Having a three year old is exhausting. Physically, yes sometimes, but mentally it is an ongoing battle. She is constantly struggling with who and what she wants to be. In the same sentence she will say she is a big girl and a baby, she can do it by herself but she needs me to help. Every time I think I figure out how she wants to do things it changes. It's mentally draining. At the same time, she is highly influenced by her two older siblings, so always saying things you wouldn't normally expect a three year old to say. If Sarah does something to upset Amanda she'll tell Sarah that she hurt her feelings and that Sarah isn't her friend anymore. She'll say something jokingly to me and then say psych, or she'll tell Andy to shut up.
At the same time, I've got a prepubescent nine year old who thinks he is smarter than Charlie and me put together, but will cry because his cereal is soggy. He is totally unpredictable and his emotions are all over the place. He hasn't hit the full swing of the hormonal influx that comes with puberty, but it's coming and it's not going to be pretty.
Finally I've got a sweet little six year old with horrible, horrible self confidence who thinks everything is about her. Everything. I know most kids think this way, but she's over the top. If I tell Amanda that she looks pretty, Sarah will say "What, I don't look pretty?" or if I tell Andy I love him she'll say, "Oh, you don't love me." Um, no, my conversation with them has nothing to do with you. Plus, I can love them and still love you or think one is pretty and still think you are pretty.
So, if you've been wondering why my writing goes in spurts or why I've been kind of quiet for the last week, it's because I'm having a hard time finding my children's antics funny and I'm so tired from all the drama that all I want to do at night is veg in front of the computer or the tv. Not a good habit, but I need to get my renewed energy somewhere, so I can go out there and try to outwit and outlast for another day.
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Thursday, January 24, 2013
The One Where I Sound Like Taylor Swift
Charlie had to go to Dallas for a wedding this weekend so I had to take Andy to his Cub Scout pack meeting tonight. I may have been listening to Taylor Swift's Red album too much lately (I definitely have) but all I have to say is I never, ever, ever want to go to another pack meeting. I don't know if was because it was game night or because there were about 80 screaming boys (who haven't reached maturity yet so it was pretty high-pitch) between the ages of 6 and 11 or because it was the end of the day and I was just worn out, but I do not want to put myself through that again.
Nothing out of the ordinary happened, there was no confrontation or run in or anything like that, it was just loud and crowded and crazy and loud. When my brothers were scouts and we had to go to family events I don't ever remember it being as disorganized as this. I remember the boys being respectful and well-behaved and not running around like animals. I could be wrong, that's just how I remember it. Maybe I'm turning into an old lady with no patience, or people are just not teaching their kids to be well-mannered anymore.
Whatever it is, I'm leaving scouting up to Charlie. That many hyper little boys is just a bit too much for me. I love my hyper little boy, but the others I can do without.
Nothing out of the ordinary happened, there was no confrontation or run in or anything like that, it was just loud and crowded and crazy and loud. When my brothers were scouts and we had to go to family events I don't ever remember it being as disorganized as this. I remember the boys being respectful and well-behaved and not running around like animals. I could be wrong, that's just how I remember it. Maybe I'm turning into an old lady with no patience, or people are just not teaching their kids to be well-mannered anymore.
Whatever it is, I'm leaving scouting up to Charlie. That many hyper little boys is just a bit too much for me. I love my hyper little boy, but the others I can do without.
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Picture of the Day
Do you know what these are? I found them stuck underneath my glass dining table while I was getting ready to give the kids dinner?
Why yes, they're postage stamps. About $2 down the drain. That's what I get for a) letting Amanda sit at my desk and use my computer and b) buying cute Disney stamps that look like stickers. Luckily she left the other two sheets alone.
Kid Quote of the Day
"That's my favorite shark attack movie."
- A girl in Sarah's classroom, telling me about the movie Soul Surfer, as if she's seen loads of shark attack movies at age 6.
- A girl in Sarah's classroom, telling me about the movie Soul Surfer, as if she's seen loads of shark attack movies at age 6.
Drills
Every Tuesday morning I volunteer in Sarah's class and help with reading. Yesterday was no exception, except when I got there the kids were still on the carpet. I waited patiently for them to finish their lesson and go back to their desks like I always do, except after five minutes the teacher came over to let me know that they weren't going to start reading for a bit. There was going to be a lockdown drill.
