My mom tells me that Madeleine counted backwards from 60 to 0, and that I should mention it it my blog, so here it is -- mentioned!  Check. 

The kids say all sorts of cute and funny things, though I don't know if I can remember them all.  Grant was telling me "If you say so" today, when I told him to do things, though it came out a bit more like "you say so".  The kids stayed at my mom's house, and when I picked them up, Madeleine told me that they were "having a blast" playing with the toys there.  Little phrases like that always make me laugh. 

There was a very big black beetle outside my mom's house today, on the wall, and Madeleine was really scared of it.  It was a bit intimidating.  Then tonight when we went home, my mom was showing something to Grant out there in the same place.  Madeleine took one look, thought it was the awful beetle, and went running into the house and was going to go out the back door, so she wouldn't have to go past the beetle.  But it turns out it was really a snail.  I don't know if I remember seeing snails here before, or not.  Maybe once?  Madeleine thought the snail was okay.  Grant was thrilled.  It was big (to my unpracticed eye), and I checked the shell to see if it really was hard.  I thought it a bit disturbing, still, and wasn't sure if it was much better than the beetle.  But Grant was so excited and when we got home he was telling Brian about it so quickly and wildly that it was impossible to decipher much of what he was saying.

Grant has really started telling stories now.  He loves to go up to people and start telling them all about something that happened earlier.  It's all very fragmented, but I can usually interpret it for the people who weren't there and thus have no clue what he's talking about.  He's very friendly and chatty and really has been making a lot of verbal developments lately.  It's so fun to watch. 

Grant is here telling me he is tired (which I kind of doubt, since we both took a long nap), but we're going to go upstairs and read books.  So.... good night! 

I notice now that the post two times ago is all funky, with a lot of the spaces missing.  Urgh.  I'd fix it, if I had the desire.  I don't really.

I was going to tell one more story....  the kids were being really silly at my my mom's house, and Grant was copying all the silliness that Madeleine was doing (marching to the bathroom, pretending the door to the house was locked when it wasn't and the door would spring open and she would pretend it hadn't, etc.) and Grant followed her after she left, doing all the same silly things with the door, and followed her in.  My mom and I sat out on the porch laughing and laughing.  But the there was loud crying from inside.  I went to see what the terrible trouble was, and Grant came fussing very strongly, saying something.  I didn't understand at first, buy my mom did.  He was saying, "Madeleine made no sense!"  Does she ever?  ;-P

While I'm typing, Daddy told the kids a story about mommy and daddy having a family.  Then Madeleine told a story about a family of flowers.  Then Grant wanted to tell a story too.  Here is pretty much what it was.  I wasn't going to write it down, but as soon as he started "Long ago" I was hooked.  How is that for book language?

"Long ago there was a little boy talking to Mommy and then he knocked over the garbage while going pee pee on the potty.  The end!" 

Now Daddy is telling a story about lightning and Yeti Zombies.  Good times.  The kids love to play zombies in the dark, trying to eat us (we're plants), and then they'll replant us, so they can eat us again.  (It's from the game Plants vs. Zombies.)

Anyway, it is time to go to bed!  Grant was a terrible sleeper last night, crying and crying instead of sleeping.  Boo.

There's a ladybug on the deck, and Madeleine's idea for getting it to stay was to draw a picture of another ladybug, so that the first ladybug would have a friend and want to stay.  That's lots sweeter than my suggestion, which was to put it in a cage (and then let it go after awhile).  Now it seems to be gone, and Madeleine thinks Grant scared it away, and she's very sad.

I keep thinking of other things to write down.  One of them is that a couple of weeks ago, Grant heard a siren, and asked what it was about and if someone needed help.  He wanted to know more, but we couldn't tell him exactly what the problem was, so then he asked, "Somebody touched their poop?"  Oh, man, I laughed and laughed.... I so wish I could call for an ambulance when Grant touches his poop.  It's been such a persistent problem; and such a gross one!

Kids are fighting.... I guess it's time to go. 

