A little catch-up

I'm avoiding dishes like the plague, and there's not even that many of them.

Tonight, we babysat our Godson, Josiah. He was pleasant and quiet. Jack was very thoughtful of him at times - taking him his cup, handing him his plate of food, etc. It's so cute to watch.

We did our best to de-leaf our yard yesterday. Leesha raked the back yard and had fun playing in the pile with Jack. Jeffry took some pictures after helping her. I mowed/mulched. The neighbors must be at least partly pleased.

Jeffry survived all three children again. He was done early on Friday, so we called off the scheduled sitters and he tended to the children while I went to work for the afternoon.

Thursday evening, we babysat for our friends the Browns. We had a very busy household with our 3 kids and their 3 kids. We even survived the first serious toilet overflow in our house with no water leaking into the basement. I was impressed.

On Wednesday after work, I got the babies and came home to get Leesha. Then she sat in the car with the babies while I ran in and did errands at various places. It's so nice to have a big kid to keep an eye on the little ones so I can get some stuff done a little more quickly.

We were at the Browns house for Small Group on Tuesday. The kids watched a movie while the adults studied. I kept taking Jack to the potty every so often, and was about to do just that when I looked up and there he was with his pants down. I think he'd gone all by himself! He does pretty well at home - especially when he's not encumbered by clothes - but then regresses a bit when he's elsewhere.

On Monday, I tackled the job of cleaning Leesha's room. Jack watched a lot of Clifford because cleaning Leesha's room takes a long time. Now it's done and looks good. She even seems to appreciate it.

Maggie has figured out how to bat at things, grab them and pull them into her mouth to chew on.

When asked what the bus says, Jack responded; "A' fru a town" (all through the town), and later; "Roun' and roun'".

"Nember" = remember

"Fum" = thumb

Halloween

Jack got to go Trick or Treating for the first time. He was shy at the houses, but what child isn't their first go round? He did not want to let go of the bag of candy, even though it was a bit too heavy for him to hold on to easily. We'd offer to hold it for him and he'd say; "No. 'Smy candy."

This year, he was a Jack O'Lantern.

Maggie was a babybug for a few minutes. She was nursing when we first went out. I guess she was "Eating Baby" and I was "Dairy Queen" at that point.

Leesha didn't get to dress up at all. She was with her dad and they'd been out while the neighbors party was happening. Poor girl. Good thing that my Aunt, our neighbors and Grandma Darlene donated plenty of candy to us so she didn't feel too left out.

At dinner one night, Jeffry said; "What the?" Jack filled in; "Heck."

Jack will come out from somewhere and say; "Here I am!"

Leesha will ask Jack if she can get him out of the car, give him a hug, etc. Many a time, Jack will respond; "No. You may not."

Open Sesame!

It's been a busy week .... and since I worked 4 of 5 days, I wasn't with the kids much to record their cuteness.

Maggie is currently doing raspberries. She gets rather wet blowing bubbles. But it's a happy thing, so what's a little spit? She is also reaching for toys, and pulling them to her mouth when she gets ahold of them. She now sucks her thumb, sometimes even putting it in the open end of her sucker - doing double duty.

While trying to settle Maggie a bit, I watched Jack copy me. He had his Peef bear up on his shoulder and was bouncing up and down.

He has also started to feed Peef (still called Poof) with one of our pop beads.

I'm guessing that Jack's current singing; "Mack of dust, dust, dust" is from They Might Be Giants song in which they say; "Speck of dust, dust, dust"

Leesha was teaching Jack "Open Sesame!" He practiced; "Open Sesame Street!"

Jeffry gave Jack an Allen wrench. So then Jack informs us; "I wrenching."

Leesha and I were laying on Jack and Maggie's floor with our heads on Jack's mattress. Jack was jumping on the mattress. He managed to pull Leesha's hair and once again make her cry. He then kept asking her what was wrong, and went to get her a tissue. He also suggested; "Leesha, go in you room. Go in you room if your iPod."

Car birthdays

Upon entering the bathroom, Jack fell. Leesha asked him if he hit his head. He replied; "No. I hi' my e'bow."

Last Christmas, Jack couldn't get enough of the Peef books. Today, as I was going through the gazillion stuffed animals we've accumulated in the last 12 years, I found the Peef bear we have. So, I put it somewhere that Jack would see it. Sure enough, he found it, but didn't make a big deal about it. So I asked him who it was. He said it was a tedddy bear. Hmm.... I told him it was Peef, then put it away. Seconds later, he asked; "Mom, where's Poof?"

On Friday, Maggie rolled over. It was an accident. On Saturday, she learned that diaper rash hurts. She also laughed, but not long enough to catch on camera, so we'll work on that.

Jack said to me; "Mom, dance with me!" How could one resist that?

We've had some interesting weather recently. A very windy day which blew a lot of needles off of one of our evergreens onto our driveway, and a couple of days of snow. We haven't had enough snow to shovel, but I figured we needed to clear the needles off the driveway before needing to shovel the driveway. So, Saturday afternoon, that's what I did. I blew the needles off the driveway. So long as I was out with the leaf blower, I blew some leaves around the yard. Jack decided to forgo playing with the balls, chalk or his bike and help me. He pulled out all three shovels and tried raking with those, then finally I pulled out the little rake and showed him how to use that. What a little helper.

