Kids & Words

Here’s another quick little snapshot of the words our kids hear or make up…

“Betend” – It’s not PREtend – it’s BEtend.  As in, “I am betending to be a princess.”  (As said by Julia.  Of course, in her case, more often than not she simply says, “I am a princess.”  Touché, Julia, touché.)

“Elmo-U-S-E!” – That’s right – the Mickey Elmo-use Club!  Again, another one brought to you by Julia, as opposed to Sesame Street.  As she sings the Mickey Mouse Club song, she belts out, “M-I-C-K-E-Y Elmo-U-S-E!”

“Ticklish” – The funny thing about “ticklish” is that it’s actually a word… but not the way Raven uses it.  Raven thinks that “licorice” is actually called “ticklish”, and asks me for “ticklish” when she knows it’s in the house.  Daddy and the girls bought me a bag of Red Vines yesterday as a gift, and they are all the rage in our house.

“Almost Anything Anna says” – I’ll say this for Anna – she has a superb vocabulary.  She says a lot of words and she says a lot of them well.  However, I realized last night while going through a book with her that much of it is because of context that I understand what she is actually saying.  She drops a lot of consonants, so that makes things a little difficult at time, but we work it out, as most parents with two- and three-year-olds are wont to do.  Horse = Orsie; Tiger = Iger; Bird = Bird (Julia says, “MOM.  That’s a macaw.  Make her say ‘macaw’.”  Mom to Anna, “Bird.”  Anna replies, “Bird”.  Dang kids who can read and spell already………..)

Happy Monday!
Erin

Wonder Woman Does Not Live Here

From my vantage point, I see scraps of paper and doll clothes lying on the floor.  The blankets are in a heap on the couch, and the chalkboard is a drying rack (I wondered where that towel went; I never thought to look there).  The girls found blocks out on the porch; evidence from our weekend fun, which ended two days ago.  There’s the basket of clothes I still haven’t taken to the thrift store, I am pretty certain there is food on the floor under the kids’ table, and the pile of laundry that I vanquished last Thursday has returned.

We had pancakes for dinner because we really need groceries.

I am not Super Wife or Super Mom.

But.

My kids were pretty happy to spend time with Daddy tonight working on school workbooks while Mommy took a quick nap.  Julia was pleased as punch to show me a new ballet jumping move (how many times did I try that as a kid – she sure thought she was flying).  Anna used the word “yes” with me more than the word “no” tonight.  Raven asked me to make her bed pretty for the umpteenth time.  We had a fort with those blankets on the couch and the kids love pancakes.  Anna doesn’t mind snacking on random cereal bits from the floor, and thankfully we have more clothes than we can shake a stick at so who cares if the laundry gets done.

I have Amazing Kids.

And.

I received a promotion and a raise at work yesterday.  I was asked to fill a role almost three months ago that I wouldn’t have expected to achieve for a few years yet, and while it’s tiresome and robs me of time and the commute is long, they picked me to fill that role permanently, and that’s saying a lot.  I’m the first woman and the first person under the age of 40 to fill this role on this program.  I have a heart for my team and want to see them succeed.  I have a lot to learn but I have amazing mentors.  I’m learning to accept opportunities and not rest in pride cloaked with humility.

Yesterday I was reminded by my boss that I had told her about a year and a half ago that I wanted her job some day.  And I won’t get there by holding back. 

Still not Wonder Woman.

The proverbial Wonder Woman can Do It All and Have It All and Be Everything to Everyone.  I confess I don’t know much about the actual Wonder Woman other than that I had a Wonder Woman underoos set as a child and recall swallowing a nickel while wearing it and thankfully didn’t land in the hospital.  In my mind Wonder Woman doesn’t have to make choices because she can simply do it all.  But that’s not true for me; it’s not true for most people and most moms.

