Spanish

Patrick to Auburn, "Do you know any Spanish?"

"Yeah!"  

....Pause....

"hoola"

"What does hoola mean?"

"Hi"

To Honor a Five Year Old

Auburn turned five. She had been telling me since the beginning of school that when she turned five, she would start attending Mrs. Murphy's class. Mrs. Murphy is one of the other kindergarten teachers. She was Gerret's teacher when he was five and she was loved, but Auburn's kindergarten teacher is small and sweet, too so I'm not sure why she insisted that she would be changing classrooms. It doesn't really matter though, because it wasn't true. The switch did not come to fruition and if that disappointed Auburn, she did a good job of hiding it. 

We celebrated her birthday after school. Her beloved Great Grandma Borden came accompanied by Great Aunt Pat, who surprised us and that was such a treat for Auburn. Aunt Pat is such a good friend to Auby; she's good at taking time to get down and play.  Also in attendance at our little party was Aunt Olivia, Aunt Elise, Grandma, and Grandpa. We had carrot cake at Auburn's request and she opened presents. The theme of the presents and the cake was My Little Pony, which is something she's really interested in lately. 

Auburn is a unique character. She is very independent and brave. She has a lot of energy and enthusiasm. She may call me clever, but she really is the one who is constantly surprising me with her quick wit, sharp memory, and keen understanding. She keeps us laughing. She also challenges us because she can be very obstinate and she likes to push boundaries. I love my girl. She amazes me. 

I asked her a few questions to remember her five year old self. 

Auburn Ruth, Age 5

Favorite food: gum balls

Favorite sport: soccer 

Will you play soccer next year?: yeah!

Favorite color: all of them

Favorite song: Book of Mormon Stories

If you could go anywhere in the world: I would go to Emery's house

Best friend: Emery

Favorite snack: gum balls 

Favorite movie: The Secret Life of Pets

Favorite thing about camping: sleeping in a tent

Book you love: Rocket Learns to Read

Food you dislike: mashed potatoes

If you could have one wish it would be: that Emery could come to my house

Three words that describe you: brave, helpful, and kind

Favorite toy: the mermaid that grandma gave me

when you grow up: a police officer

Favorite fruit: grapes

Favorite animal: Luna

Favorite holiday: Christmas and Halloween

What you sleep with: Cozy Rosie

Birds and Bees, Mostly Birds

We watched Winged Migration for movie night recently. It's a beautiful documentary about birds, one of my favorite films. There is a moment about small hatchlings and eggs, I can't remember precisely what but something about baby birds and Patrick made a comment about the mother bird having pooped out the chick. And that really caught Gerret's attention.

"Babies are born out the butt? Is that how Sam was born?"  

I quickly realized my kids were sorely undereducated in this area. Sex education was not something my parents were stellar at giving me. And I get the feeling that neither were Patrick's. So we just have never known how to broach the subject with our kids.

The short exchange about pooping out babies convinced me that I needed to step up, so I found a few library books .... 

I had this vision of our family sitting around the livingroom, each child studying a book while Patrick and I sat ready to answer any questions. The reality was two boys who were too embarrassed by the subject to do anything more than gingerly pick up a book, examine the cover, drop the thing, and retreat to their room. Auburn on the other hand, surprised me by remaining engaged through all three books, which I read to her in one sitting. She asked intelligent questions and expressed understanding. She even managed to keep her penchant for potty humor on the down-low.

So I guess I missed a window of opportunity with each of my older boys. Apparently it happens around age five. At least I'm ready now for Sam. 

Later that night, I attempted to show off her new understanding to Patrick and Gerret by giving her a little quiz. 

"What do boys have that girls don't?"

"A penis!"

"And what do girls have?"

"Testicles!"

Obviously, we have more work to do. 

Overwhelming Wednesday

The Maples had let go of their leaves over the past week, covering the grass in a thick, brown canvas. My parents are not in a condition right now to be raking, so I volunteered my kids for the job. A half day of school was looming on the calendar and a leaf raking party seemed the perfect antidote to their typical boredom. 

When Nolan asked if a friend could come over on the half day, I gave my permission contingent on the promise of their help at his grandparents'. And that is how I ended up taking four kids and a newborn with a few rakes on an excursion to Trumansburg, Wednesday afternoon. 

Auburn immediately announced she would not be staying outside with us. I didn't argue.  Nolan and his friend raked a pile and spent the majority of our time there taking turns burying each other in it. Sam slept in his car seat in a warm patch of sun nearby.  Gerret ended up being my best help. He stuffed leaves tightly in bags, sometimes so tightly that the bags burst at the seams.  We couldn't have cleared as much ground as we did without the gracious assistance of Aunt Elise when she arrived home from school. 

Not only was it a half day, but Patrick was scheduled to be home late that night, so I was on my own for dinner with a fussy baby, a girl set on creating chaos and clutter, and two boys who were by this time both laying around complaining of different ailments. I took Nolan's temperature. Low grade fever. I didn't realize how badly Gerret really felt until I went to get him for dinner and found a pale and sweaty boy  in his bed. His stomach was not able to handle dinner, he told me. So the other three of us ate in complete silence as the fussy baby had finally fallen asleep in his swing in the corner of the dining room. 

