Family,
And a good evening to you from the Queen City, where yet another incredible month is in the books. Plenty to cover (as always), so let's get amongst it!
9/1 - LABOR DAY WEEKEND!!!! We were all about chilling today, as we wanted everyone to rest and recover from a VERY busy week. We divided the day up between a trip to NOMAD, playing Monster, watching TV, eating, and resting, and I am happy to report that it was perfect. Honestly, no better way to spend a Saturday. Plus we know that we've got a very busy back half of this month, so the plan was to rest now during the calm before the storm. I am making a concerted effort to ensure that the girls (especially K) get plenty of "chill time" in this window so they can rest and recover for the week. I didn't do a great job out of the gate (I was a little bossy), but I apologized to K and then rallied.
9/2 - We were at church today, and the girls were GREAT while JT and I both volunteered during the 10:30 service. The afternoon was very chill - K on her tablet, me working on the blog, JT doing her devo, and then we opted for movie night. It was funny, as K kept saying she wanted "Louis." When I went to search on "Louis," NOTHING came up. K was getting increasingly frustrated, but credit to Google in the crunch. When you type in "cartoons with a character named Louis," you can hit the jackpot. K had just said, "He has blond, spiky hair!", and sure enough - there he was: the main character in "Meet the Robinsons." JACKPOT!
I will be honest, the movie itself wasn't great for the first hour. Then, suddenly, it dramatically improved, and I was locked in for the last 30 minutes. So locked in, in fact, that I got teary-eyed at the end. I then looked over at Jenny (who hadn't even watched most of it), and SHE was teary-eyed as well! I tell ya what - this parenting thing runs the gamut of emotions. :-)
The craziest part of the day actually happened just before movie night. From out of nowhere, K said, "I want to go clean my room." And then, suddenly, she was a cleaning FORCE OF NATURE!!!! She cleaned her room, Cora's room, and the bonus room - even helped vacuum! She then helped tidy the living room - it was amazing!
Oh, and the class read "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" this week, and K basically dropped the entire thing on us from memory tonight. It. Was. AWESOME.
9/3 - MCLAREN DAY!!!!! Today was Labor Day, and we had an AWESOME time to cap and AWESOME long weekend. It started at the Sports Club Pool, where we met the McLarens. Lindsey was there with the kids, as well as some other friends, and so we had a good 2+ hours swimming around. I ended up swimming with them for over an hour, as I was the shark in sharks and minnows. The funniest part - kids were coming out of the woodwork to be part of this - including plenty that I didn't know! It was a hoot, and the kids all seemed to have a lot of fun. Needless to say - this guy was whipped!
It was then over to our house, where we grilled and just chilled for the afternoon. The girls were GREAT - they all play SO WELL together, and they are very good about just doing their own thing as well. They played "spy kitties" (don't ask), lots of other games, and just generally had a blast while the adults got a chance to rest and relax. It was a perfect day, and I loved it.
We got the girls down about 7:30 (pretty much the standard time). It's interesting - K is basically waking up at her alarm time, so the schedule has really worked out well. It's a long day, but so far she's loving it.
9/4 - Today was back to the grind, and it was a good one all around. K did Yoga at school (Down dog!), and Jenny and Cora had a morning of trying to corral one of the neighbor's dogs who'd gotten loose. I got home about 5, and we had some great play time before bed. My goal is to really focus and lock in during that 5-7:30 window, as realistically that's about all the time I get with the kids (other than about 5 minutes in the morning). We have filled most of that time playing tag or monster, and today we managed some hide and seek. And while some of the hiding spots are exceptionally clever, it's tricky when Cora follows the hiders around and calls out their name the entire time. :-) Details...
It was apparently so hot today that they didn't go outside for recess or PE. I get that - humidity is flat dangerous right now for kids who don't know how to regulate their body heat or when to drink water.
9/5 - So the other night while tucking K in, I decided to do a little switch up for tickle time. So instead of starting at her head, I said, "I'm gonna do the reverse angle." All I did was start at the bottom and start by tickling her feet, but she LOVED it. And since then, every night she's yelled out "Do the reverse angle!" before we start tickle time. Too cute.
K was actually a little upset today. We weren't sure why (she was a bit whiny), and admittedly some of it is a) exhaustion and b) the fact that she's likely fighting a cold (she's had a running nose for the last day or so - inevitable when you start a new school year and put all those kids in such close proximity) - but something was definitely off. Upon further probing (which is always work with her, as she never likes to talk much about her day), she told us that she was upset because she hadn't yet earned a "brag tag," which is apparently something you get when Ms. Pate catches you doing something nice for someone.
Then, after we tucked her in and turned out the light, she told Jenny that she cried in class today. When Jenny asked why, she said, "Because I don't get to see you all day." Talk about touching your heart! Jenny explained that this was the new world order and reminded her that was why it was so important to make our time together (especially the weekends) count. Well done, muffin!
Also, something super cute: Jenny and I alternate the girls each night (although both of them ALWAYS want Jenny - I try not to be too offended :-)), and on Jenny's nights with Cora, she's been praying over her while Cora lays on her shoulder (this is the 5 min wind down period after reading to her). The cutest part - whenever Jenny says, "In the mighty name of Jesus - Amen," Cora always looks up and says "Yay!" How cute is that?
9/6 - Today was definitely a better day for K...because she earned her brag tag! Apparently some little girl got hurt, and K asked, "Are you ok?" Ms. Pate saw it and gave K the coveted award,which she apparently gets to wear on Friday. YAY!
All was not super smooth at Kindy, however, as K got accidentally kicked in the face and had a bloody nose! Her retelling of it was classic. "Dada, Karen accidentally raised her foot when we were playing in the kitchen, and she hit me in the face. And then I had blood all in my snot. I had so much bloody snot." UM - GROSS.
Luckily no one was the worse for wear, and she's it's not preschool, we didn't even get a note or an email about it. K seemed fine, so chalk it up to experience. :-)
9/7 - So Cora definitely has a favorite game at the moment with me. She will bring me a "lovie" and then just keep repeating "Gaga" until I make it "kiss" her cheek. She will laugh and then run away, at which point my job is to chase her with said lovie, kissing her on the cheeks and face. She will just cackle. Rinse/repeat. 600 times.
The other variation of the game is just her bringing me 14,000 objects, handing them to me, smiling as I accept them, and then going on a scavenger hunt to find the next set of objects to present. We can kill quite a bit of time this way. And hey - as long as I don't have to move, it's a win. :-)
9/8 - So prepare yourself fo this news - CORA CAN NOW OPEN HER DOOR! Time to break out the child locks! Also, both girls are fighting colds currently. I think Kaitlyn will beat hers (will likely just be a bit snotty, stuffy, and tired for a bit), but it's been much tougher for Cora. She is walking up every morning with mutant green snot from a horror film (which I managed to get stuck in her hair one morning), and she ran a temperature late this evening. However, she's reasonably happy during the day, so we're just gonna keep trying to power through!
Two fun activities for K today: the first one was Elizabeth's 5th birthday party. This was a unicorn themed party, and I Jenny dropped her off. Well, as it turned out, it was a 2 hour SUGAR FEST of galactic proportions: pop tarts, donuts the size of sherman tanks, a smoothie making session, unicorn poop "sour patch kid rainbows!", Lucky charms, mini star bursts, ice cream cones where you decorated your own cone with icing, bugles covered in icing, cake...it was pretty much my worst nightmare. I mean COME ON!!!!!!! It was sugar fest 5000, and Kaitlyn was a kid in a candy store...literally. The photos were priceless from Jenny, and then I arrived to find K WOOFING DOWN mini-starbursts amidst sea of unicorns and girls dressed as mermaids, unicorns, and princesses. Let's just say it was not exactly my comfort zone.
The highlight for me happened in the 1:30-3 PM window, where K and I made good on a long awaited request - the return to the Greenway! K and I must have done 6 or so miles, and she did GREAT! She was admittedly nervous out of the gate (it had been awhile), but by the end she was flying and really powered up some inclines! I was proud to watch her confidence grow and then bloom big time over the hour+ we were out there - so much fun! I am hopeful we can make that a more regular occurrence as the weather gets better - as it really is a ton of fun out there (and we really had fun together).
9/9 - After a great church service, we spent the afternoon chilling before heading to the Sports Club for the last outdoor swim of the year. There was lightning about 35-40 minutes in, so we packed up and went to NOMAD until they closed. I had a GREAT time swimming with both girls, and K and I really played. Cora also seemed to really enjoy it, and she and I had a lot of focused fun as well (she didn't seem to get bored or tired of me - SCORE!).
Also, tonight K announced that she's going to give Cora one stuffed animal a day from her bed. It's pretty cute, and she's actually been doing it consistently so far! Cora is, of course, loving it, and now has a veritable plethora of critters in her room (which she runs around with all day) - love my girls!
Also, K earned another $3 for her chores this week, tipping her over $10 (meaning she tithed another dollar to the church). She has been SUCH a great helper lately - it's been AWESOME!
