Alexander's Religious Education

One of Alexander's friends recently lost her grandmother.

Here's a conversation we had on the way home from school:

"Where's Cedra?"

"She's probably at school or has already been picked up."

"Oh, yeah. She's been picked up. Her grandma picked her up."

"Did she?"

"Oh, no. Her grandma's dead."

"Did Cedra tell you that?"

"Yeah." Pause. "She was nailed."

"She was what?"

"Nailed."

"Nailed?"

"Nailed!" Getting impatient with me. "With the cross thing!"

"Where was she nailed?"

"With the wood cross."

"I mean, where on her body?"

"I don't know. I think right here in her belly."

"Sweatheart, are you thinking of Jesus?"

"Yeah, Jesus--that guy."

"I don't think Gretchen was nailed."

"No. She's dead, but she's going to come back."

"Well, when people die, they stay dead. They don't come back."

"Except Jesus."

"Where did you hear about Jesus? Was someone at school telling you about him?"

"No. I just know."

Sibling Rivalry?

After helping Grandma and Grandpa pick out their Christmas Tree, Alexander said to me, "Annabel is my best friend, even though she's just a baby." (Actually, he said, "...still that she's just a baby." He hasn't quite got the "even though" down yet.)

Of course I let out an "Aw, aren't you sweet" sigh.

In the next breath he said, "But sometimes I don't like it when she comes over and ruins the things that I'm playing with."

She does get in his way lately. When they're together I'm constantly hearing, "No, Annabel," "Don't do that, Annabel," or the ever-popular, highly exasperated, "Anna-BEL."

He does a good job of not retaliating. Last week, he kept running away from her saying, "Ow, she's hitting me," and calling her a bully. Yes, my 9-month-old daughter is bullying my three-year-old son. Good times!

First Step

It was a little one, but she definitely took it. There she was, freestanding in the hallway, reaching for a cord she knew she wasn't supposed to mess around with. Instead of her normal upper-body lunge to get the things she wants, she moved a foot, and took her first step on Nov. 29th, 2010.

Then she promptly plopped down on her butt.

She's repeated the feat a couple of times since, but I doubt she'll be truly walking anytime soon. Still, it's a step. And now whenever she stands, she does a little jiggly dance with her knees as if she's desperately trying to lift those feet.

This Parenting Thing Just Got a Whole Lot More Fun!

A few nights ago, when Alexander was putting on his pajamas, he suddenly stopped and stood like this:
I laughed and called him a little model and he started striking more poses,

each one more ludicrous than the last.

We were all in hysterics, even Annabel, who didn't know what was going on except that we were all laughing so she should laugh too.

At that moment, I realized that I'm having a whole lot of fun with my kids. It may seem like an obvious statement, but I hadn't been feeling it for a while. I'd been caught up in the taking-care-of-baby mode. The lack of sleep was wearing on me. Alexander and I went through a few rough months where I really did not want to be staying home with him. Every day there was yelling, screaming, and multiple tantrums. Not all on his side.

But over the last month, things have lightened. We've both learned and grown, I suppose. On the day of the pajama fashion show I realized that for that entire day we hadn't had one meltdown, not one fit of crying, not one episode of mommy raising her voice. And we finished off that day with pure family fun. This is what I'm in it for, and I'm so glad we're having more of it lately.

Let the good times roll!

Snow Day!

There's about half an inch of snow on the ground and everything is shut down. At least, there's no school, so we all get to stay home! Hooray for Oregon!

Alexander was playing out in the backyard for a while with his snowplow, and by the time I got myself and Annabel all suited up, he was ready to come in. Figures. So, Annabel sat in the snow for a minute, looked up at me and started howling. We came inside, and that was the end of our snow adventure.

Maybe we'll make hot chocolate later.

Ooooh, it's snowing again right now. It's quite lovely.

"Why are you so funny looking?"

Yup. That's what my boy said to a person with dwarfism at the pool today. The man either didn't hear him or chose to ignore him.

Which may be for the best because it's easier for me to figure out how to handle these situations if I have a little time to think about it (refer to the how-does-the-baby-get-in-the-mommy's-belly post).

