Daniel Loses His First Baby Tooth

Now wait a minute, Easter 2012.  We have an update.  Daniel just lost his very first baby tooth!  He’s a little bit sad, but very excited to use his new tooth fairy pillow.  Go, Bean!  (Oh my.  I just noticed the baby picture in the background.  My heart.)

 

The Snack Bag Series: Part Two

I’m totally procrastinating.  I really need to/ want to /HAVE TO do my Disney World trip recap post.  It’s just so overwhelming to go through 500 photos and think about how to document dozens of awesome memories.  I’m hoping to get it all finished this weekend so, in the meantime, here are some Daniel snack bag drawings.  You can check out part one of the series HERE.

Happy Weekend.

Leaving Sesame Street

One of my fondest memories growing up was watching Sesame Street every morning as a preschooler.  I can remember loving Grover (he’s still my fav) and I’d dream about one day visiting Sesame Street.  I wanted to see Hooper’s Store!  I wanted to sit on those brownstone steps and sing a song.  I wanted to see Ernie’s rubber duckie!

So it’s been a blast reliving all those fun memories with my two kiddies.  Sesame Street was the first television show I’d allow my children to watch when they turned two.  We even saw Sesame Street Live! when it came to our city.  Annabel loved Abby Cadabby and Daniel thought The Count was super cool.

But I haven’t seen an episode of Sesame Street in over 6 months.  My kids don’t care about it anymore.

I understand that Daniel has outgrown the show.  He only watched it a few times over the last year because Annabel still enjoyed it.  I was so excited to tape the new 2011/12 season so Annabel and I could watch it together when she didn’t have school on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  But the conversations always went like this:

“Annabel, you wanna watch Sesame Street?”

“No.  Dora!”

“But it’s a brand new episode!  One you’ve never seen!”

“No.  That’s okay. I want to watch Dora!”

“Oh, look.  This one has John Krasinski in it.  I know you don’t know him, but he’s super funny!  PLEASE can we watch it?”

“Mama!  No!  Dora!”

“Okay.  Fine.”

I guess I was the one who couldn’t quite let it go.  I didn’t want to say goodbye to my ol’ buddy Grover or to Big Bird or to Maria and Luis and Gordon and Chris.  I wanted to see another letter and number of the day.

One night last week, after everyone was in bed and fast asleep, I was downstairs alone and catching up on some reality television shows on my DVR.  And I swear I almost pressed down and watched one of those brand new Sesame Street episodes.  By myself.  In the dark.  But I didn’t.  That would be sad.

It IS sad.

See ya, Sesame Street.  Hopefully I’ll visit you again one day.  Keep the air sweet, won’t ya?

The Snack Bag Series

Daniel loves to draw pictures on his school snack bags each morning.  He started the daily ritual by drawing one small car next to his name, but now the drawings are much more colorful and elaborate.  And pretty darn awesome, if I do say so myself.

 

Kaye 9

Daniel had his first T-ball game of the season on Saturday morning and it wasn’t until he slipped on his jersey that we noticed this:

Kaye 9.  Canine?  Ha.  Someone suggested “Who Let The Dogs Out?” for his walk-to-the-plate music.

School Emergency Kit

Today was Pajama Day at Daniel’s school.

All the Pre-K’ers could wear their pajamas to class and there was a special story time with the Principal.  The morning snack was a special treat: Donut holes and juice boxes!  Daniel was on cloud nine!  When we walked into the classroom this morning, we admired some of the other pajama choices. As I gave Daniel a hug goodbye, I saw a little girl wander in behind him wearing her school uniform.

“Uh oh,” I thought.  ”Someone’s parent forgot it was Pajama Day.”

Now, I’m not judging them.  It could happen to anyone.  It could happen to ME.  That is always my small fear. That I forget it’s Pajama Day and Daniel or Annabel give me that sad, disappointed face like I’m the worst Mama in the world.  Or I forget the snack. Or I forget that it’s show-and-tell! So that made me think, I need to create some sort of ‘School Emergency Kit” for the trunk of my car.  I drop my children off at private school every day so this could work well for me.   (I basically live in my car.)

My “School Emergency Kit” would contain:

-  A pair of pajamas (see above.)

- A set of “street clothes” in the school colors for “Non-Uniform” days.

- An extra school uniform (if I think Pajama Day/Non-Uniform Day is on the WRONG day. Whoops!)

- An extra snack.  This should be something that won’t spoil (ie: raisins, fruit chews, something with a long shelf life.) Gross? Maybe.  Smart? YES.

- Some item that has every letter of the alphabet for the show-and-tell days.  This can be an alphabet puzzle or a baggie of alphabet magnets so, if stuck in a pinch, my kid can AT LEAST show an “A” puzzle piece or an “A” magnet.  Again, not ideal, but fulfilling the need.  Note:  The alphabet items should also be a variety of colors so they can also be used for the “bring in something X color” days.

- Check book.  This should probably be in my purse, not a kit in the back of the car, but I can’t tell you how many times I needed a check  for some school photo order or fundraiser and I curse that darn check book sitting in the front drawer of my desk at home.

- Cash. Because then there are the days when the student government or the safety patrols sell sweet treats in the school lobby and I’ve had to say “No” to my kid because I didn’t have a dollar bill on me.

