Long time passed...

As I figured, I have not posted very frequently, but here's one from November 2012 (just after Hurricane Sandy blew through). Today, Katie (4 1/2 yrs old) coined a new word: "Havatory". A havatory is a place where you keep your special things... your collectibles, your special little treasures. Anyone can have a havatory. Apparently mine is in my bedside table. :)

A Finn quarterly report

So we're into the summer with a 5-year-old and a 2-year-old. Little things are getting me down, so it's probably a good time to go over the good and the bad and revel a little in the good.

Finn:

Major News Stories:

• Finn is officially signed up for kindergarten, although sometimes I have my doubts about his readiness. Still, academically he's on target, and I think he's probably as far enough along in the social/emotional area. I'm sure there are other kids who are no more ready than he is--it's just that I microanalyze these points (that's the hardship of having a mommy who's a psychologist--sorry kids!).

• This week is swimming lessons, and he's gone into them with gusto!

Current Obsessions:

• One guess... yep, you got it... MARIO. Finn is, as ever, completely obsessed with all things Mario. Not that we really mind--we certainly encourage it via birthday party themes, allowed video games, etc. He still loves kittens, and acts the role sometimes, but not as often as before. He's more into legos now than he used to be. But over all, it's Mario that stands out as the clear favorite.

• Notable LACK of obsession: his bobby. He no longer carries bobby around so much. Bobby stays home for most trips (including hour+ trips in the car). He (Bobby) often is not to be found downstairs. We didn't per se encourage this change--it just evolved naturally.

Unfortunates:

• Finn and I are having some issues dealing with each other lately, even though we love each other very much. I feel really tense and upset frequently by his actions, and I respond in a way that upsets him. It's hard. I'm not sure what changed to make it this way. Finn has been hitting a lot more often, and sometimes seems unable to acknowledge why this is not okay (I can understand him doing it without thinking, but I think at 5 he should be able to reflect on why it was wrong a little bit--at least to say that hitting hurts other people). He probably does know, but he seems unable to address it at the moment, and I guess I'm not great at waiting for resolution on these things. He also melts down very easily, esp. with transitions away from things that are fun, which is of course understandable, but the manner in which he does it is very regressive to me. These things are the main issues for me in terms of feeling like he may not actually be ready for kindergarten despite being old enough. I think that I react a lot to that feeling, in a way that doesn't really help the issue at the moment.

• Once again, I have to say that Finn watches too much TV/video games. He really is so driven toward those media--he still likes to play physically and can be very imaginative, though, so that's a little bit of a relief.

Good things:

• Finn is very loving, and that is so good. Because of all of the hitting and difficulty controlling his emotions, I think the fact that he is loving inside is really important. He's also very good at sharing and playing with his sister, he's very generous with her and with his friends (e.g., happily giving away his Mario cards to one of his friends, despite his level of obsession with Mario).

• Finn has a good sense of humor and enjoys laughing. He likes telling jokes and likes to make up jokes. Sometimes his made-up jokes don't quite make sense to the rest of us, but he still does it.

• Ok, this could sort of be seen as an unfortunate in some ways, but Finn is a natural born commentator, and what I like about that is that it is simply his daddy's genes shining right through. They both are quite incapable of NOT commentating what's going on, which is annoying at times, but it's so uniquely and definitively "them" that I love it.

• Finn loves me. That's strange to put here, but sometimes given my crabbiness, or the way I yell so loudly when mad, or my inability to listen to the cacophony that is a house-full of kids, or my lack of presence when I'm at work... I'm just quite grateful at the extent to which he does love me. And I so love my little squirt!

Common sayings:

• I have to run and so don't have time to write much here. But I'll say one thing, just so that I don't neglect my duty in reporting. Sometimes, now, Finn says "Mom" instead of "Mommy" and you know what... it sounds really weird!

