"I didn't really get to the end, I just finished the last level."
"I have a great idea. Everytime you go upstairs with Cotton, it will be videogame time."
"I found some roly-polys. In my hand."
"We're making a lizard habitat. We need crackers."

Rone's a genius, clearly.

Cotton is almost crawling, but she's approaching it entirely differently than the other two did. She completely hates to be on her tummy, even more than she hates clothing and blankets. So she's worked out a way to lean forward from a sit, and she's supporting more and more of her weight with her arms. Just now, I was watching her and she started using her legs and nearly got her tush up off the floor. I feel like I should get her a helmet or a pad for her forehead, since this method is going to lead to a lots of head-meet-floor incidents.

It's all well and good to catch the raccoon that's been living under your deck. But then you've got a wild animal in a mesh box, and it's pretty much going to take up most of your day dealing with it.

Cotton's been eating:

Seph's been pulling:

And I'll be cooking, after our first CSA pickup on Saturday. Real tomatoes! (no bursting my bubble, Mom!):

And an extra of Baby Cotton:

Rone likes loopholes. He has an attention to detail that is surprising. Last night he argued that because I like Star Wars, I must like the Star Wars Lego game. Must. Otherwise, I, as a being, make no sense.

The other day Seph and Rone were discussing things and Rone told us, "When I go to heaven, I know what my wishes will be." In my head, I'm excited--this seems like a good peek at Rone's brain. And hey, there are wishes when we're dead! Good news!

"My first wish would be for more wishes, and my next wish would be to be alive."

And now I'm off to try to prepare the house for the kids to play with friends while Chance pays bills. This is impossible, since they're mutually exclusive activities--one requires noise, the other silence. I may just stand in the kitchen and drink coffee.

Hope everyone had a good holiday. I got a cheeseburger, so that made it a pretty good day for me. We went down to the Elks at about noon, and played all day. I brought some crafty things for the kids to do, and glow bracelets for the evening, there were pool games (Rone got help keeping up from an older girl, since he was the youngest) and lots of sunshine. We lasted until early evening, and then headed home with the intention of going back to watch the fireworks at 9:30, but we were all too wiped out. So we watched them on tv and then I went to Dairy Queen and got treats. It was hoppin' at the DQ, so it seems lots of folks had the same idea.

Cotton is waving. Sometimes. She's still a chubby baby, not a toddler yet. Not even a crawler, although she is perfecting a tushie-schoot maneuver that cracks Chance up. Her bald head is a little fuzzier, but still not enough to comb. She still gets taken for a boy pretty often, even in pink and wearing a 4th of July headband.

Cotton in Clover

At GreatGran and Pop's place upstate

With the NJ cousins

With the MA cousins

And with the NY cousin, but at the beach!

At one point, one of the kids informed me that kites make clouds go away. I wrote that down on a post-it, and put it in my desk drawer. Now I've found it, and typed it up. We can all breathe a sigh of relief.

In more recent news, today Seph had a vocabulary lesson. Seeing as we've been lax in our schooling lately, this is good. This is how it went:

Me: So, do you think foam stickies and visors would be a good craft for the Elks on the 4th of July?
Seph: That's a great idea Mom! That would be the best craft ever! That is one of your best ideas!
Me: Um, huh? (pause) Really?
Seph: You're right. I'm just exasperating.

I leave the vocab as an exercise for the reader. It certainly was an exercise for me.

Seph lost another tooth, and Cotton's grown another couple. They were both pretty miserable about the process. When Seph showed me her tooth on its special pillow in the box for the tooth fairy I could see why she'd been so piteous about it--there was a pretty big bony spine that pointed down toward the root. It looks awfully painful. Cotton couldn't match her whining, but did drool a lot more, and sleep much fewer consecutive hours than her sister.

Cotton has made several other big steps. She's sitting in highchairs, and can sit and play on the floor unsupported. She can also grab things and put them in her mouth very neatly--time to revisit the choking rescue procedures for kids. Yesterday a leaf got her pretty badly, and then something she either swallowed eventually or to tiny for adult eyes to discern. She's also started eating food, which is pretty exciting for everyone. A bit less for me than the others, since food diapers are just so much worse than plain milk diapers. I'm considering a mask purchase. She smelly!

Big brother and sister are very happy that Cotton can now play a bit, and they love to make her laugh. The big baby shriek of happiness is what they shoot for, and it's fun to hear.

Pictures today, hopefully. Got to get the battery charged.

Rone's latest joke:

Rone. "Knock knock."
Supportive parent. "Who's there?"
Rone. "Why did the chicken cross the road?"
Supportive parent. "I don't know, why?"
Rone. "to look at himself in the mirror."

We should be home today. Seph would prefer to keep adventuring around, Rone us ready to head home, and Chance wants his couch and remote. I'm looking forward to. My own bed, but thinking of a smaller road trip for the fall. Full trip report forthcoming, when I have a full sized keyboard.

While driving along this morning, Rone pointed out, "We live in space. The Earth is in space, and we live on it, so we live in space. I can't believe we live in space!