The kids were aware of the drill so they weren't nervous or scared, and at that age they are probably so oblivious to the reasons you have a lockdown that they wouldn't be scare anyway, it was just business as usual. Finally the principal came over the loud speaker letting the kids know that it was time for the drill. The part I found amusing was that she said how they were going to have the drill and that when they heard her say the following - and she said a couple rhyming sentences about hiding and being safe - that they knew it was time to get in position. I understand that they are trying to make it light, but if someone bursts into the school with an automatic weapon I'm pretty sure the principal isn't going to have time to say her little rhyme to alert the kids to lock their doors and get in place.
On one of my volunteer days after Sandy Hook I looked around the room to see exactly where you would put 25 kids in case of trouble and there aren't really any hiding places in Sarah's classroom. I read stories about teachers hiding kids in cabinets and bathrooms, but they don't have that in her room. However, the way you enter the classroom there is some space along the wall where you would not be able to see the kids from the window in the door. So that is where they lined up, on the floor, with the lights out. They sat there for about 10 minutes and were unbelievably quiet and well behaved while the principal ran throughout the school to make sure that everybody's rooms were locked from the inside and nobody could get in from the hallway.
When it was over it was no big deal, the kids went back to reading time and probably forgot about it by the end of the day. I was glad that I was there to witness it and know what they will do if something were to happen. All I could think about while sitting there, and also while discussing it with Charlie later that night, was that we didn't have to go through this kind of stuff when we were kids. The only drills we had were fire and tornado drills, drills having to do with natural disasters that nobody had any control of, not drills that addressed crazy wackadoos that want to intentionally hurt my children.
I guess for them it's just growing up in this complicated society that we live in, but I hope their innocence can stay intact for just a little bit longer.
The kids were aware of the drill so they weren't nervous or scared, and at that age they are probably so oblivious to the reasons you have a lockdown that they wouldn't be scare anyway, it was just business as usual. Finally the principal came over the loud speaker letting the kids know that it was time for the drill. The part I found amusing was that she said how they were going to have the drill and that when they heard her say the following - and she said a couple rhyming sentences about hiding and being safe - that they knew it was time to get in position. I understand that they are trying to make it light, but if someone bursts into the school with an automatic weapon I'm pretty sure the principal isn't going to have time to say her little rhyme to alert the kids to lock their doors and get in place.
On one of my volunteer days after Sandy Hook I looked around the room to see exactly where you would put 25 kids in case of trouble and there aren't really any hiding places in Sarah's classroom. I read stories about teachers hiding kids in cabinets and bathrooms, but they don't have that in her room. However, the way you enter the classroom there is some space along the wall where you would not be able to see the kids from the window in the door. So that is where they lined up, on the floor, with the lights out. They sat there for about 10 minutes and were unbelievably quiet and well behaved while the principal ran throughout the school to make sure that everybody's rooms were locked from the inside and nobody could get in from the hallway.
When it was over it was no big deal, the kids went back to reading time and probably forgot about it by the end of the day. I was glad that I was there to witness it and know what they will do if something were to happen. All I could think about while sitting there, and also while discussing it with Charlie later that night, was that we didn't have to go through this kind of stuff when we were kids. The only drills we had were fire and tornado drills, drills having to do with natural disasters that nobody had any control of, not drills that addressed crazy wackadoos that want to intentionally hurt my children.
I guess for them it's just growing up in this complicated society that we live in, but I hope their innocence can stay intact for just a little bit longer.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Picture of the Day
There was a Sesame Street "Bay of Play" area at SeaWorld. The girls were playing and Elmo and Big Bird showed up for a photo session. They may be a little old for Sesame Street but they still loved it!
Kid Quote of the Day
"She's not going to do it, even if I treat her nicely. I've treated her nicely for 51 million years."
-Sarah, grumbling about how the old "treat others how you would like to be treated" doesn't really work with Amanda.
-Sarah, grumbling about how the old "treat others how you would like to be treated" doesn't really work with Amanda.
San Diego
The kids had a four day weekend, so we decided to go on a little mini vacation to San Diego. You can take the boy out of the airline, but you can't take the airline out of the boy. We always said we would continue traveling after we moved and we've done a pretty good job sticking to that. Unfortunately we don't have the flexibility that we used to and we actually have to pay for our tickets so the traveling is just a little different now. Like instead of going where we really want to go, we go where there are inexpensive tickets. Luckily when flying out of Colorado there are several good options of places to go.
