Contrary Taste

I walked into the kitchen this morning to find Gus sipping the juice from the sauerkraut jar. He also has a taste for apple cider vinegar, coffee, and cod liver oil. All this and I still can hardly get him to eat his greens.

Diversions

We celebrated Millie's 5th month birthday outside. Sylvia made the cake.

Last weekend I decided to do something diverting since Rex had to work. We went to the train table at Barnes and Nobles. Next we had lunch at Moe's (one of the fast but fresh Tex-Mexy joints that have popped up everywhere) and finally I was convinced to treat everyone to ice cream at the place next door. Gus got ice cream all over his face so I was preparing to wipe it off before we left. I grabbed a napkin and moved a chair behind me. As I was beginning to sit I heard the metallic crash of the chair hitting the floor, but it was too late. I crashed with it, Millie in the sling and all. Luckily, no one was hurt. Luckily, we were the only customers! Millie didn't even wake up.

Quick Photo Recap

It doesn't snow here much so the kids were thrilled to get out in the dusting we had a few days ago. After a very busy start to the week I felt the need to take it easy and we've spent several days at home. There's been lots of story time, arts and crafts, dancing, cooking, games, and free play. I think we've all enjoyed it.

Chores

Of all her responsibilities, this is her favorite. Sylvia loves helping me make oatmeal for breakfast. I soak the oats overnight and cook them in the morning. Sylvia cuts the butter and throws it in, helps me with the maple syrup (by having her finger ready to scoop up the drops from the side of the container), and dumps in the berries and salt. She also serves it into bowls. Gus is extremely jealous. I have to remind him every morning that he'll be able to make the oatmeal too when he's old enough to take on other chores.

Sylvia's other chores include folding the diaper wipes four times a week, clearing the table after every meal, and bringing her toys back to the playroom before dinner. We clean up the playroom together once a week. And now I'm going to have to figure out how to deal with the basement which has necessarily become our second playroom after the toy influx of Christmas and the truckload of toys from our neighbors.

Sylvia's chores have been cut back from a few months ago. I used to make her clean the playroom by herself everyday and make her bed every morning. I'm considering reinstating the bed rule but I'm glad I cut the playroom out, it's eliminated a lot of stress from our evenings.

Field Trippin'

1 set of parents over for lunch + 1 trip out for coffee and desert + friends over for dinner, a little music and some wild play time amongst the children + one truckload of unwieldy trash taken to our friend's temporary dumpster + one truckload of toys brought back to the house from said friends + getting lost in an unfamiliar city + spending the morning at a free range arts and crafts museum for kids + lunch at Chick-fil-A + story time at a friend's house that we've never been to before + 1 clogged toilet + 4 baths for Sylvia alone...all in the last 36 hours = ONE TIRED MAMA! (+ a few chocolate macaroons). Things went rather smoothly and I really had a great time, but I'm looking at an early bed time tonight. And I don't feel guilty about skipping the homeschooling day at our local science museum tomorrow (don't tell Sylvia!).


Here are some pictures from the Arts and Crafts place. It was truly wonderful. It's about 45 minutes away, so I only wish it were closer (like in my basement!). The place was laid out with several different stations each with a different medium (paint, clay, paper dolls, trash to art, weaving, etc) for the kids to explore and it was so informal, they could mix mediums as they pleased. Honestly, I would love to go there sometime sans children and let my own creativity flow!

Awn Fih!

"Awn fih!...Awn fih!" That's Gus speak for "I want to fix!". He loves taking things apart and trying to put them back together. Yesterday, he repeated one of his favorite activities by taking a screwdriver and unscrewing a tiny screw from the bottom of his ride on train and taking the batteries out. He has even been known to put them back in the right order.

This morning he decided to cut up some electrical tape. He put the tape pieces on paper and assigned them each entities. The first one was a snowman, the second a train, and I'm still trying to figure the third one out..."Puh! Puh!".

We're waiting on my parents to arrive any minute bringing Sylvia back from her weekend stay. Rex is cooking up some salmon and veggies for lunch...smells great!

Look what I picked up at the store today

A cute little...box of clementines. Millie accompanied and was as good as gold. I picked up the grocery bags in an online co-op about a month ago. Now I've added a little more fun to what should be a mundane task.

I love my husband

because sometimes he does things like this.

