For Reals

Adelaide just made her first real joke tonight... she was blowing into her hand, making yucky "Thhhhpppt" sounds, and Jesse said, "Hey, who did that? Somebody's stinky!" Adelaide said, "Josie did. Tooted!"


I've pretty much given up on writing down her new "words," since she's pretty much speaking in complete (if not always understandable) sentences all the time. Some of my favorite things she says now are: "Sumpting! Want sumpting!" "Wait! Hey, wait,
wait, WAIT!" "Mines. Mines! Addalay's!" "Book. Read it! Right tare!"

Sadie is enjoying being six, so far. She has decided that turning six has somehow magically made her capable of swinging under her own power on the swingset, being able to jump rope, braid hair, AND read Green Eggs and Ham all by herself. She's such a big helper with her sisters, especially Adelaide... so much so, that sometimes when Adelaide is hurt or crying, she'll yell for Sadie instead of me! On the other hand, growing up must mean more hormones, because she's been more of a drama queen than ever lately... crying over things, butting heads with me and Josie, and generally feeling sorry for herself and her rotten lot in life (like the fact that she can't drink juiceboxes every day and watch cartoons all the time... isn't it terrible?).

Josie was playing Cinderella the other day as she was helping me sweep the kitchen floor (a task that needs to be done at least 3x a day, especially now that it's getting to be outside time AND Jesse's office is now at home). She likes for me to be the wicked stepmother, but little did I know that today was the day that Cinderella would at last grow a backbone. When I said, "Hey! Get to work!" she threw her broom in the floor, stomped her little foot, and said, "You need to do some of your own work, Stepmudder! And tell those stepsisters they need to do some of their own work too, because I AM TIRED OF IT!" I said, "Cinderella doesn't do that!" She replied, "Well, she does today!"

The drama, ever compounded by Josie, had a splinter in her foot the other day. When I tried to get it out with a needle, she moaned, "THIS is the WORST DAY OF MY LIFE!" The very next day, when I told her we could make candy apples, she jumped up and down and yelled, "For REALS??? THIS is the BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!"

Tub Talk

Adelaide is a TALK-ER. Holy cow. I don't know if she's just trying to keep up with her sisters, or make herself heard OVER them, or what, but she jabbers constantly. Here is a run down of her bath time conversation... see if you can figure out what's going on by her constant narration:

"Tub! Hot! Cold! Thank you! Welcome! Get it! Got it! No! Me! Mines! Elbow! Bubbles! Go! Boat! Pig! Head! Splashy! Oh WEASEL! Toot! Tooted! Heehee! Water! Booty! Okay! EWWWW! Cup! Messy! Dump it! Open! Wait! Wait! Wait! Oh, Baby! Hold her! SWIM! Hair! NOOOOO! All done! COLD!! Hand! Hide it! CUP! Fall down! rocky, rocky! Glug! Josie! Sadie! Tub! In! EVBODY!"

Quiet!

On the way to church Sunday, Sadie asked if we could listen to Laura and Mary (ie: Little House on the Prairie). Josie, who always says, "No! Not again!" was surprised to hear her voice come out of Adelaide's mouth, parroting her older sister. She yelled, "NO! NO! NOOOOO!" in a mean, growly voice. When I said, "Adelaide, be nice," she responded by changing the tone, but not content, of her words. She looked at me and sweetly said, "nooo."

In other car adventures, we stayed the night in a hotel last week when we went with Jesse a few hours away on business. The kids were excellent in the car, just biding their time until we made it to the finish line: room service and an indoor pool. However, they did have to do something to occupy themselves on the trip. Josie decided to sing the hours away... after lots of singing, she started in: "Twinkle, twinkle, little --" when Adelaide broke in and yelled, "QUIET!"

Speaking of Twinkle, Twinkle, Adelaide is now singing that particular bedtime favorite by memory. Though her memory somehow seems to be wrapped up in her mother's southern accent... she sings, "Twankle, twankle, lit... SAR!" What can I say? I love the twankle twankle.

Dirty Wormies

Yesterday, it was around 70 degrees here in the usually frozen North. Sadie and Josie spent a good 45 minutes digging for worms in the abandoned (by me) garden plot in the back yard in the afternoon. They were "saving" the worms from drowning, since they thought there was too much water under the dirt. After they caught 7 or 8long wiggly worms, Josie and Adelaide spent ANOTHER 45 minutes hunkered down on the ground, WATCHING the worms. Who knew worms made such good babysitters?

While the worm show was going on, Sadie and I played a version of badminton with a Winnie the Pooh beachball. This led to much running, laughing, rule changing (by Sadie) and eventually a broken badminton racquet. I think we need some birdies.

Today, Josie and I planted our lettuce seeds while Sadie gave the vinca vines a "haircut." Those things really take over the flowerbeds. Adelaide was a big help, walking around and pointing out "Dirt! Trash! Yuck! Dirty! Eww! Worm! Bug! Pider!" Later, they begged me until I finally let them put on swimsuits and squirt each other with the hose. Then they proceeded to rub mud all over themselves and pretend that they were gorillas... there was much grunting, jumping around, and beating of chests. Although I'd warned them that the muddier they got, the longer they'd have to stand under the freezing hose, they didn't listen. This, of course, ended up with two screaming, crying, wailing, freezing, dirty girls dancing all around on the driveway. Oh, and with me laughing. It was funny! I couldn't help it!

Jokey Josie

I went into the girls' bathroom to find Josie sitting on the potty in the pitch black dark. I said, "Josie, why are you pooping in the dark?" She said, "Because I'm nocturnal!"

Last weekend Grampie Don bought Josie a Browns jersey to wear when she watches football with Daddy (she's been envying Sadie's for over a year, so when he found one on sale, he snatched it up for her). She is so proud of it... she wore it around and even slept in it for two days straight. The other morning, after Adelaide dumped out our puzzle of the United States, Josie worked hard to put it together again. When I went to put it away, I noticed that New Jersey was missing. I said, "Josie, where is New Jersey? It's missing!" She said, "I know right where it is, Mommy!" She ran to the bathroom where her NEW JERSEY was hanging and said, "Here it is, Mommy! My NEW JERSEY!"

After an Easter morning candy fest (we had to stay home from church because Adelaide had "hand-foot-mouth disease," of all things), Josie was all hyped up... I heard her singing this version of her current favorite song, 'Old Dan Tucker':
"Get outta the way Adelaide, you're too late to get my candy!"

Adelaide wore around her little fuzzy lamb ears all morning (part of her Easter basket goodies) and later let Sadie try them out. Josie immediately decided that she was Mary (of Mary had a little lamb) and I was the Wolf. Josie came in my room with Sadie on all fours, baa-ing behind her. Josie looked at me and said, "Hey! She's a mean sheep! Be nice to her, Wolf, or she will kill you until you are dead!"