Towers and Bridges and Mud (oh my)

One more odds n' ends post, and then I'll be caught up!

Mary was super proud of her ability to engineer a lego tower taller than her. She's holding on to it for the picture, but it stood on it's own just fine. The first one she built fell, then she realized it needed a sturdier base, and this one lasted quite a while (mostly due to the fact that Edie was sleeping).

Speaking of Edie... I'm trying really hard not to pigeonhole her into a particular role, as she is only 13 months old and much will change, but at this moment she is by far the most aggressive and extroverted baby we've had. Maybe instead of saying aggressive, we should say she knows how to advocate for herself to get what she needs. When it comes to food, this usually means going to the cupboard, selecting a bowl or plate, and presenting it to you. All fine and well. Except if you don't have food on that plate in .3 seconds, she will launch it at your head and fall face down on the floor and sob. Maybe she just likes food a lot?

I could make a whole entire blog just documenting Mary's fashion creations, but this one particularly struck me the other day: two skirts, one poncho-as-apron, and a double scarf hair design.

Mary's creative genius benefits her siblings as well. She and Catherine were cutting out paper snowflakes, when she accidentally made one that looked a little like a mask. She was delighted, so she made a few more and stapled some elastic around the back. She gave one to Michael, who colored his blue. He is wearing his long underwear that Grandma gave him that look a little like lizard camoflage, with his snow overalls over that (the kids have all been wearing their snow overalls for a week straight - no idea why), with a blue snowflake mask, holding a cardboard oar that goes with the canoe we made out of a large box. How can you not love this kid?

The kids begged to stay after Mass last Sunday to help decorate the church for Christmas. They all proved to be able to provide actually helpful help, carrying statues and puzzling together trees and arranging flowers and fluffing blows and hanging garlands. Edie had a different role. She mostly stole cookies, tried to climb in the manger, tried to scatter a stack of papers all over, and found as many little hiding spots as she could. At one point I thought I had really lost her for moment, when I found her tucked happily behind the lectern.

She also tried to oversee hanging the garland evenly on the choir loft, but I'm not sure she succeeded.

There is a 100% chance of rain and thunderstorms today, and tomorrow, and the next day. We're talking inches upon inches of rain. This happened after only one quick downpour a few days ago, so I'm guessing they're going to build an actual swimming hole by the end of the weekend.

Oh, back to Mary's creations. [Yes, I know this post is all over the place. It gives you a little feel of how things operate around here.]

Mary bounced into the kitchen and asked if she could use an egg carton. About half an hour later, she had this little bride and groom. I asked her if she had seen this craft idea somewhere and she told me it just came out of her head.

Catherine isn't quite so keen on playing in the muddy downpours, but she finds lots of ways to stay active inside. Here the boys had to wait for the Catherine draw bridge to go up so they could sail under, after deliverying the appropriate password, of course.

How about one more wrap picture, just because? Sometimes I think the light in our house is terrible and everything is dark and sad, but when the sun is really shining on a winter afternoon it angles right into the front window and makes everything warm and happy. Or at least it makes me warm and happy. So do baby heads and baby toes.

Edie Bug Catch-Up

Have you noticed the slew of blog posts today? I'm trying desperately to catch up on posting all the pictures languishing in my "November" and "December" folders so that I might actually manage to take and post pictures from the week of Christmas celebrations coming up. So here is a little montage of Edie pictures that don't fit anywhere else.

There are a lot of wrap pictures involved here. I got a delivery of a run of custom woven wraps several weeks ago, and have been wearing and taking pictures of the extras so I can sell them. Edie didn't want to be wrapped on this particular day, but she was very enthusiastic about playing peek-a-boo with the wraps.

Different day. Edie has been on a schedule of waking up at about 5 each morning, then taking a long nap mid-morning and another around dinner. This means a lot of wrap naps.

And general wrap snuggle time.

Totally random - just playing outside happily at some point.

I realized that I never posted about Edie's first birthday celebration that we had in conjunction with Thanksgiving at Grandma's house, and it seems to be because I have no pictures so I forgot about it. I was going to get pictures of Edie staring wide-eyed at everyone as they sang happy birthday to her, and trying in vain to figure out what she was supposed to do with the candle, and clapping when everyone clapped after a sibling or two helped her with the candle situation, but she wouldn't let anyone hold her but me so no camera.