It's been a very long time. Katie is 4 and Finn is 7. But my purpose in making this blog was to write down the funny things my kids do and (especially) say, so that I won't forget everything as the years roll along. Today, Kate had a beaut. and I really want to write it down somewhere relatively permanent. Kate: My underwear are the same on both sides. (A difficulty for trying to put them on oneself.) They're like the world... Except they don't spin. Me: Your underwear are like the world? Kate: Yeah. Me: Because they are the same on both sides? Kate: Uh-huh. But they don't spin. My child, the future philosopher. :)

OLD post (July 29th) -- posted late

I wrote this post in July, and as I recall I went to post it and a glitch occurred and the whole darn thing erased. So I started fresh, but wrote it in Word and saved it dutifully... then never posted it. Here it is, blast from the past, major news and updates from July 29th. Maybe around June I'll get around to posting from this Fall.

Finn:

• Major news stories: Finn is starting kindergarten this fall, and he is also going to have an evaluation for sensorimotor issues. His preschool teacher recommended this, and we’re willing to give it a try (the evaluation) to at least see if there is something we can give him help with. If he does have some sensorimotor issues, they may be related to his giving up and feeling like he can’t accomplish things, and (acc. to his teacher) his unwillingness at times to join in with the other kids in class even though he is interested in what they are doing. Over the summer, Finn took swimming lessons, and really enjoyed when we went to “armor games” (aka SCAdian events) at the Ukranian Homestead, where he got to go swimming and play on the Story Tree.
  Earlier this year (late spring/early summer), Finn surprised me with his reading/writing skills when I hadn’t know he was developing them so strongly. He can read words to you by sounding them out, and he can write words phonetically, e.g., he wrote “TOO SAF” (translation: to Seth) on a birthday present for his friend with no help whatsoever! So exciting!!!

• Current obsessions: Still Mario. He would prefer to be constantly playing Mario, watching Daddy play Mario, or watching Mario on the computer. I feel like he needs to be restrained a bit on this to make sure it doesn’t reach an unhealthy level of sedentary time. H. doesn’t necessarily agree and/or doesn’t always follow through on the restraint, which is a bit of a frustration to me. He also still likes to pretend he’s a kitten at times, but this isn’t as common as it used to be.

• Unfortunates: A few things. The Mario thing is sort of unfortunate, I think. Also, Finn has such a hard time controlling his emotions and knowing what to do with them when he has them. He hits a lot, lately, and it’s become a difficult point between him and I. We had a very rough day where he was hitting and was incapable or unwilling to acknowledge the reason why hitting is not okay (even though I had just told him maybe 15 minute ago). I’m not sure if he’s pretending or what when he says “I don’t remember” but it’s really infuriating to me. He has such a strong memory for other things—it just makes him sound stupid, and on the whole I know he’s not. I can’t wait for him to get past this (I have to assume it’s a phase, or it will really depress me). Also, when he gets really upset, he reverts and acts like a baby with this grating whine/cry that just make H. and I want to rip our ears out. Five years old is a very up and down time for all of us—there are times when the growth is clear and the level of understanding is there, but there are times when he drops down practically into infant mode, and I personally just want to scream (and not infrequently that’s what I do, unfortunately.)

• Good things: As I said, Finn is showing signs of growing up at times, which is so wonderful. It’s the kind of thing you can’t really explain, and the examples are subtle and I tend to forget them. Just little things he says or times when he keeps control over himself when I know he wouldn’t have a year ago. Even though he acts aggressively when he’s frustrated, I know that inside he’s a very nice person. He is very good to his sister—very considerate over all. He’s looking forward to sharing a room and bunk-beds with her, which somewhat surprised me.
  He likes school and doing things that require thinking, like puzzle books, which is wonderful for me to see. He is looking forward to school, which again was a little bit surprising to me. I think he’s rather smart when it comes to numbers and patterns, personally, and he’s been coming quite a long way in terms of reading readiness, as I mentioned above.
  I have to say, I think he is also very attached to me, for which I am grateful. I’m not always the best Mom (see above re: screaming), and it is sometimes surprising to me (this is the “surprised” blog entry, apparently) that he comes back and seems just as attached as before when we have a rough time in which hitting, screaming, scolding, pouting, etc. occur between us. He’s very loving, and I’m so glad of that.

