Gretchen: I always call Mommy "Cupcake Sleeping Beauty."
Olivia, hearing sirens: What are the police officers for?
Me: I'm not sure.
Gretchen: They're probably to hang up hangers.
Gretchen: What is Lent?
Olivia: Lent is a period of sadness and waiting.
Olivia: You should not ask me to do hard things, then I would listen better.
Gretchen: I'm Gretchen Bernice Barhorst, just a human.
Me, hearing Olivia berating her sisters: Olivia, please speak nicely.
Olivia: But I'm being the mommy.
Kaitlyn, to Bryan in a sweet voice: Daddy, movie please?
Bryan, to me: How do I say no to that?
Me: Just say, "No, Kaitlyn, no movie right now."
Kaitlyn, to me in an angry voice: No! Not talking you! Talking Daddy!
Kaitlyn, to Bryan in a sweet voice: Daddy, please Barney?
Me: I love you.
Gretchen: Well, I love Daddy best.
Bryan: Gretchen, it's not very nice to say that.
Gretchen: But I love everybody and everything!
Gretchen: When I smelled this tag it feeled yucky.
Gretchen: Olivia can you teach me to read?
Olivia: Yes!
*Relevant side note: Olivia does not know how to read.*
Me: Olivia, you need to get dressed.
*Olivia hears nothing*
Bryan: Girls, time for lunch.
*Girls are too busy playing to listen*
Me: Who's going to help me clean the playroom?
*crickets*
Bryan, in a whisper: Want to let them watch a movie?
Olivia, two rooms over: Movie? I want to watch!
*TV room couch is suddenly overrun with girls*
Olivia: Is Kaitlyn two already?
Me: Yes, today is her birthday, so now she is two.
Olivia: But she is still a baby!
29 March 2017
19 March 2017
March 12-19
The girls have an interesting phrase that they use: "Me named ____." They use it to tell me who's speaking ("No, it was me named Olivia.") and also when playing with dolls ("Me named Amber goes to bed." "Me named Sofia goes out to play." "Me named Cinderella says hello.")
We finally got the cat fixed. We've been meaning to since we got her, but the Humane Society near us never had openings. About three weeks ago, we had an excess of male cats hanging around again, to the point where it looked like we owned five cats rather than just one. I looked more diligently into non-Humane Society options and found a low cost mobile spay/neuter clinic that was coming to Wapak this past week. Close enough. I made an appointment, and on Wednesday the girls and I packed the cat up in a pillow case and took her in for surgery. She has since been living a warm and cushy life in the guest bathroom shower while she recovers.
I went to the chiropractor recently for the first time in seven years. There was a pinched nerve in my back that bothered me enough to make and appointment. Thankfully, the pain subsided before my appointment came around. The chiropractor was sad that he couldn't take x-rays, but did as much as he could with a posture analysis and my memory of old chiropractic visits. He declared that he doesn't like my left hip (the one that was broken) or the middle of my back (my viola muscles). He also commented on the strength and tightness of my shoulders. The viola muscles won out against his attempts to crack my upper spine. His recommendation is to go get a massage and then come see him within a day while my muscles are still loose. :-P
The girls have been very cultured lately, attending a symphony concert (two for Olivia) and a lunch matinee performance at a dinner theater.
First I took all five girls to a children's concert by the Lima Youth Symphony in the middle of the week. While they enjoyed the music, the chairs were more exciting. It turns out that little legs aren't heavy enough to hold down a typical auditorium chair, so they spent the whole concert bouncing up and down with their feet. Even more exciting than the chairs was the wind outside. We had to walk about a block from our parking space to the civic center, and the wind was quite strong. I held baby hands, three year olds were attached to those, and Olivia was tacked onto one end. We started as one big line, but the wind blew us into a giant U-shape, and we ended as a stumbling drunken mass of tiny people, laughing hysterically the whole time. The cars waiting for us to cross the street were very patient.
