Jun 5, 2008

A wonderful, magical, golden era



Okay, so sometimes caring for two toddlers is taxing and stressful. The house is always covered in crumbs and sticky fingerprints. There is some whining and carrying on that occurs daily. But recently, I was reminded of some of the perks on the horizon, like the fact that Laine is almost old enough to do chores. Not like her chores she has had up until now of helping carry in the grocery bags or putting the poopy diapers in the garbage. I am talking about the kind of chores that I had as a kid. If you hold on just a tick and I think I can scrounge up some photographic evidence i.e. Nicole and I doing nightly dishes at age 2 and 3.



I know my Mom worked hard and even felt as most mothers did that her job was never done {the house was immaculate and the counter underneath the answering machine was wiped daily. NOT an exaggeration. There was a constant threat of having to wash walls and baseboards when we acted up or wouldn't go to sleep} But we as 5 little girls in the house felt that we did quite our fair share of the work {looking back we probably didn't, but at the time we did feel like we did a lot} Anyway, I think back to those times and am now excited that Laine will soon become somewhat more of a helper and hopefully less of a dead weight.




There have been some subtle clues lately that the time is arriving soon. We have now reached the days where I can offer her "incentives" for doing me "favors". Like just last week at the Gold Coast, for instance. The jets on the hot tub kept running out so I kept telling her that I would give her a dollar if she would go turn them back on. She would get so excited and carefully run around the corner and they would instantly turn on as she pressed the button. She would run back and I would say, "okay, here you go, thanks!" and give her a pretend dollar. She loves to imagine and pretend so much, that this fake dollar is no doubt even better than a real dollar. She is so into it, and one of the times she forgot to collect her "dollar" and about 10 minutes later reminded me of it. Oh, silly me, here you go, here's your dollar...



Laine has also seen her TV friends receiving medals. She loves to give and receive fake medals. I now have a whole closet full of them. If they weren't imaginary, I think they would be taking up too much space and I'd have to get rid of them. Thanks goodness their fake! They are fun, and are another great way to help "inspire" Laine to help me out with things that need done around the house, like getting me my drink or fetching my slippers, rubbing my bunions and corns, etc. And the best is yet to come, I haven't even broken out the, "do it, I'll TIME you!" bit yet, which of course works every time and is shear genius.


Laine loves TV {she calls everything movies though, so I guess I should say she loves her movies}. Anyway, she loves her little Movie friends so much, {she is constantly saying things exactly as they are said on tv -"oh no!, now we'll never get home!" "oh no, it's ruined! We will never fix it!" Wait, I have an idea!"}
She kind of reminds me of a cuter, more wholesome, not creepy, kid version of "Model Walk" MW was a girl at USU who always walked and talked like there were cameras following her every move. You would be talking to her and looking around, instinctively desperate to find where these hidden cameras were, all the while thinking, Model Walk, come back down to Earth, please, no one talks like that. No, seriously Model Walk, there are no cameras, no one is paying attention. Stop prancing, stop giving me canned mumbo jumbo like you are in a beauty pageant. -Please tell me some one out there remembers who I am talking about, Rex, I know at least you Ben and I will. If you didn't know this model walk, though she was one in a million, maybe there are other MW's out there that you have found and can relate nonetheless


Okay, I think I've rattled off on Laine and MW long enough, sorry Gabe, all of the cute things that you are doing will have to wait for another day. I'll leave you with some of Laine's recent one liners:





Said as we were reading The Hungry Caterpillar together: "Look! The caterpillar is going in his raccoon!"

I promised the kids we could go to the park on the way home from the Towers. We spent too much time shopping and it was dusk as we pulled out of the parking garage. I told Laine it was probably too dark to go now. All of the sudden, from no where, she starts singing to the tune of One Republic's Apologize: "It's too late to go to the park, it's too late..."

In Laine's primary class they were talking about their siblings and Laine agreed with her classmates: "I have a sister too, but he's a boy"

22 comments:

breyn said...

We LOVE your blog!!! You crack me up! By the way, Jared totally remembers MW but didn't realize she had a nickname. Your kids are ADORABLE (I mean how couldn't they be, look at their parents). Tell Ben hello from both of us.
Breyn and Jared Hancock

AnneMarie said...

Those pics of Laine are so cute, I especially love the first! She is seriously so pretty! Chores are my favorite! Not to do, to assign:)

Kristine L. said...

You are so lucky that you are finally reaching the golden age for Laine to do chores. Especially since you can talk her into them because they are "cool". Hopefully she doesn't catch on early and realize that chores really aren't that neat.

I wish that I had a little rascal that was reaching the fine age of chores. I don't have a child, but I do have a Jordan. :) That will do for now.

Gaengy said...

This post on your blog would be such a great piece in a book. You write so well. Sounds like Laine is even more creative than you or you are a smarter mom than me, because imaginary never worked with you. It had to be the real thing!! Loved all the one liners! And the pictures adorable.

Allison and Noah Riley said...

Laine is such a sweet little girl - that One Republic moment made me laugh so hard! It reminded me of the time you told me "Sexy Back" was among her list of current faves.

And I love that you included that picture we took of Laine the day she had to endure our babysitting :).

We TOTALLY had an MW catwalking the sidewalks of USU. What a treat.

Nicole said...

Katie had told me about that One Republic thing, and it is so funny, smart and creative. I love the pictures, she looks so cute and so grown up. Did you take them? If so, your photography is really getting good.

