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.

Robot Selah

Inspired by a Backyardigans robot episode, Jackson decided on Sunday to make a robot costume.  We didn't have a box big enough to fit him, but he was happy enough to make Selah the beneficiary (or victim) of his design genius.  The outfit was complete with a control panel in the front and decorations all around for trend-setting robo-girl.  A convienient side entry was a last-minute modification after a preliminary fitting proved that while the original design was pretty easy to get on, it was not so easy to take off.  Selah was a willing enough participant for all of this, but she bounced back and forth between being excited that she was getting all the attention and being nervous about being able to get out of the box.  The final product:

Summer Playtime

When you have kids, even mundane chores (like watering the yard) can be fun.  The scorching hot temperatures combined with the lack of rain this summer has left our yard brown and crunchy.  What happened to all those flooding rains from the spring?  Well, Jackson and Selah certainly aren't complaining about the lack of rain.  They're just happy to get some sprinkler playtime!  Look at the joy on their faces!  Remember how much fun it was as a child to get soaking wet in your clothes and run around in the yard until grass and dirt are stuck all over your feet and legs?  Then come inside for a warm bath or shower, get into your pjs, and climb into bed totally exhausted?  Childhood is awesome!

Kickoff to Summer Vacation

Today officially ended our first week of summer vacation, and we have absolutely squeezed every drop of fun possible out of it!  Here's a run-down:

Friday:  We took it easy at home just enjoying not having to rush out the door for school.  Watched cartoons and pretended it was Saturday.  In the afternoon, we played with Carter and Julia down the street.  Then we drove to Oak Ridge for a playdate with Samantha, Lauren, Anna, Hudson, and baby James.  We used to get together with this group regularly when Jackson was much younger, but now it's only a few times a year that we all happen to not be busy at the same time!  It was great to sit around and catch up with the other parents while our kids played in the sprinklers and dug in the dirt.

Saturday:  We were at church ALL DAY for 6-month planning meetings and working on our new space.  Jackson and Selah were such troopers!  Selah finally fell asleep on my shoulder (way past her naptime) and I laid her on the rug in the middle of the kids' church room.  She slept soundly there while Jason and I assembled a couch from IKEA.  I wish I had a picture.  One day I'm going to assemble pictures like this for a "Life of a PK" post.

Sunday:  church in the morning.  Jackson friend ended up spending the night with us after he informed his mom that he would rather spend the night at Jackson's house than go with them to Carowinds the next day!  His dad is the student pastor at our church and they were taking the teenagers on a trip there.  (Jentezen actually made a great choice because I think he, being 4, would have been miserable at Carowinds all day in the 90+ degree temperatures!)

Monday:  After Jason performed a magic act squeezing Jentezen's carseat between the other two in his car, I took the 3 kids to the Greensboro Children's Museum.  They had a great time playing and pretending.  In the afternoon they watched a movie and popped popcorn.  They acted like brothers all day.  It was so funny to see them hugging one minute and then mad at each other over something trivial the next. 

Tuesday:  We have been trying to beat the heat this week and go for a run or bike ride around 10am before the mercury hits 90.  Tuesday and Thursday I ran with Selah in the jogging stroller while Jackson rode his bike.  He has lost a little of his determination to persevere on the hills so I'm lucky to get 2 miles done.  Wednesday I actually biked with him mostly because Selah was asking for a "bi ri".  Tuesday afternoon we went to the library, and Jackson used his own library card for the first time.  He was SO proud of himself and only slightly disappointed that he could only check out two items his first time.  I assured him that next time he could check them all out.

Wednesday:  The kids spent the day playing together while I cleaned house and prepared for my small group.

Thursday:  In the mornings when we get back from our run/bike ride we've been spending some time in the garage coloring with sidewalk chalk and painting the cement with water.  It amazes me that Selah likes to color so much because Jackson only slightly warmed up to it by the time he turned three.  She really loves sidewalk chalk, color wonder markers (and real markers when mommy's not looking), and the AquaDoodle mat.  I have been practicing shapes and counting with her.  She can now count to 10 and identify 8 shapes!  She surprised me with how easily she learned the shapes.  Because her personality is so different than Jackson's (as I've said before, she's more like a cat) I had thought her lack of response to my "teaching" moments was because she didn't understand what I was doing or wasn't ready for it.  Then one day she casually revealed that she knew it all.  It's almost like she rolled her not-yet-2-year-old eyes and said "duh, mom, it's a crescent, everybody know that."  Oh, excuse me. 

