A new way

Jillian: Alyssa and Hannah! we have a found a great new way and you are not down there. so come on!
Alyssa: A great new way for what?
Jillian: You KNOW! and you're missing it and we're not waiting for you anymore.

20 seconds of silence while everyone's brain gets sucked in by Mario on screen.
Jillian: you have to get over them like that Alex
Alex: I know.
30 seconds of silence as brains turn even mushier.

Alyssa: (hopping up) I'm going downstairs!

Can anyone else follow a conversation between kids that happens in their house? I'm having more and more trouble trying to figure out how they manage to communicate anything to each other. Pronoun Antecedents people. that's all i'm saying.

Suzy-isms

Suzy: I'm 4 Mom, and I'm growing up. Your bricks don't work to keep me small.
(we tell the children we put bricks on their heads when they sleep so they can't grow up)
Me: I know Suzy, we're going to have to try something else.
Suzy: well someday mom I'm going to be 4 and 4. I'll be 44 and then i'll be the boss of everybody. Is 44 after college or during college mom?

The Suzy version of "see ya later" = "See you sometimes again!"

Jonathon Gast: How many sisters does your sister have?
Suzy: 3
Jonathon: Good. Now how many sisters do you have?
Suzy: 2. Jilli and Ali.
(We discovered later that Beronica is a baby and does not qualify as a sister yet:)

keep the change

Today we had a life lesson for Jillian. Jillian was the last person out the door this morning to go to church. I specifically told her to close the garage door to the house because we had the a/c on. We had an entire discussion about it because she thought I meant the big garage door. So I clarified and explained why. She said "Yes mama". I went to the car and she followed a minute later. 4 hours later we return home. The garage door to the house is standing wide open and the a/c is running like crazy to keep up. (Insert parents banging heads on wall here).
We decide Jillian needs more of a consequence than just another "talking to". So we decide to charge her $5 from her piggy bank to pay for the a/c. She goes off to her room and we hear change rattling and dollars shifting around. She appears a minute later with a wad of bills. Hands it to her father, says "keep the change" and turns and walks away. She had given us $5.03 :D

Foldable

Now everyone knows that babies are very foldable. They stay that way for quite some time. Ali is proving to me that children remain foldable much longer than originally anticipated. You see, here in the Becksfort house, there has been a switch-up in sleeping arrangements. Ali really likes to sleep when she goes to bed, Jillian- not so much. This has created quite a bit of dissenting dialogue after bedtime, especially now that it's so light when they go to bed. So as a threat one night, I say to my darling Alyssa "Do you want to have to share a room with Veronica?" to which she replied "yes!!". So Suzy has moved into the top bunk in the twins room, Jillian is back on the bottom bunk, and Alyssa is squeezing into the top bunk of the toddler bunks that Mike made. A 7 year old in a toddler bed? what kind of horrible parents are we? well, we'd feel worse about it, except that by her own choice she will also go and crawl into the toy chest and close the lid to sleep when Veronica wakes in the night and starts bumping around her crib (or crate as Ali calls it). So compared to the toy chest, the toddler bed is quite roomy. So far it's been a very interesting summer. All 2 days of it:)

he says he's not my friend

Mama: so why did Owen say he's not your friend anymore Suzy?

Suzy: Well, I said I'm not gonna marry you Owen because when i grow up into a dalt I'm gonna marry my DADDY!!!" (with great emphasis on the Daddy part) "but Owen said 'not a daddy' and I said 'yes, i'm gonna marry my daddy' and then he thought i was evan and didn't recognize me and said he's not my friend. so that's when i yelled and yelled 4 times for you and you came and got me and we walked across the street and I told you about my day. How was your day mama?

I love preschooler stories.

Dry Erase Markers

Every time Suzy opens the dry erase markers, Mike looks around for an electrical fire.

Suzy-isms

Dis is my baby sister. She's name is Beronica V. (why she puts the B in the front of her name and then specifically pronounces the V is a mystery to us, but she repeatedly introduces her this way to everyone, including her grandparents:)

Mama says "Suzy - Where do babies come from?"
Suzy says "You get dem at the baby store"

Mama says "Suzy- you're cute"
Suzy says "No mama, I'm not kute. I'm a big gurl. I'm bee-utiful"

The twins go to first grade.....

