1. Now that we have a new little one at home, we are busy adoring her and making photographic records. I caught this the other day. She and Rich were sleeping so soundly, almost exact mirror images of each other.



2. We were discussing at the dinner table the other day how life was created perfect and it was the result of the Fall that sickness, disease and death entered the world. Elijah made a comment that I would have healed from surgery much more easily if it weren't for that, and I said that I never would have needed it in the first place, that if it weren't for the Fall, all life would be perfect. Amira replied that, yes, summer was much better. She didn't get why we all laughed.

3. Jerome has been putting out quite a few zingers, too. At another dinner conversation, he said something about growing up to be a man and that he would probably marry Amira. He's had some bad luck in love lately, so I think he thought he'd stick with someone he knew had to love him. We all explained why this was not possible.

He's also made some humorous observations about his new sister. For instance, while watching me change her diaper recently, he told us that she didn't have a p*nis yet.

While watching Rich change her clothes, he asked why we left part of her electrical cord on her.

4. Even Yasmina is getting in on the randomizer act. When she first saw me nursing Mariam, she said that the baby was eating me.

Since she also doesn't want to be left out of bossing her siblings, she told them all not to talk with their mouths during a recent meal.

5. We recently learned that locust bean tree leaves are not poisonous. Which is a good thing, since Elijah and Jerome decided to play turtles in the pasture and ate three leaves off the trees each. The pods are poisonous, which was too close a call for me. If you have these infernal trees in your yard, don't let anyone eat the pods.

6. I never thought that with parents like me and Rich, we would ever have shy children. Amira can be a little shy, though she warms up quickly enough once she feels comfortable with a new person. Yasmina, however, has none of this. She will interrupt anyone at any time to express her opinions on any given subject. She broke into a conversation Rich and I were having with some friends we had over for dinner on Monday to tell them about how she went in the pool when she had her swimsuit on. Our girls' personalities are one of the minefields we are navigating. There is this balance of wanting them to feel good about how they look, talk, laugh, think and not wanting them to put their value in any of those things solely. This really resonated with me.

7. Our first term of school starts next week. We normally begin on September 1, but we had some other, more pressing things going on then. So, our terms are going to be a little different this year. We've also joined a co-op for the first time. I'm not sure how we're going to like all of it, but I really wanted to meet other homeschooling families in the area, and it seems harder to get connected with them here than it was back home.

Labels: Baby, Family, Humor, Randomizer, Seven Quick Takes