Blurbs on the Kids

This summer has come and gone, probably the fastest one in my life yet.  I attribute this to having three kids and a busy husband.  But, time flies for everyone, it seems, unless they are in pain, and then too I'm sure it passes by two quickly in its own way.  I lost an uncle to lung cancer today.  It's been a year since his wife died of emphysema and three years since another aunt died of heart attack, an uncle of complications of pneumonia, and a cousin of a stroke.  Fall is no doubt the time of year for change, whether it be sickness or death or just a change in attitude, daily habits, or academics.

The baby is almost walking.  She can walk but lacks the confidence to do so on her own.  She turns one in a few days.  She likes to hold small things in her hands as she crawls around emptying toy containers and finding small pieces of things on the floor to put into her mouth.  Whenever she hears a phone ring, she says, "Hello."  It doesn't sound like "Hello," more like "Oh" but she has the tone correct and because she puts her hand up to her face, you cannot mistake what she is doing.  If you feed her something she likes, she will say, "Num, num, num, num ..."  And she'll shovel tiny chunks of zucchini cake into her mouth so quickly you'd think she's competing with a herd of chickens.  She always eats her meat first, and if something ends up on the floor it is usually a vegetable.  She loves to play on the bed, belly flopping.  You know it's time to put her to bed when she forgets to put her arms out before she launches herself.  She thinks she is supposed to say, "Uh oh" when she throws something onto the floor.  And her voice is so cute.  Whenever I pick her up and put her on my left hip, she pats the back of my shoulder with the palm of her hand.  If she's hungry, she'll suck on my shoulder.  She bit it once, but I yelled "NO!" so loudly in pain that she's never tried it again.  She loves her brothers and her brothers love her.  They'll say, "Look at her, she is SOooo Sweeeet."  They rarely forget to greet her in the morning or after school.  And she'll smile, pat them on the head, grab their hair, slap their belly, do anything to make them laugh, and they know how to make her laugh hysterically also; they'll toss blocks into the air, snort like pigs, etc.  She sleeps with us most of the time, and we don't even mind it for the most part  The first year goes by so quickly and every year thereafter even faster, it seems.

Our three year old is starting to branch out of being a super hero or king every day to wearing jeans and shirts other than his red, button-up airplane shirt and pants other than his white and blue striped train pants.  It wasn't just this way on the first day of school; it stuck.  This is great since he has a closet full of clothes to wear!  He has an obsession with removing all of the cushions and pillows off of the couches and stacking them into a pile.  Inside the pile, he pretends to be in a helicopter, a chimney, army hospital, police station, you name it.  He is his own man and is content playing by himself quietly, for hours.  Give him a sand box or a pile of dirt, especially if there is water to add or it is raining, and he will be content for hours.  After everyone else is asleep, he will stay up for hours looking at pictures in books, sometimes even on days that he has not had a nap.  He does not like to be told what to do.  For example, some mornings, he'll ask me to pick out his clothes for him, but he will always in the end choose something different.  He does not like assistance with taking off his coat, buckling his 5 point harness, or turning off a light.  He does not like change and he does not like to be rushed.  And he says he does not like school, but we know he does and is just asserting the opposite.  He is a character, a goof, and his smiling eyes and wide grin are contagious to say the least.  He has changed so much in personality over the last two years that it will be really interesting to see the type of person he becomes in the next short two years, before he starts Kindergarten.  

Our five year old likes to have structured activities to do all of the time.  Often times, he'll ask us to make him a list of things to do for the day, which includes everything from brushing teeth, eating, and pooping to practicing violin and writing letters to people.  I can't always keep him busy with kid projects because he refuses to do things he has done before in which case he will always ask to watch television, but when I refuse in return he will help me out with entertaining the baby, folding laundry, or cutting vegetables for meals, and he does a great job.  We have some good talks, too, while we work together.  He thrives off of social interactions.  On the first day of school, he had already made two friends and invited them over to a Halloween Party he is dreaming up/planning.  He likes to dress "handsome," as he calls it, and this requires my mom and I to shop second hand for button down shirts with collars so that he is well-supplied.  He reads very well.  I'm not sure what his reading level would be but he can read almost any children's book though he is intimidated if a whole page is covered in words and if he doesn't know a word he will usually guess instead of take the time to sound it out.  His Kindergarten teacher said he was the only kid she has seen read the number "202."  He is starting to spell also and wrote his first letter yesterday without assistance.  Between violin lessons and school, this fall, I think he will continue to be challenged and will progress rapidly.

School started last week and we've already had a stomach bug, a cold, and a cold/fever, one for each kid, so their immune systems are being properly exercised.  The potatoes have been dug.  The last of the second crop of lettuce has been spun.  And we've had our first frost.  The septic has been pumped.  And my husband is hacking up the last load of wood so that it will be seasoned for the following winter.  Woodstove fires have already become part of the normal daily routine.  I have been baking a lot of pizzas, pies, cakes, and vegetables, just because we finally can use the oven and still feel comfortable inside.  Moose season began yesterday and now we're just hoping a bull moose walks right into our yard, preferably 35 yards from my husband's bow and arrow.  I used up the last of the moose steak and moose pepperoni and lunch meat last week.  The leaves will now turn yellow and in a couple short weeks, by fall equinox probably, they will all be on the ground.  No matter how quickly life passes, change is good.