Some confusion

Michael is trying out his new stand mixer, making coffee cake. The girls, of course, are on hand to assist.

Hannah (as the mixer is going and they're adding ingredients): When does the coffee come in?

Social life is tiring

...or at least Sim thinks so. We went to a beautiful Baptism yesterday, and in the reception afterwards, one of our friends was holding Sim. She was making funny noises and Sim was smiling at her. Then, she made a noise, he smiled, shut his eyes, and fell asleep.

Dressing up for Christmas Eve

Hannah sometimes makes interesting choices as far as dressing up for an occasion. Today, in honor of Christmas Eve, she has on a white shirt, her white short-sleeved leotard over that, and her pink ballet tights over that.

New vocabulary

Naomi has recently picked up on the adjective "awful." It makes for some interesting comments on her part:

"What's that awful smell?" Umm...it's dinner.

"What's that awful noise?" That one was awful -- it was the sound of the chains on the small area of road that didn't have packed snow and ice on it.

Remember the bunny?

From the Halloween pictures? Naomi dressed as a bunny in a really cute costume that Grandma Ellie made. She loved it. She still regularly wears it. In fact, Michael got to take the bunny to Northwest Girlchoir the other day to watch Hannah's class. He was thrilled. But at least the costume is warm, and it's really cold here these days.

As they were pulling out of the driveway, Naomi said, "Good thing God made me a bunny."

Also, Naomi has become concerned with the level of candy in her Halloween bag. It's doled out in small amounts every so often, but it's still troubling her that it will be gone soon. So she's formulated a plan. Try to imagine this in a small voice with a bit of a Southern accent: "When my candy is gone, I will go to Microsoft to see Dada, and I will put on my bunny outfit. Dada will help me. [She can't get it on by herself yet.] Then I will go trick-or-treating to get more candy." I didn't really have the heart to tell her that Microsoft only has trick-or-treating on Halloween, not year-round.

Logic and 2 year olds don't always mix

Naomi was wishing to sample one of the baked good Michael and I made today -- I made an old standby and Michael tried something new. The new recipe is what she was trying, having already had (and enjoyed) some of the old standby.

She ate a bite of the new recipe. Then she dawdled for a while. We needed to get to bed, and told her it was time to get ready.

"But I haven't finished!" she wailed.

We exhorted her to finish, then.

"But it doesn't TASTE good!" she wailed.

We told her she didn't have to eat it. Far be it from us to force our children to eat baked goods! We would happily clear it away and she could be finished.

"But I want to eat it!" she wailed.

We asked why, since she didn't like it. No reason was forthcoming, but she continued to object wildly to losing her baked good. We offered to trade her nasty-tasting baked good for some more of the old standby. She was very agreeable to the trade and promptly polished of more of the old standby. Then it was time to get ready for bed.

"Where's my [nasty baked good]?" she wailed.

We tried to remind her about how she didn't like it and had traded it in. We're still not sure if it worked. But she is in bed and asleep, and we have learned our lesson. The new baked good will not be offered to Naomi again.

Mispronunciations

can be very amusing.

Hannah calls cupboards "covereds." This is amusing, because there is a lot of truth to this name -- things in cupboards are covered by the doors. Thank goodness, in many cases!

Naomi, when she feels she needs food, tells us that she's "hungee."

Naomi, when she wants us to pick her up and take her somewhere, says she wants us to "caaaaaaahhh" her. One syllable. Not carry, "caaaaahhhh." Which is odd, because she can easily pronounce Aunt Kerri. But maybe the spelling makes a difference. ;)

Simeon mispronounces pretty much everything. When he wants to say Mama (which, of course, is what he always wants to say :) ), he says, "Oooogoo." Well, that's pretty much what he says when he wants to say anything. Except, "I'm angry." That sounds more like "waaah."

Everyone's involved

in the process of getting information from the structural engineer. We had him come out to take a look at our house the other day so that we could get some information for future projects. The girls both went to the basement with Michael to show the engineer around. When they came back upstairs, Hannah began the questions.

Hannah: How many children do you have?

Engineer: I have 3 boys. They're 11, 7, and 4.

Hannah: I'm 5.

Engineer: I was going to guess either 5 or 6.

Hannah: My cousin is 6.

At this point, Michael had finished negotiating with Naomi about which toy she could bring up from the basement, so we sat with the engineer and discussed what he'd found, and a bit about the plans we had for renovating.

Hannah: And Naomi and I want a balcony on our room.

When the engineer was finished and beginning his goodbyes, Naomi began her portion of the interview.

Naomi: I want him to read me a story.

Michael: Umm...I don't think he's --

Engineer: Oh, sure, I'd be happy to.

Naomi: I want Pickles the Fire Cat.

Michael [finding Pickles]: Uh, this is a long one, sweetie, maybe we could choose another one.

Naomi: I want Pickles.

Monica: Okay, he can read some and then we'll put in a book mark.

Naomi (in her bunny costume, of course, because she's wearing it on a daily basis now) happily trooped over with the book, got onto the engineer's lap, and enjoyed a good reading of The Fire Cat. The engineer willingly read the whole thing, despite offers of book marks at various points.

Afterwards, I commented that perhaps he could update his list of services offered to include reading books to the children. He admitted that he'd never done so on a job before, though judging from his reading style, he probably reads to his own kids on a regular basis.

Naomi, by the way, regularly rebuffs people we've known for years, whom she sees on a regular basis.

An actual quote from dinner tonight

Hannah: Please may I have some more? I love brussel sprouts!

We've upgraded to the interactive model

Simeon has started laughing occasionally. It's very cute. Yesterday he was laughing at me making noises at him, and it gave him the hiccups. It also seems to wear him out.

He loves watching his sisters and smiling at them. He also really likes the black-white-and-red pictures we've put near his changing table -- he has really interesting (I suppose, since I can't quite get exactly what he's saying) conversations with them.

Sometimes he smiles so much that he can't quite take it and has to wiggle and squirm to show how excited he is about something.

We're all enjoying more interaction!

Infant Care Leave!

Michael is home for the duration -- 4 weeks of infant care leave, courtesy of Michael's awesome benefits package at work. We're all very excited. Unfortunately, the girls both have a virus that's making them somewhat cranky and lethargic. But we have hope that they'll be better soon and we'll be doing fun Advent things together!

If you have a 5-year-old girl and a 2 1/2-year-old girl

and want to see some cute ballerina imitations, you might try this.

More on the future life of Hannah

Hannah: When I get married, I will tell my husband to stop smoking. Or maybe I will marry someone who doesn't smoke. And then if he says he wants to try smoking, if he forgets to try I will not remind him that he wants to. And I will tell everyone else not to remind him. Or I will trick him out of trying to smoke.

Monica: You could also tell him you don't want him to try smoking, and talk about your reasons.

[No response.]

I don't know what this is a sign of

but my children play fetch. Specifically, Hannah throws things for Naomi, who, being Jack the brindle bulldog, then fetches them. Not in her mouth (so far), but these two will often play this game for 20-30 minutes at a time. They both agree on the objective, and they're not arguing, because the Laura role and the Jack role don't overlap at all, so they have a great time with it.

