The race to bedtime

As we get ready to head back to school after a wonderful break filled with many mornings sleeping in, the threat of no bedtime stories was made to help ensure that bedtime deadlines were met.  With two showers in our house, both kids are able to shower simultaneously.  This night, a race was declared.  At record pace, Cortlan emerged from the bathroom first, to the dismayed cries of Everly, who shouted, "It doesn't count!!  You had two-in-one [shampoo]!!"

Sometimes Plan B is Awesome

With plans to run with my running buddy suddenly derailed on Thursday, I was left with a few options:  1.  Run by myself at 8pm in the dark, 2.  Skip the run, or 3.  Figure out somehow to run that somehow incorporated the kids while John was at taekwondo.  I opted for #3.  It turned out to be one of the best decisions of my week.

The neighborhood across from ours is essentially a mile loop with cul de sacs that add another mile or so.  Though my original plan for the evening was to run about 5-6 miles, I knew that I had to adjust that goal if my kids were involved.  I decided that 3 miles would suffice.  The kids got their helmets and bikes and I laced up.

Initially, I thought my kids would be outpacing me by a bit.  We had a plan for them to ride around the cul de sacs until I caught up and then we would head to the next one.  It turns out that I can run up hills faster than they can ride up hills.  There were enough hills that we more or less took the same amount of time to make it around.  In some cases, I had to stop for a bit to wait, but they gave it their best.

The hills turned out to be a highlight for me, as behind me I heard Everly, pushing up the hill, yell "Victory is mine!!"

I started down the hill before they made it to the top.  But I knew when they were right behind, as Everly yelled, "Comin' in hot!!"

As we continued, finally finding a flat stretch where we could keep pace with each other a bit better, Cortlan said to me, "Mommy, I love that you love to run."  That meant the world to me.

And it only got better.  We finished the run/ride with a couple more stops (and Cortlan asking, "Next time we stop, can I have a hug?"), and made it safely home.  As I was tucking the kids in for bed, Cortlan tells me, "That was a happy moment in my life."

I completely agree.

Vow(el)s

As I was reading a beautiful book called Blueberry Girl tonight to my kids, Cortlan asked, "Did you have to read a poem like this and hope it came true?"

"What?" I asked, confused as to what he was talking about.

"I mean for your wedding.  Did you read a poem like this for your wedding?"

"Oh, no.  But Daddy and I did read our vows," I responded.

Then, Everly piped in, as serious as ever. "What were they?  A, E, I, O, U?"

Still making me chuckle...

Yesterday, Cortlan, Everly, Elly and I took a walk to a nearby neighborhood where one of Cortlan's friends live.  We dropped him off for a play date and Everly, Elly, and I headed back home.  When we got home, we couldn't immediately find John.  He wasn't in the house or the garage, yet his car was in the driveway.  Looking out the window, we couldn't see him, either.  Everly's response?

"Maybe he got MAN-napped!!"

(Turns out, he was cleaning the grill.)

Love Muffin

I saw this in Everly's journal yesterday at her school and I laughed and laughed.  "I love my daddy.  Mommy calls him Love Muffin."  There is a story here, and that I call him "Love Muffin" isn't quite true.

In our new car, my phone can connect via Bluetooth and I am able to call people using voice prompts.  We know a lot of people named John, so any time that I call my husband, I had to go through several prompts to get to his number.  Initially, I thought, "I need to put his last name into my phone so I can get to his name on the first try."  But, while Everly was in the car, I said, "I need to put Daddy's name in as something other than John."  Then, to be funny, I said, "How about 'Love Muffin'?"  I had never, ever called him that, but she thought it was hysterical.  Frankly, I did, too.  So, as soon as I got to a red light on that very ride to school, I changed his name in my phone to "Love Muffin".  Then, I called him.

Call Love Muffin, I prompted.

The phone replied in an electronic woman's voice:  Calling Love Muffin.

We laughed and laughed.

John answered, "Hello?"

Everly said over the speaker phone, "Hi LOVE MUFFIN!!  Hahahahahahaha!!!!"

