Miriamisms IV

Miriam is really into story telling now. She found a sheet of paper the other day and pretended to read Katie & me stories from it. This was one of them:

Miriam: This story's going to be very funny. Do you like spooky?
Me: Mmm, sometimes.
Miriam: Okay, once upon a time Miriam went to the Spooooooky Old Tree and she went in and fell and then an alligator ATE her!
[long pause, as if story was over]
Me: And THEN what happened?!?
Miriam: And then her Mommy looked and looked for her. She was in the water. And her Mommy rescued her, and took her home, and put little bandaids alllllllll over her.

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Some backstory for the next Miriamism: in order to encourage good behavior and cooperation, we've been using sticker charts w/Miriam for her morning and evening chores. If she gets dressed, puts her jammies away, and makes her beds in the morning, or gets her jammies on, puts her clothes away, and brushes her teeth and hair in the evening without a fuss, and without being nagged, she gets a sticker. If at the end of the week her chart is full, she gets to choose one of three rewards: a movie, a trip to Dairy Queen, or a game from the toy store. After four full charts we'll take her to the Mall to ride the carousel or play in the giant play tower (this hasn't happened yet -- so far she's up to three full charts out of about 8 or so). It's a pretty good system -- works well for us, anyway.

Well, she got a full chart last week, so on Monday I took her to Toys B We to pick out a preschool game. They had about 3 preschool games in the entire store, none of which taught anything useful like taking turns, concentration skills, or numbers or colors or counting. They mostly involved whacking things with various implements, or had the words "electronic!" or "talking!" splashed across the box. NO thank you. So as a consolation prize I got the Sleeping Beauty story disks for Miriam's Viewmaster. We have a Disney picture book, which Miriam has really enjoyed reading lately. After she got over her disappointment that I wouldn't buy her a new baby doll, she was really excited about the disks, and spent some time clicking through the story while I made her lunch. She was very interested in the bad fairy.

After she had time to digest the story, she said, "Is the bad fairy going to say 'I'm sorry'? I think the bad fairy's going to say 'sorry' and then the princess will say 'I forgive you' and then she will be nice!"

A little missionary in the making.

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Yesterday after morning Mass:
Miriam: I'm hungry. I think I want some breakfast. Can I have a lollipop after breakfast?
Me: No, lollipops are for after lunch.
Miriam: Ah. ...I think I want some lunch.

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I had just poured Miriam a cup of milk:
"Mmm! What a good wife."

What our girls do in their spare time

reading the news


Katie reading
(She can climb into this chair by herself now -- a major accomplishment! She always applauds herself when she sits down.)


Miriam reading
(Miriam loves Baby Blues.)

Do they take after their mother's side of the family or WHAT? :)

What season are we in again -- II

The weather here is acting like typical spring, I guess -- fluctuating between gloriously warm and tortuously cold. After our warm days last week, the mercury dropped into the 30's & hasn't gotten much higher than that. Saturday wasn't so bad, so Mr. Pickles took advantage of the sunshine to do some yardwork. Katie helped.


yard work
(that's a hockey stick she's using to help Daddy rake leaves, in case you were wondering) I couldn't get a better picture because a)Katie wouldn't stay in one place long enough to get a good shot; and b)go OUTSIDE to get a better shot? Are you crazy?

Where I come from it's called "immaturity"

I was reading a post on Lady Lydia's blog about what her daughter did at home during her teen years. It's a very sweet post -- reminds me somewhat of my own teen years and that of many of my homeschooling friends'. But in the comments was a note from a woman whose 19-year-old daughter refuses to do anything -- go to work, get a job, help around the house -- nothing, that is, except watch TV and shop. Another commenter posted a link to an article from Boundless Webzine about a new classification for this unwillingness to grow up: "adultescence" (or as Boundless terms them, "kidults"). I couldn't believe how some sociologists were encouraging these self-absorbed, immature adults to continue living off their parents, buying all the toys (or cars or iPods) they wanted, before they were sucked down into the responsibilities of family life. One even said, "Enjoy it.... Once it goes, it ain't coming back. Sooner or later, you'll have a family, a mortgage and a retirement plan." And of course everyone knows that's what adult life is all about -- all work and no play. Unbelievable. It reminded me of a great article in First Things a while back -- I may have mentioned it before -- about the fact that we simply don't know how to act like grown-ups.
This topic has been on my mind a lot lately as I approach my 30th birthday. Rather than feel depressed at the end of my youth, I'm looking forward to finally feeling like a grownup. (Although youth is relative -- the other day I heard someone described as -- "a young kid, only 40 years old!") :) I have no regrets about my 20's -- I think I spent them fairly well. Now I look forward to revelling in everything my 30's have to offer! I know it's going to be a great decade -- for one thing, it will be a joy to watch our family grow.


