What Parker did in preschool today.

Seriously.

No sweet tooth for Eli.

Whenever one of the kids does something that I don't particularly like or acts in a certain way, I like to blame Amy. And of course, when they do something good or cute or positive, I like to take credit...nurture over nature and all that.

But, Elizabeth's lack of interest in sweets is truly troubling. Both Amy and I like our sweets. Chocolate in particular, but I'll eat any kind of candy from starbursts to abba zabas (sp) Amy has a more refined pallete, but has been known, and reminded of often, to partake in gummy bears from time to time.

Elizabeth won't even eat a cookie. She has even said, "I don't like cookies." Who the hell doesn't like cookies?? She takes one tiny bite of a piece of chocolate and gives it to her brother or sister, who will happily always take it. Cupcake? No thanks. Pudding? Nah. She picks pineapple and oranges over cake and ice cream. Excuse me?!!?

I should be thankful that one child escaped the sweet tooth, but the whole thing is very upsetting and would, had she not so many of the Long/Martin qualities, make me wonder what was going on in that lab three years ago.

Fudgsicles

I took Parker grocery shopping today, and I let him pick deserts, and he picked Fudgsicles, which he hadn't had in a long time. I also got some Popsicles, since I was pretty sure that Elizabeth wouldn't like the Fudgsicles.

After dinner, as he was enjoying his Fudgsicle he remarked, "A Fudgsicle is a chocolate Popsicle." I thought this was a pretty astute observation.

Sure enough, Elizabeth didn't care for the Fudgsicle, and opted for strawberries instead, after I took her fudgsicle off her hands. Parker and Miranda sure liked their Fudgsicles, however.

More Math*

I took Parker to the farmers market yesterday and let him go in the bouncy house. Actually, I let him go in three times. After the last time, I said, "You went in to the bouncy house three times for 5 minutes each time." Parker said, "For 15 minutes total!"

I said yup and then seeing if this was a memorized answer followed up with "It took 3 tickets each time..." And his immediate response..."For 9 tickets total!



* I realize these stories about Parker's math can appear to be bragging (except to those who last name is Martin or Marcus) or can actually be boring ("yeah, yeah, we know about his math skills"), but I feel compelled to document it so he can read about it later. And, honestly, it still surprises me each time.

Diaper tales

Miranda looked like she needed to poop this morning, so I took her into the bathroom. She tried, but nothing came out. So I figured it would come soon and I let her go without diapers. About 5 minutes later, after I had already gotten distracted with something else, sure enough, she pooped. It was the grossest thing I have had to clean up since becoming a mom. Anyway...after cleaning her up (which required a quick bath), I put a diaper on her and she and Eli put on leotards and started playing in their room. They played for a good long time, pretending to be at gymnastics class, doing ring around the rosie and generally being cute. I came back in at some point to get them dressed (or at least to give Eli some clothes) and I noticed Miranda was not wearing a diaper anymore, but was still wearing a leotard. Since I was 100% confident I had put one on her, I said, "Miranda what happened to your diaper?" She said, "Elizabeth took it off."

Oh great. Elizabeth is now getting Miranda undressed. Good times.

Elizabeth Reads Julius' Candy Corns

If you listen really carefully, you can actually figure out the plot of the story.

Random Happenings

Crash!

The girls were playing very well this morning. Talking to each other, helping each other, hanging out together. I was in the other room and then I heard a big crash, some toys falling, and then some screams for help. I thought the play kitchen had fallen over, but nope. Both girls were lying on the ground with the small coffee table on top of them. Elizabeth was holding it up so it wasn't touching thm, but all the toys (abacus, wedgets, blocks) were all over their faces and floor. I would have gotten my camera had they not been in such distress. As I was cleaning up, I tried to think how this could have happended with them so perfectly under the table yet with the table still off the ground in Eli's hands. Then, as soon as I got it all back into place, Eli showed me how. She tried to hang off it like it was a monkey bar. Now sure, one of them wasn't heavy enough to take it down, but both of them most have been hanging and down it went.

Remember?

The kids all like to talk about things that happened yesterday or last week or some point in the past. Elizabeth does it the most, but Parker and Miranda get in on the action a lot too. It goes like this:

Parker: Remember when I fell off the ladder swing and got three staples in my head?

Elizabeth: Remember when I sleep in the back house with Mommy?

Miranda: Remember when I went Wahoo on the bus?

It kinda reminds of the Chris Farley skit on SNL when he interviews people like Robert DeNiro and says, "Remember when you said, "Are you looking at me?" That was cool."

Hello.

Michael and I don't talk much on the phone during the day. On occasion, he'll call me to see if I need him to pick anything up or I'll call him to see if he can get something or come home early. Generally, if we have to communicate, we email or wait until he is at home. But, on the rare times when he does call, the kids all want to talk to him. They are always funny conversations from this side and probably boring from Michael's side. Miranda doesn't really say anything. Parker sort of stares at the phone answering some of the questions without much detail and Elizabeth, of course, tells Daddy all the events of the day, while pointing and holding up things. She can actually have a real conversation with him and offers things not asked by him. Whenever I'm on the phone, they ask to talk to Daddy because well, I'm just not on the phone that much and Daddy is usually the one I am talking with. But when I am talking to the washer repair guy and Elizabeth keeps asking me to talk to him, it's a bit confusing to her and me.

Miranda's strange desires.

Miranda likes to have things tied to her body. She's especially fond of making a kitty backpack, but is equally thrilled having a baby attached to her belly.

Amazing roll over video

As you may recall, the video of Elizabeth rolling over at 8 weeks was something of a hit on YouTube, for reasons that still escape me. After a couple of years, it has gotten just about 15,000 views.

