Multi-Tasking

Butter Pecan & Uncle Sokhon

At lunch today M came up with a good reason for Uncle Sokhon's name. We were eating Butter Pecan ice cream for dessert. She very seriously started telling me that probably when Ruth and Maria's daddy was a little baby he always wanted to eat Butter Pecan ice cream and that's why they called him Sokhon. I guess because Pecan and Sokhon rhyme? Virgil and I busted up laughing and I told her that was a good joke. She got a little hurt expression on her face and said "That wasn't a joke. That's probably really why they called him that."

Future Starbucks Addict?

Yesterday after watering the flowers I came back inside to the kitchen to find Harrison (15 months) desperately, guiltily grabbing one last handful of coffee beans and stuffing them in his mouth. I didn't think too much of it. He had eaten one or two before or at least put them in his mouth and chewed them up and spit them out. I dug the two out of his mouth and never gave it another thought. As bad as they taste covered in chocolate surely he didn't eat them plain. They came from a tray that I had setting on my shelf with a candle in it. Well as the evening progressed he became wilder and wilder. He had the other kids howling with laughter and was just having a high old time. He was being so cute and smiley and happy. Finally at about 11:30 I got him to sleep. It lasted until about 2:20 and that was it. He was so wide awake and jittery and constantly moving for the rest of the night. We tried the rocking chair, the couch, pacing the floor, and finally our bed. Actually a few rounds of each. Finally at about 5:3o I asked him if he wants to go play. He was so excited. He slid off the bed and went tearing out to the living room all by himself in the pitch dark. We could hear him chattering to himself for a while. Then he went to M and W's room trying to get some company. Finally at about 6:00 he fell asleep for 45 minutes and has been going strong ever since. From what we've gleaned out of his diaper so far this morning I'm guessing he ate no less than 70 coffee beans and hard telling
how many more are still in there. He must have been needing a caffeine fix. Each to his own kind of snack.

EDIT (Saturday): Until all was said and done I think the total number of coffee beans harvested from his diaper reached right around 100, the last ones coming out Friday evening. His wildness lasted until Thursday night with only a 1 1/2 hour nap Thursday afternoon. On Friday he was pretty much a zombie, just sitting and staring for long periods of time. Today when I was trying to keep him awake a little longer so that he would sleep when we get home, M suggested that I feed him some more coffee beans. No thanks. She obviously wasn't the one that had to deal with him in the middle of the night.

Tears in the Night

Friday night we had a rehearsal to go to about 5 minutes from Evie's house. Instead of driving up there and then home and back up the next morning for the wedding, we just decided to stay at Mike and Evie's for the night. We slept in the basement bedroom with M and W on the floor and H in the crib. About 1:00 H cried out a little and I sat up in bed. I noticed that M wasn't on her pillow and I couldn't see her anywhere. There was a blanket all bunched up tight against W and I thought that must be her. I couldn't actually see her head but figured that was because of the dim lighting or because the blanket was blocking my view. I laid back down. Then H woke up for real and when I got up to get him I felt the blanket that I thought was M. It was empty. I looked all around the room thinking she might have just scooted out of her floor bed. She was nowhere in sight. My heart rate started rising and I started to think of all the possibilities. But surely she is just out in the living room or something. I walked out into the basement living room. I had left the light on out there so that it shone into our room a little as a night light. It was soon obvious that she wasn't there. I noticed that the deadbolt on the basement door was only halfway over. That sent my mind in all kinds of scary directions. I quickly ran upstairs and took a quick look through the living room. Nothing. Now I was in full panic mode. I ran back down and woke up Virgil.
"Virgil, I can't find M!"
"What do you mean?"
"I can't find her. I don't know where M is!"
"What are you talking about?"
"I can't find M. She's not in her bed and I don't know where she is!"
I started getting dressed to do a thorough search and wake up Mike and Evie. While Virgil was getting dressed I ran back upstairs again. This time I turned on the lights in the living room just to make sure. Nothing again. I raced into Evie's room yelling "Evie, I can't find M". Evie woke up and about that time my eyes adjusted to the dark and I saw M all curled up sound asleep next to Mike. I instantly burst into tears and lost all the remaining calm that I had. Mostly tears of relief I guess but also tears for all that could have been. Mike never knew she was there and Evie kind of recalled someone coming in but it didn't wake her up enough to really register. We all just wandered back to bed and back to sleep, although it wasn't a very deep sleep for me. The next day was when it really hit me and sitting in church at the wedding I could not stop crying. I just kept thinking how different the day could have been. Police interviews, search parties, fingerprint dusting, and wondering where my baby was. I think I have changed from fearing a fire in the night to fearing kidnapping. I used to kind of want at least one of the windows or doors unlocked so the firemen could get in (I know that's what they have axes for) but now I wish I could have a deadbolt on every window. Maybe I'll just put a stack of tin cans in front of every entrance so I can hear them come in. Or maybe I'll just learn to trust God. It's just so unnerving for a mother to wake up and realize that your child disappeared from the very room you were sleeping in and you had no idea.

