Lots of pictures, because I don't post as regularly anymore...
31 December 2019
29 December 2019
December 15-29
I have to get this post done so that I can order my 2019 blog book...
Notes from the last two months:
The younger kids and I have been to the Toledo zoo a few times since Theodore was born. We drop Olivia and Gretchen off at school and then head off to see the polar bears. And some other animals, usually, but mostly the polar bears. Luckily for us, the polar bear exhibit is at the front of the zoo, so we can always stop and see them on either the way in or the way out. They're right next to the seals, which is another crowd pleaser. Kaitlyn's dearest wish is that the zoo would move the (invisible to her) partition between the polar bears and the seals. She knows that polar bears eat seals and she just wants to see the catching and devouring process. I assume mostly the former, but you never can be too sure with Kaitlyn.
I am generally the sole alto voice in church, but the girls match pitch with me and I end up creating my own little alto cohort. It's not generally a problem unless our strongest soprano is missing. If I can't hear the soprano line then I'll switch, because (if the girls are all singing) the four of us overpower the others a bit. Most times the girls dutifully follow the switch without even realizing it. I tend to be back and forth between the lines at the beginning of most pieces anyway, so they are used to the jump between alto and soprano. One week we were missing two sopranos, so I spent most of the service on soprano. For the Lord's Prayer, however, I dropped to alto out of habit. Since we strongly encourage participation in the Lord's Prayer, all three girls were singing and dropped to alto with me. I immediately realized what I'd done and switched back. But -- and here's the point of this rambling story -- Olivia didn't. I sang soprano and Olivia stood next to me and held down the alto line all by herself! Gretchen and Kaitlyn faltered a bit, and then stuck with Olivia since that part was more familiar to them. The three of them made it through the whole prayer singing alto together, even getting the moving notes at the end while the soprano holds a note. It was very exciting to me and they have no idea that they even did it. :-P
Kaitlyn and Matthias like to eat apples. They used to like them cut up into slices, but recently they've decided that they want to each have their own whole apple. Unfortunately, they eat until they get to the core and then give up on the other half. So I bought an apple corer. Now we have "apples with tunnels" and I don't find half eaten apples on the counter anymore. :)
I took the kids to Pittsburgh at the beginning of November. It was originally going to be a trip with just the younger children, but then Bryan had to go into the office and wasn't available to drop off and pick up the older girls from school. They had no school on that Monday, so I pulled them out early on Friday and we took off for the weekend. We had a good time visiting the Bossards and got to go trick-or-treating on a quite pleasant Saturday afternoon. This was popular because our Thursday trick-or-treating had been canceled due to inclement weather. As it turns out, the Pittsburgh cul-de-sac was the ideal trick-or-treating experience. I believe those pictures are in a previous post. We drove home Monday afternoon.
Matthias has claimed starting the dishwasher as his special job. Obviously someone else has to load it, but once it's ready to go then Matthias gets to put the soap in and press start. He gets quite irritated if you forget and do it for him.
Justine and I, in our infinite wisdom, decided that potty training two toddlers at once would be the perfect Thanksgiving exercise. I started Matthias on Monday, putting him in underwear and giving him a toddler potty and lots of juice. Forty-five minutes later nothing had happened and I had to go nurse Theodore. Somehow during that time, Gretchen and Kaitlyn managed to get him to pee in his little potty twice. I guess my six and four year olds are now in charge of potty training. :-D When I told Justine, she said that Dorothea was also beginning potty training and that Gretchen and Kaitlyn could help her as well. And so it was decided. There were ups and downs and I regret to say that we were still potty training two toddlers at once with only slightly better success rates when Christmas rolled around.
Thanksgiving was us, the Bossards, Bryan's parents, and Joseph's parents and brother. We managed to get all of the food cooked in time and most of it was still warm when it was supposed to be. :)
Theodore moved into the boys' room after the Bossards left, but when he wakes up in the middle of the night I transfer him to our room. He continues to do poorly with sleeping, which does not bless his mother. Now that we have a house full of people he's back in our room for the time being. I guess we'll see what happens when everyone leaves.
Gretchen and Kaitlyn danced in The Nutcracker All Jazzed Up. Kaitlyn was a little angel (her part, not her temperament) and Gretchen was a soldier. There's a bonus post with Bryan's play-by-play. Kaitlyn has better balance than either of her sisters did at this age and paid attention to Miss Lyn quite well for her one dance. Gretchen was in two longer dances and would probably be dishonorably discharged from the armed forces for lack of both ferocity and rigidity. She kind of marches like a duck. Truth hurts, future Gretchen. You have talents, but marching stiffly in step is not one of them.
Matthias suddenly knows almost all of his colors. I'm not sure how that happened, but he went from calling everything green to correctly identifying the whole rainbow plus "browns."
Christmas happened quietly and calmly. We celebrated at church on Sunday because that's when the priest was there. As a result, there was no midnight service to attend. I will be sad to see that return once we do have a priest. On Wednesday we woke up a little late, attended Catholic Mass, and then came home for fancy nachos and our first present. Gretchen has a Kindle now and her reading list has jumped accordingly.
