Sister Love

Staley is at a sleepover with a friend tonight.  When we were putting Adelie to bed, she said, "I wish Staley was here to sleep with me."  Zach told her that Staley would be home in the morning.  Adelie said, "But I feel braver and safer when she's here."

Interview with a 6 Year Old

Okay, technically Adelie is still 3 days shy of turning 6, but I wanted to get her interview done before leaving on our spring break trip.  Here you go:

Favorite color:  White
Favorite food:  Corn dogs
Least favorite food:  Broccoli
Favorite restaurant:  McDonalds
Favorite dessert:  Gummy worms and gummy bears
Favorite toy:  My  new camera
Favorite stuffed animal:  Fuzzington, my new changy stuffed animal (named Weedy)
Favorite animal:  Baby chick
Favorite game:  Under the Sea Treasures
Favorite movie:  The Greatest Showman
Favorite sport:  Basketball
Favorite activity:  Swimming lessons
Favorite thing to do at home:  Art
Favorite thing to do at school:  Play
Favorite place to go locally:  State Farm pool
Favorite place to go on vacation:  Disney World and the beach
Favorite thing to do with Staley:  Play American Girl dolls
Favorite thing to do with Briggs:  Read books, play spy camp
Favorite thing to do with Mommy:  Cook
Favorite thing to do with Daddy:  Exercise
Favorite book:  The Frog Princess series
Favorite princess:  Ariel
Favorite superhero: Poison Ivy
Favorite outfit:  My pink changy (where the sequins flip to change colors) mermaid shirt
Favorite pajamas:  My Pegasus nightgown
Favorite play you've been in:  Lion King

What are you excited about doing when you are 6?  Going to first grade
What are you scared of?  Veggies
What is the best thing about you?  I make really good art
What are you good at?  Swimming, art, doing my hair (???)
Who is your best friend?  Jackson Hitchens, Aizlee, Levi, William, Reese
What do you want to be when you grow up?  Artist

My Girls

Today after school the kids were packing up for our up-coming spring break trip.  I told my kids how many and what type of clothes they needed to pack.  One of my daughters carefully counted and selected each clothing item she wanted to bring.  She slowly and systematically folded each item of clothing and organized them into specific areas of her suitcase.  My other daughter pulled things from her drawers and closet without much rhyme or reason, often miscounting how many items she threw in there.  She tossed each item into her suitcase in a growing mound of clothes.  Folding and organizing?  Not so much.  At one point I watched said daughter take off her dirty socks that she had been wearing all day and toss them into her suitcase.  When I asked why she was packing dirty socks, she said, "Because they are my favorites."  *sigh*

How can two kids from the same two parents living in the same environment be so different?

Question of the Day

Why do we no longer have any soap, shampoo, or conditioner left in the main floor bathroom?

Because what started out as washing mermaids in this little tub turned into Briggs's foot bath.

Or "Briggs is fut bath", as the sign indicates.

You will also notice from the sign that we say yes to feet and no to hands.

Briggs spent about 30 straight minutes washing Adelie's feet with copious amounts of soap, shampoo, and conditioner.  He may have emptied out our supply of shower products, but Adelie now has the sweetest smelling feet in town.

Silver Smile

Most kids dread the day they get braces.  Not this girl!  She's been counting down the days and couldn't wait to add a little more silver to her smile.  (Actually, I think she was most excited about getting to pick the colors for her rubber bands.  For the record, she went with pink, purple, blue, black, and gray.)  Now with her bottom expander, upper retainer, and braces, I think her mouth has more metal in it than teeth.

Even with her mouth full of metal, I still love this smile.

More Birthday Fun

March is just the birthday month that keeps on giving.  Although Adelie's actual birthday isn't even until next week, we continued our month of celebrations with a friend party for Adelie this past week-end.  I had offered that Adelie could do a birthday activity with a friend or two, but she instead requested a party with a few friends.  I was initially planning on just having the kids come over to play at our house, but we decided to take advantage of our church gym for a little more room for fun.

Adelie chose 6 friends (4 boys and 2 girls) that she wanted to invite.  With the addition of her siblings and one of her friend's siblings (who is also one of Staley's friends), we had a nice group of 10 kids to celebrate with Adelie.

We continued with the mermaid birthday party theme because, well, it's Adelie.

Although we kept things simple, there were a few mermaid decorations, gold fish crackers, and some mermaid tail cake balls as treats.

