Countdown to Kindergarten

The summer is winding down, and in just a few days, my first-born child will be a kindergartener.  Jackson is not very excited about starting back to school.  I keep trying to remind him of all the fun things at school like PE, the playground, and his friends, but it's not totally convincing him yet.  We went to open house yesterday which was not such a big deal since he'll be in the same class with the same teacher and many of the same friends as last year.  But we found out that his best friend from last year that he thought was going to a different school for kindergarten is in fact back in his class!  I was so excited.  I think Jackson will be excited, but he pretty much just looked stunned throughout open house.

I have mixed feelings about Jackson going back to school.  On one hand I'm looking forward to the routine of it all and being able to focus on getting stuff done while Selah is taking a nap.  But on the other hand, I have had so much fun this summer having both of them at home.  We have certainly made the most of our summer vacation.  In addition to our usual fun activities (children's museum, water park, library) Jackson got to take swimming lessons for a couple of weeks.  I was amazed at how much he improved with proper instruction!

Jackson continued with Tae Kwon Do and got his orange belt.

Earlier in the summer we planned some yard camping in my parents' yard with the cousins.  It ended up raining us out, so instead we set up the tent in their living room.  They still had a blast!

It has been a busy, but FUN summer!  We're sad to say good-bye to staying up late and sleeping in.  But we're looking forward to a great year!

Recipe for a Great Birthday Party

Take one happy 2-year-old birthday girl

throw in some homemade Backyardigans party decorations (made by brother)

add a mom, dad, and brother

2 aunts, 2 uncles, and 4 cousins

mix in 4 fantastic grandparents

stir together with hamburgers and hot dogs, strawberry cupcakes,

lots of playtime, and some cool presents

and you have yourself one GREAT birthday party.

Selah turned two on Thursday.  We celebrated with an afternoon at the Children's Museum, then Cici's Pizza and frozen yogurt at Feeney's.  Then Jackson and Selah were off to spend the night with grandma and grandaddy.  I had to work of Friday while they enjoyed some good quality grandparent time.  When we brought them home on Friday we gave Selah her birthday present from mom and dad.  I bought this amzaing Rose Petal Cottage from my neighbor's yard sale, and Selah fell in love with it!  We let them both stay up a little bit late because they were having so much fun playing with it.

It is unbelievable how fast the last two years have passed!  I'm amazed at how much she is talking now.  It is nothing unusual for her to walk up to me and spout out some complex sentence!  It makes me laugh every time.  Plus, she ends almost everything she tells me with "mom."  Not mommy...mom. "I need a waffle, mom."  "I'm changing baby's diaper, mom." I don't know where she got that.  She has become more assertive and stubborn now that she's old enough to know what she really wants.  She is not shy about making her wishes known!  True to two-year-old form she is trying some temper tantrums and crying to get her way when I initially deny her requests.  I am trying my best to not fall for these tricks, although I have to admit I have caught myself on auto-pilot a few times giving in to the crying.  I actually have to consciously think about not letting her win.  Here's the thought process: first she asks for something I don't think she should have.  For example asking for cottage cheese for snack when she had cottage cheese for lunch.  I deny the request.  She suddenly goes into a crying fit.  I think "wow, I didn't know you had such strong feelings about it.  And hey...it's not like cottage cheese is bad for you.  I mean it's certainly better than a cookie.  On second thought your request doesn't seem so bad."  And I start giving in.  Harmless, right?  Until I realize that I just reinforced her tendency to over-react to not getting her way.  This mom thing gets complicated sometimes.

She has also become more territorial recently.  I frequently have to diffuse arguments between Jackson and her that basically boil down to simple sharing issues.  Usually if I reassure her that Jackson is not trying to take her toys away from her and then suggest that she invite Jackson to play with her, she backs down and is willing to share.  I'm trying to teach Jackson how to act like a 5-year-old when Selah is acting like a 2-year-old.  So often he stoops to her level of arguing, I guess because it's the only way he thinks she will understand him.  Overall they get along great, so hopefully we'll just ease through this little sibling sharing problem.  After all, they can't get rid of each other.  =)

Selah, you are a sweet, happy, beautiful little girl!  I love your determination, and I think it will serve you well in life as long as you learn how to direct it in the right way.  You have the best big brother to help you along the way!  Happy 2nd Birthday, sweet girl!

Happy Birthday, Robot Roscoe

I love my kids' imaginations!  It still kind of surprises me when they make up elaborate pretend games, because I never had much of an imagination (just ask my sister...she loves to tell the story about how I was being assessed for the academically gifted program in elementary school and part of the test was about creativity.  When asked to list all the different ways to use a brick, all I could think of was "1. to build a house and 2.  as a doorstop".  Good thing Jason is more creative than me!)

Anyway, this morning Jackson wanted to make a surprise birthday party for his robot, Roscoe (idea for the robot came from a Backyardigans episode...the same one that inspired Selah's costume).  The robot's legs, as you will see, are made from Jackson's piano stand.  The body is invisible sitting on top of the legs.  Jackson took time to use my pots and pans to make homemade pizza and cake for the birthday party.  Here's the setup and the surprise.