Kids Update August 2009
Over halfway through August, and once again I feel the time slipping by so quickly, I can’t keep track of the days…
We had a great July and celebrated the kids’ birthdays all month long, with one big combined party where we had a bounce house and crafts and a pinata and all that fun birthday party stuff….
Rosie’s big present was a “big girl bike” - specifically a princess bike, one that won’t fall down (i.e. training wheels). Sammy got a small basketball hoop and stand, and they both got tons of other great new presents. Our house is overflowing with toys and games and other fun stuff.
Oh, another big present for both of them (and Joe) was our new puppy! She is a shepherd mix that we adopted from a rescue agency, Rosie named her Daisy.
Since every other July for the last few years we had a baby - this year we got a dog instead. It’s almost the same thing, getting used to a new routine of waking up early, cleaning up pee and poop, keeping things put away that you don’t want broken or chewed on - all that other fun stuff that comes with a new dog or baby.
This past month, Rosie decided she was changing my name and is now calling me “mother”. She says “yes mother” when I call her or ask for something - and she is also calling Joe “father” and decided her name is now “Rose Rose”.
She is still playing pretend all the time, inventing new games like flutterfly, but also sticking with the standard stuff like house, doctor, and the various princesses - little mermaid, snow white, sleeping beauty, etc.
In my old school shirt….
She loves playing and running and giggling with her brother, teaching him jokes and games and such.
She is still stalling at bedtime, frequently coming into our room at 10:30 with some complaint or excuse. She once said her room was too itchy and she couldn’t sleep because she was scratchy all over. She crawls into our room with her lady bug blanket over her and when we say “Rosie go back to your room” she says “how did you know it was me?”
After a week of “Princess Camp” with her neighbor friends this past week…
I think she will be a lawyer, since she is so good at arguing and rationalizing. Another bedtime stall is saying she is not tired. One night I told her she could lie in bed and read books or play quietly, but she could not get out of bed. She asked “how can I get a book if I can’t get out of bed?” (got me on that one)
So I said, -”OK you can get out of bed really quickly to get a book or toy, but you cannot leave your room”. After I left the room, she started whining about wanting her big elephant in bed with her. After about 15 minutes of listening to her whine, I went into her room to tell her that if she wants her elephant, to get out of bed and get it then! She said, “well, actually mother, since you are already in my room, you can get it for me”.
She is so funny - she is always talking about her friends and what she said or did with her friends. She wants to play with her friends in the neighborhood all the time, anxious to go play as soon as she wakes up in the morning. She says such amusing things like telling me her hair was “shining like a star” or telling a story and then saying “isn’t that crazy?”
She has started watching “big girl” movies like Bambi, Charlotte’s Web, Alice in Wonderland, Horton Hears a Who, and Babe and loving them. I thought she might be freaked out by Bambi, but she was fine, and all talk of the killing of animals in Charlotte’s Web and Babe was not an issue with her either. She sometimes likes to cover her eyes, but also tells me that she is brave.
Another new phrase of hers is “give it to me straightaway” or “let’s do it straightaway when we get home”
She has been learning the value of money and she has been using the money in her piggybank to buy treats for her and Sammy. She was very proud to place a handfull of coins on the counter at Starbucks to buy a “special milk drink” for her and her brother.
She had me cracking up a few weeks ago when I had to take her to use a public restroom. I was hurrying her along as she was going to the bathroom with me in the room:
“are you almost done?”
“not yet, there is one little poopie left that doesn’t want to come out. I think it’s scared.”
(talking to poo) “Come on out little poopie, don’t be shy, it’s just my mommy”
She has also been saying
“It’s the exciting day of my life!” (said several times about different things, always omitting the “most” part)
We have been working on her having more responsibilities around the house and got a “good habits chart” for her room, where she gets to mark off the various things she should be doing every day. She gets to turn a little wheel when she tidies her room, or puts dirty clothes in the laundry, if she used good manners all day, ate healthy food, spent time with a book, brushed her teeth, and most importantly - going to bed on time. I told her I would give her a quarter to put in her piggy bank each day she could accomplish everything on the chart - I think she has done that once in the month we have had it (usually the bedtime cancels out all the other good stuff).
Sammy - has been super cute and sweet - and alternately super whiny and screamy and tantrumy. He has started singing a lot and loves to sing the ABC’s blended with twinkle twinkle, so it sound like “abdbqwq how i wonder what you are”.
He has been asking “what are you doing?” or more acurately - “mama, whadoing?” He loves playing games with Rosie like duck duck goose and tag, and will frequently be running around the coffee table, tapping us and saying “dut” or “tag, your’e it!”
He also loves singing all the songs on a Dora CD we have, his favorites being the boots song “I love my Boots!” and also “Isa turn the wheel” (from Dora’s pirate adventure) - he loves them both as his songs at bedtime and requests that we sing them over and over…
“Itsa turn the weel ‘gain mommy”
We also have a new bedtime tickle routine - he loves to be tickled and when I put him in bed and get ready to leave the room he calls out - “wait mom - tickle ‘gain!”
He is such a lover - still wanting to cuddle (or “cull” as he says) and hugging and saying “I love you”
He is always asking for (or usually- demanding) things and when I say no he asks “why mom?”
He recently started climbing out of his crib - so we are experimenting with a”big boy bed” - just a futon mattress on the floor. We have been back and forth because he keeps getting up and leaving his room when he is in his big bed, so sometimes he has to go back in his crib and then he usually will stay put and finally go to sleep.
He is repeating everything - if I say “let’s go upstairs” he says, “ok - less go upstairs”. If I say “go play with Rosie” he runs out of the room and says “Ok- go play Rosie”
He is so enthusiastic about everything - usually saying “Yep mom!” in response when I ask him something…
He usually wakes up before his sister and spends an hour or so asking “where rosie go?” and then he gets so excited when Rosie wakes up and says “Rosie wakey up!” and runs to her and hugs her and says “I love you Rosie”.
“how ’bout……” with a long pause - when asked what he wants to eat, or choosing anything…”dat one!”
He really wants to be big and to do all the big things his sister does, like when we get ready to go someplace, he needs to open his car door, and then close it, and climb into his seat by himself, and then buckle the top buckle in his carseat, all the things that add another 5 minutes to the “get out the door” routine…
We had a little family getaway to Chicago a couple weekends ago - we went on a boat cruise around the river, we went to Navy Pier and rode the carousel,
we went to millennium park and visited “the bean” and played in the fountain (it was HOT outside),
and we stopped by Lollapalooza and hung out mostly at the kidsapalooza area and watched the kids get punk rock hairdos and do some coloring and painting and other fun stuff.
The kids traveled pretty great and love being in a new place, especially sleeping in a new big fluffy hotel bed.
Lots more trips coming up in the next few months, Canada at the end of this month, and Florida in September.
