Growing up

Cora's has advanced a lot in the past few weeks. Every week she discovers some new way to be a trouble maker. This week she is opening up cabinets. I showed her a drawer in the kitchen with baking things in it and she frequently opens it up and helps herself to a toy. The problem is when I need a whisk or measuring spoons they are nowhere to be found. The bigger issue is her fascination with the toilet. I had thought toilet locks were invented for parents that zealously child proofed a house. Now I've come to realize they were made for babies like Cora. Yesterday she threw Bohdin's new water bottle in the toilet. It was the same toilet that Nyla had pooped in earlier and forgot to flush. This morning she threw a pen and a toy in the toilet. For now we will just have to remember to put the lid down but I can envision a day when that will not be enough. Buddy put it well when he said that Cora has Bohdin's curiosity without his cautiousness.

Nyla and Cora have been playing together more. They sort of play dolls but mostly they just do random things since Cora is so young. Nyla likes to set up blanket boats or put babies to sleep or just do wild silly things with her. Nyla also introduced Cora to an empty box. Cora didn't like it at first but has since warmed up to it and when Nyla gets in Cora will follow her. The pictures below were taken on two different days.





Yesterday morning as we were getting ready to leave to the zoo to meet up with friends I spotted a deer in our backyard. We have had heavy damage from that deer eating our stuff and trampling our garden. I don't think there is one thing we've planted that hasn't been affected. I didn't know deer were interested in so may different things. The sunflowers are a favorite along with green beans. When I saw the deer I told Bohdin and Nyla to go chase it away. They just stood outside yelling at the deer but the deer just stared at them so I had to go out myself. The deer ran through the open back gate so I had the kids close it. I don't think it will keep the deer out but at least I can make him work for his food.

Bohdin has been reading a lot more lately. It's hard to believe that a few months ago I was wishing he would read more and now I am telling him to stop reading. Yesterday as we were walking out the door to go to the library he wanted to finish reading a book. He brought it with him. Inside the library he read a book while I did damage control with a walking Cora. She was a tornado and won't have the privilege of walking again any time soon. Cora actually walked out the door as I was checking out but the library guard picked her up before she got away. I collected Cora and couldn't find Bohdin. He was back in the kids' area reading another book. I checked out again and he read on the way to the grocery store. Inside the grocery store he walked slowly while reading the back of a cereal box. That reminds me that at the zoo he was more interested in the signs than the actual animals. It seems that he has finally discovered the wonders of reading.

Blueberries

Nyla's dollies ready for bed.


Bohdin missed a soccer practice the week he was sick. On Thursday I asked the coach if Nyla could take the make up session instead of Bohdin since we would busy on Saturday. On Friday they just have little kids and Saturday was the last day of the current session. The coach agreed and Nyla was so excited. She has been asking to play soccer for a long time. The coach invited Bohdin to play with the three year olds also. Nyla had a lot of fun. I thought she looked so cute out there because she was so enthusiastic. We may do soccer for her in the fall. Or if not soccer then something else. They created a special July session for Bohdin's age but Bohdin wanted to take a break.






Saturday morning we intended to wake up early to go blueberry picking. We didn't leave as early as we originally thought. I did wake Bohdin and Nyla up early but we arrived at 9am instead of the 7:30 we were shooting for. The place was packed and we had to hunt for blueberries. Bohdin did a great job picking while Nyla picked a few but then just ate them. We came away with just under 10 pounds of blueberries. The day we go blueberry picking is the day of the year that the kids eat more fresh blueberries than the whole rest of the year combined. They sat on the counter all day yesterday and I don't think Bohdin or Nyla ate one.





Our next door neighbors had family over on Saturday including their 3 year old great granddaughter. Nyla was excited and wanted to play with her so we invited her over. They ended up playing for hours. The little girl cried when it was time to leave. Nyla was asking about her yesterday. I hope we see a lot more of them this summer. They seemed to hit it off quite well. While Nyla was playing, Bohdin was listening to an audio book. He has spent most of the weekend listening to books.

Only one baby chick remains. We don't know what happened to the other two.

