Today has been a weird one. We woke up around the normal time, the kids got themselves dressed, but then Lex decided his shirt wasn’t comfortable and the day went down hill from there. Yes, downhill from 6:30am. Temporarily. His shirt had an iron-on type graphic on the front which he didn’t think was comfortable (can’t say I blame him). I sent him upstairs for a new shirt, but instead he had a total meltdown. Refused all 13 (yes, 13!) t-shirts in his drawer. Why? “They don’t look right.” Sadly he can’t define “right” for me. Then he took off his shorts. I ended up fighting with him to just put something on. Anything! I told him long sleeves were fine, short sleeves, pjs, whatever, anything. His reply was clear, “I will not!” So he missed school this morning and Eve and I missed our playdate. I told him if he wasn’t in school then he had to stay in his room, so there he stayed until 10am when I finally let Eve play with him. Eve and I had just finished exercising and I needed a shower, so I figured it would be better to let them play instead of turning on the TV for her. So from 10-11:30 they played together upstairs. Very happily. It was weird. Then we had lunch, stories and an easy nap. I didn’t feel like yesterday was that busy, but perhaps the excitement of his birthday was enough to exhaust him. I don’t know. He is one puzzle after another. We have swimming lessons this afternoon so we’ll see how that goes. I’m not going to force him into the water, but hopefully he’ll at least come along nicely so she can have her lesson. Or maybe he’ll be raring to go and eager to swim. You just never know!
He asked last night if he could invite his classmates to his party this weekend. I said no because we had discussed the idea of a class party for a few weeks and he eventually decided not to have one, now it’s too late. Then he asked if he could just have a few kids. I said I’d think about it, but this morning’s behavior was giving Alan and I flashbacks to last year’s party so we decided no extra guests! We have a few kids already coming that will be enough. I hope.
Here are a few pictures and a video of how Eve and I entertained ourselves on this unexpected morning at home.
People talk a lot about societal expectations, or peer pressure, but what I find stresses me out the most is self expectations. I am constantly balancing what I think would be fun for the family to do, what would be a great summer activity or memory, versus what my family can actually handle.
The other day our neighbors invited the kids to have a picnic lunch. It was getting pretty close to nap time, but the kids were all playing together nicely and I want my kids to have nice summer activities, so I agreed… knowing I was likely setting myself up for disaster. Sure enough, when I got them inside they were over tired and crabby and neither of them napped. Ugh. We got invited to a kids movie this week with a few other kids, which would have been fun, but it was at 2pm and I know would have screwed up naps and the rest of the day. The past few days have been HOT (98° today!) and I keep thinking I should get the kids outside or to a lake or something, but they have been so happy playing inside. We’ve stayed inside because they were happy and I am lazy, but that nagging part of me keeps saying “summer fun, they are missing summer fun, lasting memories, get out and do something!” Last night, after a busy day, the ice cream truck came to our neighborhood. Can you believe it?! The funniest part was my friend and I were talking about ice cream trucks that morning and how cute and antiquated the idea is… then sure enough there’s an ice cream truck! It was on the street behind my house and the kids and I watched through the window. In my mind I was debating about how to respond when it came to our street and the kids asked for ice cream. Do I say “yes” because it’s a fun summer experience and we might not get the chance again (this is the first time I’ve seen a truck come here in the three years I’ve lived here!), or do I say “no” because it’s 7:30pm, bedtime, and the kids have already been sugared up for the day. It was Lex’s birthday after all! I had decided to be the bad guy and say no because otherwise our already potentially risky bedtime would completely fall to shambles, but then I got lucky, in two ways. First, for some reason, the truck never came to our street. We had just gotten home so perhaps it came to our street first, I’m not sure. Second, the kids didn’t seem to get it anyway. They didn’t look out the front window, patiently waiting, wondering why it wasn’t coming. They didn’t ask for ice cream. They didn’t get upset. After the excitement of seeing it wore off the only other comment I heard was sweet Lex saying, “Wouldn’t it be fun if some other day, on a hot summer day, after naptime, the ice cream truck came to our house?” :) I said “yes!”
Anyway, now they are both sleeping and I’m sitting here with my own pressures. I really want to watch the season finale of FlashForward on Hulu. A show Alan doesn’t like, so I rarely get the chance to watch it. However, it’s a beautiful day (HOT!), the garden needs planting, the house needs tidying, I have a to-do list a mile long… sigh. I’ll probably waste all of naptime on the computer anyway.
