Ever since we went on vacation and SweetPea watched the movie "The Princess Bride", we have been inundated with requests to legally change the names of our two youngest children to Buttercup and Wesley. SweetPea goes through many days where she will only answer to her self-appointed nickname and requests that you call Pork by Wesley. She has gone as far as introducing herself by this new name, attempting to write it on her lessons and scolding me for calling PorkChop by the "wrong" name. To be honest, I find it insufferably cute that she has developed such a liking for a character. At the same time, I get enough weird looks without people wondering why I chose to name my daughter Buttercup.
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| Dueling to a "draw" |
Tonight, while forcing Wesley to carry her baby for her (since Buttercup is a princess and Wesley just says "As you wish" which really means "I love you"), I made him a little cardboard sword so he could be happier. Didn't last long before Buttercup insisted that she needed a sword too but that hers needed to be longer and thinner and not so black in the handle.
The two then raced outside and proceeded to duel. Didn't last too long before Wesley's sword was quite a bit crumpled and Buttercup noticed that her sword was better for drawing pictures in the sand.
I am pretty certain that I am going to have to resign myself to a future of grandkids with names like Indigo, Humperdink, and Wesley. :)
Ok, now, seriously.... the ground hog didn't see his shadow so we should be warming up any time now... right? My poor two littles are beginning to go a bit crazy from our wacky weather and being cooped up indoors after a few beautiful days out. Thankfully, with our vacation looming just ahead in the distance, I see plenty of time for perfect weather and outdoor fun. Too bad that they have almost zero concept of time.
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| serious business |
To pass the time today, I threw out a bunch of ideas. Painting was struck down (Pork still isn't a fan of finger paints and I cannot find our paintbrushes anywhere).... Baking was a no go (SweetPea said that she is sick of always being in the kitchen).... Reading was done and then forgotten about as the books became make-shift frisbees.... So as a last resort, I grabbed a container of the play dough that I made before SweetPea's birthday and asked if this was a good idea.
And the clouds parted and the angels sang!
Ok, so maybe that only happened in my head. But it did work to keep them both occupied long enough for me to clean up the terrible mess that they had been making all morning long with everything that they shouldn't have been touching.
I was really shocked to see that my homemade dough had actually withstood the test of time and was still just as soft, just as pliable and just as sweet-smelling as when I made it. And best of all, it definitely was still as charming to the littles.
Today, SweetPea worked on making dragons (huge obsession around here lately) and Pork just made little balls with lots of growling noises and a few grunts thrown in for good measure. We had elaborate stories about the dragons and snakes and eggs and babies and nests.... We had some good hard punches to the balls and squeals when they would flatten down to thin pancake shape. We talked about caring for babies (baby dragons need their mamas, don't you know) and we talked about how certain little boys needed to learn how to treat babies softly.
And the countdown is on.... My sister gets married this Saturday. Which means that she has need of the small female children quite a bit this week. For Peanut, that doesn't mean much. She will still go to school as planned, but she will have to rush through her homework and chores to attend wedding preparations. For SweetPea, it means a week off of lessons since I feel that she has enough "excitement" to deal with right now.
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| morning routine fun |
A break from lessons doesn't mean a break from learning. In our home, learning happens all the time. Our morning routine is to bring out all her prized "Loopsies" and spend a good half hour making up stories for them. They are not always long, drawn out plays. Sometimes, they are just minor skits, a mere bump in the road. Other mornings though, the loopsies band together to save the world from dinosaurs. They travel to the moon and discover space aliens. They get married, have babies, live their own lives.
Really listening to SweetPea play, she reveals so much about what is going on inside her little head. Right now, its been mostly wedding planning. This loopsie wants to marry Ace Fender Bender but she can't because this one loves him too. Which is normally met with much grumpiness over her NEEDING more male loopsies. Which are hard to come by in miniature form. Even though Pork plays right along with SweetPea, its not every day that he allows his Little People to be brought in as substitute mates. But it definitely is cute watching Batman and the Joker pair off with their own loopsie friends.
I am going to miss hearing her sweet chatter when real world crushes take the place of pretend doll ones. But I am also confident that she will be ok. Because watching her play, I can see that she has a good heart, doesn't want to see anyone hurt, and understands that sometimes, you have to lose what you love temporarily... because it will always come back to you in the end.
Do remember being a kid and spending hours in your living room jumping from cushion to cushion because they were "safe" and the rest of the floor was boiling lava? Do you remember driving your cardboard box to the movies and eating popcorn while gazing up at the big screen? Do you remember sheet forts and spending hours inside on a cold winter day, marveling over how a thin little sheet could wrap you in such warmth?
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| catching the big one |
I love the days when I can still play that way with the littles. Today, we went fishing, compliments of SweetPea's huge imagination. We fished for some sharks, some swordfish, a little bit of "fish sticks" and even caught a whale. We used pencils that I tied a bit of yarn around and a maracas for bait. We fished off our "couch boat" and off the bridge of the climber. We fished from the lakes, the "o-chen", and a pond. Sometimes, we caught a fish. Sometimes, we caught each other. It didn't have the same thrill as riding dragons through the kitchen... It was calmer, more laid back, relaxing.
Maybe we will fish again tomorrow. Or maybe we will hunt alligators with our bare hands. We could chase snails (like SweetPea did with her dinner tonight) or become barking chinooks. No matter what we do, we will do it together. And I will spend a few minutes remembering what its like to be a child again.
