Our Local Harvest

just picked from our backyard garden...a truly "local" harvest :)

sugar snap peas, early radishes, dragon tongue beans and the last of the raspberries

farmer B - very proud of what he has grown!

Dinner Talk and More

C: Mom, why is Jake [our very old dog] dying?
Me: Jake is very old and his body is tired. One day his body will stop working and then he will die.
C: What if his body stops working while we're taking a shower?
Me: I don't think that will happen but I really do not know when he'll die. He might go to sleep one night and not wake up or he might get very sick and we'll have to take him to the doctor and he might die there...
C: Another [dinner] roll please.

What kind of transition is that?!?!

This is the nature of all our conversations these days. Very serious questions, me trying to be as honest as possible while still age appropriate, them moving on to something completely insignificant and unrelated...it's kind of funny and a little un-nerving too :)

Also, God really is the maker of all things as noted by H in this recent exchange in the car:

B: Why does green mean go and red mean stop?
Me: I don't know but we always stop for red and go for green
B: And slow down for yellow
Me: Yes, we slow down for yellow
H: Well, God made it like that! (this was said in a tone that implied - DUH, Don't you guys know anything?)

Vocabulary Continued

As I handed out bottles of water to take with us to the playground yesterday, B proudly let me know that he was being very respectful for his water today. Helping another child and checking off my mental list of what we needed, I thought I'd misunderstood and asked him to repeat himself. "I'm being respectful for my water"...what? And then I realized what he meant. We have had multiple conversations about being respectful and responsible (as in for your own stuff - Mommy cannot possibly keep track of and carry everything!), though not necessarily at the same time. When I asked him if he meant that he was being responsible for his water he looked at me like "duh" and said (in a tone indicating the "duh"), "yes, I am being responsible for my water".

While picking the boys up from school today, B rushed out to greet me exclaiming that he had caught "so many holy molies today"...the translation for that would be roly polies (aka pill bugs). His teacher had a good laugh at that, as did I.

Vocabulary Lessons Part 2

After dinner last night, B climbed in my lap. I gave him a kiss and then squeezed him in a bear hug to which he responded, Do Not Do That Mom! I'm trying to vibrate my food! After a few clarifying questions, we determined that he meant digest when he said vibrate.

A few more common phrases with words that get mixed up:

There's a mustache in my eye! (instead of eyelash)

I want to wear my invisible shorts today. (he means reversible)

Really, we laugh a lot around here...

Vocabulary Lessons

Yesterday morning, approximately 7 AM

B: stomp, stomp, huff, snort - I do Not want to go to school today
Me: Why not?
B: I do not want to go because school is boring!
Me: Really? (a mix of disbelief at both the allegation and his use of this word that to my knowledge has never been uttered in our home)
B: SCHOOL IS BORING, and I don't like it (loud voice)
Me: What is boring about school?
B: Pause, deep thought
Me: B, what does the word boring mean?
B: Very loud sigh, stomp, look of defeat, gets dressed as he realizes he is so busted because he has no idea what boring means but it seemed like it might get him out of going to school when he initiated the conversation.

This morning, same time

B: I don't want to go to school. It makes me nervous.
Me: What does nervous mean?
B: On the verge of tears (the angry kind) - lots more stomping and a loud I DON"T KNOW BUT IT MAKES ME NERVOUS!!!
Me: trying not to laugh at his frustration, sorry Buddy, let's eat breakfast, it's almost time to go to school...

I should clarify that B has never had a problem about going to school and still does not. He loves school. C, on the other hand, has legitimate anxiety about it. The last few days, C has been very distraught about going to school and we are trying very hard to figure out why while comforting and assuring him that we still love him when he is not with us, that Miss Laura (his teacher) loves him too and that his little brain needs good stuff in it to grow just like his body needs food. His teacher assures us that he is fine all day and I have witnessed this myself as I observed in the classroom last week. The psych 101 of this situation is better saved for another post. Just wanted to point out that we are not disregarding any legitimate issues on B's part...he is simply trying to get in on the action and experimenting with new vocabulary - leading to a lot of internal laughter (and eye rolling) on my end.

