There's a story Mom and Justine like to tell about some social readiness (or was it school readiness?) quiz that was given to me when I was four. As an experiment, the same quiz was given to two-year-old Justine. The questions posed different problems and challenged us to provide a solution for each one. Justine's answers were varied and thought out: "I'd give it to Mom, she can fix anything!", "I would crawl around the tree to get the ball.", etc. Having had two two-year-olds now, I do wonder if her answers were as complete and understandable as we've been led to believe. Regardless, the gist is clear. My answers for each question were all identical: "I would cry." There has been some debate about whether those answers were more due to my personality or my age. I tell you all of this to reflect on the current behavior of my own four-year-old. I'm not sure Olivia would admit that her solution to every problem in her life would be to cry (do I get retroactive points for honesty?), but she does burst into tears an alarming number of times each day over seemingly insignificant obstacles. Gretchen closed the door (Olivia was already out and besides, she knows how to open it). Kaitlyn took a toy (that Olivia was not playing with at the time). Mom told her to eat another bite of carrot even though she already ate three bites (okay, maybe that's worth crying about). You get the point. My one consolation is that I grew out of this stage, so presumably my daughter will do the same.
Kaitlyn is our messiest baby. This is discouraging because it means that they've been getting messier as we progress, which does not fit at all with my idea that each baby should be an improvement on the one that came before. Every meal ends up in her hair and she's constantly dripping with slobber and/or snot. The problem has been exacerbated by the fact that she recently discovered that her finger fits perfectly inside her nose.
The girls got Twister for Christmas and we played it for the first time on Thursday night. They're actually pretty good at it. Bryan declared himself the official spinner and said I had to hold Kaitlyn as a handicap. He did allow me to use a wrap, but the only one I had available wasn't fabulous, so he rescued her when she began to look uncomfortable. The new and improved Twister game has two new options on the spinner: Air and Caller's Choice. What sadistic person puts "air" on a Twister spinner?
Our friends the Creightons brought over a couple of little boy dress up outfits so that all the little boys who visit can wear something other than fancy dresses. The girls also think it's great to dress up as Captain Hook and Peter Pan.
Pictures:
21 February 2016
14 February 2016
February 7-14
I promised you a story about Kaitlyn and her standing skills. She can indeed stand unassisted for short periods of time. Whenever we catch her standing, we make a big deal about it and cheer for her. As a result, she knows that she can stand and that this is something of which to be proud. She's developed a game of sorts, pulling herself up and then letting go with both hands for a second or two while looking triumphantly at the other people in the room. After this brief moment of euphoria, she immediately throws her hands back down to safe anchorage. This will be repeated any number of times in one session. :)
A common word around our house is "great!" I don't think Bryan and I use the word great a lot, but perhaps I am mistaken because both Olivia and Gretchen use it on a regular basis.
Kaitlyn seems to have two consistent words. One is "gog," which means "dog" (or, in one case, "large button that I am going to eat"). The other, more frequently used word is "dada," which means "parental unit." At first it seemed that just Bryan was Dada, but we have come to realize that Dada also refers to me.
An amusing note: Olivia's most common song of choice when going to the bathroom is "Let It Go."
I went on an organizing spree this week, probably because I didn't really have the time to be organizing and so of course I was motivated. :/ I've started alphabetizing all the books Dad left here so that I can list some of them for sale and repackage the rest in some sort of easily referenced order. I also rearranged the workroom-turned-Jacque's-bedroom so that her things and my things are separate and the bed is no longer in the direct center of the room. I wish I had taken a "before" picture so everyone could properly appreciate the progress. The picture below DOES have a clearly defined line where the bed used to be, and you'll just have to believe me when I say that there used to be only about a foot and a half of walking space on three of the sides (the last side had no space). It looks much better now. :)
Last week, Fr. Mark mentioned in his sermon that happy, well-adjusted children sing. I decided to try an experiment on myself and sing whenever I wanted to yell at the kids. I didn't worry about tune or rhyming but instead made it all up as I went, giving them directions in song. It worked remarkably well, and I sing often enough over the course of the day that the girls didn't even seem to notice that something might be amiss. The one downside is that once I start singing I find it difficult to stop...
I had an orchestra concert yesterday. The music was Mendelssohn and Beethoven and it was refreshingly familiar. :) Next month is our Star Wars concert, where we play selections from each of the first 6 movies.
Pictures:
A common word around our house is "great!" I don't think Bryan and I use the word great a lot, but perhaps I am mistaken because both Olivia and Gretchen use it on a regular basis.
Kaitlyn seems to have two consistent words. One is "gog," which means "dog" (or, in one case, "large button that I am going to eat"). The other, more frequently used word is "dada," which means "parental unit." At first it seemed that just Bryan was Dada, but we have come to realize that Dada also refers to me.
An amusing note: Olivia's most common song of choice when going to the bathroom is "Let It Go."
