Big Boy

It's officially official.  No more night time pull-ups at our house.  We are now 5/5 on individuals who can sleep in underwear all night and wake up dry in the morning.  Hooray!!

My big sleeping-in-his-undies-now boy!!

Proud

There are many things about my children that make me proud.  I am proud when they do well in school.  I am proud when they learn a new skill.  I am proud when they work hard to accomplish a task.  I am proud when they show increased responsibility and independence.  I am proud when they make good decisions.  But nothing makes me feel more proud than when I see them exhibiting kindness, love, and generosity towards others.

Yesterday, Staley had an orthodontist appointment to get her expander removed.  It did not come out as easily as anticipated.  Although there were some tears, Staley remained brave throughout the removal process.  The orthodontist felt bad that the process was not as quick or easy as it was supposed to be, so he gave Staley a $25 gift card to Barnes and Noble.  (To be fair, with the amount we are paying for her orthodontic work, that gift card was actually from us 150 times over.)  Nevertheless, she was thrilled.  After her appointment, Grandpa took her to Barnes and Noble.  Without prompting, she told him that she wanted to get books for Adelie and Briggs too.  They were so thrilled with their gifts from their sister, and after giving them to her siblings, Staley then proceeded to sit on the couch to read the new books to them.  My heart was so happy.

Although we definitely have our sibling squabbles, all three of my kids demonstrate this love and generosity towards each other.  They get so excited about deciding what they want to make for each other for birthdays and Christmas.  Each time Staley and Adelie go to the Caring Coupon store at school, they generally buy something for themselves as well as for each of their siblings.  When looking through toy catalogs and magazines, they like to point out what their siblings would like as well as what they like.  Today at lunch, I gave Briggs a small bag of M & M's as a treat and he saved a few of them for Staley and Adelie to give them after school.  All these small moments of thoughtfulness and generosity make me more proud than any ribbon, award, or prize ever could.

Thankful

I have so much to be thankful for in my life, but my family tops the list.

#blessedbeyondwords

#thankfuleveryday

Lesson Learned

Just a week or so ago, I was complaining about spending a few hours raking the yard only to find it full of leaves again the next morning.  The universe must have heard my complaints.  

Is my yard still covered in leaves?

You bet!

But can I rake them?

Not unless I shovel them out first.

It's a sad, sad time when you've had multiple snows before all the leaves are even off the trees.  I'll think twice the next time I complain about having to rake leaves.  Lesson learned.

What Happened to Fall??

Remember how it was cold and snowing into the middle of April this year, giving us minimal spring weather before we jumped right into the heat of summer?  And then remember how most of October was cold and rainy with only a handful of nice fall days to enjoy?  And then this happened today...

Please excuse the purple mittens.  Sometimes you have to take function over fashion.

Snow days in April?  Snow days in November?  Spring and fall are my favorite seasons, so it just seems cruel that 2018 doesn't seem to think they are necessary.  Come on, Illinois!  You can do better than this.

S.L.O.W.

It's no secret that Staley has always moved slowly.  She is constantly talking and thinking and singing and daydreaming and getting distracted so completing normal, everyday activities takes so much longer.  I had hoped that this would improve with age, but I haven't observed that miraculous shift yet.  Going to the bathroom is a 5 minute endeavor.  When I send her upstairs to brush her teeth before school, I always have to add "and don't forget to come back down."  The hot water running out is how Staley determines that it's time to be done with her shower.  When Staley played baseball this summer, she never got to warm up in the on deck circle because it would take her so long to take off her visor, put on her helmet, and find a bat that she never had any time to warm up before it was her turn to bat.  Trying to get the girls up, ready, and out of the house for school is generally my least favorite hour of the day because of the constant reminders to "keep moving" and "hurry up."  It's just exhausting.

The other morning as we were trying to get out of the house for school, Staley and I started putting on our tennis shoes at the exact same time.  I got both my shoes on and tied and was reaching for my coat when I looked down to check on Staley's progress.  She had just finished adjusting her sock and was starting to put on her first shoe.  This morning I asked the girls to get dressed for school while I took a quick shower.  When I came in, Adelie was fully dressed and was getting her doll dressed for the day.  Staley had one arm out of her nightgown and was just sitting on her bed, talking to Adelie.  And heaven help us if Staley forgot to pick out her outfit the night before and we have to add that into the morning routine.

There are so many things that Staley is good at.  She is very smart and thoughtful and creative and responsible.  But quick??  Not yet.  But I'll keep waiting for it to happen.

I'm getting really used to waiting.

Basketball

Staley and Adelie just finished up with their basketball clinic that began in September and ran through the end of October.  This was a once/week, hour long session where they worked on learning the fundamentals of basketball.  The last two sessions of clinic they put their new skills to use by scrimmaging with the other girls in clinic.

Adelie struggled with most aspects of the game, but she had a good time and never got discouraged.

Dribbling was hard, passing was hard, and she never made a basket.  However, she did hit the bottom of the rim on several occasions, so that was progress.  During the scrimmage time, Adelie really didn't know what was going on or what she was supposed to do.  Her coaches would tell her where to stand and she would never move until it was time to run to the other end of the court.  Of course, she is only 5 and she was definitely on par with some of the other Kindergarten girls out there.

Staley, however, made vast improvements from last year.  She was much more proficient at dribbling and passing, although was still a little hesitant about catching passes that were thrown to her.  She also made multiple baskets each session.  She never shot during a scrimmage, but she seemed to enjoy defense and did steal the ball on one or two occasions.