9/10 - So I was up at 4:47 this morning and was just heading downstairs when I passed K's room and heard "daddy!" I was SHOCKED she was awake, and as I went in to tell her that she needed to go to sleep, I noticed that she was bawling silently. Seriously - she was FREAKED OUT. I asked her why, and she said, "skeleton!" Now as I've likely mentioned several times in previous posts, Kaitlyn has been expressing fear of skeletons in her room. Well, I never really thought about it much until this moment, at which point tears were streaming down her face in fear. I asked why she was afraid of them, and she said, "Boo Blasters" - can you believe it? It used to be her favorite ride!
I talked to her for 13 minutes (I was watching the clock as I didn't want her to get so wound up that she couldn't go back to sleep but wanted to ensure she knew I was taking this seriously) and explained that the ride was fake and that skeletons don't really walk around. She was still a little teary eyed when she laid back down, but she didn't make a peep. Poor thing!
The good news - she DID go back to sleep, and she was really sweet to me in the morning. Yay!
And the BIG NEWS - TEAM TAYLOR JUST BOUGHT ANOTHER CAR!!!!! This came out of nowhere, but we got an UNREAL DEAL on my dream car (after Katie the Corolla, of course) - a Nissan Xterra!!!! Sean knows a guy who refurbishes them, and this guy found the PERFECT car for us - all in God's perfect timing!!! We are SO excited, as not only does it give us a ton more room - it also will ensure that K has a booster seat to sit in on the drive to kindy. I hadn't realized that she was in the middle without a car seat until last week, and so I'm THRILLED we made it happen. We pick it up in 3-5 weeks when the refurb is done!
I say all this to relate that, since JT was car shopping, I got to take K to gymnastics. We picked up Elizabeth as well. She was not in a great mood, but her and K were really sweet and played well together, and before you knew it they were both giggling in the back seat. We all played rock, paper, scissors on the way home. Elizabeth said, "You have a silly daddy." :-) Love that!
Gymnastics was really cool to watch this time - they were SUPER active and really doing cool stuff! The practiced sticking landings, working on their moves, and even learning some dance moves! K showed off "unicorn" to me today - she's really making progress on her handstands (and actually wants to practice constantly).
Also, we measured the girls' heights today in the bonus room. It was the first time Cora had ever willingly stood there - she loved it! K has probably grown 2-3 inches since march - INSANE to look at the progress!
9/11 - Something cool today from Kindy: Ms. Pate is now sending their "red folder" (this has all their work from the week for us to review) home daily with a calendar in it. If your child is good, you get a sticker on that day's square. If the child had a problem or misbehaved, then there is a note in there, and the parents have to sign that they've read and acknowledged it. Kaitlyn has received stickers the first 2 days, and after 5 stickers she gets to put a "pom pom" in a bowl. Apparently when this bowl gets totally full, the kids get to vote on how they want to celebrate the "special day" they've earned - the two options K mentioned were a) pajama day and b) stinky feet day. When I inquired as to the expectation on b), she said, "You sit in class all day without shoes on. CLASSIC!
On the Cora front, she's still battling a slight fever, but all in all she seems to be in pretty good spirits. She's going down very willingly at night and not really making a peep, and I think she's sleeping pretty good through the night.
9/12 - We had some high drama today!!!! Everything was going great - K was extremely chatty about her day, telling us about songs they did in Music, about who she played with on the play ground, etc - and then she said, "Dada, can you dribble the big red ball around your back while I chase it?" You see, we hadn't actually told K that I purposefully took a screwdriver to that puppy months ago, and so when I came clean (sort of - I said "it deflated"), she just started BAWLING! #didnotseethatcoming...
She was in tears, and we compromised by inflating the hopper ball and me dribbling that. I mean, I knew she liked that thing, but WOW. Cora spent the afternoon trying to wear the dust cover for the Bubble Bum - she eventually did manage to get both her legs in, only to realize that was NOT conducive for walking. And it occurs to me - I probably haven't even mentioned the Bubble Bum, have it? It's this great little inflatable booster for kids. No arm rest, so it's much smaller and easier to manage. It's actually better than the hard boosters we've got, as it gives us greater control on the seat belts and their placement. Also, it gives K TONS more room in the middle back, which was certainly a concern. JT is going to order another one so that we can finally elevate K in the middle and ensure the seat belt hits in the right spot. This should get us over the hump until the Xterra arrives!
9/13 - Cora is a SHOE HOARDER AND MARKER HIDER!!!!!! That girl is out of control right now, and it is hilarious. She spends all afternoon running around with two markers (one in each hand), and at least a solid portion of that is spent coloring her face. HILARIOUS! I mean, the other day her hair looked like it had been in a hurricane, she had yogurt all over her face, and she'd colored herself blue - priceless.
On the shoe hoarding front, her big thing right now (when she's not trying to wear every single article of clothing on the planet) is putting all the shoes from the shoe rack into the play pen. She then goes in there, closes the door, and plays by herself in said play pen - amazing! It really is cute. And tonight she managed to put on panties for the first time...after she already had her onesie on. :-)
On the Kindy front, K has been invited to her first birthday party by a new friend! Ellie (the first friend that she's talked about from BPS) invited K to her party next Saturday - Yay! So glad she's making new friends.
The focus right now at kindy is tracing lines and working on fine motor skills. The spend quite a bit of time working on writing letters, and it's been really cool to watch the improvement.
9/15 - Cora has new words!!!! Yes, yes - these are legitimate- I have witnessed them myself! New to the word bank:
1. That (and she's pretty demonstrative - she'll point at it as well)
2. Read
3. Gray (admittedly she sometimes says this for other colors...blue, black, etc...details...)
4. Baby
We had planned to be inside most of this day, as we honestly thought it would be a total washout with the Hurricane. That being said, the day actually wasn't bad (just wet with non-stop rain), and we did manage to get out for a bit. I took K with my to Starbucks (and surprised her with a warm chocolate croissant - #bestdadever), and later on I took her to Nomad (I worked out and then came back for her since they didn't have childwatch). That kid was a BEAST! Seriously - it was THE BEST workout I've ever seen from her, and arguably the most fun we've ever had in a swim session together. It came out of nowhere, but that girl really wanted to swim! She did 300 yards, including 75 for time (40, 41, and 42 seconds). She also did lots of water pull ups on the blocks, and she did a good 20 minutes of "working on her shimmy," which meant that she worked on pulling herself out of the water at the block and then "shimmying" over to the side. It was hilarious to watch, and we actually ended up videoing it once she was really in the zone and had it down. Too cute! I mean, she was basically doing Parkour!
JT was a rock star as well with the arts and crafts, and the girls were really cute. Cora tried on every single princess dress in the house about 14 times. Seriously - she brings them to you, does the more sign, and then when you get it on her, she wants it off after about 11 seconds. The funniest part - there were several dresses that I honestly HAVE NEVER SEEN BEFORE IN MY ENTIRE LIFE. That dress-up chest is like the wardrobe from Narnia - it just keeps going (wonder if Mr. Tumnus is in there?).
Kaitlyn did a lot of water colors as well, and she really did a good job. I must confess I am quite impressed with her improving fine motor skills, and I don't mind saying that I do think she has some artistic abilities should she choose to explore that further. I know, I know...everyone thinks their kid is a genius and the next Salvatore Dali, but trust me - she really does do a good job staying in the lines. :-)
On the whole it was a great day - TV time, arts & crafts, some really good exercise, great food courtesy of mommy, and an excuse to just relax all the rules. RESULT!
9/16 - Today was a SUPER WET one, and we really were stuck inside all day. That being said, it wasn't stressful at all and truthfully was a lot of fun. Church was cancelled, so we had tons of flexibility in the schedule. We live streamed church, listened to music, played card games (Pete the Cat's Big Lunch), ate pizza, watched football, watched Netflix, played Monster, played tag, and lounged around in PJ's all day. It was honestly perfect, and truth be told we really needed it. Things are about to go into overdrive starting Thursday morning, with JT out of the house 4 days, followed b a 4 day work trip for me, followed by a 3 day weekend for JT, so we were thankful to have this time. And because school was cancelled for Monday, we were still able to relax the rules quite a bit. :-)
Oh, and the cutest thing - JT continued in her "Art Warrior" fashion, and K completed 2 art projects she was given as birthday presents back in March! They were these pillows that you had to put sequins and pins and such on, and she did an AMAZING job! Seriously - I was well and truly impressed, and JT barely helped (and even then only on the first one). Way to go, kiddo!
9/17 - I was back in the office and back to the grind today, so I didn't see my ladies as much as over the weekend. That being said, a few things I noticed:
1. When it's time to put Cora's PJ's on, she has memorized the order in which I do it. She points to each body part before I put it into the onesie, and she smiles when I acknowledge that she's correct.
2. K is no longer saying "sompling." It's now definitely "something" (even with 2 teeth missing). Growing up. Sniffle.
3. Any time I say "I gotta potty" or something that denotes I'm headed for the bathroom, Cora yells "quack quack" and SPRINTS to the bathroom. Once she gets in there, she sits down on Ducky Potty and waits for me to come in! HOW CUTE IS THAT? Seriously - it's adorable. She's also saying "Dipe Dipe!!!!" anytime I change her. Love. This. Kid.
