Happy 6th Birthday Hannah! Covid Quarantine 5 Mo. 10 Days #whosCounting

To My Mini-Me,

This post is for you! Hannah, you are a go-with-the-flow, want it all kinda gal and I love you so much! 

Every morning I look forward to seeing what interesting outfit you decide to wear. Most of the time these days, it's a fancy dress, because why not?! But then there are days where you pick a superhero T-shirt with a floral skirt. How fun! 

Hiking in a dress

Taking a birthday walk in a sparkly dress. 

This past week, you turned 6 years old. Since you've been working hard at reading, I decided that you were ready for a scavenger hunt to look for your presents. You were able to reach each of the clues pretty well without too much help, so I'm excited to report that reading is coming along well. As your fluency improves, you are able to not get as frustrated as you used to. 

Homeschool this year is going pretty well, although sometimes you need a little encouragement (point system) to get you started. 

You are very kinesthetic. You love to make things, draw, craft, take things apart (sometimes breaking said item in the process) and explore the world with your hands. I remember you always reaching your little hand out of the shopping cart when we would go to the craft store. You just wanted to feel all the textures! 

You expressed to me that you wanted to be a judge of some sort, so we made cupcakes for your birthday and after dinner, you guys decorated the cupcakes to look like mermaids: Nailed It! style. 

Hailey just added some sprinkles and enjoyed the show as she ate more sprinkles. 

After dinner, we skyped with grandma and grandpa. Hailey kept on kicking you out of your seat so she could steal the spotlight. 

During quiet time, you guys have been interested in coloring books and origami. 

There are still a few trees with persimmons, so one day, us girls took a walk to go pick some persimmons. 

Hannah, for your birthday, you also insisted on us making pies so you could judge which one was the best. I was totally on board with this because like you, I also love to sample different things, so it was a perfect excuse to make lots of pies. 

Daddy made a chocolate pie and I made a pecan pie. Daddy's chocolate pie was your favorite. 

This picture sums up you at the beginning of your 6 journey. 

It's so interesting to see how much we are alike. I see my best and worst qualities in you and I just get it. I need to remember to give you more grace (along with myself). Keep being your awesome self!

Love you so much, 

Mommy 

 

Hot Temps: Temperatures, Temperaments, and Temper Tantrums

Dear Kiddos, 

Now that we are on a schedule, the days are flying by...too fast!!! As each weekend rolls around, Daddy and I look at each other in disbelief about how another week passed by. The world is crazy right now, but we are doing our best to stay thankful and treasure the moments that we have with each other. 

Last week, we were running low on snacks, so we made our own granola bars. You guys wanted to try a chewy granola bar recipe this time, so Nathan found a good one to try. Again, I let you guys pick your flavors. 

Nathan, you stuck with your favorite, fresh mint and chocolate, this time adding in a bit of dried mango and dried cranberries to brighten up the flavors. 

Hannah and Hailey, you both decided to go the fruit route and added dried mangos, cranberries, coconuts, and blueberries. 

Final verdict: They were good, but you have to eat them cold, otherwise, the bars will fall apart. So, they've been taking up space in the fridge and since you guys don't see them, we haven't eaten them in a week. Which reminds me to bring them out for snacks tomorrow. 

Hannah suggested that we make something with the plastic packaging that our shrimp dumplings came in. So, a few weeks ago, we made a baking soda solution and froze them in the tray. We finally had a slower afternoon (it's been hot, ya'll like 106 degrees hot) and so I gave you guys each some vinegar/soap solution and you guys just explored. It wasn't as cool as I expected, but you guys still had fun playing with the syringes. 

We also had these Duplos out in the living room for many days. You guys really liked playing with them and would sit and play for long stretches of time during your breaks. 

We finished our art project for the week, illustrating music with paint. We will probably do a follow up with the different genres of classical music in a few weeks. 

In the afternoons you both still continue with martial arts. I'll have to see about posting some of the cool challenges that you guys have been completing on here. 

