A Little Trivia

Question:

Why should you NOT leave 3 toddlers alone in a room with a box of markers?

3 Answers for you...

Answer # 1:

Answer # 2:

Answer # 3:

(I'm pretty sure that's string cheese in Blake's mouth...in case you were wondering...)

Ellie has been into "playing kitty" lately...so, apparently she decided it would be cool to make them all kitties.

Lesson learned - and we still have not gotten all the marker off in the bath, so the boys will be a little extra colorful for their birthday party tonight!

Yes, Charlie turned 2 on October 30th. I made him his all-time favorites for breakfast. Scrambled eggs, toast, and sliced grapes. Pretty gourmet, huh?! He's easy to please.

He also had his 2-year check-up yesterday. Ready for this? He lost weight! Last time we went in (a few months ago) he was 39 pounds. Now he is only 36 pounds! Can you believe that? His little "percentile X" is still about an inch above the top of the 95th percentile curve line...but at least it's not 2 inches above that line anymore. :)

Another bit of exciting news is that Charlie can count to 10 now! Here's a couple clips - he never makes it to 10 in the clips because he's mad at me for taping him, but I promise he can do it!

Pretty cool, huh? :)

Well, that's all for now - I'll leave you with a couple pics...of course.

Enjoying his "yogurt milk"...and Ellie's flower helmet...and his lack of pants. Remember, I told you pants are optional in this house!

He's so special. :)

Cute shot of Blake

Munching popcorn and catching a flick on the big bed.

Rainboots rock!

...now back to our regularly scheduled programming...

The kids all got new rainboots this week.

Charlie loves his! (Pants are optional in our house)

Christine and I walked the kids down to the Springwater trail this morning (yes, BEFORE it started pouring down rain) in search of puddles to stomp.

Found one!

"Wow, leaves!"

Fun times on the bench!

"Yay for the bench! We love the bench!"

Charlie wanted to stay on the bench forever.

Cute, huh?

Yes, "cute" it was until he threw the arms-flailing, body-flopping, kicking-and-screaming tantrum of the year when I finally pried his stubborn little rear end off of the darn thing...

Blake smiles big!
(Possibly my all-time favorite Blake picture)


So many puddles, so little time.

"Let's poke sticks in it and see what happens!"

Yes, the boys are still too young to realize that many of Ellie's plans are
pretty much pointless...

Good old-fashioned stomping!

Charlie loves Ellie's knee and elbow pads

This picture reminds me of his daddy...



Just being goofy...

A rainbow across the street the other day...just when I needed to see one. Thanks, God. :)

Hope

Okay, this post is going to be different from the ones you are used to seeing here. If you're looking for fun and silly pictures of our crazy family...you can skip this one and come back in a few days. :) I won't be offended, I promise! I don't even know who all reads this blog, anyways, so here goes...

I (Marlene) have been having a really, really hard couple of weeks. Some struggles I have had in the past have kind of "returned" to haunt me - and this has hit me like a truck. It's been awful, truly awful. I'll be completely honest; I'm really struggling, guys.

Two weeks ago, Shawn and I were working in the nursery at church. So, we didn't get to hear the sermon. My sister-in-law, Christine, was in the service listening to Barry (our wonderful pastor) preach. Barry was talking about how we can pray for God to send angels to people in need. Knowing how much I have been struggling, Christine thought about me when Barry talked about praying for angels.

The next day, Monday, I was watching Ellie, Blake and Charlie while Christine was taking a shower. While she was in the shower, Christine was pleading with God to send angels to help me. Ellie, who is almost 4, was sitting at the table in the kitchen, coloring a picture. I was sitting on the couch in the living room, watching Charlie and Blake. After a while, Ellie came into the living room, walked up to me, and handed me this:

Sometimes she writes "words", but the "words" are always just a bunch of random letters put together. She can write her name, but other than that it's always just a bunch of gibberish. It's usually things like, "CFH" or "LEEEM" or "BBBC".

I stared at the paper she had given me.
I said, "Ellie, do you know that you wrote 'hope' on this picture?"
Ellie said, "Yes, I know."
I said, "Ellie, do you know what hope means?"
She just looked at me for a moment, then gave me a silly smile and went off to play.

When Christine came out from her shower, I showed her the picture. She told me how she had been praying at that very moment for God to send His angels to comfort and help me.

I can't stop looking at that picture. And every time I do, I feel a little more hope.

