Bus!!

Oobleck is very messy when Ezra is around. :)

I never knew how exciting a 15 minute commute could be until I had kids with me in the car. Something about being in the car makes Eliza ask really deep questions.  The other day she blurted out, "Is it true that everyone dies?"  I almost choked.  She also asked last week why we have crosses all over town when Jesus died on a cross.  I said something about to remind us how much he loves us but confirmed that it is a bit weird.  If someone I loved was killed by a gun, I wouldn't wear a gun around my neck, right? 

Ezra gets very excited in the car now that he's forward facing.  He points out every truck and bus he sees.  "Whoa, BUS!!!"  Granted we pass about 50 in 15 minutes but he never loses his excitement.  I told Scott I think this is how Ezra is going to learn his colors.  I try to point out the color of the bus or truck now. 

Ezra has also finally gotten excited about books.  I've definitely felt some second kid guilt over my lack of reading to him.  We've read 3 books to Eliza every night since she was tiny.  And we've certainly tried to do the same with Ezra, but he usually won't sit still for more than 30 seconds and runs off mid book.  So, I hadn't been trying as much lately.  But, in the last week or so he's started climbing into his bed, pointing at his book shelf, saying book and patting his pillow so I'll come get in bed with him and read.  And he can finally make it through 3 or 4 books in a row without running away.  He definitely prefers books about automobiles, bugs and animals. 

Control

I had a bit of an aha moment this morning before the kids woke up.  See, the specialty children's sunblock I had ordered online arrived.  Now, we have plenty of sunscreen already.  But, last week I read an article about how we really needed this other kind because it was the safest and offered the best protection.  So I bought it.  And I realized this morning what I was trying to accomplish with all of this BPA free, organic, nitrate free, no hormones, paba free, no artificial colors, etc. etc. stuff all over our house.  I was trying to maintain control, trying to guarantee my kids would always be safe. 

And if I eat enough kale and cut down on my meat consumption and exercise regularly, maybe I'll be guaranteed to live until I'm 90 and by then my kids won't need me anymore. 

But, even if we do everything exactly right, there are no guarantees.  And we're never really in control.  Even if we homeschooled the kids, and never took them to the grocery store, or the movies, or to big events liked marathons in order to support loved ones and make memories, we can't guarantee they'll be safe.  And it's heartbreaking and frustrating.  And if we did keep them in a bubble, what kind of life would that be? 

So, we'll keep getting out there, taking small risks in order to live our lives to the fullest.  And, in the meantime, I'll change the station when the news comes on and try to keep the little ones from figuring out just yet how awful the world can be.  When they do figure it out, I'll remind them of all the good things and good people too. 

Parallels

Eliza has been on the cusp of reading for a while but she really made some progress yesterday. Both kids stayed home with S and when I got home from work, Eliza proudly read 3 of her Bob Books to me! Some of the words she memorized and some she sounds out.  She's doing a lot of inventive spelling too.  The other day she told me she'd figured out how to spell guitar- ctr. 

It's fun to watch Ezra learn how to talk at the same time Eliza is learning how to read.  They're on about the same level, so we'll play blocks together and Ezra will learn how to say car at the same time Eliza's learning how to spell car, etc. 

Funny girl

There are two songs currently being played on the radio a lot with the lyrics, "Keep your head up." Eliza cracked us up the other day after we met a newborn friend and she said, "Babies should listen to this song." :)

She's also been singing Gangnam Style a lot lately.

So the current fashion statement for the sorority girls on campus is to wear an extra large t-shirt with short running shorts.  One of the part time teachers at preschool, Ms. Emily, is a sorority girl.  (Side note: She's one of the Chi Os we met when they invited us to take shelter with them during the bomb scare.  She applied for a job at the preschool shortly thereafter.) When I picked Eliza up Thursday, one of the teachers said, "I was in a bad mood until I saw Eliza today.  She asked Ms. Emily in front of everyone, "Why don't you ever wear pants?!"  Ms. Emily apparently said, "I wear shorts, see?" to which Eliza replied, "Well, no one can see those!"  Mr. Steven said Eliza just said what everyone else had been thinking for months.