• Common sayings: “You’re kidding me, right?” and “Oh man” are older-kid phrases which have now found their way into his regular vocabulary. Those are the kinds of things that make you look down at your kid and say to yourself “when the heck did that happen?” (meaning growing up).

Kate:

• Major news stories: I didn't write anything here in July, and I can't immediately think of anything major.

• Current obsessions: Soggy, Lamby, and Paci (the three things she drags everywhere, if you let her); keeping up with Finn; singing (she sings in the tub… how wonderful!); doing everything herself (my mom used to warn me about this—“mother please, I’d rather do it myself!—and I truly didn’t believe her after having Finn, because it didn’t happen that way… well, now I believe).
  Unfortunates: Katie loves the water and she loves baths, but she HATES getting water dumped on her head, and therefore she hates having her hair washed. I remember this with Finn, so I know it will pass, but for right now, it’s a bit frustrating. She’s also gotten a stronger temper lately, esp. with regard to bedtime. The screeching has reached a new peak when we turn off the light, leave the room, and go downstairs. On the plus side, it barely lasts 5 minutes. It may be difficult to transition her to the bunk-beds, though. She’s also much whinier lately, and at the same time, trying to assert her independence just about all of the time. These things don’t bother me too much, though. They feel like a phase, to me—but they bother H. a lot more (esp. when hitting is combined with them, which I can certainly understand).

• Good things: Her singing is hands down one of my top “good things” these days. My absolute favorite is when she sings “15 animals” from the CD Philadelphia Chickens. I just love how she slurs along with the phrase, getting the sounds basically right but not completely intelligible, and then suddenly she hit a line with complete clarity: “… and my piglet known as, BOB OF COURSE!” Her talking is also still wonderful. I never get tired of it. I haven’t met a single person yet who has. Her curls are also something that I find just to die for! Not that this is quite the same as aspects of her behavior that are “good things”, but I couldn’t not mention them, because I could run my hands through those little curls at the base of her neck just FOREVER.

• Common sayings: It’s just too hard to remember everything with this little chatterbox. Some phrases that she likely got from her brother, but which I think of more as her right now, include: “Moo-oommeeee” (the three-syllable version of “mommy”; if you’re a parent, you know exactly the sound of this one; and if you aren’t, I can’t describe it in text), “Cheese and crackers, man” (from Penguins of Madagascar).

Catching up

Wow, it's been such a long time. Good intentions fallen by the wayside and all that, and 6+ months of no posting. In children's years, that's forever.

Finn:

• Major news stories: Our little boy is a half-year through pre-school and we're already looking into our Kindergarten options. Pre-school has really gone very well. While he has his days of sulking about it, he seems to like it, enjoys his new friends, is willing to try things (like writing his name, I mean, not eating new things). While we still have to have our conference with the teacher, as far as I can tell, he's progressing fine and will be ready for Kindergarten next Fall. By the way, in case I haven't said it before, I think Finn has a real knack for numbers. It's just my own intuition, but he really seems to grasp them well. He clearly gets what they mean (i.e., not just rotely saying them), but he also seems (to me) to really get the general concepts of addition and subtraction. He's also been great at pattern recognition since he was pretty little (thank you I-Spy Computer Game). Just my little plug for Finn being a smarty-pants, even though I think he's a late bloomer in some ways (much like I was).

• Current obsessions: Still Mario, and also anything Lego on the Wii. He's very into kittens; he likes to pretend he is one. This seems to be his way of "regressing"--essentially being more baby-like, while not actually pretending to be a baby (which we sort of discourage). He also wants to play dungeon, octopus tag, or hide-and-seek in the dark whenever anyone is willing to play with him (esp. me). I've been really busy at work lately, and I think he's missing me a lot (more than everyone else).