This is a completely new stage in life for the Becksfort clan. All day school for the twins. The girls have done a marvelous job adjusting. They are getting harder to wake in the morning and actually falling asleep at night when we put them to bed. Gone are the days of summer where they would stay in their rooms giggling till 9:30 or 10 pm (more of Jillian's idea than Ali's to be sure as Ali is our early bird). The first day of school was very exciting. Ali was up at 3am, too excited to sleep another wink. Since then we've settled into a wonderful morning routine, enjoying walking to school together with big hugs and kisses for Suzy, Veronica and I at the door.

Suzy has taken to wanting to do "school" at home and I'm quite sure Veronica is wondering at the quietness of the house. The days seem to go so fast. It's still sinking in that the girls get out of school at the same time Mike finishes his day. The twins come home and immediately launch into playing together as they've missed each other all day too. I can see that we will be guarding our evenings together even more closely as a family. How do families do it that have multiple kids on multiple teams in multiple activities. I guess we'll learn some day:)

The Birth Story

On Thursday May 21st I decided to take the kids down to the museum center. We didn't have any definite plans for the day, and we had purchased the membership at the beginning of the year and had only managed to get to the center one other time. The kids had such a great time there that I thought it would be a good time to use the true advantage of a membership and just run down for an hour or so before the baby came. Little did I know that this would literally be what happened.

So we ate our lunch and gathered ourselves together and headed to the children's museum. We had a great time. We all played together in the ball area for a good long time and then we went into the craft area and they kids made paintings of different colored circles using cups and easter egg halves. We then headed over to Kidstown where the girls proceeded to empty out one of the kitchen areas into the pretend metro bus. They were playing "we're going to North Carolina". They played very nicely together and even played well with other random kids who wanted to play on the bus. Ali even carried on quite the conversation with one little boy's grandpa, explaining to him in great detail (much to his delight) why it's so wonderful to go to North Carolina. I began browsing my Creation magazine that I had brought along when I realized I was having stomach cramps, or at least that's what I assumed the first one was.

By the time I felt the 3rd contraction I ruled out the gas pains and stomach cramps. Mike read my mind from across town and called me to tell me his students had just left ( it was 3pm). I was in the middle of deciding whether or not I should call him at work and bother him with what could be false labor. We were on the phone long enough to determine that they were indeed 5 minutes apart. Mike looked up on the internet that they should do that for about an hour before we call the doctor, which alleviated my rising panic that the baby might possibly fall out on the floor of the children's museum. We agreed I should go home and drink water and put my feet up to see if they went away. The kids were disappointed that it was time to go (and Jillian was unimpressed when I said I was having contractions that MIGHT mean baby Veronica was coming so I didn't bother telling the other two). In the end we agreed 5 more minutes in the construction area and 5 minutes in the "adult" museum part. I was uncomfortable at that point, but nothing more than I'd experienced monthly throughout all my life. By the time we were finishing our last 5 minutes in the "adult" museum, I had a contraction that made our exit slightly more urgent. Ironically, as we sat on I-75 in traffic that was thankfully not too horrible, I remembered that my friend Amy had promised to show me the back way home from the museum center the next time we went together. We arrived home at 4 o'clock and I immediately sat in the recliner and began to down water. Mike arrived home at 4:10 and I was quite sure that the contractions were not going away.

