The Power of Seven

Linus had an amazingly good day today. She's my spirited child, and many of her days are spent bouncing from one thing to the next. Today she made an effort to enjoy life like only Linus can, yet do so in a calm manner. She did a fantastic job. Seriously fantastic. When we talked about what a great day she had, I asked her if she noticed the difference. Yes, she did. I asked her if she felt any different during the day. Yes, she did. I asked her how she felt different. Seven. Seven? Yes, seven. "I felt seven years old, Mama. Not six and three quarters, but seven!" Ahh, to look forward to counting each and every fourth of a year! :)

Happy 2010!

Happy New Year to everyone in blogland!

I'm hoping to get back to regular blogging. In the past I've used it as a way to remember the cute things Linus said. Lolly has joined the cute sayings now, and remembering for two is twice as hard (duh!), so I've GOT to write it down.
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We had a fantastic Christmas. Linus loved every. single. thing. she got. Lolly still has one unopened present. She only got five things total from Santa and us, so it's not like we went overboard. I simply forgot how long it takes my girls to open presents. They give each gift due time before moving on to another. Lolly thinks her world is complete with a phone, remote, and purse though. :)

Merry Christmas from my two favorite kiddos and me...

Linus, 6 yrs


Lolly, 16 months

Hello Again...Again!

Ok, trying again. Things are really busy here, but I'm petrified that if I don't make the time to blog, I'll forget the things my kids do. So, here's to another go at making an effort to blog and read blogs.
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Just in case you thought life might be easier at my house with Lolly than Linus, I present How to Know You've Lost the Sippy Cup War, Vol 1.

I've tried casually to introduce the sippy cup to Lolly a few times. She's less than thrilled with them. I tried again today. I believe this qualifies as a fail: I handed the sippy to Lolly. She handed it back, shook her head no and said, "bot bot."

More proof:
While Army, Linus, and I sipped on the most delicious milkshake ever (we split it, one sip in and we all knew splitting was a huge mistake!), Lolly was finishing off her lunch. She had a huge lunch--pasta, turkey, carrots, peas, and crackers. The kid can eat! Once she ate her last bite, she looked at a piece of bread and began her efforts to let us know she wanted it. In the meantime, I asked her to point to the light. "No, no, no" she said as she shook her head. I repeated, "Lolly, where's the light? Show me the light." Since "no, no, no" didn't work on me, she tried another approach. She lifted her palms, shrugged her shoulders, and made an "I don't know noise." Army then asked her if she wanted bread. Immediately she shook her head yes. After he gave her a piece, he asked her to point to the light. And she did. Then she laughed. Little stinker! She already knows how to bargain.
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A little Linusism:
Linus asked for cinnamon toast for breakfast. I'll admit I usually cut her sandwich into however many slices she wants (or even shapes when she was younger or on holidays). She asked for it to be cut into quarters. Since I knew that meant more chances for her to spill the cinnamon, I said no. She grinned and said, "Ok, then, how 'bout fourths?" :P

Well Hello Again!

I finally remembered my blog address, so here I am. Just kidding. We've had a LOT going on. In the past few weeks:
*Linus had surgery
*Linus had surgery issues
*Army had a birthday
*I took the girls to my parents to celebrate my dad's birthday
*Linus cut the ever living daylight out of her finger
*Linus had more surgery issues
*Linus started first grade. FIRST GRADE!!!! How'd that happen?
*Linus had a project for school
*My dad spent a week in the hospital in congestive heart failure (he's still there)
*Linus had another project for school (seriously--two in the first three days!!!)
*I've had four meetings
*I've been preparing for Lolly's first birthday, yes it's been a year. She'll be one (sob!)

Sooo, I've been busy. I've checked blogs, but probably only once in the past few weeks. I've got a load of emails to return. I've got more work to do with Linus, and I've got to finalize things for Lolly's birthday. Thankfully we only do family for first birthday parties. I can't imagine planning a huge party right now.

Oh, and did I mention I had house guests for a total of eleven of those days (not eleven days straight though).

I should be around more now though, complete with first day pics, birthday pics, pics of Big L's new haircut, etc. :)

Catfish Anyone? How 'Bout a Side With That?

Two years ago, I posted my first real post here. Things haven't changed too much at my house...
Here's the first post:

An Extra Dose of Embarrassment!

