First Purchase

Katelynn experienced a fun milestone today.

It all started with a Valentine's card from Nanna and PopPop that contained a one dollar bill:

Katelynn has been begging me every day since receiving that card to go to the store to spend her dollar. Today we finally made it to Target. She knows that mommy can be convinced to purchase items for her from the dollar section - I often do as a reward for simply coming to Target and behaving well. However she was much more excited about getting a toy with her own money. She agonized over the selections and tried to talk me into two items. I held firm for once, figuring this was a good time for a lesson about the finite qualities of money. She selected this cute purse - quite the girly girl selection:

When we got to the checkout, she proudly marched up to the Target employee. She excitedly handed over her money and had to be reminded give the purse first for scanning. Mommy chipped in ten cents toward sales tax. KK was excited to get her receipt and her two pennies back.

She came home and "played" with her purse all evening. She asked me to get the easter eggs down. She filled them with buttons and small paper hearts and wrote her friends' names on the outside. Then she put them in her new purse to take to preschool for delivery. She sure can be a cutie pie sometimes.

Letter Writing Explosion

Suddenly Katelynn cannot get enough of writing letters. 6 months ago I could barely get her to trace one letter without an eruption of frustration and a refusal to continue. Now she goes through packages of notebook paper at warp speed and one of her favorite things to do is to come to me with a page full of letters and ask, "What does this spell?" I am not the best parent when it comes to spending lots of time with her for "pretend play" or just sitting down to play toys with her, but I will drop everything to help her with letters -so I think she also likes the mommy feedback aspect of it all.

Recently I was amazed at her patience to create a birthday card for her cousin Izzy who is about to turn 2. KK was adamant that it be written completely by her. The results are pictured and I must say that I am pretty proud of her, and excited about this new chapter of learning for my little girl. I know it's going to be even more exciting when she starts reading!

PS. Don't tell Izzy, Aunt Jen! ;-)

Vocabulary Queen

Katelynn has quite the vocabulary for her age, thanks in no small part to her love of "Fancy Nancy" books. These books are so great, especially for little girls, and very well written. They introduce all kinds of wonderful words in a fun-filled way. Thanks to her fellow vocab-maven Nanna for introducing us to this series.

Lately this little 4-year old has become pretty entertaining with her proper use and her misuse of these new words. One of her favorites, which she uses correctly is delectable. "Mommy, this cupcake frosting is just delectable!" Another favorite that she hasn't completely grasped yet is impossible. "Mommy, We have to go to Mi Chula's for dinner tonight. It's impossible!" Huh?!

Yesterday I was putting on my makeup and, as she does frequently, Katelynn was standing next to me begging for lip gloss, blush, etc for her. She asked me to put mascara on her eyes. After barely brushing a bit on, she batted her eyelashes at the mirror and asked, "Mommy, do I look mysterious?!"

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Kudos to you parents of 3, 4 or more children. I am honestly not sure how you do it! Lately nights have been wearing this momma out and can be classified into one of three categories:

1. The Good (extremely rare occurrence): Tyler goes to bed at 7:00. KK goes to bed at 8:00. Tyler wakes up to nurse around 10:00 or 11:00 pm. He doesn’t wake up again till 7:00 and neither does Katelynn. I think this scenario has happened maybe twice in the past three months.

2. The Bad (the norm): Tyler goes to bed at 7:00. KK goes to bed at 8:00. Tyler wakes up to nurse around 10:00 or 11:00 pm. He wakes up again at 2:00 am or so needing a diaper change and pacifier re-insertion. He wakes up again around 4:00 or 5:00 am; at this point I might get away with pacifier re-insertion but more likely I will just pick him up and put him in bed with us till 7:00.

3. The Ugly (not as rare as I would like): Tyler goes to bed at 7:30. KK goes to bed at 8:30 or 9:00. Tyler wakes up to nurse around 10:00 or 11:00 pm. He wakes up again at 2:00 am, 3:00 am, 4:00 am, etc. Sometimes a diaper change/ pacifier re-insertion does the trick. Sometimes he apparently doesn’t know what he needs and keeps me up with crying for over 2 hours till I break down and bring him into bed. Katelynn makes an appearance somewhere in between (never a the same time – always another sleep interruption!) and lays on our floor in a sleeping bag. These “ugly” nights feel like a constant interruption of REM sleep – awakenings from intense dreams and a very groggy feeling. And I start my day in a state of extreme sleep deprivation.

