Headlights in the Fog

Remember Young Artist Betsy

Sometimes, the kids do something that makes me so mad, that makes me think they know better... and then I have to calm myself down and remember my young artist self. As a young artist, I obviously had a very intimate connection to markers... as evidenced above. Today, while I was cleaning the master bathroom, Jack drew on the wall, one of my quilts, the radiator, himself and his sister. I only found out what was going on when Kitty came to tell me, "Jack drew on me." I blew up at him. He started crying and ran upstairs. When I calmed down, I went and found him and we had a talk about the whole thing. I never want my children to feel that I stay mad at them or don't fully forgive them.
The worst part about it is that Jack feels like crap: he has strep throat and just started the antibiotic last night. I find that when he is not feeling well is when he gets mad at his sister, uses 'mean' words, draws on walls. It's hard being a kid when you are sick. It is hard being a parent when your kids are sick.
I love that boy... and I hope he'll be back to his fun-loving bouncy self soon.

Dreaming of the Beach

This morning I got a big 'ol pad of paper and crayons out and the kids and I spread out all over the kitchen floor drawing. After a bit of 'action drawing,' Jack started doing some representational pictures... this one he handed to me and said, "It's a picture of a sleeping turkey dreaming of the beach." I liked that thought very much. While the kids drew (Kitty not quite so engrossed and very tempermental about who was looking at or touching her paper), I just drew and colored circles upon circles upon circles.

It felt good to just be moving my hand across the page. Later, Jack added the red and blue lines. I enjoyed myself so much I think I will try to make it part of our day everyday. Jack needs the fine motor workout, Kitty (usually) loves coloring and I need to loosen up my creative muscles, so to speak. I've been in a bit of a creative hole recently, and it isn't something you can think your way out of. You have to DO, to MOVE your way out of it. Talking about it in my head only makes my hands stay still... drawing circles frees up the hand and the lock on the mental box I seem to have put my creative self in recently.

Firefighter #2

Kitty love, love, loves any shirt having to do with her brother. At night time, she usually sleeps in one of his old shirts... in fact, she rarely ever leaves the house without wearing a shirt that was formerly her brother's. The above shirt was one I made as a party favor for Jack's birthday last year... he wanted a firefighter theme, and my brother the firefighter came and gave a demonstration for the kids. Last summer, Jack's interests started to change to his current Romans/Knights/Pirates/Robbers line up. It was sad... Jack had been passionate for so long about firefighting. Well, it looks like Kitty may be taking up where Jack left off. This morning, I went in to get her up and while I was changing her diaper, she noticed a fire hat hanging from a small knob rack in her room. She insisted I get it for her and then said, "I'm a firefighter and you are a cow!" I knew what she meant... I mentioned in another post that Thom, Jack and Kitty have been playing Cowboy Chasing a Cow lately... Kitty just meant that since she was a firefighter, I was supposed to run (like a cow) so she could catch me. It made me laugh out loud.

The other night I had my first physical therapy session for some burning/tingling I'm having in both hands that is related to a nerve or nerves being compressed in my neck. I didn't know what to expect... but was pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be essentially an hour of stretching my neck in different ways... it was really relaxing. After I got home, Jack asked me what they did and I explained to him that "They stretched my neck all out." He startled, grabbed his own neck and said, "You don't look like that!" He then said, "You know what you look like? Someone who needs to go to the bathroom!" This was true and obvious since I was standing in the doorway of the bathroom.
The other night while the kids were taking a bath, Thom was being silly pretending that a whale bath toy was our cat Solomon. He kept saying, "Oh hi Solomon, it's so good to see you Solomon..." and the like while the kids kept saying that it was a whale. There was a pause in the action and then Jack said, "... and now the news, THAT'S NOT SOLOMON!"
It's pretty evident that Kitty has recently had a leap in cognitive development. She's using much more complex words and sentence structures, which, while amazing, makes her much harder to understand. We have many more back and forth conversations where Thom or I am struggling to understand her... I will often ask Jack if he knows what she is saying (about 50% of the time he does.) The other amusing thing she's been doing is relating conversations she's had with other people by using higher and lower pitched voices. This can get pretty comical if you have no idea what she is saying... it goes like this :
Kitty: (normal voice) Last night Daddy... (quick not understandable phrase)
         (High voice (being Daddy)) Kitty, (sentence in Daddy's voice.)
         (normal voice) I say (higher voice) OK Daddy!

Writing it down doesn't do it justice. They both make me laugh out loud a couple of times a day.

Comics and Scissors

Jack can not just smile for a picture. There is always some sort of dramatic pose or face involved. If I want him to look 'normal,' I have to trick him by taking two quick pictures in a row. The above is of Kitty's bedtime last night... Thom was just getting ready to read a story when I came in with the camera.
Thom's beard is approaching Abraham Lincoln length. He keeps telling me he isn't going to keep it... but it is still hanging around.

I got Kitty some scissors because I knew she would enjoy using them. This is Jack and Kitty sitting on the radiator in the living room, watching TV and cutting paper. They like sitting on the radiator because it is warm. I don't blame them... today is a brrrrrrrrrr COLD day here at the ranch.

Discovery Museum

Sunday we went to the Discovery Museum in Cherry Hill, NJ. It never occurs to me to do anything in New Jersey... but my friend Kathy highly recommended the museum and we got in free with our membership to the Hands On House in Lancaster (there is a network of kids museums that have reciprocal agreements, including the Please Touch museum in Philly.) The kids had a blast... there was so much to see and do. Above is Kitty and Jack in the news studio... I took the picture from the monitor. Other favorites were the hockey rink, the newspaper room, the science corner, the house-under-construction and the earthquake table. It was quite a place! Below is a picture of Jack and Kitty on the fishing boat... they are looking up at a tv that is showing a camera view of part of the boat.

On the way there in the car, Jack said, "I love days like this when we do something as a family."
Jack and Kitty are so cute together. Thom and I love overhearing their conversations. Last week Jack sat down with Kitty and a book from the library and he explained to her that the book took place in Egypt and that the funny writing on the walls were hieroglyphics. She hung on every word.
Another past time recently has been Thom playing 'cowboy' with the kids. Kitty pretends to be a cow and Jack and Thom try to catch her. This involves a lot of running through the house and people saying, "AHHHHHHHH!!!"