Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Oops! 6 months later!


Well it seems I haven’t blogged in almost 6 months!  I am ashamed.  I make little notes when the kids do funny things, to remind myself to blog about it.  I kick myself when I’m here getting to it SIX MONTHS later, and I either don’t remember what I meant by what I wrote, or with the younger kids, 6 months ago is a HUGE difference from their development now!  Well, I’m going to do my best, and I apologize for the poor time references.

We were in the months where some days it’s nice enough out to play, and other days it’s not.  I remember we were outside playing, and Diella said, “last night I prayed for good summer, and God was listening to me!”  How awesome!!!

I remember when the kids learned the animals that we eat.  They were FLOORED that we eat chickens and cows and fish and pigs, haha!  Well one day Diella asked, “is ham an animal?”  I said yes.  Her next question was, “like hamsters?” HAHAHA!

Jake was teaching Diella that when she gets money, she needs to give some of it to Jesus.  At one point in this conversation she exclaimed, “but I cant throw that high.”  I Love how kids’ minds are!  I’m not sure if I blogged this before, because I know it was a long time ago, but I remember when Diella asked how you to get heaven, and when we described it to her, she said, “yea, but I mean how do you GET there?  In a rocket?”

I’m totally unsure of where this came from or why, but once Diella said, “Mom!  When Sayda’s grown up, she cant be named Sayda anymore!  It’s a baby name.” hehehe… she has since said this about Silas as well.

Diella has been reciting movie lines for some time now, but the most amazing thing I’ve noticed lately, is that she not only knows every word to certain lines, and every word to every song, (in face there’s an entire SCENE from Despicable Me that she cant quote beginning to end!), but she SO often knows the instrumental parts of movies, where there is no dialogue, just music for the setting & for whatever is transpiring, but she will hum along with it!  SO often!  It’s almost always something I’ve never even noticed, that melody line, let alone memorized it!!!

Diella is very much into drawing these days.  Her drawings, Are. Incredible!!!   I first noticed they were getting good when (even though her people are still often times stick figures), this one was sitting on a rock, and the body stopped at the top of the rock, and the legs were off to the side.  Another one was a dancer and the legs were crossed, as she described the pliĆ©.  Since then, more recently, she does drawings of all different kinds of animals, and her friends are almost always in the pictures.  Cecily, Aria, Anna, and Colton are the most frequent ones.  She draws different vehicles, different seasons, SO many things!!!  But many months ago, we were drawing together, and as I was drawing a skate, Diella looked at it and said, “mom, socks don’t drive!”

When we were planning her birthday party, I was trying to think of a theme.  When I asked her, “Diella, would you like a rainbow theme for your birthday?” she replied, “of course.  Why would you ask me that?”

Oh man, one day we must have slipped and let something with red dye in it into her meal.  We told her about it, and the following day she was misbehaving.  I sat her down to talk to her about it, and she said, “mom, that was yesterday, and I already pooped.”  She was thinking that she ate the food, and now its through her, so its not in her system anymore.  What incredible deduction for a 5 year old!

I just love when this girl uses her imagination!  One day she said she had to go to work.  So I began to question her about it.  So when I found out where she worked and what she did, I found out that she worked at Caterpillar 21, and that she “calls people and does paperwork.”  So cool!!!

When I was pregnant with Silas, Jake and I were discussing possible first and middle names.  Diella was nearby, and gave her input, she said, “I think it’s last name should be Ritenour since it’ll be a part of this family.”  Genius!

Ok, here’s one of those times where I don’t remember what I meant by this, and cannot recall the details of the story, but since it’s cute, I’ll just write here the note that I made… she said, “you used to be a Heinrich, and I’ll always be your kid, forever.”  I wish I remembered the story that goes along with this!!!

