I think 4 is a great age for a lot of reasons… one of which is the funny little things 4 year olds say…

Today we were walking to the van and she was carrying her coat, Kit, and her baby.  I said, “If you wear your coat you’ll have more hands.”  to which she said, “No, Mom, I’ll still only have 2 hands.” 

Last week before she went into her gymnastics class I told her to work hard and have fun.  “Oh Mom, that won’t be a problem at all… when I’m doing my back hip circle and I swing back from the bar and flip around, it’s just like I am flying through the air.”  The look of pure joy on her face as she described flying through the air is one I want to remember forever. 

A few weeks ago I served split pea soup for dinner.  While my husband and sons both enjoyed it, my girls did not.  AT ALL.   I suppose somewhere during the dinner I said something about how I worked hard to make that meal for them and I didn’t appreciate their disgusted faces and comments about the food.  And I suppose it sunk in a little even though they didn’t really eat it all that well.  Because a whole week later out of the blue she says to me, “Mom, remember when you made that soup last week that I didn’t like?”  “Well, it wasn’t that I didn’t like that you made it for me, it’s just that when it was in my mouth… pause… well…. when it was in my mouth it just made me feel like I had to cough.”  (essentially she said, “Mom it’s not that I didn’t appreciate your cooking me food, it’s just your food made me want to gag). 

Seriously, I love this girl and am not at all eager for her to grow up anytime soon.

This afternoon my smiley, mild mannered, easy going baby suddenly channeled his inner Dennis the Menace and went all toddler boy on me for 30 minutes. 

First I looked over and found him standing on his tool bench (oops look who forgot to put away the advent calendar with her Christmas decorations)

I got him down and shortly after realized things had been mighty quiet for awhile and went searching for him.  Found him in the master bathroom STANDING on the toilet. 

After shutting all the doors in the hallway we headed back out to the kitchen/living room.  He attempted to get water from the fridge dispenser but thankfully it was locked.   So, instead he opted for emptying my clean dishes from the dish washer into the dog bowl. 

I didn’t get them out right away b/c I figured the harm had already been done, and I would go ahead and finish emptying the dishwasher before he got into more mischief. 

But, that plan was thwarted when he then decided to DRINK FROM THE DOG BOWL!    While I moved the bowl onto the counter and the dirty cups into the sink, I turn around to find him standing in the dishwasher reaching for my leftover pizza from lunch.

At this point, I decide that this has TRULY BEEN THE CRAZIEST HALF HOUR OF HIS LIFE and strap him into his booster seat with my pizza in hopes of keeping him safe and me sane! 

When talking to my oldest daughter about things to look forward to in 2012, I mentioned to her that the Summer Olympics were going to happen in 2012.

“Oh,” she exclaimed, “I’ll be 6, can I be in the Olympics?”

I told her that when she was 6 she can try out for the gymnastics team at her gym, but she has to be 16 to try out for the Olympics.

“Well,” she said, “I’ll have the 6, I just need the teen!”

I opted to leave it at that and omitted details about the selection committee, the Károlyi’s and the slew of other things that would stand in the way of her and London this summer.  No need to dash a young girls dreams!

Even though she isn’t on the Olympic team… or any team for that matter, I am super proud of the skills she’s accomplished this past year.   A year ago she couldn’t yet do a pullover… now she can do a pullover, cast, back hip circle and is working on her dismount.   A year ago I couldn’t have told you what any of those things meant… I guess we’ve both learned a lot this past year!  Here’s a clip we snapped of her at practice a few weeks ago.

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My four year old asked for a drink the other day.   I always pour the kids small amounts since we have a propensity to spill things round the circus.  When I handed her the glass she said to me, “Now Mom, that is what I call HALF FULL!”  I couldn’t help but chuckle, guess we know how she sees the world. 

As my 4 yr old sat coloring in the waiting room this afternoon the mom beside me commented on her neat job of staying in the lines. 

Then we both did a double take and looked over at each other. 

