Yesterday was Hallie’s “Big Show” at the the Little Gym. She’d had her gymnastics show last week but they do a production for the dance part of her class. All the little girls wore special costumes and performed one ballet dance and one tap dance for an enthusiastic audience of family and friends.
Before the performances the little girls were tearing around and giggling like mad. During the show all but 1 or 2 looked either sad or bored. And as soon as the “formal” part was done, they were all racing around giggling and smiling again. I guess the steps took so much concentration there was no room for smiles!
Hallie and Travis were both thrilled to have their Grandma and D-Daddy in the audience. And Hallie felt very special when presented with her flowers from Gum and Gup. The cake and punch afterwards were a special surprise treat. Hallie’s quite proud of her “medal,” which I had to remove before sending her into school today. It was a good session for Hallie and I’m sure at some point we’ll be back for more.
Hallie spent a while on Saturday coloring some Halloween pictures we’d printed, but never used, for Travis’s birthday party. Periodically she’d announce, “My picture is REALLY scary!” But the best line, which she used for several pictures, was “My picture is so scary I’m scaring myself!” That must be a scary picture indeed!
Hallie’s been asking for a while to “take soccer lessons.” With her current Little Gym session ending, it seemed a good time to try something new. We’ve spent some time kicking her soccer balls around the yard but I really didn’t know how she would like lessons. Turns out she loved them!
We went for a trial lesson at the Factory’s Lil Kickers program on Saturday. Their classes for Hallie’s age were all at really inconvenient times but there was a 5-6 year old beginners class on Saturday mornings. With Hallie being so tall, I thought maybe the age wouldn’t be a big deal.
Hallie was really charged up before class, and we spent the hour before the lesson kicking balls around our back yard. As the class was gathering, we realized it was all boys! Again, I wondered how Hallie would react to that. And it didn’t faze her at all. She spent the whole class with an enormous grin on her face. She wasn’t the fastest or the most aggressive, but she stuck right in there, charging around and going after the ball and doing all the “drills” (really games) with her heart in it.
I liked the feel of the class. They played “sharks and minnows” (a version of tag) and red light, green light with soccer balls and a few other things that felt fun to the kids but also had them stopping and starting and darting side to side and doing other things that will help with soccer skills. I’m a little ambivalent about committing all of our Saturday mornings, but mostly I’m glad to find something else that’s going to help Hallie be active, especially something it looks like she’ll really enjoy.
At one point out of the blue Hallie announced, “I like my soccer coach.” And this morning she was talking about a boy in her class who got upset when someone else tried to kick the ball. “I was thinking about that boy, Mommy,” she told me while washing her hands. “I should have just told him that getting the ball kicked away is just part of playing soccer.” She’s had one lessons and she’s already ready to teach her classmates:-)
I realized yesterday that today would be the one-year anniversary of the spill that fractured Travis’s femur. I remember the date b/c it was his 15 month birthday. But I was reminded of the incident when I came around the corner from the den yesterday to see Travis spreading toy plates on the foyer and then trying to stand and slide around on them. A good recipe for a repeat performance! (I made it clear that wasn’t to be done again . . .)
Today was to be my first day with both kids in school and no firm commitment. Didn’t work out that way. Of the 8 Monday and Wednesdays since T started school, 3 Mondays were holidays and 2 days he was out sick. Of the other three days, I spent all of one filling in at Hallie’s school and the other touring Casa Esperanza. Today I was finally going to have my solo work time and time for a little exercise. But when I called the ENT yesterday to say that Hallie’s forehead was hurting her and that asking us to come back in two weeks but then not fitting us in for a month was unacceptable, they offered me a cancellation at 10:10 this morning. I couldn’t very well pick and choose, so we turned today into Hallie and Mommy day.