I went on an organizing spree this week, probably because I didn't really have the time to be organizing and so of course I was motivated. :/ I've started alphabetizing all the books Dad left here so that I can list some of them for sale and repackage the rest in some sort of easily referenced order. I also rearranged the workroom-turned-Jacque's-bedroom so that her things and my things are separate and the bed is no longer in the direct center of the room. I wish I had taken a "before" picture so everyone could properly appreciate the progress. The picture below DOES have a clearly defined line where the bed used to be, and you'll just have to believe me when I say that there used to be only about a foot and a half of walking space on three of the sides (the last side had no space). It looks much better now. :)
Last week, Fr. Mark mentioned in his sermon that happy, well-adjusted children sing. I decided to try an experiment on myself and sing whenever I wanted to yell at the kids. I didn't worry about tune or rhyming but instead made it all up as I went, giving them directions in song. It worked remarkably well, and I sing often enough over the course of the day that the girls didn't even seem to notice that something might be amiss. The one downside is that once I start singing I find it difficult to stop...
I had an orchestra concert yesterday. The music was Mendelssohn and Beethoven and it was refreshingly familiar. :) Next month is our Star Wars concert, where we play selections from each of the first 6 movies.
Pictures:
07 February 2016
January 24-February 7
Saturday (the 23rd) was Eva's birthday party. Bryan was on a retreat with the guys from church, but the girls and I attended the event before heading over to the Klein house for dinner. The party was at Run Around Fun Town, which is pretty much an indoor playground for kids. There were bounce houses and slides and lots of toddler sized playthings (kitchens, grocery stores, tiny treadmills, etc). Olivia and Gretchen stuck together like glue, apparently by mutual consent. I think Gretchen was overwhelmed by the number of people and Olivia felt it was her duty to take care of her younger sister. At one point I took Gretchen to the bathroom, and when she came back she couldn't find Olivia. She turned in aimless circles, searching, while I pointed Olivia out, to no avail. Finally, I caught Olivia's attention and told her Gretchen was looking for her. Olivia immediately ran to Gretchen and jumped in front of her. Gretchen threw her arms in the air with a joyful exclamation and gave Olivia a hug for a good twenty seconds before Olivia grabbed Gretchen's hand and led her off to the bounce house. :)
I think the next big thing was on Thursday when I drove up to Ann Arbor to take care of various musical things at Shar. My bow is now rehaired and I have new strings on my viola. I got an old violin appraised (found in mom and dad's basement when they moved), and learned that it is a German commercial model, probably worth repairing someday but not now. The bow that was with it would apparently "make a wonderful tomato stake."
On Friday, I left for a two day trip to Toledo. One of my Christmas gifts from Bryan was a nice hotel room in Toledo and an overnight trip with some friends from church. The only child invited was Juliana, who is three months old. Bryan and the other men took care of the rest of the kids while the mothers vacationed. We got massages, enjoyed the heated pool, ate ice cream, watched movies, played games, visited a tea shop, and saw a musical. We had a lot of fun. :)
Sunday night was Jacque's play and she was fabulous, of course. The whole play was quite amusing. Bryan and I have season tickets to this particular theater, and our friends the Creightons, the Kleins, and the Alison were able to join us. We made sure to cheer loudly for Jacque at the end and pay special attention to her when greeting the cast after the show. We even went through the line twice.
Other notes:
-Olivia and Gretchen call Alison "Alice."
-Kaitlyn claps her hands and stands unassisted. Story about the standing next week.
-Shadows are "shades" in our house. This was first noticed over Thanksgiving in Florida when Olivia was jumping on Oma's shadow and talking about how she "got your shade!" I was reminded of it this week when my shade was gotten. :)
Pictures:
I think the next big thing was on Thursday when I drove up to Ann Arbor to take care of various musical things at Shar. My bow is now rehaired and I have new strings on my viola. I got an old violin appraised (found in mom and dad's basement when they moved), and learned that it is a German commercial model, probably worth repairing someday but not now. The bow that was with it would apparently "make a wonderful tomato stake."
On Friday, I left for a two day trip to Toledo. One of my Christmas gifts from Bryan was a nice hotel room in Toledo and an overnight trip with some friends from church. The only child invited was Juliana, who is three months old. Bryan and the other men took care of the rest of the kids while the mothers vacationed. We got massages, enjoyed the heated pool, ate ice cream, watched movies, played games, visited a tea shop, and saw a musical. We had a lot of fun. :)
Sunday night was Jacque's play and she was fabulous, of course. The whole play was quite amusing. Bryan and I have season tickets to this particular theater, and our friends the Creightons, the Kleins, and the Alison were able to join us. We made sure to cheer loudly for Jacque at the end and pay special attention to her when greeting the cast after the show. We even went through the line twice.
Other notes:
-Olivia and Gretchen call Alison "Alice."
-Kaitlyn claps her hands and stands unassisted. Story about the standing next week.
-Shadows are "shades" in our house. This was first noticed over Thanksgiving in Florida when Olivia was jumping on Oma's shadow and talking about how she "got your shade!" I was reminded of it this week when my shade was gotten. :)
Pictures:
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