Every choice has a consequence.  Consequence has a negative connotation, but the definition isn’t negative; it simply means a result or outcome.  Each choice I make has a result – I choose to work and succeed at my job and the outcome is that described above.  There are days that I would change it all if I could – and most people try to tell me that I can and I should – but it’s not that easy.  And I don’t know that I want to.  And it wouldn’t make me anymore Wonder Woman.  There would simply be different outcomes.  The question is whether or not the current results would be outweighed by the potential results.  Greener grass and the like.  And I don’t know that and can’t know that unless I make a different choice.

I don’t have a reason for this blog post other than that I have a lot of rumblings in my head that make me question what I am doing and the choices that I’ve made and whether or not they are the right ones.  There are no changes on the horizon.  But that doesn’t mean that I don’t consider the alternatives and what they might look like and whether there might be a better option.

So for tonight, I’ll accept the choices I’ve made and rest my weary brain as my girls flit around me, make forts, eat pancakes, and sneak in snuggles with me while I take a nap.

Anna

Catching two on camera is like trying to catch the wind.  But when you do catch it, it is breathtaking and simple and beautiful.

Bubbers

Anna is classically two… but she is still herself… Anna… she is hard to explain but what kid isn’t?  Today I attempted to take her two-year pictures… not the worst experience in the world, but the majority of the pictures included her running at me screaming, “no picture!” and trying to hit me… that was fun having people watch in downtown Arvada.  She is a little sweetie, though, and she let me get a few good ones.

These are taken a few weeks later than I wanted to take them… but I hope to get back into more picture taking and have more to share with you all over the next few months as we transition into more new experiences with two kids in “big school” and Anna at “little school”.

Where she really wanted to be the whole time… she loves looking at the water fountains but really doesn’t want to go in…

A partial smle… yes, she is in the middle of saying “no” to me.

Love those piggies!

Not real sure about the picture taking…

“Ooooh, rocks!”

What most of the pictures looked like; Anna saying “no” and putting her hands up in my face or hitting me.  Ha!

Profile.

“No picture!”

“Oooh, flowers!”  She totally knew I was trying to trick her into pictures with these.

Little blondie.

Looking on.

“No, mommy!  No picture!”

“Mommy!  No!”  Sassypants!  Even though it’s a little fuzzy, this has to be my favorite picture of the bunch.  It is so Anna!

AFF

Adam and I still think this is one of THE funniest scenes ever from a television show – Amy Farrah Fowler and The Tiara.  If this doesn’t make you laugh…

(If anyone wants to send me a tiara……. just sayin’.)

Happy 2nd Birthday, Bubbers!

I still call Anna “Bubbers” or “Bubby” and I don’t want to lose that.  Even her sisters call her Bubbers.

I made up an Anna Banana song for her in the van one day.  Julia and Raven know it by heart.

I haven’t made Anna’s two year appointment yet and feel strangely guilty and carefree about it simultaneously. 

I still carry around a pacifier in my coat pocket.  It’s not for her.  It’s for me.

Anna wasn’t even walking 9 months ago but she runs now.

She still loves to be held and snuggled.  She likes to take my hand and hold it by her face when we watch Sesame Street.

She speaks.  Full sentences.  Her name.  Everyone’s name.  I love how she says “Daddy” – “Dah-yee”.  Adam pointed it out to me one day.  “Jew-yah“.  “Ray-wen.”  “Anna!” with glee in her eyes.  She knows how to use words instead of tears though she still starts with tears. 

She throws the most amazing tantrums.  Better than the other two.  She KNOWS how to throw them awesomely.  I caught her with markers the other day; I said, ‘Anna, NO MARKERS.’  She stood up, looked me in the eye, SLAMMED the marker cap back on the marker, STOMPED over to the cubby, THREW that marker in there.  And THEN she threw herself on the floor and screamed in frustration. 

She wants to be a big girl.  But not.  She is still the baby.

She loves the slide.  She loves the swing.

She loves books.