And when Jack also has a virus that means she's running a low-grade fever and is cranky and out of sorts, it's nice to have a game that she does for 20-30 minutes with only barking and no crying.

Now THAT was a long nap.

Naomi has developed the habit of coming out of her nap/quiet time to ask if her quiet time is over. Sometimes it's after she's slept for an hour and a half. Sometimes it's after she's been in there 90 seconds.

Now she's taken to coming out in the morning and asking if her quiet time is over. After 12-13 hours...well, I suppose.

Misunderstanding

Michael: We need to find a time for me to go see Bond with the guys.

Hannah: I want to go see Bond!

Michael and I look at each other in surprise.

Michael: This is an outing for grown-ups.

Hannah: I'd like to see Bond.

Monica: It's a movie for grown-ups, Hannah, I don't think you'd like it.

Hannah: Oh. Well I want to see Bonn, where Beethoven was born.

2 Months Ago Today

Simeon was born.



He's come a long way.

Sacked out!

Simeon is serious about sleeping...

Plans for the future

Hannah is forming an opinion of how her future life will be. Here are some excerpts from her plans:

She will dress her children as princes and princesses every day. If they fight over their clothes, they will be taken away.

She and her husband will be dressed like a queen and king every day.

She will name her daughter Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle so that there will be a real person named Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle.

She will have 100 children and three houses. Her children will need to share beds. [No surprise there, since she's going to have 100!]

It will be interesting to see her discussing these plans with future suitors.

Imaginary Friends

H: Naomi, is your imaginary friend Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle a woman or a dog?

N: A dog!

H: My imaginary friend Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle is a woman.

Naomi's thankful

for the gift of tact:

"That's a beautiful shirt, Grandma. I don't like it. But Tigey likes it."

Sim's thankful

for all the fun faces he can make now:

Hannah's thankful

for our friend Pat, who came to her birthday party and changed a quarter into a ring for her.

She lost a hair clip at the park the other day, and was MOST upset about it -- how was her hairstyle supposed to work if it was missing a hair clip? After her initial sorrow wore off, she was sharing her woes with Grandma Ellie. Then she came up with a solution to the problem:

"I'll ask Mr. Pat to make me a new clip from a penny. He made a ring from a penny at my birthday party. He can make anything from a penny. He's a GENIUS!"

Reading enlarges the mind

Hannah's reading gets better and better all the time. Which makes for some interesting conversations:

H: Tropical Tan. What do they do there?
Me: [Short explanation of tanning.]
H: Is that good for them?!? [said with a great deal of incredulity]
Me: Not really.
H: Why would people do something that's bad for them?
Me: Well, if they just do a little, it's not too bad, but often people overdo it.
H: What does "overdo" mean?
Me: Well, for instance,...
H: Like if I ate all my Halloween candy at once and didn't have any for another day?
Me: Yes, and not only would you have no more candy, but you'd probably also have a stomachache and feel pretty rotten.

Here's another one:

H: [Looking at the instructions on the placemat, which tell us to use eraseable market, then wipe with a wet cloth] Why do they tell us what to do with this placemat? It's our placemat.
Me: Who made the placemat?
H: They did.
Me: So who probably knows best how to use it?
H: They do.
Me: So they include instructions so that we'll be able to use the product properly.

Babies

Naomi's maternal instincts have been manifesting themselves a lot lately, what with the new baby and all. She loves holding him, singing to him, trying to get him to turn his head her way, helping with diaper changes, whatever. She also has Tigey, who gets to be her baby when Simeon isn't available. Sometimes he's what she calls her Simeon, which means that developmentally, he's the age of Simeon -- he can't walk, talk, or eat solid foods. When she wants a baby who CAN do those things, Tigey becomes her Lincoln, since she's heard that Lincoln can do those things.

You know you live in Seattle when...

your husband, 5-year-old, and 2 1/2-year-old are all outside, raking leaves...in the rain.

**UPDATE**

Of course, after that, it will clear up and be a lovely, sunny day for the rest of the day.

Not usually listed as nocturnal creatures

This morning, Hannah decided to check for packages on the front porch. It was only 8:40, but no matter, Hannah told me, "I'm checking for boxes, because sometimes mailmen and box deliverers are nocturnal, you know."

He's a smiley little guy

especially when one of his big sisters is singing songs to him.

Halloween costumes

I wasn't present for most of the trick-or-treating, so there aren't as many pictures as I would have taken, but here are some of them. Simeon isn't featured because I didn't get a picture of him in his outfit before he pooped on it 10 minutes after I put it on him.

Napping in the sun

I thought it might annoy Simeon to have the sun shining through the window onto his changing table. On the contrary, he decided that he'd take a nice little nap. If he hadn't been hungry, he'd probably have continued his nap for a while.

Some confusion

This morning, Naomi woke up. "I want some candy!" she said.

"Oh, well, we won't have candy until after trick-or-treating." (I was wondering to myself why she thought we'd be having candy before breakfast anyway, even on Halloween.)

This announcement was greeted with weeping.

Naomi did not necessarily understand the concept of Halloween, but I'm sure she will after this evening.

Time outs

can sometimes be quite upsetting for a 2 1/2 year old. The other day, Mimi was in time out for some problem, crying and making nonsense noises, and suddenly she yelled, "I'm telling Michael!"

Berenstain Bears

We're playing Berenstain Bears these days at our house. I'm Mama, Michael is Papa, Hannah is Sister, Naomi is Honey, and Simeon is Brother. Since Gran and Grandpa Joe are here, they get the distinction of being Grizzly Gramps and Grizzly Gran. Grandpa Joe may have the privilege of having that nickname stick; Naomi has switched to calling him Grizzly Gramps regularly: "Grizzly Gramps, will you please cut my chicken?"

Speculation about the future

At dinner, Hannah said, "Maybe Simeon will one day have a family of his own!"

I added, "Maybe so. Or maybe he'll be a priest."

Naomi then piped up with, "Or maybe he'll be a scary tiger."

Mom and I were struggling to keep from laughing out loud when Hannah, with some confusion, asked, "For Halloween?"

Halloween is coming

and we're getting ready.

He's home and happy to be adored

And here are some pictures to prove it.

Hannah's love letter

to her new baby brother:

Hi Simeon
Happy Birthday
Welcome to our family
We stick together
You're our favorite little brother
Please come home soon
We are hoping home in 1 day
Happy Birthday from Naomi too
Love, Hannah
Love, Naomi
We love you Simeon Joseph Bernstein

Highlights from the birth

After Simeon was born and things had settled down a bit, our OB asked if we'd like some celebration music. Sure, we said, not knowing exactly what to expect. He went out and brought back in a guitar and proceeded to play us some music and sing to us. It was a very sweet moment.