The Bossards arrived yesterday, just in time for the sibling/spouse/second cousin secret santa gift exchange. We are thankful for the mute function on group video chats, and for the Wisconsin contingent's quick thinking with signs and hand signals.
On the fifth day of Christmas (that's today, for those who don't want to count) we gave our kids and niblings a trip to The Hero Day, a giant indoor bouncy castle wonderland. We're headed there this afternoon. Four adults, ten children, and an hour of bouncing and loud music. Wish us luck.
The Smiths arrive on Tuesday to contribute to the chaos. Hooray, hooray! Anything else that I was supposed to mention but forgot will have to be immortalized in 2020. Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!
Notes from the last two months:
The younger kids and I have been to the Toledo zoo a few times since Theodore was born. We drop Olivia and Gretchen off at school and then head off to see the polar bears. And some other animals, usually, but mostly the polar bears. Luckily for us, the polar bear exhibit is at the front of the zoo, so we can always stop and see them on either the way in or the way out. They're right next to the seals, which is another crowd pleaser. Kaitlyn's dearest wish is that the zoo would move the (invisible to her) partition between the polar bears and the seals. She knows that polar bears eat seals and she just wants to see the catching and devouring process. I assume mostly the former, but you never can be too sure with Kaitlyn.
I am generally the sole alto voice in church, but the girls match pitch with me and I end up creating my own little alto cohort. It's not generally a problem unless our strongest soprano is missing. If I can't hear the soprano line then I'll switch, because (if the girls are all singing) the four of us overpower the others a bit. Most times the girls dutifully follow the switch without even realizing it. I tend to be back and forth between the lines at the beginning of most pieces anyway, so they are used to the jump between alto and soprano. One week we were missing two sopranos, so I spent most of the service on soprano. For the Lord's Prayer, however, I dropped to alto out of habit. Since we strongly encourage participation in the Lord's Prayer, all three girls were singing and dropped to alto with me. I immediately realized what I'd done and switched back. But -- and here's the point of this rambling story -- Olivia didn't. I sang soprano and Olivia stood next to me and held down the alto line all by herself! Gretchen and Kaitlyn faltered a bit, and then stuck with Olivia since that part was more familiar to them. The three of them made it through the whole prayer singing alto together, even getting the moving notes at the end while the soprano holds a note. It was very exciting to me and they have no idea that they even did it. :-P
Kaitlyn and Matthias like to eat apples. They used to like them cut up into slices, but recently they've decided that they want to each have their own whole apple. Unfortunately, they eat until they get to the core and then give up on the other half. So I bought an apple corer. Now we have "apples with tunnels" and I don't find half eaten apples on the counter anymore. :)
I took the kids to Pittsburgh at the beginning of November. It was originally going to be a trip with just the younger children, but then Bryan had to go into the office and wasn't available to drop off and pick up the older girls from school. They had no school on that Monday, so I pulled them out early on Friday and we took off for the weekend. We had a good time visiting the Bossards and got to go trick-or-treating on a quite pleasant Saturday afternoon. This was popular because our Thursday trick-or-treating had been canceled due to inclement weather. As it turns out, the Pittsburgh cul-de-sac was the ideal trick-or-treating experience. I believe those pictures are in a previous post. We drove home Monday afternoon.
Matthias has claimed starting the dishwasher as his special job. Obviously someone else has to load it, but once it's ready to go then Matthias gets to put the soap in and press start. He gets quite irritated if you forget and do it for him.
Justine and I, in our infinite wisdom, decided that potty training two toddlers at once would be the perfect Thanksgiving exercise. I started Matthias on Monday, putting him in underwear and giving him a toddler potty and lots of juice. Forty-five minutes later nothing had happened and I had to go nurse Theodore. Somehow during that time, Gretchen and Kaitlyn managed to get him to pee in his little potty twice. I guess my six and four year olds are now in charge of potty training. :-D When I told Justine, she said that Dorothea was also beginning potty training and that Gretchen and Kaitlyn could help her as well. And so it was decided. There were ups and downs and I regret to say that we were still potty training two toddlers at once with only slightly better success rates when Christmas rolled around.
Thanksgiving was us, the Bossards, Bryan's parents, and Joseph's parents and brother. We managed to get all of the food cooked in time and most of it was still warm when it was supposed to be. :)
Theodore moved into the boys' room after the Bossards left, but when he wakes up in the middle of the night I transfer him to our room. He continues to do poorly with sleeping, which does not bless his mother. Now that we have a house full of people he's back in our room for the time being. I guess we'll see what happens when everyone leaves.
Gretchen and Kaitlyn danced in The Nutcracker All Jazzed Up. Kaitlyn was a little angel (her part, not her temperament) and Gretchen was a soldier. There's a bonus post with Bryan's play-by-play. Kaitlyn has better balance than either of her sisters did at this age and paid attention to Miss Lyn quite well for her one dance. Gretchen was in two longer dances and would probably be dishonorably discharged from the armed forces for lack of both ferocity and rigidity. She kind of marches like a duck. Truth hurts, future Gretchen. You have talents, but marching stiffly in step is not one of them.
Matthias suddenly knows almost all of his colors. I'm not sure how that happened, but he went from calling everything green to correctly identifying the whole rainbow plus "browns."
