I just realized...for the last seven months this blog has has the title "Five's a Crowd." So out of date... and one of these days I'll remember how to change it. It's late. Also, the family pictures I have posted on the sidebar only have two of our four children. If this were a real, actual, money-making blog I'd probably have done something about that by now. As it is, you just have to deal with it.

We got family pictures a couple weeks ago. It was a groupon deal (we may have to do a separate post sometime about my serious groupon habit) for a great price. A 30 minute photo shoot at Beus Park, in October. Lovely, right? They did turn out nice, with two caveats: the leaves are still green, and for every picture the photographer had us pose on a very ugly brown plastic bench. Ack. I was just going to ask him if we could do a shot overlooking the pond instead, when our shoot was finished. So I've been looking over the proofs and the light is beautiful. They turned out well. And...here's the third caveat. The deal I purchased only gives me a print of one image, and additional prints are super expensive. Like, "$29 for an 8x10" expensive. And I can buy a CD of all files, so I can print whatever I want, for the bargain price of $349. Wahoo! Need to remember that good deals are sometimes not such good deals.

Next time: Halloween. I have actual factual pictures.

Remember the good old days when...

...I blogged weekly? My Mondays weren't complete if I didn't put a small update here. It was thought-out, sometimes witty, and always had pictures.

 But lately, life has been too full of living to do much writing. Or anything else. Ergo, I'm about to return a library book, about a quarter of the way read. (gasp!) It's due tomorrow and there's just too much else to do to finish it.

 We stained our fence. After a couple hours' work only got the front sides of the fence done, we returned to the store for more stain and a sprayer. For all your paint- and stain-spraying needs, see us first. I think it took Levi about as long to do the entire backyard as I spent doing a quarter of the area. The kids had fun helping me, though. That lovely pink shirt now has a blob of stain on it, and the black pants must as well, because her underwear had stain on it.

Peter continues to dominate the house with his baby-ness. He holds us all in his thrall. (unintentionally rhyming happening here.) I forgot to take him in at four months to the doctor, and then they called to remind me of my neglect, and after I took him in at five months to get his four-month shots, he stopped sleeping. He's spent a good portion of the last month getting up three times a night. Sometimes two. It's a good night when he only wakes up once. This is the baby who slept 11 hours at 3 months. One night he was up three times between midnight and five am. This kid is going to be so grounded.

We finally started him on food a couple weeks after his six-month birthday and he's taking to it really well. I'm mentally gearing up to make my own baby food because I hate paying so much for such small containers of goo. You'd think I'd have this down by four kids. How have I never tried making baby food before? We have a little baby food grinder which we love, but he won't be feeding him table food for a while still. So I'm going to buy some vegetables and put the blender to use. Ought to be fun, right?

On an unrelated note, the clean laundry sat in baskets for three days before I got around to folding it.

Levi and I went on a date night! with Peter. I was due to go to my aunt's witch party, which is held faithfully and without fail the second weekend in October. But then my cousin went and had her first baby that very evening, so we called it off. So Levi and I took the evening to do things we aren't ambitious enough to do with the kids: Ethnic Food and Bookstore Browsing. (I don't get out much, so those do require capital letters.) We went to Taste of India and then walked over to Barnes and Noble. And to do those things with just one baby was...so easy. It was a fun night.

Every time I think about sitting down to write something, I can't think of anything to say. My head's too full of everything that's been happening (and where everybody has left their shoes) to articulate any of it. Like:

The struggles and successes of Nathan's first couple of months of first grade.
Hanging on to every minute of Peter my baby's babyhood.
And a haircut!
Coping with Clara's constant and inscrutable questions. "Why do they call it a Suburban?"
And enjoying Alice. She is a rascal.
Trying to get around to reading Smart but Scattered. It's a book my sister recommended to me and I'm pretty sure it's going to solve all of our problems always.
Doing those nagging house projects in between all the other cleaning things I expect myself to do but never seem to get done.
Why can't I make dinner anymore?
Learning to bake with natural yeast.
The trunk of the car is filled with the beginnings of Christmas shopping because the kids can't get into it there. So don't try and put anything in there.

Quotables

Clara on Milk Duds:
You take a seed, and put it in a pan, and put some milk on it, and some chocolate on it, and some caramel on top of it, and then you let it sit for 18 hours, and then it becomes a Milk Dug.

