Likes and Dislikes

Cecily: I like flowers, not poo-poo.

Cecily's Nightmare

Cecily: There was a giant crab chasing me, and he was going to eat me!

Me: Oh, that's scary.

Cecily: Yeah (shortly pronounced and said dramatically with a sigh). 

And there were NO Mommies there in the house!

Me: Oh, I'm sorry.

Cecily: Yeeeeaaaah-uh . . . Oh, and  batman was there!

Me: Really?! Was he there to save you?

Cecily: No! I was saving HIM.

Cecily Pirate

Cecily: [runs into our room]

Mom: Cecily, you need to go to your room. 

Cecily: Call me pirate!

Mom: Cecily, go to your room.

Cecily: Call me pirate!

Mom: Go to your room, pirate!

Cecily: Okay! [Runs to room].

Playground Proclamations

Whenever Cecily swings at the playground she'll yell, "This is the best day ever!!!"

Water Suspicions

My oldest makes a lot of ambient noise. Humming, singing, tippity-tapping, knocking, buzzing, and quiet-time is code name for extremely loud narrative time. 

My middle child has a penchant for mischief. Pastimes include cutting her hair, opening childproof locks - on medicine bottles, cabinets, etc. And recently she's moved away from unlocking to locking - the doors, when I'm outside. Go outside to take out the trash? Locked out. Go to the garage to unpack the house? Locked out. Go outside to talk to husband? Locked out. Scream from outside the door at your child and unintentionally introduce yourself to your new neighbors? Done. 

My youngest is big. Last checkup stats report 92% for weight and 99% for height and 81% for head circumference. Each time you make eye contact with the sweet babe he smiles and then proceeds to stuff his fist in his mouth, because as always - he's hungry. 

You start to wonder if there is something wrong with your children. That there's something in the water in Camargo (except you're already drinking purified and bottled water because you're always suspicious). Then you hopefully believe that these traits of something better to come. An active imagination, the ability to problem solve, and someone tall enough to reach the high cabinets for me.

 

Duck, Duck, Goose

Played "Hot Potato" and "Duck, Duck, Goose" tonight. Each presented their own challenges. 

Cecily has yet to learn to  count consistently. Counting on her fingers is pretty reliable, but putting a rhyme to counting without much explanation was pretty entertaining, "one potato, two potato, six potato, . . . sixteen!" <runs> <giggles>.  Oliver picked up the song after the first listening, although he frequently skipped people and threw out of order - mostly in a fit of panicked giggles. 

"Duck, duck, goose" was the highlight of my day with the kids. Hearing the anticipation in their voices as they walked around the circle was an endearing grace in a day filled with sometimes very difficult moments. Cecily frequently got up to run out of the room rather than around the circle. Oliver ran around the circle well, so well that he would add another lap. And occasionally excitement would thrill him to the point of running through the circle and Cecily to get up and run out of the room. And of course Mommy (who was holding Andrew) had to be picked as the Goose every other turn. And each time Daddy was picked manages to raise the level excitement to the point of shrieking giggles. What a great blessing it is to have such a sweet family and the chance to spend the Sabbath together!

Oliver's Movie Choice

Oliver: Mom, can I choose a movie?

Mom: Sure, what would you like to watch?

Oliver: I want to watch the one with the girl and the dog.

Mom: Do you mean "Bolt"?

Oliver: No, the other one with a girl and a dog.

Mom: Oh, do you mean "Lady and the Tramp".

Oliver: Yeah! "Lady and the Shrimp"! I want to watch "Lady and the Shrimp"!

Van Conversations

Cecily: I want princess heat!

Oliver: I don't want princess heat, I want cold heat!

Fire Alarms

One for the memory books: Cecily calls the light from her smoke detector her friend. She talks to him and shows him things. At first we thought she was talking to talk, then an imaginary friend, and then a ghost (especially as she only talked about "him" at night). 

Oliver used to call it the cricket because it chirped as we needed to replace the battery. He was pretty terrified of it and wouldn't slew at night because of it. 

The Language of Cecily

Frog-its: frogs

Prince: dad

Oliver-isms

"When you die will you be my angel?"

Crunching on a pickle: "Do you hear that song that I make with my teeth?"

Night-time Chats With Oliver

"Heavenly Father, please bless all the sick people in the world to get better. In Jesus name, Amen."

"I want to be a bee-keeper when I'm a kid".

"Let's make a new-robot that stings. How do we make it sting?"

"How do you make light?"

Cecily's lullaby

Rock-a-bye baby, I wanna be rocked. 

Rock-a-bye baby, I wanna be rocked. 

Rock-a-bye baby, I wanna be rocked. 

Marriage

Sneaks into our room at night.

Cecily: "I need a hug and a kiss".

Mom: "Fine, come over here".

Gives kiss.

Cecily: "We get married! Now I want to marry the baby".

Indoor Playground

Oliver: We're going to build it together.

Cecily: Okay Ow-el.

Oliver: Stop throwing them, that's not how you build a car.

Cecily: Okay

Oliver: Let's go race dem!

Cecily: Okay!

Oliver: If yours breaks, then you loose.

Cecily: Okay.

[Races Lego cars down the slide.]

Oliver: Yours broke so you loose!

Cecily: Will you help me Ow-el?

Oliver: Okay!

[Runs back to Legos.]

Oliver: Hand me that one.

Cecily: Okay.

Oliver: what are you doing?! Don't build that!

Cecily: I'm making a building for Daddy.

Oliver: But you can't take it home! They'll put you in jail.

Mom: Don't worry, I'll take a picture.

Oliver: Cecily, look at the car I built for you!

Mom: Cecily, say 'thank you'.

Cecily: Thank you.

Oliver: You have to look me in the eyes and say 'thank you'!

