Pure John

Here is the essence of John, as displayed at soccer and gymnastics this spring.

Hey, did you know that my dad is my coach?

Helen eats

To some degree, Helen is making us crazy trying to figure out how to feed her. The first problem is a lack of chewing. I assume this will improve once all her molars are in, but for now, even food that she grabs and chews on eagerly is usually spit back out (in mashed up form) a few minutes later. The other problem is that she refuses to be spoon-fed by anyone else, except in the most dire of circumstances, and even then, she will, before long, make a successful grab for the spoon. Good luck prying it back out of her hand after that.

So of course, that means we are stuck with (soft) foods she can feed to herself. Which means accepting that sometimes, it will just be messy.  I vaguely recall the other kids going through both of these issues, and I guess they all grew enough in the end, so I am trying to laugh at the laundry, and the extra time needed for eating, and let it go. After all, she is clearly enjoying the process!


Here she is displaying the results of her attempts with yogurt.

Groceries and bribery

I bought John a doughnut at Meijer today. He often gets one when he shops with me. Yes, I know, shameless bribery. But it does make him more eager to come to the store, and sometimes it is necessary to bring him.

Today was especially tricky. I needed to shop during the 90-minute fencing class that James is taking this week. Margaret was at a friend's house, so that left me the two little ones for a whirlwind grocery run. I mapped out the nearest Meijer to the fencing gym - 11 minutes away, according to Google Maps. For a variety of reasons, we arrived at fencing 5 minutes late. That left me precisely 63 minutes to park, shop, check out, load the car. Easy, you say? Perhaps for some. But I figure a Meijer round-trip (door-to-door) is typically 2 hours on my own, and 2.5-3 hours with "helpers." Fortunately, my list today was very short.

I needed a good bribe today, and I couldn't risk the bribe slowing us down, so I had to withhold it until the end. John was told that he would only get the doughnut if he could help me get through the store quickly enough. He did an excellent job. When I was picking up baby food pouches for my upcoming trip, John enthusiastically scooped up an armful and tossed it in the cart. Don't know what flavors we got, but John made sure we'll have enough!

So, I let him choose a doughnut as the last thing into the cart. He chose a suitably disgusting-looking one, with a huge glob of brown chocolate frosting and a gummy worm emerging from the top. Much of the chocolate frosting ended up on the toe of his shoe in a big glop, but hey, that's what crocs were made for!

We did arrive 5 minutes late to get James, but I will blame that on the emergency bathroom stop at Meijer. While I suppose I just should have planned for that, I had sent John just before we left home to the bathroom, so I was counting on not having to do that again.

Still, I didn't begrudge John the doughnut. Not only did he try his best to get us through quickly, but as we were loading the car (and he was licking the final crumbs from his fingers) he exclaimed, "Mom, I love doughnuts. And I love you even more than a doughnut. [Long pause.] I even love you more than TWO doughnuts!"

Big sister is watching

I had a bit of a surprise when I went up to bed the other night. On the floor, propped against my closed door, were three small sheets of paper torn from a mini-notebook. They were neatly lined up so that they could be read in the proper order. It is hard to say whether they would more appropriately be taken as a note or a warning shot over the bow.

There are THREE pages in this photo. If you only see two, then click on the photo for an enlarged screen view.

In case you are unable to decipher the handwriting, here is a transcription, without editing:

Take off and put on nail polish
Call Mrs. Huizing and ask her to wright 1-7 pages about being in the church family and what it is lik to be a mentor and how to do it.
Ask Mom for ice cream because James had it.
LOOK
Find out tunes to two new songs and find out or remind Mom to get video of Maggie P.O.F. (Profession of Faith)
To Mom and Dad, From Maggie
Read both pages
P.S. You will be getting these almost every night from me so watch for them
Love Maggie

So there. I have learned several things from this event.