We played a tag game that I made up called Mermaid Island.  It was a big hit.  (You might think otherwise based on the fact that the birthday girl is sitting on the floor crying in this picture, but when you are almost 6, sometimes you still get sad when you are tagged.)

Because really, who doesn't love a tag game involving pool noodles?

Grammie came and told a few stories with her puppets.  The kids all really enjoyed the story time...and it was a nice way to relax after lots of pool noodle tagging.

The kids all got to make their own aquarium to take home.  Zach thought we should have sent all the kids home with a real fish, but I figured if we got into the habit of sending live pets home from our parties, pretty soon no one will come to them.  So instead, we just used plastic sea creatures.

Adelie chose a crab as her new "pet".  She named it Peanut and declared the craft her favorite part of the whole party.

I'm glad she liked the craft so well, but I thought the surprise bouncy house might have taken first prize.  Not surprising, the bouncy house was a big hit with all the kids.  And it was also a great way to make sure everyone went home worn out and ready for a good night's sleep.

Adelie and Aizlee

Adelie, Grant, and Reese

Adelie and William

Adelie and Jaci

Adelie and Levi

As Adelie was getting ready to head over to the church with Zach, he asked if she was excited about her party.  With a big smile, she exclaimed, "Yes!  It's all about me."  For our middle child who sometimes gets lost in the shuffle, it was fun to have a day that was all about her.  We had so much fun celebrating with Adelie and her friends.

Four Years Old

Briggs is officially 4 years old, so this is my lengthy annual post all about my kids at each age.  Here is everything to know about Briggs at 4.

Briggs is 40.5" (55th percentile) and 33 lbs (24th percentile).  He is wearing some 3T and mostly 4T clothes and size 9 shoes.  He goes to pre-school 2 mornings each week, attends 3 year old Sunday School and Children's Church on Sundays, enjoys library story time, and spends my 2 days of work with grandparents.  He no longer needs pull-ups at night and no longer takes an afternoon nap.  He generally sleeps 11-12 hours at night, going to bed around 8:00 and usually waking up between 7 and 7:30.

And most days he wakes up happy.

Likes:  Briggs loves anything with wheels.  Cars, trains, buses, construction vehicles, tractors...if it has wheels, Briggs likes it.  Favorite toys are his cars and trucks and construction vehicles, his trains and his train table, and Magnatiles.  He enjoys puzzles and is very good at them.  Briggs loves to read with favorite books generally being books about cars, trucks, or vehicles.  However, he's happy to sit and listen to books of all kinds for as long as someone will read to him.  He is even joining us now for bedtime chapter books with his sisters that don't have any pictures, and he follows along with the plot and the story really well.

Briggs and Staley reading their new library books

We don't watch television, but Briggs's favorite movies/shows to watch on DVD are Planes, Cars, Thomas movies, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  He still enjoys Paw Patrol and Blaze and the Monster Machines, although hasn't seen these in quite some time.  He is getting more interested in doing craft activities with his sisters and is beginning to spend more time drawing and coloring.  He loves listening to books on tape.  The Pond is his current favorite series of stories on CD, but he also really enjoys Nathanial the Grublet, Little Tree, and Disney read-a-long books on tape as well.  Briggs likes playing games and does really well holding his own during family games.  Memory, Apples to Apples Disney, Tumble, the Blaze game, and Spot It are a few of his favorites.  Briggs enjoys spending time with friends at pre-school, church, small group, and in the neighborhood, but his sisters are his favorite playmates.  All my kids have a great time playing together.  Lately they have been playing Spy Camp (sneaking around the house "spying" on Zach and I), school (Adelie and Briggs created a pre-school type game called 'Littles'), climbing into stacked up laundry baskets, and chasing each other around the house.  Briggs is always an active participant in the plays and performances the girls put on, and he's always willing to play dolls or figurines or whatever his sisters are playing.

Briggs always loves playing with his sisters, no matter what the game might be.

Although his sisters are his best playmates, other good friends include Grace, Sterling, Keiko (who are all girls from pre-school, our neighborhood, and/or church), Amos (a boy from small group), and his cousins.  Briggs enjoys outings and is happy no matter where we go, whether it's Target, the grocery store, the zoo, or the library.  Briggs is generally a good eater, but favorite foods are chicken nuggets (or chicken "nunnets" as he calls them), meatballs, pancakes, Michael's garlic bread, most fruits, and most sweets.  He loves to eat at restaurants with McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Cornerstone, and Culver's as a few of his favorites.

