How to Answer

G presented me with this question at lunch:

How old was Daddy when he was younger?

Thankfully Drew was present to help me ponder such a mystery. His answer:

I was four, just like you are now.

A Bloody Nose

In an effort to break G's nose picking habit, we often tell her that picking her nose will cause blood to flow and on occasion we get the smug satisfaction of being right. But one evening she had reason to doubt our claims. During the dry winter months, Drew's nose will start to bleed if he blows too hard or sometimes for no reason at all. That particular evening G had been dispatched to tear Drew away from his precious homework/studying and found him with a wad of Kleenex up his nose. When she heard why he had a bloody nose, she seemed somewhat perplexed but as if the light might shine at any moment, "So you can get a bloody nose without picking it...?"

A Wink and a Nod

I attended a mini baby sign language course, offered through our Parents as Teachers program, the other night, and was quite amazed at how much I learned in just an hour. But I wanted only the basics for Z's sake: "more", "water", "milk", "eat". For those words Z's already found an adaptation for, the speech pathologist recommended sticking to the substitution since the name of the game is communication. Two of my favorites:

• Often enough, Z's seen her sisters finish eating and then raise their arms in the air like they've scored a game-winning goal. So she's taken to making the same gesture whenever we manage to feed her full.
• Before children, Drew and I discussed what we termed the "universal" sign: arms up in the air, looking intently at someone, meaning that you wanted to be picked up or held. Z's is a little different since she is only tentatively standing independently. She'll pull herself to stand at my legs, and with one hand point at me, maybe babbling some sound or making that whiny "mmmm" that she's perfected, and then raising onto her toes like she's about to levitate. 

Daylight Savings and Pumpkin Stew

The fire stations in our neighborhood usually start hanging daylight savings and check the battery in your smoke detector reminders about a month in advance – it's so late this year –, so it was that which was on my mind when early last week I asked Drew when the fall-back was scheduled for. He replied, "I think it's the last weekend in October." So we dutifully set our clocks Saturday evening before going to bed – and arrived to church an hour late. I guess we should have been suspicious that the clock on the computer hadn't updated, and maybe I could have gone to the trouble of checking the time on my cell phone. But happily, we managed to get to the 12 o'clock at St John Le Lande in Blue Springs on time, after which they gave a reminder of the time change for this coming weekend, and we were punctual for the beginning of Elizabeth's annual pumpkin stew party.

The delightful stew on display before the rush. There was also a cream cheese(?) and cracker appetizer; Amish oatmeal bread; Brussels sprouts and chocolate chip banana bread, our contributions; cornbread; these little herb biscuits; a pasta salad; and grapes. Oh, and for dessert, there were cream cheese frosted brownie bites and this apple and cranberry on phyllo with fresh whipped cream.

The havoc wreaked by five boys and three girls.

Sneaking grapes while the adults were out of the room (but not far enough to not get caught).

Sending Out an APB

Sometime within the last hour or so, our ladybug escaped his habit. Someone – okay, it was me – left the lid ajar, and he managed to slip through the crack without being seen, making good his get away. It is not known if he had any accomplices.

Hawaiian Princesses

So until my girls refuse to be princesses for Halloween, you should be prepared for the variation on a theme: this year we're tropical (at the school Halloween party over the weekend), utilizing our almost-too-small dresses that we got in Hawaii and the headbands I made this summer. Unfortunately, Drew didn't take any pictures of them playing the games, but we have the bag of candy to show for it. This year we let them have only two pieces (after we got home), rather than win and eat like last year.

The confounded cake walk, can never win anything at that game, even we go around a dozen times.

Z's wearing her pajamas under her dress. Take a look back here at that same blue dress on BB.

And see here for the bigger purple dress.

 

We gave up on the cake walk and got cupcakes with our hotdog dinner. Ours had spider rings in them, which was a relief compared to the really hideous ones with a severed-finger-and-blood topping. We called it a night after they licked the frosting off.

Give Me Water

One morning this last week I heard someone screaming bloody murder and when I went to investigate, I found both G and BB trying to prod Z to give them their bedside water bottles for a drink. Z was greedily hoarding the bottles, shielding them with her body and then taking furtive drinks from one and then the other, occasionally giving a scream if either sister came too close. Look at how proud she is when I took this picture.

A Pile of Leaves

We had perfect fall weather today (Saturday), perfect for raking leaves and mowing the absurdly green grass.

The First Winter Guest

No pie holders available, so I housed him in the small fishbowl – the white square is his paper towel water source – that I had intended on for making this fishbowl pumpkin.

The Pumpkin Patch

Every year the OLL preschoolers take a field trip to the pumpkin farm (see last year's post), and today was that day – I remembered my camera this time.

Our group's first activity was the tractor-pulled hayride, which didn't seem as treacherous without all the mud. Everyone was afraid for Ms Stephanie, however, who's holding the camera in the above middle picture and sitting on the edge of the wagon: within the last week, both her sons have broken their right arms.

While G did the caterpillar moonwalk crawl activity (not pictured), I ran BB to the bathroom and on the way back she played with this scoop.

We walked through the maize maze, which isn't made of maize but rather sorghum which produces molasses.

Here were some photo opportunities for the parents: the cut-outs.

We had story time, the same one as last year.

And finally a visit to the dreaded petting farm (break out the disinfectant!!!). Each kid got a handful of food to feed to the animal(s) of their choice: goats and sheep, a burrow, a llama, some kind of cow, a buffalo, and something else I can't remember. The rabbits were available only for petting because of their tendency to nibble fingers.

 

Then we got to pick out our own pumpkins to take home.