Don’t mind the fact that the dress is green and should “really” be yellow… I love the fact that my girl goes against the flow and colors it how she wants… sure give Belle purple hair and a green dress.  Why not?

But, what is up with that neck line?  Seems a bit low cut don’t ya think?  I am hoping that somehow the coloring book missed a line or something.  But it sure looks to me like she was coloring it in correctly…

Never expected that from Belle… Ariel maybe, but Belle… with her nose stuck in a book… ya gotta watch those good girls I suppose!

On the wall in my bedroom, tucked away in the corner on my side of the bed is a shadow box in which I pressed some dried flowers from my wedding bouquet.   I’ll confess I don’t look at it often, but when I do I smile and remember that special day.

My children, however, don’t share my sentimentality.

The other day my 5 yr old and I were sitting on my bed and she said, “Mom, why do you have those old dead flowers hanging on your wall?”  I told her that Daddy had given me those flowers on our wedding day.   I of course thought this obviously answered her question.   But she looked up at me like I was crazy and said very matter of factly, “But now they’re dead.”    (as in so why do you have them hanging there now Mom?) It was then obvious to me that she thought her mom was crazy for hanging dead flowers on her wall.  I then remembered the conversation I had with her brother a few years ago when he asked me why I had poop hanging on my wall.  I told him it wasn’t poop, they were dried flowers from my wedding.  “Oh,” he replied, “they look like poop to me.” 

Something tells me 50 years from now when the kids are cleaning out our house and divvying up our our belongings, none of them are going to be fighting for the right to take mom’s dead flowers to their homes. 

The other day I was driving my oldest two children home when they suggested I text their Nana to see if the younger two were asleep so we’d know if we needed to enter in the backdoor.

I told them I couldn’t text while driving, but maybe if I got a red light I could send her a quick txt.  (I know, I know….)

Well the light was green and as we got rather close to our street my 5 yr old daughter says, “Mom, you gotta send the text!”  “I can’t,” I replied, the light was green. 

“Well Mom, I’ll watch the road for you and tell you if your going to hit something.”

“Thanks, but it doesn’t work like that, I need to be watching the road myself.”

“Why Mom?  Don’t you know this road pretty well, you drive on it all the time?”

I then went on to tell her while I know the road, I don’t know what the other cars are going to do on the road.   And even though she promised to keep an eye for me, I think it would be better for me to watch.

Can you just imagine?  Well, officer, I know I wasn’t watching, but she was my lookout…yea… my 5 yr old in the back seat… she promised to keep an eye out for me….

Now that my oldest 2 are at their tutorial two days a week, I find myself with just 2 children at home on those mornings.   It is a truly odd feeling and a dynamic I am not yet used to.  Though I am sure it is nothing compared to the strangeness I’ll feel next year when I am left with only my lil man two days a week. 

I am hoping to use this time to

1.  take care of errands

2. stay on top of housework/laundry

3.  enjoy some quality time with my youngest two

I was thrilled when I learned our library will be hosting story time a few times a month on the same mornings as our tutorial.  When I told my 4 yr old that we’d be going to story time this week she responded, “Story time, what’s story time?”   meanwhile simultaneously, my oldest child said, “Awh, story time… I remember story time… I loved story time!”

And there ya have it folks…evidence that you truly don’t parent the same way each time around. 

I remember with my oldest and even when his little sister came around, we went to story time… all the time… we were regulars…even hitting up more than one library.   Then number 3 came along and we went for a bit.. as I sat nursing her in the back row, trying to keep my toddler sitting quiet and encouraging my 3 and 1/2  yr old to go ahead and sit up front without Mommy… you can easily see with that beautiful picture how story time slowly became a think of the past… that and the fact that for awhile I banished myself from the library as a way of keeping my overdue fines in check.  Topped off with the fact that I couldn’t really go to story time on days we were schooling at home, b/c we had school work to do.. and then number 4 came along and he needed a nap in the morning, plus the girls played so nicely together when there brother was gone, why not take advantage of that time to catch up at home….yada, yada, yada… you end up with a 4 yr old who doesn’t even know what story time is.

