Baby School

Mallory has started a new thing with Wyatt called "Baby School." I'll often find them locked in a room, and when I ask Mallory what she is doing, she tells me that she is doing Baby School for Wyatt. I'm not sure how I feel about it. Wyatt doesn't seem to mind Baby School- in fact, most of the time he appears to be very happy.

Here is what Wyatt learned in one of his recent Baby School sessions:


The topic was 'hair.'

Stitches Take-Two

Today while Mallory was playing in her room, I heard a thud and screaming. When I found her, her lip was dripping blood and she was crying about running into the door. It looked like maybe her tooth had gone all the way through her lip (It hadn't) because she had a hole in her skin right at the border of her lip. I put ice on it and waited an hour to see if it would close up and be OK, but it seemed like every time she spoke or smiled, the hole would pull open and start bleeding again.

Although the cut was pretty small (and I felt stupid making a big deal about it), I took her in. Our doctor felt like we should put a couple stitches in it for cosmetic reasons since she would end up with a strange scar on her lip-line. Mallory was very very brave and didn't cry even once through it all. After 30 minutes she was walking out of there with a sticker, sucker, and big smile.
She is about the happiest injured little girl I've seen!

Stories That We Think Are Cute, But Most People Will Find Pretty Ho-Hum

Funny Carter moment:
This last week we were having a discussion about cutting Taylor's hair, and somehow Chemotherapy came up during the hair conversation. Carter chimed in and mentioned that Taylor's haircut could look like Chemotherapy or Diagnosis. What?? That made no sense to any of us, and so Josh explained to Carter what Diagnosis meant. After realizing that he had the wrong definition for "diagnosis," he told us: "Well, I just got my definition from a shampoo bottle. It said 'Diagnosis: Dry, and rough hair'" We got a kick out of that. It's easy to see how he could be confused.

Taylor's extreme request:
Taylor announced last week that he wanted a mo-hawk. Not a faux-hawk, but a real mo-hawk. He started begging me for one, and I, being the all-wise parent (who knows Taylor would never enjoy calling a lot of attention to himself over an extreme haircut), told him "Sure!" I explained to him I thought that would be a great idea because everyone at school would notice him and think he was REALLY cool for being brave enough to have a mo-hawk. I took him to the bathroom where I usually give the haircuts. He started to look a little nervous as he saw me get out the clippers. He kept asking "I can really have one? Really?!" I just kept saying "Sure! It would be awesome!" As soon as it was time for him to sit down, he had completely bowed out of his bright idea for a mo-hawk. How easy was that? And now I'm the nice mom that would let her kid get a mo-hawk. :)

Chatty Mally:
Mallory is becoming very well-known for her endless talking. She basically thinks out loud all day long. Really, that's not an exaggeration. On our recent trip to Colorado, she ended up in a canoe with her Grandpa who happens to be very fond of peace and quiet. After the canoe ride, he told us that Mallory had not stopped talking the entire time (probably about 30 minutes). He told us that she went on and on about this and that and this and that. Mallory was listening to the conversation and chimed in saying: "And Grandpa kept saying Shhhh, Shhhh, Shhhhh." She didn't seem at all offended by his shushing. I think she is very used to it, and generally ignores any suggestion to stop talking (which is very inconvenient during a 12 hour car-ride).

Wyatt the Enforcer:
I'll just end this post with a video of Carter being mauled by Wyatt. Wyatt can be brutal, and we all have the marks to show for it.

Playhouse Construction Day 8: It Is Done!!!

At 5:00 tonight, I finished work on the playhouse. Here's the finished product:

I wanted to add a huge chalkboard along one side of the sandbox, monkey bars underneath it, and a bench inside it, but I've decided to save those features for future summers. I figure that if I add a new trinket or toy to the playhouse each year, maybe the kids will stay interested in it for longer.

Also, Suzy was worried that if I put a bench in the playhouse, kids would stand on it, lose their balance, fall over the railings, and plunge to their deaths. So instead, we've decided to stock the playhouse with a couple of outdoor beanbag chairs. They're more comfortable and a lot harder to get a good push off of if you happen to be a suicidal four year old.

I also added a tube that goes from the top platform down to the sandbox below. Here's what that looks like on the inside:

Yes, that is a toilet flange, but if any little kid ever uses that toilet flange as a toilet flange is typically used, that child will die. Here's what the tube looks like from below:

The kids have already spent hours pulling buckets of sand up in the pulley and dumping it all back down the tube. Suzy especially loves this tube, probably even more than the kids.

All in all, this has been a good project for me. During my time off, I tend to get on Suzy's nerves if I don't keep myself busy. When I retire in 30 years, I'm sure I'll drive her absolutely nuts. This project has kept me out of her hair. It's done now, and classes don't start up for another 24 days, so I'm sure I'll be poking around the house, driving Suzy batty in no time at all. Wish her luck.

Playhouse Construction Day 7

After a small vacation to Warm River, Idaho (love that place), I'm back to work on the playhouse. On Day 7, I added a pulley that lets kids raise and lower a bucket down to the sandbox. I also finished the roof, complete with shingles (not visible in the photos).

While working on the roof, I smashed my thumb with a hammer. Hard. Twice. For a while, I even thought I'd shattered a bone. As it turns out, my thumb is fine, and I'm just a wimp.

Sadly, my thumb doesn't even look injured, which is kind of annoying. Injuries should look at least as bad as they feel. This way you'd garner sympathy and could take cool injury pictures for your blog. As it is, I'm not even going to bother with the picture of my hands today.

Still to do: Stain the wood parts (sadly, rain is forecast for the next few days, so this will have to wait), add a tube that lets kids drop things from the playhouse down to the sandbox, add a chalkboard, figure out seats in the playhouse (benches? chairs?), go crazy with adding all sorts of contraptions and toys and things to do (pirate ship wheel? flagpole? telescope? monkey bars underneath? Sitting area below the lower platform?).

Nice Try

Tonight Mallory needed to take 10 bites of a chicken (AHHHH!!) sandwich before she could have a treat. The boys were already outside enjoying their ice-cream sandwiches, so she was feeling a little rushed. (She decided not to start eating until after the meal was long over.)

I was doing the counting. It went like this, except you can insert a minute pause between each bite:

Me: "Bite number 1... OK good. Bite number 2... Good. Bite number 3... Good. Bite number 4... Good."
Mallory: "Mom, don't say 5 next, say 10."

It was a good attempt, but unfortunately for her, I went with "5." If you've seen her stickly little legs, you'd know she needs every bite she can get.

Playhouse Construction Day 6

Josh here. Suzy thought it was my turn to give the playhouse update. The biggest development is that the playhouse now has a name. Carter has dubbed it "The Fortress of Awesomeness." Catchy.

I've slowed down a little over the last few days. In fact, I only worked for about four hours yesterday and five hours today, so we're combining Thursday's and Friday's work and calling it "Day 6."

On "Day 6," I attached the slide, built and attached a ladder, and built and attached a climbing wall (which was harder than I thought it would be -- stupid geometry).

Still to do: Stain the wood parts and build the roof.

The end's in sight now. I've never roofed anything in my life, so I know as much about roofing as I know about the courtship habits of aboriginal Australians (which is nothing), but it'll all come together.
The hands are toughening up nicely. Soon they'll be leathery and rough, like an old saddle. I can hardly wait. My dad said I should buy a pair of work gloves. Maybe he's on to something.