Level headed as always, Mike had me call the doctor while he called the Gasts to see if they had anyone available to come stay with the kids. The mid-wife at the practice decided to send me straight to the hospital saying that if I had dilated past 3 cm (as I'd been that for a couple weeks) they would go ahead and have me have the baby. Rachel Gast was at our house in 10 minutes. Mike grabbed our half packed bag (his half was completely packed, I had managed to pack pajamas at least) and we headed to the hospital. Fortunately Mike was driving because my contractions were at the point of squirming all over my side of the car and gritting my teeth a bit. We spent most of the drive to the hospital on the phone with friends, arranging childcare for the girls till my parents could get back to town (they had left for a mere 72 hours to see Sam's preschool graduation in NC).
----Ronda came to relieve Rachel Gast and spend the night with the girls. Amy came and got the girls the next morning and graciously took them to their end of the year homeschooling celebratory picnic. Jen Moore even made them certificates for being new big sisters so they wouldn't feel left out when all the homeschooled kids got their certificates. Mom and Dad got the kids from the Yeazels when they got back to town and brought them to the hospital so they could meet Veronica.-----
Once we got that figure out we were on Montgomery Road and my phone was dead. We pulled into Bethesda North at 5:00 pm. Mike used the valet parking and we headed to the third floor. Well I should say that I headed first, but as I was walking with a bit of difficulty and feeling quite stereotypical as the giantly pregnant woman huffing and puffing her way through the lobby, Mike caught up to me easily. We took the elevator to the third floor where I declared my name to the maternity receptionist who slapped a purple piece of paper down and said sign at the 4 Xs. Fortunately they were large Xs and i scribbled my name and requested a bathroom. (According to my husband I was quite "surley" toward the receptionist, but I REALLY had to pee and she was asking for my insurance cards and stuff. I was in the middle of a contraction using all of my power to remain upright and on my feet so I tossed my wallet to my husband for him to get out my insurance card--I had bad aim and he thought I was throwing it at the receptionist. Apparently my tone of voice was not exactly sweet at the time either- again, I was having a contraction:)) The receptionist called a nurse and they got me into a triage room (as construction left them with no public restroom). I got to use the restroom and then settle onto the bed to get checked. Apparently I was 9 cm with a bulging water sack. They wheeled me to a delivery room and on the way sweetly replied to my request for an epidural that I did not have time for that.

Ever since I got pregnant with Suzy I have "entertained" the idea that I might like to experience natural childbirth. In fact, with Suzy I even waited till her actual due date before having an induction thinking that she might come on her own before then. But being the somewhat impatient pregnant woman that I am, I was induced with Suzy on her due date and got my epidural before my petosin. Knowing the evil that petosin is and the extra pain it creates, it was not an option to be induced AND have natural labor. In reality, I really never thought I would actually experience natural childbirth because I'd never actually gone into labor on my own before. Anyway......This was the moment when I realized that I was indeed "Oh, crap!" going to experience natural childbirth. The fantasy picturesque ideal of natural childbirth was gone and reality hit home. Quite uncomfortably.

They wheeled us into a delivery room and called for the doctor from Associates in OB-Gyn. His name was Dr. Metherd. He was very nice. I don't recall that I'd ever seen him before. Although there is a plus to that in that I didn't worry at all about what he thought of me, whereas I really like my regular OB and would have to see her again, yearly, for the rest of my life actually. They asked me if I wanted to have them break my water. I recalled my friend Amy's words that the water provided a cushion between the baby's head and my body and that contractions hurt more after the water was broken. So of course I said no. They already hurt like crazy, who in their right mind would say sure, bring on more pain. They said that I could just push the baby out if they broke my water. I still said no as the pain had not gone away, so my answer was still no to the more pain request. Apparently they decided I was not in the right frame of mind to answer such a question because they went ahead and broke my water. ( Mike had to tell me that later, I thought it broke on its own) I pushed 3 times with a certain level of awareness about the process. The last labor class we had attended was for the twins. I was told that on the third push the baby actually moved. I found that disappointing as I had pushed 3 times. When I told my husband that my ears felt numb, the doctor told me to breathe a little deeper because that meant I was hyperventilating. I had never done that before either. New experiences all around.
From here on out we'll have to rely on Mike for accurate information in another post. It's a little fuzzy around the edges for me. I remember the doctor telling me that he didn't mind my screaming but that screaming detracted from the pushing so perhaps I could try grunting. People were alternately telling me to breathe and push. Once my sweet husband reminded me very gently to try not to scream. Eventually I told them all that breathing was no longer an option because every inch of my being was telling me to push that thing out. I don't know how anyone could stop to breathe with a baby's head partially out of their body. I can't imagine I will ever forget how that felt. Needless to say there was the moment of "pop" and she flew out the rest of the way. She was perfect and healthy and amazingly clean. Most of the amniotic fluid had been trapped behind her so she got washed off as she came out. From first push to last was 12 minutes. She was born at 5:27 pm. 12 of the most amazing minutes of my life. I don't think I would have had the courage to choose it on my own, but natural labor was an amazing experience.

