The Herd Overheard

Claire, after taking a bite out of a donut: “It’s like a Boppy!”  9/27/10

Ruby, playing with magnetic letters (as though they are people—nothing is safe from becoming an action figure at our house):
“We had leg surgery tomorrow.  That’s why we tip over.”  9/27/10

Haley, as the blender startles 3-mo. Ian, making him cry:
“Mom!  Don’ scare Ian a smoothie! I don’ wike it!”  9/30/10

Claire, tattling: “Haley hit me with a rock!”
(after a pause)
“It’s a beautiful rock, but that was unkind.”  (Claire loves rocks) 10/13/10

Claire, when asked if the report was true that she’d scratched and hit Haley:
(Emphatically) “No!  I did NOT!  I only slapped her face!”  10/14/10

Haley (with a cold):  “I need to blow my nose, Mom, because my nose is coming out.”  10/14/10
also: “My nose is running out,” and “I just have a nose in my boogers.”  10/19/10

Claire, coloring a fish-in-an-aquarium-picture:  “This is gonna be mold at the bottom, just like in our bathtub.”  10/16/10

Ruby, wistfully: “I love pets.  All I have is pet bugs, but I want to have a pet what could stay alive all winter.”  10/25/10

Claire, during calendar time, noticing there aren’t many more days left in October: “When we run out of days, will we die?”  10/26/10

Claire, after I was gruff with Haley: “Mom, you’re not supposed to do that.  Remember, you need to let the peace of God rule in your heart, and be thankful?”  10/27/10

Ruby, having wished on a star the night before: “Mom, my wish didn’t come true, to fly up in a basket.  That’s too bad.”  11/1/10

Claire, holding a wooden spoon from their kitchen set: “This is my gun.  It’s automatic.”  11/1/10

Ruby, explaining to me what she meant when she came in from playing outside and told me she was “soaking hot.”
“It means I have tears coming out of me for having two jackets on.”  11/14/10

Serving the girls slices of the apple cinnamon bread brought by the neighbor:
Me: “Wasn’t it kind for Daddy to fix Sharon’s laptop, and wasn’t it kind for her to bake Daddy some bread?”
Claire, puzzled: “How did she make her laptop into bread?”  11/17/10

Claire, in pain: “Two of my ears are hurting.”  11/29/10

Ruby, coloring with me: “I still have more imaginations to color.”  11/29/10

Haley, singing (to the tune of Mary Had a Little Lamb): “Mary had a muffin man, muffin, man, muffin maaaan. . .    12/1/10

Haley, playing with her pretend camera (batteries dying): “Oh!  My cheeseball is broken!”  12/10/10

Ruby, discussing our trip to Colorado: “It’s gonna take forever till we get to the ‘nother world . . . . . . Mom, get ready for this hard trip, because it will be a disaster.”  12/13/10

Haley: “Mommy!  I burp!”
Me: “Yes.  What do we say when we burp?”
Haley: “Thank you, burp.”  1/2/11

Claire: “Last time we went to church, I forgot my notebook, so I had to just sit there with my rock.”   1/2/11

Reviewing yesterday’s science experiment on matter:
Me: “Was the ice solid, liquid or gas?”
Ruby: “It had a shape and you could hold it. . . . .  It was a solid.”
Claire (whose eyes have a light-bulb-over-the-head-look):
“Poop is a solid.”  1/13/2011

Haley, upon hearing the telephone ring:
“It’s Mr. Daddy.”  1/28/11

(While Claire and Ruby play that they are moms.)
Me: “How many kids do you have?”
Claire: “Just two.”
Me: “And how do you like that?”
Claire: “Good. ‘Cause if I had three, I’d be like, ‘I need to sell one of these kids. . .’”
Ruby: “If I had three, I would say, ‘I’m so nervous, I have to put one of you to bed.’”  (For the record, I have never said either of these. )  2/9/11

Claire (to Haley, who is wearing a dress-up dress): “May I have a turn wearing that?”
Haley: “No, Claire.  First I have to marry to Ian.”  3/1/11

Daddy to the girls as they discuss police officers: “I was riding in a car that was pulled over today.  Do you know what two people weren’t wearing in that car?”
Ruby: “Clothes?”  (Also for the record, the correct answer was seatbelts.) 3/1/11

Haley (making small-talk while I change her diaper): “I don’t like to eat my poop.” 3/6/11

Claire (looking out the window of  a crowded restaurant): Dad, Look!  That person’s smoking!”
Ruby: “But they’re already old.  They’re probably going to die soon anyway.”  3/3/11

