Daley Ponderings

9/19 - Joy  has been telling me when she needs a new diaper (patting her bottom) but this day, she got out the changing pad and wipes, set up the pad on the bathroom floor, put a new diaper on top of the wipes box, lay down on the pad, and called for me.

9/20 - Noah is definitely our hands-on guy.  He asks for crafts related to what we do in school.  When we read a book about archaeology, he immediately wanted to go dig in the back yard.  He got a trowel and a sieve and a container to hold his treasures and happily dug and sifted for a long time.

~9/20 - Joy can say, "ow".

9/25 - Joy put on her own socks all by herself.  Before this, she had successfully put on mine.

9/27 - Joy says "please" to go with her sign.  It sounds like "wee".

9/27 - Sounding the same, but in a different context.  When she plays with the abacus, she says, "wee, wee, wee" as she movs the beads.  9/28 - She also "counted" "wee, wee, wee" when playing with the corners cards.

9/28 - Faith really wanted to play Corners with me, so I made up a version she can do.  (The "real" game involves finding numbers that add up to 5, 10, 15, or 20.)  We played where we had to match the color and the numeral.  Faith loved it! (More)

These notes are really old, but not lost.

6/7 - Noah's first lost tooth.  Bottom left front.  It took a very long time for it to come out.  He doesn't play with it at all..

Joy was sitting on the couch.  Faith wanted to do a trick, so we asked Joy to get down.  She did it willingly, waited for Faith to do her trick, and then climbed back up, without complaining.

6/20 - Noah's right bottom front tooth came out.  He was eating a cookie.  The tooth was chocolatey, so he went to wash it off, but then the tooth went down the drain.

~6/30 Joy steps down two stairs like a big person.

8/10 - Faith can pump a swing needing only one starter push.

8/14 - Joy was having a fun time in the bath, leaning back, nearly floating on her bath, then putting her face in, over and over.

8/20 - Noah's front right upper tooth is lost.  He says, "I'm going to get money."  Jon asks, "How do you know?"  Faith pipes up, "Because Mommy is a fairy!"

All four of Joy's canines have appeared since the move.  I did not pay enough attention to note dates for them.

8/24 - Noah did the monkey bars at the playground all by himself.

8/27 - We're at the playground.  I can't hear the boys' conversation, but then I hear Noah shouting defensively, "I'm not a homo sapien!"  You might imagine that until he finished the second word I was concerned that Jonathan was talking inappropriately.  But I could not help but laugh when I heard what the accusation had been.

9/1 - We were visiting our next door neighbor's yard sale.  The lady said "hi" to us and I said, "Say, 'hi'".  Faith got all shy, and hid into me.  But then I heard from the stroller, "Hi!"  Joy said it several times!

9/6 - Faith's 4th birthday!  It was a really fun day.  We went for a walk, we went to the playground, Grammy took her out for ice cream.  They had a grand old time with balloons.  We had a dinner of pizza, pasta, and salad.  Then Faith opened her presents, and then we had cherry 'o cheese pie and ice cream with sprinkles. (Faith actually skipped the ice cream in the evening because she had had hers earlier with Grammy).  Faith's review?  "That did be the funnest birthday I ever had!"

How do I begin? Not really at the beginning.

June 15, we sold the house we were living in and drove to New Hampshire in two moving trucks and a minivan. (A very hearty and grateful "thank you!" to Ron and Ron for driving the trucks!)

The days preceding that day were extremely full, including two funerals for people from families dear enough that we felt it necessary to carve out the time to spend with them.

We did not technically buy our new house for another couple of days, but it did eventually work out.

We are staying at Jon's parents' house while renovating our new house.  This is for the very most part a good thing.  The only disadvantages we've found so far involve having things in two places.

Renovations are right now at the "rather overwhelming" stage.  There's a lot of work to do and we wonder how it will all get done.

At the end of June, we took a break to spend a week at the Maggie P with lots of family, including the Swiss cousins, and Noah and Joseph had their birthday together.

After we got back, Jonathan, Noah and Faith had two weeks of swimming lessons at the lake.  Jonathan started learning official strokes, and Noah got to the confidence level Jonathan had last summer.  Faith made progress in being comfortable in the water as well, though she still wouldn't put her head under by the end of the sessions.

For the past week, Jon and Noah have been in Pittsburgh finishing the fixing up of Carroll St, and getting some work done for Lime Daley customers.

