right over to you, tapping you on the back. Because she genuinely cares for your well being.


Shhhhhh! is another word Claire uses a lot. Normally when Katie or Ryan are bossing her around or trying to negotiate their toys away from her, she gets her little pointer finger right up to her pursed lips and gets right in their face, "shhhhhhhhh!" It's an effective ploy to distract them from trying to take back their toy or book that she had stolen (with a smile and a "pees" of course)... she is becoming the master manipulator, and she is just a teensy bit spoiled!


When you come home, I bet you kick off your shoes, maybe toss them into the closet, hang up your coat... right? Well, when Claire comes home from an outing, she kicks off her shoes and pants and zooms away before you can even catch her!


She is becoming fiercely independent lately, especiallly regarding using the bathroom. She goes in there and closes the door! If I go in to check on her or ask if she needs help she yells at me NO, and waggles her little finger at me over and over saying "Go, Go, Go!" So I shut the door and give her some privacy. So far I have not encountered any smooshed poop on the walls or anything so I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt! Maybe she will just self potty train with no interaction from me. Wouldn't that be a refreshing change from potty training my dear little Katie who would sit for hours on the potty reading stacks and stacks of books, and hold each of her stuffed animals over the potty so they could also be trained. Apparently she could not use the bathroom until all 155 of those animals learned to do it too!


At church there is sometimes a director conducting the choir. That was the case on Easter Sunday mass and from our seats, Claire also directed the choir. A little too much Little Einsteins maybe? Her arms were swinging and swaying and pointing and she was dancing all around the pew, much to the delight of everyone sitting near us. It was the cutest sight!

Happy

Claire wakes up with a smile every morning. She's up earlier than the other kids so we usually have a few quiet minutes of snuggling in bed before Ryan and Katie join us. We sing some songs and tickle, and she whispers in my ear, which is the cutest! And we talk about what we're going to do that day. When the sleepyheads wake up and come tearing down the hall to our room we sing the Good Morning song and then find something to watch on tv so I can get dressed... and a shower if I'm lucky. I think in part of that good morning ritual, me asking her if we're going to have a happy day has stuck in her head because now when she wakes up, the first thing she says is "Happy" And she is. She truly is a happy little baby girl.

I am trying to get her attached to a lovey. Right now I am her lovey, she needs me to fall asleep and to stay asleep. But soon, hopefully very soon, we will shift that need from me to this cute little frog that we have named, what else... Happy. She knows its name, she looks for it and finds it when I ask her where it is. She plays peek-a-boo with it, and builds a house for it with blocks. She does snuggle with it at bedtime, but thus far, she will chuck Happy to the side to get to me.

Gangsta prayer

I was trying to work on the Our Father with Ryan during church this morning . As I started having him repeat it, he interrupted me saying he already knows it. No surprise there, he seems to learn a lot of things without anyone teaching him. So great, I ask him to say it for me. He didn't get very far when I almost fell over in a fit of laughter... now you have to picture Ryan wearing baggy pants down around his hips and maybe a giant boom box up on his shoulder, ala The Fresh Prince of Bel Air... Our Father, who art in heaven, how that be my name?