The kids opened some Valentine’s cards after dinner on the 14th and I so wish I’d had my camera ready! I set Solvei’s opened card on the table in front of her and she had a sudden look of shock and awe on her face, sort of a “This is for me?” look. So cute! But I missed the photo opportunity. So when the kids got more cards to open I had the camera this time. Not quite the same look, but pretty close.
All the kids know where the pantry is, and what’s inside. Whenever we open the door to get something, Solvei and/or Nels practically come running.
This morning, I asked the kids “should we go have breakfast” and what they wanted to eat. I got dressed and then went downstairs to make breakfast only to find Solvei already down there. She had gotten into the pantry, found a cereal box, pulled out the bag, taken it to the living room closing the pantry door behind her and was eating the cereal with her hands. When she saw me she knew she’d been caught and tried to quickly put what was in her hands back into the bag.
I did Solvei’s hair in pigtails again today and she is just so cute I had to take another picture. Of course while I was taking the picture she had to show me her belly too.
Because I had taken Solvei’s picture, Nels wanted his taken too. Solvei apparently thought I should keep taking her picture though, because as soon as I pushed the button to take the picture of Nels she stepped in front of the camera.
But she did let him have a turn.
While the kids were playing today I noticed something and had to take a picture for documentation. As I said in an earlier post, when Nels hurt his head I think he was running away from Solvei and/or trying to get behind the chest in the corner. This is the chest in the corner.
As you can see the twins LOVE to play behind and around it.
This is the area where Nels ran into the corner of the wall and when he was playing there today I noticed the corner that he hit has a ding in it – right about forehead level. Looks like Nels put up a good fight but I think the wall still won.
Solvei is getting pretty good at climbing up onto the furniture. There are still a few places that she needs help with but she has figured out how for sure. Today she was practicing climbing up on the black chair in the living room (climb up, climb down, climb up, climb down….) when Nels decided to join her.
Then they found one of the toy cups and were sharing.
I also used the opportunity to play with my new lens a bit. It’s so much fun to take close-ups because they are so cute.
Got one of Gavin too.
Not too bad to have a “first ever” on the fourth child, but I had to make a run to the ER last night.
We were hanging out in the living room after dinner, waiting for Nate to get home from work. Solvei and Nels were playing chase when Nels tried to either run away from Solvei, or just run behind the cedar chest that I have pushed towards the corner of the room, when he tripped over his own feet and fell forehead first into the corner of the wall. He got up and was dazed for a second but just rubbed his head. However, when he rubbed where he had hit, it started to bleed – a lot.
I took him to the kitchen and applied pressure with a paper towel while Saedi grabbed the first aid kit and Gavin screamed his head off. When I had successfully stopped Gavin from making the babies cry, the bleeding had mostly stopped too. I checked his eyes for sign of concussion but he seemed okay. I cleaned it and put a small band-aid on, then cleaned up the blood. Before I was done cleaning, Nels was getting up to play again -clearly not lethargic. So I looked up online to see if he might need stitches. I was still undecided when Nate walked in the door. He agreed that stitches might be warranted and since this happened at 8:30pm on a Saturday when all urgent care clinics are closed, I would be taking Nels to the ER.
I got all but Nels ready for bed before we left so Nate could eat a quick dinner. When I put Solvei to bed she was so sad. She has never gone to bed before without Nels. I think she may have thought she was in trouble.
Nels was so good. When I told him to put his coat and shoes on he got so excited. He waited patiently at the hospital, took the medicine they gave him easily, held still while they treated him and didn’t cry pretty much the whole time even though it was waaayy past his bed time (we got done just after midnight). He was all smiles when I took his picture after the doctor first looked at him.
The doctor said it was worthy of stitches, but after examination said it could probably be treated with skin glue. They numbed it, washed it,
glued it, put steri-strips on to help hold it closed while it healed, and topped it all of with a band-aid so he wouldn’t try to pick at it. This is what he looks like this morning.
So now I have earned a new “mom experience badge” and am very thankful at a time like this that we have the medical coverage we do.
Solvei was kind of sad today. Not sure why, she didn’t look or act like she was sick or overly tired. She just wanted to be held a lot today and in the evening Daddy wouldn’t do. So I had a child attached to me for a good part of the day. At lunch time I sat her in her chair because she didn’t want to be put down. She usually is fussy while I make lunch (because I never make it fast enough) but she just looked sad, layed her head down on the table and waited until I was done. She’s so sweet, even when she’s sad.
I got another birthday present. A telephoto lens for my camera, and it’s awesome! When I was getting it out of the box Saedi asked what it was, and what it was for – I was standing in the kitchen and she was sitting at the dining table doing homework. So I told her it was a new lens and it “lets me take a close-up picture of you all the way over there without having to go over there.” So I took one, just because I could.
(Yes I know it’s out of focus but I had just gotten it out of the box and hadn’t yet discovered it is not auto focus)
Here are a few more that I got while I was figuring out how it works (and discovering that my vision is not as clear as I thought).
My kids love books. Saedi devours books as fast as Nate does (which is REALLY fast). Gavin, as I have said, is doing really well at learning to read. It’s not something I am making him do, he really wants to. Even Solvei and Nels love books. As I have also said we have A LOT of books.
In the house we are in there is an eat-in-kitchen and also a formal dining room. We don’t do formal dining (and only have one table anyway) so we have turned the formal dining room into a library. While I was moving the books all in there and setting up the shelves during the winter break, Solvei and Nels discovered the books. Then they got some books of their own for Christmas. Now they won’t leave the books shelves alone. Every time we are downstairs they will try to get at least one book from the shelves if not all of them (at least they only go after the board books most of the time).
This afternoon while I was making lunch, Solvei went to the shelves, got out three books, then gave one each to Nels and Gavin. They all sat down on the kitchen floor (right underfoot) and read their books while I finished, trading books when they were done. Amazing!
Solvei has finally figured out that she can climb onto things as well. She has been trying for about a week now but her legs just aren’t as long as Nels’ so she hasn’t been able to. I finally got Christmas taken down earlier this week but hadn’t brought all the boxes to the garage yet, when Solvei discovered this box is short enough for her to climbing on. She was so proud of herself, that Nels noticed and climbed on with her.
Nels is such a ham!
And since the camera was out it attracted the big kids too (if it’s interesting enough to take a picture of I have to find out what’s going on!) so I got a few of them too.
wadmanclan
Wadman Clan 