Thursday, February 24, 2011

Heard Around The House

Reese: "Cole! Do you know what an international wedgie is?!"

Cole: "No, what?"

Reese: "A space wedgie."

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Cole (to our boy Ari, who says Mama and Dada and little else): "Can you say 'doctor'?

Ari: "Doc-tor."

Cole: "Good! Can you say 'uh-oh'?"

Ari: "Uh-uh."

Cole: "Good job! There are so many other words that you will learn someday. Like 'the'. And 'complicated.' And a bunch of other ones, too..."

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Daddy: "Pregnancy is terminal, you know."

Mama: "What?!"

Daddy: "I mean....I mean, it will end. It will be terminated. No wait, that's not right either..."

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Five Year Olds and Manners

Part One:

Reuben (counting to thirty): "twenty-NINE.....one-ty. One-ty one, one-ty two, one-ty three..."

Mama: "Reuben, there is no 'one-ty'. That's what the 'teens' were. You don't have to count it again."

Reuben: "No, Mama, I like it this way. Just don't worry about it. But you'll have to cover your ears in a minute, because the next part is Bad Manners."

Mama: "What do you mean? What is the next part?"

Reuben (shaking his head, horrified): "Oh I can't tell you. Please just cover your ears."

Mama: "No, I'd like to know please."

Reuben: "No, Mama."

Mama refuses to cover her ears.

Reuben: "Okay, but I warned you. One-ty-eight, one-ty-nine....(looks at Mama one last time pleadingly)..."tooty. Tooty-one, tooty-two..."

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Part Two:

Reuben (helping Mama blend home-made refried black beans in the food processor for lunch's 7-layer bean dip): "MAMA! Look! They're not black anymore! Mmmmm.....they look like CHOCOLATE. .....And.....and, they look like something else, too. But I'm not going to tell you what. Because it's Bad Manners."

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

It Is Only Tuesday

but the week's highs & lows are stacking up already:

high: work for Daddy....even if it is only a couple of days worth, and even if it is in Seattle
high: catching Sean just in the nick of time as he tries to fit Ari's eyelashes into Reese's froggy paper punch
low: crying over first grade math (mama)
high: the all-too generous gift of a trampoline, and the ease it gives each of my days (even the cold ones)
low: getting into a "I don't care that you don't care, you have to do it anyway!" fight with the 6-year-old (bad parenting alert)
high: watching the 9-year-old's extreme patience with teaching the 6-year-old how to form his letters correctly...and the humility that comes with watching such tender care
low: a streak of "break something of mama's everyday" that seems to be running through my house
high: boys stripping off their shirts to do their table work this morning because of the pure heat of the sun beating through the monstrous windows
high: feeling a sudden lust for planting after months and months of feeling stagnant
low: finding the compost bin frozen shut and having to admit that Planting Day is still quite some time off
high: a 9-year-old that insists on paying for the library parking meter out of his own wallet, simply to show kindness
low: after days of fighting and tears, a 6-year-old that not only did his entire math lesson on his own today, but tomorrow's lesson as well
high: a stack of new library books & movies
high: a fire in the woodstove, weeks after we officially ran out of wood
high: suddenly feeling baby movement now in my 6th month...what a late moving babe this one is!
high: a surprise piece of chocolate cheesecake and a couch movie date with my husband on one of my worst days
low: a teething baby
high: finding my oldest sitting in my Grandma's rocker with that baby on his lap, rocking and reading a story to calm him
high: 3 hour lunch with a bestie, no kids except our bulging bellies
high: a morning spent in the kitchen with all 5 of my children and the resulting clean counters & dishes
low: a baby's sudden discovery of how to climb up onto the benches & tables
high: just-made scribble cookies on huge pieces of butcher paper, spread on the kitchen floor
high: watching the beaming five-year-old as he is given his very first library card and asked to write his name
high: discovery of glitter by my 'shiniest' boy
low: glitter chaos just as mama finishes making the dinner
low: catching the three-year-old EATING the glitter
high: deep-fried sweet potato fries and horseradish aioli
high: the promise of a quiet movie all to myself at bedtime...which is in 19 minutes...

must be time to head for jammies, time is of the essence!