A lot has happened in the past month. It's FINALLY spring, after having our last snow on May 2, 3, and 4. Emily keeps asking me when summer will get here and I've had to tell her that spring has to come first!!
So, the biggest thing was that our house was broken in to again. When Travis was in Luxembourg for a week, and i had the stomach flu, I decided that I'd take the kids to Target to pick up a few things. It was incredibly bad timing, because as I was leaving, I saw a group of 6 black teenagers across the street, complete with baggy pants and hooded sweatshirts. I told myself not to be prejudiced, they're just bored kids, and went to the store. Meanwhile, they came into the backyard, noticed the back door was unlocked, and helped themselves to my brand new iphone that i had left charging on the counter, and my laptop, digital cameras, and Emily's backpack to carry it all in. Plus some oatmeal cream pies and granola bars. They did not take a bag of change (what kind of dumb burglar doesn't take a bag of money?!), and they weren't able to find anything stashed under my mattress upstairs (who does that, really?). The cops saw these kids shortly afterwards, but they had stashed all the stuff in a neighbor's garbage bin, and so without having anything on their persons, they couldn't hold them. They did bring them in for interviews later, and two of the kids admitted to it, and said they came back for the things in the trash bins later, so it's long gone. So that was totally sucky. I am writing this post from our old laptop, which we had upgraded from back in November, and I am reminded of why we replaced it, because it's hot, noisy, heavy, and hard to type on.
Clara has changed tremendously in the past month. She understands more and more of the things we talk to her about, and she is a really, really good eater! I generally make three plates of food with equal amounts on it, and Clara eats almost as much as Emily but definitely more than Audrey. It's amazing! we're down to one nursing a day, at nighttime, since she refused her morning and then her afternoon nursing sessions, just didn't care to dive in. I'm so sad my last little baby is almost done! I am trying to hold back from calling her Baby so much... but I love calling her that. Such mixed emotions! She is also getting pretty good at standing up on her own, balancing for quite a while, especially if she is engrossed in what she's holding, not thinking about how hard it is to stand up. She's very vocal and increasingly opinionated, especially when her sisters are assaulting her with love. And she is very much attached to me! What a mama's girl!! She likes her dad just fine, but she has strong opinions about where I should be... how dare I run downstairs to grab something from the freezer!! Or shut the bathroom door for a minute!! She scolds me pretty good, and I just laugh at her. :)
Emily is almost done with preschool! Her class invited all the moms in for a mother's day "tea" on thursday this week, and it was so very, very fun. Emily was so excited, and acted so grown up. she offered me the chair at the table, and then offered to pour me some lemonade. We frosted cookies together, admired the lovely "vase" that she had decorated (a water bottle with bits of colored scrap bits glued to it :) ). Then we held hands walking to the car and drove home together. It was lovely! Then when we got home, Audrey had a surprise for me too. Amanda had spent the week working on a project for mother's day with the girls! It's a canvas totebag that she helped them decorate with puffy paint - their handprints in a flower on one side, and the girls decorating a letter of MOM on the other side. It was so cool! I know mother's day isn't even until tomorrow, but I'm already content, I'd say! Back to Emily... she and I have been reading more chapter books recently, including Little House on the Prairie (again) and Betsy-Tacy. It's crazy to think she's old enough for this stuff yet, but she really enjoys it! It won't be long before she dives right into them herself, I think. she's pretty excited for Kindergarten. She participated in their "visit" day, which was really just a way to get the kids into the building and entertain them for a few minutes while they told the parents some information about what to expect.
Audrey sounded out the word "tree" yesterday. And she's been listening to her Wee Sing cassette tapes in the basement, seriously studying the songs and memorizing them. It's crazy how many songs she and emily know the words to now, although their interpretations of the words are funny. "Goom-bye-yarn, my love, Goom-bye-yarn, Oh Loh, Goom-bye-yarn." that's gotta be my favorite, but there are lots more. They can sing Shenandoah all the way through... these are not easy songs! So fun.
I should go get in the shower now while I have the chance. I doubt Clara will be napping in the morning much longer, as she has started experimenting with fighting it off once in a while. I'll admit, it will be a relief in some ways, that we can go out and do stuff in the mornings and not be so tied to the house, and then have maybe a longer respite in the afternoon. She only naps 45 min in the morning and 90 minutes in the afternoon if I'm extremely lucky. She's sleeping through the night well now, though, thanks to her piggy nature at suppertime. So, no complaints there!!
Saturday, May 11, 2013
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Letter to Emily
Emily brought a note home from school asking us to write a letter to Emily. The teacher will read it out loud to the class during large group time, one kid per day. I like what I wrote so I'm posting it here.