We ate in complete silence (or as completely silent as Auburn can be when I'm constantly hissing "be quiet") until we heard a splash coming from the boys' room. I jumped up in alarm, hoping not to find what I was expecting to find. I hoped in vain. There was Gerret, bent over the side of his bed, a stream of vomit still falling to the puddle of yellow on the carpet. Nolan described it as good aim. His reasoning:  None of it ended up in the bed. The commotion woke up the baby who turned red screaming while I helped Gerret and scrubbed furiously at the carpet. 

sweater struggle

I was feeding the baby when Auburn came out of her bedroom with a zip-up, hooded sweatshirt. She tried to put it on, but met a dead end as both sleeves were inside out. I watched her struggle to stuff a sleeve into itself before I told her there was an easier way. 
"Come here and I'll show you". 
She brought it to me and I stuck my hand through the out-turned sleeve, grabbed hold of the end and pulled it through until it was right side out. The Life-Seasoned all know that trick, but she was amazed. 
As she duplicated the action on the second sleeve, she said, "Wow! You sure are a clever mom!"  
She exclaimed the fact like it was a total surprise. 

A Month of Sam

Maybe we should have named him Samson. The strength of this tiny infant has been wondrous to behold and somewhat of a challenge as well. We've never had a baby be so difficult to keep swaddled. We've tried regular homemade square blankets, large muslin swaddle blankets, velcro swaddlers, zip-up swaddlers and this kid could escape from them all. We've finally found a solution which is a combination of a few techniques and leans heavily on a trick from a you-tube video found after googling "how to swaddle a Houdini baby".  

The doctor who performed Sam's circumcision said he'd never had a baby break free of the leg brace either until Sam came along. 

He is a brick. Not with rolls or much chub, but his build is very solid. He is very observant and inquisitive, too. It helps that he's been able to hold his head up and turn it since the very beginning. 

Speaking of Samson, this one is bald. He was losing his hair on the top, so I buzzed the little he had left off. Didn't have an effect on his strength as far as I can tell. 

When Gerret raked a big pile of leaves last week, he was quick to come in and get Sam so that they could lay in the pile together. Sam kind of fell asleep, but that image of two brothers in a pile of leaves is one I will cherish as long as I live. 

Last night Gerret chose the song we'd sing before bed. He chose "I'm so glad that Sammy is born" in place of "Daddy Comes Home" .  And truly we are so glad to have had him here this past month. What a joy it's been. 

We love this little boy. He gets held and kissed all the time. He is snuggly and smiley. His brothers and sister all adore him. He's a lucky little guy to have them. I'm a lucky little mom to have them.  He's the cherry on top. 

She Gets That From Her Dad

We were in the car on our way to Ithaca for a mom-daughter date. 

"Mom."

"What, Aubs?"

"You put a boot on my stroller?!?!"

I was puzzled until I realized she was quoting the movie we had watched the previous day.  I laughed out loud and then we repeated the exchange over and over for the next ten minutes. What a girl. 

This is Halloween

Auburn loves that song from The Nightmare Before Christmas and we made it our anthem for the past two months. 

It was early in September when our girl requested that the decorations be brought out of the attic and strewn throughout the house. Patrick doesn't call her princess for nothing, so one Sunday afternoon I woke from a late-pregnancy induced coma/nap to find our house thoroughly decorated with pumpkins, ghosts, and skeletons, bats, owls, and spiders.  He's a good dad. It's a happy home.

Like every year, the good ladies who run the kids' primary put on a church Halloween party the weekend before the true holiday. It required that costumes be completed early. So the morning of the party, Nolan created his bandit outfit, even drawing on his own facial hair with a black makeup crayon. He had been planning this costume since we were given a straw hat and silk bandana at a Quinceneara we attended in September. Gerret was still flummoxed by what he could possibly throw together in a few short hours using what materials he could conjure from our house. At first he expressed interest in being a soldier, but eventually settled on a scientist, which seemed more fitting to me as he often expresses his dreams of doing sciencey things when he's grown. He assembled his costume all on his own, a white lab coat worn over a collared shirt and tie, an arsenal of pens in his breast pocket and the finishing touch of safety goggles on top of his head. Cute kid, that one. I was so proud of my boys for their creativity and independence. Auburn had been given a mermaid suit from her Aunt Olivia for her fifth birthday the week prior, which she had determined would be her Halloween attire, but the day of the party attention was drawn to another possibility among our copious costume collection. The same Doc McStuffins costume she dressed in for Halloween 2014 tickled her fancy and she selected it to be her garb for the party. The mermaid did come out for school on Halloween and trick-or-treating that night. By the time she got home from a full day of school and associated festivities, a large portion of green, glittery scales had sloughed off her mermaid tail, but she was not deterred. 

Our whole family headed to town Halloween night.  I dressed Sam in a bear suit and threw on a bear hat, but nobody saw him until we made our last stop at my parents' house. As we walked our way through the village, he was snug in the carrier strapped to Patrick and fast asleep. The scientist, bandit, and mermaid weaved their way from lit porch to lit porch through the streets of Trumansburg.  How I love the feeling of community that is so palpable on Halloween night, when families pour into the street, people decorate their houses with flickering  jack-o-lanterns and strings of orange lights and they open their doors to ghouls and princesses alike. There is so much cheer,  camaraderie, and candy. Lots of candy, candy, candy, candy.