Alice on Cheesy Broccoli Soup:
Dad, this is so yummy! You should try it!

Alice, when asked where she learned to say things like that:
Because I want to.

Nathan Levi

Or, as he insisted today, his name is Nothing. He even wrote it on one of his homework pages. I let is pass because, he was happy, and his homework was getting done.

Nathan has been up to:

• He just started first grade. Academically, he's great. Right where he should be. I worry a little about his behavior these first few weeks. But, crack the hammer down, and he'll settle in. That's his mojo.
• His teacher told me he's got the best handwriting in the class. Not what I expected to hear, and it's really not a competition, but yeah. Best in the class. When he does settle in to do his work, he does it. 
• He was disappointed the first week of school when they did not have any science. Hope they get to that soon, since that's really where his heart lies these days. He dallies between wanting to be an entomologist, paleontologist, or astronaut.
• He hates to sit down and read. He doesn't like to do something that requires effort and practice. But when he does sit down and really do it, he does well. We got him to do it the other night because Peter wanted him to read to him. And there's not much you can say to refuse a baby brother.
• Whenever Peter babbles, Nathan asks me what he's saying. So I translate. Usually it's things like, "I want you to read to me" or "I wish you guys would stop fighting." Once in a while, to keep it believable, it will be "I just ate and I feel so happy." And every time I say something, Nathan says, "Is that really what he just said, mom?" Yes. The answer is always yes.
• We didn't do soccer or baseball or even swimming lessons this summer, but somehow he was always busy. Lego, Trios, blanket forts, collecting bugs in a jar, what have you. A few days ago he found a mushroom in the backyard and constructed Mushroom Town as a home for it, using sticks and small rocks from the side of the garage. The next day the mushroom had wilted so it became Rock Town. Rock Town was fun for the whole family, for hours.
• I love to walk home from school with him since it's almost the best time for conversation. We talk about science things, or what he did that day, or some wild hypothetical scenario that he wishes would come true.
• His favorite part about first grade is eating lunch at school and having three recesses.

He lives life deeply and intensely. When life is good, it's really good.

Clara Lois

Clara, my sweet little second mother who loves to boss her siblings around and twirl around the living room. Where to start?

• Clara started ballet this summer and loves it. She dances everywhere she goes. My friend is her teacher which makes it a lot easier for Clara to go and enjoy herself. This fall she's also started a jazz/tumbling class that she's pretty excited about. This is my substitute for a paid preschool and it seems to be a good fit.
• The night before Nathan started school Clara was in tears. "I'm going to miss Nathan and I don't want to play with Alice because she's mean to me! I want to go to a real preschool without you!" But days later she had changed her mind and would miss me too much if she had to be without me.
• We've started a co-op preschool with my sister and her friends. Five little girls, with my two. We started this week and my girls are both loving it. It gets them out and playing with someone else, but without being so overwhelming for my shy girls. 
• I finally made good on my threats: I cut her hair. The daily battles over brushing out the tangles are over, which is wonderful. She loved her short hair. It fits her personality, it was easy to do, it made her look older. But then she started ballet, and her hair is too short to do a ballerina bun. Sad day. She goes back and forth on if she wants it long again.
• Ever since I went with my friend to get a pedicure for her birthday, Clara is pining to go to to a salon. She would love her entire life to be fancy and beautiful.
• She was mad at me one day because I presumed that she would want to wear pants. Not that I had just bought her some pants. No, the mere fact that pants in her size existed, and were somehow in her bedroom, was insulting. She only wants to wear dresses. (She does still wear pants, though.)
• She loves to follow her Nathan around. He comes up with the best games. She misses him when he is gone.
• She's doing the online Upstart preschool and loves it. She asks to do it every day.
• One day, as I cleaned the kitchen during naptime, she decided she would be the maid and would do all the cleaning. She swept the floor, got a dishcloth, and started mopping. I think she's really internalized all that Cinderella glamor. But I did appreciate the help.
• Our family gave talks a couple weeks ago and she did so good. She climbed up on the stool, planted her mouth firmly on the microphone, and repeated everything I whispered to her, clearly enunciated. She would not let me adjust the microphone so it wasn't in her mouth. 