Suzy's new information

Babies eat boobs.

Little Einsteins

All the Becksfort ladies went shopping for Ezra and Sam's birthdays yesterday, the girls were great and the shopping was a lot of fun. Ezra is having a rocket party so we decided to get him something "Little Einsteins" because it has Rocket and because it's musical and because my girls love it too. So we ended up with a little piano that has all kinds of buttons (it will be a miracle if the demo batteries make it to Ezra as Suzy has yet to stop playing with it). It also has pictures of four composers on it and plays samples of their songs when you push their buttons. Suzy calls them the "grandmas". The grandmas play pretty songs for the newborn baby to sleep to. Isn't that nice? Hopefully Lee's newborn baby will love to sleep to them too:)

Oh, and Suzy and the girls got a little jellybean treat the other day. Suzy was on my lap trying to decide whether or not to eat the last one when she dropped it. She looked all over my lap and in the chair when she decided the newborn baby must have eaten her last jellybean. We stood up and found the jellybean but Suzy is still not convinced the newborn baby didn't at least try to eat her jellybean.

Michael Phelps

Ok, all of my daughters know who Michael Phelps is. Tonight while playing charades, Suzy was a "person". She frantically waved her arms in a somewhat swimming motion (after pointing her toes a few times) and was quite specific that she was "Michael Phelps- Yeah!". Jilli and Ali get as caught up during the replays as they did during the original airing of his meets. The topper was this evening during the closing ceremonies. After watching Phelps win "again" by .01 seconds, Ali declares "Michael Phelpy pleases me". Fortunately they were so mesmerized that they did not notice their parents rolling on the floor.

Campers!

Ok, so with our summer speeding away from us and the home improvement projects lasting longer than planned (as they always do) our big camping trip to the Mohican Wilderness has been postponed a year. The joy of a nuclear family vacation - we can take it whenever we want:).
In order to enjoy a little camping for free we decided to put up the tent in the front yard. It was just another reminder that the kids don't need the whole frills package to enjoy things. They celebrated as if we had just discovered gold in the front yard. The twins helped us put up the tent, and then celebrated the success by having Suzy chase them all around and in and out of it. This was highly entertaining as the first 5 times anyone went in or out, they tripped over the bottom zipper part. There was no crying though, just more laughing and popping up and running again, because camping is about roughing it.
After the tent fun (or "house" fun as Suzy called it) wore off ,we realized it was really hot outside so we went inside to cool off (another perk of home camping). Eventually the evening cooled and we put Suzy to bed (as nobody would have gotten any sleep if she was in the tent) and the rest of the gang headed outside for fun and games. Since we don't have our fire pit yet, we skipped the classic smores and headed straight for flashlight tag. We also played flashlight funny face/scarey face, shadow puppets, and a game called "what's that" - an Ali creation where we tried to guess what the dark shapes outside were (please note parents are no fun at this because they actually know what all the shapes are and also it was a full moon).
Around 10 I was told it was time for me to go inside as it was time for the "real camping" (apparently since i was going to sleep inside with Suzy and not in the tent, I did not qualify for real camping). This coming from two children on comfy marshmellow beds (the great irony being that we had lent out our air mattress to cousin Charlie and so Mike the old man was the only one actually sleeping on the ground. Big Daddy points for him! ) We did agree that it was time for sleep (and one last bathroom break into the house because of the excessive water bottle usage in the tent). So I kissed my campers good-night wondering if they would stay out all night or if they would be coming in at some point.
They did make it all night long and in fact even slept in till after 8! They are definitely their Daddy's daughters, professional campers from the start. Hopefully by next year we can even allow Suzy in the tent.

