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.