4. Cora's eyes are still blue, and the rings around the outside are dark blue. That being said, she's got VERY light eyes in the center, and I can definitely see flecks of green in there. I'm curious to see if she'll end up with my (mottled) eye color or how it will all play out. 21 months is a long time to have blue eyes, so maybe they'll stick! Watch this space!
9/18 - K HAS ANOTHER LOOSE TOOTH! Seriously - when she wiggles it, you can hear a clicking. What in the world?!?!?!? It's down on the bottom - pretty soon she'll have a gap wider than the Grand Canyon down there!
On the Cora front, she is FINALLY pointing to herself in the mirror. When you ask "Where is Cora bear?", she will point and smile. And have I mentioned that kid LOVES to play with belly buttons? She will poke you in yours any chance she gets and will cackle when you poke hers. You have been warned. :-) She remains the consummate fashionista when it comes to shoes, and she's not far behind with hats. And here I was thinking she was going to be my rugby player...
9/20 - Today was a big day for Sammy the Bull - my first every BPS pick-up! THANK GOODNESS JENNY PREPPED ME. I mean, that was no joke. She told me "get there at 3:10 - not ONE SECOND before." Sure enough, had I showed up before that, I would have been whipped around and sent home, finding myself in line behind a TON of cars.
I have to give them credit - it is quite efficient. Basically you file into 3 lanes based on the direction you need to head post pickup, and then people are walking around keying in your child's number into a tablet (each kid has a number). When that number is entered, teachers march the appropriate children to loading zones (written on their hands), and then when they get the all clear, they pour into the cars. Pretty cool really! I was in line at 3:10 and picked her up at 3:22 - door to door was 30 min all in.
Something cool to note for Cora - she's starting to get really interested in puzzles. She can't put them together yet, but she loves picking them up and trying to fit them into slots (which I think is impressive in and of itself). Tonight K and I did some simple wooden puzzles with her so she could see how we did it, and by the end she was trying to slot pieces into nearly completed puzzles. Progress! These two DEFINITELY got that from their mother, as I am DONKEY TRASH at puzzles. This weekend I want to spent some time in the bonus room with the simple puzzles with handles, as I want to keep encouraging this for Thing 2.
On that note, my simple goals this fall for my girls:
1. Cora - more words, more experience with puzzles, reading some new books to her to keep that interest, and further encourage her interest in Ducky Potty (aka start some potty training)
2. Kaitlyn - start working on sight words, continue to encourage her to enjoy learning and stay motivated, read new books to keep her interested (aka buy some and visit the library more), read 3 books a night (typically doing 2 right now), get her more comfortable riding a bike (aka consistently get to the greenway, learning what to do in case of an emergency (i.e. dial 911)
9/21 - It's the last official day of summer! Last night during bed time Kaitlyn told me she wanted the night light off and the door closed. That has been the case the last week or two (which has made my life easier in terms of sneaking past her room at 5 AM), but I got the inside scoop why tonight: "Dada, close the door so no skeletons will come in. They won't think there's anybody in here." WOW - still with the skeleton thing!
That being said, she must have been tired because she slept until her alarm woke her at 6:40 AM. When she opened her door, she asked me if she could go back to sleep - poor thing! But luckily it's Friday - hopefully she'll sleep until 7:30 or later tomorrow!
Cora was all about puzzles last night and again this morning - and she does realize that pieces can fit into the open spaces for sure. She can't rotate them properly yet, but she's getting there! Also, she added a word: bowl!
Nole Nana provided Day Care services today, which was a TREMENDOUS help. No way I could have done it on my own! K obviously didn't get as much time considering that she had kindy, but Cora definitely got some good bonding time. Nole Nana now knows all about "ri ri's." :-)
Oh, and the funniest moment last night - Kaitlyn asked me when Fall started. I told her Saturday, at which point she made a big frumpy face and said, "I don't like fall for one reason. Flu Shot." OH, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!!!! :-)
Also to note for this day: K is starting to learn "sight words!" They started it this week as an introduction, but commencing 9/24 it will become part of the curriculum in earnest. Sight word for the week was "the," and K is actually noticing it. We also had the word "cake" from a Splat the Cat book (Splat the Cat takes the cake), and Kaitlyn did start noticing it when reading through the story. Exciting!!!! Also, she met her House Buddy for the first time ever! This is a really cool thing, as each Kindergartener is paired up with a 5th grader who becomes their "house buddy." They meet every Friday as part of House Day, and this was the day K officially met her "mentor." I didn't get any details other than "she was nice" and "I don't remember her name." Watch this space. :-)
Also, something very cool - her teacher (who is AWESOME) is now using a new app called Bloomz to communicate with us. It's really amazing, as she takes photos of the class and posts them (as well as a little message) almost every single day! They were out in the woods on this day and found a tree that was bent over and bouncy. Ms. Pate got some GREAT video of K bouncing up and down on the tree - too cute! The class has been exploring the woods a lot lately, and it's hilarious to hear K recount how many times she fell on any given day. Rare is the day where she proudly announces "I didn't fall today!" Normally it's 1-2 times, but she is quick to point out that she "just stands up and dusts herself off - I didn't cry." THAT'S MY GIRL! ROUGH AND TUMBLE!!!!
In addition to Bloomz, the school also posts a weekly newsletter for Kindy - it's 4 pages long and is packed full of detail as to what they are working on. It's really neat how they break it down:
1. Writer's workshop - the letters they are working on and how they are fostering creativity
2. Story Corner - the stories they are reading and what they are learning
3. Math - usually involving something outside
4. Yoga (yes, yoga) - new positions
5. PE - current activity (largely focused on gross motor skills, cardio, personal space, and general fitness at the moment)
6. Upcoming themes (next week is apples)
7. Music - includes songs being sung and instruments being learned. Also, this week they learned: "If you play before I say, I take your instrument away." Love that!
A month in, I am just SO impressed with this school. Kaitlyn really seems to be loving it, and I am watching her grow and improve daily. She is starting to recognize words, and her handwriting is DEFINITELY getting better. While some letters might still be flipped, she is getting stronger and definitely improving her fine motor skills.
Which reminds me - the OTHER school item from the day: K comes home and hands me her backpack, so I start going through it to see if there are any papers for me to sign or review. No paperwork is in the red folder, but I do notice a pair of panties in a ziplock bag. I ask K about it, and she then shows me her panties she's wearing...WHICH HAVE NEVER BEEN PURCHASED BY US AND HAVE NEVER BEEN IN THIS HOUSE BEFORE. When I ask about them, she says, "Yeah, I had a poopy accident, and so the nurse had to give me some panties because you didn't pack me any." I then unzip the front of her bag to show her the panties that I did, in fact, pack for this very moment. Her response. "Oh..." Insert her 5 yr old smile running up the stairs to put her My Little Pony Nightgown on here. :-)
Oh, and BIG NEWS today - Cora actually walked down the steps with Nole Nana!!!! She had her hand and really did a GREAT job of stepping down - SO PROUD OF YOU, KIDDO!!
9/22 - Today was a BLITZKRIEG through Charlotte! We were up early and headed to NOMAD, where I got a nice, long run in while the girls hung out in Childwatch. K was so cute - she just went straight to the stuffed tiger, plopped it on the ground, and then sat in front of the TV while they queued up "Meet the Robinsons." Cora was happy as a clam, too - she loves all those toys! The girls are gonna miss that place once we move. I hope they enjoy the Y just as much!
After that, it was off to the featured activity of the day - Ellie's birthday party at North Meck Park! Now I will be honest - I was a little nervous about this, as a) it was the heat of the day (11:30-2), b) I had never been there and didn't know what I'd do with Cora, and c) it was a given that Cora was going to miss her nap. That being said, those kids had a gallon of sunscreen on them, we had enough food to feed the Red Army, and I was freshly showered at the gym after my workout - we were READY!
So imagine my surprise when I pulled up at 11:27 to find NO ONE ELSE THERE. I mean, nothing - no cars, no kids, no parents, no decorations. It was at that point that I feared I'd gone to the wrong place and checked the invite - only to learn that the party was...TOMORROW. AWESOME.
So here I am - kids lathered, lunches packed (for me and Cora, anyway), and I can't really feed Cora and get her home. So what do we do? Make lemonade out of lemons, of course! And I am happy to report that we really did have a blast. We put Cora in the stroller and did a few laps around the soccer fields (K was a running machine!). After that we played on the playground for a bit (K was able to do the swing by herself with a little coaching from one of the girls she met there) and had some food. It was then over to the other playground we'd seen on the way in, and they LOVED that one. Cora was climbing all over EVERYTHING and going down the top slide, and K even climbed up the pole! After that it was over to DPK for 2 hours - the girls had a BLAST! It really was fun, and my highlight of the week happened there: taking a page out of the visit with Elizabeth and K, I took a flower (fake of course) from the "restaurant" and then proceeded to tickle them with it. Both girls were rolling around and cackling in this tiny little gymnastics area, and the laughter was just so precious. They just kept running back for more, and each time I immediately obliged. It was just SO much fun.
