Bo-Bo the Chef

Whenever I am cooking in the kitchen, it doesn’t take long before I hear a bumping, shuffling sound in the laundry room that alerts me to the fact that Robyn is pulling out the folding step stool so that she can join in on the action.  Yesterday I was cooking lentils.  She wanted to help.  Emma had already added the lentils and bay leaves, but I figured Robyn could handle unwrapping the beef bullion cubes and then dropping them in the water.  But you have to be careful what you say to a two year old.  The directions went something like this.

Mama: OK, unwrap the paper off of this cube and then put it in the water.
Mama: No, don’t put the paper in the water!
Mama: NO, don’t put the cube in your mouth!!

I forgot that even though the task of unwrapping is definitely in her skill set, the rest cannot be assumed.  Apparently she thought I wanted the paper in the water and, since what’s inside the wrapping is usually the candy, she figured she could dispose of the unneeded part for me!

Bo-Bo the Gamer

As you may or may not know, as of about a year ago, Matt has become quite a fan of and expert on board games for the family.  He’s chosen many, many good titles for us to purchase, receive as gifts and play together as a family!  One of our recent gifts was the game Keep It Steady  (or Zitternix in the original, which is what the kids like to call it).  It’s a very basic game.  You have a bundle of 27 wooden sticks in three different colors held in a precarious upright position by a wooden ring.  On your turn, you roll a die and pull a stick in the color indicated.  The goal is to get as many sticks as you can without knocking down the bundle!  Guess who is best in our family at playing this game?  Robyn!

It is so funny to watch her play.  She can’t get the bundle set up by herself, but once Mama sets it up, her skills shine.  Yesterday I played several games with her.  She rolls the die (which has a colored dot on each side) and then chooses the appropriate stick.  Interestingly, she can’t even name her colors yet, but when she rolls a red, yellow or blue dot, she can identify which stick matches that color.  She comments on whether she gets a “big one” or a “tiny one” (each color stick is a different diameter).  Then, she picks her stick very carefully and announces, “Didn’t fall!” if she has been successful.  Finally, she hands the die to me and says, “Your turn!”

Yesterday the first two games we played began with Robyn announcing, “First me.”  Hey, that’s fine.  She’s two.  I can handle letting her go first.  But when the third game started the same way, I decided maybe it was time for a lesson in good gaming manners.  I said, “You know Robyn, Mama doesn’t mind letting you go first in some games.  But it’s also nice when you say to the other person, ‘Here, you can go first.”  She considered what I had said and then replied, “OK!”  She grabbed the die, took her turn and then handed it to me saying, “Here, you can go first!”  Apparently it was all semantics.

Stair Steps?

Foofie is eager to reach the 40 lb. mark so that she can transition out of a car seat into a booster chair.  After church we checked her weight, as well as the weights of a few other tagalongs.  Here’s what we found.

Ruth: 34 lbs.
Robyn: 31 lbs.
Henry: 28 lbs.

Does this mean that my cooking is getting better?  Or maybe it means that they are wising up to it as they get older!  ;-)

Henry's First Word

Not “ma-ma”.  Not “da-da”.  But “ni-ni” (as in “night-night”).  How do I know?  Because that’s what he says as he waves good-night to his siblings before his naps.

I think the fact that this became his first word might have something to do with how much he absolutely adores (I mean can-hardly-contain-himself, ridiculous-grin, wiggling-in-my-arms adores) the fact that when it is time for him to go to bed, every single person in the room stops what they are doing, looks directly at him and says this to him with smiles, waves and great enthusiasm.  Like maybe he thinks it means, “Henry, you are the most amazing and wonderful thing ever to happen to this planet!  We’re all just taking a moment to celebrate your greatness!”  Or, maybe he just likes naps.

Beauty is in the Eye of the Questioning Observer

Emma was watching me put on my make-up before leaving for the evening.

Emma: Why are you coloring your eyebrows?
Mama: Well, because it makes them darker.
Emma: So I guess darker eyebrows are attractive?
Mama: Well, I guess some people think so.
Emma: Well, I guess you think so!