The big sisters

have visited. They love their new baby brother. He's darn cute, of course, so it's not hard to see why. :) They took turns holding him over and over and over. He was very cooperative about all of it and slept peacefully through all the attention and snuggles. They had written notes for Mom, Dad, and Simeon, and had drawn pictures. They had also been up in the night, apparently, so Naomi was a bit overwrought at finding that the new baby and Mama were STAYING at the hospital and not going home. Dada went back for lunch and naptime, and Mama and Simeon stayed at the hospital and slept. It was a joy to see the girls and have them love their new brother so much.

Simeon has cute, curly, dark hair, although there are lighter patches. His eyelashes are blond. He looks a bit like Naomi did at his age. He has long fingers (and long fingernails -- watch out!) like his Dad. He makes cute noises in his sleep and has smiled in his sleep a lot - very sweet.

I am feeling better rested after another nap -- we didn't get much sleep last night for some reason.

Hmmm...the TV in my room just randomly turned on to an infomercial about orthotics. I'm going to have to do something about THAT.

Meet Simeon Joseph

Born September 28, 2008 at 3:09 a.m.
8 lb, 10 oz
21 inches
Sweet, sweet, sweet.

Is it fall now?

If the 21st is the first day of fall, we've got it here. Well, we've had it for a couple of days. However, some members of the family are being especially Seattle-fall-like this morning: Michael, Hannah, and Naomi set off for a walk to the bagel shop after Mass this morning. I had a couple things to get at the store, and when I passed them as I was on my way home, I noticed how very Seattle they looked, walking along in a light drizzle with NONE of their hoods up -- although they all had them.

Breakfast

on Saturday mornings is a big deal at our house. It's not terribly elaborate, usually, but the girls and Michael almost always bake something together. This morning as we were lazing about after sleeping in (until 7:25!), Hannah said, "It's a chilly morning, so it would be a good day for a warm breakfast. Like cinnamon rolls warm from the oven." Naomi, in a similarly dreamy voice, added, "And bacon."

Big girl bed

Naomi's big girl bed is all set up now -- we put the mattress and sheets on this morning. She's very excited, and wanted to make sure, at naptime, that she could sleep in the new bed. Of course, she didn't want to get under the covers. She wanted to sleep on top of the quilt and have her usual blanket covering her. So we still have a little way to go, but the enthusiasm for the bed is definitely there.

Helpful Instructions for the Day

On a tag from a pair of socks I bought for Hannah: "Do not iron."

Phew. I don't have to iron her socks. What a relief.

Quote of the Day

"It's butchering day! But we won't butcher the pig on your new rug, Mama."

Allergy tests

Michael went in to the allergist the other day to see if he'd outgrown his allergies from childhood. He had bee sting and shellfish issues. Well, praise God, he seems to be free of those allergies now! We're excited about that, for sure.

The girls were interested to see his allergy test marks on his arms. They were impressed at how brave he was -- he didn't even CRY for his 20-something scratch tests and subdermal injections (3 levels of 5 different venoms from stinging insects). They were also absolutely appalled when they found out that he didn't even get a STICKER for being so brave! The looks on their faces were really shocked and devastated about such a terrible oversight. Hannah was so taken aback that she went and got him something to make him feel better -- his very own little pad of paper.

More on fixing bugs

Naomi proudly informed Michael the other day that she had fixed some bugs. Hannah felt the need to clarify, "She fixed some bugs, Dada, but not in Vista."

What does this mean

Naomi was singing through her bedtime songs after dinner today. She got Su La Li just right, as well as O Christmas Tree and The Little Drummer Boy. Hush Little Baby was sung like this:

Hush little baby, don't say a word,
Papa's gonna buy you a diamond ring.
If that diamond ring turns to brass,
Papa's gonna buy you a diamond ring.

It turns out that Papa, in Naomi's version of the song, always buys the baby a diamond ring, no matter the circumstances or the rhyme scheme.

Bread baking continues

Michael's baking was a wild success today. I actually was the one to bake the bread, but he'd done the mixing and then set the loaf up to put in the oven before he left on a bike ride with the kids. We ate the bread at dinner and were all very impressed. Hannah admitted that she hadn't thought she'd like the bread but liked it a whole lot. Naomi ate a couple of pieces. Michael and I agreed that the results were a lot like the artisan breads you can get at the store. MMMMM....

Adventures in Baking

Monica took a book out of the library recently about bread baking, which I've been peeking at recently, and I decided to try my hand at it. Results were ... amusing.

The first recipe was 100% whole wheat. I made the dough, let it rise, let it rise a second time, made a dough ball as the book instructed, and put it into a loaf pan. The book said to grease the pan, but the pan was non-stick, so, that counts, right? Bake for one hour; remove. I tried to get the bread out onto the cooling rack. Nothing doing - it was stuck. I used a wooden spoon to pry around the sides, and then flipped it over and pounded on the bottom of the pan. Whoosh! Out came the middle of the bread, leaving the crust conveniently behind. It has since occurred to me that this is exactly what children across the country have been seeking for decades, and I really ought to go into business making crustless bread, but that was not actually my first thought. Instead, I removed the crust-hulk, and then stuffed the innards back into the bread. It was like taxidermy bread - not that I've ever been a taxidermist, mind you, but I've read about them. I called it "broken bread", and we had broken bread for snacks and sandwiches today. The kids liked it, and it actually tasted OK, but this was not the success I had hoped for.

So, this afternoon, I set out to make the dough for a white bread recipe. The book says to refrigerate the dough, so I haven't tried it yet, but I already had a good story. After mixing water, yeast and salt, I started adding flour. Hannah really wanted to help, so I let her stir. After adding several cups of flour, it becomes hard to stir, so I asked her if she needed help. "Oh, no, Dad, this is easy!" Really? I look over and she is stirring with all her might and the entire bowl is spinning around with her. The flour is quite still, but the whole apparatus was rotating rapidly, and she was as pleased as could be. I finished adding the flour, and then took back the bowl to do the (rather more boring) task of actually incorporating the flour. I'll try baking this batch tomorrow - hopefully no taxidermy required.

Interesting choice

Me: Hannah, you'll need some protein with breakfast. Would you like yogurt or cottage cheese?

Hannah: I was wondering if I could have baked beans with breakfast.

Me: Um...sure.

The Fair

We went to the Evergreen State Fair today. We'll be going again on Monday with Michael, but we usually enjoy going a couple of times while the Fair is going on. The girls had a great time and both fell asleep in the car on the way home. They both enjoyed seeing the animals. Hannah loved the petting farm...Naomi liked petting the rabbit, but didn't want to touch any of the more intimidating animals. There were chicks that hatched on Hannah's birthday and piglets that were 2 weeks old. There were cows that scared Naomi by mooing (very amusing to be walking through the cattle barn with a little girl pressing her hands hard on her ears) and horses competing in a log-dragging contest. There was fair food, of course. And there was a pony ride for one 5-year-old. I think that was the highlight for her. You would think that a kid who didn't want to jump into the pool by herself (in the shallow end, same thing she'd been doing the previous week) would have been nervous about the pony rides, but you'd be wrong. She had on a face-splitting grin the whole time (not captured by her mother, who forgot the camera today...). As we were on the way home, she declared her intention to take horse-back riding lessons. I don't know where she gets it! :)

Exciting times at our house

Work at home

Both Naomi and Hannah have picked up on the idea of using dinner as a time to catch up on how the day was for everyone. They will often ask Michael how his day was. Naomi has also noticed that Michael often talks about fixing bugs at work. So she's taken to going off to a separate part of the room and saying, "Fix, fix, fix" while moving her hands around somewhat nebulously. Then she'll come over and tell us, "I fixed some bugs."