(at the time this occurred, Linus was about 3)

I took Linus to lunch at a local restaurant that I love in the town where my parents live. It was just the two of us. Here's our conversation:

Linus: Mommy, look at his pecker.
Me: Linus, let's play I spy. I spy with my little eye something green.
Linus: Is it the leaf, Mommy? Look, he has a pecker too!
Me: Ok, Linus, your turn. What do you spy?
Linus: I spy something blue. (then a guy walks by and she looks in his direction). Look Mommy he has a big pecker!
Me: (thinking...blue...blue...find something BLUE!)
Linus looks in another direction and says, "and he has a small pecker"
Me: Um, blue! Uh, could it be that chair?
Linus: No
Me: (BLUE, BLUE, find something blue!), could it be that picture?
Linus: No, look mommy, his pecker is hard and looks old!
Me: Linus, shhh, we'll talk about that later!
Linus: Why Mommy, don't you see his pecker?
Me: Linus, ssshhhhh!
Linus: Look, Mommy, his pecker is different colors! And llllooooooonnnnnggggg! Then she points up near the ceiling.

I looked up and there was a parrot! The restaurant has fake trees with lots of parrots! She was talking about the parrot's beak!

Whoosh, big sigh of relief! Still embarrassed, but sooo glad my 4 year old princess doesn't know that kind of pecker!


And here's what just happened at our house:

Linus used a back scratcher and attached some of the hook rings from Lolly's toys to create a fishing pole. She'd "catch" other items by attaching them to the rings. When she hooked a cat, she announced that she caught a "catfish." When she hooked a sword, she caught a "swordfish." Then she decided to cook her catfish. I asked what she was cooking, and she said, "I'm cooking catfish with a side of potato wedgies."

Poor girl, she's got great ideas, and she even has a pretty extensive vocabulary, she just gets the words wrong sometimes.

Extra Effort

We went out to dinner tonight. It was actually our first time going out to dinner in quite a while. We went to a quaint little burger place that has a deck that overlooks a beautiful waterfall. Linus was mesmerized. Lolly didn't care about the waterfall at all...the cafe lights on the porch held her attention. Well, that and food.

On the way home, we had to drive through a very dark area. Because there's little interference from city lights, you are able to see the stars very well. Linus announced she that it was so clear and beautiful that she could see God. I was touched. Until...

Me: You do?
Linus: I sure do. I can hear him too.
Me:You can?
L: I sure can.
Me: What's he saying? (Will I EVER learn?)
L: He's saying that he's disappointed.
Me: Really? (Right about then we were passing some road construction where they're cutting into the trees--looks like they are expanding the road. Linus is a big tree hugger, so I thought she was going to make a comment that God was upset that they were cutting down his beautiful trees).
L: He said he's disappointed that you took away my puppy and bear (stuffed animals) today.
Me: He was? I was disappointed in your behavior too.
L: Um, Mama? He was disappointed in YOU not me. He was disappointed that YOU took away something that your child loves so much.

MORE Sweet Lolly!

Linus and I were discussing how much I love her this afternoon. She'd open her arms and say, "This much?" and I'd say, "No, more." After a few rounds of this, Sweet Lolly starts making the /m/ sound and signing "more." She's been able to sign more for a few weeks now, but so far it's only been when she wanted more food. :)

I Love Linus!

A few days ago, Linus and I were chatting. I don't even remember what we were talking about, but I made the comment, "Well, that's just ridonkulous."

As seriously as can be, Linus looked at me and said, "Mama, the word is ridicleeus."

Poor girl; she's always had difficulty with ri-dic-lee-us and fab-lee-us. Honestly though, I think I prefer her way anyway. ;)

Remember When...

Linus has been reminding me that we haven't followed her dreams yet. Little turkey. She knows how to get her way.

Who's On First

My life appears to be a daily Abbott and Costello routine. When Lolly has a bottle, it's a Dr. Brown's. They have a million parts, and it takes me forever to load them in the dishwasher. Linus was watching me load the other day, and she has some questions. Apparently she thought Dr. Brown was a person we know.

Linus: Mama, how many bottles did Dr. Brown give us?
Me: What?
Linus: Dr. Brown. How many bottles did he give us for Lolly?
Me: Twelve.
Linus: No, not Dr. Telf (her pediatrician), Dr. Brown.
Me: No, not Telf, Twelve.
Linus: Mama, bottles. How many bottles did Dr. Brown give us for Lolly. Not Dr. Telf, but Dr. Brown.
Me: Twelve, Linus. Not Dr. Telf, but twelve Dr. Brown bottles.
Linus: Nevermind.

