Christmas Recap

Hopefully everyone had as good a Christmas as we did. We were able to celebrate with family and friends on both Christmas eve and Christmas day and we all had a lot of fun. Here's some pics to show it.

I was greeted on Christmas Eve morning by a sobbing Benjamin because his "mural" had just been detected by daddy. He had taken a pencil (thank goodness only pencil!) and drawn all over the basement walls, doors, and toilet seat while Kelly was in the shower and Bella and I were still asleep. So, our first Christmas activity was to scrub off all the drawings. Things got better after that, though. He later told me, "We only draw on paper, not toilets." Glad that seemingly obvious nugget of knowledge had finally sunk in. Or well, let's hope it has. Only time will tell.


After that we played around until our family and friends came over to eat, read Luke 2, open presents from each other (Santa's presents only came the next morning), and finally set up our much anticipated tree and lights.



I am so glad I didn't put them up any earlier, because 3 ornaments were broken within the first 24 hours. But it sure was fun to set it all up together and admire it. (Until I took it down at 8am on the 26th and heaved a big sigh of relief that I could stop saying, "That's an ornament, not a toy, put it back!") That night Benjamin got a changeable racetrack with battery powered cars and Bella got a doll and stroller. They both got a new bedtime story book and a giant floor puzzle. Their excitement knew no bounds. They were entertained the rest of the night. (And finally left the tree alone for a few hours.)





The next morning Santa did not disappoint. In addition to the usual stocking fare, he brought Benjamin a rocket! All month long whenever anyone asked Benjamin what he wanted for Christmas, he said the exact same thing, namely, "I want a rocket. Not a plastic one, but a real one, that I can get in and fly to the moon!" Every single time. So, naturally, we realized we'd better get this kid a rocket! So Kelly bought $30 worth of insulation board, wood, duct tape, etc. and made him a 6ft tall rocket that fits 3 people inside. It's really quite impressive. It's got windows, control panels, steering wheel, a door that open and shuts, and inside are various pictures made to look like windows showing constellations, planets, etc. so in addition to being able to look out into the room, you can look out into space. Benjamin loved it.



The cutest thing was that he was also nearly equally excited about the banana and oranges that Santa left in his stocking! I love kids at this age. Bella wasn't quite sure what to make of this present deluge (book, Mr Potato Head, etc.), so she sat contentedly aside as Benjamin emptied her stocking and handed her items one by one.



Oh, and of course, you can't forget the new Christmas pajamas!


It was a great couple days. In addition to all the fun at home, we also went to a Christmas party at a friend's home (to which I forgot to bring my camera), ice skating (also forgot the camera), and bowling (remembered the camera!!)



This was really a fabulous Christmas. Now we just wait patiently for some snow so we can use the sled that Santa brought. :) It rained all day on Christmas and washed away everything we had. Something to look forward to!

Merry Christmas

I thought I'd post this now because I know I won't get a chance in the next couple days. I'm very excited about Christmas coming. It's been an incredibly busy December but I've tried very hard to keep focused on what really matters. A friend of mine emailed me this picture yesterday and I think it so aptly portrays what I'm trying to achieve in my home.


Santa is fun, but let us remember what he's really a symbol of (and not the other way around.)

We've been having fun around here, despite the hectic. Benjamin has been taking a swim class and has loved it. We've been playing in our newly fallen snow. And I had the chance to drive a friend to the temple when her car wasn't working, so I took the kids along and took some pictures. Sadly, Isabella has had a cold and was sound asleep by the time we got there. Benjamin enjoyed it, though. My funniest picture (not posted) was when Benjamin, with his face contorted in urgency, grabbed himself, calling, "I have to pee mommy!" How many people have a picture of their son grabbing themselves in front of the temple? I didn't take a picture of the next moment when he prepared to deal with his need right onto their finely manicured lawn. I'm so glad there's a stake center right next door!