the baby is 2

time for the phrase that parents can be found all over the world muttering to each other in a state of sincere confusion... "when did that happen?" My baby turned 2 today. We celebrated by driving past the zoo. Once I realized that 2 of the three parking lots were full, we simply waved at the animals as we drove past and headed for a hike at the nature preserve. We managed to walk the smallest nature trail before nature called to Jillian and we headed back to the center for the restrooms. That was the farthest we got into the woods today as we found a small pond teeming with tadpoles to examine for a very long time and then there were caterpillars (while shockingly similar to the ones at our house) that were amazing in every way and must be tended to and corraled and examined till a mothers brain completely shuts off out of boredom thus stimulating the "go home and clean" reflex. If they want to stare at caterpillars, they can do it while I have something to do too. We did take a walk after dinner. Suzy's favorite activity. it's a catch 22 of course because it's a grand birthday activity because she loves it soo very much, but it usually ends in a time-out as she pitches a royal fit when it's over. Not even the "we're going home to have cupcakes" was a consolation to her. She did eventually enjoy her cupcake and the 25th rendition of "Happy to You" for the day. She made Mike blow out her candles. I think she realized he'd had something to do with her success on the previous cake. We ended the day with a nice long bath and her first real attempt to say squirrel during her prayers. This is what threw me into the "she's growing so fast, where has it gone" state that currently encompasses me. My baby doesn't bother to say squirrel, she can't, so she calls them frogs. That's why we started blessing the rodents during prayer in the first place. it was too cute. needed to hear it every day.

"Look Suzy, there's a squirrel! Do you see the squirrel?"

" Yeah"

"Where's the squirrel Suzy?"

"Yeah, Mommie. Frog! Dere's Frog."

What's life going to be like when she actually uses the word squirrel? I suppose she can't call them frogs forever. Just imagine, someday she will even use all those tiny little connecting words in the middle of sentences.

Really?

I blog this so that one day I can (on the advice of my sister) use this information to mortify my children. My children can also credit their continuing lifecycle to the "Good and Angry" book that has been the recent topic of our little book study.

Finally, at the end of a particularly active trip to walmart for a few groceries, i arrive at the checkout ready to be done and in the car headed home. The girls had been, shall we say, energetic during our shopping. Not necessarily disobeying or being wild, but certainly walking that fine line that every mother knows. They sweetly help me load the groceries onto the conveyor and then play with the check writing board that swings out and the usual checking out activities that occur when trapped in a two foot space cornered on every side by toys and candy. (side note that there is a special level of hell for the designer of the checkout line " Lead us NOT into temptation people!") anyway, after noticing that walmart is overcharging 10 - 25 cents for almost every item I have chosen to purchase that day as compared to the posted prices for said items (another level of hell), I proceed to remove my attention from the twins in order to inform the poor cashier of the mistakes.

Please note that of course upon reading this in hindsight, one does go immediately into red alert mode; however, I had assumed that i was being accompanied by my wonderful 5 year old children.

Here is the point that life takes on a slow motion quality. I look up from paying the cashier to see my twins both leaning through a fence barrier type thing and licking (yes you read correctly) pre-packaged bags of popcorn for sale.

L-I-C-K-I-N-G.

BAGS.

5 year olds.

They are both giggling and wiping their tongues all over the packaging as if it's some sort of sugar fountain.
I can tell you that I did use a tone of voice that immediately wiped any sort of smile from their faces and that they are still alive by the grace of God.
I cannot answer the question that everyone who reads this will ask of themselves...... WHY?

and no, i did not purchase the popcorn. but really unless you lick the outside of the bag too, it shouldn't affect you, the poor person who may eventually purchase it.

Dreamin

Suzy had a very, very bad nightmare in the wee hours of this morning. There was a great thrashing about in her crib with fussing and crying. Mike, the dutiful father, braved going into her room to see what was the matter even though it was 6:45am (an hour which angers his wife to have to become awake and tend to the children). Poor Suzy did not look at her daddy, she was sound asleep with one final cry escaping her lips..... "mine". One can guess who was the terrible monster(s?) in her dream:)

Geez Louise

Tonight Nanny and Mike took the kids to get ice cream while I went to a mom's night out to regain some perspective and some sanity. So I thought I would share with you the stories that I got to hear when I got home.

