Gabby, Grond, and Gamma

On Wednesday Grond and Scamp turned 7! Seven years for Grond and 7 months for Scamp. Grond requested a pyramid of presents (we did our best arranging them) to be opened first thing. We ate yellow watermelon for breakfast, had cupcakes with friends at the playground, Grond’s favorite meal of pork chops, peas, and potatoes-mashed for dinner, and by request birthday pie for dessert (banana cream–Grond ate half of it himself!).
Scamp really gets around now moving from room to room and from one pile of crumbs or stash of choking hazards to another. Time to step up (once again) the baby proofing. Where are the house elves when you need them?
Gamma has begun the wild adventure of potty training. She calls this business her “peeps” and “poops” and told mom this afternoon that we don’t put our peeps on the floor. That sounds like progress to me! She has had a few successes and will often “use” the potty for fun going through the whole routine even if nothing comes out. She is impressing us with new language milestones using more and more complex sentences. She also sings songs. Like most two-year-olds she sings the ABC’s song (very cute). Unlike most two-year-olds the other song she sings is the theme to Godzilla. (In case you can’t remember the words, you can find Godzilla along with all kinds of other old cartoons on YouTube.)

Gabby surprised us this week by getting the chicken pox! We are still not certain of when/how she was exposed but we think it may have been a few weeks ago while we were in Chicago. The virus has a 21 day incubation period and she was vaccinated against it so when the little red bumps appeared we thought they were mosquito bites. But, after three days of more and more “bites” we finally realized what was going on and confirmed it with a doctor friend. She is holding up quite well. Itchy? Yes indeed (click the picture for close-up shots) but not at all complaining. Once she informed me matter-of-factly her legs were going berserk. I can believe that.  She wakes up at night often but usually climbs in bed with mom and dad for a bit and then returns to her own room.  We hope it passes quickly.

It has been fun for me to watch Gabby and Gamma play remembering games my sister and I used to play. Gamma loves giving Gabby hugs and as you can see Gabby has found a way to pump for her swing and Gamma’s at the same time. They share many of the same pastimes like running around the house screaming silliness. They also both enjoy coloring and looking at books. But naturally there are many differences between a (now) five-year old and a two-year old. Gabby and Grond, because they are old enough (Gabby now officially old enough), have had the opportunity to spend a few mornings at a community Play at the Park program (much like a day camp). Before their first day Gabby, obviously feeling quite grown up, decided she needed to pass on some wisdom to her little sister. She put her arm lovingly around Gamma’s shoulders and said: “You just need to act like a normal woman“.

Most of these are woefully out of date, but a number of people have called for newer photos of the kids, so I thought I could at least throw these up here. We’ve been having some troubles with our camera (or rather, the batteries we’ve been trying to use in our camera) but I think they’re resolved now, and we should have some more current pictures available soon.

Gamma has learned to say her name but first let me tell you how she used to pronounce everyone’s names.  She has always called Grond “Casser” which is pretty close, eh?  Gabby’s name got shortened to just “Gun” for some reason but was so cute that I’m am sad to report Gamma now has the pronunciation almost perfect calling her “Megan”.  Herself, she called “Va” (said with much dignity and grandeur, of course).  Now she goes around with her chin up and arms flung high saying “Me Werva”!  (I admit I can’t tell if she is saying Minerva or I am (Me) Minerva (Werva).  Whatever it is she is pleased with her accomplishment and I am too.)
Disclaimer:  I, Claudius just sounded like a good title for this post because it is so close to “Me Werva”.  I am not at all trying to imply our daughter is a half-wit as was assumed of poor Claudius.  On the contrary we all know her to be a stellar child.

The kids love to help him practice and he is getting much better.  He is very curious and wants to grab anything in front of him (making and eating dinner are getting to be a challenge when he is riding on my hip).  If I set him down without a toy he usually ends up chewing on his toes.  As Gamma says “so cute”.

The other morning Gamma came into the kitchen and said she was “hongwy”, so I asked her what she would like for breakfast. Her reply: “cocoa and meat”. Unfortunately I was fresh out of both.

While on the subject of Gamma’s words I want to share the evolution of her evening prayers. Last year she “said” the longest prayers of the family. This was before she was really talking in earnest but she would do her best prayer-voice (high-pitched for some reason) and squeeze her eyes tight and babble away. Then, when she began to catch on to speech a bit more, she she got into a phase of saying “Our Dear Father, Amen”. And that was the whole prayer. Recently we’ve been encouraging her to try to fill out her prayers by whispering things for her to repeat. It goes something like this:

Gamma: Heavenly Father, ahhhhhhhhhhhmmmm.

Parent (in a whisper): Thank you for the rain.

Gamma: Yesss

Parent (in a whisper): Thank you for my brothers and sister.

Gamma: Yesss

And so on…. It was really quite funny. But, tonight she came up with one and said it start to finish with no help from anyone (not even big sister who is always eager to help). Here it is: Heavenly Father, thank you family. Thank you friends. Thank you flowers. Jesus Christ, amen.

When I’m sort of sad and I don’t know what to do,
I smile out loud and this is exactly what I do:
Be happy
Be happy
Be happy
Be happy
(etc.)

Vultures!
Vultures!
Flying in the big deep sky
They are terr-o-fying!
They hunt for lifeless prey
Snap, Snap, Shred a cat
They are terr-o-fying!
Though they do not speak,
They are terr-o-fying!
(repeat)

In our Christmas letter (which anyone reading this probably received… if you didn’t, and would like to, send us an email) we talked about how the kids had decided that their new brother’s name would be Scamp, so we’re going along with that (at least on the blog). I probably could write more about him, but I know you all just want to see pictures. Click the thumbnail for all of the pictures we’ve taken so far. (or, via direct link: click here )

7 lbs, 13.6 oz. Labor was pretty long; we started at 2:45 AM and he didn’t make his appearance until 9:47 PM. Everyone is happy and healthy, and should be home from the hospital tonight. Pictures to follow later.

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