Sunday, March 15, 2009

Can He or Can't He?

You may have noticed in my previous post that Ben is not wearing glasses. They may or may not have been working, as he may or may not have problems with the part of vision that glasses correct. We have no idea.

Ben has been consistently failing his vision exams, even with the glasses. They did nothing to affect how he sees the eye charts. WHAT? You would think that if they did not work, they would actually make the vision worse. But not much change at all. So the glasses are off for now, because no one wants to wear glasses if they don't have to!

So we are off to the pediatric opthalmologist- maybe he can help us. The eye doctor we were seeing is as stumped as the rest of us- and she has been doing this for years.

Wish us luck on our journey to 20/20!

Yesterday...

...Emma turned 11 months old! She is really starting to outgrow the baby age, and is starting to "toddle" now. She has moved past crawling on the floor- that was so last week- and now she is cruisin' the furniture, walking with her push toy, and crawling up the stairs. Up goes the big white gate! She yells up the stairs when Ben and Grace are up there, as if to say "hold on, I'm coming". And then we put the gate up. It was very sad:(
Chatterbox is Emma's new name- she loves to talk, and seems to really know what she is telling us. Soon, we will find out! Emma is growing and moving and doing all of the things that 11 month old children do- and she does them all very well, thank you very much. Having a big brother and sister is certainly an incentive!

I was going to show you a picture of all three kids, dressed up for church. They were going to be sitting nicely, smiling into the camera. Here is what I decided to show you: (it is a much more accurate portrayal of my children!)
They are still dressed up, and smiling (just not at the camera). The thing is Ben's hand is his newest invention. He woke up with it in his head this morning, and voila! A new monitor for the Buhl Fire Department.
So there you have it- Emma's 11 month pics, and a cute shot of all three kids.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Ship Shape in Space

Last night, we were saying tongue twisters- you know "she sells sea shells by the sea shore"- that kind of thing. This is what we heard:

Us: "GRACE sells sea shells by the sea shore"
Grace: "I am NOT on the sea shore!!"
Us: "Are you on a cruise ship then, like Grandma and Grandpa?"
Grace: "NO! I want to stay on EARTH!!!"

I guess in our house, we talk more about SPACE ships than CRUISE ships!

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

What are they doing???

I thought that we could play a little guessing game. You can guess what Ben and Grace are doing, sitting in their chairs, wrapped in a blanket, with big smiles on their faces. I will even give you hints.
Things I overheard while waiting for the big event: "this is going to be great" "aren't you excited??" "we should pretend we are having popcorn- and not the puffy kind. REAL popcorn!"

Have you guessed? Are they watching a fun movie? A favorite TV show? Reading a special book, or listening to a fabulous story? No, no,no and no.

Are they spectators at an amazing event? I guess that would be accurate, if you were 3 and 5 and lived in northern MN.

I will now tell you, as you will never guess.

They are waiting for the garbage truck to come back and pick up our garbage.

Huh.

Bruiser

This morning Emma received her first bruise. Do you see it there, under her right eye? She was trying to pull herself up on a toy, and went head first into the toy, and then to the floor. She cried and cried, and then spent the better part of the next hour smashing the same spot into the ground, every time she fell.
So then she would cry again. It must hurt, because she does not cry often, even when she falls on her face. Today, she has been crying every 10 minutes. I finally put her in her highchair, just to keep safe. Do you think there is some sort of cosmic law that states "the bruised area is the area most likely to be hit again"? Maybe the (minute amount of) swelling causes the area to hit first. Or maybe now her head is heavier on that side, because of the (again, teeny tiny amount of) swelling. Hmmm- I think I see a research project in the works.
Anyway, here she is. And here is the most dramatic picture that I could get. She is squinting due to the flash, not the pain or the swelling. It certainly does add to the drama of the situation, don't you think?