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 Posted: Wed Jul 05, 2006 3:50 pm
 Note: Rhea's Log; Only Emelyn should post unless given permission otherwise.
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Posted: Sat Feb 03, 2007 11:36 am
+Fri Jul 08, 2005
+Make that child number 4. And it's another girl! I think that Tawn and Sk are going to start to feel outnumbered. ...Although Tawn has a home of his own, now. I keep forgetting that. So I guess that means it's just Sk as the sole 'male' influence in the house. What a fright. ...And for those of you who may happen to read this, and have no clue who I'm talking about, I'll give you a quick runthrough about my family. (Don't worry- there aren't many of us, so it won't take very long, and will give scads of information about us that will be useful in making our acquaintance!)
When I moved to Gaia yea-long ago, I borrowed heavily on any bank that wouldn't laugh in my face and boot my blue-jeaned butt back out on the sidewalk, and bought a tall, narrow little building on 17th street. The bottom floor was turned into my shop- Sarcastic Kitty- and I lived in the apartment above it, with my black, sarcastic and slightly evil cat, Sk, who I'd found on Halloween one year. Then, I met Quietsnooze, who took care of Skull Monkeys, who suggested that I might be ready for my first child. So it was time to move out of the apartment on 17th street, and into a house. Luckily enough, I didn't have to put a mortgage on my soul this time, since I'd made enough money from the shop to convince someone to sell me a house- out on 27th street- a two-story, four-bedroom, two bath plus an attic & a basement- heaven on earth, but what seemed like too big a house for just me and the cat and the newcomer.
It wouldn't stay that way for long, though- after Tawn, there was Tam, my first daughter- and also, the first real 'pet' that any of us had- Peabody, a little brown and green Zoolie that was a present to Tawn from his best friend, Sarabi. Tam never had a pet- but she and Sk always had a close rapport going- they were partners in crime, you might say. (Whenever I'd wake up with my hands superglued inside mittens, or find that someone'd put Nair in my shampoo bottle, it was probably their fault, jointly... -_-) Then, it was like that for a long while- my son and daughter, and two 'pets' (Sk would kill me to hear me call him that...) but then, the third daughter came as a surprise into our lives. Milla moved in just as Tawn moved out- right into the little apartment above the shop, with his fiance, Sarabi. So then, the house was a little less full... one kid and one Zoolie down, but then I still had my two girls... and the damnable cat!
So now Tam is grown up, and getting ready to leave home (although she still doesn't know where she's off to...) and Milla is getting bigger every day. Tawn got married a week ago, and I thought I was going to be a Grandmother before I was a mother again!!
But now, here's little Rhea, a gift directly from Moo, and I'm a mother again.
So that's where we are now. It feels very strange to be back in 'new mom' mode... but I think this little Jivvin will fit in well with the family. Although until one of the other kids moves out, she's living in a room I've made up for her in the attic. (4 bedrooms- one is mine, one is my office, and the other two are for the girls- Tawn's room went to Milla when he moved out.
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Posted: Sat Feb 03, 2007 11:37 am
Wed Jul 13, 2005
+ I'd thought that having a baby in the house would be old hat by now. By the time Milla rolled around, I'd gotten into a nice 'baby routine'- the baby slept in a basinet by my bed until it was old enough to have a room of its own, and then all of its baby things was passed down to the next child. I've had the basinet, the highchair, the playpen up in the attic, just in case I ever had another- and my first thought when Moo rang my bell and handed me the egg that would hatch into Rhea, was that I'd get to use all of them again. However...
Jivvins are huge! gonk At least, they're certainly larger than I'd thought they were. As soon as she hatched, Rhea didn't fit in the basinet anymore! Her long, gangly Jivvin legs just hung over the edges, and she would look up at me like "is this it?" So I had to go out and buy something else for her- I ended up getting one of those mini mattresses that are made to fit in cribs, and just plopped it right down next to my bed. It's covered in white blankets, and she curls them up in little nests and then burrows underneath them to sleep. She's so cute, sleeping all burrowed up like that.
