After My Own Heart

This summer Rebecca has developed a love of reading. She has been able to read since Kindergarten, but now she will read for hours on end. We go to the library once a week, and she gets to pick out 10 books. Usually within two or three days, she has finished all her books and is asking when we will go back to the library. When she has books to read, if I ask her if she wants to do something else, she will tell me she just wants to read her books.

This reminds me so much of myself as a child. I loved to read. I remember making a list one summer of all the books I read just for fun. I remember hiding out in the bathroom with books to get a break from doing chores. I remember getting so absorbed in the stories I would read that I would have a hard time doing anything else.

Once I got to college, I didn't have time to read for pleasure. My addiction was squelched for some time while I focused on my studies. After I was married and started having children, I still didn't resume reading. I would occasionally get a book, but I was afraid I would have the need to finish the book keep me from caring for my home like I should. Within the past year, I have really started reading again. I am glad that I am starting to read since I really enjoy it. I make sure to do my other work as well, and I limit myself to one book per week from the library to keep myself in check!

I hope Rebecca continues to enjoy reading, and that she will eventually learn to have some balance in her life as well.

Children's Museum

Today we finally took the kids to the Denver Children's Museum. It is only about half an hour away and I have heard great things about it, but I was a little intimidated to take the kids by myself. I had heard that it was big, busy, and multi-leveled. It didn't seem like the ideal combination for me with three children who have different interests and abilities. So Jack took the day off to do a family activity--originally planning on going to a water park--but since the weather was cold and rainy, we went to the museum instead.

I discovered that the museum is multi-leveled, big, and busy. I think perhaps everyone in the Denver metro area decided to go there to get out of the rain! Even though it was packed, the kids had a great time. They especially liked the Junior Jobsite exhibit. Joseph put legos on the conveyor belt for at least half an hour. And when the legos ran out, he would borrow from other kids or put anything else that he could pick up through. Miriam built a house bigger than she is. Rebecca learned about circuits with her dad and even made a speaker work!

Needs Improvement

Jack and I have our own set of hair clippers. Joseph has only been to get his hair cut professionally one time. The other haircuts he has gotten have been from mom or dad. We are not experts by any means, and so we are still experimenting with how to cut his hair. The last haircut he got we tried using the attachments to blend around the ears. The first side looked pretty good. For the second side, he moved during the cut. Not good.

Oh, well. At least he is too young to be concerned about how his hair looks! Better luck next time.

Audio Books

Miriam loves listening to audio books. It all started about 6 months ago when Jack burned a CD of Clementine for the girls to listen to. Rebecca liked it, but Miriam LOVED it. She will listen to that CD over and over. The girls have a CD player in their bedroom, so Miriam listens to the audio books while she is getting dressed, cleaning her room, having rest time, going to bed, and just for fun. (Maybe this is why it takes her so long to do these tasks...)

Since Clementine was getting old, we started checking out audio books from the library. They have a good selection of classic stories for children, so we have developed variety in Miriam's listening as well as exposing her to a variety of literature. Yesterday we stopped by the library and found The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Other Stories. Miriam was so excited because there were 5 CD's in the case instead of just one. She listened to the first CD last night. Lots of fun.

Now I must mention that I usually really like that Miriam enjoys the audio books. They occupy her time, teach her about classic literature, and I am free to do other things while she is listening. There are times, however, that I do not like for her to listen to the audio books. 2:30 am, for example. Yes, at 2:30 this morning I was awoken to the Tales of Peter Rabbit. The story seemed especially loud at that hour. When I went into the girls' room, I saw both girls lying in bed. Was the CD player broken? When I turned it off, Miriam sat up immediately. Obviously she had turned it on. I talked to her about it, and she told me she wanted to know how many tales were on the second CD. I told her she couldn't listen to her book in the middle of the night.

After comforting a crying Miriam, upset about not being able to listen to her audio book, and tucking Rebecca back in, I was able to go back to bed. Turns out that the only one not woken up was Joseph. Lucky guy.

Ham

Joseph is a little ham. I was trying to take a picture of the side of his head for a post about his great haircut, and I thought having him strapped in his chair eating would make it easier. He saw the camera and started turning his head as far as he could toward me, saying, "Cheese!" He loves the camera, that's for sure!

Taste of Summertime

My kids like fruit. In the summertime, they especially like watermelon. When we go to the store, there are always big displays of watermelon. They always ask if we can get one. Once, we accidentally got a watermelon with seeds in it. I tried to teach them about seed spitting contests, but we haven't gotten another one for them to practice with.

