Gretchen, giggling: Would you rather eat jam on ham or a boy named Sam?
Matthias, rummaging around in the corner of my room: Can I have this?
Me: No?
Matthias: But I need what I need.
Bryan, dishing out Chinese food: What do you want on this?
Gretchen: Ketchup!
Matthias: Dad, look at your ears!
Me: Can you look at your ears?
Matthias: No.
Me: Why not?
Matthias: Because my head is on.
Gretchen: When I grow up I'm going to be a saint. And if I can't be a saint then I'll be a ninja. And if I can't be a ninja then I'll be a pop star.
Me: What do your turtles eat?
Kaitlyn: Grass.
Me: Where do you get all the grass?
Kaitlyn: Oh, in Aprica. But we don't live in Aprica, so we have to drive there to get it.
Gretchen: Do you think Daddy knows how to spell Punxsutawney?
Me: Definitely not.
Gretchen: Oooooh, if Daddy was in second grade at St Charles and got all his regular words right so he had the bonus list then he would get one wrong!
Bryan: ...I'm so embarrassed.
Oma: Get dressed.
Matthias: No, I do not wear dresses! Olivia and Gretchen and Kaitlyn wear dresses. Me and Theo wear clothes. And Dad wears clothes.
Walter: What kind of juice are you drinking?
Matthias: The juice that you drink when you are dying.
29 July 2020
12 July 2020
June 7-July 12
Whoever coined the term ankle biter may have had a baby like Theodore. He seems to have developed a fondness for sneaking up on unsuspecting feet and chomping down on the nearest part, which often happens to be the ankles. We warn anyone who's in danger, but Theodore is lucky he hasn't gotten accidentally reflex kicked in the face.
We took a trip to visit the Kleins back at the end of May. The whole family went down and we stayed overnight. On the way, Matthias had to go to the bathroom and, due to a lack of available facilities, discovered the joys of peeing on trees. Now on long car trips he periodically says, "I have to pee on a tree." Fantastic.
In mid June I took the kids to Pittsburgh to visit the Bossards while Bryan stayed home and led the fabulous bachelor life. We usually sleep in the attic, which gets quite hot in the summer. Luckily, Justine and Joseph had considered this and had an air conditioning unit arriving on Tuesday. Unluckily, we showed up on Monday. Everyone survived though, and by Wednesday evening it was pleasant enough even during the day.
All the cousins paired off during the visit and had a grand old time. Olivia, William, Gretchen, and Edward spent most of their inside time planning hide and seek. They all walked around with modern magna doodles making lists and drawing diagrams of the perfect hiding places in each room. The lists and diagrams were top secret and had to be protected from the other pair at all costs. Justine and I are pretty sure that over the course of the week they never actually got around to hiding. :)
All the kids spent a fair amount of time outside, taking turns riding the various wheeled things. Walter allowed the pedals to be taken off his bike so that Gretchen could practice balancing, which she did for several days. When we came home she was riding her own bike with pedals and without training wheels in ten minutes. This gave Kaitlyn renewed enthusiasm, and we took her pedals and training wheels off for her to learn as well. A week later we ended up putting them all back on.
Josef and Angelina came to visit over Father's Day weekend. They were moving Angelina's mother to Cleveland and then went to Columbus to check out apartments before coming to stay with us for a couple of days. It was fun to see them and we're looking forward to this fall when they live closer.
We've been to Steve and Murry's a couple of times now, and we've been taking the kids' bikes so that we can go on family walks/rides down the bike path. I do appreciate the walking and riding opportunities there. We should probably invest in a bike rack since the only other way to bring all the bikes is by taking an extra vehicle.
Murry wanted to have some time with each kid, so she came and got them one at a time for 24 hours. They did all sorts of things and there was a bonus post this past Wednesday with pictures. When Matthias was gone, I was reflecting on how much more peaceful it was when just one child was missing. Then Matthias came back and Gretchen left and suddenly it wasn't peaceful anymore. Which child is missing definitely matters. Due to ages and temperaments, the worst one to be missing right now is definitely Gretchen. Matthias is probably the best one, but only because Kaitlyn doesn't require me to constantly entertain her.
All the kids had some of their own money to spend a couple of months ago, and they carefully selected items from Amazon. Matthias bought matchbox cars, Kaitlyn bought polly pockets, Olivia bought a necklace (that still hasn't arrived), and Gretchen bought a birdhouse with a window on the back. We didn't read the description carefully enough, though, because the window is not a two way mirror like we though it was. It's just plexiglass. Much to Gretchen's delight, a bird moved in within a week. The bird was less delighted once it realized that giant heads kept popping up to look at it. We bought a camera that connects to an app so that we could watch the bird without scaring it.
