Love Bug and Rolley Polley

Today is...

noreply@blogger.com (Stacey) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:13:00 +0000

*The day I got back in the swing of things after being in the city for the past three days for a fantastic speech therapy conference. I loved being surrounded by an inspirational teacher and wonderful classmates but it sure was nice to be home. Commuting into the city is not my cup of tea...

*A day to learn about play. The girls are huge pretend players which leaves one room messier than the one before. I love it philosophically but struggle sometimes with the chaos. I walked into a a room tonight and said something about the mess under my breath. Katherine looked very insulted and said, "I did not make a mess. Would you like to come to my store." What in my eyes was a mess, in her mind was her very own store front. Hopefully I will remember to see the fun in all the clutter.

*A day for cooking. As I was preparing dinner, Katherine asked if she could cook with me. Often, she is quite helpful. Peeling carrots is her speciality. Tonight though, she had a creative masterpiece in mind- cheese with butter melted together in the microwave. She stood staring at the buttons for a bit before asking me where the "Butter Button" was. When I looked confused, she said, "Like the popcorn button." Too bad the makers of the microwave did not see the need for a button pre-set to the temperature and time needed to melt cheese together with butter.

Today is...

noreply@blogger.com (Stacey) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 01:03:00 +0000

*One of those fall days that makes fall my favorite season. It even smelled pretty.

*A session with one of my speech therapy clients where I saw truly noticeable improvement. What a thrill that is...

*A perfect play date for me and Katherine. A mom that I got along with, a girl who loves playing with dolls and even enjoyed running around the house naked for awhile. If truth be told, Katherine would be naked all day long... it appears her new little friend would happily live on a nudist colony with her.

*A day when two husbands were gone for dinner and two moms banded together to feed five children breakfast for dinner. A bit nutty but a bit fun too.

Today is...

noreply@blogger.com (Stacey) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 22:28:00 +0000

*The second WE Series of the season. A wonderful writer, Tina Kelly from the NY Times spoke to our group about poetry, journalism and a hyperlocal blog for the NY Times.

*Katherine's first ear infection of the season. I had really hoped that this would be the year her eustachian tubes had finally matured enough to avoid a winter full of trips to the pediatrician. Not yet, I guess.

*A great quote from Katherine: As we were riding home this afternoon, Katherine began composing a song in the back seat. Here are the lyrics: "It's a wonderful day. Let go of me. I want to run in the sunshine."

Television

noreply@blogger.com (Stacey) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 23:52:00 +0000

Caroline and Katherine watch very little tv. It's just one of my things... Somehow, though, this summer, our tv watching got way out of control. The girls were watching tons of tv. When school started I put the brakes back on. One program during the week and two on weekends. They fought us for a few days but settled quite quickly back into our old routine.

The other night, Caroline reminded me of why I limit tv. After dinner, she realized she hadn't watched her program yet. She had been headed outside to play when she made this realization. You could see the wheels turning in head as she struggled with what to do. A moment later, looking over her shoulder on the way to the swings, she said, "There is more to life than tv."

Right she is...

Lines

noreply@blogger.com (Stacey) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:41:00 +0000

Caroline is having a tough time adjusting to a new school. We are not terribly surprised given her general distaste for change but it is still unsettling. She is not separating well at the start of the day and is complaining about not wanting to go and not liking school throughout the afternoon and evening.

Yesterday though, we had a glimmer of hope. When Rob asked her how her day was she replied, "Great! Oh, I mean, bad!" She had this conversation as she busily drew line pictures, the topic of her art class yesterday.

Caroline has always loved to draw and create but for some reason, I have never really considered art to be one of her true loves. Art, though, is what she is connecting with in her new school. Yesterday she talked on and on about her class as she drew beautiful pictures. She told me that had started the class with a story about lines. When I guessed that it had been Harold and the Purple Crayon, she said "No but that would have been a good one." At one point, she even told us that she wanted to be an artist when she grew up. I suppose this is not a huge leap from her previously chosen professions of "nail saloner" or "manicurer" but it was still exciting to hear.

As she drew and drew, first with colored pencil, then markers and crayons, she looked thoughtfully at her paper and said, "Where a line ends, a shape begins."

Maybe there is an artist-to-be in our house after all...

Talents

noreply@blogger.com (Stacey) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 00:10:00 +0000

Yesterday afternoon, Caroline spent time organizing a "Chalk Marathon" on our sidewalk. The organization involved writing a list of participants along with activities they would engage in on the day of the marathon. All of her writing was done meticulously with sidewalk chalk.