Dear Emily,
I know
a sparkly little girl with golden blond hair and gray eyes. She has two fun little sisters that she loves
very much. She has a dad who reads books
in silly ways, and a mom who makes her yummy lunches.
This imaginative
little girl has fairies and butterflies hanging in her room, and her name that’s
hidden behind her bunk bed. She loves to
do projects and create new and beautiful things for the wall above her desk. She bounces on her toes when she runs, and
flies through the air when she swings.
This brave little girl likes to
ride behind her dad on the trail-a-bike, as scary and exciting as it is! She knows where everything in her house is, and
she likes to offer good suggestions to solve problems. She can make breakfast for herself, and even
for her sisters, too! When it
thunderstorms during the day, she makes funny faces so she isn’t scared by the
thunder, and at night she knows that hiding under the covers helps, too.
This
amazing girl can sing beautifully and memorize poetry. She is kind and caring to her mom when she
has been awake all night with the baby, and to her sisters when they are
feeling sad or need help. She is so fun
that all of her cousins love to have her come to their houses to play. She has a pretty smile that she wears all the
time, along with her favorite beautiful dresses and hair that she styles
herself. She asks clever questions that
keep her parents on their toes, and every day she does cool new things that
make them so very proud.
She is
a sweetheart, and I love her very, very much.
Do you know her? Of course! It’s YOU!
Love,
Mom
Friday, March 29, 2013
Wow!!
I'm pretty pumped - I need a safe place to brag about this. I don't want to be one of those in-your-face moms with everything her kids do, but this is my blog and if you are reading this, you know that I'm totally just gushing in amazement my kids, cuz they're awesome!
Audrey can sound out words, both to read them and to write them. Yesterday, Amanda told me that she was picking out magnet letters and spelling out 3-letter words that she'd suggest. She suggested BOX, and Audrey picked up the X first, and then sat and thought a while. Amanda was cueing her with "Buh, buh..." and Audrey chimes in, "I want to spell xylophone." She was a little upset because she couldn't find an I, because she had already used it in another word, so Amanda pointed out she really wanted a Y anyway. So she ended up spelling it "XYLFON". Not bad! Then she had sidewalk chalk out on the driveway, she drew a big V, and then announced she would spell violin. So she did! It's plain as day out on our driveway.
This morning, she and Travis were looking at a book of counting, which is more of an activity book than a reading book. He asked her if she knew a word, pointed to it, and she thought a while and announced, "Ten." She also read Six and Stop. And these are the words, not the numbers, she's reading. There's no sounding out loud, either, she's doing it all in her head.
Crazy! :)
Audrey can sound out words, both to read them and to write them. Yesterday, Amanda told me that she was picking out magnet letters and spelling out 3-letter words that she'd suggest. She suggested BOX, and Audrey picked up the X first, and then sat and thought a while. Amanda was cueing her with "Buh, buh..." and Audrey chimes in, "I want to spell xylophone." She was a little upset because she couldn't find an I, because she had already used it in another word, so Amanda pointed out she really wanted a Y anyway. So she ended up spelling it "XYLFON". Not bad! Then she had sidewalk chalk out on the driveway, she drew a big V, and then announced she would spell violin. So she did! It's plain as day out on our driveway.
This morning, she and Travis were looking at a book of counting, which is more of an activity book than a reading book. He asked her if she knew a word, pointed to it, and she thought a while and announced, "Ten." She also read Six and Stop. And these are the words, not the numbers, she's reading. There's no sounding out loud, either, she's doing it all in her head.
Crazy! :)
Saturday, March 23, 2013
March Madness
I suppose if I updated this more than once a month, it wouldn't be such a chore when I finally do, and end up as such a random spewing of facts. :)
Clara has changed SO much these past few weeks! It's like, now that she is mobile, she's working on other things. She did a really, really super job this past week going potty, which is absolutely crazy but pretty fun! She totally gets it, and seemed really upset when she did poop in her diaper after not having done that for ~5 days. I was washing diapers myself this week since we were out of town on pick-up day, so it definitely helped in that chore. :) I think the limiting factor for her is the personnel, since it seems that if anyone except me takes her she gets a little freaked. Which - so what? She's a BABY. She's always in a diaper, so what's the big deal? So I've decided to cooperate with her preference and be the only one taking her potty. Anyone else who happens to change her can just change her like they would any normal baby, and we should all be happy!