So, that's our life right now in a nutshell. Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

Squeaky Clean

Bella is addicted to foaming hand sanitizer. They have a dispenser of it beside the door to the child care at my gym. It's a fancy automatic one that dispenses a large glob every time you put your hand under it. Needless to say, Bella manages to grab 7-10 globs at every entrance and every exit. Well, as an unfortunate coincidence, we have a foaming soap dispenser in our bathroom that puts out a substance identical in color and appearance to the sanitizer at the gym. Immediately Bella learned a new word. "Soap!" she'd proudly call, as she squirted large globs onto her hands. I tried repeatedly to explain that sanitizer and soap are very different, but when that failed, I put it away. Until Kelly decided to wash his hands, and forgot about my warning. I came into Benjamin's room to put away some folded laundry and smelled the overwhelmingly strong smell of soap and heard a little rustling noise coming from the closet. I quickly opened the door to find this:


It's hard to tell in the picture, but she'd shampooed her hair with it, rubbed various spots on her clothes with it, and had large handfuls of it, prepped for various new locations. She was not very pleased to see me. Seeing as how she'd sequestered herself in the closet with a closed door, it was obvious she knew she was breaking a rule, but she seemed to have been having a grand ol' time. The carpet was soaked with it too. The room reeked of artificial soap perfume all day long. What a crazy girl. I just took a picture, hosed her off, and thanked my lucky starts it wasn't finger paint again (as we experienced with Benjamin a while back). However, the soap has once again been put away (for good, this time, I hope.)

Quick cute quote from Benjamin: I picked him up from school on Thursday and he asked, "Why did you come back?" "To pick you up, sweetheart, so we could go home," I replied. "But I don't want to go home," he stated matter-of-factly. I'm so glad he likes school so much. I won't take it personally. :)

Why My House Looks Like We're Out of Town All Month

Last year I got really excited to set up our Christmas decorations and the tree and make a whole big fun day of it with Benjamin. That didn't work out. After much screaming and stressing and multiple breakages of formerly precious items, I vowed I'd never do it again. So this year I decided we'd put up all our decorations on Christmas eve and take them down on the 26th and save ourselves a lot of stress. However, as we've been driving around, Benjamin has noticed how festive other houses look compared to ours. We pass house after house with lights, over-sized candy canes, reindeer, and the oh-so-classy blow-up Santa in a hammock between two palm trees, and Benjamin asks, "Why we not have that, mommy?" So I compromised and decided to just put up the lights. How bad could it be, right? It's just some lights? What could go wrong? You would think I would no longer ask such a stupid question.

I got the box of lights out of the basement and the first thing the kids did was start playing tug-of-war with them. Then Bella tried plugging them into various outlets and Benjamin started running around the house with them banging against various walls and items of furniture. When I convinced them to leave the lights alone, they started to attack me while I attempted to put them up. I had kids on my back, kids playing tag around my legs, etc. I was ready to be done right then and there, but I'd committed and I was going to see this through. After an hour of stress and frustration, the lights were up. They looked okay, not great, but good enough. Then later on I started making dinner and the kids played in the living room. They seemed to be happy and were laughing, so all was good, right? Then I noticed Benjamin speaking as if he had something in his mouth. I went into the living room to see what he was eating and discovered the room was noticeably dimmer than it had been before. Then I noticed Benjamin had green color running out of the side of his mouth. "What are you eating?" I asked. "This," he said, as he spit out a bulb from the Christmas lights. He had unscrewed an entire set of bulbs and sucked off the color coating!!! "They didn't work right, so I fixed them," he declared matter-of-factly. After a stern discussion over the danger of playing with an electric string of lights and the danger of putting glass bulbs in your mouth AND the danger of eating synthetic color, I ripped all the lights off the walls and windows and put them back in the storage room. So much for Christmas cheer. Maybe our neighbors will just assume we're out of town. So although I'd love my living room to look like this:


In reality, it feels and looks more like this:

Everything Okay Officer?

