Unfortunately for the last few weeks, my life has been consumed with back to school business, which has left me with virtually nothing to blog about. Unless of course, you'd like to know what grammar workbooks I'm using this year, or which Math curriculum I finally decided on for Conner...?
Yeah, I didn't think so.
Fortunately, I have a four year old around the house, who says and does cute things, so maybe I'll just share a few Lena moments with you.
As you may have heard me mention over and over and over again, Australia has a lot of bugs. I spray a few in the house every day throughout the summer, but really can not stomach cleaning up the carcasses. Lucky for me, I have three sons, and what son wouldn't want to clean up a few crusty bugs for their dear wimp of a mother?
Lately, my daughter has decided she wouldn't mind helping out with the bug cleaning business. She has good intentions, but when it comes time to go through with it, she kind of loses her nerve.
During one such moment the other morning, Jarom runs to her rescue and guides her through the nasty process. Goes a little something like this:
- They crouch down together beside Mr. Bug.
- Jarom places a kleenex (tissue, for my Aussie readers) over Mr. Bug.
- He takes Lena's hand, covers it with his, and guides it over to the kleenex.
- Just has they are about to scoop up Mr. Bug, Jarom gives the following advice: "Now, Lena... the trick is to pretend there is nothing there. Just pretend that you are just wiping up the kitchen floor, and that there is NOTHING under the tissue." (He speaks Australian)
- Then they proceed (together) to wipe up the intruder, during which time, Lena has decided to turn her head to the side, and cover her eyes with her other hand.
Unfortunately after they have grasped the bug in the kleenex and are standing up to walk it to the garbage, they lose their hold on the creature, and he falls back on the floor. And even more unfortunate, the bug is not actually completely dead (he's mostly dead - name that movie!), and he starts wiggling his little legs, and Lena (who can blame her) bolts out of the kitchen.
I don't know why, but I couldn't help but love the whole moment. It was Jarom's loving patience in teaching his sister how to clean up a bug. Ahhh... big brothers. So sweet.
NEXT! (And with bugs again... can't get away from them)
In our backyard, we have this somewhat MASSIVE ant colony living close to our pool. We leave them be, because even though there are millions upon millions of them, they stay well out of the way, and have never at any point made any attempt to enter our home. That's important stuff. If they leave my house alone, I'll leave theirs alone.
While swimming in the pool one afternoon, Lena decided that she'd like to take one of the pool toys... a squirt gun kind of a thing... and start spraying some of these ants. While she is doing her best to aim and spray I hear her saying in a soft, sweet voice, "Watch out ants... you're about to get some bath time!"
And LAST!
As you are probably aware, Lena has three older brothers. These brothers are a little tame compared to most boys, but are boys nonetheless. As a result, Lena is kind of torn between two worlds. She loves her girly kind of things... but she also loves the grimy boy stuff too. She's a girly tomboy.
Yeah, it makes sense!
Sort of.
Let me illustrate with an... illustration.
Lena coloured the following picture:
She started off with making a rainbow tipped wing. Girly. Then she gave it a lot of pink. Girly.
Then she drew him pooping.
What else can I say.
Love this girl.