The Hunters

First, I have to say how much I love it when Eliza and I sing at the top of our lungs on the way to school.  Hearing her belt out, "This girl is on fire!!!" makes my heart smile.  And now, baby brother is getting in on the action.  He does his best to sing along with us, knowing few of the words.  His faves are "Ho Hey" and "All the Single Ladies." He also does a mean, "Row Row Row Your Boat" and "Head Shoulders Knees and Toes" complete with hand gestures. 

Yesterday was the Easter egg hunt at school.  Ezra was confused.  He eventually got the hang of it and put a few eggs in his basket, but mainly he wanted to play on the playground as usual and couldn't figure out why everyone thought cleaning up all those eggs on the ground was so fun.  At one point he wondered off to push a dump truck around and came across the egg he's seen holding here.  His face says it all, "Look, there's another one of those eggs over here.  And we don't even eat them?  Weird." 

Of course Eliza is a pro.  Her class was all lined up, ready to make a run for it.  She once again found the golden egg and suprisingly she even offered to share it with Ez.  The good news is the school doesn't put candy in the eggs.  The bad news is we now have about 2 million stickers, all cut individually, scattered all over the house.  The Easter egg at church last Sunday did involve chocolate and, let me tell you, eating just enough of it myself to cut down on her sugar but a small enough amount so as to not prompt her suspicion, is an art form. 

Spring Break

We had a great Spring Break with lots of outings.  Some I got pictures of, some not so much.  We went to Dino Park for the first time and it was a great combo of intellectual for Eliza and plenty of space to run for Ez.  He roared at every dino we saw.  We went to the Waco Zoo with some friends and Eliza got very serious about keeping track of all the animals she saw with her Zoo Passport.  Ezra said a few new words while we were there, like alligator and elephant.  He also does an adorable impersonation of an elephant.  We went to the Botanical Garden and saw a bunch of Fairy Houses and got to cross some streams via rocks.  They loved exploring.  After the garden we headed to the nearby IHOP to stave off a hunger  meltdown and that pancake with a face on it might have been Eliza's favorite part of the whole week.  She also got to have her fingernails painted for the first time ever.  The Rodeo was a big hit once again; Eliza did a bunch of crazy rides with S and Ezra so wished he could join them.  I think we're going to have 3 roller coaster afficionados in the family.  We also had a few playdates and playground trips and met up with our neighbors at our favorite hang out. And we met up with some old friends for St. Patrick's Day festivities and our kids got to meet for the first time.  The balloon animals were a hit.  We also took E to a swim lesson but that wasn't exactly the highlight, unfortunately.  All in all a great week though.  I'm exhausted and the kids were very excited to be back at school this morning.  Ezra said, "Malachi!" when he saw his friend, gave him a great big hug and then ran off to play trucks.  Eliza wanted to show off her fingernails, painted green for St. Patrick's Day. 

Early Bird

Ezra and I have settled into a new little routine.  No matter what time he goes to bed, he always wakes up at the same time.  Eliza will stay up late on the weekends and sleep in the next day.  Not Ez.  Early mornings have become our one-on-one time.  If it's a week day, S is gone before we even wake up.  And if it is a weekend, I usually let him sleep in a bit, since he loses so much sleep during the week.  Usually Ezra and I eat fried eggs together and play trains or chase.  I'm slowly learning how to play with a boy, or at least this boy.  Growling, running, knocking things over and crashing cars or trains into each other is typically involved. 

This pic was not taken in the morning, obviously.  It's at the turtle pond, and I don't anticipate ever getting ready early enough to hit the turtle pond before work, haha.  This picture was from Friday after school.  I surprised the kids with a little Jamba Juice picnic at the turtle pond.  Ezra decided he wanted to keep some of the crackers for himself, instead of sharing with the turtles.  You can see why we need scar ointment.  Kiddo always has some sort of scab or scratch on his face!