Annie, on butterflies

Annie got to have a "grandma Linda day" yesterday. They went to visit Erin's family (well, the baby. You know how this works.) and see the butterflies at Frederick Meijer Gardens. I told mom to take lots of pictures of their special day! Here are some highlights.

Video of Annie at the gardens

Happy big cousin

When Kevin asked what the best part about the gardens was, Annie said holding baby Charlotte.

Do what'cha gotta do

I think that when I look at DJ and say, "caaaareful," in that way that moms do, it makes whatever he is doing 1,000 times more attractive to him. As I've said before, of course, this is especially true of the stairs. Also, I think DJ wakes up every morning these days thinking, "I have GOT to get my mom to TAKE ME OUT OF THIS HOUSE." Like the rest of us, he does not want any more of this:

What our yard looks like, several days into spring.

Thursday was especially bad. I couldn't get anything done, because DJ was crying and clinging to my legs unless I was supervising Stair Time. This meant no folding laundry or picking up the hundreds of stray toys, let alone working on technical reports or dissertation proposals. So finally, I taught DJ how to do this:

DJ on a chair.

Now, you might be thinking, "really, this is a solution to your problem? Climbing on furniture?" Well, yes. Here's why. First of all, while DJ climbed on and off the chair and opened the pretend microwave, I made cornbread and lentil-barley stew and brushed my teeth. Also, the worst thing that can happen if DJ falls off this chair is...I don't know...breaking a bone? It's nice soft carpet. If he falls down the stairs--the stairs that are carpeted on the top half and hardwood on the bottom half, with unforgiving ceramic tile at the end--he could die. So, totally worth it. And there's this:

The as-of-late-elusive happy DJ.

Bouncy fun

In keeping with our "late winter/early spring fun day" tradition, since the bowling alley was closed, Lisa took us to Jumpin Jax yesterday. It was the usual crazy, but at least it wore out the kids. Here's a fun video of DJ. Thanks Aunt Genny for braving the big slide!

Annie at three-and-a-half

Annie, in a lot of ways, is different than Nellie. She's generally pretty quiet and easy-going. Maybe it's just the age, but she's very interested in being helpful and would eat worms before doing something that would get her in trouble. Being sandwiched between a big sister and little brother, I tend to think (expect) that Annie's a lot like me. And from what I remember about being three-and-a-half, she is a lot like me. She has an active imagination, and is good at entertaining herself for a surprisingly long time. She wants to do everything Nellie does and cares for DJ like a mother hen (he doesn't always appreciate it). Annie l-o-v-e-s babies. We got to meet baby Charlotte a few days ago and she was in heaven. Every night, she prays that she'll "grow up and have three cute babies with beautiful names."

But at the same time, Annie surprises me every day with how much she's not like me - at least not like me at her age. For one thing, she is tough. Like, almost fierce. Nellie may have a strong personality, but Annie can hold her own. Today, Nellie dropped her boot and told me that Annie is her assistant and she'd get it for her. Annie looked at her and said, "Nellie you are NOT the boss of me!" And it's great to watch her at gymnastics. Gymnastics lessons are such a simple thing for three-year-olds, but I really think it's made a difference in Annie. She's come into her own, doing some pretty cool tricks, and working hard toward something that's hers alone.

It's also funny to watch her play pretend - her favorite characters are always the least likely choices. When the girls play fairies (from the Tinker Bell movies), Annie is Vidia - the mean one. Her favorite pony is the daring, tomboy-ish Rainbow Dash (if you know the show, you understand). When we address her, a frequent response is, "I'm not Annie, I'm Merida" (from Brave). I swear, she uses her foils to act out some kind of inner attitude.

On a related note, Kevin just walked in our room and said, "it's a good thing that girl is so cute." I know what he means, because she can be a stinker. Tonight, for example, we just had to go in and tell the girls to be quiet and go to sleep already for the eighth time. Annie replied, "I'm trying, but myself won't let me close my eyes?" Kevin: "Who won't let you?" Annie: "Me! Myself! [Squeezing her eyes shut and popping them back open.] See?"

Also, Annie kind of eats like a grown-up. A grown-up with weird tastes. Some of her favorite foods are pickles, olives, and mustard. Annie usually only eats a few bites of any meal put in front of her, but she'll devour tuna straight out of the can, smothered with mustard and pickle relish. Nellie has a reputation for loving meat and veggies, but Annie will eat lots of stuff that Nellie won't touch.

