All words this time. Lots of them, since I didn't post any last time.
Matthias can identify many body parts, but ears are not among them. Eyes are usually misplaced, as well. Currently both tend to reside inside his mouth, which seems to be his catch-all "this is somewhere on my face" pick. He can reliably find MY eyes.
Everyone in our family finally has a Matthias name. Olivia has now become "Leah." Gretchen is "Tresh." Kaitlyn is "Tenny." And Matthias himself is "Fie."
Matthias's frequently used words: stop, garbage, more, piece, please, you're forgiven, here, are ready, do again, canna have bite, coming, train, track
Bryan decided that he was going to start running. Most people who know him would immediately wonder why he would do this to himself. Apparently he has discovered that he is in shape enough to play a pick-up game of soccer once a week, but just barely. His age is creeping ever older and he needs the cardio. So he runs twice a week, trudging his way down to the nearby subdivision and back (a little over a half mile round trip). When he first began, he figured he would wake up half an hour earlier on Mondays and Wednesdays, but he discarded that after the first day. He now runs at the much more Bryan friendly time of 9ish, when he takes his first break from work.
My own fitness efforts have not been nearly so deliberate. I did finally activate the fitbit that I got from Grandma a year and a half ago. I know that I take in the vicinity of 4500 steps per day on a regular basis. I get more when I run errands or have my Music Together class. And I fidget 400 steps worth during an evening church service (without children). I usually hit 8000 about once a week. All of this knowledge has done nothing to change my habits, but I'm pleased because now I KNOW. :) I was also reminded that jumping rope is a thing that I enjoy doing, so I have a weighted jump rope ready for me, but have not started using it yet due to pregnancy.
When the girls learned to talk, they all parroted the ends of sentences in our prayers. Matthias does a few ending sounds, but he mostly focuses on beginning sounds. His table prayer is "Bless...these...'bout...bounty...Christ...Amen...Sonny...Amen." By contrast, all three girls said "...Lord...gifts...receive...bounty...Lord. Amen...Amen." His Hail Mary is pretty funny, too, since his favorite word in it is "now." He gets Jesus, Mary, and naaoooow.
Kaitlyn calls fingernails "claws." She also like to call Matthias "Meefeeas." No one is quite sure why.
Gretchen had a birthday! April 24 came and went and now Gretchen is six. As is tradition, she got a watch and, as is also tradition, she was initially excited but has only worn it once since receiving it. Despite my best efforts, my children just don't care as much about watches as I do. Maybe once they get better at telling time...
Easter happened. We went to Sidney and visited for the weekend. We were actually there on Friday to watch Murry compete on Price is Right. She and her brothers (and all the spouses) went to LA in February and their episode aired on March 19. She got on stage and was hilariously overwhelmed by the excitement of it all. Sunday we went to church with Bryan's family. I don't get a sense of joy from Catholics on Easter (or on Christmas, now that I think about it). I'm chalking it up to the influx of C&E attendees who probably legitimately aren't joyful because those two days are more inconvenient family tradition than anything else. We were joyful, though, and I got to sing Easter hymns, so yay. :) Olivia immediately noticed the Alleluias in the titles and told me we weren't supposed to sing them (I guess they covered that in school pretty well) and I got to explain that we could sing them now, because it's Easter! Side note: She has not been at all bothered by the alleluia that the Byzantine Orthodox sing every week since giving up alleluia for Lent is not part of their tradition. Oh well.
Pascha also happened, one week later. Steve and Murry were at our house on Saturday, so we left a sleeping Kaitlyn and Matthias with them in the middle of the night. We woke up Olivia and Gretchen since I'd talked through the coming service with them and they seemed excited to witness it. Olivia made it twenty minutes longer than she's ever made it before, but still fell asleep before the lights came on. Gretchen didn't even try, just curled up on the floor immediately. So much for witnessing. They were both disappointed the next morning when they realized they'd missed the priest saying "Knock, knock" and the subdeacon replying "Who's there?" That is a wildly inaccurate description of what happens, but apparently that was the takeaway from when I explained the knocking on the door that happens. Actual words: "Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up O ancient doors, that the king of glory may come in!" "Who is this king of glory?" "He is the Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle!" As a small consolation to them, the exciting part was quite underwhelming this year anyway, due to a downpour that began just as we were about to walk outside. Two minutes faster and we'd have been drenched halfway through our first trip around the church. As it was, we all stood in the entryway and the words were spoken in a slightly louder than normal voice rather than being shouted through the closed door.
We took a whirlwind trip to Chicago for Julian's baptism in the middle of bright week. Olivia missed a day and a half of school, and we drove to Chicago Wednesday afternoon and home Thursday evening. I believe we were in the city for a grand total of 24 hours. Both directions of our drive took longer than they should have, but I suppose that is to be expected in Chicago. Bryan and I reaffirmed our decision to live in small town Ohio several times, and at one point considered driving home just to find a parking space. The visit itself, car related inconveniences notwithstanding, was lovely. We got to see Jacque, Will, and Julian, obviously, but also Oma, Opa, James, and Jacob. Our family stayed with Jacque and Will, and I had a terrible time explaining to the children why they couldn't be stampeding banshees in the delightfully long hallway of a third floor apartment. Thankfully, they managed to find quieter ways to occupy their time. Wednesday night was the baptism, which was interesting to the girls, followed by a Western Rite Mass, which was not. I appreciated the chance to attend the service, though. :) On Thursday I took the younger kids to Jacque's Music Together class while the big girls played board games with Uncle James. I don't know if it was the time change, the quick turnaround of the trip, the late nights (we didn't get home until 12:30, but the kids slept in the car), coming off of Holy Week, or a combination of all of the above, but the kids took longer to recover from 24 hours in Chicago than they do after a week at Grandma's.