We stuck her candle in an apple pie and then let her have a slice with whipped cream. I think she ate a bite or two, but she was much more interested in stabbing it repeatedly with her fork until little pieces started flying about the kitchen.

I wanted to test run my camera remote before using it to take big family photos at Grandma's because I hadn't used it in a while, and Gussie wanted to help me. Snuggle babies.

I think this picture made it to facebook but not to the blog, so here it is for posterity. This is how I feel every morning when she wakes up long before the sun. It's definitely one of those situations where you're glad they're so cute that you can't really get angry at them.

Sheep and Trains in the Garden

Any December where we can take a morning visit to Shaw's gardens with only sweaters or light jackets is fine with me! Whenever we drive to the gardens (which is rare, but on this morning we were meeting friends and running way late), we have to park far enough out in the parking lot that we can walk over this bridge, no matter how many closer spots are available. Edie seems to concur with Gussie's demands on this matter.

We pottered all around the gardens and listened to a few Christmas stories in one of the houses, but I only have a few pictures. We can't go by the sheep without a quick ride. Actually, in this instance we were on our way to the house for story time and Edie saw the sheep in the distance and just took off across the grass to get there. She might not say any words yet, but that doesn't stop her in the least from doing, getting, and telling you exactly what she wants.

That picture is really a bit deceiving. Sheep play time usually looks more like this (with a few friends added in the mix and Edie sleeping on my back this time).

Before we left, we had to pop into the train show. I was worried that the boys would not like the train show because they wouldn't be able to touch or play with the trains, but I was wrong - they loved it. Gussie requested a picture with his favorite train, the one with a horse trailer.

Michael chose the same train as his favorite.

Right outside the train show room was this huge train painting on the wall. Gussie wanted his picture with that as well, and Edie, true to form at the moment, took advantage of his distraction and stole his paper and clipboard the second he walked away. She has a special mission to make his life miserable at the moment.

Dirt and Dancing (Videos!)

You know how it's been warm and rainy and nothing at all like December lately? The kids are loving it, obviously. My washing machine: not so much.

 In an attempt to get to the sidewalk before I could stop her, Edie went trotting at her top speed toward the little hill that goes from the yard down to the sidewalk. A step over the slope, her feet slipped out from under her and she slid halfway down the hill on her back. I assumed she was going to be angry and perhaps even deterred from trying that escape route again, but I was wrong. She laughed and laughed, lying on her back and kicking her feet, then flipped over, clawed her way back up the hill, and did it again. She never managed to replicate the good slide a second time, so she was content with falling down and scooching, rolling, or flopping down the hill.

 

That was the dirt (clearly), here is the dancing. Every evening we have music on during dinner. Edie loves music. She usually lasts between 30 seconds and 3 minutes at the dinner table, then she wants down, and she runs into the living room and dances. She has three basic moves right now: spinning, stomping one foot, and swaying.

 

A Primer on Chores

Edie is a 13 month old climbing machine. She can climb any steps. She can climb onto her high chair, and from her high chair to the table. She can climb onto the couch, into Gussie's bed, and up the ladder on the playground.

She can also push a stool around and climb onto it. While I was making dinner, she had the brilliant idea to help me put away the dishes. She pushed the stool over to the jenga pile of clean dishes and climbed up, but all she could reach (with a good stretch) was the silverware at the edge.

So she picked up the first piece she could get, a spatula, and threw it on the floor. Then went a wooden spoon, and some forks, and a whisk.

This is one of her favorite games right now, the emptying and throwing of things. But to her credit, I only had to show her about half a dozen times how to put silverware in the open silverware draw right next to her before she started throwing them in the drawer instead of on the floor.

Then she ran out of silverware she could reach in the sink and started emptying the silverware drawer, at which point I took away her stool. I had to actually make dinner at some point!