In the afternoon we went to Wet n Wild Water Park and purchased season passes.  I let the kids play for about and hour and a half.  They loved it!  Selah is such a daredevil and amazes me at her courage in water and on slides.  I rarely let go of her hand while we were there.  Jackson was totally psyched about the season pass.  He can't wait for Jason to be able to go with us so he can do the bigger slides.

After Wet n Wild we went to Tae Kwon Do and Party on the Plank.  When he went to bed he declared that today was "a to infinity and beyond fun day!"  I'd say that says it all!

Big Day!

Yesterday was a huge day in our house!

First, it was Jackson's last day of pre-K.  I had been looking forward to this day for a while!  I am really excited about having both of my kids at home together for the summer.  We made a paper chain and hung it from the doorframe in our kitchen to count down the days til the end of school.  We took a link off the chain every day when he came home from school until finally we were down the one last link!!

As I waited in line to pick him up, I was surprised to find that my excitment was mixed with a little sadness.  Partly because I didn't feel like I had any closure with his teachers and friends at school.  I have really gotten to know them through my weekly volunteering.  I'm so glad that Jackson will be in Ms. McCoy and Mrs. Welborn's class again next year!

But part of my sadness was that very familiar sad-mixed-with-happy feeling that I get each time one of my kids hits an important milestone;  they're growing up.  I was trying to tell Jackson about this feeling, and he asked very innocently, "Why are you sad that I'm growing up?"  Good question.  I don't know why it's sad.  I guess I just love each stage they go through so much that I miss it when it's gone.  Good thing there's plenty to look forward to!  It didn't help my emotional state when Jackson climbed in the car with a very sad look on his face and through tears announced that his best friend in school was moving to a different school next year.  He was heartbroken.  That was all the excuse I needed to let my tears come, too.  I just hugged him and told him that I would try to see if they could play together this summer. 

We both started feeling better on the way home.  Then Jackson really cheered up when he found a special "you just finished pre-K" present waiting on him at home: a Leapster!  (you know me...it was purchased at a consignment sale)  He wanted to start playing it immediately, and I've already had to put some limits on his time with it!  I'm so glad he loves it!  =)

After some outside playtime and a special last-day-of-school-is-a-great-excuse-for-ice-cream-cake snack, it was time to get ready for Tae Kwon Do.  Jackson was testing for his yellow belt.  Well, it wasn't a true yellow belt.  He won't start getting solid-color "real" belts until he moves out of the Little Dragons class, which I think happens when he turns 6.  But it was real enough for Jackson!  He had to demonstrate all his blocks, kicks, and punches as well as perform two different combinations of skills.  I was so proud of him!  He really seems to like Tae Kwon Do and I think it has added some tenacity to his personality. 

Yellow belt around his waist, we jumped in the car, changed his clothes, ran through the Subway drive-thru and were off to Party on the Plank, High Point's version of Live After Five.  This is the Party's first year, and our church volunteered to host the kids' play area for the first 3 weeks.  So, although mommy and daddy were working, Jackson and Selah couldn't have been happier to tag along since that meant 2 hours of playtime on an inflatable slide and bounce house.  Side note:  I was holding Selah while policing the end of the inflatable slide.  After every person slid she would announce "Selah's turn!"  Before the end of the night I did take her down the slide 3 times.  She loved it!

Finally we put our exhausted, sweaty kids in the car and headed home.  When I was putting Jackson to bed he thanked me for all his special surprises and declared it a great day!  It makes it so easy to give him special treats when he's so thankful for them.  Even today when he was eating another slice of ice-cream cake he said, "Mom, thank you for making this ice-cream cake.  I know it took you a lot of work!"  Worth it, buddy! 

Let summer break begin!