The big girls had their dance recital on Mothers' Day. Olivia was in four dances and Gretchen was in three. They are for sure part of the "must be related to watch them" crowd. Olivia's tap number involved actual working cans of hairspray, and watching twenty first graders try to use hairspray whilst dancing was pretty funny. I was impressed with the poise of the first graders in the opening number of the first show (which I went to alone while Bryan and his parents attended the second show). They are the first ones onstage, and they get there by running down the aisles in two lines. It's a four aisle auditorium, and they come down the center two. There was an older girl heading up each line, and then Olivia was the first one after the leader in the left most line. Despite the warning to be out of the aisles, people apparently didn't listen, because once the music started the right line made it down the aisle and onto the stage, but there was no sign of the left line. They finally came tearing down the leftmost aisle (led by Olivia (!) in the absence of the older girl, who apparently couldn't fit through the gap they found) and scampered onto the stage, looked around, and jumped in right in the middle of the dance. I asked Olivia later and she said the center aisle was blocked and they had to back up and come down the other one, which was also blocked, just not as much. Bryan's show was less exciting. He dreads going every year, though, and copes by sending text messages to all his male friends, reminding them why they should never have girls. I have secured the records from this year and last year, so look for a bonus post of dance recital play-by-plays in the near future.
I started some seeds inside this year and was all set to move them outside in mid-May, but then weather happened and they had to languish under the grow light for another two weeks while Ohio decided whether it was winter or summer. The broccoli and peas got planted and appreciated the extra time in the cooler weather. Now the tomatoes, beans, and cucumbers are finally out as well. The tomatoes look pretty good, the beans are all lying down on the job as they struggle to support their own weight, and I think the cucumbers have been eaten by a rodent. Fine. I'll probably go put some more bean and cucumber seeds out this next week and hope that they do better. Bryan commandeered two garden beds for his very own (it was just one originally, but I didn't need the last one and he hated to see it go to waste) and decided to fill both with zucchini. Given the success (or lack thereof) of previous gardens, we believe this will be the year of the zucchini.
The fridge was taken up by planting trays full of raspberry seeds for several months over the winter. You may have already heard this story, but I'm too lazy to go check. It is apparently less work to retype it. Anyway, for Christmas Bryan gave me 750 raspberry seeds (150 each of 5 different varieties). Seeds need to be winterized before being planted, but apparently actual winter is too much winterizing, so you put them in the fridge instead and watch people try to eat the little chocolate muffins for four months. Then, when the weather gets consistently warm, you move them outside. I think that's where you're supposed to start seeing little raspberry plants emerge, but we have not witnessed this development. It's possible I did the whole fridge thing wrong. Or moved them outside too early because I was impatient and May tricked me. Or perhaps they weren't great seeds to begin with. Whatever the reason, we are NOT up to our ears in tiny raspberry plants, and at the end of this growing season I will be sowing them directly into the garden bed and letting Ohio winter have a go at them.
02 June 2019
19 May 2019
April 14-May 19
Pictures only. Words later.
A fabulous Styrofoam mess. I think they had more fun vacuuming it up than they did making it in the first place:
Zach sent this to Jillian and she shared it with me:
Gideon and Olivia, for future blackmail purposes:
Gretchen with her best friend, Libby, at dress rehearsal:
The big girls (and Grandma) after their recital:
Playing with Uncle Jacob's snapchat filters:
Olivia and Gretchen play Lost Kitties with Uncle James:
Visiting with Jacque, Will, and Julian:
Mom and Matthias:
Olivia's most recent lost tooth:
Matthias squeezes himself into a baby bathtub at Grandma's:
Matthias, watching the cars:
Gretchen's sixth birthday:
This is why I became a mother. The bowl on the left is for me, and the kids never saw it. They will either grow up wondering what's so great about Starburst Jellybeans or preferring all the colors I don't like:
Dance recital, ballet costumes:
Kaitlyn, Matthias, and Mom:
The three younger ones doing shows. Matthias insisted on having "pants" to match his sisters:
One of the girls made a huddle of all the miniatures that were left out in the basement. It looks like a very important meeting:
A fabulous Styrofoam mess. I think they had more fun vacuuming it up than they did making it in the first place:
Zach sent this to Jillian and she shared it with me:
Gideon and Olivia, for future blackmail purposes:
Gretchen with her best friend, Libby, at dress rehearsal:
The big girls (and Grandma) after their recital:
Playing with Uncle Jacob's snapchat filters:
Olivia and Gretchen play Lost Kitties with Uncle James:
Visiting with Jacque, Will, and Julian:
Mom and Matthias:
Olivia's most recent lost tooth:
Matthias squeezes himself into a baby bathtub at Grandma's:
Matthias, watching the cars:
Gretchen's sixth birthday:
Dance recital, ballet costumes:
Kaitlyn, Matthias, and Mom:
The three younger ones doing shows. Matthias insisted on having "pants" to match his sisters:
One of the girls made a huddle of all the miniatures that were left out in the basement. It looks like a very important meeting:
08 May 2019
Bonus Post: Sound Bites 41
Gretchen: Mommy, what are you going to do when you are old enough to actually do something?
Olivia: Everything was fun! I was so filled with joy that I wanted to hop around!
Gretchen: I wish that for Lent we only had to not eat tomatoes.
Kaitlyn: Daddy, is Easter really the peacocks?
Bryan: ...I don't know how to answer that. Yes, Easter is really the peacocks.
Kaitlyn: I need you to tell Gretchen that.
Kaitlyn: Can you give me a little bit?
Bryan: Yes, I'll give you a little bit.
Kaitlyn, looking in her bowl: You think a little bit is a bigger bit.
Kaitlyn, yelling: Everybody be quiet! Even me!
Olivia: Everything was fun! I was so filled with joy that I wanted to hop around!
Gretchen: I wish that for Lent we only had to not eat tomatoes.
Kaitlyn: Daddy, is Easter really the peacocks?
Bryan: ...I don't know how to answer that. Yes, Easter is really the peacocks.
Kaitlyn: I need you to tell Gretchen that.
Kaitlyn: Can you give me a little bit?
Bryan: Yes, I'll give you a little bit.
Kaitlyn, looking in her bowl: You think a little bit is a bigger bit.
Kaitlyn, yelling: Everybody be quiet! Even me!
14 April 2019
March 24-April 14
Kaitlyn had a birthday! She turned four on March 27. She seems relatively convinced that the cake is the magic vehicle by which birthdays are conveyed, so it is possible that everyone who partook of said cake is now four as well. We gave her a PJ Masks MeReader set as a gift, which was a big hit.