Christmas happened quietly and calmly. We celebrated at church on Sunday because that's when the priest was there. As a result, there was no midnight service to attend. I will be sad to see that return once we do have a priest. On Wednesday we woke up a little late, attended Catholic Mass, and then came home for fancy nachos and our first present. Gretchen has a Kindle now and her reading list has jumped accordingly.
The Bossards arrived yesterday, just in time for the sibling/spouse/second cousin secret santa gift exchange. We are thankful for the mute function on group video chats, and for the Wisconsin contingent's quick thinking with signs and hand signals.
On the fifth day of Christmas (that's today, for those who don't want to count) we gave our kids and niblings a trip to The Hero Day, a giant indoor bouncy castle wonderland. We're headed there this afternoon. Four adults, ten children, and an hour of bouncing and loud music. Wish us luck.
The Smiths arrive on Tuesday to contribute to the chaos. Hooray, hooray! Anything else that I was supposed to mention but forgot will have to be immortalized in 2020. Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!
25 December 2019
Bonus Post: Dance Recital Notes
Gretchen and Kaitlyn had a dance recital, and you all know what that means... It's time for Bryan's Play-By-Play!
Question: How do you make the most wonderful time of the year even more wonderful? Answer: Sit down to a 3 hour little girl dance recital, of course! It's the 2019 Miss Lyn's Jazzed Up Nutcracker and the house is packed with semi-obligated-to-watch parents and grandparents. Luckily for those of you without a ticket, I'm here for the play by play. Option #1 is don't go. #2 is drink myself stupid. But as I'm a semi-obligated parent and have to drive my kids home after this, option #3 is to make everyone else share a fraction of my misery. Now shut up, it's starting.
False alarm, turns out this is just pre-show Christmas hype music. Ironically this song and the still drawn curtain is probably the best performance I'll get to witness today.
Act 1 is in the books. You really forget how bad these are in the six months between sitting down for them...
Song 2 and I have no idea what I just watched. Nine year old dresses up like reindeer-elf and does the drunken robot? Thankfully the speakers they're using were installed in 1972, so I can just give her the benefit of the doubt and say it was in time to the music.
We have a Gretchen sighting! She is standing way too close to the girl next to her. Also, they're going for the oompa loompa up and down bob move, and I'm not sure when people become capable of that, but can now say with confidence that it comes after the age of 6.
There is some dad in a silver cape that keeps coming on stage and awkwardly carrying girls away. If this were anything buy a dance recital someone would have called the cops by now.
Dance fight! The classic rivals, mice vs nutcrackers. I'll let you know who wins.
...Yikes. So the mouse gets stabbed and her mouse friends cry over her dead body and they played the "Fatality" sound bite from Mortal Kombat. When the DVD comes later we might have to fast forward through that so Kaitlyn doesn't get nightmares.
The preschoolers, perennial favorites, so much to unpack. One girl does nothing the whole song. Another hides in her hands cuz she's scared, but also kind of does her dance. But easily the best, one girl has her own big girl assigned to her to keep her from wandering away. It only kinda works. Brava, preschoolers, brava.
Song 15, called in the program "Snowflakes a Flutter." Could have just as easily been titled "Arm Flapping in Tutus set to Acoustic Guitar."
Sassy bumblebees dance to hip-hop remix of Jingle Bells. I do not remember that from the original Nutcracker. I also don't remember the Arabian belly dance number. (*Carroll supplies link of Arabian belly dance in original Nutcracker*) Lol, well color me wrong. By the way, belly dances can be done by 5 year olds because it's hilarious and adorable, or adult women because it's sexy. When 14 year old girls do it it's just awkward all around. Nobody wins.
The youngins are back and basically just doing jumping jacks to the one recognizable song from the Nutcracker. Super glad I paid like $300 for my girls to be a part of this. (Carroll: *enrolls Genevieve in MMA*) I do take some solace in knowing I'm no longer the only one with daughters... (Alan: *Sends gif of happy Bender dancing).
So they almost always do this running leap thing and this one poor girl... She ran and thought about leaping but hesitated, so ran some more, but hesitated, then needed speed for her leap... But was out of room. Ended in a sad hop. Very disappointed in herself. Her moment was too big for her. There's always next year, little girl.
It is the 30th song today with sparkles and twirling, so I will take this moment to mention that Kaitlyn did come on right after the preschoolers but was disappointingly pretty good. She can off-balance foot stomp with the best of them.
Man, I need to watch the original before I come to another one of these, because ten little girls just ran out from a big girl's skirt that's the size of a tent and I'm just lost. I am not picking up the narratives being laid down.
They're bringing them all back out for the 10 minutes long "take a bow" dance. With this one wrapping up, I'm left with one final thought. For all the effort I put into keeping my commentary fresh, you must remember that every dance could really be boiled down to the same four words: Glitter skipping and suck. That'll do it for me, gents. See you on Mother's Day. And Alan, may God bless you with nothing but granddaughters.