And so the journal entry, which I am sure her teachers enjoyed.  (I had to fill them in on the back story.)

My poet (?)

Cortlan has really been coming into his own this year at school and I have been impressed with all he has learned this year.  But, the same is true for Everly.

We get daily reports e-mailed to us about Everly's day, and this was part of yesterday's:

I have to admit, I was a little impressed by the poem she wrote:

Take Your Child to Work Day

I was hesitant about having both of my kids at work with my husband and I today, but we did bring them.  Since we work in a high school, there are plenty of learning opportunities and since my husband has a little more flexibility than I do with his schedule, he was able to take them to observe some pretty cool things - during period 4, they went to a foods class and made energy bites.  Later, they got to throw pots in a pottery class.  They got to "help" some teenagers dissect a frog.  I am sure they will have some great stories to tell their teachers on their return to their own schools tomorrow.

They started off their day with me, though, and they sat through a double period physics class.  We were learning about sound and I showed some cool demos and video clips, the students (and my kids) did an activity with tuning forks, and we talked about a lot of neat things that I thought they could catch onto since it was an intro lesson on the topic.  At lunch I asked Everly (who is now 5) if she learned anything in my class. Her response? "I learned that you are smarter than I thought!" 

I am not quite sure how to take that, but I think I will go with taking it as a compliment.

What's making me laugh...

What's making me laugh these days?  Well, for one, Everly's reenactment of the combination of the these two commercials:

 And

Almost every Wednesday, at some point, she asks "What day is it?"  in her best camel voice.  She then follows it up with "Mike, Mike, Mike, what day is it?"  And if you don't answer, she will answer for you:  "Hump day!"  And if you do answer, she will follow it up with a "Woo Wooooo!" and "No cell phones!" for good measure.

How can you not laugh?  (I will try to get a video of it...so funny.)

Everly's reaction

And what was Everly's reaction to Cortlan's surgery?  Well, she was very happy to spend some time at Grandma and Poppy's house on Tuesday.  She tells me that she rode on the swings, that she and Poppy put a bunch of stuff on Cadi (my parent's dog), and that Poppy held her by her feet so that she could reach stuff from behind the couch.  I will have to confirm, but I feel as though this is probably pretty accurate.

She also told my parents that she would do Cortlan a huge favor by eating a Popsicle with him because it is way more fun if you don't have to do it by yourself.  So kind that she is willing to make such a sacrifice for her brother.

When I picked her up from school yesterday, she hadn't seen him since early morning the day before.  She said she missed him.  She also said, "I can't wait to see Cortlan!  Does he look the same?"

A little more Everly...

When she is not making me scream, Everly is quite the character.  Honestly, I could probably write post after post about how she has made me laugh recently.  Her favorite joke these days?

Everly What does a sheep have for lunch?
Me I don't know.  What?
Everly A baaaaa-loney sandwich!

I think a lot of the humor is in her delivery.  Maybe I will video tape this one and include it sometime.

She also has some prop humor going for her.  Like, on Saturday, when she came out of the house wearing this:

Or on Tuesday, when she decided to wear a mustache to school:

Yes, she did.  She walked right into school with that thing on her face.

My hope is that she uses her powers for good...and keeps us laughing.

Happy Birthday, Everly

On March 13, 2009, I sat in disbelief, looking at my newborn, wondering how the previous four days had passed in such a blur.  I have a four-day-old baby.  And a two-year-old.

Now, I sit here on March 13, 2013 and wonder, first, how the previous four days have passed in such a blur that I haven't had even ten minutes to sit and write Everly's birthday post.  And second, how the past four years have passed so quickly.  I have a four-year-old.  And a six-year-old.

There is nothing quite the milestones of children to bring you face to face with the reality of passing time.  I am not sure that I am ever going to get used to that.  As trite as it is to say, they grow so quickly.

