Conspiring

Collaborating to construct a play house

 My little cuties are beginning to conspire together. The other morning, I was awake before them, probably making school lunches. I sat down on the couch to rest for a minute. I heard all three of them upstairs plotting to sneak up on me. I quickly closed my eyes and pretended to have fallen asleep on the couch.

Now the first question that popped into my head as I listened to them hushing each other and planning what they'd do when they reached the bottom of the stairs: "How did Zoe get out of the crib?" I'm not totally sure of the logistics, but Penny is helping her out, perhaps by climbing on the outside of the crib and then giving her a giant hug. Somehow, this occurs without dropping or Penny collapsing under her weight. Zoe is close to 20lb, Penny about 40lb, so it is a pretty impressive feat in the grand scheme.

The next question is, of course, "What are they going to do when they think they're free to do whatever they want?" Well, that was a pleasant surprise. Penny went to the kitchen and grabbed the folding stool. She got the cereal, bowls, cups and handed them to her younger siblings to put on the table. Then she got down and handed out spoons. It is important to remember what a complicated task this is - not only are these items on high shelves, but each one of them has a color preference and a certain way they like to have things on the table, so setup can be a bit complicated in the morning. They were conspiring to put together their own breakfast because Mommy was too tired to make it!

Working together to free the Mega Blocks

Eventually, somebody did something that upset Zoe and she came crying to me to fix it. I patted her on the head, told her to hush and not give away that I was awake. Penny and Paul continued their setup for another minute or two. Then I had to "wake up" so that I could administer the milk and cereal and breakfast could get underway.

They are such funny stuff some days. Paul has been increasingly articulate, which allows him to tell us not only what he wants, but how he'd like to help out. He often loses the ability to talk when frustrated, so we had no idea he was getting frustrated about being unable to help in the way he wanted.  He is very particular about how things are supposed to occur or be set up, so getting more talkative has been rather revealing. I'm hoping the trend toward being helpful continues.

Zoe MUST choose her own gloves

Zoe (in contrast to Paul) is becoming very independent. The other day she was very determined about putting on her shoes and socks for herself. She now does it rather regularly. Dan was all excited that perhaps Paul would not like to be shown up by his little sister, so would begin to start dressing himself, wiping his own nose, etc. I explained that, unfortunately, that's not how our son works. Paul is a stickler for rules and procedure. Zoe puts her own shoes on...he takes them off because she's not supposed to wear them in the house - even if that means tackling her on the stairs and ripping them off her feet as she slides down the stairs. She puts on her hat and gloves, he takes them off and shoves them back in the drawer because it's not time to leave yet. There's a lot of sobbing about things being put away in their proper places around here. Zoe's pretty determined, though, and I'll need people who can take care of themselves, so I think she'll find a way to continue to build that independent streak.