The writing must have been tiring because when she was done, Caroline looked at me and said, "You must have to be really good at writing to write a chapter book."

Instead of reminding her that few people write chapter books with sidewalk chalk, I agreed with her... especially given the fact that I have been struggling lately to write my blog, a journal entry or even a sentence in my gratitude notebook.

As so often happens, the thoughts kept coming. "You would also have to like writing to write a chapter book. Because, you know, sometimes you can have a talent but not like it."

Wow. "Are there things you are good at that you don't like?" I asked.

I got a chuckle when her first response was "Singing and dancing." If anyone has ever seen Caroline dance, they will know that she is most definitely Rob's and my daughter and this means that dancing is, in fact, not one of her talents.

"Are there things you are good at that you also like?" I asked.

And then what a wonderful feeling for a mom who often worries that her daughter is too hard on herself, not confident enough, unsure of what a wonderful and talented person she is, to hear the long list of talents that Caroline believes she has... talents that she also likes...

Among items in a list too long for me to have remembered a day later were reading, writing, math, swimming and running.

And I suppose one day soon, she will be adding chalk marathoner to her list.

Another First Day

noreply@blogger.com (Stacey) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 22:33:00 +0000

Katherine had her first day today at our new Montessori pre-school. We know many, many children at this school so it did not feel like the big transition it could have been.

Katherine did really well and seemed happy when she left after her hour long introduction. I asked her if she had a good time and with a huge smile on her face, she said, "No." I had watched her through a window for nearly the entire time so fortunately, I knew that her face spoke the truth.

At dinner tonight, when Rob asked her what she liked about school, Katherine did not talk about meeting her teacher or playing with a familiar friend. She did not talk about playing with play dough or completing a block work. She told Rob that the favorite part of her day was "When Mommy picked me up."

I wonder what tomorrow will bring?

Sisters

noreply@blogger.com (Stacey) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 00:48:00 +0000

Having grown up as an only child, I am often amazed by the friendship and love that has grown between the girls. They play, laugh, share and learn together. Of course, they also hit, scream and pull hair but that is a post for another day.

Tonight, I sit in awe of sisterhood.

Caroline was so tired tonight that she asked to go to bed long before her usual bed time. I brought her up, finished our chapter of our latest Ramona book and turned out the light. A while later, I brought Katherine into their room and the battle began. She did not want to go sleep, continually begging for a drink, a back rub and often, to sleep with Caroline. They each have a small twin bed and have only shared beds on vacation so I was confused by the request and denied her again and again. Finally, at my wits end, I left, closing the door behind me, vowing to not return no matter how loud the protests. I heard lots of noises but no crying so I stayed out until I had heard silence for close to half an hour.

When I went into their room, I found Katherine, crammed beside Caroline with one arm wrapped tightly around her big sister's waist. While we did not take a picture for fear of waking them, I am sure the picture of the sisters will stay in my mind for a long, long time.

New School Year

noreply@blogger.com (Stacey) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 11:46:00 +0000

Caroline is now a first grader. All the cliches are so appropriate... Where did the time go? Time flies. I could go on and on. A year ago we thought for sure that Caroline would continue on at her Montessori school for a few more years. I couldn't imagine that she would be ready to tackle our neighborhood public school. I knew that academically she would be more than fine but socially... I just wasn't sure.

On Wednesday, we walked with all of our neighborhood friends, to school. It was wonderful to be part of this community and to see Caroline running ahead to catch up with her girls. By Thursday, I think she realized that all would be ok but she was scared to admit it- months of complaining about switching schools couldn't be thrown away after one day. There were still a fair number of complaints. By Friday, she walked to school with a skip in her step and a smile on her face.

Happy New School Year to all...

Clever, Sort of...

noreply@blogger.com (Stacey) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 11:42:00 +0000

Katherine continues to be much more mischievous than we ever thought she would be. I can remember sitting with her on the couch when she was an infant thinking, "Ah...we have a calm baby, finally!"

Calm would most definitely not describe my jumper, climber and trouble maker these days. Recently, she has come up with a plan to get away with her often dangerous adventures. I walked into her room the other day to find Katherine climbing on her windowsill. When she saw the look of horror on my face, she stated "Go away so you can't see me."

Pretty clever except that these words are now my tip off that something is coming... I remain grateful that, for now, I am still smarter than my three year old...

