Summer rules

The weather was beautiful this weekend. We spent much of yesterday outside and Cordelia got to enjoy her first campfire. It wasn't until Friday that I got my summer clothes out. I was pregnant last summer so I didn't even take them out last year. When I opened up the box it was like Christmas. I had forgotten about some of the things I had. And some things were brand new that I bought on clearance in the fall before I got pregnant. Of course some things no longer fit. A third pregnancy will do that. At first I was a little depressed, but then I was ok with it because that means I just get to buy new clothes. So the old clothes went into the rummage sale pile and I went to Target.

I also have not bought any sandals for the boys yet which I need to do. I was folding laundry today, which is another chore I absolutely hate. Especially doing socks. Once the boys have sandals I won't have to worry about socks for a few months. It will be so nice. I love summer.

Get it!

Yesterday I had to vacuum, which I really hate. Usually I don't do this when Cordelia is around, but I just couldn't wait any longer to vacuum. So I was prepared for her to holler and cry as soon as the vacuum turned on. But she just looked at it and then took off. She chased it all around the dining room. Then I stopped to use one of the attachments so she caught up and was really interested in the light. Then I had to finish the rest of the room and again she chased me wherever I went. She is still not crawling up on her hands and knees, but that isn't stopping her.

Like her brother

Cordelia likes her thumb just like her big brother Rion. She also likes the feel of tags and I wonder if she will latch on to a favorite lovey or blankie like Rion.

Rion latched onto a blankie quite early. I want to say he was only a few months old. He liked how one particular receiving blanket felt and he would rub it with his fingers. There were two of these receiving blankets. Rion had one while the other was in the laundry. He carried it everywhere so I always had to rotate them. Then one day we lost one in Menards. I called later to see if anyone had turned it in, but whoever found it probably just threw the rag away.

I had to wash the blankie so often that it began to shred. Soon he had multiple little blankies. He would carry a strand everywhere we went. If I took a picture of Rion the blankie would also be in the picture. Rion also went through a phase where he liked to hide things, especially his blankie. Part of our bedtime routine was to find a blankie strand. When we finally had discovered all of his hiding spots, he would find another one. Many nights I ran around the house frantically searching for the blankie. When we found blankie Rion would curl up, thumb in his mouth, and run the blankie through his fingers until he fell asleep.

After many washings, his blankie was nothing more than a few small strands and it "disappeared." Rion was devastated and it made me heartbroken. I couldn't wait to get rid of the darn thing, but my heart was breaking for the lost of my son's blankie. He loved it so much. I put the last few strands of blankie in his hope chest so they will be reunited again some day. For months after blankie had gone away I still would come across a strand hidden by Rion. These strands ended up in a keepsake box of my own as I reminder when my growing too fast boy fit in my arms. Not too long ago Rion saw a picture of himself with blankie in his hands. "I miss my blankie," he said. "I know," I told him, "I do too."

Tell me a story

Last year I bought Rion a program for the computer with preschool lessons on it. I think it was too easy for him because he never really paid much attention to it. Now Torii has discovered it and has been playing it a lot. Today he was playing with the Art section of the program. On it kids can create their own books with different backgrounds and stickers. There is a place to write text and I told him I would write whatever he wanted me to on it. Torii likes to tell stories so he had no problem coming up with a story. I could barely type as fast as he was talking. I had to keep telling him to stop so we could select another page because we had run out of space on the current page.

Rion liked that so he also wanted to write a story. Rion thought about his story more. He would tell me to write something and a few times told me to erase part of it and he changed it up a little. Once he told me to erase something and he basically told me the same thing, but worded it differently. Both boys are good storytellers, but the way Rion thought about his story and the wording was encouraging to me. I hope I have a writer in the family!

I printed out the stories each boy wrote and we read them again. I let Rion read his and I helped with some words. He had the word "mysterious" in his story so I don't think he was going to figure that one out. He did really good and read a few complete sentances. He is doing so good with reading.

Don't listen to me

Today we had a couple of graduation open houses to go to. One was at a hotel and the boys got to go swimming. The pool at this hotel had a really nice area for little kids. There was also a small tube slide for the kids to go down. I told them right away to watch for kids at the bottom and not to go down until they were out of the way. They were so good and waited patiently on top for the kids to move before going down. After we had been there for awhile a group of kids came over and also started to play in the pool. One kid about Torii's age, maybe younger, went down the slide. Rion waited for the kid to move, but he wouldn't. Rion looked away and when he looked down again, the kid was gone so he went down. Well, this kid had gone back into the tube and started to climb up the slide so Rion ran right into him. Luckily, the kid was ok. I had to reassure Rion that it was ok because he looked at me like he had done something wrong. Everything was fine for a little bit, then this group of kids all started to climb up the slide. The parents meanwhile stood on the sides with their beers in their hands saying nothing. The boys were waiting and waiting to go down, but waited until it was clear. Finally I had enough so I told the boys we were going to take a break. Torii wanted to go one more time so I told both of them to go once more. Again they waited and waited on top. Fred went over to the kids at the bottom of the slide and told them they would have to move so our boys could go down. Some of them moved, but when the others didn't they once again sat at the bottom and started climbing up. The boys waited almost 10 minutes so they could go down the slide. One of the parents finally said something. I was so mad. I don't want any kids to get hurt, but I so wanted the boys just to go down the slide and plow into all those kids. Torii actually did run into an older kid (who should have known better) on his last run and he was really close to tears. He thought he was going to get in trouble, but I had to reassure him it was ok too. For once I actually didn't want them to listen to me, but they were perfect. I was so proud of them. I know my boys act up a lot, but there are times like today when I see how good they are and they make me so proud. Sometimes I don't feel like it, but today was proof I must be doing something right.

Three is a good number

Apparently two blogs just isn't enough for me so I started another one. Here's the link:
http://www.stacysapplecreekdesigns.blogspot.com

For the past month or so I've been too busy so I haven't been able to devote much time to my business. I've been wanting to set up a blog to hopefully help promote it some more. Well, I finally got around to it tonight. I really should be in bed, but I'm having too much fun playing with the new blog.

Quiet

I came home today to a quiet house. Cordelia was asleep and the boys were gone. I am still waiting for the boys to come home and I don't know what to do with myself. I already watched a movie, which I haven't done in a long time. I mean watch a movie that wasn't animated. I've checked my email and surfed some on the Internet. Cordelia and I also went to Wal-mart and had a nice shopping experience without the boys. Now I don't know what to do. I should be doing dishes or something, but without the boys here and Cordelia sleeping I really want to enjoy myself. When I'm busy I can think of a hundred things I would like to do if only had the time, but now that I do, I can't think of a single one.