Swimming lessons

Good to know

I went to the OB this morning and everything looks good -- great news. I had asked Michael if he had any questions I should bring in to the appointment with me, and Hannah overheard. She told me she'd like me to check with Dr. Blackham about whether "it's okay if pregnant ladies watch TV." I was a bit surprised, since we don't really watch TV, but I did as she requested.

Me: Well, my 5-year-old wanted me to check and see if it's okay for pregnant ladies to watch TV.

Dr. Blackham: You know, I'll go ahead and give the O.K. to that.

Hannah was very relieved to hear this.

Coming soon

Since I recently realized that the due date for the new baby is coming right up, I have started to do some necessary preparation -- some directly relating to the baby's arrival, and some not. This weekend I went through the 0-3 month clothes and washed the gender neutral ones, as well as blankets, sheets, burp clothes, lap pads, slings, and various other baby gear. It is ridiculous how small these clothes are! I should know this by now, but it still strikes me as ridiculous that they're so small.

On a slightly more dangerous note, I've been working on a bit of garden planning, too. This is only more dangerous in that gardening plans easily get out of hand, and I am notorious for this particular difficulty. So I've been trying to choose a project, rather than work out an entire plan to be implemented this fall. It's difficult to stay reined in, especially since there is a lot of ground to work with, and most of it is in dire need of help.

It's cooled off a bit

thank God! We had some nice weather this weekend, and today is back to being off and on rain and 60 degrees. It's not as much fun for the kids, since their outside playtime is hampered a bit by the rain, but they've been taking advantage of Kerri's visit to do crafts, stickers, and paper airplane projects galore, so I think they're okay with it.

Ballet camp

was a mighty success this year. Here's a photo of our little ballerina in her ballet outfit (her slippers aren't on yet for this photo, but her hair is in the requisite bun).

It's the little things

I had some copies to make, and yesterday turned out to be the day I did them. The girls came with me, of course, and I found myself thinking that it could be a somewhat disastrous trip to Kinkos. However, I plowed ahead. When we got there, I told the girls what I was going to do -- put the pages in here, then the machine would copy them and new pages would come out here. I started up the machine.

Both girls were instantly enthralled. They cheered about the pages coming out and Hannah said, "This is much better than the laminator!" They saw the laminator last week. Each time I started a new batch, they watched in awe as the pages came spitting out. I had to tell them not to scream so loud, they were getting so excited about it.

I have no idea what the people around us were thinking, but I have to say that I'm not sure I ever have come across that much excitement about making copies before...

Confusing songs

This evening we were singing songs, and it was Naomi's turn to pick. She said she wanted the dino song. We tried several, but they were all the wrong song -- "NO! Not that song, the dino song!" We were at a loss.

Suddenly, though, something clicked, and I realized that she wanted "I've been working on the railroad." To her, "Dinah" sounds just like "dino," so it was the dino song. She was very pleased that we finally figured it out.

It certainly does put a different spin on the line, "Someone's in the kitchen with dino," doesn't it?

It's warm here

The past few days have had highs in the mid-to-upper 90s. We don't have A/C here, so that's pretty warm -- inside and out. Our thermometer today is reading 94 (in the shade), and the inside thermometer says 89. Pregnancy and heat with no A/C don't really mix too well, I have to admit. The kids thought it was hilarious that I was sitting by their wading pool with my feet in the pool, but boy is it a good way to cool off! The nights and mornings are still pretty cool, so we try to get out early in the morning to do stuff, then get into some sort of water in the afternoons.

More birthday thoughts

Hannah, on her birthday, laughingly remarked, "Well, I may have 100 more birthdays, or even 30!"

Rescheduling

Thursday, July 31, as we were on our way across the 520 bridge (which, for out-of-towners, goes over Lake Washington), we saw the Blue Angels practicing for their performances at SeaFair over the weekend. Hannah was most impressed and really wanted to go to the performance. Unfortunately, our weekend was completely booked.

"Maybe we could reschedule my birthday party to Sunday so we could go," she suggested.

"Your birthday party is on Sunday."

"Oh. Can't we go Saturday, then?"

"No, Saturday we're going to Jen and Tim's wedding."

"Oh. Can we call the Blue Angels and ask them to reschedule?"

I picture myself calling the SeaFair information number and asking who I can talk to about changing the Blue Angels to the following weekend..."I think we'll just try to make it to the show next year."

"Oh. All right. Can you find out when it is next year?"

Phew!

It's been a very busy week for us! Hannah's 5th birthday was Friday, with party on Sunday, and Michael's parents drove up for the occasion. Saturday was the wedding of some very good friends of ours, and Michael was in the wedding, so we attended the rehearsal dinner Thursday. It was a great weekend of seeing friends and family, but much more active than we've been recently.

Names

Naomi continues to demand precision in what we call her. Most times we call her anything besides "Naomi," she says, "I'm Naomi." Michael will often say, "Can I call you Mimi?" To which she answers, "You may call me Naomi."

Yard Work, Tom Sawyer style

Michael, in his bid for "Best Tom Sawyer Moment of 2008" has enlisted the kids' help in his gardening chores this morning. A certain niece and nephew are over and Michael took all the kids outside. "Here's how this works: I'm going to pop the weeds out, and you get to pick them up and put them in that box. And some of you can find the next weed for me to do." Immediately there was a scramble to get the first weed, followed by high-volume negotiations on who got to do the next one. The nephew, sensing that this may be a lucrative passtime, asked, "Uncle Michael, will you pay us for helping you?" Michael, without missing a beat, replied, "No, but I will say thank you very much." That answer did not in the least dampen the spirits of his helpers, who continued to vie for the coveted role of putter-in-box of the weeds.

Notable quotables

We were walking in the park that's nearby our house and has lots of hiking trails. "I'm going to hide, Mama, I'm going to hide," said one small 2-year-old. "No, Naomi, this isn't a good time to hide," I said, picturing myself searching frantically in the many acres of forest for a hiding 2-year-old. She kept repeating herself, though, until I finally realized that she was actually saying, "I'm going to HIKE." Oh, okay, yeah, that's fine.

"Here's where we had a picnic," said Hannah, pointing to the part of Green Lake park that we'd had a picnic at least a year ago. But when asked about who the saint of the day was, she looked incredulously at me and said, "How do you expect me to remember all of these things?!?"

