wouldn't it be nice

Today was crisp and cool, a lovely day to be outdoors. The girls, dog and I went up to the Lake Youngs Trail; I ran, Bo ran, they rode bikes. It is quite a hilly trail, and muddy this time of year, which makes it challenging. After riding about four miles, Naomi spent some time contemplating who was doing work. Eva was up ahead riding hard, I was running with Bo's leash in one and and the other hand firmly pressing Naomi's back to give her some extra momentum on the hills. She was pumping her tired legs hard as she could, and looking at her drink holder. "We are like a machine, mom, all of us working to move together. Except my water bottle. Wouldn't it be kinda nice to be a water bottle, except alive? Just sittin' there, in your container, not doin' anything, but not gettin' thirsty or hungry. Just seems like it would be nice."

bedtime?

Just went upstairs to tuck in the girls, who were supposed to be in bed with lights out... As I creaked up to the top I hear a scuffling, and see Naomi leaping onto the bed, saying "Oh no-the paparazzi!" The covers couldn't hide that, other than her pajamas, she was wearing rhinestone sunglasses, lots of bracelets, a backwards cap, and holding a plastic neon echo-microphone. Eva was lying in bed giggling, and had just put down a used up disposable camera; she, apparently, was permitted to photo the celebrity- I, however, was an unwelcome intruder. Guess she has an agenda other than sleep, that superstar.

poetry by Naomi

Found some poetry scrawled on a scrap of paper next to Naomi's bed the other night... Apparently she's been writing acrostics. Here is a humble verse she wrote using her own name- first in her quick spelling, then a translation, if needed.

Naomi:

Nevr bedr
Apsulootll grate
Olmost betr
Masiv strakth
Inposibl to bet

Never better
Absolutely great
Olmost (almost) better
Massive strength
Impossible to beat

dozens of pictures and a few jokes

Since the kids don't go to school, I try to do some "official-ish" shots of them individually each year- usually on their birthdays. This year Grammy wanted some framables, so we had a few (painfully goofy) photo sessions. The results are as follows, with some funnies thrown in. The human face is so interesting- the possibilities for expression are endless!

Eva was all dressed up to go to the space needle with Auntie Sarena and Anika. She was so joyful and excited, I think that helped in making the pictures turn out so lovely.

Love, love love that one. (above)

Eva decided yesterday that Bo needed to be more helpful, and she was going to train him to be a guide dog. After a 1/2 hour session of cutting and coloring, a paper vest was produced with the label "Guide Dog" and a graphic of a person in a wheelchair. She called the pup-o-sixty-pounds into the living room, and proceeded to attempt to cape him- twenty minutes of wrestling resulting in failure later, she walked into the kitchen muttering something like... "He's never gonna be a guide dog, that...." -rumpled paper dragging behind. Bo trotting in a little later, looking quite carefree, and still unemployed.

Nomes- a total goofball at heart. :)

This was where she wanted to sit for her photos, but the sun was too bright to turn towards me...

We don't like to waste things in our family, and the kids are always good about re-purposing... Yesterday Naomi was touching a watermelon I was about to slice for her, and she asked me quite sincerely, "Mom, can I hollow this out and use it as my bicycle helmet?"

Bubs isn't fond of photo sessions- we had to tell some pretty gross jokes to keep him around and smiling for these. The "truest" smile is the last, where he's snuggling his beloved Bo-dog.

We were in the car the other day and Bubby said, "Mom, I was thinking, and I thought of a question... Why don't Grammy and Gramps have any kids?!"

(He did figure this out correctly on his own- thankfully.)

The next question was- "Why on earth do we get mail on rainy days?"

And then today, when we got the mail together, he said- "Yay!!"

"What do you mean, 'yay'," I said, "It's just junk!"

"I know! I mean 'Yay', I can burn it!"

said the heifer to the bull...

The other day we went through the four-way stop near our neighborhood, and slowed a little, as usual, to peer at the livestock on the right. "Oooo..." said Naomi with a sly grin, "I see an udder surprise!" Goofy laughter ensues.



So that is to say, that Naomi has been just slightly fascinated with udders of late. No particular reason why, that I know of- just finds them interesting and rather funny. And that leads to last night's post-tooth-brushing conversation, which I overheard...



Naomi finished brushing and leaned over the wooden stool (could be a milking stool- but isn't). "Whoop!" she says, "I'm a cow! Someone's milkin' me! I'm a cow! Milk milk milk!" This accompanied by handmotions on her invisable udder, pointed toward the stool. Josiah finishes brushing too and wants to get in on this pretend... "I'm a cow too! Someone's milkin' me too!" he says.



"No, no, Bubby." Naomi says. "You're a male. You can't get milked- you've gotta get killed, and ate! You're no dairy cow... (and here she pauses to shake her head, and give him a consiliatory hug).... You, are a Steak."

a little news about Naomi

Naomi's newest favorite snack- a whole avocado, peeled carefully. It makes her muzzle quite slimy , but she adores it.

