Destinies, Elephants and Narnia

Random overheard conversations between Evelynn and Caelan:

~Evelynn: It's my destiny!!
  Caelan: It's your destiny?
  Evelynn: Yes!
  Caelan: I don't think so.
  Evelynn: You just ruined my life.

~Evelynn: I would love a talking couch.
  Caelan: Ok, here's one.
  Evelynn: You are so thoughtful.

~Caelan: I'm pretending to be an elephant.
  Evelynn: But I wanted to be the elephant.
  Caelan: But I am.
  Evelynn: Ok. I'll be a large hippo.

~Evelynn: Do you want a creature power suit? (a PBS Kids reference)
  Caelan: Yes!
  Evelynn: Ok, but after we wear our princess dresses.
 
~Evelynn: You know why they have to leave on that train? (explaining the the initial scene to Chronicles of Narnia, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe)
  Caelan: Because their Mom is waving?
  Evelynn: No, it's because of the airplanes. It's dangerous so they have to leave.
  Caelan: The airplanes have to leave.
  Evelynn: They won't, just Peter, Edmund, Susan and Lucy.
  Caelan: Oh. But why?
  Evelynn: I said it was dangerous.
  Caelan: Oh. Why are the airplanes there?
  Evelynn: I don't know. Mom?

~Evelynn: Are we going to dance or no?
  Caelan: No, we're going shopping.
  Evelynn: I wasn't talking to you. Mom, are we going to dance or no?
  Caelan: Mom said no, we're going shopping.
  Evelynn: No, we're not. We're going to dance.
  Caelan: And then shopping?

"Don't you have something to clean?"

    Whispers from Caelan's room: "Put that basket over there... yeah," "Ok, put all the pillows right there." "There's not enough pillows, where are the stuffed animals?" "Ok, try that." "It's too far away." "Ok, I'll move it closer." "Now it's too close." "Ok, I'll move it." "You want to jump first?" "No, you do it." "It's still too far away." "Ok, I'll try it."
    Enough to pique anyone's interest right? Especially if you're me.
    "Mom, why are you looking at me?" asked Evelynn, standing in an empty basket in the middle of the room.
    "No reason, just looking at my girls." I see Caelan crouched on the edge of her bed.
    "Oh, ok. Can you stop looking at me now?"
    "Uh, sure..."
    "You're still looking at me. Don't you have something to clean?"

Nice. I have the feeling they are up to something. I move away from the door, pretending to leave. I hear her start moving again as she says "It's too close now, I'm going to move it further away." I lean a little towards the door and she sees me again.
    "You're still looking at me, Mom."
    "Yes, I am."
    "Why?"
    "I'm not sure any more. What are you doing?"
    "Just playing."
    "Ok."
    "I have an idea. We will play while you bake us some cookies."

Uhuh. Sounds like a great idea. They are definitely up to something. I pretend to leave again, but tiptoe back to the door, staying just out of sight.
    "It's not big enough." "Yes, it is." "No, it's not." "It's not soft enough yet." "Yes, it is." "You try it." "No, it's too far."
I peek around the corner. Both girls are standing on the footboard of Caelan's bed. The object that is too far is a large basket with some stuffed animals and a couple of small pillows, and yes, it is too far away from the bed and lacks enough cushion to break the fall of a jump. Oh, my. Potential injury averted. Let's not jump off the bed into the basket.

Music, Dancing and Naptime

    I always feel a little bad that McKenna doesn't get a lot of blog-worthy attention. She is a happy, extremely laid-back child, so most of her days see her roaming around from one toy or book to the next, contentedly occupying herself for hours at a time. Maybe she's decided her sister move too fast for her, which they probably do. She approaches them and their antics cautiously, but is rarely phased when they overlook her attempts at playing with them. Evelynn is her buddy, though, and turns to her to give a good tickle or to share. Caelan, does not usually interact with McKenna unless McKenna causes her distress, like taking toys that are "Caelan's" or taking up too much of my attention that could be given to Caelan. Caelan has her random acts of kindness, and the two have learned to coexist peacefully for now. When McKenna is older, I'm sure she will be a lot more fun to her sisters. Right now, not so much.
    McKenna loves music, definitely finds a danceable beat, and is ecstatic over bedtime. Music is always playing in our home and she spends a lot of her time wiggling and bobbing her head in time with the beat. Being a child after her mother's heart musically, she prefers Louis Armstrong and Michael Buble. And after all the music and dancing, she's always ready for bed. Ask her if she's ready for "Night, night" and she starts shaking, her little hands flapping excitedly, even faster the nearer to her door we get. She lays down flat on her back and waits for the blanket to be thrown over her. She reaches for the blanket and snuggles it under her chin, her hands peeping out from the edge, waiting for her sippy cup. Once her cup is in her hands, she looks at me as if saying "All right, lady, turn on my music and then leave." I turn on her mp3 player and walk out, shutting the door behind me. And that's that. Later on, I will hear her turn the music back on and I know she's awake. Then I will hear her giggling and bouncing in her crib, the creaking of the mattress getting a good workout as she jives.

Where words fail, music speaks. ~ Hans Christian Andersen

Currently Caelan

Here follows a list of Caelan's current preferences, dislikes and quirks.