We flew in Friday afternoon, took the kids for burgers and milk shakes and didn't stay out too late. Due to the time change they woke up super early on Saturday which allowed us to eat breakfast and still get to the gates of Legoland before it opened. We have been to Legoland before, a few years ago when I was only a few months pregnant with Amanda, but our family dynamics has changed a bit. Now Andy and Sarah wanted to go on the roller coasters, and Amanda wanted to keep up but she either wasn't tall enough or wasn't old enough. Yes, you heard me, old enough. They have crazy rules for just about every ride at Legoland, and on several of the bigger rides you not only had to be 36 or 42 inches tall, you also had to be at least 4 years old. So even though she was tall enough to go on, she wasn't old enough. We had tears within an hour of entering the park because Andy and Sarah got to go on something she couldn't. Poor kid. We still had a good time and split up for about an hour so I could take Andy on the biggest roller coaster and Charlie could do something else with the girls. The best part was that the park was only open until 5 p.m. so we stayed all day, went out to dinner and still got the kids to bed by 9 p.m.
The next day we went to SeaWorld. Some of our friends from Dallas were also in San Diego for the weekend so we spend most of the day with them which was a lot of fun since I have been so homesick for our friends. We split up some, but did shows together and had lunch and afterwards went to dinner. Again the park was only open until 6 p.m. so we could go all day but still be back before midnight.
Yesterday we didn't have much planned but our flight didn't leave until around 4 p.m. so we went and had a nice breakfast near the beach and then took the kids to a park so they could use up some energy before the flight home. It was a gorgeous day and fun to spend some time outside as a family.
Overall, a great weekend. It was hard to get back into the swing of things this morning. Charlie had an early flight for a day trip, Sarah had therapy at 7 a.m. and Andy had a before school activity at 7:45 a.m. I wasn't sure we were all going to make it today but all is good.
We flew in Friday afternoon, took the kids for burgers and milk shakes and didn't stay out too late. Due to the time change they woke up super early on Saturday which allowed us to eat breakfast and still get to the gates of Legoland before it opened. We have been to Legoland before, a few years ago when I was only a few months pregnant with Amanda, but our family dynamics has changed a bit. Now Andy and Sarah wanted to go on the roller coasters, and Amanda wanted to keep up but she either wasn't tall enough or wasn't old enough. Yes, you heard me, old enough. They have crazy rules for just about every ride at Legoland, and on several of the bigger rides you not only had to be 36 or 42 inches tall, you also had to be at least 4 years old. So even though she was tall enough to go on, she wasn't old enough. We had tears within an hour of entering the park because Andy and Sarah got to go on something she couldn't. Poor kid. We still had a good time and split up for about an hour so I could take Andy on the biggest roller coaster and Charlie could do something else with the girls. The best part was that the park was only open until 5 p.m. so we stayed all day, went out to dinner and still got the kids to bed by 9 p.m.
The next day we went to SeaWorld. Some of our friends from Dallas were also in San Diego for the weekend so we spend most of the day with them which was a lot of fun since I have been so homesick for our friends. We split up some, but did shows together and had lunch and afterwards went to dinner. Again the park was only open until 6 p.m. so we could go all day but still be back before midnight.
Yesterday we didn't have much planned but our flight didn't leave until around 4 p.m. so we went and had a nice breakfast near the beach and then took the kids to a park so they could use up some energy before the flight home. It was a gorgeous day and fun to spend some time outside as a family.
Overall, a great weekend. It was hard to get back into the swing of things this morning. Charlie had an early flight for a day trip, Sarah had therapy at 7 a.m. and Andy had a before school activity at 7:45 a.m. I wasn't sure we were all going to make it today but all is good.
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
The Goodness of Aunt Jemima
Over the weekend we ran out of pancake mix. Not a big deal, you say, just go buy some more. That sounds like a simple and obvious solution, except it's not that easy. It never is. Our favorite pancake mix is Aunt Jemima Whole Wheat Blend. We have tried other whole wheat pancake mixes, but none even come close to Aunt Jemima. Maybe because it's not a real whole wheat mix and it actually tastes good, I'm not sure, but it's just what we like. Unfortunately since we have moved Charlie and I have been to just about every grocery store within a 25 mile radius of our house and nobody carries it.