Cecily: (looks him in the eyes) Thank you!

Don't Worry, She's In Charge

Cecily: "I'm gunna stop the rain with my sword. Uh, no, I'm gonna stop it with my blanket."

Brotherly Love

Mom: "You are really close to the baby, what are you doing?"

Oliver: "I'm singing to him so he'll sleep so he can grow bigger, and then we can play".

Mom: 💕

Cowboy Oliver

While sitting for lunch:

Me: "Oliver?"

Oliver: Staring off into the distance.

Me: "You okay buddy"?

Oliver: "Shhh, I'm thinking".

Me: "Okay".

(After a few minutes)

Me: "Whatcha thinking about"?

Oliver: "I'm just thinking about saying 'Yipie-Kai-yay' and chasing after the bad guys". 

Cecil-isms

Cecily: "I caught the rainbow and it's special".

Cecily: "Momm can't touch it. Daddy can though."

Best Moment of Today via Oliver

While eating a sandwich Oliver pulls out a sprout and says:

Oliver: "This is what makes a baby, but the tail is shorter (pulls off the end of the sprout).  It's the Daddy part. It meets the Mommy part to make a baby". 

Mom: (stifling laughter) "Yes, did Daddy teach that to you in your PPI?"

Sibling Expressions

Oliver: "I can't learn to read if Cecily does her reading lesson first".

Oliver: "I don't like Cecily when she gets to do her reading lesson first, it makes my heart brake apart". 

Merry Christmas Mommy!

So this is the gift that the kids picked out for me on a Christmas shopping trip with John. John relayed the following to me:

In the car . . .

John: What kind of present do you think Mommy would like?

Oliver: A heart!

John: Why a heart?

Oliver: Because Mommy loves everyone  and we love her!

At TJMaxx, according to John, Oliver saw the heart and said "that's it!" excitedly. He and Cecily were so excited to give me their gift. And I don't know if they will ever really top it either! 

Home Making

Staying home during the day may cause us some serious cabin fever but one benefit has been the yummy breakfasts that I've had the time to make. We tried out a challah recipe and made some French toast and smoothies. Oliver didn't like the dark parts of the French toast and Cecily seemed to prefer the French toast over the smoothie. 

Pregnancy Update

Had to go to the hospital last Saturday, per the on call Doc's opinion. Luckily my water was not broken but I was having contractions every three minutes or so. They don't seem to be as consistent as that evening, but it was interesting to confirm what I was feeling with the medical equipment. I was surprised that the nurse said it would be okay and to just check in with my OB at my next appointment. In any case I thought it was a detail of this pregnancy that I wouldn't want to forget. Other symptoms that I'd like to remember include: 

• Extremely emotional - more than I have ever been in my life. Luckily I feel like I've evened out a bit, but the first two semesters were like a roller coaster!

• This little guy is very active, so much so that I can't figure out how a body can move in such ways. I even verified with my obstetrician that too much movement wasn't a negative sign of something. And at my last appointment the nurse had a hard time (5 minutes of chasing) taking a heart beat because he was moving so much. Not sure what this means for when he's outside the womb!

• I've had general heartburn with my past pregnancies but this time it is specifically chocolate. 

The Little Things

It can be easy to overlook a lot of the wonderful things that happen each day. But today I was lucky enough to sit down and realize how much I enjoy Oliver and Cecily. 

Since we had such a busy day today from playing chauffeur, play dates, doctor appointments, to shopping trips the kids held up really well on little sleep and no snack time. 

Tonight, half way through dinner Cecily was ready for bed. No games or manipulation, just an "I'm tired" and a "yeeeeaaah, I wanna go to bed". Right on schedule too, as dinner was running a bit behind. 

After prepping her for bed she wanted to just chat. So she told me all about Princess Amber from Sophia and how she was dirty and didn't want to take a bath and how Prince James made her messy. Intermittently she would request another shadow puppet and get a total kick out of it (I think she just figured out  shadows)! 

And she gives the sweetest hugs. Pulling you in by the neck, she doesn't mind her face in your hair. She'll smooth it down like the natural nurturer that she is and then wait for you to hum because it tickles. 

I don't think I could have imagined a combination of such sweet, mischievous, clever, and kind attributes in a little girl. 

Cecily Update

Nursery Leaders have told us that she pays attention to detail and always notices the jewelry that the Sisters are wearing. 

We've also been told that she "thinks differently" and enjoys to figure out how things work. 

She still enjoys eating and has a long attention span for a good story or movie. 

She's a quick destroyer - moving swiftly from one project to another without hesitation. Three minutes in her hands is an eternity and makes you wonder if premeditation was involved as it must have been to work so quickly. Smash and grab is a technique with this one.

Thanks to the encouragement of others her shyness has abated and will generously give all in a familiar place a wave and a hello. 

She's still a cuddle bug, a Mommy's girl, and now thankfully a Daddy's girl too. She knows she can always go to Daddy for a hug and a tickle. 

Primary With Oliver

Today Oliver's primary teacher Sister Wilkinsen said they were speaking about how each person is unique and asked all the CTR4 students the color their eyes. And Oliver purportedly responded that his were "fire-red"! 

His other primary teacher Sister Pike mentioned the following in an email,

"I thought I would share this with you what Oliver said in class last Sunday.   Class was over and I can’t remember what I was saying to him but I was close up to his face and when he walked away he said “when you are stinky you take a bath”.   At first it didn’t register but then I thought maybe it was my breath so I called him back and said that when someone fasts they may have bad breath.  He looked at me and repeated “when you stink you take a bath”.  I love it and thought maybe you would like to add that to the list of things he says and does!"

And it seems that during primary Oliver will start singing on his own, without any provocation, and no accompaniment. And that he will also choose to stand and sing a completely different song than the one practiced by all the other kids during singing-time.