I've been meeting with a bunch of contractors - plumbing/heating, painter, plasterer, chimney guys. A local college student has been coming over nearly every day for a few hours to scrape wallpaper.  It turns out when you start taking down wallpaper, it just goes and goes and soon you have two whole hallways including staircase of wallpaper to take off.  About four layers of it, too, a hundred years' worth.

Speaking of a hundred years.  Jon took off part of one wall in preparation for building a built-in bookcase, and he found a treasure!  A Mother's Day postcard from 1912, from the Sunday School of Smith Church (Jon's parents' church).  It is really neat.  We're going to copy one side and then frame it with the copy so you can see both sides.

Time to start getting ready for bed.  I will try to post updates more frequently, but it's hard to find the moments. Tonight, I found myself alone with the computer while all the kids were outside playing with the neighbors.  After some grueling looking at curriculum stuff, I thought I'd have a nice little blog time. (:

Pictures from April till now are posted. (See link on the sidebar)

5/24 - I don't remember the context, but the quote from Jonathan is, "Well, the definition of 'Mom' is basically 'tired person'."

5/25 - Noah showed me his newfound skill of pumping a swing from standstill to as high as he wants.  To me, it is one of those things that is an "all of a sudden".  Just the week before, I was thinking it was about time he could do it but it just didn't seem like it was happening.  Then it just clicked and he can do it.

5/25 - Faith has said this for a while but I thought I'd record it.  "Company" has the "an" and "y" switched, plus the sub /c/ for /t/, so it sounds like "tumpyan."  Very hard to understand if you don't get the context, but still kind of cute.

5/26 - Noah called the boat fender the "defender".

5/30 - I got up early to go to the bathroom.  When I was washing my hands, I heard a clear, distinct, "Mommy!" coming from the bedroom.  I thought it was strange for Faith to be up so early, but when I got in, I saw Faith sound asleep.  It was Joy who was sitting up and waiting patiently for me to answer her call!  Since then, she calls me by name a lot and it is so sweet.

Certain relatives might be interested in knowing that Jonathan's list of books he wanted to keep out until the last minute are D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths, his children's Dictionary, one Calvin and Hobbes book, and one Asterix book.

4/11 - Jonathan likes to be creative with lunches.  He made dill pickle and mustard sandwiches that day. He liked it.

As I was keeping track of rainbows I was struck by how many days were sunny.  April 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 25

4/14 - Faith's first time successfully saying her name to a stranger.  A major victory! Even still, she doesn't like to do it.

4/16 - Joy's bottom right molar came in

4/18 - We had a very fun afternoon playing family soccer in the back yard.  It started out with rather evenly-numbered teams and then progressed to all of us against Daddy only kicking with his left foot.  He still beat us.  But when we switched goals we managed to get half his score instead of zero.  Then we played "ball soccer" which is basically do whatever you want to get the ball to the goal.  It was a super fun time! (More)

Last catchup ended on the weekend of the fire company banquet.  That weekend was also the beginning of the new adventure.  Two different people called up to ask about looking to buy our house.  No, not the one we're fixing up to sell.  The one we're living in.  Well, ok, I guess you can come see it, but we're not really thinking of moving.  That weekend, Jon is also showing the rental house to someone who might buy it before we finish fixing it up.  Jon ramps up looking online at houses in Hillsboro.

3/12 - Noah and Faith are supposed to be doing chores.  Faith says her hair is getting in the way.  So Noah cuts it for her.  They are both very happy with the results.  I try to remain serious while explaining why this was not a good idea, but have a hard time not laughing. I think I succeeded.  For a five year old, Noah really did a good job.  We did go to a place to get the back straightened out a bit.  And maybe next time I'll try it myself and save the money (not too much doubt on my part that there will be a next time for somebody.)  It is very cute, anyway. (More)

2/6 - Joy went down a whole flight of stairs successfully.  She slides down forwards on her bottom.  Faith was with her this time.  By now, she's an old pro at stairs.

I bought some mini hair clips for Faith.  They are the normal clear, brown, black, swirly brown that hair clips often are.  But as soon as Faith saw the swirly brown ones, she said, "Cool!  Camo hair clips!"  Then she does that macho guy stance that the boys do when they're being or doing something heroic. (:

2/21 - Faith said her whole name with all the correct sounds. (More)

Grandma, whose time is quite full with two grandchildren, is still itching for a blog post about the others, so here it is.

I found an old piece of paper witih some notes on it and just searched our blog - I did already post it and it was from 2008!

Ok, here we go:

12/22/2011 - Faith, after listening to the Hallelujah Chorus.  "That did be a lot of hallelujah!"