Hallie was tickled by the special solo attention. We get a fair amount of Mommy/Hallie time when T naps and she doesn’t, but it was different being out and about alone. We went to Great Harvest Bread Co. before her appt. and had a lovely morning treat. After the doctor’s we went by my hair salon to have a few stray bangs fixed from Saturday’s haircut. Hallie loved being there and got all sorts of compliments from the staff. Then we picked up a couple of craft supplies she’s been wanting before heading back to pick up T. I promised Hallie that we would try to have one day a month where she stays home and T goes to school. She was thrilled with that idea.
Hallie’s been less than enthusiastic about school lately and very Mommy-focused. She often complains she doesn’t like the person we carpool with, but since we’ve been doing that all year I’m not sure that’s really an issue. I think it’s more that she doesn’t like anyone but me driving her. She’s also been saying that it feels like school is just too long. She finally told me tonight that she’s been feeling a little bored. I was thrilled to have something concrete to focus on. I told her I’d talk with her teacher tomorrow. She agreed that I could do that, but only after saying several times that she would be embarrassed. I assured her I’d let Ms. Gretel know how she felt and we’d make sure she didn’t feel embarrassed by anything. I hope this helps!
BTW, our ENT follow-up wasn’t terribly conclusive. The doctor said that kids Hallie’s age really don’t have sinuses developed in their forehead area yet. (Who knew?) Since all the symptoms of her infection have cleared up, he thought it really unlikely that this was related. He suggested the weather changes and said we could also try a decongestant in case there is a little pressure building in there. Hallie’s pediatrician had cautioned me to watch for behavioral issues, too, as in attention-seeking behavior. I haven’t seen anything that makes me think that’s at play, but it’s a good thing to be on the watch for, especially if she’s not thrilled with going to school these days. Hopefully we can take care of that and the rest will take care of itself.
Though he’s been enrolled for 4 weeks, today was Travis’s third day of preschool. And it went MUCH better than Day #2. He was happy and excited talking about it in advance, but he got weepy as soon as we turned into the parking lot. I had Hallie with us, and T said he’d like her to help walk him in (which made Hallie feel very important!).
T was crying and holding on to me when we got in the classroom, but he kept calling, “Daddy! Daddy!” Just as I got his coat off, his teacher Ms. Valerie appeared and jumped right in. We had stuck a few small toys in T’s backpack to “keep him company.” I asked him to show one to Ms. Valerie, and even though the tears didn’t stop immediately, I saw a clear change in his attitude. We got out his bear and she got him in her lap. Hallie and I said our goodbyes quickly, and I didn’t hear any wails as we left.
Hallie and I got coffee and milk and cinnamon bread at a nearby bakery to kill time before her doctor’s appt. Afterwards, we swung back by the Y and I snuck up and peeked in the window. My heart settled to see T standing in front of the truck shelves. Valerie told me at pickup that it was less than 2 minutes before he was completely fine and engaged by things in the classroom. Huge sigh of relief from me!
And WHAT a proud and happy guy when we picked him up! Hallie and I sat in the parking lot and spied on him charging around the playground. When we went in for him, he started chattering a mile a minute about the things he did, and he just beamed as I admired the first pieces of artwork he had to bring home. It may be a few more days before we have no tears at drop-off, but we’re definitely on the right track!
We got Hallie and Travis on the ice for the first time today, and they loved it! They wore their mommy out, but we all had a good time.
I took lessons as a kid, so I can fumble my way around the rink. Mark decided he wasn’t confident enough to handle himself and a flailing kid (wise decision, since it was a LOT of work and pretty darn unsteady). So, I took turns holding Hallie and Travis up as we stumbled around the rink.
Both of them were gung-ho the whole time. And both got pretty upset when their turns ended. Travis was easier to maneuver than Hallie. He’s lighter and shorter, and I could more or less just hold him under his arms and scoot him around. He had a blast, cackling and sliding his feet around. I don’t think it would take too much for him to make some progress on his own.
Hallie was a bigger challenge, though no less enthusiastic. I had to support almost all of her weight at the beginning while her long legs went shooting every direction. Both kids would tend to lean backwards, which left me holding all their weight and their feet more likely to fly every which way.