Naomi is growing like crazy, and of course learning and doing all sorts of new things. She has really been into biking lately, and has challenged herself on the Lake Youngs Trail- wanting to go faster and further each time. It is so fun to run with her and watch her getting better and feeling great about it... She has become an awesome rider!

Naomi is also making gains in spelling and reading. As a kid, and a younger sister, she has been hearing "secret" things spelled out by adults for years, and has made a mission of figuring them out. She's been pretty good at certain things. In fact, when she was two, she used to ask for "C-A-N-D-Y." So the other day, she overheard Eva and me discussing when and how a package would arrive, and she thought she was missing out on something when we mentioned the "USPS." Not about to be left in the dark, she rushed over and yelled out, "I know what you're talking about!! Us pus!" We're not pulling the wool over her eyes anytime soon, right?

heartfeltish prayers

Above, a few great old (relatively) pictures of Naomi. I think she is three here.

Below, a prayer that was somewhat contrived in motivation, though sincere, I think, in word, as is everything that comes from Naomi's mouth (for better or for worse). She is trying to complete her book for Awana (a church club for children) which entails memorizing scriptures and completing various activities and charts. One of the charts is about praying for people. That annoys me, because to me I think praying should be a personal choice, not something that one can check off ten times in a row. It's one thing to suggest that it is thoughtful or helpful to pray for others, but to make a checklist to "pass" a section, well it just seems silly and artificial. So I've never really emphasized that section.

Anyway, so when Naomi said she was tired of working on this (she always forgets) and wanted to do it all at once, I didn't object. (When it's about filling in the box, it's going to be about filling in the box!) The box she was working on was "pray for your teacher." (Being home schooled, of course that meant me.) She had five more prayers to do, and was determined to knock them out in one shot. She was sitting in at dining room table by herself, and I was kitchen. This is what I overheard...

"Dear God,

Thank you for mom.

Thank you that she is my teacher, and I don’t have to go to school OR day care.
Thank you for mom.

Please help her to live way longer than I think she’s going to.

I love mom. And I love you. I love you and mom the most. Well, I love you the most, but mom almost as much- only one inch less than you.

Thank you for mom. I love her. I love you. I love everyone in the whole world. Practically.

Amen."

Check!

sweet stuff

An old picture- Naomi on her fourth birthday- but one I can find quickly of Naomi and me together! She said something funny and sweet just now, and I wanted to get it down before I forgot it... One thing as background information- I can often be found in some stage of bread baking, and the kids are all familiar with the process, and the tastes and smells that go along with it...

I was tucking Naomi in tonight, and snuggling with her in her bed. She was hugging me, and said, "Mmmm, you smell like bread dough." Then she started to feel my face softly, "And you're soft like bread dough," then more of a kneading motion, "Soft and squishy like bread dough." Then she sighed a bit and let her eyes close. "Maybe you are bread dough," she said sleepily, "My bread dough mommy; 'n' I'm your lil' bun."

the wonderful / wacky world of Nomi

*Blogger is not letting me put spaces between the lines or paragraphs, so please excuse the weird, hard-to-read formatting!

Since we've been looking at old pictures, I thought I'd post one of my favorites of Naomi at 2, along with a recent picture of her at a friend's birthday party. How quickly she's grown! And almost seven now... A few comments from my delightful, growing, almost-birthday girl before I forget them...

*******

Naomi is the indisputably the slowest eater in the family. She doesn't really enjoy this status, but accepts it and doesn't really try to speed up. I don't like to leave her completely alone for the last hour of her meals, but have trouble staying at the table for such a large percentage of the day, so I try to do things like sweep the kitchen or bake while she's eating so we can still talk.

Anyway, I was doing this the other day while she lounged in her chair, examining an apple she had been eating for over an hour... "You know," she said to me, "Astronauts are lucky. Since there is no oxygen in space they could eat as slowly as they wanted to, and their apples would never get brown." Sigh.

*********

While brushing her teeth in the bathroom, Naomi called me in to share her thoughts... "I just realized something, mom. When we learn other languages, we aren't really learning what those words mean in English, we are learning what they stand for. Like if we learn "agua" we aren't really learning "water" we are learning this wet thing- what stands for this actual thing. It doesn't have to go back to English. Words just happen to stand for something."

I was amazed at her perception and her non-ethnocentric (lingocentric?) perspective! I think half of my college level "Teaching English to Non-English Speakers" class never understood that. But it's funny that the thought occurred when it did. I think we need less "school time" and more time to just be lost in thought... Who knows what we'd discover?