Diella sings & loves the song, “You Are My Sunshine.”  There are times where she will occasionally change the words to a song.  One day we were in the car, and we were on our way to the Frano’s house.  She began to sing this song, and the words went like this, “you are my Frano’s, my only Frano’s.  You make me happy when trees are green.” (which this was because she was looking out the window for inspiration), “you’ll never know friend how much I love you.  Please don’t take my Frano’s away.”

Diella did get to see Silas in the hospital both days we were there, but it was the sweetest thing… the day I brought him home, she exclaimed, “he’s growing up!”

A new word Diella often uses lately (as of probably September 2012), is literally.  She uses it correctly all the time too.  It’s cool to hear her use vocabulary like this!

Just the other day we got out of the car and Diella said, “my leg pits hurt.”  She meant the underside of her knees, but it was pretty hilarious for her to refer to them that way!

This October, Diella began to take dance classes!  She’s been going for a few months, she’s enjoying it, and she’s doing VERY well in class!  Last week she had her first recital!  It was for the Christmas season.  Jake, my mom, and I enjoyed seeing her perform on stage very much!  A few days after that, I took her to see The Grinch, performed by the Erie Dance Conservatory.  She enjoyed that as well!  We’ll see if her interest in dance continues, and if it does, we Know she will accel!

Diella asked me for a cookie, since we had just finished lunch.  I asked her to wait a minute, until I finished what I was doing.  She asked again a moment later, and again a moment later.  I finally said, “oh honey, I’m sorry, I forgot” and went to get it for her.  She goes, “I think you have short-term memory loss.” LOL, no joke!  It’s a line from Finding Nemo, but still… she totally understood that & said it to me! Ha!

Her new thing lately, is smelling things.  Mostly food of course, but if she cant have a bite of it (for whatever reason), she’ll say, “well can I smell it?”  It kinda cracks me up, cuz she does it so often.  She has a keen sense of smell too, like her daddy.  Every single time we’re in the bread aisle at the store, she says, “Mmm, that’s such a sweet smell!  I like the smell of fresh bread!”

Something silly, and minor, but worth mentioning… Diella cracks me up because lately every time she washes her hands, she’ll pump the soap into one hand, and then use that hand to draw a smiley WITH the soap, onto the other hand, hehe.

I need to mention how wonderful Diella is with Silas.  Not only does she love helping out with him, but even once in a while if I need her to hold him while I get something done, she is patient with him even if he’s crying!  She will just pat his belly & try to keep the binky in for him, and it’s just great to watch!

The other day I was running errands while Jake was home.  The other kids were asleep, and when I got home, Diella had taken 13 sheets of paper, taped them together side-by-side, and had drawn a large mermaid on it.  I thought for sure Jake had helped her with it, but they both assured me that this was all her.  She then continued to cut it out, then color it, and then she even hung it up on her bedroom wall with tape, all 100% by herself!

We passed a Giant Eagle store on the other side of town, not the one we go to here by us, and Diella asked if that was a Giant Eagle.  I said, “yes, but how do you know that?!”  She said, “because it spells that.”  I replied, “yea…. But… you cant read…?” (hehehe), she goes, “well I know words I already know.”  Which I think meant that she recognized the word because she’s seen it before.  I thought it was pretty incredible.

The other day we were in the car.  I saw a big crane, up and over a building, and I thought Ethan might think it was cool, so I sorta gasped and said, “cool! Look!” and they looked over, and Diella said, “the truck???”  I said yes.  She goes, “mom, that’s not that cool.  I thought it was going to be something REALLY cool… like a cat, flying.”

Last week I was dealing with headaches again, and Diella’s prayer for my headache was pretty incredible.  It included phrases like, “I pray mommy feels better quickly.”  And “I pray she is healed.”  And my favorite one, “Thank you for making her better cuz I prayed.”  She thanked the Lord BEFORE He answered her prayer!  Just like we ought to do!  Loved this!!!!




