A Great Day and Brothers

We had a great day today. My sister-in-law and family were scheduled to visit us today. We love spending time with Aunt Natalie and her crew. They moved to Pennsylvania just after we arrived in the US which was taunting, but it has not changed our love for them or eagerness to see them. My kids were waiting at the door from the minute we got up today. When Aunt Natalie comes she brings five kids with her (otherwise known as her kids). Josiah, Esther, Miriam, Ezra and Silas are stair steps with my kids which means whether you look up or down there is a playmate. It is a blast.

Well, unexpectedly the day got even better. Natalie and I were sitting out in the backyard when we turned and saw a kid running around the side of the house very excitedly. Natalie made the comment that our neighbor-kid looked a lot like Joshua (who is our shared nephew - my sister's kid). I turned around to see the kid and screamed because it actually was Joshua. My sister had decided to drive in from St. Louis to surprise us and join in on the cousin time. She left her older two kids at home, but we thoroughly enjoyed the surprise (I love surprises) and the additional people.

My sister had the good idea of having Jack and Josiah come back to St. Louis with her for the evening - kind of a big boy sleepover amongst the older cousins. Jack was really keen to go for the night. Theo was not so keen. After some initial crying and claiming that life is not fair, he was pacified by a Lego playing with Mom and a Lego magazine.

Later that evening at dinner we were going around the table doing our highs and lows. Theo was very quick with his. He said his high was The Abbotts coming over and his low was Jack leaving.

It then dawned on me that Theo has slept in the same room as Jack since he was two years old and they have not missed a night together since they started sharing a room (except for the hospital stay when Jack swallowed the coin and Theo had the nasty asthma attack!). It was very natural for Theo to be missing Jack. He has asked me multiple times when Jack will be back tomorrow and has also said in a slightly melodramatic way 'Jack is the only person I like to play with.'

Thankfully not having Jack did not keep Theo up too long this evening:

The empty top bunk:

I love the fact that my boys love each other. I want to remember memories like this because I am not naive enough to think it will always feel this way. My prayer is that my kids will be deep friends their whole lives and am happy that my sister and sister-in-law make it so easy for me to model this to my kids.

Trip to the Governor's Mansion

We had a great day today touring the governor's mansion in Jefferson City. We went with a few friends and enjoyed a tour, a picnic, and a stop by Central Dairy. What is there not to love????

Before going to the mansion I read through the touring policy and prepped my kids with a few rules. One of the things I was sure to point out was that there wasn't a bathroom in the governor's mansion so we needed to make sure we went before we left home.

On the way there I asked each of my older boys to think of a question that they might want to ask the tour guide.  Jack quickly came up with the question of which governor has had the most kids - stemming of course from what it would be like to be a kid living in the mansion. A very reasonable question. Theo quickly came up with his question as well. He quickly piped in telling me that he was going to ask the tour guide 'where does the governor go to the bathroom?'.

It seems I forgot to mention that the governor's mansion had no public bathroom. In Theo's four year old mind he was thinking being governor doesn't sound like that good of a job if you have to across the street to go to the bathroom!  LOL.

Eliot's New Trick

So one of the things our family has been guilty of with Eliot is teaching him learnt helplessness. When normal babies fall over or lie on their backs they struggle and then learn how to roll over and get up. Not Eliot. As soon as he falls over one of the older kids runs to him and props him back up into sitting position. Only recently did it dawn us that we weren't sure he could get up when lying on his back. So we restrained ourselves  - and the other kids  - and let him struggle until he learnt it for himself. Here is a video of him showing off his new tricks. 

Note: He is 13 months in this video, only a good six months behind the 'norm'. It is worth pointing out that given the size of our kids' heads and their chubbiness none of them have rolled over consistently before the age of 9 months, so that may help in his defense that he is not really that far behind, at least for an Anderson!

Theo and Baseball

Jack had a baseball game the whole family was able to attend last night. It was a great game and provided us with two blogable incidents . . . both from Theo!

Incident #1-
It was really hot, and sadly I didn't come prepared as I wished I had. Quickly deciding that we needed water, Charles headed to the concession stand with Theo and Addie. He bought two waters and handed them to each of the kids. Theo opened his, and then in a very mature tone said, 'Ah, this is so refreshing.'

Hilarious, coming out of the mouth of a four-year-old.

Incident #2-
Apparently one of Jack's teammates was upset at one point. I was back a bit, but my friend Christina was near the dugout. Theo was very taken with Jack's crying teammate. He asked Christina, "Why is that kid crying?" She answered that she didn't know. He then asked her again, which prompted her to tell Theo that we should probably give the kid some space. At this point, Theo looked at Christina and said (drum roll) . . .  "Doesn't he know there's no crying in baseball? At least that is what Tom Hanks says."

The famous line by Tom Hanks from the movie, A League of Their Own has become a family favorite. We quote this line in many situations, not just baseball. For example, Charles might tell one of the kids, "Hey don't you know there is no crying in breakfast?" This comment would of course distract the kids enough that their 'crying' would stop. So in this case, Theo was eager to know why this kid wasn't following Tom Hanks's advice.


Another memory of this season will be how many friends Theo has made on our baseball team. Seriously, every time I turn around he is making a new friend; often another mom who he is talking to about his favorite action figures, or the perennial favorite are the older brothers (of whom he believes he is equal to). Here is a picture of Theo with his buds Nick and Matthew, who, in Theo's words, play for the 'unprofessional Cubs'. Not surprisingly, based on his admiration for these older boys,  the professional Cubs have now become Theo's favorite team. He even rooted for them last night when they were playing the Cardinals. Sigh. He asked Charles when he could get a Cubs t-shirt. There's one of in every family, right????

Theo and accuracy

Two funny incidents occurred yesterday in relationship to time-ing.

First, on the way home from church I asked Addie about going to large group. She has just been promoted to the three year old room and is not able to go to the large group time which consists of a Bible story and singing. She has been looking forward to this for a while now. She was very excited to tell me about it. I asked her if she went twice (since our kids stayed two hours for two different services today). She said 'no I went two times!'

I was prepared to just smile to myself but Theo quickly piped up from the backseat and told her that 'twiced meant two times'. What would we do without big brothers?????

Second, Charles popped into Theo's room to tell him that he could come out of rest time at 'two one five' today. What Charles didn't know was that I had already told Theo his exiting time today. Theo looked at Charles and said, 'I know Dad but it is actually called two fifteen.' What would we do without our kids to correct us????

The pending question from both of these stories - What would we do without Theo?????