Seven Quick Takes: Upward Mobility, Flies and Contraband Pictures

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Our biggest news around these parts is that the baby is officially on the move.  This video is from a couple of weeks ago--whereas Henry would only be enticed to crawl with the promise of Cheerios, this little angel will only crawl towards paper and not just any paper either:

Random paper from the printer?  No.  

Unused construction  paper?  No.  

Junk mail?  No.  

David's most prized piece of artwork?  Now we're talking.  

Mom's latest book?  That's more like it.  

That invitation we needed to RSVP for?  Delicious.  

You could lay out something unimportant and something precious to you next to each other on the floor and he would sprint like the little frog crawler that he is over to that important document in a heartbeat, flinging aside the unimportant pages like the recycling they are.  His instincts are impeccable.   And also terrifying.

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As if this crawling weren't bad enough, quickly after his first foray into forward motion, John Michael decided to outdo himself and showed us that not only is he able to get into untold mischief on ground level, he can also reach anything in his baby-height range as well.  

That's right, along with crawling he can also pull himself up on/walk around the furniture.  Awesome.

Chris says it's his survival instincts kicking in.  Apparently you've got to grow up fast to survive in this house.   Bob and weave John Michael, bob and weave!

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With all of the new challenges involved in having an ambulatory baby the last thing I need is surprise dinner-time fly-swarm attacks.  And yet, I seem to be getting one per week.

It goes something like this--I'm standing in the kitchen stirring the pan sauce for my current favorite dinner (with brown rice and roasted broccoli) when all of a sudden a fly whizzes by my face, then another, then another....then....they are everywhere.  At least twenty.  The children are screaming.  I'm running around like a crazy lady with my spatula killing them left and right.   It's a fly massacre.

It has happened twice now, both times I was making the same meal and I'm pretty sure they are coming in through the vent fan thing over the stove.  My hypothesis is that it's the smell of the roasting broccoli that is calling them down from their hiding place in the vent.  That begs the question though, does roasted broccoli smell like a dead animal to flies?  Maybe I shouldn't be so upset that David gags on it.  

And why are giant fly swarms living in my stove vent?  

And how do I get rid of them?

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In other non-fly related news, we had our first week of doing Kindergarten at home and it went much better than I imagined it would.  David loves "doing school" as he puts it so hopefully that excitement isn't just because it's something new and different to do and will last past these first few weeks.

I'm loving the All About Reading program so far--we've done the first five lessons and he's read two stories in the first reader all by himself and he is beyond proud!   The pace is great and he loves the little lessons and magnet letters.  I think the activities in the activity book provide the perfect amount of cutting and pasting for his Kindergarten experience--goodness knows I wouldn't be thinking up things for him to cut, paste and glue just so I could throw them away later on my own :)  

 

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And speaking of David's education, I broke down and asked the librarian for a book on "lady parts" as per his request.  I ended up going with this one because it had the most appropriate inappropriate pictures for little eyes, but I didn't love the text so we didn't read it.

   

And by "we" I mean Chris, because clearly this was a talk that daddy should give.  If there are any daughters in our future I'll be sure to handle any awkward conversations but for now......sorry honey, it's all you  :)

The day after "the talk" David tried to smuggle the book over to the printer to make copies of it so that he could show all his friends at the playground and was very upset that I didn't think that that was a good idea.  He seemed to let it go, but I don' think he's really given up the idea so now the book is on the top shelf waiting it's return to the library.  I can't believe it's my son that wants to show dirty pictures to the neighborhood children--I thought I had at least another eight years or so before I had to worry about that kind of thing.

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Now let's segue into actual inappropriate pictures of my kids..........wait no, not inappropriate, precious!

Last night I heard Chris calling from the bathroom, "Honey, get the camera!  The kids are being so cute!"  I'm sure you can imagine how much arm twisting I needed to come charging in, camera waiving.

Here are some highlights:

"Smile for mamma!"

 (this one's definitely got his daddy's ears)

  

"No, no.....just, um......everyone, arms down.......and one.....two......three......smile for.......NO MONSTERS!"

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"I said no monst................oh, just.......never mind."

They're precious, my little monster darlings even if they do want to spread contraband pictures around the neighborhood.


Well, I hope you all have a lovely weekend but first go check out Jen for more quick takes!