Jay and I were sharing a hug and kiss just inside our room as our girls ran past, down the hallway.
Natasha (4 years old) stopped in her tracks with a soft, “Awww,” and a wispered, “Come’ere” to her little sister.
We held each other a little longer without looking at them, me silently fighting the giggles, so I’m not sure who made the blissful little sigh before they moved on.
I’ve aways felt children like to see their parents happy together. This was a fun reminder.
Shadow started retrieving this afternoon.
She progressed from simply chasing a ball (which she wasn’t doing three days ago) to picking it up, to carrying it around, and eventually to bringing it back near me (to me is a little more precise than she’s yet mastered).
Have I mentioned Elisha can throw now? About a foot. It’s adorable. It makes him feel very grown-up, especially when he’s playing with Daddy.
We were playing in the front yard and Shadow came and lay between us. She kept leaning over to pick up the ball after he threw it, and he’d crawl to her (I swear he was exasperated with her: That’s not for you.) and take it out of her mouth.
I was right there the whole time and was impressed with them both, his fearlessness (purposeful but not mean) and her compliance.
At one point I threw a ball across the yard and Shadow just stayed panting in the shade. Elisha looked from me, to the dog, to the ball and booked over to get the ball himself. He was almost there when Shadow seemed to realize he was serious and trotted off after him.
He sat up and looked at her when she came even with him, then turned his back and collected the ball he was after. Shadow went over and picked up a different ball nearby.
In all this Shadow has never tried to challenge Elisha’s “authority” and is gaining great points of confidence from me.
She’s also seeming like more fun as she’s becoming interactive and available more more than snuggles or belly rubs.
The girls were watching me get dressed this morning and Natasha said, with some surprise:
“Your baby tummy is gone! What happened to your baby tummy?”
What I would call my baby tummy is not gone, but I felt such a sweetness from the comment, drawing as it did the direct connection between baby and belly, and my daughter’s delight in what my body had been able to do.
“Where do you think it went?” I asked her.
“It went away when Elisha was born,” She said, authoritatively. “But why?”
It’s been cool and cloudy all day today.
At lunch, Natasha looked out the window and shouted,
“Look mom, it’s starting to snow! It’s the end of summer!”
She told this to me and Melody during lunch on Friday 4/14. We were at the church that morning for Jay to do some work, and sat longer together than we would have at home, having other things to do.
Once there were 9 children, all in the same family.
One day they they all made hot chocolate for a snack and decided to go for a walk in the woods, because it was too hot.
While they were out walking…
THREE BEARS came into their house and drank up all the cocoa!
When the 9 children got back they saw all the cocoa was gone, but the Daddy said, “That’s okay, we can make some more.”
But the teapot was out of water, and there was no cocoa in the box.
“That’s okay,” said the Daddy. And they all went to the store to buy some more.
But there was no chocolate at the store either!
So they all went to the Easter palace to visit Papa, and found chocolate easter eggs all over the yard.
Before the children ate them, they found Papa and told him about their day, and he told them about his day.
…but at least I can still feed them well.
We had ham and chix chowder for dinner and homemade choc ice cream for desert.
While finishing up in the kitchen I had fun thinking about the different things being said around our front room (one of them was me, and one was Jay. The rest were Natasha. Melody is currently on a nodding kick, where she seems to be resisting our family’s tendency to use words so much).
Natasha has begun to invent in her conversation. She told us all about her telephone conversation with Uncle Benjamin while we ate dinner. Bet you didn’t know he’s got three kids (he hasn’t told her their names yet) and he broke his arm last night.
How did he do that? Well, there was this tree, with spiky things sticking out of it. And Benjamin wanted very much to hug his mom, and was running toward her very fast and banged into the tree… and his arm fell off.
(This injury was why he didn’t have time to list the names of his children.)
But he was very happy to see his mama, and hugged her anyway. With his only-one arm.
Yeah, it might have been messy, but he was getting it taken care of. That’s why he couldn’t talk on the phone long. And his kids were staying with Abby and Hannah while he got fixed up.
We are just going to have to start recording dinners. It was a total hoot.
I mentioned in another post that misting bottles are one prescribed “cure” for bedroom monsters. We have a green bottle in the girls’ room, but it’s not to dissolve monsters. It’s to dissolve whines.
Last week sometime we were at the store getting a new bottle for a cleaning solution. When I said the sprayer was next thing on our list, Natasha nodded knowingly.
“Ohhh,” she said. “Is that to get rid of whining?”
Last night we put the kids in the car so I could help Jay with the machine and still not leave the kids unsupervised in the house. The girls very decided on a important activity.
We’re on our way to the store
What for?
We need… eggs.
Oh. Eggs?
Eggs for the chickens. (conserned voice) They’re very hungry. Well–see ya, we’re off to the store!
(Pretend driving away.)
Tonight I asked Melody, “What do you want for dinner?”
Without hesitation she answered, “Hot boiled beans!”
Grin.
It took me a minute to translate and make the connection (this is not a phrase she’s used before).
“And very good butter?” I asked.
*Big* grin. “Yeah!”
It’s Mother Goose.
This was a kick because she made the jump between dinner and supper and made an original joke.
///
I poured juice for the girls after dinner and set the pitcher back down on the counter without clicking the lid closed. Melody noticed.
“Mama, Please close the lid?” I did.
“Thank you.” (Emphatic. Relieved.)
This is really important to her. Closing things. Having lids on. Makes me wonder if she would be more of a picker-upper if she felt that same connection with order that she does with the lids closing.
The girls went to the hockey game tonight with Mom and Dad. It made quite an impression.
Jay says says that when Natasha sees something she wants to do that’s she’s not big enough for, she’ll pick an age at which to do it.
For example, tonight after we picked her up she was talking about how big the hokey players are, and how she can’t skate with them yet.
“When I’m 14?” she said, “When I’m 14, can I play hockey?” I asked if that was the ave Uncle Mark said she needed to be. “No.” Fourteen is just a good age? “Yes.”
~~~
Then Melody needed a diaper change, but refused the new one. So she managed to keep her pants dry the whole time she was there, making a couple trips to the bathroom. She knows what to do–when she’s motivated. But I suppose that’s where her sister started too.