There is something about watermelon on the rind that is more appealing for these kids. I used to cut it up, but now I just slice it so they can have fun eating it off the rind. Even Joseph really gets into it. He leans his head back and tries to shove the slice in his mouth as far as possible.

Yummy!

Sisters, Friends

Rebecca and Miriam are only two years apart in age. When they were little, it was difficult having two little ones needing so much attention all the time. When Miriam hit about 18 months, things started to change. They would play together! Miriam would chase Rebecca around the house. They played with their baby dolls. They started to become friends. Of course, there was always the inevitable argument. They tried out calling each other names. They would take toys away from each other and even occasionally hit each other. They were normal young children.

Now they are 5 and 7 years old. They still fight at times. Name calling has not gone away. There are times when I think they should spend the whole day in separate rooms! But that is the exception. Normally, they play together. They share secrets and do silly things together. They are friends.

This really became apparent to me this week. One evening before bed, Rebecca was writing this note. It says, "Dear Miriam, I'm sorry you weren't picked in the raffle. You can use my movie ticket. Rebecca." At the Sweetgrass neighborhood celebration, when the kids won a game, they put their name in for a drawing. Rebecca won two movie tickets, and Miriam didn't win a prize. To my knowledge, Miriam never said anything about feeling bad about not winning. But Rebecca thought of her.

Then last night, I got an email from a friend inviting Rebecca to go to the zoo with them today. I knew Rebecca would be thrilled, so I told her. Of course, Rebecca was excited to go. But it didn't take very long for her to ask me what Miriam liked to do. I thought of a few things, not knowing where the conversation was going. Then I found out she wanted to make something for her sister to enjoy while she was gone. First, she tried covering her pony in paper so Miriam could color it. Then she wanted to record herself reading a story. Finally, she made her a paper airplane.

I am so grateful that my girls not only love each other, but they like each other. They are friends. They think of each other's feelings. I know they will go through ups and downs. It is a normal part of life. I'm sure they will get sick of each other getting into their things and talking to their friends. But I hope they always remember the love they have for each other right now. I hope they know that friends come and go, but sisters are forever.

To the Movies

Our local movie theater does summer kids movies, where the kids can watch an older movie for $1 a ticket. I haven't taken the kids yet this summer, so they were thrilled to go to the movie theater and see Horton Hears a Who.

This was Rebecca's second trip to the movie theater. She actually went to the theater with Jack to see this same movie when it was in the theaters. She didn't stay the whole time on that trip because she got bored. This time (almost 2 years later) she did great. I didn't anticipate any problems with her, and she turned out to be a model movie-goer.

This was Miriam's first trip to the movies. She is my sensitive child, and I was concerned there would be something that would scare her. Now, something scary for Miriam may be very mild to everyone else. She is scared by the cat in Cinderella. She couldn't watch an Aladdin performance at Disneyland because it was too scary. You get the idea. Luckily, this movie was very tame, and the one part that was a little scary she did fine through. She slid down in her seat a little, but that was it! Great job, Miriam!

Joseph was also a first-time movie goer. I wasn't sure if he would get bored or just want to wander around the theater. I should have remembered that he is a TV junkie. He sat on my lap, enthralled by the movie nearly the whole time. He loved it! He didn't even want to eat his snacks.

So we had an excellent trip to the movies. Next summer we will definitely try to go more often!

My Favorite Time of Day

A while ago, I was talking with someone (don't even remember who) about when you know you are done having babies. This woman told me she thought it was when you could see or hold someone else's baby without that longing feeling to have your own tiny baby again.

I know that is not how I will know I am finished. I know a lot of women see babies and want to hold, cuddle, count fingers and toes, look at tiny feet, and play with them. I am not one of those women. When I see someone with a baby, I don't have the desire to take their baby and snuggle with them. I think about the situation rationally and determine if she needs help and if I am in the position to help her. If I take her baby, it is service, not a great desire to hold that baby.

Before I had my own children, I worried that I wouldn't have that overwhelming love for my babies, either. But, for me, my own babies are so different from anyone else's babies. I love my babies so much. I love to hold them. I love to snuggle with them. I love to touch their little feet and count their chubby fingers. I adore my babies.

Some of my most cherished memories are of the time I have spent holding my babies close as I nurse them, reading them stories as they sit on my lap, and rocking them when they wake up a little too soon and then doze back off in my arms. The love that overcomes me is indescribable.

