Elizabeth Tries to Walk - 11 Months Old

Lizzy stands up all the time now, and she has even taken a few steps. She certainly doesn't know how to walk yet, but she's trying to figure it all out. She can get to standing from crawling, and then she usually stands there for awhile and then takes one step and falls down. Then she starts all over and tries again. She is very persistent. Today she got 3 steps in before falling, so that was progress, at least.

Tristan's Drawing

Yesterday while we were at church Tristan drew a picture of Jesus that I thought was really cute. We were sitting out in the foyer and he was looking at a picture of Christ that was hanging up, so he used that to look at while he drew it. The painting only showed the head and shoulders, so Tristan just made up the rest of the body.

I thought he did a good job.

Accidents Happen

Rachel has started saying something funny. She comes to me a lot with little confessions about things that happened, but before she tells me, she says, "Is 'accidentally' the one that means I don't have to go in a time out?" After I say yes, she'll say, "Well, I accidentally did . . .."

Two Troublemakers

Rachel and Lizzy cooking up some trouble in the kitchen

Rachel the Batgirl

Happy Mother's Day!

Pet Turtle for a Day

This morning while I was walking Tristan to school, we saw this little turtle crossing the road near our house. On the way back home I saw it again, and I did a brave thing and picked it up and put it in the bottom of Lizzy's stroller so I could take it home and show the other kids.

Oliver and Rachel were very excited to see it and wanted to keep it for awhile, so we put it out in the backyard. I knew it would try to escape under the fence, so I put an upside down laundry basket over it so it would stay with us until Tristan and Daniel got home.

We gave it a bowl of water and a little dish with carrots and grapes, which I hope it enjoyed.

When Tristan got home from school he was thrilled to see that I had captured the turtle. He and Ollie took turns holding it, and then Rachel managed to get her finger bitten (she pet the turtle on the mouth because Tristan told her not to). After that we put the turtle back in its cage.

When Daniel got home from work he came out to the backyard and admired our catch, and then we all said goodbye and set it free. It stayed in the backyard for awhile until it found an escape hole under the fence. The kids were a little bit sad when it left - I think they were hoping it would really like us and stay and be our pet. Oh, well.

Yogurt Raisins

This morning at snack time I gave Rachel some raisins and a little bowl of yogurt. She looked at her plate and then looked at me and said, "Mommy, let's pretend you're going away. Then, while you're away for a little bit, I'll put my raisins in my yogurt and you can't say no because we're pretending you're going away."

I thought it was funny that she felt like she needed to come up with a little plan like that.

I surprised her by telling her that I actually didn't mind if she dipped her raisins in her yogurt.

Dealing with a Two-Year Old

Today I was trying to clean Oliver off at the sink after lunch and he kept pulling away from me, so I told him that when he pulled his arms it made it hard for me to clean him.

For some reason Rachel decided she needed to contribute and she corrected me, saying, "No, Mom, you should say, 'It's too hard for me because you're escaping away.' That's what you're supposed to say."

I don't know why she thought that would be so much better.


Yesterday I let Ollie and Rachel drink their banana milk with a straw, which was an exciting thing for them. Rachel kept taking her straw out and playing with it, though, so I warned her that if she took it out again, I would take away her straw. She answered, "Well, there's a big problem. I don't care if you take it away. That's what the problem is for you - I don't even want a straw. So that's the problem. If you take it away, I'll still be happy."

Well, she did take her straw out again, and I did take it away from her, and she acted very cheerful about the whole thing. She was probably faking it.

I just thought it was funny that she kept saying what a "big problem" she was going to cause for me, like "aha, Mom, do you see how your discipline system is totally failing here?"

Is she going to get it all out of her system now, or should I be extremely nervous for her teenage years?

I'm NOT mad at you

Yesterday while we were eating lunch, Rachel held up her hand and pointed it at me in a "I'm about to explain something to you" kind of manner, and then went on to say, "Mom, I'm NOT mad at you, but just so you know, you're not really in charge of me. But I'm NOT mad at you. I just wanted to tell you that I'm the one in charge of what I do. But I'm NOT mad at you, okay?

She really wanted to make it very clear to me that she wasn't mad at me. I have already had to clear up this issue of her thinking she's in charge of herself in the past, but yesterday, all she needed was a look from me, and then she added, "I was just saying that, but REALLY you ARE in charge of me."

Glad she got that straight.