7 Splendid Children

To think it was only a few short months ago that I worried about how much time I was spending on the computer...now finding a single spare moment to read the newspaper online is a rare occurrence.

The past two months have been a tizzy of activity. With the Agents, three foster children, and the Cousins, our house is never (not even at 3am) quiet.

I love it though.

Love them.

So today's "7 Quick Takes" will be quick updates about the children in my life.

1. Agent 002: My bunny forever and always. Need I say more?
   
2. Agent 004: She is growing so quickly. She will start kindergarten in the fall, and is so excited. She has risen to the challenge of being a big sister. She gently guides Foster Toddler and Foster Baby.
   
3. Cousin F: Fiercely protective of her little brother, Cousin F has had a hard time accepting the Foster Agents. Now that everyone is settling in, she and Foster Preschooler (who is only one month younger than her) have become great friends. They are playing Candyland together as I type.
4. Foster Preschooler: The big brother misses his parents so much, but really does love living here. He has made great friends -- he and Agent 002 have so much in common, and he and Cousin F have complementary personalities. His mere glance can make his sisters smile. We are trying to get him into preschool for the fall so that the transition home (if and when it happens) will be a little more smooth.
5. Cousin P: Once the youngest, Cousin P has probably had the hardest transition to life with the Foster Agents. He and Foster Toddler are so close in age, size, appearance and personality that everyone asks if they are twins. P alone had me on my toes all the time; teamed up with Foster Toddler there is a constant destruction zone going in my house. Double the fun, right?
6. Foster Toddler: This little girl has come so far. The first few weeks with her was some of the toughest parenting I have ever done (matched only by the first few weeks with Agent 002). She is our Jekyl and Hyde, giggling one moment, seething the next. She is enamored with mr warillever, and beams when he walks in the door.
7. Foster Baby: My sweetheart grows every day. She has gone from a lovable lump of baby to a crawling machine. She now has two teeth, and can make it from room to room in seconds flat. If only for the 3:25am wake-up call she gives me every morning, I just might call her the perfect baby.

Don't expect to hear too much from me over the next few weeks, but once school starts I will try to update on a regular (weekly?) basis.

My Big Boy

Listen to that laugh.

Mark this date -- March 16, 2009 my bunny first rode a two-wheeler.

Snow!

Since everyone else is posting snow pictures....

An Expedition

Should a Meme Make me Cry?

Kate tagged me for the 6th picture meme.

Here is the 6th picture from the 6th folder on my external drive:




Agent 002's first day in America, running accross Grandma's backyard (well, actually Ant P's yard, but they live on adjoing lots).

We had arrived at JFK the day before, spent the night at Grandma's, and were just about to buckle him up for his arrival home.

Tears.

I think that Kate and Heather have already tagged everyone I know, so I will leave this open to anyone who hasn't joined in yet.

February Thaw

With the temperatures soaring into the 40s the past few days, the kids have been enjoying summer pursuits like roller skating, biking, and driveway chalk.

They sure don't believe that pesky groundhog that there is still a long winter in front of us!

Bad Mama. Bad, Bad, Mama

I have been disqualified from "Parent of the Year" competition for the next five years after what I did Christmas Eve. This story is such a bad refelction on me that I delayed telling you for hopes that I could forget it. But it happened, and I might as well tell my side of the story before a false memory gets implanted into the family concsciousness.

We went to the earliest Christmas Eve Mass, but it was dark as we set out at 3:40 (sometimes I hate New Hampshire). Four-year-old Agent 004 nodded off as we closed the car seat straps around her.

We arrived at church a few short minutes later, and Mr warillever helped Agent 002 out of his seat. I gently picked up the sleeping princess. I reached back into the van to grab hats and gloves, then attempted to close the sliding van door with my left leg.

She woke up with a jolt, screaming.

Parent of the Year Inc. did not disqualify me for slamming the door on my daughter's foot, but for my next words:

"Agent 004, cut your whining."

Her screams turned to swallowed sobs as we entered the church. As we settled ourselves onto folding chairs at the back of church (it was 3:55 for the 4pm Christmas Mass), I looked down at her shoe. The shiny black dress shoe was crumpled from the force of the door. Dents from both sides, black faux leather cut down to the gray innards.

She will lose a toe nail, but otherwise her foot will be fine. This is the second time it has broken; Joseph ran her over with aplastic truck 18 months ago.

This is how to raise a tough kid, right?

Saturday Ski

This was Agent 004's first time skiing along with us for an extended adventure. In the past mr warillever has pulled her along in a sled, but she insisted on pulling her own weight this afternoon. She was quite the trooper -- we were out for over two hours!

