More on cows

While visiting Houston, we decided to do something fairly risky: go to the Livestock Show. This may not sound terribly risky at first, but if you've read this blog in the past few weeks, you'll remember that cows are not Naomi's favorite animals. And they have lots of cows at the Livestock Show. Other animals, too, but LOTS of cows. We decided to brave it anyway, because they also have bunnies, chickens, and other harmless, quiet animals that aren't rumored to eat little girls.

Naomi enjoyed the harmless animals and didn't go through the barn with the cows in it. She pet the rabbits and collected the 11 collectible cards (My goodness, they're geniuses at the Livestock Show -- 11 collectible cards at various points throughout the kids' section, what could appeal more surely to the heart of little girls? Hannah and Naomi had a fabulous time collecting them!), watched chicks hatching and chicks peeping around together, saw a demonstration of spinning wool into yarn, watched Hannah's pony ride (she wanted to ride, then changed her mind when faced with an actual pony), looked at all the animals in the petting area (no cows), and generally had a great time.

And then...we decided to go to the Birthing Center. Which is a place where VERY pregnant or recently delivered livestock are kept for the viewing pleasure of kids passing through. There were 2 day old piglets and tiny little kids (the goat kind) and...cows. There was a very young calf. Cute, but not that impressive. The cow that began the healing of Naomi's cow phobia was still quite pregnant. And she was named...NAOMI. Really. This made quite an impression on Naomi. Also impressive to her was that Naomi the Cow DIDN'T MOO the entire time we looked at her. She ate some hay and drank some water and DIDN'T MOO. It was a revelation in cow behavior for the girl Naomi.

After looking at Naomi the Cow for a while, she even wanted to see the Longhorn cow in the cow barn. All the time we were looking at it, I was fervently praying that it wouldn't moo, either. And my prayer was answered.

Cows are still something to be extremely cautious of, but they're no longer the deadliest fear of a small girl named Naomi. And all because of a cow named Naomi.

Horses

We're a bit concerned that Hannah has the horse bug. She has ridden a horse 3 times, as she likes to remind us: once at the farm at Marty's house, once at the Fair here, and now once at the Livestock Show. She's decided that she's going to move to Texas (at some undisclosed future date) so that she can learn to ride horses. Someone mentioned that she might not have to go to Texas to learn, but she replied that that's where Mama learned, so that's where she wants to learn. Here's the latest in the line of horse rides that have given fodder to this enthusiasm.

Sleep where you can

Sim has fairly predictable sleep habits during the day. It's usually 2 hours awake, then nap, 2 hours awake, then nap. However, sometimes when a baby is on a trip and getting more stimulation than usual, he'll sleep more than usual, or be awake much less time between naps. When that happens, or when he needs to sleep when we need to be at the airport, cute pictures ensue.

Naomi-isms

Naomi has been amusing us recently with her cute pronunciations of things. Today I asked her about a certain character in a story. "Oh, that's Cingorilla!" I have to be careful not to laugh out loud at stuff like that, but I really almost did with Cingorilla. She's the one with the wicked stepmother, you know.

Also, we went to visit Kyueston, not Houston. I'm not sure where the K in there came from, but she always pronounces it that way.

We're back in business

We went out of town last week. On an airplane. For four hours. With three kids. And it went pretty well. But I got sick while we were there (just for a couple days). And it takes a remarkably long time to get back on track fully after a trip like that. So now I'll share some of the fun with you. It's not that I've been lacking in bloggable material -- just time and opportunity.

From the exalted heights of the age of 5

Hannah, in the car today, "Well, I made that decision when I was four, so of course I couldn't think very well!"

Hello, Dolly!

For Naomi's birthday, we got her (and Michael, Hannah, and Aunt Lee -- who was visiting) tickets to the musical Hello, Dolly!, showing in Seattle right now. Everyone really enjoyed the show, and it's providing much fodder for activity, amusement, and blog posts around here.

At one point during the show, Dolly comes onstage dressed to the nines. A small voice (belonging to Naomi) is heard to say, "Why is she so beautiful?"

