Caroline
The Kids Said…
Caroline (when Madison first started smiling): “She’s not a MADison. She’s a HAPPYison!”
***
Me: “Did your schoolteacher read you Charlotte’s Web?”
Brooke: “Huh? No. I’ve never heard of Charlotte’s website.”
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Spencer (singing to himself): “If you’re happy and you know it then you’re so dumb.”
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Caroline (giving me no context whatsoever): “Can you guess what I’m thinking of?”
Me: “Uh…no…”
Caroline (flourishing a paper on which she drew a huge dollar sign across it and saying greedily): “MONEY!”
***
Enter Caroline screaming.
Caroline: “I wanted the camera and Brooke threw it at my head!”
Enter Brooke.
Brooke (innocently): “Caroline was crying because she wanted the camera.”
Me: “Yeah. And you threw it at her.”
Brooke on her way to time out (mumbling to herself a little too proudly considering the situation): “Yes and I had good aim. It bounced off her head just like I wanted it to.”
Kindness and compassion. We’re working on it.
***
Me: “Tomorrow we have to move the clocks back.”
Brooke without missing a beat: “Okay. We’ll move Dad’s clock to my room, the kitchen clock to Spencer’s room, and the downstairs clock back up here.”
Me: “We don’t actually move the clocks. I mean we have to move the time.” I commence trying to explain the concept of Daylight Saving.
Brooke: *blink* *blink* “That really makes no sense.”
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Mrs. Caroline
A couple of weeks ago Caroline got sick. On a Sunday she got a fever which came on fast and hard and then left just as suddenly. I kept her home from school on Monday to prevent spreading whatever she had even though she felt fine. I learned you can take the girl out of the school but you can’t take the school out of the girl. After saying good-bye to Brooke, Caroline got right to work setting up school for the day for her one pupil – Spencer.
Spencer was a good sport about being the student for a while. After a good 45 minutes of playing I noticed him trying to inch toward his cars. Teacher Caroline put a quick stop to that and Spencer was stuck playing for another mere two hours until he was saved by lunchtime. Does it count as an absence if Caroline played school longer than she would have actually been in school had she been well?
The teacher and her (somewhat willing) student:
Snack time:
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First Day!
Caroline has been DYING to start kindergarten. All through the summer she’d ask me how many days until kindergarten. I’d answer and she’d groan, “Nooooo! That’s toooo looooooong!” while Brooke simultaneously moaned, “Nooooo! That’s toooooo soooooooon!”
Fortunately or unfortunately (depending on who you talk to) the days and weeks passed and the first day of school was upon us.
My cute kindergartner:
My super second-grader:
Ready to scooter to school:
I got to attend kindergarten orientation with Caroline.
The kindergartners had their first day of school and then were off for the next two days so the teachers could test them all individually. Oh cruel world! FINALLY the testing days ended and Caroline was able to start for real. She has loved school and I love having her in school. She happily tells me about what they did during the day and greets me with new words and phrases that she’s learned in French. I can also catch her singing songs and repeating school rules to Brooke and Spencer. Brooke hasn’t been one to volunteer much about what happens during school so the insight I’m gaining now is wonderful. It’s also fun because Caroline will say something such as a French word or a song she learned in music class and Brooke will jump in telling her the correct pronunciation or will start singing along so I’m finally able to glimpse a bit of what Brooke’s learned also.
I know I’ve mentioned before how much Caroline simply adores Madison. Have I told you that last year when she went to preschool she would come home and while cuddling Madison she’d say, “There, there. It’s okay. Mama’s home now.” Once I asked Caroline if she realizes that I’M actually Madison’s mom. She gave me a quizzical look and matter-of-factly stated, “No, she’s my baby.”
Another time Dallas took the big kids camping while I stayed behind with Madison. When they returned, Caroline immediately asked where Madison was. I responded that she was napping. Caroline visually crumpled and said almost in a panic, “No! I need to give her a hug!” She just missed her baby so much that delaying their reunion even further was almost too much for her.
All of this is to say I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised at what happened when I went to pick her up after her first real day of school. I stood at the gate with a big smile and open arms ready to give her a huge hug and hear all about her day. She hardly glanced at me. Instead, her eyes locked on Madison in her stroller. She ran right past me mumbling, “Baby! Baby!” and then stooped down to give Madison a hug that lasted a good minute at least. Every day since then it’s the same story. I get bypassed and Madison gets her hugs every time. I’m so glad Madison has a “mom” who loves her so much.
One day the girls were playing and I heard Brooke say to Caroline, “So, now do you understand that school isn’t fun?” Despite her insistence that school’s the worst, Brooke seems to be enjoying herself as much as the situation allows. A few days in she came home from school and announced, “I have a new BFF.” Cute. I don’t know the girl at all but I hope it’s a good friendship. I also hope this year is a good one for the girls. I think we have a promising start. Let’s keep the positive momentum going!
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Summery Summary
Oh my goodness, folks. I have done a horrible job documenting what we’ve done this summer. Blame the blog book; it sucked up all my time. Let’s do a quick catch-up post.
Madison celebrated her first Fourth of July in style complete with a glow stick crown and patriotic outfit:
We all had fun watching the city fireworks show:
I enrolled Brooke and Caroline in a craft class through the city to keep us busy for a couple of weeks during the summer. They loved it.
This little guy’s head was full of grass seeds. We watered him and watched his hair grow. Then Brooke got to give him haircuts:
Brooke did this one on her own at home:
We thought her little Perler bead people were so cute:
Spencer was proud of his Perler bead creation:
We went to a parade. I have a great idea! How about if we take a family picture with no kids looking at the camera? Done.
Grandma joined us for the parade:
Good thing, too! She got Madison to sleep:
We went to a Real Salt Lake game. The kids looked so cute waiting for Dallas to catch up to us after parking the car:
Our team lost.
But we got ice cream after, so we’ll count that as a win:
We had a family dinner at my aunt and uncle’s house. The chickens were as entertaining as ever:
My cousins from out of state were visiting and Brooke and Caroline had the best time playing with them:
Madison started doing this funny thing where she’d pucker up and poke her tongue out of her mouth. Shortly after this we noticed a little white spot on her gums. Teeth! Then we waited a month for the “teeth” to emerge and they never did and the white spot is now gone.
Madison started doing this other funny thing where she’d grab her foot, pull it close to her mouth, and suck on her toes:
What’s that you say? It’s not unusual for babies to suck on their toes? All of your babies did that? Well, excuse me. I’ve never had a baby do this. It seems my and Dallas’s extreme inflexibility has rubbed off on most of our offspring and they were never able to get their feet anywhere near their mouths.
Our neighborhood had its annual summer barbecue and fireworks show. Dallas exiled our children to the outer regions of the park when the sparklers came out. He’s permanently scarred (literally and figuratively) from when his sister jammed a sparkler into his hand and now forbids the children from getting near them. I think they were secretly happy to have an excuse not to participate. They are a little nervous around those things anyway.
A family in our neighborhood organizes a bike ride/breakfast that we love to participate in every year:
And that is a basic summary of what we have done the past couple of months. It’s hard to believe the summer is almost over and fall is just around the corner!