And some notes from Johannah at the second show:
1. You forgot to mention how interminably long the snowflake dance was.
2. Did the disco ball keep flashing right in your eyes?
3. Weird chipmunk laughing noises during the love duet?
4. My little angels (the tiny tots) got distracted by the gold glittery stuff on the floor. At least three grabbed fistfuls before finding their spots.
5. The belly dancer is super athletic.
6. Gretchen is not. I'm currently wondering if she even knows how to run.
Question: How do you make the most wonderful time of the year even more wonderful? Answer: Sit down to a 3 hour little girl dance recital, of course! It's the 2019 Miss Lyn's Jazzed Up Nutcracker and the house is packed with semi-obligated-to-watch parents and grandparents. Luckily for those of you without a ticket, I'm here for the play by play. Option #1 is don't go. #2 is drink myself stupid. But as I'm a semi-obligated parent and have to drive my kids home after this, option #3 is to make everyone else share a fraction of my misery. Now shut up, it's starting.
False alarm, turns out this is just pre-show Christmas hype music. Ironically this song and the still drawn curtain is probably the best performance I'll get to witness today.
Act 1 is in the books. You really forget how bad these are in the six months between sitting down for them...
Song 2 and I have no idea what I just watched. Nine year old dresses up like reindeer-elf and does the drunken robot? Thankfully the speakers they're using were installed in 1972, so I can just give her the benefit of the doubt and say it was in time to the music.
We have a Gretchen sighting! She is standing way too close to the girl next to her. Also, they're going for the oompa loompa up and down bob move, and I'm not sure when people become capable of that, but can now say with confidence that it comes after the age of 6.
There is some dad in a silver cape that keeps coming on stage and awkwardly carrying girls away. If this were anything buy a dance recital someone would have called the cops by now.
Dance fight! The classic rivals, mice vs nutcrackers. I'll let you know who wins.
...Yikes. So the mouse gets stabbed and her mouse friends cry over her dead body and they played the "Fatality" sound bite from Mortal Kombat. When the DVD comes later we might have to fast forward through that so Kaitlyn doesn't get nightmares.
The preschoolers, perennial favorites, so much to unpack. One girl does nothing the whole song. Another hides in her hands cuz she's scared, but also kind of does her dance. But easily the best, one girl has her own big girl assigned to her to keep her from wandering away. It only kinda works. Brava, preschoolers, brava.
Song 15, called in the program "Snowflakes a Flutter." Could have just as easily been titled "Arm Flapping in Tutus set to Acoustic Guitar."
Sassy bumblebees dance to hip-hop remix of Jingle Bells. I do not remember that from the original Nutcracker. I also don't remember the Arabian belly dance number. (*Carroll supplies link of Arabian belly dance in original Nutcracker*) Lol, well color me wrong. By the way, belly dances can be done by 5 year olds because it's hilarious and adorable, or adult women because it's sexy. When 14 year old girls do it it's just awkward all around. Nobody wins.
The youngins are back and basically just doing jumping jacks to the one recognizable song from the Nutcracker. Super glad I paid like $300 for my girls to be a part of this. (Carroll: *enrolls Genevieve in MMA*) I do take some solace in knowing I'm no longer the only one with daughters... (Alan: *Sends gif of happy Bender dancing).
So they almost always do this running leap thing and this one poor girl... She ran and thought about leaping but hesitated, so ran some more, but hesitated, then needed speed for her leap... But was out of room. Ended in a sad hop. Very disappointed in herself. Her moment was too big for her. There's always next year, little girl.
It is the 30th song today with sparkles and twirling, so I will take this moment to mention that Kaitlyn did come on right after the preschoolers but was disappointingly pretty good. She can off-balance foot stomp with the best of them.
Man, I need to watch the original before I come to another one of these, because ten little girls just ran out from a big girl's skirt that's the size of a tent and I'm just lost. I am not picking up the narratives being laid down.
They're bringing them all back out for the 10 minutes long "take a bow" dance. With this one wrapping up, I'm left with one final thought. For all the effort I put into keeping my commentary fresh, you must remember that every dance could really be boiled down to the same four words: Glitter skipping and suck. That'll do it for me, gents. See you on Mother's Day. And Alan, may God bless you with nothing but granddaughters.
And some notes from Johannah at the second show:
1. You forgot to mention how interminably long the snowflake dance was.
2. Did the disco ball keep flashing right in your eyes?
3. Weird chipmunk laughing noises during the love duet?
4. My little angels (the tiny tots) got distracted by the gold glittery stuff on the floor. At least three grabbed fistfuls before finding their spots.
5. The belly dancer is super athletic.
6. Gretchen is not. I'm currently wondering if she even knows how to run.
15 December 2019
October 27-December 15
Quick things, mostly about the two boys:
-A Theodore post went up, backdated to his birthday.
-Theo's last checkup -- 12 lbs 3 oz, 23.25 in
-The kids and I went to visit the Bossards at the beginning of November. Their trick-or-treating was Saturday, so we went with them.
-I have not mentioned it in a blog post, but Theodore is very spitty. I would say he's worse than Gretchen, but that could just be because he's the one currently being messy.
-If you ask Matthias what color something is, it's green.
-Theo found his hands on or around November 21.
-Matthias began potty training on November 25.
-The Bossards came here for Thanksgiving.