So, I don't really know where I'm ending with this. But I wanted to share that amazing miracle with you. And I want to say that there is hope. Even when you don't feel it, it's there. Don't let it go. And if you do, God may send an angel to remind you not to let Him go. I pray that He does. :)

I Think I'm Hearing "NO!" In My Sleep...oh no wait, that's just Charlie yelling from his crib.

Woah, is it almost October already? What happened!? Guess I'm already getting lazy with this blog... a good representation of most other things in my life. :)

Well, I have figured out a few things over the past couple of weeks:

1. Yelling, "NO! WE DON'T SAY NO!" to your child who says "NO" too much is not a very effective method.

2. Ditto with the grabbing-things-from-other-kids problem...grabbing something out of your child's hand after he has just grabbed it from another child's hand and saying, "We don't grab!" is not effective, either...your child will just look at you and then look at the grabbed item in your guilty hand like, "Oh, really, mom? We don't grab?"

3. Getting visibly angry, upset or frustrated only seems to encourage bad behavior even more.

4. Repeat # 1. Ooops.

5. Man, our child is stubborn!

6. Begging and pleading for good behavior and/or manners is futile.

7. Bad behavior is much worse when the child is teething - something I realized right after I wrote that last blog, when I looked into Charlie's mouth and saw four huge teeth emerging through red, swollen gums.

8. Even when they are "naughty", they are the sweetest, most amazing blessings in our lives - 1 spontaneous kiss makes up for 20 tantrums and 1 "fly-by" hug erases the memories of 10 wiggly diaper-changing wars.
9. I could not possibly love him any more than I do, and I thank God for him, "NO's" and all.

Really, though, things have gotten better. For the most part, we've gotten our sweet little boy back. I suppose the rest can be expected at this age, and we'll just have to keep working on "re-teaching" him the right ways to behave. The past few mornings, we have woken up to the sound of him in his crib saying, "NO! No. No. NO. NO! No." To himself. For no reason at all. Totally unprovoked. Fun times.

By the way, thanks for all the encouraging words at church this morning! I can't believe how many of you Cornerstone folks read our blog. What an awesome church family we have!!!

Well, what else have we been up to the past few weeks? Hmmm....

Hanging out in the pots and pans cupboard:

The creation of the "Big Kids Table":

Cheap Carnival Rides:

Hanging out & eating pizza with the cousins:

Finally finding a way to get Charlie to drink his milk (a big shout-out to whoever the genius is that invented the "curly straw"!):

The wonderfulness of backpacks!

(Yes, Blake's "backpack" happens to be a purple-colored, baby-doll bassinet-thingy, but he didn't know the difference - hey, if it hangs off of your back and makes you feel like a super cool big boy, it's a backpack...)

Playing in the rocks:

Fun baths:

Blake gets a little too wild and splashy for Charlie's liking:

Lots of dance parties:

By the way, I've got some AWESOME footage of Shawn's dance skills, but I don't know if I'd get away with posting it on here...

...oh, what's that you say? You want to see it? Really? Okay, well maybe just one short clip, a teaser" let's call it. I'm sure he won't mind...

And if you enjoyed that one, wait until you see his breakdancing moves!

Please, somebody tell me this is just a "stage"

Missing: Adorable 22-month-old boy named Charles, "Charlie" for short.

Likes to share toys with other children.
Says "Lub yoo" (love you) a lot.
Loves to laugh and wrestle and play.
Likes to ride in the car.

Loves to be tickled and held and kissed.
Settles into his bed nicely and peacefully during nap time and bed time.
When asked to come, comes happily.

Neatly places unwanted food items in the cup-holder spot of his highchair tray.
Takes binky at bed times and sometimes when riding in the car.
When handed something, says "dank doo" (thank you) very sweetly.

Found: 23-month-old boy (ironically, this child is also named Charles, "Charlie" for short)

Takes toys from other children.
Says "NO!!!" (no) a lot.
Likes to cry and whine and push.
Screams and writhes around as if in pain when put in car seat.
Becomes agitated when tickled, held or kissed unless HE is the one initiating.
Cries, throws tantrums, and "flops" when placed in bed - takes 20 - 30 minutes to stop crying and settle down to sleep.
When asked to come, cries and runs the other way.
Angrily flings unwanted food items from tray.
Binky seems to be permanently attached to the mouth - and when we are successful at prying it out, we usually end up quickly putting it BACK IN just to escape the ear-piercing screaming and whining that ensues.
When handed something, screams "NO!!!" and throws it back at whoever gave it to him.

Please, someone help us. We miss our sweet little boy desperately. If you have found him, please bring him back to us and we'll gladly trade you for the one WE have found.

Thank you,

Shawn and Marlene