Mar. 21, 2007
Spell it

We often spell things around here in the presence of Milo. It’s fun when you have a child who can finally understand all the things you spell. If the kids are outside I might say, “In five minutes bring Milo in for his n - a - p.” Clementine knows exactly what I need her to know and Milo doesn’t have a premature fit because of the hateful word.

Another oft spelled word is gum. “Mom can I have some g - u - m?” from Emeline is a nice way for her to ask for something that I don’t like for Milo to have but he loves.

Tonight, Milo was still bouncing around after the girls were settled in to bed. Clementine got up to tell me, “Mom would you please but him in the b - e - d.”
                                       
“I’m headed that way now,” I told her.

Milo, ever attentive to our conversations started coming toward the kitchen, “I want b - e - d,” he spelled.

“You do, you want to go to the b - e - d?” I asked smiling.

“Uh huh!” he said and went right to the cabinet where we keep the g - u - m.

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Jun. 10, 2006
A skunk stinks better

Riding in the van home this evening with my children we smelled a skunk. Oh how they held their noses and went on about the smell. Living in Arkansas I can take the smell of a skunk any day compared to the smell of chicken houses.

 However, never one to miss an opportunity to converse with my children using sarcasm (as learned by my own mom), I saw a chance to nip the next pet idea in the bud by saying, "Maybe we should get a skunk as our next pet."

"Oh, no. I'll never want a skunk. They smell awful," Emeline said in a nasal, but perfectly serious voice from the pinched nose.

"Well, I'm pretty sure a field mouse will stink too." I am still trying to discourage her from wanting a field mouse for her birthday.

"But a skunk stinks better than a field mouse," she so wisely reported.

She is certainly making this field mouse out to be "pet of the year." Some of you commenters aren't helping my case either!

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May. 9, 2006
Bedtime Surprise

Clementine lost her two front teeth tonight. She has been babying these loose teeth for months now. If I weren’t equally squeamish about all things teeth, I may have been tempted to pull them while she slept.

I was in Milo’s room, with him on my lap reading Goodnight Moon. We were on one of the black and white pages when she came rushing in hysterically sputtering and spraying drops of blood all over us. Milo was fascinated by the spray on the white pages in his book. Emeline was standing nearby with a horrfied expression on her face and I was still trying to figure out what was going on.

She was crying because she had bumped her teeth pretty hard on my bed and it knocked out both teeth at once. It hurt a little, I’m sure, but she was also quite surprised.

When she calmed down a little and after Milo was tucked in, the girls and I cuddled on the bed and comforted Clementine. "I’ll look ugly now," she fretted. "And I can’t talk right."

"You’re adorable," I said and went to pull out my old albums to show her some really funny pictures of me without my two front teeth. Then, I had to take a picture of her to put in her baby book.

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Apr. 29, 2006
Real Shopping Fun

Tonight I got together with my bunco group and we did something out of the ordinary, we didn't play bunco. Instead we went out to eat and surprised one of our members with a shopping trip.

A few weeks ago one of our dear friend's house burned and we have been discussing how we can help. Churches have donated, those of us who have extra furniture in storage have given that and many in the community have helped out as well. But what could our small group do to lift our friend's spirits and make it more personal?

We decided that instead of playing bunco and using the money for prizes we would use the money to buy our friend some clothes. We also decided we'd like to donate more than the usual playing money and the whole idea grew. We also kept a secret from her.

So, after supper tonight, we whisked her away and imagine 6 women pulling clothes off the racks, and packing her away in the dressing room to try it all on. She thought it was great fun and was laughing and sweating and changing like a mad woman. We were on a tight schedule so we were swapping sizes and critiquing outfits in high speed. We took so long chatting through supper that we only had an hour and a half before the mall closed.

What a fun night. She came away with three new outfits complete with shoes to match and two new purses. And we came away feeling blessed for the opportunity to help our friend.

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Apr. 22, 2006
Milo Tells a Story

Today we were sitting around in the living room visiting with my cousin and her baby when Milo began to tell us something important. For those of you who do not know, my 20 month old boy does not talk yet. He has said a few random words but he gets by mostly with pointing and grunting.

But this afternoon he had something important to say, and he wanted everyone to hear it. He talked and pointed and used his hands to emphasize his points. He got louder and more excited as he got to the good parts. He ran around a little and made eye contact as he drove home his points. This went on for several minutes. At times he got serious and finally, frowning with intensity, he made a few last comments.

We were hanging on every word. Unfortunately, we couldn't understand any of them.

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Apr. 19, 2006
My Personal Trainer?

