Kaitlyn walks into the oratory and immediately starts singing and crossing herself. I would guess that she's trying to do the Beatitudes since that's what we sing every morning.
Gretchen and Olivia can both say The Lord's Prayer and the Hail Mary unassisted. They still fake it through the occasional difficult phrase, so we're working on enunciating.
Surprising words that the older girls use (correctly, for the most part):
Surely
Precisely
I rest my case
Perfect
Words that are still pronounced incorrectly: aziting (exciting), packpack
Kaitlyn's newest words: son, spirit, amen, marks, set, go, up, yeah, yes ("yeah...ssss" or "yeaaaaaas"), bye ("daa" while waving), nose, belly ("baa" while smacking someone's belly), down, can't
Kaitlyn has a favorite book: Toot Toot Beep Beep. She brings it to bed at night, reads it in the car, and requests it often throughout the day. I think part of it is that she doesn't have as much access to the other board books as Olivia and Gretchen did. Even when she has other books available, though, this book is still her first choice.
I made salsa using a small number of my tomatoes and a somewhat larger number of CSA tomatoes. I had planned to make only one batch of six pints, but I had many more tomatoes left than anticipated, so I ended up making 5 quarts each of two different kinds of salsa. The good news is that they are delicious. Next time I have tomatoes I'm making some pasta sauce.
I started babysitting two little girls last week. Monday through Thursday we have a three-year-old and a one-year-old come stay with us during the day. All the kids are used to each other now and things have been going pretty smoothly thus far.
We got the rice sensory bin out again. Another mess was made, and my initial reaction was to never, ever do rice again. BUT. All three girls played in it and sprinkled it around and danced in it and generally amused themselves for such a long time... And when it came time to clean up the rice, Kaitlyn was genuinely upset that I wouldn't let her rescatter the neatly swept pile. So I guess maybe I'll buy a bag of rice periodically and let them spread it all over my living room. Sweeping up rice is rather therapeutic...
We have a caterpillar. I rescued him off our driveway and put him in a jar. Since he was on the driveway rather than on a plant, I stuffed his jar with an assortment of leaves in order to find a variety he likes. There is a type he prefers, so now I just have to hunt for that particular plant in my yard in order to keep him fed. Periodically I stick something new in to see if he takes to that as well. No luck so far. Olivia is very excited to check on him every morning to see if he's a butterfly yet.
Pictures:
28 August 2016
14 August 2016
July 24-August 14
A lot has happened over here. I guess that's to be expected when the blog writer neglects her duties for three weeks. :/ Let's see what I can remember...
Olivia turned 5! She was very excited and now proudly proclaims to everyone that she is 5. This is usually followed by the person she's talking to asking about school, and then we have to explain that she missed the cutoff by two days. She's doing preschool at home this year and has to wait until next year for kindergarten.
Olivia's party had to be moved to her baptism birthday. It was originally scheduled for her actual birthday, but then most of her friends couldn't make it. This solved a problem for me, though, because Olivia knew that Gretchen's party had been on Gretchen's baptism birthday, so Olivia was definitely expecting baptism birthday presents. She was also a little confused about whether she was already six or not... I think we got that all straightened out. :)
Since she turned five, Olivia had to have a checkup. She's 41.6 pounds and 43.75 inches tall. We decided to get her "school shots" this year even though she's not going because she and I had already discussed them after one of Kaitlyn's many appointments. She did very well with the shots, helped, I'm sure, by the promise of a movie later in the day. She did less well with answering questions posed by the doctor (the only one she answered was "What do you want to be when you grow up?" The answer was "a ballerina.") and following directions. We'll have to work on the crippling shyness. We also need to work on her tendency to hoard toys in an effort to keep her sisters from using them. Her sharing game is terrible, at best, and her chosen corner of the playroom often resembles Smaug's lair.
Speaking of Kaitlyn's many appointments, she had a 15 month checkup about a month ago. She is (or was at that time) 23 pounds, 3 ounces and 31.75 inches tall.
Kaitlyn sings "Let It Go" all the time now. It's the only song she sings, in fact. The family sings "Happy Birthday" and Kaitlyn follows it with "Let It Go." There's music in the car and Kaitlyn sings "Let It Go." You get the picture. There was a video a few posts ago of her first foray into the world of music, but she's improved since then.
In other Kaitlyn news, she leaves a clear trail of where she's been if you know what to look for: she almost always trades an item for the new one that she picks up. For example: Kaitlyn is in the bedroom. She finds a barrette, and tries to stick it to her head with sheer force of will. Failing that, she carries her prize clenched in her fist to the playroom, where she discovers a barbie. She drops the barrette, picks up the barbie, and wanders into the kitchen. As she passes the cupboards, she opens doors and peers inside. What's this? A bowl?! Excellent. The barbie goes in the cupboard and the bowl comes out. She tries it on like a hat. Such a trendsetter. When she gets to the TV room, the bowl finally wobbles off her head. She reaches to pick it up, but it landed right next to dad's shoe. The bowl is forgotten and the shoe is placed on one small foot. Clomping happily with every other step, Kaitlyn makes her way to mom and dad's bedroom. Dad always keeps fun things on his bedside table. The shoe is left on the table, and Kaitlyn is the proud possessor of a set of motorcycle keys. Into the oratory she goes, dropping the keys in front of the icons she can reach and grabbing St. Catherine off the wall. Kissing the icon repeatedly, Kaitlyn weaves her way back to the playroom, stopping at the kitchen table to trade St. Catherine for a sippy cup. And so on, and so forth. Only some parts of this story were made up. :)
Gretchen helps me in the kitchen. That's what I was trying to remember in my last post. She is always asking if she can "make" with me. She likes to stir and measure ingredients, but she is wary of the big knife after she cut herself (not badly) getting it out of the dishwasher about a month ago. Anytime I'm doing something in the kitchen, Gretchen is there helping.