Haley (stepping out into the pungent country air at a friend’s house): “Somebody pooped out here.”
{demandingly} “Who pooped out here?!?”
{more demandingly, as we make it to the car} “Who did it!?!?!”  3/14/11

Haley (pretending one action figure is speaking to another): “Do you know the muffin man?”  3/19/11

Haley (after having tooted while eating her lunch):
“S’cuse me.  That was my carrot tooting.”  3/14/11

The Herd Overheard

These two pictures from last summer/fall capture R & C's personalities quite well. Ruby is more girly and into accessorizing. . . Claire jumps in with both feet and is quite the tomboy. (Though they are both big fans of mud!)

Mommy to the girls (after they came back inside after only a few minutes playing in the backyard): "You need to play outside."

Ruby: "We can't. We runned out of air out there." 6/7/09

Claire, telling Case about her watch: "It's time to go to bed because it says it's an inch and a half." 6/7/09

Ruby to Mommy: "I'll scream at the top of your ears." 6/24/09

Ruby: "Mom, Claire scratched me and I'm allergic to kids." 6/23/09

Daddy: "I'm beat."

Claire: "By who?" 6/27/09

Claire, on the phone to a birthday well-wisher: "I have a beautiful dress; it's kinda wet 'cause I've been sucking on it." 7/14/09

Claire loves order. As she sits, she organizes her toys.

That same day, I came back to my pile of folded kitchen laundry to see that she had unstacked it and put all her babies to bed on each of the laundry pieces. Every baby has a bed. (Even the gravy whisk.)

Ruby: "I don't like this lip gloss, Mommy. Sometimes when I lick it, it tastes like bridge." 8/15/09
(R & C have made several comments now about things tasting like "bridge." I only wish I knew what they meant.

Ruby: "May I have some lip guac?" 8/30/09 (As in guacamole.)

Claire looks at bugs with Mommy and Haley.
Mommy: "I think those beetles are mating."
Claire: "Oh. . . They look so friendly." 8/11/09

Ruby: "Lydia would like to try ballet, but her mom says her hips are too big." 8/14/09

In September: cousins Ruby and Lydia (whose hips are clearly too big to be included in the picture).

Ruby: "I'm NOT huffing off in a puff, Mommy." 8/21/09

Mommy: "Claire, would you do me a favor?"

Claire: (not snotty—just matter of fact) "You could do yourself a favor, 'cause I'm going outside." 9/1/09

Ruby and Claire, very proud of their first attempt to load the dishes without guidance.

Mom: "Claire, what did you do to Ruby?"

Claire: "I hitted her."

Mom: "With what?"

Claire: "With my teeth."

Mom: "What is it called when you 'hit someone with your teeth'?" (Meaning, "biting.")
Claire: "Sin." 9/2/09

Ruby, outside Walgreens: "I sure hope that man doesn't steal paint polish for his mommy." 9/3/09

Listening to a CD of hymns at bedtime
Ruby: "They are singing to God."
Claire: "To make Him sleep." 9/12/09

Haley gives new meaning to "beanie baby."

Mom (as a loud crash happens while Claire runs her stroller around the house): "Wow, Claire. Are you okay?"

Claire: "Yeah. I'm just being wild." 9/17/09

All aboard the reading train!

Ruby: "Claire's trying to scratch me."
Claire: "No, I'm showing her my fingernails." 9/18/09

After mom's warning that sitting on a small slat of wood might not be the best idea. . .
Ruby: "It might break . . . only if I was too heavy, like a woman." 9/18/09

Claire (peeved): "I'm going away from you, Ruby."
Ruby: "I'm okay with that, because sometimes I need time to myself." 9/21/09

With a napkin, Ruby was picking up some pepperoni pieces that had dropped on the ground while bringing her slice of pizza to the table.
Claire: "It's kinda like you're picking someone's nose . . . with lots of boogers in it." 9/09


Claire: "I'm wiping my nose with a Kleenex."

Ruby: "Maybe your tongue could be a Kleenex." 10/2/09


Mommy: "Today is catch-up day."
Ruby: "Could we make it mustard day instead?" 10/13/09

Claire: "Goodnight, Mom-poop."
Mom: "Don't call me that—it isn't respectful."
Claire: "But it is funny." 10/23/09

Claire, brushing her baby: "She'll be all dry in the morning, 'cause I'm brushing her skin off."
Ruby: "Ah, poor thing. I don't usually do that." 10/24/09

As all four of us girls enter a public bathroom stall. . .

