Quotes from Connecticut episode 1

Jubilee:

"I can want this?" meaning 'can I have this?'

"I a lamby frog!" hopping around.

"Whose name?" meaning 'what's his name?'

She didn't want to get out of her carseat and go inside, so I told her a story about a girl named Jubilee who got out of the car. She gave me the stink eye and said, "I don't like dat story."

Alysa: Wow you are getting to be so big!
Jubilee: I not so big. I so tiny. Sooo tiny.

Alysa: Where do you live?
Jubilee: Pink Playground!

We had some friends from out of town over, and I was trying to get all the kids' attention. I said, "One, two, three, eyes on me." All the school-age kids immediately stood attention and said "One, two, eyes on you." Jubilee was struck with the response I got, and once the kids went about their assigned task she marched around chanting "One, two, eyes on me! One, two, eyes on me!"

"It's cocoa dots!" describing her polka dot leggings.

I was making Jubilee a burrito. I had just pulled it out of the microwave and was letting it cool a little before I rolled it up. Jubilee was ready to eat and asked, "Can you burreet it?"

Alysa: Do you want to say a little prayer [on your breakfast]?
Jubilee: No. I say a BIG prayer.

We went to the library and as I was signing us in on the parking sheet she asked, "I can go in the alligator?" I was so confused. She meant elevator.

 

Levi:

I was making a sandcastle at the beach, and someone (Jubilee?) asked me to make it a "sand church." Levi took an interest and when it was a pretty big pile of sand he said, "I'll put the Angel Moroni on top!" He cast about in the sand for something to top it with, and I glanced over to check on Benjamin. When I turned back to the sand church Levi sat on it.

We were playing "soccer with hands" in the back yard, boys vs. girls, and the boys beat me and Jubilee (who repeatedly scored on our goal). Benjamin was pleased with how well they'd done. He did some mental calculations and said, "You're a mom, and we're eleven, comvined!"

I was looking back at old pictures and saw that Levi's birthday cake last year said "4 so happy" upon his request. This year he had brownies for his cake, and I didn't write anything on them. But I asked him, "If we had written on it, what would your cake say this year?" "Feliz Cumpleanos." Levi has got into the bilingual immersion program, and is now learning Spanish.



Benjamin:

"Instead of playing with 10 cards, we're playing with ALL the cards!" playing Dominion with his friend Alistair.

We were trying to skip rocks on the river, which devolved into throwing rocks in the river. Benjamin picked up a rock bigger than a brick and said, "They don't call me The Big Skipper for nothing!" and chucked it in.

Jacob:

Jacob and I were asked to accompany the Primary children on our clarinets, during the annual Primary Program. We had been practicing our parts and the kids had been practicing their singing. On one song they were to sing the final verse in Spanish. Jacob affected an Eeyore voice and said, "I'll be playing the clarinet in Spanish. But no one will probably notice."

We played the song "Follow the Prophet." I did the melody, and Jacob did some fun and fancy harmonizing written by Tara Haglund. Afterward we got many compliments, and two or three people independently told us we gave the piece a snake charmer feel.

Alysa:

I went to the church building to watch the General Women's meeting. We were chatting beforehand when Sis. Weseman, the RS president, dropped a bomb: "the satellite is broken."

We were all worried about how we would watch the broadcast, but she told us she had called the Bishop, interrupted his shower, and he had told her that his counselor had it all taken care of. Since there was no evidence of this, we were all a little concerned. One sister offered to text message the counselor. Another sister asked if we should go get the TV and try to test it out.

"Well, we have 45 minutes." said Sis. Weseman.
I turned and looked at her. "That's what the five foolish virgins said!"
It all worked out fine.

On Valentine's Day: The Musings of a first-grader

Oh, you guys. Benjamin came up with some real gems about Valentines Day. I've been smiling about them all month. Ready?

While contemplating making his valentine mailbox:
"I mean, I'm prob'ly gonna get letters from pretty much everybody... cuz I'm like the best kid in class."

Benjamin gave his classmates the good ol' lollipop valentine this year!

Out of nowhere:
"Valentines is mostly about chocolate. Right? hehe. That's the main ingredient of Valentine's Day." 
(He said "right" like "amIright" meaning, full of confidence.)

Jacob:Where are the [two inanimate objects that have now been forgotten]?