Another totally fantastic thing is that she has figured out how to user her fingers to communicate. It's such a big "click" in her mind! so fun! We've been working on her to make the sign for "milk," although it's water in her sippy cup so we're calling it just "drink." I think she has interpreted it to mean, "Gimme," however, as she uses it as her response to just about any question you ask her. :) The next most helpful sign she could learn is "all done," then "more," and maybe "potty" someday but again, whatever. Anyway, the little fingers going back and forth are tremendously cute and I am loving it!!
Travis was in Brazil all last week, and he said he thinks Clara has developed a whole bunch of personality while he was gone. I have to agree. She is getting more and more expressive, just trying different emotions on for size. I think she likes the acoustics of our dining room, because she has resumed her shrieking now that we're home from Rockford, where we hid out for the week. I swear she didn't shriek at all last week, but tonight she was at it again.
So yes, the trip to Rockford. it was really fun and really exhausting, totally worth it but still a big chore. It was ridiculously cold outside, and Clara was her normal miserable sleeper so I'm exhausted, but there were many high points, too. I was able to arrange special 1 on 1 time for each girl with each grandparent throughout the week, which was a really nice thing for all involved. My mom read a huge stack of books to the girls throughout the week (she swears that Emily didn't have her fingers in her mouth at any time she was reading to her, but this afternoon I didn't even get through the first page of a book and she was chewing on the back of her hands). Anyway, my mom also got a kick out of Clara putting empty buckets and toy containers over her head, then talking to sample the acoustics. It was quite the game for such a little person! It was fun to see Clara get more comfortable at their house as the week went on. She spent probably half of her playtime standing up at the piano, trying out the keys. She loooooved the piano. One time, I had her on my lap, playing a few notes here and there as she was playing too, and she repeatedly took my hands off the keyboard, and then finally turned around and pushed my face away, as if to say, "Mom! Leave me alone! I am playing!" My dad said she did just the same thing to him, too! Funny kid!
Audrey has been a little charmer lately. It seems like my kids each take turns doing fits and spurts of amazing development. The past month hasn't really been notable for her, which is nice because her stages of real change are usually pretty hard to handle. She's happy, singing, snuggly and beautiful, learning like crazy about whatever comes her way, and just enjoying being 3. She colored a picture of a rainbow, for St. Patrick's Day, and we're not sure how she figured this out, but she put exactly the right colors in the right order. There wasn't any rainbow for her to copy (and that's not her style anyway), and when I asked her how she decided which color to put where, she told me she started with red, and that orange belonged next to it, and yellow belong next to orange... I'm not sure that's what preschool teachers mean when they work on kids knowing their colors!
Emily had a lot of shining moments up in Rockford. She was thoughtful and considerate of her sisters and her grandparents. She told amazingly detailed facts about dinosaurs and rockets that she learned in school. she did puzzles and sequencing activities, showcased her amazing scissor skills (practically scherenschnitte!), and even tried out new ways to poke around on the piano. And she played happily with her sisters, which while it wasn't tear-free 100% of the time, it really was far beyond what kids that age generally are able to work out on their own. My mom taught preschool for many years, so of course has a good idea what it takes for a child to be considered Kindergarten-ready. Emily's teacher of course recommended that she's ready for Kindergarten, no surprise there, but there are a lot of things that even Audrey fits the criteria for K-readiness. Emily is so far beyond it, I wonder if she's going to feel like Kindergarten is a good fit. I have not drilled her with academic readiness; teachers look for things like straight-up reading skills (sight words), ability to count by 2's or by 5's, and other similar repeat-this-task skills for goals for the Kindergarten year. I think Emily will enjoy learning these things at school... and then wonder what to do the rest of the year. I could teach her these things over the summer, if I really wanted to pursue grade acceleration as an option, and she would then probably stand out as a good candidate. I'm really not leaning that way for her; her inclination is to focus on getting a handle on her situation before making her move. Emily's teacher commented at conferences that she started the year very timid, taking her time analyzing her surroundings, and now that she's comfortable she kind of rules the place, with great confidence and lots of friends. I think throwing her into 1st grade would be too much of a change for her to feel confident that she's totally in-the-know of her surroundings. She COULD do it, and be totally fine academically, but I don't think that emotionally it's a good fit for her. The challenge then is to keep her academically interested within her grade level, which I'm realizing is something that I'll need to advocate for her quite a bit and I am not at all sure how to do it. I sure hate using my first kid as my guinea pig. Maybe I'll have things figured out for Audrey, but she's a different story entirely. I've got a while before I really have to think about school for her, but she is so ready to jump into anything, and so academically ready because of her exposure to things via Emily's learning, that moving up might really suit her... we shall see.
