Halloween...

Why have one costume, when you can have two? (One was for Daddy's office and Grandma's house Friday, and one was for Saturday neighborhood trick-or-treating...Olivia's choice both times.)

Pretty Princess

Cutest little witch

Halloween

Olivia has spent the past several weeks expressing her fear over all things Halloween. "The pumpkin scare you, Mommy!" And when asked if she wanted to go trick-or-treating, she would say, "No, it scare you!

Over the past several days, we've seen commercials of kids going trick-or-treating, and we watched "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown." Now, she wants to "go to Halloween! Go to trick-or-treating!"

Last night, Daddy and Olivia went shopping (to give Mommy some sanity quiet time) and picked out a costume. She was so excited to model it for me when they got home. I think she's really going to enjoy the process of getting candy...almost as much as the candy itself.

And, to celebrate my new camera, I'm posting a new video on our photo site. Go there to see the cutest almost-2-year-old singing about the monkeys jumping on the bed.

Randomness, plus celebratory musings

I'm "in town" today for various appointments and such, so I'm writing this yesterday as practice for NaBloPoMo, because I intend to participate and this is pretty much the only way I get a post in daily...to write a bunch at once and then schedule them to post throughout the week. I don't know if that's cheating, but since I don't have one of those internet-phone gadgets, it's pretty much my only option.

I'm "off" from babysitting today because of these appointments, which is nice except I feel like I have to cram everything into this one free day since I won't have another one for awhile. *Sigh*

I'm thinking about Olivia's birthday. We are going WAY low key this year, just inviting local family to an evening meal with cake because, you know, she's TWO. She doesn't know she's being shafted on the big party thing yet. Plus, her birthday falls a week after our anniversary and less than two weeks before my birthday, which is followed quickly by Thanksgiving, and, well, there's only so much celebrating we can tolerate in the gloomy month of November.

Also, who picked November to be NaBloPoMo? Did you not realize that it's my BUSIEST month of the year? Sheesh.

So, anniversary. It's the first Friday in November, and it's our FIFTH Anniversary. I know that way back when we got married, I must have been thinking something like, "well, maybe we can do a big vacation for our fifth anniversary or something." (Which means a cruise, something I've been dying to do with my husband since we got married. Because cruises...ROCK. All you do is lay around and eat and sightsee. ROCK!)

But, yeah. Enter kid, exit second income. No cruise. BUT, we're spending two nights in a hotel in Nashville, TN, while the kid entertains the grandparents for the weekend. And I'm disproportionately excited about this little weekend getaway. We haven't done a weekend away alone (except for leading Engaged Encounter, which is entirely different) since Olivia was born. So, yeah, it is kind of exciting.

Also, speaking of Engaged Encounter, I found out recently that the EE national convention is going to be in Seattle next year (Oct). And even though I've never really had any desire to attend this convention before (um, expensive, plus touchy-feely couples who like to share their feelings with complete strangers = not really our thing), I kind of want to go to this one. Why? To meet my internet friends, of course. Except that I'd spend all of my time visiting with all of you and would miss the whole convention. My husband would probably not be OK with that. Except that he hates the touchy-feely more than I do, so maybe he'd be relieved. Hmm. Well, if someone drops a load of cash on us unexpectedly, maybe we'll consider it.

Fall

We were outside this morning. I'm down one kid today (her parents are on Fall break), so I thought it would be easier. It was, until Olivia came to me with a handful of "dirties" (dog poop). We don't even own a dog. But there are two in the neighborhood that run around unsupervised and assume that our playground is their bathroom. So we all came in because I can't handle one kid with dog poop on her hands while trying to keep the other kid out of it AND keep everyone's dirty hands away from the baby. Sheesh. Addie was the one with dog poop on her clothes last week, so I have a feeling that we are going to have to think long and hard about whether it's worth the trouble to try to get outside during the day knowing that it might end with everyone's clothes in the wash and frustrated kids locked back inside.

In other news, the trees are beautiful. Last year was so dry that they all turned from green to brown, but this year...so colorful. Olivia likes to point out the colors when we are driving or walking outside. It's a joy to see them, but mixed with a little melancholy because I know they'll all fall soon, leading to the most depressing few months of stark brown everywhere. It's a time of the year when I NEED to get outside whenever possible, but with the kids...well, we'll see.

Happy Monday!

Toddler piety

We have been saying prayers with Olivia on a regular basis for some time. She's the master of rote, able to sing back large parts of songs after hearing them once and always repeating things she hears. So, at almost two, she has memorized large portions of our meal prayers and bedtime prayers.

