Matthias cannot crawl. However, if on a soft enough surface (like a bed), he will happily roll, half-somersault, faceplant, and heave himself toward his destination. It would not be a good routine to try on the floor. He can also, in a new burst of talent, sit himself up. A few times now I've gone to get him from his playmat (where he had previously been on his stomach) or his bed and found him sitting up.
Gretchen can read. This came as quite a shock to me, as Olivia did not really start reading until she was almost six. Now, granted, Gretchen cannot read fluently or well yet, but she CAN read, and she has a much better grasp of sounding things out than Olivia ever did. We were driving in the car after dropping Olivia off at dance class, and Gretchen told me she wanted to learn to read. I said that she needed to know all her letter sounds first, and we proceeded to go through the entire alphabet. She knew them all. So I sat her down with a beginner reader and we started sounding things out. Her biggest obstacle right now is that she doesn't recognize all of her lower case letters. She calls l "a line," i is "a line with a dot," and she mixes up b, d, and p, m and w, and u, n, and h. I guess we'll need to spend some time on letter recognition.
Kaitlyn sleeps naked. I first noticed it in Pennsylvania when, despite the frigidness of the attic, she peeled off her pajamas every night before falling asleep. This would be fine if she used blankets, but she insists on being covered with only her one favorite blanket. She never seems cold, though, so I guess it doesn't bother her. I still sneak another one on her when she's asleep. Anyway, it's getting to a ridiculous point, because she likes the idea of pajamas. I don't care if she sleeps naked, but she feels the need to put on pajamas so that she can take them off. She takes off her clothes to go to the bathroom before bed and then says, "Wait, I have to put on pajamas to brush my teeth." So she puts on pajamas, brushes her teeth, sits with me to say prayers, and then as I'm about to turn off the light (after putting her in her bed and covering her up), she says, "Wait, I have to take off my pajamas." That done, she of course needs to be covered back up with her one small favorite blanket.
My kitchen sink's hot water is fixed! It's been little better than a trickle since we moved in over three years ago, and in the recent months it has gotten progressively worse. Washing dishes is a lukewarm chore. I finally called a plumber and he was able to come out and switch out a valve and now I have wonderful water pressure in my sink! I had him check out the perpetually filling toilets as well, and he said it is in all likelihood another valve issue. A nuisance but not a problem, it's apparently common in manufactured homes. When we get annoyed enough with it, we can call him and he'll come fix all the toilets as well.
I hosted a Valentine's Day party. Yes, you read that right. Go ahead and compose yourself, I'll wait. ... Ahem. I, Johannah Barhorst, hosted a Valentine's Day party. It started several months ago when Olivia found a Tomie de Paola book about Valentine's Day (thanks, Mom). As I read it to her, she was really excited about the idea of Valentine's Day in general, and I remember thinking that it wouldn't really be that hard to throw a party for all of our friends. Knowing that I would willingly forget this idea, I scheduled a text for myself. Apparently also knowing that if I put it too close to Valentine's Day, I would use the lack of time as an excuse for not holding the party, I made sure to schedule the text for three weeks before the occasion. Let me tell you, on January 20, my present self was quite annoyed by my past self's foresight. Having gone to such great lengths to remind myself, I felt it was only fair to actually have the party. Fine. I sent out a text to local mothers, inviting about 15 kids to the party (as it was, only seven were able to make it). I made sugar cookies and cut them all into heart shapes with a knife because I didn't have a heart cookie cutter. I cut hearts out of painter's tape and stuck them to paper so that the kids could to negative space coloring pages. I planned a game. With prizes. It ended up being a lot of fun. The girls went through some valentines that I bought on clearance a few years ago and addressed them to all of their friends. When guests arrived, we decorated paper bags with markers and stickers and then passed out our valentines. I gave the kids icing and sprinkles and let them flood the cookies (I'd put an icing edge around all of them the night before). We did the craft, we played the game, and then, having run out of planned things to do, I blew up balloons and everyone had a grand time keeping them off the floor.
Pictures and Videos:
Vimeo Videos (password BarhorstBrewed)
Matthias Edward
Leslie Julian
Kaitlyn Makes a Video
Pictures:
Gretchen holds Gwen:
Picture fun:
Third cousin line-ups:
Learning the proper way to do the Aufdemberge pose:
Our Valentine's Day party:
Beautiful Gretchen:
Socks and fingers are delicious:
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