Me (to Haley): "No! Do NOT touch the toilet."
Claire: "Only juicy bottoms are allowed to touch the toilet."
Me: giggling uncontrollably
Claire: "Don't laugh, Mom. I'm not used to it." 11/11/09

Mom: "Which ear hurts?"
Claire: "The right one."
Mom: "Okay. That makes sense."
Claire: "The wrong one hurts a little, too." 12/5/09

Daddy (reviewing the creation account): "Why did God create woman?"

Ruby: "So she could tell Adam what to do." 12/6/09

Claire, singing God Rest Ye, Merry Gentleman (tidings of comfort and joy.): "Ahhhh. . . Covered in joy!" 1/1/10

More Milestones

In the Cowart family this past month:

• Claire turned three!
  


• Haley started walking!
  


• Haley got 3 new teeth (2 molars--a little out of order).
  


• To her usual "more" sign, Haley has added "please," "thank you" and "eat."
  
• Haley has also added words to her speech: "amen," "yes," "yeah," "What's that?" (as she points), "don't" and "stop." She must hear me say the last two pretty often—those words were discovered while we were in Colorado. As the four of us girls fell asleep in our room every evening or naptime, three of us would be serenaded by a baby's protesting yell, followed by that same baby sternly barking, "No! . . . Don't! . . . Stop!" ("no! do! Sto!") Last week, she started saying amen, which is usually repeated over and over as soon as we put her in her high chair and (until recently) continues until the end of the prayer, becoming more and more insistent as time passes. I have to say, the first part is a good reminder, because it is not unusual for me to forget to thank God for our food when it is just us girls (and the meals are, shall we say, informal). The latter. . . well, we're training her out of that.
  
• Haley now eats almost 100% table/real food. Last month, she enjoyed her first peanut butter and banana sandwich. I am only needing to chop about 2-3 meals a week in the food chopper, and she feeds herself about 50-75% of the time now, so that has freed me up considerably.
  
• In the car, Haley now faces forward!
  


• And Claire (who passed her car seat to Haley) now has a cute girly booster, on which she proudly sits. A bargain: we paid less than $60 (with s&h) at Target.com and it was delivered to our door in two days! She just has to learn how to put her seatbelt on now. She was able to do her own (very complicated) 5-point harness before. It would seem I've made more work for myself by trading her up.
  


• Ruby writes her name. The order of the letters often changes, but she now puts all the letters together, instead of just her initial, which is how she's signed her name for a while.
  


• Claire recognizes many letters by the sounds they make. ("Look, Mom! There's a C,C, Claire!")
  
• My Birth Blog turned two! The day I started that blog was Claire's first birthday. I went to a friend's wedding that evening (a friend whose wife would go on to have a prodromal labor almost exactly year and a half later . . . what are the odds?!), then came home and tweaked and published my first post
  (Claire's Birth Story) on that blog.
  
• AND. . . (drum roll, please!). . . this week marks a first in our over-six-year marriage: 14+ months without pregnancy! We've come close to 14 months twice (almost exactly 14 months after we got married, we were prego w/Ruby and Claire was 13 ½ months old when we got prego w/Haley), but until now, we never made it over that mark. To some of our friends, this means we are "due" to be prego with number four soon, since we do absolutely nothing to prevent pregnancy. Though I don't argue that it is likely that we will be pregnant again at some point (since every month, I can get pregnant), I challenge this kind of thinking in a post I'm working on for my birth blog, entitled: Yes, I am Fertile; No, I'm Not Pregnant. (I'll add a link when it's posted for those who are curious to know what it's like to live "month-to-month" in this way.)

Just to Get it Done. . .

I am going to jam a ton of stuff into one post. Forgive me.

On Mother's Day (yes, that's how far behind I am--only moreso!) Casey and the girls agreed to take me to dinner at my favorite restaurant: Macaroni Grill. It was a long wait (45 min) but it was worth it. The great thing about that place is that a squawk from a baby or a protest (even quite loud) from an on-the-verge-of-a-fit toddler just blends into the overall din of the restaurant. Therefore, it was more relaxing than a fast food joint, believe it or not.

Haley loved sharing my meal with me. Noodles are so fun!

Ruby and Claire enjoyed a visit from their cousin, Savannah, last month. Savannah and her mommy brought the newest cousin for us to see for the first time.

