Clara is crawling!!
For the past few weeks, she's been reaching farther, trying out the stance, and thinking about bringing her knees along with her, and finally this past weekend she put it all together. And it's ADORABLE. She's a little bit methodical with it still, not a carefree prancing like Emily did, yet anyway. :) She keeps her knees so far underneath her that it's hard to see her moving them, so she seems like a little bug, chugging around. And she's SO pleased with herself. It's the best. Next up is walking, obviously, and she is well on her way as she is intent on pulling herself up to standing on just about anything that will take her weight. And then she'll be on her way to Kindergarten... or so it seems.
February has been a pretty nice month for us. We've been in a good routine together as a family of 5, enjoying evenings together and an outing here and there on the weekend. I switched projects at work, which is great because I had too much of a workload. Now I can go a day without checking work email, and not have 50 new emails waiting for me to respond to! It makes me feel so much more at ease at home, like I can be there because I'm supposed to be, and not trying to be two places at once.
Emily's parent-teacher conferences are next week. It'll be fun to see what she's been up to! I have to line up a babysitter again, which the girls enjoy and is a good idea so that we keep connections with a girl that we like. It's crazy to think that she's so close to going to school. She seems so grown up, but when she snuggles in my lap, she seems so very small, still. I've been looking at pictures from the past 5 years, at baby Audrey and 3YO Emily, and it helps me remember just how little they still are, that I can hold onto a little of that for a while. And cling tightly to my little baby, who is way too quickly on her way to little girlhood, too!!
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Monday, February 4, 2013
A kid-centered evening
Here are links to Emily and Audrey each singing a song from Rapunzel. I managed to video them separately, so you can really hear the lovely things each girl does. :)
My girls did some serious academic work this evening. Things have been behaviorally tough for us for a while, and Travis and I decided to not be on our phones or computer or reading magazines tonight, just to be present with the girls. It was SO fun. It was easy! We had a really great time together. Children really do want to learn, and are just eager to have anything taught to them. Emily and I have been reading Winnie the Pooh together, so we read a chapter of that together. I took Clara potty, and she peed, looking at me like, "what's the big deal, Mom? I had to go." Audrey and Emily and I played Color Stix, using a cribbage board to count our points for each color, which is a whole ton of counting. And Travis played two full games of Go Fish with Emily while I made supper.
I was playing the piano and Audrey was coloring at her table, and I heard her say that she wanted to write Flower. "F! F for Flower. eeeefffff. Next, flllll... L! L is next. FLuhhh... Mom what's next?" She seriously had the FL written before I had even turned to see what she was doing. I spelled the rest for her, although her paper says FLDOWER because she didn't like how exactly round her first O was. Then we worked on Elephant, because she wanted to do a word with E. I suggested EGG, but nono, we're doing Elephant because "we're doing animals." obviously. I helped her sound out the beginning letters, but the P and H she was confused by. Then I said A, and N, and she reluctantly drew them, each time asking if F was next. :) So her paper says ELEPHANFT. Then we went on to Apple, which she sounded out, all by herself, APL, and I explained there's an E on the end, too, so she added that on. Then she wanted another word, and Emily suggested Blueberries, but she said, "No, we're doing animals. How about Umbrella?" :) I was laughing, so she thought of Lion, so she sounded that one out and wrote LiON (small i!). Then she sounded out DOG, but really wanted a K at the end, because she was so deliberate in sounding out the word. She wasn't 100% certain in how to draw a G, so I had to help her, which is tough because she is hard to help. You can't help too much or too little, it's a tough balance to strike. Anyway, as soon as the girls were in bed, that paper got swiped up, and I dated it and put Audrey's name on it and it's going in her box of saved stuff. Incredible! All this from a girl who won't write her name. I have to think that if Emily's preschool teachers did that kind of phonics work with one of her students, she'd think it was pretty productive, but Audrey is TWO YEARS away from that.
This is the same girl who screamed for 90 minutes yesterday, wailing for me to come help her on the potty because she didn't want to wipe herself. Her poor little legs and tummy were all red and sweaty by the time I caved in to all the screaming, but I really didn't have much sympathy at the time because there was nobody making her sit there! Amanda confirmed that when she's here, Audrey takes care of it herself all the time, so she's totally busted. What a twirp!
