First Day of School! Ever!

C's big day went very well. Fortunately, we arrive at the bus stop early as the bus arrived six minutes early. Two other boys from the neighborhood got on at the same time and this gave C confidence to follow them up the steps and onto the bus. He had been telling us for weeks that we was scared of getting on the bus. We called goodbye to him and he turned to wave (see the photo below). Somehow we got through it without any of us bawling all over the place or C hanging onto our legs! It's one of those events in life that you seem to anticipate for so long, with such a mix of emotions and then it's over so quickly. The yellow bus swings around the corner. "There's the bus." The doors open, the kid gets on the bus and has to wait for the people ahead of him to get up the stairs. Then, zip, the bus is off and around the next corner. Probably 30 seconds max.

He brought home some drawings, said they played outside before lunch, and watched "Franklin." For lunch, he had chicken nuggets, chocolate milk, french fries and KETCHUP! As long as they have ketchup, we're okay...

The last few days M has crossed her arms and stuck out her lower lip when she doesn't want to do something. It is quite humorous, nevertheless, it is a sign of what is to come...

One day of school done, somewhere between 13 and 22 years to go. Here's to a long and fruitful voyage!

Happy B-day, C

Today was C's birthday--though he denies it because there were no "candles". The candles and the first eating of the cake were last Saturday when Oma, Opa, Maw Maw, Kristy and Hannah could join us. We had a fun time feeding the animals at the Lazy 5 ranch. C's favorite animal was the ostrich because they came right up to the wagon, put their heads over the railing and ate right out of the buckets.

We had lunch at the Chik-fil-a in Mooreville. The staff was great, allowing us to bring in a cake. They brought the cow (who appreciated the chance to come inside the air conditioning after a few hours waving at cars outdoors). M screamed and giggled with delight at the sight of the cow, but would lean away as he approached. C, who is usually scared of costumed creatures, was full of high-fives for the bovine. The manager allowed C to ring a cow bell and led the patrons in singing Happy Birthday.

After a year of claiming that he would be 5 on his next birthday, when several people asked him today how old he is, he replies "4." When I gave him a look, he revised: "6." Somewhere in there. Math was never my thing either.

M was pleased to receive a visit from Bella in her room today. As Bella left, M followed her. This is not unusual. The twist was her singing the song we use to find C when playing hide and seek (to the tune of Frere Jacques)--and the words were almost clear: "Where is Bella? Where is Bella?"

This will be funny when you're 12

We were scheduled to have the first showing of our house tonight so spent a considerable part of the day recleaning and decluttering an already clean and decluttered house. The showing was 6-7 pm so we went out to dinner. About 6:30, Aunt K calls to say the ADT had called her to say that our security alarm had gone off. T turns to me, "Did you set the alarm on?" Before I can say no, C chimes in enthusiastically "I pushed the button!" Doh! He had wanted to push the button to unlock the car doors and apparently pushed buttons on the other fob as well. I've pushed the buttons on the wrong fob myself so its easy to see how this would happen. Nevertheless...groan...

New words

Most families make a big deal over a child's "first word." This is proving somewhat difficult for us as T and I are unable to reach consensus on the standards for an utterance constituting a word. T counts "da da" as the first word. I reject this because, for a long while, M called any object "da da." I was "da da" but so was C, the neighbor's dog, birds outside, etc. By my reasoning "duck" is the first word--although the uncertainty here is that she isn't refering to a web-footed quacker, but patting her head to play "Duck, duck, goose" (see earlier post). Regardless of which word counts as first, we do agree on the order of the words that have followed: ball, Bela (pronounced Bel-Wa), and most recently, dog. Bela of course is the cat and T is most unhappy that M has said the cat's name before "ma ma". (Despite T's coaching her to say "ma ma". M's response to such coaching is to shake her head no.)