Next was the Lima Symphony's family concert (I mentioned it last week). Only Olivia went to this one, although Gretchen probably would have liked it, too. Our friends, the Hodges, were going and picked Olivia up on the way since I was playing. Olivia loved the ballet dancers that performed Peter and the Wolf and she excitedly explained every detail to Gretchen and Bryan when she got home.
Then yesterday we went down to La Comedia for their annual children's show. This one was The Boy Who Cried Wolf. They served lunch and then we got to watch a musical adaptation of the story. Kaitlyn stayed home with daddy. :) Both Olivia and Gretchen were very excited after the show and spent part of the long car ride home telling each other their favorite parts.
My babysitting stint is officially over. The last day was supposed to be this past Thursday, but ended up being Tuesday by accident. I'm looking forward to sleeping in a little more and not having to work my schedule around two extra children.
Kaitlyn does all sorts of things that I documented much better with the other two girls. Sorry, Kaitlyn. :/ So, for posterity: She's been weaned forever, since about 19 months. Maybe 20, I can't remember. She knows most of her body parts and a lot of animal noises. She can sing half her alphabet and count kind of. She runs and jumps and sings and dances and bosses. She can follow simple directions if she wants to. Her carseat is still facing backwards, but I anticipate that changing shortly after her second birthday. We shall see. She's starting to try to dress herself and has definite opinions about what she wears. She's still in a crib because we don't trust her to stay out of her sisters' beds. She climbs a lot.
Pictures and Video:
12 March 2017
February 19-March 12
Also words from January 29-February 19.
Eva had a gymnastics birthday part at the end of January, so I took the girls to the Kleins' for an overnight visit. At the party (which Kaitlyn and I watched from the observation deck), I learned that Olivia is timid, but not afraid of heights. In direct contrast, Gretchen is bold, but terrified of being up high. Olivia walked the balance beam and then patiently waited for someone to hold her hand while she jumped into the foam pit. Gretchen scooted along the balance beam on her rear until the instructor stood her up, and which point she inched along (millimetered along?) while clinging like a leach to the poor woman's arm. Both muddled happily through the various gym games, and Gretchen was very content when the instructor finally gave up on attempting to have her do the height related things.
February 2 was a feast day, but our priest was on vacation. The girls and I had an outing with the Hodges in Fort Wayne for liturgy and a visit to the art museum. The art museum was, sadly, undergoing renovation and/or exhibit rearrangement. Very little was open. We walked through two exhibits, though, and then found a kid section where they could color with markers and build with blocks. This made the 7 and under crowd happy, so we hung out there for a while before heading home. Olivia and Gretchen were inspired to paint, so we broke out the easel, a couple of canvasses, and the paint (pictures in last week's post). It was all very exciting.
We took a trip to Fort Wayne a few weeks ago to visit the Eichers. Olivia and Gretchen absolutely loved the hand puppets that Kara had. Since the girls had been traveling in their sleep a lot lately, we decided to stay the night in the apartment. All was well until Kaitlyn woke up at 6:06 (her usual wake up time is about 7:15). She was happy to snuggle with me on the air mattress until Gretchen said something in her sleep, and then Kaitlyn just had to talk to Gretchen. Olivia made the mistake of telling Kaitlyn to be quiet because she was trying to sleep, and then Kaitlyn was talking to Olivia, too. All being awake at this point, we got up. Bryan went out to find breakfast and the girls got to play quite a bit before we finally rolled leisurely out the door at 8:25. That was a full half hour before our assumed best case scenario.
Kaitlyn can climb out of a pack and play. At first we thought she was grabbing a nearby bedspread and pulling herself out, but when we moved the pack and play she still escaped. We considered turning it over on her, but they collapse when you do that. We ended up barricading her behind the pack and play to keep her in one place for the night. On a later date, I put her in a pack and play so that we could watch the process, and she immediately swung her little foot up to the top edge and hauled herself over.
