My almost 2 year old thinks she’s a gymnast and the gym is her second home. She thinks she’s a member of Civil Air Patrol like Christina and Kimberly. She thinks she can ride Lucas’ bike. She thinks she can build shelves like Mom. She also thinks she can hide from everyone in plain sight.
She thinks she can fly. (From any object straight into a big sister’s arms without warning!)
She’s been going to WGV Gymnastics attending the Parent and Tot classes (yes, we have classes for those just walking to 3 years old) for a few months and Lucas (big brother) has been doing the Preschool Program for a few months.
Kimberly is in competitive team and set up a workout area on the wall marked with degrees (set up with sticks, a protractor, and a pencil) and was like “I need to go from here to here.”
“I can do that!” Says Lucas.
Bingo.
“Let Thea do it!” Thea says.
Bingo.
Kimberly tosses her hands in the air playfully, “I give up!”
We laughed and asked, “Why?”
“My baby brother has a bigger split than I do!” Kimberly laughed, “actually,” she tries it, “maybe not.”
We all laugh because the littles are so enthusiastic about everything. They love anything and everything big siblings or friends are doing. Thea consistently tries to do everything her big brother and big sisters do. She walked into the front room last night and turned on the game computer, “play a game with Becky!” and the mouse pointer went straight to the correct icon for Becky’s game.
Thea loves to do it! Thea loves to do everything!
“Mom!” (I’m washing dishes, Thea is dragging the stool over to the sink…) “Thea can wash dishes, please?”
How do I say no? I hope she always keeps the can-do will-try attitude she currently possesses.
When we think of toddler, stuffing every unknown object into their mouth is standard, right?
I had two where the answer was shockingly “NO!”
They both loved all things small – squinkies, legos, and polly pockets.
The thing I like about small items is that they are easily portable! A small pencil box could hold an army of squinkies, a city of legos, or a family of polly pockets.
You can’t exactly take giant mega blocks everywhere! Well, maybe one or two blocks, but really… tiny is better for portable applications. I love tiny toys to keep littles entertained when on the go. For most of the kids though, tiny toys were not an option until the everything-in-the-mouth stage was finished. I love starting off with tiny toys!
We have been building large mega block forts with the same blocks for over 16 years! From Christina under 1 to Thea now at almost 2… I shake my head at that – yikes! That’s too many years of building forts and garages and houses with mega blocks! (Maybe that’s because mom doesn’t want to admit to that many years of kid toys!)
The building buddies right now are Lucas and Thea. Lucas gets very creative with the big blocks and super detailed with the tiny legos. He’s made Becky even get interested in coming back in because he occasionally gets a sorting bug and sorts their collection! When sorting happens, Becky is like, “yippee!” or comes to show Lucas how to best sort them. She had taught him well.
Thea is not so big on sorting small things into smaller groups – but one type of toy always must go in its correct bin. Grandma gave her a collection of squinkies for Christmas. Those stay in one bin along with their little eggs. Her gravity propelled horses that walk down tracks are in another bin, teething toys (sadly, very few of those left) in one bin, socks take up one of the toy bins (Thea’s idea, not Mom’s), and other small collections in the small bins. Thea keeps a baggie of legos and a few assorted squinkies in her back-pack. (This was another gift from Grandma this year and she carries it literally everywhere now.)
What I love to see is the building buddies when two or more of them are sitting in the little ones’ room surrounded by legos and building their respective creations on boards or the tops of the containers, in a “giant land” as Lucas calls it. (I guess city isn’t big enough.) Becky, Lucas, and Thea, or Kimberly, Jillian, and Thea, or Jaquline, Jillian, and Lucas… all with their own bits in their tiny toy world.
And, yes, Mom ends up in there often too, building some castle-hidden-in-rocks or house-hidden-in-trees on request. I load mine with secret tunnels or passageways, treasure, tiny details, and stories! I love building models of some story land my characters are in and acting scenes out with Lucas and Thea. They always come up with neat ideas that I’m forgetting.
Building buddies are the best! Taking time to encourage the creativity and imagination of little ones is a wonderful thing to be a part of.
This Christmas as I was building some huge lego tree with robin hood and castle pieces (who can remember those cool sets?) with Thea and Lucas, I remembered being about three and building the gray castle in the basement/garage in Cherry Hill with my Daddy. The black castle followed when I was four along with Robin Hood’s hideout (Daddy called it that, not sure what the name is that goes along with the set, but I know the number!) – classic sets I can actually print out instructions for from the lego website now! He took the time to build with me (and boost my ego… I was very proud of building a set that had an age on it higher than my current age.) and full circle, I’m taking time to build with mine.
