March 1-15

Matthias recognizes one letter, X. Technically he also recognizes O, I, S, E, A, and P, but he calls them 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6.

School has been canceled due to the coronavirus. Maybe we'll go back April 6, maybe we won't. As of this writing, I have yet to hear whether we're doing distance learning or just tacking extra weeks onto the end of the school year.

Theodore had a well check. 15 pounds, 14 ounces, 27 inches long. Oh, and an ear infection. I thought Theodore was the shrimpiest one of the kids, but I must have found Gretchen's wrong stats when I was first looking. Her appointment was a week earlier than Theodore's, but I think she still would have had him beat. Here is everyone at 6-ish months:
Olivia - 17 lbs, 14 oz, 28 in.
Gretchen: 15 lbs, 7 oz, 27 in.
Kaitlyn: 17 lbs, 6 oz, 26.75 in
Matthias: 17 lbs, 7 oz, 27.25 in
Theodore: 15 lbs, 14 oz, 27 in

Finding all of those stats reminded me how much I used to write. Gone are the day by day synopses of our life. At this point, we're lucky if I remember the amusing bits long enough to write them down.

Theodore tried a little bit of applesauce and was not impressed. He tried beets a few days later and liked those significantly better.

We got a new roof. The old one was leaking and, according to the two different roofing companies we had up there, installed in an unorthodox and less than ideal way. The new roof is installed correctly. We have plans to fix the water damage in the ceiling next.

Matthias's potty training is... going. We're pretty sure he had fissures for a while there, so between that and the constipation we ended up putting him on a regular dose of Miralax. The good news is that the Miralax works. The other good news is that it doesn't hurt to poop anymore. The bad news is that he associates pain with pooping specifically on the potty, so he tries not to do that. The other bad news is that he can poop without screaming now, so I don't hear him when he hides behind the curtains and fills his underwear. Our white carpet in front of the baby toys became a casualty the other day when he managed to get his pants and underwear off and then left little piles of poop all over the house. I was able to clean most of them, but unfortunately he tried to clean some up himself and mainly succeeded in grinding it into the carpet. Some things are so demoralizing they're funny.

Ode to Motherhood
Spit up and crying and pee on the floor,
Dirty old underwear back in the drawer.
Whining, complaining, and moping around
White clothes so grungy they look almost brown.
Refusing to nap till we're half out the door,
Then peeling a toddler off the kitchen floor.
I thought, just this once, we might not be late
But now there are three shoes missing their mates.
These years go so quickly, they say wistfully,
But each day sure feels like a decade to me!

Pictures:
Kaitlyn's day out with Grandma and Grandpa:

Making a boat with our alphabet tiles:

Irene's princess themed birthday party (Kaitlyn, Juliana, Irene):

Theodore's BamBam photo shoot:

Kaitlyn's new "dress," which is really a 10/12 shirt. Apparently she loved the pocket:

All our letters with the names of all five kids hidden inside:

Grandma and Theodore. From the front Theo's hair looks fine (see above pictures), but from the back his bald spot makes his long hair look like a bad comb over.