Gretchen, giggling: Would you rather eat jam on ham or a boy named Sam?
Matthias, rummaging around in the corner of my room: Can I have this?
Me: No?
Matthias: But I need what I need.
Bryan, dishing out Chinese food: What do you want on this?
Gretchen: Ketchup!
Matthias: Dad, look at your ears!
Me: Can you look at your ears?
Matthias: No.
Me: Why not?
Matthias: Because my head is on.
Gretchen: When I grow up I'm going to be a saint. And if I can't be a saint then I'll be a ninja. And if I can't be a ninja then I'll be a pop star.
Me: What do your turtles eat?
Kaitlyn: Grass.
Me: Where do you get all the grass?
Kaitlyn: Oh, in Aprica. But we don't live in Aprica, so we have to drive there to get it.
Gretchen: Do you think Daddy knows how to spell Punxsutawney?
Me: Definitely not.
Gretchen: Oooooh, if Daddy was in second grade at St Charles and got all his regular words right so he had the bonus list then he would get one wrong!
Bryan: ...I'm so embarrassed.
Oma: Get dressed.
Matthias: No, I do not wear dresses! Olivia and Gretchen and Kaitlyn wear dresses. Me and Theo wear clothes. And Dad wears clothes.
Walter: What kind of juice are you drinking?
Matthias: The juice that you drink when you are dying.
29 July 2020
12 July 2020
June 7-July 12
Whoever coined the term ankle biter may have had a baby like Theodore. He seems to have developed a fondness for sneaking up on unsuspecting feet and chomping down on the nearest part, which often happens to be the ankles. We warn anyone who's in danger, but Theodore is lucky he hasn't gotten accidentally reflex kicked in the face.
We took a trip to visit the Kleins back at the end of May. The whole family went down and we stayed overnight. On the way, Matthias had to go to the bathroom and, due to a lack of available facilities, discovered the joys of peeing on trees. Now on long car trips he periodically says, "I have to pee on a tree." Fantastic.
In mid June I took the kids to Pittsburgh to visit the Bossards while Bryan stayed home and led the fabulous bachelor life. We usually sleep in the attic, which gets quite hot in the summer. Luckily, Justine and Joseph had considered this and had an air conditioning unit arriving on Tuesday. Unluckily, we showed up on Monday. Everyone survived though, and by Wednesday evening it was pleasant enough even during the day.
All the cousins paired off during the visit and had a grand old time. Olivia, William, Gretchen, and Edward spent most of their inside time planning hide and seek. They all walked around with modern magna doodles making lists and drawing diagrams of the perfect hiding places in each room. The lists and diagrams were top secret and had to be protected from the other pair at all costs. Justine and I are pretty sure that over the course of the week they never actually got around to hiding. :)
All the kids spent a fair amount of time outside, taking turns riding the various wheeled things. Walter allowed the pedals to be taken off his bike so that Gretchen could practice balancing, which she did for several days. When we came home she was riding her own bike with pedals and without training wheels in ten minutes. This gave Kaitlyn renewed enthusiasm, and we took her pedals and training wheels off for her to learn as well. A week later we ended up putting them all back on.
Josef and Angelina came to visit over Father's Day weekend. They were moving Angelina's mother to Cleveland and then went to Columbus to check out apartments before coming to stay with us for a couple of days. It was fun to see them and we're looking forward to this fall when they live closer.
We've been to Steve and Murry's a couple of times now, and we've been taking the kids' bikes so that we can go on family walks/rides down the bike path. I do appreciate the walking and riding opportunities there. We should probably invest in a bike rack since the only other way to bring all the bikes is by taking an extra vehicle.
Murry wanted to have some time with each kid, so she came and got them one at a time for 24 hours. They did all sorts of things and there was a bonus post this past Wednesday with pictures. When Matthias was gone, I was reflecting on how much more peaceful it was when just one child was missing. Then Matthias came back and Gretchen left and suddenly it wasn't peaceful anymore. Which child is missing definitely matters. Due to ages and temperaments, the worst one to be missing right now is definitely Gretchen. Matthias is probably the best one, but only because Kaitlyn doesn't require me to constantly entertain her.
All the kids had some of their own money to spend a couple of months ago, and they carefully selected items from Amazon. Matthias bought matchbox cars, Kaitlyn bought polly pockets, Olivia bought a necklace (that still hasn't arrived), and Gretchen bought a birdhouse with a window on the back. We didn't read the description carefully enough, though, because the window is not a two way mirror like we though it was. It's just plexiglass. Much to Gretchen's delight, a bird moved in within a week. The bird was less delighted once it realized that giant heads kept popping up to look at it. We bought a camera that connects to an app so that we could watch the bird without scaring it.
Keshia's daughter, Rudy, turned five at the end of June. She had Kaitlyn over for a sleepover; they were so excited to see each other again. Kaitlyn was a little sad that it was only for one day, but she was happy to get to spend time at Rudy's by herself.
Theodore is pulling himself up on things. He spent a day panicking about being stuck once he got to standing and another day practicing plopping down on his bum. He still gets himself stuck at an awkward angle every now an again, but he's improved greatly. Now he's cruising slowly along the edge of furniture and is quite pleased with himself. He also discovered the card catalog drawers, so we've put our elegant baby proofing fence back up.
