Tales from Upstairs

Now that we live in a two-story house, I often send the kids up to their rooms and/or the playroom/guest room to play. (They’re not unsupervised, they’re just audio supervised.) Some of the things that I hear (and sometimes have to respond to) are interesting, or let’s be honest, just plain ridiculous. This is a chronicle of a few of those times.

*****

Sending Caedmon up to watch a movie on the guest bed for his rest time, I warned: “Don’t get up until I come to get you.”

“But what if my movie is over before rest time is over?”

“If you fast forward through all the slow parts and watch all the good parts of your movie before time is up, then have to go back and watch the slow parts again, that’s not my problem.”

(The lesson hasn’t been learned, by the way.)

*****

The kids were upstairs in their respective bedrooms for roomtime. (Roomtime is when they play alone in their rooms for a little while each day. It’s a wonderful practice.) Caedmon was told he must pick up his room before he was allowed to get other toys out to play. As this was not the news he wanted to hear, he proceeded to pitch an epic fit – behind his closed door. Before I could get upstairs to put a stop to the tantrum, I heard Honor yelling across the hall, “Caedmon! Stop your fit crying! You’re ok!”

It’s good to know the fullness of my gift of mercy is being passed down.

*****

While playing together upstairs:

Caedmon: Honor, my LEGOs are in the playroom, and I don’t want you to mess them up. So, I guess we can go in your room and have a tea party. *deep sigh*

Honor: YES!

*****

(A different day than above)

Caedmon: Honor, do you want to have a tea party?

Honor: YES!

Caedmon: Ok, but will you let me shoot all your stuffed animals with my Nerf gun if I have a tea party with you?

Honor: No, that’s not fair!

Caedmon: PLEASE?!

Honor: Ok, you can shoot them.

There’s a heavy price to pay for a decent tea party around here.

My {Little} People

Our baby girl is turning two tomorrow. Two. Just let that sink in for a minute.

Every time I think of her birthday, I think about everything that’s happened since she was born. Sitting in that hospital room back home, snuggling that precious came-two-and-a-half-weeks-early little girl, we had no idea that by the time she turned two, we would have experienced so much. I can definitely say that life hasn’t been the same since she arrived. For many reasons.

Life goes on, I know. The song says so. But I feel like the past two years have crawled along and gone way too fast at the same time. The tiny baby that peeps back at me from her newborn photos is long gone while a little girl with an ever-growing personality (and vocabulary) clings to my leg. She’s a spunky one, this girl.

Her big brother has grown and changed just as much. He’s taller. Stronger. Smarter. Sweeter. More thoughtful and kind than I ever thought a little boy could be. He surprises me daily, and I’m proud of him in so many ways.

I prayed that our kids would love each other – truly love each other. There will be disagreements, fights, and yelling matches. But at the end of the day, if they truly love each other, things will be ok. And the Lord has answered my prayers. These two kids of ours have a fierce love for each other that cannot otherwise be explained. I continue to pray that their love for each other would strengthen and nothing will ever come between them.

And as I listen to them giggle at each other from their bedrooms across the hall, my heart is content. Because in this moment, the world and all its junk doesn’t matter. All that matters is those giggly, silly little voices and the people they belong to.

Goggles and Bubbles

I never knew that two simple things could entertain my kids so well.

Caedmon got some new goggles in his Easter basket. He decided to wear them around the house. And of course, we had to pull out an old pair for Honor.

They get a little wonky after she wears them for a while.

Sometimes, goggles and bubble guns with no ammo just don’t cut it. So we move outside with our bubble juice and go to town.

In our pajamas, of course. (He may or may not have worn those mismatched pajamas for upwards of 36 hours. But I’ll never tell.)

This bubble stuff is serious business.

Those bubble guns could possibly be the best Target $1 Spot purchase ever.

And what do you do when you run out of bubble juice? You do things that give your Daddy a heart attack.

I love days like that – when we can just hang out and play. I love how well they play together!

Love and Oatmeal

I love it when my kids love each other. I mean, when they really enjoy each other.

The other morning, I was letting Honor feed herself oatmeal. She got tired of it and started fussing. Caedmon jumped in and helped her.

It was fun for a while.

But all good things must come to an end.

Oh well. It was nice while it lasted.

The Pictures…They Exist!

I’m trying to pick the camera back up on a regular basis. And you know what that means. You get pictures of things you never thought you cared about. And then you see the pictures and you still don’t care about them, but you’re nice enough to tilt your head and say, “Aw, those are cute.”

So here goes.

Prepare your head tilt now.

I recently instituted a “snack spot” for the kids. A place they can sit without having to be at the table to eat a snack. It keeps me from having to lock Honor up in her high chair all the time, and teaches her a bit of self-control. So far it’s going well.

Until she tries to steal Caedmon’s snacks. Definitely not using self-control.

Oh, you know, just hanging out with Dad and our semi-automatic toy handguns, waiting for Caedmon to come around the corner and assault us with his semi-automatic toy handgun. It’s quality time.