Meanwhile, Leesha was on the phone with her St. Louis grandparents giving them a "rake by rake" from the comfort of the big brown chair.

They're not underwear or undies, they're "undie-wear".

New phrase: "I'm busy." (Wonder where he hears that?)

Coyotes are "Ka-wo-tees"

Abraham is "Ade-a-ham"

Apparently, the fascination with the "Little People" is over for now. He's back to the matchbox cars. The Jeep Wrangler, Chevy Blazer, Yellow School Bus and taxi were just serenaded with Jack singing "Happy Birthday". I think they're having hamburgers in the nesting barrels.

Monsters and conferences

When Jeffry got home from work, I went out to Leesha's conferences. Her teachers all had glowing reports for us. She's transitioned well - managing lockers, keeping things organized, etc. She's polite and kind to everyone. Participates in class without being called on. Doesn't need to be told to stop talking. Does homework. Turns work in on time. Is prepared and organized. I've had good conferences before, but this one kinda took the cake, moreso because I had a better attitude, I think.
Upon my return home, Jack was already in bed. I went in to say goodnight and he told me; "Monsters run away. Jesus help me." He's been mentioning monsters recently - thanks to Leesha and Eric. Jeffry tries to fight it. I just agree with him since I don't think he has any concept of what "monsters" are. When I mentioned it to Jeffry, he said they'd been watching Dr. Who and there were creatures on there which Leesha called monsters. So Jeffry told him to say; "Help me Jesus." And the monsters will run away. He switched things around a bit, but I like it the way he said it.
Yesterday, while my mom was working at Rosedale, I asked her to look at some shoes for Jack since crocs aren't going to cut it in a Minnesota winter. She got him the ones I'd seen online and when I was picking up Jack and Maggie after work today, mom and I were trying to get Jack to try them on. He blatantly refused and several attempts to coerce him failed with him simply stating; "No. Don' wan' try 'em on." It was incredibly amusing to see how he'd see through our attempts at manipulating him. I finally succeeded when I looked at a book with him and snuck one on his foot. Of course, then he hardly wanted to take them off.

The Butcher, the Baker...

We had kind of a fancy dinner tonight with candles and everything. When we were finished Leesha blew out one of the two candles. I made sure Jack was able to blow out the 2nd after he watched her do the first one. Later Jack asks mom "...can I blow out the candle-stick maker?"

It's been a while, and here's a long one

We went shopping for a winter jacket for Jack. I found one at Burlington, which I got. Later, we were over at Target and I looked there too. I held one up for Jack to see and asked him if he liked it. He said; "No mom! Don' like da' one. Puddit back."

Jack has a good-sized stuffed Winnie the Pooh bear which he really likes to treat as a baby. He'll ask us to put Maggie's shoes (my old baby shoes) on him, put him in the doll stroller and bouncy seat we have or in Maggie's exersaucer.

After his first taste of my peanut butter on a banana; "I like to try the other side."

When Jack finished eating dinner, I asked; "Have you had enough to eat?" "I haded 'nough to eat."

I seem to remember, and forgive me if I am repeating myself, that around the time of Hazel's last visit, Jack sas overheard saying; "Stay. Stay. Okay" like we do when feeding Hazel.

I needed to change Maggie, and Jack was trying to talk to Jeffry while he was on the phone, so I asked Jack if he would bring me a diaper; "Sure." He toddled off to get one. I thanked him and he toddled off again - bringing me the wipes. Not expecting nor needing those, I thanked him and praised him for being a big helper, then gave him a hug. As he toddled off again, he said; "Love you." then came back in with the piece of fleece that I use as a changing pad.

Jack wanted his bristle blocks down, so I got those for him. He then proceeded to make a phone with a couple of pieces, on which he "called" "Jer'my" (Jeremy - Leesha's dad). Here's a snippet of the "conversation" ...

"Hi Jer'my."

pause

"I playin'."

pause

"Nember my toys?" (Nember=remember)

"No, dey're my toys. Dey're not your toys."

And later ....

"Hi Jer'my, where you house? It's dollers?"

The last couple of days, Jack has been very interested in playing with his Little People. He pulls his castle out and gets the animals situated, then starts conversing with them - something Jeffry has taught him.

Maggie was in her saucer, and Jack was "feeding her a cookie" which means he was shoving one of the toys in her mouth. She tolerated it happily for a bit, the he pushed too hard, hurting her and she cried. When I got her settled down, I asked Jack to say sorry. He leaned in to give her a hug and they bonked heads ....

Leesha loves her little siblings, and often wants to hug them. Jack isn't always up for her hugs, and has started taking some extreme measures to get out of them - like scratching and pulling hair. He did this the other day, which started Leesha crying. Jack went back to his playing, then realized she was crying. He went over, gave her a hug saying; "I sawwy Leesha."

Upon hearing lots of little pitter-patter in the bathroom, I braved the question; "Jack, what are you doing?" His reply; "I cleaning muckers." I think; "Muckers" can translate into either "#1" or "#2", and cleaning probably means he's dabbing at a puddle with a tiny bit of toilet paper, so I go to investigate. I was wrong. I think he started pooping, and made a run for the bathroom (the first step is admitting you're pooping) but didn't make it. So, he tried to clean it up. What a good little boy. I was a big helper and assisted him in cleaning it up.