The other day we were sitting at the table for lunch.  Sayda started crying.  When I looked, it seemed as though she was crying for nothing, but then I noticed the guilt all over Diella’s face, so I asked her what happened.  She hopped of her chair, and quickly said, “I poked her in the eye.  I’m going to my room.”  Then she zipped up the stairs.  HAHAHA!!!  She sent herself to her room!!!  I sealed my lips to tred not to laugh, and that was it.  No further punishment.  It was hilarious & kind of rewarding, Ha!

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Questions, Questions!







When we take walks, Diella rotates being 3 different girls, named Alice, Alainia, and Avalee. Something she came up with completely on her own. She will sit on the side of the sidewalk a bit in front of us, and then when we walk past her, she will introduce herself as one of those three. Whoever she is playing that day, has swapped places with Diella. Diella is at HER house. Oh, and the other two girls are her two sisters. Oh and now there is Louie as well. She's also always a different age, from a baby, to in 30's, to in 90's. Jake had a minor concern if this was weird or ok, and I assured him that its just her playing with her imagination!

Diella asked me a few days ago, do you fall in love first or get married first? I love this question, but I didnt expect to hear it for another ten years, ha!

She also asked a question recently, that thrilled me to answer! Well, I guess it wasnt a question, but she made a statement that opened a door that I was happy to walk through! I dont remember specifics about how it started, but she was told that she couldnt have something, and she said, "but mommy, that's not what makes me happy." .... I was so excited that SHE presented me with the opportunity to explain how not everything is about what makes us happy, but what is best for us, etc. I intend to continue teaching this lesson, hehe.

Once, in the car she asked, "How do we get to heaven?" I of course explained that she's already accepted Jesus into her heart, and said the she needs to live her best according to how Jesus wants us to live, and that when you die, you go to heaven. She replied, "Yea, but how to we GET there? In a rocket?" LOL, I love it!!!

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Always Funny, Always Smart



Diella is quite an amazing movie-quoter by now! One day she quoted Megamind, while looking at the movie cover, and she said, "instantly paralyzed!" Um, Wow! I didn't even recall that line of the movie at first, but it sure did impress me when she said it@

One day I went to bite Diella's toes (like I often do), and she goes, "No! they don't taste good! they're sour!" HAHA!

One of the ways we choose to go when we take walks, there is a hydrangea bush. Well both Diella and Ethan practiced saying it and now they both say it perfectly! Its adorable to hear them pronounce such a tough word!

Diella has gone from changing her outfit once a day, to changing it about 5 times a day, Ha! For a while, it was sort of the same 2 or 3 outfits rotated each day, but now she's being much more creative with her combinations! And I'll tell you what, they are always unique! She's into many pieces. Like leggins, and a skirt, and a tee shirt, and socks, and shoes. Also headbands, sometimes a sweater overtop, or a long sleeve tee underneath. She rarely wears jeans, but sometimes I can get her to. Right now, its winter time, and as long as we're in the house, she prefers dresses without leggins or tights, and tee shirts, no socks! Ugh! I've gotta make this lady dress for winter, haha!

One morning Diella was telling me at breakfast time how she, "Dreamed about Humpty Dumpty (then finished as she was giggling), and if I was wearing a necklace, then I had to kiss him. And I was, so I had to kiss Humpty Dumpty!" HAHA Love it!

Another day she was telling me about a dream that she had where "the world broke, and we fell into the ocean, and we had to go to a new planet."

Yet another dream she had, she said we took a walk, but forgot Sayda. She said it was a terrible dream. Aww!

One day Diella asked me, "Do you know who wrote the Bible?" I replied, "God." … she thoughtfully answered, "but He's too big to write on a tiny notebook. Do you think He has a giant notebook so He could write it?"

Another day she asked me, "Is God bigger than any giant?" I said Yes! He's bigger than the whole world! And my little genius girl replied, "so then how does He fit in our heart?" Now she Always asks about God, and reminds me and Ethan how He's bigger than everything! I love it!