Nap Strike

Cora normally takes two naps per day but not this week. Monday she took her morning nap but would not go to sleep the rest of the afternoon despite repeated attempts. Her second nap had been moving further and further into late afternoon so I thought she might be ready for one longer nap in the middle of the day. Tuesday morning I was able to accomplish so much with Cora's delayed nap. I put her down to sleep about the noon which is around the time she usually wakes up. She had no trouble going to sleep but she had a really short nap. She was pretty tired by evening and went to bed a little early. Wednesday we went to story time for the first time in a long time. We stopped going when it interfered with Cora's nap. This time she went to sleep even later because between story time and walking to the Walmart next door for groceries it was close to one. Cora didn't fall asleep in the car so when we came home I put Bohdin in charge of lunch and took Cora upstairs. She feel asleep but woke up a short time later and refused to go back to sleep. It is quite common for her to wake up multiple times during her nap but fall back asleep. I tried to get her to take a later nap but she refused. She didn't even go to bed early that night. Yesterday was a really busy day. In the morning was dentist appointments. Cora fell asleep on the way home but wouldn't go back to sleep when we came home. In the afternoon we attended a library program about owls which Bohdin and I liked. One of the owls wouldn't stopping hooting which was neat at first. Cora again fell asleep on the way home. This time she did fall back asleep after being carried inside but didn't stay asleep for very long. By the time we made it Bohdin's soccer practice she was exhausted. She was in an awful mood but playing in the water fountain kept her occupied until practice was over. She screamed on the way home. She was so tired but just wouldn't sleep. It was like traveling with newborn Cora all over again. I hope today she will finally have a longer nap. She just woke up and already she seems tired and grumpy.

Bohdin's enjoyment of audio books has increased over the past several months. He has listened to a wide variety of stories that I never would have had the time to read. One of the latest checkouts was Castle in the Attic which came in a pouch with the book. Bohdin listened to it on the way to soccer practice and a bit on the way home before the screaming started. As soon as we arrived home he started listening to it. He sat there and listened to the whole thing which is over four hours long. By the time it was over it was past time for bed. This morning he woke up early and started the book over again. I thought that these audio books would make him not want to read anything himself but in the past week he has been choosing to read books. He read one on the way to the dentist yesterday and read some on the way home from the library. It's good to see his reluctance for reading is disappearing.

Just pictures

Pink eye

I forgot to post the picture of Bohdin bringing in the lettuce the other day. The kids were throwing things out the window to see where they would land. When Bohdin was outside I told him to grab me some lettuce. He tried throwing it up to me but it didn't work so I grabbed a rope. He tied it but then wanted to pull it up also. I held the rope while he came up. He thought it was a lot of fun to bring stuff in this way.

I took Bohdin to the doctor Friday because he was complaining of ear pain. He had also mentioned it on Tuesday but then not again until Friday. He was diagnosed with bacterial pink eye and an ear infection in both ears. His eyes actually started clearing up by then but he is taking antibiotics anyway. The discharge has cleared up but the skin around his eyes is still a little puffy and red. Nyla was sad that she couldn't have a doctor appointment also. She strongly felt that one of her scratches needed to be addressed.

When we went to J-s house on Thursday (which in hindsight was not a good idea since Bohdin was sick) Cora was terrified of the dogs. They were large dogs and she liked them okay from a distance but when they came close she was so scared. It was the first time I've ever seen her scared. I would pick her up and a minute later she would want to get down again. Saturday she was scared again. Nyla put on a Halloween mask that really scared Cora. It took a few minutes but she realized it wasn't so scary and wanted to play with it herself.

Cora's seventh tooth pushed through sometime last week. She has four on top now.

Digestion

Nyla jumping around to entertain Cora




Bohdin hasn't been feeling well this week. Monday and Tuesday he complained of a headache after lunch. Monday he took a long afternoon nap but he didn't on Tuesday. Last night while Nyla, Cora, and I went to the library Bohdin fell asleep for the night. He didn't have a headache yesterday but it does look like he has pink eye in his right eye. He seemed fine again this morning and we went to J-'s house for a little while. By evening he was feeling off again and fell asleep about 7pm which is about 3 hours earlier than normal. We had to miss soccer practice tonight.

Since Bohdin hasn't been feeling well Nyla has been playing with Cora. Cora absolutely loves it and thinks Nyla is hilarious. They have come up with several fun games together and a few less fun things. The pictures above show Cora and Nyla on the boat. Cora didn't get it.

