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Tootbrushes, gum and altars

I missed a whole month of blogging. I hit my peak of insanity in September. Everyone seemed to have an attitude or an issue in my house.
The Princess started kindergarten at the beginning of the month. So for two days  a week it is just me and the trio. It has proven interesting. They actually behave a bit better without sissy's interrogation and accusations. I think they feel like they are on an episode of Law and Order most days and Princess is the tough undercover cop. Funny Girl takes over where Princess left off. In case you forget, Funny Girl is the triplet who sucks her thumb when she's tired and has the vocabulary of a six year-old and the sense of humor of someone four times her age. She makes my life VERY interesting. She takes charge immediately when Princess escapes her kingdom. And the funny thing is that Goldie and Tiny follow her commands...a bit better than they do Princess.
I think I understand how that happens.
Daddy comes home and tells the girls to clean up the playroom. Children scurry...maybe whine a little...but toys get put back and pillows placed on the couch. Mommy told them to do that TWO HOURS before daddy got home and they literally lay there on the floor and giggle. I guess I've lost my touch. Daddy's theory is that they hear me all day long and get tired of it and just ignore it. A new voice comes home -- a bigger voice -- and suddenly they are marines. One of these days I am going to see them lined up saluting their Dad. When he takes them to the bathroom before bed he has them line up a few feet from the toilet until it is their turn to make a deposit. Good grief. I say "Go to the potty!" and I get "I don't have to go now."
Oh and the things they do when it's just mommy at the house. Some of my recent favorites:
Tiny was "brushing" her hair with a very wet toothbrush belonging to Funny Girl. Her head was very wet and no doubt filled with plaque. Ugh.
Tiny likes to play in the sink. "I washing my handies..." she declares in her high pitch voice as water spews from the bathroom sink and covers the counter, dripping down the cabinets.
Another recent moment to gasp at Tiny was when I heard the "I Love Lucy" DVD come on the TV when the DVD was not in the player. I walk in the living room to see Tiny perched on her tip toes on the TOP of the back of a kids' chair -- and there she is pushing the buttons of the DVD player while holding the empty case in her free hand -- taggy blanket dangling from her mouth.
Funny Girl has been fighting the temptation to get Princess' gum in her room. When Princess is in school I keep her door closed. One day Funny Girl waltzed into the kitchen with her mouth full, chewing furiously. There was literally a paper trail behind her.
"Did you get into Sissy's gum?"
"Hmmm Mmmm" she denied with her lips firmly closed. Next thing I know tattle tale triplet Goldie comes running like a cop in pursuit. Out of breath and holding a wrapper she yells, " Mommy! Mommy! (FunnyGirl) got Sissy's gum!"
Sigh. A bit late, Goldie.
The trouble with Goldie is no longer potty training. It is pokey problems. I am talking about her pace. She and Princess are a like that way. They take their fine old time to do everything. For Goldie breakfast is a challenge. If she downs half a banana in 30 minutes it is a victory for me. She is easily distracted and then gets fussy. She just wants to take her time. I tell her to come to me when she is in another room and she keeps doing whatever it is she is doing. She reminds me of her father. (sigh).
This is a struggle with Princess with going to school. She likes school and is anxious to go but her pace is in low gear. She pokes at her breakfast insisting she is almost completed. I tell her to brush her teeth "I will then."
"Now!"
"Ugghhhh!"
The other day it had reached the time to go to the bus. I walk into the bathroom to see if she is dressed. I find her on the floor playing with a pink pearl necklace she just got -- wearing her pajamas -- and her toothbrush untouched. I give her a shout and she jolts out of her world "Oh no! I forgot!" and begins running around like a mad woman trying to get ready.
Are you kidding me?
I like to go -- and I like to go NOW -- not ten minutes from now. When I say now I mean NOOOOWWW.
Needless to say Goldie and Princess and Daddy ride in the same boat of Mommy's Persistent Nagging.
Princess is enjoying school as I said and I am so glad she is in a faith-based environment. What she learns there builds on her Sunday School and Bible School education and she still gets her necessary kindergarten learning. She is reading and working on comparing and making patterns. She knows how to count to 100 and can identify numbers and letters. Princess is a creative one. When her Daddy and I went to her school's Parent Night I was impressed when I saw her self-portrait. Each kindergarten student had a picture of him/herself on their desks. Princess had not only a face and body but clothing, hair pieces and even pink lips. She is good at remembering what she is told, too.
Yesterday daddy and I took the kids outside -- it was a beautiful fall Sunday afternoon. Princess took off for the rocks under our deck and up to the driveway while the others played.
Later she came up to her dad and said something to him and he chuckled. I asked him what she said and he replied "She built an altar for us to pray at."
I walked up and there was an Old Testament altar with stones. "Now we need to pray. Kneel down here." She told her dad. He politely told her we would pray at our beds tonight and that she did a really good job with her altar.
I later whispered to him "I wonder what she was going to sacrifice?"
Daddy said, "If you smell something burning look for a fried frog."

sigh. It never is a dull moment here. This blog had no real point. I just thought of things to share. So thankful for each day I am given...even if children brush their hair with their sister's toothbrushes and fill their mouths with Doublemint gum and deny it profusely.
It's ok.
Really.

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