Children doing chores is awesome. Do you remember when mom told us the story of how she said when she was little that when she grew up she would never make her children do chores? I remember hearing that story and thinking that mom had it all wrong. When I was doing chores I was dreaming of the days when I would have kids to do chores. I have to admit it is not quite as magical as I had hoped, but maybe someday.

The girls first chore was helping with the trash. They would hold the bag while emptied and then they moved up to unloading the dishwasher. It still takes Avery over an hour to unload sometimes, but at least she is learning. Hallie is now doing bathrooms, and I can't wait until she gets a little better at doing them because I HATE cleaning the bathrooms. I still have to do touch-ups after she is done. Hayden is pretty much good for nothing still. I am lucky if I can get her to pick up her own dirty clothes. Ah, patience.

Jenny G said...

These pictures are so cute. She is a doll. I'm about ready to have Jack start on the work around the house too, but not ready to deal with it being harder than just doing it myself...I do have high hopes that he is going to be a great helper with this new baby. He is always so sweet with them when we're around other peoples.

The Wells Family said...

I LOVED this post! I love reading everything you say even though I have been MIA from commenting. :)

Laine is a CRACK up! I love all the funny things that she says. The song comment was classic. I'll have the break it out when Bobby is beggin me to go to the park. :) And don't worry...I have already started Bobby out on doing chores. And counting really does work!

And who could forget Model Walk from USU. I was laughing hysterically when I read that. I so remember her..along with everyone who attended. Thanks for refreshing my memory.

Andrea said...

This is one cute kid! I'd love for your daughter and mine to play--there would no doubt be some funny things going on. Cute!

Anonymous said...

Teaching kids to work is very important. The downside is that it often takes more effort to teach a kid to do it right, and follow through, than it does to do it yourself. THis can be a real problem for some families, as the parents do not have the extra energy to teach the kids how to do a job right. So pass on what you learned. Dad

Palmers said...

Nat, yes I do remember MW (vagely, but it's there, I never knew of her as MW, just that she was very.. strange)

Laine is so cute, great pictures! what's with the bottle of kid vitamins she's holding?

Mel said...

Wow I wish I had the energy your mom did to teach my kids to do chores consistantly. I am on a chart now where they get stars. They are motivated for the first few days and then they fall back into I don't care mode. I love her one liners. She is a crackup! She is one beautiful girl!

Laura said...

Those pictures are gorgeous-- I love the part about the caterpillar going into his raccoon. We love that book, but it's really the only page I think they just don't get.

Kate said...

Now a couple things to comment on here....Is this girl available to hire out. Because I wouldn't mind dishing out a couple "dollars" for some help. And hello, of course I remember MW, don't you remember I am the one that told you all the updates....come on you remember ol' girl. And I hated the song apologize, but now I love it because of my little Laine.

Stacey Lau said...

Apologize is Maya's favorite song right now. Whenever it comes on the radio, I have to turn the volume up. And I will tell you what, some people give me looks that my 3 year old can sing these songs, but I think it is pretty darn cool. You gotta love the pretend dollar thing, why haven't I used that??? Maya would totally go for it.

The 4 of Us said...

Completely love your blog!! Can't believe y'all are in Australia. Glad to see you are all doing well. Loved the monkey video, Ben Jammin'!

Jan Mecham Southwick
djlsouthwick.blogspot.com

Julie said...

Hi Natalie,
Thanks so much for the comment. I would love to help you out, but I'm a little confused as to what you would like. When you say tabs do you mean like little link buttons on the sidebar, or just pictures that are catagories on the sidebar (like: about me, contact me, etc.) Let me know and I can direct you the way!
Thanks!
*Leelou*
LeelouBlogs@aol.com

Utley Family said...

Oh my goodness, Laine is just too cute! She reminds me so much of her mom!

Anonymous said...

Laine is so darling! I must tell you...I remember Model Walk girl! Brunette, really tall, and was actually in the fashion show every year? If that is the same girl you are thinking of...that would be hilarious! It has to be, she would walk down the hall/runway strutting, and always had perfect makeup. Everything she said was seriously like a pageant interview question! Too Funny!

Ashleigh said...

MODEL WALK!!!! Ansen and I knew her. Have we every talked through this subject? Ansen actually saw her in SLC somewhere in the last year or so and had to call me on the spot. She was incredible and never forgetable.

I have recently been wondering if I need to have a better job system. Right now it's the garabges once a week and the silverware out of the dishwasher (with lots of help). I'm sure my last child will be scrubbing the bathroom floor at 5, but not my first baby. I'm developing a new system . . .

Ashleigh said...

So actually Ansen didn't see MW in SL (I was WAY off with my last comment), she won Miss Utah 2007 or something like that. We watched her on TV one random night at Jen's house. Jen knew MW too and we were dying laughing (plus practicing the walk for Jen's husband's benfit-he didn't know her). You can google Heather Anderson and she's actually in Wikapedia and Ansen also knew 2 of her brothers. So I guess all that "pratice" day after day got her somewhere in the end. Still a good laugh.

riley said...

Yes Tam {and Ashleigh...And Katie} - I did know MW was Miss Utah and I know her name -she was actually in my ward my freshman year, she lived right above me. But I had a sliver of fear that some day she would find this blog and read it {she'd probably be too off in the clouds to realize we were talking about her -meanwhile she would be pointing her finger and laughing at this poor MW we are talking about...} anyway, I didn't want her to blog stalk me and realize it was HER we were all making fun of. It seemed that if it were anonymous it would be as rude to make fun of some one. But I guess that is just the passive agressive in me talking.

 
Blog Design By: Sherbet Blossom Designs