The Unkindest Kids of All.....?

As we pass the two-month mark since Allyson’s birth, it is time to pause and reflect on various reactions to her by her loving siblings.

Makenna: [Upon being gently implored to be Mommy’s big helper during the C-section recovery by being willing to run upstairs to get things Mommy might need as she recuperated on the downstairs couch during the day]: “She can crawl up the stairs! She can get Erin and Cameron to help her, ‘cuz I’m not gonna help!”
[But she really has been a very good helper, but I still marvel at how quick she came up with that response!]

Cameron: [After Allyson brushed his cheek with her fingers]: “She scratched me on purpose!” [Obviously he is assuming that she behaves like he tends to…!]

Erin: [Upon being told that she couldn’t have friends come over with a 2-week old baby in the house]: “I can’t have a friend over? Get rid of Allyson!" [The newness wears off ever so quickly!]

Erin’s Second Swim Meet

Erin is really getting her pace in swimming now, and at her meet last night she did really well, especially in her freestyle events. She swims very smoothly and cuts right through the water, and, as I told her, if things ever ‘clicked’ and she tried to work her arms and legs with some sense of urgency—i.e., as if she were in a competition instead of a leisurely swim--she would be hydroplaning! Her last event was a freestyle relay, and though she was on the ‘B’ squad, she easily caught up and passed the ‘A’ squad girl on her lap!

Allyson also contributed to the night’s events by having a major #2 blowout. Cindy was leaving halfway through with the other kids, and we discovered Allyson’s competitive streak (that extended halfway up her back!) just as we were getting her into the van.

I made the mistake of taking garlic hotwings to the swim meet for my dinner. Though they were tasty with the ranch & gorgonzola cheese dippy sauce, they were a bit messy and they kept attracting unwanted attention from both gnats and Cameron (is that redundant?) He likes to eat what he calls ‘the juicy inside meat with no skin that is not so spicy,’ and he was hovering around me the entire time looking for suitable scraps. This means that I cannot suck the meat off the bones like a regular carnivore, rather, I have to hand-pick the meat off (keeping the pinkies extended, of course!). He even tried a piece that had a little bit of the spicy coating on it, smacked his lips, and pronounced it as satisfying, then asked for a drink. Easier said than done with my messy fingers!

I had to do the timing for the second half, so Erin was left to her own devices. Near the end of the meet I glanced around to see what she was up to, and was truly, well, stunned by what I saw. She was busily putting our fold-up chairs in their bags and getting everything ready to go. This is not the child I know and love. Was it just a cruel mirage? Had her body been taken over by aliens? To check these hypotheses, I took her to Young’s Dairy for a double-dip cone (‘Cow Patty’ and Cookie Dough), and let her eat it in the dark car on the way home. Though not without some mixed emotions, I was able to ascertain that it was still the old Erin. Once we got home the tell-tale signs readily apparent--dribbles of dried chocolate ice cream down to her chin and ice cream spots on her clothes. I’m quite sure that aliens are more fastidious.

Burp Cloths

I was burping Allyson last night without using a burp cloth, and Cameron came up, stroked my grayish T-shirt, and could hardly contain a grin as he commented, ‘Yep, that’s a nice gray-with-white-dots burp cloth you’ve got there!’ Allyson has tossed her cookies down his shirt a couple times, so he ought to know!

Music to Swim By

Erin had a swim meet Tuesday night (she swam fairly good, but had goggle problems) in Wilmington, and on the long drive home a BeeGees song came on the radio, and after I told her it was a bunch of guys singing like that she said, ‘Really? That freaks me out! Change the channel!’ Later, when ‘Hey You’ by Pink Floyd came on and she again asked me to change the channel because ‘I don’t like how it makes me feel.’

It was a beautiful drive home--it was just getting real dark and the fireflies were out in force in the cornfields, and Erin and I also talked about school. She asked me what my best subjects in school were (I truthfully said I did well in all), and then she said that she wasn't so good at math. I lightheartedly corrected her: "Erin, it's not that you're not good at math. Rather, it's that if it isn't something easy you aren't willing to buckle down and take the time to learn the 'trick' for doing it. When we try to explain to you how to do some homework you are having problems with, you are so busy trying to figure out how to express your frustration to us that you don't open your ears. Yes, you are too busy thinking, 'I need to tell them how much I hate math!' 'I need to show how mad I am by scribbling on the paper.' 'I now need to use my eraser on the scribbles and tear my math paper at the same time.' 'Now I need to walk off in a huff.' So you see, Erin, you can do the math, you just need to slow down and take the time to learn how to do it right! Not everything in life is easy!" (As a father, I just had to throw that in!)
Erin just listened with a grin on her face and giggled when I got done.
She knows the truth when she hears it!

Blades, etc.

So I went to tuck Cameron in last night and found him patiently waiting. Even with the ceiling fan on medium he is sweating (as usual), so I pulled his sheet back. That gave him the opening to proudly demonstrate how far his shoulder-blade sticks up when he puts his arm behind his back. He went on to theorize that kids without shoulder blades can’t move their arms much. I tickled his back, tousled his hair, and then as I left the room he pulled his sheet back up. You’d think he loves to sweat!

Allyson is beginning to smile for real!

She is also ticklish in the pits, so if nothing else works, this usually will!
And you thought she was cute before!

Raspberries are on!

Not that you'd notice, though. So far Cameron and Makenna have joined me in the search for the first raspberries of the season, and as you might expect, these two raspberry pigs have eaten all the ripe ones and all the soon-to-be-ripe ones. Pink is definitely ripe to Makenna, but just to make sure she picks it and brings it over to me and sweetly asks me if it is ripe enough! Reply: 'If you picked it, it is ripe enough to eat! You go girl!'

UPDATE I snuck up to the back fence after work last night (Wed.) to pick the rasps and almost got 2/3rds of a baggie full of them before Cameron came looking for me, followed soon after by Makenna. I had already picked the bushes clean, but I only made it back to the safety of the house with about half of my pickings, and that only after I refused second handfuls for the two. Even Erin ate one!

We like to think we are normal....but you be the judge.....

Well, here is the first blog post for our family. The kids are bouncing off the walls in excitement....oh, no, I guess not. They just heard we are having ice cream and brownies for FHE dessert!
Cindy took Allyson in for her first photo shoot today, and after 90 minutes she was able to walk out fully satisfied with some pics of Allyson sleeping peacefully. I hear it beat the heck out of the first try, where Ally tried to break the lens with her squalling!