My big bum and refried beans

Actually, the two are unrelated but I have two short funny stories to share and I didn't want to do two separate posts. Plus, I thought it might be an attention grabber. :) So as mentioned in previous posts, Kaija has a cheerleader-type personality ... cheering on Luukas, the bath water, and now me. She was my audience a couple days ago when I was using the toilet and she started by saying, "you can do it mommy, I'm so proud of you." I was touched that she cared :) until she added, "don't worry mommy, you won't fall in. You have a big bum, you'll be okay." If she wasn't so dang cute about how she said it, I might be offended. We've had a lot of talks about how she won't fall in the potty because her bum is big enough to keep her up, so I'm guessing she made a similar conclusion about my bum.
The second story is just a brief example of Luukas' temper and how he manages (or mismanages) it. We went to the store Saturday night to pick out some pumpkins for our Sunday activity and we made the mistake of letting the kids roam free (actually, we had no choice because Teem's huge pumpkin took up most the room). So I made a second mistake of letting Kaija and Luukas pick out a couple apples and carry their own bags around. We were in the canned food isle and Luukas wanted to put some beans in his bag with the apples. Well, needless to say he wasn't too thrilled when I took it out of the bag and told him, "No". So after screaming for a few seconds, he chose to release his anger on the innocent cans of beans on the shelf in front of him (seriously out of control...like when you see an adult do it in the movies). I had to call Teem over to help me. Luckily, no one was injured :) and I don't even think we dented a can. The good part about this temper of his is that he lets it all out and then he's fine. I'm sure there will be more temper tales to come, so stay tuned.

Field trips

Over the last three weeks, Kaija has had two great field trips with her preschool. The first was Walter's farm where the kids got to play in a pea pit, go on a wagon ride, pick their own apple AND pumpkins as well as sample the apple cider...yummmy! The second was called Carver's farm. The activities included a corn maze, a wagon ride and popcorn picking. They got to take home a couple ears of Indian corn which makes for good popcorn in a few weeks (or so they said). Kaija's favorite part was selecting a gourd from the gourd patch (??) because it is green - her favorite color these days. Speaking of green, stay tuned for Kaija's costume in a couple weeks. I let her pick it out herself. I can only say that she surprised me with her choice, but she wants to wear it everyday.

The Compromise

I know I've added a lot of posts in a short time, but kids are so funny, I had to share. Luukas has recently become quite fond of Kaija's princess chair. So when we watch movies, he'll often sit in it unless it is already occupied. A couple nights ago, Luukas was sitting in it and the next thing I knew, Kaija was getting in it and Luukas was winding up to strike his sister (he is no long a pushover, but simply a pusher). I tried to work out a compromise, so the picture explains it best. They actually sat like that for 5 or 10 minutes.

Pet Bass

Saturday during naps, Teem went fishing in Lake Coeur d'Alene and had some luck. He caught two pretty good-size bass. Well, I was gone later that day and Teem didn't want to gut and clean the fish with the kids around, so he just filled the bath tub with cold water (luckily the downstairs one that nobody uses) and decided to put the fish in there until he had time to clean them. Well, the kids, according to Teem, loved playing with the fish like they were their pets. (I'm cringing thinking about it...yuck), but they had a good time. Kaija was a little confused when she woke up and her new 'pets' were gone, but she didn't seem to mind eating them at dinner time. I'm pretty sure she didn't make the connection that the fish swimming in our bathtub were the same fish she was eating the next night. I also spent Saturday night scouring the tub. EEEWWW! I'm still not sure how I feel about it all, but I can't complain because I had away time that afternoon.