So...hi blog....it's been a while.....
This is what happens, when Hannah gives
up the internet. I told myself I was going to wake up at 6am before
Josh leaves for work, and get some free wifi and a mcmuffin at
McDonalds once a week to post, but it didn't happen. Mostly because I
preferred clutching my pillow until the kids come and lovingly climb
all over me requesting breakfast. (This is going to change. Basically
every “Five Steps to Organizing Your Life and Conquering the World”
advice on the internet says I should wake up before the kids. So, it
must be true. I'm going to do this and conquer the world...Also,
because I've missed writing up the cute things the kids did here.)
We went on a camping trip to the
Rockies.
Many adventures happened, one of which I learned is that it
is not a good idea to forget your mechanic told you to change the ATF
fluid 10 months ago, and drive it up mountains, to then discover that
the transmission fluid is black as mascara.....
But, other than that, it was a good
vacation. Lots of rocks, trees, stars, campfires, and loving
grandparents, aunts, and uncles.
Also there was dirt. Lots and lots of
dirt. Gloriously amazing dirt, that could be stretched out and
wallowed in.
(Isaiah found this irresistible. As soon as my back was
turned, he was rubbing it into his face) And no running water (as in,
we had to drive 5 miles down the mountain and fill up 5 gal
containers). There was a mountain river, roaring with record
snowmelt. I just couldn't stick the kids in that, so the result
was.....in Josh's words, (borrowed from Trumpkin the dwarf)
“Uncommonly Grubby Mancubs.”
But they were happy grubby little
mancubs. Really happy.
Jenny has been experimenting with the
power of words. She had knocked over the kitchen trashcan, and came
to tell me about it.
“Mom, there was a twashcan accident.
The twashcan accident happened to Jenny.”
Later, I found Isaiah holding his
juicebottle and crying.
“What happened?” I asked.
Isaiah just wept fresh tears, overcome
with the tragedy. Jenny helpfully explained “There was an accident”
“What happened?” I asked
“The accident was, I took a sip”
She has also had a very strong interest
in theology, asking me about God's love, the nature of the Trinity,
the structure of the universe, and other such things that have me
scrambling to explain. The other day, she asked to have some tea. As
I checked the cabinet, I saw we were out of herbal tea, and explained
we didn't have any. She pointed out the teabox. I tried to explain it
wasn't her special (non-caffeinated) tea.
“No Jenny, thats regular old black
tea for mommy. I need to get you the special tea”
With deep emotion in her voice, she
explained to me, “Mommy, you are speciawl. Because Jesus makes you
speciawl. Because He woves you”
Later, she observed, “Mariam
Hope....that is her name from God. Hope is from God. That is where
Hope comes from”
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| Jenny keeping a grip on Hope |
Aunt Cathy has been teaching the kids
on Fridays, and it's obviously sinking in, as Isaiah observed, right
after we turned out the lights for bed, “But I need to be
nocturnal!!”
He is learning a lot, as we watched him
count on his own, up to fourteen, “eleven, twelve, thirteen,
fourteen....TWEVEN!!!” His favorite number is still Tweven, which
stubbornly exists despite grownups' explanations to the contrary, and
which evidently can make its joyous entry into multiple places in the
numberline.
But overall, Isaiah also has a firm
idea of order, and how the world ought to be, which can result in
much weeping when someone else messes with it. Jenny had jammed a
doll dress onto a toy dragon.
Isaiah was distraught. He tried to pry
it off, but as Jenny was playing with it first, I intervened, and
said Jenny could do it. Still agitated, he blurted out “Becuz the
dragon doesn't wear a dress!! He's a man!”
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| Isaiah fixed everyone "icecream cones" |
The kids have been playing together
more lately. They swing at eachother with their toy swords, with
surprisingly little casualties. Even 10 month old Mariam picks up her
little Anduril ruler, and bats at the big kids' swords with it.
I watched Keziah go up to the toybox,
and then toddle back, wearing a helmet, wielding a sword, and holding
out a sword to offer to Daddy. Josh took it, and they began to spar.
Isaiah got excited, and started looking
for another helmet, but was having trouble locating one. Kuzzles saw
he was having trouble, offered him her helmet, and continued to spar,
bareheaded.
When Puzzles is not throwing 6 tantrums
a day (Broken crackers, too hot eggs, too cold eggs, the world was
full of sorrow that day...) she is so sweet that my chest aches from
the cuteness.
At one point Isaiah was assigning roles
“Dese are duh good blue Israelites” he motioned to me and Mariam,
“And dese are duh bad red philistines!” he motioned to himself,
Jenny, and Keziah. Jenny who was sitting in a laundry basket full of
stuffed animals (as she is wont to do) declared with conviction “DESE
ARE NOT PHIWISTINES. DESE ARE MY FWENDS”
We had fun making cookies together. I
let them all help (before I put in the eggs)
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| Here are the industrious children. |
Later, as I and the three older kids
were shaping them, we heard a thump from the kitchen. I was
distracted, and didn't think much of it, until I returned into the
kitchen and found this.
She had evidently managed to use the
broom handle to knock the sugar tub down, and had been quietly
enjoying the fruit of her labor for the last 5 minutes.
Mariam continues to be the most joyful
little person I have ever met. If things are slow, she starts to
laugh to liven things up a bit.
Once, all of the others were in active
melt-down, sobbing over broken graham crackers, lukewarm snacks,
seconds on juice, and other such tragedies. Mariam alone, among the
wails, looked me in the eyes, and grinned. I can almost hear her
little cheerful voice in my head, saying “Turn that frown, upside
down!”
I have been trying to get the kids to
help put away toys. So far, I haven't had much luck, despite the
promises of great glory that are sticker charts and MacDonald's ice
cream cones.
The other day, I had sat down on the
couch to nurse the baby, and Jenny picked up 2 stuffed animals, and
put them in the toybox. She then came up to me and said with genuine
and complete moral indignation “Mommy, you need to cwean up! I
cannot do aww duh work myself!”
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