Another adventure in Isabella's life - she was rescued by a cop yesterday. We decided to spend the sunny (although cold) afternoon at the playground. Benjamin rushed into the garage to get his bike and then jumped into the car to pop the trunk and get out the stroller for Bella. Bella saw him in the car and followed him in. But then I told him that we weren't taking the stroller that was in the trunk, so he jumped back out and slammed the door. As I took the correct stroller off its hook on the wall, I heard the "click" of the doors locking. Bella was still inside and had just locked the door. Not a terrible thing if I didn't have the bad habit of leaving my key in the console when the car was in the garage. I searched the house for a spare key and called Kelly if he knew of one, but there wasn't one besides the one Kelly had with him at the office, and he was many hours from coming home.

Benjamin and I spent the next 30 minutes trying to coax Bella to unlock the door. She continued to lock it over and over again instead. When she tired of that game she started to take apart my cd case and play with each and every cd, throwing them around inside the car with great delight. I plead and screamed and banged on the window - anything to get her to try unlocking the door again, but she saw it all as a silly game mommy was playing. She banged back on the window, she tried the door handle, and she continued to lock the door again and again. Finally I told Benjamin we needed to pray. So we knelt down in the garage and prayed for help in getting Bella out of the car. Then we tried talking to her again. It didn't help. At this point she'd exhausted her attention span and was asking to be let out of the car. When I couldn't do that, she started to cry. That's when I thought, "God helps those who help themselves." I got out the phone and called 911. They told me they'd send over the next available police car. I didn't know what that meant - 5 minutes? An hour? By this time I had two impatient kids. She was in the car crying and Benjamin had decided to drape himself on the hood of the car and moan, "I want to go on a walk" over and over in a pitiful, whiny tone. But the answer to my prayer came in the form of a very helpful police officer who arrived less than 5 minutes after I called.


The funniest part of the story were my two neighbors who suddenly had mail to check the instant the cop pulled into my driveway. (The mailman hadn't arrived yet.) One stood in her driveway and stared, while the other called out, "Everything alright over there, officer?" I had to laugh. Was she planning on coming and backing him up? "Everything's fine ma'am; thanks," he said with a smirk that showed he was probably wondering the same thing. Then he took a wedge out of his car, smashed it into into the edge of my door, put an inflatable bag next to that and pumped it up, so the door was even further open, and finally took a long, thick wire and flipped up the power lock. Within a few seconds the door was open. Bella had stopped crying the minute the large, uniformed man had appeared in our garage and when the door opened, she burst into a huge grin. I picked her up and told her to thank the nice officer, which she did with a "Danke" and a wave. Before he had even driven away, both kids were on their bike/in their stroller, and we were walking to the playground, another adventure behind us. (While our neighbors stood at their windows suffocating with curiosity as to why he'd come because they're both on our side of the street, so they couldn't see inside our garage.) By the way, I will now always keep my key with me, and not in the car.

On the way to the playground, Benjamin and I discussed what had happened and I emphasized to him how God had answered our prayer and how thankful I am that he sent the cop to help save Bella. Benjamin's answer, "I knew God could do it."

Let the Potty Training Begin!

This little cutie was standing in front me this morning as I stepped out of the shower. She was pulling on her pajama pant with one hand and pointing at the toilet with the other and saying, "Poop." I assumed she either had just gone poop in her diaper or was just telling me what she has seen others do in the toilet. However, she has sat on the toilet a few times in the past after seeing one of us use it, so I decided to set her on it anyway. Far be it from me to discourage the use of the toilet!! Much to my shock and amazement, the instant I had her diaper off and sat her on the toilet, she pooped! Then she signed that she was all done and said, "done." My big girl! So exciting! After we praised her, she went into my room and got out a pair of Benjamin's underpants from the laundry basket and put them on. She was so upset when I made her take them off and put on a diaper! I really never expected to start this so early, but I think I'm going to buy some pull-ups tomorrow and see how far we can take this!

By Popular Demand

I've had several requests to post a picture of Benjamin's wall destruction. I initially didn't post a picture for two reasons - 1. I didn't want him to see me taking a picture of it, for fear he'd think I'm impressed by his masterpiece and 2. a picture really just doesn't do the level of destruction justice. I wasn't sure how to take this picture to give you a good view of it. However, to appease my fans, I made an effort today while Benjamin was in school and here you go.