So, at dinner, Michiel and I talked to him about when people look different and what's okay to say and what might hurt someone's feelings.

I'm sure this will be a series of conversations.

The parenting excitement never stops!

First Sign

It is November 6th. Evening. We are eating a late dinner before bedtime. Alexander's having yogurt, and Annabel's eating butternut squash and playing with Cheerios in between spoonfuls. She keeps smashing her fingers together and looking at me triumphantly. I think she's messing around with the Cheerios.

Then I say, "You want some more?" as I hold up another spoonful, and suddenly I realize she's making the sign for "more." She's just made her first sign! She does it again and again just before each bite and looks more and more pleased with herself.

Of course, she continued to sign even after she was obviously done eating, so we still need to work on the finer points. But hey, it's a start!

Alexander's really taken to learning new signs. Already he knows: more, mama, papa, brother, help, done, eat, dog, nurse and a handful of others. Hooray for sign!

Getting THE QUESTION

Yup, he asked it. The question.

"How does the baby get in the mommy's belly?"

Really? Already? He's not supposed to ask that for another few years.

While Michiel discreetly walked away, I yammered something about how when a mommy and daddy love each other alot they decide to make a baby and then the baby grows in the mommy's belly.

Great, right? Quick thinking. Skip over the difficult bits.

Nothing doing. Alexander was not deterred. "No, what I mean is: How does the baby get IN the mommy's belly?"

So, what did I do? I panicked, of course. I laughed and promptly changed the subject.

The next day, he brought it up again at lunch, apropos of nothing. "But I was really wondering how the baby gets inside the mommy's belly."

I swear, there is no distracting this boy! But this time, I was better prepared. I told him about the egg and the sperm and the egg getting fertilized. I drew comparisons to the animal kingdom. All the while Alexander chewed and nodded thoughtfully. I hoped this would be enough for him, especially since he probably didn't understand all of it.

At the end he said, "Okay. Can I have a toetje (dessert) now?"

Halloween

Though the week leading up to Halloween this year was a bit hectic (sickness, too many things to accomplish), the day itself (or should I say, eve?) was lovely. Annabel kept her gnome hat on reasonably well, and Alexander's snail costume got lot's of compliments. He definitely stood out in the sea of store-bought costumes.

Michiel constructed the shell with cardboard and tape, and Alexander and I painted it. I, of course, had to supress my urge to make it look perfect and yield to the mother/son creative process.

We all went over to Mom and Dad's house and went trick-or-treating from there, since our neighborhood isn't the best for that sort of thing. Alexander was so cute walking/running around the neighborhood, as interested in looking at the Halloween decorations as in getting the candy. He always said, "thank you," after getting candy.

Annabel got a lot of attention for her outfit. The teenagers especially liked her. One punk kid saw her and said, "Oh, sweet, a garden gnome! Gimme knuckles, girl!"

When we got back to Mom and Dad's, Alexander barely had time to examine his loot before he had to answer the door and pass out candy. I'd say he liked that better than trick-or-treating himself. When he and Michiel went out for a second round, he hadn't even got to the door of the first house before he stopped in his tracks, turned, and ran back. Michiel says it was an epiphany. He realized he would miss out on handing out candy. So, back he came. And every time the doorbell rang, he bolted for the door.

I think my parents got around 300 trick-or-treaters this year. That's a lot of candy!

Bluebird Report Card

Last week we had parent-teacher conferences at Alexander's preschool, Bluebird Montessori. We'd been just dying to know what was going on in the classroom because Alexander hardly tells us anything. At first, we were drilling him on what his day was like:

"What did you do?"

"What did you learn?"

"Who did you play with?"

"Did you have fun?"

No wonder he wouldn't really answer us. His teacher, Teri, says that's pretty typical for kids just starting school. They're experiencing so many new things and they don't know how to put all these experiences into words.

So, we were trying to lay low until the conferences. Although, I got pretty sly with my questions: "If I were to ask Teacher Teri what you did today, what would she tell me?"

