He's Back!!!

Sometime around the beginning of February, Caitlin lost her Bear-Bear. We tore the house apart and couldn't find him. I'd seen him a few hours before bedtime so was fairly certain he was somewhere in the house. When we couldn't find him those first few days I sort of stopped looking. I had been terrified that we would lose him in Thailand. So I had her start taking a blue elephant she had to bed with her. I talked him up. 

"She's an elephant just like the one you'll be riding in Thailand. So you can take her with you to Thailand." 

She named her Flower Sunshine and seemed mostly okay about losing the bear. She would ask about him, but it was a lot less stressful than I'd anticipated.

The night we returned from Thailand she asked where her Bear-Bear was. By this time we'd written him off for lost. I felt terrible that she was still missing him. She continued for the next few months to ask about him periodically.

Yesterday I was watching two girls for a friend. I was in my bedroom when I hear a shriek -

"BEAR-BEAR!!!"

I KNEW what that meant. Sure enough, one of the little girls (Kelsey) had opened a tiny suitcase that Caitlin rarely uses to find Bear Bear stuffed inside. Poor Kelsey was probably very bewildered because Caitlin was so excited she was almost crying and I threw my arms around her and thanked her about a million times. Caitlin has kept Bear Bear with her every chance she gets.

It's a blurry picture, but it gets the point across about how closely she's holding on to her precious bear.

 He's hanging out in Daddy's helmet while we eat lunch.

Welcome Back Bear-Bear. You were missed!

Bear-bear returns

In the rush of getting ready for church I didn't retrieve the bear.

So when we returned from church I had a little talk with Caitlin.

Considering she's only two I think she understood why/what happened to her bear.

Whether this will be remembered next time is a whole other story.

But after a promise of obedience I got out the sewing box and let her watch while I "fixed" bear-bear's tail. She watched very quietly, not saying much.

When I was finished I handed him to her and she hugged him so tight. 

Then in this little quiet voice she says -

"I'm so sorry I hurt you, bear-bear. I missed you. I'm so sorry. I'm so so sorry."

Obedience

Caitlin has been testing Jon and I quite a bit lately.

She obeys when it suits her. We've tried everything we can think of and nothing has worked so far.

Today was about the last straw. We have a rule that you can't touch anything on a counter without permission. This rule covers all sorts of things and has kept us from quite a bit of stress.

But Caitlin completely disregards this rule if she chooses. Today she grabbed a pair of scissors on the counter. I spanked her hand for touching them and put them further back on the counter. I turned back to the sink to finish the dishes. She left the kitchen and wandered into the library (or so I thought). A few seconds later she comes back into the kitchen.

"Mommy, I cut bear-bear's tail and I can't fix it."

She takes me into the dining room where she has hidden under the table with her bear and the scissors. Bear-bear now has a very injured tail.

I started getting onto her about hurting bear-bear and she laughed. She had gotten what she wanted and just didn't care that I was upset. So I threw him away. The kids know that if I can't fix a toy it goes in the trash. So far, they haven't been highly sentimental so it has worked fine.

When I threw him away she laughed again and said

"That's okay, I'll just play with this bear."

Now it's bedtime and she's not laughing. She's been crying now for 30 minutes. It seems harsh, but I'm just not sure how else to reach her. I've gone in once and comforted her. But I also explained that when I tell her something she needs to obey. I'm hoping that this painful of a lesson will sink in, because I'm about to cry with her.

Before I begin to get hate letters, let me assure you that bear-bear is safe in the closet awaiting morning. After we talk again I'll give her back her bear.

The Kids

Dominic is smart. I knew that from the very beginning. So why am I so surprised when he shows us?

Today he was reading one of his books. He was carefully sounding out the words he wasn't familiar with.

He asked me what sound th made and then carefully sounded out the word something.

Wow! He just started reading on Monday. How can he be sounding out words this big so quickly?

Then just now he was asking Jon and I math questions. He can do simple addition.

I started 1st grade at 7 (I didn't go to Kindergarten) 

so I was 7 or 8 years old before I could do the things he can do now.

Caitlin takes bear bear everywhere with her, including the bathroom.

He has a toy that she uses for his potty. He sits on it whenever she has to go to the bathroom.

When she finishes going potty she carefully puts away her little seat and bear's seat goes back into the bucket of bathroom toys.

Today I reminded her to flush. She reached over to bears "potty" and made a flushing sound before she put it in the bucket. Then she flushed her toilet.

It started with Dominic a couple of years ago. He asked me to pretend to be a bear and eat him up.

So I would growl and tickle and kiss him.

Caitlin now asks me to "bite" when she wants to be tickled.

She saw the puppies playing and they were growling.

"Mommy, puppies tickle."

She thought the dogs were tickling each other. =)

The kids were being super quiet so I went to investigate.
They were "hiding" on Caitlin's bed. Apparently there was a huge monster outside the window.

This is Dominic scaring it away.

Dominic posing for a picture.
 
Caitlin copying him.


Caitlin is in love with her panties.
I was folding laundry and a couple went missing from the pile.
This is where Jon found them.
 

Bear Bear gets breakfast

Every morning when Caitlin gets up we have a disagreement about bear bear.

I don't want her to hold him while she eats her breakfast. 

But she's still sleepy and doesn't want to give him up. 

So I decided that bear bear needs to eat breakfast also.

And this makes her happy - for the most part.

Random bits of stuff

When Dominic says something cute and I don't have a moment to blog I will write it down in my planner. I was throwing away the old pages and found several things from the previous weeks and thought I'd go ahead and post them even thought it's not in order.

Dominic was praying for lunch.

"Please bless the food and please bring us more."

Guess he figured I hadn't made enough. =)

Dominic had been playing really rough.

"My underknee hurts. I guess I'm falling apart, Mom."

Caitlin turned to me out of the blue and gave me a huge hug and kiss. Then she said "wov you mom." I melted into a little puddle. Dominic has her calling me mom and it's so cute to hear her. She's starting to talk more clearly, but will frequently make up words for ones she doesn't know. It's keeping us guessing. Her most consistent one is maa maa for water.

Dominic had been waking up very early and I wasn't having time to have my devotions. So I put an alarm clock in his room and told him it had to have a 7 in the front before he could get up. This has worked amazingly well.

Yesterday he woke up at 8am. It gave Caitlin and I some quality time together. When he came out of his bedroom he said:

 "I slept until 8 o'clock, Mom. I think I went overboard in sleeping."

By the time we got into our home the kids comfort items (bear and blanket) were getting pretty disgusting. So I tossed them in the washing machine on hand wash. It was apparently fascinating and distressing.

 

Good thing the handwash cycle is short. Because they stood right there and watched their precious items the WHOLE time.

Yeah! They are done!!!

Dominic playing on his bunk beds. Blogspot won't rotate the picture correctly. But I think you get the point.

Caitlin playing IN the toy box.

Our little girls.

Josie

Sarah 

The dogs love these bar stools. They head straight for them when they get in the house. In fact, that is where they are sleeping right now.

Every morning when I take the dogs outside I see this beautiful fog. But by the time I get the camera it's all burned off. I finally captured some of it.