Slobber

Berean can now successfully inchworm across the rug and get whatever she wants.

Yesterday it was Qui Gon Jin's lego cloak.

I took it away from her and told the boys again that they need to keep their legos picked up.

Deacon took poor Qui Gon from me and said, "Mom, will the slob come out of this? And will it ever be normal again?"

Thank goodness "slob" dries, or we would all be one soggy mess over here.

Normal? Well, that is a question for another day...

Hoping to get a post up soon, but between homeschool continuing, coop classes starting, speech therapy resuming, L's preschool beginning, flag football, swimming lessons, gym and swim, Awana and a birthday week to plan- I am out of time!

Quote

Deacon and I had gone out on a hunt for Star Wars fabric with which to make Roman a birthday present. We were unsuccessful, and upon finding that out Deacon exclaimed, "Why would you even HAVE a store that did not sell Star Wars stuff?"

I don't know man, I really don't know.

6 Months

Our baby girl is now 6 months. It has flown by and we can't imagine life without her. It is so fun to have a baby for the older kids to enjoy, and their enthusiasm over everything she does makes me experience every coo and movement in a whole new way.

I love all my kids, but I feel like I have been able to enjoy her the most. Deacon got a lot of attention, being the first, but I was a new mom in the middle of a move and I was a little obsessive about things at times :) I was so worried about Roman's reflux and his breathing all the time and so busy with 2 that I don't even really remember his babyhood. Lincoln was thrown into the mix and I remember even less about his infant stage. But Berean? I am really relaxed about her and I am just loving having a baby.

Have I mentioned that I love babies?

So here is a quick update:

*Cloth diapering. I cloth diaper during the day when we are home and use disposables at night and when we go out. It is a perfect combination to me. I love using the cloth, but I feel no guilt over taking a day off if I feel like it. My mom made me a bunch of all in ones and Noah really likes those :) And so do I.

*We have started Berean on some rice cereal and bananas. Sometimes she likes it and sometimes she doesn't.

*She gets up on all fours and rocks. She rolls. She likes to eat paper.

*She got her first tooth this week!

* I have no stats because I haven't taken her for her 6 month check up yet. I suppose I should make an appointment.

*She is sitting up to play now and seems to like that

*She is still sleeping well. She sleep from about 7:30-5:00 on average. Then she eats and goes back to sleep until about 7:30. She sleeps longer when Noah is the only one home. I think she somehow knows when I am not there. Sometimes she wakes up in the middle of the night, but we let her cry and she just goes back to sleep. Then she naps from about 9:30-10:00 and again for 2-3 hours in the afternoon. If she has an early afternoon nap she will maybe conk out for another 15 minutes or so later in the afternoon.

In non Berean news, we still haven't heard back from the insurance about the speech therapy appeal. We were supposed to hear 5 days ago and haven't. I called them today and it is still in process. I am not sure what that means and what the consequence of them not having our appeal done by the "deadline" is. I will look into that I guess if it is a less than favorable outcome, but I guess for now I will let it play out.

Being a Mother of Boys

We started homeschooling in these parts this week.

I called my mother and apologized for all the moaning, groaning and wailing that I did during my own homeschooled years.

It has been going pretty well. We start school at 0830 and are able to finish everything by 1130 with a couple 15 minute breaks. It may get longer as time goes on, but for now everything that needs to get done is getting done, so that is ok with me. We have been spending our afternoons playing games, doing puzzles, playing with legos and going to the Y or the park for recess/PE.

Next week we start some "classes" at a homeschool organization, swimming, football, awana, Gym and swim, private speech therapy and phonological preschool one day a week for Lincoln.

But this post isn't about homeschooling.

It is about manipulative little girls.

Yesterday we went to the "far away" park. Basically it is the park that is a mile away versus 3 blocks. There were a lot of other kids there- mostly girls. My boys started playing with the girls and after some initial instruction by one of the "girl mothers", "No, you have to let the boys play." and some whispered instructions from the "boy mother", "Don't you dare pull down your pants and pee in the woods". They were off and running.

They were penguins, they were pandas, they were children and some of them were hamsters. They were camping, they were hunting- and all in one small grove of trees with paths.

I noticed all the of the girls running out of the woods and playing elsewhere at one point. The woods were suddenly silent. I ventured over to find my boys. They were sitting on logs in the middle of the trees. Silent and appearing bored.

"what's up?" I asked.

"That older girl told us that we had to stay in this room until morning." Deacon reported.

A million thoughts ran through my head. I grew up with sisters. No elementary/preschool age girl would get away with telling another one to "stay in this room until morning". Either the girl would have super powers to get out of the fake room or would go running to their mom.

But my straight forward boys who actually pretend to die when they are "killed", had apparently accepted this "older girl" as the alpha dog and were willing to play her way.

"You don't have to do what she says, you know". My leftover 2nd grade girl came to the forefront and I couldn't keep my mouth shut. "Besides, this isn't even a room. Nothing is keeping you in".

The game went on and my boys were sad to leave. Sad and clamoring to come back today.

So we went back. And the girls came back.

Then came the moment I knew would come. The innocent looking, big blue eyed girls came out of the woods with sticks. I knew my boys would be close behind. And they were.