M has discovered where Bela's cat treats are kept in the pantry and when the door is open will grab them, hold them over her head and march to the couch in den--behind which Bela is usually sleeping or hiding--and wave them around. M's logic, I suppose, is that a cat will come to play with a shreeking baby waving a plastic container in hopes that the baby will be able to open the container and provide a yummy cat treat. Genetically a cat, Bela is able to ignore such logic, resist the temptation of a treat, a look at M with mild annoyance ("you woke me up for this. I would pity humans but it's not worth the effort.")

C's new word is girlfriend. He took a fancy to one of the high school girls who taught his class at Vacation Bible School this week. Fri afternoon he drew her a picture. Unfortunately, she wasn't in church this morning for him to deliver it. We asked him why she was his girlfriend. He replied "She's bootiful and she's nice to me." Two excellent reasons! The Vietnamese Valentino is now stateside.

To Shake or To Nod? That is the Question

Ms. M has started to communicate. A few days ago, she started to shake her head "no" in response to questions. Most of the time, we suspect she meant "yes" so we showed her how to nod to say "yes." She seems to get it as now she both nods and shakes and the head movement generally matches the answer we'd anticipate. It's cool to know that she understands what we're saying and is very helpful to be able to get feedback from her.

She's also started to join us in prayers before meals by reaching out to hold our hands. Previously, she would get quiet and would stare at us but would usually withdraw her hand or avoid our attempt to grab her hand. Now she'll actually reach out for our hands.

Despite rarely wearing shoes in her first year, M has developed a shoe fetish. (Dad's editorial comment: OH NO!!! There goes the college fund...) She sees shoes and she sticks her foot out and points her toes, in essense, asking to try them on. She even wants to try on C's shoes, mommy's shoes, daddy's shoes. Her own shoes are either too small or a bit too big and she walks out of them. No matter, she continues on with a shoe on one foot only. Onward and upwards...

Duck, duck...

C likes to play "Duck, duck, goose" and chase me (or be chased by him) around the lower level of the house. M has taken a fancy to it too. When C asks to play, M will get a big grin, pat herself on the head and say "duck, duck." It is really cute. Also cute is her singing, which she does nearly constantly. She started with "Twinkle, twinkle" but now mostly sings "Frere Jacques" which is the tune she and I use (with our revised lyrics) when searching for C during Hide and Seek.

She is now walking (quickly!). She still stumbles but has the gist of it. She mades the loop around the downstairs in little time. If the bathroom door is open, she makes a beeline there as she enjoys splashing her hands in the toilet. Yikes! She had her first serious spill yesterday morning, falling face-first into the corner of the bathroom wall. A huge Goose egg swelled up within a minute. She screamed for a while but seemed to be more upset about us trying to hold an ice pack on her head than the wound itself.

She also has four teeth and a strong preference for feeding herself--even if much of the food ends up on the chair or on the floor... She's starting to drink more from her sippy cuts and less from her bottles, though she also likes to dump the milk out of the cup onto the tray of her chair, the carpet, etc.

At bed time, she and C have been giving her other hugs and kisses. More precisely, C gives M a kiss on the forehead; M piles on top of his torso and tries to wrap her arms around him. Her "kisses" tend to be mini-licks. Tonight, C and M were playing with a neighbor who has a red, battery-powered car. C drove and M rode in the passenger seat and seemed to have the time of her life.

C and I went to the pool at the local Y several times last week. He now puts his face in the water and even dives under the water and under the water sprays in the kiddie pool/fountain area. He also wrote a letter to Oma and Opa last week and was very exited to put it in the mail. When we talked to them on Sunday, he wanted confirmation that they had received his letter.

The Finer Points of Bathing

C and M have enjoyed bathing together for the past few months. We've been using the master bath since it get fit both M's baby tub and C. M, however, has spent more time and effort trying to crawl out of the baby tub and into the main tub than bathing, so we started putting them together in their own bathroom.