Comparisons

Hannah (as she's looking through the Pottery Barn Kids catalog): I like girls' rooms better than boys' rooms. Girls' rooms are much prettier. [She pauses to muse for a few minutes.] But I guess boys have to have rooms. [More looking at the catalog.] I mean, look at this [she holds up a page with a boy's room on it] compared to [flips back to a girl's room] this. [She is clearly satisfied that she's made her point.]

More reviews of cherry pie

The kids didn't get a chance to try the cherry pie last night, since Michael baked it after they were in bed. So we had some after dinner tonight, and they got a chance to taste it. Naomi ate a few bites and didn't really appreciate the cherry filling. She did, however, like the plain crust. Hannah liked it all and generously offered to finish up Naomi's. I told her it was the best cherry pie I'd ever had, and she said, "Were the other ones from the store?" I told her they were. "Well, that's why," she said, matter-of-factly, "Homemade is always better."

Cherry pie

Michael, having picked a ton of pie cherries from our trees, both the one at the new house and the one at the old house, decided to do something with the bounty. Last night, he made cherry pie from scratch, including the crust. Let me tell you, it was awesome. Cherry pie is fine, I like it and all, but this was DELICIOUS! I had no idea that fresh cherries would make such a difference. I think all of Michael's hard work paid off.

Shakespeare

in the park was a hit with our whole family. We went to see 12th Night. Hannah loved it and wanted the entire story RETOLD to her immediately after the play ended. She stood for most of it, convinced that she'd get a better view while standing. She ended up sitting down for the last 30 minutes or so (it was 2 1/2 hours!) so that she could eat the dinner I'd packed for her, but other than that, she wanted the best view. I was wondering whether she'd mind that she couldn't necessarily get all of the language, but she remained absolutely entranced throughout.

Naomi enjoyed it, once she figured out that the characters weren't going to be anywhere near her. Also, she was completely intrigued with characters going "offstage," especially since offstage was off to the side in the park or in a tent that had been set up to the other side. "Not want them to hide right now." Well, sweetie, we don't have a lot of control over when they hide and when they don't. She did end up drawing with markers during the last bit, since she was getting a bit bored.

Michael and I thoroughly enjoyed it, and it was an absolutely beautiful summer day for it -- sunny, but not too hot, and we had a spot in the dappled shade. Aaahhh.

At the end, the players always ask for donations and fan out through the audience to collect. I gave Hannah some money to donate, but she was too shy, so she gave it to Naomi, who happily walked up to the woman who was nearby, said, "Excuse me," and handed her the money with a beatific smile on her face. I don't think they normally get 2 year olds donating. The woman was a bit surprised.

Cherries

We've been getting cherries from the 4 trees that we bought with the new house. And they are GOOD. And cherries are unusually expensive this year, so we're saving lots of money by eating our very own. Michael picked a whole bunch of sweet cherries last weekend and this weekend he's been working on the sour cherries. There's only one tree of sour cherries, but there are 3 sweet. It's a good ratio. Hannah is very excited to make a cherry pie. Cobbler might be more my speed at this point, but we'll see.

This morning when he asked the girls if they wanted to help him pick cherries, Naomi replied, "Not like cherries, Dada." This isn't strictly true. Sometimes she likes them and other times not. In any case, we weren't planning on feeding her sour cherries, anyway.

"Naomi, you don't have to eat them, we're just going to pick them," was the reasonable response.

"Not WANT to eat them, Dada."

"You don't have to eat them."

"Oh. OKAY! WANT TO PICK CHERRIES!!!!!!"

Swimming

There was great excitement this morning when I announced that after breakfast we'd go to the pool. We were going to the same pool we visited on my birthday, but for the morning "leisure pool" time, from 7:30-9. Of course, we didn't get there until 8:10, but that was okay.

Naomi is officially unafraid in the water, which makes it all the more scary for me, of course. Hannah is rapidly regaining the confidence she had last year, using a kickboard with her face in the water today. Neither of them felt that they needed me anywhere near them, especially since we and a couple friends who joined us were the ONLY people in the shallow end.

Naomi has decided to hold off whining when she hears that we're going swimming until she determines whether it's for a swimming lesson or just for swimming...of course, she really enjoyed her swimming lesson the other day, but it's now part of the routine to whine about it. ONE of us is REALLY hoping that this part of the routine falls away VERY quickly.

Wishing the time away

Today we went to drop off Hannah's registration for the Northwest Girlchoir class. The conversation in the car afterwards was interesting:

H: I wish it was fall.
Mama: Why?
H: So I could start my choir classes
N: I want to go to Northwest Girlchoir!
Mama: You have to be a bit older, Naomi.
N: I'm older!
Mama: You have to be older than that.
N: I AM older! I'm older!
Mama: You have to be 4, so it's really not too long of a wait.
N: I AM 4!

Good grief, the time passes quickly enough, as far as I'm concerned!

It's a pleasure

Hannah has recently picked up this phrase and uses it to great effect: "It's a pleasure being a big girl." or "It's a pleasure having you as a mom." or "It's a pleasure going to swimming lessons." It's really quite cute.

Oh, and "charming" is her new favorite adjective, too. Recently she climbed the tree at our old house in Bothell and shouted from her perch, "The view from up here is charming!" The neighbor who had come over to chat with me was most impressed. Also, cherries and vanilla yogurt are "charming."

More names

Michael: What's Dada's full name?
Naomi: Dada Michael Bernstein

Names

Michael: What's your name, Naomi?
Naomi: Naomi Bernstein
Michael: What's your full name?
Naomi: Naomi Rose Bernstein
M: What's Dada's full name?
N: Dada Rose Bernstein
M: What's Mama's full name?
N: Mama Rose Bernstein

Sleepy

I don't know what it is, but the kids have been sleeping in lately. Naomi hasn't gotten up before 8 a.m. since last Saturday. Yesterday, she slept until 9 a.m. Hannah's been getting up between 7:15 and 8:15. It's very strange, since I'm used to them being up and raring to go between 6 and 7. Michael hasn't seen the kids before going to work this week, which is highly unusual. He's working from home this morning, and wanted to have breakfast with the kids, but I'm not sure he's going to be able to wait that long, as they're still asleep at 8.

Maybe it's the busy summer days.

Update on the baby

Swimming Lessons again

Today was swimming lesson day. Yesterday we went to the pool to make sure Naomi was comfortable in the water, and she had a great time. So did Hannah. So today, when it was announced that we were going to swimming lessons, Hannah was very excited. Naomi immediately started crying and spent the whole morning either crying or whining or fussing and NOT listening or doing her usual things. It was most unpleasant.

However, in a burst of Heaven-sent inspiration, I thought of telling her we'd ask Miss Connie if I could get in with her. That comforted her a bit, although she still informed me about 4,000 times between breakfast and arriving at Miss Connie's pool that she didn't LIKE swimming lessons -- despite last week's claim to love them.

Miss Connie was fine with me getting in, and we all had a fine time. Once I got Naomi to stop weeping copiously (which began once we arrived at the pool), she enjoyed herself thoroughly, and even consented to go to Miss Connie part of the time. Hannah did a great job and floated on her back all by herself today. She was very good about demonstrating to Naomi about going under water and blowing bubbles. I'm somewhat hopeful that next week we might be able to accomplish our swimming lesson without the weeping. We'll see.