Well visit stats:
Theodore, 9.5 months -- 19 pounds, 4 ounces; 28 inches
Kaitlyn, 5 years and 2 months -- 43.4 pounds, 42.5 inches
Gretchen, 7 years and 1 month -- 49 pounds, 48.25 inches
Pictures:
We took a trip to visit the Kleins back at the end of May. The whole family went down and we stayed overnight. On the way, Matthias had to go to the bathroom and, due to a lack of available facilities, discovered the joys of peeing on trees. Now on long car trips he periodically says, "I have to pee on a tree." Fantastic.
In mid June I took the kids to Pittsburgh to visit the Bossards while Bryan stayed home and led the fabulous bachelor life. We usually sleep in the attic, which gets quite hot in the summer. Luckily, Justine and Joseph had considered this and had an air conditioning unit arriving on Tuesday. Unluckily, we showed up on Monday. Everyone survived though, and by Wednesday evening it was pleasant enough even during the day.
All the cousins paired off during the visit and had a grand old time. Olivia, William, Gretchen, and Edward spent most of their inside time planning hide and seek. They all walked around with modern magna doodles making lists and drawing diagrams of the perfect hiding places in each room. The lists and diagrams were top secret and had to be protected from the other pair at all costs. Justine and I are pretty sure that over the course of the week they never actually got around to hiding. :)
All the kids spent a fair amount of time outside, taking turns riding the various wheeled things. Walter allowed the pedals to be taken off his bike so that Gretchen could practice balancing, which she did for several days. When we came home she was riding her own bike with pedals and without training wheels in ten minutes. This gave Kaitlyn renewed enthusiasm, and we took her pedals and training wheels off for her to learn as well. A week later we ended up putting them all back on.
Josef and Angelina came to visit over Father's Day weekend. They were moving Angelina's mother to Cleveland and then went to Columbus to check out apartments before coming to stay with us for a couple of days. It was fun to see them and we're looking forward to this fall when they live closer.
We've been to Steve and Murry's a couple of times now, and we've been taking the kids' bikes so that we can go on family walks/rides down the bike path. I do appreciate the walking and riding opportunities there. We should probably invest in a bike rack since the only other way to bring all the bikes is by taking an extra vehicle.
Murry wanted to have some time with each kid, so she came and got them one at a time for 24 hours. They did all sorts of things and there was a bonus post this past Wednesday with pictures. When Matthias was gone, I was reflecting on how much more peaceful it was when just one child was missing. Then Matthias came back and Gretchen left and suddenly it wasn't peaceful anymore. Which child is missing definitely matters. Due to ages and temperaments, the worst one to be missing right now is definitely Gretchen. Matthias is probably the best one, but only because Kaitlyn doesn't require me to constantly entertain her.
All the kids had some of their own money to spend a couple of months ago, and they carefully selected items from Amazon. Matthias bought matchbox cars, Kaitlyn bought polly pockets, Olivia bought a necklace (that still hasn't arrived), and Gretchen bought a birdhouse with a window on the back. We didn't read the description carefully enough, though, because the window is not a two way mirror like we though it was. It's just plexiglass. Much to Gretchen's delight, a bird moved in within a week. The bird was less delighted once it realized that giant heads kept popping up to look at it. We bought a camera that connects to an app so that we could watch the bird without scaring it.
Keshia's daughter, Rudy, turned five at the end of June. She had Kaitlyn over for a sleepover; they were so excited to see each other again. Kaitlyn was a little sad that it was only for one day, but she was happy to get to spend time at Rudy's by herself.
Theodore is pulling himself up on things. He spent a day panicking about being stuck once he got to standing and another day practicing plopping down on his bum. He still gets himself stuck at an awkward angle every now an again, but he's improved greatly. Now he's cruising slowly along the edge of furniture and is quite pleased with himself. He also discovered the card catalog drawers, so we've put our elegant baby proofing fence back up.
Well visit stats:
Theodore, 9.5 months -- 19 pounds, 4 ounces; 28 inches
Kaitlyn, 5 years and 2 months -- 43.4 pounds, 42.5 inches
Gretchen, 7 years and 1 month -- 49 pounds, 48.25 inches
Pictures:
08 July 2020
24 June 2020
Bonus Post: Sound Bites 51
Matthias: *burps* I burped.
Me: What do you say when you burp?
Matthias: ... Buuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrp.
Kaitlyn: I made this for you.
Justine: Is this a drawing of me?
Kaitlyn: Yes!
Justine: I'm... an angry tornado.
Kaitlyn: You're a happy heart!
Gretchen: Does Pennsylvania have monsters like the Pennsylvania in the movie?
Me: That's Transylvania.
Me: We're on the road!
Matthias: Yeah, but not on the grass. Or the trees.
Me: I need you to get the little broom and sweep up your fingernail clippings so that Theodore doesn't eat them for a snack.
Olivia: Aww, why can't we just put them under something?
Me: I like your haircut. Grandma did a good job.
Matthias: Yeah, and you do a bad job.
Kaitlyn: It's a Google Home Minion!
Angelina: You get cuter every time I see you, do you know that?
Matthias: Yeah.
Kaitlyn: He doesn't know very much.
James (a friend, not the uncle): I'm happy!
Kaitlyn: You wouldn't be happy if your whole body was covered with fire.
Me: What do you say when you burp?
Matthias: ... Buuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrp.
Kaitlyn: I made this for you.
Justine: Is this a drawing of me?
Kaitlyn: Yes!
Justine: I'm... an angry tornado.
Kaitlyn: You're a happy heart!
Gretchen: Does Pennsylvania have monsters like the Pennsylvania in the movie?
Me: That's Transylvania.
Me: We're on the road!