After the first couple of laps with Hallie, she started to get some balance and do more of the work. We alternated having her hold the rail with me on the other side and me just holding on under her arms. No matter which we we tried, I got a workout. My back can still feel it, too! But it was really a treat to see how much they liked it. Every time Hallie fell, she’d cackle with laughter and get so giggly that getting her up again was twice as much work.
We’ll have to find a way to get back there and give them each a longer turn. Maybe I’ll take them back one at a time. I looked into lessons but right now nothing fits our schedule. I think I’m going to have to look harder, since there’s a lot of excitement about this idea!
For months I’ve been in the habit of singing to Travis after I turn out his light. He loves music, and even my tuneless ditties thrill him. The problem is, he always wants me to “sing one more song!” So tonight I decided I’d set some boundaries.
“Travis, we’re going to sing three songs tonight and then that’s it, OK? What do you want your first song to be?”
“Small world!”
[[Not very good rendition of "It's a Small World"]]
“OK, so now this is going to be song number two and then we have just one more. What song do you want?”
“Song number two!”
“No, what song do you want me to sing?”
“Song number two!”
I guess when you’ve just told a guy you’re going to sing him “Song Number Two,” it makes sense that that’s what he asks for. Some of the most entertaining things that come out of our kids’ mouths are the ones that make such absolute, perfect sense you realize you could hardly expect any other response.
First of all, Happy Birthday Mark!
Hallie’s had a GREAT time working on birthday preparations. She loves being involved in secrets and surprises, so I engaged her in lots of subterfuge. On Friday, when Mark was working at home, she had a ball telling him “Go upstairs and stay there!” so we could work on his cards. She’s been taunting him about the various birthday errands we’ve been on. She did most of the present wrapping herself and was giddy with the anticipation of giving Daddy his gifts.
We’ve been keeping secrets from Travis, too. He’s not quite so good about not blurting things out. But he thinks the whole thing is pretty exciting, too. He helped open all the presents before Mark’s birthday breakfast. One of them was a bottle of wine. “Drink it Daddy!” Travis demanded. Mark laughed, but T was insistent. “DRINK it, Daddy!” We finally convinced him the wine was for later and we’d get started on some juice.
We’re going to have an adventure this afternoon when we try our first family ice skating trip. Hallie has a classmate who ice skates, and she’s convinced she wants to do it too. She’s already asking for her own skates and costume. We told her she needs to decide she likes it, first. Gum and Gup asked for pictures. It may be all we can do to hold each other up. But we’ll try to capture a shot or two!
Travis is obsessed. He is fixated on Mark’s electric train and apparently thinks about it day and night. And Hallie’s only a few steps behind T in her interest.
It’s Mark’s train from when he was a kid. We’ve had it out a couple of times but it wasn’t running very well. For some reason T got it in his head last week that he wanted it to come out again. He wouldn’t let go of the idea until he got results.
He started by saying, “Daddy’s going to get out his train when he comes home.” I told him he’d need to ask Daddy. So he revised his positive thinking to say “I’m going to ask Daddy to get his train out. I’m going to say ‘please’ and he’s going to say “yes!’” A few hours later, Travis was clearly getting impatient with the wait for Daddy to get home. He thought he’d try some new tactics.
“I talked to Daddy and he said we could get the train out!” he declared. When that didn’t work, he tried again. “I’m Daddy and I’m going to get out the train!” That didn’t work either, though Gum and Gup were impressed with his attempts at visualization. I figure he’s still figuring out his world and he considers anything worth a try just in case it works.
Several times this week T has woken from naps or night with trains on the brain. The first comments out of his mouth have been, “I’m going to get Daddy’s locomotive!” or “I need to go play with my switch” or “I’m going to turn my switch to green” or “There’s a train downstairs!” You can almost see the wheels turning in his head as he figures out how to get to the train most quickly.
Mark took the kids to the train store yesterday. With new track and a clean engine, the train is running much better. And for now at least, it’s got 3/4 of our family under its spell!
