Super Spy

Lilly has been insisting over the past couple of weeks that we call her Super Spy. That is, when she or I remember. Mostly we both forget but on occasion she will quiz me with the question, "Mom, what's my name?" I usually remember at that point and call her by her new name until we both forget again. Rachel's new preferred name is Jakeson. I don't know why.

I had my first eye doctor appointment in close to two years on Wednesday. Rachel and Lilly were with me and helped me pick out my glasses when we were done. They both picked out a pair of round glasses with pink frames, definitely designed for someone twice my age. To humor them, I tried them on just long enough to pretend to consider them. Then I told the girls they just were not my style. Rachel was deeply offended at having her opinion brushed aside, and both girls were mortified that I wanted to get the plain black frames. I swear I almost got the pink ones just to validate their opinion but I just could not do it. Finally we compromised on a pair similar to the simple black frames I liked, only these were purple. For these I got both Rachel and Lilly's approval. After all what did I have daughters for if not to tell me what is cool.

After the eye appointment, Rachel had karate. Up to this point the three of us had been getting along famously, but on the car ride home everything came to a head. The girls were hungry and tired, and I was otherwise engaged in a phone call with Felicia and in no position to offer support. So of course they turned on each other. I heard the fighting and looked into my rear view mirror just in time to see Rachel karate kick Lilly. I had a flash of parenting genius and told them that since they could not get along, the next day they would spend the whole day together practicing. In other words they were grounded. Here is the thing about being grounded that in my moment of genius I forgot. When the kids have to spend all day together in the house "learning" how to get along, I have to be in the house with them. It is a sort of punishment for us all. Let's just say everyone went to bed nice and early last night.

I cannot believe how big my baby boy is getting. Every time I turn around he looks a year older. Part of this is his new found sense of independence. With the independence I always have to remind myself to take a step back. Two days ago Carson insisted on wearing a pair of pajamas as clothes. After he peed in them and changed into regular clothes, he insisted on wearing the regular clothes, backwards collar shirt and all, to bed that night. I drew the line the next day when he wanted to put the same clothes back on after his bath. Another difficulty is the issue of backwards clothes. You would think he has a 50/50 chance of getting his pants, shirt, and/or shoes on the right way. However he seems to get all three on backwards or wrong feet three out of five times. I try not to correct yet. It is impressive enough that he is doing it by himself at this stage. We will approach details later.

Emilia has completely lost interest in nursing and bottles. Because of her history I was nervous about this until it was suggested to me that she does not want to nurse because of all the many other interesting things there are to see and do. This instantly rang true to me. She is constantly looking around and observing. Eating probably really does interfere. Shelby and I took a trip to Salt Lake for his cousin's wedding. We left the other kids home, but took Emilia with us. Emilia does not love car rides, as was evident by her fussiness on the way to and from SLC. She also does not love sleeping on vacation. Maybe it was the excitement of the next days activities that got her all riled up, or just sleeping in a new place, but she was up and ready to go by 5:30 the next morning. You would think this meant she would sleep great on the ride home, but she did not. She was one tired, fussy little baby. Despite this, she was delightful while we were there.

The potty training continues. Carson has been pretty good but I still mostly need to remind him to go. He still poops in his pants pretty much every time. Once he tried desperately to convince me that it was mud in his pants, but I know poop when I see it! The potty training aside, Carson is delightful. He is getting better at talking all the time, and the whole potty training has given him a new sense of Independence. His favorite thing to say is "No, me do it!" I love-hate this phase that all of my children have gone through. Independence for my children means Independence for me eventually. But as of right now, there are some things he wants to do himself that he truly cannot. For these things I have to take a step back and let him try, even though I want desperately to jump in and help. Then there are those things he can do himself but sometimes we are in a hurry. It often creates a little fight between us.

My favorite thing about Rachel is her unique view on the world. Her latest philosophical question posed to me was why did Heavenly Father send us to Earth? I asked her what she thought the reason was and she more or less suggested he sent us here so he could have some peace and quiet up in Heaven. I am sure I am responsible for this idea since I frequently send my kids downstairs to play so I can have some peace of my own.

