May 20, 2013 ~ Birthday!

Birthday Girl

My little girl turned four on Sunday.  I can’t believe she’s so old, so big already.  She’s become quite the little person, a story teller, bug inspector, singer.  Her imagination is boundless, and sometimes perplexing.  She’s fast to laugh, which is wonderful.  A bit too quick to cry, which is not quite as good, and is getting better.  She gets so excited about small things – opening her window in the car, a bumble bee, ants, wiggly worms, finding a rock, tickles.  When she laughs, her true laugh and not the forced one, it’s one of the best sounds.  She still will snuggle, sometimes in the morning, but more often at night after dinner before bed.  The snuggles are great.  She shares – usually without prompting – with her sister, they hug and kiss every night before bed.

We had her party on her birthday, and we had it at the park.  So many of her friends seemed to be having their parties at bounce houses – which are awesome! – we chose to do something different for hers.  Outside.  It wasn’t supposed to rain, but it did.  There was also a bit of last minute craziness, as the invites for her day care friends didn’t make it to the parents.  Oops!  Still, half were able to make it, she has good friends at day care.  Her other friends also made it!  Even with the less than stellar weather.

She asked for Strawberry Shortcake cake for her birthday.  How could I not oblige?  We also had strawberry cupcakes, with strawberry icing and rainbow sprinkles.  We had rainbow balloons.  I didn’t tie two up well enough and they floated up into a tree.  Oh well. Teagan told me she still had a purple one and Ashlin still had a yellow one.

Birthday girl with her flower piñata

We had a piñata, which made her so excited!  And it was a flower!  Mama, a flower!  I got one that you pull open instead of hitting.  The kids are still a bit too young to be swinging sticks around blindfolded!

Piñata!!

Everyone grabbed a ribbon or two and pulled!  Unfortunately, it didn’t open up, so I had to help.

Candy!

Even though it didn’t work right, they still loved it.  And the whistles and candy inside :)

We had kick-balls, airplanes, horseshoes and Frisbee.  The kids ran around with animal hats, which they got to keep.  They also got to leave with one of the balls and a balloon.  Yay balloons!  Everyone loves balloons.

moar beez?

Ashlin had a good time, dipping chips (to her knuckles!), eating macaroni and cheese, and cupcakes!

Everyone who said they could be there was there.  And they stayed and played, and ate, and had fun.  We even had a few people that stayed longer.  Teagan has good friends!

When we got home, she took a two hour nap in her big bed.  A two hour nap.

It was a very good day.

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May 20, 2013 ~ Bed!

It was a crazy weekend! Saturday was filled with a jumpy party for Teagan, while my dad and I were converting her toddler bed into a full size, big-girl bed.   I was hoping that we’d be able to get the job done before they got back from the party, but well, snafu.  We were missing a few (8!) essential bolts.  I think they were in the box when we initially put her crib together four years ago, and then were packed away some where safe, only to be moved and finally misplaced.

Ugh.

We ended up cannibalizing the no-longer needed sides and borrowing some slightly redundant ones from the headboard, (which will be replaced ASAP!).  Three hours later, (!), we were finished.  Mom and I put the bedding on and then called down for Teagan.  She rushed upstairs and was ecstatic when she saw the stars, the pink, and Brobee waiting for her.  We need to get her a step stool, this new bed is a bit high.  Much taller than her mattress that was on the floor!

She slept well in the big bed the first night.  She looked so tiny!  I did need to push her back to the middle when I went in to check on her.  She’s promised not to jump on the bed, nor use the side rail as a step to get up and in.  Unfortunately she now can turn on her overhead light all by herself by standing on the foot of the bed.  We need to take off the chain extender I have on it now.

I can’t believe she’s gotten so big.  It’s a bit melancholy, but awesome at the same time.  She’s so happy to have her bed.

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May 17, 2013

Teagan’s Selfie

Today we had our first parent teacher conferences. Day Care let me schedule both girls back to back at drop off. It worked out perfectly! After the seemingly endless hugs and kisses the girls ran off for breakfast – they had pineapple! – and we settled into (big) chairs at a table behind a divider.

Other than a few blips, both conferences went well. Teagan knows her letters, shapes, numbers, can write her name. Usually. She needs to want to do it, to focus on it, but often loses her focus. More often than not at day care, there’s something to pull her attention away. She loves to color, do art. Her pictures are detailed and creative – she even included her freckles when she did a self-portrait. A possible solution to her bad nap time behavior may be to have her color after she gets bored reading books to herself. Her teachers say she’s very smart, but easily distracted. Teagan was the first of her classmates to complete a sequencing project, (a rainbow!), and asked if she could color it in. She’s outgoing and quick to make friends. My sweet baby.

