Trying New Things

Last week I meant to put up a post of the new things that Maria is doing.  She has been rolling from her back to her tummy and pulling off her socks. 

(Not at the same time though, that would be amazing.)

Then I decided to see if she could sit up by herself.  And she can, at least she can with the aid of a boppy, which doesn't give too much support at all.

Looks like she is getting bigger faster than I expected.

Book #23 - Swamplandia!

After reading the book about snakes, a work of fiction caught my eye - Swamplandia! by Karen Russell.  I was intrigued and repulsed at the same time.  Set in Florida, Swamplandia! is the story of the Bigtree family and their alligator wrestling theme park.  It is a tragedy with a happy ending.

Ava, the main character basically sums up the plot with this quote in the exposition:

"I didn't realize that one tragedy can beget another, and another -- bright-eyed disasters flooding out of a death hole like bats out of a cave." (7)

While reading it, I seemed to find a Dante-esque theme of traveling deeper and deeper into Hell.  One of the characters finds a job working in another theme park called "the world of darkness" which is supposed to be hell inspired.  Then Ava sets out on a journey to the underworld to find her sister who has eloped with a ghost.  Each of the characters has a climax of horror in the book. 

And also like Dante, they come out of hell at the end and find heaven - or at least reality, happiness, and family - "When my father stepped forward it didn't matter that we were nowhere near our island.  All of us, the four of us--the five if you counted Mom inside us--we were home.  We were a family again, a love that made the roomiest privacy that I have ever occupied" (312).

While this was one of the strangest books I have read, (have you ever read a book with alligators, alligator wrestling, ouija boards, theme parks, casinos, and swamp legends?) it is also strangely satisfying.  The writer has a gift for prose and story telling, I was pleasantly surprised with the whole thing.

I want pizza!

Maria is beginning to grab for things, especially ones she can't have!

Baby Baths

For reasons of ease and the physics of our bathtubs, Maria is still receiving sponge baths.

Now so are Thomas' babies.

(Of which, he currently has 3, 2 cabbage patch kids and 1 blue ice pack.  All of whom must be in his bed each night, along with his owl, lion, sheep, and baby lion.  It can make bedtime tricky.)

He very carefully washed his baby all over, making especially sure the back of her head was clean. 

Wordless Wednesday - Guitar Love

John wanted me to point out Maria's hand position - she's muting the top 2 strings.

She smiles every time he pulls out the guitar.

Scheherazade

This is my 1001st post - hence the title.  Scheherazade was a persian princess who told tales for 1001 Arabian nights.  She did this so the king wouldn't kill her each morning.  After 1001 nights (and 3 sons), he decided that he loved her and they lived happily ever after.

I figure as long as I have children doing things like this:

(Titled: Pirates making babies go potty.)



I will have another 1001 posts or more and hopefully we will all live happily ever after too.

Book #22 - Endgame

Sometimes I want to read about something that I know nothing about, or perhaps only have a cursory knowledge of.  Generally, I don't know where to start or if a topic will be satisfying.

Endgame: Bobby Fischer's Remarkable Rise and Fall --from America's Brightest Prodigy to the Edge of Madness by Frank Brady seemed to be a great place to start for a casual knowledge of chess, and a great history of the game.  It has a compelling narrative.  Bobby Fischer was a fascinating if crazy person.  Brady also supplies the reader with plenty of information if one has a desire to learn more and delve into the game.


I'm not planning on playing Chess competitively any time soon, but I do want my children to all play.  While I believe they are a little young for the royal game, this book has sparked a board game playing frenzy in our house of checkers and some other games.  And I feel like I have found a very satisfying book.

image credit: goodreads.com

Soccer Saturday

Saturday means Gregory has soccer.

Some members of our family find other things to do at the field.

Reading 

Sleeping

Playing with Dad

All while Gregory plays. (Here it looks painful, but he was having fun.)

It's hot, hard work!

But he loves it!

Quick Takes - April 20th

1) Clare and Gregory visited the dentist today and they had no cavities!  Yea!  But it looks like Clare is going to need braces - and the sooner the better.

2)Clare spent alot of time outside this week waiting for her school's prize patrol.

Her school had a "caught not watching tv" program this week - where the principal and vice principal drove around the neighborhoods giving out prizes to kids they saw outside.  I'm sure the pencil she received was really worth it.

3)While outside Clare played all of the neighborhood boys in checkers, and beat them.
The poor fourth grade boys were so crestfallen.  I tried to reassure them, it was simply that Clare had been playing more often and had more experience.
(image credit: wikipedia)

4)When Clare and I play, I challenge her to play her best, while talking through the moves and she usually loses.  When Gregory and I play, he wins resoundingly.  Clare understands why, and Gregory doesn't scream, so it all works out.

