Wordless Wednesday

Sometimes life is challenging

Like Mother, Like Daughter...  They say that research shows that if you have a wide, open smile as a child, your chances of having a long and successful marriaage are increased.  Twenty-three years and counting for us!  This smile bodes well for the little one if she decides to get married someday!

Running around during the graduation ceremony--way more fun than sitting during those boring speeches...

At her sissy's barbeque...

I heard this fakey crying, "uhn-uhn, uhn-uhn..." and turned around to see the girls playing with their dolls.  "Have your babies been naughty?"  I asked, because they were holding them in the corner.  They both looked sheepish at getting caught, which is just how my older kids used to look when they'd get caught playing like this.  Little Girl was willing to re-create the scene for me, but Big Girl suddenly got shy.

"I'm embarrassed!"

This is my way of encouraging pooping on the potty.  A nice warm drink helps, too...

"I got a mosquito bite on my eyelid!"

Hey!  There's another one of those wide, open smiles!

This girl loves to joke around.  She put the dump truck bucket on her head for a pretend hat, and that was funny, but when I wanted to take a picture of it, it was even funnier to run away, and make me chase her to get the picture.  Hysterical :)

Things have been a bit challenging around here, because I broke my little pinkie toe last week. I thought it was only dislocated (which was bad enough, because it was sticking out at a right angle to my foot) but the swelling hasn't gone down, so I got x-rayed, and it's really broken. They gave me the x-ray on a disc, so I got to take it home to show the kids. It's very easy to see, even for us lay-people. David said I should have taken a picture of it when it was all cockeyed, and I wish I had, because it was impressive, and I had lots of bruising, too, but I never thought of it. My mom came over, took hold of the wayward toe, and gave it a yank, and it popped back into line. It's slowed me down quite a bit, and I've had to miss work. Needless to say, it hasn't slowed the munchkins down any, and they've been just as busy as ever.

By "just as busy," I mean that they've torn all the screen off the sliding glass door (just a little at a time, though, not in a destructive way at all -wink, wink!) They have also taken every book, magazine, card or piece of paper from its shelf, drawer, etc, and crumpled, torn, or maimed it. They are very busy being underfoot, as well. I enjoy entering a room with an armful of something that requires me to set it down, open the door or drawer to the cabinet, turn to pick up my armful of whatever, and turn back just in time to have the door or drawer slammed closed before I can deposit my armload. It's also fun to have all doors, including the refrigerator door closed on me, as I'm attempting to do whatever. Did I mention that even though I had righted the vacuum cleaner approximately ten times as I walked by, it was the eleventh time that I kicked it, and caught my toe on the underside of it, as it lay across the walkway? And, no, I hadn't finished cleaning, and vacuuming was the last step, which is why I hadn't put it safely back in its closet.

Summertime fun

I call this "White Man's Fire"

II 

Having fun opening and shutting the door...

Sigh... I guess everyone needs a bossy older sister...  Wait!  That was me!

The master of the hose

A girl can be master of the hose, too.

Our darling girl and her hubby at her graduation ceremony to celebrate her Bachelor's degree.

Some of our kids...

Fun in the pool

Okay, it's only a kiddie pool, but it's still fun.

This is better than a bath, 'cause we're allowed to splash!

Look how long my hair is getting!

As they gain muscle tone and strength, I notice more tucking in of their legs, as in this picture, and the one below.

 

Obviously, I haven't been blogging much, and I can blame it on the weather. Even though it hasn't been the warmest June ever, I've enjoyed being outside and working in the yard and garden. The yard has been neglected for several years, and the garden is new and different every year, including this year. I can't just plot out the garden and then leave it, year after year, which would be easy and smart. No, I have to change it, which usually involves something like moving its location altogether, which then requires moving the raised beds, and moving all the dirt, also. This year I moved dirt out of the garden, and used it to fill in empty spots in the lawn, and then put grass seed on it. Then I moved the worm castings from the compost pile into the garden bed, put my plastic mulch down, and then was able to plant. I told my mom that I move dirt the way some women move furniture.

We've had graduations also, with one daughter celebrating receiving her Bachelor's degree, our son graduating from high school, and our daughter in the military graduating from a very challenging school, which is part of her training. She still has another year to go, so this is more a milestone than an end.

The kiddos have been coming along, still on their own timetable, but oddly enough, keeping pace with each other, for the most part. All of the kids seem to understand more each day, and will often follow commands quite accurately. As with all children, it depends on how palatable the command is, as to how readily it is followed.

The girls are babbling more and more, and they can say "cookie" quite clearly. "Ice cream" is becoming more and more understandable, as well. Big Girl likes to say "I eat; I eat," when she's hungry. The other day I told her to do something, and she said, "Mom, No! Shhhh...!" and shushed me with her finger to her lips. I guess she didn't want to do it. Too bad. She had to do it anyway, even though it was pretty cute.

Little Boy has no interest in communicating with us, other than by loudly squawking when something does not meet his approval. This does not mean that he does not understand when we try to communicate with him. He does a lot of ignoring, but he doesn't get away with it too much. Tonight I made him stand in the corner after he poured out his milk, and he stayed there, fretting, and flapping his hands, rather than just wandering away, when he felt he'd been punished enough (as he usually does.) I took this to mean that he did understand that he'd been naughty to pour it out, and was accepting his punishment. I told him that if he came to me, gave me a hug, and said sorry, that he could go take a bath with the girls. He started to come to me, and then decided against it, and wouldn't come farther, so I put him back in the corner, and explained it to him again. I guess he decided after a minute or two, that it wasn't such a terrible deal, because he came over to me, and I held out my arms to him, but waited for him to give the actual hug, which he did, and I said, "Oh, you're saying you're sorry? Okay, I forgive you." Then he cheerfully went off to take a bath, so I'd say he understands just as much as the girls, since they often have to give hugs and say sorry (often to him.)

You'll be happy to hear that potty training is coming along swimmingly. For a while there I was calling it "The Potty Wars," but no more. I decided that I needed to be less invested. It couldn't be more important to me than it is to them. After all, I'm already potty-trained. Strangely enough, when I quit caring so much, then they started caring more. We knew they were all capable, but it had become a battle of the wills. They just didn't want to give it to me when I wanted it so much. Of course, they know it's more comfortable to be dry than wet, so logically, they'll want to stay dry (unless I have my heart set on it--then it's too important to just hand it over to me.)