A couple of weeks ago Lilly had Elizabeth over to play. When her mom came to get her we chatted for a while before rounding the kids up. We knew the girls were playing outside, and after about ten minutes we heard the basement door open and the girls come in. A moment later, one of our neighbors from down the road came by and said he had seen two little girls walking towards the road. When they saw him, they both stopped dead in their tracks and then turned around and came home. We discussed this with the girls who told us they were planning to walk to the store (three miles away) to buy me a surprise (using a silver dollar they had snatched from my jewelry box). The reason they came home when they saw the neighbor was because they thought he might be a bad guy. Let's just say they both had a stern talking to.
Rachel hates getting up in the morning. It doesn't help that she has such a hard time getting to sleep at night. Every morning she fights me on getting up, then pouts and whines the whole time she is getting ready for school. We had a particularly bad morning last week that was made worse when I told Rachel she would have to eat hot lunch that day. When the bus stopped to pick her and Lilly up she refused to get on. How do you physically force a six-year-old to walk the steps to get on the bus, without making a horrible scene? Finally I picked her up and softly whispered in her ear, "If you do not get on that bus, I will ground you for three weeks." Admittedly, not my strongest moment as a mother. She was still crying, but reluctantly got on the bus. Here is the great part. The bus driver gave her a big hug. Then, the woman who helps with the little kids on the bus gave her a big hug, and both women cheerfully told me not to worry, and that they would take care of her. This is just a little shout-out to those overlooked employees of the school system who make it easier for me to send my kids into the world. I still worried all day, feeling really bad I had said good-bye to her on a bad note. But she came home cheerful and happy. The bus driver said she did great.
If Rachel is the world's worst morning person, Lilly is the greatest. That girl gets out of bed up and running. She is happy, helpful, cheerful, and cooperative. It almost makes me sorry to see her go. Maybe she senses that I have enough trouble with Rachel, and she doesn't want to add to my difficulties. As my neighbor Amber says, Lilly will have an easy time in life, thanks to her cheeful disposition.
I took Carson to his 3-year checkup last week. I know, I know, the kid is closer to four now than to three. What prompted me to bring him in is a mysterious hair-loss issue. He keeps losing his hair in patches. That, in combination with his small size, and the fact that the kid won't eat, had me concerned. The good news is, his size is fine. Dr. Hanks says he is pretty normal, being in the 25th percentile. He didn't seem overly concerned about the hair loss, but we will do some tests for him. The traumatic part of the check-up was of course the shots. When the nurse came in, he knew something was up. I don't think he knew exactly what was about to happen, but he knew it wasn't good. He kept screaming "I don't want to!" After it was over, he told me "I didn't want that!" Shelby has never ever seen one of our children get shots. I think next time he should take a turn.
Emilia has got life figured out. Any time one of the kids gets anywhere near her, she screeches. It is sort of a preemptive strike kind of thing. It has become a real problem with Carson. He wants to love her so much, but every time he makes her scream I get upset with him. He always looks bewildered and says "I was just hugging her!" Shelby says we should put all four of the kids in a room together, leave Rachel in charge of Emmy's overall physical safety, and let her get used to being played with without anyone coming to the rescue.
A few kid-speaks:
Rachel: It is my fault Daddy is out of deodorant. I put one sip on this arm, and two sips on this arm.
Lilly (to Elizabeth at a cousin outing): This is my cousin Lidia. She is hugful.
Rachel and Lilly: Can I have another scoop of milk?
Carson (on how he feels when I lip sync and dance): Mom! I don't want to play that game!
Lilly refers to one item of clothing (say a shirt) as "a cloe", as in the singular form of "clothes".