Maybe I haven’t ben fishing with my kids as often as my brothers and I went fishing, but I’ve been building with them! So maybe we are “Building Buddies” instead of “Fishing Buddies” – and in my crazy brain I see five Golden Retriever pups building forts with mega blocks!
Type at you later!
~Nancy Tart
(P.S.: for those wondering… my computer has been down since just before Thanksgiving so I’m a little behind on by release of Devonians #6, but thanks to an awesome gift from a friend – old laptop too old for games but perfect for writing! – it is now just waiting on a cover!)
Lucas has a unidirectional purposeful mind when it comes to what he wants. As a three year old he told us for over six months that all he wanted for Christmas was a bike. That was it. Nothing else. He didn’t break it up like the girls do (tell Grandma Joanne one want, Grandma Tina another want, each Aunt a different want, and each sibling a different want), no. Mister Super Focused always just asks for one thing only.
Well, for the past four months, actually since just after Christmas, Lucas has been asking for a “bike for my longer legs” or “a boy bike that fits my long legs” for his upcoming May birthday. He’s been singularly focused on that one wish.
I figured that if the thrift stores ever open back up I would get a boy bike with 16″ wheels.
Instead, Grandma Tina came over to drop off the coolest little pool – pics on that one in another blog! – and a special surprise for Lucas.
He was one super happy boy!
And being the lovable big brother he is, he let Thea ride it too! Just because “she loves to ride my little bike which will be hers now!”
Thank you, Grandma Tina! Thank you to Grandma Tina’s landlord whose son had outgrown this one and wanted to give it away so another little boy could love it. I promise you, this bike will be loved for as long as Lucas can fit it and in his fond boyhood memories when he’s older!
We had to drag him off of the “coolest long leg bike that fits me” well after dark and he kept going back out to check on it in the shed. The following two days he was outside bouncing from the pool to the bike without stopping for the entire day to break only for food (most of which he took outside to eat while on his bike).
Typical boy.
No. Wait a minute… Typical Tart child.
I asked him yesterday, “Lucas, what do you want for your birthday now?”
He said, “my house with stairs!” Me too, dude. Me too.
What in the Earth? Actually, in the oceans. It is the scientific name for the Sawtooth Penshell.
Becky discovered two of these perfect shells, each about 6 inches long, on the high tide line at our favorite St Johns County beach. On the ride home, Becky researched them and we learned all about their life, their predators, how they likely died (based on their skeletons aka shells), and how they are cooked.
Yes, these particular bivalves are a seafood with a taste and consistency “quite like a scallop” according to the articles Becky found.
We have a rule of never taking living shells for our collection (this particular beach time would have been a great harvest of beautiful specimens if not for that rule!) but Becky said that now when she is ever stranded on a desert island (been watching too much Gilligan’s Island, I guess), she will know one good item to eat.
Perfect specimens have full shells and these both are broken on the fan edges. The bumps are actually raised sharp points like spikes. Their texture is almost leathery for a shell, and when they are in the sun, they shine with an oil-like sheen.
Beautiful.
A lovely addition to our seashell bowl (we may need a bigger bowl)!
Hope you enjoyed this educational tidbit (and maybe you can find some Atrina Serrata skeletons yourself on the lovely Florida beaches)!
The girls shifted their beds around so that the Playroom is now the sleeping quarters for Kimberly, Jaquline, and Jillian and the Barracks is sleeping quarters for Christina, Becky, and Primrose. This shift was so that the barbies, legos, and small toys like polly pockets and art stuff could be in the Playroom while the Barracks holds all of the toddler toys that cannot fit in a child’s mouth.
They are planning for Thea to be running around already. (Mommy is not ready just yet!I plan on being in Baby Stage a little longer!)
Lucas was bunking with Christina. But then we got a toddler bed! It needed some repair (but a few wooden dowels and extra bolts made a solid fix!) and we had to dig around for toddler bed sheets, but now Lucas has a big boy bed!
Sheba thinks this is her spot to share with Lucas.
Lucas was so excited to have his Star Wars blanket on his very own big boy bed! Last year, he didn’t want anything to do with a special trundle bed so we gave it away.
As we grow, sometimes the things we brushed away turn into the things we love ~ strange thoughts, I know. But that’s what goes through my head when I watch my little love snuggle into his big boy bed under his blanket; he has grown just a little more independent.
Behind the Picture: Thea and the Apple – Becky and her photography & funny snippets.
February 25, 2019
Behind the Picture! Thea and the Apple
Becky likes photography.