In my twenties, time seemed to not matter so much for some reason.  The days bled into each other, and so did the months.  Years came and went without much fanfare.  I attended weddings, including my own, saw my friends buy houses, and then us, too.  Life was beginning and it was all ahead of us.  But days were days and months were months and years were years.

Time just seems so different now.  Days can bring tons of new words, new stories.  Or the ability to fix her own hair.  Or the desire to shower herself.  Days can mean more independence, crossing the street by herself, or buckling herself in the car.  Days can bring saying that a once beloved shirt is now "too sparkly."

Weeks bring the ability to do a flip on the bar at gymnastics.  Desire for a new haircut.  Wanting to read me a book.  Weeks can bring an attitude change about school.  New friends.  New interests.

And years.  Years bring me a four-year-old that loves to sing, that loves to draw, and learn, and write, and play with her baby dolls.  A four-year-old that still has just as much attitude as she did when she was months old.  One that still wants new shoes at every turn.  Years have brought me a strong-willed, intelligent little girl full of promise and a desire to please.  (Right, Mommy?)  A girl that strives for independence...until she wants help.  Years have brought me a four-year-old that loves to laugh and to make us laugh, too.  Years have brought me many good night hugs and kisses and "Mommy, will you sleep on me?"'s and "What do you want to dream about?"'s.

It is hard to imagine what the years ahead will bring me.  It is hard to imagine that someday I will have a teenage girl.  And then a girl in her twenties, maybe getting married.  Maybe buying a house.  Maybe having children of her own.

I think I am going to focus on the days.  The days are sweet.

Happy birthday, my baby girl.  Happy birthday, Everly.

A message from Cortlan, made with zero assistance presented to Everly when she woke on Saturday.  "Dear Everly, From Cortlan.  I love you Everly.  Happy Birthday."

Mr. Yucky

Every day for the past week, she asked me if they came. She is persistent. She has a good memory. And she doesn't let things go easily. Yesterday, when I went to the mailbox, she said, "Mommy, make sure you let me know if the Mr. Yucky stickers came, ok?!" Even I was excited (relieved?) when I saw the self-addressed envelope had returned to us, full of "Mr. Yucky" stickers.

This all began a couple of weeks ago, when Everly learned about safety at school; part of the lesson concerned safety at home and in dealing with household chemicals. Clearly, the discussion involved Mr. Yuck stickers, as Everly was suddenly determined that we needed to have some, and she clearly conveyed that on the way home from school. I told her that I would look into it, and I came to find that you can send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to an address at Penn State and they would send some to you for free. For days, Everly asked if I had done so. And then, for days after I did, she asked if the stickers had come yet. I explained to her the process of how the mail works and the likelihood that it would be a while before we got them. That gave me a day or two reprieve.

When she saw they came, she was thrilled. She no sooner got her coat off before she was at work.

We are all feeling much safer now.

An interview with Everly, age almost-four

What is your favorite color? 
I have a lot.  Um.  Purple...pink....blue...red...gold...uhhhhhhhh....golden.  That's all!

What is your favorite thing to do after school? 
Umm. Play baby dolls!  That's not really my favorite.  Well, it is my favorite.

Is it your favorite or not? 
It is, well, not, kind of. 

What do you mean?
Like, it is some and it is not some.

Ok.  Do you have another favorite thing to do do after school?
Play games.

Whats your favorite thing to do AT school? 
Paint.

Anything else?
No.  Just paint.  Oh! Glue!

You like to glue?
Mmm hmm.

Excuse me mommy.  I love you. 

I love you too.
Am I being good? 

Yep.

What is something that you like to do outside?
Chalk.

What is your favorite season?  Wait.  Do you know what a season is?
Yeah. 

What are the seasons? 
Spring, summer, fall, winter. 

Ok, which one is your favorite? 
Ummmm.  Winter. 

Really? 
Yeah! 

Why? 
Because I like snow.

What is your favorite food? 
Um, chicken nuggets. 

Do we have those often? 
No.  That is my favorite restaurant food. 

Ok.  What is your favorite food at home? 
Pasta! 

With sauce? 
With meatballs.  Mmmm.