**Virgil said later that he had locked the deadbolt and that was all the farther over it went. So he wasn't in quite as much of a panic as I was.

Summertime and Simple Toys

Planting Garden

Tuesday night we finished planting our garden and the kids were having a high time. Of course they all want to help (which isn't always really that helpful) but it does make it fun.

Sorry. He must have learned that pose from his father. I guess he just can't help it that he's too skinny to keep his pants up.

Helping Virgil hold the line to make a straight row, but looking over her shoulder to make sure there's not something more fun going on that she's missing out on.

Giving Sarah a drink.

Mom, I bet you can't guess what Sarah is eating here. If these sweet potato plants survive I will be surprised. First they got frosted and now Sarah is trying to eat what is left.

A Twirling Skirt

About 2 months ago I bought this dress for M and she has been dying to wear it ever since. I kept telling her it is too cold (it is sleeveless) she needs to wait until summer or until I can find a sweater to go with it. Never the less, she has been faithfully asking to wear it at least once a day. I don't think I am exaggerating if I say that 85% of the times that we stood in front of her closet to pick an outfit she would pick "that blue dress".

It didn't matter how many times I told her she had to wait until summer, she always thought it was worth a try. In fact many tears were shed over the fact that it just had to keep hanging there so tantilizingly.

Finally today I told her that she could wear it and I wanted to take her 4-year old pictures. She was absolutely delighted. Even then she had to ask at least 10 times if it was time to put her dress on yet. I don't know if I've ever had a more willing or cheerful subject to pose for me.

PURE DELIGHT

Birthday Girl

M has been looking foward to her 4th birthday for a long time. Probably ever since she turned 3. And my goodness, did she ever grow up in that minute between 11:59 and 12:00am, February 24th. I think the first words out of her mouth that morning were "Mom, I'm 4 now." Just as matter of fact and grown up as could be. She immediately washed her hands at the sink without the stool, reached up as high as she could on the bookshelf, and pointed out to me that her ponytail was a little longer now. I think she honestly believes she grew that much overnight. Not to mention all the priveleges she thinks she is entitled to now that she is 4. Virgil took her with him to work all day and to Burger King and Dairy Queen. She came home with a pack of gum, a Happy Meal toy, and a rather exalted opinion of herself. A few days later she was trying her usual bossing around with W. I sat her down and explained how that she was not his boss and she couldn't always think everyone had to play her way. Her reply? ... "Daddy told me I can do more things now because I'm 4." I don't think Virgil completely thought through that one before he said it. She definately took it as a license to do whatever she felt like at the moment.

For her party we let her invite 5 kids. Talk about a noisy mess. You get 7 little excited and high-pitched voices in a trailer for an hour and a half and you're glad birthdays only come once a year. We gave her a new bike and all the kids would take turns riding it down the hallway. The six kids that were not having their turn would go racing behind the rider all trying to loudly proclaim that it was their turn next. Ear plugs would have been appropriate.

It is sad for me in a way to see her growing up. It seems so fast. Soon she will not be a girl anymore, but a woman. Wow. Which reminds me of something else she said. "When I'm 14 I'm going to invite just girls to my party and when I'm 17 I will invite just boys." Can we just have time stand still for a while?