Perfection

noreply@blogger.com (Stacey) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 11:07:00 +0000

I haven't posted here in 5 weeks. I had pretty much thrown in the towel. I wasn't able to write as often as I wanted so I stopped. I had taken the perfectionist route and felt like if I wasn't writing every day or at least every week day, that it just wasn't worth it.

And then I started reading my friend Sara's wonderful blog. I haven't talked to Sara in ages and hadn't checked her blog in a long time either. As I sat reading, I was thrilled to be 'catching up' with her and her adorable family. And then I looked at her past post list. Over this year, she has never written less than six posts per month but never more than nine. And each one of them was so worth the writing and the reading. If she hadn't written, I wouldn't have known about their fabulous trip on Amtrack or their huge family reunion or her son's love affair with a friend's Wii. What wonderful memories to have captured for her family and friends.

Now... knowing Sara, she has a schedule for this thing. I would bet that she writes on Mondays and Wednesdays. And I bet that she has 'write blog post' written on her calender in a specific color and I bet that she does it each time and I bet that she checks it off on her calendar in another specific color.

I am going to learn from my friend that you can be a perfectionist without setting unrealistic expectations for your perfectionist self. And in doing so, you can record funny, endearing and memorable moments.

Firsts

noreply@blogger.com (Stacey) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 22:17:00 +0000

When I had the girls, I thought of all the firsts I would experience with them... first steps, first words, first days of school. I forgot that there were many, many other things that I would re-experience for the first time through the eyes of my children...

This weekend, Katherine used a porta potty for the first time. Perhaps because she is so newly potty trained, her powers of observation were highly tuned. We stood in the stinky cubicle for much longer than I had ever been in confines of a portable toilet as she looked around noticing the differences between this toilet and others.

My favorites include:

"Look Mommy! My pee turns blue in a porta potty!"

Katherine's favorite color is yellow so I am called in to look at her pee each time before she flushes. She often comments on how pretty her pee is, 'because it is yellow.' As she watched her yellow pee touch the blue disinfectant of the porta potty I think she felt some sadness.

And...

"Mommy, where is the flusher?"

Where indeed!?

Where I've Been...

noreply@blogger.com (Stacey) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 17:55:00 +0000

*Celebrating the Fourth of July...

*Learning that Katherine is not ready for a five hour camp day...

*Realizing that when you switch your three year old from a 5 hour camp day that is three minutes from home to a three hour camp day that is twenty minutes from home, you don't have much time anymore...

*Celebrating Caroline's sixth birthday. The cliche, time flies, couldn't be more true...

*Celebrating my mom's 70th birthday...

*Hosting a tie dye and pizza party birthday party for Caroline and her friends....

*Finally enjoying summer days outside...

Loud

noreply@blogger.com (Stacey) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:27:00 +0000

Yesterday Katherine and I were discussing our plans for the Fourth of July. I told her all about the parade not sure that she would remember much of it from last year. I often forget how smart our baby girl is getting. And I am often shocked by how much she picks up of what goes on around her. She gave me a big reminder during this conversation.

As we talked about all the different things we might see and hear in the parade, she looked thoughtful and then said, "Caroline might have to stay with a babysitter because she doesn't like loud."

It is funny when the baby starts to understand the personalities that surround her in the family but I would say, Katherine is starting to understand...

A Good Thing

noreply@blogger.com (Stacey) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:25:00 +0000

Caroline began a new camp season at our beloved Nature Place yesterday. Her time spent there last year was among her happiest of times. When she learned that her two camp friends from last year were not returning, despite her love of camp itself, I had to work hard to convince her to return. I was able to find a friend to join her for the first two weeks of camp but our goal was for her to attend throughout the summer, for six weeks. Leading up to yesterday, Caroline had remained firm that she would stay only as long as her friend did.

Yesterday, she came bounding off the bus, happier than I have seen her months. She talked and talked about all the fun she had had. Drama John singing at Morning Share, a long swim in the pond, time on the playground, planting strawberries at the garden, the creation of a nature book to collect leaves and flowers at art. She talked on and on and on. I am sure I received more information about yesterday's time at camp than I did about her entire school year.

At dinner she told us that not only did she want to stay at camp for the entire six weeks regardless of what her friend did but that she wanted to spend her summers at the Nature Place "for as long as she was allowed to."

There is nothing better than finding a place that makes your child happy and we have found it...

Joy

noreply@blogger.com (Stacey) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:58:00 +0000

Joy is the beach being an hour away.