5)Our checkers craze was sparked by a book I'm reading right now about Bobby Fischer.  We've been playing other games that are in Klutz's The Book of Classic Board Games, which I got when I was about 10 or so.  It's tons of fun to play with the kids.

When I was a child I always wanted to play those games with someone, but no one was very interested.  Now I have a captive and eager audience.

6)Latest surprising Thomas act:  Sobbing uncontrollably when I got to the page in The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, where the caterpillar is big and fat.  He didn't want the little critter to get that big.  He also wouldn't let me put the book down, so we worked through the story again, and realized that the main character hadn't really changed even when he became a butterfly.  It was still emotional for Thomas though.

image credit: goodreads.com

7)I went on a little Wikipedia journey this week looking at different styles of art of Our Lady, which started somewhere on Melissa Wiley's blog, but now I can't find exactly where.  She has a beautiful image of Mary reading a book and I believe the title - Sedes Sapientiae,  along with something pithy about Mary knowing when to read a book..  At least I think she does...I can't find it at all.

I will leave you with the image, as I ponder doing some more research.

This is Madonna del cardellino or Madonna of the Goldfinch by Raphael

Have a great weekend.

Funny Little Quirks

2 (almost 3) year olds are funny little creatures.

Thomas has his fair share of quirks - such as the blue ice pack he's been carrying around our house for days.  He claims it is his baby, and has actually cried several nights until the ice pack has come to bed with him.

Then there is this light at our parish which Thomas claims ownership for. 

He kept telling me that the lamp loves him, and was going to come home with us, since it has feet and can walk.

To get him to get in the van, I offered to let him look at the pictures I had taken of him and his love.

Silly boy!

Rainforest Preschool

Gregory's class has been working on rainforest crafts for weeks.

It's because his whole school has been turned into a rainforest.

His class make the elephant - can you believe it?

Just a few samples of all of the work the kids did.

Gregory made a bat, a snake, a toucan, a butterfly, an owl, a turtle, flowers, vines and I'm sure more animals I'm forgetting about. 

A few owls too

Here's another peek at the scope of the project, and this is just 1 hall, the whole school looks like this.

It's pretty amazing!

Book #21 - The Foremost Good Fortune

While I have never moved to a foreign country with children, I enjoyed Susan Conley's memoir, The Foremost Good Fortune.  Conley and her family moved to Beijing for her husband's job, and while she was there she was diagnosed with cancer.

Conley's descriptions of moving to a new place resonated with me.  The apprehensions over a child's school and even finding your own group of friends aren't exactly limited to international moves.  I loved how she described making new friends as a type of Victorian courting, figuring out how much to share and not revealing too much.  Each time we have moved I have felt like that trying to find my place in a new parish, neighborhood, and/or school.

The original description of the book from the Washington Post, called the book "cranky," but I would describe the writer as "real".  It is hard living with children sometimes, let alone moving across the world with them, and her descriptions of dealing with cancer seemed apt.  The author's writing seems to be her friend, someone who she could unload with, and yet know that she isn't complaining.  It is a way of sharing and working through things.  I would guess that in some ways her readers are her best friends, who listen sympathetically, and to whom there aren't the same boundaries as the women in real life.

The descriptions of China were also very interesting, especially as she experiences it with her kids.  She interweaves China history, culture, and common sights in Beijing into her memoir, making it educational too.  As a fan of Country Driving: A Chinese Road Trip by Peter Hessler, I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a little peak into life in China, or anyone who has ever wondered what it would be like to move across the world with their family.

Thomism - Divine Mercy

At Mass yesterday Thomas slightly misheard the priest during the homily

Thomas:  "Divine Percy?  How is Percy Divine?  What is Divine Percy?

That boy has trains on the brain...and I'm surprised that he even heard the word Mercy since he never seems to listen at Church.

Easter Recap - Sunday

We all awoke bright and early Easter Sunday and went off to the early Mass.

After which Joe and Jennea came over for brunch with their lovely girls.

We had another egg hunt of course.

Aftewards, we went to John's folks for a lovely dinner.

Here is Maria with her great-grandmother.

Overall, it was a lovely if busy holiday.

5 months

These pictures were accomplished with the aid of a big sister.  If you look closely, you'll notice that the sheet is holding Maria up.

Easter Recap - Picture Posing

We decided to hold an imprompu photo shoot for Easter, with bunny ears, eggs, and baskets.  It was cute to see how the kids acted differently with the props.