Kaitlyn says "to-later." I think it is similar in meaning to "tonight."
Kaitlyn has discovered books on CD at the library. They have a selection of Disney stories with CDs and she checks out a whole stack of them. Combined with her CD player that she got for Christmas, this makes for one quiet, happy Kaitlyn.
Gretchen has lost two teeth now. Her second one took quite some time to fall out, so she was wiggling it during every waking moment for a couple of weeks.
Matthias tries to jump (but his feet rarely leave the ground), enthusiastically gives high fives, and grudgingly gives fist bumps. His favorite method of returning fist bumps is to unroll the other person's fingers into a flat hand and then give a high five.
Matthias has a pillow now. He was jealous of Kaitlyn's PJ Masks pillow and used it during naps, so I finally just got him his own PJ Masks pillowcase and gave him a pillow in his crib. He spent the first week sleeping curled up in the opposite corner of the crib, but now he is generally on top of his pillow. Unrelated to pillows, but in the milestone vein, he weaned forever ago (back at the beginning of February, I think) and is still rear facing in his carseat.
I may have mentioned this in a previous post, but the girls got Create Your Own Story books a few months ago. Olivia, seeing pages set aside for a table of contents, immediately sat down and wrote a table of contents, complete with chapter titles and page numbers. Now whenever she decides to write her story she is trying to fit words into the exact number of pages that she gave herself for each chapter. :)
Matthias thinks Bryan's dad is named Boo Boo Butt. Gretchen and Kaitlyn call grandpa Boo Boo Butt to be silly, but Matthias has decided to use that as his name. Sometimes grandma gets to be Other Boo Boo Butt.
Matthias has a name for Olivia. It initially sounded remarkably like Oo-de-lally, but has recently settled into Ololly. Still no consistent names for Gretchen or Kaitlyn.
Matthias words: sorry, garbage, socks, ummm, belly, owie, other train (car), okay, uh-uh (which means yes), thank you, pizza, cookie (which can also mean doughnut and is the same sound as the one for cracker)
The three younger kids and I spent 45 minutes in the parking lot after Music Together watching a utility crew take out an old telephone pole and put in a new one. There was a truck involved, which pleased Matthias, and also chains, a pulley, and a giant drill. Gretchen wondered why they would knock dirt off the drill onto the ground if they'd only have to clean it up later, and was pleased to see that they had the foresight to put a large tarp down first. Kaitlyn's favorite part was the man in the bucket (of the crane) who removed the wires from the first pole and then just waited around for the second pole to be put up so that he could reattach them. Kaitlyn thought that it would be fun to play in a crane bucket. A few days after this learning experience, the excitement came even closer to home as a pole on the corner of our street was replaced in a similar manner and all three of them could watch from the front porch.
We took a brief trip to Michigan last weekend for the birthday party of the child of some college friends. They live in Taylor, so we took a trip up to Livonia for church on Sunday and got to see Jacob.
I was recently reminded of the somewhat questionable calculation that can be done to determine a toddler's adult height. Allegedly you can double a girl's height at 18 months and a boy's at 2 years and come up with a reasonable approximation of adult height. Here is where we test it, because it will be written down (and forgotten by the time it matters in 15 years).
Olivia at 18 months: 32.25 inches. Doubled is 64.5, which means an adult height of 5'4.5"
Gretchen at 18 months: 33.5 inches. Doubled is 67, which means an adult height of 5'7"
Kaitlyn at 18 months: 33.5 inches. Doubled is 67, which means an adult height of 5'7"
These results leave some room for error since only Olivia was actually 18 months old at her 18 month appointment. Gretchen was 18.5 months and Kaitlyn was 19.5 months. I'm pretty sure 18 months is still a horizontal measurement at the doctor's office, which can be tremendously unreliable. Remember the time that Gretchen grew zero inches between 9 months and 12 months? Also worth noting is that on our homemade height tracker Olivia and Gretchen run very close to the same height by age and Kaitlyn is consistently about an inch shorter.
Pictures:
Kaitlyn says "to-later." I think it is similar in meaning to "tonight."
Kaitlyn has discovered books on CD at the library. They have a selection of Disney stories with CDs and she checks out a whole stack of them. Combined with her CD player that she got for Christmas, this makes for one quiet, happy Kaitlyn.
Gretchen has lost two teeth now. Her second one took quite some time to fall out, so she was wiggling it during every waking moment for a couple of weeks.
Matthias tries to jump (but his feet rarely leave the ground), enthusiastically gives high fives, and grudgingly gives fist bumps. His favorite method of returning fist bumps is to unroll the other person's fingers into a flat hand and then give a high five.
Matthias has a pillow now. He was jealous of Kaitlyn's PJ Masks pillow and used it during naps, so I finally just got him his own PJ Masks pillowcase and gave him a pillow in his crib. He spent the first week sleeping curled up in the opposite corner of the crib, but now he is generally on top of his pillow. Unrelated to pillows, but in the milestone vein, he weaned forever ago (back at the beginning of February, I think) and is still rear facing in his carseat.
I may have mentioned this in a previous post, but the girls got Create Your Own Story books a few months ago. Olivia, seeing pages set aside for a table of contents, immediately sat down and wrote a table of contents, complete with chapter titles and page numbers. Now whenever she decides to write her story she is trying to fit words into the exact number of pages that she gave herself for each chapter. :)
Matthias thinks Bryan's dad is named Boo Boo Butt. Gretchen and Kaitlyn call grandpa Boo Boo Butt to be silly, but Matthias has decided to use that as his name. Sometimes grandma gets to be Other Boo Boo Butt.
Matthias has a name for Olivia. It initially sounded remarkably like Oo-de-lally, but has recently settled into Ololly. Still no consistent names for Gretchen or Kaitlyn.
