Daley Ponderings

Faith has started calling Jonathan, "Ohnny-int"  This is related to how she says medicine ("meddy-int") and other words that end in /n/.

She also says her own name, which sounds unfortunately rather like "Hate" but the /t/ is a bit softer, maybe halfway between that and "Hathe".

3/30 - In the morning, I woke to the sound of the floorboards squeaking in my bedroom.  I opened my eyes and there was Jonathan with a tray of toast and juice!  What a sweetheart.

3/30 - In the evening.  I was looking for the 9x13 pan so I could make brownies.  When I found it (only in the second most likely place, really) it had already been greased with shortening!  Very curious.  So I went to the other room to ask who had so thoughtfully done this, and it turned out to be Jonathan.  I explained to him that that kind of thing really needs to be done right before you use the pan and not right after you wash it.  And he replied, "But Dad said, 'Grease the pan.' !"  Noah confirms hearing Jon say this, and I suspect what happened was that was what came out of his mouth, but he meant to say something else.

Faith loves counting and I will write how she pronounces the numbers, "one, two hee, hoh, hi, hick, heden, eight, nine, ten" "hedenteen, eighteen, nineteen, wennyteen"

4/3 - Faith, singing, "Baby 'Oy To the World"

We have now implemented an "introvert room" or "quiet by yourself time" room.  After observing that Noah can take an amazingly long time in the bathroom, it finally clicked for me that he didn't really need to take that long to do his business, but that his introvert self liked having that time where he could close the door behind him and be by himself for a while.  This is not so practical when there is only one bathroom in the house, so Jon's idea was to make the Blue Room into a quiet room.  Jonathan made a sign to hang on the door that says "Please don't come in" on one side and "please knock" on the other.  If someone wants some alone time, he can go in and put the sign how he wants it.  Then no one will disturb him until he comes out (exeption made for Mom or Dad if we really need to, but we do try to respect it.)  Even Jonathan has done it a couple of times, but it really really works for Noah.  Mr.Grumpy-man can go in to that room, and when he's ready to come out, Happy Noah is back and it is really great.

Jonathan had his eye on a spy kit from Rainbow Resources.  We made him wait the required week to make sure he really wanted to spend his money on it.  He did.  Then he had to think about shipping.  He could pay shipping and get the kit in a week or so.  Or he could wait until the homeschool conference and buy it without paying shipping.  He debated about this ("is it worth $5 to get it sooner?") and couldn't quite decide.  I emailed RR to see if we could preorder something for the conference and it turns out you can't.  If they don't have there something and you order it then, they'll ship it for free.  But that added at least another week to Jonathan's wait time and he decided to pay the shipping.  He asked Noah if he would pay it, since this was a spy kit for two that Noah would get to use also.  Noah offered to pay half the shipping and the deal was made.  They got out their wallets, figured out the amount (I had Jonathan pay for sales tax also) and gave it to me in cash, while I ordered it online.  The kit came in less than a week, which thrilled them both.  I think this was a great purchase and a great learning process as well.

We (especially Jon) have been having philosophical discussions with Jonathan about how you can know something for sure.  These have been very interesting and thought-provoking and it is amazing to me that he is already starting to think about these kinds of things.

4/7 - Jonathan planted his Larkspur seeds.  He was excited to be the first one to plant something in our garden.  They have not sprouted yet, but soon, we hope.

It turns out that Joy is losing her birth hair, it just took longer than for the other ones.  It looks rather like a receding hairline, but you can see the new hair already growing up.  She also has the "reverse-friar" look, as much of her hair is still in.

After reading my sister's rousing success stories of infant potty training, or elimination communication, I have been inspired to actually do it with Joy.  I was hesitating because the potty I used with Faith is still being used by Faith and it sits on the bathroom floor.  I decided it was worth $10 to buy Joy her own little potty.  It has been working really well.  Partly, I guess because I have had some experience, and a lot to do with the fact that Joy hardly fusses.  So when she does fuss, it usually means she has to go to the bathroom!  We have at least several catches each day (her bladder is small and she goes frequently!) and there have not been so many messy diapers because we have caught many of those as well.  Thank you, Janet, for reinspiring me!  Joy and I are both quite happy about it. (:

I think I haven't written about this before, but it's happened since birth.  Joy will often open her eyes when she's sleeping, especially when dreaming.  It was pretty disconcerting at first, but I have gotten used to it now.

Faith can now chew a piece of gum for hours without swallowing it.

4/12 - We finished up our taxes.  This is the latest we've ever done it and though it really wasn't too bad, I do prefer getting them done in January or February, especially since the first quarter estimated taxes are also due 4/15.  One fun thing that happened that night was that the three older kids played a game of Scotland Yard all by themselves while Dad and Mom were doing the taxes.  Jonathan was Mr.X and he helped Faith and Noah follow the rules for their turns.  So fun!