Conversations
I've been working on my novel for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and I'll tell you what, man, that whole thing is intense. It's like three minute fiction on serious steroids. I have a little over 40,000 words still to write, but I just needed a break ladies, a break!
So, I'm writing over here. Yeah, that's how I take a break. But see, you guys don't demand 50,000 words from me. You don't even WANT that many words from me on here, am I right?
I have this feeling floating around somewhere inside my guts that you are feeling like you haven't had a good solid glimpse into the lives of the H's lately, and you're craving some of that craziness.
I will indulge you.
Heather has been given a new nickname, Bugeater. Picture this: Hallie and Hanna streaming through the house, screaming "Bugeater! The Bugeater is coming! Hurry, get away! Here comes the Bugeater!" and hot on their heels comes Heather, crawling furiously after her much faster, much bigger, much louder sisters. Poor Bugeater. She'll get hers someday, count on it.
Also, it makes me laugh every time they call her Bugeater. When I tell her this story someday, I'll skip over the part where I thought it was funny, yeah?
Sometimes in the morning, particularly ones after a bad night with Heather (or Hanna, or Hallie, or all three) I will still be dozing in bed after everyone else is awake. Devin will give them all breakfast, and then he will bring me my medicine and put Heather in bed next to me, kiss me goodbye, and tell me to have a good day. Hallie and Hanna will trickle upstairs after they finish their cereal, and they will either crawl in bed with Heather and I, or they will find something to play with for a while, waiting for me to crack open my eyeballs. The following happened in that hazy, dazy early morning hours, and so I don't really know what was going on, but this is what I heard Hanna say from across the room.
"Let's kill them! Kill, kill kill!" then some sort of crashing sound as she banged something against something else. "Kill, kill, kill!"
I wish I knew more about that story.
Today I had a friend come over to play our piano, and she has two little boys that she was going to bring with her. I told the girls that some friends would be coming over to play with, and lest they think it was Zaida, or Jayne and Olivia, I made sure to tell them that these friends were boys. A few hours later, and their patience was wearing thin.
Hanna, (whining) "When are my boyfriends going to come?"
Hallie, (demanding) "I WANT my BOYFRIENDS to come NOW."
And see, here I thought I had another good ten years before I had to start hearing that.
In the car, we usually listen to "Alice the Camel" (Hanna's request) or "Hankey Doodle" (also known as Yankee Doodle.) (Hallie's request). Occasionally, however, I like to just listen to the good old fashioned radio. So I had it on and was bebopping along to "my" music, and then I sort of drifted out of it and wasn't paying so much attention anymore. A song came on that I didn't know, and about halfway into it I got tired of the sound of it, I wasn't even paying attention to the words, and I thought, "Why am I listening to this?" so I turned it off. Just in time to hear Hanna ask, "Mommy, why did he say naked?"
I was shocked. "What, Hanna?"
"Why did he say naked, in the song, mommy?"
I was having trouble grasping her meaning. "What?"
Hallie stepped up to explain the basics to me. "Mom, in the song, he said 'everybody should be naked." There was a quiet pause. Hallie continued, "But, mommy, why would he say that, because I think everybody should be dressed, right?"
Another quiet pause, and I am frantically trying to figure it out if I actually have to have that conversation with my two and four year olds, what do you say when your children ask you why a man is singing about wanting everyone to be naked? Then I was saved.
Hallie, "oooh! Mommy! A jack-o-lantern!"
And off they went, discussing the delights of a pumpkin at Halloween. And that's when I solemnly vowed that if I was going to have the radio on in front of my kids I better be paying closer attention. And, to just not have the radio on in front of them ever again.
And that pretty well sums up what has been going on around here lately. Oh, well, and Heather has two new teeth, so she's a real eating machine now that she has uppers and bottoms, and also she started clapping two days ago. Clapping! It's my favorite thing in the world, I've decided. Those two pudgy little hands coming together smack! smack! smack! She looks so proud of herself.
So, I'm writing over here. Yeah, that's how I take a break. But see, you guys don't demand 50,000 words from me. You don't even WANT that many words from me on here, am I right?
I have this feeling floating around somewhere inside my guts that you are feeling like you haven't had a good solid glimpse into the lives of the H's lately, and you're craving some of that craziness.
I will indulge you.
Heather has been given a new nickname, Bugeater. Picture this: Hallie and Hanna streaming through the house, screaming "Bugeater! The Bugeater is coming! Hurry, get away! Here comes the Bugeater!" and hot on their heels comes Heather, crawling furiously after her much faster, much bigger, much louder sisters. Poor Bugeater. She'll get hers someday, count on it.
Also, it makes me laugh every time they call her Bugeater. When I tell her this story someday, I'll skip over the part where I thought it was funny, yeah?
Sometimes in the morning, particularly ones after a bad night with Heather (or Hanna, or Hallie, or all three) I will still be dozing in bed after everyone else is awake. Devin will give them all breakfast, and then he will bring me my medicine and put Heather in bed next to me, kiss me goodbye, and tell me to have a good day. Hallie and Hanna will trickle upstairs after they finish their cereal, and they will either crawl in bed with Heather and I, or they will find something to play with for a while, waiting for me to crack open my eyeballs. The following happened in that hazy, dazy early morning hours, and so I don't really know what was going on, but this is what I heard Hanna say from across the room.
"Let's kill them! Kill, kill kill!" then some sort of crashing sound as she banged something against something else. "Kill, kill, kill!"