Levi: Maybe they're together.
Benjamin: Maybe they're dating. And KISSING!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Less Valentine themed but still hilarious:

Benjamin was looking everywhere for his homework. We had been working on it earlier and now we couldn't find it. Both of us had looked. He walked into the other room and I heard him say, "Ok Google. Where's my homework?" (Jacob and I both have phones with a voice search that activates when you say Ok Google.) Then, in a robot voice, he said, "Searching house..."  :D And the funniest part is that it wasn't in the house at all, but left out in the backyard and blown into the garden bed.

Thumbs up for s'mores 'round the fireplace 

Benjamin: Are you Italian?
Alysa: No.
Benjamin: I was talking to the sky. The sky is Italian.
Alysa: The sky in Italy is Italian.
Benjamin: What?
Alysa: The sky in Italy is Italian.
Benjamin: No. I'm serious. The sky is Italian. I heard that Italy invented the sky.
*gives me a look of wide-eyed innocence which breaks into a sly grin.*

Things Benjamin Said

"I demand you to tickle me." -- in a very regal voice.

Pleasantly, while opening the door, "Hey, outside! Here I come..."

Benjamin and Levi, closing the dishwasher.
"This job takes the strength of two men!" I said.
"We're boys!" Benjamin corrected.

Things Levi has said

The month of November was pretty good for 

Wacky Sayings by Levi.

"I don't need help, I just need complicadence" -- Levi putting on his own shoes. (By complicadence he meant confidence)

Jacob: Where is my hotel?...
Levi "You mean undies?"

"Dad! I've got a great way to spell 'penis'!" (Jacob and Alysa bust up laughing) "I mean, I've got a great way to spell 'pee'! P-E."

"AAAH! I was just practicing my screaming."

Mopping and singing to the tune of Cupid Shuffle "Down down swiffer mop swiffer mop."

"I dye my hair bald."

Some photos from this month:

trying to hide from the camera

"Take a picture of me in the leaves!!"

Levi the Triceratops
(more about Levi and Kiwi Crate on Everead)

Levi punches Benjamin because Benjamin won't smile for the picture.
It works.

A discussion about emotions at preschool:

surprised

sad

angry

happy

Doing Cosmic Kids Yoga at preschool

 A visit to the dentist!

"Let me see your teeth"

"Smile!"

 A couple self portraits:

Is this thing on?

There we go.

 Halloween 2014

Spiderman in the front, Bowser in the back!

Things they say

Jubilee says words!
Mom
Dad
Hi
Wow!
Uh-oh!
More
No, no, no
Woof
Meow
Please

Silly quotes!

You get what you have and you don't fit a fitch. - Levi

Levi: Mom, what starts with "bird?"
Alysa: Hmmm . . . Bird bath.
Levi: Yes! That's what I was thinking of! I was not thinking of bird poop. I was thinking of bird bath. Buh Buh... Bird starts with B.

Benjamin: Who gave us this scale?
Alysa: I bought it at Goodwill.
Levi: Good will, good won't.

Benjamin: trying to convince Jubilee to come back into the sprinkler's spray in the back yard: "C'mon Jubi! The boys love it ! We love it more than cream pie!! But, if you could get waterproof pie and then take it in, that would be the best ever!!!"

Levi lately

While clearing off the desk, I found a 3x5 card with some silly quotes from Levi on it. I should have dated it! Anyway, here they are:

this photo is probably from around the same time...

Because sometimes you might forget...
Levi: Mommy, how you smile again? Like this?
Alysa: Yeah.
Levi: Then you say 'cheeeese.'

Levi explains animals...Owls live in dark forestes.
Bears live in dark forestes,
and wolves live in dark forestes,
and bears also live in houses.

In a (failed) attempt to teach Levi to blow his nose, I taped his mouth shut one day.
Every time it gets a little runny he screams "BOOGERS!!!" at a glass-shattering pitch.

Levi didn't want me to step away from our game for a bathroom break...
Levi: I don't want you to pee! You don't even have a penis!
Alysa: Girls don't need a penis. They can pee without a penis.
Levi: Are you gonna buy one???
Alysa: No, I don't need one!

 More recently...

"Don't dry my hair! . . . Oh, that looks like a BOMB! I want my  hair like a bomb!"

Levi is more completely potty trained! Yay!

Levi is a Sunbeam!

Levi put mittens on his hands and gloves on his feet...

"Look at me, mom! It's ok if you giggle."

"Hey mom! Take a picture!"

Benjamin update

"Hey Mom! I've got a great idea. Let's have a garage sale, and we will sell money, and people will bring us toys."
Mom's eyebrows go up.
"Because this house is pretty boring."

Benjamin displays the best of the sickie menu:
honey toast, sugared bananas with giraffe bento pick, applesauce in fancy dessert cup. 

