A bit word-y

I usually like to attach pictures so you can see what I'm talking about when I write. But not tonite. I'm sitting on the couch watching the kids run. They are lined up in birth order clapping while they count to three or waiting for Chuckles to say, "ready, aim - go"! Silliness gets a bit confused when they turn around to face the other way. She thinks that means she needs to go to the back of the line.

Ah, now they are off to hunt for a fly. Chuckles plans to "freshaw" it. Which means to karate chop it.

The girls are wanting ice cream for dessert. He thinks dried mango is good. Oh, they've all decided both would be better.

Busted. They figured out we actually have ice cream.... I'm going to need to decide what to do about that situation.

I had high hopes for an early bed time but that would be in 10 minutes and I'm quite sure it won't happen.

Oh, now we have dancing with some air guitar. Ok, a bit of doe-see-doe with Chuckles going from girl to girl :) Silliness just called a time out.

Hm. They've left the room and now it's quiet. We all know that could be a bad sign!

Goodnite!

Giggles...

Yes, she's still here....

Lately you might have heard of her and maybe even see her in the background but I haven't taken the opportunity to write about my girl Giggles. Of course, I have no good reason except that she is the middle child and they always suffer from being overlooked - I think that is the theory. Well, there is no way to over look her! But there is a weird phenomenon as she has the fewest pictures that have been taken. I'm working on that.

But what I really want to share with you is the joy that she is! Oh, but she can melt this mama's heart. Just the other nite this girl very dutifully washed all her tea party dishes and after stacking them nicely in her play kitchen she very carefully laid her dish rag over the little pink sink. Big deal you say. This is exactly what I do! It really moved me that she picked up on that.

Ok, and I have to report on her love of dressing up! Right now it's all good unless I require that she wear bloomers. She's anti bloomers for some reason. In fact, when I tell her we are going somewhere and pick out what outfit she'll be wearing she tells me how great it will be to come home and then she won't have to wear them. This has spurred her on to wear pants more. However, she has inherited her daddy's long torso and most shirts run sorta short. Not a huge problem but when she wears the pants she MUST tuck it in. We've had long, painful discussions about how some shirts are tuck ins and some aren't... But I will ask that you picture this: Giggles in her shirt and pants with her too short shirt tucked in to her pants that she pulls up doubly extra high so that the shirt will not come out. Erkle has nothing on these pulled up pants! Oh, I love it!! Remember, the higher she pulls the pants the shorter they get at the cuff - are you picturing this?!? Oh, I love it!

And this girl is showing us that our talks and teaching of the Lord are rattling around and trying to land and take root in her sweet little mind. She often asks deep and profound questions that startle me. And make me think more than I expected I would have to with an almost 5 year old...

She tries so hard to build her vocabulary and improve her speaking! Often, she can't think of the word exactly but she tries so hard that she'll give it her best effort and say something and it ends up coming out funny because it's backwards. Take for instance a few days ago she was telling me if we were to walk to the park and hear loud noises from a truck or a motorcycle or a... a.... a mow lawner she'd just cover her ears . :) All of our kids pronounce the letter L as a W. So lollipop goes something wike wahweepop. That is until a few weeks ago when she just decided to start retraining herself to say L. So for a week or so she repeated every word with a L two or three times until she totally got it right and now it's just normal! She was so inspiring that now Chuckles has decided to change his speech and say his L's properly too!

Oh, and I hope she never changes in this regard - whether happy or sad she has to hug you. Or if you just happen to be sitting nearby she might reach out and hug you then. Or if she's excited. Or sick. Or if you compliment her. Or if you wink at her...

And please somebody help me when it comes to having a serious conversation with her only to have her look up at you so adoringly right before crossing her eyes then uncrossing to see the effect and then re-crossing because she sees the shock value - I can't help it but I love it! All three can cross their eyes and do so regularly whilst in the middle of conversations. It's the craziest when they do it back and forth to eachother!

Papa Chanoli was sick one Sunday. I asked if Giggles wanted to stay home and take care of him. I never want to forget the look she gave: There was no smile or excitement. A big hug was first and then just lots of thinking about how she was going to do her very important task. She immediately offered water since she can reach the cups and water dispenser on the fridge door and then told him she was going to "toast him some eggs". The kind daddy that he is, even though his stomach was upset, could see that this was very important to her and helped her to do it. She did a great job!

It's so fun to be able to jot down my life and times here. Recently I went back in the archives from a couple of years ago and did some reading and while I don't maintain this site well or even often it is so helpful to be able to remember things. I had forgotten the little stuff. The stuff that makes the days difficult, funny and long but somehow the years go, oh, so fast. So you may tire of reading about my activities but at this point I need to be able to write what hits me at that moment as I now know I will appreciate it later :)