Easter 2011

We had a wonderful Easter this year. Saturday we got together with Justin's Dad's side of the family. Jordan and Sasha had lots of fun playing with the other kids inside and out while Justin and I got to eat, relax and hang out with adults. Sunday I made sausage and egg breakfast sandwiches, which never happens and the kids hunted for and found their Easter baskets. The weather was surprisingly nice. We went to church at Our Redeemer with my parents, Micah, Lydia and Brandon and the boys, and Abigail and Alex. Then we went back to my parents' house for a quick lunch before we headed off to Albany to spend the afternoon with Justin's grandparents and Josh, Tara and Jack.

Fish Trouble

I can't wait until Jordan's old enough to change the water in the goldfish bowl himself. After I accidentally killed one of the goldfish last year in a highly dramatic fish bowl cleaning related incident, I'm even more leery about the whole thing than I already was. Most people who know me realize that while I may enjoy watching fish swim around, I'm not interested in having any direct personal contact with them. Unfortunately, our newest acquisition, Black Eyed (bought to replace the long lived and sadly mourned Fidgety Fish, and named after the Black Eyed Peas and his buggy black eyes) doesn't seem to understand this. Today, while I was using our soup ladle to get some of the dirty water out of the bowl so I had room to add fresh water, he swam into the ladle not once but twice. I just missed lifting him up out of the bowl, and I thought I was going to have a heart attack! I'm really hoping he didn't get hurt, because I hate ladling up dead fish to flush them even more than I hate accidentally ladling up live fish (I think). I observed him for awhile, and it looked like he was listing to one side a little bit, possibly having trouble staying towards the bottom of the fish tank, and one fin didn't seem to be moving as much as the others. Then again, maybe it's all in my head. Only time will tell!

The Power of Prayer

Although Jordan loves winter and winter sports, he's been ready for spring for quite a while now. Really, I think he's ready for summer. He actually cried one of the last times that it snowed. Also, yesterday was the first sunny day we've had in a while. At breakfast time he told me that he'd prayed to God while he was taking a shower the night before and asked him to make it sunny the next day. He said he'd given God a whole list of reasons to make it sunny. One of the reasons was, "because I wouldn't have eaten the fruit in the Garden." Such confidence!

Persuasive Writing

Jordan's been learning about persuasive writing in school. Here are two of his assignments. Notice the blatant emotional appeal. Needless to say, he got a raise in his allowance (although not quite the amount he was aiming for) and if there was any way we could squeeze a dog into the budget, we would now be the proud owners of one.

Not The Hair!

At the age of 4, Sasha has had 4 haircuts. Two of them were planned, while the other two were decidedly not. Her first haircut was courtesy of her cousin Tristan. We spent Mother's Day 2009 at Lydia and Brandon's house. The adults were hanging out and relaxing while the kids played all over the house. At one point Sasha came and told us that Tristan had done her hair. I glanced at her, saw he'd given her a ponytail and told her it looked nice. When we got home, I got a call from Lydia informing me that I might want to check Sasha's hair since she had just found long blond hair in the wastebasket. Sure enough, Tristan had given Sasha bangs, and I hadn't even noticed. For an 8 year old, he did a pretty good job. Actually I'm pretty sure it was a much better job than I would have done if I had tried. There was also a small chunk of hair cut out of the back, but it really wasn't noticeable.

Grandma Jolene gave Sasha her second haircut when she came to visit the following summer. The bangs were getting a little bit long, so she gave them a nice trim.

By the next summer Sasha's hair was looking really scraggly on the ends, and the missing chunk was more noticeable. Our neighbor Bobbi, who's a hairdresser, was kind enough to give Sasha a real haircut, complete with layers to camouflage the missing chunk.