Benjamin's wall 'smiley face':


Here's a picture of the holes he'd made a week prior to the smiley face, using the corner of his "Return with Honor" picture that was on his dresser. (It was immediately removed, along with all other hard objects. Which unfortunately gave me a false sense of security that there was nothing else he could use to damage the walls. Ha! Never underestimate him.)

Too Stunned to Take A Picture

It's always an adventure with Benjamin around. He's gotten in the habit of picking Isabella up and taking her where he'd like her to be whenever it suits him. I've tried to get him to stop since she's far too close to his own weight for this to be safe. However, the other day he did it again, and I warned him to put her down, but he ignored me and immediately thereafter accidentally dropped her on her head. So, he went straight into time-out while I calmed her down. While I was holding her I heard a lot of banging in his room. This is not unusual when he's upset about being in time-out, but the strange thing is that I recently cleared his room of all hard, breakable objects which he was in the habit of hurling in anger. So I listened carefully in an attempt to identify the source of the sound. BAM! It went again. BAM! again. After another bam, I heard Benjamin say, "Another hole!" That's when I set Bella down and threw open his door. He had turned the glider's footstool upside-down and was smashing the leg of it, systematically, down the length of the wall. "What are you doing?!" I shrieked in horror. There were already 6 or 7 holes, evenly spaced in a line and he was gearing up for the next one. "I'm making a smiley face," he calmly responded, "See?" (pointing to the holes), "Can you see it?" Needless to say what happened next need not be recorded for posterity.

So, what we're left with now is the question of how do we get him to fix that without turning it into a terrible mess and a lot of fun? I mean, it's putty and paint - that's supposed to be a punishment?

And as a follow-up, a more harmless adventure - I got out of the shower, to see a toilet paper trail that started in his room, went down the hall, into the living room, and so forth, throughout the whole house, including the basement. The entire roll was empty. "Why did you do this?" I asked. Why do we as parents always ask why? Do we really expect a good answer?? This time the answer actually made me laugh, though. He said, "I asked you if I could do it. I said please." (Of course, I'd been in the shower at the time and never heard him utter a single word.) "What did I answer?" "You didn't say anything. I don't know why." How convenient. Again, I forgot the camera at the time. I'm sure there will be more opportunities.

Window Art

One of my favorite things lately are our window crayons. So much fun and so easy to clean up. However, you have to keep a careful eye on Isabella whenever they're out. Coloring on the windows is just too similar to coloring on the walls, the furniture, and the floor. Before we began tonight, I knelt down in front of her and said very clearly, "Only widows (pointing to the window), not walls, not chairs, not floor (pointing to each in turn and violently shaking my head). Only windows. Promise?" She gravely nodded her head and then reached for the crayon in my hand. Sadly, I got distracted during the creation of the masterpiece, and I had apparently neglected to specify one other key location. Must be more specific next time.

Superwoman to the Rescue!

What a great birthday/Halloween we had! So busy and so fun. We were almost never home all day between swim lessons, church parties, Halloween story time at the library, and of course, trick-or-treating! It was a great day. Isabella looked so cute that I had complete strangers asking if they could take pictures of her. Except for the random dad who corrected his daughter's, "What a cute girl" comment by saying, "That's not a girl, that's a boy." Her hair is growing! Just be patient!


However, boy or girl, Superwoman could almost never be photographed without her thumb in her mouth. I think it really adds to the look. :)

Pumpkin Overload

We had a little bit of down time on the 30th and I wanted to throw in one more pumpkin activity before the big day. So, I got the kids excited to make a craft and after all the supplies were gathered and both were sitting anxiously at the table, I said, "We're going to make a special jack-o-lantern craft now." Happy faces gone. Benjamin leaned over to Isabella and quietly said, "I don't think this is going to be very fun." "What did you say?" I asked. "I wasn't talking to you, mom, I was talking to Isabella. I said I don't think this is going to be very fun." "Why not?" "I really want to make a cat." I had to laugh. Not everyone is as obsessed with Halloween as I am, apparently. In the end we decided to make purple cat masks and everyone was happy.

