Monday, November 21, 2011

21 Nov 2011

Yesterday "bla" became "banaynay".

Calvin has become quite focused on our wood stove. He would really really love to make a fire at any time during the day! I am not really certain what Greg has let him help with, since I am never downstairs during the fire making, but Calvin was very involved with picking out which wood papa should put on HIS fire next, yesterday. He picked all the "good woods" out of the tub and piled them up directly in front of the stove. No, we couldn't open the door to put them in. Ha! He even carried a log or two around the family room with him a couple times. I felt neglectful, like I'd never offered the child a stuffed animal! He played with his two big woods and his one little wood for a while at the store today, and when I was closing, I couldn't find my little wooden doorstop...sure enough, it was in his shopping cart!

Saturday, November 5, 2011

5 Nov 2011

For as long as Calvin has been telling me that he wants to eat, getting an exact pronunciation of what he wants to eat is still a struggle!

Tonight he asked for a banana. It still comes out "bla".

When he wants orange juice, "oonge oonge" is what he says.

And of course, "choc" is chocolate milk. Although when we are at the bookstore, and he's in begging mode, he says "chloclate".

The kids were at Papa and Gogo's house last night, so no night night books here. Tonight Calvin was able to recite all of his "Puppies at Play" book to me!!!

Maisie's evening wasn't so charming. She fell asleep on the couch and turned into the Tasmanian devil when we brought her up to get jammies on. I am certain she was asleep with her eyes open the first 10 minutes or so. Pointing and screaming at the floor. Yikes. Then it got worse!! Whoa! Finally she passed out. Am positive that tomorrow she will have no recollection of what happened.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

3 Nov 2011

Calvin cleans his ears with "two-tips."

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

2 Nov 11

All of a sudden it's November! Eeeeek! Maisie has conferences next week-half days. The children may pull each other limb from limb locked in the bookstore together that long each day. I may go insane.

One of Calvin's favorite books right now is a Sandra Boynton book. And he has parts of it memorized. On the way to town this morning he was reciting: "No, no, you say! That isn't right! The pigs say OINK OINK all day and night!". Tonight when i picked up the 4th book ( we have to have a limit) I held it up for him to see, and he yelled, "Old Hat, New Hat!". He's got a lot of titles figured out!!

Just about every day at the bookstore, Calvin drags around four pieces of wood. 2x2s i think, two are 2 feet long and two are 1 foot long. Well, on Halloween Papa sawed one into a door stop, so now Calvin has "two big woods and one little wood". Usually he stands them on end then tries to plow his shopping cart between them without knocking them over. Sometimes he builds bridges, other times he adds to his train tracks. Recently he has taken up bowling. He sets them on end, over near the door (GREAT) and then hurls one or more of the balls we have lying around the store. Soccer ball. Soft ball. (eeeek) a big plastic orange ball. And this little red one that is actually really light and generally harmless. Today they had been around, and they had been most recently "the load" for his Tonka truck. Calvin's favorite customer was in this morning, and he told her he was bowling with them. When my favorite customer came in this evening, he was dragging around "the woods" yelling (yes yelling. LONG DAY) at me to _______ his woods!! Unintelligible. I could not figure out what he was wanting me to do, which was making him mad and me crazy! Plus, I was trying to chat with my customer, and my computer was not working! Then he yelled again for me to ______ his woods! My customer looked at me and said, "is he 3?". In January, I said. She said, "my grandkid is three. I understand his language. What are you saying Calvin?". He repeated, and she said, "I think he's saying. 'Kiss my woods.' Jeez. Men are trying that younger and younger, aren't they!?". Bwahahahahahahahah!!!!!!!

Sunday, October 30, 2011

29 October 2011

Maisie and I only made it through about three pages of Farmer Boy tonight. She's a little snorfelly still. And after bath time battles and overtired, she's a little sensitive. She was bothered to tears that Calvin was having shrieking fits of laughter with HIS books. At first she said she didn't know why she was crying, then she admitted that maybe Farmer Boy was a little boring, since Calvin had the giggles with his books tonight. So we put that book away and went with "Pigsty" and "Tillie the Hen". Hmm...barnyard theme tonight!

Calvy is having trouble with pronouns still. This morning it was while asking for chocolate milk. "MomMom, me want choc." Me: "Calvin, say 'I want choc'". Calvin, "Me already said that.". Bwahahahhaha!

