... Elizabeth/Lizzie/Eliza...

"What's my name?  What's my name?"  Nope, not a Beyonce song.  It's from Disney's "The Descendants."  Get with the program.

Lizzie is into names right now, especially hers.  She likes that she can be Elizabeth or Lizzie.  Sometimes, when she's feeling fancy, she prefers Eliza.  Don't worry if she doesn't answer you when you call her, just keep calling different variations of her name until she responds.

Elizabeth/Lizzie/Eliza has turned into Ms. Independent, preferring to do things on her own, and work at them until she figures it out, or burns it all down out of frustration.  There's no in between for this one:  Completely passionately absorbed in something, or as disinterested and disengaged as possible.

That's not a criticism of her.  She wants to master things on the first try.  She's working on understanding that mistakes are good, that making mistakes is how you learn, and that mistakes are not failures.  It's a deep thing to try to understand at 6, but if she does get it, my little Wonder Woman is going to be unstoppable.

She loves her Barbies, animals, drawing, and tells me that she wants to be a doctor one day so that she can help people.  But it's not all seriousness with this one.  If I were to classify Lizzie, she's a total jazz musician.  Improvisation is totally her thing.  Ask Jamie and Chelsie about the song she made up at Violet's baptism!  It was the first of many hilarious songs, all stream-of-consciousness, songs detailing the moment that she's in.  She got it from her Momma.

RMH  6/10/18

... Neil “Armstrong” Henderson...

Neil might just be the most social person I know.  Seriously.  The kid channels Grandma Vi.  He knows everyone, he loves everyone, and he can tell you everything about everyone he knows.  Case in point:  

We took a trip to Anaheim this past October for a wedding (Hi, Lindz!), and did the two and two split for the plane rides - one adult with one kid in one row, and the other adult and other kid directly behind.  The kids usually ended up in the middle seat once they got tired of looking out the window.  Neil spent most of each flight talking to the person sitting with him.  Not Scott.  The other person.  He offered them gum, asked them where they were from, and told them ALL about us, our trip, and where we live.  Guess we need to work a little more on that Stranger Danger thing, eh? ;)

We landed back in Pittsburgh, and my dad picked us up at the airport.  He asked the kids if they had fun on the planes, and I casually mentioned that Neil made friends with the people he sat beside.  He looked at me, and matter-of-factly stated, "Mommy, her name was Karen, and she was very nice."  We all cracked up, and I apologized for not remembering her name.

That's Neil.  The first person to talk to someone, and make a new friend.  He tells me that he'll be a baseball player when he grows up, but now that I think about it, maybe he'll be a biographer one day.  

He's very interested in the "why" and "how" of things.  Why do we get summer off from school?  Why are there negative (he called them megative at first) numbers?  How can I explain the skips?  How does the catapult work?  And he doesn't want a simple answer.  He wants an answer that will make him think, and ask another question.

He says that his nickname is Armstrong.  Once he found out that Neil Armstrong was the first man on the moon, he got his space books out and jumped right into them.  He even took his binoculars outside to look at the moon.  He wants to go there one day, but with the stipulation that I go with him.  Maybe by the time he gets there we'll be able to FaceTime between Earth and the Moon...

Current likes:  Batman, the Beatles, baseball, dancing to "My House" by Flo Rida, reading, riding bikes, playing with legos, coloring, Saturday trips to the barber shop with Scott, and writing stories.

Current dislikes:  most vegetables, any movie that I suggest we watch, cleaning up, and mac and cheese.  

RMH 5/29/18

... Welcome Back...

My last writing started by saying that it’s been “WAY too long since my last post.”  I think I just set a new record.  It’s not that life has been uninteresting over the last three years. It has!  And hectic! Let me catch you up:

Survived threenagers, potty training almost broke us, kids went into Pre-Kindergarten, DON'T SING MOMMY, little artists, soccer, Batman, Barbie, horses, cows, dress up, dress up, Neil Armstrong, dress up, Kindergarten registration, SING MOMMY, Pre-Kindergarten graduation, Mommy cried like a baby, sold the house in Crafton, moved into an apartment for 6 months, first day of Kindergarten, Mommy cried like a baby again, minor head injury, Mommy kept it together, first airplane ride to California, moved into the new house, 7 school days left until summer vacation.

Whew!  That was a quick overview!  To get back into the swing of things, my next two posts will focus on each of the kids.  Please don't look too closely at who is first - it has no bearing on which child is my favorite...yet.  It's 10:25 PM, and everyone (including Scott) is asleep.  Therefore, everyone is Mommy's favorite.  By the time the next post is up, who knows!  Also, don't expect the individual posts about each kid to be up tonight.  10:25 PM, remember? In the meantime, enjoy this picture from Mustache Day at school.  Also, someone remind me to write about the last 26 days of school...if I survive it!

Lizzie "The Scoundrel" and Neil "The Scholar" Henderson

RMH 5/22/18