Both girls have said that they want to play basketball again next year.  Adelie will get to do basketball clinic again while Staley will move up to playing actual games.  She is very excited about that.

Basketball clinic was a success.  It wasn't very time consuming, but gave the girls an introduction to a sport I love and gave them opportunities to learn and grow and decide if basketball is a sport they enjoy.

At least for now, that answer is yes!

They Say...

Asking Adelie to use the restroom before we go somewhere is a constant struggle as she never ever, ever, ever has to go the bathroom...until she does.  The other day we had this conversation:

Me:  "Adelie, we're getting ready to go.  I need you to go potty and put on your shoes."

Adelie:  "I just went."

Me:  "Really?  When?"

Adelie:  "This morning during breakfast."

Me:  "Well, now it's afternoon so I need you to go again."

*sigh*

Briggs was a fire fighter for Halloween.  Adelie was talking to him about putting out fires.  We had this conversation:

Adelie:  "If your clothes get on fire, all you have to do is run, jump, and roll."  

 Me:  "Do you mean stop, drop, and roll?"  

Adelie:  "Oh yeah.  Maybe the running is what you are not supposed to do."

#closebutnotreally

Briggs often adds an 'ies' to the end of words when talking.  He always asks for huggies or kissies or snuggies. Yesterday, Briggs had the hiccups.  He came into the kitchen and told me, "Mommy, I've got hickies."  

#letsnotsaythat

This morning Briggs asked for shredded wheat for breakfast.  He asked, "Would it be fine if I just eat the frosting part?"

#no

The other day Briggs drew a picture of a bus.  It had windows and circles in the windows for the heads of the people riding the bus.  It was his best picture ever.  I said, "Are you going to put eyes and nose and mouths on the people in the bus?"  Briggs responded, "No because they are not looking out the window.  They are looking inside at the driver."

Briggs has stayed dry every night for the past week or so.  This morning I told him, "You are dry again!  Great job!!  Pretty soon you can wear underpants to bed instead of a pull-up.  And maybe when you stop wearing a pull-up to bed, you can also stop wearing hand socks.  What do you think?"  Briggs responded, "No thanks.  I will wear hand socks until I am a little grown up, like Staley and Adelie.  Then I will be brave enough."

#handsocksforayear

#butatleasthedoesntsuckhisthumb

Halloween

Halloween is always one of the girls' favorite holidays.  While getting ready for bed after trick or treating, Staley said, "I wish Halloween wasn't just a holiday.  I wish it was, like, once a month."  They talk all year long about what they are going to be for Halloween.  (In case you are wondering, Staley and her friend Lilian have already decided that they are both going to be sloths next year.  I'm not sure where the idea came from or how they are going to pull it off, but it seems very fitting as I do believe that the sloth is Staley's spirit animal.)  Anyway, Halloween came and we enjoyed it.

We kicked off our Halloween festivities with a trip to Ackerman Farms to pick out our carving pumpkins last week-end.  You know, on that one nice fall day we've had for all of October.

Staley designed and carved her pumpkin all by herself this year.

Adelie drew her pumpkin face, but had me carve it for her.

Briggs wanted a train pumpkin, so Zach carved it for him and then he painted it.

And Zach carved his giant pumpkin this year with pretty great results.

We did not have any Halloween festivities this year that we attended prior to Halloween.  I had told the kids that they should just choose from costumes, dress up clothes, or materials we already had in the basement, and they all seemed fine with that.

For his pre-school party (which was actually the day before Halloween), Briggs was a construction worker.  Since I was working, Grammie came to his school for the trick or treat portion of the party.

She got to see him trick or treat around the room and then perform a little Halloween song with his class.

Then Uma came to attend the actual party later that morning.  What a lucky boy to have such wonderful grandparents!!

Our pediatric in-patient therapy team decided to get creative for Halloween this year as well.  Although I can't take credit for the idea or much of the costume preparation, I was a willing member of the Jamaican bobsled team.

We did win our department costume contest at the staff meeting, although we had to leave the bobsled in the office for the rest of the day as it wasn't very conducive for therapy sessions.

Staley and Adelie had their parties at the same time on Halloween.  Although I didn't officially help at Staley's party, I snuck out of helping at Adelie's party to see Staley and her friends for a just a little bit.

I enjoyed helping out at Adelie's Halloween party.  Luckily I was just in charge of the snack center and was not the brave soul using a heat gun with sugared-up kindergarteners.

It's always fun to see my kids at school with their friends.

After school and dinner, we then went trick or treating with Uma and Papa.  Staley was the cutest little bumblebee I've ever seen.  I've always loved this hand-me-down costume and was glad that Staley chose that for her Halloween costume this year.

Adelie, of course, insisted on being a mermaid.  She wanted to be a mermaid riding a seahorse.  I was glad that, at least for trick-or-treating, Adelie had the seahorse to cover up the fact that her mermaid costume is about 3 sizes too small.   Unfortunately, she did not have the seahorse when she wore the costume all day for school.  She also proudly wore the too-small costume (with the "fin" that only comes down to her knees) all day at school a few weeks ago for Homecoming week on career day, because if you are planning to be a mermaid when you grow up, what else would you wear?   

Note to self:  Add appropriately sized mermaid costume to Adelie's Christmas list.  :) 

And although Briggs was a construction worker for his school party, he switched things up and decided to be a fire fighter for trick-or-treating.  The weather was really nice for trick-or-treating and we had a fun time walking around the neighborhood and stocking up on more candy than we know what to do with.

All in all, it was another happy, festive, and fun Halloween.