Foof Has ... Two Teeth

I was really looking forward to posting "Foof Has a Toof!" and then she went and got two in one day! It was kind of funny the way it happened. For the past few days, I have noticed that she had something going on beneath her lower gums. I had been keeping a close eye on it and if I really felt carefully, I was pretty sure there was a tooth about to erupt. I was really proud of myself for noticing.

This morning, I told her doctor that I was pretty sure she was working on a tooth. I think maybe I thought he'd be impressed that I was really on top of things. When he checked her mouth, he said, "Yep. Two teeth." After the appointment, I looked and, sure enough, she had two teeth completely through the gum, sticking up and totoally visable (for the record, this was NOT the case last night!). I thought the doctor would be impressed. Instead, he was probably wondering if I can count. ;-)

Get a Woman

Conversation between Luke (age 3) and Mommy …

Luke: When I get big, I am going to get a woman who is a hard worker and get her into my house. (These last few words, especially the last “get” were said with great emphasis (or possibly grunting), and the body motions that accompanied them looked more like he was lifting a heavy rock and tossing it into the back of a truck.)

Mama: Well, you know how you get a woman into your house, don’t you?

Luke: How?

Mama: Well, you have to marry her. Then she can come and live with you. And before you ask a girl to marry you, you have to check with her Daddy, because girls belong to their Daddies before they get married. (Emma was also listening to our discussion.)

Luke: Well, when I get big, I will find a woman who is a hard worker and I will ask her Daddy if I can get her. If he says no, then I will have to find another woman. But if he says yes, then I will get her.

Yes, it’s just that simple.

(By the way, I shared this little laugh on Mary's blog "Not Before 7" in Tiny Talk Tuesday. Be sure to visit her blog for more Tiny Talk!)

Three Jolly Siblings

Recently we moved Foof’s bed into Luke and Emma’s room and they couldn’t be more thrilled!  Referring to a favorite book, The Five Jolly Brothers, Luke said, “We’re like the Three Jolly Brothers!”  After I explained that this didn’t quite work because Emma and Ruth are girls, we modified it to the “Three Jolly Siblings.”

 

Matt told the kids that maybe we should put away Foof’s bed and put her in the bed with Emma or Luke, both of whom claimed her immediately!  Luke declared, “Foof can sleep in my bed with me!”  Matt said, “But Emma wants Foof to sleep with her, too.”  Luke responded, “Emma can sleep with her own self, and animals … and I can sleep with a real animal called Foof!”

New Emma Words

Some of my favorites …

 

Bee-uck: “Pick-up” as in “Please will you pick me up?”

Wee-uck: “Wake-up” as in “Is it time to wake up” (which she asks if I pop back into their room just after putting them down because I’ve forgotten to take my coffee cup with me.)

Das Goose: “That’s gross” used in general to refer to anything you should not do

Ses: “Yes”

No, duz wet: “No, just wet.”  Her one and only response to the question, “Do you have poo?”

Dada Pinsess: “Daddy’s Princess” Her response to “What are you, Emma?”

Pastor Luke

As you may or may not know, Luke currently says that he wants to be a Pastor when he grows up.  Well, actually, he doesn’t put it quite that way.  What he says is,  “When I grow up, I want to have my own house and my own church.  And I want to have five cars.  I want to have a school bus, a jeep, a car, a race car and an ambulance.”

 

Anyway, he is continually practicing for his “own church” The other day after Emma had misbehaved, Luke said, “Mama, you should pray that God will put off the old Emma and put on the new Emma.” (We’ve been memorizing Ephesians Chapter 4).

 

He uses anything that is about waist height as his pulpit and preaches a string of Biblical sounding phrases, “Wherefore, unto them, as it is written, once more …”  The other day, he left his “pulpit” and ran to the other side of the room.  “I have to greet the Saints,” he said.  Then, he glanced up at the clock and ran right back to his pulpit, explaining, “I don’t have time right now to greet the Saints because it is twenty o’clock.”

 

Emma is his devoted parishioner.  When they are in bed for naps, I often hear Luke teaching Emma to sing.  Occasionally, when she is apparently uninterested in his lessons, I have heard him saying, “Emma, obey me!”  Often, they sit side by side on the sofa or stand up together, singing “hymns” out of whatever books they may be holding.  The other day, I saw them both holding their chunky foam books which are cut in the shapes of people.  They were standing on their little chairs and singing at the top of their lungs.  The words they were singing (the same three words or sounds over and over) didn’t mean anything to me, but they were both saying the same thing in unison!

We Have Walk-in Closets

I always said that I wanted to have a home with walk-in closets.  Well, now we have them.  No, we haven’t been doing any remodeling.  It’s just that I discovered that our closets actually are walk-in-ready … that is, if you are a two or three year old!

