Phoebe is officially five feet tall. Our family doctor looked at her growth chart on Thursday and estimated that she'll be 5'7" or 5'8" when she reaches her full height. She won't actually be a full head taller than me, but I'm prepared to be the shortest person in our family.
"Can you move your hair so I can kiss on you?"
-Topher, a little frustrated that my hair was in my face, as he tried to kiss my cheek.
Yesterday, while I was playing a math game with Sophie for school, Phoebe picked up my phone. She took several selfies, but without me knowing it she also flipped the camera towards the playroom and took this picture.
I love this picture because Sophie looks like she's engaged and enjoying school. She does not always feel this way. I love it because I didn't know it was being taken and is therefore totally candid, but not the mid-sentence/weird facial expression candid that I'm known for. I love it because Phoebe saw that moment as important enough for a picture. I love it because it shows one of the beautiful parts of this last year of learning at home.
Phoebe was tasked with creating a self-portrait for art last week. She learned about facial proportions in class and was given the requirement to add something about her personal history in the background. She agonized over the assignment. She drew and erased and drew and erased and drew and erased to the point that she wore a small hole in the paper. She still wasn't completely happy with the final product, but we pointed out that done was better than perfect so she finally agreed to turn it in.
I think it looks most like her around the eyes.
I made chicken pot pie for last night's dinner. Topher came over at one point to investigate what I was up to. At that moment I happened to be cutting up cooked broccoli to add to the pie. He looked into the bowl of green and said, "Mmm, deee-licious."
He did not eat any of the broccoli or the chicken pot pie when they were served at dinner.
Tonight for dinner I cooked hamburgers and french fries. Again, Topher asked what I was up to. I told him I was making hamburgers. His reply: "Mmm, tasty!"
He did not eat any of his hamburger when it was served at dinner.
The positive feedback to my dinner choices is lovely, but refusing to eat the food does negate the compliments a bit.
Topher recently discovered the magic of board games. I taught him to play Candyland last week. He picked it up right away and has asked to play it nearly every day since. Today Peter decided to add Chutes and Ladders to the mix. I asked Peter how it went and he reported that Topher was a gracious winner and they both had fun. I'm really glad Peter was available to play this one with him.
Bryan bought a bag of dried mangos when he was at Costco last week. I'm the only non-mango eater at our house (they make my mouth feel fuzzy and I don't love the taste), so this was a big treat for the kids.
A few days ago during lunch I gave a few to Topher to snack on. He loved them and happily sat at the table eating. A few minutes later he called out, "Where are my flamangos?!"
That's right folks, Topher calls the sweet, orange, tropical fruit "flamangos."
It's kind of awesome.
Remember last week when I wrote about looking young?
A few days ago a high school friend tagged me on Facebook in a choir picture from my sophomore year. This picture of the Chamber Choir was taken on the steps of our fine arts building. In other words, between drama classes and theatre rehearsals and productions and choir classes and concerts and dance recitals and nearly every lunch for the two and a half years I attended this school, this is the building where I spent most of my high school career. It wasn't until I was in college that I discovered having a large high school campus with multiple buildings was something unique to warm climates.
Can you find me?
I showed the picture to Bryan and his first comment was, "You look like you're ten years old, and like Phoebe."
I was fifteen.
What makes his comment even funnier is that I distinctly remember some of my classmates thought I was older than they were because of my vocabulary. So I had a young face and old words.
And for the record, Phoebe is actually ten years old, but because she's so tall and articulate, people usually think she's older. The dental hygienist that cleaned her teeth last month thought Phoebe was twelve.
As part of my bedtime routine with the girls I tell them a short story about either their life or mine. They usually pick a topic, like "tell a story about a dress" or "something about curtains", and I quickly rack my brain for something that relates.
Tonight during bedtime Sophie asked me to tell about the earliest movie I could remember seeing. I did talk about viewing The Care Bears Movie in the theater, but I happened to mention that my Grandma would tape movies for us to watch and Sophie had no idea what I meant. So then I spent time explaining what video cassettes and VCRs are. Also, she felt great pity for me that commercials could not be skipped during my childhood.
So here's something weird. I opened my blog tonight to respond to a comment and discovered it was blocked by the following message:
They both got their first dose today. As soon as I saw appointments available for them, I signed them up. I'm in that part of the population that can't be immunized for something because of a reaction I had as a small child, so I understand your wariness. But I also know that I depend on herd immunity and every time I hear about a whooping cough outbreak, my anxiety increases because I know that I'm not protected against it. Since I know that stress, I decided it was important to get us all vaccinated to help those that can't be. And I read through the data from the advisory board's meeting yesterday. The vaccine was 100% effective in the trial group for this age range. That's amazing! Anyway, I'm not trying to sway you, just explain some of my thought process when deciding to get them vaccinated right away. Also, they haven't seen any friends in person in a very long time, and I'd like to give them that opportunity.