12/23 - We were visiting an older aunt and uncle (more like great-grand-aunt really) and Aunt Doris was playing with Joy's toes.  She asked me, "Do the piggies still go to the market?"  As in, do young mothers these days still play that game?  But Faith answered her, "No, only the big one does."

12/29 - Looking at an old wedding photo.  Noah asks, "Who's being weddinged?" (More)

More than a month's worth of notes...

10/3 - Joy's diaper was dry all night long.  She went in the potty three or four times.  This was exciting to me and so the next night I prepared to be diaperless.  I spread a waterproof pad, with towels on top.  But she and I are so wiggly during the night, it was hard to keep the towels straight and then she was cold without anything on her lower half and when she did wet the towels, changing them was a pain.  So, we're not ready to go diaperless yet, but we do have success with pottying in the night.  However, recently (read: several weeks) Joy has been screaming in the night, whether it's changing her diaper or putting her on the potty.  I found that if I'm aware of more subtle movements I can nurse her before she screams (but that is her first vocalization) but I am at a loss for the hygiene part.  Do I just put her in a paper diaperand undo all the work and awareness of needing to go?  Or do I persist in hopes that she'll stop screaming before we both go insane with the sleep interruptions?  I need to go look at forums for suggestions.

10/5 - Joy got her uppder left lateral incisor.

10/5 - Jonathan, "I don't feel like Dad-o is a grandpa, 'cause he still goes up on roofs and stuff." (More)

Well, in the three weeks since I last posted, Joy has made major progress in mobility and the rest of the household is still working to adjust!

9/11 - Joy started crawling longer distances with a cross-pattern belly crawl.

9/13 - Every time we go into PIttsburgh, we cross the Allegheny River.  Faith always asks me what river we are going over.  This day, she said, "Mom, did that be the Alligator River?"  (Now, she says it correctly to the best of her speech ability and names it every time.  She has a little 'Allegheny River' song that she sings.  It sounds like "Ahwee-daynee widduh") (More)

8/21 - I can't remember when babies are "supposed" to get object permanence, but Joy definitely has it.  She was playing on her tummy on the kitchen floor with two toys.  When she lost them under herself, she looked all around trying to find them again.

8/24 - Jonathan called the part between your throat and your stomach the "sarcophagus".

8/26 - Joy started sitting up for several minutes before falling over.  Now she is an old pro at it and rarely falls over.  She can sometimes get to a crawling position from sitting. (More)

6/14 - On our camping trip, Faith liked to play Ice Cream Shop.  Her flavors are unique: pineapple hot sauce, strawberry beet, water, to name a few.  After those, I requested just plain ice creams, though she really wanted to put hot sauce on most of them.  We finally settled on a good flavor that I thiink someone should really make: mint chocolate chip cookie dough.

6/15 - Noah,"I thought 'spores' were graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows."

7/5 - After some discussion about what colors make when mixed together, I suggested that Jonathan make a color wheel.  He started basic, with the three primary and three secondary colors.  When dividing his circle, at first he drew in radii, estimating how much space he needed to make sixths.  The next time he did it (when he accidentally colored two pieces red) he drew diameter lines.

7/5 - (I don't remember the context for this) Noah, "Faith, if you see a dead guy with an American flag on him, that means he's an American soldier."

7/6 - Noah can pump himself on the swings.

7/9 - We were talking about milk banks (oh, because I was thinking it might be time to use up the breastmilk I have in the freezer) and Noah, my punster, said, "So do they put milk in the penny rolls?"

7/9 - Jonathan, "I don't know why, but being generous makes me happy."

7/20 - Joy started pushing up on hands and knees.

7/29 - Faith, when meeting someone, "I is my baby sister's big girl."

Faith says this often, when I ask her what she said, "I is just talking to mine own self."

8/12 - Joy started making forward progress on hands and knees, mostly by drawing her knees up and then lunging.

8/13 - Noah, on the boat ride back from Star Island, "Star Island is a special island.  It always brings you back."

8/13 - Jonathan, also on the boat, as he watched the island recede from view, "Mom, I think you gave me some of your brains when I was born, because I recognize a lot of these things."

8/13 - Noah, discussing a word he and Jonathan were looking at, "I thought 'ON' had two 'F's"  A couple of days before, he had noticed "NO" on a cap on the floor and we discussed how "NO" and "ON" are upside down from each other.  "OFF" was also on that cap.  I suspect that he did not understand what we meant.  He knew "NO" and so the other word, "OFF" must be what we called "ON".