I Love Halloween

I'm particularly biased, since I was born on the 31st, but I love Halloween and autumn, especially in Michigan - so beautiful. So, we've been enjoying our lead up to Halloween - making Jack-o-lanterns, pumpkin bread, getting our costumes, etc. We've also been making some fun Halloween crafts. My kids love crafts. It's just so fun to see how excited they get about it. Paint, markers, glue, glitter, and fuzzy balls get used up as quickly as breakfast cereal around here. Here are a few cute pics from our festivities and some of our crafts.

Here's Benjamin in his costume before his school Halloween party today. He was too interested in what the other kids were wearing to look at the camera.


At home we were mummies and witches. We do the mummy thing every year and then I have a big bag of ripped up toilet paper that sits by the toilet from October until January!



Here are some of the crafts. I try to keep the best ones, but mostly I document them and then I don't feel bad when I 'unclutter.' So, that's why he's wearing the same thing in each picture - we took all the pics on one day before we cleaned out the closet.

The kids had so much fun picking stickers to put on their bags, although Bella immediately started ripping them off again and sticking them in her mouth. My kids outgrow that phase so late, it seems.



This craft is fun and uses some of that ripped up toilet paper! Wrap it around an empty toilet paper roll (there are many of those around now too) and then staple or glue the arms, legs, and head on.


Don't you love how excited he looks to be wearing this? I promise, he LOVED this headband. He wore it the whole rest of the day when we first made it. By the way, the bat's face was Benjamin's artistry.



Here are a few other non-Halloween crafts we enjoyed.

These are magnets we made out of clay. Benjamin has been really into space and planets lately, so we made some space-themed fridge magnets. It's children's clay so it hardens without baking. We molded them one day and pushed magnets onto the backs before they hardened and then painted them a week later - two crafts in one! His were the rocket ship and the alien space ship. I made a shooting star and Bella's....well, they're up for interpretation. But she sure loved the process! She was the last one to leave the table, both on molding day and painting day! I kept asking her "are you done?" and she'd vigorously shake her head and keep working away.


We made the frog headband and the raccoon puppet during story time at the library. They do great stuff with the kids there.




After Halloween, I'll post pics of Bella in her WonderWoman costume that she chose herself. So cute!!

Gettin' Domestic

We've been expanding our horizons at our house lately. It started with Bella. The other day she came into the kitchen and without any word from me, took out a pot, a can of soup, and a spoon and brought them all over to the stove. Then she pulled up the step stool, climbed up, and started to 'cook.' She put the pot on the stove, vigorously shook the can upside-down over the pot, and then stirred the imaginary contents. Then she took a taste. I just stared in slack-jawed amazement. She's 17 months old! When did she ever pay such close attention as to learn all that?? She even seemed miffed that no soup actually came out of the can. I think she really intended to cook, not just pretend. Such a big girl she's becoming.

So, she started the trend for learning new domestic skills and we, her devoted fans, followed suit. I signed up to bring a cake to Benjamin's preschool's cake raffle fundraiser. When I signed up, I thought, "How hard can it be? Just throw a mix in the oven." Then they made the announcement that no cake should be over $25. That's when I knew I was in trouble. No mix, no matter how moist and fluffy it promised to be, ever cost that much, so there must be more to this. I found out that most often they are lavishly decorated. So, here was my chance to learn a new skill. I bought a butterfly cake pan, frosting tips and bags, etc., and I made a cute, amateurish cake.


I did it from around 10pm - 1am, since that's the only time I have free but I had a blast. It was fun to mix the colors and consistencies and see something actually take shape. Costco could do a much better job, but I was proud of my little creation.



Finally it was Kelly's turn. He went gung-ho and got bags and bags of peaches, plums, and crab-apples and turned our kitchen into a disaster area making jam. In the end, considering the cost of all the supplies - pectin, jars, lids, fruit, etc. - we probably could have gotten it cheaper from Smucker's. However, once again the point was we learned new skills and wow - that's good jam! So, we have been having fun in our kitchen and all becoming little domestic goddesses.

What's Benjamin done, you ask? Well, besides supervising, he tried something new recently too. We went to a nearby town's Oktoberfest and they had free pony rides for kids. Last summer he was too freaked to ride a pony, but this year he was so excited. I was proud of him for doing it and he couldn't get over the thrill of having ridden a 'horse.'