Briggs has lots of favorite things, but his sisters top the list.

Dislikes:  Briggs is a sensitive child and still has many things that scare him.  He does not like storms, the dark, wind, eating outside, most movies (especially those with bad guys or ones that he's never seen before), fireworks/scoreboard buzzers/loud noises in general, and the dentist.  He still lacks patience in some situations and gets upset when needs aren't met as quickly as he thinks they should be.  He can also get upset if he wants someone to play with him and everyone is busy.

Skills:  Briggs can run, jump, climb, wrestle, ride his scooter, hop on one foot, and throw and kick a ball.  He can cut with scissors, manipulate small objects, and complete 35-48 piece puzzles without help.  He is not consistent with his crayon grasp, still sometimes holding it in a fist rather than with his fingers, but that is improving.  He can write B, R, I in his name with verbal cues and needs a little help with the Gs and the S to get them facing the right direction.  Briggs is becoming more and more independent.  He can dress and undress himself, take himself to the bathroom, button large buttons, zip his coat, and get his shoes and socks on and off.  He feeds himself, still preferring his fingers but can use his silverware when we ask him to.  He is now washing himself in the bathtub with verbal cues to make sure he does it thoroughly and can brush his own teeth, although I still often follow up for thoroughness.  Briggs can blow his nose.  He is a very good helper and does well helping with cooking and baking, including cracking eggs and using the mixer.  He will also help push the buttons to start the washer and dryer, help move clothes from the washer to the dryer, and help with cleaning around the house.  He is usually really good about cleaning up his toys and putting things back where they go.

My little kitchen helper

Briggs is very bright.  He knows all his colors and shapes, can count to 29 (often getting a little tripped up with 13, 14, 15, 16), recognizes a handful of his upper case letters, and can say his ABCs.  He is very inquisitive, has a good memory, and likes to talk through lots of scenarios and situations.  I think talking through things helps him to process things and understand things so that they are not scary or unknown, but I love how he is always trying to rationalize things or figure things out.

Briggs has a very sweet personality.  He loves to snuggle and cuddle.  He's quick with an 'I love you'.  He is very easy to take and does great on outings, even when it involves waiting at the cell phone place or stopping at multiple stores.  He is great at sharing, plays very nicely with friends and siblings, and can also entertain himself for long periods of time.  He has a sweet, loving, fun, easy-going personality...and those big eyes melt my heart.  It's so fun to watch the little boy he's growing up to be.

My big 4 year old!

Outside the Box

Staley's class just completed a school project.  Each child chose any animal they wanted, completed a research project, wrote a paper, and then decorated a potato to look like that animal.  Many of the kids in Staley's class chose animals that you would expect:  tiger, dolphin, cat, dog, tree frog, cheetah, zebra.  Staley chose the northern hairy nosed wombat.  It seems very fitting: a unique and rare animal for my one-of-a-kind little girl.

Just like her northern hairy nosed wombat, Staley isn't afraid to step outside the box...and I love that!

Volleyball

Staley loves to try out all the different sports that the park district has to offer, so this year she added volleyball to her repertoire.  The first and second grade girls play with a larger, lighter, softer ball and a lower net.  Staley had never played before and she improved so much from the beginning of the season to the end.

At the beginning of the season, Staley was not able to get her serves over the net and had difficulty in practice passing the ball without missing it completely or making it go behind her.  By the end of the season, she could consistently serve the ball over the net and even returned the other's team serve back over the net (albeit out of bounds) one time.  In practice, she could pretty consistently pass the ball over the net when it was tossed to her.  She was still not very aggressive during games, often watching the ball fall in front of her without going to get it, but that was typical of many of the girls.  Her improvement throughout the season was significant and that was very fun to see!

Staley's best friend plays volleyball, which was one of the reasons Staley really wanted to play.  They were excited to be on the same team.

Staley and Lilian

Although my volleyball playing experience ended in 8th grade (which was a fair number of years ago), I offered to help coach Staley's team.  We had a good group of girls and my limited knowledge was generally still a step ahead of the players, so it worked out fine.  It also helped that the other coach (Lilian's mom) played college volleyball and coaches volleyball at the high school.  The bonus was that coaching together meant that Staley and Lilian were assured a spot on the same team.

