Out of the box

A box is just a box. 

Until you look at it and decide that it's actually a doghouse:

Until you realize that you can get in, shut the "door," and be alone, for once:

Until you figure out that you can push two boxes together to make a cozy, private cave for two:

Until you round up a couple more boxes to create a haven with just enough room for all of you:

Until it occurs to you that maybe, just maybe, Mommy will let you decorate your new homes with markers:

A box is just a box?
Not when you're 4 years old!

 

* I would like to thank all of the boxes pictured in this post for endlessly entertaining the kiddos this week—and helping to make spring break at home a little more enjoyable for all of us!

Being almost 4

Sometimes I forget how little you are,
That you haven't seen everything,
That, to you, the world is still new.
And then I do something ordinary,
Like blow bubbles with my chewing gum,
Something totally ordinary that,
Through you, becomes extraordinary.
And I'm reminded of the wonder,
The sheer wonder of being almost 4.

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!

Puddle of fun

Ah, jumping in puddles. A pleasure that most kids take for granted, but something that mine had only seen on television ... until yesterday, when an overnight rainstorm left a tantalizing puddle on the walking trail behind our house. As soon as Jude saw it, he knew exactly what to do with it—and the rest of the crew soon followed:



Puddles of the world, you are no longer safe: If the Fab Four see you, they will jump in you!

Backyard wonders

Our backyard isn't fancy, but to the Fab Four it's no wasteland: It's a wonderland.

After all, when you're 2 years old, not many things are more rewarding than to run around finding "lallow flawers" for Mommy:

Or to stand on your very tiptoes to pick the buds off of trees for her:

And few experiences are as exhilarating as scaling a great big climbing tower:

And then feeling the wind in your hair when you get to the top:

I mean, when you're 2 years old, what could be more fun than to test the sturdiness of the picnic table:

And verify that there is enough room for two on the bench?

To be sure, there can be no shortage of smiles:

When the entire yard is yours to discover:

Especially when Mommy even lets you see what lives under the drain pipe!

Yes, when you're 2 years old, you can play and explore until you're plumb tuckered out:

... but that doesn't mean you won't still scream in disappointment when it's time to come inside!

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)

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!

The joy of jammies

Nights have been cool enough lately that I finally decided to put the kids in footed pajamas again. Lucy was the first to change into her winter jammies, and—as you can see—she was absolutely delighted with her new bedtime garb:



If only we could all derive such pleasure from the simple things in life!

Give me a sign

When the Fab Four dropped their morning nap a few months ago, I started showing them sign language videos in the late morning to keep them happy until lunchtime. I had halfheartedly tried to teach them signs prior to this, but demonstrating the sign and then helping the kids to do the sign—four times—every time I said the word I wanted them to learn was just too difficult to do consistently. So I gave up. Once we started watching the videos regularly, however, the kids rapidly picked up signs on their own—all I had to do was watch the videos with them a couple of times to learn the signs myself. Sweet!

Being able to communicate with the kids in this way has been thrilling, and I am constantly surprised at the things they are noticing in their environment. If they did not know signs, for example, I would have no idea that they sometimes hear a dog barking in the distance, or that all of them are obsessed with cars, or that they are often dying to wear shoes indoors. Among many other things, they can also ask for food, tell me when they're thirsty, and let me know when they're full. I love it!

The challenge is that not all of the kids necessarily make the same sign in the same way—or in any way similar to what we learned on the video. Sometimes, in fact, I can only differentiate signs based on the sounds the kids make along with their gesture of choice, or based on the context in which they are making the gesture. I guess it's their way of making sure I'm paying attention! Check out this clip, and you'll see what I mean:

Navel-gazing

The kids are working on learning their body parts. All four of them know where their eyes and nose are, and Jude and Lucy can also point to their tummy, mouth, ears, and hair. Lucy is the only one who can show you her feet, which she loves to adorn with links.

This evening I caught the girls investigating yet another part of their anatomy—and a very cute part it is!

Just a little bit longer

Today I caught Jude messing with Dahlia's hair:


And it reminded me of one morning last summer, when I took this video of Jude discovering Dahlia's hair for the first time:

Something tells me he's just waiting for her hair to get long enough for him to give it a really good YANK!

Dahlia's refrigerator surprise

Even after nearly a year, I still forget sometimes that, to a baby, the simplest things are often new and downright amazing. Last night, for example, I was carrying Dahlia around the kitchen while getting the bottles ready for bedtime. I didn't think a thing of opening the fridge to retrieve them, but Dahlia had a much different take on this routine visit to the big white box in the kitchen:



Who knew a trip to the fridge could be so exciting?

Giggly boys!

Although the Fab Four have been aware of each other for months now, their interactions have only recently begun to resemble that of playmates. On Friday afternoon, Isaac and Jude started doing this the minute they laid eyes on each other:



Isaac proceeded to chase Jude around the living room as they both giggled, Jude stopping and turning every once in a while to make sure that Isaac was still following him. And they've played the same game every day since.

Try as I might, right now I can't think of anything more delightful than seeing my babies become friends!

My baby Einsteins

Pre-quads, I never understood why every mother seems to think that her child is a genius. Now I totally get it. You can actually see a baby's brain making new connections every single day! I mean, when I watch the kids go from one day being oblivious to the toys that hang from the activity gym, to the next day looking at the objects intently, and the day after that bringing their hands together to try to grasp the toys, what other conclusion could I possibly be expected to reach? Yes, I think my babies are geniuses!

Dahlia reading a book in the Exersaucer

One of the things I'm enjoying the most, especially now that the weather is warmer, is seeing the wonder in the babies' eyes as they experience new things. Yesterday, for example, we took them into the backyard for the first time, laid a blanket on the grass, and set their Bumbo seats under the shade tree.

(left to right) Isaac, Lucia, Jude, and Dahlia chillin' in the backyard

The kids could not stop looking up! And who could blame them? They are used to staring up at a white ceiling with only a chandelier to break the monotony. Now the "ceiling" above them was a brilliant blue, with strange green forms (leaves, to you and me) waving before it and occasionally letting the sun peek through to warm their skin. Watching the babies soak everything in made me feel like I was experiencing it for the first time, too.

Isaac and Jude study the leaves swaying in the wind

You can just see the wheels turning in the babies' minds as they look around and observe their expanding world. Something else that the quads have become more aware of as they approach the 5-month mark? Each other! With this development, I have a feeling that Ted and I better watch out ... life with the Fab Four is about to get a little more interesting!

(clockwise from bottom left)
Isaac, Lucia, Jude, and Dahlia plot their next move