Hailey, I think we've finally figured out the best sleep schedule that is conducive to you being your best self. In bed by 8, but you typically don't fall asleep until 8:45, woken up by you siblings around 7:15, you then take a nap after we put you in bed at 2 (sometimes it takes awhile) and if we wake you up before 4 it's a good afternoon. 

If we let you sleep in until 8, you typically will not go down for a nap and afternoons after dinner are a bit rough. Cue the temper tantrums. 

You are also doing great at the potty training thing. You know when you need to go and most times you will make it without accidents, but sometimes, you have accidents, which is ok because you are not even 3 yet. You can keep dry at naps if we take you potty before and most mornings you wake up with a dry diaper. So, if you are reading this and you are going through a potty training stage, be cool about it and they will be successful. Don't be like me when I was with Hannah. I did all the things you are not supposed to do with potty training and it's been a headache up until almost 6. 

 

One day you both found your Anna and Elsa costumes and wore them all day as you played and worked together. It's too cute. 

Hannah, you finally earned your special bubble bath. You wanted to enjoy a bubble bath with a whole tray of snacks. Well, I took that request and I upped it to include a movie too. 

The Spread (minus some Pokemon crackers)

When we do get outside, we've been going out in the mornings because it is still hot. As mentioned earlier, it's been getting as high as 106 degrees in the afternoons. We got out this morning for 45 minutes of skating before it got too hot. 

Nathan, you are working through some emotional issues with dealing with fairness, justice and following through with the desire of revenge. After telling you time and time that it's ok to be angry, but you can't hurt others, I decided that I needed another strategy. Of course I turned to the internet for some advice and after reading the first article that popped up on the google search, the following words just broke my heart. "...sure sign that your child feels that he is of little worth or value in the world.  He sees the world as hostile and himself as a victim of that hostility. To cope with such feelings, he lashes out and gives those around him a “taste of his own medicine.”  (from https://www.cornerstonesforparents.com/revenge-seeking-behavior) 

Cue feelings of guilt. You are actually such an amazing kid and I don't do a great job of letting you know it. I'm always pointing out where you could do better and in turn, that can totally translate to you as not being good enough. Well, you are! I'm going to do a better job of letting you know how loved you are. 

Speaking of awesome kids, I am thankful for you guys being old enough to being able to do chores and being able to do them well (enough) without me having to supervise. 

 

Well, until next week, 

Love, 

Mommy 

It's Hot Outside. I Have Spoken. Approaching 5 Months of Social Distancing :(

Dear Kids, 

In August, we only go outside in the mornings. It's been crazy hot lately. As I'm writing this at 9 pm, the temperature is still over 90 degrees. 

Hailey, you are getting to be very speedy on your bike these days. You literally have road runner legs as you propel yourself forward Fred Flintstone style. 

On the weekend Daddy gets to join us on hikes. 

School is still going pretty well. I'm glad to report that the curricula that I ordered is right at the level that meets both of your needs. 

Our day pretty much consists of work time sprinkled with play time. But in Hailey's case, it's pretty much play time all day! 

Nathan, you are really digging the Monster Academy math workbooks. They are really forcing you to use your brain and to apply the math concepts that you've been learning. I have no problem getting you to work on your math because it's just that much fun for you. I originally thought that you would be interested in the graphic novel style teaching that they use, but it's actually the working out of the problems. 

I'm really liking how it's teaching you how to systematically work out things, instead of just randomly trying things out. That's a good life lesson right there. 

Hailey, I'm so thankful that you enjoy doing your own thing while your brother and sister are working. 

For Hannah's math, we are currently working through a workbook that I got at Costco first. I've been really impressed with the quality of material in that it also gets the kids to think at a higher level. We are working from here, but then also playing dice games and pop quizzes to solidify the math facts to help you get them down cold. 

When all three of you are working independently, it's magic. I can sometimes even walk away and get some cleaning done. But there are times when all three of you need my attention. Hailey's screaming because you dropped the playdoh and want it now, I'm helping Hannah read a passage and Nathan you want to tell me how frustrated you are because you have to erase your work and start all over again. 