 

Luke and Emma have spent probably a total of several hours over the last week playing in their closet.  Emma will say, “Bye, bye, Mama.  I’ll miss you.”  And then she will go in the closet and shut the door (double sliding doors).  Luke will come over and knock on the door, Emma will open the door and peek out at him, and then will both laugh uproariously!  Then, Emma will say, “Come in” and Luke will go in and shut the door behind him.  Emma will open the other door and come out, announcing, “I’m back!  I missed you, Mama,” and run over for a hug.  This can go on indefinitely with little or no variation, but apparently still remain very fun and appealing to them both.

 

I must say, I have thoroughly enjoyed watching them take such joy in playing together!  And I love the fact that they can play for a large stretch of time without using anything that needs to be cleaned up later!

Volume Problem

A woman has a diaper pail with capacity c.  She needs to fill it with g gallons of water and gradually add d diapers to the pail.  Each diaper has a volume of v when dry and w when wet.

 

c > g + d*(v + p) where p is equal to the amount of p or poo already in the diaper before it enters the pail.  v + p < w

 

Solve for g.

 

Seriously, though.  What is the scientific way to go about this?  I always wind up with either:

 

1. so much water that even though there is more room in the pail, the water will overflow if I put in any more diapers or …
2. too little water so that even though there is more room in the pail, I can’t get all the diapers below the water line.

 

How can I figure out the right amount of water to add from the start so that t_n > t where t = amount of time between loads of diaper laundry!?!

The Fourth of Foof

Well, Foof (Ruth) is four months old today.  Wow.  How quickly they all grow!  And in just another couple of weeks I will have a three year old.  Have I really been a mommy for three years?  I have told several people recently that being with my children is like viewing time-lapse photography.  It is such a joy to see the variety of ages and stages living under our roof.

 

But I really intended to dedicate this post to my little Foof, Foofy, Foosie, Foofalina, Roosie, Foofie Poofie, or whatever her mommy or silly siblings are calling her at the moment.  She takes such joy in her family members.  Daddy is the champion smile-creator, but Luke and Emma are not far behind.  She rewards us all with big grins on a regular basis, and cackles and laughs on special occasions.

 

She often makes me think of a little frog.  She has such a nice round belly, and when I pick her up from a nap, her legs hang down with knees pointing outwards and she begins kicking right away.  When she sits on my lap, her little knees go up under her dress and only her little feet, side by side in front of her diapered bottom, stick out from underneath the edge of her hem.  When I hold her on my hip, she kicks and kicks, bouncing herself up and down!

 

Right now she is sleeping.  There is just something so delicious about a sleeping baby!  We have been using a co-sleeper with Ruth, which is a little bassinet that attaches to the side of our bed.  One side of the bassinet (the one next to our bed) is lower than all the others, so it’s like having a little side-car for an extra passenger.  She can sleep right next to us, within arms reach, without being in the bed.  This has been such a treat for me, and has, I think, helped me to feel well-rested much earlier.

 

I give thanks to the Lord every day for each of my dear little blessings, but on this day, my heart is especially full of delight in thinking of the four months we have enjoyed with dear little Foof.  May he grant us many, many more!

Sibling Love

I wish you could have been in my backyard today.  The children have a new (actually 17-year-old hand-me-down) kitchen set that we have put in the back yard.  They are absolutely thrilled with it!  Today, Luke filled up a cup with (imaginary) water and gave it to Emma.  She drank it all down and said, “More, Yukey!”  He refilled it for her several times.  He made (imaginary) oatmeal on the stove and fed it to her with a giant play spoon … and she fully cooperated, standing still and waiting, opening her mouth for each bite.  Later, when Nannie came down to check out the action, Luke brought her a cup of “powdered water.”  Meanwhile, Foof and I hung out on a blanket in the shade of a tree.  Does life get any better than this?

More Luke-isms

There’s nothing funnier than a two year old.  OK, well, maybe a potty-training two-year old.  But I’m taking a break from potty training humor for this post.

 

• We have two plastic straws with spiral sections in them and both are light green in color.  Luke stuck one in each ear and said, “I’m kinda like Sha-weck [Shrek]”.
• The green kind of pudding is called “Mustachio”
• When Luke grows up, he wants to have two babies: a boy named “Bones” and a girl named “Dones.”
• Upon noticing that Ruth can now reach up and grab the toys hanging on the sides of her baby swing, “Daddy, Ruth is big to touch her toys!  It is so nice when children learn new things!”
• In Luke’s mind there are a few important milestones in life.  As he put it, “I am big to go potty, but not big to do [lead] family worship or smoke cigars.”
• Luke said that he thought he could take care of Emma and Ruth for a day and change their diapers.  When asked what he would do when Ruth was crying to be fed, he said, “I would say, ‘I’m sorry, Ruth, my nipples are too small.’”
• Luke was fascinated by the story of Dorcas who died and was made alive again.  He asked if she “put her body back on” when she came back to life.

 

I’m sure there are more that I have already forgotten, but that will do for this installment.  I’ll just have to add another post later!