the power of twelve

All the kids here understand somehow that age has its privileges...    
when you are two you get to use the potty, when you are three you get to have gum in the car, when you are four you get to play with bobbie's cell phone SOMETIMES...
an example follws in the form of a recent conversation:

Jack (7): Bobbie-- is that an ipad? (pointing to my ipad)
Bobbie: no (white lie?)
Van (4): Yes it is...
Jack: Can i play with it? (keep in mind at this point that at home, Jack IS allowed to play with their ipad)
Bobbie: No
Nell (also 4) Then how come Hannah was allowed to play with it?
Bobbie: Cuz Hanah is TWELVE.
Nell: Oh...

and that was the end of it...

Ella the dog trainer

We got Maggie when Ella was 4 years old. Now Maggie is 3 and Ella is 7.
After we had had Maggie a few months, she began learning some tricks. After the usual sit, lay down, and stay, Ella decided Maggie should learn how to "crawl", since she was a baby dog. Never mind that Maggie ran like the wind, fast as Ella. One of their favorite games being Ella running around the backyard yelling "Maggie chase me!", which Maggie gladly obliged.
After many tries and a few days later, Ella had taught Maggie how to crawl. It starts like "lay down" and then the dog crawls. Amazing. She has also taught her "paw" and "other paw" which is pretty self-explanitory.
The most recent accomplishment is called "Find it". Ella tells Maggie to sit and "wait" which Maggie does while Ella goes in the other room and hides a dog treat. After about 5 seconds, Ella comes back and yells "find it!". Then Maggs goes tearing into the other room, and finds the treat. It amazes me that a little kid can "speak dog" so well, but then, she is a remarkable kid!

sporty spice

The other day, Mason walked in the door with a blue bowling ball. One might think this unusual, but not for Mason.

If there were spice girls that were boys, and they were two year olds, Mason would definitely be "sporty spice". He is 100% boy in the classic definition.
He loves football ("go mountaineers" or "go wavens", depending on which jersey he is wearing)
    loves baggetball (basketball),
    loves bayball (baseball-called my son Sean "bayball" instead of "Sean" when he was first learning to talk)
    loves fishing (which he likes to pretend using dog leashes and the ottoman use your imagination)
    loves fwimmin' (his Mom says he is fearless in the "wah-wu")
Almost every day last week, he brought along a different BALL. One day, football, then a basketball, wednesday was a tennis racket and tennis ball. Maggie immediately claimed the tennis ball, much to Mason's dismay.... He retaliated by using his tennis racket all day long to hit all Maggie's dog toys all around the house. Which Maggie didn't care, such a good dog! He hit the balls like golf balls since i would not let him hit the balls in the air. So it is a new sport right, tennis--golf?
Probably the most random thing Mason has toted over was two ping pong paddles and a ping pong ball. We are pretty sure Maggie totally ate that ping pong ball. Mason and Nell and Van were playing in the other room with it when the ball disappeared. They got flashlights and turned looking for the ping pong ball into a search for "buried treasure" under all the furniture. Which was rewarding on its own and the lost ping pong ball forgotten... ahh... the power of distraction....

re-inventing the camera

So last week, Van brought a little red top to Bobbie's house. The kind that spins when you voop it the right way with your fingers. It was about an inch or two tall. He was really good at vooping it. When it was time to go to carpool, he took it along. When we got back, he realized he had lost it. After searching the van several times in the next few hours, Van decided to make a camera. We were having craft time, seeing what we could make with pipe cleaners, feathers, clothespins and glue. Oh, and googley eyes. Van puts together some stuff and declares it is a camera. He was going to put it in the van, then when its nighttime and the top comes out of its hiding place, it will take a picture and then he would know where the top went. Oh and he would need a flashlight....

pink kitten?

so little katie is now a three year old in the prime of being three. she is funny and serious and sweet and learning everything at the speed of light. she loves the color pink, wears it EVERY day, even if that is just a pink hairbow with her navy blue school school uniform... anyway,  her family got a KITTEN last weekend.

very exciting! i was asking her about the new kitty. she told me her name was "gloria" and her mom told me how old she was and how big she was. we decided we would make toys for her during craft time later in the morning. after mom left, i wanted to know more about the kitten. i asked katie what color she was. "well," said katie very thoughtfully,  "she's not a very pretty color..." i said "really?" "no", said katie, "not a very pretty color like pink, or purple. she is white and black."
hard not to giggle at the thought of a pink or purple kitten.... so i suggested we make her some pink or purple cat toys, which we did. gloria loved them, but maybe not as much as katie loves gloria!

Blue Angels

One of the annual events at Bobbie's house is going to see the Blue Angels perform for NAVY graduation. We go most years, gathering teenagers, college kids, parents and the littles in a giant stroller parade down to the Naval Academy for the show. It is a bit of a walk, but worth it when we get there. Sunny day by the water, plenty of room to run around, and bottles of bubbles round out the waiting until the show starts. The kids think the jets are great, but very loud.... A few years ago, we started packing my husbands hearing protectors he uses with his power tools in the workshop. They look big and funny on him and they look HUGE and HILARIOUS on two and three year olds. But it works, they are happy and that's what counts. When Jenny was a baby, she fell asleep on her Daddy's lap during the show. When Van and Nell were one, one of them fell asleep on the way there and slept thru most of it. When Leah was 2, she decided after the first fly over that it was too loud and she was done. So she climbed in her stroller to wait it out.

Butterflies

This morning Maggie was outside with me playing ball. Suddenly she turned and stated chasing something else which turned out to be a butterfly. It reminded me of Rhiannon, among others, who was forever entertained by looking for and chasing butterflies. Rhiannon is not her real name, but a name I love. (Katie and Jenny are "lucky" I got over my Stevie Nicks obsession before they were born.) Anyway, this little girl, who was two and then three at time would run all around the yard, or if we were up at the playground, all around the field chasing butterflies. So cute. Other flying objects that provide free entertainment are moths, cicadas, helicopters and airplanes and jets, including the Blue Angels which will have their own upcoming blog. Everyone needs something to look forward to!