Well, they are lovely until they refuse to go to BED...like right NOW! So far I have been interrupted twice in the one minute I have been trying to type this...and now I hear another eruption up there...off I go for the third time!!!! Oh, how I dread bedtime with the girls! Lauren and Kathryn share a room and most nights things go smoothly with our routine (bathroom, brush and bed) but it's nights when Daddy is not around, they sense something is up and then proceed to drive me "through the roof". Okay, I think they have it worked out...on to the good stuff...how is everyone doing and what has everyone been up to this past month. Shall we start with the oldest or youngest?
Lauren - The Trials and Tribulations of Kindergarten
We had our very first "official" parent-teacher conference a couple of weeks ago. I say official because we had conferences in pre-school, but this was the first conference Keith and I attended together. November 10th was an interesting day. I told Lauren that Daddy and I were going to meet with her teacher later in the day and she immediately broke down in tears and said, "she's not going to say nice things about me." I slipped into a moment of speechlessness (which doesn't happen often) and then I gathered myself back-up and started to question why she thought the teacher felt this way about her...which I was sure was a big misunderstanding and not the case at all. Of course Lauren couldn't remember the circumstances surrounding the incident in which the teacher showed dislike towards her. We went through several moments of torturous screaming as she told me she could not remember. I reassured her that I was not going to be mad but that I needed to hear the story....and so it flowed..."I tackled Alex." That was it. I was kind of shocked. My next questions were why? and did he get hurt?. Alex did not get hurt. The why is a little dicey...something along the lines of he was chasing her friend Anna and he was supposed to be sitting. This resulted in Lauren getting a sticker taken away and now Lauren wants nothing to do with Alex and is adamant that he NOT be invited to her next birthday party. Lauren still continues to be very quiet at school and to bring her out of her shell they give her stickers every time she speaks...sometimes she comes home with eight or nine on her shirt...YEAH! I was very shy in school as a child too, so I get it. I just want her to have fun and from the sounds of it she is loosening up.
Lauren has also been going to a program at her school on Tuesday and Thursday mornings where she gets to enjoy more "free-play" and arts-n-crafts (lots and LOTS of art which she LOVES!) So Tuesdays and Thursdays are long days for her but she seems to be enjoying it and tolerating the longer day...good practice for 1st Grade! She is eager to start swimming lessons so that is next on her agenda. She did soccer in the fall but Keith was not impressed with the program...apparently I signed her up for the wrong one, so we will try again in the spring.
Oh, she lost another tooth while eating carrots and swallowed it, we never found it, and I NEVER looked for it!!
Kathryn - Our almost THREE year old...who is in the midst of her TERRIBLE TWO's!
Little, petite, sweet, little (ooops, did I say that already) Kathryn....yeah, not so MUCH, not this month anyway. Can you guess who gets the brunt of her hits, kicks and head bops???? The only person who doesn't fight back....YET...John. The thing with Kathryn is she doesn't care about going to her room or getting a slap on her wrist...she will do it ten times a day. She is quick to apologize and hug and then bop him on the head again, UGH! She is becoming adamant about many, many things. She has definitely learned that she has a voice and she WILL be heard! My favorite is when she tells me "that's not nice" and then she wraps her arms around herself like she is hugging herself and stomps away...gotta get a picture of this. This time too shall pass and then she can go back to being her little, petite, sweet, little self!
She has some interesting taste in movies for a two year old...she went from watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Johnny Depp's version) to the Wizard of Oz. For Halloween she wanted to be the Wicked Witch, not Glenda the Good Witch...just shows you a little bit about her personality. She does also enjoy watching Tom and Jerry and Looney Toons.
Some shining moments from this past month...She held a toilet plunger (unused) over her shoulder and started making little shooting noises as she marched around the house. She painted the carpet in our friends basement a nice orange color during one of our Friday night pizza party nights. She walked around the house one day in nothing but her underwear and her sisters yellow rain boots. She is a real hoot! Total goofball! She loves her gymnastics class and as a matter of fact when I asked her who should come to her Birthday party, she replied, "Mrs. C." (the gymnastics teacher) and that was it.
John Logan our BIG "Little Boy"
John has been into everything these days...he loves to play in the cupboards (especially with the sponges under the kitchen sink) and drawers and remove everything one by one. He loves to unroll the toilet paper in the bathroom. I think we need to kick start the baby proofing.
He had his one year check-up on November 2nd and he weighed in at 22 lbs 2oz and measured 30 inches long. He has eight teeth, four on top and four on the bottom. He loves to give high fives. He stands on his own for extended periods of time and then plops down on his bottom. He has really started to enjoy table food. He eats a variety of foods and he eats well...a few of his favorites are peanut butter crackers, bananas, yogurt and mac n' cheese. He has started to crawl up the stairs and is just getting the hang of scooting back down the stairs.
He continues to be a very layed back baby. The doctor even commented on it at his last visit. He asked me what his personality was like as he was just sitting on the exam table letting the doctor do his thing...and I said "well, he is like this." And the doctor replied that he gets a very good "vibe" from John. I then told him how I was sure I was going to be "in-for-it" when he got a little older and he replied, "I think you will be just fine." What a relief!!
I will try to post some new pictures soon so you can see how grown up everyone is getting!
Happy Thanksgiving!
