This is something the kids made at the Discovery center in Boise. A pen is on one end of a contraption, and you get the other end moving in a pattern, and voila! I should know the scientific terms for how this works, but I don't want to research right now.
Ellie played the following roles today:
Organizer in the store (she helped rearrange the fishing supplies and took pride in her work)
Hospital Patient (pretend! She made sure to tell the doctors, Saxton and Brinley how to take care of her)
Lawyer (she explained how perfectly logical it was for her to slap her brother)
Teacher (she taught our neighbor, Gavin--40 yrs old, how to navigate an obstacle course on the Wii)
This is one of Ellie's little pictures that I think is sweet.
A funny thing about Ellie:
Yesterday we visited a friend's church. A little boy of about 9 who has Down's Syndrome was sitting in the bench in front of us. He climbed over his bench, brought his little trucks, and sat with us for most of the meeting. He, of course, had the sweetest smile and one couldn't help but love him. He was wearing no shoes or socks and he kept showing Ellie his feet, particularly the middle toes. He held them very close to her face and grinned. Ellie didn't quite know what to do, but I was pleased that she smiled at him. He did every thing she did. When she put the hymnbook on her lap, he did the same with his. When she opened it, so did he. She talked with him and was his friend. This was good.
And this is a ballerina picture Ellie drew. Brinley was her model and held very still. Ellie tipped a little table toward herself and drew on it, studying Brinley very carefully.
Brinley's Thoughts:
(Or the thoughts I imagine her having often and randomly)
I love wearing a leotard and nothing else.
I'm hungry.
I'm going to read my fairy book.
I miss Shadow (her hamster's life was taken-- tragically.)
I'm hungry.
Maybe I should put my swimming suit on now?
I need a hug.
I need to do a headstand.
I need to sing a song.
I'm hungry.
She sang songs for Grandma Gay last night. Songs about elephants, fish, kangaroos, swans, and turtles. It was lovely. I've always loved her high-bell voice.
This is something Saxton painted when he was 5. I love it because he filled the page with all sorts of colors. I think I'll send it to the Friend magazine and see what they do, but even if they do not publish it, I think it is brilliance, of course.
Saxton has been very emotional lately. I have to try very hard not to smile when he is weeping over certain things. Last night it was that he DID NOT have the right pajama pants to go with his favorite Star Wars top, and he hasn't seen those pants for at least a year (he got them for Christmas). He is very concerned about matching.
Tonight it was that he couldn't be in the club Ellie and Brinley started and he couldn't go in their fort (although he really could, as long as he wouldn't wreck the fort anymore.)
But on a happier Saxton note:
His drawer of plastic animals was getting really full- to the point that we could no longer shut it. So he chose several to give to his classmates, and we put them in brown paper bags with their names on them, to give to them tomorrow at school. I hope they like them and their moms don't say, "why are you bringing home old toys from school?" hmmm... I think they will like them because when I was in kindergarten I would have liked getting a plastic giraffe from a cute boy.
We are reading The Trumpet of the Swan at night with the kids, and Saxton is by far the most interested of the four.
And now, Nathan.
The other night, he was saying a prayer for the family. He was speaking in a silly, loud voice, and so I said, "talk in a nice voice, Nathan". Well, he took that one over the top and prayed in the most girly, sing songy voice. We all couldn't help but giggle. Since then he has tried to get the same reaction from us, but we are trying very hard to stay sober through his hamminess (word?).
In church, he was taking the sacrament. He kept the little cup instead of returning it to the tray, and usually we don't allow this, but this time we slipped. He was sitting against the wall, pretending to fill his little cup with some thing that came out of the wall. Ellie said, "Nathan, are you getting more water?" He said, (in a loud voice) "It's not water. It's coffee!" This, as with all stories of children saying funny things, is so much better live than retold, but I thought it was worth retelling.
Tonight at dinner, Saxton was once again proud of how he can burp on command. He knows how I don't like this, and I gave him the look. Nathan said with a ponderous look, "Why do moms and dads not wike it when kids burp on poopus? (purpose)". Again we all laughed at him-- he just sounds so funny!
