Play in the Kitchen

Scene I. Mother (M) and young children (S) and (C) are seated at the kitchen table. Baby is sleeping in another room. S and C are eating soup; M is supervising. S is donning a polkadotted hoodie with a striped dress overtop while C is wearing a Tinkerbell costume. On the floor next to C is a pink sweater.

M. Good bite, Claire.
C. No, I'm Tinkerbell. [pause] Say Tinkerbell.
M. Good bite, Tinkerbell.
[S and C both take good bites of potatoes and carrots from their soup.]
C. Can I put my fetter (sweater) on? Can I put my fetter on please?
M. [helping S scoop a bite] Just a minute.
C. Can I get my fetter?
S. Mom. Can I get Claire's sweater for her?
M. Yes.
C. Gank you, Tummer.
S. Your welcome, Claire.
C. Say Tinkerbell. [while S climbs off her chair, crawls under the table, and picks up sweater.] Say Tinkerbell.
S. Your welcome Tinkerbell.
C. Gank you.

Bath Time

Dreams

Last week, I dreamt about a blue llama that hurdled a fence. It was one of the most vivid and craziest dreams I can remember. Rhett said it would be a fun character for a children's book.

* * *

My much-missed sister-in-law sent me an email the other day with this in it:
Thought I should write you to tell you that I had a dream about you the other night where you came to visit together with your pet rat. You had it sitting on your shoulder and it was very well behaved. You also recommended that everyone have a pet rat of their own.

She ended it with this:
Anyways, let me know if my dream comes true and you actually get a pet rat.

* * *

As I was driving the girls home from school the other day, Summer said, "Mom, I had a dream you forgot me at the store and left me there." I was devastated! What an awful dream for a little three-year-old. And I actually believe she had the dream because I remembered her waking up in the night and calling out. I tried reassuring her that I would never leave her. But she had already moved on and decided to tell me the rest of her dream.

"You took a magazine and didn't pay for it," she said.

And we're rolling . . .

Evening entertainment with Pick-up Sticks


Pyper's sweet laugh


Another evening's entertainment


Summer singing her request to type (I do believe she says "peanut" . . .)


Dad entertaining the girls by dancing to William Tell Overture


Summer singing to Pyper ("Carmen: Habanera" anyone???)


And in case it appears these girls are always angels that get along . . . (please ignore the pile of laundry)

Behind a Little: President's Day Weekend

Uncle Blake and Grandpa Barney came to visit for President's Day weekend.


We started out with everyone getting some electronics time.

I love this picture of Pyper, with Grandpa, Summer, and Claire around her.

Uncle Blake and Grandpa stayed at a hotel down the street so we got to go swimming. The water so soooooo warm! It was great.

It was so warm even little Pippy got to go swimming.

Claire pouting because she wanted to go out swimming but no one was available.

Swimming with Dad and Uncle Blake.

Love this picture. (And yes, she's playing with Blake's chest hair.)

Showering after swimming.

And here's a clip of Claire jumping in. She is such a water girl.


We are so glad Uncle Blake and Grandpa came to visit. We loved every minute of it and hope to see them again soon. Thank you for coming!

Robot Mom

When I was little, I remember often one of us would be singing at the dinner table. Perhaps it was mostly Jill. She was the singer when we were little. Or perhaps it was more than just one of us? Because eventually, there came a rule of no singing at the table. And any time someone started, we would be sure to remind that person that there was a rule of no singing at the table.

Tonight at the dinner table, Claire asked if I was a robot. Summer answered before I could, "No. She is mom!" Claire countered back, "No, her is robot." I thought it would be funny to be a robot and eat my green beans, so I did. I beeped as I took a couple bites. Summer didn't find it funny at all. "No!" she yelled. "She is Momma!" Claire started to fight back when Rhett cut in. He has now banned any more talk of robots at the table.

Learning Language

My most favorite job I ever had was working in the Reading Center at BYU-Idaho. There, I was a tutor for international students (helping them with their English) and native English speakers (helping them with study skills). I made many friends that I think about often. And sometimes, I recall the things they said that made me laugh. For instance, Munkhbat, from Mongolia, one day realized I wore mascara and said, *gasp* "You paint your hashbrowns?"

One time, Marcos, from Brazil, was telling me about a studio apartment and how the bedroom and "chicken" were connected. (kitchen)

One of my good friends Jay, from Korea, was moving with his wife and children. He had graduated and was going to further his schooling in CA. He sent me an email telling me he appreciated my help and that he hoped we could "stay touching each other" (stay in touch with each other).

