Sunny Days. Speaking the clouds away.

We requested the old Sesame Street episodes from NetFl*x (we don't have cable so NetFl*x is our solution). The one we got included Episode #1.

It opens with a little animated guy telling us that this is for nostalgia purposes only and is perhaps not appropriate viewing for today's preschoolers.

Huh? What could possibly have been in Sesame Street in 1968 that would be inappropriate? Well, besides the orange and gold clothes?

Opening scene: Gordon (the Same Gordon) walks a "new girl" around Sesame Street. No mention of her parents is made for the entire hour.

Next scene: two kids build a very rickety bridge with 2 boards and 2 saw horses and proceed to walk across it (and almost fall) about 8 times.

It was alarming and refreshing all at once.

Until Oscar popped out of his trash can and was... ORANGE. It took some time to explain that grouches are orange until around age 8 when they begin to turn green.

On a side note... Gordon and Maria have aged very gracefully. Bob? Not so much.

An Uphill Walk Down Memory Lane

JackJack has had an on-again, off-again bug for the last 8 days or so. He is NOT one of those sweet, snuggly kids when he is sick - he is a misery. He screams and fusses, demands to be held and then scratches once he's up. He whines. He pouts. He kicks. He screams. And screams. And screams.

JackJack on a happier day.

This is not enjoyable, but in its own odd way, it makes me so thankful. Because this ugliness was the way he lived for the first 15 MONTHS of his life... it was like round-the-clock colic garnished with a side of pure meanness and the only person he wanted was Mommy. By the time he was 8 months old, I found myself sobbing on the bathroom floor, gasping for breath between the sobs, sure I couldn't handle another day - another hour - in this horrendous situation, let alone figure out how to ease the havoc it was wreaking on my other children. I prayed that all this bad temper during the day would at least make him a good sleeper...

You can see that, even in sleep, he was unhappy and needed Mommy. He was a terrible sleeper - arching and tossing and turning all night long.

At 15 months, after a consultation with a holistic pediatrician (at the recommendation of my friend Kim), we finally found a pediatrician who agreed that there were two major signs that something was definitively wrong with JackJack and we started taking action.

Why it took me 15 months to figure out that JackJack might be a celiac -- considering his father is one -- is beyond me and I still feel guilt over taking so long to put the pieces together. Looking back, I think these were my mistakes:

1. I accepted too easily that this was my new life, that this kid just had a rough personality and it was my burden to bear. I needed to be ready to fight sooner (I will never, NEVER accept a metaphorical pat on the head from a doctor again.)

2. In all my reading after Big E.'s diagnosis, the earliest case I read of celiac presenting was 2 years old. I never read a case where it presented at birth. I wasn't prepared for that possibility.

3. Because he behaved in the church nursery (where they snuggled him for the full 2 hours he was with them), I thought it has something to do with me and my parenting. The self-doubt almost drowned me.

I wish I could show you pictures of how orange he got from malnutrition or how skinny, but about 4 months ago, I went through all his baby pictures and deleted all the ones that reminded me of how awful it was. I also deleted the one from his first birthday in which he's eating a big old wheat-filled cupcake. My heart seizes when I think about it.

In the past 8 days, he has almost driven me to distraction. Which has made me:

• Thankful for the joy of a little boy he is now;
• Grateful that we did survive those 15 months (I was a moon-eyed idiot at his second birthday, just couldn't keep my eyes off of the sweet thing he's become);
• Humbled over how severely I lacked compassion;
• Relieved for Big E's celiac because without his diagnosis, we wouldn't have had a clue what JackJack was facing. We would be struggling with him even now.

For all mothers out there who have children with chronic disease or disabilities, my prayers are with you this week. I know you are facing things the rest of us can't begin to imagine - logistically, physically, emotionally, spiritually. May the rest of us hear your unspoken needs in our hearts and rise to help you.

Brownies and a Movie (Trailer)

Sundays are our day for baking a special treat. We made brownies after dinner and then let the kids watch movie trailers on Daddy's laptop while they wolfed down their little half brownies before bed. I think this was while they were watching one of the 5 trailers for Nemo that Big E. found somewhere on the "intertubes".