Happy 5th Birthday to my boy today! Where does the time go?! There are periods of my life that I have totally forgotten, and then there are days that I remember in full detail. Five years ago today was one of those days. We ended up holding a tiny baby boy that night, a boy that would change our lives, and now here we are, five years later, with a big kid! A sweet, helpful, strong-willed, intelligent, smiley big kid. I feel very fortunate today. (’cause it’s all about me, you know!)
We had pancakes for breakfast and I made him a silly card (crayons and construction paper at 11:30 last night!) to start his day off right. No presents, yet. Alan has a geeky one for him this afternoon. I’ll let Alan tell you all about it some other time. Lex took his “moon rocks” to school and everyone was wishing him a Happy Birthday. He was super proud, and thrilled when his teacher noticed his shorts and t-shirt. Eve and I made cupcakes this morning and we’ll have them at snack time. Alan and Lex are going to an energy meeting tonight. They are both excited. Eve and I are going grocery shopping, and a little less excited :) I need to start planning for the birthday party (non-party) this weekend. I think I’m going to stop at the balloon store while we’re out today. That will make him happy :)
Happy 5th Birthday Lex!
The birthday boy with his proud little sister
A little morning artwork. He drew a house and a tree, then a boy climbing the tree and smiling sun. I love it!
Not a lot going on around here, just life. I was looking through the camera and realized there are a few things to blog about though. Instead of my usual multi-post format I think I’m just going to throw them all into one big post tonight. Hold on to your hats!
Water Park
The local science museum has a nice outdoor water park that opened this week. The kids can play in the water and learn about tides and animals and whatever. Mine kids just play. And look adorable in their swimming gear. :)
Someday I'll do a "through the years" compilation of this shot. I think I have five years of pictures of Lex playing with these fountains.
So adorable. Like she stepped out of a catalog.
He poses! I love it!(too bad I didn't do a better job rubbing in that sunscreen on his face)
A frog in the river. Just testing to see if my camera will take pictures that don't include my kids ;)
Birthday
Someone has a birthday tomorrow. Have you heard? He is SUPER excited about it! We realized awhile ago that he is the only 4yr old in his class, everyone else has had their birthday already. Finally his is near. He debated for awhile about having a party (outside of school) with his classmates and finally decided against it. Then he deliberated on what type of cupcakes to bring to school, eventually deciding on “moon rocks” (cookies from a kids cookbook I got him for Christmas). We were going to make them this afternoon, but he woke up this morning raring to go and insisted we make them before school. So we did. Luckily there are very few extras so I wasn’t snacking on them all day :)
Making cookies
Moon rocks have lots of sprinkles.
But the biggest news about his turning five, and I can’t believe I’m writing this, is that tonight he put on a t-shirt AND shorts!! For awhile now he has been saying he’ll wear shorts and t-shirts on the day after his birthday, meanwhile he has been sweating up a storm on these 80° days and soaking his sheets at night with his heavy flannel pjs. Tonight he is wearing summer pjs, no socks (also a big deal!) and sleeping on top of his sheets! It’s a total 180 for him. He also picked out shorts and a t-shirt for school tomorrow. Hopefully he’ll put them on tomorrow for an adorable birthday photo.
Today
Eve woke up very late today, almost 9am! She actually came into my bed around 5am and was so sweet I just pulled her into bed with me. But when I got up a bit later she kept sleeping, and sleeping, and sleeping! When she woke up we went outside to hang laundry and watch tree cutting trucks cut down two (tall, beautiful, healthy looking) trees. It was LOUD, but neat to see. Then our friends came over to play.
I wanted a picture of her watching, but she kept looking at the camera instead.(and that is cereal in her mouth, not a weird lump on her face)
Watching the show
Fun in the sand
This afternoon we went over to look at the cut tree stumps. In one of the books we have a boy counts the rings of a tree so I wanted to show the kids in real life. This one was 35yrs old.
Eve wanted a video of herself reading a Winnie the Pooh book, like we have of Lex from awhile ago. I propped the camera on the couch so I could tend to dinner.
