March Peanuts

• Three times this morning, Melissa's made Corinna cry. Each time, Isaac came over to sing and dance to cheer her up -- and it worked!
• Isaac learned to say his name this week. The first time I heard it was this morning: I was bundling the kids up in the minivan to go to the Home Depot Kids Workshop, and Isaac made a break for the Z4 instead. "No Mama car!" he said. "Eyeash [Isaac's] car!"
• When Rachel told Isaac it was time to go, he started stuffing sand in his pockets. Who says you can't take it with you?
• Pack meetings here are as bad as homework. Bring a talent exhibition table AND an artistically decorated cake!?
• Sent Isaac to bed, but he crept into the room where Matthew and Spencer were watching a movie. Sent him to bed again, and this time I watched him tiptoe around the corner to the back door of the movie room. Gotcha!
• Yesterday Isaac was running along at his usually barely-under-control pace, when he lost a shoe. He tripped and fell, and Rachel following along behind stepped on his hand. For the rest of the afternoon he kept showing his hand off, saying "Ow," and "Mama hurt me!"
• Isaac teases Melissa: "'Issa yuck. Eyeyash [Isaac] yum!" Melissa was in tears, which caused her sensitive and protective father to crack up. A developmental milestone, to be sure.
• Matthew was a big help at the store yesterday, so I bought him a pack of gum as a reward. Or do you still call 12 feet of gum tape a "pack?" Either way, Matthew was intensely pleased, and Isaac was intensely jealous. Last night Matthew his gum out. And Isaac found it this morning. Isaac was delighted: "Gum! Num num num num num num!" I'm not sure how much was left, but Isaac ate *all* of it. Matthew was pissed. Sometimes it is hard to be Isaac's brother.
• I handed Matthew the toilet duck. "You know what to do with this, right?" He started squirting it directly into the bowl. I laughed and showed him how to apply it under the rim around the edge. I'm pleased to say he'll have plenty of opportunities to practice.
• Matthew is a little stormcloud because he was assigned to study hall during recess after refusing an assignment to write about a field trip he'd been on. He didn't write during study hall either. "I hate writing. I'm not good at it. And that won't change."
• Our minivan takes 19.75 gallons plus a few thousanths to fill up from completely empty. Fortunately I was able to coast to a gas station when I had occasion to determine this. Barely.
• Corinna figured out where to find Mommy when she's trying to sleep. I put the chaise lounge in front of the door so she can't bang on it. She just discovered the obstacle: deciding now whether to complain loudly or go find something else to do.
• Me: "How do you know it's yuck, if you haven't tried it?" Rachel: "I'm not going to eat anything that will turn my poop funny colors."
• Matthew pulled Cake Wrecks off the shelf and started reading it. I had to explain why "Happy birthday you Pastard [sic]" was funny. Guess it's time to move Books We Don't Want Matthew To Read Yet into our bedroom.
• Melissa: "Ms. Beechnor? I mean, Mom?"
• How bad is our newspaper delivery man? I added the "report a missed delivery" number to my address book.