I've looked it up on Amazon, but they were charging around $6 a box with another $2 per box for shipping, and I cannot consciously pay $8 for something that I know I can buy in a store for under $3. I understand the stuff is heavy and would be expensive to ship, but I'm still not paying that much. I brought a couple boxes back when I took the kids to Dallas in September and my sweet mother-in-law gave us three boxes at Thanksgiving but they didn't last too long. You see, we are not the occasional pancake eaters. We eat them almost every weekend and sometimes on Saturdays and Sundays. The kids love them, and it is the one meal that we all eat together and everybody is generally in a good mood. We just can't change that up.
Fortunately we will be out of town this weekend and Charlie is going to Dallas next weekend for a wedding so we don't have to be without for too long. But it's still kind of annoying to have to stuff your suitcase full of pancake mix every time you travel. So, I tried Amazon again. Still roughly $8 a box. Then, at the bottom of the page under the paid links I saw something for www.buybythecase.net. Hmm, I was willing to buy a case if it would save us some money.
So I checked it out and the breakfast gods were on my side. Not only were they doing free shipping for the month of January, but the mix was also on sale. I was able to buy a case of our favorite pancake mix for around $40. Enough mix to (hopefully) last us about a year. At least six months.
I know pancake mix, what's all the fuss? Really there isn't a fuss, but it was the last thing that we were really bummed about that we haven't been able to find here. If only it was that easy to order up our friends and have them shipped to us. Now, although we're still trying to find our place here and have it feel like home, at least our family weekend breakfasts are no longer in jeopardy.
I've looked it up on Amazon, but they were charging around $6 a box with another $2 per box for shipping, and I cannot consciously pay $8 for something that I know I can buy in a store for under $3. I understand the stuff is heavy and would be expensive to ship, but I'm still not paying that much. I brought a couple boxes back when I took the kids to Dallas in September and my sweet mother-in-law gave us three boxes at Thanksgiving but they didn't last too long. You see, we are not the occasional pancake eaters. We eat them almost every weekend and sometimes on Saturdays and Sundays. The kids love them, and it is the one meal that we all eat together and everybody is generally in a good mood. We just can't change that up.
Fortunately we will be out of town this weekend and Charlie is going to Dallas next weekend for a wedding so we don't have to be without for too long. But it's still kind of annoying to have to stuff your suitcase full of pancake mix every time you travel. So, I tried Amazon again. Still roughly $8 a box. Then, at the bottom of the page under the paid links I saw something for www.buybythecase.net. Hmm, I was willing to buy a case if it would save us some money.
So I checked it out and the breakfast gods were on my side. Not only were they doing free shipping for the month of January, but the mix was also on sale. I was able to buy a case of our favorite pancake mix for around $40. Enough mix to (hopefully) last us about a year. At least six months.
I know pancake mix, what's all the fuss? Really there isn't a fuss, but it was the last thing that we were really bummed about that we haven't been able to find here. If only it was that easy to order up our friends and have them shipped to us. Now, although we're still trying to find our place here and have it feel like home, at least our family weekend breakfasts are no longer in jeopardy.
Kid Quote of the Day
"I was singing at the top of my lungs. It was exhausting!"
-Sarah, telling me about her double music class the other day.
-Sarah, telling me about her double music class the other day.
Friday, January 11, 2013
Kid Quote of the Day
Amanda: Mommy, you're not my best friend anymore.
Me: Okay (fine with me!).
Sarah: Then who is your best friend?
Amanda: YOU, Sarah!
Sarah: Good! I was hoping I'd come in first place!
Me: Okay (fine with me!).
Sarah: Then who is your best friend?
Amanda: YOU, Sarah!
Sarah: Good! I was hoping I'd come in first place!
Picture of the Day
It's 80's day at school today. Andy is dressed how I would envision his Uncle Ivan to have dressed in the 80's. He definitely got the hair right. Sarah may not have the look right, but it was hard because I was a tomboy and didn't dress girly back then. Plus, this was the best I could do at 6p at Target last night. At least they wanted to try.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Lockout
Yesterday I got a blast email that there was a lockout at the school. A lockout is when they lock the doors and don't let anybody in or out, bring all the kids in from outside (which means the playground and the portables, which is where Andy is), but they continue with their normal classroom activities. It is not the same as a lockdown. The notice was for our school and several others. The only thing it said was that it was due to police activity in the area.