• Unfortunates: Apart from the normally brother-sister spatting, Finn doesn't seem to have any major problem with Kate. The biggest unfortunate here is that he tends to carry on himself whenever he accidentally hurts Kate (as if he is the bigger victim of the situation). He does this when he accidentally hurts Daddy too. It seems to be about a fear of getting in trouble (best I can tell) and it really annoys Daddy a lot. He's also still got the capacity to be very broody, fusses about most kinds of food (although see below re: peas), and he says "No" and is sassy a lot more than he used to be. Sometimes he "meows" sassily (believe it or not). That REALLY ticks Daddy off.

• Good things: He's been to the dentist again, which went great, and I only mention it because of a funny story. One night he had a bad dream that woke him up in the middle of the night (and he consequently woke me up). He couldn't tell me about the dream right then, but he said it was about the dentist. Uh-oh, I thought, I hope this isn't the start of a fear of going to the dentist. The next day it comes out... he had a dream where he had to win a game or he WOULDN'T be ALLOWED to go to the dentist, and that was the scary/bad part. HYSTERICAL! My son, the dentist-LOVER, apparently! While he still doesn't eat most things, he now eats frozen peas. We started having "pea races" between him and me, and that worked, although he still doesn't really like them. Now his favorite thing is to have a pea race with me while I'm still at work and they're eating their dinner early. Perfect opportunity for him to win uncontested!

• Common sayings: Still says "constructions" a lot. I feel like such a shmuck--he's got lots of new sayings that I pick up from time to time that are so cute/funny, and I can't think of any of them. I'll have to post more quickly next time he says one. As I said above, he "meows" a lot.
  

Kate:

• Major news stories: Too many to count. She's walking (has been since before the end of the summer), climbing, and talking, talking, talking!!! She is just such a smart cookie, I can't even describe it. She says so many amazing things that you wouldn't expect. Like yesterday, I offered to put her bib on her backwards, like a cape, and she said "Yeah!" nodding her head exuberantly as she often does. The she says "Now I'm super." That's right, I said, you're Super-Kate. I love the way she says "Yeah!" when she really wants or agrees with something because it's so full--she's so committed when she says it. She very clearly and appropriately speaks in full sentences, and if I can't do it anywhere else, at least I can brag my heart away here, because it's my blog! I just can't get over her!

• Current obsessions: Talking all the time, taking bubble baths, trying to do the stairs standing up and holding the railing (NOT our favorite trend), "reading" books, playing hide-and-go seek (esp. with the whole family), "marching" on Mommy & Daddy's bed, pointing out the kitties wherever they go, and VEHEMENTLY opposing anything to do with bed time.

• Unfortunates: See above re: bed time. She's so hard to put down, and is a light sleeper once she is down. She doesn't systematically wake up in the middle of the night anymore, but we go through weeks when she pops up (like this week). She's still pretty stubborn, and she likes to cross her arms and go "Hmmph!" when she's upset (which I have to say is so completely cute, but we never give in to it). She can be very polite, but is definitely in the "me", "mine", "gimme" stage. When she asks for something impolitely, if you say to her "How are we supposed to ask?" she says "gimme gimme gimme" in the absolute cutest voice ever with a twinkle in her eye. I can't help but laugh. But I don't give her whatever it is... I know that would really come back to haunt me later.

• Good things: She can still be shy at first, but she's much more quickly acclimated to other people now, and she talks with just about anyone, which is so gratifying from the Mommy perpective. She knows certain people's names and brings them up in general conversation (e.g., Seth and Sharon; Tommy and Seth; Meg and Mel), which is really nice to see. She clearly wants and needs both me and Daddy, which is nice. It would be so easy to feel left out, given that I work so much, if she were to task for Daddy anytime there was a boo-boo or something, but she really asks for both of us at different times (and always asks for the other one, if the one she is with is saying no about something or threatening to take her to bed).