• She prefers the crust on a sandwich rather than the sandwich itself.
• She likes ink, especially on her skin. Current body decorations: black on the tip of her nose, black on her arm, red on her chin, yellow on her leg. This could, more than likely, change by the end of the day.
• She is never without her Tinkerbell blanket and pillow.
• She wants her hair done with a bow every morning. This rarely lasts longer than an hour or so.
• She also wants 'lipstick' and anti-bacterial hand lotion ALL the time.
• When she is forced to wear clothes, this is her favorite ensemble.

• She prefers tights or leggings to actual pants.

• There is no chocolate in the house because she has personally consumed every last morsel.
• Her favorite books are One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, There's a Wocket in My Pocket, Snoopy and the Red Baron, Oh the Thinks You Can Think, and Put Me in the Zoo.

• Her favorite movie is Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (Johnny Depp version) and knows most of the lines, saying them along with the characters.
• Her favorite songs are Allstar (Smashmouth, from Shrek), There's Gonna Be a Heartache Tonight (Michael Buble) and the theme song for The Electic Company on PBS.
• Her favorite TV show is Wild Kratts which when translated into 'Caelan' is Wild Kraps.
• She loves Chaucer, likes Evelynn and tolerates McKenna.
• She cuddles only in the morning right after she wakes up, but doesn't call it cuddling. She "only cuddles with Grandma."
• If there's anything to swing on (door knobs, handles, ledges) she will swing on it.
• She believes that pixie dust really is sugar and all she has to do is throw the sugar into the air above her to fly.
• Now that her drawers are locked on her dresser, she has decided that to change clothes multiple times a day she must borrow from her sisters and her parents.
• She loves black pepper and wants it on everything, including cereal and oatmeal.
• She prefers not to see her bedroom floor and keeps it covered with anything and everything her mother would rather see in the baskets and bins.
• She likes to move furniture around, including her own bed, as amazing as it might seem given her tiny body.
• She prefers Spongebob fruit snacks to Scooby Doo, but only when there are no Princess fruit snacks.

And that's just a few...

And That's a Education

    Discipline for Caelan has lately revolved around her not taking 'no' for an answer. She asks for something and I tell her no. Then she says, "But I want..." repeatedly, thinking that any minute I will change my mind. I don't tolerate this and for this evening, she found herself in bed far sooner than she had anticipated, making the discipline quite effective.
    Evelynn, being the observant child she is, had this to say about the discipline: "Caelan got sent to bed because she didn't listen to you. If you tell me 'no' I will say 'yes, ma'am' and I won't say no. She needs to learn that. She was talking bad to you and that was not very nice. I won't talk bad to you, Mom. If she learns that, that's a education."
    It's a blessing that my four year old can pick up on the importance of listening and that would be the beginning of education.

Evelynn Thoughts

What follows are some of Evelynn's thoughts over the last few days:

• I wish I had wings. I would fly to the store, but the wings have to be like the wings of a fairy. Pretty and sparkly.
• I wish I were a wolf. I would be like Balto and get that medicine for Rosie.
• Caelan can't find her prince. I told her she has to kiss a frog, but I wouldn't do that. I might turn into a frog, too, and I wouldn't want to see what Dad would say about that.
• Can we talk about beavers?
• Can we talk about frogs?
• Can we talk about cows?
• We took all the books off my bookshelf. It was an accident and accidents happen, Mom.
• Violet Beauregard is an ugly little girl. She is not talking very nice and she's not listening to Willy Wonka. She better watch out. She'll be a blueberry. Look! She's a blueberry. I told you, didn't I, Mom. She was selfish.
• This is the best Valentine's Day ever.
• I am so excited to go to dance!
• I'm pretending to be a wolf, did you hear me howl?
• Isn't it time for McKenna to go to bed? She's really annoying.
• I'm going to show you a trick. I'm going to pour this water from here into here. Did you see?
• We're pretending to be beavers. We're piling sticks to be our home.
• Don't worry, Mom. Caelan is just pretending to cry.

And lastly, Evelynn asked to listen to German music. I was already listening to some music and told her that what I was listening to was German music. She disagreed. I could understand her confusion. We were not listening to music with German lyrics, but to Fantasie C Major, Op. 17 by Robert Schumann. I still don't think she believes we were listening to German music.

Killin' Meat

    Evelynn is an inquisitive little girl and what she learns ruminates in her mind for weeks, taking on new meaning for her. After she has acquired enough information on a subject she educates Caelan with what she has learned. One of the things that has interested her greatly in recent months is discovering where 'meat' comes from. This evening as I was cooking dinner Evelynn came in to smell what I was cooking (spaghetti) and to inquire the source of the meat. She left the kitchen with her answers and soon brought Caelan back with her.
    "Caelan, I have something I want to talk to you about. I want to tell you about the meat Mama's fixin'. Grandpa killed that meat. Isn't he so sweet to kill it for us? It's like cow meat, but it's not. It's deer meat. It's gonna be so good. Mama's makin' pasghetti with it. It smells lovely. Grandpa would think so, too."
   The explanation given, she now can't wait to eat that 'killed meat.'