Turn your day around

Once upon a time, before the kids experienced the wonders of the school bus, they were car riders. Back then, more often than not, we'd scarf down our lunch, comb our hair, go potty, put on our shoes, and rush out the door in a frenzy to get to school on time ... only to get there early. While we waited in the van for the teachers to open the gates, claustrophobia would set in, and with it would come lots of whining, random crying, and plenty of shoving as impatient little bodies jockeyed for space.

At some point, to distract everyone from the misery of our close quarters, I began to sing "This Is the Day That the Lord Has Made." Almost immediately, I noticed that everyone's attitude changed! Singing praise proved so effective at turning around a bad day that I made it a daily before-school routine, and soon all four kids were joining me in singing both the English and the Spanish versions.

We got out of the habit of singing our song over the summer, but last week we started up again while waiting for the school bus to arrive. Surprisingly, everyone remembers the words, and, as you can see, Isaac is especially happy to be singing our special song again:



Now, be honest: Your day just got a little bit better, too, didn't it?

This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

(Psalm 118:24)

Inhibition can wait

Dance like no one's watching? When you're 3 years old, there is no other way to dance:



Who cares if your moves are a little more Benes than Jagger? When you're 3 years old, inhibition can wait!

If only I could figure out how to bottle her utter lack of self-consciousness ... I know I'll be longing for this age of innocence soon enough!

Jesus loves Lucy

Do you remember the first time you sang "Jesus Loves Me"? Well, I don't—but I do know that I've been singing it for as long as I can remember. Growing up, I knew it as "Cristo Me Ama" (#155 in our himnario), and we sang it just about every Sunday at the request of one of the little boys in our church. "Jesus Loves Me" was also the first song that Abuelito Nehiel sang to Lucy, and our friends and family later sang it together (in English and in Spanish) at the babies' dedication ceremony. And every night, Ted and I sing both versions to the kids after we tuck them in their beds.

But never has this old tune sounded as sweet to me as it did yesterday, when Lucy sat down with Tío Ner's guitar and gave us this unexpected performance:



Sí, Cristo te ama, Lucy—and so do we!

Our 15 seconds

In case you haven't heard, we're a little bit famous right now. Our adventure as (very minor) celebrities started on Wednesday night, when one of my friends discovered that the Huffington Post was featuring one of our videos. I was absolutely floored! The next morning, I was astounded again when another friend informed me that our video was hanging out on AOL's homepage:

I thought that would be the end of the story, but yesterday my aunt noticed that another YouTube user has uploaded our video as his own (probably to increase traffic to his channel). And today I woke up to find that our original video is closing in on 1 million views:



Can you believe it? All because of a little video that I took to remember the first time that Tío Ner played his guitar for the Fab Four—crazy!

One of our favorite things

Forget Paul McCartney or our wedding video—the latest craze around here is the singalong feature on our Sound of Music DVD. Every night before bed, I pop in "Maria" (as the kids call it), and the playroom is magically transformed into Salzburg, with the Fab Four taking on the roles of various characters in the movie—including, of course, Maria:

Dahlia as Maria 
(she came up with this ensemble all by herself!)

The kiddos have a great time copying every twirl and gesture they see onscreen, and Ted and I get a big kick out of seeing them perform (and perfect) their routines. I especially love watching them do "Sixteen Going on Seventeen," with all of its leaping and spinning and—the best part—the kiss at the end:



Who knows—maybe one of these kids will end up on Broadway someday!

New song on the block

It's taken a while, but the Fab Four are finally starting to really sing—and loudly. Naturally, they all love the standards, such as "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" and the alphabet song, but they are quickly adding to their repertoire. Dahlia can often be heard heartily belting out "Tomorrow," and Isaac enjoys singing along to "And I Love Her" or "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds." Lucy likes to tweak the lyrics when she sings (Barney's "I love you / you love me" becomes "I love you / I love me"), while Jude immediately picks up on the chorus of any song (the theme to "Elmo's World" being a particular favorite).

Recently, one of our DVDs inspired the Fab Four to start singing "oh, oh, oh, oh-oh / oh-oh, oh-oh," to the tune of "The Blue Danube." Last night I determined that the kids were ready to apply their "oh-oh" skills to something a little more contemporary:



For the record, Ted is appalled.

An extra-special extra

Several months ago my cousin Glenda transferred our wedding video onto a DVD. I decided to pop it in for the first time on our 11th anniversary last month, and was utterly shocked when the Fab Four asked to see it again the next day—and again the next! Nearly a month later, we are still watching parts of our wedding DVD daily. The kids love seeing Mommy dressed like a "princess" (the royal wedding made a big impression on them), and they get a big kick out of naming everyone they recognize on TV.