Monday, September 17, 2012
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Bike Riding
On Wednesday I decided it was time for Rachel to lose the training wheels on her bike. The motivation for this decision was my neighbor's three-year-old who rides her bike to the bus stop without training wheels. If a three-year-old can do it, I figure Rachel has a fighting chance. She proved to be an eager student. It only took about 10 minutes of my helping her for her to gather enough skills to go it on her own. Ever since then, I cannot keep her off the thing. She asked me yesterday if I would be willing to bring her bike to the school so she could ride it home. Considering that is an eight-mile bike ride, I opted not to. Overall, first grade has made my little girl grow right up. You should hear her read! I think she likes school, but when she comes home she always says something akin to "I am so glad I'm home!" There is no better compliment to me in the whole world than that!
Emilia now uses my title appropriately. Instead of referring to all of us as "dad" I now get to hear "mom! Mom! Mom!" in regular intervals throughout the day. Still Emmy's heart belongs to Shelby. If he leaves before she wakes up in the morning, she sits at the stairs and says "Dad!" over and over as she waves. I can't tell if she is trying to bring him home, or wave good-bye.
You have never met a child as good at making friends as Lilly. Every day she comes home from school and says "I made a new friend!" I tell her that is great and ask the friend's name, even though I already know she is going to say she doesn't know. Yesterday she said she made a new friend, but before I could ask her name Lilly said "I don't know her name but she says I can call her whatever I want. So I call her Kailee!"
Up until now, Carson has been very gentle with Emilia. I think it has recently occurred to him that she is no longer fragil. He still isn't exactly mean, but he does use her as a form of entertainment now. Like if she is trying to crawl around he will hold onto one of her legs so she can't. Or if she is playing with something, he will take it away and watch for her response. I suppose this is all pretty typical. And I don't blame Carson. He is a product of his environment. Around here, older kids work hard to make the younger ones squeal. He is just doing what he has been taught! It is obvious he loves her. He does not like to see her outright crying, and he will still crawl up to her and give her a little kiss and then scamper away.
One funny story for the road. Shelby spent Labor Day pressure-washing the deck. He asked if I could keep the kids off the deck on Tuesday so it would stay clean and he could come home and stain it. Lilly asked if she could go outside. I told her it was fine but to go through the garage and stay off the deck. She asked me why she couldn't be on the deck and I said "Daddy wants to keep it clean so he can come home and stain it." Lilly thought for a moment and said "If dad is going to stain the deck, then why do we have to keep it clean?"
Emilia now uses my title appropriately. Instead of referring to all of us as "dad" I now get to hear "mom! Mom! Mom!" in regular intervals throughout the day. Still Emmy's heart belongs to Shelby. If he leaves before she wakes up in the morning, she sits at the stairs and says "Dad!" over and over as she waves. I can't tell if she is trying to bring him home, or wave good-bye.
You have never met a child as good at making friends as Lilly. Every day she comes home from school and says "I made a new friend!" I tell her that is great and ask the friend's name, even though I already know she is going to say she doesn't know. Yesterday she said she made a new friend, but before I could ask her name Lilly said "I don't know her name but she says I can call her whatever I want. So I call her Kailee!"
Up until now, Carson has been very gentle with Emilia. I think it has recently occurred to him that she is no longer fragil. He still isn't exactly mean, but he does use her as a form of entertainment now. Like if she is trying to crawl around he will hold onto one of her legs so she can't. Or if she is playing with something, he will take it away and watch for her response. I suppose this is all pretty typical. And I don't blame Carson. He is a product of his environment. Around here, older kids work hard to make the younger ones squeal. He is just doing what he has been taught! It is obvious he loves her. He does not like to see her outright crying, and he will still crawl up to her and give her a little kiss and then scamper away.
One funny story for the road. Shelby spent Labor Day pressure-washing the deck. He asked if I could keep the kids off the deck on Tuesday so it would stay clean and he could come home and stain it. Lilly asked if she could go outside. I told her it was fine but to go through the garage and stay off the deck. She asked me why she couldn't be on the deck and I said "Daddy wants to keep it clean so he can come home and stain it." Lilly thought for a moment and said "If dad is going to stain the deck, then why do we have to keep it clean?"
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