Grant has been really fussy lately.  If he runsinto problems or wants something, he just suddenly starts crying loudly.  It’s getting really old.  He was pretty awful yesterday at my mom’shouse for Easter dinner.  I wonder if it’sbecause he’s changing a lot right now? He’s trying to do so many more things, and is frustrated when he can’t.  For about a week he tried to put his shoes onby himself, and he would cry and yell because he couldn’t do it, but also yelland say he didn’t need help.  It was alot of yelling.  And then one day he sortof figured it out.  He got his socks andshoes on by himself.  They were on, ifnot on perfectly.  Yesterday he got themon the wrong feet, and no one noticed till my aunt saw him at church.  He’s also trying to put on his pants byhimself, with mixed results.  He getsupset if I don’t understand what he’s saying. Usually I’m pretty good, but sometimes not.  I will kind of repeat what he said, and he’llusually say “yeah”.  But a few times Idon’t get it right, and I have to keep guessing as to what he was saying, andhe starts getting pretty upset.  He likesto tell me in a commanding (and slightly desperate tone), “Hear my voice!!!”  That really cracks me up.  That is NOT a phrase that I ever use.  I would say “listen to me” or “listen to whatI am saying”, not “Hear my voice!”  I tryto tell him that I was listening, and I do hear his voice, but I can’t quitetell what he’s saying.  Last night he wastalking about looking for something, but I couldn’t tell what.  I kept guessing things, and he kept gettingmadder and madder that I didn’t know what he was saying.  He said it was “yellow and nice”, so I kept guessingdandelions (because he loves to go out and pick dandelions with Madeleine, andthey pile them up in the basket of her tricycle).  And he would get soooo mad.  I started playing 20 questions… is it in ourhouse?  At Haley and Tegan’s house?  Outside? Inside?  And he kept trying tobreak down crying and not answer my questions anymore, but I somehow convincedhim (barely) that I was trying my best and just keep helping me.  And finally I guessed “thunderstorms”, andthat was it!  He wanted to look out thewindow for thunderstorms.  We had finallyhad our first two nights with lightning last week, and for some reason heremembered and decided to look for them again. Sadly, our next potential forecast for thunderstorms is in 10 days (onthe 10-day forecast), so that’s a no-go. 

I had Granttake a nap yesterday, so that he wouldn’t be so cranky at Easter dinner, but asI mentioned, he was rather awful.  Butthen he stayed up really late, and I had to get up early with Madeleine.  So when the kids were at their grandparentsthis afternoon, I mostly just slept.  NowI’m writing.  They’ll be home soon, and I’vehardly done anything.  I guess thankgoodness for grandparents.  I just wish Ihad gotten my lego project advanced today. Oh well. 

This morningMadeleine had her test for entrance into the dual-language program nextyear.  It’d be nice if she could get in,because it would give her something to learn. She pretty much already knows what kids learn in kindergarten, so it’dbe nice for her to use the time to learn Spanish.  I asked her how the test went.  It was about 15 minutes with the principal ofthe school.  Madeleine said she just hadto point to things, such as a ball.  That’sthe only one she says she remembered. She also said there was one thing she didn’t know, but that everythingelse was easy.  Who knows.  I guess we’ll wait and see.  And if she doesn’t get in, she can stilllearn Spanish someday. 

Madeleinehas really been making the cutest little things lately.  She made a ladybug by cutting out all theparts, the body, the wings, the head, and taping them together and drawing cutedecorations on them, such as a face and spots. I ask her how she got so good at those kinds of things, and she said itwas because she was 5 now. 

Hmm.   I can’t think of anything else right now,but I can think of lots of work I still need to go and do.  So… adieu!

A comment I wrote somewhere else, but it's worthy of being in the blog. I need to catch up more!

"I would have talked about how sappy my 3-yr old son is, too, except that it would have taken forever and I was typing on an ipod touch thingamajig, which is soooo slow. Anyhoo.... for example, this morning he came over and saw a little lego bit I was fiddling with. And what he says is, "It's soooo pretty! I love it! You're the best! I love you! It's soooo pretty!" This is also the kid that goes around saying, "Hugs!" and hugging his sister or us anywhere, any time. The other day the two of them were hugging in the gym daycare, and it was so super-cute, but really, enough already, let's go home.... ;-D  "

LEGO links for my mother:

I'm not sure which you've seen before.... 

Bookmarks

Brick Town Talk Roadkill Grill - LEGO Town, Architecture, Building Tips, Inspiration Ideas, and more!

building - What is the most compact way to make a flat six pointed star in LEGO - LEGO® Answers - Stack Exchange

Chaotic Archive

Clickits Kaleidoscope « Modelbuildingsecrets's Weblog

Fascinating LEGO® Model of the Day Luncheon at the Royal Pavilion

flickr The Festival of the Masters 2011 Pool

Friends' Pavilion LEGO Friends LEGO LEAKS work

FUMITSUDURU - Color variations, step 1 by eilonwy77 on Flickr.

http--reasonablyclever.com-bw2011-transparent.pdf

Lego and other cool things LEGO - Rainbow (par eilonwy77)

LEGO Express — Color variations, step 1 by eilonwy77 on Flickr.

LEGO Express — Cool but ugly redux by eilonwy77 on Flickr.

LEGO Express — Different radii by eilonwy77 on Flickr.

LEGO Express — Expanding! by eilonwy77 on Flickr.

LEGO Express — Layers by eilonwy77 on Flickr.

LEGO LEAKS eilonwy77 さんのタイルアート作品

LEGO LEAKS レゴ 建物作品『 Look Both Ways.... 』

LEGO Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash at BrickCon by... SpeakingJargon

LEGO “Stained Glass” Holiday Window Andertoons Cartoon Blog

Listening for Patterns « Strategic Monk

noise (x, y, z)

the infinite fragmented datawaves of oXane

Tile art piece's Lego LEGO LEAKS eilonwy77

Underneath a flower by eilonwy77 (via oxane) - Everything Random

Varying Perspectives (oxane Underneath a flower by eilonwy77)

What you built with LEGO today