Matthias: Yeah, but not on the grass. Or the trees.
Me: I need you to get the little broom and sweep up your fingernail clippings so that Theodore doesn't eat them for a snack.
Olivia: Aww, why can't we just put them under something?
Me: I like your haircut. Grandma did a good job.
Matthias: Yeah, and you do a bad job.
Kaitlyn: It's a Google Home Minion!
Angelina: You get cuter every time I see you, do you know that?
Matthias: Yeah.
Kaitlyn: He doesn't know very much.
James (a friend, not the uncle): I'm happy!
Kaitlyn: You wouldn't be happy if your whole body was covered with fire.
07 June 2020
May 10-June 7
You can tell things are getting busier around here again because my blogging has taken a hit. It was not destined to last. We've started interacting with people again. Our in person game nights are still fewer than they used to be, but we have had a couple. The biggest difference right now from pre-coronavirus is that we're not going to public things, which is absolutely fine with me. At this point in the year normal daily obligations would have been finished anyway since school and dance both wrap up in May. We attended Catholic Mass in person last week as a family. We also got permission from the Orthodox Bishop to have up to 25 people at a service, so we were able to go to Liturgy this weekend.
Theodore says Mama. He's been playing with different sounds for a while now, but we're pretty sure Mama actually means me. At least sometimes. He says dadadada, but doesn't mean Bryan yet. His favorite noises are a high pitched happy screech and a tongue clicking sound.
Matthias's potty problems are improving. He takes a low dose of daily Miralax to help him and has finally been convinced that sitting on the potty isn't in and of itself painful. We've talked a lot about how he has special juice to make his poop feel better because his Miralax was always in kool-aid. Now that we've run out of kool-aid we just use water and he still calls it juice. Except that it's been a bit mangled in translation, so when he sees me preparing his glass he excitedly exclaims, "Is that juice to feel my poop?!" Yes. Yes, it is.
We finally went back to the store. The last time I went grocery shopping was March 20. Bryan went on March 29. And then we waited. At some point it became more of a challenge then anything else. We emptied the deep freezer and defrosted it. We ground the last of our wheat. We finished off several of those bulk food buckets I keep in the pantry. I made some interesting dinners that were just random ingredients thrown together. I learned that you have to substitute 1 3/4 cups of powdered sugar to replace 1 cup of regular white sugar. We have chocolate granola now because I used chocolate syrup to provide the sweetness. We had originally planned to try to make it until June. I thought we'd get there. But Bryan got tired of oatmeal for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch, and some variation of rice and beans for dinner. So he snuck out of the house with Matthias before I woke up on Saturday, May 23, and went to Walmart. Each of the kids got a solo trip with dad to the grocery store. We made it one day shy of eight weeks. In fairness, our meals did improve in quality. I went to Aldi to fill in the gaps on the 28th. Now we're probably back to a somewhat regular grocery shopping regimen.
Olivia had an eye doctor appointment and with her glasses on she can read the 20/20 line with her bad eye! They told her she has to keep using the eye drops for the next three weeks, but if she can still read 20/20 at her next appointment then she's done. She was disappointed to still need the drops, but is happy to have an end in sight. She is a little worried that she'll have to give up her glasses once her eye is fixed. I guess she's attached to them by now. :)
Matthias runs around in bare feet all the time. All the kids do, actually, which baffles me because I don't even walk around the house in bare feet. I wear shoes. Always. The kids have nicely calloused feet, though, and have to be reminded to put on shoes if we're going somewhere where they might be expected to get out of the car and walk into a public building. Anyway, Matthias managed to get a series of splinters in his feet and they were buried deep enough that we couldn't get them out. I took him to the doctor (and found out that he's 36 pounds) and they dug/cut three splinters out of his poor little feet. He's better now, and they recommend foot wear.
Pictures:
Matthias's potty problems are improving. He takes a low dose of daily Miralax to help him and has finally been convinced that sitting on the potty isn't in and of itself painful. We've talked a lot about how he has special juice to make his poop feel better because his Miralax was always in kool-aid. Now that we've run out of kool-aid we just use water and he still calls it juice. Except that it's been a bit mangled in translation, so when he sees me preparing his glass he excitedly exclaims, "Is that juice to feel my poop?!" Yes. Yes, it is.
We finally went back to the store. The last time I went grocery shopping was March 20. Bryan went on March 29. And then we waited. At some point it became more of a challenge then anything else. We emptied the deep freezer and defrosted it. We ground the last of our wheat. We finished off several of those bulk food buckets I keep in the pantry. I made some interesting dinners that were just random ingredients thrown together. I learned that you have to substitute 1 3/4 cups of powdered sugar to replace 1 cup of regular white sugar. We have chocolate granola now because I used chocolate syrup to provide the sweetness. We had originally planned to try to make it until June. I thought we'd get there. But Bryan got tired of oatmeal for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch, and some variation of rice and beans for dinner. So he snuck out of the house with Matthias before I woke up on Saturday, May 23, and went to Walmart. Each of the kids got a solo trip with dad to the grocery store. We made it one day shy of eight weeks. In fairness, our meals did improve in quality. I went to Aldi to fill in the gaps on the 28th. Now we're probably back to a somewhat regular grocery shopping regimen.