St Lucia

The girls' and boys' clubs at church celebrated the feast of St. Lucy with a special procession. We have no particular connection to St. Lucy, but when traditional celebrations of her feast day include a candle lit wreath worn on your head, handing out sweet rolls and treats, and Star Boys, it's taylor made for kids to get involved and excited, and it's fun.

Only one of the older girls wears a candle lit wreath, but everyone else gets to hold candles while we process and sing.

Mary was excited about her candle.

 Michael tried to hide from me, but he had a lot of fun in his Star Boy hat, and playing with fire.

After starting in church, Michael led the procession out the back doors, because if you have candles it makes sense to process outside in the dark! (And if you're wondering about his hat, it's called a biretta, and yes, it has a pom on top.)

Catherine and Mary were also very happy about their sparkly wreath crowns.

Gussie wanted to hold a candle so I lit one for him, but after a minute he interupted my picture taking and said, "Mom, please take this. It's burning my face off."

We finished the procession in another building with a final song and some treats. Michael often manages to avoid my camera and not make many appearances on the blog, but here he is being thoroughly entertained by the kids, and vice versa.

Edie, well, Edie is now tall enough to stretch her little fingers over the edge of most average tables, which means no cookies are safe. (Don't worry, you know that after I snapped this picture I took 90% of those two cookies away from her.)

Michael Monkey Toes

The only surprising thing about this photo is the fact that we lived in this house for more than three years before he decided to try it.

The Particulars of Gussie at Three

Things I want to remember about Gussie right now...

When he wakes up in the morning, he often tells me he is hungry and "drinky".

We just had this conversation, at 9:30pm:
Gussie: What is that noise outside?
Me: Oh, probably crickets, some cicadas...
Gussie: Maybe it was possums.
Me: Maybe, but we don't really hear the possums.
Gussie: Possums are dangerous.
Me: Possums aren't dangerous to people.
G: But they are dangerous to CHICKENS. We have CHICKENS.
Me: Ok, you're right. Possums are dangerous to chickens but that is why we close the chickens up in their coop at night, so they'll be safe. And possums are nocturnal so they don't come out during the day, so the chickens are safe.
G: [thinking]: But how do the possums get out?
M: Possums are wild animals. They are always out.
G: But who are the owners that let the possums out?
M: Ummm... God? Possums are wild. Nobody has to let them out. They come and go whenever they want.
G: But if God shut the gate on the wild animals then they wouldn't be out!
You win, Gussie.

Apparently the thing that really stuck with Gussie from learning to use the potty is how I would remind him to "listen to his tummy" so he would know to stop playing when it was time to use the potty. Now he assumes his "tummy" is the final authority on all things and aims to use this to his advantage. Examples:
"My tummy said it needs to eat a cookie right now."
Ok, that is fairly reasonable. But there's more.
"My tummy says it needs to go to the playground."
"My tummy says you need to read a book to me."
"My tummy says I can have the truck Michael is playing with."

Gussie is currently trying to navigate how to handle situations that don't go his way or don't go as planned. His strategy at the moment is to eschew every and any possibility of personal responsibility. Examples:
Gussie asks me to run around the house circle with him. While we are running, he trips on a rug and falls down. Angrily, "That's why you shouldn't make me run with you!"
Gussie is eating an ice cream cone. A bit drops on his favorite worker-man shirt. Incredulously, "That's why you shouldn't give me ice cream!"
Gussie is playing on the playground at the park. He misses a step and bumps a knee. Aghast, "That's why you shouldn't take me to the playground!"
Gussie is riding his balance bike and slams a bump in the sidewalk... you get the idea.

Gussie's favorite play time activities right now all revolve around construction work. When he is pretending to be a "worker man," he always wears a green shirt and his tool belt. When he is a worker man he only refers to himself in the third person:
"Can you help the worker man put his tool belt on? The worker man needs his screw driver to fix your porch. It's broken. But first the worker man has to get a drink. Can you get the worker man a cup? He's drinky."

Gussie believes that the measure of a man's strength is in his elbows. He was upset for a whole day once because Michael Jr would not admit that Gussie's elbows were bigger than Michael's, no matter how many times Gussie showed Michael his elbows and insisted they were bigger. Go ahead, ask him to show you how strong he is. He'll show you his elbow.

He gives me this face all the time.