At meals, she's usually too hungry to comply with our request to "wait to eat until we pray". So she usually doesn't follow along before meals. But then, somewhere around the middle of her meal, she'll fold her hands and say, "Can we pray now?" So, of course, we pray AGAIN, and this time she follows along with 80% of the words.

For bedtime prayers, even though she knows most of the words, she'll usually just sit and listen. When I conclude the prayers, she'll pipe up and say, "Night-night, Jesus" or "I love You Jesus!"

At Mass, she's getting...better. But she has, on occasion, done some really cute things that tell us she's paying attention. When the priest carries the gospel book to the lectern, she'll pick up her hymnal with both hands and hold it above her head. When we kneel and pray, she'll kneel (even though she can't see over the pew) and fold her hands above her head. Not always, but when she's feeling particularly good.

It's sweet to watch.

Personality

We all went outside today. It is sunny and around 70 degrees today...a nice change from the crappy weather we've been having, and I just couldn't bear to keep the kids in. And you know what? They did GREAT! They played nicely and came in when I told them to, taking off their shoes and leaving them by the door as they went into the house. Wow.

I think Jake is a balancing force with the girls. He almost makes it easier... easier than just Olivia and Addie alone. Olivia is an instigator, always trying to cause trouble and explaining it away when she gets caught. "Mommy, I just trying to (insert seemingly reasonable motive here)." Addie is an aggressor and retaliator. If someone has something she wants, she grabs or pushes to get to it. If someone takes something away from her, she bites or hits in response. So, the two girls together just play into each other's games and irritate me all day.

Jake is a helper and a peacemaker. He likes to play with the girls, but he just wants everyone to be happy. So he will share and ask if he can help and look to me to correct wrongs when someone takes something away from him. If one of the girls steals his puppy (like his security blanket), he comes to find me and tells me what happened. He doesn't hit or push.

I'm SO not used to this type of kid, but he's so refreshing.

The girls seem to be following Jake's example, a little at a time. I think that playing together daily is teaching them all a little more about healthy conflict resolution, and I'm hoping that their behavior patterns will all be improved by the end of the year. (Jake's fault, in case you were wondering, is his timidness. If he's not over that after several months of dealing with these girls, I don't know what it will take.)

Also, Luke has been here three days, and he has not spit up on me...not even once! He eats, he burps the moment I put him into burp position, and he never spits up. I didn't even know that was possible.

Let's just say that it's not easy, but this is definitely easier than I thought it would be.

Coping

Today is going better than yesterday, so far. The kids played nicely together for 80% of the morning. I was able to put Luke down on the floor without him being trampled or smothered. Luke did not throw his "I'm so tired but I can't fall asleep" crying fit until after the kids had fallen asleep and I was able to move him to another area of the house. They are ALL asleep now. So far, so good.

There was that moment when the baby was screaming because he couldn't get the bottle to work (I had to switch bottles) and while I was calming him, Addie took a nose dive off the recliner because she was rocking recklessly (even though she's not supposed to be doing that). I was dealing with screaming toddler and screaming baby and Olivia insisted that she have more lemonade RIGHT NOW and Addie wanted ice and I was just waiting for the phone to start ringing because wouldn't it be PERFECT timing for THAT to happen. I was dealing with one issue at a time and willing myself to sprout a few more arms and thinking that my house was just, well, loud.

I'm struck today by how incredibly unreasonable little children are. No, I can't get up to get the remote to rewind the show to watch that song again while I'm feeding the baby. Olivia, put your shirt back on. Addie, give Jake's puppy back to him. And release your death grip from the baby's leg. He doesn't like that. No, I can't get you a snack while I'm changing diapers. Would everyone please just sit down and shut up for two minutes? PLEASE!

Somehow, they all think that their individual needs at this very moment are the most important ones.

Also, I've discovered that I have another sling-hater. Luke tolerated it yesterday. Today, he will scream at the SIGHT of that thing. I'm beginning to wonder if those things have any use at all. I've certainly never met a child who was particularly fond of them.

It's not bad, it's just...busy. I can't do a load of laundry or wash some dishes or even pick up a few toys in the morning. I just have to sit and keep my eyes on everyone. And that's OK. The kids are adjusting. It will get easier. I will have to resign myself to the fact that the whole house is just going to look like a tornado blew through every day. I have to pick my battles and just let some things go.

As long as I can get my quiet time, like right now, I'll be OK.