Ryan, Sarah, Cora, Elijah and Betty: early January 2015

Friday, May 29, 2015

early January 2015

One of the things the kids got up to after Christmas but before returning to school was this fashion show. Cora came up with the idea, of course, and also served as the MC. (Unbrushed hair and all). The kids took enjoyed playing in the empty space in the guest room which is usually a big sewing mess. Cora requested some new outfits for her bunny which is what gave her the idea for her fashion show. She made little ribbons out of construction paper which she awarded to all of the participants.

I've always had an interest in yoga although I haven't had very much experience in it. I heard about a great yoga channel on YouTube called Cosmic Kids and watched a few episodes with the kids. It was a big hit and is really fun for them to do, especially if Ryan or I do it with them. Cora gets more into it than Elijah, who isn't quite as coordinated and doesn't have as long of an attention span.

Tree pose:

Lion pose:

Bridge pose (ignore Mt. Laundry behind me)

I got a laminator for Christmas that I was so excited about! I made a bunch of coloring placemats for the kids that they use dry-erase markers on and they loved them! Kept them busy for hours.

Happy little baby

The kids watching a movie. I offered to make them popcorn but Cora said "don't we have anything healthy, like carrots?" Of course, my popcorn is air-popped and a pretty healthy snack also, but I have no problem giving them carrots instead.

Cora went back to school on January 6th and we got down to business, putting Christmas away and returning to a regular schedule. Spiderman helped me entertain the baby.

Spiderman watching himself.

To keep Betty out of trouble when using the bathroom or brushing my teeth I used to leave the door open a few inches - just enough so that she'd try to come in but couldn't quite make it. Pretty soon she figured out how to slide the door open though and I had to close it all the way.

One day I left her with the other kids in the living room while I put dinner on - when I came back I didn't see Betty anywhere! Elijah had gone to the bathroom and left it open when he came out, and I found Betty standing at the toilet, with splashes on the floor, happily playing in the water. Well, she was happy, until I started screaming and freaking out. So gross! She got a good wash and the other kids got a good talking to about closing the door behind themselves.

Elijah said "Mommy take a picture of me with my baby! Stand back so you can see my Spiderman slippers! Does my face look fancy enough? I like that one. My face looks fancy. Can you show that picture to everybody?"

Here comes trouble! This gate really has not been installed for that long and already she's working on getting it open! Luckily there is a lock function if we really need to keep her out, but I don't like to do that because then Cora and Elijah have a little trouble getting it open.

Cora wanted me to take a picture of her cute drawing of a robot, pencil and bunny.

Elijah gave us a good scare one day when we were working on a craft. Bad weather was coming so Cora got out of school early that day. I was about to take a picture of the kids who were getting along very well, doing cute little melty bead projects at the table while Betty slept. It was cold and foggy outside but nice and warm in the kitchen. Then Cora asked Elijah why he was plugging his ears. I looked at him and saw a little perler bead in his ear canal. I instructed him not to move and ran for the tweezers but by the time I got back to the kitchen it had slipped in much farther so I could barely see it anymore. So I quickly bundled up all three kids, instructed Elijah to keep his head tilted to the side so that it didn't fall further in, and got them in the car. I drove to the pediatrics office which is very close to our house. I didn't call ahead because I was afraid they would tell me to go to the ER. They didn't tell me that but they sent me to the ENT instead. That was also really close, just up by the hospital, so we headed in that direction. This all happened in the 4 o'clock hours, luckily, so the offices were still open. The ENT was able to see us right away and his whole office was very nice. He first took a look with a little video scope, then used forceps and pulled it out. He said we were lucky that he was able to get it out on the first try. Elijah was very good, didn't cry at all until the bead was coming out of his ear, when it hurt him. I think that it was actually a good thing that it wasn't a totally painless procedure though, to hopefully teach him the lesson - don't put things in your ears! He and Cora did get lollipops from the doctor after which I was afraid might make the experience a little too positive - in fact on the way home when I was reiterating the dangers of putting things in your ears Cora said "But we did get suckers from it!"

This kid has gotten his foot stuck in a stool, put a baby grape up his nose, swallowed a penny (we think) and now put a bead in his ear. At least he hasn't had any broken bones or stitches yet, knock on wood!

Anyways, here he is after that incident, playing with melty beads again. This time he was supervised much more closely and he has had many lectures about not putting things in his ears so I figured I'd let him try again.

His finished project. (He definitely had some help on this one.)

Betty loves Ritz crackers. Her foot always comes up when she's eating.

She also loves to eat her toes.

I used some of my Christmas/birthday money to but a cube organizer for craft supplies for the office. Elijah helped me put it together one day. He was so cute and helpful the whole time. After this he added "builder" to his list of things he wants to be when he grows up. Other things on the list are daddy, physical therapist like daddy, astronaut, and zoo keeper.