4 yr old gems

our little hurricane is so funny - we've been trying to do better to write down some of her good lines. following are my favorites from the last week:

she had the flu last week, and kept asking me why she was sick. I told her I thought she must just have a little bug in her tummy. She really didn't want to be sick anymore and woke up one morning telling me, "Mom, I think the bug just flew out of my mouth last night!"

we were explaining to her that my new job at church was in the primary instead of in the nursery. she looked at me, a little aghast, and said, "they kicked you out?"

the david wilcox song that says, "we are the sunshine of the land" was playing, and she stopped jim in the middle of singing and said, "DAD. We are NOT the sunshine of the land. That guy is telling a lie! The sunshine is up there!"

and this morning, listening to the Lion King song "Hakuna Matata" where they say, "it's our motto!" "What's a motto?" "Nothing! What's a matta with you?" and Laine asked me what a motto was. I said it was something they believe in and she looked at me sternly and said, "but they should believe in GOD."

Poll results

First I'd like to thank our 3 dedicated readers for taking the time to vote on our recent poll where my wife slandered my good name....or at least suggested that I might somehow be responsible for putting a pink headband on Romney.

Now that I have thanked the 3 of you, let me now say how disappointed I am that you know us so little. Here are the results:
Responsible for putting a pink head band on Romney:
Jim - 6 votes, Laine 4 votes, Romney 4 votes, Tomten 0 votes.

I can't believe you all think this is ME! Are you crazy? I'm doing everything I can to teach him the ways of trucks and trains but no matter what, he still loves wearing princess shoes. I'm not sure who was responsible for the headband...but really either Lainey or Romney could win that one. I just assumed it was Laine. Romney is like this great, living, breathing doll to Lainey.

Responsible for restraining the kids in a boot:
A grandpa - 4 votes, Marie - 4 votes, Tomten - 3 votes, Jim - 2 votes.

Okay - the grand dads were thrown in there just to throw you off. Really, if they had been in the area they probably would have done it and then something else like hanging them upside down on the swing or something. But Marie? How on earth did Marie get the same number of votes as Papa and/or Kingfish? Are you people crazy? Have you met Marie? She is really a very nice, sweet mother. Plus she couldn't even walk with the boot off so how the heck was she going to catch them and tie them up? And the tomtens.......we blame everything in our house on the tomtens. They make messes, steal toys, eat furniture, you name it. About once every other day or so Laine says, "Dad, are the tomtens real or are you just teasing me?" I used to say they were real but then I decided to take this approach,
"yes Laine. I'm teasing you."
"Are you teasing me now, or teasing me that they are real."
"yes, I'm teasing you that they are real."
"dad, I think they are real why are you teasing me?"
"huh?"
"stop teasing me!"
"huh? I'm not teasing you."
"why are you teasing me?"
At this point we are usually both so confused that we both give up sure that we are being duped one way or another. That girl really does not like to be teased. Beware.
In the end - I tied up the kids. Who could blame me? All that velcro and just the right sized cylinder of that boot? I couldn't resist.

a girl after my own heart

we are reconsidering our current practice of limiting lainey's reading strictly to while she is awake. she clearly enjoys her books just as much while she is sleeping. see how she turns pages even in her sleep? she frequently sneaks out of bed after we tuck her in at night and brings over piles of books to her bed. my sister frequently comments on how flexible laine's sense of reality is, and this is a perfect example. "Laine, how did all of these books get into your bed?" "I don't know!" "Lainey, come on..." "Mommy, I think they just FLEW!"


speaking of Laine's sense of reality, she watched the movie "Matilda" today while she was feeling a little sick, and afterward tried to use her mind powers to make an elastic fly up into the air. After trying and concentrating really hard for a few minutes, she started to laugh, and looked at me and said, "it's not really working!" but then, almost immediately, figured out how to really harness those powers (namely by using her other hand to manipulate the rubber band while using her first hand to direct) and felt really satisfied with herself.

I can walk!!

Well, the doctor gave me the green light on Monday to start walking without my crutches. Hallelujah! This means that my foot has progressed from the very clear black line of fracture to a more fuzzy space, which apparently means that it's healing on its own. So, no surgery for me!

