This and That

I had a yard sale last Saturday. I realized that I had way too much stuff in this little house and that another baby was never going to fit unless we cleared some junk out first. So that's what I did, and it feels great! The baby will now fit.

Plus, we earned almost half of what we need to purchase our Phil and Ted's double stroller. I can't wait to get it. Last time we walked to the park Moses got tired of riding his little Radio Flyer scooter about half way and I had to try to push him and Judah in our single jogging stroller with one hand and carry the scooter with the other. Not fun.

My mom and Bonnie also joined in the sale with me, and one thing they brought to sell was a box of old bone china teacups and saucers. I've been casually collecting old teacups at thrift stores and whatnot, so I picked out a couple for myself. Grace decided she wants to collect teacups too, so my mom let her pick out two. I think she's going to give one to BFF Katrina so they can have tea parties.

Anyway, Grace has also decided she's going to have tea every morning when she wakes up. This morning when I came downstairs with Judah (Moses was still sleeping) she had made her bed, gotten dressed, and was sipping tea from a lovely china cup. "English Breakfast," she informed me, "just like Grandma".

I decided to fly through the shower while Mo was still asleep and asked Grace to watch Judah for me. (Oh, the joys of having a ten year old girl in the house! The showering dilemma is solved!!)

When I got out I peeked into Grace's room, and there was Judah, perched on a stool at Grace's desk, swinging his legs happily listening to praise music and taking long swigs from his sippy cup.

"Judah likes English Breakfast tea, Mom!" Grace tells me. "I let his try some out of my teacup and he smiled and signed 'more' so I gave him some in his sippy cup!"

Sure enough, he likes it. We'll see if he takes a morning nap!

Grace has also been taking care of our neighbor's five chickens while they are on vacation. Who knew you could have chickens in our suburb! Grace has of course made friends with all the chickens and now loves them dearly, especially "Buffy", who obviously loves Grace back because "she's the only one who has never pecked me!" I'm pretty sure Grace is gearing up to ask us for some chickens of her own.

The boys and I go along every morning with Grace to "help," and Moses especially enjoys picking "geens" for the bunny Hannah. ("Geens" would be dandelion leaves.) It's a fun little morning excursion.


One other thing that Moses has been up to lately is not really in the "cute" or "fun" category. I made the mistake of letting him pee outside one time while we were doing school in the yard and I didn't want to interrupt our lesson for the one millionth time. I had him take off his pants and undies and go in an inconspicuous spot. Who knew that would open up a whole new world of possibilities to him! He now drops his pants anytime, anywhere, to relieve himself. And I'll put this delicately by saying there have been one or two occasions where we're not talking about just pee.

Last Sunday we had our Small Group over and were enjoying a meal together outside. All the kids were happily playing and we adults chatting away when Moses comes bolting in from the back yard and yells, "Hey guys! Come see! There's a whole bunch of poop and pee back there!!"

The fact that he was naked from the waist down was a pretty good indication of where said poop and pee came from.

The kid's been potty trained for quite a while, but I feel like we're going through it all for a second time! Ugh. I never had this problem with Grace....


On a different note, I'm really enjoying the Kate Greenaway Illustrations Clip-Art CD that Richard bought for me. She is one of my favorite illustrators and I love how she dresses the children in her books. I've decided to dress all my kids in the style of "Kate Greenaway children". I can't see a mother who looks like this and children dressed so beautifully being anything but light, lively and cheerful all the day long!



In fact, in her own time "Kate Greenaway children" became so popular that a whole generation of mothers in the 1880's and '90's dressed their children in high-waisted pinafores, pantaloons and mobcaps for the girls and "skeleton suits" and straw hats for the boys, all styled after Kate's drawings.

I can't see a little boy dressed like this pooping in the yard.