Jeffrey, speaking to Arabelle: "When you're in prison, your hair will be white."
Arabelle, in a very exasperated voice: "Jeffrey, I already
knew that!"
(Later I did ask Jeffrey why he said that when you're in prison your hair will be white, and he said it was because Christopher Columbus was in prison under his ship, and his hair was white. Of course who knows what was actually going through his head at the time.)
Elsie was barking loudly out the window.
Arabelle: Elsie! You're not supposed to bark when your tail is wagging, because when your tail is wagging, it means you're being
nice!
Arabelle: When I grow up I will marry Jeffrey because then we won't be brother and sister anymore and so I can marry him.
Jeffrey: Will it be the best day when we go to Memaw's house?
Arabelle asked me to put a couple of hair clips in her hair, then she went and looked in the mirror and smiled and said, "I look
good." I hope she never loses that confidence!
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Jeffrey at 7 years:
Jeffrey loves everything about computer games. Strangely he seems to prefer computer/phone games to his Wii. He really likes his Wii, but seems to think he always needs someone to play with him when he does it. He has recently discovered the you tube videos that have guys playing video games with their commentary and he is quite obsessed with it. He especially likes one named Zack Scott, and he talks about this guy like he knows him. John doesn't like him both playing and watching video games, so he's trying to get to me to limit the Zack Scott watching. I do my best but since I'm pregnant and sick, I too am becoming quite familiar with the personality of Zack Scott.
Jeffrey recently learned to ride a 2 wheel bike. He is somewhat uncoordinated, so I had put this off. However, I think I waited too long. Within 5 minutes of John taking him out, on his first or second try, he was riding! He has fallen a couple times since then, but never seriously, and he can even do a trick or two now!
Jeffrey likes to eat mashed potatoes, bread, popsicles, ice cream sandwiches, pizza, apples, berries, chocolate granola bars, fruit roll ups, and that's about it. I am constantly trying to get him to eat other things, but he seems to have quite the limited palate.
Jeffrey is reading quite well now. We try to read every day and he likes scary stories and stories about super heroes. He also likes to find stories that he thinks Charlotte will like so that he can read them to her.
Jeffrey advanced to Level 2 swimming this summer and I was quite proud since his swimming experience has been quite limited. He had a phobia of water as a baby, so I let him kind of grow out of that naturally before starting with one session of swimming last summer.
Jeffrey is very kind and sweet as he has always been, although he does struggle some with being weepy.
He is beginning to learn the joys of teasing his little sisters and of pushing the barriers as far as listening and obeying mom and dad.
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I forgot to do Arabelle at 4 years, so I will do her now at 4.5:
Arabelle is a passionate child. When she is happy she is exuberant and bubbling over with happiness, but when she is sad she is truly inconsolable.
Arabelle has really begun to explore imaginative play thanks to her friend Emery. She and Emery have no trouble playing "mermaids" outside for 4 hours, or spending hours shut in Arabelle's room playing with her stuffed animals or minnie mouse dolls.
Arabelle is very creative. I have heard her play out entire scenes using a crayon and a pencil as people. She likes making little houses with legos and books.
She enjoys listening to books, especially books about girlie themes. She has become quite good at coloring and can write all her letters. She doesn't know how to spell of course, but she drives me crazy asking me to spell out long sentences/stories for her to slowly write down, one letter at a time. At times I am tempted to shorten it, but then I think there is actually a chance she could be learning something by this exercise, so I just go through with it.
She is into clothes and her appearance. She has always had very strong opinions about what she would wear...ever since she was 2 and was only willing to wear minnie mouse clothing. Then it was only stretchy leggings and soft cotton print shirts. This was always quite hard for me as I would buy her wardrobe for each season in advance (at the end of the season sales the year before) and I would have these adorable coordinated outfits that she would refuse to wear. She is FINALLY beginning to branch out and be willing to wear a few more options. She is also getting into wearing hair clips and things which is quite fun.
Arabelle loves rainbows and fairies and princesses and flowers and butterflies and everything girly.
Arabelle is very excited to start preschool in the fall and asks me about it every day.
Arabelle's favorite food is any kind of "noodle"--spaghetti, tortellini, ravioli, macaroni. She also likes apples and berries and cereal and apple juice.
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Charlotte at 2.5
Charlotte is still quite a handful. She has just recently started sleeping through the night (fingers crossed). She is often smiley and delightful and likes jumping around and playing. Other times she has periods where she cries at the drop of a hat and throws huge fits and is difficult to handle. She is quite bossy and demanding and if she doesn't get her way, we all pay for it.
Her favorite thing to do is watch Jake and the Neverland Pirates. She also loves to swing and ride on her scooter and plasma car.
Following Arabelle, she has also recently become interested in hair accessories.
She loves to wear "yammies." (jammies)
She has an entourage of stuffed animals that must be carried everywhere with her: Minnie, Mickey, Goofy, Meow, Elsie. They must also be in her bed with her when she goes to sleep at night and she takes inventory. She also must have her "bwanky" which is actually the tablecloth that I got in Mexico. She glimpsed it in the cupboard for a brief moment about 6 months ago, and immediately fell in love with it. I'm assuming she loves its' bright colors, but it is designed for a large rectangular table, so it is really quite annoying to carry around. I have considered cutting it down, but I think she would notice and be upset. She likes winding herself in it.
Her speaking is really starting to pick up quickly. I worry constantly about this after everything I went through with Jeffrey, and it is not until they're completely "out of the woods" that I can stop worrying, so not quite there with Charlotte. She is beginning to speak in some short sentences and her vocabulary is picking up. She is still difficult to understand and has a very "baby" voice.
Charlotte likes to eat m&m yogurt, frozen gogurts, "nanas", cheerios, apple juice, pizza and mac and cheese.
