Ancient Times

Rachel had her 50th day of school last week. In honor of the event the kids were supposed to dress in 50's  fashion. Of course me being who I am, I completely spaced it until that morning. Rachel was already dressed and I was doing her hair when I finally remembered. On short notice the best we could do was a pair of blue jeans rolled up, a white t-shirt, and a scarf for her hair. As I was putting the finishing touches on her outfit, I explained to her that Nonna was born in the 50's and this is how they dressed back then. She looked thoughtful for a moment and said, "Mom, did Nonna dress like this in ancient times?"

I don't buy a lot of snacks to have around the house. There are two reasons for this. The first is, I am cheap with a capital C. I don't like spending money, and this family of mine is hard enough to feed on a budget. The second reason is health related. It is hard to find portable, easy snacks that my kids will actually eat that don't contain a bunch of junk. This lack of snack food is taking its toll on all of us. Trying to come up with something besides sandwiches for my kids to eat when hungry is tricky. And my poor neighbor tells me the first thing my kids do when they come over to play is ask for snacks (apparently because they are so deprived of fun food to eat here). Last payday I finally broke down and bought a giant box of granola bars. They have been a huge hit with everyone, even Shelby. To illustrate how rarely we buy this sort of thing, nobody is sure what to call them. Lilly started with "gorilla bars" and after some correcting changed it to "gorolla bars". Carson just calls them "baarrs" and Rachel refers to them as "one of those bar things". They all start asking for them pretty much right after breakfast.

Emilia had her 6-month checkup which was once again very boring. I always get so nervous when he goes to listen to her heart. But he tells me she sounds perfect. She weighs 14lbs almost exactly and is 25 inches long. This puts her in the 10th percentile, which Dr. Hanks says is right considering mine and Shelby's size. Dr. Hanks is only about 5'2'' so I don't think he is super caught up in size, as long as she is growing. As far as the rest of her life, Emilia is starting to complain a little more when she wants something. She has learned that whole crying equals attention connection. She is still sweet as can be, but a little more bossy and demanding.

Speaking of manipulating the situation, Carson has a new thing. If he is asked to do something he does not want to do, he just tells me "I'm scared." He uses this technique for nap time, clean up time, get dressed time, and "go downstairs and watch cartoons because mom needs a break" time. It is really starting to lose its effectiveness. On the subject of Carson. He loves me. Every so often he brings me a Barbie and says it's "Mommy". Makes me feel so good! I must get fifty hugs and kisses from that boy every day. I know it is a phase, but I am enjoying every last second!

Lilly is a passionate little girl. She feels things very strongly and because of this, she can lash out if she thinks she is being wronged. This lashing out has been somewhat violent lately, which is so out of character for my sweet, ultra-loving little girl. We discussed it very rationally the other day. Since she loves animals, I tried to explain to her that all moms feel like their kids are their little kittens, and when someone is mean to their kittens it hurts the moms' feelings. It sunk in I think, and so we made a plan. If someone does something Lilly does not like, she closes her eyes, counts to five, and asks the person to stop doing said thing. If that does not work, she can come and tell me or another grown up. Watching her put this into practice is so cute!

Rachel is obsessed with natural disasters. For the last few weeks it has been tornadoes. She can never remember what to call them, but to her blizzards, volcanoes, tomatoes and potatoes are all code words for tornadoes. She asks me constantly if tornadoes will kill people, where they occur, and what exactly they can or cannot destroy. Rachel has made it very clear that she never wants to live or visit a place where tornadoes are a problem. She also needed serious reassurance that nobody she loves lives anywhere near tornado land. Yesterday her big concern shifted to floods and other water-related disasters. Again, for her own information she wanted to know how long a person can stay under water and survive, what to do if you drive into water, what to do if the water floods the streets while you are in your car, and what to do if you are at home during a flood. Also somehow she has decided that the number four is bad luck. She told me yesterday she does not like that number because "I see it everywhere and it freaks me out!" No more watching news for Rachel.