I can't believe we are more than halfway though kindergarten. We hit the 100th day of school a few weeks ago, which was something I used to wonder what the big deal was and I now know it's just a fun day to celebrate and use for practicing counting :-)
Maggie is growing up crazy fast now that she is in school. She reads really well, as in, she surprises me how well she is progressing through the school year. She will walk through the house holding a book reading or I will find her on a pillow in our playroom reading. She has a stack of books and journals almost always in the car next to her booster seat. She reads so much that Max has been memorizing some of the lines when she reads out loud.
2015 so far has brought our family close. We have been on the periphery of tragedies and hardships and I think when that happens it brings people together. I feel the four of us huddling together, relying on eachother. We said goodbye to our family kitty, Lily, whom I got as a kitten way before Maggie and Max came along. She was a good kitty, especially to our crazy kiddos that cried often making her nervous and chasing after her pulling her tail. We had lots of time to say goodbye. Then within a week of saying goodbye, we welcomed our new kitty Charlotte. I took the kids on a planned-out route looking to adopt a cat or two at the various rescues in our area. I knew our last stop was going to be successful...and it was! Maggie and I immediately fell in love with a little grey kitty that was sitting quietly in her cage. She was being petted by others but I snagged her as soon as I could and they let us play with her in a room. Maggie had that look in her eyes that said "I am not leaving here without her" and I felt it too. It was so fun to say yes to bringing home a kitty. She is about 6 months old now and getting increasingly comfortable at our house, used to the loud sounds and making her own loud sounds in the middle of the night and trying to pounce on our toes under the covers. Maggie carried her everywhere for the first few weeks. I even witnessed her being carried in a tote bag around Maggie's neck and the cat looked perfectly comfortable. Maggie has trained her to love laying in a little cat bed too.
I quickly put in a spring garden last week. We have a couple months until it really gets hot, so hopefully we get some fun stuff until then (lettuce, kale, spinach, cilantro, peas). I'm excited to start seeing things blooming and fruiting, it't almost that time of year!
Seen and Heard
Maggie talking to her Nana about building a fort together on the phone: "Yes, let's do that. It has been ages! (rolling her head back, using the phrase perfectly)
Max calling gymnastics "nastics" and Maggie telling him that he was going to have to do a make-up class because he fell asleep on the way there. For a second (which Maggie and I found very funny), he thought Maggie was telling him that he needed to put on make-up and couldn't figure that out.
I was telling Max that we were going to hand out valentines to our mom's group friends the next day. I mentioned one boy in the list of kids he was going to see and he said "What's his number?" Confused, I asked Max what his number was and he said "2". Oh, his age!
We are in that stage where Max narrates what he just saw, slowly but surely (so cute!), and he says a lot of words starting with "W" like "wips" (lips). If you play dumb or laugh, he seriously responds like, "I said wips! (don't you understand?)"
February 17, 2015
January 13, 2015
Things to Remember
These notes below are from over the past 4 months or so. I don't really know how it happened, but life is busier than when the kids were smaller. Work is busier with more responsibility. Overall, I'm really happy with life in this moment. I am sad to see Max pass 2, which will happen soon, but the flip side are so many benefits. Max has entered the terrible 2 stage I believe. I don't quite remember this hitting with Maggie until she was 3 (and with girls it seems it's about being more emotional), but we are getting a lot of stubborn-ness, No's!, and generally not wanting to do something when asked. We had to pass on the dentist appointment this fall, haircuts are a little bit of a struggle right now, and when he says he wants something to eat it's usually the opposite (after serving him). But however it is, I love my kids so much and am enjoying it all. I spent a two week winter break with them from the beach to the redwoods to the Sierra snow and it was magical. My goal for that time was to get outside every day and just be active and we accomplished it.
I feel very lucky for my family and my friends. I have good wishes for 2015 and last week was one of lots of bad/sad news so I'm hoping that's it for a good while. I've said goodbye to my word of 2014...expand...and am coming up with this year's word as I write this. Happy New Year!
Seen and Heard (Fall 2014-present)
Shopping at Target with Max in the ergo, which he is probably too big for now but I use it in those rare circumstances like this where I ended up at Target with him sleeping and I needed to do some shopping. I transferred him from car seat to the ergo on my back and he slept for awhile but then woke up in the middle of my shopping and I quickly realized that he got a bloody nose while sleeping and it was all over his face and my back. I tried to calm him and also hide him a little because the blood looked a little scary but we quickly made it to the family bathroom to clean up. Shopping and doing errands is always an adventure with little ones.
It took about one month exactly for Maggie to not cling to me upon entering her classroom and to do it with a smile! Club M (before and after school care) is taking a little longer, especially in the mornings, but overall, it's going well. I've definitely had a few mornings where I walk away doubting all the decisions I've made to get to this point. It happened last week but I knew driving away that within an hour or two that the feelings would dissipate, Maggie would end up having a good day, and that all was well.