We were driving home one day, and she tells me, out of no where… "if there's no gas in the car, then a super hero will have to push us home." I love her little mind!!!

Once at lunch Diella said, "Mom, Ethan took one of Sayda's crackers." I said, "ok." and Diella replied, "and you're ok with that???" Haha!

Sayda LOVES her big sister! No one can make her laugh like Diella can! One day they were playing together, and Diella calls to me in desperation, "change her, mom!!!"

Its been about FIVE months since I've blogged!!! Eek! Well, it's been a few months now, but Diella can now wink like a pro! She cant yet do her other eye, but the one she does, she does so smoothly and suave! She has also since added, "the wink and the gun." hehehe, SO good at it!!!

Mostly inspired by the movie, Tangled, Diella very frequently talks about growing her hair down to her butt. She used to say she wanted it all the way down to her feet, but I regrettably told her that that was probably impossible. And knowing that she has the EXACT same hair as mine, I'm wondering if she'll really ever get it to her butt, but we're praying!!!

ok, and two nights ago, I was laying down with Diella, talking with her about something she did wrong, and I said, "you need to straighten up." She immediately stood straight up, arms straight at her sides, and said, "k." HAHAH!!!

Friday, September 23, 2011

Amazing Moment!

I have a few things on my list that I need to blog about, but first I had to stop and write this down while its still so fresh in my mind! Tonight, Jacob and I experienced probably one of the BEST moments with our children…. EVER! … we had just gotten in the car to go home after a night out together, the 5 of us, and we were playing a Veggie Tales CD. There's a song on this CD that is SO adorable, and Diella is SO good at singing it, so I asked her to sing it for daddy! The song is sung by the character, Junior, so of course its already adorable! … but now our little woman is singing along as well. So she sang it, she did So great at it, and we cheered and applauded! Jake and I were already giggling, and smiling from ear to ear, just in love with this moment! So then she and Ethan were both saying, "again!" … so I took the CD back to the beginning of that track… and again Diella began to sing… and THEN Ethan joins in! We were floored that he knew all those words!!! We were trying not to giggle, so that we could hear them sing along together, and as the song progressed, it Just. Got. CUTER!!! So we're not only trying not to laugh out loud (at the cuteness), but also even fighting back tears at this point! We were overtaken with so many different emotions! We were impressed, we were in awe, we were filled with adoration for our kids, and we were just beyond proud of this little performance!!! It was the single most precious moment, and an incredible experience for us to watch our children sing those wonderful words about the lesson they learned in sharing! I tried so hard to soak up that moment, as Jake and I had tear-filled eyes, and smiles wide enough to almost make our faces hurt! I'm sure I didn't describe it here, as equivalent to what we felt at the time, but it truly was an incomparable feeling!

Monday, August 29, 2011

Nice Quick One








Diella just has all the answers, hehehe. I was telling her how my back & next hurt from Ethan jumping on me. Dr. Diella told me, "maybe you just need some fresh air." Hahaha! So cute!

Playing in the basement last week, the kids have this toy camera. Well Diella took the toy snake that they have, and she strung up the camera onto the snake, so that the snake was like the camera strap. She said, "look, I'm like you!" I felt so proud that she was making herself to look like a photographer! Oh and you should hear the way she "coaches" when she's pretending to take pictures! She will place you a certain way, and then direct you while she makes little changes, until she's ready to take the picture. Its so great!

At her 4 year well check appointment, Diella had to get some immunizations. She wasn't very happy about it, and she did cry a little, but then she sniffed and said, "I'll try to be brave." I was SOOOO proud of her for that! And she DID do very well for the shots, so I was even More proud!

Every once in a while, Diella will tell me about the dream(s) she had the night before. So one morning last week, she said, "I had a dream that we were at a different church, and Nikkia was there." That was nice. This is actually the second time she told me she had a dream about Nikkia, sweet.