We were back home about 4 or so - just in time for the afternoon football games. :-) All in all, it was an AMAZING day - even if it was a beautiful oops to start out! K was tired (she had played hard!), and I got really good snuggles from her that night. Cora didn't make a peep either - they were exhausted! Side note - that's another great thing about Bradford - between PE and recess, those kids are getting a TON of exercise, and I can tell it with Kaitlyn. She's getting leaner and meaner, and that last roll that was just hanging on above her knee is now gone. Her arms are DEFINITELY getting stronger as well - really cool to see!
9/23 - Both girls slept 12 hours! WOW - talk about tired! We hit church and then rolled BACK to the park, where I am happy to report that we actually DID have the correct day this time. :-) The party was AWESOME - Ellie's mom did such an amazing job planning it! There was a water balloon toss (K and her partner won and received crazy art as a prize), a Unicorn piñata, a really cool cake, pizza, goody bags, balloons, other games, and the playground. They even did arts and crafts (painted rocks)! It was really cool, and given that it was about 10 degrees cooler, Cora even managed to pass out in the stroller for about an hour. That was awesome, as I used it to just walk her in the stroller around the loop (got over 2 miles of exercise for myself!).
After hitting the other park yet again, we then rolled over to NOMAD for an hour plus of swimming. Both girls were GREAT, and again K was going flat out. Cora was really good about jumping into the cold pool and seemed happy the entire time (until the last 5-10 min, but I was done as well at that point).
It was then home for dinner and baths, at which point K flipped the switch and became a CLEANING MACHINE! Seriously - this girl was a force of nature: sweeping, dusting, putting things away, etc. But the funniest part. She would sweep the floor and gather a big pile of dust, but beyond that she didn't know what to do. So she would just go and create the next big dust pile. Once I explained what the dust pan was for, we immediately turned the dial. :-) She was a ROCK STAR! Definitely earned her $3 chore money for the week!
JT came home in time to read K a story (I read to Cora), and then we sacked out early (I was flying to Minneapolis the next morning). It was just such a great weekend, and I think we all three had fun. Once you can get in the zone and really focus on your kids, it's so much fun. And knowing my limits, I've now built in some dedicated "me time" in there on weekends as well when "the game is on and daddy is going to watch every play." Honestly, as long as the girls get a lot of attention in the morning and again starting with dinner time, I've found they are pretty good with giving me time as well.
9/26: I was face-timing with JT and the girls today and saw Kaitlyn do some AMAZING hand stands! Seriously - she is really starting to get it and is starting to exhibit more arm strength. Very impressed! JT also told me that she was DESPERATE to read last night and apparently broke into tears because she couldn't make enough progress in one of those "I Can Read" books. Jenny said that every second she's not coloring or practicing handstands, she's trying to read and sound out words (even running into her room with books to practice as soon as she gets home). I am assuming other kids are demonstrating command of sight words, and K is determined to catch up - LOVE THE MOTIVATION! She is a smart girl, and her memory is definitely a big help to her on books she's familiar with. For new books, however, I think she's realizing that she's gonna have to work if she wants to learn them out of the gate. :-)
Also, while I was FTing with Cora tonight, she said "bye" for the first time ever. How cool is that? Another word for the word bank! She did have a scary moment on this day, however - Jenny was over at the Williams house, and apparently Cora felt down the stairs. Cora was fine (albeit rattled, as was JT), and the good news - it was carpeted and had a landing halfway down. Needless to say we will be watching that much closer from this point forward.
9/27 - This evening must have been a good one for the girls. JT said that they read a lot, and as K figured out words and sentences, she would read them to Cora. Once K was tired of reading, Cora must have torn into the book collection and started flipping through herself (I saw a really cute pic).
Interestingly enough - K was holding the "Night Before Christmas" with Vol Nana & Grand Pooh's voices today and apparently listening to it over and over. Jenny said that she started crying because she missed Vol Nana and didn't know when she would see her again. Little did she know at the time the surprise we had in store for her... :-)
9/28 - Because of company for Jenny's Asheville weekend, I was on the couch last night. I woke up in the morning to find a cute little 5 year old wanting to snuggle with me on the couch, and I happily obliged. That being said, when she curled up into me she said, "Daddy, you are a little stinky." Priceless!
Mom woke up about 10:15 (AN EPIC SLEEP BY HER STANDARDS) and had Cora during the day while I worked. That was great, as they really got some dedicated time to bond (and Cora is LOVING her Vol Nana - sense a pattern forming here?). :-)
The highlight was filming Kaitlyn when Theresa dropped her off for the weekend. Kaitlyn walked in and was talking to me about her day when she made it to the family room and saw Vol Nana. She instantly stopped and whispered to me "Dada, what is Vol Nana doing here?" She was SHOCKED! And thus began a GREAT weekend for all of us.
A BPS note - K got to play with her House Buddy today! We now know that her name is Sarah and that she's in 5th grade. I don't know much beyond that, but apparently they did have fun. :-)
9/29 - We made this day count! K was up at 5:45 (so excited about Mom being here that she couldn't sleep I guess), and she barged right into mom's room (we had to establish protocols for Sunday, but K slept like a rock that night so it didn't matter). After getting a morning run in, I showered and then we headed to DPK. Mom had never seen it, and K was ALL ABOUT showing it to her. Best of all - when I went to pay and showed them my pass, the gal at the desk said, "She can just be your Jennifer today." How sweet! Love those folks! We then launched into an hour of scrambling through DPK, and the girls were in Heaven. K ran Vol Nana ragged, and I got a chance to really focus on Cora, which was great. Cora loves the coloring section, and so we spent quite a bit of time in there. And it should be noted that I did get the chance to tickle them again, which was a highlight for me (and for mom to see I think).
After about an hour, we left and headed over to North Meck Park, where we hit both playgrounds and stopped for lunch. It was then back home, where Mom and K made THE BEST brownies EVER. Seriously - these puppies were guuuuuuuuuuud. The only hiccup was K trying to lick the bowl when there was still raw egg present. Details... :-)
The highlight for K (other than hanging with Vol Nana all day, of course) came about 4:20, when we drove to BPS for the Lower School Lock In! This was something we didn't think we'd get the chance to do when it was originally scheduled, as we had planned to be in Chapel Hill for the UCF game. However, when the hurricane hit, they rescheduled it. I honestly didn't think she would want to leave Mom's side, but after Vol Nana dropped the bomb that she was staying Sunday night as well, K was ALL ABOUT going. And I am thrilled to report that she had a BLAST!
It was actually really cool. After signing her in, I said goodbye to her while she made her way to the Kindergarten & 1st grade section. Once there, they had a veritable FLURRY of activities for them - playing in the woods, playing games, eating pizza (with juice), other snacks, and then a movie (Chicken Little - which she hadn't seen). Although no one else from her class was there, she got to make some new friends and play with lots of different folks. Also, Ms. Pate sat beside her during the movie, which I think thrilled her to bits.
As for everything else that day, it was largely an endless loop of 2 things for K:
1. Handstands! Seriously - she was doing them NON-STOP! But the good news - she is really starting to get the hang of it! I mean, occasionally she over-rotates and collapses in a heap in the floor (always laughing, thank goodness). But there is no question - that girl IS getting stronger, and her balance is improving. That's making gymnastics more fun, which is making her want to work on it more. Yay!
2. "Count in your brain while I run!" So this is pretty funny. Essentially it involves her doing laps in the house (think of a figure 8 around our downstairs rooms) while we either count out loud or count "in our brains" (aka silently). Sometimes she'll ask us to give her a number by which time she has to complete the loop, after which time she takes off like a rabid banshee to try and beat the deadline. That girl really is getting fast, yo!
On the Cora front, Mom really did a tremendous job of balancing the time with each girl. Cora definitely entertains herself more, but we did get some good interaction time with her as well. She spent the day coloring, running around after sis, and trying her own gymnastics moves. She was FEARLESS at North Meck Park and looked very comfortable climbing around. She also slept like a ROCK STAR in the afternoon, which is a sign we put her through her paces properly. RESULT!
9/30 - I had 2 church services on this day, so Mom looked after the girls in the morning. In the afternoon, she surprised Kaitlyn with some wonderful girls out time! They went to see Small Foot, which K (and mom) absolutely loved. It's funny, because about a week ago Kaitlyn had said, "Dada, I want to go to the movies again with Vol nana. I want juice and cotton candy, and you aren't allowed to come." Well, kid, you got your wish. :-)
They also played at the Concord Mills playground, played in LegoLand, and even got dippin' dots. The highlight for K, however, was going to a photo booth with Vol Nana and making funny faces (aka pretending they were Yetis). We had pizza that night (muffin was home!) and got the girls in bed about 8:30 or so. It was late, but I did want them to maximize time with Mom.
