Melody knows how to blow her nose now, and she does it with conviction.
I don’t remember when Natasha started, and even now she doesn’t do it with as much… emphasis as her sister, but with the cold weather returning and noses developing drips, I’m thankful they both know what to do when I say “Blow.”
Now when she wakes all stuffy (like last night) there’s actually something she/we can do about it. It’s surprisingly comforting.
The kids and I went to North Pole to look at some whippets this afternoon.
If you didn’t know, I’ve been doing my homework on different breed types, looking for a good match for our family. There’s a lot of attractive things about the breed, but a couple drawbacks too…
But I found there was this lady with a half-dozen in her home (along with as many shelties!), so we went out to see what they were like in person. (The short conclusion is that they are just what I thought they’d be like, only softer.)
She also had a litter of 4-week-old puppies, and Natasha was just smitten. I wished I’d brought the camera. That first five minutes of her holding the little white dog was priceless. I’ve never seen that look on her face before. Here was a real, live baby that was the same size to her that Elisha is to me. She could hardly stand for me to hold him. She wriggled almost as much as he did, begging, “Can I have a turn now?” before I’d pet his soft head twice.
Very fun.
It never ceases to amaze me that puppies look like puppies no matter what breed they come from. No matter that the parents are long sharp and lean, these babies were still rounded. Maybe not as pudgy as some puppies I’ve seen, but I’d never have guessed their type looking at them.
Let’s see, Natasha has used the potty un-prompted for 4 or 5 days now. She’s eagerly awaiting the time Grandma Florie will take her shopping for big-girl panties. We still have to figure out how many “perfect” days must precede this event. Melody currently has no interest in starting herself. I’m okay with that. Except when she whines about not getting the (reward) candy. All she’d have to do is sit on the potty, but she *Don’t want to!*
Elisha had his 4-month check-up and shots yesterday. Has been sleeping (and crying) hard since then. Alternately.
He’s a thumb-sucker now; has been for a long time. He’s actually not much of a crier; very content little boy, mostly self-soothing. He loves face-to-face interaction and tries to talk all the time. (Someone told me that 4-months is when deaf families start seeing real signs from their babies, and it totally makes sense.) The girls adore him. Still too rough sometimes (at least a couple times a day), but the vast majority of their interactions are very sweet and enjoyed by all parties.
Jay wants to try again with signing when Elisha’s a bit older (NJ took to it, Melody didn’t). We’re thinking he might do it too, partly because we think the girls will enjoy teaching him with us.
Melody is still has the widest extremes (so many tragedies for such a young life…) but she is getting good at regaining self-control. (Prompted) she takes a few deep breaths and wipe her eyes, settling down (most of the time) enough to be understood. I’m so proud of her. She works very hard to settle herself.
Elisha sleeps like a dream now. 10-12 solid hours each night, and at least two good naps during the day. Definitely sleeps more than he’s awake.
(If you go visit the Who Are We? page you’ll see some fun tickers displaying the *exact* ages of each of the children.)
When the kids say something I want to remember, I try to write it down. So here’s a clearing of the white-board:
The girls are playing nicely together and Natasha turns to her sister.
N: You’re a great sister. I *love* you.
M: Yup.
~~~
We harvested from our garden Friday evening and Jay let the girls be the curriers. Melody came running in with a respectably-sized “Cuzinni,” eager to make bread.
~~~
The girls playing house:
M: Mom! [I’ve learned not to answer this call when they play this way]
N: I’m the baby.
M: Oh. Baby!
N: I can’t talk.
…But their pronunciation could use a little work.
The ones I can think of just now (can you guess all of these?):
Graham crappers (a snack)
Lellow (a color)
Mook bark (to save your place when you stop reading)
“Muddiddee! I’ve got popsilocks!” (Natasha trying to distribute frozen treats to the rest of the family.)
Mom and Dad do plan to continue living there.
They moved-in back in October, and spent the next several months moving their stuff over, and finding ways to consolidate two households into one.
In May, Mom and Dad sold their house, and Gma’s place was officially their home. Now they are going through the steps of buying the house and making it theirs. An element of settling Gma’s estate is selling the house and dividing the price among the three children, so an appraiser came over last Monday and looked over the place.
The last time I spoke with Mom (Thursday) she still had no idea when he would get back to them. Then questioned whether he had the information necessary to do it.
Mom hopes the quote will come back low enough for them to buy out-of-pocket (from the sale of their last place) so that they have some money in the budget (i.e., not going toward house payments) to begin making the many improvements Dad says a house that old needs.
Jay said once (years ago when I was feeling nostalgic and not wanting to lose the house in the indeterminate future) that he never wanted to live in the place. There was the boxy shape, the old wiring and so on.
I asked Mom if Dad didn’t feel the same way, and she said they do plan to make some improvements, but the big shop out back makes up for a lot of the inconveniences of the house.
I never thought I’d be this excited about a toddler running. I guess I always thought they went together.
But for the longest time Natasha’s been a runner and Melody has… enjoyed the scenery. It was the most frustrating thing to try and walk alone with both of them. NJ ready to take off and run until the end of the world, and Melody m…e…a…n…d…e…r…i…n…g along.
If I asked her to run, she’d move her feet more quickly for a little bit, picking up her knees higher, but really not moving any faster.
Then on Sunday she just started to take off. We walked part of the way to Gma Florie’s house in the evening, and both girls ran for more than a block (that’s a long way for a body their size). Then they both ran all over the lawn while playing. And every day since then it has taken very little motivation to get and keep Melody moving.
She’s even starting to get a little “air” when she jumps, and that’s another first. I wonder if she just grew into “coordinated” all of a sudden and that’s why she can move in these new ways.
We have a whole routine now, and even Melody does a good enough job I don’t have to re-do hers.
We start with sleeves up and water in the sink. The girls get their hands wet and are alloted soap by a grown-up (many incidents have reinforced this is the way to go). Soap is placed out of reach if children are left alone to finish, most of the time now.
The girls rub as fast as they can, “to make bubbles” everywhere. Maybe when they’re older we’ll introduce a song for length, but this works for now. Then they rinse in the sink again.
There’s usually still bubbles on their hands, so they’ll often get a second rinse, but either way this system uses less water (by my uneducated calculations) and gets the girls doing their own washing up (formerly one of my least-favorite activities, for whatever reason). Both useful features.
I just finished cutting Elisha’s long hair. All the brown came off and we now have a second little blondie.
Very different look at first. I hope we’ll hve pictures up this week (we’re a few months behind, I know). I really want to highlight the change ;o)
The girls had a very busy weekend. We’re still recovering.
There was a conference at Door of Hope this weekend (“Childcare provided”), and I went Friday night to check it out. The girls had such a good time in the “kid room” that we came back Saturday morning so they could play again. Then Mom and Dad took them back in the evening when I was too tired to go.
Elisha comes too, of course, and I ended up walking him most of both services. At least four hours of non-aerobic walking. I wasn’t looking forward to two more hours of that.
Then (that was Saturday) nobody slept well. I wasn’t in my bed for more than an hour at a time; half-an-hour the first half of the night. It was rough and nobody was rested in the morning. Melody was coughing and Natasha had a runny nose (she told me later she had a “pinch” in her throat earlier).
So Jay was the only one who went to church; he records the sermons and teaches Sunday school every week.