Last night Diella was "building a nest" with grass and dirt and flowers, etc. Then the wind was blowing a bit, and she got a little upset, and yelled that she wanted the wind to stop blowing her things! I smiled and said, "I'm sorry honey, I cant stop the wind." So she goes, "God, can you please stop the wind?!" I thought that was Awesome!!! And then I said, "Diella, you're a genius." (I've said this to her many times before), and I'm not sure why, but she replied, "No, only boys." I'm not sure why she thinks that, but of course I smiled and told her that girls can be geniuses too, hehehee.

Diella also likes to try to spell things, and I think that's great! But she usually just throws some letters out there, hehehe. Like just now she said, "I'm gonna call that the Science museum. C-A-I-D-E." Heheheee.

Monday, August 15, 2011

Jellyfish







AH! I haven't posted in over 2 months! SO much has happened!

Real briefly, we discovered that Diella has the red dye allergy. It affects anger. So we've realized that that has had a lot to do with her behavior. Its been a wonderful change since we've taken the red out of her diet! It's hard for a few days when something red will get past us, but it's something we'll get through. She's very aware of it, so that's helpful too!

Here are just come funny things Diella says…

One day she asked, "why is the sun always beautiful?" And I replied, "God made it like that." She asked, "how?" I answered, "because He's SO big!" As she spread her fingers wide open, she asked, "this big?" I told her how He is even bigger than that, and I named some big things that He's bigger than, and then finally said bigger than…. our house! (we were outside), she looked at the house and said, "wow, thats big, like a giant!"

I'm not exactly sure when Diella has heard her cousin Colton's middle name, and I know she knows Ethan's middle name… but one day Diella yelled at Ethan, and she exclaimed, "Ethan Maximus!" Pah!

Once we were watching tv, and I laid my head on her and told her she was my pillow. She replied, "no, I'm not squishy."

I was so impressed one day when she told me that Simba is Lion King, in Spanish. Thats not actually true, what WHAT an analysis!!!

Ok, so Diella had never once asked about Ethan's…. boy parts. I never offered the information, I just thought I'd wait until she inquired. So finally a week or two ago, she did. It was when I was changing his diaper, and she worded it like this, "whats that twirly thing on his front?" HAHAHA!

So Jake got a terrible sunburn this summer, and one day I had him lay on his belly on the floor, so that I could peel some of it, while the kids were in the room… I was curious to see what they'd think of that. As Ethan watched, he said with desperation in his voice, "be careful mom! Be gentle!" … and then Diella asked, with so much poise & grace, "what the heck is that?"

She once asked, "why do dragons put toothpaste on their tongue, and THEN brush it?" … this is I'm sure, totally confusing until you know that that's what Mushu from the movie, Mulan, does in one scene. I quite often have to explain how some things are ONLY on tv, and not in real life.

I WISH I remembered what Jake and I did for me to write down what Diella's response was to it… but I only wrote down her reply to something that he and I must have done together… she said, "good job guys, that was teamwork!"

Once she used the phrase, "it would be my pleasure." THAT made my day!

Diella asked, "how did sayda come out of your belly, just popped out?" I figured my best response to that at the time was, "pretty much, yup!" Hahaha! oh yea, and then she also asked after that, "what part of her came out first?"

We were watching Evan Almighty. The part where the ark runs into & destroys their house. Diella asked, "what will they do?" and then answered, herself, "buy a new house… but I don't think houses can fit inside stores." LOL, Love that!!!

One day she said, "I cant go all way upstairs & then back down!" I asked why not. She replied, "cuz i don't have enough energy." So then i asked her what energy is, and she said, "it means your body helps you." I liked that answer! I've been asking her the definitions to words a lot lately, to see if she UNDERSTANDS the words she's using… another one I asked her about was the word fragile (because I've heard her use this word before), and she told me, "fragile means to break stuff." hehehe

Once after I had put down all 3 kids for bed, they were pretty quiet, and I thought they were sleeping. But I went into the girls room a little bit later, and there was Diella and Sayda, having their own little slumber party! Yappin away to each other! lol, it was bittersweet

Diella once asked my mom, "Ahna, when are you gonna have your own kids?" And then just yesterday she asked me, "why do some grown ups have kids, and some don't?" I LOVE answering these questions!!!