So spring is here, and with the weather being warmer, my kids have been spending more time outside. For Lilly this means that worm-hunting season has begun. Now she has a partner, our neighbor Elizabeth. The two of them spend hours in my garden collecting and playing with worms. They are not malicious, but I am a little worried`about my own worm supply for the sake of my garden.

Tuesday was my house cleaning day. It was a nasty, cold, snowy day. Rachel did not have school so we spent all day in the house together. I have been trying to limit the amount of TV the kids watch, and because of this we REALLY spent a lot of time together. It was wonderful. Everyone was happy, and because I had nothing else going on, the house-cleaning was not as rushed and urgent as usual. At the end of the day, we were all a little stir crazy so we went to McDonald's in our jammies for ice cream. It was an absolutely perfect day. I have great kids!
 

My First Miracle

I took the girls to get a burger on Monday. Rachel was thrilled because they accidentally gave her an extra piece of cheese. She asked me if I told them to give her extra cheese. I said "No. They must have made a mistake." Rachel exclaimed "Yay! This is my first miracle!" Lilly usually orders her burger sans the burger, and add extra cheese. So her "burger" consists of a bun, two pieces of cheese, and ketchup. This time she asked for pickles and got them. She said "Mine has pickles, that's a miracle too!"
We went to the park that same day, and guess who showed up? Poopy Dangle and Derek! For those of you who do not know, or do not remember, Poopy Dangle was Rachel's first imaginary friend. A few months later she added Derek. When Lilly was old enough she also adopted these two fellows as her friends. Both have been MIA for a good year or more. Not much has changed with the boys except Poopy Dangle is now eight-years-old instead of ten.

Lilly has a huge vocabulary, but often does not use her big words correctly. She told me that she did not like her toys because they were insisting her. I quizzed her on the meaning of the word "insisting". She did not have a clue. I think using big words is her attempt to be a little more grown up. The trouble is, not all of her words are entirely appropriate. I told her Emilia keeps spilling Cheerios on the floor and she said "That damn Emilia!" She told me she made the word up.

We are potty training Carson. This has got to be hands down my least favorite parenting job to date. Even so, things have gone relatively well. He has been running around in nothing but underwear, and we transport the toddler toilet from room to room for him. He pretty well makes it to the toilet every time. Pooping is a whole different story. He has yet to even attempt to make it to the toilet for bowel movements. We are of course using a lot of bribery to get him to use the toilet for either one. On Sunday I told him if he peed in the toilet I would give him a star for his chart. He said "OK...and candy...and popcorn...and a toy...and juice!" I of course agreed to all of his demands.

So one month ago I had the sweetest, easiest, most laid back baby in the whole world. What a difference a month makes. As we speak Emila is strapped to my chest while I type, because all of the sudden she wants to be held all the time. This is a demand I do not have time for. The crying bothers the other kids, but all of their attention does no good. She wants to be held by ME! She will soon learn that constant holding by mom is for only children, not for a family of six.

B Day

On Sunday night I told Rachel we had to go to bed early because she had school in the morning. She was adamant that she did not. "Trust me Rachel, you have school tomorrow!" I told her, very sure of myself. At dinner we even looked at her calendar to find out if she had P.E. I glanced at the day and told her that Monday was in fact a P.E. day. Shelby put her on the bus the next morning and on we all went with our day. A little before 8am the office called to inform me that Rachel did not in fact have school that day, and I needed to come pick her up. Rachel is on an A/B schedule where she has school M-W-F one week and T-Th the next week. She goes on A day, but I sent her on a B day. She said she knew as soon as she got on the bus and saw a Kindergartner she did not recognize. I knew it was a matter of time before I got mixed up.

Uncle Cody took Lilly to a birthday party last night for Annalise. This is the daughter of a friend of Cody's that Lilly likes very much. She came home with the symptoms of someone on crack! As soon as she walked in the door she started talking a million miles a minute. She gave us roughly the following information. (Enter Lilly) "Hehehehehehehe, heheheheh...they have a snake but I didn't get to hold it (insert excited jumping and crazy eyes). It was a big snake. My favorite part was opening presents. Hehehehehe! (Pause) I just licked my skin!" Nuts right? They say sugar has no effect on the energy levels of children. You be the judge.