Olivia had an eye doctor appointment and with her glasses on she can read the 20/20 line with her bad eye! They told her she has to keep using the eye drops for the next three weeks, but if she can still read 20/20 at her next appointment then she's done. She was disappointed to still need the drops, but is happy to have an end in sight. She is a little worried that she'll have to give up her glasses once her eye is fixed. I guess she's attached to them by now. :)
Matthias runs around in bare feet all the time. All the kids do, actually, which baffles me because I don't even walk around the house in bare feet. I wear shoes. Always. The kids have nicely calloused feet, though, and have to be reminded to put on shoes if we're going somewhere where they might be expected to get out of the car and walk into a public building. Anyway, Matthias managed to get a series of splinters in his feet and they were buried deep enough that we couldn't get them out. I took him to the doctor (and found out that he's 36 pounds) and they dug/cut three splinters out of his poor little feet. He's better now, and they recommend foot wear.
Pictures:
20 May 2020
Bonus Post: Sound Bites 50
Olivia: What can I read?
Me: *suggests looking up Beverly Cleary since she just finished Ramona*
Olivia: None of these look good.
Me: *looks up lists online and feeds her titles one at a time to search*
Olivia: These don't look like ones I would like.
Me: What about them is something you don't like?
Olivia: I don't know.
Me: What about Harry Potter? Your friend Elaine is reading that.
Bryan: I think you'd like Harry Potter even more than you like Pokemon.
Olivia: Well I don't want to read it if I'll like it more than Pokemon.
Me: ...
Matthias, holding a 5: Mom, when I flip this over it turns into a 2! Wait, I will get a 3 and turn it into a 4!
Me: Kaitlyn, stop whining. You do not need glasses to do that trick. You could just hang the turtle on your ear.
Matthias: My pants are wet and my feet are wet.
Me: Do you need new pants?
Matthias: Yeah. And new feet.
Gretchen: Anything is possible for God?! That means he can make unicorns real!
Matthias: My food goes to my feet and my water and juice and milk go to my belly.
Gretchen: Mom, know what I want to be when I grow up? A saint.
Kaitlyn: I'm telling the truth of this. Gretchen was on my bed and we were playing happily, but she got her foot on my blankie and made it stinky.
Matthias: When I am bigger I will go to school and play the monster game and play Pokemon!
Me: *suggests looking up Beverly Cleary since she just finished Ramona*
Olivia: None of these look good.
Me: *looks up lists online and feeds her titles one at a time to search*
Olivia: These don't look like ones I would like.
Me: What about them is something you don't like?
Olivia: I don't know.
Me: What about Harry Potter? Your friend Elaine is reading that.
Bryan: I think you'd like Harry Potter even more than you like Pokemon.
Olivia: Well I don't want to read it if I'll like it more than Pokemon.
Me: ...
Matthias, holding a 5: Mom, when I flip this over it turns into a 2! Wait, I will get a 3 and turn it into a 4!
Me: Kaitlyn, stop whining. You do not need glasses to do that trick. You could just hang the turtle on your ear.
Matthias: My pants are wet and my feet are wet.
Me: Do you need new pants?
Matthias: Yeah. And new feet.
Gretchen: Anything is possible for God?! That means he can make unicorns real!
Matthias: My food goes to my feet and my water and juice and milk go to my belly.
Gretchen: Mom, know what I want to be when I grow up? A saint.
Kaitlyn: I'm telling the truth of this. Gretchen was on my bed and we were playing happily, but she got her foot on my blankie and made it stinky.
Matthias: When I am bigger I will go to school and play the monster game and play Pokemon!
10 May 2020
April 26-May 10
I was looking through old blog books and remembering all the things I used to do with the kids. It would appear that in 2015 I had a garden that actually grew vegetables, not just weeds. And Olivia and Gretchen helped me make lots of applesauce and apple pies. As I wistfully wish for what once was (ignoring the fact that there were fewer children, as well as the realization that I documented more high points than low points), I am reminded of something that I heard a homeschooling mom say in a talk at a conference once. Loosely paraphrased: You don't have to do fun (impressive, fabulously educational, etc) things all the time. Just make sure that when you do you document them well and take lots of pictures. :-D
Matthias has a sing song voice now and it is super annoying. You didn't get me. I got the blue plate. Kaitlyn is a meany head. I have Gretchen's yo-yo. Ugh.
Theodore's chew toy of choice is a thin band of plastic. A bracelet, the ring that holds the baby keys, one of those plastic links. He doesn't like the fatter, softer teethers as much.
Bryan and I bought a learn new dance moves mini-series of classes to work through, but so far we've been so busy with game nights that we haven't had a chance to try more than one. On the flip side, we have been pleasantly occupied by virtual game nights. :)
Theodore is a problem. He army crawls everywhere. He enters a room that's been swept twice and picks up little things that only he can see. Then he puts them in his mouth where they become dust bunnies and pieces of paper. I've set up the baby cage in the dining room. Sometimes he doesn't mind being in there. Sometimes he can be lured in by a series of strategically placed toys. Sometimes he hates it. Kaitlyn and Matthias are strangely drawn to the baby cage, whether Theodore is in it or not.
I've been taking the time to sit with Theodore in his cage, which makes him happier to be contained. I am reminded of how I used to sit with Olivia, back when she was the only one and I had no one else's needs to consider. Theodore gets me when the other kids are occupied, but I often try to sneak out when he's not looking. Olivia and I spent entire afternoons in her cage, all of her toys stacked in one tasteful box and all of her books on one tiny shelf. I'd bring a book or magazine and read while she played contentedly. As I write this, I'm in Theodore's cage with him, watching him shove his toys out through the bars and then struggle to get them back.