After eight weeks of walking on crutches, though, it was surprisingly hard to give them up! I know that may sound counter-intuitive, but I actually walked back to my car from the appointment and then into my house using crutches. It's a strange thing to build up trust again with an out-of-use appendage. besides that all the muscle in my foot and calf have completely atrophied, it's a little bit of a mental hurdle to tell myself I can walk again after not having walked for two months.

In memoriam, here is a picture of my nasty broken foot back at the beginning. The swelling is kind of out of control, you'll notice my ankle is gone and my toes look like sausages. You don't really get a good feel for the lovely bruising, so just imagine.

My kids noticed immediately when I stopped walking around with crutches. Romney kept looking at me quizzically and saying, "Mommy crutches? Mommy crutches?" and Lainey said, "MOM! Where are your crutches??" and when I explained that the doctor had told me I didn't need to use them anymore, her eyes got really wide and she kind of whispered, "does that mean you don't have to do surgery?" and then cheered.

Here's the post-crutch breakdown: I get to the phone slower hobbling in the boot than on crutches. And the door. I can't chase my kids as fast, either. BUT once I catch them, I can actually hold on to them now that I don't have crutches! AND they don't run away as often, since I can hold on to them in the first place! Big bonus. I feel like I'm walking like Grandpa Curtis (who had polio) now, especially when I don't have a shoe on my non-booted foot, which makes me smile. I can now carry my own drink of water all the way across the kitchen, without having to set it down in between steps. I don't have to balance on one foot in the shower anymore. And probably the best thing so far: I get to hold hands with my kids again! I can hold Romney's hand while he's going down steps and help him get straight to the car without being sidetracked by our neighbor's giant dirt pile. And I got to hold Lainey's hand on the way to preschool for the first time yesterday, which was very fun. (you moms who don't have crutches - don't take this little thing for granted! it's too good to not really appreciate.) I didn't realize it at first, and then all of a sudden, it dawned on me that it's been such a long time since I've been able to hold her hand! Anyway, it was one of those great "I really love my kids" moments, and she looked up and smiled at me, unknowingly buying herself a little more patience the next time she is completely out of control and making me crazy.

quirky side note of the day: I like blogging because I can start as many sentences as I want with words that I never could when I was writing papers in college (and, but, so, well...) and by the way, I don't really know about that pink headband on Romney's head. Laine's subliminal efforts towards procuring a baby sister for herself? all I'm saying is that it wasn't me. Jim?

Happy Birthday Rom-dizz!

worth noting today a happy birthday to Romney! Romney turned two today. There was very little celebration today, just a little mini cake after dinner that read Happy Birthday Rom-dizz! The girl in our ward that christened Rom with the name Rom-dizzle also happens to work at granite bakery so thus the cake had the personal touch.
Romney is exhibiting more and more the behaviors of the dreaded two year old. There will need to be more discussion of that later. For now here are some pictures of the joy of frosting.

Laine the Hurricane

Here are a few highlights from the last week...courtesy of the hurricane.

Marie and Laine went to the circus this week. The greatest show on earth lived up to its name and as they were leaving and sucking down frozen horse brains Lainey inquired, "when can we come to the circus again mommy?"

"maybe next year Lainey, they have to move around so other people can see it too."

"they move it around?!?" "yes - they go to visit other cities"

At this point Lainey turned around and looked at the delta center building as they walked towards the street and said, "wow, it looks kind of heavy."


Just today Lainey was coming home from pre-school she was complaining that her shoes were hurting her feet. Marie asked where the socks were that she was wearing when she left for school. At this point Lainey said "oh, I'll get them." She then proceed to reach way down into her sweatpants, searching one leg, and then the other. Finally she said, "oh no mom, they aren't here anymore!"

Marie also asked Lainey to help her today. Laine said no.
"please Lainey will you help me?"
"no mommy"
"Lainey, why won't you help me?"
Lainey replied, a little skeptically, "well, I DO love you a lot." And then chose not to help.

and my personal favorite of the week.......
"Mom, Dad, Come see this really cool picture of uncle Ben that I glued to the wall in my room!"