It's the rose after the thorn that counts

Sometimes I lay with WA as he falls asleep at night. He doesn't require it, but definetly prefers it and I can't help thinking how few years I have left to get such requests. So tonight he asked if I could lay with him and I said yes. I hopped under the covers and snuggled in, my face touching his cheek. I wasn't there but 30 seconds and he starts to chuckle. "What?" I asked him. "Your skin feels funny." was his reply. "Oh yeah?" I said. "Yeah, it feels like an elephant." he declared. "Oh gee thanks!!" I said faining exasperation. "But I don't care about that Mama, I love you and that's what I care about."

Good recovery kid, good recovery (as I slather on night cream...:)).

3

IA turned three this past weekend. Three. Crazy! She had a super fun day with a trip to Magic Mountain fun center and a party at The Little Gym. Jammed packed and exhausting, but she had a smile on her face the entire time. Throughout the day she wouild tell everyone she encountered (from the lady in the CVS pharmacy window to a stranger at lunch) that it was her birthday. Not surprisingly most of them asked if she was 4. Nope, she'd respond by holding up 3 fingers and telling them she was 3. Tomorrow I take her to the doctors for her well visit and I'm anxious to see where she falls on the height scale.

Here's a recent shot of my 3 and 5 year olds...

My babies

Not so little anymore...

Gotta get the hang of this homework thing

WA started Kindergarten last week and was assigned homework on Friday (which is always due the following Friday). Naturally I forgot about it 4 out of the 6 days we had to work on it, and the one day that I actually remembered we promised WA he could play hockey since he had such a good day at school. I figured we could do it the following night (which, of coarse, I proceeded to forget about). So here we are with one night to get it all done. It's gonna be painful, but hopefully we can make it through with 2 or less tantrums. I wasn't expecting to teach him a lesson in cramming on his very first homework assignment (ever!), but one thing I can almost guarantee is that this won't be the last time!

A Saturday afternoon

This past weekend WA and our neighbor, AP, went to a small carnival in downtown New Albany. It was just the three of us and we had some good fun. They made me ride the mini-train three times. It was definitely their favorite (ok, truth be told maybe the kettle corn won that title...).

How do you know you have a boy?

When you walk upstairs, 15 minutes after getting home from school, and find him sitting on his bed (buck naked) happily playing Starwars Legos. Boys.

The Villaahge (a.k.a " It takes a village...")

My sister-in-law always jokes that when we are together, with the kids, it's a villaahge (vill-ah-juh). Meaning that it really does require teamwork to raise kids sometimes. Today was a great example. While J took WA to lunch followed by ice skating, I offloaded IA on to my neighbor Lisa and took her daughter, AP, in return. AP and her sister, MP, were at each other a bit today. So in order to maintain some sanity, Lisa took MP and IA to an indoor play area while AP and I made back-to-school cupcakes, painted our nails and got WA's school supplies all straightened out (how's that for giving the kid a lesson in last minute perparation?). AP and I actually had a really nice day and I had fun hangning out with her. It was a nice break from the shenanigans my own kids like to pull when they are together. Poor Lisa got the short end of the stick though. IA was in one of her wild moods, where she is in to EVERYTHING and throwing a very adamant 'tude. I think Lisa now has more sympathy for my frazzeled moments! I'm certain neither of us would like a permanant trade, but it was a great break from the routine and a prime example of the villaahge in action.

Kindergarten

Tomorrow is WA's first day of Kindergarten. Weird. I'm supposed to be all sentimental and sad, but circumstances have me feeling neutral. See, WA is going to a "private Kindergarten" that is associated with his daycare. Sound nuts? Well yeah, it kinda is, except for one thing...New Albany only has half day Kindergarten with no aftercare. So rather than drop WA off in one location, hussle to their current daycare to drop off IA; only to reverse in the afternoon, we chose to send him to Kindergarten in the same facility. It doesn't hurt that neighbors of ours sent their two girls there and rave about it (and I also got some other glowing recommendations). But it sort of feels (at least to me) like he's moving to a new room. No school bus, no new building, no reduced daycare bill. Granted I know that he's in for a totally different experience, but for me it feels very much the same. While I am excited for him, talk to me when first grade hits, then I might be a blubbery mess.

Well played WA, well played

Recently I've been offering IA a Hershey's kiss everytime she produces on the potty. It's an incentive program any toddler would be happy to sign up for. She is doing quite well with her potty training and my bribes are more an indication of my desire for this to end than anything else. All fine and dandy, right? The best part, by far, is that she has her own personal agent. Yes, her older brother has started negotiating with me as to how many kisses she gets for numbers 1 and 2, when said kisses are acceptable to eat(especially close to dinner time), and if an attempt is worthy of the goods. By far the best part about this is that he always negotiates a kiss for himself, as if he gets a finders fee or something. So she does all the work and he reaps the benefit. I know my brother is going to smirk while reading this. Sound familiar Uncle Bill?!?