Just So

8yo is curled up at the end of the gameroom couch reading Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling. 7yo is next to him eating popcorn by grabbing it with a chip clip out of the bowl and putting it in his mouth.

A dead lizard

8yo came in today and told me his 6yo brother was touching a dead lizard. It’s been a rough week and my 4mo baby has been sick since Friday, so I was resting on the couch while baby was napping. So I said that was fine – that everyone should just wash their hands when they come in. All kids play with dead lizards, right? Since, like, the beginning of the world, right? So I kept my eyes shut and didn’t get up.

A few seconds later 8yo came in pulling 6yo and griping at him to wash his hands. He also had 5yo in train. 6yo was protesting and 8yo was explaining that mom said everyone had to wash his hands. I was tired so I just listened! They got to the bathroom and 8yo was still admonishing 6yo to wash his hands in a very stern voice. I heard the water running in the sink, and apparently 6yo was complying because the next thing I heard was 5yo crying that she didn’t get to be first to wash her hands! So there they were, poor 6yo, who had been minding his own business with the dead lizard, torn from what he wanted to do and washing his hands obediently against his will, 8yo griping and forcing 6yo and 5yo to do something for their own good (although unnecessary), and 5yo crying and complaining about something as silly as the order in which they were doing it.

Then I thought, Is this how God sees us? It’s easy to chuckle at these kids acting like this, but are they really that different from grown-ups? We just do it in different ways about different things, but it’s basically the same.

I wanna be like you, Mom

That’s what my 5yo said to me today. She just said it out of the blue when I was giving her some orange juice. That really made my day. It’s been a crazy several weeks, and I haven’t been the funnest mom in the world. Today I’ve been tired and cranky. But she said that to me, and it made things a lot better.

I told her I wanted to be like her. She laughed and kissed my cheek. “You wanna be like a kid?” I told her that I’d never seen anyone so able to have fun as she is. And that she has limitless energy. That most of the time when I’m frustrated with her it’s because I just can’t keep up with her. She said, “Yeah only kids have energy.” I agreed and she said, “How much energies does grown-ups have? Only one energy? Two energies? Five?” Now how do you answer that?

Friends

Preschool Picnic

It was rainy.

8 years old

You know its going to be a great birthday when your 2yo brother throws a rock at your head and you have to go get stitches.

8yo loves China, so for his birthday we went to see the Terra Cotta Warriors at HMNS. 6yo and a neighbor came along, too. Here they are doing their warrior poses in front of the exhibit entrance. No photo taking was allowed, but it was a great exhibit. 8yo loved it.

After the exhibit we went to eat at China Bear. Here we are are feeding the fish at their koi pond.

Singing Happy Birthday.

A little help opening presents.

We love China.

3 years old

We had a quick party in the morning and then went camping for 3yo’s birthday. I could not get this kid to smile for anything!

Preschool Day 2

We started the day watering the broccoli plants and talking about corn. Why corn? Why not? We talked about how it came from Mexico and now its grown and eaten all over the world. So we put a corn kernel in the window to sprout and made cornmeal cookies. Then we blew up balloons, played with them a long time, and some of us got around to drawing the world on them and making a globe.

Then we painted caterpillar puppets.

We started with several colors to choose from, but they all ended up with black caterpillars in the end. Kids like to mix paint. And put a lot of paint on. We have to let these dry and finish putting on their faces next week.

All Dressed Up…

…and nowhere to go! 4yo came downstairs all dressed up one day. She does that often, but its usually princess stuff. This time she looked stylish, so I took her picture to remember.

Notice the camo hat with sequin headband and pink backpack.

And that great scarf!

Tennis