New words

“New…potty!” 

Sim is still very fond of the new potty, and quite amused at himself when he says it. 

Local cousins

are a blessing for our kids.  Naomi is only now starting to realize it.  Hannah has played with her local boy cousin happily for many years now, and they almost never have difficulties – any more.  There was a time when we couldn’t leave them in the same room without an adult because they would use the opportunity to whack, snatch, yell, and generally get each other all riled up.  This morning, though, as we walked through the Pike Place Market, they held hands and chatted about all the things they were seeing. 

Naomi and local girl cousin who is 3 months younger had a really rough time for a while – each girl would watch to see what the other one wanted and try to get it for herself (regardless of whether that little girl even wanted the item or ever paid any attention to it at any other time)…this was never a recipe for happiness.  There were other tricks that they pulled when together, but the main one was to try to keep each other from having fun. 

Lately, though, they have been playing together very, very well.  This certainly makes life much easier for all of us.  The other day, they were playing Husband and Wife.  Naomi was the Husband, and she spent a lot of time saying things like, “Come here, Wife.”  and, “Wife, that is so nice!” 

She also has started looking forward to their visits and weeping copiously when they leave.  Looking forward is a good thing…the copious weeping I could do without, but it’s a sign of a good thing, at least. 

This has even led to discussion of renaming St. Rose of Lima, Naomi’s favorite doll.  She and local girl cousin both got dolls exactly alike a couple of Christmases ago from Grandma Ellie.  St. Rose of Lima has had her name for a long time, and one doesn’t just call her “Rose,” or one risks correction from Naomi:  “Her name is St. Rose of Lima.”  Shortening this to “St. Rose” seems to be okay, but nothing shorter.

Local girl cousin’s doll’s name is Ellie.  Naomi came home from playing with Lgc the other day and said she was changing St. Rose’s name to Ellie.  Valuing the peace that has been forged between the cousins, I thought this might be a problem:  a doll that looks just like Lgc’s doll, called the same thing…Lgc could get the impression that Ellie, her doll, had somehow come to our house and needed to be brought back home.  I felt we might need a strategic intervention, so I mentioned the potential problem to Naomi.  Her decision is that St. Rose of Lima will keep her name, with the nickname of Ellie, but this nickname will not be used when Lgc is around. 

The intervention might have been unnecessary:  Naomi does not seem to remember that she gave St. Rose a new nickname.  But preservation of this newfound peace seemed like a good idea. 

My baby brother

and his fiancee are visiting from Texas.  The kids are very happy about this.  Simeon is taking advantage of having extra people to read to him.  Hannah is taking advantage of having extra people to talk to…and then ignore when her new issue of Highlights came in.  Naomi is taking advantage of some snuggling time.  Pictures to come.

Naomi’s comments on Uncle Rob are pretty funny, though:  “Uncle Rob, you are the sweetest boy in the world!” and:  “Uncle Rob, you are the cutest boy in the world!”  When asked to sit on the cutest boy in the world’s lap so I could take a picture, though, she declined. 

Simeon says, “Arob,” and “Atie,” for Uncle Rob and Katie.  Rob has a sign for his name that he developed when Gabe was a baby, and Simeon has been trying that out, too.  However, his rendition looks more like he’s trying to flick something onto someone than like the sign Rob does…

Sim loves books

a bit too much, apparently.   He just now came crawling in to me with a huge smile, babbling happily and giggling, holding a page from one of his favorite books.  Sigh.  It’s hard to explain to a 15-month-old that – well, anything, really, but especially difficult to say that it will not make his favorite book a good read if he tears pages out.  Luckily Hannah and Naomi are out.  I think I can get the page taped back in before they get home and discover it and begin to lament. 

Space saving ideas from our home to yours

I mentioned that we got some furniture to rearrange things in the house.  One reason is that we have to save some space in certain areas. 

The kids came up with their own space-saving ideas:

Bunk beds!  In size Small! Simeon has also opted for the size Small Playpen!

It’s wonderful when everyone in the family gets on board with a project; you get some many ideas that you might not have even thought of before!

Big day in home projects

This morning, the man to help rid us of our uninvited rodent guest in the basement came at 8 a.m.

This afternoon, a young man came and took our green couch.  The furniture Michael recently hauled made the green couch unnecessary and, in fact, unable to fit in the living room.  I put it on craigslist, and it got snapped up a couple of hours later.  The girls, who had been building forts with its cushions and playing on it for the past few days while it’s been on the porch, didn’t appreciate as much as I did that it was gone.

Here, by the way, are the children, showing off the new furniture.  Or, at least Michael’s chair and part of the star couch. 

 

Also this afternoon, our new toilet got installed.  I may be the most excited about this one.  The old toilet was not functioning very well, and occasionally leaking out of the handle.  Not good.  We are having lots of guests in December, and have one bathroom.  A not-very-functional-only-toilet is not a good thing ever, but when you add a lot of people to the situation, things start to get hairy. 

Hairy:  not how one wants to describe Christmas.  So, here’s our new toilet, which will help keep Advent and Christmas running smoothly (heehee):

 

The children, happily, approve of the new toilet.  Hannah watched most of the installation and apparently learned a lot about drains.  Naomi was a bit scared of it at first, but when she figured out that her potty seat still works on it and that the flush isn’t too loud, she gave it a thumbs up.  Simeon, predictably, loves it.  He cried when Michael took him away from it after his first time using it.  I didn’t have that strong a reaction, but I do think we’re going to be happy with this toilet. 

Whooooooooo it’s cold out!

This morning, it’s 20 degrees.  20!  Phew.  That is chilly.  I don’t know if Michael decided to take the car this morning to the park and ride, but if he’s biking, I hope he remembered his little ear covers. 

Yesterday we went to get Hannah some warmer outdoor clothes, because Naomi’s got the hand-me-downs (or Hannah-me-downs, as her cousin calls them!) of really warm outdoor clothes, and Sim has ones from cousins and friends, but Hannah didn’t have any.  And we need to be able to go outside, but when it’s in the 20s and 30s out…we need the really warm clothes! 

The forecast doesn’t call for snow anymore, though.  I haven’t told Hannah and Naomi, because the forecast isn’t always right, but given how our city handled the last snow, I’m relieved. 

Here are some pictures from last year’s snowstravaganza:

I went to the store last night and passed by the large digital thermometer display of a nearby store, which was reading 27 degrees at the time.  Brrrr! This reminded me of the time in September that I passed by that same digital thermometer and the readout was…176 degrees.  HA!  Did I mention we had a particularly warm September? 

Of course, the temperature was actually 65 or 70.