Matthias words: sorry, garbage, socks, ummm, belly, owie, other train (car), okay, uh-uh (which means yes), thank you, pizza, cookie (which can also mean doughnut and is the same sound as the one for cracker)
The three younger kids and I spent 45 minutes in the parking lot after Music Together watching a utility crew take out an old telephone pole and put in a new one. There was a truck involved, which pleased Matthias, and also chains, a pulley, and a giant drill. Gretchen wondered why they would knock dirt off the drill onto the ground if they'd only have to clean it up later, and was pleased to see that they had the foresight to put a large tarp down first. Kaitlyn's favorite part was the man in the bucket (of the crane) who removed the wires from the first pole and then just waited around for the second pole to be put up so that he could reattach them. Kaitlyn thought that it would be fun to play in a crane bucket. A few days after this learning experience, the excitement came even closer to home as a pole on the corner of our street was replaced in a similar manner and all three of them could watch from the front porch.
We took a brief trip to Michigan last weekend for the birthday party of the child of some college friends. They live in Taylor, so we took a trip up to Livonia for church on Sunday and got to see Jacob.
I was recently reminded of the somewhat questionable calculation that can be done to determine a toddler's adult height. Allegedly you can double a girl's height at 18 months and a boy's at 2 years and come up with a reasonable approximation of adult height. Here is where we test it, because it will be written down (and forgotten by the time it matters in 15 years).
Olivia at 18 months: 32.25 inches. Doubled is 64.5, which means an adult height of 5'4.5"
Gretchen at 18 months: 33.5 inches. Doubled is 67, which means an adult height of 5'7"
Kaitlyn at 18 months: 33.5 inches. Doubled is 67, which means an adult height of 5'7"
These results leave some room for error since only Olivia was actually 18 months old at her 18 month appointment. Gretchen was 18.5 months and Kaitlyn was 19.5 months. I'm pretty sure 18 months is still a horizontal measurement at the doctor's office, which can be tremendously unreliable. Remember the time that Gretchen grew zero inches between 9 months and 12 months? Also worth noting is that on our homemade height tracker Olivia and Gretchen run very close to the same height by age and Kaitlyn is consistently about an inch shorter.
Pictures:
03 April 2019
Bonus Post: Sound Bites 40
Kaitlyn: I am 3, because Grandma gave me my birthday!
Gretchen: Grandma didn't give you your birthday. You gave you your birthday. The calendar gave you your birthday.
Kaitlyn: My mouth hurts.
Me: Where does it hurt?
Kaitlyn: *pats neck*
Me: That's your throat.
Kaitlyn: There is fire in my throat.
Kaitlyn: Hello! I'm a princess! My name is Elsa, but I'm not a princess!
Olivia: I'm going from drab to fab!
Kaitlyn, with one eye closed: I shooted a laser beam out of my eye. This eye.
Gretchen: Why did the cookie need to go to the doctor?
Me: Why?
Gretchen: Because it had some crumbs on it!
Me: ...I think you mean "Because it was feeling crummy."
Kaitlyn: Gretchen, let's bonk into each other and see if one of my tooths is loose.
Gretchen: If a shark is hungry and you are swimming around and crash into him then he will swoosh, grab you with his fin and put you in a jar for breakfast. Then he will go look for lunch and when something touches him he will get it with his fin and put it in a jar for lunch.
Kaitlyn: Mommy, when will it be Easterday? Daddy said that on Easter it will be Easterday and we will see the peacocks.
Me: ...The peacocks? What peacocks?
Kaitlyn: The peacocks that we can't touch.
Olivia: What does a cow say? Moo moo. What does a dog say? Woof woof. What does a mom say? You do this! You do this! What does a dad say? Go to bed, go to bed!
Kaitlyn: I am allowed to eat my dinner!
Me: What dinner?
Kaitlyn: My cereal.
Me: That's breakfast, you silly. Why did that make Matthias cry?
Kaitlyn: Well, he was trying to get my lunch.
Kaitlyn, upon waking up in the morning: I think my hair is styled like Anna's (from Frozen) when she is in bed.
Gretchen: Grandma didn't give you your birthday. You gave you your birthday. The calendar gave you your birthday.
Kaitlyn: My mouth hurts.
Me: Where does it hurt?
Kaitlyn: *pats neck*
Me: That's your throat.
Kaitlyn: There is fire in my throat.
Kaitlyn: Hello! I'm a princess! My name is Elsa, but I'm not a princess!
Olivia: I'm going from drab to fab!
Kaitlyn, with one eye closed: I shooted a laser beam out of my eye. This eye.
Gretchen: Why did the cookie need to go to the doctor?
Me: Why?
Gretchen: Because it had some crumbs on it!
Me: ...I think you mean "Because it was feeling crummy."
Kaitlyn: Gretchen, let's bonk into each other and see if one of my tooths is loose.
Gretchen: If a shark is hungry and you are swimming around and crash into him then he will swoosh, grab you with his fin and put you in a jar for breakfast. Then he will go look for lunch and when something touches him he will get it with his fin and put it in a jar for lunch.
Kaitlyn: Mommy, when will it be Easterday? Daddy said that on Easter it will be Easterday and we will see the peacocks.
Me: ...The peacocks? What peacocks?
Kaitlyn: The peacocks that we can't touch.
Olivia: What does a cow say? Moo moo. What does a dog say? Woof woof. What does a mom say? You do this! You do this! What does a dad say? Go to bed, go to bed!
Kaitlyn: I am allowed to eat my dinner!
Me: What dinner?
Kaitlyn: My cereal.
Me: That's breakfast, you silly. Why did that make Matthias cry?
Kaitlyn: Well, he was trying to get my lunch.
Kaitlyn, upon waking up in the morning: I think my hair is styled like Anna's (from Frozen) when she is in bed.
24 March 2019
January 20-March 24
I've been delinquent regarding my blog for the past year or so, but these past few months it's been worse than usual. I found out that Google+, which I use for adding pictures to my blog, is being shut down at the beginning of April and I've been dithering about trying to decide what to do. I could upload pictures directly through blogger, but I don't like the app interface (not because it's bad, just because I'm adverse to change). Also it's not working for me. I also don't know what will happen to all the photos I've uploaded previously using Google+ and I'm worried about the future of blogger. I've been considering migrating the whole shebang to WordPress instead, but again, the change thing. So for now I've decided to continue blithely along in the way to which I am accustomed and ignore the fact that everything might break in April. Perhaps when I finish the taxes I will return my attention to this wrinkle. Update: I have finished my taxes.