A wild success

We're back from the reception, the kids are in bed, and we had a great time. The wedding was lovely, the girls did a beautiful (and meticulous) job with the rose petals and enjoyed their flower girl finery, we all danced at the reception, and we're generally tired and happy from a good day.

On the way home from the reception, Naomi said, "Mrs. Heidi [the bride] is happy!" She is definitely right about that.

Wedding prep

Today we went to the reception hall to help with set-up. Not everyone who has an almost-5-year-old and a 2-year-old would think that she could be helpful at a reception hall set-up for 2 1/2 hours. However, Hannah and Naomi behaved beautifully, spending the first hour or so coloring and the rest of the time watching napkin folding (which is what I spent most of my time doing) and helping to put the napkins out on the tables. They both enjoyed themselves thoroughly and were not really interested in leaving, but naptime calls, so we headed home.

The only part that Naomi didn't really enjoy was that there were a lot of heretofore unknown men helping out. Tim (the groom) has 5 brothers, so they were all there, plus several of Heidi and Tim's male friends. There were female friends, too, but Naomi is okay with women she doesn't know. She also thought that Heidi's dad was fine -- once I explained that he was Heidi's dad. But she would scowl at any other male in her vicinity. And she has a most amusing scowl.

Hannah, at one point while she was going back and forth, setting out napkins, said, "I LOVE being a flower girl and getting to help set up!"

They both got a couple of pieces of watermelon for their efforts, and I think they felt well rewarded.

Sometimes small miracles happen

Naomi: Can I play with Play-doh, please, Mommy?
Me: Yes...wait, no thanks, we're going to be leaving in a few minutes [I brace myself, waiting for inevitable tantrum about Play-doh].
Naomi: Oh. Okay. [puts Play-doh away]

Swimming lessons

began a couple of weeks ago. Hannah is getting right back into things, enjoying being in the water, and remembering all the things she used to do in the pool. Naomi is not enjoying herself at all. The second lesson she cried almost the entire 30 minutes. The thing is, once she decides that she likes it (which I think it just a matter of time), she's going to be almost dangerous in the water. Right now, though, she's crying.

After the second lesson, during which she cried almost the whole time, I dried her off, dressed her, and she watched the next lesson for a little while as I got Hannah dressed. Then we thanked Miss Connie and got in the van. At which point Naomi enthusiastically said, "I loved my swimming lesson!"

Make believe

Naomi has recently gotten into pretending to be other things besides a little girl, and Hannah could not be more thrilled. They play all different things. Right now, Naomi is a penguin, and Hannah is helping her toboggan across the floor of the living room.

A common pretend game is also that we're Laura Ingalls Wilder's family. Michael and I are Pa and Ma, Mary is pretend, Hannah is Laura, Naomi is Carrie, and Grace is pretend. Lately, we've been mixing it up a bit, since Naomi likes to pretend to be a dog. If that's the case, then she's Jack, the brindle bulldog. Except that she likes to pretend to be a puppy, so she's Jack, the brindle bullpuppy. Hannah often calls her "bullpup" or "brindle" if she's being Jack. It's quite amusing.

Another recent development is that Naomi likes to pretend to be a train. Specifically, she likes to be Thomas, the baby choo-choo train. She then lets Michael know that he's the daddy train.

Hannah really loves that Naomi is playing pretend games with her, and both girls get very into their games.

She's a busy girl

Recently, Naomi has taken to using a stock answer that she's heard other people use. I'll give you a couple examples:

Mama: Naomi, would you like to listen to this CD?
Naomi: No.
Mama: Why not?
Naomi: I'm busy.

OR:

Mama: Naomi, why don't you want to eat this?
Naomi: I'm busy.

Umm, yeah, busy avoiding eating the rest of your lunch! "I'm busy," is now her answer for any "Why not?" question. It can be terribly amusing, especially since two-year-olds have so many pressing responsibilities.

Still quite warm

The warm Seattle days continue, although today is only supposed to be in the mid-80s, apparently, instead of the low 90s. Fine with us. Poor Michael got to work today to discover that, after the weekend of being off, the AC in his building wasn't coming back on. So he spent at least the first 2 hours of work in a 90-degree office. Sweating, of course. I advised him to come back home, but he had just received an email that the AC was on again, so he was hoping it would cool down.

We're enjoying our porch on days like today. There's a nice breeze out there and the sun is shining on the back and side of the house for the morning and much of the day. The girls spent a fair amount of time out there, swinging, playing, eating lunch, and having a good time. We're still thinking of going to the lake this afternoon, since it's a good opportunity for everyone to get cool.

It's a bit warm

Today was in the high 80s and low 90s in Seattle. That was pretty warm. We took the opportunity to head over to Matthew's Beach, a beach on Lake Washington that the girls and I have gone to a couple of times in the past week, usually on weekday afternoons. Of course, today was a hot, sunny Saturday, so the place was packed. Naomi, seated in the back, was obviously struck by the difference in number of people from the other times we'd been there: "Oh my gosh," she said from her car seat as we pulled into the parking lot, "look at all the people!"

Hannah LOVES the beach. Today she was in the water up to her chin, jumping over the wavelets that came in. We did have to insist that she get out when her lips turned blue -- 90 degrees or not outside, Lake Washington doesn't get very warm this early in the summer. However, she and Naomi had a very fun time working on sand castles after their time in the water. Naomi really likes the beach, once she gets past the noise. The other people (especially kids) yelling and the waves coming in are overwhelming for her, but once she settled down she enjoyed herself thoroughly.

We're glad it's a 10 minute drive away, especially on days like today.

Weddings

The flower girl dresses have arrived! There is great excitement about them. They look darling in them and are both most impressed that they look like brides in them.

Also, the shower last night involved rose petals, so today we're doing flower girl practice. The girls are putting the petals in their Easter baskets and practicing walking around, scattering rose petals wherever they go. Of course, then they have to pick them all back up again so they can do it again.

Ballet class

Hannah is conducting a ballet class consisting of herself and Naomi. She's paging through a library book we got ("I go to Ballet Class" or something like that) and having both of them imitate the pictures. I really can't begin to tell you just how cute those two are as they do their class. Some of us are a bit more graceful than others, and some of us do little galloping circles instead of following the teacher's instructions to "turn on the tips of your toes!"

Camping Stories

Two other fathers and I took our kids camping this weekend. Here's a quick assortment of camping stories. Hannah and I had a great time, as did the other dads and kids.

On Friday afternoon, Hannah and I drove up to the area where the campsite was, and did a nearby hike. There were several creeks and footbridges. There were some bugs, too. At one point, I muttered, "Go away, mosquitoes - I'm not your lunch." Hannah thought this was hilarious, and every meal had variations: "Go away, bugs, I'm not your breakfast!" "Go away, bugs, I'm not your dinner!" Hannah was very impressed with s'mores, and had several. When she was almost done, she said, "I think I need just ... ummm ... three more." Who can blame her?