I know this is a phase and things should be much better as Tyler develops a little more. He does not do nights as well as his sister did! I often find myself praying, asking God to lead me in the right direction as to how to “sleep train” him – I feel like I am just in survival mode and there doesn’t always seem to be a clear “right choice”! His sweet smile in the mornings, along with the knowledge that he will only be a sweet innocent baby for such a short time, helps to keep me going.

Snow Days

So, it has been a loooong week here in the DFW area as we have been "iced in" for three days straight so far, with one more to go till we get above freezing. Little KK has remained in good spirits despite being cooped up in the house. She cried mournfully the first day I told her there was no preschool, but seemed to accept it on days two and three. She has begged to go outside a couple of times, but it is literally 18 degrees with 20 mph winds, and the only thing on the ground is miserable ice - we barely even got any snow! Can't bring myself to do it... So what have we done to pass all that time??

1. 1. Writing practice. Lately Katelynn's writing skills have exploded and she shows a lot of interest in being able to write letters and words. She likes to write random letters on paper and ask us what they spell. Usually nothing, but she was very excited when she accidentally spelled "LIP" a couple of days ago. I was also impressed that she had the patience to write "Bob the Builder" (using my writing as a guide). Not sure why she chose that one - who knows the inner workings of a 4 year old mind?


2. Puzzles and sorting. KK received wooden puzzle "flash cards" from Nanna and PopPop that have letters, numbers, shapes, and colors. First we practiced all the letters and put them in order of the alphabet, all lined up down the hallway. Then we put the colors next to the matching letters (i.e. Pink goes with P). Then we counted the objects on the number cards.


3. Smores. We roasted marshmallows over the gas logs then made smores.


4. Gift making. The girl is obsessed with crafts and creating gifts for friends and family. She made flowers, pictures, pages with letters, and many unknown objects. She then likes to put them in bags/boxes and order mommy to put ribbons on them.


5. Cleaning. She likes to help mommy. She was most enthusiastic about helping me spray down all the silk plants. She also picked up her own toys on more than one occasion in order to get stickers on her chore chart - ahhh proof that she can do it.


6. Toys, toys, toys. She normally ignores her toys but sheer desperation meant they all got taken out... the beauty kit, the strawberry shortcake doll, the lincoln logs, the foam blocks, the LittlePeople.


7. Extended baths. And painting with bath paints. And spelling things out on the tub wall with the bath letters.


8. Little brother. Singing to baby Tyler. Dancing for baby Tyler. Bringing toys to baby Tyler. Holding baby Tyler. "Helping" with baths and diaper changes by putting her stool exactly in the spot where mommy needs to be. Breakdancing in baby Tyler's bedroom while mommy tries to put him down for a nap.


9. Popcorn and diet pepsi on the couch. I emphasized this was a special occasion. We will see if she understood that in a few days.


10. The babysitter. Oh yeah, there were a few hours of TV watching in there too. Hey, I am not a saint (as evidenced by #9 as well).

I must get some zzzz's now as I prepare for day #4 inside and try to come up with something new to add to the list!

To Infinity and Beyond

Katelynn certainly does loooove her preschool this year. No more hanging onto my leg or tears, which still popped up sometimes last year. She practically runs in the building now, and starting in January we even moved from 2 to 3 days per week since KK seemed unbelievably bored at home with mommy and Tyler on Wednesdays.

It is fun to watch your child learn! (No one ever told me this... but maybe it would have seemed silly if someone had before I was a parent. Being a parent can be so unexpectedly fabulous sometimes.) I so enjoy seeing her enthusiasm for learning more about this great big world in which she is growing up. This year there has been a learning explosion. Not long ago, KK suddenly began writing random letters on paper and running to me to show them to me. She can write her name with help and her coloring skills seemed to improve dramatically almost over night. She understands that learning all the letters is the key to being able to read her beloved books on her own one day and this seems to serve as a huge motivator for her.