Beautiful weather has brought lots of outdoor time. Poor Matthias has a ring of unsunburned flesh around each eye. He looks like a goofy raccoon. He needs about a gallon of sunscreen every time he looks out the window, but he gets none. His mother should maybe try being less forgetful and distracted.
Kaitlyn knows all of her letters and we've moved on to purposeful study of letter sounds. She's even tried sounding out a few words, but the concept of stringing the sounds together eludes her. She is very excited to be a little closer to reading. She also writes all of the letters now. She's the first one of the kids to write with a mix of capital and lowercase letters from the beginning, I think mostly due to Gretchen's tutelage.
Matthias recognizes all the letters except V and Z. And he calls D T and G R. If I call him out on the D and G he can concentrate and usually come up with the right answer, but his gut reaction is T and R.
We're in the home stretch for school. I picked up the last packets for the girls on Monday and they finish up on May 22. Gretchen remains highly motivated but more distracted. Olivia finds everything "apparently boring." She sounds like a teenager, but with a worse grasp on what the words she uses actually mean.
We've started reading at the dinner table. Bryan and I always finish eating well before the kids do and then spend the rest of the meal trying to think of conversation topics until we get antsy enough to declare the meal close enough to over. Keeping that in mind and also trying to think of ways to trick Olivia into trying new books, I decided to start reading when I'm finished eating. We're about a third of the way through the first Harry Potter book now. Except Olivia -- she checked it out from the library on the second night and now has to spend dinners reviewing the story and working to contain the spoilers built up inside her head.
Theodore discovered a clucking noise at dinner last night and is very pleased to hear people clucking back at him. He also likes to shake his head and watch people shake their heads back.
Pictures:
Matthias has a sing song voice now and it is super annoying. You didn't get me. I got the blue plate. Kaitlyn is a meany head. I have Gretchen's yo-yo. Ugh.
Theodore's chew toy of choice is a thin band of plastic. A bracelet, the ring that holds the baby keys, one of those plastic links. He doesn't like the fatter, softer teethers as much.
Bryan and I bought a learn new dance moves mini-series of classes to work through, but so far we've been so busy with game nights that we haven't had a chance to try more than one. On the flip side, we have been pleasantly occupied by virtual game nights. :)
Theodore is a problem. He army crawls everywhere. He enters a room that's been swept twice and picks up little things that only he can see. Then he puts them in his mouth where they become dust bunnies and pieces of paper. I've set up the baby cage in the dining room. Sometimes he doesn't mind being in there. Sometimes he can be lured in by a series of strategically placed toys. Sometimes he hates it. Kaitlyn and Matthias are strangely drawn to the baby cage, whether Theodore is in it or not.
I've been taking the time to sit with Theodore in his cage, which makes him happier to be contained. I am reminded of how I used to sit with Olivia, back when she was the only one and I had no one else's needs to consider. Theodore gets me when the other kids are occupied, but I often try to sneak out when he's not looking. Olivia and I spent entire afternoons in her cage, all of her toys stacked in one tasteful box and all of her books on one tiny shelf. I'd bring a book or magazine and read while she played contentedly. As I write this, I'm in Theodore's cage with him, watching him shove his toys out through the bars and then struggle to get them back.
Beautiful weather has brought lots of outdoor time. Poor Matthias has a ring of unsunburned flesh around each eye. He looks like a goofy raccoon. He needs about a gallon of sunscreen every time he looks out the window, but he gets none. His mother should maybe try being less forgetful and distracted.
Kaitlyn knows all of her letters and we've moved on to purposeful study of letter sounds. She's even tried sounding out a few words, but the concept of stringing the sounds together eludes her. She is very excited to be a little closer to reading. She also writes all of the letters now. She's the first one of the kids to write with a mix of capital and lowercase letters from the beginning, I think mostly due to Gretchen's tutelage.
Matthias recognizes all the letters except V and Z. And he calls D T and G R. If I call him out on the D and G he can concentrate and usually come up with the right answer, but his gut reaction is T and R.
We're in the home stretch for school. I picked up the last packets for the girls on Monday and they finish up on May 22. Gretchen remains highly motivated but more distracted. Olivia finds everything "apparently boring." She sounds like a teenager, but with a worse grasp on what the words she uses actually mean.
We've started reading at the dinner table. Bryan and I always finish eating well before the kids do and then spend the rest of the meal trying to think of conversation topics until we get antsy enough to declare the meal close enough to over. Keeping that in mind and also trying to think of ways to trick Olivia into trying new books, I decided to start reading when I'm finished eating. We're about a third of the way through the first Harry Potter book now. Except Olivia -- she checked it out from the library on the second night and now has to spend dinners reviewing the story and working to contain the spoilers built up inside her head.
Theodore discovered a clucking noise at dinner last night and is very pleased to hear people clucking back at him. He also likes to shake his head and watch people shake their heads back.
Pictures:
26 April 2020
April 19-26
Three weeks ago we made a deal with some friends: Both of our families would stay home from everything including grocery stores for two weeks and if we were all healthy at the end of it then we would get together for a couple of days in person. This past Monday our deal ended and the Miroglios came over for half of Monday and all of Tuesday. They have a daughter in first grade at St Charles, a son who was in Kaitlyn's catechesis class, and a daughter about a year younger than Matthias. It was fabulous. The kids were all so happy to see each other and play together. The adults were also happy for in person interaction. We played board games, watched the kids play outside on the driveway, and chatted while we cooked meals. 10/10 highly recommend.
Matthias refers to the girls collectively as "your sisters" instead of "my sisters." He talks about playing with your sisters and going into your sisters' room.
