Stuff my three year old says

On Tuesday my ride home with Charlotte and Camille after work was either hysterical or completely unnerving.  Maybe both.  Charlotte talked literally non-stop.  And what she said was sometimes completely contradictory to what she had said only the sentence before.  It took my weight in patience not to laugh or cry.

Charlotte:  Where are we going?

Me:  We're going home, Charlotte.

Charlotte:  But I don't want to go home!

Me:  Well, we're going to the pool this afternoon after we get home; don't you want to go to the pool?

Charlotte:  But not home, right?

Me:  Um. Well, yes, we have to go get your bathing suit on and pick up Caroline for swim team practice.

Charlotte:  But I don't want to go home!

Me:  Okay, Charlotte, I've heard you.

Charlotte:  I am not a fast runner, you know.  I am not a good runner.

Me:  Why do you say that?

Charlotte:  Because when I play with Nicholas I get too tired.  I'm not going to play with Nicholas anymore.  I didn't play with Nicholas today.  I played with Kate Kate and . . . .Kate Kate and . . . .Kate Kate and . . . Kate Kate and . . ..Kate Kate and . . . I can't remember.

Me:  Oh, that's good.  What did y'all play?

Charlotte:  Kate Kate and . . .Kate Kate and . . . Kate Kate and Noella!

Me:  Oh, good, you remembered.  What did y'all play?

Charlotte:  Me have a boo-boo.  Right here (points to wrist).  Oww!  Owww!  OWWWWWW!  Oh this hurts!

fake crying

Me:  I'm sorry you're hurt, what happened?

Charlotte:  I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Me:  Charlotte, stop yelling.  


silence

Charlotte:  When are we going to be home!!!  I'm ready to be home!  I don't want to be in this car anymore!

Me:  Okay, well we're almost home.  Do you want to listen to some music?

Charlotte:  Yes.  Taylor Swift.  The first one.

music turns on

Charlotte:  Turn this up, please.  I can't hear it.


music turns up

Charlotte:  Thank you.  Now Mama, [unintelligible because she is speaking quietly and the music is loud].

Me:  Charlotte, speak up please or I have to turn the music off, I can't hear you very well.

Charlotte:  Turn this mugik off!  I don't want any musgik!

Me:  Charlotte, stop talking to me like that.  You have to ask me nicely.

Charlotte:  And I. DON'T. WANT. TO. GO. HOME.  Wait, did I miss the horses?  I want to go back and see the horses!  Hey!  Look, there are the cows!  Hey cows!  Hey cows!  What are you doing cows?  Eating your dinner?  Bye cows, bye cows!


silence for about 30 seconds


Charlotte:  Hey Camille, do you want to go home?


no response.

Charlotte:  Hey Camille!  Hey Camille!!


no response

Me:  Charlotte, she's listening to you, just talk to her.

Charlotte:  No.  She is not being nice to me.  She is not saying, "Yes, Charlotte."  That hurts my feelings.  This is all hurting my feelings.  And my wrist hurts!


Crying

Me:  Okay, well you need to be nice to Camille too.  She doesn't' like being yelled at and neither do you.  We're almost home.  Let's see if we can get home without y'all having a breakdown.  We'll be home in about two minutes.

Charlotte:  Home!  I want a snack at home!  Can I have fruit snacks at home?

Me:  Sure, you can have some fruit snacks at home.

Charlotte:  Oh, Mama!  I love you Mama.  You are the best Mama.  I love you so much.

Me:  I love you too Charlotte.

Hey there!

Now that school is almost over and summer has officially arrived -- or maybe unofficially arrived-- in Baton Rouge, here's an update for all six of you sitting on the edge of your seats.

Where have we been?  What have been up to?

Wrestling alligators

Going to art shows

Eating breakfast outside

Watching movies in tents

Stylin'

Looking for squirrels

And so much more that I never pulled the camera out to capture.

Good night, friends!

Pure heart

The first time I saw Caroline do this, it brought tears to my eyes.  It was so touching for a reason I couldn't quite articulate, but some things speak to your heart and not your head.  Jeff had the same reaction when she did it for him; he said, "Wow, that almost made me cry."

Here's our precious girl singing and signing to a song she learned in Sunday School.



"But Jesus called the children to him and said, 'Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.  Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”  Luke 18:16-17

Gleaming the Cube

Gratuitous '80's skater movie reference.   Anyone, anyone?  :-)

Jeff built Caroline her own skateboard after years of letting her "ride" his. Unlike her mama, she actually has great balance and so she really enjoys it.  As with just about everything she does, Caroline rides her skateboard with  joy and excitement - it makes me smile to watch her do things that make her so happy.

After posting the video yesterday of Camille riding Caroline's skateboard, I decided that two more skateboard videos might be in order.

First up is Charlotte riding with Jeff.  She loved every minute of it.  Charlotte is not the most daring three-year old you'll ever meet, but she trusts her Papa enough to try something a little daunting.  I wish I could capture that smile and laugh.




Second is my oldest girl showing off her skills. Skillz?

Teaching them to fish

Robin wrote a beautiful post on the sometimes excruciating process of letting our kids grow and learn. Click on over here for wisdom that I really needed to hear as we are starting the long, slow process of weaning each of our girls from full-on fish feeding, to learning how to fish herself.  Such a good word.

Where have we been?

When I waited tables there was this phenomenon that I battled against when my table's food was taking too long to come. My natural inclination was to avoid them after I'd given the canned apologies for the kitchen being backed up, slow, short-handed, or getting an order wrong.

That's definitely the wrong route to take as a waiter.  While you're not guaranteeing a decent tip by continuing to check in even when it is painful or you have no answers, you are almost certain to have a really aggravated customer when you don't check in.

And so it has been here on the blog. Almost a month has passed since I last posted and I've been tempted to check in with just a picture here or a story there, but . . . well, I just haven't.

Instead of continuing in that avoiding tendency, I thought I'd share a couple of recent videos of two of our girls. There's so much more to catch you up on, Palm Sunday, Easter, soccer games, and the mundane details of life between the memorable events, but for today I'll give you two videos that bring a smile to my face.

First, this is Camille "riding" Caroline's skateboard. Note to self: get a video of Caroline riding her skateboard. This little activity tickled Camille to no end.

 

 Second, if we are friends on Facebook or Twitter, you might have seen me mention the fact that Charlotte has taken to calling me "m'lady" for some reason. She says it with a hint of a British accent, so I imagine it comes from some role-laying she's doing with Caroline or who-knows-where. In any event, it makes me smile every time she says it. At the suggestion of Kristin, I tried to catch it on video - albeit with a bit of a prompting.

 

Spring

The girls celebrated spring by playing in the sprinkler on Sunday.   Camille wasn't so sure about it at first:  

But after a little prodding from her sisters and her mom, she jumped in on the fun: 

Unfortunately, not even 48 hours after I took this video, Camille was at the pediatrician getting a pneumonia diagnosis.  No fun.  But, she is in good spirits and hopefully will start to be on the mend quickly.