Happenings

Wow, it's been a while.  It's been somewhat of a busy week, but not terribly so.  There are plenty of things to write about and share, I just find myself tired this week and lacking the creative energy for blogging.

For the sake of keeping up, however, I'll throw a few pictures (and the stories that go with them) your way.

Picture number one...

Quite suddenly, L has taken a huge interest in drawing.  She never would spend much time on it before, but in the past few weeks her long and concentrated drawing sessions rival her older sister's.  Lately she'll approach me with a completed masterpiece and say, "Hang this on the wall, please." (It's as if our bare walls are starting to get under her skin the same way they're getting under mine just a bit.)  She has the most fabulous title for each drawing.  The one pictured above, at L's instructions, is hanging in C's room (if you can't read the title, it is "A firefighter fireman scene, with stockings inside.")  In the kitchen is "A Tiger Below Stream" and in the living room we're proudly displaying "A Circus with Pink Ambulance Trucks."  Don't ask me where she gets the ideas for these pictures, and these wild titles, because I just couldn't tell you.

Picture number two...  

Perhaps this is where all my creative energy is going.  Pictured above is one of the small projects I've been able to accomplish now that I have more free time, thanks to our new dishwasher.  The surface of our arts & crafts table in the kitchen is now cleared, and the shelves below are re-organized.  I don't know how long it will stay that way, especially with the prolific drawing production mentioned above, but for now it looks great.  Other things I've been working on with my free time: cleaning the froggy aquarium, re-organizing our linen closet, sorting outgrown clothes, making more homemade cereal.  You know, those things that you just don't get to sometimes.  I've been trying to "get to" them this week.

Picture number three...

As a result of cleaning off the desk above, I unearthed C's year-in-photos garland from her first birthday party.  I didn't have the heart to throw away the photos, so I took a tip from L and hung them on C's bedroom wall.  Not exactly professionally framed or aesthetically perfect, but since C loves looking at photos of people and pointing out those she recognizes, it has been a big hit with her.  She points and babbles while I change her diaper, and when I hear her waking up in the morning, she'll be saying "Mama", "Dada", "Bahpa", "Baby" or "Picture" (which comes out as a whispered "pk-shhh").  I can tell before I even enter the room that she's standing in her crib pointing at everybody on her wall, and that just makes me happy.  One of the photos fell off the wall today and she said, "UH-ohhhh..."  That was the first time I'd heard that word from her!

Picture number four...

The story behind this picture:  N was playing with one of L's necklaces early the other morning.  L very politely warned her not to stretch the elastic too far, because she knew it would break.  N didn't listen, and what do you know?  The necklace broke.  I was pretty hard on N about it, and I gave her a bowl so she could retrieve the fallen beads.  As N was picking them up, L came over with a handful of kids scissors she was playing with and said, "I'll help you."  N sorrowfully said, "I'm really sorry I broke your necklace, L."  L replied, "It's okay.  The Wiggles are here" (she gestured to her scissors) "and they say it's all gonna be okay."  (I noticed at that point that she had chosen a pair of scissors with red, purple, yellow, and blue handles-- the color of The Wiggles' shirts.)

L saw how upset N was and didn't give a second thought to her necklace... she just wanted to cheer up her sister.  She did so by pretending her scissors were members of N's favorite band.

I've been meaning to write a whole post about what a kind and loyal little heart L is developing.  I hope I can share more of these moments, because they are precious to see.