Mushrooms keep growing by the big tree which stands in the middle of our backyard. Madeleine started to grab at one today, so I had to explain to her that they are dangerous.
Jubilee said, “Mommy, I have a great idea.” Note: whenever she says this, she emphasizes the word “great.” She’s intentionally boasting, but she sure is convinced of her cleverness.
“What’s your great idea?” I asked.
Very seriously, she said, “We should ask God to take the mushrooms go away. I’ll do that right now.”
Jubilee bowed her head, closed her eyes, and clasped her hands together. I could hear her praying softly. I rushed to be near her to hear as much as I could. Sadly I didn’t hear it all, but I know she prayed several sentences. And I heard her whisper, “Help Maddie to not eat the mushrooms.”
It’s the end of the day and it’s just the toddlers and me. Jubilee is spending the night at Pau-Pau and Gaun-Gaun’s; David is out with some friends. I’m thinking everything is going great.
Maddie had pooped and peed into the toilet.
I brushed Angel and Maddie’s teeth without any fighting from them.
I gave Maddie her dirty clothes and she happily put them into the laundry basket.
Maddie also wanted to put away Angel’s clothes, but she willingly gave them to Angel, then opened the hamper for Angel to throw them in.
They happily threw away their wet diapers. (Albeit after I told them to stop trying to open them.)
Now I am putting Angel’s nighttime diaper on. Maddie’s having a great time wearing my house sandals. They’re a wooden pair of sandals that have acupressure points on them. All day long, Angel and Maddie have been fighting over these shoes.
Suddenly I see Maddie pulling new diapers out that are in the bag on the ground. “Maddie don’t do that,” I scolded.
Next I bring Angel to the sofa and begin putting on her pajamas. Maddie brings one of my house sandals to the sofa, along with the new diaper she had pulled out. She begins wiping the sandals with the outside of the diaper. Then she brings the second sandal over and does the same thing. What in the world?!
I finally figure out that she had peed again while wearing my sandals, and not wearing a diaper. (Remember, I can only change one child at a time.) Instead of getting a rag to clean up, which by the way she loves to do, she decided a diaper made so much more sense.
Pau-Pau, Gaun-Gaun, Jubilee, Angelina, Madeleine, and I went out to dinner as Pau-Pau had just returned from a trip to see her other granddaughters. At one point, Jubilee spilled some of her soup broth and it spilled on her.
“Jubilee,” one adult chided (I won’t say who), “you must be more careful.”
Later on, this same adult was putting his/her cup down on the table which had a glass top. This layer of glass was smaller than the surface of the table, so it was not flush with the edge of the table. You can see what’s coming. The adult placed the cup at the edge of the glass cover, causing the cup to spill everywhere!
Another adult whispered something to Jubilee. Then Jubilee said, “You have to be more careful!”
Every day since we’ve returned from vacation, Angelina has cried whenever we leave without David, or vice versa. I don’t know if her not wanting to be in Children’s Ministry programs is related. Yesterday I don’t think she cried at my church’s Mother’s Support Group, other than a little bit in the beginning. Today at MOPS, they said she didn’t want to be held, but just played by herself and worked it out.
My poor Angel baby.
We’re in a new life stage for attending Bible Study Fellowship. Now I have the privilege of attending with all three of my daughters! Now that the twins are 3 days into their Two’s, they can attend. Jubilee was very excited that her sisters could come with us.
When we got there, we all held hands and walked to the Children’s building. I was able to walk with Angelina to the door. Madeleine didn’t make it that far. She froze and started crying. Jubilee tried very hard to encourage her and gently bring her to the door, but she refused.
I had to leave Angelina at the door to go get Madeleine. So Angelina started crying, of course. Not the best way to start off the first day of a new program. I had a feeling this would happen because when we visited a church while in Seattle, they had to be taken out of the nursery.
Regardless, do you know what I love the most about BSF? When I came to pick up the children, the children’s director said to me, “Maddie was fine, but Angel cried on and off the entire time. So we will really be praying for her.” BSF does not focus on helping the children adjust to the program. They depend upon the Holy Spirit as the child’s Comforter and Teacher.
“And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor (i.e. Comforter, Encourager, Advocate), who will never leave you…But when the Father sends the Counselor as my representative - and by the Counselor I mean the Holy Spirit - He will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I myself have told You.” -John 14:16, 26
How fitting that we are studying the Gospel according to John this year.
On Saturday, Jubilee watched tv, slept, and didn’t want to play with kids at the party. At one point she tried to socialize but she quickly gave up.
On Sunday, she slept the entire day and evening. She didn’t even want to watch tv! I learned that I had to wake up every 30-45 minutes to give her liquid to avoid dehydration. By the end of the day, she was enjoying a little rice in chicken broth.
Around 2am, she woke up hungry. I gave her two saltine crackers. We were sitting together as she quietly munched away. Out of the blue, she turns to me and says, “Uncle Aaron yawns loudly.” Now, this is something she was fixated on the day before she got sick. So her statement sounded like the last two days hadn’t even occurred. Right then and there I knew she had almost fully recovered.
Madeleine is very possessive about her favorite snack, called “Hot Balls.” So possessive, in fact, that she won’t stand for someone else even saying the words.
This was a constant source of humor for the boys of a family we were visiting. Here was a sample “conversation” from the back row of the car:
Micah: “Hot balls.”
Maddie: “MY hot ball!!”
Joel: “Hot balls.”
Maddie: “MY hot ball!!”
Micah: “Hot balls.”
Maddie: “MY hot ball!!”
Joel: “Hot balls.”
Maddie: “MY hot ball!!”
And on and on it went, with Maddie getting more and more infuriated.
Mommy: Is it your birthday today?
Angelina: Yes.
Mommy: How old are you?
Angelina: Two.
Okay, I confess, it didn’t go exactly like that. I had to tell her what to say. But I still had fun conversing with her.
Jubilee woke up saying her tummy hurt. Eventually she threw up.
In a house with 4 adults and 6 children. On vacation. Lots of parties and activities. Bad time to have a virus. No fever. Nobody else acting sick. Hopefully this was just a tummyache and not sickness.
We find that our Marvel Girl doesn’t do anything subtly. It’s always big and with great enthusiasm. For example, she doesn’t just say hello and good-bye to people. It’s more like…
Hi!
Bye!