This is Modern Medicine?

I have had the cough of death for nearly 5 weeks now and I finally broke down and went to the doctor yesterday. I hate my doctor. He and his office are such a disaster that it would make a great comedy act. I literally have to be beyond all hope of independent recovery before I'll go see him. And that was where I was at. I was awakened 3 times the night prior with coughing fits lasting anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes. I'd had enough. So I went there (with the kids, unfortunately, because my mom is gone and I hate to ask anyone else short notice). I got there at 1:15 and I was the only patient in the waiting room, and the last patient to sign in had done so at 10:30am. The receptionist/nurse was filing some things and didn't even notice me come in. The doctor was standing to the side of her at the counter where you pay your co-pays, doing seemingly nothing. I went to sign in and there was no pen. 'There's no pen," I said. The doctor looked at me with a blank stare. No motion to get me one. The nurse didn't even react. So, I sat down, got the kids settled and then attempted again to sign in. "There's still no pen," I said, a little louder. The nurse still didn't react. The doctor continued to stare, but then after a long pause he called the nurse's name and said, "Can you get her a pen?" "What?!" the startled nurse said as she was awoken from her filing reverie. She turned and startled again at the sight of me standing there. She gave me the pen from her pocket and went back to filing. So I signed in and sat down, expecting to, I don't know, be called in. Isn't that what one does at a doctor's office?? Apparently not. I spent the next 45 minutes in the empty waiting room, while my kids rolled around in the wheel chairs, played with the water fountain, ran along the couches, threw magazines around, spilled piles of drug brochures, ate and crumbled every snack I'd brought, went to the bathroom, and repeatedly demanded, "Can we go home now?" The whole time no other patient came in, the doctor continued to stand at the counter alternately chatting with the nurse and perusing through file folders. The nurse answered several phone calls and sifted through even more file folders and even called my name once - getting my hopes up of actually being taken care of. But no, she just wanted to confirm my address and insurance provider. Finally after I started pacing the floor and loudly complaining to my children about the "ridiculously long wait" and "what is going on here?" they called my name. When the doctor came in, he acted like he'd never seen me before. He cordially introduced himself and asked me what brought me in to see him. I wanted to say, "Are you serious?? You know that loud, barking cough you've been hearing in the waiting room for nearly an hour now? That was me. You know, the girl who needed a pen." Instead I said, "I have a sinus infection. I need an antibiotic." I won't bore you with the details of the exam, but suffice it to say, he diagnosed me with a sinus infection and prescribed me an antibiotic. This is modern medicine? I think being bled by leaches would be equally painful.

Pediatrics 101

If your child has this type of rash all over her body, she may have an ear infection.


I don't know how well you can see it in the picture, but Bella has had a rash for 5 days now, but it wasn't your normal rash. This was a crazy chameleon-type rash. It changed color, pattern, location, etc. all throughout the day. At its peak it was all over from scalp to toes. However, some times it would disappear completely and then magically reappear a few hours later, just as I thought she was over it. She didn't have a fever, the rash didn't seem to bother her at all, she slept fine, she ate fine, so what was it? I restricted dairy for a whole day - the drama of that about killed us both! But the next day it was still there. Finally after two days of not being able to take her to the gym with me due to her frightening appearance, I took her to the doctor. Sad that the breaking point for me was my own inconvenience, not hers, huh? Bad mom. The doctor looked at her rash and then looked in her ears. "This ear is full of puss," was her diagnosis. The doctor said that Bella's body is likely having an allergic reaction to the bacteria that is causing her ear infection. The reaction is manifesting itself as a rash that changes as her body fights the infection. It's like a biological ticker board - 'this just in! making progress around the stapes! struggling in the area of the malleus'. I would never have known she had an ear infection. She seemed fine! This is her first ear infection and she showed no signs. Thank goodness her body created a big, obvious way to get my attention! Also, I'm so glad that the rash came now rather than after we'd started treating the infection or we'd have assumed the rash was a reaction to the anti-biotic! The human body really is amazing. And another amazing thing, after one day of anti-biotics, she went to bed tonight rash free. Let's hope it stays away for good this time.