Strangely enough, he didn't have a problem telling me what Teacher Teri would say.

After weeks of trying to pry information out of Alexander and surreptitiously peeking in the classroom windows at drop-off and pick-up times, the conference day finally arrived.

And of course, we learned that Alexander is doing fine, wonderful, and all that good stuff. But there were some surprises. We learned that our son is a good observer.

To fully understand this, you have to understand that in the montessori classroom a child is allowed to work on something until he is finished. If the pink tower of blocks is already in use when Alexander wants to work with it, he can either find something else to do or he can observe. Observation posture is very specific--standing quietly with hands behind the back. Aparently, Alexander will walk around the classroom like this, observing at one table then the next. Quite a change from home, where he can't keep his hands off anything!

We also learned that of all the other children at the school, Alexander is the one most concerned with order and tidiness. He always has to put things back exactly as he found them and will help other children when he sees that they haven't done it correctly. Now if we could just get him to do that with his toys at home!

I'm amazed by how much he's learning. When we're out and about he's always pointing out shapes to me. "That's and oval." "What's that cylinder over there?"

The other day he asked me, "Why do grandma and grandpa both start with a G?"

And he can add and subtract on fingers (up to ten).

I guess I'm proud of our little guy!

Annabel at 8 Months

She's a cheeky little thing, very determined about what she does and doesn't want. She's getting to be quite social. Often I call it nosy. The minute I get her up in the morning and carry her out to the living room, she's whipping her head around to get a look at who else is there.

Nursing in a public place? Forget it. She's constantly popping off the nipple and flinging back her head to see what's going on. Alexander's learning to be quiet while she's nursing, but he can be a little stinker sometimes. He'll purposely chose the loudest toy to play with while she's nursing.

As of today, she weighs 21lbs 3oz and is 29 inches long. That puts her in the 97th and 95th percentiles. Not terribly surprising.

Alexander Rides a Bike!

He went camping with his grandparents and came back a bike rider. Who knew it could be so easy? For a while now he's had a little push bike--you know, one of those bikes without the pedals. And he got really good at balancing and steering. So I guess when he got on the real bike for the first time he knew just what to do.

Oh, and here's Annabel in her vehicle:

We have a Playhouse!!!

We have a new playhouse for the backyard! It was quite an ordeal getting it in. But we had five guys, one little boy, a hand truck, and a small trailer. It took two hours, and one of the ferns didn't make it, but the playhouse is in place and nobody got hurt (although Michiel got his fingers smashed and at one point the house toppled over onto Kevin...luckily he diverted the corner from falling onto his thigh).

Thank goodness for cousins and friends and neighbors!

Now we have to decide what colors to paint it. I'm thinking a different bright color on each side, with the door the same color as the back side. White trim. Maybe the kids can do handprints all over the inside.

Active Annabel

I love this age! Annabel's, that is. (Alexander's is another story--I could do with a little less threeness in the house.) But seven months is so exciting. She's so active--crawling and standing and interesting in everything.

Last week I was reading a board book to her and she just had to turn the pages. I wasn't even helping her. She concentrated so hard to get her fingers to cooperate, wrap around the page, pull, turn, and ta-da! New pictures! Amazing.

She also got a big kick out of playing the washcloth game in her high chair. You know the one. Mama puts a washcloth on the tray. Annabel grabs it and flings it over the edge. Mama picks it up. Repeat from beginning. We must have done this about 20 or 30 times. Always she grabbed it with her right hand, even when I placed it to the far left side of her tray. Fun times!

But the best is that she wakes up so happy in the morning! She doesn't cry or fuss. She just wakes up and starts looking around the room at all the fascinating things. I only know she's awake because I hear cooing and gurgling noises. And when Alexander and I (or Michiel on the weekends) come into the room, she greets us with a huge I'm-so-glad-to-see-you smile. And our hearts just melt.

For Our Guests

The other day Alexander was taking a long time in the bathroom. I called to him to ask him if he was done and ready for help. He said, "No, not yet." After about ten minutes I went to check on him, but when he heard my footsteps approaching he called, "No! Don't come yet. Don't look!" So I thought I'd give the boy some privacy.