Gretchen had a birthday! She turned 7 on Friday. We had pancakes with a square of butter for dinner and a chocolate mint cake for dessert. Her friend Leon from school had a birthday on Saturday, and he dropped off birthday cookies on the porch. We left him a piece of birthday cake. :)
Kaitlyn has been working on recognizing letters and now knows all of them at least some of the time. We've started working on letter sounds because she wants to be able to read.
Matthias knows about 75% of his letters. We have some of our foam letters out on the living room floor and he walks around the edge naming letters as he goes.
Last Sunday I reported that Theodore could not move forward, could not pick things up, and could not transfer things from his hands to his mouth. On Monday he achieved all three. By yesterday he was completely confident in his ability to go wherever he wanted and was (usually) not discouraged by distance.
Pictures:
Matthias refers to the girls collectively as "your sisters" instead of "my sisters." He talks about playing with your sisters and going into your sisters' room.
Gretchen had a birthday! She turned 7 on Friday. We had pancakes with a square of butter for dinner and a chocolate mint cake for dessert. Her friend Leon from school had a birthday on Saturday, and he dropped off birthday cookies on the porch. We left him a piece of birthday cake. :)
Kaitlyn has been working on recognizing letters and now knows all of them at least some of the time. We've started working on letter sounds because she wants to be able to read.
Matthias knows about 75% of his letters. We have some of our foam letters out on the living room floor and he walks around the edge naming letters as he goes.
Last Sunday I reported that Theodore could not move forward, could not pick things up, and could not transfer things from his hands to his mouth. On Monday he achieved all three. By yesterday he was completely confident in his ability to go wherever he wanted and was (usually) not discouraged by distance.
Pictures:
19 April 2020
April 12-19
Christ is Risen!
One thing this pandemic is good for... My blog is being written more frequently again. I'd have preferred to reach that goal without the fuss of mass destruction and death, but c'est la vis. I'll take what I can get right now.
Virus confusion is rampant over here. If we can't do anything, it's because of the virus (mostly true). Matthias thinks we should solve this by running very fast to our car and then driving to wherever he wants to go. Once we get there, we can again use our super speed to evade those laughably slow viruses. Kaitlyn knows this won't work, because everywhere we go there is a man (The Virus? Mr Corona Virus?) who will breathe on us and we will get sick.
Matthias is preparing for a life of crime. Last Saturday he began his efforts by burning off a couple of fingerprints. Bryan had just made popcorn and Matthias, being his nosy self, stuck his hands up on the stove to try to get some popcorn. Alas, he got a handful of recently turned off burner instead. He blistered two fingertips on his right hand. He's never been burned badly before; usually he grazes a pan that's been out of the oven for a few minutes, puts an ice pack on the sore spot for approximately 40 seconds, and is good to go. This time he couldn't understand why the ice pack wasn't working. "It still hurts! I need you to kiss it." I kissed it, and he looked at me with betrayal written on his teary face. "It still hurts!" And so begins the realization that mom's kisses don't actually fix everything. He suffered noisily through application of aloe and bandaids and more ice. He did eventually calm down and we let him stay up to watch a movie while the pain receded enough for him to sleep. By Sunday morning he was very focused on making sure he got PJ Masks bandaids, so we proclaimed him cured enough.
Update on Matthias's criminal preparations: This week he went into the bathroom, got some shampoo, and rubbed it in his eye. He immediately regretted his decision and tried to rub it out of his eye -- with his shampoo covered hand. Now retinal scans can't catch him, either.
Other Matthias things:
~He likes to wear his sisters' shoes. Those are the ones he can get on himself. He will choose boots over shoes, so he often clomps around in boots three sizes too big.
~He covers his eyes if he doesn't want you to look at him and his ears if something is too loud or jarring. If he is scared, he will try to cover both his eyes and his ears, which results in him successfully covering one of each and hugging his head with his elbows.
The girls have found a series they enjoy on Netflix (which we don't have, but they watch at Grandma's) called Miraculous. It's about normal teenagers who can turn into superheros with the help of ...little creatures called miraculas? Maybe? I'm unsure about the actual mechanics. There's one main bad guy who uses evil moths to turn regular people having a bad day into mini villains bent on wreaking havoc and stealing the miraculas. Once the superheros defeat the villains, they catch the moths and de-evilize them. Or something. Anyway, the girls (and Matthias sometimes) like to play games based on this show and they leap around on the furniture being the multiple characters and their alter egos. The interesting part is that they've started making up their own mini villains to defeat. Each one has a backstory for how he became susceptible to main bad guy's moths. Then they give him a name, a havoc wreaking purpose, and a costume. It's quite interesting to listen to.
Our fruit trees have blossoms! The apricot blossomed, but then snow came and it dropped them all. Please don't be dead, apricot tree. :( Three plums and the peach tree weathered the storm and are still flowering. The pears (presumably three) are still working on flowers. This could be a very tasty summer. :)
Theodore has three top teeth to go with his two bottom teeth, and I think I see the beginnings of a fourth top tooth and a third bottom tooth. If you're going to grow teeth, you might as well do them all at the same time. With both top and bottom teeth has come the teeth clicking. All of our kids didn't do this, but I remember at least Olivia having the habit of rubbing her teeth against each other to make a little clicking noise. Theodore does that as well. I think it's more of a tactile thing than a noise thing, but it is annoying regardless.