Let's see...I think that's all the important stuff about Annie. I can't wait to see her in preschool next year. But then again, it's going to be hard to let her go.

Snow? NOOOOOO!

Kevin was out late last night at a wild game dinner. He's at a dog trial all day today. According to Facebook, at least 80% of people I know are in Florida/California/Texas/etc. I woke up this morning to find three inches of new snow on the ground. Seriously, what are we going to do all day? One can only hang out on the stairs for so long. (See previous post. By "one," I mean me.)

The girls' responses weren't quite so bitter.

N: WHAT THE HECK? THERE IS SNOW EVERYWHERE. IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE SPRING NEXT WEEK!

A: [In her sweet Annie voice] Funny winter!

But wait. Yes. Evidence that God does not give us more than we can bear! Season 3 of My Little Ponies: Friendship is Magic was magically added to Netflix during the night! We are going to make it!

Climbing, climbing, climbing

DJ's top-rated activity is climbing the stairs. If he gets carried up or down even a single stair, anywhere, he lets us know he's not happy about it. He's at his happiest when I just let him climb our stairs--up and down, up and down--as much as he wants.

Now that he's got the basic idea down, DJ is working on his form. There's the classic crawling up and down on hands and knees; the sliding-down-on-bottom; walking up and down holding mom's hands; walking up and down holding a hand and the wall/railing; a fancy one-foot-down-and-back-up move; and by far the most complicated maneuver, walking up backwards holding mom's hands. He could go all day.

Annie the Great

Annie is in that 3.5-year-old competitive stage. Everything is about being older, bigger, stronger, etc. I think she's deeply troubled that Nellie will always, always be older than her. She informed me of the following things yesterday:

• I am older than everyone in the world except grown-ups, 5-and-a-half-year-olds, and God.
• I am the most beautiful person in the world, except Aunt Erin. She has looooong curly hair.

Nellie at five-and-a-half

I would like to report all of Nellie's favorite things here, but like Kevin, she doesn't have favorites on principle. So, all the colors are her favorite, all the kids in her class are her friends (don't you love kindergarteners?) She has been on a Garfield kick lately, and she loves playing games on the iPad. She likes meat and veggies more than dessert, though lately she'll eat anything in sight. She's a really good big sister to DJ, and she's excited to be a big cousin times two in the next few months!

Nellie is, as I like to say, a complicated kid. She has her anxieties and "sensitivities," and is generally unpredictable. We have rituals and rules about what clothes can be worn and when. Last year at this time, we engaged in endless battles about getting dressed--I'm sure about other things, too, but getting dressed was the big one. But a lot of those things have more or less gotten smoothed out. Nellie has boundless energy, but emotionally is more even-keeled. She's also terribly silly, with her dad's (and his dad's, and his dad's) wry sense of humor. Her curiosity is limitless. There is no end, it seems, to the things she wonders about. And she thinks very, very deeply about things.

I had a lazy moment yesterday when I remembered how Nellie used to need to sleep with not one pacy (she called it a nani because it sounded like "night night"), but two. She would suck on one and hold the other in her hand. Very practical, really. Also really annoying because of how quickly those things can disappear. And now - she can read! And write! She reads everything she sees, and lives to write letters (and facebook messages) to friends and family. Nellie is tall, and looks more grown-up every day. She wants to be called Penelope. And...where did the time go, anyway?

A few fun Nellie quotes:

So Daddy, you know a lot of things about nature. How do baby horses get born, anyway?
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N: Mommy, do you have another baby in your tummy?
Me: No.
N: Well then [patting my stomach], why is your tummy so huge?
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In response to my question, "what was the best part of your day?" at the dinner table, Kevin tried to get the girls to respond, "eyeball." Yes, that's how dinner goes at our house. This turned into a round of charades, with Kevin acting out throwing a football.

Nellie, guessing: I...I...I throw? I...toss? I...Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! I know! I throw food at a harp player!
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Nellie wrote a letter to her future self the other day. It reads, "Hi I love being 5 and 10. Wut grad r me in 5 grad? Yourslf Nellie." That is, "Hi, I love being 5, and 10. What grade am I in? 5th grade? Yourself, Nellie."
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Here's a picture of Nellie's new look! Does it suit her, or what? She wanted to look like Kit (the American Girl).