tears at walmart

Today I once again attempted the great feat of going to town for groceries with 3 kids. Usually it goes fairly well if I leave early enough and am done by nap time. But I am usually completely worn out by the time I'm done. Today I decided to be brave and do Aldi and the Dollar Tree first because I didn't need that much at Walmart, just a few things for Mary's birthday party. Needless to say, by the time I got into Walmart my energy level was swiftly falling. Lugging a 22 lb (+ infant seat) baby and herding 2 toddlers will do that to you. After about an hour of meandering around Walmart and eating at the Subway in there M and W announced that they needed to go to the bathroom. Oh no. This is something I try to avoid at all costs. It is impossible to keep track of a fully loaded (and paid for) cart and three kids in a germ infested bathroom. Something was going to have to be left behind and it wasn't going to be a child. Why would anyone take my cart anyway? Isn't it obvious that I am in the bathroom and will be right back? I did have the sense to take my purse along in so M could sit on it and hold H while I help W pee. After a lot of "don't touch the wall", "get off the floor", "don't let H crawl on the floor", "hurry" and 4 handwashes, we finally emerged. My mouth dropped open and I stared at .... nothing. No cart. Left, right, and left again. No cart. I wanted to sit down right there and cry. But where does that get you? All my hard worked for groceries, all our coats (and it is cold today), and all my energy. I quick ran to the customer service and asked if anyone had brought it in there. No. Even my car keys are in there. And I have no cell phone. It felt like a cold world indeed. I did a few circles and then headed for the door thinking I might still be able to catch the thief. And then I saw it. Just around the corner in the eye department it stood. And with it was Virgil, the big thief. Now there was no stopping the tears. Seeing him was like the answer to all my trouble but at the same time I realized he was also the source of all my trouble. Talk about a serious mixture of giggles and tears and anger and relief. Oh well. That one turned out ok so I guess I'll still risk letting my cart outside the bathroom. Maybe next time I'll at least take my keys with me.

Haircuts

While we were in PA for Christmas we took W to Phil's Barbershop for a haircut. Thanks David for your advertising. Phil did a wonderful job, taking probably 20-30 minutes getting it just right. It made me a little sad though because although he really did need it cut, I wasn't quite ready for the "big boy" look that he got. I am getting used to it though. Anyway, we weren't home for more than two days when I heard M back in the bedroom saying "W, come look. I cut my hair". Oh no. In no time flat she had cut two huge chunks out of her own head and took some good slashes out of Phil's beautiful job on W. Thankfully H was nowhere around. She didn't seem too sorry about it until I told her that she probably wouldn't be able to wear her hair in a pony now because it would be too short. That brought immediate tears to her eyes. Her one favorite hairdo is one pony in the back or a bun. I don't very often do it to go away because it doesn't stay in. I always tell her maybe when it's longer. Now she just realized that she has prolonged it even more. Her poor little heart was so dissappointed.

Before his haircut

After the Haircut and the help from M. (Notice the abrupt end to the blond layer on top.)

Do you remember being a little girl and wishing you could have your hair cut? I always wondered how Mom could see it even if I only cut the tiniest little bit from the bottom of my braid. Somehow she always noticed. I thought I would just be so much more beautiful if my ponytails would be even at the bottom instead of wispy. I remember tearing it off with my fingers so that I would be able to say that I didn't cut it when she asked. What tricks did you use?

I'm a Bird?

I was out in the foyer today going about my duties when I overheard M saying to W, "Don't tell Mama". That always means it would be in every one's best interest for me to go check things out. On my way to her bedroom I heard her voice getting just a little bit panic-y, "I think I'm going to have to tell Mama. Mo-o-o-o-o-o-m!" This is what I saw when I got in there.

She was literally hanging from the knob on the little door and couldn't reach the floor. Amidst all the giggles as we were getting her loose and she was swinging to and fro, she said "I'm almost like a little bird."

Her explanation of how it all happened: "I was climbing up and then when I was coming back down my dress got hooked and I was afraid it would tear." That would have been a major tragedy seeing as her "dotted dress" is the current favorite.

By the way this is a reenactment. I didn't dare let her hanging while I ran for the camera.

too much deer hunting?

I am glad the deer season is over for the year. I even managed to avoid filling my freezer with venison and was privileged to have it filled with Norman and Nancy instead. Following are a few signs that maybe it's time to put the guns and bows away and start talking about something other than the latest hunt in all its gory details.

The other day on the way home from town M was asking what all the road signs said and meant. She is just starting to recognize a few numbers and letters so it was a whole new thing for her to observe. We were going down the list of different signs with pictures on them and she was telling me what they mean. A school bus sign means "slow down and watch for the school bus". A sign with a tractor means "slow down and watch for the tractor". And when she saw this...

"Slow down and watch for deer and go call your husband"

Then the other night when Virgil was reading them the story of Jonah for their bedtime, he said he was explaining something about Jonah, sort of fell asleep and woke up hearing himself say "because he had to go hunting". Talk about eat, sleep and dreaming deer. I didn't know Jonah was a deer hunter but I suppose he could have been. I can't imagine he had much of a desire to be a fisherman after his experience and he may have thought deer meat is as good as any.