Art

So… our #2, Andrew, walks up to Mommy this morning with artwork on an Etch-A-Sketch that he did.

“Mommy, I drew a gun.”

We don’t really play with toy guns much, but boys will be boys, and we like it that way!

And quite a gifted Etch-A-Sketch’er for a 3.5yo, if I may say so.

Improvisation

Later in the morning, living up to a previous post I blogged about what makes the best Christmas gifts, the same child decided to make the most of a recent UPS delivery:

I wonder if he’ll mind if those gifts under the tree disappeared…

5, 3, 2, 1.

These numbers denote each of my children’s ages. Interestingly, someone commented that it sounds like a lift-off, but we’re just missing the number four. Because we have four little ones, many have asked and wondered how I take care of four high maintenance kids, and here’s my answer: do things in assembly lines as much as possible. To offer you a glimpse of what I mean, here are some of the things we do in assembly line fashion:

1. Baths: Hose everyone down with water, then shampoo all the hair, next wash all their bodies, and finally, hose everyone down again. Thank the Lord for six-foot long bathtubs.

1. Potty: No, we’re not trying to save water by all going to the potty at the same time. But since we’re potty training two of them right now, it’s just easier to get both of them up to the bathroom at the same time. Naturally, the other two feel left out so they want to join in too. So, there you have it, four at a time, in an assembly line fashion.
2. Brushing Teeth: Our children still need much training in the personal hygiene area so once again we have to use our assembly line method of brushing each of their teeth. Each child has a color-coded toothbrush and I still haven’t learned which belongs to whom.
3. Hair: I spray their hairs with water, then comb, and style. With the girls, I tie a pony tail or a whale spout.
4. Vitamins: Eating a vitamin is like eating a candy for my children. Whenever I take out the vitamin bottle, the kids line up to get their treat.
5. Medication: There was a time when all three of the older ones had colds / runny noses. So they all had to take some cold meds, one of which they really liked the taste of. We made it a chance for a toast:

Life with four lil’ ones can be dizzying at times. Maybe much of the time. But there’s also potential for a lot of fun when we do it together!

Below is a conversation I had with my son Matthew, and it cracked me up as much as it warmed my heart. I was preparing some chicken and he climbed up on a chair next to me to watch.

“What are you doing, Mom?”

“I’m prepping some chicken and then deliver them to our good friends who are sick.”

“Mom, you should give them some strawberries.”

“Errr. . . we don’t have strawberries.”

“We have some frozen ones.”

“Why do you want to give them strawberries?”

“That’s what my ‘Body IQ’ says!” (At this point he got down from the chair he was standing on, and went and grabbed a ‘Body IQ’ chart that we use for school) “It says: ‘Strawberries contain vitamin C, which helps you fight off an illness‘ so you should give our friends strawberries instead of chicken.”

I cracked up and then went and tackled him. This little boy of mine sure is resourceful and clever.

Our youngest child turned one today. Today is doubly special because it is also our sixth wedding anniversary. I still remember the time in the hospital trying to give birth to Calissa while looking at a huge clock right in front of me. I only had several minutes left to have her on our anniversary and she managed to come into the world with just four minutes to spare! She was born on May 19, 2006 at 11:56 pm. She was indeed a special anniversary gift, and continues to be so!

Among our four children, Calissa is by far the most sweet-tempered child. She’s amazingly contented and calm. While all of our other children were crawling and/or standing by their first birthday, she seems more than happy to sit on the floor and watch all the action in the house (plenty of it!). She is also probably the most unequivocally loved child in our house: all three of her siblings love her without reserve and adore giving her kisses and hugs.

We are so blessed to have Calissa in our lives. Here are a couple of photos from today’s small family birthday celebration!

So I brought home some churros for the kids as a treat for after dinner.

Matthew: I’m full and I want a churro.

Mom: That doesn’t make any sense. If you were full, then you couldn’t eat a churro.

Matthew: Hmm… I’m done then.

Clever boy.

Our three oldest children, ages 5, 3, 2, were playing in the living room unsupervised. I was in the kitchen, and overhearing them playing, I just had to go in and see exactly what they were doing.

I walked in to discover Emmaline (age 2) lying on the coffee table with a blanket draped over her. I learned from Matthew that he was performing a hip surgery on Emmaline while Andrew was administering medicine with an empty roll of toilet paper over her mouth. It was such a hilarious sight that I snapped several pictures just to document this “medical” feat.

As many of our readers know, Emmaline underwent REAL surgeries last year to correct her dislocated hips. Naturally, Matthew still remembered these — she’s only recently really begun to walk and run normally — and thus re-enacted the whole surgery.  At least, as he envisioned it. I was quite amused. Matthew talked like a real surgeon, “Emmie, lie down, I’m going to cut you up. Andrew, give her some medicine. Okay, Emmie, you’re all done, but you need to stay in the hospital for the night.” I was also rather surprised that both Andrew and Emmaline did exactly what Matthew wanted them to do. I was very glad that they played so well together. That’s another one of the joys of having a slightly larger than average family.

Here’s a photo of the operating room.  Click to view it full size.

All our children suck their thumbs. I personally believe this is a blessing because they can self soothe when they are sick or just wanting some comfort. Having said this, this blissful thumb sucking habit can’t last forever. About a week ago we made a deal with out oldest, who is almost five, that if he would quit sucking his thumb in a week, we’d get him a toy. To my surprise and joy, he went cold turkey on his thumb. For the first two days he forgot and put his thumb in his mouth for one second but immediately took it out. He promised that he wouldn’t suck his thumb again thereafter. Sure enough, he kept his promise. Exactly one week later, we went to the toy store and happily gave him his reward as promised. Whew! I really thought he would suck his thumb for the rest of his life considering how addicted he was to his thumb.