Benjamin, speaking on behalf of his frosted flakes: "Wah, wah, I'm getting wet, I'm getting wet!"
Benjamin, speaking as himself: "Don't worry, it's just milk!"
Jacob cracks up.
Benjamin, to mom: "You've got to blog that."

Benjamin is loving Kindergarten. He says, "It's good. I never have to pull cards, which are paper crayons, that you don't color with." Students have to "pull a card" for misbehavior. He told me the other day, "I'm getting so bored of always getting green checks!" (Your communication folder gets a checkmark which corresponds to the color of your card at the end of the day.) His favorite part of the day is recess, where he plays monster tag with his buddies. Monster tag is where some boys are monsters and they chase the girls, and other boys are superheroes, and they chase the monsters. His best buddy is Terrell.  His least favorite part of the day is "morning work" a little packet of worksheets the class does in the morning before announcements, that usually has a few coloring and tracing activities. Don't worry son, I always hated busywork, too. :)

We saw his teacher the other day at the school picnic, and, as one might predict, she clenched her fists and said "He gets so excited!" If you've spent time around Benjamin, you know he gets excited about things and clenches his fists and shakes them in his excitement. She also said she had noticed he has a big imagination, and that he soaks in everything. Also very true. He doesn't hear or see something that he doesn't ask about. Today he asked me, "What does radioactive mean?"

I went in to his classroom last Friday to read to the class. A parent reads to them for a few minutes on Fridays. I read Chloe and the Lion by Mac Barnett and Adam Rex (one we just got from the library, and that we think is so funny) and Petite Rouge Riding Hood by Mike Artell and Jim Harris (an old favorite that I developed voices for during the read-aloud unit in my Drama in the Elementary Classroom class in college). So that was a lot of fun, and since I was "Benjamin's guest" he loved being in charge for a small portion of the day. Last-minute babysitting fell through so I had Levi and Jubilee with me, but they were both very well behaved.

Stuff 5 year olds say

So, Alysa is trying to figure out what she wants to do about getting her hair cut.  She usually cuts my hair, as well as Benjamin and Levi's hair.  So, Benjamin suggested that Dad should cut Mom's hair.  I replied that that was a bad idea.  "I don't trust myself to cut Mom's hair and have her not be mad at me."  Benjamin's response:  "Why?  You could give her a kiss!"

On a related note, Benjamin has been working hard on filling up his 25 books sheet for school.  He told us that he wanted to finish so that he could be a Following Student.  As in, "The following students have completed their 25 books..."

Jacob

Making sense of the world

That is the full-time job of our five-year-old.

A: ...It wasn't a public school...
B: What's a public school? Does that mean you have to wear shoes?*
A: A public school is one that is run by the government...
B: What does "run by the government" mean?
J: It means that the government pays the money that it takes to run the school.
B: What's the government
J: ...uh... like The United States... it's people who...(there follows a 5 minute discussion about government, including the question, "does President Obama have to pay taxes?")

Truth, justice, and the American way. Including government.

*He's been told he has to wear shoes in the grocery store/library/wherever "because it's a public place" many times.

Benjamin's First day of Kindergarten

This kid started Kindergarten! Can you believe it?  Oh, he was so ready! In April 2012 he told me he wished his school was every day (rather than 3 days/week at Little Maroons). Now, in August 2013, he has got his wish!

On his way home from the first day he told me: "Mrs. Rorie is awesome. And I mean it."
"Great! I'm glad you think so! What makes her awesome?"
"Oh. You'll see."
"The only way I'll see is if you tell me."
"Well, it's in my backpack..."
He never did explain what exactly was supposed to be proof of her awesomeness, though we did go through his backpack shortly thereafter.

Today they had music, where they played drums. They also did a fire drill. "But it was just practice." He said, "what does drill mean?"

Yesterday he bought hot lunch for the first time -- it was pizza day. :) "Do you know you don't have to pack your lunch mom?" He told me after his first cafeteria experience.

For those of you who are wondering, I did not cry after dropping him off. I mean, seriously, this was such a happy occasion for him. (And, I'm not going to lie, it was a happy occasion for me, too.) I ended up clasping my hands in front of me and squeezing them together, saying "Oh!" from the excitement and nervousness. Those of you who know Benjamin well now know where he gets his excited hands from.

Yay, Kindergarten!

Some funny things Levi said

"You should have leaved it. Because I wanted lipstick on my ear." (after I rubbed off my kiss)

Benjamin: Can I play Google Earth?
Jacob: Google Earth isn't a game.
Levi: Awww! Can we please play just one level of Google Earth???

