New York City

Jeremy had 2 days off and there was a break in the rain for those 2 days so we decided to head out to New York City. Who knows when we'll live this close to the Big Apple again? As always, Corinne wouldn't be Corinne without gracing us with her puke on the way there. I know, I know--Dramamine! But I seriously can't find any chewable stuff at any of the stores around here! We first went to Central Park since the kids had been cooped up in the car for a few hours. There are a million playgrounds there and here are a few shots:

Matthew the spider.
Playing in the sand.

Matthew climbed up here all by himself and was too scared to climb down without Daddy coaching him down the ladder.

So I guess Gillette Castle isn't as unique as I thought. There happens to be another castle, Belvedere Castle, right in the middle of Central Park. I thought that this was a funny picture of Corinne pouting and crying. Next time we go to New York we are definitely going sans kids.

Another shot of an uncooperative Corinne.

This was a little park just next to the World Trade Center site. We stopped to feed Nora and let the kids run around. I just love the way Corinne sticks out her big belly.

The construction being done on the World Trade Center sight. You can kind of see a picture of what the resulting tower and park will look like.

This is the church right across the street that survived the crash. I thought that it was amazing that 8 years later and you can't even tell that anything happened to the trees or building or gravestones.

I wanted to see the Statue of Liberty but this is as far as we got. The line for the ferry was ridiculously long and with 3 small children it wasn't something we were willing to do--especially at lunchtime/naptime. But we did have fun and the kids were able to ride the subway and play at some playgrounds along the way. Next time we go I want to see some Broadway shows and visit some of the nice restaurants we saw. Some day...

Dinner at our house

Dinner time at our house begins like most others. Tonight, for example, we had chicken enchiladas. Nothing unusual. The interesting part is what the kids actually eat. From what I understand most children are picky eaters and stay safely in the carbohydrate group of the food pyramid, sometimes venturing out to eat fruits and rarely vegetables. My house is a different story. The kids were particularly hungry tonight so they gobbled up their enchiladas using sour cream as a major condiment (my kids think it should have its own food group). They then begin eating the sides of lettuce and tomatoes. Not so unusual you may think. But we're not done. Now it's time to entice the kids to finish what's on their plates. Jeremy had casually mentioned that he wanted some carrot cake, which we don't have. Matthew runs to the fridge and pulls out a ziploc bag with carrot sticks in it, thinking that Daddy would like just plain carrots instead. Corinne gets so excited to see the carrots and begins asking for them. We tell her she has to finish her tomatoes and enchiladas which she does enthusiastically. Matthew, in the meantime, is snacking on shredded lettuce and then pulls out the celery sticks and munches on one.

Mind you, I'm not complaining. I'm glad my kids are developing a wide variety of foods to enjoy. It just makes me laugh especially when we make pizza and put everything on--pepperoni, olives, mushrooms, green peppers, tomatoes, and onions. The kids will pull off all of the toppings and eat those and leave the rest of the pizza. Corinne actually munches on the toppings while we're making the pizza--even the onions (I then tell her to go give Daddy kisses). They especially like mushrooms, so we entice them to eat some foods by telling them that there are mushrooms in it and they have to find the mushrooms. I remember being disgusted with mushrooms as a child, mostly due to their slimey texture. Sometimes when they are finished eating we try to entice them with a dessert and they refuse it and tell us, "no thank you." What kid doesn't like sweets? Apparently my kids.

New language

Sometimes I wonder why I ever earned a bachelor's degree from a university only to clean house and change diapers. I feel as though my language skills were once top notch; now I struggle to pull larger words from the deep recesses of my vocabulary. They say that each baby seems to suck your brain away. I wonder how my mom can even speak anymore after having 7 kids? Despite this I think I have mastered a new language--the language of a preschooler. I think I'm qualified to give myself a degree in this language since I am able to practice with 2 preschoolers at a time.

First there is the belief that the other person can't hear what you said unless they repeat back to you what you say. For example

Corinne or Matthew: "a moon! a moon! a moon! a moon!"

This could go on forever until I actually say, "A moon!" And then she/he is satisfied. I, in turn, have been able to use this same strategy on them. Because the preschooler is easily distracted I have learned to constantly repeat an instruction in order for it to be accomplished. Such as, "pick up the toys, pick up the toys, pick up the toys." That way they are constantly reminded of what they are supposed to be doing instead of playing with the toys.

Next is the idea that Corinne is never an adjective--she is Corinne. Unless I really want to start a fight I cannot tell Corinne that she is pretty or nice or cute because apparently she's not. She's Corinne. End of story.

And my favorite language skill is reverse psychology. In my classes at BYU the professors discussed this idea and how effective it can be when used on preschool-aged children. It sounds too good to be true and way too easy. I mean, how stupid does a child have to be in order to fall for that? Just to clarify before I go any further, Corinne knows her letters, her numbers, her colors and shapes. She's not stupid. But she falls for reverse psychology better than any child I've ever seen. I ask her to eat her sandwich and she tells me no. I quickly change strategies and tell her not to eat it because it's yucky. She tells me, "no, it's not yucky. It's nummy!" and she shoves it in her mouth. I can easily say it works for almost anything 95% of the time. I am worried that someday it won't work because I use it too much, but so far that's not the case.

So now I can officially award myself a Bachelors in the Arts of Preschool Languages!