Their favorite part of the video, though, has to be the extra clip that Glenda included of my dad's youngest brother and his band performing at my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary party, shortly before his death. The kids like the clip so much that they ask for Tío Arturo (aka "Dee-o Doodle") to sing to them almost every day before nap. Recently a couple of his littlest sobrinitos have begun to accompany the band:



I can't tell you how happy it makes me to know that, even in death, my Tío Arturo is teaching my children to love music. Thanks for adding such a special extra to our DVD, Tía Glenda!

Budding Beatlemania

It's no secret that Ted and I love the Beatles. Like any good fan, we listen to Beatles music on a daily basis, we often wear Beatles T-shirts, we own a wide assortment of Beatles DVDs, and we even have a collection of Beatles magnets on our fridge.

Naturally, we also hope that our kids will one day become diehard Beatles fans. Already, Lucy—who often requests "Buddles lusic" (Beatles music)—can identify every Beatle by name, Jude can name two out of four "Booh-doohs" (Paul and Ringo), and Isaac and Dahlia can each pick out Paul. It's a good start!

Lately I've been feeding the kids' fledgling obsession by showing them Paul McCartney music videos when they wake up from their nap. Ted thinks it's a bit much (he's not a big fan of solo Paul), but I've discovered that there's something about Paul that magically cures post-nap crankiness. As soon as I push "play," the kids forget any grievances and pile onto the couch to eat their snacks—and to point out every time Paul is on the screen, of course!

We've been watching Paul videos so regularly, in fact, that if I forget to put in the DVD right away, someone is sure to remind me of my oversight. I suppose it was only a matter of time until Paul made it into one of the Fab Four's imaginative play:



Someone sure knows how to make her Beatle-loving mother proud!

Bedtime story

The bedtime routine in our house is pretty simple: Get in your sleepsack, listen to Mommy and Daddy say a prayer, receive a goodnight kiss, and go to sleep. Earlier this week, however, I suddenly felt the strong urge to add a new element: Between the prayer and the kisses, Ted and I now sing "Jesus Loves Me" to the kids (once in English and once in Spanish). Hearing Mommy and Daddy sing together really seems to settle them down, and a couple of the kids are already trying to participate (Isaac especially enjoys standing up and vigorously nodding his head during the "yes, Jesus loves me" part).

Ready for beddy!
(clockwise from bottom left: Jude, Isaac, Lucia, and Dahlia)

After last night's song, Ted and I were starting to give out the goodnight kisses when I heard Lucy say, "again." I thought she wanted another kiss, but as I leaned in, she beamed up at me and confidently pronounced, "Je-us." What a thrill!

With a song in my heart, I immediately launched into another round of "Jesus Loves Me"—and wondered at a little girl who, although still too young to understand what it means to accept Jesus, nevertheless knows that what she really wants is to hear her mommy and daddy sing about Him one more time before she goes to sleep.

Upon reflection today, however, I realized that I got it backwards last night: The real wonder is that my little girl is actually still young enough to understand exactly what it means to accept Jesus.

"Unless you change and become like little children,
you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."

(Matthew 18:3)

They're 2!

At the height of all the crib climbing last week, the Fab Four turned 2 years old. Thankfully, we had already decided to celebrate their birthday the day after Christmas instead of the day before, so most of the siesta-less chaos was behind us by the time their fiesta rolled around.

I'd originally wanted to do a Wiggles-themed party for the kids, but it turns out that Wiggles party supplies are hard to come by. So on Christmas Eve (yes, on their birthday and at the last possible minute), I ran to the party store to consider my options. It didn't take me long to settle on the character that rates a close second to the Wiggles in the hearts of the Fab Four: 

ELMO!

I knew I'd picked the right theme when the kids were absolutely thrilled to see the Elmo balloons waiting for them at the feeding table:

Jude and Dahlia chowed down on their Elmo cupcakes, 
while Isaac and Lucy refused to even touch them. Typical!

Since we are still being careful about RSV exposure this season, our guest list was again very small, with only the Abuelitos, Grandma and Grandpa T, Great-Grandma C, and Tio Ner and Tia Glenda in attendance. We were also lucky enough to have Tio Johnny and Tia Holly skype in to watch the kids open the very special gifts they'd sent:

Real instruments for the Fab Four! 
Left to right: Isaac with the ukelele, Lucia with the bongos, 
Jude with the accordion, Dahlia with the xylophone

What with the musical instruments from Johnny and Holly, the mountain of birthday loot from everyone else, and Christmas presents from the day before, the Fab Four really made out like bandits. Ted and I have some serious sorting out to do to make room for all the new toys, but we are so, so grateful to everyone who so generously remembered our family during this special time of the year.