And then there was today. Sasha and I went to the park in celebration of the 40 degree weather. She rode her bike and I walked/jogged to keep up/did jumping jacks next to her when she was riding really slowly. Just before she went down the slide for the last time at the park, I noticed that she was chewing on a big wad of her hair. Turned out it was a big wad of her hair (still attached) mixed with gum. "Sasha!!!" I said. "I didn't try to. It's so windy mama!" she said. Couldn't really argue with that. So I tore the gum out of her hair before any more got stuck in it and we went home. Thankfully, Bobbi had all her equipment at home tonight and was able to give Sasha an emergency haircut. We managed to keep most of the length, and add some pretty layers. Now I'm keeping my fingers crossed that nothing else happens to her hair. This may be the start of a "no gum unless you're wearing several barrettes and a ponytail policy"!

Not The Hair

Not Ready For This Yet

This is, as accurately as I can remember it, a conversation Jordan & Karlye had on the way home in the car tonight (some names have been omitted to protect the innocent).

Background: The kids were talking about what they wanted to name their future potential children. I couldn't hear the names they were saying at first, although I believe Jordan's current favorite girl's name is Brazil.

Karlye: Well, you have to decide with your wife. You have to pick it together.
Jordan: If I ever have a boy I'm going to name it Michael Jordan. No, Jordan Michael.
Karlye: Then he would have the same name as you. You should name him Michael Jordan.
Jordan: Then his name would be Michael Jordan Disch. Michael Jordan's last name is Jordan, and he spells it the same way I spell my name!

Some discussion followed about the fact that Karlye's last name will change when she gets married but Jordan's won't. Then...

Karlye: If I marry Boy#1 my name will be Karlye So-and-so, but if I marry Boy#2 my last name will be Karlye Something-else.
Jordan: If I marry Girl #1, her name will be Girl #1 Disch, but right now it's Girl #1 Whoever, and if I marry Girl #2 her name will be Girl #2 Disch, but right now it's Girl #2 Blah-blah-blah.
Karlye: Who would you pick to marry first?
Jordan: I like Girl #1 best, then Girl #2, then Girl #3, then Girl #4. I thought you liked Boy #3?
Karlye: I do but I don't know his last name. I'm only saying people that I know their last name. Jordan loves Girl #1.
Jordan: I think she knows that. She's my best friend.
Karlye: I'm talking to Mom. Mom, Jordan loves Girl #1.
Me: That's nice. She's a nice girl.
Jordan: Yeah.

Then discussion followed about the relative merits of Boy#1 and Boy#2. Karlye told Jordan not to tell one of them that she liked him, if Jordan ever saw him, because "you don't want to make him mad" or "he'll take you down to the ground." Jordan wanted to know what would happen if he made the other boy mad and Karlye said he's probably go off and cry.

Karlye: So I have to pick either really tough or really fast. Boy #1 is really tough and Boy #2 is really fast.
Jordan: I'm really fast. Do you think I could beat (one of the boys).
Karlye: Yeah, but you couldn't beat (the other boy).
Jordan: Maybe you should pick someone who's really tough AND really fast.
Karlye: Yeah. When I get married, me and my husband are going to work out together. Because you know when you have babies you get really...(pause, then a whisper)...big. I'm going to stay skinny so I'm going to go and work out right away after I have the baby. Jordan, why are you laughing?
Jordan: You're going to stay skinny???
Karlye: Well, me and my husband are going to work out a lot. Sometimes I'll go work out, and sometimes we'll get a babysitter and then we'll go work out together.
Jordan: You know, this might not work out just the way you have it planned.
Karlye: I know.

I thought I might seriously die from trying so hard not to laugh out loud. I kept turning the music down lower and lower so I could hear them, hoping they wouldn't notice and stop talking. I love kids!

Being Four Changes Everything

The big day is finally here! Sasha has been talking about her golden birthday for months on end. She planned her guest list for her party about four months ago - Mae & Violet, of course, and all the little neighbor girls. She planned the color of her gifts around the same time - some gold (for her golden birthday) and some "not gold". And she's been counting down the days until her birthday for at least a week (and making sure to tell everyone she saw how many days were left). When she got up this morning I was on the computer and she came and stood right by me, stood up as straight and tall as she could, and said, "Mom, Mom, look how big I am now!"

