"Down, down, down, down, down."

Evelyn and Olivia just got the brilliant idea to give Evelyn a cast from hand to elbow with clear packing tape. (Lots and lots of clear packing tape) Evelyn entered the room crying loudly, and she was wrapped like a mummy with layered tape stuck every which way. I was not please for I had just asked her to stop using so much of my Scotch tape on her art projects. She made a paper pillow, stuffed with more paper, and covered in purple marker which rubbed off on her hands and my bathroom rug. She keeps getting the stapler, and I've found three staples on the floor after her work is done. One of us will find a staple in the foot someday soon. I'm just waiting. The tape hurt coming off of Ev's arm, and I don't think the girls will try that trick again soon. Where do kids come up with their ideas? I never thought to say, "Don't use packing tape to cast your arm, or your hairs will get pulled off when the tape is removed." Olivia "helped" her. Olivia is the one who falls to pieces when Band-Aids are removed, so her plan to help Evelyn is of great interest to me.

Yesterday Vivian quit nursing. She simply refused the breast at morning and bedtime. I wept. Each time around I have loved that quiet closeness with my baby, and I mourn the end of this period. It is entirely possible that I will never again nurse a little baby, and I'm saddened to tears by the thought. She actually said, "Down, down, down, down, DOWN!" as she attempted to scramble off of my lap. I even got shoved. She wanted nothing to do with mama's milk. She then started calling for Robbie. He's been her #1 lately. She said, "Bye Daddy!" the other morning as he raced around trying to get out the door. My almost late husband stopped dead in his fast tracks, picked up his precious youngest child, and gave her some love before he left. She yelled out, "Doggy! Doggy!!" in the night recently, and Robbie went to her. I guess her self weaning means that he can get up with her in the mornings when I awake to, "Mommmmy," in the 6 o'clock hour on Saturday morning. She is my alarm. Once Henry noticed that I was crying last night, he tried to comfort me. He asked me, "Why is your face like that?" I explained that Vivian didn't want to nurse anymore, and he said, "Oh, now we don't have a baby ANY MORE. Maybe Daddy can make you feel better and get you some medicine." He can be so sweet.

Henry can also drive me wild. The boy is trying to give up his nap. I have put him everywhere I can think of for naptime, except in a closed dresser drawer. He can't co-sleep with Vivian at naptime or he keeps her awake for a very, very long time. Robbie insists our son needs Velcro PJs that will stick him to his sheets. Maybe. I'd try it. I go and go with the children, but every mama (and the children) can benefit from some quiet time. I don't have a space that is safe to give Henry quiet time away from me, and this is a dilemma. That said, it is almost 3 pm, and I'm blogging. He finally fell asleep today. Granted, we took a walk, went to the park, he had swimming lessons, then we enjoyed a backyard picnic and playtime. He should have been tired. It wasn't easy, but he finally crashed.

Robbie is really quite wonderful. The more I know, the more I realize how lucky I am to have him. He's been taking bike rides with the big girls. He grills out for me whenever I ask. He took all four kids to the playground recently while I cleaned up the dinner dishes and got ready for a bible study evening away. I even had time to fold laundry and put it away. He makes us Sunday pancakes with special recipes from scratch. I saw the look in his eyes when I told him Vivian wouldn't nurse, and he got it. He held me and let me cry. He didn't dismiss my emotions or act like I was a silly woman. He reminded me how lucky I am to have nourished our babies for as long as I did. He's a good man.

Guess what? Evelyn just said that Henry is up, and that means mama's writing time is all gone.

Quotes From My World

It has been so long since I've taken time to write that I'm going to change up my format for you, Reader. I plan to highlight some of my favorite quotes from the kids as of late.

"Henry, you can pee standing up like a man. You wear undies. You sleep in a big boy bed. You are almost all the way grown." - by Evelyn

"Yaya, Yaya! Help!! I'm in the dark bathroom." We found Henry with fake stick on rainbow colored fingernails. His hands were outstretched, fingers wide, and he couldn't turn the doorknob. He had on CARS PJs. "I really like girl nails."

"I'm going to get us four more Super Soakers." Robbie's plan after Dad and Jane brought the kids a box of sports and outdoor fun items that they got at a charity auction, including a Super Soaker. Robbie did it. We now have five.

"Do NOT squirt the baby in the face!!!" My words to you know who.

"Mommy, Vivian speaks Spanish or maybe China." Ev's comment after Vivian let out a string of babble that sounded as if she was really trying to tell us something important.

"Now we have seen two naked men." Evelyn whispered this indignantly during Olivia's dance recital in which children from preschool through high school performed for over two hours.

"Vivian can say, "Banana, cheeze, this, that, these, ball, baby, Mommy, Daddy, Yaya, up, down, done, out, fish, finished, doggy." This was Olivia's answer to her pediatrician's question to me regarding if Vivian is saying any words. Olivia answered a question directed to me about Henry too. I told her doctor, "Henry has two mamas." Doctor said, "Henry needs two mamas."

"Up, Mom-meee!" Vivian switched from calling me mama to mommy last week. Now she seems almost all the way grown.

"Mommy, I love you so much." Henry's final words to me this evening after I tucked him into his big boy bed after his first day of skipping a nap. He's been messing around bothering Vivian to no end during their afternoon naptime lately. I'm terrified that he is trying to give up his nap, and I told Robbie, "I can't go 13 hours without a break from Henry."

"I LOVE my tight Lightning PJs." The fitted ones that are slightly too short all over are his favorite ones. He keeps thanking me for laundering them for him, which I adore.

I said, "Why are you screaming?" to Evelyn. She said, "He's trying to throw a mammoth on me."

We were almost out the door. A babysitter was three minutes from arriving. Evelyn started screaming as though something catastrophic had happened. Robbie and I rushed to the scene. We found Evelyn in the bathroom, Henry without any pants, and pee spray soaked various non-toilet surfaces. A puddle stood on the floor. "Henry peed on me FEET!!!!" I had to escape around the corner to conceal my laughter. I then ended up on hands and knees in my party clothes wiping pee while Robbie cleaned Evelyn in the tub. I figured out from the trajectory of the mess that Henry had turned toward Evelyn, who was standing on a stool brushing her teeth, while he was mid-stream. He did not enter the bathroom and pee on her feet as she had led us to believe.

"Done. Fished (with full arm sign language). Down." Baby Vivian's words to me after she is "finished" nursing.

"Hi, Yaya!" or "Mommy, out." Baby's words when we enter her room after she's awake from a nap.

"You are the most beautiful and kind mutha (mother) in the whole wide world." Evelyn says something along these lines when she crawls into bed with me first thing in the morning while I am still terribly drowsy. Her voice is always low and soothing, and I pull her little body near me for a warm cuddle.

"Where's Henry?" Henry kept taking off on us at a farm outing this weekend. My brother was with us, and the three of us adults could not keep close tabs on our wild man. He is busy, curious, and fast. At one point he hopped off of the wooden platform and attempted to climb onto a pony before the school girl could even help him. He was the definition of big shot, and he got his full $3 of enjoyment out of his figure eight trip through the field while riding the slow pony.

"AHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!" Uncle Anthony handed Olivia a paper bag of animal feed while she was inside a pen of goats, and she got pressed up against the fence by seven hungy ones. One put his front hooves on her chest, and she started screaming for help. She was quite terrified.