January 17-24

Kaitlyn can turn off light switches, though it takes her a small eternity to do so.  She has also developed a fabulous stiff-arm which she uses to great effect on her older sisters when they try to crowd her.  She excels in the balance department but is lacking courage and thus is not standing unassisted much yet.  Unfortunately for cruising along furniture, she decided to skip the "move your feet" step of learning to walk and is now discovering the hard way that one shouldn't cut corners if one has no idea what one is doing.  She might be mine.

Gretchen wants to do everything that Olivia does.  She eats the same breakfasts (mostly cereal), dislikes the same vegetables (all of them), prefers the same colors (green and orange), plays the same games, reads the same books, loves the same princesses, says the same words...  There are times when we are able to remind her that she is her own person (who actually likes eggs and bacon for breakfast, doesn't mind vegetables much at all, and shows a preference for pink and purple), but for the most part she is content to echo Olivia.  She's been enjoying galloping around since Edward visited and showed her how.  Also, Gretchen knows that two choices amounts to no choices.  There is no pacifying her need for independence by giving her two acceptable options, thereby tricking her into thinking she's making important decisions about her own life.  She's on to our game and can see through the deception.

Olivia has a construction paper crown that Grandma made her.  It's green and says "Princess Olivia."  Shortly after it came home over a year ago, I covered the whole thing with packing tape so as to not be constantly patching rips.  It would seem that she now thinks that this crown is a hair accessory.  She wears it every day and if I ask what she is going to wear to keep her hair out of her face she looks at me like I'm a bit off my rocker and says in a patronizing tone, "I'm going to wear my crown!"   Long able to spell her own name, Olivia can now spell Gretchen's name as well.  We have a song we sing when spelling names, so that helps.  Unfortunately for me, she has developed the unsettling habit of needing to be inside my personal space bubble anytime she talks to me, which means she's often playing with my braid, stroking my arm, and/or breathing in my ear.  It drives me nuts.

Marshmallows in our house are called shmarshmallows.  The girls are not, as far as I can tell, being goofy; they legitimately think that's what they are called.

We spent some time in Sidney this week so that Bryan could go to Springfield for work and the girls and I could go to Dayton for Eva's birthday party.  The Kleins visited us while we were in Sidney, and Steph and I took the kids downstairs to play foosball and pool.  A note about foosball tables: those rods are right at two-year-old eye level.  Only two kids got hit, though, and we enjoyed quite an exciting game of foosball.  None of the kids were able to maneuver the players very well, and Eli and Gretchen had to stand on a trampoline if they wanted to see inside.  I was playing one handed while holding Kaitlyn.  I think Eva was the only child who understood what we were trying to accomplish (get the ball in the goal), but she was occasionally fuzzy on which goal.  At one point, though, Steph missed a block with the goalie, allowing me to score, and Eva said, "Here, Mom, let me show you how."  :)

Bryan had an interview in Columbus on Thursday for a contracting job with the Columbus Crew.  For those of you that don't know, the Crew is a professional soccer team.  Bryan contacted the owner (manager?) once about applying some analytic analysis to the team (similar to the movie Moneyball) and has been talking back and forth with him since then.  He's had several meetings and has now been offered a one-time job with the possibility of future work depending on their needs.  He is excited to be officially working for a professional sports team, though he says he'd be just as happy getting paid in "season tickets and soccer balls."

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Bonus Post: Sound Bites 9

Olivia: I don't know who made this big mess, but it wasn't me!

Olivia: I don't know who Kaitlyn's going to marry.
Me: Nobody knows who Kaitlyn is going to marry.
Gretchen: I do!
Olivia: Who is Kaitlyn going to marry?
Gretchen: A prince.
Olivia: What prince?
Gretchen: Um...Santa!
Olivia: But Santa's a girl!

Gretchen: Olivia is my sister and mommy is my mother and daddy is my father and Kaitlyn is my Kaitlyn bug.

(This next conversation is from about two years ago.  I was reminded of it when Kaitlyn ate one of Gretchen's art projects.)
Bryan: What happened to our tag word game?
Me: It died.  Olivia pulled the score sheet off the fridge and Gretchen ate it.

Gretchen, while reading a book: Lion.  Rar.  Monkey.  Oo ee oo ee.  Frog.  Ribbit.  Giraffe.  Shif-shaf.