Matthias loves to go play outside. He spends most of his day wearing shoes and a coat in hopes that someone will leave the door unattended. He also knows that he needs a hat and mittens (other hat), though he takes them off almost immediately.
Matthias loves to go play outside. He spends most of his day wearing shoes and a coat in hopes that someone will leave the door unattended. He also knows that he needs a hat and mittens (other hat), though he takes them off almost immediately.
Matthias words: Beat-bo (a toy we have), oh no, see ya, thank you, milk, gecko, drink, dinner (which might just be another word for drink), pants, owlette, spoon, cereal
Matthias needs his sleeves and pant legs to be pulled down. If I push his sleeves up for him to eat a meal, he pulls them back down. If I pull his pant legs up to put on his socks, he squirms around trying to fix them. If I put him in a onesie that comes down on his thighs a little bit, he grabs the edges and valiantly tries to get the leg holes to reach his ankles. Summer should be interesting.
Gretchen's reading is progressing nicely. She's finished a second set of phonics readers and is halfway through the third set. Having mastered short vowels, silent e, and most vowel digraphs, she is now reviewing vowel digraphs whilst encountering consonant blends. In the three days since I wrote the beginning of this paragraph she's finished the third set of readers and is well into the fourth set. Two syllable words are not slowing her down.
Recent culinary adventures: Chicken teryaki bread pillows, hamburger and hot dog sloppy joes. Bryan suggested the first. He wanted runzas with different fillings. I cooked chicken teryaki, broccoli, and carrots, mixed them with French fried onions, and stuffed them in dough squares. They were fine, but more work than regular stir fry and less delicious than regular runzas, so we shan't be having them again. The second was because I wanted to make crockpot sloppy joes but had neither ground beef nor ground pork. The result was surprisingly delicious, but did elicit much ridicule from Bryan when he saw what I had done.
Our microwave stopped working mid-defrost one day. After poking around on the internet a bit, I determined that a faulty door switch was the problem. I ordered a replacement switch, armed myself with a screwdriver and a youtube video, and set about dismantling the microwave. The first switch I attempted to replace was not the problem. Luckily, they're all the same part, so I was able to put that one back in and change out a different one. The good news is that I am now an expert at taking apart our microwave. The better news is that our microwave is working again. The exciting news is that now it is possessed. Whenever we open the door, the turntable spins. I looked up this problem as well, and it is probably also attributable to faulty door switches. It is not dangerous, though, and the microwave is functioning normally otherwise, so we have decided to live with the minor inconvenience.
Olivia can do double digit addition again. I taught her how to do it this summer, but when she went to school she promptly forgot. Now, approximately eight months later, she has reacquired her double digit addition talents. She apparently has no recollection of previous knowledge in this area.
Matthias is now to the point where he repeats most words. The above list is words that he frequently says unprompted. Among words that he steadfastly refuses to repeat are Olivia, Gretchen, Kaitlyn, and please.
We sent out a pregnancy announcement with the belated Christmas letters. Pictures are below. Bryan decided this baby needed a name, and Olivia decided to help him, so... it's Lionel.
Pictures:
Olivia can do double digit addition again. I taught her how to do it this summer, but when she went to school she promptly forgot. Now, approximately eight months later, she has reacquired her double digit addition talents. She apparently has no recollection of previous knowledge in this area.
Matthias is now to the point where he repeats most words. The above list is words that he frequently says unprompted. Among words that he steadfastly refuses to repeat are Olivia, Gretchen, Kaitlyn, and please.
We sent out a pregnancy announcement with the belated Christmas letters. Pictures are below. Bryan decided this baby needed a name, and Olivia decided to help him, so... it's Lionel.
Pictures:
13 February 2019
Bonus Post: Sound Bites 39
Kaitlyn: I am very smart and I am a frog.
Olivia: What does a cat say when it is a robot?
Gretchen: Meow robot? I don't know, what?
Olivia: Rokumkokum, rokumkokum.
*gales of laughter*
Kaitlyn: That's interscusting!
Gretchen: I am styling all these Barbies' hair. Then they decide if they like the styling or not. These are the ones that like their styling, and those are the ones that don't.
Olivia: And the ones that don't go over there and have to get a shot!
Gretchen: Easy. Easy peasy wizard squeezy.
Me: Wizard squeezy?
Gretchen: No! Easy peasy LIZARD squeezy.
Kaitlyn: Mommy told me that if I eat two rocks then I will die, so I didn't. I only ate one rock!
Gretchen, upon arriving at Grandma and Grandpa's street after talking the entire way between our house and theirs: Oh, Kaitlyn and Matthias are sleeping. We should all be quiet. I'm going to sleep, too.
Gretchen: 'Scuse me, 'scuse me, 'scuse me, 'scuse me, 'scuse me.
Me: Are you okay back there?
Gretchen: ...I farted.
Me: Five times?
Gretchen: No, just one time. Why does it still smell stinky?
Me: Saying excuse me doesn't fix the smell.
Gretchen: Well this is not me. It's either Matthias's bum or ...a flat tire.
Me: No, I'm sure it's still you.
Gretchen: Oh. 'Scuse me, 'scuse me, 'scuse me, 'scuse me, 'scuse me. Now it doesn't smell any more.
Gretchen, singing: So cut through the heart, golden tier, strike for one and strike for shear...
Olivia: What does a cat say when it is a robot?
Gretchen: Meow robot? I don't know, what?
Olivia: Rokumkokum, rokumkokum.
*gales of laughter*
Kaitlyn: That's interscusting!
Gretchen: I am styling all these Barbies' hair. Then they decide if they like the styling or not. These are the ones that like their styling, and those are the ones that don't.
Olivia: And the ones that don't go over there and have to get a shot!
Gretchen: Easy. Easy peasy wizard squeezy.
Me: Wizard squeezy?
Gretchen: No! Easy peasy LIZARD squeezy.
Kaitlyn: Mommy told me that if I eat two rocks then I will die, so I didn't. I only ate one rock!
Gretchen, upon arriving at Grandma and Grandpa's street after talking the entire way between our house and theirs: Oh, Kaitlyn and Matthias are sleeping. We should all be quiet. I'm going to sleep, too.
