4/09/11 - New Beginnings

The days are longer now, with the sun setting around 8pm.  The temperature finally hit 60 degrees this week, though we had 23 consecutive days of rain. The air is warmer, the buds are starting to form on the trees, and we’ve been able to trade the heavy winter coats for lighter jackets.  Spring is finally here.  Dave has been working in the yard, preparing the garden bed and spreading the mulch left from the large Douglas Fir in our backyard (the root system was starting to crack our foundation, so we were forced to remove it). 

 

The plants aren’t the only ones blooming this season.  Eva is in the middle of a growth spurt, constantly wanting something to snack on and outgrowing a lot of her winter clothes.   Right now she’s wearing 5T pants and tops, but she may be in size 6 by summer.  She’s memorized how to spell her full name (Evangelina), and has begun to try and spell words herself by sounding them out.   Lately her artwork has been labeled with titles like “Slipen Beeud” (Sleeping Beauty) and “Budrfliy” (Butterfly). 

 

Eva is fascinated by time, the calendar, birthdays, and the way things change and grow over time.  She tells everyone that will listen how she used to be a baby but now she’s five, and in June she’s going to be six.   She knows that her friend Kasey started to lose teeth at six, so she keeps trying to wiggle her teeth so they will come out, and has elaborate plans about how she’s going to keep her lost teeth in a box and away from Bethany so she can’t lose them or choke on them.   

 

Eva is also fascinated by the concept of motherhood.  She’ll ask me, “Mommy, remember when I was in your tummy?  Pretty soon I’ll have a baby in my tummy, and then I’ll be the mommy and you’ll be the grandma.  Then what will Grandma be?  Did you used to be in Grandma’s tummy?”   She knows that mammals carry their babies instead of laying eggs, and she’ll pretend that her toy animals are pregnant and will try to play midwife, though she doesn’t quite understand the full concept of how that works yet.   Not sure where she even got the idea, except from watching “Dumbo” and “Spirit”.  Still, she knows that the stork idea from Dumbo is just pretend, while the scene where the baby Spirit is born is closer to the truth.

Competition

Most of the time, Eva and Amanda are one another’s favorite playmate and best friend, and I often think that the best gift we ever gave them was simply the gift of each other.   Still, the natural sibling rivalry inevitably flares up here and there.  Lately, everything has become contest.  Who can get dressed the fastest?  Who can finish putting their shoes and coat on first?  Who can finish their dinner first?  Who can get ready for bed the fastest?   Someone yells, “I won!” followed by the other’s lament (usually Amanda’s) of “I wanted to win!”  I’m pretty sure it got started when Dave told them that the first one to get into their pajamas and brush their teeth would get to pick out the bedtime story, but now nearly everything has been turned into a race.  “It’s not a contest” has topped the charts this week for “Mom’s most repeated phrase.”

 

One area where rivalry is absent is ballet class.  Amanda began taking classes this month, and was so excited to start that she didn’t want to take off her leotard and tutu.  She kept twirling in circles in the lobby during Eva’s class, admiring her flowing pink skirt with a huge grin and saying, “I’m a ballerina, momma!  Look!  I’m a ballerina!”   Though Eva enjoys the music and the challenge of the movements, Amanda is already much more passionate about ballet.  She loves all things girly, and dancing makes her feel like a princess. 

 

Amanda loves her princess dress-up clothes at home too, especially the “Tangled” one after seeing the movie last week.   Dave and several of his buddies took all the kids, and for Eva and Amanda, it was their first theater experience.  When they asked what it was going to be like, I told them they were going to watch a movie on a TV screen that was as big as the whole room, and their eyes grew wide.  The experience didn’t disappoint, either: they talked of nothing else for days, and all their latest artwork has featured tall towers and a girl with extremely long hair. 

Mischief

Bethany has finally upgraded to 18-month clothes.  She’s still slim at 17 ½ pounds, but her development is right on track.  She’s fascinated by anything with buttons, and loves to push the buttons on the printer, remote control, computer keyboard, or anything else she can get her hands on.  She wants to use a cup, fork and spoon, just like her big sisters, and loves to climb stairs wherever she finds them. 

 

We’ve had to turn every chair to face away from the table and desk, because she’s in a dangerous climbing phase where she tries to get to the highest spot she can reach.  Even with these precautions, she’s still taken a couple of spills after climbing on chairs. 

 

Bethany is very affectionate and loves to walk up and give her big sisters hugs.  When the family comes to visit, she begs for Grandma Glynna to pick her up and will hardly let anyone else hold her, preferring to snuggle on Grandma’s shoulder.  They have a very sweet bond.   When they left last time, Bethany tried to cling to Grandma and cried when she left, which of course melted Grandma to tears. 

 

A Day In The Life

Dave’s day usually begins around 7am, when Amanda wakes up asking for cereal.   Dave’s specialty is “Flip-Flop Oatmeal”: oatmeal made with fruit, chocolate and butterscotch chips, or any other creative twist he can think of.   Eva usually isn’t far behind Amanda, and then Daddy reads from a children’s devotional over breakfast before heading off to work. 

 

Bethany wakes around 8am, which is when my day usually begins.  I change diapers and get the girls dressed before tackling whatever tasks await that day: laundry, dishes, an errand to run, a play date, or an appointment.   If the schoolwork for that day is something I can copy on our printer and give to Amanda and Bethany to color on, we’ll do school in the morning.  Otherwise, I wait until the younger girls go down for their nap after lunch. 

 

The afternoons are spent folding, picking up, reading books aloud and fixing dinner.  In between I’ll make phone calls, blog, check my e-mail, or go on Facebook to catch up on my friends’ status updates and current events.  Dave rarely gets home in time for dinner, but he’s usually able to squeeze in some play time before the bedtime routine begins: baths, brushing their teeth and reading them a bedtime story.   Then he catches up on the latest bike race or crashes in his favorite chair with a Brad Thor or Vince Flynn novel.