All three birds have hatched now but I didn't take any pictures today.




Nyla explained digestion to me last night. I added punctuation to make it more understandable.

Each time I eat a food and I store it in my body everywhere I want it to be. And then the germs take the food and put it under their pillow. And then the tooth fairy comes and takes the food and then the tooth fairy gives them some toys. And then the next morning they wake up and take the toys to the basement.

Drywall

A robin made a nest in the weeping cherry tree outside the front door. While I think it was a poor choice on her part (we scare her when we open the door) it gives us an amazing opportunity. We check on the eggs at least once per day. This evening one of the birds had finally hatched. I had no idea that baby birds were so unattractive. We'll go out tomorrow and see if the other ones have hatched.




The drywallers came today and in a matter of hours all of the sheetrock was hung. Unfortunately one of them also broke a piece of the new stove. Buddy will settle that tomorrow. By the end of the week this room might be paint ready. Buddy was right to hire this part out. It would have taken him forever.




We have a hydrangea blooming in our front yard. Buddy put one in Nyla's hair and took a picture. Why is her tongue sticking out? That's just what she likes to do. I have pictures of her as a baby doing the same thing.



Bohdin was practicing headers with a soft ball Sunday morning. Nyla and Cora were in the room playing.
Bohdin - Did you see at soccer practice the time I hit the ball twice with my head?
me - No. I missed that.
Nyla (with accompanying hand gestures) - I saw the time you hit the ball with your butt and penis straight.
Bohdin - Um. I can't do that.
Nyla - Well I'm practicing so I can.

Pinkalicious

Thursday morning we went to see the production of Pinkalicious at the local theater. It was turned into a musical and wasn't too bad. The book is not great but somebody managed to turn it into a decent play. Nyla liked it and Cora was riveted for most of it. Bohdin said he liked it but not as much as the True Story of the Three Little Pigs that we saw last fall. Bohdin probably had the most fun prior to the show starting. It's a dinner theater so people sit at tables. We sat across from a five year old girl that Bohdin had a lot of fun with. They told jokes and made shadow animals with their hands on the table. Nyla said her favorite part was when the announcer said the show would begin in two minutes.

Thursday evening we went to soccer practice. Being there gives me a unique opportunity to see Cora's walking progress. At home it is difficult to see day to day changes so seeing weekly changes at soccer practice is neat. At the beginning of this session six weeks ago Cora wasn't walking at all. She spent practice sitting on the floor or in my lap chewing on things. This past week she spent more time walking than anything else. She walks over to the play equipment, the soccer net, and other people. It's really amazing. Every week she walks more. I'm not sure she crawled at all this past week. Bohdin has been changing as well. He hardly cries any more at practice. He may have once this session but I can't remember.



Cora was born with a large thingy in between where her two front teeth would go. Now that the teeth are in it is quite noticeable. In preparation for this blog post I looked up the term for that thing and I stumbled across an article written by a dentist for the Journal of Human Lactation. That thing is called the maxillary frenum. The author of the article came up with a classification system for how it is attached. There are four classes and a nursing child in class three or four has the potential for lots of cavities. I rushed to check Bohdin and Nyla. They are both class three. Cora is probably class four. I'm going to call the dentist Monday morning to see if he will clip it. I thought it was just going to be a cute gap that could be fixed later if wanted. I had no idea it would affect her dental health.





We went to the zoo yesterday morning to meet up with the boy Bohdin had played with a few weeks ago, J-. Bohdin played for about 45 minutes in the splash park before they arrived. By the time they arrived we were ready to leave so we'll meet up again another time. Bohdin said he didn't have fun because it was too crowded. Nyla likes the idea of splash parks better than the reality so she hardly got wet. We'll try again when it's not so busy. I think they will both have more fun then. I tried to put Cora near some water but she wasn't interested so I put her back in the carrier.

Glassblowing

Buddy had a coupon for the glassworks in town and Saturday was the last day to use it. He mostly watched but assisted a little as a cup was being made. We haven't picked the cup up yet. It's something that Buddy has always been interested in so it was a neat opportunity. The kids were bored but survived. Bohdin is old enough to do a fused glass project so we may take him back someday to do that.




