Hardly a day passes--nay, hardly an hour--where Mares and I are unable to share a laugh or chuckle about a funny thing one of the kids has said or done. They truly crack us up and we enjoy every moment with them. It can be an innocent question or a comment, or a facial expression, or a reaction. Either way, we love it! Here are some amusing antics of late.
MADGE: She is the sweetest, most patient girl I know. Sometimes I think--no I know!--she has more patience than her Dad. You can roughly explain something to her once, and then immediately thereafter, I will hear her conversing at length with Pita or Caleb explaining the whole issue to them. However, in her explanations, she develops and enhances the message, adding more details and explaining things at her siblings' respective levels. I always marvel and enjoy hearing her talk and work with Pita and Caleb. She also makes up some pretty incredible stories. We have the nativity figures out, and the kids were all putting on plays. Madge had developed an intricate and complex story line. Her father was trying to wrap it up (it was rosary time), and Madge, the poor thing, quickly tied up all the loose ends to her story. While prematurely cut short, the story still had great coherence and panache. That's our Madgie.
The last couple mornings, as soon as she wakes up, she runs over to the advent jar to grab a slip of paper with a little sacrifice. While I normally stumble blindly and listlessly to the coffee machine, she is running over at 6am to pick up her advent task for the day! What an example for her dad.
PITA: She is a ball of excitement and activity. She has been so excited to use a birthday gift card from her godfather, Uncle Dan, to buy the movie Beauty and Beast. Given the delay times for receiving things through the mail here in Brazil, Pita has been learning some patience as an indirect virtue. The movie arrived yesterday. She was ecstatic. None of the kids have seen the movie yet, but the way they talk about it (based on the bits and pieces of the story they have heard from Mares and me), you'd think it has been their favorite movie for years. So this morning at 6-something, after picking out advent tasks, Pita and Madge engaged in a twenty-minute dialog about the case cover for the new movie. The little questions and comments are hilarious.
A few days ago, Pita was asking me how long college lasts. I told her it depended on what you wanted to become: a doctor, a teacher, a lawyer, etc. She then asked me: How long does college take to become a wedding girl? Ie, how long do you need to be in college before getting married? I told her college wasn't necessary for that, but that college is always good to educate yourself for life. Glad that both our girls hold marriage in such high regard. (That's their favorite game.) If only the rest of the world shared that regard.
CALEB: He is our vehicle/transportation boy. Mares was telling me yesterday that he went to bed for his nap and his last words were about airplanes. Subsequently, his first words waking up from his nap were about airplanes. Can you guess where we are going Saturday morning for a field trip? Here we come Brasilia airport! At random points yesterday, he was asking me, "Dad, can the planes really land? Do they take off like this?" as he would run around. He is perpetually setting up train sets (with his beloved Thomas the train piece), zipping around the house in his mini-cars, flying his Lego airplane and reading the airplane book.
He is also our cuddler. He will come over to sit on our laps throughout the day, and offers hugs like political pundits offer unsolicited advice. At dinner time, I will find him leaning on my lap, or hanging onto my arm. You can find him rubbing our arms in an affectionate way at any hour of the day.
PENNY: Well, kind of soon to say, but, when she's awake (those fleeting 3 hours per day), she seems to have a lot of spunk and energy. She loves to be kissed these days. As I kiss her neck, she will stop all action almost as if to take in entirely the love and affection that she is receiving in. She has begun to coo a lot more, and she will repeat back sounds at different points of the day. Besides sleeping, having her diaper changed and breastfeeding, it is clear she will be another very affectionate child. She really thrives on it and on human contact. Fortunately, she has three enamored big siblings who hover over her all hours of the day. Fortunately, I am glad to say that we don't have to encourage the kids to give her affection and attention: instead, I find myself asking them, "okay, guys, give Penny a little space now," since their affection is such!
We thank God for such blessings in our life! They bring us such joy and spontaneity, keeping us on our toes and a smile on our lips.
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