Some of the girls were poised to fight. Some of the other girls were crying.

I approached the boys. I reminded them that they were playing with girls.

"The girls wanted to play war," Deacon said. "They are the ones who picked up the sticks first."

But the girls have stick wars with their Daddies. And their Daddies love them and look out for them.

My boys are masters with stick swords and if someone challenges them with a stick, they are ready. They were born ready. And if someone opens a game of war, well that is an open invitation (in their minds) for, well, WAR.

One of the other mothers and I stepped in and tried to make it work. When it became clear that it wasn't going to work, we ended the war.

The play went on. I saw 2 little girls plotting to get this large log. A few minutes later they came running by holding it. Next thing I knew Deacon was running out of the woods with a new stick. I approached him because obviously I didn't want him threatening girls with sticks. Tears were streaming down his face. "They tricked me, Mom. Those girls came and said they wouldn't take anything from my campsite, and then they did."

And the 2nd grade girl still in my got a little riled up over my innocent son being lied to.

I told him that it is never any fun to be lied to, but that he needed to let it go.

And he did. Some of the older girls came over and negotiated a new deal with him and mediated the log conflict between him and the log stealers.

It was at that point that I chose to leave. I always try to leave when things are happy and positive versus when there are tears.

I love my boys.

Staying in a Tipi. Or a Teepee.

Normally I wouldn't post so many pictures of a camping trip, but we were staying in a tipi. Which makes it slightly more interesting, doesn't it?

The floors were wood, not dirt

It was slightly cold.

And very buggy.

We did some geocaching.

Some members of the party (I want say names, just initials - Deacon and Roman)

quit before we achieved success.

Berean ended up here in the morning- both mornings, I might add.

Even though she started out up there in her bed, high above the rest of us.

Karla bringing in more stuff

Berean on the move. Only she doesn't actually crawl, she just gets in position.

Our Tipi.

See the fly on Berean's head? That was the story of the trip. Flies, flies, flies.

(we did get it off of her)

The boys amused themselves by taking pictures

In the back of the van.

All the way home.

There was a lot to delete.

The end.

Gotta Document

These people crack me up all day long:



The neighbor kid was over and he was talking to the baby. She was smiling, of course, because that is what she does. Deacon said, "Todd, she sure has taken a shine to you!"



where, oh where, did he hear that?



Today Deacon and I were reading a book. He made some comment about a word and I explained something that was apparently not what he was asking about. He said, "no Mom, I was referring to this word."



I love that he uses words like "referring" and I credit his Dad for his vocabulary.

Roman was describing a picture he saw of Jabba the Hutt. "He was blue, Mom. TOTALLY Blue."

"Totally?!" I responded, trying to match his enthusiasm.

He gave me a sideways look. "That means that he was ALL blue."

Thanks, Roman.

The other day I set Berean on the bed and turned to grab her clothes. She flipped herself over and slid off the bed. I saw it happen but wasn't quick enough to prevent it. She had a smile on her face, thinking it was a ride, until she hit the floor.

I walked downstairs with her and announced that Berean had fallen off the bed. Here is the conversation:

Me: "Well, guys, Berean just fell off the bed. I can't believe that she fell on MY watch."

Deacon (who did not look like he had been paying attention, suddenly perked up when he heard those words): "What, MOM? Do you mean to tell me that Berean fell off the bed when you were responsible for her?"

Me: "Yes, Deacon, she fell while she was my responsibility."

Deacon: "But Mom, didn't you put her in the middle of the bed- after all, the middle of the bed is the safest place for babies"

Me: "I know it is the safest place for babies, but I did not put her in the middle of the bed."

Deacon: "You mean that you put her on the edge of the bed?!?!? The edge of the bed is NOT a safe place for babies because they can fall off. Why didn't you put her in the middle of the bed which IS a safer place for a baby?"

Need I go on? He has been paying more attention to what I have been saying than I suspected.

And the jokes continue:

Deacon made up a new one (I am sure this isn't the first time it has been made up, but I don't think he has heard it anywhere). "What does a cat read in the morning?" A: "A catalog!"


Of course Noah had to jump in on the fun with his own brainmade joke: "What is a mushroom's favorite section of the paper?" "the spore-ts section".

---

I had started this post earlier and never finished it. We are now back from family camp where a good time was had my all. News to report:

*Berean's first tooth erupted. The reason I know this? I saw it in her mouth.
*We finally convinced Roman that he doesn't need his training wheels
*Deacon jumped off of the diving board into the lake and practiced diving off the raft
*Lincoln said Qui Gon Jing. Sort of.
*Noah was playing softball and hit a ball so far it landed in the middle of the volleyball court and almost landed on a small child.
*I put my hair in a ponytail because I forgot my hairbrush.
*Men do puzzles in a very strange way

Tuesday will be the day for new beginnings:
*start of the school year
*implementing earli(er) rising
*reimplementing strict exercise
*Berean will begin eating more than rice cereal
*I will begin the process of buying a new wardrobe. Maybe.

The Younger Two

My sister-in-law took these pictures at the restaurant after church on Sunday!

It was Berean's Dedication Day.

Lincoln enjoyed a little ice cream.

Berean didn't, but at least she stayed clean!