She was my big helper on this trip: she helped me put the rain fly on the tent and take it off, carried tools here and there, carried her luggage from the van to the camp, watched the roasting s'mores, and generally did whatever I asked her to do. She was very proud of herself, especially when she helped take down part of our tent on the last day without my even asking.

We went for a late evening hike on Saturday night. Hannah saw a big black slug, coming out for the evening ... and then another, and then another. "This place is awash in slugs!", she says. This was pretty much true. Later that night, I was trying to climb into the tent oh-so-quietly, and I reached down to slip off my show and put my hand right on a slug. Yuck! I almost yelled, and then dropped the slug. I had to hunt for it with a flashlight and then send it flying out of the tent.

Hannah and I went to a Junior Ranger talk, and she can now name the five kinds of Pacific Salmon. She asked lots of questions, too, and has added Junior Ranger to her list of things that she wants to be when she grows up. I think this may have been the highlight of her trip. We played a lifecycle game, where everyone was assigned a card as part of the salmon lifecycle: salmon, or predator, or body of water, etc. My brother-in-law was assigned "Fry", a tiny stage of life for salmon. I was assigned "Great Blue Heron": the major predator for Fry. Excellent ... nothing like having your brother-in-law as your key prey.

There's more, of course, but that will do for now.

Camping

Hannah and Michael went camping over the weekend -- two nights this year, instead of just one! Very exciting. Happily, the weather was good most of the weekend, and the few sprinkles happened when they were in the woods, so they didn't really get wet. They have lots of exciting stories of their weekend, and Hannah came home and taught us the 5 kinds of Pacific salmon (learned at a ranger talk): Chum, Sockeye, King, Silver, and Pink.

Naomi and I fended for ourselves. This meant that we went to the beach on Friday (it was 87 degrees!), and Naomi very much enjoyed that. We spent the day profitably visiting a certain aunt and similarly-aged cousin of Naomi's Saturday, as well as going to Mass and the parish appreciation dinner Saturday evening. We woke up late on Sunday and went out to breakfast, then to lunch with said aunt and cousin, and Hannah and Michael were home just after lunchtime.

Hannah keeps hinting that maybe I should go next time. "Tell me about when you went camping, Mama." "Did you like car camping, Mama?" "How much did you like camping?" "Maybe we should take you camping sometime."

I have nothing against camping; I have had many enjoyable camping experiences. None of them occurred, though, when I was in my last trimester of pregnancy, and it's going to take a lot more than a bit of hiking and wildlife to get me to leave my comfy bed and body pillow for even one night. Maybe next year. I'm sure there are many women who camp while in late pregnancy. I salute them, but I'm not about to join their ranks!

Whoohoo!

We've had some warmer weather the last few days, and have been able to go outside without jackets and rain boots. This morning we took a neighborhood walk with the girls in sandals -- with socks (Seattle-style) -- and no jackets, although they did have long sleeves on. We will probably be able to wear short sleeves this afternoon.

Learn new things at the aquarium

Like: Naomi is scared of the wave pools. She does NOT like the waves coming in. At all.

Like: Hannah listens carefully enough to the descriptions of the trainers feeding the sea otters to tell me a story she made up on the way home all about a baby sea otter rescued from the oil spill.

And then you can learn new things at home. At dinner we were discussing the trip to the aquarium, telling Michael all about it. I started subbing "fur seal" and "otter" into a song about belugas that the girls like. Hannah picked up on it and substituted into a song of her own. Then Naomi decided to get involved and came up with "Fur seals are watching over me tonight." The actual song is "Angels are watching over me tonight." I thought that was pretty clever for a girl her age to get the joke and expand on it!

Markers

are so much more fun than pens. Did you know that? Perhaps it's their permanence or the fun, scrunchy noise they make when they draw. Or maybe it's because some of us who happen to be two can sense that Mom hides and protects the markers. Perhaps that's because of their permanence.

Number sense

This morning, Hannah entered 3 on the abacus. Then she said, "And now there are 97 on the other side."

Rhododendrons

should not be still blooming at this time of year. However, since ours still is, I took some pictures the other day. It's quite impressive, so I thought I'd share:





Bees have been all over this plant -- when it's been warm enough, of course. It's made for some very good observation opportunities for us.

Overheard

Yesterday, as Michael was overseeing finger painting (for which he gets a lot of folks out of purgatory, since finger painting is something he really doesn't like...and the kids both used the occasion to have fits -- over different things, at different times, but both having something to do with the finger painting), I overheard this exchange:

Naomi: Look, Dada! (She holds up her hand, which she's covered entirely -- front, back, sides -- in finger paint.)
Michael: Naomi, that's crazy!
Hannah: Dada, we need to work on encouraging Naomi, not telling her she's crazy.

Of course, lately I've been exhorting Hannah to encourage Naomi, not tell her she can't do things, not tell her that her idea is ridiculous, not tell her that her bear drawing doesn't look like a bear, not tell her that she has no idea what the heck she's doing. I'm not sure my exhortations are affecting Hannah's behavior at all, but apparently she at least hears me and internalizes it enough to rebuke Michael. Very comforting.

Adding insult to injury

We now all have a summer cold. Naomi seems to have the worst of it so far. I really shouldn't complain, because we've all been remarkably healthy so far in 2008. Ah, well, rain gear and tissues will be our companions for the next few days. Hopefully warmer weather will come soon!

Summer Gear

What's our most used and important summer gear so far this year? Sadly enough, boots and rain coats. We've been making it a point to be sure to be outside daily, but more often than not lately that means putting on our rain gear, because even if it's not raining when we set out, it starts while we're gone. Usually it's not too difficult to work in outside time in the summer, but when it's 55 and drizzling, it's a bit difficult to get the motivation to get out there.

Poor Michael

is now suffering from Naomi's obsession with biting. The other night he had a dream that worms were biting him.

A challenge

When you've been practicing karate for a while, you find that sometimes it's good to liven up your practice (at home) with a bit of a challenge so that you don't get complacent.

For instance, you can practice your kata, but if you can practice your kata with a 2-year-old crawling between your legs, you know you're getting somewhere!

Naomi's sleep routine

includes some rather odd things. Okay, so the book and the prayers and the singing aren't really that odd. But the songs that she loves and insists upon are. Before naps and bedtime, we sing Su La Li (a nice melody of nonsense words), Hush Little Baby (okay, so that's a lullaby), O Christmas Tree, and Little Drummer Boy (generally referred to as RumPaPumPum by Naomi). For some reason, this combination of lullabies and Christmas music does the trick for her and she goes right to sleep.

Budding interests

Hannah likes to read the house numbers as we're walking along or driving around. She has discovered that she is very fond of numbers. She will often, after a time of quiet reflection, say things like, "3 and 3 makes 6," or, "How many 10s in 20, Mama?" She asks for word problems and then does them in her head. Things along the lines of, "If there were 3 karate students and each did 2 punches, how many punches would that be?" She gets the answer right, too.