Now that she doesn't have to concentrate on planning her escapes from the baby tub, M can observe C's bathtime routine. Last night, I poured liquied soap into C's hands and he rubbed his hands together to create lots o' suds. M rubs her hands together and then on her chest and abdomen as if she's spreading the soap on her body. Then C puts suds on his face and uses his fingers to "shave" (now we're on second degree of imitation). M rubs her palms on her cheeks and then dips her hands in the water, then back to her face. Then she puts her hands onthe top of her head and makes circular motions as if she is washing her hair. Once I did start to wash her hair, she repeated the motions to assist. All very amusing. Then as I was helping C, M started "washing" the tub wall--one of C's favorite bathtub activities. All very amusing and endearing.

T reports that M has walked 18 steps before "sitting"; 11 is the max so far for me. Making progress. She's also eating almost all adult food now. This morning she broke off half of C's breakfast banana and snarfed it down. C refused to eat most of the rest of the banana since M had touched it, so M finished it too.

Steppin' Out With My Baby

Yesterday Miss M started taking a few steps independently. Four was her longest walk and most were two or three steps. But ya gotta start somewhere. And these were controlled steps with an upright body position, mind you, not legs stumbling to stay under the body of a child propelled by gravity. It will still be a little while before we can claim she's walking, but we're getting closer.

She also has had three teeth pop through in the last week or so. No drooling, no fussing, none of the usual symptoms. T is now claiming that her 9 months of predictions are correct. Nostradamus step aside!

The last few days have been really hot and humid so the kids have been enjoying the pool. The local YMCA has a nice wading pool and splash grounds that good for them get wet. Hopefully they'll be used to the water when we go to the Poconos and they'll be ready to jump right in with the cousins.

Into the Hands of the Lord

"Into the Hands of the Lord." A song fitting for Miss M's baptism.

Many thanks to Miss Laura Nolan who gracefully sang such a moving piece. It truly means so much to us that you have blessed us with the incredible gift of your voice. We also are greatful to our Director of Music Ministries, Annette Nolan, who accompanied Laura on the piano.

Please enjoy. We hope you are as moved by the talents of these two lovely women, and more importantly, the song's message.

Baptism, Birthday and a Bonus

We had a house full today for M's baptism and belated Birthday celebration. We've had the house torn up the last few days for painting, but T made sure the house was all fixed up (except for the spackle marks on the walls). We had burgers, hot dogs, mac 'n cheese, Southern style coleslaw ala Aunt Kiki, and birthday cake. Entertaining pictures of the birthday girl and her first cake below.






Baptism went very well. The look on M's face as Pastor Ward tilted her back to put the water on her head was priceless: with eyes bulging, her expression was "What the !@#$%?" But she didn't cry or scream. Then she adamantly clung onto me rather than being shown off to the congregation by the pastor. When Ward explained to C that we could use the "baptism box" to store momentos of the baptism, including the candle, C objected that it was on fire. We assured him that we would put out the fire before placing the candle in the box. C whispered to me that he had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the baptism. I told him to go to Oma (which he did) and ask her to take him. But then he returned to the font w/o going to the bathroom. So I held my breath for the rest of the ceremony that he would be able to hold it. He did.


C had an end of year musical at preschool last week. He rehearsed his part at home and made T and I sing along and do the "Father Turtle" lines. In practice, his teacher, Miss Lori, used C as an example to the other children of how to say their lines--loudly and distinctly! He had no trouble being heard the night of the musical and even interrupted a few others to give them mid-musical instructions on how to do it correctly.


M has been crawling up and down the stairs. Usually 3 stairs up, turn to check to make sure you're behind her, one down. If the gate is closed, she'll hang on the top of the gate and bounce up and down with her knees, smiling and laughing. She's taking more of an interest in walking while holding an adult's hands. She takes big steps and walks really fast. She can march in a big circle around our downstairs. It won't be too long until we post the "she's walking" post. T also sees (and FEELS!) evidence of one tooth on the bottom gum ready to break through (a somewhat more precise piece of evidence to back up her assertions that M is about ready to teeth--we're in month 7 of those predictions).

Our blog title "and then there were four" will soon become antiquated as baby #3 appears for first time below! But I think we'll keep the title for a while just to prove how little we know... And that explains the painting reference above: if you plan for four and then have 5 in the family, ya' suddenly need more bedrooms and a freakin' minivan!