you’re rude

This face.  It’s the “You’re rude!” face.  Camryn says this multiple times per day, mostly to Connor and Emily, but I have also been on the receiving end.  I get it at times when she is corrected or not able to do or have something that she wants.  It’s especially fun when she yells it at me in Target when I tell her to stay in her seat.  For me, it’s usually accompanied by a very emphatic “No!”

Connor and Emily get the “You’re rude!” for a lot of different things: not sharing with her, arguing with her, taking something that she was about to play with, if they don’t do what she wants, bumping in to her and probably a dozen other things that I can’t think of right now.

Truth be told, I love it.  She’s asserting herself these days and I find it very cute and very funny. 

first days of preschool

Emily had two “first”days of preschool this past week.  Her first first day was Tuesday, I stayed with her, and it was an hour and a half.  Her second first day was Thursday, she stayed by herself, and it was two and a half hours.

The first day.  It was a breeze.  She played, talked to her teachers, watched the other kids (none of them really interacted with each other) and got the hang of the room.  They did a mini-circle time where they learned a poem and danced to a cd.  They learned the pre-snack bathroom routine, had snack and then we made a project together.  Easy.  We celebrated with a stop at Friendly’s for milkshakes.

The second day.  I could feel the anxiety in the air, probably mostly mine though.  She had been telling me the day before that she didn’t want me to leave preschool so I was anticipating a difficult drop-off.  I didn’t think she would cry a lot or grab on to me or anything like that, but I thought she might cry or tell me that she didn’t want me to leave.  Much to my surprise, and despite the screaming and kicking (literally) that another child was doing, she kissed and hugged me goodbye, found a book to read and I was on my way back to work.  I called the preschool about a half hour later to check on her.  I didn’t call when Connor entered preschool, even though he was apprehensive, but I had to call because of the other child.  That could be an entirely new blog…let’s just say that his behavior was slightly out of control and I was worried about her reaction.  The director happened to answer the phone in the classroom when I called and she gave me a minute by minute account of what Emily did since I left and how she was acting.  She was doing great.

Carl reported that she was positive about her afternoon when he picked her up.  Later that day she gave me more details about what she did at school.  She even told me that when I left, she wanted to cry but she didn’t.  She was proud of herself.  And I was proud of her too.  

shout out to my hubby

I need to give some much needed props to Carl.  I seriously don’t know how he does it.  He has been working six days (nights) a week since mid-July.  Most of his shifts have been 10+ hours.  Since I’m back to work for the school year, he can no longer sleep until whenever so he is getting 3-4 hours of sleep with the exception of his one night off.  He needs to get out of bed at 8 a.m. to get Connor on the bus at 8:15 and start his day with the girls.  He doesn’t rest, he doesn’t nap.  He takes care of a 3 and 2 year-old…gets them up, dressed and fed, potty and diapers, plays with them, runs errands, does housework.  He also runs his soccer training company from home so in his spare time (which really means when he is doing all of the things I mentioned because he has no spare time) he schedules training, emails coaches, talks with trainers and creates/sends invoices. 

He does all of the things that a stay-at-home parent does but with very little sleep, a full-time job, a part-time job, only one day off and little-to-no complaining.  Oh, and he plays soccer himself on Sunday mornings too…to keep himself fit and sane.  

So ‘holla’ to my husband (D…had to steal it just this once)! 

You’re the best. ;)

first grade

Connor had his first four days of first grade last week and he is off to a smooth start.  He was back to his old routine the first day, no problem.  Alarm went on at 7 a.m. and he was in my bathroom by 7:03 to start his day.  Bathroom, wash face, hair, dressed and downstairs by 7:15.  When he got downstairs he remembered that he used to watch Monster Jam while he ate breakfast so he got a huge smile about that and turned the t.v. on.  I got him his breakfast and I was out the door at 7:35.  He finishes his breakfast by himself, gets Carl up at 8 and he's off to the bus stop at 8:15.  It's so hard to believe he's almost seven and now spends an entire day away from us (although I've seen him every day in school so far...hallway, cafeteria and playground).

I really don’t try to see him often and I don’t check in with his teacher even though I work at the school.  But I get around the whole building a lot during the day so I do get a chance to see him now and then.  I try to keep a low profile when I do, not make a big deal.  I just want to be his parent and want to keep the two roles as separate as possible.  His teacher did stop me in the hall though on the first day to tell me that he was helping some of the other children find their seats as they entered the classroom.  Warms my heart. ;)

the story of the three whales

Today we became the proud owners of three of the exact same stuffed whales (pictured above) from the dollar section of Target.  Why, you ask?  Well, because we need three of the same stuffed animal.  Doesn’t everyone?

