138 Days

We had a Media-Free Monday around here.  (Basically they all lost media due to various infractions the day before.)  In the morning the kids asked to sew pillows for their stuffed animals.  Josiah sewed his totally on his own, but Caroline asked me to sew hers.  They also crafted bunk beds out of boxes.  Henry made himself a miniature version of each using paper and cotton balls.  

Pillow for Dog.

Bunk bed for Dog complete with "Bop" punching toy.

Later that day the boys decided to dress like Todd.  They squeezed themselves into a single pair of shorts.  Then they both got in an old sweatshirt.  One kept his head covered in the back (so there was quite the hunchback look) while the other had his head free.  The hands that we could see were from the person behind while the person in front held his arms under the sweatshirt, guiding him.  They thought they were hilarious.  They told Caroline to go clean her room and that was about the only "Todd" thing they did.  Mostly they tried to walk around the house and dance with their four legs.  They dressed up like this several times this week.  Todd eventually gave them a pair of his shorts so they didn't have to squeeze into kid size shorts.   

We made it to the pool twice this week.  The first time, the boys wanted to go shirtless.  As we were getting ready at home they stood in front of the mirror admiring their muscles.  Henry kept saying he had abs.  He was constantly saying he had a six-pack or a four-pack or a two-pack.  Then he was showing me his abs on his legs.  In fact he called all his muscles abs.  So I introduced him to pecs, quads, gluts, abs, biceps, etc.  He thought pecs were probably the funniest thing in the world.  He squeezed his together a lot after that.  A lot.  (We do human anatomy this year at CC so he'll learn his body part names in short time.)  The pool was crowded the first day we went, so when we went a few days later we aimed for a later time slot.  We hit the jackpot - an empty pool  There were three other boys that were there for a short time, but other than that we had the full 90 minutes to ourselves.  It was great.  Only Henry and Caroline came that day (Josiah preferred to stay at home since he burned his shoulders the first day), but they swam a ton, did cannonballs and dives.  Caroline was particularly fond of telling stories before she jumped in, 'Hello this is Dude Perfect.  Today we're going to do pool stereotypes.'  Then she'd do some crazy jump in the pool.  She often did the runway model walk as if she didn't know the pool was in front of her and she'd walk right in.  

Caroline put me in my place one evening with a discussion about dogs.  We were talking about dogs that shed and dogs that don't.  I mentioned that I didn't think poodles shed.  Caroline asked why we didn't get a poodle to which I replied that I thought they were slightly ugly.  Caroline went off.  "What if they think you're ugly?  You can't judge a dog by the way it looks.  Just like you can't judge people by the way they look.  God made all dogs special.  Especially Benson."  She schooled me.  And, I'm sure poodles have a great personality.

Caroline also had quite a sad night.  One night at bedtime she just started bawling out of nowhere.  Hard crying.  It was hard to understand her through the sobs, but she kept repeating that she didn't want Todd to die.  

    "I don't want Daddy to die of the virus.  I don't want you to die either.  I want to live with you guys         forever because I don't know anything and you know everything.  There are bad people in the world      and I don't know who they are.  Everyone looks nice to me.  I don't know who to marry or where to        live or what to do."  

I kept telling her that we weren't going to die.  We certainly didn't expect to die in the near future.  Every time I told her we weren't going to die she'd reply, "Eventually."  Yes.  Eventually we'll die.  She kept saying 'eventually' so often that it sounded like we were dying sooner than expected.  Eventually...  The most ironic thing about the conversation was that she said she didn't know anything and that Todd and I knew everything.  All Day Long around here we ask her to pick up her things, put her dishes away, clear off the table, etc. and we are always met with, "I KNOW!"  

Last week I was at the grocery store looking for a long-necked bottle to use for when we make angel food cake and have to have the bundt pan hang upside down.  In my hunt, I looked through all the spirits and juices.  Thin necked glass bottles are hard to find!  I finally found the perfect bottle.  It was a single serving of non-alcoholic sangria.  Essentially it was sparkling grape juice, but with a very long thin neck.  Josiah drank this sparkling grape juice and thought it was the best thing ever.  (We don't do carbonated beverages around here.)  He asked us to buy more. So when Todd went out shopping this week he picked up a bottle of Martinelli's sparkling apple juice.  Josiah drunk the entire bottle today, with only a small amount given to his siblings.  Caroline tasted it and made a face like it was the grossest thing she's ever put in her mouth.  Henry tried it and then asked if it was going to dissolve the tortilla in his stomach.  It's carbonation buddy.  Not acid.  

It's been a hot week so we've played in the backyard mostly where it's shadiest.  The kids brought their bikes back there.  I think the only reason they did this was because they walked/rode them through the house.  

They also played baseball with Benson's tennis balls.  I finally had to nix that game because they were constantly hitting them over the fence and having to run around to retrieve them.  

We attempted a family dog picture.  Benson was uncooperative at first as he kept his head in the grass gnawing on a stick.  Henry kept pointing at the camera so Benson would look at it.  Eventually Caroline picked his stick up to get his head up, so that's why the stick is hovering.  

And...after 138 days of being at home...Todd ventures back to the office tomorrow.