Finally, when he said he was done, I came in and found that he had scrunched up about 15 balls of toilet paper and arranged them neatly on the counter. He had used up at least half a roll.


He said, "Look, Mom. Look what I did."


My first thought was to chide him about it, but I opted for a less confrontational route (for once). "Wow, what are all those for?"


He looked up at me and smiled magnanimously. "They're for our guests."


We were having a potluck that night and had lots of people in the house.


I suppose there are worse things he could be doing while pooping.

Starting School

Alexander isn't the only one in our family starting school this fall. At the end of August Michiel started his MAT program at Willamette. Ahead of us he's got two years of evening and weekend classes along with student teaching in year two. Then he'll have his masters in teaching with a special ed endorsement.

It's crazy that he's back to homework and papers and tests again after being out of school for so long. (In truth, I'm a little envious...I love being a student.) He's doing really well so far. I love it when he comes home excited to talk about his evening of classes--the ideas, the applications. Now if we can work on his organization... :)

She Crawls!

Annabel is exactly seven months old today, and she officially crawls. Check it out:

Beach Trip

Wow, I realized I never said anything about our beach trip. There's been so much going on that I must have skipped right over it. One house, right on the beach in Lincoln City. Nine people, one child, and one baby. We had a lovely time just being away with the whole family where all we really had to do in the day was figure out what to eat and how long we could stay in our pajamas before having to get dressed.


We went for a hike at Drift Creek Falls,
visited the Aquarium in Newport,
and saw a whale at Depoe Bay. (no picture.)

The floor of the living room was constantly set up with wooden train tracks and baby toys.
We got in a few games of pinochle. And the food was good and plentiful. Not much more to ask for out of a vacation. And Maarten was there for the second half of it, so it was extra special.

More Fun Sayings from the Desk of Alexander

I've been asking Alexander about how he's liking preschool, what he does there, if he's making friends with other kids, etc. But his replies are short. I don't think he has the words yet to describe everything going on with him.

A couple of days ago, over lunch, when I was badgering him to tell me about his day, he said:

"I'm not going to say any more because I'm eating and I don't want to bother myself. That's why I don't want to talk."

Who can blame him?

Later that same day, we were talking about Oom Maarten leaving and flying over the ocean back to the Netherlands. Alexander looked troubled and said:

"But why is his land not hitched up to our land?"

Gotta love it!

Milestones

Well, our little girl is eating solid foods now...well, sort of. Mostly she spits it back out, but she does seems to like it. She's had homemade pearsauce, squash, carrots, smashed banana, and rice cereal. Oh, and she likes to suck on watermellon and cantaloup.

Alexander is thrilled to watch her eat and likes to hand her more and more spoons. So, we're entering the messy-baby-in-highchair phase of parenting again. I have to remind myself that the mess is okay. :)

And Alexander has started preschool. He goes to Bluebird Montesorri here in Silverton. Three and a half hours a day, five days a week. This is his first full week of school. So far, he's loving it, but he tends to have little meltdowns after keeping it together for half the day at school. He'll come home and let it all out.

Here's a picture of him on the front porch of his school:

Stranger Anxiety

Annabel is driving me a little bit crazy right now. She's pretty fussy and clingy, howling every time I set her down or walk out of eyesight. I hope this phase doesn't last long.

Of course, before I know it she'll be so independent she doesn't want to cuddle with me anymore, so I'm trying to move through it with grace. It could be that she's teething, but then, we've been saying she's teething for at least two months now and there is nary a tooth in sight. Actually, that's not true. (I just wanted to say 'nary.') We can see (and feel) a little white tooth just waiting to poke through. Any day now...

More Alexanderisms

"Oh, Lisa dear, you're so wonderful 'cause I was really wanting to make this." -when I asked him to help me stir the pear sauce I was making.

Camping: "I'm going with those other siblings."

"The sparks go up from the fire and go up to the stars and make them bigger."