-We celebrated Christmas with Bryan's family this past weekend. Bryan and I alternate calling it "Grandma's Christmas" and "Present Day."
-Theodore has rolled from front to back several times. They were all on the same day, though, and he hasn't exhibited any similar talents since then.
-Theodore was a fabulous sleeper for five weeks -- from the middle of October until the end of November. At the beginning of those five weeks he would sleep from whenever he finally went down at night (usually by 9:30) until about 7. By the end of the five weeks his bedtime was pretty consistently in the 6:30-7 range. Then he broke, and he is no longer a fabulous sleeper. Sad day.
-Matthias calls his brother Feedoor John.
-Olivia has completed a round of swimming lessons. She needs to work on putting her face in the water, but has been promoted to the next level class. We currently have no plans to continue the lessons before summer arrives.
Pictures:
-A Theodore post went up, backdated to his birthday.
-Theo's last checkup -- 12 lbs 3 oz, 23.25 in
-The kids and I went to visit the Bossards at the beginning of November. Their trick-or-treating was Saturday, so we went with them.
-I have not mentioned it in a blog post, but Theodore is very spitty. I would say he's worse than Gretchen, but that could just be because he's the one currently being messy.
-If you ask Matthias what color something is, it's green.
-Theo found his hands on or around November 21.
-Matthias began potty training on November 25.
-The Bossards came here for Thanksgiving.
-We celebrated Christmas with Bryan's family this past weekend. Bryan and I alternate calling it "Grandma's Christmas" and "Present Day."
-Theodore has rolled from front to back several times. They were all on the same day, though, and he hasn't exhibited any similar talents since then.
-Theodore was a fabulous sleeper for five weeks -- from the middle of October until the end of November. At the beginning of those five weeks he would sleep from whenever he finally went down at night (usually by 9:30) until about 7. By the end of the five weeks his bedtime was pretty consistently in the 6:30-7 range. Then he broke, and he is no longer a fabulous sleeper. Sad day.
-Matthias calls his brother Feedoor John.
-Olivia has completed a round of swimming lessons. She needs to work on putting her face in the water, but has been promoted to the next level class. We currently have no plans to continue the lessons before summer arrives.
Pictures:
11 December 2019
Bonus Post: A Sibling Photo Shoot
Murry needed an updated picture for her foyer (the current one is missing both boys), so we had a photo shoot. Rudy joined in the fun, too.
Pictures:
27 November 2019
Bonus Post: Sound Bites 46
Matthias: Look! The train is making a noisy!
Kaitlyn: I wish I was a gorilla because then I would have four hands.
Me: Good news, I suck at eating!
Gretchen: I am 20% sure that I'm stronger than Olivia.
Olivia: Well I'm 20% sure you're not.
Me: Let me get your cutie patootie brother.
Matthias: Patootie brother?!
Me, to Theo: Are you a patootie brother?
Matthias: No, he's a Theo.
Matthias: Daddy is mowing the laundry.
Gretchen: I think without our parents we would be bad all the time.
Olivia: Without our parents we would die.
Kaitlyn: No, we would just take care of ourselves.
Olivia: What does romance mean?
Me: It's all the nice little things you do for someone you love.
Olivia: Oh. I thought it meant fainting.
Me: Theo was a cranky pants today. And when Theo's cranky, mommy's cranky.
Kaitlyn: Mommy is a cranky skirt!
Matthias: Knock knock.
Me: Who's there?
Matthias: Moo who.
Me: Moo who who?
Matthias: Kitty cat!
Olivia: Gretchen.
Gretchen: What?
Olivia: Can.
Gretchen: ...
Olivia: ...Oh. I mean knock knock.
Kaitlyn: I really love everybody and everything in the whole world. Even you.
Kaitlyn: I wish I was a gorilla because then I would have four hands.
Me: Good news, I suck at eating!
Gretchen: I am 20% sure that I'm stronger than Olivia.
Olivia: Well I'm 20% sure you're not.
Me: Let me get your cutie patootie brother.
Matthias: Patootie brother?!
Me, to Theo: Are you a patootie brother?
Matthias: No, he's a Theo.
Matthias: Daddy is mowing the laundry.
Gretchen: I think without our parents we would be bad all the time.
Olivia: Without our parents we would die.
Kaitlyn: No, we would just take care of ourselves.
Olivia: What does romance mean?
Me: It's all the nice little things you do for someone you love.
Olivia: Oh. I thought it meant fainting.
Me: Theo was a cranky pants today. And when Theo's cranky, mommy's cranky.
Kaitlyn: Mommy is a cranky skirt!
Matthias: Knock knock.
Me: Who's there?
Matthias: Moo who.
Me: Moo who who?
Matthias: Kitty cat!
Olivia: Gretchen.
Gretchen: What?
Olivia: Can.
Gretchen: ...
Olivia: ...Oh. I mean knock knock.
Kaitlyn: I really love everybody and everything in the whole world. Even you.
27 October 2019
October 20-27
...And, as per usual, all the words from the last month.
Theodore:
~Got baptized. Friday, September 20. Godparents are Jillian Fenton and Phil Worland. Dad flew in to perform the baptism.