The season was fairly short and ended with a little tournament.  There were only 4 teams in the league, but Staley's team got second place.  They were so excited to be in the championship game as the first 2 teams got trophies while the other 2 teams only got medals.

So excited about her second place trophy!

I really enjoyed watching Staley progress throughout the season in her volleyball skills. She had fun, gained confidence, and built a foundation for another sport that she enjoys.  

My little volleyball player

Birthday Celebrations

Briggs turned 4 and that is something worth celebrating.  Since I had to work on Briggs's actual birthday, we had a fun day-before-turning-4 activity with swimming and lunch at Pizza Hut (Briggs's last free buffet for kids under 4) with Aunt Melissa, Caroline, and Lucy while the other kids were at school.  It was a great way to kick off his birthday week.

Even though I was at work, Briggs still had a great day on his birthday.  He got to take treats to pre-school and celebrate with his friends. When we went to the grocery store to pick out his pre-school treats, we looked through the bakery section at the pretty cupcakes, cookies, and brownies.  But Briggs decided he wanted to take a box of Little Debbie Easter cakes.  Ummmm...okay.

Pre-school birthday fun

After pre-school, Briggs got to go out to lunch with Uma.  Birthday treats and lunch dessert???  Winning!!  We then celebrated that evening with birthday dinner with grandparents.  Briggs picked his favorite meal:  meatballs and cheesy carrots.

Briggs told me that for his birthday he wanted a really big cake with one cake on top of another cake.  Since I ended up dropping one of the first 2 cakes on the floor, he ended up with a 3 layer cake.  Even better!!  He loved telling everyone that he had a "HUGE" birthday cake.

When we asked Briggs what he wanted for his birthday, the only thing he asked for was a wrecking ball.  Done!

Staley and Adelie worked together to make coordinated birthday presents for Briggs.  Staley typed him a book (complete with pictures she staged and took) about Briggs's stuffed animal wanting a bed.

And Adelie made a little bed for his stuffed animal.  He was pleased with his gifts and the girls were very excited to give them to him.

Although it was a fun couple days of celebration, the fun wasn't over yet.  This past week-end, we had a combined family party to celebrate both Briggs and Adelie.  Last year we had a combined mermaid train party.  This year, Adelie wanted ANOTHER (4 years and counting) mermaid party while Briggs wanted another train party.  This mom loves when she can recycle birthday decorations and ideas.

Mermaids and trains.  Such a seamless combination.

There were mermaid and train treats and decorations.

I'm not sure how the taco bar fit with the theme, but the mermaid cupcakes and train cookies helped tie it all together.

Staley came up with all the birthday games.  She made up a mermaid and train quiz with questions like "How many mermaid shirts does Adelie have in her closet?" and "What is the name of the shed where Thomas lives?"  There was also a toss-the-mermaids-into-the-basket game for the kids.

There were lots of fun presents to open.

And the kids had the best time playing together with all their cousins.  (I intended to take a cousin picture at some point during the party, but it never happened.  Bummer!!)

It was a very fun day celebrating our two March birthday kids!!

My Girls

My girls are outside playing in the backyard with some neighbors.  I told them to stay in our backyard or the neighbor's backyard where I can see them.  I just watched as all the other kids ran around to the front of the neighbor's house.  Staley stayed dutifully in the backyard, watching them disappear from sight while standing all alone where she was supposed to.  Adelie followed the group of kids around the house without a second thought.

That's my girls.

Bedtime Woes

Bedtime is not the best time of the day for Briggs.  I had hoped that turning 4 might have marked a turning point for Briggs's bedtime behaviors, but alas that change did not magically occur.  

Briggs is a creature of habit.  (Hand socks, anyone?)  With his sensitivities and anxieties, he likes to know what to expect and he likes things to stay the same.  Unfortunately, his bedtime habits have been staying the same...and the same is not good.  Every night, Briggs complains that he doesn't want to sleep.  Every night we have to go through the same routine where Briggs tells me, "Good night.  I love you.  I don't want sleep.  Will you check on me when you go to bed?"  Every. single. night.  Multiple times.  Every night we put Briggs to bed and he lasts about 30 seconds before he's out of bed, telling us again that he doesn't want to sleep or double checking that I'm going to check on him when I go to bed or telling me he loves me...and then asking to be tucked back in.  Over.  And over.  And over again.  Sometimes it's only 2-3 times.  Last night it was about 15 times in the 30 minutes it took until he finally fell asleep.

