Little People

The last two weeks have gone by quickly. On April 19, the seminary had a Field Day. I don't realize how small my children are until they're with the big kids. Annika and her friend Audrey were in a "potato sack" race--the next tallest kids were about double their height.



And, with spring here we're trying to get the kids outdoors more often--some for the health benefit, and most for the go-to-sleep-at-night factor. Our first day in the park this year, I ventured out with Megan in my arms and the other three running. To my surprise, Emily, the 15-month-old, went straight to the ladder of the playhouse. I hadn't counted on that since I had another infant in my arms and was ill-prepared to do more than supervise. She made it up the stairs just fine--and down the slide many times, too.


Megan is now 3.5 months old and experimenting--she hasn't rolled over yet completely, but does 360s on the ground. Obviously, she has found her tongue. She also knows how to spit out the nuk with unfortunate regularity.

As for Em, she also likes pushing buttons (figuratively and literally). Thus the usage of anything that looks like a remote, a cell phone or a computer keyboard.

Lauren, despite our many warnings, kept bringing me lovely yellow flowers--from the seminary's landscaping. So we decided to plant our own garden for her to pick later. As with many "pets", Dan is the main one taking care of it, I think.

Lauren is still our night owl. She's still wide awake and it's midnight. Last night, we had her in our bed so she wouldn't keep her other sisters awake. I was doing one last Sudoku before bed (at midnight) on my side of the bed when she looked at me and said, "Mother, read to your child." And tonight, I called her "dear heart" to which she replied, "Mom, don't call me that. I'm not a heart. I'm your daughter."

Annika is excited about her trip to Disney World in June. Tonight, she made me tell her what I remembered about my trip to Orlando (when I was 14, I think). I actually remember bits of my visit to Disneyland when I was 5--just her age--with my parents and Great-Gramma Svenson. We all have Elizabeth in our name. Annika thought that was cool.

Things I Never Thought About Never Doing

Today was filled with firsts for me. I never thought I'd have to scan the web for effective doll-hair washing techniques. Who knew Windex was good for more than window-washing and wart removal (My Big Fat Greek Wedding allusion)?

Emily got "showered" in the kitchen sink. Her hair needs a wash after every meal--she's kind of a performance artist with food--full-body immersion into her work.

It's amazing--it's only been hours since this morning, but I can't remember what I did all day. I didn't eat bon-bons or catch any soaps.

Yesterday was a wash for getting anything done (of course, with four kids, everything gets undone so quickly it's arguable that anything gets done on any given day--but I digress). Our doctor's office was closed so I took Megan to the ER for a raspy cough. When information on the Internet that has "infant dry cough" as a symptom for SIDS, you take the kid in. Call me paranoid. I'm cool with that.

The diagnosis, after 4.5 hours in a Chicago hospital, was croup. Didn't know what that was either. Basically a cold virus, inflammation of the voicebox. Can be bad if the inflammation gets too bad, if the baby has labored breathing for too long. Megan had a breathing treatment and diagnosis of a mild case. She's sleeping well and quietly (and yes, she's breathing).

Emily is now saying more words. With us knowing that these are the last chances we'll have to memorialize some of these stages on tape, we've been taking more pics and videotaping. I pulled out the video camera last night as Emily and Lauren were playing the "drop the cup repeatedly and I'll pick it up" game. Emily stopped playing to look at me and say, "Cheese." Scary. And she definitely has the temper tantrum mastered.

Annika is enjoying helping Daddy in the kitchen. Aunt Sara brought us an Amish friendship bread starter when she was here. Well, what goes around...we got another batch which we baked this weekend and are now giving more starters away. Annika gave one to her friend today with the instructions, "You mush this for 10 days and then it becomes bread."

Disciplining different kids requires different tactics. Parenting is all about creativity. If you threaten Annika with taking away her toys, she's very quick to do as she's told and clean up. However, Lauren..."Lauren, if you don't help Annika pick up your toys, I'm going to keep them in my room." Lauren's response: "Okay, Mommy. You can pick them up." So defeating. So we threaten corporal punishment (no, that's not a death sentence--you're confusing corporal with capital--BIG difference).

Parenting is a trip--a chaotic one to be sure, but we wouldn't trade it. Sara sent us an email a few weeks ago about a woman in their church who's dealing with the violent loss of her children. Six years ago, I didn't know what I was missing and therefore didn't miss it. Now, I can't imagine the pain that mom is going through.

Here are a few pics. The girls found Dan's Bubba teeth (hideous!) in his nightstand and decided to try them out. Then Lauren tried on Daddy's glasses--then Daddy reciprocated and Lauren took his picture. Then, more pics of Megan. None of Annika this time.