Keshia's daughter, Rudy, turned five at the end of June. She had Kaitlyn over for a sleepover; they were so excited to see each other again. Kaitlyn was a little sad that it was only for one day, but she was happy to get to spend time at Rudy's by herself.
Theodore is pulling himself up on things. He spent a day panicking about being stuck once he got to standing and another day practicing plopping down on his bum. He still gets himself stuck at an awkward angle every now an again, but he's improved greatly. Now he's cruising slowly along the edge of furniture and is quite pleased with himself. He also discovered the card catalog drawers, so we've put our elegant baby proofing fence back up.
Well visit stats:
Theodore, 9.5 months -- 19 pounds, 4 ounces; 28 inches
Kaitlyn, 5 years and 2 months -- 43.4 pounds, 42.5 inches
Gretchen, 7 years and 1 month -- 49 pounds, 48.25 inches
Pictures:
We took a trip to visit the Kleins back at the end of May. The whole family went down and we stayed overnight. On the way, Matthias had to go to the bathroom and, due to a lack of available facilities, discovered the joys of peeing on trees. Now on long car trips he periodically says, "I have to pee on a tree." Fantastic.
In mid June I took the kids to Pittsburgh to visit the Bossards while Bryan stayed home and led the fabulous bachelor life. We usually sleep in the attic, which gets quite hot in the summer. Luckily, Justine and Joseph had considered this and had an air conditioning unit arriving on Tuesday. Unluckily, we showed up on Monday. Everyone survived though, and by Wednesday evening it was pleasant enough even during the day.
All the cousins paired off during the visit and had a grand old time. Olivia, William, Gretchen, and Edward spent most of their inside time planning hide and seek. They all walked around with modern magna doodles making lists and drawing diagrams of the perfect hiding places in each room. The lists and diagrams were top secret and had to be protected from the other pair at all costs. Justine and I are pretty sure that over the course of the week they never actually got around to hiding. :)
All the kids spent a fair amount of time outside, taking turns riding the various wheeled things. Walter allowed the pedals to be taken off his bike so that Gretchen could practice balancing, which she did for several days. When we came home she was riding her own bike with pedals and without training wheels in ten minutes. This gave Kaitlyn renewed enthusiasm, and we took her pedals and training wheels off for her to learn as well. A week later we ended up putting them all back on.
Josef and Angelina came to visit over Father's Day weekend. They were moving Angelina's mother to Cleveland and then went to Columbus to check out apartments before coming to stay with us for a couple of days. It was fun to see them and we're looking forward to this fall when they live closer.
We've been to Steve and Murry's a couple of times now, and we've been taking the kids' bikes so that we can go on family walks/rides down the bike path. I do appreciate the walking and riding opportunities there. We should probably invest in a bike rack since the only other way to bring all the bikes is by taking an extra vehicle.
Murry wanted to have some time with each kid, so she came and got them one at a time for 24 hours. They did all sorts of things and there was a bonus post this past Wednesday with pictures. When Matthias was gone, I was reflecting on how much more peaceful it was when just one child was missing. Then Matthias came back and Gretchen left and suddenly it wasn't peaceful anymore. Which child is missing definitely matters. Due to ages and temperaments, the worst one to be missing right now is definitely Gretchen. Matthias is probably the best one, but only because Kaitlyn doesn't require me to constantly entertain her.
All the kids had some of their own money to spend a couple of months ago, and they carefully selected items from Amazon. Matthias bought matchbox cars, Kaitlyn bought polly pockets, Olivia bought a necklace (that still hasn't arrived), and Gretchen bought a birdhouse with a window on the back. We didn't read the description carefully enough, though, because the window is not a two way mirror like we though it was. It's just plexiglass. Much to Gretchen's delight, a bird moved in within a week. The bird was less delighted once it realized that giant heads kept popping up to look at it. We bought a camera that connects to an app so that we could watch the bird without scaring it.
Keshia's daughter, Rudy, turned five at the end of June. She had Kaitlyn over for a sleepover; they were so excited to see each other again. Kaitlyn was a little sad that it was only for one day, but she was happy to get to spend time at Rudy's by herself.
Theodore is pulling himself up on things. He spent a day panicking about being stuck once he got to standing and another day practicing plopping down on his bum. He still gets himself stuck at an awkward angle every now an again, but he's improved greatly. Now he's cruising slowly along the edge of furniture and is quite pleased with himself. He also discovered the card catalog drawers, so we've put our elegant baby proofing fence back up.
Well visit stats:
Theodore, 9.5 months -- 19 pounds, 4 ounces; 28 inches
Kaitlyn, 5 years and 2 months -- 43.4 pounds, 42.5 inches
Gretchen, 7 years and 1 month -- 49 pounds, 48.25 inches
Pictures:
08 July 2020
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