Our Kids

I keep writing posts in my head and I realize that does the blog no good especially since they never get posted. Of course now that I am writing a post all the good things I had to post about are gone. Alas I am aged:)

One thing I do remember is the treasure box at music class. I don’t like the treasure box at music class but it is there so we all must deal with it. The kids in the class have to follow a few rules and if they do then they get stickers that they can spend in the ho hum treasure box or they can save their stickers for the cool treasure box or the super duper treasure box. My dislike for the box stems from the fact that the girls are doing things for a ‘treasure’ and might be missing out on learning to love music instead but I digress. The story is about how Lela is saving all her stickers, 15 weeks of them for the super duper treasure box while Piper spends her weekly sticker allotment on the hohum treasure box. First Piper brought home candy, then I said no more candy and then she brought home a tattoo, which her school does not allow her to wear. So I won’t allow her to eat any candy and the school won’t allow the tattoo but when I ask her about it she says she just can’t help but get something from the treasure box. I can see that saving won’t be in Piper’s near future:)

When I told Piper she could not have any more candy from the treasure box the conversation went like this:

Me: Piper you can’t have any more candy from the treasure box, pick something else.
Piper: Ok
Me: Do I need to tell Teacher Annell?
Piper: No
Me: Ok I trust you not to get any more candy
Piper: Oh and I trust you
Me: You trust me to what? Not tell Teacher Annell?
Piper: Not tell Teacher Annell What?

Hmmm…..maybe we need to work on this:)

That is right Piper lost her tooth:) When she came home from school it was barely hanging on, you could see the entire bottom of it minus one little spot that was still connected. So we pulled it. She was so excited to have it out, or so I thought.

The instant after we got it out she started crying. I couldn’t figure out why. Here is a video. As an unexpected bonus you can see me in the background filming, a mirror image of myself.

Now my opinion is that either she was sad that Lela was not experiencing what she was or that she was afraid to go there alone. I was sad she was feeling that way. She is much better today and was super excited last night to go to bed and get a visit from the tooth fairy.

Yes a meltdown of gargantuan proportion! I think it is a combination of:

first week of preschool
first week of kindergarten
overstimulation
overtired
missing mom
missing the girls
and oh so much more

Everything could not have gone more right this week but even with the gods smiling in our favor it was a bit much for us all. The girls only have to look at each other before one of them is crying that the other caused some grievous injury. Poor Landis is just beside herself over everything and Phoebe is just tired from all the shuttling around.

We had big plans for the Children’s Museum and lunch with friends but I had to put the kabosh on that, these kiddos are in no state to make public appearances and we have a full week of kindergarten starting Monday (this week was only 3 days!).

Breathe deeply……

Okay so this is going to be hard to describe but Phoebe has come up with a new facial expression and it is a killer. Remember when she was first born and she had that cromagnon looking line that connected her eyes across the bridge of her nose?? Well it’s baaaaack.

So what she does is that she smiles as hard as she can, scrunches up her nose (hence the line) and then she grits her teeth (which don’t exist). It is so freakin’ cute. It is like she is smiling as hard as she could possibly smile and you can feel it all the way to your toes. I will try my best to catch it on film so you can share it:)

I am sort of getting the hang of sending lunches for the girls. They can’t have any processed foods or any juices etc in their lunches which doesn’t pose a problem for us since we don’t have those items on hand anyway except some crackers and Cheerios. Here is what I have sent so far and how it went over:

Kidney Beans (Piper had Chickpeas)
Cantaloupe and Grapes
Snap peas and cucumbers
Homemade vegan pumpkin spice bread
Piper’s snap peas came back, nothing came back from Lela

Baked Beans
Cucumbers and sliced Carrots
Watermelon
Homemade vegan pumpkin bread
Piper’s carrots came back, nothing from Lela

Whole grain tortilla with vegetarian refried beans (our version of quesadilla without the queso)
Homemade salsa (thanks to my friend Mary, it’s yummy)
Peas
Cucumbers and sliced mushrooms

So far the lunches have been devoured with a few minor exceptions by Piper who generally eats less than Lela but also has that loose front tooth and anything too hard gets passed on these days. Tomorrow we have to bring an organic fruit because they make fresh bread and fruit salad for snack when it is warm and homemade soup when it cools down.

Um…..I love this school:)

Today wasn’t officially Landis’ first day but it was the first day where Mommy did not stay. She did really well and was very excited to go to school, no tears and no asking me to stay. She did look quite forlorn as I was leaving but quickly joined her friend Elise in the outdoor play kitchen to brew up some tea. Teacher K said that she got sad about 1.5 hours in to the class and came and sat with her and read books for the rest of the day (30 min). I know she will be more confident as the year goes on, I still wish she did not want to go to school at all but I am rolling with it for now. I am really looking forward to tomorrow though where we can spend the whole morning together, I wonder what we will get in to:)

Well today was the day, the first day of school. Lucky for us all it was a bit rushed at the door of the class so there was no time for tears from me (although I did not feel weepy at all so maybe there wouldn’t have been any anyway). We all went the whole crew and walked them to class. Piper had a little bit of difficulty transitioning in to the class but her teacher just scooped her up on her lap and showered her with affection and she was fine a few minutes later. Surprisingly Lela walked in and was okay, not jumping for joy but not upset which was not the case last night.

Last night I had the pleasure of sleeping with all of my children in addition to my DH:) First it was Piper, then Jason took her back to her room, then Landis came in, Phoebe was on and off as I got up to feed her, then Lela appeared tapping on my shoulder (I tell you that still scares the crap of me) and climbing in to bed. I did not mind a bit, everyone needed a little extra TLC even me. We are all going through an overwhelming time in our lives as evidenced by all the food I have been eating (did you know you can over eat even when the only thing you have in your house is healthy food:).

They had a great day and I know in my heart they are going to love that school. Today they donned their beloved rubber boots and tromped around in the mud. Piper said she made a wooden block sculpture that looked like me. They loved sitting around the table and eating snack and then finishing their day with lunches from home, I think they feel very grown up. They said they were still keeping to themselves and not branching out to meet new kids just yet, maybe next week.

I have to say THANK YOU to Phoebe and Landis for being part of my shuttle crew today and spending so much time in the car without complaint:) It made my day easier and I appreciate you both.

The girls have been on a word kick lately. Piper was using some of those magnet words on the fridge and put together her own sentence and read it without any help from me. It says:
Do play fun and read book

Lela also made a sentence but she couldn’t read hers, it said:
Me I love for you I’m proud

Piper and Lela have also started asking me non stop why things are called what they are called and where words come from. For example (this is an easy one) why is a grasshopper called a grasshopper? Is it because he lives in the grass and he hops? Then they will throw me a hard one like why is candy called candy? Really I dunno and don’t care, lol! They are very curious why things are called what they are called. I am tempted to start teaching them latin just so we can all know:)

The other day we were driving in the car talking about what people do. They saw a police man and were asking me about it. Now the girls see me home with them and the other moms we hang out with are home with their kids so they think that moms/women/girls can’t or don’t work. We talk about it and I think they get it and then we see a policeman and they think only men can do that job. So we were talking and I was explaining that women can be police as well. As I am explaining this the conversation turns and this is how it goes:

Me: So women can do any of the jobs that men do
Lela: But they can’t play football
Me: Well they can’t play in the NFL but they can play
Lela: Well I saw them on the TV and they can stand on the field and do this (she imitates a woman shaking pom poms)
Me: Sigh….yes they can do that

One small step for mankind, one giant leap backwards for women, HA!