Lent is a good time for trying new foods. Theodore has tried pea soup, corn chowder, and the beans from Dominican beans and rice. They're basically flavorful refried beans. This is in addition to the beets and red cabbage that he'd already had. Oh, and the banana that he stole from me once. He now consistently swallowing his food instead of letting it dribble back out of his mouth. He also sucks on bread crumbs until they become nothing in his mouth. Theodore is of Gretchen's opinion about food: All of it is delicious and I need more now.
Other Theodore things:
~He's working on the closed mouth g sound (why do they all try that one?) as well as on buh. We hear a lot of buh in various registers.
~He tried to catch a sunbeam during church. More accurately, he tried to eat it when he saw it on the floor.
~He really wants to be able to crawl, but can't figure it out. He has learned how to get where he wants by rolling.
~He's not a strong sitter. I mostly put him down on his stomach, so he hasn't had much chance to practice.
I pulled out my high school art things to show Gretchen the other day. She was very happy to see the sketches especially. Unfortunately, I had to throw everything out after showing her because it all got wet at some point and there was mildew on everything. Many of the papers were still damp, I assume because they were stored stacked together in the portfolio. All my favorite pieces are framed and displayed around the house, and the few that weren't were salvageable because they were laminated. I was sad for the demise of my sketchbooks, though.
Head scarves have really taken off around here since we've been having church at home. The girls found my whole collection and enjoy picking out scarves to wear. Olivia favors the green one from Russia which she wraps loosely so that it can "look like a hijab." She read a picture book that explained what hijabs were and she thinks they're pretty. We've explained the religious implications and she doesn't care, as long as it looks like the picture in her book. Gretchen likes to get my dark red scarf and wrap it so that she looks like Mary. She is disappointed that it's not bigger because all of our icons of Mary have the red extending down almost to her waist. Kaitlyn usually tries to find the softest scarf and then wears it like a cloak. Matthias is jealous of everyone else's head gear and claims the brown scarf for his own. He looks quite beautiful in it.
We've let bedtime get away from us. Because there's no reason to get up early in the morning and because we're often playing games via video chat, we don't go in as often to settle things down and the girls don't wind down naturally on their own as quickly. Once we quiet them down they do alright, but both Olivia and Gretchen have been known to stay up reading way too late and then they sleep in the next morning.
The big girls are at the age where they spell a lot of things unnecessarily. The two most spelled things in our house are d-e-s-s-e-r-t and p-o-k-e-m-o-n. I'm not even sure they know how to ask for them without spelling anymore.
Pictures:
One thing this pandemic is good for... My blog is being written more frequently again. I'd have preferred to reach that goal without the fuss of mass destruction and death, but c'est la vis. I'll take what I can get right now.
Virus confusion is rampant over here. If we can't do anything, it's because of the virus (mostly true). Matthias thinks we should solve this by running very fast to our car and then driving to wherever he wants to go. Once we get there, we can again use our super speed to evade those laughably slow viruses. Kaitlyn knows this won't work, because everywhere we go there is a man (The Virus? Mr Corona Virus?) who will breathe on us and we will get sick.
Matthias is preparing for a life of crime. Last Saturday he began his efforts by burning off a couple of fingerprints. Bryan had just made popcorn and Matthias, being his nosy self, stuck his hands up on the stove to try to get some popcorn. Alas, he got a handful of recently turned off burner instead. He blistered two fingertips on his right hand. He's never been burned badly before; usually he grazes a pan that's been out of the oven for a few minutes, puts an ice pack on the sore spot for approximately 40 seconds, and is good to go. This time he couldn't understand why the ice pack wasn't working. "It still hurts! I need you to kiss it." I kissed it, and he looked at me with betrayal written on his teary face. "It still hurts!" And so begins the realization that mom's kisses don't actually fix everything. He suffered noisily through application of aloe and bandaids and more ice. He did eventually calm down and we let him stay up to watch a movie while the pain receded enough for him to sleep. By Sunday morning he was very focused on making sure he got PJ Masks bandaids, so we proclaimed him cured enough.
Update on Matthias's criminal preparations: This week he went into the bathroom, got some shampoo, and rubbed it in his eye. He immediately regretted his decision and tried to rub it out of his eye -- with his shampoo covered hand. Now retinal scans can't catch him, either.
Other Matthias things:
~He likes to wear his sisters' shoes. Those are the ones he can get on himself. He will choose boots over shoes, so he often clomps around in boots three sizes too big.
~He covers his eyes if he doesn't want you to look at him and his ears if something is too loud or jarring. If he is scared, he will try to cover both his eyes and his ears, which results in him successfully covering one of each and hugging his head with his elbows.
The girls have found a series they enjoy on Netflix (which we don't have, but they watch at Grandma's) called Miraculous. It's about normal teenagers who can turn into superheros with the help of ...little creatures called miraculas? Maybe? I'm unsure about the actual mechanics. There's one main bad guy who uses evil moths to turn regular people having a bad day into mini villains bent on wreaking havoc and stealing the miraculas. Once the superheros defeat the villains, they catch the moths and de-evilize them. Or something. Anyway, the girls (and Matthias sometimes) like to play games based on this show and they leap around on the furniture being the multiple characters and their alter egos. The interesting part is that they've started making up their own mini villains to defeat. Each one has a backstory for how he became susceptible to main bad guy's moths. Then they give him a name, a havoc wreaking purpose, and a costume. It's quite interesting to listen to.