Thursday, October 27, 2011

27Oct2011

Today while I changed his pants at the store, Calvin noted that his pee pee "has a crack in it." Then he suggested he might need to buy a new one! I try not to laugh, but it is so difficult!

While we are at the store, we have any number of books to read. He has found in the last month, a couple of Dora the Explorer books. What I love is that he brings them to me and then asks, "Mom! Read this book at me!". So I guess it's more like a demand than a request!

He has another favorite called puppies at play, or something similar. There is one picture that cracks him up. Every. Time. Hahaha! Last night we brought it home and he "read" it to us. Adorable.

I will ask Calvin if he is a boy or a bear. He says "boy" and then I ask what a boy says. "hi", and he waves. Then I ask what a bear says, and he roars and claws with his hand!

Maisie has the best Halloween costume ever! Ari made it from one of my old prom dresses, into Little Bo Peep. Soooooo cute! She has a classmate's party tomorrow, then t or t in Ephrata businesses on mon afternoon, and then t or t at Greg's school. Calvin is a cute little cowboy, complete with orange pop guns. Eek. But I could not deny the little doll any longer.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

27 Sept 11

At PHD we have a compost bucket and a garbage can under the kitchen sink.  Calvin likes to unwrap the dishwasher tablet and throw the wrapper away, then load the tablet into the d/w and start it for me.  We have been working on what goes in the compost bucket (to make "food dirt", thanks Maise!) and what goes in the garbage can.  I love when Calv asks me if something goes in the "bargage"!  I still hate to correct when they are so funny!

Sunday, September 18, 2011

18sept2011

Last night for one of Calvin's night night books, we read a favorite (of both kids) which was "Ten Little Ladybugs". On about the third page, I decided to test him on the colors of the remaining bugs, and the number we had left. He got all six right! Yellow, red, and orange, and 1, 3, and 4. Nice! Will have to test him on the race car book, too. Another favorite. The others he always asks for are "Cat" and "Dog" both by the same author. He is really loving having his entire book collection back at his disposal, instead of the small assortment we had left at the farmhouse while we packed up our belongings to come to PHD.

Maisie is reading "Little House on the Prairie", (well, this is what *I* am reading to her at night) and any number of other books she can find at school that we don't have or have never read. She is doing great in reading at school, is already reading and testing in AR books.

Saturday, August 27, 2011

27 Aug 2011

I have been too busy to write some of the good ones down lately! But this morning as we are packing up the house and Calvin is apparently bored out of his head, he asked to watch a DVD. Like this: "MomMom, put this in the tv slop!". That must mean the place where you put the disk. :)I always tell him he has to ask someone besides Mommy to help him watch tv because I haven't learned how to get it to the right program, so he was helping me out.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

11 August 2011

Tonight on the drive from phd, Maisie and Calvin were oohing and aahhhing over the moon. Maisie said it would follow us home, but not really move. So as we passed some tall trees, I asked if they could both see it. And then I answered my own question, "I do!" Of course Calvin the semi-parrot yells "Me do! Me do!!" I say again, "I do!". And Calvin the semi-parrot repeats, "Me do!". So I attempt a correction, louder this time, so he can understand, "I do! I do!!" and Calvin the semi-parrot yells "Me do!" I can't take it another time, so I say, "Calvin, say 'I do'" half a beat of silence during which I can FEEL the gears, and the exasperation until he yells: "YOU DO!" Ok kid. You win.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

2Aug2011

Well, this one is a little late, Calvin actually said it before the apricot incident, but I forgot to get it written down!

We were going on nightly walks for a while, and when we walk by Hille's, their dogs bark furiously at us-for a long time! Since we come up to their house from the back and then loop all the way around it. So one night we were just about past, and after Greg and I had been shushing the dogs, Calvin says,"Dogs! Stop! Coughing!"

Apparently, bark in "dog" sounds like cough in "human" when you are two!

Friday, July 29, 2011

29July2011

Maisie lost another tooth this week! Love her cute little smile and the lisp that she gets when she isn't paying attention! This one is also blamed on her brother. It was getting a bit loose, but then he bashed her in the teeth with a sippy cup and hastened the process considerably. Sheesh, kid! Maisie was delighted that the tooth fairy brought her a whole dollar!