I have blogged in the past about how I have started walking. One day I even clocked two miles! That only happened once. Most days my aunt stops by, we walk until we get tired and then say, "I'm tired, one more round?" Then we quit.

Today, my husband decides he wants to start exercising. He wants me to walk with him. He asked me how many times I walk around the driveway. I mistakenly answered, "My goal is 10 times around, but..."

I think my husband and I have different ideas about what my walking goal means. When I say 10 times around, that's really just some mythical number that I may walk someday when I am supercharged with a lot of energy. Not meeting that goal has never made me feel guilty or lazy.

However, when we walked today he was determined we would do ten times around. At five, he was cheering us on with, "Halfway done!" While I was thinking, "Let's just do one more."

By round nine I had had enough of his pep talks and walked into the house. Behind me he was yelling, "After about a week we can work up to 15 laps."

I think I want my old walking partner back.

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Apr. 17, 2006
The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Evening Entertainment

This evening we came home after running to various events all day. How nice it was to get home and just walk around in the yard and sit in the swing, all evening activites we enjoy frequently.

We also took a ride on my mom's golf cart and gathered some sweet gum leaves for the caterpillars. I cleaned out their box and freshened it up with the new leaves. Then we sat the box on the counter and sat down for supper.

After supper I took a look in the box and the caterpillars were happily munching away. They had left the cherry tree leaves in favor of the sweet gum leaves and there were evident marks on the leaves where they'd been chomping.

I showed this to the kids and we sat there staring at the caterpillars who were rather quickly munching away on the leaves and it was fascinating.

"Look at that big hole he ate in the leaf!"

"Neat, I can see his teeth biting it!"

"gumma lmat lmmlaloo!"

We are very easily entertained.

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Mar. 16, 2006
Leroy

This is where I found our cat, Leroy, today. He's often lounging here or on top of the bird feeder. He's no dummy.

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Mar. 14, 2006
mom, can we have a cow?

while riding in the car today we decided that milo was trying to tell us he wants a cow.

"ugmkl mal  moo," he says while pointing out the window excitedly every time we pass a pasture. doesn't that sounds like i want a cow to you?

the girls began to consider it.

emeline: "if we get a cow can i milk it?"

clementine: "i want to milk it too."

emeline: "if we get a cow we won't have to go to walmart and buy milk anymore, well, except in winter because a cow's milk freezes in winter."

clementine: "where did you hear that?"

emeline: "i don't know, but it does."

milo: "ugmkl mal moo."

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Mar. 11, 2006
clean it and they will come

about once a month, give or take a few weeks, i deep clean my girls' room. this means under the beds, inside the closet, wash down, wipe up, vacuum, sort and toss. it takes a good two hours and when i'm done it feels great. not only to me, but to the girls. whenever i clean their room that's when they want to play in it. things that had been hiding under the bed and in the closet for weeks are now found and it's so much more fun to play when everything is neat and where it belongs.

i didn't clean their room today.

i cleaned my van. i took all the car seats out, hauled out trash and other miscellaneous items, vacuumed, wiped everything down, cleaned the car seats and put it all back together again. i put the coloring books and colors in the caddy between the girls' car seats and it all looked very neat and organized.

then i came inside to do some work inside the house. when i went back outside guess where i found the girls?

they were sitting in their car seats coloring.

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Feb. 27, 2006
family fellowship

sundays are a two-load dishwasher day and i'm thankful for it. it's a blessing that my extended family want to gather at my house after sunday worship. we had missed two sundays due to sickness then weather so i was eager to get back into our sunday routines.

my whole life we spent sundays at my grandparent's house. my papaw had the coffee brewing as we trickled into their house one by one after service. mamaw was always at the stove, finishing up the vegetables and heating up the dishes. my aunts helped her and my cousins and i set the plates and napkins on the round oak table.

we ate where we could find a place. the men gathered around the table and the women sat in the living room, balancing plates on our laps.

at my house, things haven't changed all that much. i have a small round breakfast table, a large rectangular homeschool, i mean, dining table and the living room catches the left-overs.

so, my dishwasher is happily humming once more tonight, a reminder of God's blessings on our family.