Anyway, regarding Emily, it was good to talk with my mom and learn more about what 5YO expectations really are, because Emily is truly a fantastic kid; she only drives me crazy because I'm her mother, and that's her job. In the real world, she shines. Her A-game is amazing. At home she relaxes and it's not convenient for me, but that's not her fault and it's not wrong, at all. Today was really hard, with the letdown of being home again and the added exhaustion, and the headache that I had too. We definitely had a hard day. But I guess it's just Emily's turn to be the kid that's driving me nuts, right?? The biggest thing lately: Emily absolutely cannot leave Clara alone. Now that she's pulling herself to standing on things, Emily thinks she needs to come up behind her, lift her up, and carry her wherever she wants her. Then if Clara is then crying because she's been moved away from what she wants to be doing, then Emily cradles her on her lap and tries to get her to stop. Well, she's really way too big to do that, almost 20 pounds now! Emily even managed to get Clara her out of her crib this morning, before I was even out of bed! (Give me a chance, kid!!) I have talked with her, seriously, every single day this week about how she could hurt Clara by accident, and I don't want either of my girls to get hurt, or for Emily to feel bad about hurting Clara when she didn't mean to. She absolutely will not stop and it is driving me crazy!!! Add that to the constant fingers/hands/toys/plates/countertops/random-object-at-face-level in her mouth, AND her insistence on starting everything she says to me by whining, "Mooooommm?? How come (something she already knows but wants me to repeat for some damn reason)??" Yup, definitely Emily's turn to be the irritant.
Travis is also gone in April for a trip to Luxembourg. It's a little shorter this time - 5 days instead of 7 - but I'm still planning to get backup help somehow. I don't think I'll be able to skip town again, since Emily is in school, but maybe I'll take vacation... we'll see. It's really disappointing to have to look forward to that, and also a 2-day trip to Miami at the beginning of April, because once I get through those things, we'll be almost to the end of the schoolyear, getting ready for summer! If the snow would just melt already, and quit coming down, I think I'd be more ready to think about it!
Clara has changed SO much these past few weeks! It's like, now that she is mobile, she's working on other things. She did a really, really super job this past week going potty, which is absolutely crazy but pretty fun! She totally gets it, and seemed really upset when she did poop in her diaper after not having done that for ~5 days. I was washing diapers myself this week since we were out of town on pick-up day, so it definitely helped in that chore. :) I think the limiting factor for her is the personnel, since it seems that if anyone except me takes her she gets a little freaked. Which - so what? She's a BABY. She's always in a diaper, so what's the big deal? So I've decided to cooperate with her preference and be the only one taking her potty. Anyone else who happens to change her can just change her like they would any normal baby, and we should all be happy!
Another totally fantastic thing is that she has figured out how to user her fingers to communicate. It's such a big "click" in her mind! so fun! We've been working on her to make the sign for "milk," although it's water in her sippy cup so we're calling it just "drink." I think she has interpreted it to mean, "Gimme," however, as she uses it as her response to just about any question you ask her. :) The next most helpful sign she could learn is "all done," then "more," and maybe "potty" someday but again, whatever. Anyway, the little fingers going back and forth are tremendously cute and I am loving it!!
Travis was in Brazil all last week, and he said he thinks Clara has developed a whole bunch of personality while he was gone. I have to agree. She is getting more and more expressive, just trying different emotions on for size. I think she likes the acoustics of our dining room, because she has resumed her shrieking now that we're home from Rockford, where we hid out for the week. I swear she didn't shriek at all last week, but tonight she was at it again.
So yes, the trip to Rockford. it was really fun and really exhausting, totally worth it but still a big chore. It was ridiculously cold outside, and Clara was her normal miserable sleeper so I'm exhausted, but there were many high points, too. I was able to arrange special 1 on 1 time for each girl with each grandparent throughout the week, which was a really nice thing for all involved. My mom read a huge stack of books to the girls throughout the week (she swears that Emily didn't have her fingers in her mouth at any time she was reading to her, but this afternoon I didn't even get through the first page of a book and she was chewing on the back of her hands). Anyway, my mom also got a kick out of Clara putting empty buckets and toy containers over her head, then talking to sample the acoustics. It was quite the game for such a little person! It was fun to see Clara get more comfortable at their house as the week went on. She spent probably half of her playtime standing up at the piano, trying out the keys. She loooooved the piano. One time, I had her on my lap, playing a few notes here and there as she was playing too, and she repeatedly took my hands off the keyboard, and then finally turned around and pushed my face away, as if to say, "Mom! Leave me alone! I am playing!" My dad said she did just the same thing to him, too! Funny kid!