We started casually potty training Carson. I say casually because that is all I have energy/desire for. So far, potty training is my least favorite part of parenting. Yesterday he peed in the toilet once, in his pants once, and during the second half of the day in his diaper exclusively. He hates having wet pants, which is good. But beyond that, he is just not that interested. I caught myself yelling at him to sit and go potty, which is not  good for either of us, so I am backing off. This approach worked great with Lilly. We tried to train her for a couple of days and then gave it up. A couple of days later she decided on her own that she wanted to go potty in the toilet. We pushed Rachel and it was a nightmare.

So Emilia is rolling all the time now as a mode of transportation. She still hates to be on her stomach, but with some thought and care she can roll onto her back. She talks like crazy these days, and of course her favorite thing to say is "dadadada" which I think is completely unfair. Considering I carried her, gave birth to her, and now spend my days responding to her every need, her first word-like sounds should rightfully be "mama".

Birthday Week

As I have mentioned before, birthdays are a big deal at our house. We do not have birthdays, we have birthday weeks. This week has been full of celebrating for Carson and I, since our birthdays are only a day apart. My birthday was fabulous. I got to hang out with my favorite person in the whole world (shout out to Shelby) all day while we did whatever struck my fancy at any given time.Then in the evening my little family took me out for pizza. I got spoiled!

Carson was not totally clear on the whole birthday thing at first, but by the end of the day he got it. My neighbor Amber made us both breakfast, after which he got to play for a couple of hours with Ella and Cora and his friend Ian. I took him to Wal-Mart to spend some birthday money from his grandma and from Papa. Then we hit McDonald's for a whole Happy Meal (as opposed to the 1 cheeseburger I usually get each of my kids and the water I make them share) AND an ice cream cone. I almost never do one-on-one dates with Carson, and at first he was very confused. When we got in the car he got a little panicked and said "Mom! Lilly!" I told him Lilly was playing at a friend's house. A minute later he said "Mom! Baby!" I told him we weren't bringing Emmy. It was just going to be him and me today, that we were going on a date. I think it took him a minute to decide if he thought this was a good idea. In the end he and I had a great time together. He wanted to buy a train because that is his obsession right now but Wal-mart did not have them. He settled for a Toy Story car and a helicopter, along with a pack of Extra Wintergreen gum. I tried to get him to buy some kid gum instead, but he was adamant. Spending time with just him was delightful! For dinner he chose pancakes. While I was making them he watched a movie. When dinner was ready the movie was not over yet, so he insisted on eating downstairs. This upsets everything that I believe about family dinners and birthday dinners. I think we should eat as a family, but it wasn't my birthday. So, we all ate our pancakes upstairs while he ate his in front of the TV. He is still young enough that we do all of our birthday shopping at the dollar store. He got a ball and bat, a sand bucket filled with candy, a coloring book, pez dispensers, and a mini chalk and eraser set. He was a very happy boy. One more note about his birthday. He insists that he is still only two.

OK, that was a bonus blog about Carson. Here is one for the books. We ate lunch with the Lackeys at Carl's Jr. last week. The reason we went to this particular restaurant is because they have a toddler-friendly play area. Carson easily maneuvered his way up to the top of the jungle gym. And there he stayed for the entirety of our outing. He was too scared to come down, and I was too big to go up and get him. I sent Rachel up at one point to help him, but this was not what he wanted. It was getting close to time to go and I told Rachel if she could get him to come down with her, I would give her a surprise. She tried to talk him into letting her help, then she tried to bribe him. Finally, after she had exhausted all of her other options, she picked him up and carried him kicking and screaming to the slide and pushed him down. He was devastated, Rachel was proud, and the rest of us adults had a good laugh about it. At the McDonald's play area yesterday Carson stayed on level ground.

Lilly is so sweet. After pancakes last night Rachel was sticky and wanted to wash her hands but could not reach the sink. Lilly said "Oh, Rachel! Teamwork!" Then she got down on all fours and let Rachel stand on her back while she washed her hands. Lilly is always finding some way to help. She changed Emilia's diaper yesterday for me. She did a great job except that she put it on backwards. It occurred to me the other day that I expect a lot from Lilly because she has always acted so grown-up. She started talking so early and so well that I think I forgot she was still just a little kid. I am lucky to have her on my side. I love Lilly's fashion sense. She almost always wears a skirt, usually over her pants. On Monday she wore a dress with a fluffy skirt underneath, and two cardigans over her dress, along with her pink princess boots (which make the outfit of course).

