Things

This week I have wipe color crayon off of the following things:
1. The side of the tub
2. Inside the tub
3. The toilet
4. The kitchen floor
5. the kitchen table
6. Gemma's face
7. Gemma's shirt
8. A kitchen chair
9. the coffee table
10. My shoe

This week I have found toothpaste:
1. On the leather couch
2. In Amelia's hair
3. On my work shirt.  At work.  After I had been teaching for an hour.
4. Gemma's face
5. Gemma's shirt
6. The bathroom floor
7. The side of the tub
8. The doorknob in my room
9.  The bathroom doorknob
10. A library book

Not surprisingly, Gemma's favorite things recently are toothpaste (really any type of personal hygiene product will do.  She loves eye liner, lotion, chapstick, gel/hairspray, shampoo, toothpaste, and soap.) and color crayons.  She adores coloring and will sit happily at the kitchen table for an hour coloring away.  Preferable with either Amelia or Mama at her side.  She wants one or both of us at her side, she wants us to hold a crayon of her choice and then color in a designated area.  It's loads of fun.  As soon as you color in your area, she pushes your hand out of the way and colors quickly over the entire area.  Usually with a black crayon.

This color habit is problem because it is almost impossible to just supervise only Gemma.  I am always monitoring homework, making dinner/lunch/breakfast or something that allows Gemma to wander out the kitchen unsupervised with a handful of her beloved "wrawras".

The color love is also somewhat surprising as William hated coloring.  He still hates coloring.  I used to have to bribe him to color and he would still complain.  He would check to see if the library craft required coloring and we would leave after the books if it required coloring.  At the time, I would not have believed you if you would have told me that my next 2 children would love to color.  They are really their own people from the beginning.

Overheard

William and Amelia were playing as I was throwing together some lunch today.

William: I choose the red, green, and awkward ones.
Amelia:  No!  I want the red and awkward ones!

(At this point, I thought I must have heard them wrong.  I crept closer to get a better listen/look.  They were sorting out dinosaurs and choosing which colors each one would get.  There are red, green, blue and orange dinosaurs in this set.)

William: Really, Amelia, all of the awkward ones of mine.  I should be able to have the awkward ones.

Amelia: NO.  No way.  The red and awkward ones are mine.

William: These are ALL mine.  I'm sharing with YOU.

Suddenly it occurs to me that the awkward ones must be the aqua ones.

Why?  I don't know.  I meant to ask, but then....

Gemma conversation v.1

Today was a snow day which meant a slower start and less schedule demands.

One of Gemma's new "things" is finding a cell phone and then following me around demanding "Mama! Baby! Mama! Baby!  Mama! Baby!"  What she wants is to look at the photos and video of herself on the phone.  She will happily do this 6+ hours a day.  She is a beautiful baby after all.

This morning, I needed to call John.  Gemma climbing into my lap with her usually demand "Mama! Baby!" until she heard the phone ring.  Then she said, "Alo?!?"  John answered and Gemma gave a squeal of delight. 

"BAPBA!!!"

John laughed.  Then he said, "No.  Sorry.  It's Daddy, not Grandpa."

Gemma stuck out her lip and attempted to throw the phone on the ground (Mama is quick and snagged it before it hit the ground).

Gemma changed her demand: "Bapba!  Bapba!"

Sadly, we didn't have a chance to talk to Bapba today - it was too early to call the first time and then the day got away from us....  She sure does love that Grandpa.

Gemma video

A milestone: Gemma realized it was her on the video screen today. Such a smart girl.

I had the camera on my phone pointed so we could see ourselves. Partway through the video, she reached up and touched the spot on her eyebrow she hurt last week that still has a noticeable little scab.

She babbles about a ball, talking to grandpa, baby/mama, and ball again.

Science fair project

Today was science project day! I dropped William off at school today (science projects are not allowed on the bus) and said a little prayer that the project would make it to the fair.

William's project was an investigation about what soil type makes the best fossils.

William's pinewood car

Here is William's pinewood derby racecar.

He wanted it to look like a dinosaur. I think we accomplished that much...!

Amelia's pinewood car

Here is Amelia's pinewood derby car.

She painted it herself and wanted the back to have a "zig zag" design.