Joy is the fact that we decided to go for a day trip on Sunday and had a fabulous time. Rob even commented that he thinks it was the happiest three hours our family has ever had- maybe an exaggeration, maybe not.

Joy is the fact that both girls love the beach as much as their mom and dad do.

Joy is the looks on the girl's faces as they jumped and splashed and swam.

Science

noreply@blogger.com (Stacey) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 12:16:00 +0000

Caroline loves learning. New information just fascinates her. The other day, Rob was changing the dehumidifier in the basement-which is filling almost twice a day in this crazy rain! Caroline stood watching and listening to every word as Rob explained what this mysterious machine was doing.

I have often wondered why I buy Caroline toys as almost any toy becomes a prop in en elaborate imaginary world, not the toy it is intended to be. Now I really wonder as her first comment to Rob after his 'dehumidifier lecture' was, "Wow! Can I have my own!"

Caroline's birthday is coming up. Maybe she should be careful what she wishes for...

Caroline's Kindergarten Memories

noreply@blogger.com (Stacey) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:32:00 +0000

Today Caroline went to meet her new teacher and classmates at our neighborhood school. In September, she will be leaving the comfortable and familiar nest of the Montessori world. As proven by the memory book she completed with her kindergarten teacher, she is ready.

In it she writes..

My favorite thing that happened this year is... reading.
My favorite subject in school is.... math and reading.
My favorite special class is... art.
I like it because.... we make fun things.
I like to play on the playground because... we get to run.

TV

noreply@blogger.com (Stacey) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:33:00 +0000

Over a month ago we decided to give up TV during the week. I was pretty convinced that it was causing more stress than relaxation. Caroline was constantly asking when they could watch what program.

Driving home, I would often hear "Will Toot and Puddle be on? Are we going to miss Toot and Puddle!?" Or earlier in the day, "If we watch Franklin now, will be able to watch Miss Spider later? Will we, will we?!" The stress in Caroline's voice suggested crisis, not tv.

All the scheduling and questions combined with the research that suggests that tv is not the ideal thing for the developing brain, led to a decision- no tv during the week. After a few weeks, I felt great about my decision. Our weekdays were calmer and I was sure that Caroline's behavior was better on tv free days.

At one point, without realizing her wisdom, Caroline asked "Is it like there is caffeine in tv?"

I have decided that for her, yes, it is like there is caffeine (or something stronger!)in tv.

Last week with school out and non-stop rain, I decided that watching tv during the week might be ok- at least until camp started. Mid week Caroline's behavior began to deteriorate. You could argue that most of the problem was a different schedule but if you were living it, it truly felt like more. By Friday, we decided to turn the tv off. And amazingly, Caroline's behavior had improved dramatically by Sunday.

There is something to this. I hate to think what Caroline's brain is going to do on real caffeine...

Camp

noreply@blogger.com (Stacey) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 00:32:00 +0000

Today marked the beginning of a new phase in my life. Both Katherine and Caroline were at camp for 5 hours. I have not had that much uninterrupted in 6 years- literally. I spent most of the time consumed with Mommy guilt.

I knew that Caroline would be fine as she's been at school full day for over a year now. But I did worry about Katherine. Her school day has only been two hours and she has never had lunch away from home.

She was smiling when I picked her up and she was quick to tell me all the things she had done- splashed in the pool, had a snack, read a story and played princesses. But the very first thing she said when I asked her about her day was that she had "gone potty a million times."

Perhaps tomorrow I can relax into my newly discovered free time knowing that Katherine is happily peeing at camp.

Laughter is the Best Medicine

noreply@blogger.com (Stacey) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 11:59:00 +0000

Rob arrived home as I was doing the dinner dishes last night.

I had just finished cleaning up Katherine's third potty accident of the day. Prior to that I had discovered the remnants of a 'stew' that Caroline and a friend had made during an afternoon play date. Apparently, the mixture of nail polish remover and kitty litter straight from the litter box was intended for the friend's big brother- a 'gift' of sorts. I had found the stew all over the house in various small containers. Behind Caroline's bed, on a chair in the basement, under the dining room table.

When I asked Rob if he was ready for dinner- a homemade pasta primavera that I had whipped up while stew was being created- he said he would have a little. He wasn't too hungry because a client had taken him to Morton's Steakhouse for a delicious lunch.

And I laughed because really what else was there to do...