I've been saving our bits and pieces of broken crayons for years, and a couple of weeks ago I decided to turn them into usable crayons again. I tried the muffin tin crayons when Olivia was little, but none of the kids really like them, so I went looking for a crayon mold. Crayola sells one for not too much and when it arrived in the mail Gretchen and I happily melted and molded all the broken pieces into new crayon shaped crayons.
I will only be babysitting Sophia and Evalynn until the end of March. Near the end of February I decided I'd had enough and that the stress of extra kids (especially an extra almost-two-year-old) wasn't worth it. I gave their parents until the end of March to find a new sitter. Due to illness in our family and theirs, I got an unexpected week off immediately after making this announcement, and it only reinforced my belief that this is the right thing to do.
I missed the February orchestra concert due to the minor plague that swept through our family. It was just a cough and mild fever, but it managed to knock me out for two days and the cough is still lingering (although it has improved) several weeks later. I also had no singing voice for about a week after the fever disappeared. Thankfully, the girls just got the cough, and Bryan managed to avoid sickness altogether.
This weekend is the family concert, so we're playing Heroes and Villains music. Peter and the Wolf, Casey at Bat, The Tortoise and the Hare, and some stuff from movies. Surprisingly, there will be no Star Wars at this concert. Not to worry, John Williams is still well represented in Harry Potter and Superman.
We had our yearly Happy March card club and it was a success. Child interruptions were at a minimum, and we decided before starting to only play one time around each table, so we were done at a reasonable time.
Pictures:
Eva had a gymnastics birthday part at the end of January, so I took the girls to the Kleins' for an overnight visit. At the party (which Kaitlyn and I watched from the observation deck), I learned that Olivia is timid, but not afraid of heights. In direct contrast, Gretchen is bold, but terrified of being up high. Olivia walked the balance beam and then patiently waited for someone to hold her hand while she jumped into the foam pit. Gretchen scooted along the balance beam on her rear until the instructor stood her up, and which point she inched along (millimetered along?) while clinging like a leach to the poor woman's arm. Both muddled happily through the various gym games, and Gretchen was very content when the instructor finally gave up on attempting to have her do the height related things.
February 2 was a feast day, but our priest was on vacation. The girls and I had an outing with the Hodges in Fort Wayne for liturgy and a visit to the art museum. The art museum was, sadly, undergoing renovation and/or exhibit rearrangement. Very little was open. We walked through two exhibits, though, and then found a kid section where they could color with markers and build with blocks. This made the 7 and under crowd happy, so we hung out there for a while before heading home. Olivia and Gretchen were inspired to paint, so we broke out the easel, a couple of canvasses, and the paint (pictures in last week's post). It was all very exciting.
We took a trip to Fort Wayne a few weeks ago to visit the Eichers. Olivia and Gretchen absolutely loved the hand puppets that Kara had. Since the girls had been traveling in their sleep a lot lately, we decided to stay the night in the apartment. All was well until Kaitlyn woke up at 6:06 (her usual wake up time is about 7:15). She was happy to snuggle with me on the air mattress until Gretchen said something in her sleep, and then Kaitlyn just had to talk to Gretchen. Olivia made the mistake of telling Kaitlyn to be quiet because she was trying to sleep, and then Kaitlyn was talking to Olivia, too. All being awake at this point, we got up. Bryan went out to find breakfast and the girls got to play quite a bit before we finally rolled leisurely out the door at 8:25. That was a full half hour before our assumed best case scenario.
Kaitlyn can climb out of a pack and play. At first we thought she was grabbing a nearby bedspread and pulling herself out, but when we moved the pack and play she still escaped. We considered turning it over on her, but they collapse when you do that. We ended up barricading her behind the pack and play to keep her in one place for the night. On a later date, I put her in a pack and play so that we could watch the process, and she immediately swung her little foot up to the top edge and hauled herself over.
I've been saving our bits and pieces of broken crayons for years, and a couple of weeks ago I decided to turn them into usable crayons again. I tried the muffin tin crayons when Olivia was little, but none of the kids really like them, so I went looking for a crayon mold. Crayola sells one for not too much and when it arrived in the mail Gretchen and I happily melted and molded all the broken pieces into new crayon shaped crayons.