It’s been a while since we got the water table out, and the kids really enjoyed it the other day.

Honor figured out how to pour water on her head.

And then Caedmon figured out how to pour water on her head.

She liked it.

And of course, he poured water on his own head.

I love it when Caedmon and Honor just enjoy each other’s company, no matter what they happen to be doing at the time. It makes my Momma Heart happy.

I was in the kitchen yesterday, working on dinner. Honor was playing around/under the table in the breakfast area. I heard her squeal with delight and knew she’d done something. She had. She climbed up in the chair at the table all by herself. After she’s pulled her hair barrette out, of course.

To say she was pleased with herself would be an understatement. To say that I suddenly realized how many things she can now get to without assistance would also be an understatement.

This is our last “summer” weekend. Monday, we start school. Caedmon is excited. I’m excited. And still a bit overwhelmed, and hoping that my “system” will work. If my organizational system works, I can handle anything. If I have to re-work my organizational system, I can still handle it, it’ll just take while to feel like it.

Sibling Love

It has begun. That angst-y relationship between brother and sister that only someone with a sibling can fully understand.

Caedmon adores Honor. Always has. It makes my heart so happy that he loves her so much. And she really does love him back. Most of the time, anyway.

Caedmon is a snuggler. Always has been. Honor? Not so much. So when Caedmon decides he wants to cuddle, love, and otherwise impede her progress toward wherever she’s headed, sometimes she doesn’t appreciate it very much. And her current line of defense? Biting.

The other day I was doing some paperwork at the kitchen table. The kids were crawling around under my feet, playing. Suddenly, Caedmon started crying. “She bit me!”

Sure enough, Caedmon had a bite mark on his shoulder. I asked what was going on when she bit him. “I was trying to hug her and she bit me.”

I think Caedmon is learning that a hug, while great, is not always appreciated by everyone. He still tries, though. And he’s been bitten a few more times. But he’s starting to learn that’s the price he has to pay if he wants to hug her when she’s not ready. I figure he’ll either live with the biting or learn to pick his hugging times.

I’m not saying I want her to bite him, or that I think biting is an acceptable response to a hug. And she’s got to learn that biting is not ok, but it’s really hard to teach that when it’s the only way she can really defend herself. And it’s a little funny, too.

But she comes by it honestly. I was a biter. I don’t really remember being a biter, but I’m told that I was one. And knowing myself, I don’t really doubt it. Although, I feel certain the biting was justified. Honor will probably feel the same way.

Happy Easter!

I hope y’all had a good Easter!

We spent yesterday hanging out, hunting eggs, and enjoying the day. Our friends invited us to hunt eggs at their house, so after lunch, we enjoyed some time with G and his family.

Caedmon was serious about egg hunting.

And the boys had fun going through their loot.

Honor preferred to sit in the grass and watch.

Yes, that’s a clothespin on the back of Honor’s tunic/dress. I’ve always thought that putting a dress on a crawling baby is just kind of mean. But I just can’t help it, they’re so dang cute. She kept getting frustrated with it, so I “fixed” it.

Caedmon took this one…he loves taking pictures!

After naptime, we went outside to blow bubbles and I had to get an “Easter picture” of the kids together. 

I love Honor’s face in this one!

Caedmon blew bubbles for Honor.

More on our full Easter experience tomorrow.

One Day, When Someone Was Camping…

Caedmon has a tent that Meemom gave him for Christmas two years ago. He loves it. It’s not his first tent, nor will it be his last, I’m sure.

He’s had it set up in his room this week. He’s slept in it a few nights and even taken naps in it. But until day before yesterday, Honor wouldn’t get in it.

(Side note: If you’ve seen Caedmon telling stories, you’ll recall that he usually starts off, “One night, when someone was camping….” It’s been fun to tell stories while laying in his tent.)

As I’ve mentioned before, Honor loves to go into Caedmon’s room to play. And she’s usually all over that giant room of his. But she had avoided the tent. I have no idea why, really, because she’s quite the curious little thing. It must’ve finally gotten the best of her, because she finally ventured in. And she loved it.

The pictures are kinda cruddy because she was so excited that she was bouncing up and down and it was a bit dark in there. But I couldn’t not take pictures.

Honor was so proud of herself for getting in the tent!

Caedmon was playing Pat-a-Cake with her.

I love his face here.

These two are a mess. I love it when they play together. And I love playing with them.

So I’m going to take the next week off to do some more of that. See y’all soon!

Cheetos.

Honor loves her brother. She also loves to eat. Sometimes, the two things are combined. As in, when Caedmon is having a snack and Honor discovers she can poach some of his food. There are just some food items that are special when a kid eats them for the first time. And Cheetos is one of them. I decided to just take pictures instead of fight it.

Here’s how it went down: “No Honor, you can’t have any of my Cheetos.”

“Really? Because I’m pretty sure I can reach them.”

“Mom! Honor is trying to get my Cheetos!”

“Haha! I told you I could get one.”

“Mmmmm. I think I like Cheetos!”