Audrey has been a little charmer lately. It seems like my kids each take turns doing fits and spurts of amazing development. The past month hasn't really been notable for her, which is nice because her stages of real change are usually pretty hard to handle. She's happy, singing, snuggly and beautiful, learning like crazy about whatever comes her way, and just enjoying being 3. She colored a picture of a rainbow, for St. Patrick's Day, and we're not sure how she figured this out, but she put exactly the right colors in the right order. There wasn't any rainbow for her to copy (and that's not her style anyway), and when I asked her how she decided which color to put where, she told me she started with red, and that orange belonged next to it, and yellow belong next to orange... I'm not sure that's what preschool teachers mean when they work on kids knowing their colors!
Emily had a lot of shining moments up in Rockford. She was thoughtful and considerate of her sisters and her grandparents. She told amazingly detailed facts about dinosaurs and rockets that she learned in school. she did puzzles and sequencing activities, showcased her amazing scissor skills (practically scherenschnitte!), and even tried out new ways to poke around on the piano. And she played happily with her sisters, which while it wasn't tear-free 100% of the time, it really was far beyond what kids that age generally are able to work out on their own. My mom taught preschool for many years, so of course has a good idea what it takes for a child to be considered Kindergarten-ready. Emily's teacher of course recommended that she's ready for Kindergarten, no surprise there, but there are a lot of things that even Audrey fits the criteria for K-readiness. Emily is so far beyond it, I wonder if she's going to feel like Kindergarten is a good fit. I have not drilled her with academic readiness; teachers look for things like straight-up reading skills (sight words), ability to count by 2's or by 5's, and other similar repeat-this-task skills for goals for the Kindergarten year. I think Emily will enjoy learning these things at school... and then wonder what to do the rest of the year. I could teach her these things over the summer, if I really wanted to pursue grade acceleration as an option, and she would then probably stand out as a good candidate. I'm really not leaning that way for her; her inclination is to focus on getting a handle on her situation before making her move. Emily's teacher commented at conferences that she started the year very timid, taking her time analyzing her surroundings, and now that she's comfortable she kind of rules the place, with great confidence and lots of friends. I think throwing her into 1st grade would be too much of a change for her to feel confident that she's totally in-the-know of her surroundings. She COULD do it, and be totally fine academically, but I don't think that emotionally it's a good fit for her. The challenge then is to keep her academically interested within her grade level, which I'm realizing is something that I'll need to advocate for her quite a bit and I am not at all sure how to do it. I sure hate using my first kid as my guinea pig. Maybe I'll have things figured out for Audrey, but she's a different story entirely. I've got a while before I really have to think about school for her, but she is so ready to jump into anything, and so academically ready because of her exposure to things via Emily's learning, that moving up might really suit her... we shall see.
Anyway, regarding Emily, it was good to talk with my mom and learn more about what 5YO expectations really are, because Emily is truly a fantastic kid; she only drives me crazy because I'm her mother, and that's her job. In the real world, she shines. Her A-game is amazing. At home she relaxes and it's not convenient for me, but that's not her fault and it's not wrong, at all. Today was really hard, with the letdown of being home again and the added exhaustion, and the headache that I had too. We definitely had a hard day. But I guess it's just Emily's turn to be the kid that's driving me nuts, right?? The biggest thing lately: Emily absolutely cannot leave Clara alone. Now that she's pulling herself to standing on things, Emily thinks she needs to come up behind her, lift her up, and carry her wherever she wants her. Then if Clara is then crying because she's been moved away from what she wants to be doing, then Emily cradles her on her lap and tries to get her to stop. Well, she's really way too big to do that, almost 20 pounds now! Emily even managed to get Clara her out of her crib this morning, before I was even out of bed! (Give me a chance, kid!!) I have talked with her, seriously, every single day this week about how she could hurt Clara by accident, and I don't want either of my girls to get hurt, or for Emily to feel bad about hurting Clara when she didn't mean to. She absolutely will not stop and it is driving me crazy!!! Add that to the constant fingers/hands/toys/plates/countertops/random-object-at-face-level in her mouth, AND her insistence on starting everything she says to me by whining, "Mooooommm?? How come (something she already knows but wants me to repeat for some damn reason)??" Yup, definitely Emily's turn to be the irritant.
Travis is also gone in April for a trip to Luxembourg. It's a little shorter this time - 5 days instead of 7 - but I'm still planning to get backup help somehow. I don't think I'll be able to skip town again, since Emily is in school, but maybe I'll take vacation... we'll see. It's really disappointing to have to look forward to that, and also a 2-day trip to Miami at the beginning of April, because once I get through those things, we'll be almost to the end of the schoolyear, getting ready for summer! If the snow would just melt already, and quit coming down, I think I'd be more ready to think about it!
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Chug, chug, chug!
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!!
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!!
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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