Also this week, she has become an expert at riding her bike! So much so that Papa and Gogo got her a new BIG GIRL bike! It is fabulous, purple and pink with streamers and a basket! Brand new helmet, too. She's been doing a great job, just cruises around like she's been doing it forever! Calvin has also figured out his trike. He used to like to just scoot around on it, using his feet on the ground for forward motion. But he has gotten the pedaling down now! Papa and Gogo also bought him a new helmet-he had been using his sister's old one, but his noggin is a little too big, and it is a little too pink. His new one has little monsters on it. How appropriate.

Just a couple of days ago, Calixto left some apricots on our front walk. We exclaimed over them, brought them in, put them in paper bags. The next morning, I put a few in a bag for Mom. Calvin was watching, and asked, "Orange, MomMom?" I explained that it was an apricot. He repeated the word for me, did pretty good, too. Then he wanted to hold it. Upon complete examination of the new to him fruit, he proclaimed, "MomMom. Apricot. Have. Behind." You must pronounce it "BEEE hind." So true, and so observant.

Maisie and I are reading "Little House in the Big Woods" at night before bed. She is just listening right now, am hoping to get her to do some of the reading herself at some point. The other day we read about Laura and Mary watching Ma churn butter out of milk. The very next day Maisie happened to go on a dairy tour thru Quincy Rec and on the way home they made butter! Such great coincidental timing!!!

Calvin gets about 4 books a night, and depending on how much of a nap he got during the day, he will either act like he's going to sleep, and let us leave his room, close the door, and then rattle the door, turn on the light, and come out 20 times. OR. He will follow the command to roll over and cuddle in, and then say, "Get. Out. Mine. Room. MomMom.". Such sweet love. :)

Right now he is telling me stories while waiting for his milk. "Mom, bee poop on mine leg. Mom, bee poop on mine head. Mom, bee poop on mine head 'gain."

This past month Calvin has peed in his potty chair a handful of times. Would be nice to get that accomplished by summer's end...but I think it may be wishful dreaming.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

26 May 2011

Stopped by BonneyFarm the other morning to say hi to Papa. Their renters just got their 3rd puppy- Maisie was already enchanted with the last one, now a full grown but not so big chee-hooa-hooa. The third puppy is especially tiny. So tiny, in fact, in relation to other animals, that it was apparently confusing to Calvin. The big dog, Roky, is a "dog dog.". The new little dog, though, is a "catch.". Which, in Calvin-ese is: CAT! Hahahahah! Dad and I made him repeat it several times thru several fits of laughter.

Guess we are "big dog" people!!!

Saturday, May 14, 2011

14 May 2011

Maisie lost another tooth! This one was a little unexpected. She's been saying she has loose teeth, but they havent been too wiggly. Tonight Greg is chaperoning prom in ML, so the kids and I went to papa and go go's for dinner after I closed the store. Nice relaxing evening-have dinner, give kids a bath, put them in jammies, drive home and hopefully toss sleeping children into their respective beds. After the bath, just as we were prepping dessert, Maisie started wailing. Really. New York heard her. Calvin was holding his head, so dad and I tried to figure out who was hurt worse- turns out Maisie was bleeding. From her mouth. (above my foreign rug!). So I picked her up, hauled her into the bathroom, and she is still shrieking about her mouth. I open it up, and she is missing one of her front teeth!!! Ack! Kind of shocking when I hadnt even seen it wiggle yet, not to mention in the craziness of the moment, I couldn't remember if she'd already lost her uppers or lowers! Turns out, that tooth WAS loose, and not a permanent tooth. Mom found it out on the rug, brought it in, and we tried to calm Maisie down. Whoa. So traumatic!

On the drive home, had to wait for a train, and Calvin says as the end passes by: "bye bye chugga choo choo train!"

Sunday, May 8, 2011

8 May 2011

Happy Mother's Day!!

Mom and Dad kept the kids last night so we could go to the play at Masquer's, and then again today after church so we could work in the yard before dinner at their house. Got our tomato plants in, still have replanting to do since my first attempt croaked. Gah.

Today at church I was holding Marti and Randall's grand baby, and before I knew it, Calv was standing in front of me saying, "hold baby. Hold baby!". He wanted to hold Wyatt so badly! So Florie held Calvin and then I held Wyatt on Calvin's lap. So cute!! After we got Wyatt away from him, he sat by Kate and winked at her!!! Ack!

Apparently this morning at Mom and Dad's, Calv pointed to Gramma 'Raine's paintings and said "Game paint.". He's right! They were painted by Gramma 'Raine! Ha! He also pushed mom out of the front chair at the store the other day to make room for "Game". I like that name!