Max, as he is learning numbers, he often says this combination: 2-1-5. It's really cute. He is also starting to sing the alphabet. Maggie is a proud sister watching him learn these things. I love that I can look at her when he is doing something cute and she has that same recognition in her face.
Over the course of 24 hours, Max told me he wanted to be a firefighter, go fishing, take his bike camping, and talk to Daddy on the phone. It's becoming easier to have these conversations with him and hear what he wants and it's funny when he doesn't get what he wants. He has a serious pout-y face, often wants to throw something in that moment to express himself, and crosses his arms and makes a show of it. Then, within a minute, he's back to himself, either having been distracted, or just over it, laughing and my cute little 2-year old boy. He also comes back to say "I'm sorry Mommy" and he always means it. This is an improvement from 6 months ago. He will say it to Maggie too and they kiss and hug often after a spat.
Max still smells like diapers and I am going to hate when that smell is gone. I know the end is near so it's a little bit sad!
Maggie is not without pen and paper, or scissors, or stapler...little mounds of paper are being created all throughout the house. She is reading a lot, sounding out words, picking up books and reading on her own, and she gets pretty upset if there isn't much time left at night for stories. I look at my 5-year old thinking how far she has come from baby to kindergartner, on her own during the day, and how grown up she is compared to little Maxie but then I see how young she is in other ways and that she is only 5 and I'm so thankful for that.
Long story short, Maggie was sitting next to her good friend Jameson at his brother's birthday party during an outdoor movie and lucky us!, we witnessed her lean over and kiss him fondly on the cheek. I admit it freaked me out just a little bit but it was so cute in the end and not something we made a big deal of.
Maggie saying about her cup and straw from the backseat of the car: "Come on straw, work with me!"
A note sent to me by Maggie's kindergarten teacher: "Maggie said the cutest thing today. The presenter from the Maidu Center was showing the kids an abalone shell. He said "Does anyone know what this is?" Maggie put her hand up and said "It's bologna." Too cute.""
I feel very lucky for my family and my friends. I have good wishes for 2015 and last week was one of lots of bad/sad news so I'm hoping that's it for a good while. I've said goodbye to my word of 2014...expand...and am coming up with this year's word as I write this. Happy New Year!
Seen and Heard (Fall 2014-present)
Shopping at Target with Max in the ergo, which he is probably too big for now but I use it in those rare circumstances like this where I ended up at Target with him sleeping and I needed to do some shopping. I transferred him from car seat to the ergo on my back and he slept for awhile but then woke up in the middle of my shopping and I quickly realized that he got a bloody nose while sleeping and it was all over his face and my back. I tried to calm him and also hide him a little because the blood looked a little scary but we quickly made it to the family bathroom to clean up. Shopping and doing errands is always an adventure with little ones.
It took about one month exactly for Maggie to not cling to me upon entering her classroom and to do it with a smile! Club M (before and after school care) is taking a little longer, especially in the mornings, but overall, it's going well. I've definitely had a few mornings where I walk away doubting all the decisions I've made to get to this point. It happened last week but I knew driving away that within an hour or two that the feelings would dissipate, Maggie would end up having a good day, and that all was well.
Max, as he is learning numbers, he often says this combination: 2-1-5. It's really cute. He is also starting to sing the alphabet. Maggie is a proud sister watching him learn these things. I love that I can look at her when he is doing something cute and she has that same recognition in her face.
Over the course of 24 hours, Max told me he wanted to be a firefighter, go fishing, take his bike camping, and talk to Daddy on the phone. It's becoming easier to have these conversations with him and hear what he wants and it's funny when he doesn't get what he wants. He has a serious pout-y face, often wants to throw something in that moment to express himself, and crosses his arms and makes a show of it. Then, within a minute, he's back to himself, either having been distracted, or just over it, laughing and my cute little 2-year old boy. He also comes back to say "I'm sorry Mommy" and he always means it. This is an improvement from 6 months ago. He will say it to Maggie too and they kiss and hug often after a spat.
Max still smells like diapers and I am going to hate when that smell is gone. I know the end is near so it's a little bit sad!
Maggie is not without pen and paper, or scissors, or stapler...little mounds of paper are being created all throughout the house. She is reading a lot, sounding out words, picking up books and reading on her own, and she gets pretty upset if there isn't much time left at night for stories. I look at my 5-year old thinking how far she has come from baby to kindergartner, on her own during the day, and how grown up she is compared to little Maxie but then I see how young she is in other ways and that she is only 5 and I'm so thankful for that.
Long story short, Maggie was sitting next to her good friend Jameson at his brother's birthday party during an outdoor movie and lucky us!, we witnessed her lean over and kiss him fondly on the cheek. I admit it freaked me out just a little bit but it was so cute in the end and not something we made a big deal of.
Maggie saying about her cup and straw from the backseat of the car: "Come on straw, work with me!"
A note sent to me by Maggie's kindergarten teacher: "Maggie said the cutest thing today. The presenter from the Maidu Center was showing the kids an abalone shell. He said "Does anyone know what this is?" Maggie put her hand up and said "It's bologna." Too cute.""
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