I recently introduced her to the game Memory, and she latched on right away. The game I originally had her playing was on the computer, but when I showed her how to play with cards at the table, she was most impressed. Of course, it takes a bit longer to set up, because all the cards have to be turned so that the pictures on the back are right-side-up, but I have a feeling that as soon as she figures out that Memory can be played with someone (right now she plays by herself), the popularity of CandyLand is going to plummet.

She's more and more interested in the natural world, too. Today on our walk, she pointed to a tree and said, "That's a birch." She was right, too, it is a birch. She also identified a maple tree. I was more impressed with those than with the identification of a cherry tree -- it has little green cherries on it, so it's a dead giveaway. But still, even with the cherry tree, she was paying a lot of attention to the local flora. She can easily recognize strawberry plants, too, by their leaves.

Hannah is soaking up knowledge as fast as she can. It's really quite amazing to see.

NOW we're in more trouble

Naomi's claims about being a victim of biting continue. The cat at a friend's house recently was accused. It being a living thing with teeth, this was more believable than some of Naomi's recent accusations. However, the cat hadn't bitten her.

Then, the other day, we were out looking at the bees collecting nectar and pollen from our rhododendron (photos to follow -- the thing is huge and in full bloom at the moment. I'm pretty sure we could support several hives of bees on that rhododendron alone!) and Hannah said, "Careful not to get too close, Naomi, or the bee will sting you."

Imagine Naomi's delight at finding that you could get stung by something! Well, then she claimed the bee stung her and so did an ant that she saw for about 5 seconds on our way back in the house. She hasn't made any further claims about stinging, but I'm just waiting.

Michael's party

I recently read about someone who'd given a potluck and asked guests to bring a dish with bacon. When I was sending out the evites for Michael's birthday, I realized that would be a great party theme for him.

So yesterday was Bacon-Fest 2008 for Michael's 30th birthday. We had bacon. Bacon dip, bacon-wrapped water chestnuts, bacon-wrapped dates stuffed with blue cheese, bacon pizza, baked beans (with bacon, of course), and chocolate chip/cranberry/bacon cookies. Yes, cookies. With bacon. We also had chocolate mousse, which didn't include any bacon, and turned out to be delicious. Someone also brought a baconless dish, which also disappeared completely...the ever-delicious and famous tomato/mozzarella/basil combo on bread.

I believe that we have had enough bacon for a little while.

The saga continues

This morning I heard loud weeping from the living room, which happened to be where Hannah and Naomi were playing. I went in to find Naomi crying on the couch.

Me: What happened?
Naomi: The train bit me!

Okay, this is a pretend train that Hannah and Naomi have been playing for a while. She told me it bit her on the cheek. Um....

So now she's scared of the pretend train. Yes, she cried when Hannah brought up the train again and told Hannah, "I'm scared of the train."

Well, I suppose I'd be afraid of a pretend train that bit me, too.

Really, though, I'm wondering where she got all this and where it's going to end up.

On our walk

This morning we walked to the local library, which isn't as good as the big ol' one in Bothell, but is walking distance and has books, so we're not really complaining.

We passed some of our neighbors loading things into their car and exchanged pleasantries about their vegetable garden and my pregnant state.

As we were walking away, Hannah asked, "How did they know that we're pregnant?"

She's referred, in the past, to the "we" who are expecting and the "we" who are going to have a baby, and I can see her point. All of us are expecting a baby to come, and once he or she is out, we'll all have a baby. But the "we" who are pregnant is a bit more confusing. I'm feeling like it's pretty much me...

Approved

There's a little Italian restaurant down the street from our house. It's only a few blocks. We visited it tonight. You never know what you're going to get, of course, especially bringing a couple of kids to a restaurant.

It was delicious. The pasta didn't have eggs in it (good, since then Hannah could eat it). The kids loved what they got. Michael and I loved what we got. They had desserts that the kids could eat.

Thumbs up all around.

Whoops, haha

I just discovered this post that wasn't published earlier for some reason. It's funny, so you should check it out if you have a minute or two.

Gardening

We now have a small strawberry bed in our new yard. I'll post pictures eventually, but for now, suffice it to say that Hannah insists that we check on the strawberry plants several times a day, to see if they're bearing, to see if they're doing okay, etc. It's very cute. She's on a crusade to get as much garden goodness going here as we had at the old house, which may take a while. She has high hopes, though!

I got each girl a round container to put a few plants in for a little garden of their own, and they are very excited about them. Hannah is especially excited, and is very diligent about making sure hers gets watered on a regular basis. They are both quite interested in making the snapdragons snap.

Weddings

We're going to a wedding tomorrow, and Hannah is beside herself with joy. She loves weddings. She has since she was pretty young. Today she told me that she was going to do quiet time early tomorrow, since if quiet time ended early, the wedding could start early. She was a bit chagrined to find out that the end time of her quiet time would not affect the wedding timing.

More words of Naomi's

This morning I told Naomi I would need to clip her fingernails.

She replied, "And my feeternails."

Heehee. She meant toenails, but it was pretty descriptive!

Words Naomi uses

When Naomi asks, "Ham I use Hannah's toothbrush?" what she really means is, "May I use Hannah's toothbrush?"

Ham I is Naomi's way of saying May I. I'm not sure where she got it, but I'm glad I finally figured it out a few weeks ago, because I had no idea (for a couple days) what the HECK she was saying.

Fun with food names

Little did I know how amusing making similar-sounding foods within a couple of weeks could be. We've recently had falafel a couple of times, and both girls really like falafel, so that was a success. Tonight for dinner I was making waffles. Let me tell you, it's terribly confusing to try to figure out, when you're 4 and 2, which you're supposed to be saying: falafel or waffle. So I had a falafel iron, I was asked for more syrup for falafels, could I put butter on this falafel, could Hannah have a falafel to take bites of, etc.

And, of course, there was this exchange:

Naomi: What's this, Mommy?

Me: It's a waffle iron.

Naomi: A falafel iron? It bit me.

Killer Whale

...original lyrics by Hannah Bernstein

(overheard this morning)

Killer whale, killer whale,
kill so slow.
Killer whale, killer whale,
kill so fast!

Killer whale, killer whale,
watch the blood!


A bit gory for my taste, but fun to chant repeatedly, apparently.

I couldn't make this stuff up

Naomi: What's that, Mama?

Me: It's a dead bug, Naomi.

Naomi: It bit me.

90 degrees plus

in Seattle means one thing -- we're looking for a cooler activity than yardwork today!

So...we took the ferry to Bainbridge Island this afternoon, got dinner, and came back. It was a beautiful day, and being on the water really cooled us off after a very warm morning spent trying to get a few things accomplished.


Some of us were excited about the ferry ride.


And some of us were EXCITED about it!






Can you see Mt. Rainier?





And both girls were fast asleep within about 5 minutes of getting back in the car. We had a fun time getting out of the house, and Hannah has requested that we go on ferry rides "on a regular basis." "How about we go again tomorrow?"