Yum!  What is your favorite snack? 
Crackers and cheese.

Where do you usually have that? 
At my school.  Well, we had it a long long time ago but now we have vegetables and fruits.  We have to get healthy.

I like the idea of getting healthy!  What is your favorite fruit or vegetable? 
Apples!  Peaches and cucumbers! 

Nice.  Ok.  What is your favorite book?
Clifford the big Red Dog and his special birthday and his family.

What is your favorite TV show?  Olivia!! 

Is there anything that you want me to write down that you want people to know about you? 
My name is Everly. 

Ok, what else about you? 
That I love cucumbers.  And I love my fish.

Yeah, Cort, were you?

As we were leaving the kids' school today, Cortlan says, "Well, I am surprised.  Miss Michelle said she was going to tell you about me being bad, but she didn't!" 

Who needs Miss Michelle to tell us, apparently. 

"I really wasn't bad though.  It wasn't me."

Of course it wasn't.

"I got yelled at, but it wasn't really me.  Miss Michelle said I was being bad, but I wasn't!"  Cortlan continued on, telling us about his friends who were misbehaving, and the part he played in the whole thing, as we got into the car.

Meanwhile, we tried to get the real story out of him, even if from between the lines.  "Miss Michelle said you were being bad?  Really?  Is that what she said or did she say you weren't being a good listener?  Or did she say that you were being a little too crazy?" I asked, trying to figure out exactly what "being bad" meant.

But it was Everly who really knew how to get to the bottom of it.

As we pulled out of the parking lot, deeply involved in this conversation, she bluntly and very seriously asked, "Were you just jacking around?"

Hard to recover from that one.

The Big Problem

Sleeping as soundly as any mom does, I was awakened last night by the pitter patter of little girl feet in the hallway.  I half-listened, half-expecting a yell of some sort for help, but heard only the sounds of Everly using the potty by herself and going back to her room.  For a moment, before I fell back asleep from the barely-awake state I was in, I thought about how far we've come over the last year; Last year at this time, Everly was still wearing Pull-Ups at night and (at best) would scream from her bed if she had to go potty in the middle of the night.

I fell back asleep.

But I was probably only asleep for a minute or so when I heard from beside my bed a soft little, "Mommy?"

Uh oh.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Mommy, I have a big poblem."

Here it was.  In my mind flashed images of pee on the floor of the bathroom, pee on the bed, and worse.  My previous thoughts of how far we had come, shattered.  But, she was being so calm...it was surreal.  I tried to stay calm myself.

"What is the big problem, Everly?"

"I can't find fuggy bea."

Relief flooded over me and, for once, I didn't mind getting up to help Everly find Snuggy Bear.  And in the morning, I was sure to compliment her on her technique.  A quiet voice with cute words is so much better to wake to than a wailing girl if I must be woken in the middle of the night. 

Maybe we really have come a long way.

Tomorrow again?

Sometimes it is hard to remember that Everly is three (or three and a half, I am sure she would correct me), as she always strives to live up to the example of her older brother in many ways.  She often tries out new words and, though she certainly acts in the way that only a three-year-old can at times, she generally does a pretty good job of outperforming her years.  She says things like, "But Albert already saw my brown boots!" as I try to reason with her about the choice of outfits for her friend's birthday party, that makes me think she is three going on nineteen. 

But she also says things that I find completely endearing and very much her age, like, "I did it all by my own!" when she is proud of what she has accomplished. 

When she is trying to figure out when something is going to happen, Everly and I will have a conversation that goes something like this:

"Is tomorrow Thanksgiving?"
"No, not yet."
"Tomorrow again?"
"Nope."
"Tomorrow again?"
"Nope."
"Tomorrow again?"
"No."
"Tomorrow again?"
"No."
"Tomorrow again?"
"Yes.  That is the day for Thanksgiving."
"YAY!!!"

And on Thanksgiving, she asked, "Is tomorrow Christmas?"  And I said, "No."  And she said, "Tomorrow again?"  And we were there a while.

But I loved it.