It's the same with the higchair- she's not built for it at all, so I just put it right back up in the attic. She eats on a regular chair, like the rest of us. I wonder how big she's going to get? I've never seen a full-sized Jivvin. Keppit has had a few, but strangely enough, I've never met a one. They seem to keep to themselves, more often than not. In fact, the kids only consider themselves to have one cousin- Jen- even though Kep's has a household overflowing with kids. I'm sure Rhea will feel closer to her Jivvins, though. Which reminds me, I should have them over to the house sometime- Tam and my sister have a lot more to talk about these days, now that Tam's realized how much easier it is to work with wood now that she has thumbs! ^_^
Rhea and I went to the Jivvin hq yesterday- I wanted to talk to Moo about some things she's been going through, and also to let my little girl run around and try to make some friends- or at least MEET another Jivvin! I went upstairs to talk to Moo, and left Rhea downstairs- and when I finally came back down, I almost was knocked down by seeing her rush by- chasing Samiel, who I believe is Half's girl. They seemed to be having fun, and on the way home, Rhea called her "Sami" and said they'd been having fun. She's made a friend, perhaps? ^_^
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Posted: Sat Feb 03, 2007 11:38 am
Tue Jul 19, 2005
+Note to self: Never, ever buy any sort of multi-colored cereal again. That is, not unless I have absolutely nothing to do with my morning...
Today I had a full day planned for me and the girls, so we got an early start. (Or, at least I got an early start... the girls are usually always up before I am- I don't know HOW I can call them my children...) I had to wake up Tam, but the other two got up on their own- and Sk stayed in bed- Tam's bed, that is- since I didn't need him to run the shop today. That was actually one of the reasons the day was such a full one- because I was going to run the shop on top of everything else I had to do. Anyway- I made the girls breakfast (if you can consider pouring lucky charms in bowls a feat of 'making' anything...), and while they were eating I rushed around the house and got everything I'd need for the day and packed it in the car-Rhea's baby bag, the shop accounts I have to check with the register, and the old books I was bringing to the SMhq for the new schoolhouse. When I was done with that, I went back into the kitchen to tell the girls to get in the car- only to find that Milla and Tam had long finished their bowls, and were sitting watching Rhea, who had her nose in the deep, wide bowl I'd poured her lucky charms into- and it was only about half empty.
My first thought was that she was having trouble- she wasn't able to manage a spoon like the other two, but I'd figured with her long snout she'd be able to eat without too much trouble as long as I gave her a deep & wide enough bowl. But when I asked her if that was the problem, she just shook her head and went back to eating. So I told her to shake a leg, because we had to get going- and Tam, who was sitting on the counter, said that she'd been eating the cereal one color at a time! First she'd eaten the wheat bits, and then started at the lightest color marshmallow- the yellow goldpots, then the green clovers, then the blue moons... and that was as far as she'd gotten. It made me laugh, so I sat at the table and we all watched her finish. She didn't seem to mind that we were all gathered around, eyeing her as she stuck her nose into a bowl of what could only be called a dissected bowl of Lucky Charms- she just kept plugging away, eating them by color. She finally finished with the red balloons, and then I hustled them all into the car and we headed off to the shop.
So, like I said, I'm making a mental note- no lucky charms, no fruit loops, no Count Dracula or Gambino-o's (I don't especially like those anymore, anyway- not since they added the artificial coloring. I preferred them when they were just honey & oat flavored...) Just plain, one-colored cereal. Otherwise, we'll never get anything done before 11!
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Posted: Sat Feb 03, 2007 11:39 am
+Wed Aug 03, 2005
+ Last night was interesting, to say the least. Right after midnight, I was sitting up in bed reading a book, thinking I was the only one awake in the house (except for maybe Sk...), when Milla appeared in the doorway and told me that Rhea was sick.
Here, I should take a quick segue and explain that they're sharing a room downstairs, now- I'd intended to keep Rhea with my in my bedroom until she was older, upon which she'd either get Tam's room (if Tam moved out by that point) or the attic room. But really, she's growing up so fast that it wouldn't be very fair for her to have to stay with 'Mom' all the time. (And I didn't want to move her up into the attic at such a young age- it's too far away from the rest of us, it would feel like I was isolating her. It was Milla that actually came up with the idea of moving Tawn's old sailboat bed back into her room, and the two could be together until Rhea's old enough to have a room of her own. It's a good arrangement, and I'm surprised I didn't think of it myself- the two get along so well.
So it was Milla who came to get me, and I followed her downstairs to their room (it still has the red stars border. ...I can still remember painting it for little Tawn), where Rhea was indeed looking ill. I asked her what hurt, and she said her stomach, and her head was hot- so I took her temperature, and it was a little elevated. It sounded like the flu, and I gave her some baby aspirin to take the temperature down- but for the rest, waited a while to see if her immune system could tackle it on its own. (No use overmedicating your kids- their ability to fight diseases will just plummet, and make them weak for the rest of their lives.) Then I went and got the box of cheerios from the pantry and put it next to her bed, so she could chew on them and help settle her stomach. It's a good thing I had them around- I only just bought them, to tackle Rhea's new 'cereal must be one color' requirement that I've imposed.
