Peanut Butter

Today, for lunch, the girls had peanut butter and honey sandwiches. (Well, soy butter, not peanut butter. We don't have any peanut butter since I'm allergic. But the girls aren't, so we just call it peanut butter around here.) Anyway, after their sandwiches, Summer asked for a spoonful of peanut butter. So I got her one and one for Claire too.

An hour later, Summer said, "Look mom." I was doing something, so I didn't look up, but I said, "What is it?" She said, "It's peanut butter from my ear." Yuck. How did it get there? So I walked over to her and asked her where it was. She had dropped it on the carpet. I picked up the tiny chunk of hardened peanut butter and realized it was a HUGE chunk of ear wax! Yuck!

Good thing she didn't eat it!

For the First Time EVER!

For the first time ever, I sat down at the piano to run through a few songs and the girls did not swarm me. In fact, they had disappeared. (Hopefully they weren't running from all my mistakes!) I played the song once, then decided they were being too quiet to be safe, so I went to find them. AND--they were in their room playing! (Cue in: "She Doesn't Need Me Anymore," by Peter Cetera.)

Is this a good or a bad thing???

Back on our Feet

We have finally made it through the yucky stomach flu and recovery period. The girls are now eating better, sleeping better, and feeling much better. We had a doctor's appointment just last Friday. I was worried that their weight would be super-low since they hadn't been eating very well, and also because of their occasional puking. Well, Summer weighed in at 23 pounds, and Claire was 17! We were so excited. That's the most that the girls have ever weighed. We are so happy with their progress.

The doctor's appointment was for Summer to get her ears checked--a checkup on her tubes, etc. The doctor said her left ear looked really good, but when she tried to look in her right ear, there was too much ear wax and it blocked her view. So we took Summer to another room where the doctor could scoop it out. Summer was pretty nervous. When we put her on the chair, she started crying. Then she started yelling, "I want to wait in the car! I want to wait in the car!" She tried coming up with anything to say to get out of it. Then she said, "It's Claire's turn! It's Claire's turn!" It was a quick procedure that didn't hurt, but we were sure glad when we were done!

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The girls have been doing a lot together lately. It is so fun to see them play together and interact with each other. Summer is definitely quite motherly, while Claire is just trying to gain some independence. My favorite is when Summer makes Claire laugh, which makes Summer laugh, which makes Claire laugh again, and they laugh and laugh. They are becoming good friends.

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Rhett is doing well. He got a little bit of the stomach flu too (to be honest--it almost wiped him out!), but is feeling better now. Right now, he's preparing to go to San Francisco next weekend to compete at the Saul Lefkowitz competition. We are excited to see how well he does, along with his team. He's also still looking for employment for after graduation. Anyone have any IP contacts out there? Know any Trademark/Copyright attorneys? Let us know!

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The other day, Rhett and Summer were playing. Rhett said, "You can't pass the bridge without paying the tolls!" Summer looked at Rhett and said, "Dad, I have toes!"

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Claire hasn't quite--but almost--figured out how to eat with a spoon. (Love those blue eyes!)

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I've been entertaining a few random hobbies lately . . . I signed up for a community fiction writing class where we meet once a week from 6-9pm. Since Rhett gets done with class at 5:50, I meet him down on campus with the girls, switch vehicles, then go to my class where Rhett takes the girls home, feeds them dinner, and puts them to bed. We only have two more weeks, but it's been a lot of fun.

I've also been substitute piano teaching. There is a Family School of Music about twenty minutes from here--an office building with a whole bunch of rooms where music teachers go and teach music. That way families can bring their kids and get all their lessons done in 30 minutes. They've needed a sub lately, and I've filled in for them.

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Claire now says "Ow," "mo" (more), "baba" (baby), "apple," "up" (help), and "Buzz" (Buzz Light year). She has the necessities down.

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Summer's been on this kick about putting things to bed. A few days ago, she made this bed out of blocks for her fish. (Notice the pillow!)
And a few nights ago, before she went to bed, she said she needed to put her sheep to sleep. Later, we went into the kitchen and saw this (complete with a binky and bottle).Just today, I was doing laundry and she grabbed her pile of underwear and put them to bed--on her pillow and under the blankets. Good thing they were clean!




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