Helen's latest

I think what can be said about Helen, is that she really knows what she wants in life.

She is a little fashionista, choosing her clothes and hairstyle every day. This usually involves something pink, many accessories, and her tutu.

She can write her name and now she puts her name on absolutely EVERYTHING!

She has the letters down but they don't always come out in quite the right order. So we've had HEEN and HEEL and HLLEN but fortunately it hasn't come out as h-e-double hockey sticks, yet.

Helen continues to be a classic girly girl which is so funny because I never was. She is deep in a My Little Pony phase right now. I recently gave her mine that I had when I was little- when she opened the box up and saw the ponies and related toys she said in hushed tones "oh my goodness..." I think they have already gotten more use than they did in my childhood!

this one, I think, is going to be trouble

George has learned to tell knock-knock jokes... so Thomas immediately started saying "na-na!" and laughing hysterically.

He'll "comb" his hair with his fork and crack himself up at the joke. Even funnier when the fork has tomato sauce or peanut butter on it.

Here's a picture documenting something we'll just refer to as "the Nutella incident."

Thomas has also become quite the pro at conning rides from big brother and big sister.

I mean really, who can say no to a cute little face like that?

two scenes

Sunday, after church.

I decided to make a big lunch including eggs and bacon. The sizzling bacon got a bit smoky and set off the fire alarms (for the first time in the new house). It was kind of a shock because not only did these fancy things whistle and shriek, there was also a mechanical voice saying FIRE... FIRE... FIRE... FIRE. George was seriously concerned and ran around in tears with his hands over his ears (later he explained that he was worried it might be an *invisible* fire). Even when the commotion was over he was still shaken up.

He announced "I am going to make a sign for the front door that says NO BACON ALLOWED."

And then, after a moment to reflect on the tragic wasteland that would be a world bereft of bacon, George said "actually I will make a sign that says NO BACON ALLOWED, UNLESS YOU COOKED IT AT YOUR OWN HOUSE."


Thursday, while making dinner

5 pm has proven to be a tragic hour on many days. It is just unimaginable how much trouble the kids can get into while I'm taking 10 minutes to boil up some pasta, for example.

Today I really thought they were handling themselves. I vaguely recall George swooping by at some point saying "ok Mommy, we are going to fly up into the sky and go on a cloud!" But at that time of day I am pretty well focused on getting something to put on the table by 5:30 and ignore anything short of smoke, blood, or broken glass.

Thomas started wailing hard. I look out on the deck, and see:

a) a kite, tossed over the edge of the deck,
b) with the string wound under and over and all around a tricycle,
c) George and Helen sitting on the tricycle, awaiting liftoff,
d) and the tail end of the string wound several times tightly around Thomas' feet *and neck* as he stood right behind struggling to free himself.

!!!!

postscript: Later I was telling Tim of their exploits, and mentioned that I wasn't sure if lashing Thomas on behind was part of the plan or just incidental to him likely tripping over everything while they were winding the string around the trike. George piped right up and said "oh yes, that was part of the plan!"

the food pyramid, according to Thomas

"apoo" = any fruit
"krakra" = cracker/bread product
"keekee" = anything in the cookie/pastry family
"pup" = a drink
"chsss" = cheese
"puhbmmm" = peanut butter (He has rather a hard time saying it, but anytime he so much as overhears the word in conversation he rushes into the pantry and emerges, beaming, bearing the sacred plastic jar aloft.)

Note the lack of word for vegetables... with these words he can pretty much "order up" anything he is really interested in eating.

George is 5

And the same day, he was pestering us about when he gets to start school... slow down, kid!

He's mostly just really excited about riding the school bus. Me, I'm excited for someone else to answer some of his intense crazy questions about how things work. All this googling of electromagnetic fields in the pre-coffee hours of morning is getting to be a bit much! His latest thing is the energy crisis. He is quite concerned about what we will do when we run out of oil... but he has two solutions in mind (1) just use batteries, and (2) tie together a WHOLE LOT of fireflies.

2012 kid update

George, George, George. I have many, many pictures like this. This particular shot is on Christmas. He opened this book first and then all but refused to open any more presents. We were shaking enticing wrapped boxes under his nose and he really just wanted to be left alone to read. In the end he opened presents sort of to the side without taking his eyes off the book. We're already sincerely praying for his kindergarten teacher... the questions he asks! He sort of never grew out of the why? stage. Recently he got a couple of stitches after a nasty fall. Even while being poked and prodded he was asking through his tears "but why does the stinging medicine make it not hurt? how does it work? how do you make that kind of medicine?"

And here's our second born- 3 years old going on 15. In her Dr. Jekyll moments, she loves to be a helper, to clean and organize things, to make sure everyone has what they need. She has been often known to share her cookies and other treats with her little brother. But then Mr. Hyde pops up... eek. When that happens every sentence starts with "but I don't WANT to etc. etc. etc." This ranges from I don't want to get dressed to I don't want to eat a snack to I just want everybody to leave me alone, I don't want ANYTHING *door slam*. People had told me 3 was tougher than 2 and I never understood that with my easygoing oldest boy. Now I get it.

And last but certainly not least, Thomas! This picture sort of epitomizes him at this age. Constant, constant motion. Huge, huge smile. He fights all day long to stay in the scrum with the big kids. He wants to eat what they eat, play what they play, be where they are. Thomas has a whole lot of words already, more than the other two had by this age. I think he just knows he'll have to be able to talk to get what he wants in this crowd! He has some cute and funny little quirks- he LOVES his toothbrush, and he often walks around the house carrying it and has even slept with it a few times. He insists on eating with a fork, for everything, including toast and peanut butter sandwiches. And right now his absolute favorite thing is something he calls daddEEEEE...

Christmas 2012

We had a lovely relaxing trip to Wisconsin for Christmas. Not very eventful because most of us (except, miraculously, Tim) had a terrible, terrible cold. But we did make cookies...

Open a few gifts...

Eat a big Christmas breakfast...

And just generally savor the moments.