Cora and I spent the afternoon putting stickers on each other, climbing on the flipped over chairs, and trying to put swim suits on over diapers (for the avoidance of doubt - only she was wearing a diaper). I read to her some, and we just tried to chill for a bit. Jenny and Sarah got home in the afternoon, and Cora actually quite enjoyed curling up with Auntie Sara.
All of us crashed shortly thereafter, hearts full, bodies exhausted, and another wonderful weekend (and month!) in the books. Now it's on to an October that's somehow suddenly gotten quite full -funny how that happens! However, you'll have to stay tuned until next month for those updates. Speak to you then!
Love,
Sam and Jenny
I will be honest, the movie itself wasn't great for the first hour. Then, suddenly, it dramatically improved, and I was locked in for the last 30 minutes. So locked in, in fact, that I got teary-eyed at the end. I then looked over at Jenny (who hadn't even watched most of it), and SHE was teary-eyed as well! I tell ya what - this parenting thing runs the gamut of emotions. :-)
The craziest part of the day actually happened just before movie night. From out of nowhere, K said, "I want to go clean my room." And then, suddenly, she was a cleaning FORCE OF NATURE!!!! She cleaned her room, Cora's room, and the bonus room - even helped vacuum! She then helped tidy the living room - it was amazing!
Oh, and the class read "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" this week, and K basically dropped the entire thing on us from memory tonight. It. Was. AWESOME.
9/3 - MCLAREN DAY!!!!! Today was Labor Day, and we had an AWESOME time to cap and AWESOME long weekend. It started at the Sports Club Pool, where we met the McLarens. Lindsey was there with the kids, as well as some other friends, and so we had a good 2+ hours swimming around. I ended up swimming with them for over an hour, as I was the shark in sharks and minnows. The funniest part - kids were coming out of the woodwork to be part of this - including plenty that I didn't know! It was a hoot, and the kids all seemed to have a lot of fun. Needless to say - this guy was whipped!
It was then over to our house, where we grilled and just chilled for the afternoon. The girls were GREAT - they all play SO WELL together, and they are very good about just doing their own thing as well. They played "spy kitties" (don't ask), lots of other games, and just generally had a blast while the adults got a chance to rest and relax. It was a perfect day, and I loved it. We got the girls down about 7:30 (pretty much the standard time). It's interesting - K is basically waking up at her alarm time, so the schedule has really worked out well. It's a long day, but so far she's loving it.
9/4 - Today was back to the grind, and it was a good one all around. K did Yoga at school (Down dog!), and Jenny and Cora had a morning of trying to corral one of the neighbor's dogs who'd gotten loose. I got home about 5, and we had some great play time before bed. My goal is to really focus and lock in during that 5-7:30 window, as realistically that's about all the time I get with the kids (other than about 5 minutes in the morning). We have filled most of that time playing tag or monster, and today we managed some hide and seek. And while some of the hiding spots are exceptionally clever, it's tricky when Cora follows the hiders around and calls out their name the entire time. :-) Details...
It was apparently so hot today that they didn't go outside for recess or PE. I get that - humidity is flat dangerous right now for kids who don't know how to regulate their body heat or when to drink water.
9/5 - So the other night while tucking K in, I decided to do a little switch up for tickle time. So instead of starting at her head, I said, "I'm gonna do the reverse angle." All I did was start at the bottom and start by tickling her feet, but she LOVED it. And since then, every night she's yelled out "Do the reverse angle!" before we start tickle time. Too cute.
K was actually a little upset today. We weren't sure why (she was a bit whiny), and admittedly some of it is a) exhaustion and b) the fact that she's likely fighting a cold (she's had a running nose for the last day or so - inevitable when you start a new school year and put all those kids in such close proximity) - but something was definitely off. Upon further probing (which is always work with her, as she never likes to talk much about her day), she told us that she was upset because she hadn't yet earned a "brag tag," which is apparently something you get when Ms. Pate catches you doing something nice for someone. 
Then, after we tucked her in and turned out the light, she told Jenny that she cried in class today. When Jenny asked why, she said, "Because I don't get to see you all day." Talk about touching your heart! Jenny explained that this was the new world order and reminded her that was why it was so important to make our time together (especially the weekends) count. Well done, muffin!
Also, something super cute: Jenny and I alternate the girls each night (although both of them ALWAYS want Jenny - I try not to be too offended :-)), and on Jenny's nights with Cora, she's been praying over her while Cora lays on her shoulder (this is the 5 min wind down period after reading to her). The cutest part - whenever Jenny says, "In the mighty name of Jesus - Amen," Cora always looks up and says "Yay!" How cute is that?
9/6 - Today was definitely a better day for K...because she earned her brag tag! Apparently some little girl got hurt, and K asked, "Are you ok?" Ms. Pate saw it and gave K the coveted award,which she apparently gets to wear on Friday. YAY!
All was not super smooth at Kindy, however, as K got accidentally kicked in the face and had a bloody nose! Her retelling of it was classic. "Dada, Karen accidentally raised her foot when we were playing in the kitchen, and she hit me in the face. And then I had blood all in my snot. I had so much bloody snot." UM - GROSS.
Luckily no one was the worse for wear, and she's it's not preschool, we didn't even get a note or an email about it. K seemed fine, so chalk it up to experience. :-)
9/7 - So Cora definitely has a favorite game at the moment with me. She will bring me a "lovie" and then just keep repeating "Gaga" until I make it "kiss" her cheek. She will laugh and then run away, at which point my job is to chase her with said lovie, kissing her on the cheeks and face. She will just cackle. Rinse/repeat. 600 times. The other variation of the game is just her bringing me 14,000 objects, handing them to me, smiling as I accept them, and then going on a scavenger hunt to find the next set of objects to present. We can kill quite a bit of time this way. And hey - as long as I don't have to move, it's a win. :-)
9/8 - So prepare yourself fo this news - CORA CAN NOW OPEN HER DOOR! Time to break out the child locks! Also, both girls are fighting colds currently. I think Kaitlyn will beat hers (will likely just be a bit snotty, stuffy, and tired for a bit), but it's been much tougher for Cora. She is walking up every morning with mutant green snot from a horror film (which I managed to get stuck in her hair one morning), and she ran a temperature late this evening. However, she's reasonably happy during the day, so we're just gonna keep trying to power through!
Two fun activities for K today: the first one was Elizabeth's 5th birthday party. This was a unicorn themed party, and I Jenny dropped her off. Well, as it turned out, it was a 2 hour SUGAR FEST of galactic proportions: pop tarts, donuts the size of sherman tanks, a smoothie making session, unicorn poop "sour patch kid rainbows!", Lucky charms, mini star bursts, ice cream cones where you decorated your own cone with icing, bugles covered in icing, cake...it was pretty much my worst nightmare. I mean COME ON!!!!!!! It was sugar fest 5000, and Kaitlyn was a kid in a candy store...literally. The photos were priceless from Jenny, and then I arrived to find K WOOFING DOWN mini-starbursts amidst sea of unicorns and girls dressed as mermaids, unicorns, and princesses. Let's just say it was not exactly my comfort zone. The highlight for me happened in the 1:30-3 PM window, where K and I made good on a long awaited request - the return to the Greenway! K and I must have done 6 or so miles, and she did GREAT! She was admittedly nervous out of the gate (it had been awhile), but by the end she was flying and really powered up some inclines! I was proud to watch her confidence grow and then bloom big time over the hour+ we were out there - so much fun! I am hopeful we can make that a more regular occurrence as the weather gets better - as it really is a ton of fun out there (and we really had fun together).
9/9 - After a great church service, we spent the afternoon chilling before heading to the Sports Club for the last outdoor swim of the year. There was lightning about 35-40 minutes in, so we packed up and went to NOMAD until they closed. I had a GREAT time swimming with both girls, and K and I really played. Cora also seemed to really enjoy it, and she and I had a lot of focused fun as well (she didn't seem to get bored or tired of me - SCORE!).Also, tonight K announced that she's going to give Cora one stuffed animal a day from her bed. It's pretty cute, and she's actually been doing it consistently so far! Cora is, of course, loving it, and now has a veritable plethora of critters in her room (which she runs around with all day) - love my girls!
Also, K earned another $3 for her chores this week, tipping her over $10 (meaning she tithed another dollar to the church). She has been SUCH a great helper lately - it's been AWESOME!
9/10 - So I was up at 4:47 this morning and was just heading downstairs when I passed K's room and heard "daddy!" I was SHOCKED she was awake, and as I went in to tell her that she needed to go to sleep, I noticed that she was bawling silently. Seriously - she was FREAKED OUT. I asked her why, and she said, "skeleton!" Now as I've likely mentioned several times in previous posts, Kaitlyn has been expressing fear of skeletons in her room. Well, I never really thought about it much until this moment, at which point tears were streaming down her face in fear. I asked why she was afraid of them, and she said, "Boo Blasters" - can you believe it? It used to be her favorite ride!