 She's getting ready to fly, that four and a half year old.

Alice Maragaret

 

 

A few things about our Alicey pirate (above), pink Ninja Turtle (below), and all around tough tomboy nurturing mother girl that she has been this summer.

• She is picking up a lot of lingo, mainly by repeating everything anyone says. 
• She's picked up a love of ninja turtles from Nathan, and used Clara's pink scarf to fashion herself a costume one evening.
• She can hold her own in a wrestling match. The other day I watched her get Nathan on the ground, stand on him, and make him scream. Mostly, but not completely, with laughter.
• She loves to play babies with Clara. They fight over the same baby stroller, despite the fact that we have two.
• Alice makes Clara cry on a regular basis.
• She is learning to dress herself. She can put skirts on by herself, as long as you don't look at the back. She still can't manage to pull it up over the diaper in back.
• She is very excited about the toilet and has twice used it successfully in the last couple of weeks.
• She has two special pink blankets: the flowie one (as in flowers) and the uddie one (as in "the other one"). As we are going to bed, she asks, "Where my uddie blankey?
• She can be so mad, screaming, and then pull herself together and say, "Oh. Okay, mama." Not always, but it's so nice when she pulls it back from a full blown tantrum.
• She is not a little kid. Don't try and call her one. She is just as big as the biggest of brothers and sisters, and can do anything they can do.
• She makes full use of her two-year-old privileges; namely, grunting and refusing to look at someone for no good reason. Usually when she, or they, have just arrived.
• She plays independently very well. She'll go to her room, or downstairs, and just find something to do.
• She likes to come into the bathroom and watch me get ready. When I put lotion on, so does she. She likes to have me put deodorant on her. When I do makeup, she wants "Wips, mama."
• When Clara gets ready for ballet class, she has to put on her leotard and dance around the living room.
• She's fearless about most things. This past weekend up at Preston, she was standing on a little log, about 8 inches tall, with her hand on the wall of the outhouse for balance. She fell, rolled on the ground with the log for a few seconds, then stood up and climbed back on, without any complaint. She's learned the phrase, "I tough kid."
• She's terrified of swings. If you push her too high, which is easy to do, you'll hear about it. And so will the rest of the neighborhood.

Fun times with a fun kid.

Peter Milton

Here's Petey, as of the beginning of June. Have I ever posted a picture of him yet? Lots to catch up on.

A few things about Peter:

• He's five months old today! Stop growing up, baby kid.
• I'll have updated height and weight for him next week. Apparently you're supposed to take babies in for a four-month visit? They called yesterday to remind me. Whelp.
• He's still got an impressive bunch of hair. It started out brown, took on a strawberry/red cast to it, and is now growing in blond. He's got a nice hombre fade-in look going on. I've never had such an on-trend baby.
• Now that it's longer, it's not so much, but his hair is spiky. Alice cannot say spiky. One day, she stood over him, exclaiming: "Fikey! Petey fikey!" Which has now become one of his nicknames, Fikey Pete. It sounds a little foreboding. Don't mess with Fikey Pete.
• Peter is apparently a good name for nicknames. Peter, Pete, Petey. Alice for a while called him "peas" but has since settled on Petey. The whole family has followed suit. He has some pajamas with a dinosaur on them that Alice has named Pete's Dragon. (We had just watched that movie.)
• He's only rolled over a couple of times and still hates tummy time. 
• For a while he'd reach up and grab onto his hair. He made himself cry a couple of times, pulling his own hair. And once he pulled out a pretty good handful of it.
• He's stopped pulling it so much, though, because now he's learned to suck on his fingers and toes. They're delectable.
• He's starting to reach out and grab things. Holding him at dinner time has gotten a little more exciting, for both parties.
•  He loves to look at himself in the mirror. Such a friendly friend! Always smiling!
• For a while he slept through the night, then started waking up a lot. Like three times a night. He's starting only getting up once lately, around 4 or 5. Comparatively, it's something I can handle.
• He's a pretty good wiggler and can rotate himself around in a circle.
• Today his hair was pretty wild, sticking out all over. Levi summed it up pretty well when he said he looked like a japanese anime character.

So we are all pretty big Peter fans. It's hard to remember what our family was like without him.