I'm really not one of those moms that worries. When I do start to worry about things regarding the kids that I have no control over, I remind myself of that and try to stop. I am not a helicopter mom and I try very hard to let my kids figure things out for themselves without endangering themselves or others (or being rude). However, there is a slight amount of panic that sets in when you find out your kids are in lockout. Or, there is less than a month after a school massacre.
I know that there are thousands upon thousands of elementary schools in this country and that Sandy Hook is very far away and that guy was extremely sick in the head and the chances of that happening here are slim to none. But I also now live within 30 minutes of both Columbine High School and the Aurora movie theater. Again, not to say that would happen at my kids' school but I do find myself looking around a little bit more as I walk Sarah to school in the morning and I'm no longer excited about Andy walking by himself to his before school activities. Even though we live about 100 yards from the school, we don't live close enough.
It wasn't a big deal, the lockout was called off less than two hours later and the kids weren't even worried about it. They wouldn't have even told me about it if I hadn't asked. That shows me that my kids are in a great school, where they can do drills or have a real life exercise and the kids don't know the difference and it's just part of the day. As far as Sarah was concerned, "It just means that we have to have inside recess, but that's fun too."
I know I have three kids and sometimes I joke about how if anything happens to any of them it's not a problem because I have an extra, but that's all talk. I love my kids more than I can tell you and I worked really hard to get them and I want to see them grow up and have kids of their own. That shouldn't be too much to ask.
I'm really not one of those moms that worries. When I do start to worry about things regarding the kids that I have no control over, I remind myself of that and try to stop. I am not a helicopter mom and I try very hard to let my kids figure things out for themselves without endangering themselves or others (or being rude). However, there is a slight amount of panic that sets in when you find out your kids are in lockout. Or, there is less than a month after a school massacre.
I know that there are thousands upon thousands of elementary schools in this country and that Sandy Hook is very far away and that guy was extremely sick in the head and the chances of that happening here are slim to none. But I also now live within 30 minutes of both Columbine High School and the Aurora movie theater. Again, not to say that would happen at my kids' school but I do find myself looking around a little bit more as I walk Sarah to school in the morning and I'm no longer excited about Andy walking by himself to his before school activities. Even though we live about 100 yards from the school, we don't live close enough.
It wasn't a big deal, the lockout was called off less than two hours later and the kids weren't even worried about it. They wouldn't have even told me about it if I hadn't asked. That shows me that my kids are in a great school, where they can do drills or have a real life exercise and the kids don't know the difference and it's just part of the day. As far as Sarah was concerned, "It just means that we have to have inside recess, but that's fun too."
I know I have three kids and sometimes I joke about how if anything happens to any of them it's not a problem because I have an extra, but that's all talk. I love my kids more than I can tell you and I worked really hard to get them and I want to see them grow up and have kids of their own. That shouldn't be too much to ask.
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Picture of the Day
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April, look what Sarah found while she was playing in the backyard today. It makes it look like we had a rip roaring time on New Year's. Yep, that's what we'll tell everybody.
To You and You and You
Sadly our guests left Tuesday and Charlie went back to work on Wednesday, which means our vacation was practically over. The only thing that truly prevented it from being finished was the fact that the kids don't go back to school until tomorrow.
On Wednesday I dropped Andy off at a friend's house and the girls and I went to Lifetime so I could work out. Afterwards we came home and miraculously everybody kept themselves busy most of the afternoon without any fighting. I had a ton of laundry to do because I have this crazy thing about doing laundry when we have company over (even though I have no problems doing it when we are the company) so I folded while the kids watched t.v. or played their electronics or whatever. Even Charlie was impressed when he got home that everybody was in a pretty good mood.
Thursday I took the kids to Lifetime again but this time the kids club was packed, so packed that we had to wait until some kids left before they would let us in because they had met their limit of 145 kids. Holy cow! Needless to say when I finally picked them up they were a bit cranky because it was a little too full to have any fun. Well, the girls were pretty good about it, but Andy was not happy at all. We had lunch at the cafe to make up for it and then I went home to do even more laundry but again everybody was in a pretty good mood. I was starting to think that we could even handle another week away from school. The only problem I find is that when the kids are home I don't do a lot around the house, so another week really would be a bad thing.
