Pieces of Us

Little Girls...and big ones too.

Want a glimpse of a little of what goes on around here?  Come take a peek at an evening in our house. On this particular night Jillian is giving makeovers!  You know you want one!

Jillian begins with a big palette of eyeshadows.  She loves the blues and purples...oh and the greens.  Whee!  It's 1984 again!

Jilly has such a steady hand.  Jess is the perfect model...because she is patient and sits still.

Look at how expertly she holds the brush.  She's a natural.

Look at the sheer happiness on her little face.  She's so happy to be playing makeup with Jess.

 

Concentration

"I think I need more blue.  And some green!"

And some more for the other side.

Looking fabulous so far.

So many colors, she can't pick just one.

And a little more eyeshadow...just pack it on there.

 

Every girl knows you don't leave the house without a little blush on your cheeks.

Be-yoo-ti-ful!

And now for some lucious lips.

"Here Jilly, let me show you how."

"What's eyeliner for Mom?"

"Like this?"

"Mascara!  It's like a comb!"

All done.  Very...Unique Miss Jilly.  I don't think she is all that impressed with her first makeover job.

Awww.  A big kiss for Jilly.

"You look creepy Jessica!"

She poses

Jillian was feeling full of vinegar...or sugar...or spice...or something nice.  I snapped these pictures of her while she was full of herself.

This is the face Jilly makes when she thinks we are all full of cuckooness.  In other words she is thinking, "Dude, really?"

This is her "Don't wipe my face, I love having peanut butter facials." face.

The "Mama, you hurt my feelings!" pout.

This is her "I'm not gonna smile" face.

"See my throat mom!"

Smooshing those beautiful lips.

Yep, that's our baby!

Precociousness

Today was the third performance of The Hare Raising Saga of Hidden Valley.  It's been a lot of fun having 4 of the kids in the cast.  Of course having a three year old in the cast means surprises for sure.  Today Jillian was standing perfectly in her scene.  She sang her song and stood there looking sweetly. One of the actors spoke his line, 

"If anyone would like to participate in the 3-legged race meet down by the stables."

Jillian, hearing this opened her eyes wide and said loudly, 

"Let's go to the stables!!"

Hey, at least she stayed in context and character.  Afterwards our friend Casey who is handling all the kid actors down below stage said to her, 

"I hear you were a scene stealer! " to which Jillian replied,

"I did NOT steal the scene that was MY scene!"

She is too much fun.

Jilly says funny stuff

    Jillian has never been at a loss for funny quips and phrases. In fact most of what comes out of her mouth is funny. She's in that 'testing her limits' phase which also tests my limits...of patience.

This morning she was at the table munching her cereal when Caleb walked in, all cute and manly in his pajama pants with the flames up the sides, sans shirt.

"I see your boo-oobs!" Jilly called out in a sing-song voice.

Caleb indignantly crossed his arms over his little man chest.

"What? He has boobs, they're just like mine!" she said.

Just wait little one.

Every morning she crawls into my bed at the buttcrack of dawn when I am still in my dreamy sleep.  She thrusts her hands in my shirt or puts her ice-cold feet on my back and swishes them around.

"Do you LIKE that mom?  I'm rubbing your back!  Doesn't it feel good?"

And I grimace as she rubs a raw spot in the 4 square inches she chooses to rub continuously. I've gotten weary of it, the sweetness wore off about 600 nights ago, so yesterday I said, 

"No baby, right now it does not feel good! Go watch cartoons!"

So this morning she scrambles into my bed and I wait for the cold feet and the little fingers but instead I smell her little kid breath and feel it in my ear.

"Mama."

"What?..."

"GET UP AND MAKE ME BREAKFAST!"

I guess she has dispensed with the pleasantries and is down to business.

Jillian is sick

We've had a run of sore throats over here lately and Jillian lost her voice.  She cracks me up.

 

New Blog

By popular demand I began a blog of Jillyisms.  All Jilly....all the time.

Jillyish

Can you give me an A+?

    Lately Jillian is very interested in school.  She loves to write and draw and usually she brings me something and says, "Look what I made, can you give me an A+?" The other day she brought me this page.

