Watching the Excavations

Kevin loves to hit the road every morning right after breakfast... KE, on the other hand, could sit in this window all day, watching the digging machines and dump trucks strengthening the dike.

Look at all that mud!

A Going Concern

KE is becoming what Kevin calls "a going concern." His crawling skills are gradually improving, and with it, a realization that there are many wonderful things to discover. Tonight, he got into this.  

"Oh, I think I hear someone coming!"

 

"Quickly! Put them back!"

 

"She sees me; act nonchalant."

 

"I just had a little spot on my hand so I got a wipe for myself."

Stand Me Up

KE actually can't do this on his own. Kevin likes to stand him up, and then I'll come around the corner and - Surprise!! 

KE plays along. He thinks it's cool.

In other news, I do believe Kevin has shingles.

Lunchtime chatter

This morning, K was delighted to find a large Thomas for O's birthday present. 

She was very reluctant to wait till Tuesday to give it to him, but eventually I talked her into it. Maybe I shouldn't have; I don't know. 

She certainly let him know what he was getting. Here it is, beside her plate at lunchtime. She has our old Duplo Thomas beside him. 

"...and that's why this one is so big;" she's saying. "...cause it had to go to the engine hospital and have a baby. He had him in his boiler."

 

E is saying, "I wish I wasn't in this family so I could get married to one of us."

 

O: "I wish I was in another family, too."

E: "No, you have to stay in this one; we would not want to marry you. Just KE and Dad."

KE, meanwhile,  is just happy to have a spatula. He is not worrying about marriage.

Dehydrating Pickles

Eating bread at Oma's. KE knows that if he is loud enough at mealtimes, we'll give him food. My favourite for him is pickle. He "dehydrates" them, to quote his father. 

Language barrier woes

Bacon is different here. Extra salty, thinly sliced, spiced(!), or sliced fatty pork disguised as bacon, we have accidentally bought and eaten it all.  I feel that if I could just find the right word for it I could get the good stuff, but the word eludes me. 

 This should probably not be a big enough deal to warrant a post, but there it is. Bacon woes. 

 

Mother's Day

 Mother's Day 2015. E made me a picture with 2 hearts on it. I slept in till 7:30, which threw off the morning and landed me at church flustered and frizzy.  E was wearing boots (forecast: 23* celcius), and KA was wearing a small green hat that kept sliding up on her head and making her look like a smurf.
I fought off a bad attitude for most of the afternoon, and was late getting ready for evening church.    O fell down the steps at church and scraped his face, and then I lost Kevin somewhere for a half an hour after the service.
We came home. I fed everyone again, and it took longer than usual. I put the kids in bed, but O wouldn't go to sleep. I had discovered molars and other teeth in his mouth earlier, so I assumed he was having trouble because he was teething.
It didn't surprise me. What a day.
 I asked Kevin to hold him for me, and he finally did, setting O beside him in bed. O obligingly went to sleep, straightaway.
I checked on KA. She had fallen asleep in less than a minute after giving up her fight to be up. E was snuggled down on my pillow, sucking her fingers, wearing KA's nightgown. O was snuggled next to his daddy, 2 big, orange bandaids on his head, soother in his mouth... so small; so tough, so tired!
I was, at that moment, overwhelmed with how beautiful life is.
 I am so grateful to God for blessing me with these babies. They are so precious to me!!
I know. Precious is a Hallmark word. I'm sorry. 
They just are.

on (not) sleeping through the night.

I'm tired today. As I was yesterday. And the day before that. You see, I'm trying to teach O to sleep through the night. He's almost 1, and it's about time.
I remember doing this much earlier with my girls; there's something about having a third child makes me delay tackling the issues. I'll have to be careful to be aware of his character training. Sleeping through the night is not a big deal, but it would be terrible to delay tackling, say, an unkindness problem he could have.
Charlotte Mason managed character training with whole schools of children. I wonder... I expect she was just very organized.

I'm praying that he'll stay asleep (and not need rocking) soon!