Sunday, September 11, 2011

A Turtle Bite and Baby Jail

Apparently I can't read the very long (and wonderful) book The Invisible Bridge while also reading War and Peace, and still find time to parent, maintain domestic order, and exercise. Sorry for the delay in my blog.

Few things bring out the drama in the Overlease children like open wounds. We just returned from eating in the neighbor's backyard. He smoked some great brisket, and the kids ran around and played. Evelyn got bitten by the pet turtle that lives in a large boxed area of the yard. The bite drew blood, and she has a big flap of loose skin. Henry was very concerned, then he commented in a very positive manner, "But her finger is still there!" Yes, luckily for Ev, he's right. Robbie found some remaining dirt in it after her bath, and screaming from fear followed. I tried all kinds of tricks to distract her. Nothing worked well. Finally I said, "Evelyn, your daddy is a doctor, and he is trying to help you." "He is NOT a finger doctor!!" I burst out laughing. Robbie did an amazing job of staying calm. Evelyn had Henry very concerned due to all of her yelling.

Robbie and I returned from a trip to Martha's Vineyard for a friend's wedding (Thanks for staying with the kids Mom and Mike!), and the baby turned into a Little Miss Mischief Girl while we were away. Her latest trick is to use kitchen table chairs to access the top of the kitchen table. I keep finding her sitting in the center of it. Henry came to us this morning as we prepared for church, and he said, "Mommy, Mommy. Baby has scissors." Ev is our craft diva, so various supplies are often on the table. The baby has poured glue this week, colored her face with black marker, wrapped tape every which way, and shred construction paper. I think there is a window of sweet baby state in which people decide to have another baby. It appears we've just passed that mark with baby Vivian. She's a mess. Olivia got scolded for saying, "Bad baby," to Vivian, so she's changed it up to spell, "B-A-D baby B-A-D baby!!" Vivian is going to learn to spell "bad" pretty quickly, if you know what I mean. Robbie acted devastated this morning when I told him that the start of Children's Church (a.k.a. Baby Jail) was delayed until next Sunday. He spent the entire mass outside the sanctuary with wild Vivian. She was loud before the priest even walked to the altar. When Henry heard us talking about baby jail, he got very upset. "I don't want Vivian to go to jail. I LOVE my sister." The big girls got a big kick out of his misunderstanding.

I'll try not to let so much time pass before I write again.

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