Three photos that tell you a little something about my children

I am often snapping photos of the kids with my iPhone. Most of them are pretty crappy, because it's the iPhone (and an old one at that -- with the sucky camera) and I'm not a great photographer.

But a photo isn't all about the technical execution of it, right? Beauty, lighting and composition are important, yes, but what's even more important is what the photo means to the viewer.

So when I was looking back through my collection of phone photos and came across these three photos, I felt really proud of my incessant snapping. Because somehow, I captured something really core about each of my children -- without even really trying.

 Clair:

 
At first glance, this looks like a photo of Clair sleeping sweetly in her crib. She is a pretty champion sleeper, but that's not what got me about this pic. Look carefully. Do you see the green and pink things decorating her blanket and sheets? Yes, well those are supposed to be decorating her wall! Remember that tree I spent 90 minutes applying to the wall behind her crib, when I was pregnant with her - and had a raging head cold, to boot? This is what has become of it. She peels the stickers off the walls and tosses them around her crib, or flings them on the floor. Why? Because she can.
My Clair is always, always getting into things. She is always doing something stereotypically toddlerish. She is a silly, mischievous little rascal, and I LOVE it that this photo of serenity is accented by evidence of the A+ she gets every day in Advanced Level Nuisance.
Also...I just love her so much. I crept into her room to take this photo and -- even though she had clearly just been destroying my decorating work -- my heart just overflowed watching her sleep.

Dean:

I have said before that Dean is a do-er and a helper. But the older he gets, the more and more those traits show through. He is SUCH a help to me and to everyone around him -- even when you don't actually *need* his help, he insists on giving it. He has been asking and asking to help wash the dishes (I know right? Who does that?), and I usually say no because ...ain't nobody got time for that.
But on this night, I said yes. And lo and behold -- this child actually paid attention when I showed him how to wet the sponge, turn off the water, soap up the sponge, wash all the surfaces of each dish, rinse the dish and then put it in the dish drain. After I showed him ONE time, he did it himself with such precision and conscientiousness, I was shocked. He did a great job! And he was so proud of himself. I love how helpful my little boy is, and how much he enjoys being a caretaker. Lester and I still could do much better finding activities that satisfy his need to be cutting, banging, fixing, fiddling, doing. And we are going to really make an effort to do that, because he really loves being up in the mix so much. But in the meantime, until we find some kind of toddler shop class or some such, we have a ton of chores he can do! :-)

Cary:

I love this photo -- which I took because Clair was being so silly, pretending to sleep in the kitchen (fake snoring and all). I snapped it because of Clair, but then I realized that it is really illustrious of Cary's wonderful bookworm personality. At night before bed, he reads. In the morning, when he is supposed to be getting himself dressed, he reads. In the middle of craziness (baby sisters sleeping on the kitchen floor?), he reads. He reads books, magazines, catalogs, pamphlets, the local pizza shop flyer. If it has words on it, he studies it, every page, brings it to bed and hoards it. When it was his turn to pick something to bring to school to share with his class this week, he chose his High Five magazine. And when he is into his "reading," it is SO hard to tear him away. I can't tell you how many timeouts we've had to threaten because he gets so engrossed in whatever he is reading and it's like he honestly just blocks out everything else. He reminds me a ton of the way my mother describes herself at this age. Lazy as a lima bean; not the most social child; always, always with her head in a book. How did I give birth to my mother, y'all?

I love these three little human beings. And it is SO much fun getting to know who they are.

Clair takes a stand

Tuesday night, we had to lower the crib mattress in Clair's room. I've observed her pulling up on the crib bar and getting on her knees, but Tuesday when I got home from work, Michelle said she came in to get her up from her afternoon nap and Clair was fully standing in the crib, leaning on the crib bar, giggling like a mad woman.

Clair is 7.5 months. By contrast, please note that we didn't have to lower the crib mattresses for C and D until they were 9 months (Cary) and 9.5 months (Dean). Even if you adjust for their prematurity (5 weeks), she's still ahead of them.

 Does she not know that she is my baby girl? She is supposed to go through this baby-stage SLOWLY. Darnit.


Oh, and just for good measure, please check out this video of Clair's crazy-crawl just ONE DAY after I posted the one of her not getting anywhere:

(Please ignore the room. The couch pillows -- made into an "airplane" -- are piled up by the front door. And I did not notice that Lester's slipper was so gross until AFTER I watched the video. Don't call CPS on me. Thanks.)

Anyway, since this day, she is literally unstoppable. She rolls and "crawls" away from me when I'm changing her diaper, and shrieks with excitement at the fun of it. She gets to corners of rooms and eats things I didn't even know were there. She grabs the cat. She attacks Cary and Dean's Lego buildings. She nearly falls to her death, scurrying to the edge of our bed. She's going to give me a heart attack!

(P.S. Cary and Dean also were about 9/9.5 months when they started doing things that resembled crawling.)

I told you this girl was going to run circles around her brothers. I just didn't know she'd actually be running so early. :-)

In other news, Lester's birthday was a resounding success! He was happy; the kids (stuffed full of cake and ice cream) were happy. And we still have the weekend family picnic to come. So the celebrations continue!

Best part of Daddy's birthday party: Trying to put an entire balloon in my mouth. Yum!

Yay!

Darn smart kids

The Scene:
I'm in Clair's room, changing her diaper and getting her dressed for the day.
Cary and Dean are still in their cribs. They've been awake quite awhile and have been talking and singing to/with one another, while Lester and I got ready for work. Cary has had his fill of being in the crib and is whining, incessantly.

The Exchange:
Cary: "Mommmmmmmy. Get oooouuuuuuut! Mommmmyyyyyyyyyy! I want to GET OUUUUT!"
Me: "Cary, I'm changing Clair. I'll be in to get you and Dean in a minute. Please be patient, sweetie."
Cary: Whine, whine, whine. Weep, wail and moan.
Me (talking loudly to Clair): "Clair, your brother is not being very patient while I get you dressed. Would you tell him to be patient please?"
Me to Cary: "Cary, Baby Clair says, 'Please be patient! I'm getting my diaper changed. It will be your turn soon.'"
Pause in whining.
Cary: "No. Baby Clair no say 'pay-tent.' Baby Clair NOT can talk!"

The Lesson:
I need to come up with some new tricks in the old sleeve.