• Common sayings: This is a hard one, because she says so much now. She still says "Sim" instead of "Finn" most of the time. She loves to ask for donuts (as does Finn). She calls chocolate milk "chocolate milk" (which is only odd because the rest of my family very consistently calls it "co-co-moo". She copies Finn in saying "Moommeeey" with the cutest little lilt to it when she's feeling silly.

The words and phrases are one of the best parts of being a parent for me, and I'm really going to try and put more of them down more quickly. Oh, I have one that I don't think I ever posted, even though it started late last Fall at some point. This is based on the knock-knock joke I invented:

Mommy: Knock-knock

Finn: Who's there?

Mommy: Finn

Finn: Finn who?

Mommy: Finn-ish your dinner, Finn! (we were eating dinner at the time)

Kate's version:

Katie: Knock-knock

Mommy: Who's there?

Katie: Finn

Mommy: Finn who?

Katie: EAT YOUR DINNER, MOMMY! (said very demandingly!)

That's one of my long-standing favorites, so I had to make sure to write it down.

These pics are from right around V's day:

Update - we have lift-off!

Kate is walking. It started last Friday, the day before we went to Lewisburg for a 4th of July party. She was just doing that hovering thing and occasionally taking one step, followed by a swift descent (i.e., plop, on her bottom). Suddenly she just decided to go for it, and next thing we knew she was doing 10-15 steps through the living room. She's not terribly stable yet, but she has the basics down pat. She still drops down to crawl when she needs some speed, though.

Recent things

Finn:

• Major news story: Finally, potty training is here. We have officially been in underwear for about 2 weeks, with only 2 accidents. He seems (knock on wood) to have it down pat!

• Current obsessions: Mario, swinging on his new swingset, riding in the bottom part of Kate's stroller whenever we go for a family walk, Mario, reading a Mo Willem's Pigeon book we got from the library, and did I mention Mario.

• Unfortunates: Occasionally says "I don't want a baby" (referring to Kate), melt-down city whenever we turn off Mario (note: Mommy is NOT happy about how much Mario watching is going on), fusses about any food we put in front of him (including things he likes, like PB&J sandwiches, and don't even ask about fruits or veggies). Also a few bad words have snuck into his vocabulary (see above re: Mario time).

• Good things: Had our first trip to the dentist (mine too, at least in a number of years) and it went smoothly. No cavities for either of us. Finn let the dentist brush his teeth with no fussing (and sat through my longer part of the visit).

• Common sayings: Maybe (as in, maybe we could go to Krisna's house later, or maybe we could play Mario more after lunch... it's the way he says it--it's hard to describe).

Kate:

• Major news story: Almost walking! Crawls everywhere, does stairs like a breeze (although she can't really be trusted on them by herself), and stands and "hovers", maybe taking 1 step, but note quite ready to step out fully.

• Current obsessions: Talking, going in the bathroom and standing by the tub, going up stairs, "reading" books, saying hi (except when prompted to).

• Unfortunates: High high high in the stubbornness and will power--she knows what she wants to do and she's damned if she's going to let you stop her without expressing her displeasure. Places she likes to go that are a nuisance: up the stairs (because she can't be trusted to do it on her own), in the bathroom, into the bedroom to open up the poopy diaper pail. Still very difficult to put to bed, and has a habit of waking up around 1am.

• Good things: Starting to get past the issue with other people holding her, although she stills cries for me when I don't pick her up or take her from someone else. She's so chatty; that's my favorite thing. She picks up new words so easily!

• Common sayings (this is for Grandma, who said I hadn't posted enough of Kate's words): Hat, duck, kitty, book, Mommy, Daddy, milk, goosey-goose, hi, bye-bye, more, sorry, no. This week she's working on Grandma and Grandpa, since they are visiting.