I'm Still Here

But I have not been able to blog in awhile. Partly because I have been on my own for long stretches of time as this is the busiest time of year for Kelly and he is traveling more than usual. And partly because I have so much to write about - or at least to think about - that I do not know where to begin and am uncertain if these are things I want to share in such a public arena. So, I have not disappeared from this blog but am wrestling with what it is that I want from it and really short on time. In the meantime, I will try to keep posting pictures of and stories about the boys. There's always entertainment in the words of these little nuts and I'd like to remember it later - when I can use it against them :)

Here's an exchange we had in the car recently (I'd just put in a CD):

B: Is this Bob Marley?
Me: yes
B: Is Bob Marley in Heaven? (we have already had a previous discussion about BM no longer being alive - that was fun)
Me: I'm not sure - maybe
B: Is he playing music in Heaven?
Me: I think probably yes
B: Why is he always playing music?
Me; Because he has a gift. He is a very gifted musician. Everyone has gifts. Something you are very good at and that you love is a gift. If you can do something you love well then you will always be happy (or something to that effect - I was totally making this up on the fly)
B: I have a gift
Me: What's your gift?
B: Yep, I have a music gift too. My favorite instrument is the guitar and I am really good at it.
Me: Really? (He has never played the guitar)
B: Yes, the air guitar - I am really good at that and I love it - it's my gift

Monday Memory - Baby B

under the lights for jaundice treatment (aka the tanning bed)

Birth Day

first bath (2 days old)

3 1/2 years old (at the beach last summer)

One of the things I remember about B is how laid back he always seemed in the hospital. Honestly, had he not been hooked up to a monitor I woud have been checking for a pulse. The first to progress to room air and an open bed, he seemed to coast through the checklist of things he needed to accomplish in order to come home. The majority of his time in the nursery was spent getting bigger. And he did this well. Not the biggest (length or weight) at birth, he very soon overtook his brothers in both. Still at least an inch taller and a few pounds heavier than H or C, he is often mistaken for the older brother of twins. B's was the first diaper that Kelly ever changed - in his life. Through the arm holes of an isolette, it was no easy task. He (B) was the first of my babies that I bathed. Two days after his birth, I walked (very, very slowly) into the NICU and his nurse was just getting ready to bathe him. She asked if I wanted to do it - of course, I said yes. He was so tiny! Once the boys came home, there was a period of time that I wondered if this was the same baby. Always easy going at the hospital, B was our colic baby at home. His lungs got lots of exercise in those early weeks and I was more than a little scared of what was to come. Just like in the nursery, he has continued to thrive. He is the healthiest kid I know. And this brings me to another memory that is heart breakingly sweet and was a revelation to me just how much each of my little boys needs to feel special in his own right. H and C have had their share of chronic health concerns. Asthma and allergies kept us very busy with appointments to various specialists in addition to the pediatrician. Both have had multiple visits to urgent care and the ER as well. B, on the other hand, has been to the pediatrician maybe 3 times outside of well checks in all of his 4 years. So we're sitting in the kitchen one evening not long after one of the other boys had been to urgent care for something I can't even remember and B falls off the stool at the counter. I should note here that he's a bit dramatic about everything so hysteria over a stubbed toe is common. On this night, he hurt his finger. After attempting to comfort him and asking him a series of questions about where it hurt, having him squeeze my hand, feeling around, he was still pretty fired up. He insisted that he needed to go to the doctor. Alone. With me. And I realized that in his mind, every time I left with one of his brothers to go to a doctors appointment, that child was spending time alone with Mommy and he was not. So to the doctor we went - sort of. It was after hours and I seriously doubted this needed urgent care but I did not have the heart to tell him we were not going anywhere together. So I offered a stop for dinner in the way. We had a wonderful "date" at a local restaurant without a hint of pain in the finger. As we got back in the car, I mentioned that I thought he was going to be okay and maybe we should go on home. It was a lesson I keep with me as these little babies have become little boys. And the inspiration for dates with Mom (and Dad) that we try to plan with each child individually as often as schedules allow. B is still a little dramatic though these days it is more imaginative. He tells amazing stories with great detail and he is one of the coolest kids I know!

shenanigans

If you cannot tell by the photo, the string to this balloon (which is weighted) is through the inside of the 2nd story foyer chandelier. C will not stop saying Mommy, peeeeze, I want my buh-yoon back right now! Not happenin'!!!

Oops!

Playing Go Fish this afternoon, B was one card away from winning. He asked H if he had an 8 to which H responded Go Fish. B took a card from the deck, glanced at it briefly and exhaled loudly before saying "it's a 7, ah crap!". Clear as day. No mistaking it for another word. I do recognize that my response was not appropriate but I could not stop laughing. Of course, he joined in the laughter. I attempted, while wiping away tears and trying (unsuccessfully) to regain my composure, to let him know that crap is not a nice word and I did not want to hear him say that anymore. B's response: "Why do you say it then?".

Oops!

Olympic Hopeful

B is convinced that he is a "wicked cool snowboarder" - he tells us about all his tricks as we watch a snowboard DVD...the promise of going snowboarding on a "big mountain" when he is 6 years old keeps him motivated. It's good to believe in your dreams!