Olivia, after Grandma successfully navigated the electronics to start a movie: Good job, Grandma!  You didn't even need an adult to help you!

Gretchen: Barbies are not arrows, barbies are just barbies.

Gretchen is coloring with a purple marker.
Me: Gretchen, make sure you are only coloring on the paper.
Gretchen: I am.
Me: Okay, I was just reminding you.
Gretchen: And I taked a yucky out of my nose and put it in this purple thing!

William: We are big boys.
Olivia: I am not a boy, I am a big girl.
William: I am a big girl, too.
Justine: You are a boy.
William: Edward is a little boy and Gretchen is a little boy.
Gretchen: I am a middle girl.
William: And Edward is a little girl!
Justine: Edward is a boy.

Olivia: Kaitlyn's head is under the stool so she is crying and I can't see her eyes.

Olivia: You don't have a mommy, you just have a daddy, and that means you're a mermaid.

Olivia: Hey, Kaitlyn, you little bumby baby, why is your mouth on my a-- AAAAAAAAHH!
Olivia, in tears: Mommy, Kaitlyn bited me.

Gretchen: Aunt Jacque, can you do something for me?
Jacque: Sure!
Gretchen: No, you don't say "sure," you say "absolutely!"

Gretchen: I don't like vegils.
Me: Which one is a vegil?
Gretchen: This corn is a vegil!
Olivia: Mommy, is corn a vegetable?
Me: Corn is a starch.
Gretchen: I don't like starches!

Olivia: Where are you going, Daddy?
Bryan: I have to go to the bathroom.
Olivia: Ugh!  Why does he have to do that EVERY DAY?

January 10-17

Kaitlyn had a checkup this week.  She's 19 lbs, 15 oz, and 28.75 inches long.  This week she also started actual crawling (rather than using her old but effective method of dragging herself forward in an army crawl) and shaking her head.  She knows how to open cupboards and spends her time getting into all sorts of things.

I took Olivia out to get new winter boots on Monday.  I was hoping to find old fashioned galoshes that fit over shoes, but alas, those are a thing of the past.  We settled for bright pink rain boots.  Afterwards we stopped to get ice cream to take home and share.  As we left Coldstone, each holding a bowl of ice cream, Olivia turned sideways and shoved her little hip into the door to open it.  It was super cute, which is why this otherwise uneventful story made it into the blog.  :)

Number 21 on my 30 Before 30 list is nearly done.  That's the one about completing three things from my projects list.  I recently found a place where my list was written down, and was able to verify that I have finished a growth chart and Dominion dividers.  I still intend to finish the Advent calendar and the music class, so I'm hoping it won't be too long before I can cross this one off.

The girls attended their first kids only birthday party on Tuesday.  Elesha and her mom had the kids from the congregation over for an hour and fifteen minutes to celebrate Gideon's birthday.  Now it's up to me to decide if this becomes a trend since we have the next two birthdays in line...

Look for a bonus post (Sound Bites!) on Wednesday.

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January 3-10

General notes from last week:
-Kaitlyn got three new teeth, bringing her total to eight.
-The cousins played so happily together that Olivia didn't ask to watch a movie at all (typically she asks at least once a day).
-One batch of granola is not nearly enough to feed the crowds that visited, even with other cereal available.  Justine and I made a batch Sunday night and it was gone by Friday morning.

Our friends Antoine and Jasmine came to visit for a few days this past week.  Then Bryan's former roommate Albie dropped in on his way to Columbus on Friday.  My former roommate Robin is stopping by this next Wednesday and then I think we're done expecting visitors for a bit.

Gretchen runs almost everywhere.  I don't remember Olivia running from room to room very much, but perhaps that is because our old house was smaller.  In this house, though, Gretchen has plenty of room to get some speed and she takes full advantage of it.  The pitter-patter of her bare feet hurrying through the kitchen is a common sound.

A few Gretchen things:
-She calls for "anyone" when she needs something.  "Anyone, come find me.  I'm hiding, anyone."  "Anyone, I need help!"
-She's very concerned with which foot is right and which is left.  She also wants to make sure that the right and left shoe (and right and left sock) go on the appropriate feet.  Before she became so obsessed with right and left, though, she would just talk about her "other one foot."  "Do one foot.  And other one foot."