I wish I knew more about that story.
Today I had a friend come over to play our piano, and she has two little boys that she was going to bring with her. I told the girls that some friends would be coming over to play with, and lest they think it was Zaida, or Jayne and Olivia, I made sure to tell them that these friends were boys. A few hours later, and their patience was wearing thin.
Hanna, (whining) "When are my boyfriends going to come?"
Hallie, (demanding) "I WANT my BOYFRIENDS to come NOW."
And see, here I thought I had another good ten years before I had to start hearing that.
In the car, we usually listen to "Alice the Camel" (Hanna's request) or "Hankey Doodle" (also known as Yankee Doodle.) (Hallie's request). Occasionally, however, I like to just listen to the good old fashioned radio. So I had it on and was bebopping along to "my" music, and then I sort of drifted out of it and wasn't paying so much attention anymore. A song came on that I didn't know, and about halfway into it I got tired of the sound of it, I wasn't even paying attention to the words, and I thought, "Why am I listening to this?" so I turned it off. Just in time to hear Hanna ask, "Mommy, why did he say naked?"
I was shocked. "What, Hanna?"
"Why did he say naked, in the song, mommy?"
I was having trouble grasping her meaning. "What?"
Hallie stepped up to explain the basics to me. "Mom, in the song, he said 'everybody should be naked." There was a quiet pause. Hallie continued, "But, mommy, why would he say that, because I think everybody should be dressed, right?"
Another quiet pause, and I am frantically trying to figure it out if I actually have to have that conversation with my two and four year olds, what do you say when your children ask you why a man is singing about wanting everyone to be naked? Then I was saved.
Hallie, "oooh! Mommy! A jack-o-lantern!"
And off they went, discussing the delights of a pumpkin at Halloween. And that's when I solemnly vowed that if I was going to have the radio on in front of my kids I better be paying closer attention. And, to just not have the radio on in front of them ever again.
And that pretty well sums up what has been going on around here lately. Oh, well, and Heather has two new teeth, so she's a real eating machine now that she has uppers and bottoms, and also she started clapping two days ago. Clapping! It's my favorite thing in the world, I've decided. Those two pudgy little hands coming together smack! smack! smack! She looks so proud of herself.
I love everything about this.
ReplyDeleteThey're so cute! And yay for Hanna's hair growing past the "in the face" stage. Cutting bangs for Jill has just prolonged that stage in my house. Well, if I kept the bangs trimmed, I suppose they wouldn't be in her face, but I don't. I secretly don't want her to have bangs. Ha. Anyway, congrats on making it through that stage with Hanna.
ReplyDeleteI love their huge Minnies. And Hanna looks so cute in that dress!
Do you ever wonder why they call her bugeater? I mean, I know they have lots of random names that don't necessarily connect with a reality, but whenever I hear you post or blog about the bugeater nickname, I wonder if they have been feeding their little sister bugs behind your back. :) Ha. Now there's something to . . . laugh about. :)
So on our CD the song is "Sally the Camel." Then when I told someone our new baby will be Alice, he or she responded, "oh like the camel." And I had no idea what that was referring to. Since then though, I have listened to one of Laurie's children's CDs, and it is the exact same song that I know as Sally the Camel, but hers is Alice the Camel. Fabulous. Oh well. All names have something less than desirable, I suppose. Hopefully no kids will taunt her with that song and call her a camel someday.
And yeah, I totally feel that about the radio. The other day Jill was watching a cartoon on PBS. It was nearing the end of morning time, and we haven't watched it enough to know when the cartoons end and when adult programs begin, but I figured, it's PBS. Surely it's safe. Well, she started yelling at me that her show was gone, and I went downstairs to see my innocent three-year-old watching a special on the Holocaust. Currently on the screen was rows and rows of emaciated, naked, dead bodies. Now obviously, I will teach Jill about the Holocaust someday. But three is just too soon to learn about that kind of evil, if it can be avoided. Anyway. I think we all need to be careful about what our children ingest media wise.
And on the "naked" thread. Yesterday, Jill was calling Danny names. She's never done this before. But she said "Danny, you bum." And then she laughed. Then she said "Danny, you vagina." Fabulous. I explained to her that a vagina was a very special body part that Danny just didn't have, and it wasn't something that we yelled at our younger brothers. And for that matter, we don't call our little brothers bums either. Why not say "Danny, you boy." She didn't think that was anywhere near as funny as what she had been saying before, but she stopped the taunting. Danny, for his part, didn't seem to notice that he was being teased. I hope Jill never teases him like that in public. Sigh.
that is too, too funny. and it reminded me that I completely forgot one of their conversations that I meant to include... I"ll have to do another one somtime.
DeleteSometimes I really do hate media. We have to be so selective. Always have our guard up. Love the novel. Good job my friend
ReplyDeleteWell at least they are at that stage where they are easily distracted and have probably forgotten all about it. I was surprised when i was there just how much a 4 and 2 year old pick up on. lol
ReplyDeleteIm a little sad that pic is blurry. It is still good, but since i took it, i wish i would have noticed to get you a better one, because they looked so cute sitting there with their Minnies. Ah well.
Oh, and get out your guns. Cause it looks like their getting boyfriends sooner than you had hoped for. haha jk ;)
Hanna is always blurry. It is the rule of thumb I live my life by, these days. When my friend was taking pictures for us, there was not one shot that Hanna wasn't moving.
Delete