My girls did some serious academic work this evening. Things have been behaviorally tough for us for a while, and Travis and I decided to not be on our phones or computer or reading magazines tonight, just to be present with the girls. It was SO fun. It was easy! We had a really great time together. Children really do want to learn, and are just eager to have anything taught to them. Emily and I have been reading Winnie the Pooh together, so we read a chapter of that together. I took Clara potty, and she peed, looking at me like, "what's the big deal, Mom? I had to go." Audrey and Emily and I played Color Stix, using a cribbage board to count our points for each color, which is a whole ton of counting. And Travis played two full games of Go Fish with Emily while I made supper.
I was playing the piano and Audrey was coloring at her table, and I heard her say that she wanted to write Flower. "F! F for Flower. eeeefffff. Next, flllll... L! L is next. FLuhhh... Mom what's next?" She seriously had the FL written before I had even turned to see what she was doing. I spelled the rest for her, although her paper says FLDOWER because she didn't like how exactly round her first O was. Then we worked on Elephant, because she wanted to do a word with E. I suggested EGG, but nono, we're doing Elephant because "we're doing animals." obviously. I helped her sound out the beginning letters, but the P and H she was confused by. Then I said A, and N, and she reluctantly drew them, each time asking if F was next. :) So her paper says ELEPHANFT. Then we went on to Apple, which she sounded out, all by herself, APL, and I explained there's an E on the end, too, so she added that on. Then she wanted another word, and Emily suggested Blueberries, but she said, "No, we're doing animals. How about Umbrella?" :) I was laughing, so she thought of Lion, so she sounded that one out and wrote LiON (small i!). Then she sounded out DOG, but really wanted a K at the end, because she was so deliberate in sounding out the word. She wasn't 100% certain in how to draw a G, so I had to help her, which is tough because she is hard to help. You can't help too much or too little, it's a tough balance to strike. Anyway, as soon as the girls were in bed, that paper got swiped up, and I dated it and put Audrey's name on it and it's going in her box of saved stuff. Incredible! All this from a girl who won't write her name. I have to think that if Emily's preschool teachers did that kind of phonics work with one of her students, she'd think it was pretty productive, but Audrey is TWO YEARS away from that.
This is the same girl who screamed for 90 minutes yesterday, wailing for me to come help her on the potty because she didn't want to wipe herself. Her poor little legs and tummy were all red and sweaty by the time I caved in to all the screaming, but I really didn't have much sympathy at the time because there was nobody making her sit there! Amanda confirmed that when she's here, Audrey takes care of it herself all the time, so she's totally busted. What a twirp!
Friday, February 1, 2013
Random funny
Emily was looking at her globe, asking me what different things are (just the purple countries), with Audrey on my other side providing commentary, mostly in the form of random made-up words to counter what I was telling Emily.
E: "Mom, what's this one?"
Me: "Antarctica."
E: "Yup. Penguins live there."
Me: "Yep."
A: "It looks like a pizza!!"
I remember asking my mom, when I was little, why she said I was such a funny kid. Was she laughing AT me? Now I get it. My kids are just randomly entertaining. Which is good, because there are times when I want to strangle them.
Clara is still sleeping like a demon. the nights that she sleeps well are just part of the torture, I think, giving us a glimpse of what a true rested state might feel like. Even her naps are insanely short. I think it will serve her well when she's older, trying to keep up with her sisters, but for now it just means that I'm a zombie and trying my best to put on a brave face and be able to enjoy the fun things about each day.
E: "Mom, what's this one?"
Me: "Antarctica."
E: "Yup. Penguins live there."
Me: "Yep."
A: "It looks like a pizza!!"
I remember asking my mom, when I was little, why she said I was such a funny kid. Was she laughing AT me? Now I get it. My kids are just randomly entertaining. Which is good, because there are times when I want to strangle them.
Clara is still sleeping like a demon. the nights that she sleeps well are just part of the torture, I think, giving us a glimpse of what a true rested state might feel like. Even her naps are insanely short. I think it will serve her well when she's older, trying to keep up with her sisters, but for now it just means that I'm a zombie and trying my best to put on a brave face and be able to enjoy the fun things about each day.
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