1. Maggie has decided to start making to-do lists in a notebook that she keeps on her nightstand.
2. Maggie does not always fall asleep as soon as put to bed, like she used to do.
3. No matter how late I wait for the kids to fall asleep before I pull out the ice cream for my bedtime snack, they can apparently hear me. 
4. No matter how good my logic seems to myself - I had given up on this occasion on waiting for James to go to bed (it is summer, after all, and he is getting older) and just shared the ice cream with him - it will seem unfair to Maggie. (Actually, I didn't just learn this - I definitely already knew about her overdeveloped sense of fairness.)
5. The ominous tone popping in and out of the note indicates that Maggie is no longer a little kid, but a big kid, and not to be trifled with!


I am not sure what the sudden appearance of the to-do lists mean, but given my lousy track-record this summer for keeping the schedule in order, I guess I will take help from all comers.

Busy day

We had a busy day, of sorts. Actually, it was kind of an exponentially increasing pace up through bedtime for the kids.

The kids slept in a bit, then played outside a while. Maggie even consented to play make-believe with John for a while, which made him ecstatic.

The house was filled with almost constant piano music, since we reinstated the summer rule (one-to-one equivalent screen time is earned with music practice time). This year, we allowed them to pool their music time for collective cartoon-watching, which had the unexpectedly positive effect of spurring them to work together. "Maggie, you read to John so he won't cause trouble while I practice for 15 minutes. Then, I will take John for a bike ride while you practice for 15 minutes." Even John wants to help. He isn't taking music lessons, but negotiated with me that if he "practices" piano, his time can also add to the screen time total. I assented.

We eventually got a menu plan for the week finalized, and a shopping list together. Maggie helpfully made an early lunch (mini-pizzas, the kids' favorite choice) so we could get off to Meijer. With 4 kids, it feels more like a  polar expedition than a grocery shopping trip, but we got everyone there with all the required gear. (List? Check. Purse? Check. Diaper bag? Check. Baby backpack to carry Helen? Check. Shoes for each person? Check. Shirt for each person? Check. Snacks? Check.) The whole trip didn't go too badly, except for the low moment involving potato chips. (I had told the kids that they could each choose one food item "treat." Candy was excluded, though John pushed that limit with giant, pink and white marshmallows. James wanted shells to try making homemade cannoli. Maggie wanted salt-and-vinegar potato chips. I agreed they could snack on the chips in the store, then got distracted looking for produce. When I next tuned in, the 16-oz bag was almost empty. Ugh. And James ate almost none of those, so double ugh. There goes 10 servings of chips between  two kids who together weigh less than one adult.

Back at home, I got the groceries put away and started to pull out things for dinner. Then, Jeremy walked in, earlier than I expected. I had forgotten (but glad that he hadn't) that it was my night for Yoga class. So, I zipped out the door while he made dinner instead. James also zipped out the door to ride his bike over to swim team practice. I returned from yoga an hour later feeling relaxed and refreshed, just perfect to make the transportation plan with Jeremy.

"It is 5:30. Nobody has had dinner yet since it won't come out of the oven until 5:50. John needs to be at swim team practice at 6:00. Maggie needs to be at piano practice at 6:00. James needs to be picked up from swim team practice at 6:10 and taken to piano practice at 6:30. Maggie and James need to be brought home at 7:00. John needs to be retrieved from the pool and hustled through the shower at 7:00. "

Somehow, we worked all that out, but I felt grateful that (a) we have a second car and (b) this is only the second, and definitely the last, week that swim team and piano times conflict.

We all reassembled at home at 7:15 for dinner - burrito bean bake. Nothing fancy, and a bit shy on veggies, but all will eat it without complaint. At 7:45, we should have left well enough alone, but tonight was the transit of Venus across the sun, and it will be the last such occurrence for the next 100+ years. So, we had to go, right? Off the Calvin observatory we went. Actually, we didn't end up waiting in line to use the big telescope, but just watched the reflection card set up on the roof of the science building, plus some special sun-viewing sunglasses that allowed us to look directly at the sun. Both were fun. John just liked being up on a fourth-story roof, and out past his bedtime. Probably worth the meltdown that came as he was actually tucked in bed at 9:30 tonight. Ahh, memories.

More about Helen at 16 months

I guess I wasn't complete enough in my previous description. Helen, as a fourth child, won't have the complete record of first words or all those other firsts that I (mostly) managed to write down for James. But, every now and then, I will try to get down a bit. These lists are in no particular order.