Take THAT...

We had a really nice day yesterday, with a trip to one of the city's museums in the afternoon.  Several venues in the city were free over the weekend as part of a large event.  We took the opportunity to visit one of the museums that is not part of our membership and spent about two hours touring the exhibits... just enough time to not lose interest or be too tired, but certainly not enough time to warrant a full admission.  Perfect.

We left the museum at closing, which was 5pm.  Thinking it would be quicker to grab a bite to eat out (a rare occasion) than to go home and cook, we checked our coupons and found a restaurant that we had never tried before.  We got to the restaurant only to find that it wasn't open on Sunday...unfamiliarity with the hours being a clear downfall of trying a new place.  We were hungry.  Unfortunately, at that point, the only thing close enough and quick enough was Dairy Queen as a plan B.  Certainly not the type of restaurant we had originally picked, but it would do...and it has been a while since we have had an ice cream treat.

On the way home, John and I struggled to have some sort of conversation in the front while the kids alternated between getting along and bickering in the back.  At one point, I heard Cortlan threaten Everly with, "Well then you aren't going to be allowed to come to my 'Life is Good Festival'!" which is a festival that actually exists and we heard about on the radio, but one about which Cortlan knows nothing.  Apparently, he liked the sound of it, so he has developed some make-believe festival by the same name.  And apparently, Everly did something to warrant being banned from said make-believe festival. 

The conversations continued, and I more-or-less tuned the kids out for a bit, letting them have their own discussions while John and I had ours.  It wasn't long, however, before I heard, "Daddy?"

It was Everly, and she sounded a bit peeved.

"Yes?"

"Would you like to stay home with Cortlan on my birthday?" she asked.

We were confused for a minute.  "Stay home with Cortlan on your birthday?" I repeated for clarification.

"Yes.  Because he isn't allowed to come."

Ahhhhhh.....Cort, I think she one-upped you on the "Life is Good Festival" banishment. 

And she even covered for your supervision.

Can this count as 4 posts?

A couple weeks later and here we are. This is what has been happening.

EVERLY:

• has started calling her brother "Cotlan" instead of "Totlan."
• wore jewelry to school three out of five days last week; one of those days, she got her necklace taken away because she wouldn't stop playing with it, even when her teacher asked her repeatedly not to. She's not allowed to wear that one to school anymore.
• changed her clothes three or four times this morning before leaving for school. Ultimately, she wanted to wear a sweater. As soon as we got to school, she took it off anyway.
• has been getting out of her bed regularly at night. I finally told her that I am going to start marking down how many times she gets out of bed, and there are going to be consequences if she gets too many marks. (I have yet to figure out how many is "too many.")  Last night, she didn't get out of bed until 11pm, when she woke to go potty. (She won't get a mark for that.)
• loves cutting and gluing, is very good at recognizing her letters and letter sounds, and is very motivated to learn.
• thinks that she can spell, because she keeps randomly spouting off letters and asking me what that spells. For example: "Mommy, what does 't-t-t-t-l-p-l-r-y' spell?." Usually, I sound out what she spells and then tell her it isn't a word. Once, though, she said, "Mommy, what does 'e-a-r-l-y' spell?" I had to give that one to her. Cortlan was amazed she could spell "early".
• doesn't care much about saving things. When she is done, it can be thrown away.
• started gymnastics and loves it. Though, she needed to be sure to have the ponytail holder that matched the leotard she wore.