Elijah (yes, a boy, despite the pink boppy--it's Haley's, not his!) slept most of the time. Here, he is 11 days old. He was born (at home--whoohoo, Tiff!) on May 2, and weighed 8 lbs. This boy was "late" by a few weeks. I teased Tiffany that she must have taken my mom too seriously when Mom gave her a hard time about all the April b-days our family already had and must have held off from birthing so as not to add to the already over-full month. (I still think Deb had an early baby last year just so he wouldn't have an April b-day! :)

Mom was in town for the week to help Si and Tiff.

The gist of the conversation that surrounded this picture (that made us chuckle to ourselves):

Me: "Claire, stay on Nana's lap another minute. I want to get a picture."

Claire: "Mmm, no thanks, Mom."

Elijah in his mommy's arms. He was very quiet that day. The update from his uncles is that, at one month, he was very alert and had a strong set of lungs.

A special thing about Elijah: though the fourth born grandson on my parents side of the family, he is the first grandson to carry on the Schultz name. Odd, considering my parents are going on ten grandchildren as of this moment. The reason? Only one of their four boys is married so far. (Ahem, single ladies--JK! You know I'm not that way!)

Haley found Elijah very exciting.

The next day, the girls and I met Nana and Savannah at the zoo. (No, we did not relinquish the children to the zoo, as this photo indicates. Our first stop was the play area so I could feed Haley. Normally, I make it a point to not have activities going on every day (I consider even grocery shopping an "activity") but I've realized that I need to sieze the moment when it comes to having help around. Since Mom was in town, and Savannah needed an outing, to the zoo we went!

The girls watch the seals and sea lions being fed. I know what you're thinking: this pic sure would be better if it had a seal or sea lion in it. I was a little lazy about pictures. Just being at the zoo was enough effort!

Haley enjoyed the small bit of time she spent in the wagon (the rest was mostly in the sling or in my arms--such a clingy baby!).

One of the orangatans was by the window this time. Something we haven't encountered before. The girls were very curious, and so was he!

Ruby and the ape exchange quiet glances.

It was hard getting all four in one picture.

On our way out, we stopped to say goodbye to the stinky flamingos. (To this day, the girls describe any picture of the pink birds as "those stinky birds.")

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Our girls had the special privilege that day to see both grandmas in one day. This has only happened twice before. They have yet to see them at the same time, though. This was as close as we got: the zoo with my mom in the morning, and the airport to pick up Sandy in the afternoon.

Sandy cleaned their little slide and put it in a different place in the yard. What, for the last 6 or more months has remained an unloved, untouched, unclimbed-upon large piece of plastic, those simple changes made a desirable and exciting toy once again. The girls (all of them) played on it for quite a while.

Haley finds herself at the bottom of the pile.

But . . .

Don't worry . . .

This should assure you . . .

She's not exactly helpless.

Somehow, it is very exciting to go down the slide upside down with Haley sitting atop. They couldn't get enough.

Getting dark . . . mosquitos out. Time for bed, short ones (yes, you too, Lita :)!

This is just a random picture from that week. As we finished getting dinner together one evening, I put Haley's dinner in the food chopper and was touched with the beauty of it. Salmon with onions, spinach and pasta salad. Yum!

Chillin' by the pool.

I wasn't joking the other week when I referred to the infantesimile pool. But it's great for kids this size (especially when only one of them likes to get more than her feet wet).

Every time I give the girls a bath, I think about how I have zero bath pics of Haley. But the camera is always downstairs and they are already in the water when I remember. With Sandy here, I could run and get it. They all love bath time, but I'll give you one guess as to who is just crazy about water.

Haley's a good sport.

Soon, I hope to post an explanation to this picture, regarding an evening ritual our girls love. I want to include a video, though, and don't have the time to fight with Blogger for an hour just to find that it froze. I'll need a big chunk of time and a bigger chunk of patience!

I think I may know where Haley gets her cute shoulder-shrugging smile.

She's way into doing things like this. Keeps her occupied. I like it.

The last day that Sandy was here (I knew I'd run out of steam if I tried to do it alone--carpe diem, right?), we helped the girls make beaded spider webs and spiders; a craft from April's Family Fun magazine.

It took quite awhile. Though the project was not meant for such a young age, the spider webs turned out well.

Claire loved sorting her beads and putting them in categories.

Ruby was a little more on task.

The girls help 'Lita get ready to fly back to Oregon.

She's such a sport.

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Ruby had her last lesson in May. I wanted to post a video showcasing the last performance they did (Ruby was not involved in the final event, like last time). Video will have to wait. . .