I feel like we've tried everything to get him to stay in bed.  We had resumed naps when the school year started, but officially ended them again a few months ago.  This has helped as he is now falling asleep earlier so we aren't dealing with these bedtime behaviors until 9:30 or 10:00 at night like we were when he was napping.  We've tried positive reinforcement through words of praise and encouragement.  We've tried bribery through promises of special treats.  We've tried negative reinforcement with loss of toys or activities when getting out of bed.  We've tried reasoning with him.  We've tried getting upset with him.  We've tried refusing to tuck him back in and insisting he do it himself.  And then we've tried ignoring the massive and never-ending tantrum that occurs when he will not get back into bed without someone taking him.  Obviously nothing has worked on a consistent basis or I wouldn't be writing this post.

To go along with the difficulty in getting Briggs to stay in bed at bedtime, he also still wakes up in the middle of the night more often than not.  This usually just entails taking him to the bathroom and tucking him back in bed, but sometimes (like last night) he resorts to some of his bedtime behaviors.  At 4:00 this morning, we tucked Briggs back into his bed about 6 times before he finally stayed.  

I know that different childhood phases come and go.  I often remind myself that as my kids are going through their various difficult phases.  I worry, though, that Briggs will hold onto his phases longer just because of who he is and how he craves consistency.  (Hand socks, anyone??)  I feel like this poor bedtime behavior phase has already gone on too long.  We've already determined that the light at the end of the tunnel is not the new nightlight, perfectly executed not-too-big and not-too-small crack when shutting the bedroom door, ideal blanket tuck, or soothing lullabye.  It's not having everything he could possibly need (drink, Kleenex, lotion, chapstick) right next to his bed within easy reach.  It's not a consistent nightly bedtime routine.  I'm not sure what the turning point will be, but there is one thing that has changed.  Now Briggs and I both kind of dread his bedtime every night.

Interview with a 4 Year Old

Favorite color:  Blue and green
Favorite food: Fruit
Least favorite food:  Broccoli and spinach
Favorite restaurant:  Pizza Hut
Favorite dessert:  Brownies and cupcakes
Favorite toy:  Cars
Favorite stuffed animal: Goodie
Favorite animal:  Giraffes and elephants
Favorite game:  Memory
Favorite movie:  Thomas and the Blue Mountain Mystery
Favorite sport:  Baseball
Favorite thing to do at home:  Play
Favorite thing about pre-school:  My friends
Favorite place to go locally:  Children's museum with the train table and the balls (Peoria)
Favorite place to go for vacation:  Pentwater and Disney World
Favorite thing to do with Adelie:  Play figurines and cars, play spy camp
Favorite thing to do with Staley:  Play figurines and magnatiles and cars
Favorite thing to do with Mommy:  Play cars and trucks and trains
Favorite thing to do with Daddy:  Play cars and trucks and trains
Favorite book:  Thomas the train books
Favorite princess: Tiana
Favorite superhero:  All the superheroes
Favorite train:  Thomas and Paxton and James
Favorite pajamas:  My rocket pajamas
What are you excited about doing when you are 4?  Having birthday cake
What are you scared of?  The dark
What's the best thing about you?  I like drawing.
What are you good at? Puzzles and building
Who is your best friend?  Sterling
What do you want to be when you grow up?  I want to clean houses when I grow up.

My big 4 year old!

Happy Birthday, Briggs!

It was four years ago today that Briggs came into the world and completed our family.  As I was going through old baby pictures looking for a collection of favorites to add to this post, I got sidetracked as I sifted through month after month of pictures.  I couldn't help but smile as I watched the cute sleeping baby pictures morph into pictures of those first smiles that lit up his whole face.  I came across pictures of Briggs learning how to sit and starting to roll and taking his first steps.  There were pictures of him sleeping and pictures of him crying and pictures of him on trips and pictures of him at home.  As I skipped from month to month and year to year, I watched Briggs growing up right before my eyes.  It brought me so much joy to remember the baby he was and to think about the boy he is becoming.  Part of me finds it a little bittersweet, watching my last baby not be a baby anymore.  But the other part of me feels nothing but joy...because that is what Briggs brings into my life.  So much joy!!

My cuddly...

happy...

easy...

sweet...

adorable...

smart...

fun...

amazing little boy is 4!

Happy Birthday, Briggs!!

I love you more than you could ever know!