I talked to her for 13 minutes (I was watching the clock as I didn't want her to get so wound up that she couldn't go back to sleep but wanted to ensure she knew I was taking this seriously) and explained that the ride was fake and that skeletons don't really walk around. She was still a little teary eyed when she laid back down, but she didn't make a peep. Poor thing!
The good news - she DID go back to sleep, and she was really sweet to me in the morning. Yay!
And the BIG NEWS - TEAM TAYLOR JUST BOUGHT ANOTHER CAR!!!!! This came out of nowhere, but we got an UNREAL DEAL on my dream car (after Katie the Corolla, of course) - a Nissan Xterra!!!! Sean knows a guy who refurbishes them, and this guy found the PERFECT car for us - all in God's perfect timing!!! We are SO excited, as not only does it give us a ton more room - it also will ensure that K has a booster seat to sit in on the drive to kindy. I hadn't realized that she was in the middle without a car seat until last week, and so I'm THRILLED we made it happen. We pick it up in 3-5 weeks when the refurb is done! 
I say all this to relate that, since JT was car shopping, I got to take K to gymnastics. We picked up Elizabeth as well. She was not in a great mood, but her and K were really sweet and played well together, and before you knew it they were both giggling in the back seat. We all played rock, paper, scissors on the way home. Elizabeth said, "You have a silly daddy." :-) Love that!Gymnastics was really cool to watch this time - they were SUPER active and really doing cool stuff! The practiced sticking landings, working on their moves, and even learning some dance moves! K showed off "unicorn" to me today - she's really making progress on her handstands (and actually wants to practice constantly).
Also, we measured the girls' heights today in the bonus room. It was the first time Cora had ever willingly stood there - she loved it! K has probably grown 2-3 inches since march - INSANE to look at the progress!
9/11 - Something cool today from Kindy: Ms. Pate is now sending their "red folder" (this has all their work from the week for us to review) home daily with a calendar in it. If your child is good, you get a sticker on that day's square. If the child had a problem or misbehaved, then there is a note in there, and the parents have to sign that they've read and acknowledged it. Kaitlyn has received stickers the first 2 days, and after 5 stickers she gets to put a "pom pom" in a bowl. Apparently when this bowl gets totally full, the kids get to vote on how they want to celebrate the "special day" they've earned - the two options K mentioned were a) pajama day and b) stinky feet day. When I inquired as to the expectation on b), she said, "You sit in class all day without shoes on. CLASSIC!
On the Cora front, she's still battling a slight fever, but all in all she seems to be in pretty good spirits. She's going down very willingly at night and not really making a peep, and I think she's sleeping pretty good through the night. 9/12 - We had some high drama today!!!! Everything was going great - K was extremely chatty about her day, telling us about songs they did in Music, about who she played with on the play ground, etc - and then she said, "Dada, can you dribble the big red ball around your back while I chase it?" You see, we hadn't actually told K that I purposefully took a screwdriver to that puppy months ago, and so when I came clean (sort of - I said "it deflated"), she just started BAWLING! #didnotseethatcoming...
She was in tears, and we compromised by inflating the hopper ball and me dribbling that. I mean, I knew she liked that thing, but WOW. Cora spent the afternoon trying to wear the dust cover for the Bubble Bum - she eventually did manage to get both her legs in, only to realize that was NOT conducive for walking. And it occurs to me - I probably haven't even mentioned the Bubble Bum, have it? It's this great little inflatable booster for kids. No arm rest, so it's much smaller and easier to manage. It's actually better than the hard boosters we've got, as it gives us greater control on the seat belts and their placement. Also, it gives K TONS more room in the middle back, which was certainly a concern. JT is going to order another one so that we can finally elevate K in the middle and ensure the seat belt hits in the right spot. This should get us over the hump until the Xterra arrives!
9/13 - Cora is a SHOE HOARDER AND MARKER HIDER!!!!!! That girl is out of control right now, and it is hilarious. She spends all afternoon running around with two markers (one in each hand), and at least a solid portion of that is spent coloring her face. HILARIOUS! I mean, the other day her hair looked like it had been in a hurricane, she had yogurt all over her face, and she'd colored herself blue - priceless. On the shoe hoarding front, her big thing right now (when she's not trying to wear every single article of clothing on the planet) is putting all the shoes from the shoe rack into the play pen. She then goes in there, closes the door, and plays by herself in said play pen - amazing! It really is cute. And tonight she managed to put on panties for the first time...after she already had her onesie on. :-)
On the Kindy front, K has been invited to her first birthday party by a new friend! Ellie (the first friend that she's talked about from BPS) invited K to her party next Saturday - Yay! So glad she's making new friends.
The focus right now at kindy is tracing lines and working on fine motor skills. The spend quite a bit of time working on writing letters, and it's been really cool to watch the improvement.
9/15 - Cora has new words!!!! Yes, yes - these are legitimate- I have witnessed them myself! New to the word bank:
1. That (and she's pretty demonstrative - she'll point at it as well)
2. Read
3. Gray (admittedly she sometimes says this for other colors...blue, black, etc...details...)4. Baby
We had planned to be inside most of this day, as we honestly thought it would be a total washout with the Hurricane. That being said, the day actually wasn't bad (just wet with non-stop rain), and we did manage to get out for a bit. I took K with my to Starbucks (and surprised her with a warm chocolate croissant - #bestdadever), and later on I took her to Nomad (I worked out and then came back for her since they didn't have childwatch). That kid was a BEAST! Seriously - it was THE BEST workout I've ever seen from her, and arguably the most fun we've ever had in a swim session together. It came out of nowhere, but that girl really wanted to swim! She did 300 yards, including 75 for time (40, 41, and 42 seconds). She also did lots of water pull ups on the blocks, and she did a good 20 minutes of "working on her shimmy," which meant that she worked on pulling herself out of the water at the block and then "shimmying" over to the side. It was hilarious to watch, and we actually ended up videoing it once she was really in the zone and had it down. Too cute! I mean, she was basically doing Parkour!
JT was a rock star as well with the arts and crafts, and the girls were really cute. Cora tried on every single princess dress in the house about 14 times. Seriously - she brings them to you, does the more sign, and then when you get it on her, she wants it off after about 11 seconds. The funniest part - there were several dresses that I honestly HAVE NEVER SEEN BEFORE IN MY ENTIRE LIFE. That dress-up chest is like the wardrobe from Narnia - it just keeps going (wonder if Mr. Tumnus is in there?).
Kaitlyn did a lot of water colors as well, and she really did a good job. I must confess I am quite impressed with her improving fine motor skills, and I don't mind saying that I do think she has some artistic abilities should she choose to explore that further. I know, I know...everyone thinks their kid is a genius and the next Salvatore Dali, but trust me - she really does do a good job staying in the lines. :-)
On the whole it was a great day - TV time, arts & crafts, some really good exercise, great food courtesy of mommy, and an excuse to just relax all the rules. RESULT!
9/16 - Today was a SUPER WET one, and we really were stuck inside all day. That being said, it wasn't stressful at all and truthfully was a lot of fun. Church was cancelled, so we had tons of flexibility in the schedule. We live streamed church, listened to music, played card games (Pete the Cat's Big Lunch), ate pizza, watched football, watched Netflix, played Monster, played tag, and lounged around in PJ's all day. It was honestly perfect, and truth be told we really needed it. Things are about to go into overdrive starting Thursday morning, with JT out of the house 4 days, followed b a 4 day work trip for me, followed by a 3 day weekend for JT, so we were thankful to have this time. And because school was cancelled for Monday, we were still able to relax the rules quite a bit. :-)
Oh, and the cutest thing - JT continued in her "Art Warrior" fashion, and K completed 2 art projects she was given as birthday presents back in March! They were these pillows that you had to put sequins and pins and such on, and she did an AMAZING job! Seriously - I was well and truly impressed, and JT barely helped (and even then only on the first one). Way to go, kiddo!
9/17 - I was back in the office and back to the grind today, so I didn't see my ladies as much as over the weekend. That being said, a few things I noticed:1. When it's time to put Cora's PJ's on, she has memorized the order in which I do it. She points to each body part before I put it into the onesie, and she smiles when I acknowledge that she's correct.
2. K is no longer saying "sompling." It's now definitely "something" (even with 2 teeth missing). Growing up. Sniffle.
3. Any time I say "I gotta potty" or something that denotes I'm headed for the bathroom, Cora yells "quack quack" and SPRINTS to the bathroom. Once she gets in there, she sits down on Ducky Potty and waits for me to come in! HOW CUTE IS THAT? Seriously - it's adorable. She's also saying "Dipe Dipe!!!!" anytime I change her. Love. This. Kid.
4. Cora's eyes are still blue, and the rings around the outside are dark blue. That being said, she's got VERY light eyes in the center, and I can definitely see flecks of green in there. I'm curious to see if she'll end up with my (mottled) eye color or how it will all play out. 21 months is a long time to have blue eyes, so maybe they'll stick! Watch this space!
