Starting with Kaitlyn:
She bought this little panda bear last month and she named him Bubbles, which was quickly lengthened to Bubbles Bamboo Bear. She asked me if I knew why he was named Bubbles. I replied "Because his eyes look bubbles?" She said (this was not sarcastic but sincere) "No, it's because he has big bubble eyes." Oh, okay. Glad she cleared that up.
Kaitlyn has also opted to not take dance this year. I don't know why I want her to do it so much. I guess because I think she will be glad she did when she gets older. I tried getting her to at least take jazz but she says she doesn't want to take jazz because it's for boys. Well, what can I say, it is a rather manly sport, you know? No matter how much I tell her otherwise, she is convinced it's for boys and only digs her heels in further. This is really because they took one jazz class this summer to see if they liked it (and they loved it! so much that they begged me to sign them up for the summer but I didn't), but the teacher was a guy. Thus explaining why she thinks it's for boys, even though the class was all girls. And this coming from a tomboy at heart.
She also got a WOW note yesterday! I didn't know what a WOW note was, but apparently her teacher gave one to her and one other student for being the only kids in class who were doing what they were supposed to. Wow! is right! Nothing makes me prouder as a mom than my kids showing good or kind behavior. Apparently she was reading while everyone else in the class was talking. I'd like her teacher to show me how to get her to do what she's supposed to at home. But you know what they say - as long as they are doing right when they are NOT with you then you are doing a good job. Yeah, sure, I'll go with that.
Ashley's had some funny phrases lately:
She calls Mickey Mouse Clubhouse "Mickey Mouse Plughouse."
She also fusses at me sometimes when I make her do something she doesn't like. She'll say something like this: "Mommy - you go time out! One, two, fwee! I spank you!" Then out goes the hand and let's just say it ends there.
We are trying to work out the minivan seating arrangement. Right now we have big girls in back, little girls in the middle in captains seats. But now that they are getting bigger it is really becoming a problem in carpool because the big girls have to squeeze through their legs. I told Ashley as we were pulling up she was going to have to let her sisters through. She locked her legs and responded "No! I going to stop her!" And she did, with a smile on her face. We held up the whole line. I think we might be able to slide her seat over, which will cause all kinds of physical fights in the car, so I haven't decided yet. For now she has switched with Reagan.
Ashley must also be the loudest one in the car. And she has got some lungs. But I never realized until this week that it might be intentional. Everything is fine and then when we pick up the big girls from school, she is so ridiculously loud! I already can barely hear them all the way in the back and Ashley makes it impossible. She sings, blabs, whatever and I finally noticed when we quit talking, she stops. When we started talking again, the little magpie started up again. This happened a lot last year but she and Reagan were both just being noisy toddlers. But now it's just getting flat-out annoying because it's the one time I can get Kaitlyn and Mackenzie to talk about their day. Once we're home they have no interest. It actually makes me a bit sad that I can't hear what their precious souls have to say.
I put Ashley's hair in a real pony tail for the first time last week. Isn't it cute?
Mackenzie:
Mackenzie has been learning to play piano all summer. I just pulled out some very old, very basic piano books, showed her a few things and she has taken off! She plays every day. I'm going to wait til next year to put her in lessons. She also has a very basic children's primary book (church), and now she tells me she could already be playing for primary! So could I out of THAT book, Dear. But truthfully she is doing amazingly well and I'm super proud of her!
In addition to playing the piano, she also wants to learn how to play air guitar. I told her that shouldn't be a problem.
After the housekeeper came one day our stove was all shiny. She walked by and noticed and shouted, "This stove looks SWEET!" What? When did she learn that word when it didn't mean anything having to do with sugar or being nice? Funny.
Ashley has an infected toe right now. It's really hideous looking. We discovered it was infected Saturday night as I was getting her ready for bed. Mike ended up taking her to an urgent care place. Of course when you're the mom you immediately think of the worst-case scenario (in this case probably MRSA). And of course I'm always warning the girls of things they're doing that could cause an infection, and for effect I tell them if it's bad enough you could get whatever body part removed. So in her prayers that night, Mackenzie prayed that Ashley's toe would not get cut off. Kaitlyn told her she didn't need to worry about that (because I had already explained it would be fine), but in secret I was praying the same thing. Let's face it, things happen.
And Reagan:
So I was worried about Reagan and all her transitions. It appears they may all be happening at once. Binky, gone. That is working out quite nicely. But then the day before school starts, she decides that THAT is going to be the day she starts climbing out of her crib. So the rail is down and she is getting more free with coming out. Then she peed on the potty a couple days ago. Goodness! I've only put her on it a million times but this time something actually happened! But I'm also glad because once we get through all these things, we're kind of home free! But it's tiring.
We had a big storm roll through this week and it knocked a bunch of trees down everywhere. You would have thought it was a hurricane! Anyway, on the way home from school Tuesday, we noticed some workmen out there cleaning up a lot of the debris. I said "Look, they're cleaning it all up!" Reagan replied, "They're maids?" So the workmen are now maids. Maids of the streets I suppose.