We're in the middle of a warm spell. So yesterday we went for a couple of hikes. Well, first we went for a delicious but surely deleterious lunch at our favorite bbq joint which we've nicknamed the Red Barn. It's the kind of place you shouldn't go to if you have any activity other than sitting around or napping planned for the rest of the day. But we couldn't resist and I know I ate way too much fried food.
Although temps were in the high 60's we came across a patch of ice in the shade. The kids loved it. Sylvia wanted to break it and can be seen trying to do just that. Sylvia was a good hiker. I'd like to try her on some more strenuous trails soon. Gus walked a little bit but wanted to be held most of the time.
Eventually we made our way to the property and checked things out around there. We ran into Rex's Aunt in the woods and caught up with her for awhile. She taught Sylvia how to make a play clothesline with a stick and some dried up leaves.
Unfortunately, after such a nice day, I was in a royally bad mood by the time we got home. It felt hormonal which is a little distressing. I was expecting nursing to keep the hormones at bay for another year or so! At one point I told Sylvia I wasn't fixing any dinner because I didn't feel like eating. Luckily we were all able to laugh about it 5 minutes later and, of course, I did make dinner. Looks like someone around here needs a dose of patience and maturity.

No, she's not reading yet. Although she loves to sit with books and retell the story in her own words, which I think is just as good. She is beginning to show some interest in reading on her own. She asks how to spell words and the other day pointed out the "rex" on my Pyrex measuring cup. That might be the first time she's ever read a word by her own volition.

And no, I usually don't let my kids eat on the couch and I usually make Gus take his shoes off indoors, but today's Sunday and we all need a break. Actually, after I pull myself away from the computer I'll probably rectify the situation.

I've found a few good booklists that I reference while choosing books to put on hold at the library. They're mostly geared for preK-2nd grade I think. Here's the links:

Charlotte Mason's List

History

Science

Five in a Row

Math

If anyone has some of there own favorite book lists not mentioned here, please pass on the info...I'm a book list junkie!

Between the books I put on hold and the books we select at our weekly visits, my tote bag is being stretched to the limits. I may have to start bringing a laundry basket! Or I could load them all in my stroller.

Names

Sylvia is a very imaginative little girl. She has one imaginary friend who has been with her for about a year and a half now. Her name is "Nana". She plays with her a lot but knows firmly that she is of the creative realm. On occasion Sylvia will complain that no one ever sleeps with her. I'll tell her to ask Nana and she says "But Nana's not real!"

Her other imaginary friends come and go but she makes up some great names for them. She has this habit with dolls as well. Today she had me make a list detailing "names of little girls that we don't know yet but the next time we go to the house of someone we don't know we could ask if any of them live there". Here it is:

Traesa (this is her name for me when she's in the Nutcracker mode)
Molzie
Deuce
Bolt
Rulsi-ulsi
Lulu-lala-dulsca

The last two especially look like she was just being silly, but she'll say them to me in all seriousness, carefully pronouncing them as if they were from a foreign language.

Awn Ho Fee-ul

That's Gus speak for "I want to hold the fiddle." Rex was sitting on the kitchen floor last night playing some tunes for Millie and Gus. After Gus had enough listening in dancing, he started yelling "Awn ho fee-ul!" over and over. So he got an impromptu lesson. This would be far from his first "lesson" but they've all been about the same so far. Rex plays the melody and Gus bows, sometimes by himself but usually with help.

Gus' language ability made a big leap in early December. He went from communicating by loud one word commands to forming words into sentences. Granted, he's still very loud (!) and you have to understand "Gus speak" to know what he's saying. He loves to talk on the phone and whenever he gets a chance, he'll answer the telephone with a lively "HI!!!" and go on to point at things he sees and say their name. So the conversation goes something like this..."HI!!!", "Well hello Gus. What are you doing?", "Ehhh...TRAIN!". I think it's adorable.

His current loves are trains and scissors. Both affording him hours of entertainment. I've had to step up my sweeping routine to keep up with all the little pieces of paper he cuts onto the floor. He's beginning to enjoy being read to and has started recognizing letters. He's very good with his baby sister Millie and often tries to make her smile.

The New Year

You would hope that your first day of the year would bring good tidings of things to come. Unfortunately, last year I woke up to a flooded basement that I spent hours wet-vac-ing up. This year was a little better, I had a not so subtle stomach bug that put me on the couch for two hours. At least I got to lay down. But I was up and able to function normally by noon so it could have been a lot worse. Sylvia's stomach hurts today and she's currently taking a nap, something she makes a point never to do. Flooded basement or no, last year turned out pretty darn good so I have high hopes 2008.


A book I picked up from the library, Look Alikes Jr. has turned into a big hit around here. Both Sylvia and Gus pore over
it. It was the inspiration for a project Sylvia worked all day on yesterday. She created her own room (a kitchen) in a box leftover from Christmas. I kept teasing her about all the dead flies on the floor. She insisted they were decorations.



Here's our New Year's Day spread. The collards are homegrown, and amazingly enough, the tomato is too. It's the last fruit from our long lived tomato plant from this summer and it fell off the plant in the wee morning hours. I wonder what that could symbolize. And then there's two of my favorite foods, Corn Spoon Bread and Sweet Potato Casserole with Marshmallows. I know it's a major culinary faux-pas, but oh so delicious. Sylvia ate her way through her entire plate so she could have seconds of the casserole. I should make those more often.