I love that she figured out how to write mom.  She is such a manipulative little thing.  I gave her an A+. ;)

I think her volcano picture is still my favorite though.

Jilly's Vocabulary

    People are always stunned by Jilly's vocabulary.  Most of my kids have been early talkers, with the exception of the twins who had no other siblings to model speech for them. Jillian however has by far the most amazing vocabulary as compared to the rest of them at the same age. Most of my children started talking around 12 months.  They of course had words before that starting about 6 months but actual sentences began around a year.  By 18 months the younger 4 were all capable of conversation. Lest anyone think that my kids are advanced in all areas, all of my early talkers were late walkers.  I believe the brain can only focus hard on one or the other. Jillian, who has the most words did not walk until 16.5 months.

    How do my children gain such an extensive use of words? I think part of it is naturally the way they are wired but I also feel that certain ways that I communicate with my kids has fostered a lot of language development.  First, I never talk to my children in a baby voice.  I treat them like people and I use my entire arsenal of words when I speak with my kids, even as babies.  Some think that it is silly but even from the time that they are infants I sit them in the kitchen and chat with them while I do dishes or cook.  I also describe things a lot when my children are very young.  I tell them about the world around them.  I sing to them.  Talking to kids in your normal everyday voice is very important. They pick up on this and modelling behavior is what little ones do.  If you speak to them as if they should understand, eventually they will understand.

    I correct their mistakes.  I do it in a nice way but I do correct them.  I try hard not to use their baby words back to them.  Sometimes it's irresistably cute but I force myself to work on giving them the tools to speak correctly. From the time that they are speaking somewhat fluently I play story games with them. I like to lay on the bed with Jillian and tell stories.  We make them as elaborate as we can.  I start with having her tell me the beginning.

"Once Upon a Time there was a beautiful little girl named..."

    Then as the story progresses I have her describe things to me. If the girl lived in a treehouse I will ask.  How tall was the tree?  Was it winter or summer?  Tell me what the inside looked like?  What was on the walls?  What color is the carpet?   I know that this has been a huge part in teaching descriptive language to my kids.  If I ever use a word that the kids do not understand they know that they can just ask and I will define it.  I have never been one to have a word of the day.  I just use all my words without reservation and encourage the kids to use them too. I tell them to find a better word than good, nice, fun.

    If one of the kids is upset, I probably wouldn't say upset.  I would ask them, "Are you feel frustrated?" If they are looking depressed I would ask them, 'Are we feeling a bit of ennui?" If they are confused I would ask, 'Are you a little perplexed?" It may sound pretentious but it's what we do.  People keep asking me where Jilly's amazing vocabulary comes from and so there it is. Part Jilly and part lifestyle. The way we speak defines us. We are judged on our speech every day in the world and people will make assumptions about a person by the way they use words. 

    ..and yes, it's true...I'm a big wordnerd.  I can't help it.  I just love them.

Word Nerd

    Yesterday I had all day orientation meetings for the school that the kids have been accepted to (Yes, we are still homeschooling but as part of a private school).  When I walked in the door Jillian- not surprisingly- was sticky with toothpaste.  The kid loves to brush her teeth, with loads of toothpaste.  I scooped her up and took her straight to the sink and washed out her hair really well.  She was not thrilled and glared at me the whole time.  Her hair finally rinsed, she looked up at me with a scowl and said,

"Mommy, that was very intrusive!"

"Did you just say intrusive?" I asked.

"Yes! Intrusive!"

 

I will have to be less intrusive to ward my three year old.  Apparently she needs some personal space! 

Meatballs

    Last night I made elk meatballs using a PW recipe I hadn't tried. They were delicious but Jilly was skeptical of the sauce. Normally she loves sauce and is absolutely not picky about food.  She eats everything from pepperoncini to horseradish sauce.  This sauce made her a little uneasy.

    Caleb wanted to dish up her plate of food so he put the veggies and meatball on her plate.  She was carefully walking back to the table, eyeing the meatball with a touch of disdain the whole way. Suddenly the little plate tipped a bit in her hands and the meatball rolled onto the kitchen floor with a splat!

    I looked at her.

    She looked at the meatball.

    "Well...that's one way to get the sauce off," she said.

 

    Where did this child come from? :D