I didn't want to leave Rhea sitting up alone, sniffling in the dark, and Milla had been up long enough that she didn't want to go back to sleep- so I took them both back up to my room, and they sat in my bed with me, under the covers, and I read them a few chapters from the book I'd been reading- a Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Milla really loved it, and I think I'm going to give her the book to finish. It's a great book, especially for little girls- I've been reading it since I was young, and I can still remember the way it made me feel.
The girls fell asleep there with me, and Rhea made it through the night just fine- she's still a little groggy today, but feeling much better, and thus far, none of the rest of us have shown evidence of having caught it from her. Perhaps it was just a Jivvin- related thing- she might have caught it when she spent time at the Hq the other day.
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Posted: Sat Feb 03, 2007 11:41 am
+ As is often the case with my kids journals, there is always something that's keeping me away from writing in them. Every time I see these week-long gaps, I thank gods that it's not reflective on my parenting; the time I spend with the kids is full and wonderful, and I wouldn't scrimp on a second of it. ...It's just at night, when I have a choice between keeping up with logs... or any of a zillion other things that need doing around here (or that just strike my fancy), the odds are about that- one to a zillion. Just last night, I could have been making a journal entry, but instead I sat up until the wee hours of the morning looking through photographs and paperwork for an art gallery exhibit I've offered to help organize. And the night before that I was doing shop paperwork... the night before that, watching an old black and white movie and pigging out. (^_~ ...It's not all altruistic, after all.)
Anyway, since this is Rhea's log I'll focus mainly on what's been happening with her- I have to catch up with the other three's log, anyway, so I'll just take care of the bulk of the family news there.
It's not been the easiest time for my little Jivvin these past few weeks. For a while, the two girls were having such a great time together, playing and running errands with me- the close-quarters plan was even working out well. But ever since Milla grew into a teenager, I think it's bummed out my poor little sweet girl. She lost her playmate, and I get the feeling she's very anxious to catch up in age, so everything can be the same again. They still share a room... but I can understand how it would feel different. The way it was before, they were two little girls sharing THEIR room. But now that Milla's a teenager, Rhea could feel like she's just the little kid sharing her big sister's room.
At breakfast yesterday, I asked her if she wanted to move into her own room- the attic still hasn't been converted into a room, but that could be easily fixed, if it was what she wanted... but she said no. She said "I'll stay in Milla's room," all soft and quiet, and picked at her pancakes. ...Poor baby. She wants to be an adult so badly- it's pointless to try and tell her that she'll look back and wish she'd stayed a baby. (I know I look back on the time they were all infants with an unmatchable, loving nostalgia. But perhaps that's just a mother thing.)
...I think she'll get her wish sooner than she thinks. She's been having a lot of changes these days that I don't think have to do with her older sister at all. When she first hatched, she was hyper- a little speedball on the run, and asked questions at a mile a minute- she wanted to know EVERYthing. And with things like the cereal (and how she traces pictures with the tip of her claws, or spells words she hears backwards to herself) I was afraid she was showing signs of an obsessive compulsive disorder. But these days her hyper days are the rarity- every once and a while, usually when Tawn and Sarabi come to visit with the Zoolies- she'll run around and play and dart around the yard after the little critters, feeding off some bottomless supply of energy. Most of the time, however, she is... delicate, and deliberate with each of her movements. What I'd thought was obsession or compulsive behavior is just her... deliberate, almost dainty need to control the world around her. I have yet to ask Moo if this is characteristic of the Vhaid, but I have a feeling that it at least has something to do with it.
In the meantime, I'm looking for things for little Rhea to do around the house while her brother and sisters are all off and about- so she's been accompanying me to work every day. She just sits behind the counter and listens to Sk talk...all day long. All that cat does is sit on the counter preening himself, insulting incoming customers- and talk about how wonderful he is. And
Rhea just sits there on her red haunches, staring up at him and inclining her head very politely every few minutes to let him know she's still listening. Other than that, the two seem to have entirely no interaction- at home, they pass each other by as if the other was just a hall decoration. ....That cat has such strange relationships with us- and he treats each of the kids so differently. ...He was protective of Tawn when he was young, but also jealous because of the new baby- and he certainly didn't have a problem pulling elaborate (or just plain mean) pranks on the poor child. And when Tam came along- that was the end of any mercy he'd had on Tawn.... he and Tam were inseparable. That's why, I think, when Milla came along he let her be entirely. He calls her names, but other than that, he's left her alone- because he had Tam, and no time to devote to anyone else- even in tease and torture. So at least with my little Rhea, he's got some sort of a relationship- even if it's a bizarre, limited one.
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