10.10.21 - Joy status: Calvin and Hobbes thrifted

I got all of these today for a total of $2.50! (Once Upon a Child) I think I'm going to make them Christmas gifts. My kids are still a little young but Clara is getting old enough she could practice reading with them.

7.19.21 - Joy status: faster playback speeds

Being able to listen to audiobooks or watch videos at faster playback speeds.

1.13.21 - Joy status: Audiobooks and cranberry bliss bars

• I made gluten-free cranberry bliss bars and my coworkers loved them and were even surprised that they are gluten-free.
• Terrisa is coming to visit and watch the kids on Friday so Jack and I can get lunch. We haven't had a date since September so I'm kind of excited.
• Audible changed its membership package so I can get a bunch of titles for free, including some I was already interested in.
• Several friends recommended I read "Basic Economics" by Thomas Sowell and so far I'm enjoying it.

That's all I can think of right now. Tell me yours.

12.20.20 - Joy status: video readings with Jane

Joy Inventory and kid snippets: every night that I've been out of town, I video chat with the kids before bed. And every night Jane very proudly shows me and reads to me If You Take a Mouse to the Movies. (She has the whole book memorized so she can "read" it to me.) Adorable.

11.15.20 - Joy status: Calvin "reading"

When Calvin picks up a book, toddlers over to me, sits in my lap, and waits for me to start reading.

11.6.20 - Kid snippets - Jane read stories

The last couple nights Jane has insisted on reading bedtime stories to me instead of the other way around. She's so proud of herself as she sits in the rocking chair and describes whatever she thinks is happening in the pictures. Even does character voices, albeit softly. And I like it because I can just sit and listen without trying to maneuver holding a book while fitting three kids in my lap.

Clara scraped her knee, then informed me that she was bleeding because germs were biting her.

The girls are watching Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving, but I think instead of learning about friendship and kindness, Clara is just learning that it's NOT okay to serve non-traditional food on Thanksgiving.

Photo from Nov 7, 2020 - Clara proudly shows me the fancy drink we made her.

10.3.20 - Joy status: kids Halloween books

All of the little kids Halloween books we have to read at bedtime right now. The girls love them. Some of them Jane can almost "read" from memory.

4.17.20 - Joy status: audiobook while cleaning

This evening I spent three or four hours listening to an audiobook I'm really enjoying (The Righteous Mind) while I cleaned and packed for our travel tomorrow. Jack had taken the kids elsewhere and I was completely uninterrupted. It felt like leisurely sitting around reading a book I love while the house magically got cleaner. It was a much-needed intellectually stimulating change of pace.

4.4.20 - Joy Status: Clara reading

Clara just read two pages from "One Fish Two Fish." She did a combination of sight reading and sounding words out. All I did was point to each word to help her focus on which one to read next. She was super excited about it. I gave her a huge hug and then Jack told her he needed an even bigger hug, so she stood by the front door and he stood across two rooms and then she ran as fast she could all the way up to him and he lifted her in the air. As I was leaving just now I asked her to lock the door behind me, and she said she couldn't cuz she had to read some more.

1.31.20 - Joy Statuses

12.6.19 - Kid snippets: early morning cuddles

This morning both Calvin and Jane woke up pretty early. Jack had already gone into work so I brought the kids into my room to hang out. I sat up with Calvin in my lap and Jane lying next to me, and I read them a truncated version of Polar Express and a highly truncated version of Fair's Fair (a Christmas book from when I was a kid). Then Jane asked me to lay Calvin down on the bed, so I did and she and I lay on either side of him. She just kept giving him kisses on his cheek and head and he just hung out, waving his arms and legs around and cooing at us.

Jane also wanted to use my phone to try to take pictures--something she's been way into lately and is actually getting slightly better at (at least some of her pictures are of people and not just of her forehead or feet. At one point this convo happened:

Jane: Mama I wah talking.
Me: You want to talk on the phone?
Jane: yeah
Me: okay
*Jane lifts my phone near her face.*
Jane: Hewwo? Hi. I good. Dis is Mama ah dis is Cahbih (Calvin). Cahbih ee happy. A-kay bye.

I love how cute Jane looks in her footie single piece pajamas with her curly bedhead. I feel like the era of them as little kids is just flying by and I'm trying to soak in as much of it as possible while I can.

11.18.19 - Kid snippets: Chawwy Bwown!

Jane is looking at a book with Snoopy on the cover.
Jane: Mama eee S N O O Q Y? What it spells?
Me: Snoopy
Jane: No! Chawwy Bwown!
Me: Okay

8.31.19 - Joy statuses

5.30.19 - Kid snippets: Ah wah boops!

We just put the kids to bed but then Jack had to go check on them because reasons.

Jack: Jane, what are you doing?? Go get in bed!
Jane: Naaa! Ah wah boops!
Jack: No just get in bed.
Jane: Nah ah ah wah boops!
Jack: You can get ONE book and then go get in bed.
Jane: *giggles*

I just like that he can tell what she's saying.

4.29.19 - Kid snippets: Jack's Blues enthusiasm

I was reading the girls bed time stories in the nursery. Jack was watching the Blues game in the living room. The Blues scored and Jack yelled "That's what I'm talking about!" so ferociously that Clara jumped up and ran to the living room to see if he was okay. Jane took no notice and asked for more books.

1.12.19 - Kid Snippets

Jane really likes being read to. She calls books "boop," and yesterday we sat next to the nursery bookshelf for a long time while she would pick a "boop," sit in my lap, let me read 85% of it, then get up and say "boop" and pick another one. We did this about 6-7 times. She picked "I'm a Big Sister" more than once but as soon as I get to the page about the baby sleeping she doesn't want to continue.

Today it's been raining a lot. I watched the rain out the window with Jane and Clara for a while and it made me think of "April Showers" from Bambi. So I pulled up the video of that song on Youtube, and Clara was really into it. It's maybe four minutes long and she watched it 4-5 times, each time pointing out the animals ("The mouse is under the mushroom! There's the mama bird!") and anticipating the lightning ("yigh-ing") and then announcing dramatically "It's okay!" as the animals are startled. She would wait until the part where the sun comes out and then hit 0 (start the video over).

Clara is definitely getting more vocal and articulate. I love when she asks Jack or me "What you doin'?" She usually seems to at least partially understand the responses too. Once while we were in Missouri and once at the airport waiting to fly home she had some form of conversation with other children around her age, and it really warms my heart. It's a halting and unsure conversation but at least at this age kids just kind of go with it.

This evening Clara started singing the Pentatonix version of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman" (her current favorite song apparently). Jane was sitting in my lap at the time and she turned and looked at me with an open-mouthed grin, then hurriedly stood up and started dancing emphatically to Clara's singing. I guess that's the hot song for toddlers right now.

A lot of times when I hug Jane she pats my shoulder.

Jane refers to Clara as "Air-rah!" She is often eager and happy to see Clara when they first wake up, although Clara usually doesn't feel the same way and wants to go back to sleep. This morning (1/12/19) is Saturday so they don't have to get up at any particular time. Jane woke up before Clara so I took Jane into the living room to let Clara sleep. Clara is occasionally coughing in the nursery and when Jane hears her she points in that direction and says "Air-rah!" as if she's making sure I know. It's very sweet how much Jane wants to do what Clara's doing and be around Clara.

10/10/18 - Kara's joys

8.31.18 Joy statuses