Weaving a web

Ashlin is much like her sister, outgoing and empathetic. She’ll hug everyone as they come in, and as they leave. She made some parents feel better about dropping off their kids as she ran up to hug the crying children, trying to make them feel welcomed. Ashlin is also very smart, knows all her colors, most of the letters and can count to 11 (which she pronounces “luvyoo”). She’s the youngest in the class, and also the smallest, but is right up there with the rest of the kids in her class. Outside, she’ll run laps with them, and although she falls behind, she never gives up but keeps plugging along. Although she’s a little peanut, she has no problem being physical with her classmates. I’m sure the nightly half-naked wrestling matches with her sister at bedtime prepped her to roughhouse with her classmates. The teachers would like her to be a bit more interested in potty training. We’ll do what we can there :D

All in all, good things. We learned a bit about each girl, saw how others see them, how they interact with their teachers and their classmates.

In preparation for Teagan’s 4th birthday, we bought her bed last night. She’s getting too big too fast. They delivered it this morning! Crazy fast! We’ll be swapping out her crib mattress for the full tomorrow, once we get the toddler bed frame converted. She doesn’t know yet…

Also, they both love the “Hamster Dance” song. Save me.

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April 25, 2013

So, some random things…

• In the car Teagan saw a bug of some sort, which she dubbed a cricket. She then went on to tell me that it was crawling on her hand, but when they do, they kiss you when they crawl on your hand.  With their feet.
• One day when I had to leave early to work in Jersey, I left a note for the girls, and Stu.  On it I asked Teagan to be a good girl at nap time (we are still having issues – sad face), and gave everyone hugs and kisses.  Ashlin asked Stu for the paper, saying “ugg!  Ugg!” and then kissed the paper.
• Ashlin cannot leave day care, or anywhere else for that matter, without hugging everyone she knows goodbye.
• She also can’t walk past an open door without closing it.
• On my drive home from Jersey the other day, Alt Nation played Josie Cotton “Johnny Are You Queer” and I had flashbacks of teasing my friend Tom incessantly.  I’m not sure exactly why the song bothered him, but it did.  My sister also joined in when she was out and the song came on.  I miss Tom.  He’s moved too far away from some of his friends and we don’t see him enough.
• I finished Ashlin’s car blanket last night, the blanket portion anyway.  I used a crochet bind off, which was easier for me to control the tension, and the cast-off stitches look much better, looser, than those of the scarf.  I will need to work on that.
• The button hole on the strap is throwing me for a loop – not a hole – unfortunately.  I will get it figured out. Soon.  I’m sure it has something to do with my mirror knitting and Eastern European style.  I moved on to the crocheted shawl for the time being.

Done!

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April 17, 2013

Rough Nap :(

We received three day sheets in a row with unhappy faces at nap time.  Twice, the teachers needed to reinforce the unhappy. :(

This isn’t the first time we’ve gotten a report like this.  It is the first time we’ve gotten three in a row.  Three days!  Gah!

We’ve spoken to Teagan before about how she needs to be quiet at nap time, even if she doesn’t nap.  About how she can ask to read a book quietly, if she doesn’t want to nap.  Letting her know that the teachers will let her read a book quietly, if she doesn’t want to nap.

Sigh.

She wasn’t quiet.  Three days in a row.

I’m not sure where she decided that yelling at the other kids who are trying to nap was a good idea.  She’s run around at nap time, singing loudly (she likes to sing*, she’s jumped on other kids cots.  Bad, bad.  We’ve talked to her too many times about this.   We’ve told her that she doesn’t want to nap that’s fine, but she doesn’t get to make that choice for her classmates.

Yesterday, after the purple highlighter and double unhappy faces, she was told that she’d lose her music at bedtime if we got another one today. Today, we got the third unhappy face for nap time in a row.

Tonight, Stu took away her cd player and box of cd’s.  No music at bedtime for her to go to sleep with.  Stu said that she was mildly curious when he unplugged the cd player, but lost it when he picked up the box of cd’s.  That’s when it hit home.  She will have no music at bedtime for a week (which she believes is only six days, but that’s another story).  A week may be a bit too long for a kid her age, but that’s what she was told the punishment would be.

She’s promised to be better tomorrow.  Stu told her as he tucked her in, that if she got a smiley face that she could have her music back tomorrow night.  We are going to say something to her in front of the teachers about how she needs to be good, especially at nap time.  We are going to let them know that we need to know how she behaved, that she’s gotten in trouble and could have her punishment reduced if she’s good.

Fingers crossed she’s good.  She can be so good.  She’s fun when she’s good.  I hate being mean.  It’s not any fun at all.

~~

* One time at lunch she was happy so she started singing.  Unfortunately, she chose to sing Cellphone by Beck.  The other children found the riff “One by one I’ll knock you out!” a bit disturbing.

April 8, 2013

Cupcake!

There was another celebration for Ashlin this weekend. He he he. I think that makes three parties, for turning two years old.  Sounds about right.  We always joke about how birthdays last an entire week.  And so they should!  And there should be cupcakes.

Ashlin had a very good time with her friends here, coloring with chalk, eating pizza and chips and cupcakes, swinging on the swings, playing with balloons.

Boon!