When she doesn’t want something, it’s “yucky”.  “Yucky potty.  Yucky water.  Yucky book.”

When she is hungry, she gets a bowl and says, “Food!” or “Breakfast!”

Potty training will probably be a while; the will is strong in this one.

She hasn’t had a pacifier in two months or a crib.  And she is a champion.

She loves her babies.  All of her babies.  Her blankie.  And her owl.

She loves Sesame Street.  And Frozen. 

She loves to take a pillow and lay down on the Dora Couch and cover herself and her babies with a blanket and chill out while watching a show.

She doesn’t really seem to like bread very much.  Or pizza crust. 

But she LOVES cheese.  Our girl.

She puts on pants by herself.  She picks out her own clothes.  And for some reason she thinks two pair of pants is a perfectly acceptable outfit.  She likes to wear pants to bed.

She loves the suckers at Ms. Diane’s dance studio.

Anna turning two… there is a pile of bricks on my chest and I cannot even release the words to express how I feel today.    My heart is heavy with pain.  No more babies from this womb.  And then I see this picture and my heart rejoices to know that this one… this one picked me.  I love you, Bubs!

Fashionista

Julia was instrumental in picking out the girls’ Easter dresses this year – this was her pick for herself:

I had visions of more matching between the girls in my head, but moms know that really only happens when moms purchase the clothes without the kids involved.  Julia saw this dress and I thought she was going to pass out from excitement.  I was happy to indulge.  (A detail that is super cute but that isn’t in any of these photos is the heart cutout in the back.)

Admitting when something isn’t your best idea…

Thank goodness dad wasn’t home…

It may be needless to say that we didn’t get the Easter pictures I was envisioning… since all three dresses are already in the wash to remove the frosting.

I thought it’d be fun to make Easter cupcakes, and against my better judgment, I decided after much cajoling from JJ that I would let the girls decorate them themselves.

I’m fairly certain Anna licked every cupcake she frosted.

Raven sure picked a good color to go with her dress at least.

Erin

Color!

Yesterday was our egg decorating day – it’s funny how quickly the coloring of eggs occurs in our house – I feel like it took hours when I was a kid, but I think were done in 15 minutes or less.

All three girls got in on the action – both Anna and Julia caused quite the “splash” by deliberately and accidentally dropping an egg into a full cup of dye – our kid table is a little less white than it was yesterday morning.

The girls have learned out to start out by using crayons on their eggs… moving onto the dyeing… showing off their skillz… and then showing me their egg genius before asking if they can watch Frozen for the 50th time that day.

Prepping our eggs with the crayon box:

Raven placing some of the first eggs into the cups:

Anna deciding that every egg needed to be IN a cup, even if it was only about 1/3 – 1/2 way in the cup because another egg was already inside:

I love this picture of Anna because finally it’s a shot where you can see how just NOT blue her eyes are – it is crazy how quickly hers turned… they are hard to describe:

Miss J loving having her picture taken:

Someone so happy to be part of the process!

In process:

Checking our product:

All done!  Anna wasn’t too happy about that.  My Type A apparently lined the eggs up by color before we took the shot:

Happy Easter!

Third

Friday marked our third anniversary in Colorado.  I completely missed it until I realized today that this is our fourth Easter here… our third with Foothills Community Church.

The Peanut Gallery enjoyed watching their favorite dad and bass player rock out to The Who:

I enjoyed today thinking about and reading about the significance of “third” and “three” in the Bible.  Many of us think and know about “seven”… but three/third struck me today, and no doubt it’s fitting that I focused on that today…

Jesus prophesied that He would arise from the dead on the 3rd day (Matthew 16:21: 17:23; 20:19; Mark 8:31; 9:31; 10:34; Luke 9:22; 18:33)

There are a lot of other neat things… start down the Google rabbit hole with your Bible and you’ll find yourself deeper in wonder.

Happy Easter, peeps!

Love,
The Draeger Clan