CORTLAN:

• laughs and says "You kicked me?? No you didn't!" when his sister clearly means "tricked." He calls her on her mispronunciations all the time...maybe that is why she has started to say his name right.
• was on "yellow" three out of five days last week at school when we picked him up. This isn't as bad as red, but he should be on green. His teacher said, "He was being way too silly with his friends."
• has been doing a great job at getting himself dressed in the morning. For the most part.
• seems to be taking advantage of his color blindness (for John's benefit: his color vision deficiency). Several of the worksheets that he has had lately have required him to correctly identify colors. For example, he was to color all of the pictures that rhymed with "boat" blue and the ones that rhymed with "jar" red. Other worksheets had him using as many as eight or ten colors. I asked his teacher how he has been doing with those activities. She said that his friends help him tremendously, giving him all of the crayons, telling him what color they are. "Here, Cortlan, this is the brown one! This is the red one!" I can just picture it.
• went to the allergist in August and found out that, among the things for which he was tested, he is severely allergic to grass, ragweed, two other weeds that I can't remember, oak, and cat. He did not show a response for crab, lobster, or shrimp. He is on a nasal spray, a liquid allergy medicine, and eye drops. Yesterday, at the follow-up appointment, we found that he may have to get his adenoids removed. An ENT appointment is up next to find more information about that.
• must save everything. It is driving me crazy. Every piece of paper. Every bottle cap, paper towel tube, even the used dixie cups he drinks water out of at school. He sobbed when I told him we were going to have to throw some of it away.
• started soccer again. He got a goal in the first game and was thrilled! The second game didn't go quite as well, but he did seem to enjoy it. He is really liking gymnastics.

JOHN:

• has been working hard and doing a great job at what he does. I am proud of him...it isn't easy to deal with as many people as he does with the grace and respect in which he does it. He is very appreciated at work and at home.
• has been able to experience the "gymnastics thing" this year which involves listening to a whole lot of moms chatting away in the viewing room. He is driven as crazy (or crazier) than I typically am.
• washes dishes like nobody's business.

I:

• have been wondering how I got such a high maintenance daughter.  Seriously. 
• can't believe that I spelled kindergarten incorrectly in two posts. And my mom had to call me to let me know about it.
• have been running regularly (though half the time not getting home until after 9pm) and finally was convinced to sign up for my 3rd half-marathon.  I have a running buddy that I get to run in the evenings with most days, and I have been loving the opportunity to chat and have some social time while exercising.  Often, it is the only socializing I get to do.
• have had some very stressful days at work lately, but I am kind of proud of myself in how I handled them.
• am somehow calmly appreciating my life.  I have alone time (kind of); I have time when it is just me and the kids; I have time when it is the four of us; I have time when it is just John and I...and I appreciate and enjoy all of those times for what they are.  I realize that I need all of that, and that it is all good.

How the dentist's fish was named

I was standing by the receptionists' desk discussing our next dental appointment date when Everly walked over and noticed the fish that they had swimming in a glass vase under the roots of a water-fed plant.  The curve of the glass distorted the image, leading Everly to comment on the large size of the fish.  I explained that the fish was actually the same kind of fish as hers, and that it was probably about the same size.  "But theirs is orange and mine is blue," she noted.  Yes, that's right.

We sat down to wait for our much anticipated appointment, but the fish was still on Ev's mind.  "What's their fish's name?" she inquired.  After telling her I didn't know, she decided that we should ask.  I told her that she was welcome to, and to my surprise, she said, "OK!"  I lifted her up just as the hygienist walked over to let us know that our time had arrived to head back for our appointment. 

"Everly has a question for you, if you don't mind."

The hygienist looked at her and without further prompting, Everly confidently asked, "What is your fish's name?"

The hygienist looked at her and said, "You know what?  We don't have a name for our fish!  Would you like to name it?"

Everly didn't hesitate. "Well, my fish's name is Dora," she said. "So, I think maybe your fish should be Boots."

I was kind of impressed, and the glance that the hygienist gave me told me that she was kind of impressed, as well.  She said to Everly, "That is a perfect name for him.  Boots it is!"  Everly proudly smiled.  And I proudly smiled.

On the way out after a great appointment, the receptionists thanked her for naming their fish, and Everly responded with a confident, "You're welcome!"  And it is that confidence that caught my attention and gave me a glimpse into the future.

I loved what I saw.

He said, She said

I had to laugh the other day when I heard a scream and then Cortlan say, "Everly scared me out of heck!"

I had to worry yesterday when, after Cortlan asked Everly why she liked shopping so much, her response was, "I just dream about it."