Benjamin is 5, Levi is almost 3.

Benjamin: Mom can we eat the poopy bugs now?
Alysa: What???
Benjamin: I mean, can we get dressed in our swimsuits and play in the sprinkler?
Alysa proceeds to question him in detail about "poopy bugs", and still has no idea what he was talking about.

Alysa: Chris is Kelley's husband. They're married.
Levi (to Kelley): Yeah. You can be married.
Kelley: Oh, thank you. I already am! Someday you will get married, too.
Levi: I will get married in 3 years.
To be fair, that's more than double his current lifespan, so it must seem like a long time . . . :)

Thank goodness for the internet... (envy=bad)

Alysa: "Okay, now that* reminds me of the other talk by Jeffrey R Holland. The one where he was like, '...If you have to eat...a poopcake...every time something good happens to anybody else...that would really stink.'... I am pretty sure those were not his exact words."

Jacob: "Yeah, let's look that up. Yeah, I'm certain those were not his words."

Here are his words, by the way, from the April 2012 conference talk Laborers in the Vineyard:

...envy is a mistake that just keeps on giving. Obviously we suffer a little when some misfortune befalls us, but envy requires us to suffer all good fortune that befalls everyone we know! What a bright prospect that is—downing another quart of pickle juice every time anyone around you has a happy moment!

Pickle juice! I knew it was something yucky, and not lemons... thank goodness for the internet.

*that here refers to this talk by Jeffrey R Holland, which Jacob and I watched together after he turned on this video.

The things boys say about pregnancy...

Levi: You are growing and your baby will come out!
Alysa: That's right, and what will we name her?
Levi: Jubilee-ee-ee.
Alysa: Right! And what will she be? (looking for "a baby" or "a sister")
Levi: A Mabel. (Mabel is our dear friends' baby girl)

Levi (Lifting up his shirt): Do I have a baby in my tummy?
Alysa: Hmm, let me check. Let me listen. Nope.
Levi: You have a baby in your tummy. There he is! He's hiding under, he's gonna come out.

Benjamin: Why did the birth cross the road?
Alysa: Why?
Benjamin: To get to the birth canal!

The things boys say...

Levi: Do I eat bunnies?
Alysa (laughs): No.
Levi: Do elephants eat bunnies?
Alysa: No, but . . . (trying to think of a carnivorous animal) tigers eat bunnies.
approx 5 hours later, Levi gets a tiger animal cracker.
Levi: Rrarr! I'm in the jungle! I eat bunnies!

Benjamin: We're licking each other.
Alysa: I see that.
(the boys continue to try and dodge each other's tongues)
Benjamin: It's a pretty easy game. It's for kids and up.

"The sea of raging hormones has ebbed."

Ten points if you can name that movie.

Everybody on a special blanket.
Thanks to Ashlee for the great photos!

a couple days ago:
Alysa: I am sweating like a crazy monkey!
Jacob: Are monkeys known for sweating??
Alysa: No, but I'm having to do this! See? (fans underarms in a monkey-like fashion)
_________________

And now it's time to answer your questions from the last post!

I was wondering how delivering the placenta works with a water birth. Did you do that standing in the tub too or were you to the bed at that point?

The placenta needed to be delivered in the bed. The midwives said that being in bed for that part helps them tell how much bleeding is happening, and as we all know too much bleeding is bad. So, I was in the bed. After delivery I carried Jubilee from the tub to the bed and we snuggled during the placenta delivery. I honestly didn't pay too much attention to the prep-work that Kathy was doing for placenta delivery. I chose to kind of tune it out and focus on the baby. When everything was ready Kathy asked me to push the placenta out, and I obliged.

I know some hospitals won't let you be in the tub after water breaking, so I would love to hear more about what your water "looking good" entails. 

This hospital won't let you be in the tub during the water breaking, but before and after is fine, as long as there is not meconium in the water. If there is, it is a sign of fetal distress or whatnot, and they want you to deliver in bed. (And I'm sure they have the special personnel standing by, too.) A friend of mine labored in the tub, got out so they could break her water, and found movement too difficult to get back in the tub. So, I knew I wanted to have my water broken first thing and then hop in the tub (assuming the fluid was clear and not green, which it was). Kathy broke my water and Jubilee's head was very low, and blocking the water's exit. "I think I broke your water... I must have," she said. Sure enough in a minute or two it was evident that she had and that things looked good for waterbirth.

Benjamin holds Jubilee!

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