Friday, January 30, 2009

Rilla's Taking Steps!

Rilla took her first steps Tuesday, and, as is typical for most third children, I still don't have a picture of her walking. I do, however, have cute pictures Evan took of her the other night, when she was sitting on the sofa.
Prospecting for gold behind the cushions. (Not that she'd find anything, of course!)


Raspberries for car noises.

(matchbox car in hand)


Beautiful smile for Daddy. And a display of markered-up hands. Mommy wasn't paying much attention to Rilla that day.

Cheyenne is Rilla's personal trainer now. She spent most of the afternoon taking Rilla's toy away and trying to entice her to walk to Cheyenne. After about the 300th time, Rilla got bored with it, but she sure does love her big sister.

I realized that I was a competitive mommy when Marilla started walking. One of my first thoughts was, "Oh, good, she walked when she was ten months!" Granted, if she got a tooth that same day, I'd be telling everyone, "Rilla didn't get her first tooth until she was almost 11 months!" (She STILL doesn't have any teeth!) Her age is dependent on how I want the story to sound! :-) We did get under the ten-month mark, though, with over a week to spare!

I got spoiled this week-- "Alex's Mom" took Cheyenne to school Monday and Tuesday. So luxurious to not have to bundle up the other two kids! This is the same Alex that Cheyenne announced was her boyfriend at the beginning of school. The romance hasn't abated in the least-- Cheyenne tells me they are getting married when they grow up. The other day (in a fit of pique at her brother) she told me she couldn't wait to get married "and not have to live with any brothers or sisters!" I've stressed that she has to wait until she's all grown up to get married, but in the meantime, Cheyenne and Alex seem inseperable. According to Cheyenne, Alex tells her every day how pretty she looks. If she can only find a guy like that when she's 27! Tuesday morning Cheyenne got to go to school early for "Running Club"-- running around the halls for 1/2 an hour before school starts. Alex's mom, Lisa, said she was reluctant to run at first because she knows the rule is "No running in the halls!" She got to go home with Alex that afternoon (they live just two streets over from us) and they played Candyland and Transformers! Quite a well-rounded friendship! On Thursday, though, we had a playdate with a girl with lots of Princess dress-up clothes. I'm not sure whether Alex's house will seem exciting after an intoxicating afternoon of wearing trashy shoes, scads of jewelry and glittery dresses! She sure enjoyed herself!

Wednesday night Bible study was at our house this week, and we had some special visitors-- the three oldest kids in the Parker clan were in town for their Mom's surgery (surgery that was way more successful than anyone though possible!). They stayed after for some brownies and ice cream, and we had a great time catching up with them. Elliott shares a birthday with Dave and Dale, so we had to have a picture of the Birthday Boys together.


By the time their birthday rolls around, the outside temperature will be rather different than now! We have reached the point where the snowbanks lining our driveway are so high that the older snowblower we have can't blow snow over the top of them. We need a thaw!

Marilla is still getting up at least twice in the night-- not that I always know that! Last Saturday morning, I slipped out of bed with her at 6:00 and went downstairs so Evan could sleep. I was sitting there in a self-righteous glow, thinking what a nice wife I was-- not only was I letting Evan sleep in, I had put Rilla back in the crib twice that night after nursing her. (Sometimes I figure that I've done the feeding, Evan can do the leg work!) Later that morning, though, Evan said something about her dirty diaper in the night. Huh? It turns out I had been up with her twice, and Evan had dealt with her twice, and neither of us had known the other person even got out of bed! Maybe we need a little more sleep, if that's how deep we're sleeping!


And for a closing note, here is Elliott in the new outfit Grandma sent him. He is trying so hard to pronounce words these days, but I really love one of his chronic mistakes-- he says "Goot" for "book." I'm never one to argue that "books" = "good."

2 comments:

Brandon and Elena said...

Isn't it funny the connotations mommies make! I know what you mean though, I read an article in one of the parenting magazines about competitive moms and was disgusted, and so relieved I wasn't one of them, until I've caught myself several times saying things like "oh yeah, Brandon's been doing that for months," or "Yes, she's been signing milk for 6 months now! She still nurses like crazy!" And I'm trying to grow compassionate caring children into wonderful adults!

Kelly Sirois said...

Your posts crack me up and I love all your pictures. Your 3 ring circus is adorable. I have a blog if you would like to check it out. I've just started it so learning the ropes. Here's the link http://kelsterk.blogspot.com/

Have a great evening. Love you