Extra Happy

Linus got an award at the Awards Day assembly at school today. I'm curious what kind of award y'all might think she received. Sooo, what's your guess?

A Sign of the Times

Linus has this (very annoying) toy that says, "Red Alert!" Despite trying to tell her otherwise, she's convinced it says, "Credit Alert!" and goes around saying it constantly. I guess she's not too young to teach her about good credit. :)

Sweet Little Lolly

Afternoon carpool at the school Linus attends is run like a well oiled machine. Nine cars load at a time after snaking through the parking lot. The kids are called in stages, so they are (usually) ready by the time you get to the loading area. As we snaked through on Friday, Linus made it to the first holding area more quickly than usual. Lolly looked over (two rows away, and kind of hidden!) and noticed Linus. She immediately got a huge smile and her whole body began bouncing and shaking with happiness. It was finally time to see her Linus. Then we pulled forward to continue moving towards the loading area. Lolly panicked. She began screaming and reaching her arms towards the window in the direction of Linus. And she screamed and cried until we finally got to Linus. By the time Linus got into the car, Lolly had worked herself into a full panic and was doing that cry-breathing when you can barely catch your breath. Linus could not stand to see Lolly so upset. It's so sweet to watch their love bloom and show.


Linus has been in love from the beginning. :)

Extra Sick and Tired

Tuesday morning when I tried to wake Linus for school, I was met with some resistance. As I nudged and said her name for the second or third time, she coughed and said she couldn't go to school. Then she coughed again. When I asked her why she couldn't go to school, she coughed again, snorted like a pig, coughed again, then said, "Swine flu."

Honestly, I'm not sure whether she caught a glimpse of the media hype or if she overheard Army and I talking about it. She never opened her eyes and never cracked a smile.

The child is even funny in her sleep! :)

An Extra Special Evening

Mid-afternoon Army and I were hand delivered invitations to a dinner tonight. The invitations were hand written, personalized, and they were detailed. At the appropriate time, Army and I made our way to that party.

We didn't have to go too far to get there...just up the stairs to the playroom. When we made it there, our hostess with the mostess, Linus, surprised us. She had soft music playing, a table set perfectly, dimmed lights, and fancy napkins that she made. She presented us with a hand-written menu complete with prices and pictures to go with each item.

Army and I oooh'd and ahhh'd and finally made our selection. While we waited for our dinner to cook, we were presented with imaginary tea, which Linus poured for us, tea cookies, and soup. Linus joined us for dinner while Lolly happily bounced in her Johnny Jump-Up.

After dinner, Linus told us the dessert list. She highly recommended the Cinco de Mayo Sundae, and she stood back and tall while we made our selections. We both chose the sundae, which was imaginarily delicious, and then the three of us enjoyed the music and conversation.

Who knew dinner prepared by a six year old could be so delicious and fun?

An Extra Prayer

Linus goes to a religious school. She learns a prayer each quarter. While I don't believe that rote memorization of prayers equals a true religious belief, I do see their reasoning behind memorizing the prayers. Linus has a LOT of trouble memorizing the prayers each quarter though. A whole lot. Their current prayer is the Hail Mary. We've made a lot of progress towards memorization thus far, but I think it's obvious we've got a way to go still.

Hail Mary
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Linus's version
Hail Mary, full of God, the Lord is with me. Bless it are thou among women, and bless it is the fruit of the womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for our centers, now and at our death. Amen.

I try to say a bit, then have her repeat it. Here's our conversation:
Me: Hail Mary
L: Hail Mary
Me: Full of grace
L: Full of God
Me: Linus, Grace like your name. GRACE. Surely you can remember that, right? Full of Grace
L: Full of God
Me: The Lord is with thee
L: The Lord is with me
Me: Blessed art thou amongst women
L: Bless it are thou among women
Me: And blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus
L: And bless the fruit of the womb Jesus (I left that one alone because I think it's better than many kids' fruit of the loom
Me:Holy Mary, mother of God
L: Holy Mary, mother of God
Me: Pray for us sinners
L: Pray for our centers
Me: What did you say?
L: Pray for us centers. Aren't we praying that we do well at our centers, especially on Fridays during free centers time?
Me: Sinners, Linus, not centers. Like a sin.
L: Oh, well, we should probably pray for our centers too.
Me: Now and at the hour of our death.
L: Now and at our death.
Me: Amen
L: Amen.
Me: Your turn. You try it on your own.
L: Ok. How does it start?
Me: Hail Mary
L: Hail Mary. What's next?
Me: Full of grace
L: Like me!
Me: Yes, like you.
L: Full of God.