Art & Literature by Loren Entz

Bear-bear update

In the world of Katie:

Katie had her 15-mo. checkup the other day. The verdict: we must be starving our child because she's only gained another pound in the last 3 months! This makes a total gain of 3 pounds in the last 9 months. HOW is this possible?? It seems like she eats ALL day! She seems healthy, behavior-wise, she just isn't growing as well as we, and the doctor, would like. So, new strategy: make every bite count. No more empty calories and easy fillers, like graham crackers and Cheerios. Katie needs lots of protein, for one thing. It's been a real struggle to get her to drink cow's milk -- she would consistently take two dainty sips, make a yuck face, and refuse to drink for the rest of the meal. I think that's been a big part of the problem -- at this age, kids are supposed to be drinking 20 oz. a day; we were lucky if Katie took 4 oz. Lately she's been more willing to accept milk as a drink option, but after her appointment I decided to take away all other liquids and give her only whole milk to drink, hoping that by removing all other options she would learn to like it more. So far it's worked -- the first day afternoon she drank 8 oz. with nary a complaint, after she saw that there wasn't anything else available. The pediatrician reminded me that Katie needs protein to grow, so we need to up her protein intake -- basically doubling whatever amount of chicken and beef in particular that she's eating now. If I cook some meat & freeze it in Katie-sized portions, that shouldn't be too difficult. The only real difficulty in all this is that she's been a little constipated lately, so we need to balance the increase in protein with lots of things like pears and prunes -- so nothing but meat and vegetables for her now! :) My only question is: isn't that what adults do to LOSE weight?... We have to go back in a month to make sure this strategy is working, and if not, to check whether her slow weight gain might be the result of some disease. Sigh, worry worry worry!

Well, in all other respects, Katie is developing very normally. Even above normally. (Do all other mothers think their children are the smartest, most beautiful children that have ever graced the world with their presence?) We've mentioned before how imitative she is. For one thing, she loves doing whatever big sis does.


mini musicians

Actually, she wants to do EVERYTHING we're doing. The other day she was pretending to help me mop the kitchen, and getting frustrated b/c the mop was 3 times longer than she was! She loves helping to put laundry in the dryer, as well as to empty the dishwasher. We don't remember Miriam being this active in family chores so early. However I can see the difficulty that younger children have with comparing themselves to older siblings. Being the oldest myself, I couldn't understand it when my younger sibs would get frustrated with themselves for not being on the same level with me, I think especially when it came to playing the piano. I always thought, of course you're not on my level! You're several years younger! Duh! (I was such a tender-hearted sister!) :b But now watching Katie I can see that she doesn't understand that she's younger -- she just gets mad b/c she sees big sis doing fun things that she can't do. (Any tips from you experienced moms for how to encourage younger sibs to accept their ability level?)

Katie's play-acting with dolls is getting even more advanced. Whenever she sees a baby doll, she'll start making weird whining noises, then go to the doll, pick it up and say "Mama," and pat it on the back with a big smile on her face. She can usually be found carrying some doll or stuffed animal around the house. As I was changing her diaper the other day, she held up the baby doll she had been carrying and started sniffing. This meant, naturally, that the doll had a dirty diaper. So I gave her a wipe, and she pretended to wipe the doll -- first on the face, but then she realized that wasn't quite right, so she turned the doll around to wipe its bottom. It was very cute. I was impressed that she knew exactly what to do with the wipe.

