Caleb

I just realized I haven’t said much about the newest Falin. Poor third child. If he’d been our first, you would have been reading about nothing else. But he’s a pretty mellow guy and so far, apart from doing the Big Three infant activities (eat, sleep and…well, you know), he just hangs out. My mom noticed when she was here that he does sing himself to sleep.

He did get a little worked up yesterday when his sister tried to share her firetruck with him. I heard mild baby-like protests coming from the dining room and came in to see flailing arms and legs, partially hidden by the firetruck she had laid across his head and torso. I think she was slightly offended that he wasn’t making much effort to play with her.

So last week I wrote about how the leaves had turned lovely shades of yellow and red. Until last weekend when they turned white. With snow. Thaaaaaaat’s right. While Southern CA was burning and suffering in 90 degree heat, it was snowing here Sunday. It all melted the next day and I think this was the sort of weather people were trying to convince us last year was normal — snow which stays long enough to be pretty but melts before it gets dirty and gross looking. As opposed to last year’s snow which stayed and stayed and stayed and did, in fact, get dirty and gross looking.

Alexis’ favorite saying right now is “‘Bye, alligator!”

I picked Timothy up from school yesterday and a little girl in his class yelled, “‘Bye, Timothy!” across the parking lot. He rolled his eyes. I was explaining that he needs to be nice to the kids in his class when he tried to say something. It took him several tries and a little stuttering before he finally uttered the refrain of young men across the globe — “I know. But I don’t want to be her friend because…because…I-I-I I just don’t understand girls!”

Fall Has…Fallen?

It’s fall here. The kids and I went for a hike this morning (I took all three of them! A personal triumph…) in the mountains about 30 min from here and the trees are breathtaking. The aspens turn this brilliant yellow and the mountains had snow on them. Makes you want to do something creative like paint even if you’re like me and your four-year-old’s pictures are more realistic than yours are.

I discovered I moved to a neighborhood that decorates. Fourth of July…Halloween…I can’t even imagine Christmas. Coming from a place where I feared someone would steal my Halloween pumpkins and chuck them at my house, I’m not used to this and it’s making me feel inadequate. I know I’m not supposed to compare myself to the neighbors but my measly few pumpkins look sort of pathetic near the house with the fall leaf garland and the scarecrows and the flowers and the pumpkins.

Sigh.

So True, Mr. Nash…soooooo true….

Birdies, Don’t Make Me Laugh

Once there was a poem, and it was serious and not in jest,

And it said children ought to agree like little birdies in their nest.

Oh forsooth forsooth!

That poem was certainly more poetry than truth.

Because do you believe that little birdies in their nest agree?

It doesn’t sound very probable to me.

Ah no, but I can tell you what does sound probable,

And that is that life in a nest is just one long quarrel and squabbable.

Look at that young mother robin over in that elm, or is it a beech,

She has two little robins and she thinks she has solved her problem because she has learned not to bring home just one worm but a worm for each.

She is very pleased with her understanding of fledgling psychology, but in just about two minutes she is going to lose a year’s growth,

Because she’s going to find that one little robin gets no worms and the other little robin gets both,

And if one little robin gets out of the nest on the wrong side and nothing can please it,

Why the other little robin will choose that moment to tease it,

And if one little robin starts a game the other little robin will stop it,

And if one little robin builds a castle the other little robin will knock it down and if one little robin blows a bubble the other little robin will pop it.

Yes, I bet that if you walked up to any nest and got a good revealing glimpse,

Why, you would find that our little feathered friendlets disagree just like human imps,

And I also bet that their distracted feathered parents quote feathered poetry to them by whoever the most popular feathered poet may be,

All about why don’t they like little children in their nurseries agree.

Well, to put the truth about youth in a very few words,

Why the truth is that little birds do agree like children and children do agree like little birds,

Because you take offspring, and I don’t care whether a house or a tree is their abode,

They may love each other but they aren’t going to agree with each other anywhere except in an ode.

It doesn’t seem to have occurred to the poet,

That nobody agrees with anybody else anyhow, but adults conceal it and infants show it.

-Ogden Nash

Place Your Beths

We were at a Bible study last night and a lady we just met was talking about how she’d gone to Beth Moore a few weeks ago and what she’d learned. It took Chris until halfway through her conversation to realize Beth Moore was a woman. He told me later he’d thought it was a temple.

An Update

Ahhhh, so much to cover…I apologize for leaving my adoring fans for so long without a post but I intend to be more faithful about writing from now on. Especially since winter is fast approaching and I will probably be housebound more than once in the next few months.

I had a baby two weeks ago — Caleb Christopher Falin. He seems to be a pretty mellow guy so far. He sleeps through anything (except at 3 am, when for some inexplicable reason, he’s been waking up for 2 hours). The other kids love him and my only concern is that they’re going to accidentally smother him while laying their toys on him (they can’t figure out why he’s not playing with them) and trying to constantly hug him.

Alexis is doing well. I was most concerned about her after having the baby — she’s barely two and loved being the baby herself. But she seems to be fine. Her passions right now are football and NASCAR racing. She sits with Chris and yells at the TV, “Run, run, RUN!!!” The Broncos game is tomorrow and she’s been going around the house today talking about “fuhball” all morning.

Timothy started school last month and, while he won’t admit it, really enjoys it. They did an experiment to see how ducks float by trying to combine oil and water (ducks coat their feathers with oil to help them float and keep waterproof. I think. Something like that.) He came home with a water bottle filled with oil and water which he won’t let me throw away and which I keep mistaking for an actual water bottle. One of these days I won’t catch myself in time and I’ll take a drink. I know I will.

I’m feeling great after the baby. The hospital I went to here was amazing — more like a hotel than a hospital. I had panoramic views of the mountains from my room…fairly decent food…a concierge downstairs which I did not use but was told would get my groceries or pick up my drycleaning if I needed…a massage therapist (who was, of course, out of town while I was there. But still.). Crazy. When I had Alexis at Northridge, the hospital was overcrowded and I was put on an abandoned floor that looked like something out of a horror movie.

I did have a few days of fog and general confusion brought on by lack of sleep, I think. I took Caleb to his first doctor’s appointment and spent about five minutes afterward trying to figure out why my key wouldn’t open a van that wasn’t mine. It wasn’t even the same color. And I caught myself unloading the dishwasher and putting the silverware in the garbage can one morning.

The dog just ate Alexis’ toast. I must go.