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I am all shades of feeling bad tonight.

We were eating lunch (well, I was cutting up food for M, pouring milks, refilling plates), and Z asked, "When is Papa coming home?"

I thought maybe he wanted to work on the clubhouse with K and I wanted to let him know it'd have to be after his quiet time. "After your quiet time. Why?"

"Well, I just like him better." (Fork through heart)

Of course, that begs the question, "How come?", which was answered with a "He plays with us more."

And I just didn't respond. And I really don't think he was trying to make me feel bad. He said it all matter-of-fact. Like he was saying just any old fact; like the table was brown. Or B picks his nose and eats it. Or balls are round.

"I just like him better..."

And it kills me, because I feel like I do play with them. I just played Simon Says and read piles of books with them. But I also did the laundry, changed and fed M, cleaned up breakfast, made beds, and planned my menu for the week.

I know that I don't play with my kids as much as K does. He works at work.

I work at home.

I have way more stuff to do at home than he does. He has time to play with the kids when he is home, because he is actually DONE working. I still have laundry and dishes and bills and phone calls to make.

I know I shouldn't take it personally. That's dumb. But still..."I like him better?!" Sheesh. Punk.

"The Club House"

Last fall, I took the kids into the woods to make a fairy house. They loved it.

K always has to one-up me, doesn't he?

Naps

When the kids turned four, they switched from taking a nap to doing quiet time. Mostly because the kids appreciate having time away from their punk siblings for awhile. Time to not have to share. Or get along. Or talk nicely. Time to play with books and toys with no interruptions.

Yeah, I like the time out also. To update blogs and stalk people on Facebook. You caught me.

Of course, they can take a nap if they want to. And it seems like S and Z choose to nap at least 4 out of the 6 days that they do quiet time. S always fell asleep on her bed while "reading".
Recently though, the girl got kicked out of her room when M started taking naps in there.

This particular quiet time, she apparently was tired, because she made herself a bed and then promptly laid in it...not to awoken even by her yelling brothers and a picture-taking mom.

I think what finally woke her was the word "brownies" that came in the form of, "Hey mom, will the brownies be gone before S wakes up?"

Suddenly, she appeared on the top of the stairs. Ready for a brownie and some milk.

Genetics

Those three pictures are not all of Soren. Would you have even wondered? If I didn't scan them, and if the quality of the two of S weren't so crappy, I would do a poll and make you guess. I'd sing that song, "One of these three is not like the other...."
Every time I look at that boy, I have flashbacks of our girl. They do similar expressions. They have similar movements, even. Isn't that crazy? That I think they move the same? I didn't even know I noticed that S moved a certain way. Until I saw it repeated in the Bubs.

I don't know if S just has one of those universal looks, or if the Papa's side just has burly genetics...because S also looks alot like her cousin, G. I saw a picture on K's desktop the other day, and I said, "Hey. How'd you get that picture and I've never even seen it?", because I usually take and upload the pictures, you know...

And K said, "Oh. My sister just sent that to me."

And it was only then that I realized that the picture was not of S, but of her cousin, G.




Oh. Also, our boy officially sits now.

The Bullet Dodger

About a week ago, a friend asked, "So, what is M doing lately?", and I couldn't even think how to answer, because, "What do babies do exactly?" But I mentioned that he babbles some, he sleeps some, and he rolls (a little less than) some. He would roll maybe twice a day, and that was past his quota.

He was done.

No more rolling.

Way too much work.

But lately, the littlest boy is getting around more. He doesn't crawl yet, but do you remember how Jack Bauer rolls when he is dodging enemy bullets? Our boy can roll like that.

Not quite. But close.

I will lay him down in one spot, and I will come back to find him on the other side of the living room. Sometimes he has managed to wedge himself half-way under the couch or under the wicker chairs.

So I have been reminding the kids to pick up their little toys when the rolling boy is anywhere near them.

I laid M in an empty room, only to return, minutes later, to this:




And this:



I reminded the kids again to pick up their swallowable (my own vocabulary, yes?) things.

They did.

The rolling boy didn't care. He just started playing with the big things, experimenting to see which parts he could still successfully stuff in his mouth.

The problem with the big toys is that he usually ends up pulling them over on himself and getting hurt. These pictures were taken just minutes apart. He pulled the stroller over on himself, knocking himself in the forehead.

I took it away.

When I returned, the roller had made his way to the big pet shop and had turned it over onto himself as well.
He'll learn soon enough, I suppose.

And just for you, Rach...