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.)