Gettin' current

I should have made a New Year’s resolution to do better at updating my blog. But I didn’t, so you’re just going to have to suffer through my sporadic updates and accompanying apologies. I actually still intend to write an entry with photos of our holidays, and maybe even post an end of year newsletter since I didn’t get around to Christmas cards this year. (Sorry!) However, for now I’m just going to fill you in on more current events.

Between vacation, snow days and Christmas break, C only went to school 2 ½ days in December. Since she had such a long break from the school routine, I was a little worried that we’d have behavior issues at school again. I am quite pleased to report that we haven’t had any problems brought to our attention this month – everything seems to fall within the realm of “normal” kindergarten antics. C does stay the whole day (we only had her on reduced days for a couple of weeks at the beginning of the school year) so by the end of the school day she is worn out! We found that letting her nap after school wasn’t a good option, she’d still wake up cranky, but then it would take her a few hours to fall asleep after going to bed. While I’m extremely thankful that C is on her best behavior at school, the last four hours of her day at home can be rather challenging as she is too worn out to regulate her behavior and emotions.

Schoolwork is also becoming more challenging. They are working on addition and telling time, both of which she seems to be doing quite well. They are also starting reading and spelling. She had her first spelling test last week. This is much harder for her to grasp. She is very easily frustrated when she has a hard time doing something, so it has been really difficult to even work with her on this at home. I need to come up with a way to make spelling and writing her words more fun so it will be an easier pill for her to swallow. If any of you have any great ideas, please let me know!

A couple weeks ago the girls were playing on the school playground after class, and C and a little boy collided on the slide. One of her top teeth started bleeding and became looser than normal. (Her top teeth are normally a little loose since she still sucks two fingers when she sleeps or is extremely tired and not otherwise engaged.) I told her to be very careful because I didn’t want her to lose any teeth before her birthday pictures next month. A few days later I noticed a permanent bottom tooth broke through her gum behind her baby tooth, so I guess it is inevitable that she’ll be a little gap toothed come picture time. Since there is already a tooth in place to replace it, now I’m a little excited for her baby tooth to come out. We’ve been working on wiggling it and it is now just barely hanging on. However, C is quite scared about it hurting when it comes out, so who knows how long it will take before it either falls out on it’s own or she can pull it out herself with minimal effort and trauma. For good measure, I am packing an apple in her lunch box every couple of days.

Last Saturday morning we woke up bright and early (too early for a weekend), but I stayed in bed for as long as I could. M was in bed with me so we played and talked and tickled. P had to work, so he headed downstairs with C close on his heels. After awhile, C called us down for breakfast – which I had assumed had been made by P. I was surprised to find that P had already left, and C stood beaming at the kitchen counter, eager to show off the breakfast she had made for the three of us. I was so proud of her creativity and thoughtfulness. What a great girl!



This morning I called home from work. At first I thought I’d misdialed when a child answered the phone “ Hello? Hola?” It wasn’t until I’d started talking to her and she asked “Is this M?” (yes, she called me by my first name) that I knew for sure it was my little M. She isn’t supposed to answer the phone yet, but daddy was in the shower and thus unable to supervise who answers.

Lately M has developed a new defense that is both entertaining and sometimes effective. To her credit, she doesn’t pull it out all the time, but it does get used once or twice a week. Say for instance, I’m getting on her case because she’s trashed her room again … for the third time … today. OK, of course that NEVER happens because the perfect angel that she is, she folds up all sixteen articles of clothing that she has tried on in an hour and puts them all neatly back in the drawers or on the hangers. But just for the sake of argument, pretend that this is an issue I might deal with on a regular basis. As I demand of her why she has to make a mess of her room all the time, she might reply “But mom, that just what kids do. I’m a little kid. It’s what we do.” And if it’s just a minor issue, that’s the end of the argument right there. But turnaround is fair play. You can bet that when she’s a teenager and complaining about me, it’ll be my line of defense too.