Our Kids

We have finally gotten the girls twin beds. They are actually bunk beds but we are not bunking them at the moment. One of the beds has a trundle too for little Landis when she is ready. They like them but I find I like them just as much. Sometimes during the day I just go back there and flop myself down on Piper’s bed and have a little siesta, ha! So awesome. Generally I can hear the girls and know exactly what they are doing but it is just a nice quiet place, a happy place.

We still have the toddler beds set up in our room and they see use just about every night when the girls come in and make themselves at home. Jason and I are sacked out and hardly notice them enter unless someone needs to go potty and then they wake us up. I mean you ask them if they need to go potty for 3 years and it is a hard habit to break for them to not tell you when they need to go, ha!

Anyway, baby steps and they do like their new beds. We are planning to sell the toddler beds and have been encouraging them to stay in their rooms at night. Sometimes Piper will go a few days staying in her room but not Lela. However I am so not worried about it because the most important thing is that everyone gets sleep no matter where it occurs IMHO.

The girls have started their classes at Desert Sun. They seem to really enjoy it and you could not ask for a better environment. It is so interactive. Outside they have hoses and let the kids make mud pies and get dirty from ear to ear. There are cans of paint and all kinds of things to use like small toilet stoppers and other interesting things to dip in the paint and use. It is really amazing. The girls get to choose the activities they want to do. It is truly a creative right brained environment where the last class they took was very structured and more left brained.

I did not see it coming but Lela is thriving in this new environment, feeling more independent and enjoying herself. She is also very tired so I know it is exhausting her and today she is showing signs of wear. Piper on the other hand is showing signs of insecurity. I think she enjoys the environment but the freedom of it all is harder for her to adjust to since she prefers structure. They have sort of flipped flopped so on that front I think this is good for both of them.

The first 10 min of the class the teacher assigns them to a center (dress up, playdoh, handwriting, math etc) and then after that they get to pick where they go. She put Piper at handwriting and Lela at art and Piper started to break. Teacher Karen saw this and put them back to back each at their station. Piper reached behind her and held Lela’s hand and she felt much better. The girls have spent the rest of the time together in class and have gotten used to the brief separation at the beginning of class. I can tell they are working together a lot of the time because they are bringing home very similar projects and since it is free choice I know they are sitting side by side and working together.

Monday I am going to volunteer in the class and I hope that I will be able to see how they are interacting with others. All in all I am happy with their 2 hours of interactive time and it has really helped them get the wiggles out in this hot, hot weather. We are still adjusting to the new schedule but every day gets better and better.

I feel like I have not updated you all on Landis lately but rest assured she is awesome. She really is the most delightful little person we could have hoped for should we have set our sights really high.

She is working on potty training, we have moved to the stage where she informs me when she has a poo poo but still at that stage where if I ask her if she is pooing she says no. She will also ask to sit on the potty and really try to go she has not figured out yet that she needs to relax to go.

She continues to pick up words that only a mother can understand but she is working on it. She continues to be in love with her sisters and follows them to and fro, mimics them, plays with them and generally loves them. She has however learned the word MINE and uses it quite frequently but she tends to be more like Piper in that after she sees she has upset either sister she will return the item that caused the strife in the first place.

I did a questionnaire with both the girls, the items in bold are their fill in the blank answers.
My name is Lela.
I am 4 years old.
I have no brothers and 2 sisters.
Their names are Landis and Piper.
Some of my friends are Katie and Rachel.
When I was a baby I liked coloring.
Now that I am bigger I can swim and shop.
Please don’t ever give me chicken to eat because I don’t like it.
My favorite thing to do at school is play.
The most important thing you should know about me is my skin is bright.

My name is Piper.
I am 4 years old.
I have no brothers and 2 sisters.
Their names are Lela and Landis.
Some of my friends are Katie and Rachel.
When I was a baby I liked to hug on to a bear blanket.
Now that I am bigger I can jump without a trampoline and almost pick up my little sister.
Please don’t ever give me spicy sauce because I don’t like it.
My favorite thing to do at school is paint.
The most important thing you should know about me is that I love my little sister.

So I have been boycotting Target, not really Target but shopping in general except for food. When we get bored or need to go out I used to go to Target, but I would spend big $$ on things we did not need and really not have anything to show for it except an hour out of the house. I haven’t been to Target in ages and haven’t really missed it. I figure it has made me try new things like Bounce Jungle and saved me some coin along the way. One of our new things is to go to the mall early enough to walk around look at the puppies, the lego store and stretch our legs and then get Rubios for lunch. It works and I only spend money on lunch! So I have upped my lunch budget but still saved coin in the long run:) So adios Target, you were good to me but not my pocket book.

Landis is a born carnivore or just an all around eat anything foodie:) Everytime Jason has chicken she goes for it. So when we were at Chick Fil A I got a little thing of nuggets (at least they are actual chicken) to see if she would eat them. She did, not a ton but a little, it might be that she likes it or it might be that she will eat anything (this is highly likely). Piper decided to try a bite, she is so good about trying new things, she kind of liked it and kind of didn’t. Lela took a few nibbles and kept confirming that this was in fact the “meat” of an actual clucking chicken. This seemed to turn her stomach and she abruptly stopped eating, ha!

Well it has been cooler in the mornings but the middle of the day when we are dying to get out it is still too hot. We are making ready for fall though by putting in an industrial fence/gate to keep in our super strong German Shepherd who has a fondness for eating small things. Sadly though even making preparations doesn’t make it cooler in the afternoon.

The girls are getting a bit stir crazy but school starts next week and that will give them 2.5 hours of unstructured but supervised active play Mon – Thurs. They also have a nice big playscape that is under a huge tree. Hopefully that will give them the active stimulation they are craving. I still haven’t figured out how Landis is going to fare since drop off time is right during her nap but she will adjust I know, I just hope the adjustment doesn’t include giving up her nap altogether, lol!

Teacher Karen made a house visit yesterday and the girls did very well. They were excited that she would come to the house to meet them and were very “articulate” according to Teacher Karen. Thursday night is orientation, I was hoping Jason could go too but it doesn’t look like it unless Uncle JJ offers to come over and babysit:)

We went to the library this morning but Landis was not too interested in the books and wanted the snacks in my bag and let everyone in the library know it, ha! So we had to jet and sit outside in the heat and read books until I could not take it any longer. Then we went to Chick Fil A (for some reason I think their playplace has got to be the cleanest of all fast food so don’t burst my bubble) to check out the playplace. It went okay until some bully kid would not let them in the playplace and then when they got in he went to the top and with his girl sidekick they proceeded to block the way in to the slide and yell at the kids climbing up. Obviously this sent Piper crying back down the slide as the bully kids snickered at the top. I got Pipe out and we got ready to go, Lela and Landis were not touching that fellow with a ten foot pole so they did not get scared. The bully kids moms got their kids without apology and got them ice cream cones and left:) Not judging but just interesting.

So we are home now and the girls are unwinding with a little Arthur on the boob tube while Landis naps and I surf the internet. Sigh…….just 6 more hours until bedtime.