Katie's language also seems to be taking off. We can tell that she understands a LOT of what we say to her now. And her love for imitating extends to sounds as well -- she especially loves imitating animal noises. The other day when I was desperately trying to finish some work on the computer, to keep her occupied I gave her a JC Penney flyer (pretty color pictures, crinkly pages, ooh!). After flipping through pages of bedsheets & curtains & pillows she paused and started to make a grunting/roaring noise. I looked at the page and saw that she had found a tiny picture of animal-shaped pillows. (Some of her favorite books now involve Mom or Dad making lots of animal sounds.) Regarding human noises, aside from the classic "bye-bye" and "uh-oh," her vocabulary has extended to "Mama" (finally!), "Dada," and "up" (all very important ones!). She'll pretty much try to imitate anything we say to her, but those are the most consistently recognizable words she'll use. Her versions of "bear" ("beh") and "Boppy" ("bah-pah") are also becoming more consistent and recognizable. She also has two personal all-purpose statements: "ah-bop," said while pointing to or exploring something, which means (as far as I can tell), "neat-o"; and "ah-dats," said while frowning, and which very obviously means, "I'm not a happy camper!" I remember with Miriam that this was the exact age when her vocabulary just exploded. I have to admit that the second year is really my favorite. This is when your little baby really emerges as a little person, with a personality, and imagination, and ideas, and an agenda :) of her own. It's fascinating to observe.

Meenum Update

In the world of Meenum:

Miriam loves dancing. Mrs. Pickles has recently taken up ballet again through the local County Rec Center. You should have seen Miriam's eyes light up when she learned that Mommy was going dancing! She kept asking me if I wore a ballaleena dress, and if the other ladies wore dresses to dance too. I think pretty soon we're going to have to enroll her in a tiny tots ballet class -- like Angelina Ballerina, more than anything else in the world she loves to dance. Yesterday she begged for music so she could do this:


dancing princess

She loves dancing right here b/c she can see her reflection in the piano. :)


Look at me!

Miriam still sleeps in our room. She always starts off in her own bed, but somewhere around midnight she comes padding into our room to sleep in her "little bed". Since she's almost four (gasp!) I've been trying subtly to plant the idea that big girls stay in their OWN beds ALL night long. The other evening we had this exchange:
Mrs.P: "Are you going to stay in your big bed all night long tonight?"
Miriam, eyes wide with horror: "No, I'm going to come sleep in my little bed!" (as if to stay, Mother! What a preposterous idea!
Mrs.P: "Why not?"
Miriam, smiling: "Because I like my little bed because it's CUTE!"
Mrs.P: "Oh?"
Miriam, after a pause: "And because I like to be with MommyDaddy in MommyDaddy's room."
Awwwwwwww.
The other night (or rather, early morning) we were startled awake by Miriam crying out, "Spider! A spi-i-i-i-der-r-r-r-r!" When Mr. Pickles (who possesses the ability to leap out of bed before he is fully awake, unlike Mrs. Pickles, who requires caffeine applied intravenously before she will CONSIDER opening her eyes) hopped out of bed to the rescue, Miriam explained, "Dere was a spider on my face, and he wanted to eat me because I'm yummy!" With Herculean effort, Mr. Pickles managed to refrain from waking the rest of the family with hysterical laughter, and instead comforted Miriam ("Daddy poTECted me from the spider," as she informed me the next morning) who within seconds was back asleep.

Speaking of bedtime, Miriam's latest lullaby request has consistently been "Jesus Christ is Risen Today." Not sure how that became a favorite. The way she asks for it is, "Mommy, can you sing 'Jesus Christ is risen today, and then the angels, and who did once upon the cross?' Can you sing that one?" Also, before the family Rosary, Miriam always offers up these intentions (while entwining her rosary in her toes): "I'd like to offer dis Rosary for my dolly that she brought, and just a Thanksgiving Day, Amen."

What season are we in again?