Gretchen is also incredibly sweet, always giving hugs and kisses. She shares everything she has with her sisters. Gretchen seems happiest when others are happy, so she is very generous with her food and toys. Gretchen also likes to talk -- no shyness here! The doctor did learn the answers (and then some) to all the questions she asked Olivia, but Gretchen was the one giving them. Gretchen also jumped on one foot and took deep breaths for the doctor. :) Check out the video below for a sample of how Gretchen might answer a question that is asked.
We went to camp two weeks ago and saw lots of family. Olivia and Gretchen are getting old enough that they remember faces, so they're more comfortable with the people. I don't remember many details about camp, but we did have fun and there are some pictures on facebook that I should steal for the blog. :)
Pictures and Video:
Olivia turned 5! She was very excited and now proudly proclaims to everyone that she is 5. This is usually followed by the person she's talking to asking about school, and then we have to explain that she missed the cutoff by two days. She's doing preschool at home this year and has to wait until next year for kindergarten.
Olivia's party had to be moved to her baptism birthday. It was originally scheduled for her actual birthday, but then most of her friends couldn't make it. This solved a problem for me, though, because Olivia knew that Gretchen's party had been on Gretchen's baptism birthday, so Olivia was definitely expecting baptism birthday presents. She was also a little confused about whether she was already six or not... I think we got that all straightened out. :)
Since she turned five, Olivia had to have a checkup. She's 41.6 pounds and 43.75 inches tall. We decided to get her "school shots" this year even though she's not going because she and I had already discussed them after one of Kaitlyn's many appointments. She did very well with the shots, helped, I'm sure, by the promise of a movie later in the day. She did less well with answering questions posed by the doctor (the only one she answered was "What do you want to be when you grow up?" The answer was "a ballerina.") and following directions. We'll have to work on the crippling shyness. We also need to work on her tendency to hoard toys in an effort to keep her sisters from using them. Her sharing game is terrible, at best, and her chosen corner of the playroom often resembles Smaug's lair.
Speaking of Kaitlyn's many appointments, she had a 15 month checkup about a month ago. She is (or was at that time) 23 pounds, 3 ounces and 31.75 inches tall.
Kaitlyn sings "Let It Go" all the time now. It's the only song she sings, in fact. The family sings "Happy Birthday" and Kaitlyn follows it with "Let It Go." There's music in the car and Kaitlyn sings "Let It Go." You get the picture. There was a video a few posts ago of her first foray into the world of music, but she's improved since then.
In other Kaitlyn news, she leaves a clear trail of where she's been if you know what to look for: she almost always trades an item for the new one that she picks up. For example: Kaitlyn is in the bedroom. She finds a barrette, and tries to stick it to her head with sheer force of will. Failing that, she carries her prize clenched in her fist to the playroom, where she discovers a barbie. She drops the barrette, picks up the barbie, and wanders into the kitchen. As she passes the cupboards, she opens doors and peers inside. What's this? A bowl?! Excellent. The barbie goes in the cupboard and the bowl comes out. She tries it on like a hat. Such a trendsetter. When she gets to the TV room, the bowl finally wobbles off her head. She reaches to pick it up, but it landed right next to dad's shoe. The bowl is forgotten and the shoe is placed on one small foot. Clomping happily with every other step, Kaitlyn makes her way to mom and dad's bedroom. Dad always keeps fun things on his bedside table. The shoe is left on the table, and Kaitlyn is the proud possessor of a set of motorcycle keys. Into the oratory she goes, dropping the keys in front of the icons she can reach and grabbing St. Catherine off the wall. Kissing the icon repeatedly, Kaitlyn weaves her way back to the playroom, stopping at the kitchen table to trade St. Catherine for a sippy cup. And so on, and so forth. Only some parts of this story were made up. :)
Gretchen helps me in the kitchen. That's what I was trying to remember in my last post. She is always asking if she can "make" with me. She likes to stir and measure ingredients, but she is wary of the big knife after she cut herself (not badly) getting it out of the dishwasher about a month ago. Anytime I'm doing something in the kitchen, Gretchen is there helping.
Gretchen is also incredibly sweet, always giving hugs and kisses. She shares everything she has with her sisters. Gretchen seems happiest when others are happy, so she is very generous with her food and toys. Gretchen also likes to talk -- no shyness here! The doctor did learn the answers (and then some) to all the questions she asked Olivia, but Gretchen was the one giving them. Gretchen also jumped on one foot and took deep breaths for the doctor. :) Check out the video below for a sample of how Gretchen might answer a question that is asked.
We went to camp two weeks ago and saw lots of family. Olivia and Gretchen are getting old enough that they remember faces, so they're more comfortable with the people. I don't remember many details about camp, but we did have fun and there are some pictures on facebook that I should steal for the blog. :)
Pictures and Video:
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