First Kiss

Today, after I was finished exercising, I went to pick up the kids from the child care center at the gym. Once I found them, I had to help them get their shoes back on. (There is a McDonald's-type climbing area where no shoes are allowed.)

So Miriam was sitting on the floor, putting on her shoes. I had just gotten Joseph's shoes on him. I looked down at Miriam, and there was a little boy her age planting a kiss right on her lips. Okay, he didn't aim very well, so it wasn't right on the lips. But he tried. I kind of pushed Miriam's head away and told her, "No kissing!"

Miriam immediately starts wiping her mouth like she could wipe the kiss off. She finished putting on her shoes and we left. While we were walking to the car, I talked to her about it.

Mom: Who was that boy who kissed you?

Miriam: I'm not sure.

Mom: Why did you kiss him?

Miriam: I like him. We played together.

Mom: You are too little to kiss boys like that. That is just for mommies and daddies to do.

(Later on, as we are driving home)
Miriam: I think he was going swimming because he had on his swimming shorts.

So Miriam had her first kiss with a boy that she doesn't even know his name. I hope when she gets older, she will remember to know a lot more about a boy than if he's going swimming or not before she kisses him. Oh, and you need to be 16 to date, sweetie!

Mud

We have finally started getting some hot weather. So one day last week, I decided to turn on the sprinklers and let the kids run through the water. We invited Katelyn, the little girl from next door, over to join us.

Somehow, our nice "cool off in the water" time turned into something else entirely. The girls went through our outside toys and found a miniature wheelbarrow and a small bucket. The bucket was to collect water from the sprinklers and the wheelbarrow was to collect dirt from the garden. Then the water was poured into the wheelbarrow, and with just a little bit of mixing, we had mud! Who knew mud could be so much fun!

First, the girls started playing "Mud Queen". Rebecca was the Mud Queen, and Miriam and Katelyn were her servants. Of course, the servants and queen had to be covered in mud. Totally covered. After the little girls got tired of that, they decided to play "Robin Hood the Clean", an episode of Backyardigans where all the villagers are dirty and Robin Hood comes to help them get clean.

Stereotypically, boys should be the ones that love the mud, right? Well, these girls proved that wrong! I might say it is just a little kid thing, but Katelyn had to be coerced by my girls to put mud on herself. She told them her mom wouldn't want her to get dirty. So maybe it is just my kids. They love the mud.

4th of July BBQ

For the Fourth of July, we invited over the Shaffer's and the Bracy's for a barbecue. We had food (of course), water balloons, water guns and these cool spin launch toys. The plan was to have normal Independence Day weather (hot) but it didn't turn out that way. It was pretty cool out, except for about 5 minutes when the sun came out from behind the clouds. The kids still had a great time getting wet, though.

The Shaffer's kids are older than ours, with Amber at 18 and Kevin at 8 (I think), and the other two in between. I was a little concerned that their kids would be bored, but there was no problem with that. They joined in and had a great time playing with the little kids. We were having so much fun that Harrison from next door came over for a while to play, too!

It was really neat to see the yard full of kids running around and having fun. After our company left, Jack told me that was his vision of the yard. He didn't want it full of toys or trees so there was plenty of room for the kids to run and play. It was great to see it being used for that purpose!

Sheltered

A few days ago Rebecca was reading a book. She looked up and asked me, "Mom, what does it mean to be a jerk?"

At this, I did some quick thinking. How do you explain that? I told her that it is when someone does something that isn't nice, other people would call them a jerk. I quickly followed up with how this was not a nice word, and we don't call people that name. Then I asked her what book she was reading (so, if necessary, I could have her stop reading that series). She assured me that the kid in the book said he was acting like a jerk, not someone else calling him that name.

Then I thought about the situation more rationally. My 7 1/2 year-old daughter doesn't know what the word jerk means. My daughter who is about to enter second grade hasn't been called this name or heard someone else called it. My children don't call each other names like this. (They think calling each other "Mister" or "Bad Girl" is pretty mean stuff.)

I know what this means. It means that my children live a sheltered life. By the time I was 7 years old, I knew things a lot worse than the word jerk. (I also had 3 older siblings, which makes a difference...) While my children are sheltered, there is nothing more I want than to keep them that way for as long as possible. There is so much evil and meanness in the world, and they will experience that soon enough. But I want them to have the knowledge that home is a safe place to be sheltered from the pains and cruelty that come in the outside world.