Diella has ALWAYS liked to name things! (which I LOVE about her!!! I have always been, and am still that way too!) So the other day she was RE-naming things. She said, "My name is Sally, and Ethan's name is Markin. My kids names are Silas and Leelee." I loved it!

Her favorite color has always been pink. Lately, she has TWO favorite colors. Pink and red. But one say she wanted to tell me why. "Do you know WHY my favorite color is red? Because its bright." That just struck me as so cute, because it describes so much of who she is! Bright, bold, loves to be seen! hehehe

Yesterday in the car, she was singing, making up a song, and it went like this, "I love Aria, and Colton, and Anna, and Cecily! And then we have 12 in our family!"

Her new thing is, when you tell her something that she likes, or is excited about, she says, "Yesssssssss!" and hold that S sound… so cute!

I loved it just a few days ago, when Diella said this…. "tell me about God. How did He make EVERYthing in the whole world? Wouldn't He get tired of doing that?"

And I assume this one probably derived from Finding Nemo, (its not said in the movie, but I'm thinking her thought process towards saying this, was maybe something she heard on that movie), but it ranked up there with my top 5 favorite things she's ever said… she told me that "Jellyfish sting you with their genicals." HAHAHHAHAAAAA!!!!

Friday, June 3, 2011

Specifics












The other day Diella asked, " when i grow up, am I gonna have my same voice?" I thought that was strange, but still sweet.

Once Diella was tying a string, and she said, "I tied, then repeat." I asked her, "what does repeat mean?" and she replied, "it means to do it again." I thought it was awesome how well she defined it! Often times we ask her what things mean, and even though I know she knows, its still hard for her to explain it into other words. This time she nailed it!!!

Quite a few times lately, she has been asking for these specifics. She says, "I want silver, shiny sneakers, so I can learn to tie em. Medium ones, so they'll fit me when I'm bigger." Well like I said, she has asked for this more than once, and her birthday is in 10 days. My mom told me last night she found Diella some sparkly sneakers! I think her Year will be made!

Another very smart thing she asked the other day…. well, she both asked it, AND answered it! She asked, "How do trees stand up?" and I think I had gotten as far as the word, "Well… " and she interrupted, "I think the other part of the tree us buried in the ground." I thought that was quite analysis!

One day, I don't remember why, but she was explaining to me how, "daddy is a bigger size, mom is medium size, Diella and Ethan are smaller, and Sayda is tiny." Again… wonderfully analytical! haha!

The other day, I don't remember what Jake was doing, but Diella made an exclamation at him that cracked me up! Now, I need you to hear it right in your head before I write it… it would be as though someone was maybe teasing you, but in a playful way, and you were to shout their name, as though to stop, but not annoyed or angrily… so, whatever he was doing, Diella said, "Daddy Ritenour!!!" heheehe.

Diella has this new obsession. Leggins. She wears them pretty much every single day, its cute! She wears them under dresses and skirts. Even when we have a hot day, she "Has To" wear them! In fact, when we suggest that she doesn't really have to wear them, when its hot out, she'll say, "I don't want anyone to see my panties." haha! … but guess what!? Her MOMMA was the same way as a kid! I HAD TO wear shorts under my dresses for church on Sundays. I remember doing that all the way up through most of grade school… 4th, maybe even 6th grade!

She has a rug in her room thats got a hopscotch board on it. She has this new thing where she likes like lay out outfits, or certain toys on each number of the board. I don't think its really for any reason, she just likes to. I think its cute. She's used the word "organized" before, so I think its just part of how her little mind works!