Sunday, September 9, 2012

Normalcy

I think we're starting to figure out what's normal.  This coming week will be our first full week of work and preschool.  So far, I think we're set up well.  Clara is taking a bottle no problem now, and Amanda seems like she's into a routine with the girls.  Emily LOVES preschool, just like I thought she would; her teacher comments that she loves to see Emily's smile every day.  Imagine that - my girl is smiley!  Audrey is handling the adjustment well, and I've gotta say that I do love my Wednesday afternoons with her.  Travis has planned another trip, to Singapore this time, for the end of September, so he seems to be rolling along nicely in his job.  The only hiccup in our family seems to be the project I'm currently on at work, and I'm afraid I'm going to just totally screw it up.  It's either much simpler than I think it is, and I'm overthinking it, or I have no freaking clue and it's going to blow up in my face.  I just don't want to make a fool of myself, whereas usually I try to actually do a good job at things. But, in the larger scheme of our family life, it's a pretty small problem to have, and I'm glad we're limited to that.

Clara is a real chatty baby now!  She's discovered putting her hands in her mouth, and I fear that it's only a matter of time before she moves from sucking on her fists to sucking her thumb, but we might luck out.  She seems to be capable of going to sleep on her own much more easily than my first two babies.  Emily is firmly a thumbsucker and I think it will absolutely crush Audrey when we take away her baby blankets someday... I was wondering if I could soak them in something nasty-tasting, but I don't want her ingesting chemicals or other nasty stuff... maybe I could soak them in spinach juice or something. :)  Anyway, my girls are having a great time together.  Emily is learning that Audrey likes to keep things from her (the last puzzle piece, the other half of whatever she has) just because she enjoys what happens - Emily screams and begs and gets mad and then gets in trouble for pushing/stealing/etc.  I am hoping Emily learns to outsmart that one, because it'll be a much easier lesson to teach than to try to get Audrey to stop doing that.  I remember doing those same things to my older siblings because I so desperately wanted them to play with me or acknowledge me (or get their noses out of a book!), and then being forced to figure out a new way to play with them.  It's hard!  I won't make her do it yet, not when she's not even 3!!

Speaking of, we will soon be entering Birthday Season.  I've been making a list of things that I think my girls would really like, for both birthday and Christmas, so hopefully we won't just be adding another layer of crap to our toy-filled house.  I am trying to find the bright side of birthdays, in that it means I can get rid of the toys they don't play with (or with some, hide them until Clara is ready for them), and maybe it'll feel a little less congested in my house.  We bunked the girls' beds - awesome!! - so there's a little bit more room in their room now.  I am hoping someday to move those bunkbeds into Clara's room, when she's ready for a bed too, and turn the yellow room into a playroom.  Then I can tell them to go play and they can actually have a place to themselves to do that.  As it is now, if i tell them to go upstairs, Audrey gets into my eye makeup (i'm sorry, but that eyeshadow was absolutely stunning on her. what a beauty!) or my lotion or my toothpaste... She seems to really enjoy being left to her own devices.  She "painted" her nails the other day with magic marker.  I think I've got a real girly girl on my hands!  She's in a princess outfit or a leotard probably 60% of the time, asking me, "Don't I look beautiful?"  Oh yes, she does.

Emily's first preschool project was a construction-paper cookie.  The kids had to cut out the circle, and then glue black circle chocolate chips to it, using the same number of chocolate chips as they counted on the roll of a pair of dice.  Then they wrote their name on it.  Emily's circle was absolutely perfect, and she spaced each of the letters of her name to match the location of her five chocolate chips.  The next day, she and Audrey sat down at their craft table and made their own cookies, howling at me to make more chocolate chips!  make more! make more, Mom!!!  They each made at least 2, including using a large can of tomatoes for tracing the cookie circle.  Audrey's cutting was adequate, but then Emily would clean up the edges until they were perfect and round.  I'm not sure I've got the right kid in preschool... :)

In my own head, lately I've realized that I seem to be at a weird point in my life.  As I was growing up, I knew that I wanted to get married someday, and have kids.  In college, I realized that I didn't want to do music for a career but that I did want to have a career of some kind, and heck, why not engineering?  So, now I've got it all: amazing husband, 3 great kids, a career with a fantastic company in a great location with great flexibility for my family, a nice house, wonderful neighbors, lots of great friends, happy family... so, now what?  It's not that I'm unhappy without something to chase, because this truly is awesome where I am.  It's just the first time in my life that it's happened!!  I mean really, now what do I push myself towards next?

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