Our fruit trees have blossoms! The apricot blossomed, but then snow came and it dropped them all. Please don't be dead, apricot tree. :( Three plums and the peach tree weathered the storm and are still flowering. The pears (presumably three) are still working on flowers. This could be a very tasty summer. :)
Theodore has three top teeth to go with his two bottom teeth, and I think I see the beginnings of a fourth top tooth and a third bottom tooth. If you're going to grow teeth, you might as well do them all at the same time. With both top and bottom teeth has come the teeth clicking. All of our kids didn't do this, but I remember at least Olivia having the habit of rubbing her teeth against each other to make a little clicking noise. Theodore does that as well. I think it's more of a tactile thing than a noise thing, but it is annoying regardless.
Lent is a good time for trying new foods. Theodore has tried pea soup, corn chowder, and the beans from Dominican beans and rice. They're basically flavorful refried beans. This is in addition to the beets and red cabbage that he'd already had. Oh, and the banana that he stole from me once. He now consistently swallowing his food instead of letting it dribble back out of his mouth. He also sucks on bread crumbs until they become nothing in his mouth. Theodore is of Gretchen's opinion about food: All of it is delicious and I need more now.
Other Theodore things:
~He's working on the closed mouth g sound (why do they all try that one?) as well as on buh. We hear a lot of buh in various registers.
~He tried to catch a sunbeam during church. More accurately, he tried to eat it when he saw it on the floor.
~He really wants to be able to crawl, but can't figure it out. He has learned how to get where he wants by rolling.
~He's not a strong sitter. I mostly put him down on his stomach, so he hasn't had much chance to practice.
I pulled out my high school art things to show Gretchen the other day. She was very happy to see the sketches especially. Unfortunately, I had to throw everything out after showing her because it all got wet at some point and there was mildew on everything. Many of the papers were still damp, I assume because they were stored stacked together in the portfolio. All my favorite pieces are framed and displayed around the house, and the few that weren't were salvageable because they were laminated. I was sad for the demise of my sketchbooks, though.
Head scarves have really taken off around here since we've been having church at home. The girls found my whole collection and enjoy picking out scarves to wear. Olivia favors the green one from Russia which she wraps loosely so that it can "look like a hijab." She read a picture book that explained what hijabs were and she thinks they're pretty. We've explained the religious implications and she doesn't care, as long as it looks like the picture in her book. Gretchen likes to get my dark red scarf and wrap it so that she looks like Mary. She is disappointed that it's not bigger because all of our icons of Mary have the red extending down almost to her waist. Kaitlyn usually tries to find the softest scarf and then wears it like a cloak. Matthias is jealous of everyone else's head gear and claims the brown scarf for his own. He looks quite beautiful in it.
We've let bedtime get away from us. Because there's no reason to get up early in the morning and because we're often playing games via video chat, we don't go in as often to settle things down and the girls don't wind down naturally on their own as quickly. Once we quiet them down they do alright, but both Olivia and Gretchen have been known to stay up reading way too late and then they sleep in the next morning.
The big girls are at the age where they spell a lot of things unnecessarily. The two most spelled things in our house are d-e-s-s-e-r-t and p-o-k-e-m-o-n. I'm not even sure they know how to ask for them without spelling anymore.
Pictures:
15 April 2020
Bonus Post: Sound Bites 49
Kaitlyn: Daddy, do you have a mustache?
Bryan: Yes.
Matthias: Can I eat a mustache?
Bryan: ...No.
Matthias: Well I have a beard.
Bryan: You have a beard?
Matthias: Yes! In my belly. I will show you. *lifts up shirt*
Bryan: Ooh.
Matthias: So I can eat a mustache!
Bryan: Do you want cookies for dessert? Or should we have something else so that we can keep testing Mommy's willpower?
Me: If you don't eat those cookies for dessert then I'm going to eat them tonight.
Gretchen: You can have my cookie, Mom, I'll take one willpower.
Matthias: The virus will come through the gate and get me!
Kaitlyn: ...That's the way the Mommy goes, pop! goes the weasel.
Bryan: That's the way the mommy goes.
Matthias: She's right there!
Grandma: What's that on your face?
Olivia: A tattoo.
Matthias: Well on MY face is dirt.
Olivia: How do you say hummer?
Me: Hummer.
Olivia: No, I mean like when something is funny or a joke.
Me: Oh, you mean humor!
Matthias: Do you want to hit the virus with your sword?
Olivia, discussing sparkling grape juice: Well, if you put more of that in then it will turn into... something. Probably.
Bryan: Yes.
Matthias: Can I eat a mustache?
Bryan: ...No.
Matthias: Well I have a beard.
Bryan: You have a beard?
Matthias: Yes! In my belly. I will show you. *lifts up shirt*
Bryan: Ooh.
Matthias: So I can eat a mustache!
Bryan: Do you want cookies for dessert? Or should we have something else so that we can keep testing Mommy's willpower?
Me: If you don't eat those cookies for dessert then I'm going to eat them tonight.
Gretchen: You can have my cookie, Mom, I'll take one willpower.
Matthias: The virus will come through the gate and get me!
Kaitlyn: ...That's the way the Mommy goes, pop! goes the weasel.
Bryan: That's the way the mommy goes.
Matthias: She's right there!
Grandma: What's that on your face?
Olivia: A tattoo.
Matthias: Well on MY face is dirt.
Olivia: How do you say hummer?
Me: Hummer.
Olivia: No, I mean like when something is funny or a joke.
Me: Oh, you mean humor!
Matthias: Do you want to hit the virus with your sword?
Olivia, discussing sparkling grape juice: Well, if you put more of that in then it will turn into... something. Probably.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)