9/18 - K HAS ANOTHER LOOSE TOOTH! Seriously - when she wiggles it, you can hear a clicking. What in the world?!?!?!? It's down on the bottom - pretty soon she'll have a gap wider than the Grand Canyon down there!
On the Cora front, she is FINALLY pointing to herself in the mirror. When you ask "Where is Cora bear?", she will point and smile. And have I mentioned that kid LOVES to play with belly buttons? She will poke you in yours any chance she gets and will cackle when you poke hers. You have been warned. :-) She remains the consummate fashionista when it comes to shoes, and she's not far behind with hats. And here I was thinking she was going to be my rugby player...9/20 - Today was a big day for Sammy the Bull - my first every BPS pick-up! THANK GOODNESS JENNY PREPPED ME. I mean, that was no joke. She told me "get there at 3:10 - not ONE SECOND before." Sure enough, had I showed up before that, I would have been whipped around and sent home, finding myself in line behind a TON of cars.
I have to give them credit - it is quite efficient. Basically you file into 3 lanes based on the direction you need to head post pickup, and then people are walking around keying in your child's number into a tablet (each kid has a number). When that number is entered, teachers march the appropriate children to loading zones (written on their hands), and then when they get the all clear, they pour into the cars. Pretty cool really! I was in line at 3:10 and picked her up at 3:22 - door to door was 30 min all in.
Something cool to note for Cora - she's starting to get really interested in puzzles. She can't put them together yet, but she loves picking them up and trying to fit them into slots (which I think is impressive in and of itself). Tonight K and I did some simple wooden puzzles with her so she could see how we did it, and by the end she was trying to slot pieces into nearly completed puzzles. Progress! These two DEFINITELY got that from their mother, as I am DONKEY TRASH at puzzles. This weekend I want to spent some time in the bonus room with the simple puzzles with handles, as I want to keep encouraging this for Thing 2.
On that note, my simple goals this fall for my girls:
1. Cora - more words, more experience with puzzles, reading some new books to her to keep that interest, and further encourage her interest in Ducky Potty (aka start some potty training)2. Kaitlyn - start working on sight words, continue to encourage her to enjoy learning and stay motivated, read new books to keep her interested (aka buy some and visit the library more), read 3 books a night (typically doing 2 right now), get her more comfortable riding a bike (aka consistently get to the greenway, learning what to do in case of an emergency (i.e. dial 911)
9/21 - It's the last official day of summer! Last night during bed time Kaitlyn told me she wanted the night light off and the door closed. That has been the case the last week or two (which has made my life easier in terms of sneaking past her room at 5 AM), but I got the inside scoop why tonight: "Dada, close the door so no skeletons will come in. They won't think there's anybody in here." WOW - still with the skeleton thing! That being said, she must have been tired because she slept until her alarm woke her at 6:40 AM. When she opened her door, she asked me if she could go back to sleep - poor thing! But luckily it's Friday - hopefully she'll sleep until 7:30 or later tomorrow!
Cora was all about puzzles last night and again this morning - and she does realize that pieces can fit into the open spaces for sure. She can't rotate them properly yet, but she's getting there! Also, she added a word: bowl!
Nole Nana provided Day Care services today, which was a TREMENDOUS help. No way I could have done it on my own! K obviously didn't get as much time considering that she had kindy, but Cora definitely got some good bonding time. Nole Nana now knows all about "ri ri's." :-)
Oh, and the funniest moment last night - Kaitlyn asked me when Fall started. I told her Saturday, at which point she made a big frumpy face and said, "I don't like fall for one reason. Flu Shot." OH, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!!!! :-)Also to note for this day: K is starting to learn "sight words!" They started it this week as an introduction, but commencing 9/24 it will become part of the curriculum in earnest. Sight word for the week was "the," and K is actually noticing it. We also had the word "cake" from a Splat the Cat book (Splat the Cat takes the cake), and Kaitlyn did start noticing it when reading through the story. Exciting!!!! Also, she met her House Buddy for the first time ever! This is a really cool thing, as each Kindergartener is paired up with a 5th grader who becomes their "house buddy." They meet every Friday as part of House Day, and this was the day K officially met her "mentor." I didn't get any details other than "she was nice" and "I don't remember her name." Watch this space. :-)
Also, something very cool - her teacher (who is AWESOME) is now using a new app called Bloomz to communicate with us. It's really amazing, as she takes photos of the class and posts them (as well as a little message) almost every single day! They were out in the woods on this day and found a tree that was bent over and bouncy. Ms. Pate got some GREAT video of K bouncing up and down on the tree - too cute! The class has been exploring the woods a lot lately, and it's hilarious to hear K recount how many times she fell on any given day. Rare is the day where she proudly announces "I didn't fall today!" Normally it's 1-2 times, but she is quick to point out that she "just stands up and dusts herself off - I didn't cry." THAT'S MY GIRL! ROUGH AND TUMBLE!!!!
In addition to Bloomz, the school also posts a weekly newsletter for Kindy - it's 4 pages long and is packed full of detail as to what they are working on. It's really neat how they break it down:1. Writer's workshop - the letters they are working on and how they are fostering creativity
2. Story Corner - the stories they are reading and what they are learning
3. Math - usually involving something outside
4. Yoga (yes, yoga) - new positions
5. PE - current activity (largely focused on gross motor skills, cardio, personal space, and general fitness at the moment)
6. Upcoming themes (next week is apples)
7. Music - includes songs being sung and instruments being learned. Also, this week they learned: "If you play before I say, I take your instrument away." Love that!
A month in, I am just SO impressed with this school. Kaitlyn really seems to be loving it, and I am watching her grow and improve daily. She is starting to recognize words, and her handwriting is DEFINITELY getting better. While some letters might still be flipped, she is getting stronger and definitely improving her fine motor skills.
Which reminds me - the OTHER school item from the day: K comes home and hands me her backpack, so I start going through it to see if there are any papers for me to sign or review. No paperwork is in the red folder, but I do notice a pair of panties in a ziplock bag. I ask K about it, and she then shows me her panties she's wearing...WHICH HAVE NEVER BEEN PURCHASED BY US AND HAVE NEVER BEEN IN THIS HOUSE BEFORE. When I ask about them, she says, "Yeah, I had a poopy accident, and so the nurse had to give me some panties because you didn't pack me any." I then unzip the front of her bag to show her the panties that I did, in fact, pack for this very moment. Her response. "Oh..." Insert her 5 yr old smile running up the stairs to put her My Little Pony Nightgown on here. :-)
Oh, and BIG NEWS today - Cora actually walked down the steps with Nole Nana!!!! She had her hand and really did a GREAT job of stepping down - SO PROUD OF YOU, KIDDO!!9/22 - Today was a BLITZKRIEG through Charlotte! We were up early and headed to NOMAD, where I got a nice, long run in while the girls hung out in Childwatch. K was so cute - she just went straight to the stuffed tiger, plopped it on the ground, and then sat in front of the TV while they queued up "Meet the Robinsons." Cora was happy as a clam, too - she loves all those toys! The girls are gonna miss that place once we move. I hope they enjoy the Y just as much!
After that, it was off to the featured activity of the day - Ellie's birthday party at North Meck Park! Now I will be honest - I was a little nervous about this, as a) it was the heat of the day (11:30-2), b) I had never been there and didn't know what I'd do with Cora, and c) it was a given that Cora was going to miss her nap. That being said, those kids had a gallon of sunscreen on them, we had enough food to feed the Red Army, and I was freshly showered at the gym after my workout - we were READY!So imagine my surprise when I pulled up at 11:27 to find NO ONE ELSE THERE. I mean, nothing - no cars, no kids, no parents, no decorations. It was at that point that I feared I'd gone to the wrong place and checked the invite - only to learn that the party was...TOMORROW. AWESOME.
So here I am - kids lathered, lunches packed (for me and Cora, anyway), and I can't really feed Cora and get her home. So what do we do? Make lemonade out of lemons, of course! And I am happy to report that we really did have a blast. We put Cora in the stroller and did a few laps around the soccer fields (K was a running machine!). After that we played on the playground for a bit (K was able to do the swing by herself with a little coaching from one of the girls she met there) and had some food. It was then over to the other playground we'd seen on the way in, and they LOVED that one. Cora was climbing all over EVERYTHING and going down the top slide, and K even climbed up the pole! After that it was over to DPK for 2 hours - the girls had a BLAST! It really was fun, and my highlight of the week happened there: taking a page out of the visit with Elizabeth and K, I took a flower (fake of course) from the "restaurant" and then proceeded to tickle them with it. Both girls were rolling around and cackling in this tiny little gymnastics area, and the laughter was just so precious. They just kept running back for more, and each time I immediately obliged. It was just SO much fun.
We were back home about 4 or so - just in time for the afternoon football games. :-) All in all, it was an AMAZING day - even if it was a beautiful oops to start out! K was tired (she had played hard!), and I got really good snuggles from her that night. Cora didn't make a peep either - they were exhausted! Side note - that's another great thing about Bradford - between PE and recess, those kids are getting a TON of exercise, and I can tell it with Kaitlyn. She's getting leaner and meaner, and that last roll that was just hanging on above her knee is now gone. Her arms are DEFINITELY getting stronger as well - really cool to see!