Ugh! She'll get it eventually, right?

Extra Long Lashes

Have I ever told the story of the lady at the Dollar Tree? We were in there one day, and she commented on the great lashes my girls have. After going on and on about their eyes, she asked me to look up (I was digging for money), and when I did, she laughed and let me know that my girls' beautiful eyes did NOT come from me. Thanks lady!

Is it wrong to be jealous of my girls' eyes?

Linus--you can't see the full effect of her lashes here, but it gives you an idea

Lolly--she was only 6 months old here...imagine in a few years!

An Extra Round of Pics

Be forewarned: I've figured out the issue (looks like my photoshop has seen its last day), so I've got pictures...and more pictures...and more pictures. Daily pics. :)

When Linus was 9 months old, she got a Cheerio stuck on her nose. It upset her at first, but I laughed, and eventually she thought it was funny too. I loved that set of pictures, and I planned to stage some with Lolly. Well, Lolly took care of that on her own for me. Check them out:

Linus


Lolly


Nearly identical expressions:




Lolly isn't really very fond of Cheerios. She'd much rather throw them on the floor. :)

Any idea how to do a video for the technologically challenged? Every single site I've tried to use to upload it says it's too big of a file.

Um, yeah, reality sinks in

And this, my friends, is why we'll only have two...*

We got a phone call this morning that Linus stuck a bead in her ear. As luck would have it, Army wasn't in the office today, so I couldn't just run her by so that he could remove it. That would be way too easy.

On my way to pick her up, my mind wandered; dancing around my mind were thousands of random thoughts. After the obvious I hope she's ok and not too scared, I moved on to dang, I'm glad we didn't skip her bath last night which progressed to I hope her ear isn't full of wax. Then it occurred to me that you have to put a reason for checking your child out of school. I was not putting "stuck a damn bead in her dadgum ear" on the sheet of shame for all the parents to see. I opted for "sick" since she'd have to go to the doctor...that does make her sick afterall, doesn't it?

What do you say when you pick up your child who has just stuck a foreign object in an orifice? The accident report cracked me up. The blame game has already begun...found a bead in her own classroom and stuck it in her ear (she wasn't in her room when it happened). Ha! I'm not blaming y'all for this. My child did it. Actually, the first version of the story from her lips involved a bead that she found in her classroom, stuck in her pocket, and it magically jumped in her ear. She eventually said, "Well, it didn't exactly just jump there on its own. I stuck it in the empty space." I'm sorry Linus, did you just tell me you stuck a bead in the empty space between your ears? Please, my baby, please let's find another way to phrase that.

While we were in the car, we made it to the root of the reason for the tears. She was worried the bead was going to roll further in and go to her brain. I could have settled for "What brain Linus? You stuck a stinking bead in your ear. Are you sure you used a brain for that one?" but instead I nicely told her that it couldn't and wouldn't. Oh, but I'm not a doctor, so how can I know? So we had to call Daddy so that he could assure her that it wouldn't go to her brain. I'll have to remember the comfort that gave Linus the next time we write one of those huge education loan payments to Sallie Mae.

We got home, and despite LOTS of drama, Army was able to look in her ear. Sure enough, there's a bead. Naturally, since Army doesn't make a habit of carrying all of his instruments home just in case, he didn't have the needed equipment for the beadectomy. A humiliating call to the dr's office later (I know there's no way we're the only ones who have ever called for this despite the way they made it sound) and Linus had an appointment. After some playful drama (and,really, I don't blame her at all---I'm sure I'd be a little dramatic if somebody was fishing something out of my ear) the bead was removed. Poor Linus, the dr handed it to Army who promptly inspected it then threw it away. I think she wanted it as a battle scar memento.

Once home, Linus played for a few minutes, then she fell asleep for a solid four hour nap. I think the worry wore her out. But OH MY GOSH! She woke up full of energy. Bedtime didn't come easily tonight. The house was very quiet while Linus napped (imagine that!) so Lolly fell asleep and took a three hour nap. Wow! The two of them were on a roll tonight. L-O-U-D and W-I-L-D.


•Not really. I'll post about it someday though.

Linus Strikes Again

Mama, do you believe in following your dreams?

Sure.

Good, because last night I dreamed we went to Walmart and got the same backpack as Maddie, the one I've been asking for.