Gretchen: 'Scuse me, 'scuse me, 'scuse me, 'scuse me, 'scuse me.
Me: Are you okay back there?
Gretchen: ...I farted.
Me: Five times?
Gretchen: No, just one time. Why does it still smell stinky?
Me: Saying excuse me doesn't fix the smell.
Gretchen: Well this is not me. It's either Matthias's bum or ...a flat tire.
Me: No, I'm sure it's still you.
Gretchen: Oh. 'Scuse me, 'scuse me, 'scuse me, 'scuse me, 'scuse me. Now it doesn't smell any more.
Gretchen, singing: So cut through the heart, golden tier, strike for one and strike for shear...
20 January 2019
December 30-January 20
I am in the process of writing a Christmas Presentation of the Lord in the Temple letter. Believe it when you see it. In a couple of weeks. :/
Our house slowly emptied itself of people after everyone came to visit, and on January 2 we left as well and headed north to visit our friends Antoine and Jasmine in Michigan. While there we went to a park (because it was so nice out) and learned that Matthias loves slides. Unlike his older sisters, he has absolutely no qualms about going down the slide, with or without a person at the bottom to catch him. By his third or fourth time down, he discovered that he could go down on his stomach and thereafter only slid down face first.
I went to Chicago to visit Jacque and attend a Music Together Songs and Skills workshop. I enjoyed the visit and also chatting on the phone with all sorts of people while I drove. I did not enjoy driving in Chicago at night.
Gretchen lost a tooth a month or so ago. She was very excited when the tooth came out and equally as excited when the new one started coming in. She has two more teeth that she claims are loose, but they are not yet loose enough for anyone except Gretchen to tell.
Did I mention that Matthias didn't know how to clap for a while? I think I did, but just in case... I tried to help him clap when he was little by holding his hands and clapping them together. When he tried to replicate it, he flopped his hands on his wrists in front of his body, making no effort to run them into each other. This was his clapping motion for a few months. At some point he transitioned to actual clapping, but only if he heard the word "Yay!" If someone told him to clap, he would flap his hands. By now he's completely forgotten the hand flopping and claps like a normal person. :)
Jacob visited a while ago, as he is wont to do, and stayed in the basement overnight. We gave him a spare key so that he could let himself into the house if necessary, but he dropped it between the basement stairs where it is quite difficult to retrieve. We have other spare keys, so it was not a big deal, but when Jacob stayed in the basement again last weekend I was reluctant to part with another spare. I happened upon a solution that pleased me, and Jacob resigned himself to carrying an (empty) ice cream bucket of shame, to which was affixed a length of ribbon and a key. As the ice cream bucket is too large to fit between the stairs, this is now our official basement traveling key.
A checkup happened. Matthias is 33.25 inches tall and weighs 27.75 pounds.
You know you're comfortable making bread when a batch doesn't rise correctly and your immediate response is to make a new batch and turn the sad, dense loaves into croutons. :)
New Matthias words: hot, coat, shoes, hat, I need that, I like that, Daddy, hi, hello. He also has a fake burp and a fake sneeze, and he discovered that he can make a farting noise by blowing on his arm.
Pictures:
Our house slowly emptied itself of people after everyone came to visit, and on January 2 we left as well and headed north to visit our friends Antoine and Jasmine in Michigan. While there we went to a park (because it was so nice out) and learned that Matthias loves slides. Unlike his older sisters, he has absolutely no qualms about going down the slide, with or without a person at the bottom to catch him. By his third or fourth time down, he discovered that he could go down on his stomach and thereafter only slid down face first.
I went to Chicago to visit Jacque and attend a Music Together Songs and Skills workshop. I enjoyed the visit and also chatting on the phone with all sorts of people while I drove. I did not enjoy driving in Chicago at night.
Gretchen lost a tooth a month or so ago. She was very excited when the tooth came out and equally as excited when the new one started coming in. She has two more teeth that she claims are loose, but they are not yet loose enough for anyone except Gretchen to tell.
Did I mention that Matthias didn't know how to clap for a while? I think I did, but just in case... I tried to help him clap when he was little by holding his hands and clapping them together. When he tried to replicate it, he flopped his hands on his wrists in front of his body, making no effort to run them into each other. This was his clapping motion for a few months. At some point he transitioned to actual clapping, but only if he heard the word "Yay!" If someone told him to clap, he would flap his hands. By now he's completely forgotten the hand flopping and claps like a normal person. :)
Jacob visited a while ago, as he is wont to do, and stayed in the basement overnight. We gave him a spare key so that he could let himself into the house if necessary, but he dropped it between the basement stairs where it is quite difficult to retrieve. We have other spare keys, so it was not a big deal, but when Jacob stayed in the basement again last weekend I was reluctant to part with another spare. I happened upon a solution that pleased me, and Jacob resigned himself to carrying an (empty) ice cream bucket of shame, to which was affixed a length of ribbon and a key. As the ice cream bucket is too large to fit between the stairs, this is now our official basement traveling key.
A checkup happened. Matthias is 33.25 inches tall and weighs 27.75 pounds.
You know you're comfortable making bread when a batch doesn't rise correctly and your immediate response is to make a new batch and turn the sad, dense loaves into croutons. :)
New Matthias words: hot, coat, shoes, hat, I need that, I like that, Daddy, hi, hello. He also has a fake burp and a fake sneeze, and he discovered that he can make a farting noise by blowing on his arm.
Pictures:
02 January 2019
Bonus Post: Sound Bites 38
Me: I spy something fluffy.
Gretchen: Grandma's hair!
Gretchen: I am tired of eating, but I'm still hungry.
Kaitlyn: There was a virus in Wreck It Ralph. A snake virus.
Gretchen: Kaitlyn, viruses are not snakes. Well, they look like snakes. Hedgehog snakes, because they are straight like snakes but prickly all over.
Gretchen: I don't think there is anyone who is hungry and thirsty and itchy all the time like I am. Or anyone who is afraid that when they flush the potty a bear will pop out of the floor.
Me: ...
Me: You're afraid that a bear will pop out of the floor?
Gretchen: Well the flushing noise just sounds like magic that will make a bear come up out of the floor.