What Else is She Hiding From Me?

Agent 004 came accross a picture of a man holding balloons in an activity book.

Without any direction from me, she colored each balloon the color that it was labeled.

Since when does this four-year old child read?

And since when does she follow directions?

The Dandilion and the Hero

Half a Lifetime Ago

Three years and three months ago, a three year, three month old boy joined our family.

My, how time has flown,

but I can barely remember a time when he was not part of our lives.

You will always be my little bunny!

Melts My Heart

Coming home from the Costume Parade (no pictures, sorry) on Saturday, the kids were a bit hyped up.

Mr warillever ran into the store for a few things, leaving me in the car with two children on a sugar high. They were screeching, poking each other, and otherwise driving me crazy. I suggested that we sing a song.

Agent 002 opened his mouth, and an angelic 6-year old soprano pronounced:

Oh most holy twinity
Undivided unity
Holy God,
Mighty God.
God imowtal
Be a-door-ed.

Their own Sense of Style

Can you tell that Cousin F helped Agent 004

choose her clothes this morning?

Photo Flashback

Agent 004 playing with F's birthday presents.
April 2007

This is the 6th picture on the the 6th folder of my external hard drive. For a fun challenge, search your own photo files and join Owlhaven's Challenge.

A Party for a Princess

We believe in civilized celebrations at our home.

This was Agent 004's birthday tea.


Refined.

Then, on the following Saturday we invited the barbarians for cake and a pinata.

Here is C beating the unicorn senseless.

Look at the hordes swarming the candy!

Here is what was left of the poor pinata once her brother got a club to it. Headless unicorn.

Happy (belated) birthday, Baby Girl!

The Things a Four Year Old Notices

...but no one else does.

1. All of her aunts live in towns that begin with "W." She has six aunts in four towns in three states.
   
2. The four birthdays in our immediate family are evenly distributed among the seasons. On the first day of fall she said, "It was just my birthday in the summer and now it is fall so it will be your birthday and then it will be Papa's birthday in the winter. It is a long time until Agent 002's birthday in the spring but then it will be almost my birthday again."

I would have never realized either of these factoids. What would I ever do without her?

Little Mommy

Agent 004 walks to the library with her babies in a double stroller.

I wonder where she has seen that?

My Little Boy

My little boy

is a First Grader.

Busy Little Warillevers

Agent 002's class ice-cream social, mr warilever's company picnic, two broken cars and a holy day of obligation all fell in the same week as Agent 004's birthday.

Other than the broken cars, it was a SPLENDID week.

I am too tired to blog coherently, so be prepared for a stream of consciousness brain-dump.

Agent 002 starts first grade (did you hear me? First Grade!) next week. The significance of this is lost on him, but he is excited to take the bus again. That is his favorite part of the school day. I would have thought that it would get old, but it hasn't. So I drew a picture of a bus on the calendar, and he asks me how many days until he gets to ride the bus. Repeatedly. I can't wait until school starts, if only so that he stops asking me about the bus.

The company picnic was loads of fun. His firm has a new tradition of playing an intra-firm softball game, then having a cookout at someone's house. Spouses and children are invited to play, and it is a good time. I made a few good defensive plays, but mr warillever's team won. (We play on opposite teams so that one of us can always be with the kids).

Friday was the Feast of the Assumption, a holy day of obligation for us Catholics. Mr warillever had a packed day, so he went alone to a lunch time mass in the city he works in; I took all four kids to my parents' parish. Even with three adults, it was a nightmare. How quickly we forget what it is like to keep a toddler contained for an hour. A short memory is a very useful thing for parenting....otherwise I am not sure that we would ever have more children.....

Agent 004's birthday deserves its own post or two. I will post some pictures once I wrestle with camera-computer interaction a bit. Very nice. Very nice.

I'll end this mad ramble with a prayer request. Mr warillever's mother had surgery this morning (which went well), but she will have two more in the coming weeks. Please pray for her recovery, and for her very worried children. We are going down for a visit this weekend.

Off to fold paper boats in the backyard swimming pool. Gotta enjoy the sunny weather while we can.

The Difference Between Boys and Girls

A recent drive past the state prison led to a conversation about the criminal justice system. I described prison as where grown ups go if they do something very bad. The agents had hundreds of questions which I answered as honestly and simply as I could.

After a lull in the conversation, Agent 004 said

When I am a grown up I will not do any bad things to go to prison.

Agent 002 responded

When I am in prison I will turn on my space ship and go VROOM and knock the fence down and get out of jail.

And that, my friends, is how a little boy thinks...