- 4×6 photos of every member of the family including grandparents.  You know what I’m talking about.

- A generic gift in a small gift bag.  Perhaps a picture frame or coffee mug.  This would be for when I forget it’s the teacher’s/teacher’s assistant’s/front desk receptionist’s/etc. birthday (Do people really have these dates on their calendar?)

- A couple of books for when I forget I’m the class “secret reader.”  Note: This could also work for show-and-tell and those “bring a book to share” days.

- A new toy.  This is for the “bring a toy to share” days.  But this can also work if there’s something I forgot that’s not in the kit and I can bribe my child to forgive me with the new toy.  Win-win!

What would be in YOUR kit?  I’m SURE I’m forgetting SOMETHING.

Bye Training Wheels

We took the training wheels off Daniel’s bike this past weekend.

And, of course, captured the moment he rode on two wheels for the very first time.

“Look, Mama.  No hands!”  Well, that was my husband.  You go, Bean.

Hi.

Hi. I’m back.

I took a mini break because of personal reasons.  The personal reasons were all mine.  I needed to clear my head.  I needed to miss typing my thoughts and feelings on my keyboard each week.  I needed to miss it, so when I came back (and I’m back!), I wouldn’t go away again.

The big downer about it all is that I lost two months of diary entries.  And a bunch of stuff happened in those two months.  Forgive me as I will be recapping some older moments over the next few weeks.  The entire point of this website is that it becomes a memory vault for my kids.  And when I stopped writing about my kids for 60 days, I realized how big each “little” moment was.   Because aside from the standard carving of the Thanksgiving turkey or opening gifts on Christmas morning, there was Daniel running around the baseball field for the first time and Annabel as an angel in her very first school play.  And I need to capture those moments.  I HAVE to.  For them.  And for me.  And, you know, hopefully for you too.  You who reads this blog everyday or once a week or once a month or even once every couple of months.  Thank you.  Thank you for letting me share all these moments with you. I encourage you to capture your own moments.  Whether in a blog like this one, or in a word document on your computer.  Or in a scrapbook or  journal.  Use words or use photos.  But capture the moments.   You’ll be glad you did.  Happy New Year, everyone.

Happy New Year

Collide

When I had my children 18 months apart, I knew there would be days (weeks, months!) that would be tough. It’s inevitable when you have two little ones so close in age.  The first months were difficult because I had a brand new walker and a newborn.  Then, there was an awesome period when Daniel was 3 and Annabel was 2. They could finally play together and it felt like I had twins.  It still feels like that sometimes.

But now I’m going through another difficult period.  Daniel has reentered his school worry stage.  And Annabel has started an “I don’t like school anymore” phase.  And let me tell you…Whoa.  Just WHOA.  This morning was an example of the worst of it.

I put Daniel in ASC (After School Care) two days a week on the recommendation of his teacher.  Because Daniel is repeating his Pre- Kindergarten year, he is now one of the older children in his class.  There are a handful of 5-year-olds (like Daniel) and the rest are 4-year-olds.  The teacher is wonderful and has managed to teach to the different skill levels and needs of the kids.  Daniel is starting early reading while other children are in learning centers.   She works with him on his speech which is improving dramatically.  He is doing awesome. She also said we should start extending his day at least a couple times a week so he can start getting used to the longer hours when he starts Kindergarten in the fall.  Also, it would be great for him socially and I know he needs to continue to work that “muscle.”

Well, Daniel does not like change.  He’s very sensitive, like his Mama, and he gets a little nervous.  But he’s been doing the ASC for two weeks now and I thought it was finally just a part of  his new school routine.  No.  I basically have to prepare myself for a torturous morning of  anxiety each day he has ASC.  He over thinks it. He tries to be brave but his sad face makes me feel horrible, like I’m sending him off to some mean place. And it’s just a few extra hours of playtime and eating lunch with his friends.

Annabel might be feeding off Daniel, but she has begun her “I don’t like school anymore” phase.  After I drop Daniel off at his school, we have a 45 minute wait before Annabel goes to her preschool.  It used to be fine. We would pack her lunchbox and backpack, go for a walk, read some books, and then off we went.  She would smile and run into class.  She loved school. But the last two times have been a horrible watching-the-clock wait while she complains and whines about how much she doesn’t want to go. This morning I had to drop her off kicking and screaming.  It was awful. I know it’s another “phase,” but I wonder if something happened.  She won’t give me answers and her lovely teacher says she is a joy.  But the same thing happened with her dance class.  She no longer goes to dance because after three weeks of sitting and crying on the sidelines, it just wasn’t worth it.  I’m not going to force her to do a 30 minute dance class that she is supposed to love!  I was super disappointed because she was my little ballerina girl.  But I’ve moved on.  I didn’t want to make a big deal about it because she’s allowed to change her mind.  She’s allowed to CHANGE.  But she was always my “easy” one.  She was the one who ran in and didn’t look back.  Well, the universe is laughing at me now. Big time.

I’m emotionally exhausted. It’s just hard that these two challenging milestone moments are happening at the exact same time.  You’d think they planned it. Hmmm…anything’s possible with these two.

 

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