Rain, Rain Go Away

noreply@blogger.com (Stacey) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 11:53:00 +0000

Both girls are reciting the words to Rain, Rain Go Away and The Old Man is Snoring multiple times a day. I suppose more frequent exposure to poetry could be the silver lining in our ridiculous weather.... In the meantime however we all desperately need the sunshine. We need to be outside, breathing in fresh air, feeling the warmth of the sun and running, swinging and sliding. This has been our first week of summer vacation and while the girls are doing remarkably well given the weather, it sure would be nice to be outside.

Last night, Katherine was watching baseball with Rob while I read bed time stories to Caroline. Often, Katherine will sit as I read chapter books with Caroline, which I always find amazing, but last night was not one of those nights. As she climbed up on Rob's lap she said, "I love balls. I want to play baseball now." Rob convinced her that perhaps she could wait to play ball until the morning.

As she looked outside a few minutes ago at the rain pouring from the sky, she said thoughtfully, "Well, maybe I'll play baseball tonight."

Or maybe next month at the rate things are going...

Caroline's Mall

noreply@blogger.com (Stacey) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 11:46:00 +0000

Yesterday the girls spent part of their morning playing with friends from our babysitting co-op. When I picked them up, I was able to catch of glimpse into Caroline's mind.

The children had spent a ton of time creating a town with side walk chalk. There were roads, cars, a hot dog stand, trees and stores. One of the main attractions was "Caroline's Mall." Within the mall were the stores that must, on some level, represent what is important to Caroline. I stood and imagined myself window shopping and relaxing at the restaurant, the book shop, Pottery Barn Kids, the beauty parlor, the ice cream shop and my favorite, 'Nice Shoes'.

Sounds like a pretty nice place to me too...

A Village

noreply@blogger.com (Stacey) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 20:17:00 +0000

In today's world, it is a special thing to be surrounded by a community of woman. I often hear stories of "the good old days" when generations of women raised their children together. If you weren't living with your mother or grandmother than she was down street. And if that weren't the case, you had a neighborhood full of woman to rely on to help you or just to provide company. There were often extra hands on deck. Now a days, it's common to be far from family and many of us are so busy that our neighborhoods are often empty.

Today, I felt a bit like I lived in the good old days- thanks to my babysitting co-op. Our day began when one of our co-op members arrived at our doorstep at 8am. This woman also happens to be Katherine's speech therapist and we had a session scheduled. With the girls out of school and nothing but rain in our past or our future, I had been wondering if I was going to be able to go running all week. Suddenly, I realized that we could kill two birds with one stone. While Katherine and Caroline worked with our speech therapist, she earned co-op points while I ran.

Shortly after our session was over, I brought the girls to another co-op house so that I could attend the final meeting of my wonderful writing group. On the way out the door, I mentioned that I would be going to the grocery store on the way back and the co-op mom asked if I could pick something up for her.

When I went to pick the girls up, I had another idea. We had a special play date scheduled for Caroline this afternoon that would have been a bit boring for Katherine. The co-op mom who was watching the girls had mentioned that their day was pretty empty and it was actually helping her to have the girls in the morning. That gave me the idea to bring Katherine back in the afternoon and have time with Caroline and her friend without a toddler who might slow down the big girls.

When we came to pick Katherine up, we all decided to go out together for cupcakes. A satisfying and yummy treat.

As the day has come to a close, I can't stop appreciating how helpful and relaxing it is to live, even for a day, in a close knit community. So many people won today. I ran. Our speech therapist, who needed co-op points, got points. I spent the morning with my writing group. The girls spent the morning playing with friends and a mom had new faces to help her entertain her twins. I saved a mom a trip to a grocery store- a trip I know she dreads with two three olds by her side. I spent an afternoon with Caroline while Katherine played happily outside with friends. And we all ended the day with cupcakes.

It takes a village and today I had one.

Potty Training Contiues

noreply@blogger.com (Stacey) — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 18:23:00 +0000

We've had a long and wet week, with many downs but an equal number of ups. Katherine is making some significant progress and I think she may actually be potty trained by the time her camp starts on June 22nd.

In addition to conquering the challenge of potty training, Katherine is showing us her will, her intelligence and her humor. One day this week, she was accident free through dinner time. After dinner, Rob found Katherine standing in her room with pee streaming down her leg. He asked her what had happened, to which she replied, "My pee thought it was night time." Katherine is still sleeping in diapers. Apparently, her pee believed that she had her night time diaper on.

Now how can you get frustrated with that.