~Had a check up a month ago. He was 10 pounds, 1 ounce, and 21.5 inches long. He has another check up this week, so those numbers are quite outdated.
~Began smiling a little before one month. They were quick smiles, and generally only with the right side of his mouth. I got his first real smile in response to me when he was one month and two days old, which makes him officially our earliest smiler. Despite his early smiles, however, he has not been very free with them. He would seem to be as sober and serious as his older siblings were. Except Gretchen. I remember her smiling a lot.
~Spent several weeks escaping from his swaddle in the middle of each night. At 3:30 in the morning I would hear grunting and wiggling. Other than the expended effort, he was perfectly content. About twenty minutes later, one arm free from its bonds, he would realize he might be hungry and decide to have a snack before going back to sleep.
~Had a bedtime. Theo would consistently go to sleep for the night between 7 and 8, wake up once between 3 and 4, and then get up for the day around 8.
~And then lost it. Now he goes to bed between 7 and 8 kind of, but not really. After about fifteen minutes he wakes up and is happily awake for another hour or two before going to bed again. Then he sleeps until about 5 before nursing, and then wakes up for the day around 8.
~Has longer periods of awake time. He is content to be where he can see the action (or his arch, which he's begun noticing) and hear voices. As long as he knows he's not alone, Theo will just hang out and observe the world around him.
Matthias:
~Counts, or tries to. I caught 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 13, 13, 13, 13, 13 and 41, 46, 47, 13.
~Answers the question "what" with "because." Example: "What are you wearing?" "Because I have a cars shirt."
~Loves "moany cheese." Macaroni and cheese, for those who don't speak this dialect of toddler. He and two of his sisters (Gretchen and Kaitlyn) have finally been corrupted by Grandma and prefer boxed macaroni and cheese, though they will still happily eat the homemade kind. Olivia will not touch the boxed stuff.
~Is in a big boy bed. He went all the way, too, with no toddler bed transition. Straight from crib to junior loft. I believe he's the oldest one to transition, which may be contributing to how well it went. I also wonder how much the taller bed helped, because although he can get out by himself, it is not at all convenient to do so. Regardless of the reason, he wins all the prizes for best transitioner. He's been happily retiring to his new bed every night and staying there without a fuss. He did call it Aunt Justine's bed for several weeks because she slept in it when they were here for Theo's baptism and Matthias moved in the night they left.
~Spent the week that the Bossards visited in a pack and play in our room. This would not be noteworthy except that he's too big to fit comfortably in the pack and play, so he would wake up in the middle of the night and call for daddy until Bryan got him and brought him into our bed. Since we have a king now, we don't even notice the addition most of the time (until Matthias turns sideways and/or headbutts someone in the face). Upon moving to his own bed, Matthias did better, but he still ends up in our room about four times a week. Sometimes at 5:30ish, sometimes as early as 1. I suppose we should work on fixing it, but, like I said, he's pretty unobtrusive most of the time, and neither Bryan nor I wants to spend time in the middle of the night convincing Matthias that his own bed is fine.
~Has fat feet. We went to WalMart and I had Matthias try on every single shoe in his size. We could only squeeze his foot into one pair of boots, and the velcro wouldn't close once his foot was inside. I took him to Shoe Carnival and asked if they had any wide width kid shoes. They had wide width in exactly one style, so Matthias got Nikes in sizes 7 and 8 in order to take advantage of a sale. Name brand wide width toddler shoes are expensive and I was annoyed. I found some church shoes on ebay for a lesser amount, but I guess I will have to resign myself to buying expensive shoes until his feet lengthen out enough to fit in normal shoes.
Kaitlyn:
~Can identify the letters K, A, O, G, X, and Y. She's quite unreliable with all the rest of them, but her two most common guesses are B and E.
~Can spell her name (verbally, although if I provide the correct flashcards she can generally put them in order). She also answers the question "What does your name start with?" with "It starts with K-A-I-T-L-Y-N."
~Started Catechesis. St Charles Church is offering a new class for 3-5 year olds called Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. It's Montessori style with an emphasis on religion. Kaitlyn loves it. Her class meets on Friday mornings and she comes home each week talking about all of the hard work she had to do. After she dusted one week, she told me that the next time we were at the store we should buy dusting things (a rag is not good enough, there's a specific tool she uses, apparently) and she would dust the house for me. We were calling her class school at first, but she decided that wasn't accurate, and neither was church, so now we call it catechesis and everyone is happy. Plus, now Matthias has the distinction of being one of few two-year-olds who routinely uses the word catechesis.
~Started dance. Technically dance class started at the beginning of September, but I told Miss Lyn that Kaitlyn would not be attending until October. On the first of October, Kaitlyn excitedly entered her first official dance class. She will happily demonstrate her passe to anyone who asks her to show them a dance move.
Gretchen:
~Knows the meaning of the word "favorite" (I think), but doesn't care. Everything is Gretchen's favorite. When playing the game "Would You Rather?", she picks both choices. It doesn't matter that she's only allowed to pick one.
~Is reading quite well now. Gretchen doesn't read as voraciously as Olivia did at this point in first grade, but she is still writing plenty of titles on the list she keeps for school. Her favorite books are Elephant and Piggie. At this point, I think she has them pretty much memorized.