Me: How excited are you to go to Grandma's house?
Kaitlyn: Fifty hundred and half!
Gretchen, showing me a drawing: This is a Christmas tree, and this is a talking tree. I thought that since the tooth fairy is made up and Santa is made up then I could make something up, too, so I made a talking tree!
Angelina: Who's this in the nativity scene?
Kaitlyn: Mary, Jesus, and Uncle Joe.
Gretchen: Grandma's hair!
Gretchen: I am tired of eating, but I'm still hungry.
Kaitlyn: There was a virus in Wreck It Ralph. A snake virus.
Gretchen: Kaitlyn, viruses are not snakes. Well, they look like snakes. Hedgehog snakes, because they are straight like snakes but prickly all over.
Gretchen: I don't think there is anyone who is hungry and thirsty and itchy all the time like I am. Or anyone who is afraid that when they flush the potty a bear will pop out of the floor.
Me: ...
Me: You're afraid that a bear will pop out of the floor?
Gretchen: Well the flushing noise just sounds like magic that will make a bear come up out of the floor.
Me: How excited are you to go to Grandma's house?
Kaitlyn: Fifty hundred and half!
Gretchen, showing me a drawing: This is a Christmas tree, and this is a talking tree. I thought that since the tooth fairy is made up and Santa is made up then I could make something up, too, so I made a talking tree!
Angelina: Who's this in the nativity scene?
Kaitlyn: Mary, Jesus, and Uncle Joe.
30 December 2018
October 28-December 30
I haven't written in a small eternity, but the end of the year is fast approaching and I need to wrap things up for my 2018 blog book. :)
Matthias words and phrases: bye, no, kitty cat, up (eeya), here you go (ehgo -- this means both "here you go" and "give me that"), all gone, cup, down, Mommy, Daddy, guys, boo boo butt, I want that, Olivia, Gretchen, did it, let it go (in song form), whoa
Olivia got her ears repierced at a piercing shop. She had them done at Clair's in May, but months later they were still painful and oozing and finally she decided to take the earrings out and let the holes close up. After they healed completely, she screwed up her courage again and I took her downtown to a tattoo and piercing place. That was an exciting adventure, because the process is slower than a piercing gun and involves a clamp that looks like scissors. She was unimpressed and we almost walked out with only one ear done. Finally she decided that she would tough it out for the second ear, but I'm pretty sure the poor guy getting tattooed across the hall was scarred for life (no pun intended). We've just finished the six weeks of care and her ears are doing much better than the first time around. Her ear lobes are still tender, but they don't look swollen or red at all, which is encouraging.
I took the older two girls for official haircuts a while ago. Gretchen had given herself bangs and layers with no sign of stopping, and Olivia just thought that shorter hair would be nice. I felt like I should be able to handle bobs and bangs myself, but I also didn't want to deal with the complaining when I didn't do things exactly the way Gretchen envisioned, so I took them to Great Clips. They loved it and Bryan and I agreed that adding haircuts to the budget was worth not having to deal with the stress of cutting Gretchen's hair.
You probably saw in an earlier post that we lost the baby. Hilary Shannon was born on November 19. I have a plaque on the wall to match our other ones, a new willow tree angel holding a baby, and beads on my bracelet. When I told the girls, Gretchen said, "Why??!" and Olivia said, "I'm sad, but I'm also happy because now we have 9 people in our family." Sometimes it's nice to see things from the point of view of a seven year old.
Mom, Dad, and James came out the week before Thanksgiving. There was an ice storm in Ohio the day of their flight, so they didn't actually get to leave until a day later because nothing was flying into Columbus. When they did finally get on a plane, it was delayed by several hours, which caused us to not be awake enough to pick them up, so they ended up in a hotel and I picked them up the next morning. Thirty six hours after they were originally scheduled to arrive, we made it back to our house. Barring the initial difficulties, the visit was quite pleasant. The Bossards and the Smiths made an appearance, and we saw all of Justine's in-laws during the week as well. Thanksgiving day was good food and happy family and everything that wonderful holiday memories are made of.
Bryan and I both had birthdays. We're 32 now, and have been married a quarter of our lives.
My birthday weekend was filled with viola. I had three rehearsals and two concerts (different groups). Since I wasn't going to be home at all, Bryan took the kids down to Sidney to see his parents. My hour or so at home was quite peaceful.
We rearranged bedrooms, and now Olivia and Gretchen share what used to be the playroom while Kaitlyn and Matthias share the bedroom. All three girls have junior lofts with a play area underneath. Kaitlyn has a little table and the older girls have drop down wall desks. I hung strands of Christmas lights underneath each bed so that they could see to play -- that was a huge hit. :) The guest room mattresses were taken downstairs to make room for the new playroom. Books are arranged on shelves and toys are in the closet. I went through a lot of hoarded junk (of mine) and trashed/donated less than I should have. The rest is (mostly) stored neatly in tubs in the basement. I do still have a couple of boxes that I need to sort since we shoved them out of the room at the last minute to make room for air mattresses for Christmas visitors.
December 15th was Grandma's Christmas, which is what we are apparently calling the lovely new tradition of opening presents at Grandma's house a weeks or so early. We all got matching pajamas, which made for some fun pictures. Saturday was ice skating (a huge hit with the kids) and opening presents. We came back after church on Sunday to play games.
The oldest four siblings were able to get together after Christmas, so we had the Bossards, the Smiths, and the Fentons here for a few days (the Bossards and the Smiths are still here, actually). We had a good time hanging out. Josef and Angelina played a ton of games with both the adults and the children. They also got put to work assembling desks for the girls and a mini game table for Bryan (but really for the kids because I did not realize how small it was). We see the Smiths and the Bossards more frequently, and their visits were (are?) fairly typical.
I think last you heard we had a new cat named Shalina. We have the same cat still, but her name was quickly changed to Stephanie. Her full name is actually Bigger Stephanie, but this was problematic since she was actually quite small. The girls agreed to call her Little Stephanie (our cat has a street name?) until she grows enough to deserve the title of Bigger Stephanie. For the most part she goes by just Stephanie.
