conversation last night

K: Can I go to sleep in your bed?
Me: Why?
K: I sleep well-er in your bed than in mine.

typical lunch

The children like it when I fix them “a little bit of everything,” as they call it, on their trays. Today, after VBS, K is having blueberry yogurt, half of a sandwich with a couple slices of chicken on it, a handful of “Unburied Treasure” (that corn puff snack with white cheddar cheese on it from Trader Joe’s), half a dozen slices of pepperoni, a handful of pistachios and some apple slices with a caramel dip. E is having vanilla drinkable yogurt, some granola bites, several slices of pepperoni, a couple of the same chicken slices (Oscar Meyer processed deli meat) K has and some raisins. Oh, and both children have a slice of lemon poppyseed bread that I made yesterday. My biggest problem is after fixin’ all that for them, I don’t feel like fixin’ myself anything to eat.

organizing K’s room

Tomorrow K and I are going to work on her room. We need to rearrange it so that the AC vents are free to blow instead of being under her bed. We also need to clean and organize in there. We worked on clothes tonight and cleared out everything in her dresser that either doesn’t fit or isn’t seasonally appropriate or doesn’t go with anything. We need to turn out attention to The Baby Dolls next. There are, like, more than a dozen of them. all with accessories. tiny, tiny accessories. I’m going to let her help me make labels for things (her idea) so she can better clean up her room and know where everything goes.

getting these milestones out of the way

E peed on the potty tonight!!! I’m so encouraged. maybe this kid won’t be in diapers until he’s in college after all!! seriously, this was the first time he’s ever done it. and I’ve been putting him on the potty (much to his dismay with all the screaming and crying fits) forEVer. He immediately said, “I’m a big boy. I want underwear.” He was all sad that I said he couldn’t wear underwear to bed (he peed during bathtime, so right before bedtime). we’ll get there; it’s soooo exciting that he was pleased and really thinks he can do this now. whew! he got his green M&M and got to put a sticker on his little chart I made him (yes I’m bribing him; I don’t care; whatever works). anyway, had to share my joy. also, registered K for swimming lessons this morning. Wednesdays at 2 for the next 8 weeks. I’ve been told that really, once you teach a boy to swim, you’re pretty much done with him. So, I figure that K is toilet trained and can read and do basic math (seriously, it’s amazing what they do in Kindergarten these days) and and should be able to swim by the end of the summer. I’m almost “done” with her. E should be potty trained by the end of the summer (our goal is August 1 so he can be in preschool music camp at church). I’ve only got reading and swimming left for him. (and to brag a bit, he can spell his own name correctly at this point. we won’t dwell on the fact that K could write with a pencil and count to 100 when she was 3). anyway, really just wanted to share about the potty training actually beginning for real. yea! maybe he’ll be trained before I’m 41.

finally

K came in this morning and announced “I can tie my shoes.” And indeed, she can. I’m so relieved. I thought we’d never get to this milestone. Yea!!

cheap playtime

I sprayed a few piles of the cheap (Barbasol) shaving cream onto the dining room table this afternoon and let the kids play in it. It works like fingerpaint, and then it virtually dries up. You should wipe it down with a wet cloth when finished. It sure was fun. E got himself covered so much that I just put him in the tub and bathed him. At least we don’t have to do a bath for him tonight!

poetry at six

K and I have finished reading A. A. Milne’s The Complete Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh. I bought her Now We Are Six also by A. A. Milne for us to begin reading. Because she is six. And every six-year-old should have her own book of poetry.

great day

I took E to a make-your-own-pottery place this morning and did his footprints on a tile. They couldn’t find any little tiles, so I said I’d come back next week and do his handprints when I pick up the footprints. Then they called me and left a message that they had found the smaller tiles, so when K got home I took them both back over there and we did E’s hand prints and then one hand print of K’s. I’m working on having their hand and foot prints made at various times in their lives. My overall plan is to make a table one day with all the different tiles. I envision an wrought-iron table with some kind of inset where I can lay the tiles. I haven’t found the right table yet, but then again I am no where near done with making the tiles.

When we were done making the tiles, we went next door to Cold Stone for ice cream. Then we played around the outdoor fountains in the shopping center. We finished our afternoon with a trip to Target for a few things. The kids were good, and we had fun!

cuteness overload

Today I saw the cutest thing ever! K’s Kindergarten Program was the most fun and adorable thing I’ve ever seen. Cute cute cute kids in shirts they made at school singing songs with hand motions and stuff. oh by golly it was so adorable! my parents loved being here, too. They sang The Kindergarten Wall, which mom loves. K was so proud to be able to show her classroom to her grandparents. Her teacher’s last day was today, and I am sad to see her go but so glad K had her. I got her a GC to the salon I went to last night. I also gave her a card on the new greeting cards I’ve created with a nice note thanking her for being K’s teacher. I wish I’d had one more chance to have an conference with her about K to find out exactly where K is level-wise with her reading. Anyway, I had a fun time at school today. Made me proud. of K for being so good and of me for hanging in there with this parenting stuff long enough to enjoy her today.

punishing everyone

K has a hard time going to bed. She just doesn’t stay “down.” She pops up repeatedly. She’ll come down the hall and bother us. Questions, having to tell us “one more thing,” wanting one of us to come lie down with her x more minutes, etc. We have told her she can leave her room to go to the bathroom but that’s it. We have even said she doesn’t have to go to sleep right away; we just want her to stay in her room. It is not too much to ask of a 6 year old. Last night after I got E to sleep I had run out to Target when I get a call from T. K had come out of her room one too many times and he lost it and told her that if she came out one more time, she’d sit in Time Out all afternoon tomorrow. (which is now today). So. Here I am. stuck enforcing someone else’s punishment. I’ve tried to embrace it. But all I’m hearing is the MOMMMEEEEE, PLEEEEZZZEEE coming from the other end of the hall. The screaming, the kicking her door and walls and god knows what else. I hate this. I’m a little pissed at T for saying something he can’t personally enforce (although, god love him, he did promise to come home early today to help with the enforcement). I don’t mind showing a united front, and I’m really excited about finally making a real point to K about this bedtime crap she pulls every single solitary night. I know she is just pushing boundaries and wants us to push back and draw the boundary, the line in the sand, the absolute limit. However, living through her punishment is punishing me and E, too. She is loud and obnoxious, and we are stuck here, listening to it. I’ve already gotten up 3 times to tell her to close her door, and this has only been going on for 33 minutes. Sigh. I did decide that she wouldn’t spend her “time out” in the TO chair in the front entrance to the house. I figured that would be too hard on all of us. I decided that since she has a problem staying in her room at night, then she is being told to stay in her room this afternoon. She is screaming herself into hysterics. I hate that. and I hate that our normally peaceful and calm after school routine is being disturbed in this manner. I like the hour or so after she gets home from school. We go over the school day, she watches Reading Rainbow, we all have snack. I had several things I wanted her to do today: wrap the presents she is giving E for his birthday, make a card for her teacher’s baby shower, help me plant some herbs and flowers. I am getting none of that accomplished. This is hard. On all of us. I hope it makes the point. Sometimes parenting is such a crapshoot. You honestly don’t know what is working and what isn’t.