~Loves art class. Her favorite special is art and she's constantly doing art projects at home.
~Made a doll. Kaitlyn and Olivia did, too, but only because Gretchen made one first. Gretch wanted to make a doll, so I looked up a pattern and walked her through the steps. I ran the foot pedal on the sewing machine, but she did everything else herself. Yesterday she decided to make a pumpkin the same way she made her doll and drafted a pattern out of paper, cut out the fabric, and began cutting "fluff" (fabric scraps) for stuffing. She'll probably finish it today.
~Has fully embraced earrings. Now that Gretchen's ears are healed (they have been for months, she just didn't realize it) and we've successfully changed her earrings a few times, she is all in on the new earrings. She wears a different pair every day that she remembers, although she's going to have to start repeating pairs soon. She's just begun trying to take them out and put them in herself, so soon she won't even need me to help her with them.
~Likes scary things. Bryan took her shopping for her Halloween costume and had to talk her down from costumes covered with fake blood and gore because they would have terrified her younger siblings. She came home with a phantom costume, complete with glowy eyes. She still traumatized two children (not ours) with it.
Olivia:
~Finished the soccer season strong. Bryan reports that Olivia got more aggressive as the season wound down, and in her last several games she played very well. We shall see if this increased skill level carries over into next season. :)
~Will be starting swim lessons on Tuesday. Olivia got quite comfortable in the water this past summer, so we decided a few weeks of formal swim lessons were in order. Unfortunately, they were only offered on the nights that she already had soccer. Soccer is over now, though, so she starts this week.
~Discovered graphic novels. After reading all the Rainbow Magic books she could get her hands on, Olivia was adrift looking for a new series. Despite dozens of recommendations from her mother, she stubbornly refused to try anything that looked like it might be long and/or boring. No one except perhaps Olivia knows how she came to the long and boring conclusions. Regardless, she was determined to reread Rainbow Magic for the rest of her days. But then. My Little Pony appeared on the scene in comic book form. Our library has 15 volumes of that, so she eagerly checked them out and read them all in about three days. Oh well. Now she knows that graphic novels are a thing and checks that section for interesting reading material.
~Doesn't like pants. When it was time to switch out clothes for the new season, Olivia decided she didn't want pants. Since dresses are getting hard to find in her size, she opted for skirts and shirts. Now she says, "I'm kind of just like my mom" as she walks around in her maxi skirt. :)
An event:
Bryan decided to throw a Halloween party for kids. I originally thought this would replace trick-or-treating, but apparently it is intended to be in addition to all the other Halloween festivities. The kids are very excited to get to wear their costumes another time. This was the first year, so we didn't really know what to expect. Bryan threw together some things that sounded fun and we went from there. It actually went really well. The highlight was easily the candy shop that he set up in the clubhouse. There was a flashlight scavenger hunt set up in the basement where kids collected pennies. They could then take the pennies to the clubhouse window and buy candy and toys with them. Olivia was in charge of running the store and had a grand time. There was also a laser maze set up in the garage, courtesy of a friend, a bag decorating station, and various candy deposits around the property where kids could find treats.
A story:
Whilst eating a peanut butter and banana sandwich last month, I got a large painful lump in my throat and couldn't swallow or breathe. Since insurance is already maxed out for the year, I decided it would be prudent to visit an allergist, so as not to inadvertently die of anaphylactic shock sometime in the future. I also reluctantly gave up peanuts (and, less reluctantly, bananas) for the weeks between the incident and the appointment. Since I've never had trouble with peanuts before and, in fact, ate peanut butter nearly exclusively for a few months in college, I was hopeful that there would be no allergy. I finally had my appointment on Monday and, was happily proclaimed to be in the clear. My banana pin prick showed the tiniest reaction, but not enough for the allergist to care. My peanut pin prick did nothing. I guess I'm just terrible at chewing my food. You'd think I'd be better at that by this point in my life.
Another story:
We had a meeting this past Wednesday night. I took a small, tasteful bag with two diapers, a burp cloth, and some wipes into the meeting because that's all I needed for a couple of hours. Hah. Theo exploded his diaper all up his back for the first time. All the way to his armpits. I sent Bryan to the car for the full diaper bag with its change of clothes. The whole sleeper was gross, and of course Theo managed to get his arm and pacifier tether int he poop. While I had Theo flipped onto his stomach to wipe off his back, he spit up all over himself, my arm, and the changing table. Bryan fetched paper towels to wipe up the spit so that I could lay Theo down to finish his diaper change, and Theo took that opportunity to pee all over the wall. I finally cleaned a space enough to attach a diaper, handed him to Bryan to be clothed, wiped down the changing table and wall, washed the pacifier, and made it out of the bathroom.
Pictures:
20 October 2019
16 October 2019
Bonus Post: Sound Bites 45
Kaitlyn: I'm starving. My brain is growing smaller and is making me not breathe and then I will die.
Matthias: I need chips.
Me: How do you ask?
Matthias: More chips.
Me: Can I please have more...
Matthias: Chips.
Me: Can I please...