Last week was "Space Week" and I have never seen the girl so excited. She talked all week long about space, space, space. She complained that she didn't own any books about planets. She told me to make a list of things to bring to preschool: lunch, backpack, space suit, space helmet. (Heehee.) On Thursday she got to take a "trip" to the moon with her class and she was about to split her pants she was so excited. I showed her videos on youtube of Space Shuttle launches and I must admit I felt a tingle of excitement myself. She even hung with a video about black holes for longer than I could, complete with scientists lecturing about electrons and forces and other such heady topics.

I was definitely a nerd growing up and a lover of formal schooling, so it warms this mama's heart to see my daugher following in my footsteps.

Katelynn

Lately, I feel like KK has suddenly turned into a little girl. The memories of the tantrum-throwing toddler are starting to fade a bit, and I sadly have little memory at all of life with her as a baby. (Perhaps I have just blocked some of it out, seeing that there were many extremely difficult days with her!) So, to follow up Tyler's post, here is my "all about KK" bullet list.

She loves preschool so much now, so much that I increased her time there from 2 to 3 days per week. Last week they learned about space and she was "over the moon" (har har) about it. I showed her youtube videos of the space shuttle launch and she was enraptured with the whole thing.

Very recently there has also been an explosion with learning letters, and suddenly starting to write them on her own. This has made mama very excited to see this happen all at once. I explained to her awhile back that she needed to learn all her letters before she would be able to read - and she does love her books so this stuck with her. She has repeatedly talked about learning her letters so that she can learn to read.

She is very talented with working mazes. It is quite impressive.

She loves her crafts - whether at school or at home. The art stand that she received over a year ago from Nanna and PopPop has hit its prime. Our living room floor is usually covered in paper scraps, crayons, tape, glue sticks, scissors, scrapbook supplies donated by mommy, and more. There are new creations every day. This has been a godsend since she will actually entertain herself to a certain extent with the creating.

KK also loves to give gifts to her friends. So craft time is frequently gift-making time - a treasure box for Anna, a picture for Bobby, a letter for Lindsay... she does love her friends!

She continues to be a mama's girl. But she thinks her dad is pretty great now too and knows that he is the better choice for hide-and-seek, rough-housing, and snuggle time.

She is still a sensitive girl too. While tantrums have really died down, she still has trouble controlling the crying sometimes. She can be quite dramatic. She physically cannot control her legs from twitching when she is extremely upset and complains about "itchy skin".

She is an absoutely wonderful big sister - so sweet with her baby brother and a big help to me with entertaining him, fetching pacifiers and toys, helping to wash him during bathtime, talking to him in the car, giving him her own precious blankie for comfort, and much more.

My sweet, sensitive girl.... As Katelynn would say, "She is my girl forever and ever."

Tyler

I can't believe my little guy is 5 months old already. He has really captured my heart - such a little sweetheart. Daily life with him is a pleasure and I need to capture it here....so here is a random list "all about TyTy":

• It is so easy to make him smile and giggle. He loves when mommy makes him fake "punch" plus zerberts on the tummy during changing time. His eyes twinkle when he is happy.
• He is so expressive - hilarious ranges of faces from this little man (as evidenced by picture!)
• He naps well and is generally a pretty easy-going little guy. He still needs to be swaddled to settle down. I keep trying to get him past this stage but he is not ready to give it up yet.
• He finally loves the Baby Bjorn. This is great for limited periods each day. I can get the house picked up and move quickly from room to room while he rides with mommy.
• When he is grumpy, his sister sure does make him feel better. He really lights up when she sings to him, gives him her blankie, or otherwise entertains him with toys, dancing, and chatter.
• He still does not enjoy being on his tummy at all. He recently learned to roll onto his back which means that he is never on his tummy for long!
• He still enjoys his traditional baby toys way more than big sister ever did. Every day he uses the bouncy seat and jungle gym mat (both borrowed) for at least short periods of time.
• TyTy has definitely learned to scream as though being tortured to get attention. When he first started doing this I thought the boy was seriously ill or hurt. No - he just found his voice and realized it got a reaction!
• I wish he would do better at nights. I usually have to get up 2-3 times - once to feed him around 10 or 11 pm, and another time or two to replace pacifiers, change diapers, etc. Usually by 4 am he ends up in bed with Gene and me and will sleep well there till about 7 am. While the interruptions to my sleep are brief they are still taking a toll on this thirty-something body!

Oh how I love this sweet baby boy....