Matthias loves our cat. He can often be seen at the back door looking for the cat. Now that he's a little taller, he can also often be found opening the door to let the cat inside, usually for the sole purpose of picking it up and tossing it back outside. Since his experience at this point is limited, he assumes that any living thing that does not walk on two legs is a cat. Large dog? It's a cat. Genevieve, the two month old baby of our friends from church? Also a cat.
Bryan has noticed that Kaitlyn has a different way of responding when she's in trouble. Around age 3, all of the girls have become self aware of being in trouble, and he's pulled them aside and said something to the effect of "What should a good daddy do?" Olivia will start trickling tears down her cheeks and say, "I don't want a spanking." Gretchen will burst into floods of tears and say, "A good daddy would give me a spanking." Kaitlyn gets a hopeful look on her face and says, "Well, if you let me watch PJ Masks on your phone then I will be good."
Pictures:
Matthias words and phrases: bye, no, kitty cat, up (eeya), here you go (ehgo -- this means both "here you go" and "give me that"), all gone, cup, down, Mommy, Daddy, guys, boo boo butt, I want that, Olivia, Gretchen, did it, let it go (in song form), whoa
Olivia got her ears repierced at a piercing shop. She had them done at Clair's in May, but months later they were still painful and oozing and finally she decided to take the earrings out and let the holes close up. After they healed completely, she screwed up her courage again and I took her downtown to a tattoo and piercing place. That was an exciting adventure, because the process is slower than a piercing gun and involves a clamp that looks like scissors. She was unimpressed and we almost walked out with only one ear done. Finally she decided that she would tough it out for the second ear, but I'm pretty sure the poor guy getting tattooed across the hall was scarred for life (no pun intended). We've just finished the six weeks of care and her ears are doing much better than the first time around. Her ear lobes are still tender, but they don't look swollen or red at all, which is encouraging.
I took the older two girls for official haircuts a while ago. Gretchen had given herself bangs and layers with no sign of stopping, and Olivia just thought that shorter hair would be nice. I felt like I should be able to handle bobs and bangs myself, but I also didn't want to deal with the complaining when I didn't do things exactly the way Gretchen envisioned, so I took them to Great Clips. They loved it and Bryan and I agreed that adding haircuts to the budget was worth not having to deal with the stress of cutting Gretchen's hair.
You probably saw in an earlier post that we lost the baby. Hilary Shannon was born on November 19. I have a plaque on the wall to match our other ones, a new willow tree angel holding a baby, and beads on my bracelet. When I told the girls, Gretchen said, "Why??!" and Olivia said, "I'm sad, but I'm also happy because now we have 9 people in our family." Sometimes it's nice to see things from the point of view of a seven year old.
Mom, Dad, and James came out the week before Thanksgiving. There was an ice storm in Ohio the day of their flight, so they didn't actually get to leave until a day later because nothing was flying into Columbus. When they did finally get on a plane, it was delayed by several hours, which caused us to not be awake enough to pick them up, so they ended up in a hotel and I picked them up the next morning. Thirty six hours after they were originally scheduled to arrive, we made it back to our house. Barring the initial difficulties, the visit was quite pleasant. The Bossards and the Smiths made an appearance, and we saw all of Justine's in-laws during the week as well. Thanksgiving day was good food and happy family and everything that wonderful holiday memories are made of.
Bryan and I both had birthdays. We're 32 now, and have been married a quarter of our lives.
My birthday weekend was filled with viola. I had three rehearsals and two concerts (different groups). Since I wasn't going to be home at all, Bryan took the kids down to Sidney to see his parents. My hour or so at home was quite peaceful.
We rearranged bedrooms, and now Olivia and Gretchen share what used to be the playroom while Kaitlyn and Matthias share the bedroom. All three girls have junior lofts with a play area underneath. Kaitlyn has a little table and the older girls have drop down wall desks. I hung strands of Christmas lights underneath each bed so that they could see to play -- that was a huge hit. :) The guest room mattresses were taken downstairs to make room for the new playroom. Books are arranged on shelves and toys are in the closet. I went through a lot of hoarded junk (of mine) and trashed/donated less than I should have. The rest is (mostly) stored neatly in tubs in the basement. I do still have a couple of boxes that I need to sort since we shoved them out of the room at the last minute to make room for air mattresses for Christmas visitors.
December 15th was Grandma's Christmas, which is what we are apparently calling the lovely new tradition of opening presents at Grandma's house a weeks or so early. We all got matching pajamas, which made for some fun pictures. Saturday was ice skating (a huge hit with the kids) and opening presents. We came back after church on Sunday to play games.
The oldest four siblings were able to get together after Christmas, so we had the Bossards, the Smiths, and the Fentons here for a few days (the Bossards and the Smiths are still here, actually). We had a good time hanging out. Josef and Angelina played a ton of games with both the adults and the children. They also got put to work assembling desks for the girls and a mini game table for Bryan (but really for the kids because I did not realize how small it was). We see the Smiths and the Bossards more frequently, and their visits were (are?) fairly typical.
I think last you heard we had a new cat named Shalina. We have the same cat still, but her name was quickly changed to Stephanie. Her full name is actually Bigger Stephanie, but this was problematic since she was actually quite small. The girls agreed to call her Little Stephanie (our cat has a street name?) until she grows enough to deserve the title of Bigger Stephanie. For the most part she goes by just Stephanie.
Matthias loves our cat. He can often be seen at the back door looking for the cat. Now that he's a little taller, he can also often be found opening the door to let the cat inside, usually for the sole purpose of picking it up and tossing it back outside. Since his experience at this point is limited, he assumes that any living thing that does not walk on two legs is a cat. Large dog? It's a cat. Genevieve, the two month old baby of our friends from church? Also a cat.
Bryan has noticed that Kaitlyn has a different way of responding when she's in trouble. Around age 3, all of the girls have become self aware of being in trouble, and he's pulled them aside and said something to the effect of "What should a good daddy do?" Olivia will start trickling tears down her cheeks and say, "I don't want a spanking." Gretchen will burst into floods of tears and say, "A good daddy would give me a spanking." Kaitlyn gets a hopeful look on her face and says, "Well, if you let me watch PJ Masks on your phone then I will be good."
Pictures:
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