"This is like taking a bite out of heaven!"
-Andy, after I gave him a Peeps Peepster, which is milk chocolate with marshmallow flavored creme.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Picture of the Day
From the Easter egg hunt we went to on Saturday. Notice Amanda had the biggest haul, but they were in totally separate hunts from each other due to age groups. Not matter what we do we just can't get a smile out of that baby.
Lost Tooth
Sarah lost her first tooth this morning. When I say it's lost, it's really lost. She went to bed with it in her tiny little mouth last night and when she woke up it was gone. She probably swallowed it, but it's so small who knows. I thought she would be really upset about it, but she took it in stride. She was just so happy to lose it she didn't care.
It started wiggling about a week ago. I thought for sure the loose tooth thing would go on for weeks. With every loose tooth Andy has had it seems to take forever before it finally comes out. But hers just got looser and looser everyday until it was barely in there on Sunday night. A nice quick process. Finally something goes right.
I think this was a nice confidence booster for her. In her eyes she is always last at everything. Everybody runs faster, climbs better, does everything better than she does. All of her friends are bigger and older, even if by just a few months, she really thinks she just can't compete. For once she got to do something first. Or almost first. There is only one other child in her class at school that has lost a tooth. She is second. This time second is looking pretty good.
She may not be older, may not be faster, may not be able to ride her bike without training wheels, and that one may take a long time, but she is one of the first to lose a tooth. It's dumb luck that it happened to her, but I'll take this win. She deserves it.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Cleaning Up
I never thought the day would come. It took eight years, but today when I told Andy to clean the play room he just did it. Okay, well, Charlie told the kids last night that he expected it clean when he got home from work and anything left out on the floor would be his to sell or throw away or do whatever he pleased. It wasn't the part that they cleaned without whining or complaining or yelling, it was that they actually cleaned it without me having to tell them how to clean.
Years ago, when I would tell Andy to clean up he would just sit there. He had no idea how to generically clean. If I said, "put all the pieces to that game away" or "put all the blocks in the basket" he could do it without a problem. If I told him to clean up, he didn't know what to do. I asked a friend who had an older daughter and she told me it took a long time for them to understand the concept of cleaning. Until then, I would have to go item by item and tell them to pick it up. What a beating. But that's what we've done. "Pick up all the cards and put them in their container", "pick up all the Little People and put them in the Little People bucket", "pick up all the Polly Pockets and put them in the Polly Pockets container." You get the idea.
Almost everything has a place, bucket or container. I labeled and put pictures on all the containers and buckets I could find. Before the kids could even read they were labeled. I took pictures of all the toys that went into each bucket and then put that picture on the front of the bucket so the kids knew where the toys went. They got it, but friends would always put them in the wrong place (sorry, that's another rant). But if I told them to "pick up" they had no idea where anything went.
Today was a different story. I told the kids they had to pick up like Daddy asked. Sarah went upstairs to clean their room. Andy stayed in the playroom. I urged him to engage Amanda and make her help too. He did, and she did. When I was finally done getting dinner ready I walked in to help and he was almost done. I didn't have to explain anything or tell him where anything went. It was all just put away where it was supposed to go. The same thing happened with the bedroom. Amazing. Finally, a stress-free cleaning. Now what am I going to complain about?
Hopefully this will continue and only get better. Maybe they'll start cleaning without us asking...a girl can dream, right?
Years ago, when I would tell Andy to clean up he would just sit there. He had no idea how to generically clean. If I said, "put all the pieces to that game away" or "put all the blocks in the basket" he could do it without a problem. If I told him to clean up, he didn't know what to do. I asked a friend who had an older daughter and she told me it took a long time for them to understand the concept of cleaning. Until then, I would have to go item by item and tell them to pick it up. What a beating. But that's what we've done. "Pick up all the cards and put them in their container", "pick up all the Little People and put them in the Little People bucket", "pick up all the Polly Pockets and put them in the Polly Pockets container." You get the idea.
Almost everything has a place, bucket or container. I labeled and put pictures on all the containers and buckets I could find. Before the kids could even read they were labeled. I took pictures of all the toys that went into each bucket and then put that picture on the front of the bucket so the kids knew where the toys went. They got it, but friends would always put them in the wrong place (sorry, that's another rant). But if I told them to "pick up" they had no idea where anything went.
Today was a different story. I told the kids they had to pick up like Daddy asked. Sarah went upstairs to clean their room. Andy stayed in the playroom. I urged him to engage Amanda and make her help too. He did, and she did. When I was finally done getting dinner ready I walked in to help and he was almost done. I didn't have to explain anything or tell him where anything went. It was all just put away where it was supposed to go. The same thing happened with the bedroom. Amazing. Finally, a stress-free cleaning. Now what am I going to complain about?
Hopefully this will continue and only get better. Maybe they'll start cleaning without us asking...a girl can dream, right?
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Picture of the Day
This is what happens when you leave her alone for too long. In my defense:
1. Sarah was sitting right next to her and didn't notice a thing.
2. I was in the room the entire time but concentrating on something else.
3. They were washable markers and there was no trace of it after a nice bath.
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