The ride home from the ice cream store contained much singing. Inevitably, the song turns to Old McDonald and his wonderful farm, as this is the main song in Suzy's repertoire. She loves to sing "E-I-E-I-O" and has begun to adjust the song a bit as well. For example... Old McDonald had a farm "E-I-E-I-O" and on that farm he had a duck "E-I-E-I-Duck". The twins think this is quite funny. So Michael began the song... Old McDonald had a farm "E-I-E-I-O" and on that farm he had a (pause from my husband to allow children to choose animal)..... "Boober" comes the selection from Ali followed by Suzy's "E-I-E-I-Boob". My fabulous husband doesn't miss a beat "Now Ali, there really is a boober bird and it makes a call something like this (insert choking gargling sound). Can you make that sound?" Ali attempts this gagging and concludes "no". Mike then brings it to the logical conclusion "then you need to pick another animal". Someday my children will spend time trying to find the boober bird in our National Audubon Society's Guide to Field Birds, I am sure of it.

Jillian was about to throw a fit at bedtime because Ali had picked three stories and she had not gotten a chance to pick one. The crisis was averted by my quick thinking and extremely handsome husband. " I didn't realize you hadn't gotten a chance to choose a book, Jillian. You may read one more before bed and choose it." to which he got this response....
"Geez Louise! I'm so lucky!" and no there was no sarcasm in it.

Cold and Flu Season

I blame Adam and Eve. I seriously doubt there was cold and flu season in the garden of Eden. Without a doubt poor Jillian got the worst of it. A stomach flu, head cold, and pink eye. I knew she wasn't well when she put herself to bed at 11am and slept till 5pm. I would have wanted to sleep it all away too. The good news is that she has emerged victorious! It was a great day to see her dancing around again with the other ladies (who slipped through the germie grasp of the season without a scratch!) But admittedly dancing is a very ambitious activity for someone just feeling better. So we decided to haul up the old atari early (we were taking it to church for our annual congregational meeting) and the girls played space invaders and pac man and Mike played centipede and I discovered the freaky music to haunted house is still freaky and the game still makes me jump at 32. Geesh.

Bath Time!

So it's bath night. Jilli was supposed to go first, but Suzy had other plans. Mike went to go get a mountain dew out of the garage and left Suzy to visit with Jilli while she took her bath. When he returned, this is what we found. Yes, she is wearing pants, a onsie, her jacket, and socks. Praise the Lord we had at least taken off her shoes earlier. Good times.

Dad's Night

The twins are having a great time at preschool these days. Jillian is betrothed to a nice christian boy named Jack, although I believe that perhaps Ali may also be betrothed to Jack. This was the aspect of preschool that I was not expecting, but at least they are nice boys from christian families:) The girls had a very special night of preschool a few weeks ago. Daddy's night is a chance for all the dads to spend an hour with their kids at preschool and see what they do during their school days. (It is a co-op, but generally it's stay-at-home moms who do the working in the class. ) One of the neat things they did for Dad's night was to interview the kids during the preschool day about their dads. Here are Jilli and Ali's thoughts on their father.

Ali's Interview:
My dad's name is : Michael
My dad is 11 feet tall
He weighs 9 pounds
He has blue eyes and blonde hair
His favorite color is orange
His favorite food is chicken with sauce
His favorite TV program is football
My dad's job at work is a teacher
He helps mom at home when he: clean up the food
The thing my dad does best is: clean up the kitchen
The thing I enjoy doing the most with my dad is : play goldfish

Jilli's Interview:
My dad's name is Michael
My dad is 15 feet tall
He weighs 15 pounds
He has blue eyes and brown hair
His favorite color is red
His favorite food is red and green peppers
His favorite TV program is Jasmine
My dad's job at work is teaching students
He helps mom at home when he: holds the baby
The thing my dad does best is: works on the computer
The thing I enjoy doing the most with my dad is : I love him and I like to watch him tie my shoes.