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We get our milk delivered by Smith Brothers Dairy. It comes on Fridays, and we usually watch out for the big white truck with black Holstein spots- the kids like to be the first one's to notice it's arrival. So yesterday we were sitting at the kitchen table when Naomi looked out the window and hollered-

"Look! The champagne truck is here!"

"Champagne!?" I questioned in surprise... "Wha....?"

"Yeah!" she said. "It's backing up the driveway!"

"Since when do we get champagne delivered?!" I said. "What about MILK!?"

"No, No. Champagne- you know, to burn in the fireplace!"

"You mean propane?"

"Oh. Yeah- propane. So the propane truck is here."

*******

Yesterday we wanted some crackers with our cheese, and took some out of the pantry that someone (really I don't know who) had brought over for one of the holiday get-togethers. They were a whole wheat sort that we've often had, but after a few bites, it was obvious they were not right. I examined the box and saw that they were best by 2006. Oops. I explained to the kids why they were less than fresh tasting, and we tossed 'em.

Today, we tried some cookies from a tin that weren't so tasty. (I know, we're a little picky I guess.) We didn't throw them out or anything, just left the tin on the counter. (Daddy will eat them!) Later Naomi came running over to me with the tin, the insignia of the "Royal Dansk" cookie company aimed at my face"- "Mom Mom! Look! No wonder these cookies are no good! They are from 1966!!"

"So Much Like a Two-Year Old," by Naomi

"This reminds me of you Addie. -Naomi"

my home the desert

The kids and I are studying weather systems right now, and the other day we read about deserts. We looked at a picture and description of an oasis. After reading about the true occurrence of water in a dry land, I mentioned to the kids that "oasis" is also a term often used outside of the context of weather, like a loved one's home could be an oasis of safety and comfort while the outside might be full of frustrations and fears. Naomi nodded knowingly- "I know exactly what you mean using the word that way, mom. For us kids, the dentist office is an oasis of television. We don't get it anywhere else, but there, it is!"



'Tis true. The dentist office we started going to has a nice flat screen TV on a jointed arm for each patient. When Naomi had to get fillings last month, I was worried that she would have a hard time with the shots, drilling, etc. I even got Andrea to watch Josiah so that I could be with her the whole time. Sometimes you really know your child, and sometimes you are just totally off. This was a time when I was totally off. Naomi didn't even notice whether I was in the room or not. After donning her cool yellow glasses, and choosing Tom and Jerry and the Flintstones, she was gone to this world. Didn't even answer the doctors questions, like, "Are you still OK?" Response from her- wild laughter. After the procedure, which I don't think she noticed either, she sighed with pleasure from her cartoon fix, and said, poking her tongue around in her mouth, "Hey, there's something hard in here! Ha! I think there is a marble in my mouth! Ha ha! That is so weird!" "That's your tooth, dear" I replied. "It's time to go home now."



One more thing- when we got home, she told Josiah that she finally got to see the show about the vitamins. Now she's one up on him- she knows what those Flintstones are all about.

global costumes and a tooth update

Tonight was "International Costume Night" at Awana. The girls were thrilled to dress up; Eva went as a Guatemalan peasant, and Naomi went as Anne of Green Gables (from Prince Edward Island, Canada, of course). I told Eva how striking she looked when she was serious, and she had a hard time maintaining the straight face but managed to do it for a few pictures! The smile is certainly very lovely too.

Anne, not Marilyn! Oops. Cute, Nomsi!

If you are wondering why Josiah is not in these pictures, the reasons are twofold, and related. One, he is really not at all a costume person. Drawing attention to himself outside the home = bad. Two, he is officially now a Cubbies drop-out. He's not going any more. He's staying home, and that's that.

By the way, if you didn't notice in these pictures, the frighteningly dangling tooth did fall out over the weekend. Naomi got a little cavalier about twisting it to horrify people, like this...

and next thing you know, it was gone.

What a relief.

altruism averted

This is a picture taken of the kids while hiking at Fort Flagler this fall...

And a memorable conversation this morning... Naomi went outside to pick some of the last strawberries of the season that she spotted from the kitchen window. She came in with one nice large berry, and several small berries. Thoughtful enough not to eat the strawberry herself, but unsure of the level of her generosity, she asked...

"How will we split this big berry, mom?"

"We can split it like we split the berry at breakfast- into fourths."

"Hmmm. OK. Well, can I not have the fourth with the hole in it, please?"

"Who do you think should have the hole, then?"

"Um. I don't know- just not me."

"Well I want you to pick someone deserving, then, if you think it shouldn't be you."

"Well... How about you!"

"Oh. Why me?"

"Well, because you are nice!"

"Oh, I'm nice so I deserve the piece with the hole? And if I'm nice, what are you?"

"Well, I'm nice too. It's just, moms are the most nice. And they say things like 'oh I'll have the piece with the hole.' "

"What do you think you'll do when you are a mom?"

"Hmmm...... Well, I just won't plant any strawberries."