Naomi returned home and changed the name of her newest dress-up dress to her Hello Dolly dress. This is its third name. First it was her princess dress, then her Lilac Fairy dress (from the ballet Sleeping Beauty, you know!), and now it's the Hello Dolly dress. And she is now Hello Dolly. Not Dolly, Hello Dolly. But only when she's in the dress. Therefore, the dress is very important.

Naomi: Can I wear my Hello Dolly dress on errands?
Me: No, sweetie, we'll have to leave it here.
Naomi: Can I put it back on when I get home?
Me: Yes, you may.
Naomi: Okay, then I won't cry.

The dress came with several hat options: a crown, a princess hat (with a conical hat and sheer scarf attached to the top), and a fabulous white hat with pink feather boa and rose. The princess hat was by FAR the favorite...until Hello, Dolly! Now the fabulous feather boa has been deemed more Dolly-esque, and it's getting much more play time.

The dress (with its various names) has been worn daily over her other clothing since she received it on her birthday (March 1). It now needs to be washed, but I haven't been able to convince her that it's a good idea. Even at night the dress must be placed next to her bed in order that she be able to put it over her pajamas in the morning before I make her take it back off so I can put her clothes on...and then she puts the dress back on over them. Maybe I'll try to convince her about washing it again tomorrow, since we're going out of town soon and I'd like to have it clean before then. Of course, the dress is coming with us!

A picture is worth a thousand words

but I unfortunately did not get a picture, so I'll give you a thumbnail sketch:

Spotted recently in our house was Michael, sleeping peacefully on the couch during quiet/nap time...with the book Getting Things Done resting on his stomach.

Discoverer

Simeon has discovered a bunch of things lately. His left ear (the right one is still uncharted territory), his toes, and rolling from back to front. He's also discovered that he doesn't like to spend much time on his tummy, but he's forgotten that he already discovered how to turn back.

The left ear thing is a challenge. Whenever he's nursing and his left ear is up, he scratches and pulls at it for all he's worth. It's not so great for his ear, and it keeps him from falling asleep, so I've had to start holding his hand so that he doesn't take his ear off or miss his sleep. I'm sure he'll discover the right ear soon, so we'll have to deal with it on the right side, too...

He's completely cute with his feet, though. He loves to grab them, and he usually babbles a great deal while he's doing it. He hasn't figured out about chewing on them, but I'm sure that's just around the corner.

And, of course, his earlier discovery of other people's long hair remains a favorite. He LOVES to grab my hair and Hannah's hair especially, but he's not particular -- he'll grab any hair that comes his way.

The New Plate Rail

Last December, starting with some online instructions, I started to build a set of plate rails for our living room. Our house, though Craftsman in architecture, is sadly lacking in Craftsman touches, so we decided to add some. Like any good project, this took much longer than I expected (what month is it now, March?), but I'm pleased with how it turned out:



Some lessons learned:

1. Oak is very, very heavy. There's a reason they made ships out of it.
2. Making a 45 degree miter cut into trim that has to mount diagonally is tricky.
3. Measure twice, glue once. Measure once, leave glue marks on your lovely stain.
4. Sawing hours are Saturday, 10 - 12:30 and 3 - 5. Interfering with naptime or the Sabbath is strongly discouraged.
5. Everything looks better with Christmas plates on it!

- Michael

Teeth!

Okay, ONE tooth, to be perfectly accurate. Sim's been chewing with great force on whatever he can bring to his mouth lately. This morning, he got one of my fingers and got it into his mouth and...there was something sharp in there! His first tooth has made its appearance, and from the looks of things, the second isn't far behind. It's amazing how quickly they grow up...Next thing I know, we'll be filling out college applications.

Preparing for a third birthday

Party prep has been going full force this weekend. Which means that yesterday, Naomi went to the park and came back with a big ol' bruise on her face. What every girl wants for her birthday! Just in time for lots of pictures.





Happily, she also opened her new party dress yesterday, so she can look darling despite red and blue bruises on her face.



And then, there are cakes and cupcakes. We all had lots of fun decorating these!