We are now home from our very long and mostly fun vacation.  Here's a quick summary.  We went to Madison, OH and stayed on the beach of Lake Erie.  Then Jonathan and Noah went camping with Grammy and Papa on an island in Lake Erie while Jon and the girls and I came home.  Jon picked up the boys on Tuesday.  Unpacking, washing, and repacking.  I sprayed poison ivy in the yard and poked a (not poison) stick into my cornea.  We left for NH the next day, me riding with a pillow over my face the whole time.  Jon and his mom went on a weekend canoe trip, while I stay in bed and the kids play Wii.  My eye, amazingly, is better by Sunday, as the eye doctor had predicted. (Except for some blurrines for which I am going to see him again today to check out.)  A few more days in NH, then to the Maggie P.  The Swiss contingent is there and it is so much fun to meet Joseph in person!  Big Weekend, 7 Wonders, beach bocce, swimming, crabs, etc. Jonathan caught a soft shell crab.  Day trip to Star Island turned into an overnight, then turned into a week.  Jon stayed on the island to help lead the youth conference for the next week.  The kids and I went back to CT to finish our visit with the family.  Driving by myself on a long trip with a young baby is not fun.  Please remind me not to do it again.  Last couple of days at the Mag were sgort and sweet.  We'll miss that little guy (and everyone else, too.)  Back to NH, back to the boat that couldn't seem to get us there, but finally we did.  Lots of fun and yes, even relaxation, on Star Island.  Then back to CT to pack up the sailboat and all the other things that we did not take to Star.  One night in the Flounder, then a long and rainy trip HOME!!!

If I'm not getting sleep because I have a sick baby, at least I can make a post!

Jon was with a bunch of people we don't see often last night, and one of the men mentioned that his wife was discouraged by all these homeschooling mother-of-many type blogs where everyone has all their lives together and nothing goes wrong.  So I thought I'd post how my life is not perfect, though it is very blessed.  I am not a perfect mother, but I'm the best one for my children.  I am not a perfect teacher, but I am the best one for my children.  I am not a perfect homemaker, but I'm the best one for my home.  I'm not a perfect wife, but I'm the best one for my husband. I hope this post is encouraging to other not-perfect moms. (More)

Joy has two hair swirls at the back of her head.  One goes clockwise and one counter-clockwise.  Each of my other children only have one.

5/3 - Joy's two month appointment.  12 lb, 3 oz.  She is developing a birthmark in the upper right of her forehead (can't remember the very long medical term, and interestingly enough, "birth"marks can appear within a few months of birth and not only at birth.)  It's likely to grow to about a nickel size and then recede to be gone when she's about five or six.  When her hair grows out, it should completely cover it.  Her bellybutton finally finished its healing and got the ok. (More)

4/15 - Faith and Noah are playing house.  They are married, and are parents to Faith's "purple baby doll".  Noah says to Faith, about their baby, "When she is happy, I hold her.  When she is sad, you milk her."

4/18 - We were talking about heaven (I don't remember the beginning of the conversation) and the boys were discussing what it might be like.  Noah said something about being able to do amazing things to the bad guys.  Then both Jonathan and I said there won't be any bad guys in heaven.  Noah was taken aback by this and the look on his face was priceless.  He just couldn't comprehend how heaven could possibly be fun if there were no bad guys to fight.

Faith still asks me to tell her "Moses and the little boat" every night at bedtime.  She has asked for this since at least December.  I got tired of saying it in my own paraphrase, so I have been reading Exodus 1:7-2:10.  One night recently, when I had finished, she rolled over and sleepily said, "That's a good story."

4/20 - Random dinnertime discussion.  How much salsa can you fit in a minivan?  We calculated about 2 tons.

On Easter Sunday, we were singing some resurrection hymns.  When we had finished, Jonathan was still looking through the hymnal, and he said, "Here's one that has parts about the cross and rising again, this would be a good one."  Which one was this?  St.Patrick's Breastplate.  Honey to a mother's heart. (And a grandmother's, too I'm guessing, as soon as she reads this.)

4/27 - Joy found her thumb.  She has also been grabbing at any fabric that is near her hands, mostly her clothes and sometimes the spitup rag.

And now I leave you with the funniest quote of the week:

4/26 - Another dinnertime discussion, talking about recent holidays.  Noah asked, "What's Lent, Mom?"  I explained a little bit.  Then he responded, "Oh.  I thought it was that stuff in between your toes."