One big giant upside to this whole daycare thing
is that it seems to exhaust Lex! This is the first week we’ve
had a toddler here full time and every day this week, and every
night, he has fallen asleep quickly and easily. A few times he
was even in his own bed (he’s been going to sleep in our bed
with music for many months now) and several times at nap time
I’m pretty sure he was asleep before I even made it down
stairs. I guess having a full-time toddler really wears him
out. All that socializing is hard work for an introvert
:)

My kids are very silly and were especially
so last night. We went to Panera Bread for dinner (they LOVE
Panera Bread!) and on the way Lex was talking about who is a
girl and who is a boy. Alan asked what I am and Lex said,
“Mommy is a grown up. (pause, then very dramatically) Oh no
Mommy! You’re a grown up. What happened??” We all cracked up.
They are perfect angels at dinner. He always gets a blueberry
bagel with cream cheese and she gets a plain bagel run through
the bread slicer (makes nice little strips) and they both eat
and people watch and Alan and I get to have some grown up
conversation. Since we’re grown-ups afterall :)

When we got home Eve was tired, but extra
playful. She kept crawling away, but looking back at me,
grinning, then scooting away from me. I brought them both
upstairs for a bath and when I put her down she crawled right
into our dark bedroom. I went in to get her and she was
standing up, laughing! When I got close enough she spun around
and lunged for me. She takes three or four steps and falls, so
she tries to wait until you’re close enough to grab her :) And
grab her I did, tossing her up into the air. At the same time
Lex ran in behind us and slammed the door. Now I have two
laughing kids in a dark room. Lex ran up and crashed into me
and Eve. It was so silly. I love my kids and their little
personalities.

I’m going to try very
hard to hold on to these happy thoughts as I deal with four
extra kids today. Wish me luck. The first will be arrive
momentairly, so I’m outta here for now.

Lex has become such a kid lately, I
hesitate to even call him a toddler. Two things remind me of
this often. When we go out in public I frequently get comments
on how cute Eve is, but people have by and large stopped
commenting on Lex’s cuteness. Not that he’s not adorable, it’s
just that people (I think anyway) are more comfortable
commenting on babies, not kids. He has also picked up the fine
art of bedtime procrastination. “Mommy, I need a drink of
water. The music is over. My pyjamas have a hole in them.” Etc,
etc. In fact, it’s now 11pm and he’s still awake! (Ok, maybe
the whole daylight savings thing might be playing into
tonight’s issues)

Today was a beautiful day. Ok, not weather
wise, but me wise. I’m not feeling great so Alan got up with
the kids this morning (I was up with Lex at 3am for some
strange reason, so I needed the extra sleep anyway). I got to
sleep in then get right in the shower — something I love to
do! It’s the small things sometimes :)

Then I took the kids to Dylan’s 3rd birthday
party and got to hang out with Michelle, Jan, and another woman
from playgroups that I haven’t seen in forever. I do like to
socialize sometimes. His party was right at nap time, so I was
worried, but Lex and Eve behaved beautifully. I even got
compliments on how sweet and happy my kids are. I was all
prepared to leave at the first sign of tantrum, but we lasted
the whole party. Lex even had a piece of cake and ate the whole
thing, except what fell on the chair, his pants, the floor, and
Dylan’s feet. It was messy. We all had fun.

When we got home Eve went right to bed, but it was 4:30 so
I didn’t want Lex to take a nap. He and Alan started playing a
game and I slipped out to do some errands. My one pair of jeans
have had holes in them for awhile so I was in dire need. Its
wonderful to go shopping alone! I can get in and out of the
car, the store, and the dressing room quickly and easily. I can also read descriptions and price tags and
put some thought into what I buy. I also have time to browse,
which is nice, but the drawback is that browsing=impulse buys.
At least for me! So I came home with jeans, some summer clothes
for the kids, and Easter baskets. I had no plans to buy them
Easter baskets, but it all looked so fun and I thought they
would enjoy them. We’ll see if they even care :)