So this is the view from our window on Sunday:


winter wonderland

You know what item I had listed on the agenda for the weekend? Yard Work. So, naturally, we get the first snowfall we've had since early December. I'm not complaining -- it was gorgeous! We spent Sunday afternoon sledding and romping. Miriam LOVED every minute of it -- she would shriek with glee each time she rode down a hill with one of us, even when they wiped out and got mouthfuls of snow. We even convinced her to slide down a hill herself (with Mommy to catch) a couple times. She just loves being outdoors. Katie, on the other hand, was NOT a happy camper. She whined the whole time because she was cold and the snow was wet and her fingers were cold and she couldn't walk and she fell over and got cold snow on her face and Mommy I want to go home now!

And oh, it was 67 yesterday. It's a little cooler today, somewhere in the 50's.

It's been a WEIRD winter.

The Bear and His Beer

Superbowl Sunday is famous for two things: football and commercials. Sometimes it is more well known for the latter than the former.

For Superbowl XL I decided to pull out the rabbit ears to see if I could muster enough reception for a watchable picture. I wanted to watch the game because the Steelers were playing. The Steelers are known as a Catholic team. While we typically don't get any reception in the basement--will wonders never cease--I was able to pick up the game. It was a sign from God that he wanted me to watch the game.

Miriam wanted to watch the game with me. I didn't object to spending more time with her, but I was careful about the commercials we watched. Many companies try to at least maintain some level of decency in their commercials, but I was still vigiliant. As you probably know, most companies pull out all of the stops when making Superbowl commercials. Miriam really liked the Whopperettes (link will take you to Google video). I thought it was one of the weirdest commercials I had ever seen. However, after seeing the commercial Miriam said, "Daddy, I want to see the dancing ladies again." I'll have to take her to Google video. She also liked the preview for the new Pixar movie Cars. She was a little disconcerted about some of the Bud Light commercials. However, there was one Bud Light commercial about a bear, some campers, and a beer that stuck with her. The bear was an angry bear, and he was eventually appeased by a Bud Light.

I didn't think much about until the following Tuesday. As we were getting ready for the day Miriam picked up one of her stuffed bears and let out a tremendous growl. I asked her what the bear wanted, and she said, "The bear wants some beer!" What made it even more amusing was that she used her John Paul II bear.

Our doll loves dolls

Katie has recently developed a fascination with baby dolls. She's taken to carrying her big sister's dolls around, in addition to her own soft baby dolls. Today she headed over to Miriam's Cabbage Patch doll (with the original name of "Dolly"), making a complaining noise that one could describe as a long, gutteral whine. (Go ahead, try it.) Anyway, I thought something was wrong with Katie when I heard her making this noise, until I realized that she was pretending Dolly was crying, and this is the way Katie cries in her crib when she wants to be rescued. After Katie picked up Dolly like the loving little mother she is, she proceeded to comfort her baby by holding her upside down and smacking her on the face.

What I Did Yesterday.

Went grocery shopping.
Washed diapers.
Emptied the dishwasher & dish drainer.
Swept & mopped the kitchen and entry.
Worked on the computer.
Cleaned the front door & screen door.
Made bread.
Beat The Stack into submission.
Made bean soup.

I am super woman!

I only wish I had made time to do some "school" with Miriam. We haven't done that in several days, and I know she misses it. She keeps asking to "do a U" -- meaning, learn about the letter U for the Letter Wall. (I'll post a picture when it's all finished.) I'm trying to fit schooltime into our days now, so that it won't take a major derangement of the schedule to work it in when we start preschool in the fall. It doesn't help that Katie's nap schedule is all awry -- she seems to be moving towards one nap a day. Doing school w/Miriam was easier when I could count on Katie being asleep for an hour mid-morning -- but now that she isn't getting tired until 11 or noon, it's tricky trying to arrange errands, chores, school, lunch, and Miriam's afternoon nap (which is sacrosanct!). It ALSO doesn't help that I'VE been sleeping in lately (I awoke to the sound of Miriam sitting in bed next to me, flipping pages in a book, calmly waiting for me to wake up) so our whole day is getting started later. No doubt Mr. Pickles will say all my problems would be solved if only I would get up at 5am with him. (All except that minor problem of sleep, of course.) :)