Wildlife in Aina's country

I will be starting a new blog dedicated to Aina's adventures: http://ainasadventures.blogspot.com

Here's the last installment you'll see on this family blog:

This morning, as we drove to church, Alice tells me out of the blue that all the bears are hibernating because it's winter. We talk about other animals that hibernate. Then Alice tells me that all the animals ("am-inals") in Aina's country are dead. They're all dead because it's winter. In the spring, new animals hatch from eggs that were hidden underground. They pop out of their eggs like caterpillars. And then they're caterpillars. There's a lion caterpillar, too, which bites people, but only very small people because it's so tiny.

Then Alice surprises me with this:

Quietly, with excitement in her voice she confides, "I have a lion caterpillar egg."

"Really?! Whoa. What are you going to do with it?"

"I'm going to bury in the ground and cover it with dirt. When it gets warmer like spring, I'm going to unbury it and put it in the grass and run into our house and shut the door.

"So it won't bite you when it hatches?"

"Yeah."

"What will happen?

"It will hatch and be a lion caterpillar."

"What do lion caterpillars eat?"

"Grass."

"Why do they bite people?"

"They bite when they're scared."

"Will he be lonely without his mommy or daddy? Oh wait, is your lion caterpillar a boy or a girl?"

"A girl. No, she won't be lonely. She'll be happy. Just keep small people away like babies and Robert."

"Whoa."

"This is for really real. I'm NOT joking. It really happened."

"Uh...okay."

"Really."

"Oh look! There's the church!"

Aina Narrowly Escapes Death

Alice was singing the "Days of the Week" song this morning (Mrs. Strom covers things I never even think of!) and accidentally skipped a couple days, "Sun-DAY, Mon-DAY, Tues-DAY, Satur-DAY."

"That's funny, four days? I thought we had seven days in a week."

"Hm." (this girlie hates to be wrong) "Actually, Aina only has 4 days in a week."

"Really? Wow."

"Yup. She lives in a different country. They only have four and we have seven." She then tries to name the four days Aina's country, uh, recognizes? but can't decide which. "Y'know, they have four days and we have seven. On the sixth day at Aina's country, everyone dies."

"No way!"

"Yeah. That's why Aina moved to our country Illinois. Now she lives with us and doesn't have to die."

Daddy's a good shoveler

Sorry about all the blog posts lately. The big storm has canceled several things and prolonged others, so we've spent the last 72 hours at home together. Lots of conversation time with Alice. I like it. Anyway, Bobby was out shoveling the snow and ice off of our front walk while the kids and I watched him out the kitchen window. After a few minutes, Alice says, "Daddy's a good snow shoveler."

"He sure is."

"Is that why you married him, Mommy?"

"Hm. Yeah, that's one reason. I married him for lots of reasons, but shoveling snow is a good one."

"I like him shoveling snow, too. I think that's why God put me with you. In this family. I like Daddy's shoveling."

"Good thinking. I'm glad Heavenly Father put us together, too. I love having you in my family."

"I love being with you, too."

Aina has the flu

After hearing the sad news that my class was canceled due to a case of the flu, Alice asked a lot of questions about the flu. Then Aina came down with it. Poor girl. It wasn't the ordinary flu, either. It was the Diarrhea Flu (Robert's been battling his own health issues of late...teething diarrhea).

"Aina has the Diarrhea Flu."

"Oh really?! She's throwing up, her muscles hurt, AND she has diarrhea?"

"Yeah."

"Yikes! What did she do?"

"Her step mom---her mean mom--said she had to stay in bed and couldn't change any of her sheets. But in the morning, her sheets were all clean!"

"Really? What happened?"

"Yeah! I changed them (giggle giggle). And her mean mommy was surprised. And now I'm Aina's mommy. That's why she likes me. And I even let her go to the potty at night (giggle giggle)."

Have I told you about Mean Mommy? Alice has one, too. I haven't met her yet, but I hear stories about her sometimes. I have yet to be mistaken for her ;)

I love the smell of...

...his spit. Robert's spit. I love the way his soggy shirt smells after a long, drooly day of sucking on toys and eating crud off the floor. It's a deep-down kinda love, familiar and sweet. So familiar. Kinda like my childhood blanket.

Just for fun, here's are photos of Robert, Alice, Bobby, and me at about the same age. Ish.