When Marcia and I met for the first time, she spoke very little English. I spoke no Portuguese. I was just subbing for another tutor. We were trying to make introductions, and when she said, "You have namorado?" I thought she was asking what my name was. You know, name and namorado seemed to have the same base of the word. I nodded. "Namorado Brittney." She laughed. "No." When I finally got the dictionary out, I realized she was asking if I had a boyfriend.

This morning, Claire got out the corn flakes, and we were soon notified by Summer that Claire had dumped all the cereal out onto the table. But it was okay, because they were now eating "all the snowflakes" for breakfast.

About a year ago, Summer was rummaging through our junk drawer and she found her bracelet. She pulled it out, held it up to me, and excitedly said, "Mom! I found my breakfast!"

I'm not sure where Summer picked it up, but she has said "What the heck!" a few times lately. For some reason, today, she has mistaken the phrase, and now often says, "What the half!"

Learning language is fun. Especially when you can laugh at the mistakes. When I was in Guatemala, one evening I said to my friends, "Estoy muito casada!" They all laughed. Instead of saying cansada as in tired, I'd said "married." At the time, I wasn't married--to either husband. Hehehe.

Highlights of Last Week

1. Rhett got home from a week and half away.
2. Summer ripped a piece of brown paper towel off the roll at school all by herself. (Hurrayed by her teachers)
3. At Parent Teacher Conference, Claire's teachers said she's so advanced that their goals for her are "Enrichment" Goals.
4. The chrysalis that sat in Summer's classroom from September to November was discovered in the closet, with the butterfly emerged and alive.
5. We got a private elevator ride with Vern Windham. (voice of Spokane Public Radio)
6. Summer got her picture in the school newsletter.
7. We attended the Kid's Free Concert where the band played funky music and the girls danced on the ballroom floor with dad. (Pyper slept through the whole thing.)

It's officially official . . .

As of two weeks ago:
On another note, Summer is doing so well with her communication skills. Sometimes when she's crying, she'll come up to me and say, "Mom, hold me. I need some special time with just you and me right now." Other times she'll say, "It makes me so frustrated when you don't sit by me!" or "I'm not happy about this right now." I love it that she's expressing herself and how she's feeling. It's fun to see that this little person has emotions and can express them.

She will also spend hours doing puzzles. She loves them. We had a few puzzles all dumped out and mixed together and she went through, sorting the pieces and putting them back in the puzzles. She enjoyed it. And she loves princess dressup dresses. Whenever we're at a friends' house, she bee-lines straight for the princess dresses, and wears them the whole time we are there. She loves them.

Pyper is doing really well with her arms. We've really been working on helping her relax them and stretch them out. She now is not just a tight little ball, but actually lays on the floor with her arms down her side, or out from her. She's also opening her hands now too. And she's reaching for things, which is also great progress from just a few weeks ago when she wouldn't move her arms.

We find out in the beginning of May the results of Rhett's bar. These next few months will be a nice break from having to think about it.

And I got such an encouraging response from my seven days of posting that I'm trying to do better with the blog. Perhaps B. F. Skinner was right???

Question of the Day

Mom, do fish don't have eyelashes?

Lists

Places Rhett and I have been together:

1. Mexico

2. Pennsylvania

3. Utah

4. Brazil

5. Arizona

6. Washington

7. Idaho

Things Claire has said:

1. Candy in my toey-toe-toe
2. Peek-a-booey (to Pyper)
3. On the tabley
4. Upside downey
5. I found my S'ey-S-S'es!
6. I don't like yucky hair in my moufie (mouthie)
7. Got it on my leggy
8. On my handies
9. In the fridgey-fridge-fridge
10. My naked bummy is cold.
11. Will you put this rubberbandy in your hairy?

Staples in our home:

1. Sweet potatoes

2. Rice

3. Chicken

4. Yogurt

5. Cheese

6. Fresh ground pepper

Things Summer has said:
1. (Regarding cranberry juice) It's not spicy. It's yucky, but it's not spicy.
2. (Rhett said, "You like candy don't you.") Yeah, I do. I just like candy, but I don't like food.
3. (Me after a package from Gma K "Let's call grandma and tell her thank you.") No, I'll ask for more.
4. I'm not happy about this right now.
5. (Me peeling refrigerator buscuits apart) You are a good peeler!

6. Can we play over there today? (pointing to the front yard) Because all the deep snow doesn't have anybody's footprints in it.

Concerts Rhett and I have been to together:
1. Blues Traveler
2. Linkin Park
3. Jimmy Eat World
4. Train
5. Andy Mkee

Favorite Activities of the Girls

1. Puzzles

2. Play dough

3. Paint and color

4. Texture time (playing with flour, beans, shaving cream, water)

5. Reading

6. Computer time