And here's a conversation he had with Therese while on a walk:

"Look at all the acorns," Alexander said.

"Those are pinecones," said Therese.

"I know, but acorns eat pinecones."

Highlights from Camping

Here are a few highlights from our sibling camping trip this weekend. We camped at Suttle lake, near Sisters, OR. And almost all of the Gerlits-and-extended siblings were there...Me, Kev and Jo, along with our spouses and their siblings (Michiel and Maarten, visiting from the Netherlands; Therese, Ken, Tony, and Gabe; Eric, Jude w/friend Rachael, and Rachael and Sheldon)...and kids, of course (ours + Gwyn, Karis, and my cousin's daughter, Lauren). We had a great time!

Kev and Therese got their boat in the water for the first time. The kids spent a lot of time riding bikes and scooters (and eating lots of treats). Annabel got to experience staring at the fire and getting really grubby.

Annabel working on her standing:

Alexander working on his braking:

In the boat:

Girl on the Go

This little girl can not sit still. She really wants to be on the go, but she can't quite get herself into crawling position. She's always got one leg tucked up underneath. Lately, she's been pulling herself up to standing, looking so proud once she gets herself there. That little tongue comes out and she grins and grins. Then she doesn't know what to do. She'll let go with both hands and flop forward or wobble until she plops down.

Here she is with her oom Maarten:


And here we are at the Oregon Coast Aquarium:

Children's Museum

Today we went up to Portland and spent the day at the Children's Museum. What an amazing place! We were there for hours and probably could have spent days there. The water works room alone had the whole family occupied for a good hour. Michiel and I were playing with this water-channeling thing and suddenly realized Alexander wasn't with us. He turned out to be just across the room, but we'd both been so engrossed in what we were building that we hadn't noticed him leave.

Swimming Boy

Tomorrow will be Alexander's last swim lesson for the summer. He's come such a long way! He started out refusing to get his face wet, and now he'll dunk under easily, will float on his stomach with his face in the water, and can float on his back for a few seconds without help. Today they put life jackets on the kids and let them float around and jump in the deep end.

That's my kid with his face in the water:

Even though he often tells me in the morning that he doesn't want to dunk all the way under, he's all smiles in the pool. We'll make a swimmer out of him yet!

Two Pictures

Here's our little sitting-up girl! The tongue action is pretty typical too.

Sitting up

That's sitting up, not spitting up, though she does some of each. Today I think we can officially say that Annabel sits up on her own. I left her sitting up on a blanket in the backyard, and she didn't tip over! She happily sat for at least 4 or 5 minutes before slowly leaning to the left and falling forward on her face. But she totally had her balance before that!

Chillin' on a Saturday morning:



And we actually found Alexander sleeping like this one night:

She's a traveling baby!

Today I laid her down on her tummy on her blanket and a minute later she had scooted herself backwards and off the blanket and was messing around with the bookshelf. She's into all kinds of mischief lately. This morning I took her onto my lap while eating breakfast, and the first thing she did was lunge for my cereal bowl and dump milk and soggy bran flakes all over the both of us. Clever girl, eh?

And here are two pictures I just had to share:

Five Months

Well, our little chub-monster is five months old today, and she's got the thighs to prove it. Lately nursing has been challenging because she's so interested in everything going on around her that she doesn't stay latched on for long. She'll hear her brother's voice and whip her head around to see what's happening.

Today I stood her up in her crib, guided her hands to the railing, and let go. She stood on her own for a full minute or two! She's rolled over a couple of times but still seems surprised every time she does it...hasn't figured out how to do it purposefully. And she can sit up by herself for about three seconds before toppling over. All of it makes her laugh!

Last weekend, she experienced her first camping adventure. We met up with some friends camping up at Silver Falls and joined them for a night. A long hike, playing in the creek, junior ranger programs, roasting marshmallows, campfire songs--we did everything. And there were five other kids to mess around with. Alexander had s'mores for the first time, and Annabel was mesmerized by the fire.

Oh, and she tried eating some cantaloup today (which was also her brother's first food). She mostly just sucked on it, but seemed to like it.