I am happy to report that story time was a huge success this morning and we plan to return next month for more stories, songs, and crafts!

Scott and I have a few sayings  that we use often with the kids.

Life is not Fair

Life isn’t Always About You

You Can’t Cry to Get What You Want

and….

Never Trust a Bad Guy

1 -3 are pretty self explanatory… in a family of 6, you learn quickly that your not going to get what you want when you want it, you gotta wait, and that’s just the way it goes.   I try hard to remember who had the blue plate yesterday and who got to use the dog towel last after the bath, but you know… I can’t always keep track of it.  And while we do our best to keep things balanced, it’s just going to happen that someone is going to spend the night at a friends house and your not necessarily going to get to that same night.  It’s a hard pill to swallow and it often stinks… but you know, it is life.  And I’ll confess quite often, I need to remind myself of these same things… b/c sometimes I too want it to be all about me… sometimes I too get irritated when life doesn’t seem fair, and sometimes I too just want to sit and cry when things don’t go my way. 

So, we find ourselves repeating these truths… often.

I had to laugh when the girls were watching a DVD one day on the portable DVD player… some sort of “discussion” was taking place over the fact that one of them was holding it and not the other… I listened in to see if I was going to need to step in soon…

“It’s not fair that you get to hold it and I don’t!”  the younger complained…

“Well, remember, life’s not fair!” the older responded…

Yea… Mom had to step in and keep the peace during that little discussion…though I did inwardly chuckle and that application of a truth she’s obviously heard often…

A few weeks later the older 3 were arguing at the table and again one of them tried to pull the ol “life isn’t fair” card… this time the 5 yr old complained, “ I hate that they always say that to me… except for my sister she always says, “Remember what Dad always says, Never Trust a Bad Guy!”

This made me laugh out loud. 

When watching movies Scott often points out how untrustworthy bad guys are… when one bad guy will trust another bad guy, he’ll always say, “Remember never trust a bad guy.”   And inevitably later in that episode or movie that bad guy will have been double crossed and he’ll point out how it wasn’t a good idea to trust a bad guy.” 

I just love that my 4 yr old goes around saying that completely out of context… totally made me laugh… picture it…

“That’s not fair, it’s my turn for that seat.”

“Well, remember what dad always says, never trust a bad guy!”

So, I guess you have it… our family sayings… I had to chuckle when thinking about those cute little personalized subway art signs with family sayings that you see all over the blogosphere these days… don’t think ours would make for a very cute DIY project.    But, then again, I’m not that crafty anyways!

Last week after telling my kids the Bible story of  baby Moses, I decided to offer a little application for them.  I pointed out how neat it was that God took care of Moses as a baby by allowing the princess to find him.  I even told how amazing it was that his own mother was allowed to take care of him before he went to live at the palace.  After discussing how Moses grew up in the Egyptian palace, I pointed out how God used that later in his life when Moses led the Israelites out of captivity in Egypt.   I was going on about how we don’t understand the plans God has for our lives, but he has special plans for each of our lives, and just like God had a plan for Moses, he has a plan for each of them. 

Of course my son had to be argumentative (is 7 the new 13 or is this just at the circus?)  and say he didn’t think there was anything special about his life.   Which I then refuted, telling them that long before they were even in my belly, God had planned out their entire life and he did indeed have a special plan for each of them. 

My son, then replies, “Well, what about you Mom?  God didn’t do anything special with your life.”

Seriously folks, motherhood is not for the faint of heart… ya gotta be thick skinned to survive this stuff.

I refuted with the fact that I thought my life was pretty special… look I get to raise and take care of 4 special kids (sweet, loving kids who think the world of their mother… ahem)    and FURTHERMORE… I pointed out… my life is not over… who knows what other things God has planned for me or through me… thankyouverymuch!

But, apparently, you gotta lead God’s people out of captivity and into the promised land in order to be considered special around here.