We decided to go to David’s work cafeteria for lunch. Memories about what we do at David’s workplace apparently stay fresh in the minds of our children. As they entered the lobby and began running to the cafeteria everyone could hear the following statements:
Jubliee: I want a club sandwich!
Angel: I want candy!
The security guard chuckled.
Madeleline learned about gravity and magnetism today. While playing at the refrigerator door, she let a paper drop.
“Oh, the paper dropped!” she observed. This is gravity, of course.
“That’s because you need a magnet.”
Soon after, Angelina came along and started playing at the refrigerator door. Sure enough, she let a paper drop.
Madeleine explained, “That’s because you need a maggot!”
Good-bye liquid vitamin in a bottle. Hello chewable vitamins for Angel and Maddie! The loved it. Maddie keeps asking for more.
(Edited for better comprehension.)
Dear God,
Thank You for BSF and MOPS and church and read Bible and go to bed and we go to Grammy’s and we go to Pau-Pau and Gaun-Gaun’s and the lights are on and the lights are off and it’s getting dark and cold and windy. Amen.
On the way home, Angelina came up with this song set. (I’ll try my best to transcribe it.)
Jesus loves me this I know
For the Bible tells me so
Little little one to Him belong
Rain rain go away
Come again another day
Little lamb want to play
Rain rain go away
Jesus loves me this I know
For the Bible tells me so
Little lamb want to play
Twinkle twinkle little star
How I wonder what you are
Up above the world so high
Like a diamond in the sky
Twinkle twinkle little star
(repeat)
Yay!
Jesus loves me this I know
For the Bible tells me so
Little lamb want to play
Deep and wide
Deep and wide
**********
Her skills as a worship leader did not go unnoticed. Maddie followed along quite well.
Today started a new chapter for the twins. Instead of Jubilee getting to spend the afternoon with Pau-Pau and Gaun-Gaun, it was Angelina!
In the morning, I tried to be careful with my words. I said to Angelina and Madeleine, “You two are going to start taking turns spending the day with Pau-Pau and Gaun-Gaun. Today it’s Angelina’s turn.”
Maddie was perfectly happy and not jealous. Whew! Angel was excited.
We all had lunch together before they took Angel. When Pau-Pau told Angel she was going to be with them, Angel said, “Not Jubilee?”
They spent the day in San Francisco. Pau-Pau and Gaun-Gaun said Angel talked the entire drive up. They attempted to go on three merry-go-rounds. The first one was closed, the second one was broken, and the third one was working…except Angel freaked out and they had to get off. According to Pau-Pau, Angel said she would go on it when she’s bigger. Or maybe with her Daddy.
They walked in Chinatown, bought Chinese bakery goodies, and she got to eat a Chinese sponge cake. She fell asleep on the drive home, so they stopped in Mountain View for dinner.
When Angel got home, Maddie announced that Angel was home. I told Maddie to go say hi. Maddie ran to her twin sister and gave her a hug.
For me, the day went well. I couldn’t believe how much easier it was to take care of two children who are of different ages! They played together very well, put on a Spring Performance, did arts and crafts without creating a disaster. The most bittersweet moment came at dinner time. The four of us sat together at the table and we fit so perfectly. But it wasn’t perfect. When I said, “It felt weird,” David replied, “It’s very American.”
My life is crazy, messy, stressful, and difficult. I like even numbers and symmetry. In spite of the odds (pun intended), a family of five and raising three little girls brings a harmony that has no parallel to this world.
I don’t want to jinx this, but I was very excited that Maddie had dry underwear and pull-ups all day. She still rarely tells us that she has to go, but she did something in the toilet almost every time I had her sit down. She was even dry during her nap. Yay!
To celebrate, we told her she could have ONE prize for having dry underwear all day. We gave her a single M&M. She was tickled pink! I know this doesn’t sound like a big prize, but we don’t want to set up huge expectations and have to meet them every time. And at what point do we stop with the M&M’s? Maybe we’ll take her to ice cream or something as the final prize.
What are we going to do for Angel? She’s not big on sweets. We’re considering renting an inflatable jump house (her favorite thing to do) and let her jump around for a few minutes at the end of a successful potty training day. (=
Angelina peeled her first orange today, and then she promptly peeled another!
All three girls wanted to eat some leftover Shanghai noodles. (They’re thick like udon noodles.) It wasn’t mealtime, so I thought I’d make a game out of it. I sat on a step stool in front of them, then explained that they were the baby birds and I was the mommy bird feeding them worms. They said, “Tweet tweet!”, flapped their arms like wings, and opened their mouths until I gave them a “worm.” It was so much fun!
Today I set aside time specifically to read to all three kids. I had them sit on the living room step. (You know, how many houses have a sunken living room? That’s the step to which I’m referring.) Then I faced them with an open book. It went very well. Of course, they talked most of the time. Sometimes I would shush them, but of course it would only take a few seconds for them to start jabbering again.
At one point, I told them to raise their hand before talking. This always works with Jubilee. But she’s 4! (Sidenote: when Jubilee first started raising her hand, she would raise it just so she could say something, and after being called on would scramble to come up with something to say.) So when I said, “Raise your hand to talk,” I also raised my hand as a demonstration. This of course prompted Maddie to simply follow suit and raise her hand. And Angel was of course watching Maddie, so she too raised her hand. I was cracking up, but I still called on them and they continued to talk my ear off.