Cheetos happen to be one of Caedmon’s favorite foods in the history of ever. I’m sure it has nothing to do with the fact that I craved them like crazy when I was pregnant with him. I’m proud that he shared his treasured Cheetos with such a nice attitude. Next time, Honor will have to have her own bowl!

Sleeeeeep

Y’all. for almost a solid week, I have slept all night. Sleeping all night shouldn’t seem like a big deal at this point in my life, but it is. (And I probably just jinxed myself.)

Remember Caedmon’s fear issues? He’s gotten much better. I can’t really say what magic thing it was that helped. Because goodness knows we tried a little of everything. And we still have some challenges from time to time, but that’s mostly habit and stubbornness. I have no idea where he gets it.

I finally changed my strategy in dealing with him getting up and being scared in the middle of the night. I started walking him back to his bed. And because my intention was to help him feel secure (and he asked), I would sometimes lay down next to him. And would promptly fall asleep.

It probably took him longer to fall asleep than it did me. Seriously.

I’d wake up at some point and stumble back to my own bed, hoping that was the only time he got up that night. As it stands, he is up and going by 6:30 or 7:00 anyway.

I really hope his sleeping issues are worked out. At least for now.

Honor is waking up early these days too. She’s learning to pull up, so she was up at 6:30 yesterday morning, trying to stand up in her bed. She did figure out how to get herself down, but she never went back to sleep. And was cranky by 7:30. Coincidentally, I kind of was, too.

At least Caedmon has stopped going to visit her when she wakes up that early. We had a few days when they were both awake super early and he would go “visit” her. Which didn’t work well for anyone. But in his defense, he was just trying to love on his sister.

The first morning she woke up early, he went into her room and talked to her. Sure, it’s 6:30am. Why shouldn’t they have a little sibling chat? Except that he knows he’s not supposed to go into her room. So we talked about that and he said he wouldn’t go into her room again in the mornings without asking.

The second morning, Honor woke up, and after a while, kicked her fussing up a notch. I checked the monitor and noticed her door was standing wide open. Not cool. So I asked Caedmon about it and he said he opened it. He didn’t want her to be afraid of the dark. Sweet boy, trying to take care of his baby sister. I hadn’t specifically addressed that the morning before, so we talked about not opening her door, and he said he wouldn’t do it again.

The third morning, Honor was again awake very early. As was Caedmon. And again, instead of settling down on her own, she got angry. I checked the monitor. Her door was closed all the way. Definitely not the way I left it. So I asked Caedmon about it. He’d closed the door. Why? Because she was too noisy. Again, I hadn’t specifically told him not to close the door, so this time, we talked about it. We talked about everything. Don’t go near her door. Don’t touch the door. Don’t breathe in the general direction of her room.

The fourth morning was the real test.  Honor woke up at 6:15. Caedmon, miraculously, was still asleep. I snuck down the hallway and closed his door so she wouldn’t wake him up. Honor finally settled herself back down and went to sleep.

A little while later, Caedmon came into my room, very unhappy. “Who closed my door?”

I can’t win for losing. Unless I get to sleep all night. Then it’s a win no matter what.

Cheap Entertainment

We’re easy to please at our house when it comes to entertainment. An empty box or a cardboard paper towel insert is all it takes to spark imagination that lasts all afternoon.

This, however, was something completely new. And apparently hilarious.

You’ll notice that Honor’s hysterical laughter didn’t keep her from continuing to shove food in her mouth. Sister doesn’t mess around when it comes to food. She was also sitting lopsided because she’d been laughing so hard, she literally couldn’t sit up straight. Caedmon is definitely the creative mind behind this little game, and I am both excited and dreading what happens when they take it to the next level. Because it always works that way.

These Crazy Kids

So here’s what we’ve been up to lately.

Honor loves Oz. And I think he’s developing a fondness for her, though he isn’t sure he likes it when she grabs at his ears. She’s spent the last week or so figuring out how to commando crawl and she made use of it to try to get to Oz. It didn’t last long. He got nervous about the whole situation and left.

These two are so sweet together.

Even when Honor is trying to grab Caedmon’s face.

Then they erupt into laughter.

And Honor tries to pose like Caedmon.

I got Beauty and the Beast for Honor. She was excited about it.

You may also notice she’s wearing a barrette. In her hair. It’s like I don’t even know myself anymore. Who am I, putting barrettes in my daughter’s hair voluntarily when we’re not even going out in public? It’s madness, I tell you.

Also? Honor is trying to pull up. She’s not yet figured out how to get back to a sitting position from her tummy, but she is determined to pull herself up. And help Momma with the taxes, apparently.

And yes, she bumped her head right after I took this picture. First head bump!

Caedmon and I have snuggle time before bed each night. He loves to tell me stories he’s made up. He likes the idea of “ghost stories” but he doesn’t really even know what they are. I’m trying to get one on video, and if I do, I will post it. The only thing I got from our attempt to video last night was a few goofy pictures.

I hope his goofiness never ends.