But then it was Friday. The kids' last day of winter break. On Friday I really needed to go to the gym because I had to do four miles according to my training schedule. I didn't want to go in the morning and risk the chaos that we had on Thursday so I put it off until after lunchtime. Right before we left I started to get a sore throat, but I chalked it up to allergies because it was about 20-30 degrees warmer on Friday than earlier in the week and any time the weather changes that much weird allergy things happen in our family.
Except it didn't go away. That night I took an allergy pill hoping it would help. The next morning it felt like I had a golf ball in the back of my throat. I went to the clinic inside our Walgreens since I still don't have a primary care doctor since we moved and the nurse practitioner confirmed my self-diagnosis. Strep. Damn kids. Two weeks ago Andy got it, a week ago Amanda got it, and this week I got it. I really hope Charlie and Sarah can fight it off.
So yesterday when I was supposed to be putting all the folded laundry away (at least I got that far) and taking down the Christmas decorations, I did pretty much nothing except lie on the couch. Thankfully my husband is a rock star and picked up the slack for me and took care of the kids and me. Today I was slightly better and got up long enough to help him take down the Christmas tree and put away all the ornaments. The kids helped too if you call sitting on the couch and playing their electronics while telling us which box to put the ornaments in helping.
I'm hoping to feel much better tomorrow and since the kids are going back to school maybe I can be a slacker for one more day and just rest. After that, I just may have to parent them a little bit.
On Wednesday I dropped Andy off at a friend's house and the girls and I went to Lifetime so I could work out. Afterwards we came home and miraculously everybody kept themselves busy most of the afternoon without any fighting. I had a ton of laundry to do because I have this crazy thing about doing laundry when we have company over (even though I have no problems doing it when we are the company) so I folded while the kids watched t.v. or played their electronics or whatever. Even Charlie was impressed when he got home that everybody was in a pretty good mood.
Thursday I took the kids to Lifetime again but this time the kids club was packed, so packed that we had to wait until some kids left before they would let us in because they had met their limit of 145 kids. Holy cow! Needless to say when I finally picked them up they were a bit cranky because it was a little too full to have any fun. Well, the girls were pretty good about it, but Andy was not happy at all. We had lunch at the cafe to make up for it and then I went home to do even more laundry but again everybody was in a pretty good mood. I was starting to think that we could even handle another week away from school. The only problem I find is that when the kids are home I don't do a lot around the house, so another week really would be a bad thing.
But then it was Friday. The kids' last day of winter break. On Friday I really needed to go to the gym because I had to do four miles according to my training schedule. I didn't want to go in the morning and risk the chaos that we had on Thursday so I put it off until after lunchtime. Right before we left I started to get a sore throat, but I chalked it up to allergies because it was about 20-30 degrees warmer on Friday than earlier in the week and any time the weather changes that much weird allergy things happen in our family.
Except it didn't go away. That night I took an allergy pill hoping it would help. The next morning it felt like I had a golf ball in the back of my throat. I went to the clinic inside our Walgreens since I still don't have a primary care doctor since we moved and the nurse practitioner confirmed my self-diagnosis. Strep. Damn kids. Two weeks ago Andy got it, a week ago Amanda got it, and this week I got it. I really hope Charlie and Sarah can fight it off.
So yesterday when I was supposed to be putting all the folded laundry away (at least I got that far) and taking down the Christmas decorations, I did pretty much nothing except lie on the couch. Thankfully my husband is a rock star and picked up the slack for me and took care of the kids and me. Today I was slightly better and got up long enough to help him take down the Christmas tree and put away all the ornaments. The kids helped too if you call sitting on the couch and playing their electronics while telling us which box to put the ornaments in helping.
I'm hoping to feel much better tomorrow and since the kids are going back to school maybe I can be a slacker for one more day and just rest. After that, I just may have to parent them a little bit.
Thursday, January 3, 2013
A Little Thing Called the Alphabet
On our drive from Texas to Colorado, we had some DVDs that had been converted from video tapes from when Andy was little and we popped them into the player in the car. We had no idea what was on them, but soon saw him reciting his ABCs and counting to 20 and higher. He couldn't have been more than two and a half in these videos/DVDs and definitely wasn't over three. By the time he was three he was practically ready for Kindergarten.