Becky has an interesting sense of humor. When she takes pictures on the play phone and sends it to me, I get this: (Thea is about an hour old)
Kimberly and Christina changed Thea, bundled her up, and as Kimberly is bringing her to me, I hear a singing voice: “We’re taking the baby to Isengard!” (I have no clue how I have the honor of being “Isengard,” but this was the look I got: )
In the first picture, Becky was trying to get good pictures of newborn Thea. Becky was making faces to get her attention, Lucas ran up with an apple in hand to “help,” and Becky ended up with a picture that had just the “wrong” angle – but it made a funny meme picture.
The girls are totally enjoying having a new baby sister – and Lucas loves being her “protector.” He told Louis he was “protecting Baby Thea from dog kisses, bad dinosaurs, and big sisters when they don’t listen.” (The last was likely because Jillian kept touching Thea’s head when we said not to touch her soft spot.)
I’m so blessed by their joy and love towards their new sister! Christina, who was worried about being “too much older” than the baby, can’t get enough time holding her! I am twelve years and eleven months older than my baby sister (she was also my parents’ seventh) – so I told Christina and Becky they both were older “big sisters” than I was. (15 yrs 4 mos & 13 yrs 4 mos, respectively) At this, Becky sends me a “wow” emoji though we are sitting at the same table! (She was supposed to be using the phone as a calculator.)
The mind of a fiction writer: microscopic giants marching off to war…
August 26, 2018
Microscopic Giants
“What kind of giants does God mean to fall by your hand?”
That question in church this morning instantly made a crazy mental picture. I saw the mold spores that constantly attack my body and affect my breathing marching like microscopic Goliaths toward my lungs.
The words of the last praise song caught my mind, “This is how we battle… I may look surrounded but I am surrounded by You (God)…”
So in my mental picture, thousands of bright lights like electric flashes start shooting the microscopic Goliaths and keep them from my lungs. I imagine my lungs are Elisha and God’s armies are fighting for me. This is how we battle… with faith, prayer, hope, love; our worship.
Weird? Silly? A little of both. But though it seems trite, it’s what I saw. Sometimes overactive imaginations and cartoonish images are what God uses to remind us that He is bigger than anything. It’s easy for me to trust in the big things, but how about realizing that God isn’t too big to take the time to destroy the things we think are microscopic in the grand scheme of things? I am someone who is quick to think, “Lots of people deal with medical conditions that are far worse than this,” and I discount that my issue is not important enough for God. Sometimes just because I can use medicines to manage my symptoms makes me think I should just deal with it. So at times, I will relegate my issues to being microscopic in the scheme of the world.
What is important to us (and yes, breathing unaided is a very important thing to me!) is always important to God. He says he knows the numbers of the hairs on our head… that in itself is awesome to me.
Thank you, God, for reminding me that You do care for all parts of us. Thank you for this amazing life, for removing the shackles keeping us from dancing, for giving us hope, joy, and peace, and for giving us a wonderful community to be a part of!
The world through the eyes of a 2 year old is amazing.
He spies Daddy cutting strawberries for a pie! Lucas yells “yeah! Yummy strawberries! Red berries! I eat?” and half of the strawberries destined for pie filling instead fill Lucas’ tummy.
On the way to Grandma’s house, 2 year old boy yells, “Mom! Look! Big trucks! One! Two! Three! Four-Five Big Trucks!” (Everything from his mouth comes in two volumes: mouse-whisper or top-of-the-lungs yell )
Sometimes he helps me to slow down and enjoy the things I often take for granted… like time. It’s easy to find fun in the chore when you share the wonder of a 2-year-old. For instance: An attempt to transfer toddler chickens from one pen to another and they excitedly hop-fly off in all directions yelling “FREEDOM!” Lucas giggle-screams and chases them around. This turns the frustration into laughter and a lesson on counting as they scurry over to the day pen and wait for us to lift them in where the food is. “One-two-three-four-five-six-seven-eight!” Lucas screams it all together as if it was a single word.
Lucas finds wonder and excitement in everything. From washing dishes (he always wants to help) to being stopped by a train (one-two-three-four-five-six trains!), everything is fun. Sometimes he helps remind me to enjoy life as it is presented to me. Goals (finishing the dishes) and plans (getting to the produce market before it closes) are good, but enjoying the journey is just as important.
Stopped in slow traffic turns into “Dance Party in the Car” and the backseat is bouncing to “Pink Shoelaces” and “Rockin Robin” (two favorite oldies). Lucas spots birds and shouts to tell everyone. Rebeccah looks in her book and gives their names. Taking in this special time is part of me slowing down and enjoying the journey.