We understand that the youngest member of our family is at risk. There is a false belief that children can't get serious cases or die of COVID. I chatted with an old friend recently and learned that her mom, who is a nurse, watched a six-year-old die of COVID. That reinforced in my mind that we've made the right choice. We have done everything in our power to keep our family safe, and we will continue to do so. But, my goodness, it has been mind-bendingly hard. The vaccine is truly miraculous, an absolute gift from God, and we will count it as one of our blessings.
This blog has been a blessing to our family as well. We hope that we can continue to have access to it and use it to record our family history.
After I got home from my vaccine appointment yesterday, I saw that the CDC was on the verge of approving the vaccine for 12-15 year-olds. In fact, one of our local hospitals had received extra doses in anticipation of the announcement. A friend shared a link to that hospital's vaccine appointment page, so I decided to see if I could get appointments for the two people at our house in this new age bracket. I figured if the approval didn't come, I could cancel the appointments.
Well, it came, and Peter and Cooper both got their first dose of the vaccine today.
Their arms are sore, and Cooper said he felt tired soon after, but that passed quickly. Cooper was so pleased with the sticker he got that he announced he was going to laminate it and make it into a pin that he could wear all the time.
Phoebe wished she was eligible for her first dose as well. She's still got to wait for a bit, but her chance is coming soon.
I received my second dose of the Pfizer vaccine today. I went to the same location where I got the first dose, at the same time of day. For the first shot there was no wait and there were only a few people there. This time there was a massive crowd of people and a thirty-minute wait. There was a traffic jam just to get into the parking lot and then a very long line once we were inside the building.
But I got through the line and got the shot, and that's the most important thing.
A wise friend counseled that I should drink lots of water and keep moving my arm to help prevent soreness. I've been doing both of those things and I feel okay so far. My arm is a little sore, but it's barely noticeable. We'll see how I feel tomorrow.
The kids have rediscovered their love of train tracks recently, thanks in part to Topher's love of them. The last few days they've come to borrow my phone to document the latest track creations.
Most of my adult life people have told me that I look younger than I am. It was mostly amusing and occasionally irritating, like when I tried to get a quote on a wedding cake as an almost twenty-one year old and was questioned in a shocked voice if I was even sixteen yet. But I never really believed that I looked as young as they said. I knew my own face, I knew that I was aging.
A few days ago I got a Google picture notification letting me know that I had memories to view from fourteen years ago. I opened the app to see chubby cheeked Peter when he was still the only child. I was twenty-six, nearly twenty-seven, when the picture was taken.
And I look like I'm about fifteen.
Seriously, I was shocked at how young I looked. I guess all those people were right, I did look crazy young.
Don't worry though, I'm pretty sure having an additional four children, raising those children, zig-zagging across the country, and living through the last year have brought my visible age equal to my actual age. Heck, I may have even swung the other direction.
The takeaway? Motherhood makes you look old. Totally worth it and important? Yes. Ages you like crazy? Also, yes.
The girls and I braved the outside world and attended their first in-person Primary activity in over a year. On Saturday morning we wore our masks and took our box of chalk to the church parking lot. There were only two other girls, plus two leaders, there. The plan was to draw beautiful chalk pictures on the back sidewalk and parking lot of the church building for the members to enjoy the following day.
I decided to take the girls for two reasons: I was going to be there and could help them keep a reasonable distance from others that were attending (this was important since one little girl kept running over near where we were and the others at the activity weren't social distancing from each other at all) and because there is an unfortunate belief among some of the members of our ward that we are inactive and don't want contact. This is so completely untrue, we have attended nearly every virtual meeting that has been held. I wanted to show up to something in person to try and squash that rumor.
Phoebe and Sophie were both really anxious and uncomfortable about going. I had to give them pep talks on the drive there. Every time one of the leaders or other girls came over to see what Phoebe and Sophie were drawing, Sophie would back way up. I was glad she was being careful, but I also took a few minutes to show her how far away six feet was, rather than the twelve to fifteen she was moving.
There were stressful moments for our girls, like watching the others sit right next to each other in camp chairs at the beginning of the activity. But there were good moments too, like getting to see a good friend in person and at a good distance. And they did have fun being outside and drawing. Also, it was unseasonably cold for May 1st, so we were bundled up.