I called Eve a “wild woman” in the tub
tonight (which was an understatement, btw!!) and Lex said, “No
Mommy, I think Eve is a wild baby, she is not a wild woman.”
:)

I signed up another 3yr old girl who
starts full-time next week, so today is my last quiet day.
Funny that these days I consider 3 kids to be a quiet day, but
it very much is. For example, they are all napping now! :)
Yesterday I had 6 kids, which will be typical for Thursdays.
Believe it or not, it actually went ok. It will be interesting
to see how Lex handles having a toddler here every day. He
needs a lot of downtime and I think our current M/W/F with just
the baby gives him that time. Hopefully he’ll adjust to the
constant demands of another toddler – an extrovert at that
:)

I’ve been posting a lot about Eve lately
(she’s so adorable!) so I thought Lex was about due. He is, of
course, as fun as ever.

Getting Bigger
I was able to get out two days in a row! We
can’t play in the yard because I can’t get the stroller through
the snow, but fortunately the kids are happy to play in the
driveway. Lex has worn his same winter outfit (blue coat, black
snow pants, Tims, and blue summer hat) for two years now and I
think they’re getting a bit small. Hopefully I’ll be able to
get him into new gear next winter. He’s pretty opposed to
change sometimes :) I’m thinking about buying him mud boots
this spring, but they may end up sitting in the closet next to
his snow boots, both dissed in favor of his beloved Tims.

Sorting & Grouping
Lex has always done interesting things with his
toys and his new thing is sorting and grouping. He finds all
the books from one series and puts them together or lines them
up, matches up his cars and trucks by color, lines up the
rings, etc. On a regular basis I find little groupings of
something here and there. He matches the Word Whammer letters
by color or case.

So
Smart!
I think I’ve posted this before, but Lex is
really reading now. He can sound out words and read short
sentences. Alan makes him read full books :) Yesterday Lex
decided to put his water in the fridge (“The refrigerator makes
the water a little bit colder,” he says) and I asked him if he
could spell water. He frequently decides to spell words and
runs over to the letters on the fridge. He’s spelled “box,”
“cat,” “dog,” “fox,” and others that I can’t think of at the
moment. I thought “water” would be a bit more challenging. He
sounded it out “w” “ahh” “t” “r” and spelled it as best he
could. Not perfect, but I give him an A+ for effort! Today I
was trying to get him to pronounce “finger” correctly (he kept
putting an L in it :/ ) so I spelled it on the fridge and he
read it and immediately started saying it correctly. He’s so
smart!

I think we’re going to have trouble in school
though. My friend came to visit with her son who is in 1st
grade. He is also really smart and gets in trouble a lot at
school. He tries to help the teacher, tries to explain things
to the other kids, and just has a lot of energy. Lex is the
same way. I’m frequently telling him to slow down and let Eve
or one of the daycare kids figure things out on their own. He
always wants to jump in and help them do puzzles or spelling
things or whatever. I’m trying to teach him that he already
learned how to do this puzzle (or whatever) and now the other
person has to learn as well. I’m sure he will figure it out. :)
Like I said, he’s smart!

And so funny!
Lex is also getting quite a silly streak. I wish I had a
camera (or I guess a free hand) this evening. I had some
friends over and towards the end of the night my friend and I
sat down to nurse and Lex said “And you can nurse too! You have
the nursing pillow!” and he climbed up onto the couch, sat down
next to my friend, and put the Boppy pillow around his waist.
Then he looked at her with a baby in her lap, looked at me with
Eve in my lap, and jumped down, ran to the toy box, grabbed a
stuffed animal and settled himself back on the couch :) I guess
I wish there had been someone else there to get a picture of
the 3 of us “nursing” our babies.

Another silly thing, he groups his letters on the fridge
and when he needs one to spell a word he says “excuse me, may I
have the B please?” :) Talking to the group of letters, I
suppose.

There was something else I was
thinking of (blog posts sometimes percolate in my head for
awhile before I can get to the computer), but I can’t remember
it now. I’m sure you get the point though; he’s smart, funny,
and oh so adorable!