By the way, for those who have asked about her hair - it is finally growing back a bit - slowly but surely. Benjamin's only took 6 weeks to nearly fill back in to normal after his disastrous cut, whereas Bella is still at the peachfuzz stage after 3 months. But it's coming! She no longer pulls on it, so it's just a matter of time now.

Why...

No matter how many waffles I make, only 1-2 ever make it to the table for me to eat.

Complete Lockdown Initiated

Benjamin has wowed me again with his ability to repeatedly defy even the clearest of rules. A friend I haven't spoken to in many months called me Wednesday afternoon and I was really excited to talk to her. However, as is always the case, the instant I got on the phone, the kids went berserk. They were screaming, jumping on me, pounding on the piano, grabbing at the phone, etc. They had been calmly reading books only moments before. This is why I pretty much NEVER speak on the phone - everything is email. However, this was a special situation and I really wanted a moment of peace. So, after asking them several times to calm down, all with no result, I went into my room and closed the door. This was immediately followed by hysterical screaming, pounding, pleadings to be let in, promises to be quiet, etc. After many minutes, there was silence. I assumed they'd given up and resumed their book reading or maybe they went into the basement to play. After about 10 minutes of blessed silence, the doorbell rang. I wasn't expecting anyone, so I waited for the usual sound of the kids running to the door to see who it was. No sounds of running. Only another more insistent doorbell ring. I went to the window, still on the phone, and saw there was no car in front. Who could it be and where are the kids?! Now I'm starting to panic. More fast, hard doorbell rings. I opened the door to see my next door neighbor with a look of complete fury on her face, with a barefoot child in each hand. Without a hello or greeting of any kind, she snaps, "I watched Benjamin open the back gate and lead Bella down the street! They were clear down the street at Al's place!" (I have no idea who Al is, but I assume he lives far from me.) I was so embarrassed to be standing there with the phone in my hand and without any excuse worthy of such a mishap. I thanked my neighbor for bringing them home and locked them both in their rooms until I could calm down and formulate a plan. I have never been more grateful to have a watchful neighbor! :) How do I make clear to Benjamin that wandering away from home is not okay? I thought we'd cleared this up last week when he took Bella for a stroller ride! He had promised me he'd never do that again, but after my neighbor left and I let him out of his room, he showed absolutely no remorse and refused to acknowledge that what he'd done was against the rules. I realized then that he cannot be trusted. So, these last few days it's been total lockdown at our house - every door is dead bolted closed at all times and no ones leaves the house before I do. I really shouldn't have to do this, should I? It's terrible that I can't trust him, but as he told me yesterday, "I know all things right, but sometimes I forget." Well, my little Alzheimer's patient, then you will be on 24 hour surveillance. Alas, it feels like more of a punishment for me than for him. Keeping him inside more only leads to moments like this:


He couldn't decide which game he wanted to play. And of course we had huge tantrum issues when I asked him to clean it up.

On a happier note, I did an activity I found at No Time for Flash Cards using number and letter recognition combined with one of Benjamin's favorite things - pretend play. So, I got out our passports and made up fake boarding passes. Then we arranged our chairs in rows, recruited additional 'passengers' and played airplane, complete with a safety demonstration and in-flight snacks - no budget cuts here! The kids had to hand me their documents before boarding and then had to find their correct seat row and number according to the pink tags I'd put on the back. Of course, as soon as Benjamin found his seat, he insisted on moving up to pilot, complete with cool shades. So he did the flying from then on, but we had a lot of fun and played it on multiple days.



Bella's newest favorite thing is music. She will regularly pull herself up on the piano bench and start playing notes while singing along. She also does the same thing when she's playing Benjamin's ukulele or when we went to the Detroit Science Center last week and she got to play the drums.


The cutest is to hear her singing along to hymns during church or Family Home Evening or to see her dance to the radio. She's really growing up. Only 4 more Sundays until she's in nursery! (Not that I'm counting the days or anything!) :)