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Popcorn Parade
It’s hard to believe Labor Day was just a few days ago – it feels like weeks have gone by!
We were saddened to have my little brother, Isaac, leave us Monday. Hannah and he planned to go into Chicago on the train a little early to do a couple of things. We noticed that children ride free on holidays, so we considered whether we wanted to join, but ultimately decided we were too tired, didn’t want to hold back Hannah and Isaac, and instead would just take the kids to a park nearby.
As it turned out, only the two younger boys wanted to go to the park anyway, so I stayed home with the older kids and did some work (grading). Hannah and Isaac played some video games with the older kids and then took off for the city. Unfortunately, it turned out that their train got delayed, so they just sat on the track for a while and then didn’t have as much time as they’d hoped in the city. We’re sad that Isaac left, but it was so nice to have him here for a little while.
One day this week, Kira took Merritt for a walk. She’d been to this place before and figured that the trail went in a circle, so got going on it with Merritt coming along on his bike. After a very long time, it became clear that it was not a loop, so they had to turn back around. It ended up being a very long walk, of course, but Kira said that Merritt was a real trooper, and at least it was good exercise.
We’ve had some rough nights with Merritt lately. He’s still having a tough time going to sleep, even though he’s obviously tired. He gets into that mode where he can’t stop moving or talking for fear of falling asleep. So he won’t hold still in his bed, meaning that he’ll keep his brothers awake. We have been putting him in our bed to fall asleep, but then he needs someone to stay with him to encourage him to hold still and so that he won’t be afraid of imagined terrors. The problem is that he won’t let me help him: it has to be Mommy.
(See the Original Duck Song Here)
He’s also been getting us up earlier than usual. He used to sleep in, but he’s up around when Carver is these days, and then he gets in fights with everybody who’s up. And he has no concept of his own volume or courtesy for those trying to sleep. We’re hoping it’s just a phase that will soon pass.
Merritt had his first full dental appointment this week, and he was great! He even let the dentist do fluoride. He’s got a clean bill of health, so we must be doing something right.
In other dental news, Carver lost his second tooth last night! It was the other bottom incisor, right next to the first one to go. It had been loose for some time, but never quite enough to want to come out, but we finally got it out last night.
Avey’s come down with a pretty heavy cold this week, struggling to breathe through her nose, and her throat was sore for several days. She’s still not quite herself, and stayed home from church today to try to recover. Still, she powered through yesterday when we went to a Popcorn Parade thing in nearby Valparaiso. The weather was in the mid 70s, so it was just about right. We had a good time, and the kids made a haul in free candy and such.
I was a little shocked when I realized that Avey is just 4 or 5 inches shorter than Kira now, making us think that she’ll likely grow to be taller than her mother in the next couple of years. Her birthday is fast approaching, so she’s working on some ideas of what to do.
Hakan had a funny moment this week when he was trying to come up with a guess of how many M&Ms were in a large container we bought from Costco. Kira did the math by looking at the serving size, and tried to explain to Hakan that it was over 1,000 candies in the container. He clearly didn’t grasp the number. We tried to explain the number, a google, he responded with “that would be like, 155 M&Ms!”
This next week just has a few more dental appointments for the rest of the kids, and I have to make an extra trip to the city tomorrow for a new university council upon which I’m serving. I may get to join by phone in the future. Otherwise, we hope that Avey feels better and that we can all get some more sleep!