Since the only time we could all be together today was before Jordan went to school, I made cinnamon rolls for breakfast, which has never happened before. Sasha freaked out because the frosting was dripping, so I had to cut hers into pieces and give her a fork. Then we took all the cards and presents in by Justin and woke him up so he could watch her open them. She'd been begging me for a pink tutu so I made one with an elastic hair band and tulle which ended up being really cute. We also got her some little suede and fake fur boots to wear with dresses and leggings, but her favorite present was free. I got a few bags of hand me down clothes and toys from my boss's girlfriend's nieces this week, and lo and behold there were two My Little Pony's, one with wings. I have a feeling that pony is going everywhere with her for the foreseeable future.

After breakfast, little miss sticky had a bath. She kept asking me all these questions about 4 persons, like "can 4 persons take a bath" and "can 4 persons use big washcloths". I couldn't figure out what she was talking about when I suddenly realized that she meant people who are 4 years old! Apparently she thinks that being a year older means not only do you grow much bigger overnight, but most aspects of your life will change. I'm afraid she's in for a bit of a let down. When she told me she's old enough now to eat in a big girl chair (instead of the high chair we put her back in because she's so short and has turned into such an antsy messy eater this year) I did tell her that we would give it a try, so that's something. Justin told me that while I was at work, before she went off for her birthday sleepover with Great-Grandma Louise and Great-Grandpa Glen, she told him that she hadn't got any gold presents yet. She also told Great-Grandma Louise when she came to pick Sasha up, so I imagine that problem will soon be remedied!

I can't believe my little baby girl is 4 years old already!

Jordan's parent teacher conference was last week. He's doing great, as usual. Not surprising considering how much he loves school. Apparently he's always nice and cheerful and well-behaved, which makes me wonder why I don't always get the Jordan at home. I guess if he's got to misbehave somewhere, I'd rather have it be at home than in public. I got a bit of surprise when his teacher told me that he'd been tested to see if he should move into Gifted and Talented math. It looks like he'll be fine in regular math for now, but they're going to keep an eye on him and he might move later this year. Reading's going really well too. They want the kids to be reading at a level 22 by the end of the year, and he's been at a level 23 since the end of first grade. I guess all the hours and hours we've spent reading to him are really paying off. I'm so very happy that he loves to read. I read a chapter from a book to him every night at bedtime (we're doing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory right now) and he's reading chapter books on his own as well. He still really loves art and also writing. This is a story he wrote for school; I especially love the begining and the end:

N or M

Some of my favorite "Sasha-isms" - "naybe" instead of "maybe"and "grow-mup" instead of "grown-up". These are often used together in sentences that start out, "Naybe, when I'm a grow-mup..." The poor little girl tries so hard to keep up with her big brother and sister. When they're here she follows them around trying to play with them, talking and talking at them and trying to get their attention. When they're not here she spends a lot of time talking about what she'll do when she's as old as they are and imitating all the annoying things they do that I'd like a break from while they're gone. Especially the way Jordan spends all day asking me if anyone is coming over and if we're going anywhere and then freaking out when I say "No" and "No". Give her a few decades and she'll start talking about the good old days when she was little and didn't have any responsibilities. Although, to be fair, she has taken on rather a lot of responsibilities for a girl who's not yet four.

She's very busy bossing her father and I around and panicking about things not being done properly. She's also been taking care of her "dollies" since she was about 8 months old. We now have Tiny Baby, Big Baby, Other Big Baby, the Raggedys (tiny Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls), Alpha-Betty (a doll given to my by my Grandma Betty when I was little) and a few other ones. Tiny Baby is the most important and usually goes everywhere with Sasha, along with Heart Blankie. Sasha spends a lot of time feeding, dressing and caring for her dollies, especially at night when she's supposed to be sleeping. She also has an imaginary dog named Jumper who was a gift from Grandma Tamar. She has such a realistic plan of care for Jumper and such a clear idea of what Jumper does that after she spent 10 minutes telling my boss about Jumper he turned to me and said, "You guys got a dog???" There are only two ways you can tell Jumper is imaginary - he goes to school with Jordan because he's 5 and he frequently changes colors (rather unrealistic colors at that).