Maisie gave me a fantastic card she made for Mother's day and a magnet for the fridge. Also a beautiful pink miniature rose that smells awesome! Thanks my big girl!! I love you!

Thursday, May 5, 2011

5 may 2011

Tonight we heard the first truly complete sentence from Calvin. "Is sissy nake, too?". Probably requires a little background info...

Our house has a nice long slate floor hallway-a straight shot from our bedroom to the kitchen. The kids always bathe in our shower. Greg almost always does bath duty, while I finish kitchen duty. Recently Calvin has started busting free from his towel and tearing down the hall completely birthday suited, and then stops short at the edge of the kitchen, plants his feet, throws up his arms, and yells, "I'm NAKE!". Then he turns and hightails it back to the bedroom to get his jammies on, although by the screaming usually going on, not entirely willingly. -side note, when Maisie was smaller, she frequently made Greg carry her in her towel to wherever I was to say hi.

So tonight when Calv asked if sissy was also nake, we had a pretty good giggle. :). Just because YOU'RE naked....ha!

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

5 may 2011

Gosh I scarcely know where to begin! It's been so long since I posted anything. And I am certain I'm not going to enjoy this as much without pictures....but I don't want to leave too big a gap without saying anything!

We just celebrated Maisie's SIXTH birthday! Six! How did it happen? I cannot believe my baby is six. She is doing super awesome in school, and still having a great time there-I cannot believe how wonderfully she is doing in reading! It seems we were just sounding out two and three letter words, and now she reads a whole page of a story three times for practice!! Finished up spring soccer, brrrr! Still taking piano lessons from Mrs Wilfong and doing fabulously!!

Calvin is developing by leaps and bounds. He is putting sentences together, which is so amazing. Today he fell asleep on the way to the bookstore, and slept on my shoulder to
his bed and continued to sleep until 2 pm. Yeah, that's a 4 hour nap. Oh, maybe because he woke up at 5!!! So when he woke up, his dipe had soaked through to his jeans. So I put a pair of shorts over his new diaper-I figured better bare legs than wet jeans touching the skin. But the shorts are too big. So for the next two hours I heard: "pants. fall. down. Mom mom.". Hahahahhaa!!!

Dad had called this morning to invite Maisie over to BonneyFarm to inspect the new baby goslings. So when it was time for Greg to pick up Calv, mom and I tried to get him to tell Greg what he waited to do. With help, we got: "four baby geese daddy". :)

I still want to leave calvin's hair as it is (pretty curly) and Greg is starting to insist on a haircut. Boohoo! I don't want to lose the curls!! And we've been teasing for so long that Calvin will answer "No!" when Dad or Greg asks if he wants a haircut! Too cute.

Sunday, January 9, 2011


Happy Birthday to my littlest guy! I can't believe how quickly time flies, it seems we just had him in the hospital for jaundice under the blue lights, and here we are all healthy, eating Sponge Bob Cake to celebrate! We had a wonderful weekend, of course it went too quickly. I guess that's the bummer about working on Saturdays, I miss a whole day with my family. Saturday Greg baked the cake for me, and Saturday night I turned it into Sponge Bob Square Pants (Bah-Bunge in Calvin-ese). Sunday after church Mom and Dad and Gramm 'Raine and eventually Martin came out and we had Calvin's birthday dinner and cake and ice cream. We did presents first, since he didn't really want to nap, and I didn't want him to melt. He did wind up taking a little snoozer on the couch with Papa. All in all a great birthday celebration!! Happy Birthday, little guy!!

Wednesday, January 5, 2011


5 January 2011
So...this game is not really very close to Calvin's appropriate age group.
He did not receive it for Christmas.
He DID find it while rooting around in the hall drawers where he usually finds play-dough.
It's not even HIS, actually, it's Maisie's!
But.
It kept him entertained for an HOUR before dinner. That is just downright amazing for Calvin. He is usually on one toy for about a minute and a half, and then on to the next thing. (generally, one of MY things, ahem.) He played with it some more after his bath, too, at one point grabbing it off the table, turning to bring it to me, and totally yard sale-ing it all over the family room floor. There were fish EVERYWHERE!!!
So at the end of the evening, I put it back into the drawer where he found it, probably a little deeper than where he found it. We'll see what happens tomorrow. ;)

25 December 2010
Maisie after crashing on the luge, one of the 110 times she and Greg went that afternoon!

25 December 2010
Maisie and Calvin on Christmas morning, before digging into what Santa brought.