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Feb. 25, 2006
milo and his weary parents

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Feb. 22, 2006
germ patrol

clementine is suddenly germ obsessed. i knew someday i'd regret educating her. ever since we had the discussion about germs and how they make you sick (who knew she was paying attention, her little sister sure wasn't) she is policing our family about hand-washing.

she has fits when emeline admits she just pottied and didn't wash her hands. the fits involve recounting every thing emeline has touched since leaving the bathroom thus uncovering the germ trail, even when, horrors, it ends up on something of hers. "mom, she touched my barbie!" i have to make emeline go back and scrub up while i rouse clementine with the smelling salts.

so tonight when i was rolling their hair with pink sponge rollers clementine got that look in her eyes and began to have convulsions. let me preface this story with an odd family tradition. it goes back to when i was a child, though i am ashamed to admit it, my mother put a pair of panties (clean of course) on our rolled hair to hold in the rollers. we have very fine, straight hair in my family and the days of stocking caps are long gone. panties have done in a pinch what stocking caps could do more attractively. i carry that absurd tradition on with my girls.

i am shuddering now to continue the story but i'm sure by now you are guessing how germs may figure in. clementine remembered that the last pair of panties she had on her head may have been the same pair tried on and rejected by her sister the night before. alas, germs.

to her credit clementine was able to laugh, even hysterically at the thought and so did i, while emeline was still questioning what could have happened. she didn't hear the whole story and was insisting she had just washed her hands.

although, when i pointed out that all night as she slept soundly the germs were likely crawling out of the panties and down her face.

and i wonder where her terror comes from.

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Feb. 20, 2006
my neighbor is not a fair-weather walker

across the street my neighbor is walking up and down her long driveway. surely she's doing it simply to make me feel guilty. she is bundled up to the top of her head in this 30 something degree weather, under the gray, flat sky. how does she make herself walk on a day like today?

our feeders were swamped with goldfinches this morning. they blended into the leaves and golden grass below and flitted to and from the feeders. we watched from the kitchen window. this weekend the show was on the lawn. meadowlarks picked their way from one side to the other in a slow, quiet procession. even now, i can hear a bird's solemn whistle outside the office window. the birds aren't discouraged by this cold, damp weather.

there she goes, my neighbor, on perhaps her 20th lap up the driveway. i should look to her for inspiration, and as a sign. when i see her yellow coat moving up and down the drive, i too should bundle up and put on my tennis shoes.

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Feb. 17, 2006
blackbird pie

we woke up to a perfectly normal day! it was so disappointing. now, though, it is starting to sleet and icicles are forming on the roof. sleet is the most boring precipitation possible. little white beads that you can't play in and aren't beautiful.

my yard has been covered in blackbirds. milo got up and ran to the window pointing excitedly and jibbering behind his passy to show me. they are fun to watch, yanking worms out of our frozen yard, but when they start getting into my feeder i have to open the front door and they fan out in a black wave across the sky.

hope everyone has a cozy weekend.

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Feb. 2, 2006
a walk after the rain

after it finally stopped raining today, my baby boy and i walked to the mailbox down our wet gravel driveway. he was wearing his tiny rubber boots and holding tightly to my hand. he pointed at puddles and we stopped to peer into them. he laughed at the cats chasing each other and perked up at the sound of crows in the distance. it made me remember my oldest daughter at about the same age, going on walks with me down the gravel road at our old house.

the complete attention she got from me was constant. i talked to her all day and she talked back! she was an early talker. and i remember thinking, she is so wonderful why would i ever want another child.

well, that changed. in fact, there are times i wish my house were even fuller with children. however, the individual time i spend with each is not like it used to be. special one on one moments like i had with my son today are not as frequent and i fell like i talk around him more than i talk to him. but i don't think they are missing out on much.

they have each other. i told my husband the other day, they could live without us but they couldn't live without each other. my son is so joyful when his sisters have been gone somewhere and then return. they miss each other, they love each other and that warms my heart.

i'm glad they depend on each other and i hope their love for one another stays strong and the relationships last throughout their life.

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Jan. 30, 2006
spaghetti with roasted parakeet and other bedtime stories

every night my youngest daughter asks to hear a story from "when i was a little kid." the pet stories have been the biggest hits and tonight's story brought gales of laughter. it was one of my petie the parakeet stories about the time he was flying around the house and landed in a pot of cooking spaghetti. fearing that the bird might be boiled alive, i quickly scooped him out and rinsed his blue feathers, now tinged with an orange glow. he survived, and so did we (we ate the spaghetti)!

i remember hearing stories about my own parents' childhood adventures with their siblings and how we begged for more. remember when uncle put raisins in my aunt's baby doll's diaper and when she went to change it, what a surprise! i even have memories of hearing my grandparents' childhood stories and how precious those are to me now.

reading stories to your kids creates a wonderful connection between you and the story. you are all caught up in the same imaginative world at the same time. but don't forget to tell the stories of you every now and then too. stories of our past build a heritage that they will pass on to their children. and the stories mean so much more because they are your stories, and your stories will become their stories.

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