Kaitlyn is big enough to be a nuisance to her sisters.  She pulls herself up on everything now, and her stubby little arms reach remarkably far.  Olivia and Gretchen have taken to playing in the baby cage so that Kaitlyn can't get their little toys.  Kaitlyn's response to this is to stand outside the cage and holler at them.  :)  Eventually she remembers that she has toys of her own, though, and is content to just play in the same room as her sisters.

Olivia thinks our house is named Lima.  Or perhaps she thinks the entirety of Lima is contained in our house (which is ironic, given that we're not even technically IN Lima).

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December 27-January 3

This was a busy week.  You may remember that last Saturday we returned home from Sidney in time to meet Justine and her boys as they came from Michigan.  Since Josef, Jacob, Jacque, and Zach were with us, our house was rather full that night.  Sunday was the day that the Bishop visited St. Stephen's, so we had a longer-than-usual service followed by a potluck meal.  Tom and Donna met us at church after the service to pick up some things of Zach's (but not Zach himself) and to say goodbye to Jacque before she went to Michigan for a wedding.  She took our van because her car was misbehaving, so Jacob ferried everyone home in his Civic.  Several trips later, we were all back at our house, and Tom and Donna stayed to visit for a bit before heading on their merry way.

Bryan went back to work on Monday, but everyone else was free to sleep in (or not, in the case of the children) and hang out during the day.  Jacque returned from Michigan, bringing Joseph along with her (he'd stayed for an extra day, knowing that she was making the trip).  Josef, Jacob, and Zach stayed until mid-afternoon and Keshia and Tyler (Bryan's sister and her husband) came to visit about the same time.  After dinner and games, Keshia and Tyler returned to Sidney and Sarah and Luther (Joseph's sister and her husband) showed up on our doorstep.  :)

Tuesday was the day that Jacque took her car to get fixed.  Justine and I started feta cheese and resurrected my sourdough starter.  That evening, I ran to the store and then picked Jacque up from the car place in time for dinner.  I couldn't take her back to get her newly healed car, though, because I had orchestra rehearsal.  When I got home from rehearsal, everyone had been taught the game Dominion and they were all happily playing using the two new expansions that Bryan got for Christmas.  We also got a call from Ricky and Nathan (Fenton side cousins) asking if they could sleep at our house on their way from California to Times Square.  Two more air mattress beds were constructed and I cleaned the kitchen while waiting for them to arrive.  Of course, their car overheated eight miles from our house, so they didn't arrive until just after two...

Wednesday morning I stumbled out of bed at 6:15 to fish the feta cheese out of its brine.  Note to all cheese makers: 10 hours in the brine is better than 12.  It was much less salty this time.  Second note: Hang the feta to drain for 4 hours (rather than letting it sit in a colander like the directions say); it gets much drier this way.  Having returned to bed, I got another hour of sleep before Gretchen woke me up and the day got started.  Bryan did NOT make it out of bed, having lost too much sleep up to this point.  Justine made sourdough pretzels, using my starter up completely since I decided that I just don't care enough to keep up with it.  She also made muddy buddies, because why not?  Danielle and Wilson (my college roommate and her husband) arrived in time for dinner and we all played teledraw after the kids went to bed.

Sarah, Luther, Danielle, and Wilson stayed until just before lunch on Thursday and then took off to continue their Christmas visiting elsewhere.  Joseph drove back to Michigan to ring in the New Year with some friends from college.  That afternoon I had an orchestra rehearsal, followed by dinner at home and then the concert.  After the concert I stopped at Wal-Mart hoping to find A Cinderella Story and apple cider for a throwback New Year's Eve party with Justine and Jacque.  Fail on both counts.  We made our wassail with apple juice and debated watching The Prince and Me on Netflix before deciding to watch Parks and Recreation and play Dominion with Bryan instead.  The new year came in an understated, unheralded way: we only noticed because I checked my phone before going to bed at 12:04.  That's about how our parties always went growing up, too.  :)

By Friday morning the house felt empty and was only getting emptier.  The Bossard crew waited until Joseph came back with the van and then packed up to head back to Massachusetts.  Jacque hung around until after dinner before taking off for Dayton.  Bryan and I played a couple more games of Dominion and then crashed.

Saturday my batteries died.  The morning went pretty well, but I fell asleep reading my book around 2:30.  I woke up to go to Mass with Bryan and the kids at 4, but during the car ride felt quite unwell and ended up staying in the van.  As soon as we got home, I went to bed for the night.  Happily, I felt quite recovered by the next morning.

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