Vegas
Yep, I said Vegas. As in Las Vegas! I think I’m going there this summer. (I say think because my flights are standby so you never know until you get there.) My girlfriends from college go every summer and every year they invite me and every year I say no. Pregnant, nursing, broke, etc. It’s always something. Lauren called me last weekend and said they booked their trip for July this year and won’t I please come. So I’m going! I’m feeling excited and terrified at the same time. It will be a blast, I’m sure! I haven’t seen these girls in years and I’ve never seen Vegas. We’ll have three days of sitting by the pool, reading magazines, drinking cold ones, partying at night, and living it up. Exciting, right? And terrifying! What am I going to do for three days by the pool? I certainly can’t drink and party like I could so many years ago. I have never been away from the kids for so long (5 days total, including travel) and I’ve never gotten on a plane and flown away from them. I know the safety statics and how all that jazz and I’m not scared of flying, but I’m a tiny bit scared of dying! My little ones need a mother! What if I come home to find that Alan and the kids did awesome without me?! Or come home to find things went not so well and all hopes of a third child vanished? Eek! I’m going to need extra drinks at the pool! Seriously though, I’m super excited.
Look at this awesome picture Michelle took at her house last month when she was babysitting my kids. I can barely get two kids smiling at once and she got all four of them!! I’m going to miss her!
In the car one day we were talking about towns and cities. Lex was naming different places and asking if it is a town or city. After answering a few, I explained to him the difference between the two, in terms of size anyway. He thought about it for a minute and then said, “So it’s like cars are towns and vans are cities?” What a great comparison! Then he got silly and started talking about putting towns in cars and cities in vans and the conversation deteriorated quickly :)
Lex had his kindergarten orientation today. It was rather uneventful. He was “excited and just a little bit nervous” as we got to school. I told him there would be four kids in his group so he got a little bit more nervous when he saw a parking lot full of cars. I guess I had forgotten to tell him it was a school day and there would be four in his group, but a whole school full of kids as well. He did fine. They brought my into a room to do paperwork and he went away happily with the principal. Afterwards he told me he built a block tower with someone and did some other things, but he couldn’t remember what. His favorite part was that he got an extra snack today! They had graham crackers and apple juice. He told me he said no thank you to the apple juice and they let him get a drink of water from the fountain instead. He was a little sad that they wouldn’t give him another graham cracker (probably didn’t have enough time), but I bought him some at the store today and he was thrilled :) Sometimes it’s the easy things that are the best. Anyway, a non-eventful event, I suppose. He seems to be no more or less excited about kindergarten in the fall. I think he still wants to stay at pre-k. :)
The kids have started getting freckles. They like to count them in the bath and tonight we determined that they each had one for each year (three on her, five on him). They were so excited! Then I ruined the fun by finding three more on the back of his neck. He said, “But I’m not eight!” :) The freckles are so prominent on their otherwise milky white skin. I’m covered in them so I knew it was bound to happen, but every time we see a new freckle I can’t help thinking I must have missed a spot with the sunscreen. Sadly I can’t keep them milky white and baby soft forever.
I think Lex is having his annual spring fever. He was up really late last night complaining that he couldn’t sleep and that his face hurt. It took a lot of effort not to crack jokes every time he said that! Anyway, he finally fell asleep around 11pm, but when he got up this morning he insisted that he didn’t sleep last night. I think he was just tired and felt like he hadn’t slept. He also had a low fever so we kept him home. After a very sweet nap that the three of us took in my bed he woke up with a higher fever and spent the afternoon on the couch. We got out a box of old Golden Books that Alan and Amanda had growing up and the kids spent the afternoon reading through them. Lex seemed ok at bedtime tonight and I’m hoping, hoping he wakes up A-ok and ready for Kindergarten Orientation in the morning!
I signed the kids up for a SmartStart baseball program at Lex’s new school. It’s a town run, parent/child “intro to baseball” program. They do it for soccer too. The age range is 3-5 so I signed them both up and we made it a family thing. We walked to school and got there a few minutes late (of course). Both kids have been super excited about it, but half way there this morning Lex started saying he was nervous and didn’t want to play. We told him he could just watch for a few minutes and that seemed to settle him. We spent the next 45 minutes with me throwing and catching with Eve, and helping her practice aim and batting, while Alan and Lex threw the ball on the other side of the fence, far away from the crowd. Eve lost interest about 45 minutes into the hour long session and started running around with a girl we knew from daycare. At the end they handed out hats and t-shirts. Eve was THRILLED and put hers on right away, over her shirt and sweatshirt. Lex said, “No thanks.” and wouldn’t take one. I may have wasted money on signing him up. Oh well. We took the shirt and hat for him and I’m hoping next week maybe he’ll play catch a little closer to the group. Maybe by the end of the 6wk session he will actually be involved. Or not. We’ll see. The “coach” was a self-proclaimed soccer person and organized the crowd but did very little teachering. We’ll see if that changes in future classes, but I may have signed us up for a designated time to play catch with the kids each weekend.