Helen's current favorites list

Toys

1. The baby doll stroller that was Maggie's 2nd birthday present from Great-grandma Root

2. The orange plastic choking hazards...I mean, traffic cones... that came with a remote-control car set. I have collected them all up and put them away many times, and she still manages to find more every time I turn around. She seems to love that they just perfectly fit in her mouth.

3. The nerf darts/bullets that go with all the nerf guns in the house. Where do these choking hazards come from? These are ditto to item 2 above.

4. The baby hairbrush. Jeremy occasionally would take it out of the bathroom drawer and brush her hair. From this, she has taught herself to sneak into the bathroom, open the right drawer, feel around in the drawer(over her head) until she  has it (she isn't tall enough to actually see in the drawer), then brush her hair. This makes her laugh excessively if she gets this far.

5. Any toy from Maggie's room. She doesn't care at all which one. She just seems to love getting into Maggie's room and playing with something, because it gets such a rise out of Maggie. Maggie tries to keep her door shut all the time to ward off Helen and Barbarians (in that order). Helen watches for the door to be unlatched then darts in and pulls things off the shelf willy-nilly. She is often quite sneaky, but sometimes, she gets to giggling and squealing so delightedly that it gives her away. 

6. Anything to do with the toilet: Toilet paper, bowl brush, just the water in the bowl itself. We have all learned to keep the bathroom doors shut, and to listen for the telltale splashing sounds that mean she has found an open door. No plumber calls yet, but some pretty unpleasant clean-up jobs. I sometimes thinks she does this just because she likes a bath so much, and she always gets one after splashing in the toilet.

7. Keys. Key fobs with buttons to push are best.

If you are keeping track, you might have noticed that nothing on this list is actually a toy intended for Helen's use. 

We are relieved that her interest is waning in her past favorite toy - the drawer under the oven. It seemed cute enough that she liked to pull it open and climb in, but then we discovered that when the oven was on, it was hot enough above the drawer to burn her. Ouch!

Books

1. Goodnight Moon. Endlessly.

2. Any of the "Peek-a-boo" board books - like Baby Baa Baa  (we have 3 or 4 of them). She finally stopped chewing them (mostly). 

3. Any book that doesn't last too long.

4. Any book that does last too long, as long as she is allowed to eat it when it gets tedious.

Activities

1. Taking a walk, outside. She will deliver shoes and jacket to you if you are too slow to take her out.
2. Riding a bike. Her new trick - she begs and whines to be put up on the bike in front of one of the older kids. She acts like she doesn't realize that she can't reach the handlebars or pedals, and is actually just biking along on her own.
3. Driving the car. If left free in a (parked) vehicle, she makes a beeline for the driver's seat, where she stands up and holds the steering wheel, flipping on every lightswitch, wiper blade, etc. She will briefly pause every minute or so to shriek with delight.
4. Buckling a buckle. She likes to buckle carseat buckles, highchair buckles, whatever she can get to. We have left her old infant seat in the living room just for her to buckle. If it is already buckled when she finds it, she comes and pulls on me and chatters worriedly at me until I come open it for her so that she can buckle it again.

Foods

1. The new baby food "pouches" that are baby self-serve. They have what seems to be regular baby food, but she can suck the food out of them like a baby bottle or juice box. She loves to be able to feed herself this way. 

2. Watermelon. Quickly replacing bananas as the one food guaranteed to make her jump up and down and point and squeal.

3. Baby cereal mixed with applesauce. (As long as she gets to feed herself - a messy undertaking. But if you try to feed her with a spoon she will turn her face away repeatedly and defiantly.)

4. Apple chunks.

5. Any dessert. She now recognizes cake, cookies, ice cream.

6. In developing news - she apparently fell in love with salt and vinegar potato chips today. She begged for one; she made a terrible, puckery, surprised face when she tasted it; then she reached out and begged for another.

Baby Signs

1. She shakes her head "no" to answer "yes" to a question. But she grins while she does it, so we can tell she means "yes." If she actually means "no," then she just grimaces and turns her face away.

2. She claps her hands to ask for "more, please" when eating.

3. She points a finger into her mouth to ask for a drink.