Thanks to Aunt NayNay, we were able to go to the zoo on Sunday.  Both Ashlin and Teagan had a great time.  Ashlin was was very excited to see all the animals.  We went into the Research Center and got to see a legless lizard, some baby aligators (or were they crocodiles?  I forget).  Chomp chomp!  Ashlin would point to each as we told her what they were.  She was intrigued by the bearded dragons, I think because they didn’t look like the ones in Mike the Knight.

As we wandered through the zoo, Ashlin would greet each animal as we came up to them, calling them by name, sometimes adding their sound. “Hello goat!  Meh meh!”  Then as we walked away, she would tell each “bye bye.”  It was so sweet.  ”Hello monkey! Ooh ah ah!”  I think her favorite area was the farm area, with the loud cow, the piggies – ick! – and the chickens.  And ZOMG!, her head whipped around when we told her there were sheep.  Baa baa!

When we got to the lynx, Teagan bounced like a rabbit after hearing that that’s what they ate.  She bounced up to the fence in front of the tiger, who stopped pacing to look at her.  Like she was a snack.

We may have only been there a couple of hours, but it was a good time.  Ashlin has never been so aware of the animals.  Teagan was great walking through the zoo, only taking one or two short rides on the sit n stand, listening well, being a very good girl.

It was a very good weekend!

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April 2, 2013

Birthday cupcakes!

Stu had another fun drive into day care this morning.  As he fires up the car,  Take a Walk by Passion Pit comes on. One of Teagan’s favorite songs!  And one of Ashlin’s too.  They both love singing along to the chorus.  Anyway, Teagan barks out a loud, urgent “Dada!” startling Stu. Long pause.  Eventually she follows up with her 27 ums, trying to get all the words that are swirling through her head out. “Um um um um um.  Dada, if this song was written by bunnies, it would be “take a hop” not “take a walk.”

Smart kid.

We had a great weekend.  Saturday was filled with the girls decorating eggs, dinner out (again!) and cupcakes.

We had each girl color eggs separately, first Teagan then Ashlin.  I was hoping to minimize the chaos!  Teagan did great, listened pretty well and had fun.  Ashlin had a blast coloring her set of eggs, though we needed to adapt a bit.  Getting the eggs out of the cups wasn’t too easy for her, and she may have dyed her fingers orange.  Still, she thought she was teh bomb, and really enjoyed it.

Yellow one

Lellow!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ashlin didn’t quite understand about the candle on her cupcake though, that maybe she shouldn’t try to touch the fire. She went and put her finger in. Poor baby.  She got over it quickly enough though, cupcakes totally take all boo-boos away.

Sunday, we had our egg hunt.  We hid eggs in pairs, and told the girls that if they found any, they could keep one and give their sister the other.  It worked pretty well!  Often they went together and Teagan would hand over one of the two eggs.  Ashlin was pretty happy to let her, though every now and then she’d go off on her own and find an egg, which she’d let Teagan come over and pick up.

There!

I’ll get them!

Breakfast was fun, lunch was better.  It was followed by a special cake my mom made.  The girls loved it!  Ashlin wanted to eat the entire ear!

I think they both had a good Easter!

Goof in a bonnet

Bunny cake!

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April 1, 2013 ~ Car Talks

Goof

This morning when Stu drove the girls into day care, he and Teagan had one of those talks.  One that when you hear about it, you really wish you had been there too.  This morning, it was scientific.  Teagan told Stu that there were two types of worms that come out when it rains.  One type the birds like to eat.  The other is a wiggly worm, but this one has feet.  The wiggly worms feet are so tiny that you can’t see them because they’re so tiny.  If you do see the feet, don’t tickle them! If you do tickle the wiggly worms’ feet, they will suck your bleed [blood].

Her mind works in the strangest ways, sometimes.  And often, blood is involved.

March 14, 2013

Green cupcake!

We’re supposed to be getting new laptops for work, so I started organizing folders, deleting old files, drafts and I came across this one.  Another conversation between Stu and Teagan in the morning, on the way to day care, sometime back in September:

As they were driving to day care, Stu passed a school bus. Teagan said that she will have a lunch box when she goes to school. In her lunch box she’d like a sandwich and some crackers. And fruit. She likes bananas now, but when she’s on the school bus, she’d like an apple, please.

 

My silly little girl.  I love these “Deep Thoughts” of hers.

In other news, she loved her green cupcake I brought home for her and her sister.  Ashlin, loved getting a “birthday!”

Neither of them understood why the cupcake was green, nor as big as their head. They were both happy to eat it though!

February 27, 2013

Princess

Yesterday I mentioned how gruesome Teagan was over the weekend.  She was absolutely obsessed with leeches, bleeches as she insisted on calling them, and blood, or bleed.  She authoritatively explained that when you went into a dirty pond, you would get bleeches on you and they would then eat your bleed, and you would bleed.  I mentioned about the fish pond having leeches, that her dada got bit by some when he was cleaning it out last summer, and that she shouldn’t ever go swimming in there.  She promised not to, she doesn’t want any leeches biting her toes!

Leeches were discussed at least three times over the course of the day.  It’s amazing the things she comes up with!  Leeches aren’t every day conversation, not like monsters or fairies.

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