Switch gears to Amanda. When she started potty training, which was just over a year ago, we decided we would teach her the ABCs while washing her hands. Charlie and I had both read articles and heard in every child forum known to man that when you teach children to wash their hands you sing a little song that is at least 15 second long so they are sure to wash their hands long enough to get them clean. What better song than the alphabet? We would kill two birds with one stone, she'd be clean and would know all her letters. She had just turned two, but there was no reason she couldn't learn it if she was singing it on a daily basis and if Andy could do it, so could she.
Except she couldn't. Or better yet, she wouldn't. She had no interest in learning that song. So much so that I gave up early. Charlie would still sing it with her, but months after we started all she would say is, "ABC ABC next time won't you sing with me". If you asked her what came after C, she would just say A. Those were the only three letters she ever mentioned. She didn't get to D for forever.
I pretty much gave up with her learning it at all, and then one day in October Charlie asked her to say her ABCs. "A B C D E F G." She got all the way to G. I was amazed. That was as far as she could go, but still a major improvement.
About two months ago, I took this video. All I said to her before I turned it on was can you sing your ABCs for me. This is what she came up with:
Cute, but not quite there.
Fast forward to this past week. Riza is very well versed in his alphabet and know most if not all of his letters as well. He was playing with the letters on our fridge and when he walked away Amanda began playing with them. So I started asking her if she could name any of the letters. Surprisingly, she knew six or seven of the letters I asked her. Definitely not all of them, but more than zero. I think we may actually be getting our money's worth at that school she goes to, even if she's only there two hours a day twice a week.
At least now I'm a little more confident that she will know her alphabet by the time she goes to Kindergarten.
Switch gears to Amanda. When she started potty training, which was just over a year ago, we decided we would teach her the ABCs while washing her hands. Charlie and I had both read articles and heard in every child forum known to man that when you teach children to wash their hands you sing a little song that is at least 15 second long so they are sure to wash their hands long enough to get them clean. What better song than the alphabet? We would kill two birds with one stone, she'd be clean and would know all her letters. She had just turned two, but there was no reason she couldn't learn it if she was singing it on a daily basis and if Andy could do it, so could she.
Except she couldn't. Or better yet, she wouldn't. She had no interest in learning that song. So much so that I gave up early. Charlie would still sing it with her, but months after we started all she would say is, "ABC ABC next time won't you sing with me". If you asked her what came after C, she would just say A. Those were the only three letters she ever mentioned. She didn't get to D for forever.
I pretty much gave up with her learning it at all, and then one day in October Charlie asked her to say her ABCs. "A B C D E F G." She got all the way to G. I was amazed. That was as far as she could go, but still a major improvement.
About two months ago, I took this video. All I said to her before I turned it on was can you sing your ABCs for me. This is what she came up with:
Cute, but not quite there.
Fast forward to this past week. Riza is very well versed in his alphabet and know most if not all of his letters as well. He was playing with the letters on our fridge and when he walked away Amanda began playing with them. So I started asking her if she could name any of the letters. Surprisingly, she knew six or seven of the letters I asked her. Definitely not all of them, but more than zero. I think we may actually be getting our money's worth at that school she goes to, even if she's only there two hours a day twice a week.
At least now I'm a little more confident that she will know her alphabet by the time she goes to Kindergarten.
Picture of the Day
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
And So It Begins Again
The last week and a half have been a whirlwind. Usually that's not the case when the kids are home all day, day after day, but this time it went fast. We had a great, but really short, visit with my family in Michigan for Christmas, but the kids made the best of it. They had such a fabulous time with their aunts and uncles and grandparents and, most of all, cousins that I was again remiss that we don't see family more often.
We got home around 8p on Christmas Eve and then had a nice pajama filled, relaxing Christmas Day. We finished opening presents by about 1p, and then Charlie and I spend the rest of the day and the entire next day trying to get the house back to where it was before the present-opening began. We had the traditional Jewish meal of Chinese food for Christmas dinner and then all crashed kind of early.