Matthias: Have chips.
Me: No, say the whole thing. Can I please have more chips.
Matthias: Yes.
Kaitlyn: Did you hear the secret that I telled to my imaginary friend?
Me: No, because I am not your imaginary friend.
Kaitlyn: Well it starts with a D and starts with an S at the end. And then it starts with an O in the middle and then it starts with a 3 and then it starts with a 5.
Olivia: I'm trying to have the best dream of my life, and you're interrupting it!
Kaitlyn: Want to know how I make that noise? I snork my choke, but it doesn't even make me die.
Gretchen, dramatically: I am a school classer!
Kaitlyn, singing: Red, orange, and green, and toes.
Gretchen: Do you remember Ariel's dad? King Sultan?
Miss Lyn: I have two Kaitlyns in my class. Do you know your middle name?
Kaitlyn: My name is Kaitlyn Bug.
Kaitlyn: You're telling me a lot of things that I am unacceptable about.
Gretchen: I saw a statue of hunormous books.
Olivia: You mean humongous.
Me: Or enormous.
Gretchen: Which one is bigger?
Me: They both mean very, very big.
Gretchen: They mean 100% tall.
Kaitlyn: I wish Rudy was part of my family. My sisters are boring, but Rudy's not boring. God just wants me to be mad because he didn't make Rudy part of my family. Can you drive to heaven and ask God to make Rudy part of my family?
Matthias: I need chips.
Me: How do you ask?
Matthias: More chips.
Me: Can I please have more...
Matthias: Chips.
Me: Can I please...
Matthias: Have chips.
Me: No, say the whole thing. Can I please have more chips.
Matthias: Yes.
Kaitlyn: Did you hear the secret that I telled to my imaginary friend?
Me: No, because I am not your imaginary friend.
Kaitlyn: Well it starts with a D and starts with an S at the end. And then it starts with an O in the middle and then it starts with a 3 and then it starts with a 5.
Olivia: I'm trying to have the best dream of my life, and you're interrupting it!
Kaitlyn: Want to know how I make that noise? I snork my choke, but it doesn't even make me die.
Gretchen, dramatically: I am a school classer!
Kaitlyn, singing: Red, orange, and green, and toes.
Gretchen: Do you remember Ariel's dad? King Sultan?
Miss Lyn: I have two Kaitlyns in my class. Do you know your middle name?
Kaitlyn: My name is Kaitlyn Bug.
Kaitlyn: You're telling me a lot of things that I am unacceptable about.
Gretchen: I saw a statue of hunormous books.
Olivia: You mean humongous.
Me: Or enormous.
Gretchen: Which one is bigger?
Me: They both mean very, very big.
Gretchen: They mean 100% tall.
Kaitlyn: I wish Rudy was part of my family. My sisters are boring, but Rudy's not boring. God just wants me to be mad because he didn't make Rudy part of my family. Can you drive to heaven and ask God to make Rudy part of my family?
25 September 2019
Bonus Post: Sound Bites 44
Kaitlyn: Uncle Josef, why does your hair that's supposed to go down go up?
Matthias: My bum is raining. (His pants were wet.)
Olivia: When I grow up, I'm going to be a teacher, a librarian, or maybe nothing.
Bryan: Nothing?
Olivia: Like mom. She's nothing, just a mom.
Kaitlyn, singing: I wanna know, can you show me? I wanna know if a stranger likes me.
Gretchen: Did you know? I am not the girl I want to be.
Kaitlyn: He is going to stay in our room forever. It's the horriblest thing ever! They are giving him a snack while he is in jail. They keep telling him it's mac and cheese, but when he eats it, it is apparently pig food with a rock in it.
Gretchen, eating canned pears: I think I know how they made pears. They took apples, cut them up, and made them slimy.
Kaitlyn has a toy thermometer.
Bryan: What is that?
Kaitlyn: It's a pencil that tells how old you are.
Bryan: Can you check how old my foot is?
Kaitlyn: Yes. It's eight.
Kaitlyn: Mom, your elbow smells like Theodore slobber.
(video chat)
Oma: What are you doing?
Gretchen: Looking at you right now.
Matthias: My bum is raining. (His pants were wet.)
Olivia: When I grow up, I'm going to be a teacher, a librarian, or maybe nothing.
Bryan: Nothing?
Olivia: Like mom. She's nothing, just a mom.
Kaitlyn, singing: I wanna know, can you show me? I wanna know if a stranger likes me.
Gretchen: Did you know? I am not the girl I want to be.
Kaitlyn: He is going to stay in our room forever. It's the horriblest thing ever! They are giving him a snack while he is in jail. They keep telling him it's mac and cheese, but when he eats it, it is apparently pig food with a rock in it.
Gretchen, eating canned pears: I think I know how they made pears. They took apples, cut them up, and made them slimy.
Kaitlyn has a toy thermometer.
Bryan: What is that?
Kaitlyn: It's a pencil that tells how old you are.
Bryan: Can you check how old my foot is?
Kaitlyn: Yes. It's eight.
Kaitlyn: Mom, your elbow smells like Theodore slobber.
(video chat)
Oma: What are you doing?
Gretchen: Looking at you right now.
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