If Rachel gets out of bed one more time because she thinks she heard a tornado, I may have to do something drastic. Every time she hears a plane or a jet overhead she stops whatever she is doing and listens. Once the sound is gone she says "Oh. Ha ha. I thought that was a tornado." She told me last night that she never wants to live anywhere where there are tornadoes, floods, volcanoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, or bad guys. She lucked out on five out of the six. She also needs frequent reassurance that neither Grandma or Grandpa lives in a place where any of these things exist.

Emilia is officially rolling over now. She is at that stage where she cannot figure how to roll back over yet, so she gets really mad, which I actually think is cute. I get a kick out of feeding her Cheerios for the same reason. She can see them, and wants to put them in her mouth but her hand-eye coordination is not quite good enough. She spends most of her time yelling at the Cheerios. I love her love her love her love her!

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.

The Gap

Yes, there has been another giant gap between blogs lately, and I apologize. I should learn to take responsibility, but I have yet another excuse. We switched Internet carriers, and it took almost a full week for the new carrier to get in and hook us up. We are up and running now, so here is what you missed.

Last week after church it took forever for us to get out the door to go home because Lilly had to hug half a dozen different young men. Every few steps a boy would call her name and throw his arms open. These are all boys who love Lilly and think she thinks they are her #1. When we got in the car she was all smiles as she told me "those boys were fighting about me!" And so it begins.

Rachel had her second karate tournament on Saturday. She has been practicing and practicing for this one and was very excited. Until we got there. The turnout for this one was much higher than the last, and unlike the last one, the blackbelts got to compete first, which was a little intimidating. After a few of the blackbelts performed Rachel looked up at me with a slightly panicked expression and said "I need more practice!" Her and Shelby stepped out for some last minute practicing, but it was Rachel's turn pretty much right away. She outright, flat-out, emphatically refused to go on. No amount of reassurance, begging, coaxing, and bribing from us, or cheering from the audience would make her change her mind. Rachel cried and cried on the way out to the car. She wanted to perform, but just was too nervous. Her instructor offered to let her come back and compete in the sparring with another student about her age, and after much thought, and a little snack, she decided to give it a go. There were no nerves this time around, and considering that she was unprepared to spar, she did OK. The other girl she was sparring with won, but Rachel got a second place medal (out of two) that she is very proud of.

Carson is still working on his colors. When I ask him about colors he is unsure of he says "Umm...not green". As in, "I don't know what color it is, but I do know it isn't green." He is also full of surprises. I mean that in the sense of him hiding things from me and then yelling "surprise!" I keep telling people I am not potty training him yet because he is still pretty young. Someone asked me how old he was the other day and I said, "Two-and-a-half, but he will be three in February." As soon as I said it, I realized that is less than a month away. All of the sudden my two-year-old is a near three-year-old.

Speaking of kids getting older, you would not believe Emilia. Shelby observed yesterday that she is getting outright chunky. This is so pleasing to me I cannot even tell you. Yesterday she slept for about 3 hours. I was so paranoid that she might be starving to death I had to keep reminding myself that we are no longer needing to worry about her food intake. Now I get to relax and enjoy her!

We have a rule at our house about my shower time. My mom used to have the same rule when we were kids and I thought it was pretty intolerant as a child. I totally get it now. A hot shower all alone is sometimes the only peace I get in a day. So now nobody is allowed in my bathroom while I am in the shower, unless there is an emergency. What I consider an emergency and what the kids consider an emergency are very different. Lilly barged in yesterday and told me "Mom, this IS an emergency!" I said (insert sigh) "OK Lilly, what is the emergency." Hands on hips she said, "Carson is not eating his cereal!" We have now defined an emergency as someone bleeding or unconscious. We also have a "no touching the baby during sacrament meeting" rule. This is another one my mom had when I was a kid that I did not get until now. The problem is, when I am holding Emilia, everyone wants to be right in her face. She is fine with it but I feel totally mauled.