9/23 - Both girls slept 12 hours! WOW - talk about tired! We hit church and then rolled BACK to the park, where I am happy to report that we actually DID have the correct day this time. :-) The party was AWESOME - Ellie's mom did such an amazing job planning it! There was a water balloon toss (K and her partner won and received crazy art as a prize), a Unicorn piñata, a really cool cake, pizza, goody bags, balloons, other games, and the playground. They even did arts and crafts (painted rocks)! It was really cool, and given that it was about 10 degrees cooler, Cora even managed to pass out in the stroller for about an hour. That was awesome, as I used it to just walk her in the stroller around the loop (got over 2 miles of exercise for myself!).
After hitting the other park yet again, we then rolled over to NOMAD for an hour plus of swimming. Both girls were GREAT, and again K was going flat out. Cora was really good about jumping into the cold pool and seemed happy the entire time (until the last 5-10 min, but I was done as well at that point). It was then home for dinner and baths, at which point K flipped the switch and became a CLEANING MACHINE! Seriously - this girl was a force of nature: sweeping, dusting, putting things away, etc. But the funniest part. She would sweep the floor and gather a big pile of dust, but beyond that she didn't know what to do. So she would just go and create the next big dust pile. Once I explained what the dust pan was for, we immediately turned the dial. :-) She was a ROCK STAR! Definitely earned her $3 chore money for the week!
JT came home in time to read K a story (I read to Cora), and then we sacked out early (I was flying to Minneapolis the next morning). It was just such a great weekend, and I think we all three had fun. Once you can get in the zone and really focus on your kids, it's so much fun. And knowing my limits, I've now built in some dedicated "me time" in there on weekends as well when "the game is on and daddy is going to watch every play." Honestly, as long as the girls get a lot of attention in the morning and again starting with dinner time, I've found they are pretty good with giving me time as well.
9/26: I was face-timing with JT and the girls today and saw Kaitlyn do some AMAZING hand stands! Seriously - she is really starting to get it and is starting to exhibit more arm strength. Very impressed! JT also told me that she was DESPERATE to read last night and apparently broke into tears because she couldn't make enough progress in one of those "I Can Read" books. Jenny said that every second she's not coloring or practicing handstands, she's trying to read and sound out words (even running into her room with books to practice as soon as she gets home). I am assuming other kids are demonstrating command of sight words, and K is determined to catch up - LOVE THE MOTIVATION! She is a smart girl, and her memory is definitely a big help to her on books she's familiar with. For new books, however, I think she's realizing that she's gonna have to work if she wants to learn them out of the gate. :-)
Also, while I was FTing with Cora tonight, she said "bye" for the first time ever. How cool is that? Another word for the word bank! She did have a scary moment on this day, however - Jenny was over at the Williams house, and apparently Cora felt down the stairs. Cora was fine (albeit rattled, as was JT), and the good news - it was carpeted and had a landing halfway down. Needless to say we will be watching that much closer from this point forward.
9/27 - This evening must have been a good one for the girls. JT said that they read a lot, and as K figured out words and sentences, she would read them to Cora. Once K was tired of reading, Cora must have torn into the book collection and started flipping through herself (I saw a really cute pic).
Interestingly enough - K was holding the "Night Before Christmas" with Vol Nana & Grand Pooh's voices today and apparently listening to it over and over. Jenny said that she started crying because she missed Vol Nana and didn't know when she would see her again. Little did she know at the time the surprise we had in store for her... :-)
9/28 - Because of company for Jenny's Asheville weekend, I was on the couch last night. I woke up in the morning to find a cute little 5 year old wanting to snuggle with me on the couch, and I happily obliged. That being said, when she curled up into me she said, "Daddy, you are a little stinky." Priceless!
Mom woke up about 10:15 (AN EPIC SLEEP BY HER STANDARDS) and had Cora during the day while I worked. That was great, as they really got some dedicated time to bond (and Cora is LOVING her Vol Nana - sense a pattern forming here?). :-)
The highlight was filming Kaitlyn when Theresa dropped her off for the weekend. Kaitlyn walked in and was talking to me about her day when she made it to the family room and saw Vol Nana. She instantly stopped and whispered to me "Dada, what is Vol Nana doing here?" She was SHOCKED! And thus began a GREAT weekend for all of us.
A BPS note - K got to play with her House Buddy today! We now know that her name is Sarah and that she's in 5th grade. I don't know much beyond that, but apparently they did have fun. :-)
9/29 - We made this day count! K was up at 5:45 (so excited about Mom being here that she couldn't sleep I guess), and she barged right into mom's room (we had to establish protocols for Sunday, but K slept like a rock that night so it didn't matter). After getting a morning run in, I showered and then we headed to DPK. Mom had never seen it, and K was ALL ABOUT showing it to her. Best of all - when I went to pay and showed them my pass, the gal at the desk said, "She can just be your Jennifer today." How sweet! Love those folks! We then launched into an hour of scrambling through DPK, and the girls were in Heaven. K ran Vol Nana ragged, and I got a chance to really focus on Cora, which was great. Cora loves the coloring section, and so we spent quite a bit of time in there. And it should be noted that I did get the chance to tickle them again, which was a highlight for me (and for mom to see I think).
After about an hour, we left and headed over to North Meck Park, where we hit both playgrounds and stopped for lunch. It was then back home, where Mom and K made THE BEST brownies EVER. Seriously - these puppies were guuuuuuuuuuud. The only hiccup was K trying to lick the bowl when there was still raw egg present. Details... :-)The highlight for K (other than hanging with Vol Nana all day, of course) came about 4:20, when we drove to BPS for the Lower School Lock In! This was something we didn't think we'd get the chance to do when it was originally scheduled, as we had planned to be in Chapel Hill for the UCF game. However, when the hurricane hit, they rescheduled it. I honestly didn't think she would want to leave Mom's side, but after Vol Nana dropped the bomb that she was staying Sunday night as well, K was ALL ABOUT going. And I am thrilled to report that she had a BLAST!
It was actually really cool. After signing her in, I said goodbye to her while she made her way to the Kindergarten & 1st grade section. Once there, they had a veritable FLURRY of activities for them - playing in the woods, playing games, eating pizza (with juice), other snacks, and then a movie (Chicken Little - which she hadn't seen). Although no one else from her class was there, she got to make some new friends and play with lots of different folks. Also, Ms. Pate sat beside her during the movie, which I think thrilled her to bits.
As for everything else that day, it was largely an endless loop of 2 things for K:
1. Handstands! Seriously - she was doing them NON-STOP! But the good news - she is really starting to get the hang of it! I mean, occasionally she over-rotates and collapses in a heap in the floor (always laughing, thank goodness). But there is no question - that girl IS getting stronger, and her balance is improving. That's making gymnastics more fun, which is making her want to work on it more. Yay!
2. "Count in your brain while I run!" So this is pretty funny. Essentially it involves her doing laps in the house (think of a figure 8 around our downstairs rooms) while we either count out loud or count "in our brains" (aka silently). Sometimes she'll ask us to give her a number by which time she has to complete the loop, after which time she takes off like a rabid banshee to try and beat the deadline. That girl really is getting fast, yo!
On the Cora front, Mom really did a tremendous job of balancing the time with each girl. Cora definitely entertains herself more, but we did get some good interaction time with her as well. She spent the day coloring, running around after sis, and trying her own gymnastics moves. She was FEARLESS at North Meck Park and looked very comfortable climbing around. She also slept like a ROCK STAR in the afternoon, which is a sign we put her through her paces properly. RESULT!
9/30 - I had 2 church services on this day, so Mom looked after the girls in the morning. In the afternoon, she surprised Kaitlyn with some wonderful girls out time! They went to see Small Foot, which K (and mom) absolutely loved. It's funny, because about a week ago Kaitlyn had said, "Dada, I want to go to the movies again with Vol nana. I want juice and cotton candy, and you aren't allowed to come." Well, kid, you got your wish. :-)
They also played at the Concord Mills playground, played in LegoLand, and even got dippin' dots. The highlight for K, however, was going to a photo booth with Vol Nana and making funny faces (aka pretending they were Yetis). We had pizza that night (muffin was home!) and got the girls in bed about 8:30 or so. It was late, but I did want them to maximize time with Mom.
Cora and I spent the afternoon putting stickers on each other, climbing on the flipped over chairs, and trying to put swim suits on over diapers (for the avoidance of doubt - only she was wearing a diaper). I read to her some, and we just tried to chill for a bit. Jenny and Sarah got home in the afternoon, and Cora actually quite enjoyed curling up with Auntie Sara.
All of us crashed shortly thereafter, hearts full, bodies exhausted, and another wonderful weekend (and month!) in the books. Now it's on to an October that's somehow suddenly gotten quite full -funny how that happens! However, you'll have to stay tuned until next month for those updates. Speak to you then!
Love,
Sam and Jenny