They clearly are going to take after Daddy's love of movies.
I took three photos of this and Mermaid Princess' jaw was dropped in all three.

Spring Gardening

I was at Michaels buying some things for our MOPS group, and I had to stop and look in the dollar bins. When you live on a budget, the dollar bins are a girl's best friend. Truly, I can get enough of a shopping buzz off of $5 from the dollar bins to tide me through the month. And one of the things I bought this month is a little picture/plaque in spring time colors. I need to doctor it up a little to make it fit our decor just right, but it was a great deal for a dollar.

So I put it in our dining room (known as 'supper club' at our house because we aren't Formal Dining Room kind of people) in a temporary location. Over dinner, Mermaid Princess and Flash had lots of questions about our new acquisition.

Flash: What does it say, Mommy?

Mermaid Princess (with effort): "Love... booms where kindness is... panted."

Mommy: Close, honey. Love blooms where kindness is planted.

Flash: What does that mean?

Mommy: Well, it means that when we are nice and thoughtful to other people, that makes more love in the world for all of us.

Flash: So if I'm kind, then love will grow and grow in my heart until it's biggest thing there?

Mommy (trying to get my breath): Yes. Yes, I think that you're right... I think that's what it means.

It is embarrassing, magical, extraordinary and chilling all at once to have your three year old teach you a life lesson as you are serving him green beans. Please, let me never forget that kindness doesn't simply grow love into 'the world' - it grows love specifically in my heart and helps choke out all the weeds that are doing their level best to take over that garden.

The first of many lessons I will learn at the feet of my children...

Hat Trick

There is just something about kids in hats... what is it that?

JackJack in his favorite hat from his friend, Brayden.

Flash in borrowed coat and hat from Chandler (Brayden's brother).
They were green - Flash couldn't resist.

This isn't a great "hat" picture - but I couldn't resist.
She's playing "the harp."
Her friend, Morgan, made this hat for her and she wears it pretty much daily.
And always with a reminder that Morgan made it for her, special.

Marjorie Daw

We bought this not-very-big-house on a good-sized lot because we were more interested in the kids playing outside than being inside.

Note: I am lousy at making this happen when the weather turns cold.
(I do not like hands cold as clams. I do not like them, Sam I am).

Limited finances + lots of space + three kids sick of being inside =
great outdoor inventiveness when the temp goes up.

This weekend, we fashioned a seesaw out of our busted water tank thing and a piece of wood. We got it workable enough for me to see that, with a little effort, we could turn it into a more stable and enduring fixture in our backyard. I know they aren't consumer-approved these days, but I just love a good seesaw.

Seems like a good homeschooling project for fair weather days!

Yee Haw!

Wow.

Got a few bugs to work out...

Her Hair is Fair

In school this week, Mermaid Princess and Flash had to choose a nursery rhyme to re-write with new rhyming words.

Mermaid Princess picked the poem, I was the scribe and Flash offered up the rhyming words which Mermaid Princess then used to construct the new nursery rhyme. I am HIGHLY biased, but I do believe I prefer the modern version to the classic. But then, I'll also take contemporary praise and worship music over hymns, so no surprise there.

Little Miss Muffet sat on a chair
Eating her apple and pear.
Along came a bear,
And gave her a scare,
She sat up and yelled, "Beware!"

"Digital Age"

Everytime I'm inclined to purchase some new gadgety toy (which we don't have the money for), Mermaid Princess and Flash come up with something that makes me laugh with delight.

In case you are wondering what they are doing, they are working on their "laptops." Mermaid Princess is "writing a story." Flash is "drawing a birdhouse." JackJack is, well, no one's really sure, but he insisted that he have a chair and a desk.

Note they all have mice. And you can't see it in the photos, but their laptops have cords.

I must admit, I am SO thankful to live in the age of the laptop. And I'm curious to see how the computer age progresses alongside our children. One rule Big E. and I have already agreed on: No Computers in Bedrooms.

Of course, by the time they are teenagers, their computers will probably be inside their phones. Will I be willing to ban their phones from their rooms? Whew... not sure about that one.

What about you?