We are BLESSED!

Rare family pic, 
with Jude and Dahlia on Ted's lap and Lucy and Isaac on mine

2010 in statuses, part 5

I'm taking a walk down memory lane, Facebook style. You can read the entire series here.

Life with the Fab Four ramped up during the month of November. Every time I turned around, it seemed the kids were saying or doing something funny or new. What a fun age!

NOVEMBER
1  Nothing sweeter than seeing Jude say "thank you" to Dahlia today after she handed him his night-night (blankie).

3  Made half-dollar-sized oatmeal pancakes this morning. The kids saw them and got super-excited about their "cookies." Hey, whatever gets them to eat what I make!

14  Happiness is four 22-month-olds letting you clip all of their fingernails, assembly-line style. I usually have to settle for clipping a few nails at a time, until all 40 are done ... it can take days!

Still able to pile into the toy box together, but it's a tight fit! (22 months)
clockwise from bottom left: Lucia, Isaac, Dahlia, and Jude

15  SO discouraging when FOUR kids take one look at the lunch you've prepared for them and refuse to take ONE bite. :(

18  George's performance of "Something" during the Concert for Bangladesh just played on the TV. As soon as it started, Isaac started jumping up and down and grabbed my hands to slow dance with me. MELT MY HEART!!!

19  Not to be outdone by Isaac's budding Beatlemania (see yesterday's status), tonight Lucy identified George on my shirt, and then proceeded to kiss all of the Beatles as I named them. Her idea, not mine!!

21  Dear Mom:
I'm sorry for ever turning up my nose at anything you made. This is the pits.
Love, Suzy

22  Took the kids for a windy choo choo ride this afternoon. The gusts were blowing the leaves all around us on our way home ... Lucy and Jude loved it, but Dahlia was terrified! I'm pretty sure Isaac didn't even notice.

Watching some bedtime Baby Einstein (22 months)
left to right: Isaac, Dahlia, Jude, and Lucia

24 When the kids got up this morning, Dahlia ran to the window and immediately started saying, "Ooooh, ahhh! Kai!" (her word for sky). I looked outside and, sure enough, the sky was a beautiful shade of orange. When Jude saw it, he shouted, "Ya-yo!" (yellow). Close! :)

30  So last night I'm awoken from a deep slumber by Dahlia SCREAMING her head off. I lay there hoping that she'll die down, but no dice. She is MAD. So I get up and go to the nursery. When I open the door, I notice that Isaac has left the closet light on (he likes to play with the switch, which is next to his crib). I turn it off, and Dahlia instantly stops screaming. Talk about the princess and the pea!

30  We set up the toy nativity scene last week, and tonight Ted reports that Jude's got Joseph riding in a fire truck. Ah, the wonderful world of Fisher-Price Little People!

Dinosaur kisses

None of my kids will kiss me on demand—and unsolicited besos are almost as hard to come by. So imagine my delight when Isaac incorporated this ever-elusive display of affection into his "choreography" for my abbreviated version of "We Are the Dinosaurs" (one of the kids' most-requested Laurie Berkner Band songs):



He goes through this same routine (hands slapping my legs during the marching part, standing and throwing back his head for the roar, leaning in for the kiss on the last word) every single time I sing this song. I have no clue where he got the idea to do all of this—but I love every second of it!

All together now

On Thanksgiving, the Fab Four got to play Grandma T's piano for the first time. It was a momentous occasion, but I guess no one told them that—the carefully staged quartet stayed together only long enough to give us the shortest concert ever:



Does anyone else get the feeling that they were just humoring us?

23 months old ... and fasting

Fasting is not the first word you'd associate with Thanksgiving, but that's exactly what our kids did at their very first Thanksgiving dinner yesterday (you may recall that we had to skip the holiday last year because we were all sick). Given the fact that they've been pretty picky during the past couple of months, I must say that their refusal to eat came as no surprise—at least not to me and Ted (hopefully Grandma T didn't take the rejection too personally).

I know the kids will eat when they're hungry, so I don't get too worried about how much (or how little) they're putting in their mouths these days. But I have to admit that it's still frustrating to spend time making a meal and then see perfectly good food go to waste! Even worse is when one (or more) of them decides to whine and/or throw a fit about what I've put on the table. I'd much rather they just shake their heads and laugh—preferably to the tune of a Beatles song, like this:



Let's hope that they don't turn up their noses at birthday cake next month!