Reagan has become quite the communicator lately. And into EVERYTHING (especially food)! I'm honestly getting a little tired of it. The other day it was time to leave to pick up the big girls from school. She was awake (because she opted not to take a nap for the first time), so I told her to stay put (in my bathroom), while I got Ashley up and put her in the car. I heard the water running. When I went in to get her, she had the tub plugged up, the water running, and was standing in an inch of water with water all over her capris. Did I mention I was running late already? Grrrr.
And I hate to say it but I have to say it - Reagan is the SWEETEST child and has always been, but she is clingy and is frequently crying. And I am sick of it! I have finally hit a wall with it. I have not been overly bothered by it all this time, but I am finally done with it. Only I can't be done with it. We moms don't get that choice, do we? She just follows me around the house crying if I do anything other than pick her up. It can be so draining at times. I feel much more tolerant though today, now that they went to school yesterday.
The little girls' nap schedule is all screwed up. They nap right during the time I pick up the big girls. Putting them down early isn't working really well, skipping it is making them too tired, then 2 days a week they are in preschool, one fell asleep and one did not. One day I drove them around for a nap. One day I went really early and let them nap while I sat in carpool line. It's a mess. This is the beginning for sure of dropping the nap. There is good in that though - it is nice not to have schedule things around it! And it will be nice not to have to tell the big girls to be quiet all the time or have to plop them down in front of the TV just so they don't wake their sisters.
Reagan and Kaitlyn are giving me fits about dinner. Reagan has been telling me all summer, while I'm fixing dinner, "I don't like dinner." (Imagine pouty voice and face when you read this.) I told her "fine, it's lunch" only the real problem is she likes lunch FOOD. She wants yogurt and ham and cheese. All the time.
Kaitlyn on the other hand is getting pickier and pickier. She has gotten so hard to feed. It seems like she hates everything except chicken nuggets, PB&J, pizza, and Bertolli's Chicken Florentine pasta (all my kids love this and it's THE easiest thing to fix! I would highly recommend it). But it has spinach & garlic in it. She is a garlic fiend. Anyway, just about anything else I fix she gets this scowl on her face and practically burns a hole through me with her eyes. It's as if I've personally sought out to make her miserable. And the thing is, having been a somewhat picky eater as a child, I cook VERY kid-friendly dishes. Stuff kids are SUPPOSED to like. Meanwhile it's making me crazy and I'm starting to get really angry about it, especially with the rude looks and bad attitude.
It doesn't help that I have the most SNACK-eating children ever to have lived. That's all they want are snacks, snacks, and more snacks. I try to buy semi-healthy (graham crackers, goldfish, etc) snacks but when that's all you eat....I am getting tired of keeping them all out of it.
And what is the deal with throwing stuff in the floor? I find myself having to say a lot lately, "our house is not a trash can!" Why would you just throw anything and everything into the floor? You name it, they throw it. And there are definitely some who are worse offenders than others.
Last week Mackenzie I guess was sleeping in for one of the last times before school started. She sleeps in our living room usually. Ashley & Reagan found her and really sweetly tapped on her, and in these sweet little angelic voices said "Wake up honey...wake up honey...." When that didn't work they started crowing "Cock-a-cock-a-doo! Cock-a-cock-a-doo!" (their version of cock-a-doodle-doo of course). It worked.
Then in carpool line they needed to entertain each other so the little girls kept reaching across to each other, saying "Pull my finger!" So they would and then they would just giggle and cackle. It was cute. Except for the fact that I couldn't stop thinking of what is generally supposed to come next. At least they don't know that joke!
Speaking of carpool, ugh. I know many moms out there share my pain. How come some parents can't just get a clue how it works? In our particular line, we are feeding in from 2 streets. When you get to the merge, it is 1 car from 1 line, then 1 car from the other line, alternating. It doesn't matter who's been in their own line the longest. Once you get to the merge you are on an equal playing field and taking turns begins. But some people either are completely clueless or just big jerks (quite frankly I think there are both). My line has to turn onto the street with the other line and it is infuriating when 1 or 2 or 3 cars just keep going and don't let our line feed in! Really? We're parents of elementary children, where things like taking turns are a big deal! Aren't we supposed to be calm and rational, not petty and crazy like we're in rush hour traffic. Grrrrr.
Lastly, my big girls write weird. (I know there should be an "ly" at the end of weird, in case my mom or any other English teacher reads this. But that sounds even weirder so I purposely left it off.) The problem is they have completely ignored the arrows on the handwriting tablets. When we write, our lines are supposed to go down and our circles generally go counter-clockwise. They do just the opposite! Their lines for each letter go up and their circles go clockwise! I told them the other day that is going to make it hard to learn cursive. Why would they do that? And isn't weird that they BOTH do that?
And the little girls had their very first day of school yesterday! They did great! No tears (for them OR me), all very happy. We'll see if they are just as happy on Tuesday when they go back. It was so nice though. I feel a little more refreshed and less stressed today than I was feeling earlier in the week. Ahhhh....deep breaths.....
Wow. This was long. Sorry. I just had a lot to remember, and a few things to vent about.
Back into the swing of things.
I know this was super long! It took me like three attempts over the past week to read through it all. LOL. Anyway I'm so happy to hear the little girls did well on their first day to school.
ReplyDelete