And I have to agree with one commenter that, yes, she had a pretty big head.

Poor Elizabeth

She has been just miserable since yesterday morning and acting so strangely that I took her to the doctor today and sure enough, pneumonia. According to Kaiser, Pneumonia is a serious lung infection usually caused by viruses or bacteria. Hopefully Elizabeth has the bacteria kind and the antibiotics work quickly. I always had the sense pneumonia was like scarlet fever and you had to be locked away until you had mended. But, in fact, it's not really like that at all. And in fact, neither is scarlet fever (which I had when I was 13*). All Elizabeth wants to do is sit on my lap and wimper. She must feel like total crap.


*I got scarlet fever at the exact same time I got my first period. At first, I thought the two were somehow related...that all kids with scarlet fever start bleeding. I don't remember much else about that illnesses except I didn't have to burn any of my stuffed animals. Not that I had any stuffed animals.

What's that?

The girls are going through a phase that I don't believe (although my memory sucks these days), that Parker never did. They are asking what everything is even if they know what it is. Pointing to my shirt, What's that? Pointing to the floor, What's that. It goes on and on all day long.

I hope it is a short phase.

Life According to Parker

Traffic is when cars drive slow.
Baffic is when cars drive fast.

He likes Baffic better than traffic, but who doesn't really?

Permission

Parker asked for permission for the strangest things.

For example, after he goes poop and after he wipes and then I wipe him, he sits on the toilet until I tell him to get off. I've never told him to do that. In fact, I've told him the opposite which is to get off and flush, but sometimes I find him sitting there 10 minutes later waiting for his Ok to get off.

He also asks if he can throw away the tissue after he blows his nose. I've never told him not too and again, in fact, I've ask him to throw it away each time.

Today he asked if he could sit on the purple chair as if at some point I've told him not to sit there.

When we get to preschool when he sees all the kids going in and his teacher standing at the door welcoming everyone, he looks at me and silently asks "Can I go in yet?" I silently nod back to him, "Yes, go in."

And what makes it all very strange is that he doesn't ask for permission for doing things he knows he should not do, like hit his sisters, jump on his bed, stand on books, or throwing things across the room.

Go to sleep.

I just left the girls for bedtime and Miranda is trying to engage Elizabeth in a conversation, but Eli is not having it. She keeps saying, "It's not talking time! It's sleeping time. Go to sleep!"

Three Bees and A Tree

Took the kids to the Bay Area Discovery Museum this morning. It was a gorgeous day and the kids were fairly well behaved. Parker is getting into a stage where he thinks all toys are his and he doesn't want anyone to touch them either when he is playing with them or when he has moved on to something else. I don't like this phase, but I suppose I should be happy it has only appeared now.

We first played inside in the toddler area. Parker is now 41 3/4 inches tall and the limit is 42 inches, so I'm guessing this will be the last time in there for him. The kids ran around like Bees for a bit while I chatted with a mom of 2 who wanted a third and asked me how it was. I'm sure you all know what I told her.









Then we went outside where everyone tried to climb trees. Miranda is actually the best tree climber and then Elizabeth and the Parker. I think Miranda's slowness, problem in most areas of life, works to her advantage with this activity. Elizabeth is agile enough to do it, but gets too frustrated too quickly and Parker just thinks he can't do it and doesn't try.

Doubles

Parker has been doing doubles this evening. As in "Double five is ten. Double ten is twenty, etc."

He just ran in to inform me, "Hey, double two and double four is double six."

Like Mother Like Daughter

For the last few days, I've had Parker nap upstairs because he was coughing and I was pretty sure he would keep up or wake up one of the girls with the coughs.

Today, Elizabeth asked to sleep upstairs. Since we are still working on Miranda not waking up screaming after 40 minutes of napping, I thought this was great. Since Parker and I had already negotiated an earlier bedtime in exchange for not napping, I could do some crying it out with Miranda in the room alone. I wasn't sure how either of the girls were going to like sleeping apart (since they have never done it) for naps, but it worked out fine.

After books, I took Eli upstairs and tucked her in. I told her I would be back to sing songs. Then I went downstairs and sang songs to Miranda. 10 minutes later, after looking at some of Parker's drawings* I went back upstairs ready to do the same with Eli, but she was already fast asleep, bless her little heart. Reminded me of a story my mom has told me about her putting the three of us to bed way back when. I was Eli in he version and I fell asleep waiting for her to come back to read to me. I still had the book in my arms when she got there.

*Parker's drawings: In the last day or two, Parker has figured out how to draw pictures. Not pictures of numbers, or marble games or letters, but honest to god, pictures. He is doing them on his "wipe it clean" (magnetic type writing pad that can be erased over and over). The pictures are quite good. Sure, they are stick men and women, but they are doing all sorts of crazy things like eating cereal, going up stairs, taking a nap, drawing, and hanging out with Ted and Lion. It's really nice to see this change and I look forward to seeing more of his work.

Cal Academy

I took the kids to the California Academy in SF on Sunday while Daddy was running 15 miles (!). I got there early for members only hours, but you'd never know that was the case as it was packed. We had to stand in a long line and then navigate through big crowds. The penguins were a big hit again as was the aquarium, but we had the best and most relaxing time in the kiddie area. I think I'll only go back with another adult.

That's some track!

Parker's tracks have continued to improve and get complex. This one uses the garage, blocks, tracks and ottoman. Impressive!

Ted, Lion, Bob, Fred, and Ed

Parker is back to sleeping with all five. And he asked if this picture could be taken.