Cora had a rough weekend with nights being the worst. Another tooth popped out unexpectedly on the bottom left. One on the top right looks like it will be out anytime and I may have seen something on the bottom right. Cora guards her mouth so it could be days before I know for certain. She has been sleeping horribly which means I've been sleeping horribly. That led to me being grumpy and short tempered. Bohdin cried tonight when I was reading to him because he felt that I didn't like him very much recently and I've been yelling a lot. I felt pretty bad.

This morning when I was in the kitchen I heard a different sounding cry from Cora. When I went to investigate in the living room I didn't see her there. She had climbed up the stairs and was waiting for someone to bring her back down. It was a "come get me cry". I was really proud that she did learn her lesson about coming down the steps. She still really likes to climb up them though. One of the barricades was down and she snuck past me. This doesn't mean that we are going to let her climb the stairs whenever she wants.

On the way downstairs this morning Bohdin was laying at the top of the stairs saying he wasn't ready to come down to breakfast. Nyla cried out in concern that he would die if he didn't come down and eat. She said she needed a brother and didn't want him to die. I thought it was really sweet.

I've been feeling guilty about how much time I've been spending with Cora over the weekend. She's been fussy and tired and has taken a lot of attention. I gave Bohdin a Playmobil toy I had stashed in the closet on Sunday and gave Nyla one on Monday. Her toy was a Hansel and Gretal set with parents, a witch, and some accessories so the story could be recreated. Nyla decided the name Gretal was okay but renamed the brother Pebble since he dropped pebbles to mark the path. The mom was named Carry because she came with a backpack type thing to carry things and the father was named Chop because he chopped down wood.

Pictures

I don't think the pictures below uploaded properly.

Games

Bohdin has enjoyed playing a geography game he "invented". He and I sit in front of the map. One person calls out a country and the other has to point to it with closed eyes. It's quite difficult to do well and Bohdin was frustrated that he would get close but miss almost all of them. I pointed out that it was great that he even knew which region to point in. Close is as good as it gets in that sort of game. At least he wasn't pointing to Libya in South America. Accidentally hitting Spain is not bad. We then moved on to 20 questions geography which was winnable. We played both of those games a lot at Bohdin's request this week.

Cora had a terrible night Wednesday night. She woke up crying inconsolably around midnight. I assumed it was teething pain and thought pain medicine might be helpful. I was surprised when I took it out because it was still in the manufacturer's packaging. I thought she had some before but this would be her first time. I gave it to her and she threw up within a minute of ingesting it. Then about three minutes later she threw up again. We had a bath together and went back to sleep. She slept better the rest of the night and the tooth was much further out in the morning.

Thursday was the homeschool field day. It was at a historic house on the banks of the Ohio river near our house. Normally we have to drive further to events. We arrived a little late because I didn't want to wake Cora from her nap. The event was pretty small and a bit disorganized since kids were in charge. There were some fun times. Both kids came home with prizes.







Friday was the big homeschool fair and yard sale. I was really looking forward to it because it is a great place to find cheap used books. There was only one piece of curriculum I wanted but I thought it highly unlikely that I would find it. I also gave Bohdin and Nyla each five dollars to spend since they also have things like games, puzzles, and other toys there. The event is held at a park and the playground is just past where everybody sets up. As I was looking around the kids asked over and over if it was time to go to the playground. I finally gave in and they played while I picked us up some lunch in the line right next to the playground. After lunch the kids wanted to do the inflatable stuff. Bohdin did the bouncy obstacle course three times and Nyla just once since we had to wait in the bathroom line. The kids did the bouncy house next and then I wanted to go back over to the books. I found a few more things including the curriculum I wanted. It wasn't the deal of the century but I did save almost half price if shipping is considered. Nyla spent her money on a tea set and Bohdin bought an Aztec thing and a magnetized Rubik's cube. Bohdin and Nyla did the obstacle course two more times with Nyla winning handily both times. Bohdin said his favorite part was the fun and his least favorite part was the shopping.

When we came home Cora was feeling a little hot. She had a low grade fever and slept a bit. Then she took another restless nap a few hours later. She slept really poorly through the night as her fever continued and climbed. It's the first fever she has ever had. I don't know what is causing it. She also has diarrhea. She doesn't have any congestion and her mood isn't any worse than earlier in the week when she was teething. Right now she is walking down the hall toward the stairs so she is behaving normally.