On the Go

Ms. Crazy Preschooler rides her bike on the bike path yesterday.

A List of ASL signs that Gus Uses

More.
Milk.
Eat.
Done.
Bear.
Puppy.
Frog.
Bird.
Chicken.
Duck.
Car.
Train.
Boat.
Help.
Bike.
Hat.
Outside.
Frog.

And there are a few other's I can't remember right now. We're making a little progress.

An Extremely Brief List of Words Spoken by Gus

Up.

Mama.

Ball.

Lunch at the Not So Clean Table

I try to keep the kitchen table free of refuse. I really do. But it is hopeless. Ms. Crazy Preschooler loves to create projects there and play with toys that Gus shouldn't have. People in this household forget to put dirty dishes back on the counter or in the dishwasher. Preschool projects from church and school gravitate there because I feel terrible about disposing of them. Dr. Pediatrician's mail gets piled there and the pile multiplies overnight, I swear. And this colossal mess doesn't seem to phase anyone in my family except me. People just push the clutter from one side to the other when it is time for them to munch and lunch. I think this may have a lot to do with the fact that I really prefer to just hold my plate and stand in the middle of the kitchen while eating my food rather than formally sit down at the table. Standing is just so much more efficient. When someone needs something (about every 2 minutes because I don't plan well at meals) I don't have to get up. I'm already up.

Here's Ms. Crazy Preschooler eating lunch on a cluttered table last Monday.

Band Aid Girl

Ms. Crazy Preschooler is obsessed with getting bandaids. For any little scrape on her skin, especially those that are not bleeding, she just insists on a band aid. I know this is a normal thing. I should have remembered this four year old fascination with sticky bandages when I was browsing in Target a few weeks ago. But I didn't, and I purchased Sesame Street bandaids as a special treat. Colorful. Tantalizing. And best of all sticky! She just cannot resist them. The other day I caught her giving herself paper cuts on purpose to try to accumulate a greater collection of bandaids on her fingers. Anyway, yesterday she scraped her knuckle on the sidewalk while using sidewalk chalk, and I decided the easiest thing was just to give in even though there was no blood involved, with the stipulation that I would later have picture taking rights for the band aid.

Spring!

It was 50 degrees yesterday! Hooray! Because it is spring break and there is no school this week, I had few lessons yesterday, and we were able to play outside almost the whole afternoon. Glorious! Before supper I pushed Gus to the park at the end of the bike path, and Ms. Crazy Preschooler rode her bike the whole way and back. I was impressed because that's nearly 2 miles of bike riding. Ms. CP has been very into riding her bike; this morning she went out by herself and rode up and down our little driveway for more than an hour. Gus, on the other hand, is occupied in the great outdoors by carrying around two buckets of very used sidewalk chalk. Every once in awhile he'll approach me, hand be the buckets, switch two pieces of chalk from each bucket and be on his merry way again. He also loves rolling big balls around the backyard.

Our house just seems so much bigger when you can occaisionally get out of it.

Thoughts on the Crucifixion -- by Ms. CP

I am washing dishes at the sink. Ms. Crazy Preschooler is eating an apple. Gus is tossing peas onto the floor as if he were playing horseshoes.

"Mama, when Jesus died on the cross they put nails right through his hands and he was stuck right up on the cross. That would hurt a lot. That would hurt even worse than a cavity."

Playing Cars, Last Week

Now that Gus is getting bigger, it is so fun to watch both of the munchkins play together. While this doesn't always go completely smoothly, it is getting to be more routine all the time, and sometimes they actually compromise and exchange kind words (or gestures on the part of nonverbal Gus). And sometimes they throw the cars at each other.

It drives me crazy that when I upload pictures onto my blog they don't look right! The colors and tones are all different! And for the worse!

Stomach Flu

Ms. Crazy Preschooler has the stomach flu again. I feel so bad for the poor kid. She is so miserable. She's been throwing up like crazy the last two days and she can't manage to eat or drink anything, which is driving her crazy. She just can't stand missing regularly scheduled meals, and she begs for food and water, but the minute she has any it comes right back up. She can't tell the difference between her stomach hurting because it's sick or her stomach hurting because it's hungry. It breaks my heart when she cries because I won't give her noodles and cheese or milk. Aaaacck! I really hope she's better by the morning. If I have to withhold breakfast from her again, we both might really loose our minds.

Any Readily Available Stepstool will Due

This is gus, trying to reach a ballpoint pen on top of the computer printer. I tell you, nothing is safe in our house anymore . . . NOTHING!

It's Official

My stomach is sticking out. My C-section is scheduled for September 15. For those readers that didn't already know (if I have any readers left due to my lack of blogging activity), we are pregnant . . . again. Surprise! Ms. Crazy Preschooler prays daily for a sister. So please forgive me for neglecting to update my blog regularly the last two months. I have been napping literally every spare moment I have available.

My Little Model

This morning. Little Gus was on the loose, minus the shirt. Doesn't he have poise?

Our Friendly, Local Medusa

Oh the Challenges of Snake Hair.

It's Snowing

It's snowing and Dr. Pediatrician took Ms. Crazy Preschooler to Menards to get her out of the house. Because she has cabin fever, she gave us trouble about changing out of her princess dress into normal clothes. Because she has cabin fever, she gave us trouble about putting on sensible socks. Because she has cabin fever she gave us trouble about snow boots and a winter coat.

"OK" said Dr. Pediatrician. "I guess it's summer. Put on your swimsuit. We'll go swimming outside."

"OK" I said. "Find your flip flops. It's summer. You can wear those."

She LOOKED at us like we'd hatched from Planet Pluto.

And then she quietly disappeared and we got busy doing something with the Noahmiester. Dr. Pediatrician went upstairs to find a sweater before he left from Menards. I got up to get a drink of water. "Hey," he called down the stairs. "Maybe you'd better check on S-A-R-A-H.

I looked in her room, and there she was, sure enough, clad in a turquoise swimsuit, looking for her flip flops.

I walked back to the stairs, "Uhm!" I said loudly.

"I knew it!" came the fatherly cry. "Fix it!"

"Nope. It was your idea. You fix it." I stated in a fit of giggles.

"Ok, let's go to Menards!" called Dr. Pediatrican cheerfully.

"You said we were going swimming," stated Ms. Crazy Preschooler at the door.

"Nope, we're going to Menards."

"Well, Dad, I can't go to Menards like THIS! I need a sundress!"

So back she went into the recesses of her room to search for a sundress. She never did find the flip flops so she settled for socks and tennis shoes, and on her way out the door, she grabbed her winter coat and looked me in the eye and said, "It's OK, Mom, some people wear coats even in the summer."

And away she went, legs bare, to Menards. Hopefully they have no car trouble.

How to Make Chocolate Milk

In the words of Ms. Crazy Preschooler:

"Take a big chunk of chocolate and squeeze it and squeeze it and mush it and smash it on the table. You keep doing this until it turns into milk, and then SLURP! You drink it up."