 

 

After snack time, we played at the playground: tire swings shaped like horses, rocking metal barrels decorated like horses and cows, there was a chuck wagon for climbing and a fort with a slide. These water hand pumps were new – for gliding plastic duckies along the half pipe. It's too bad half the pumps were broken. And on the way home, BB, who'd had a slowly declining 'tude all morning, fell asleep, as did Z, who had a catnap during story time. A rather successful class trip, I would say.

Wilderness Behavior

After picking G up from school today, I took them over to Legacy Park for a picnic. I was hoping we'd have perfect weather like yesterday's, but it was blasted windy and scudding clouds continually blocked the sun. (We had an enormous, short rain storm with heart-stopping claps of thunder in the morning hours before sunrise.) We had our meal in the car, and back on the playground the girls discovered one of those fuzzy black caterpillars making his way across the sidewalk. While they were observing him, I overheard BB say, "I have to go to the bathroom." LP maintains rather nice restrooms, i.e. not port-a-potties, only during the summer months, so I told BB we'd have to go home. As if she didn't hear me, she decided to whip her pants down and squat it in the middle of the sidewalk instead. Though she's seen G squatting it in the open maybe only a few times, I'm sure she's never seen me do it, even when we were camping, so I'm left to wonder where she learned it from. Her aim wasn't terribly good, as most of it ended up on her pants, just as if she'd had an accident, but it shows decisiveness and a kind of resourcefulness.

Over-Ready

Last week, on our last pack of #5 diapers, I decided to put BB in underwear, and since Wednesday, we've had only three accidents – she was so busy playing she forgot herself. Funny thing is she's never really shown an interest in the potty, though it's been sitting out since I don't remember when, so to find that she was so ready was a pleasant surprise. Yay, only one kid in diapers now.

All Growed Up

One day earlier last week as AhPoh and G were leaving Target, G posed this question: "AhPoh, where are your children?"
AP: [Your] Mama is my child.
Evidently, that didn't quite sit with G – she might have had someone her age in mind because then she asked again, "But where are your children?" Like they were at home back in Wyoming or something.
AP: [Your] Mama is my child, all grown up.
G: Oh.

Baby Bean Bin

Z's been a whole lot luckier than her sisters in her early exposure to rice and beans – not to eat but to play with. (There was the sand table that BB still loves to spend time at, but that didn't come until BB was two.) The first time was last month when our Parents as Teachers instructor brought a rice bin; then the Parents as Teacher messy play night* earlier this month when we couldn't tear her away from one of the bean tables. So one evening, when I needed her out of the way and occupied, I gave her a cup of beans, a narrow-necked bottle, and voila! Just her kind of activity: she loaded beans one by one into the bottle and poured them out for more than thirty minutes.

*Messy play night, offered once in the fall and once in the spring, is all the hard to clean up and downright messy activities that parents are usually reluctant to let kids play with at home: shaving cream, shaving cream and glue puffy paint, goop/slime, bubbles (outdoors), painting with sponge shapes, bean/rice/noodle tables, and the kiddie pools of shredded paper, G's favorite. I wish I'd gotten some pictures, but I forgot to bring my camera.

A Paci Leash

I can't remember which blog to credit, but when I saw their use of a metal suspender clip, I said to myself, Why didn't I think of that? When BB was a baby and leaving her pacifier in unimaginable places, AhPoh bought a plastic one. It lasted us maybe six months before it broke in half. This time, I was determined not to go through the heartache of desperately searching for a paci while Z wailed.

AhPoh's Exercise

We said farewell to AhPoh this morning.


I tried this and couldn't even get a millimeter off the ground. That's how destroyed and emaciated my muscles are. After this AhPoh managed to do a couple of inches with G. (Don't ask me how much either of them weigh.)

Kiss Me, I'm Chinese

Eh, doesn't have quite the same ring, does it?

We were in Weston on Saturday for their annual celebration of Irish ancestry (AhPoh stayed home to meet with the plumber*), and boy was it cold! On the drive up, which Weston is about an hour's journey diagonally across the Kansas City metro area, I had a moment's hesitation thinking that I might have overdressed them, but thankfully we were just warm enough, minus the inconvenience of having left our gloves at home. (Why do they make the pockets on kids' coats so small that they can't even get their hands in?) They shall be known as the Purple Coat Infantry, thanks to this year's consignment sales.

We arrived a smidge on the early side – the first band, the Three Dollar Band, was still going through their sound check –, but I know anyone driving the circuit could be envious of our parking spot. First order of business: lunch, consisting of the two different kinds of stew, Irish (with Guinness) and coddle, though interestingly, we had three different looking and tasting substances.

After perusing the stalls of Irish goods, we decided to walk around historic downtown, about a block away from the festival, in search of coffee and pastries (and a warm place to sit), and stopped into a Polish pottery store to get warm. They have one of the largest selections I've ever seen, and we indulged ourselves in a few items: a couple of tea bag caddies for me and a mug with posies for AhPoh. The lady at the pottery store informed us that there weren't any bakeries in downtown, so in a last ditch effort, we tried Vineyards Restaurant near our parking spot on the backside of the festival. VR is one of those quaint little places where everyone seems nearly to be sitting on everyone else, but the flour-less chocolate cake was divine as was the bourbon pecan pie.

We could hear the Irish fest music as we were coming out of VR and the girls insisted on going back for a listen. Unfortunately, Flannigan's Right Hook was what I would call horrible: heavy metal meets Irish including a sad butchering of a classic Irish drinking song. We suffered through four of their songs, just long enough for Drew to have a beer, before heading back home.

* Up until Saturday, while sitting in the living room, one could detect an intermittent stench leaking from the gas fireplace. Last year we had a plumber (because that's who you're supposed to call around these parts; in Wyoming you call the gas company for a fix) come out and he couldn't find the leak; this new guy knew exactly where to look and set us up directly.