I will only be babysitting Sophia and Evalynn until the end of March. Near the end of February I decided I'd had enough and that the stress of extra kids (especially an extra almost-two-year-old) wasn't worth it. I gave their parents until the end of March to find a new sitter. Due to illness in our family and theirs, I got an unexpected week off immediately after making this announcement, and it only reinforced my belief that this is the right thing to do.
I missed the February orchestra concert due to the minor plague that swept through our family. It was just a cough and mild fever, but it managed to knock me out for two days and the cough is still lingering (although it has improved) several weeks later. I also had no singing voice for about a week after the fever disappeared. Thankfully, the girls just got the cough, and Bryan managed to avoid sickness altogether.
This weekend is the family concert, so we're playing Heroes and Villains music. Peter and the Wolf, Casey at Bat, The Tortoise and the Hare, and some stuff from movies. Surprisingly, there will be no Star Wars at this concert. Not to worry, John Williams is still well represented in Harry Potter and Superman.
We had our yearly Happy March card club and it was a success. Child interruptions were at a minimum, and we decided before starting to only play one time around each table, so we were done at a reasonable time.
Pictures:
08 March 2017
Bonus Post: Sound Bites 17
Me, to Olivia after she wrote a page of zeros: Which one do you think is the best zero?
Olivia: I like the one that looks like a banana.
Me: It does look like a banana, but it does not look like a zero.
Olivia: Well, it is my best one.
Olivia: All my humans keep falling down the hole!
Kaitlyn, running toward the curtains: Hiding! Daddy, hiding!
Me: She's hiding, you have to start counting.
Bryan, covering his eyes: Oh. 1, 2, 3...
Kaitlyn, covering her eyes: 3, 4. Found you!
Bryan: ...
Me: You're so bad at this game.
Gretchen: This looks weird to my mouth!
Olivia: Want to play mommy and daddy?
Gretchen: Of course!
Gretchen: Mommy, is Jesus real?
Me: Yes, he's real.
Gretchen: Why does he not do the things I ask him to?
Me: What did you ask him to do?
Gretchen: I asked him to turn this Barbie's dress purple.
Olivia: I am not going to be 100, I will stop at one of the other numbers.
Gretchen: You will be 100! Mommy, can we be 100?
Me: If you have enough birthdays, you will be 100.
Olivia: But I am not going to keep getting older, I am just going to get presents.
Kaitlyn: What is daddy?
Me: I don't know, what is daddy?
Kaitlyn: A spoon.
Gretchen: Daddy, you are a tired old man.
Olivia: I like the one that looks like a banana.
Me: It does look like a banana, but it does not look like a zero.
Olivia: Well, it is my best one.
Olivia: All my humans keep falling down the hole!
Kaitlyn, running toward the curtains: Hiding! Daddy, hiding!
Me: She's hiding, you have to start counting.
Bryan, covering his eyes: Oh. 1, 2, 3...
Kaitlyn, covering her eyes: 3, 4. Found you!
Bryan: ...
Me: You're so bad at this game.
Gretchen: This looks weird to my mouth!
Olivia: Want to play mommy and daddy?
Gretchen: Of course!
Gretchen: Mommy, is Jesus real?
Me: Yes, he's real.
Gretchen: Why does he not do the things I ask him to?
Me: What did you ask him to do?
Gretchen: I asked him to turn this Barbie's dress purple.
Olivia: I am not going to be 100, I will stop at one of the other numbers.
Gretchen: You will be 100! Mommy, can we be 100?
Me: If you have enough birthdays, you will be 100.
Olivia: But I am not going to keep getting older, I am just going to get presents.
Kaitlyn: What is daddy?
Me: I don't know, what is daddy?
Kaitlyn: A spoon.
Gretchen: Daddy, you are a tired old man.
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