Wiggle-licious

The Fab Four have recently acquired a raging obsession with the Wiggles. They constantly beg to watch the one Wiggles DVD that we have, they insist on looking at the cover of our one Wiggles CD when they're on the changing table, and our one Wiggles toy (a not-so-gently-used guitar) is one of the most sought-after items in the playroom.

I love the Wiggles, too, because they are teaching my kids to sing and dance, something Ted and I have been trying to do for months without much success. In fact, Lucy starts dancing the second she hears the opening song on our DVD. Check out her moves:



I don't know which dance step I like best—her hands tapping her knees at the beginning or the Frankenstein walk at the end. One thing's for sure: The Fab Four just can't get enough of the Wiggles!

The pudding song

The Fab Four haven't mastered using spoons yet, but they're getting better all the time (especially Dahlia). Several months ago, I discovered that a great food for them to practice with is rice pudding. I make it from scratch about once a week, and the kids absolutely love it.

As good as rice pudding is for honing the kids' spoon skills, however, I still think it's much more fun to spoon-feed it to them while singing "Arroz con leche," a song I remember from my early childhood in Peru. This little ditty never fails to magically put everyone at the table in a good mood:



(In case you're curious, the lyrics roughly translate to: "Rice pudding, I want to marry / a maiden from Portugal / I want to marry this one / I don't want to marry that one / This is the maiden that I will marry." See, nursery rhymes in Spanish don't make much sense, either!)

Our guitar hero

What could possibly be better than jamming with your great-uncle on your toy guitar?


How about having a great-uncle who will give you a real guitar of your very own!


You read that right: My Tío Ner hand-carried a little guitar all the way from Peru just for the Fab Four! Lucky for us, he's a classical guitarist who believes that it's important for young children to be able to explore an instrument—to climb on it, hit it, feel it, and pluck its strings—in order to hear the effects of their actions. The kids seem to discover something new every time they play with their guitarrita!

Ted and I are so grateful for my uncle's investment in our children's musical education. We also love it when he gives us a private concert. Here's a clip of the first time he performed for the Fab Four, just about a year ago:



My dad's side is blessed with several gifted guitarists (including my brother), so hopefully all of this early exposure will pay off. I certainly wouldn't mind having another guitar player (or four) in the family!

He's got the beat

A long time ago, when the Fab Four were still in the womb and nameless, I assigned to Isaac (then known as Baby B) the temporary name of Paul (as in John, Paul, George, and Ringo). If I'd known then how much Isaac would love to bang on his alphabet drums, I probably would have nicknamed him Ringo instead. When he's not pounding the drums, he's standing in front of them and bouncing to their music. So cute!

(Better to slap the drums than my face, I say. Anyone know of a good way to curb the gratuitous hitting that's starting to rear its ugly head?)

Think Weird Al for babies

Going through the junk drawer yesterday, I came across a scrap of paper with a list scribbled on it. Inspecting it more closely, I remembered that sometime last summer I decided to write down a bunch of "songs" that I liked to sing to the babies at the time. Each was based on a rock/pop hit, but I'd tweaked the lyrics to entertain the Fab Four (and my sleep-deprived self). If you came over to help us when the babies were small, you might remember hearing me sing/say:

"Let's burp! Put on your red shoes and burp the blues" (to the tune of "Let's Dance" by David Bowie) or "Gimme a burp!" (said like Janet Jackson says, "Gimme a beat!" in "Nasty") when the babies were hard to burp ...

"All I want is some poop; just gimme some poop" (to the tune of "Gimme Some Truth" by John Lennon) when Isaac was constipated ...

"Dirty Lucia-ah" (to the tune of "Dirty Diana" by Michael Jackson) when changing Lucy's poopy diapers ...

"Let's get, let's get, let's get washed!" (to the tune of "Let's Get Rocked" by Def Leppard) or "Pour some water on meeeee, in the name of love" (to the tune of "Pour Some Sugar on Me" by Def Leppard) when I was giving the babies a bath ...

"Who's sad?" (said like Michael Jackson says, "Who's bad?" in "Bad") if a baby was crying ...

"They say that waking up is hard to do-oo; now I know, I know that it's true-oo" (to the tune of "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" by Neil Sedaka) if a baby woke up crying, or ...

"Here I come, baby; comin' to getcha!" (lifted from "Foxy Lady" by Jimi Hendrix) when I was on my way to pick up a baby—for any reason.

Ted and I have come up with more silly parodies in the months since I made this list, but I don't even remember what they were anymore. I'm glad I recorded my greatest hits from the early days!