Hey...that's supposed to say, "Use your words"  [Looks at Daddy]

For science and art one day, we built marshmallow towers. This was a lesson that was in the workbook from Costco, I know, cool, right? 

I first showed you guys some pictures of bridges and towers. I asked you guys to identify shapes that you saw and pointed out that there were lots of triangles. I gave each of you a set amount of toothpicks and let you go. 

Hannah, your tower ended up being the tallest. Nathan, you did not like that one bit. In fact you threw a temper tantrum when you realized that Hannah's tower was taller. Eventually you calmed down, but I think you are a little discouraged from the experience. We'll have to repeat this in a few weeks to hopefully repair the damage. Maybe I'll have you guys do different challenges like one person builds the longest bridge and the other builds a tower. Or, I can just let you deal with it. 

I've been having you guys help out more with chores around the house. It's actually built into the schedule, so for now, I don't get too many grumbles, so hopefully this will continue. Each day, our home is looking noticeably cleaner and cleaner. 

On Monday, we went to the neighborhood pool again early in the morning and had the whole pool to ourselves. Nathan, since the chlorine has been irritating to you the past few times we've gone, I decided to try giving you a puff of your inhaler to see if it would help. It actually did. We ended up spending almost 2 hours there and in the past, you would start to complain after 30 minutes. Why didn't I think of this earlier? 

On a related note, I'm wondering if this makes you asthmatic. You have crazy allergies and we've only had to use your inhaler when you would have sickness induced asthma, so having to use this before we go swimming now leaves me with more questions. Would COVID make you feel more miserable than the average kid? Are you asthmatic, but you've been hiding or putting up with the symptoms for so long? 

For some reason, writing cursive is very intriguing to both of you big kids. Hannah, you just started to practice your "h" out of the blue one day and wanted me to take a picture of you to show other people. 

Hailey, you are just mentally growing so much these days. You are talking up a storm, playing with things in interesting ways, role-playing, making others role play, and using logic to solve problems! What a cool time to be your mom right now! 

You are also going through a mommy only phase. I don't think the others went through this as severe as you are right now, but I read that it's your way of asserting independence, so I guess we'll just ride it out. 

Last week we were dancing to some GoNoodle songs and you had mentioned that you didn't like certain songs. I realized that you were not a big fan of songs from the Pop genre and tended to like songs that were more cheesy in nature. This inspired me to go on a quest to help you discover your musical tastes. 

On day 1, I had you both listen to excerpts of songs from the following genres: jazz, heavy metal, techno, and funk. After each genre, I prompted you guys to represent the music with paint. We talked about heavy and light tones; dark and light moods, etc. 

There are a lot of genres so we will power through until you guys figure out what kind of music you enjoy listening to. Nathan out of the 4 that we sampled, you liked techno the best. Hannah, you like jazz. Both of you were not into heavy metal and only kind of liked funk, depending on the song. 

Oh, and there's snacking too...can't forget about the snacks. Snacks are starting to be one of the highlights of your day... I mean, I get it. Being stuck at home all day, I'd get excited about snacks too! 

Side note, for some reason last week, you two were prone to nose bleeds. This was the one time when both of you had one at the same time. Luckily, they stopped this week. 

Well, here are the obligatory first day of school pictures, COVID style, a week late. I made sure I had Hannah go first, otherwise you would basically copy what Nathan would write down. I am really having to encourage you to find your own voice and desires these days. I know how that can hold you back from life because that was me. Now I know better and hopefully can help you realize that too. 

 I'm so glad that I have the three of you and Daddy to ride out COVID with. I wouldn't have it any other way. There are days when you test my patience, and there are plenty of times when I lose it, but in the end it all works out. 

Quick note, I started to use the phrase "I have spoken" (stolen from the Mandalorian) when you guys are trying to change my mind. So far I've gotten weird looks from you guys, but I think you guys get it and drop the subject. I finally broke down tonight and showed you a clip of where I got the phrase. Hannah, you thought it was super funny. Nathan, I'm not sure what you thought. I'm sure I'll have plenty of opportunities to say the phrase again because I'm curious to see how you guys will respond. 

Until then, I have spoken. 

Mommy