On Wednesday night, April and Refet and their little boy, Riza, arrived. They pretty much bought their tickets to come visit as soon as they heard we were moving here and we were so excited to have them. Our first non-family visitors. We did a lot of eating, but not as much as the last time April and Riza visited us in Texas (I think I gained about 10 pounds that week) and a lot of sitting around, which was pretty much fine with me. Overall the kids were good and got along, but it did help that they got new electronics for Christmas and we didn't put many limits on how much they played. That will have to change once school starts, but I still have six days before they have to go back.
Last night we had a lame little New Year's party for the four adults and three kids (Amanda gave up and went to bed before 9p, smart girl). We started with an amazing steak dinner, but in our normal fashion didn't do anything too rousing after that. I hope April and Refet still enjoyed themselves, I'm sure they party much differently when celebrating in New Jersey. Plus, we found by watching the ball drop on tape delay that New Year's Eve really does revolve around New York City in this country which was humorous and depressing all at the same time.
As for resolutions, I don't really make them. I'm a believer that if you want to change something about yourself you do it right away, you don't wait until January 1st. You're just setting yourself up for a fall or for more procrastination if you wait. However, as April made me think, the end of the year is a good time for reflection, to make sure you are where you want to be and are doing the things you want to be doing.
So in that mind set, I do have some things I want to accomplish this year. I want to spend less time on the computer and more time with my kids. I want to continue my exercise plan and training for my next half-marathon, but pick it up a little with some additional cross-training. I doubt that I will ever love running, but I want to try a little harder to see if I can at least do a 5k. I want to try to see family more and spend time with those I love and I don't want to worry about the rest. I want to eat better without dieting or starving myself while at the same time truly enjoying what I eat. Most of all, I want to spend time with my husband and enjoy where we are right now and not worry about where we're going to be in the future, physically or mentally. Just cherish the here and now.
2012 was kind of a shitty year, so I'm hoping things start to look up in 2013. As the countdown to summer begins, and I have a feeling it will come much quicker that I think, I wish you a happy and healthy 2013 and all it has to bring.
We got home around 8p on Christmas Eve and then had a nice pajama filled, relaxing Christmas Day. We finished opening presents by about 1p, and then Charlie and I spend the rest of the day and the entire next day trying to get the house back to where it was before the present-opening began. We had the traditional Jewish meal of Chinese food for Christmas dinner and then all crashed kind of early.
On Wednesday night, April and Refet and their little boy, Riza, arrived. They pretty much bought their tickets to come visit as soon as they heard we were moving here and we were so excited to have them. Our first non-family visitors. We did a lot of eating, but not as much as the last time April and Riza visited us in Texas (I think I gained about 10 pounds that week) and a lot of sitting around, which was pretty much fine with me. Overall the kids were good and got along, but it did help that they got new electronics for Christmas and we didn't put many limits on how much they played. That will have to change once school starts, but I still have six days before they have to go back.
Last night we had a lame little New Year's party for the four adults and three kids (Amanda gave up and went to bed before 9p, smart girl). We started with an amazing steak dinner, but in our normal fashion didn't do anything too rousing after that. I hope April and Refet still enjoyed themselves, I'm sure they party much differently when celebrating in New Jersey. Plus, we found by watching the ball drop on tape delay that New Year's Eve really does revolve around New York City in this country which was humorous and depressing all at the same time.
As for resolutions, I don't really make them. I'm a believer that if you want to change something about yourself you do it right away, you don't wait until January 1st. You're just setting yourself up for a fall or for more procrastination if you wait. However, as April made me think, the end of the year is a good time for reflection, to make sure you are where you want to be and are doing the things you want to be doing.
So in that mind set, I do have some things I want to accomplish this year. I want to spend less time on the computer and more time with my kids. I want to continue my exercise plan and training for my next half-marathon, but pick it up a little with some additional cross-training. I doubt that I will ever love running, but I want to try a little harder to see if I can at least do a 5k. I want to try to see family more and spend time with those I love and I don't want to worry about the rest. I want to eat better without dieting or starving myself while at the same time truly enjoying what I eat. Most of all, I want to spend time with my husband and enjoy where we are right now and not worry about where we're going to be in the future, physically or mentally. Just cherish the here and now.
2012 was kind of a shitty year, so I'm hoping things start to look up in 2013. As the countdown to summer begins, and I have a feeling it will come much quicker that I think, I wish you a happy and healthy 2013 and all it has to bring.
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