All kidding aside, here is how it happened.  My kids love Target.  I love Target.  We are big Target fans.  The kids go to Target with a few expectations: (1) that they will get to ride in the cool three-seated shopping cart, (2) that Mom will bring a lollipop for each of them to enjoy while they ride in the cool three-seated shopping cart, and (3) that they will leave with something from the dollar section.  Let’s focus on #3.

Connor finds a set of fact cards about Space.  Score.  They are $1 and educational.  Can’t beat that.  This is where Connor exits the story and it becomes all about the girls.  Here is the typical dollar section story of Emily and Camryn.  Emily sees something that she wants, tells me, and then Camryn tells me that she wants the exact same thing.  I then try to convince one of them to get something else because I don’t want to buy two of the exact same thing.  This usually does not work in my favor and I give up pretty easily because it’s the dollar section and it just isn’t worth the fight.  Today was no different, thus I leave the dollar section with two of the exact same stuffed whales and two happy girls.

At some point during our shopping trip, Camryn throws her whale in the cart.  She’s on to bigger and better things…she wants to hold the pop tart box.  Emily continues to hold her whale.  A few aisles later, we find a cute little princess backpack and Emily is starting preschool in a week so we buy it.  She wants to wear it so I put it on her back and we make our way to the check out.  Checking out is the most chaotic part of the trip.  As soon as we pull up to the check-out, it gets a little hairy.  This is when all three are ready to get out, they all want to help unload the cart, they argue over who gets to put what on the conveyer belt, the check-out person is trying to talk to me, the kids are trying to talk to her, I’m loading bags and paying.  Needless to say, my brain is a little scrambled and I’m ready to regain my structure and organization and load everyone and everything into the car.   

I have a system for when we get to the car.  I load the kids in first and get their buckles on.  This way, they can’t go anywhere while I am unloading the cart and neatly packing our items into the back.  I turn on music that they like, so they are content.  So I get in the car and Emily asks for her whale from the bag.  I say, “Sure” and as I am getting out to get her whale Camryn says, “I want my whale too!”.  Sure, no problem.  I look in every bag I have.  There is only one whale.  This. Can’t. Be.

I start to retrace my shopping in my head.  I don’t recall two whales during check-out.  I go back to the cart return to check the cart.  No whale.  I ask Connor if he remembers two whales during check-out and he says no.  I’m racking my brain, trying to think of the last time I remember there being two whales.  I can’t remember.  I check the receipt.  One whale.  I know that leaving with one whale is not going to fly.  The sentence started to come out of my mouth, “Em…how about Cam takes this one and next time we come back to Target we will get you the whale” but before I could even finish, the look of horror on Emily’s face made me think, not such a good idea.  Connor tells me I have to go back in to Target to find the whale, that it’s probably sitting on the floor somewhere and someone is going to get it.  Emily agrees of course. 

I stood there for a few seconds, looked at them all buckled in and ready to leave.  The thought of pulling them all out of the car again to go search the floors of Target for this $1 whale…no way.  But, I needed to get another whale so I decided that I would go back in.  The dollar section was right at the front.  I knew there were more whales.  And the first check-out lane was 10 feet from there.  I would be quick.  I locked them in the car, and ran in and out in probably 30 seconds.  Success.  We now had two whales again.

After we got home and unpacked the bags, Emily wanted to wear her new backpack around.  She walked around the house for a bit, went into the playroom and pretended to arrive at school.  Upon her arrival, she unzipped her back pack and proudly proclaimed, “I found the other whale!”.

And that is how we came to have three of the exact same stuffed whales.

first haircut

Camryn had her first haircut last week and it was somewhat spur of the moment.  I say “somewhat” because I have been telling her all summer that she needs a haircut and she has been telling me “no” on going to get one.  My plan was to take her when the timing was right, which basically meant that I would just keep mentioning it every chance I got and wait for the one time she said yes instead of no.  That one time happened last Sunday and I jumped on it.  Conditions were perfect.  It was late morning.  Breakfast was done.  It wasn’t time for lunch.  We had no plans.  I said, “Hey Cam, want to go get your haircut?” and she said, “Yes”!  It probably helped that I threw something in there about cool chairs to sit in and getting a lollipop.  (I really focused on the lollipop part). 

So Camryn and I headed out to Kids Kuts and she did great!  She picked the princess car chair, sat very still, smiled and she was done in no time. 

 

I think the actual hair cutting took two minutes.  She got down, checked herself out in the mirror, picked a lollipop and we went home.  She got a “first haircut” certificate and an envelope of some hair.  I kept telling her what a great job she did and she couldn’t stop smiling.  My last first haircut experience was a success.