First Day, Birthday, and Waves

Dear Nathan, 

Well, it finally happened: your first day of Kindergarten. So I'm kind of looking back at my last post, thinking to myself, well, that was a bit dramatic! On Monday, we all woke up, ate breakfast, and at 7:25, we crossed the street to take you to school. Your actual teacher was still on Vacation, so you actually had a sub for the first 2 days of school. So, when we dropped you off, you found your seat and started to write your name on the worksheet. I gave you a hug and a kiss, Hannah ran over and gave you a kiss, and we walked away. Very low key, and that was it. I didn't even cry. 

Pick up was another story. So far, kindergarten pick-up has been quite stressful for me. First of all, Hailey has been needing to go down for a nap right before the pick up time, 3:00. So that first day, Hailey was over tired, the sun was hot (they made us wait outside until 3:20 before we could pick up the kids) and then after I found you we couldn't leave because I couldn't find your teacher to sign you out. Well, I find out the next day that only 1 teacher signs all of the walkers out. We didn't get home until 3:40. Luckily Hannah left most of her drama at home that day. (The next day she announces that she had to go potty after we arrived at school and we were waiting outside) 

So of course I ask you about your first day and instead of being very excited, you were not as enthusiastic. The first thing you told me was that a kid spit in your face. Apparently he had been claiming that girls are stupid. You told him that girls are not stupid and that's when he spit in your face, which then caused you to cry. 

At pick up today, as soon as I walked into the gym, I found you sitting and sobbing. I thought that maybe someone stepped on your fingers, but between sobs I could only get out the words, "and then she moved." On our way out the teacher who is the official checker outer told me that she had to separate you and your friend because you guys were rough housing. I think you started to cry because you felt like you were in trouble, and that you felt like you were separated unjustly because she didn't even give you a warning. 

So it begins. 

I'm glad I've been listening to lots of mom podcasts recently, because I feel like I am now better equipped with how to handle situations such as these. I wish I could keep you in our bubble forever, but it's these little lessons like how to interact with other people and how to submit to authority that are so important. 

Things you like about kindergarten: 1. Lunch time, 2. meeting new friends, 3. a different schedule each day. 

Things you don't like about kindergarten: 1. Writing practice (you had to write 7 uppercase AND 7 lower case "A" today!) 2. You can't talk as much as you want to. 3. You don't get to play with toys. 

Overall, you told me that you still enjoy Kindergarten more than pre-school, so I'm sure I'm just hearing the bad stuff and not as much of the good stuff. 

So a few of the moms of preschoolers from church got together to make shirts for you guys. We took a picture at church this past Sunday. 

You are fearless in the water. You now can dive, jump and do flips in the water. 

Dear Hannah, 

On Sunday, you turned 4! You are now taller than Nathan was at 4. You are an assertive girl who knows what you want.  You can act as prim and proper as a princess, but then you can also sword fight with the boys. To me, you are my little Wonder Woman. For your birthday, you invited 3 of your closest friends over and the 4 of you celebrated your 4th birthday over a princess tea party. Crafts, food, stories, 

 and alphabet bingo! All of your favorite things.

 I've noticed that you can be a bit bossy and assertive. Today I sat down with you and we had a little talk about it. After some thinking, I am pretty sure this bossiness comes from me barking orders at you all the time. A part of you really needs to feel in control. So one thing that we are trying is that when anyone in the family is acting demanding or grumpy, we hold up a peace sign to remind them to speak in a nicer way. So far, it's been effective. We'll see how it holds up with time.

On Sunday, we had a movie night at church. It was a big finale to a sermon series on "The greatest" and the night was circus themed. I helped out with face paining while you big kids ran around with Daddy doing all the things.

 With Nathan gone this week, Hannah, we have been spending lots of time doing things together. While Nathan just wants to stay home all the time, you love being out and don't mind going to Home Improvement stores, Costco, or the grocery store.

 And when we at the last of the pineapple pastries that Ama brought from Taiwan, you had this idea of making some ourselves. So, we watched a few youtube videos and we made a batch of pineapple pastries today.

They turned out pretty good. What I found amazing was that while we were baking, you were able to pretty much explain the whole process and we would often correct me or ask me if I remembered to add a certain ingredient.

 You are also getting more comfortable in the water. You love to swim to me from the edge of the pool. You could do that for hours.

 Dear Hailey,
You have been a champ at sleeping lately. While you averaged just under 13 hours of sleep a day, for the past week, you are getting close to 13.5 hours of sleep. You are following a schedule and you continue to take longer than 60 minute naps. I actually have to wake you up just so you would have enough time to take another nap, which would carry you to bed time.

You must have been going through a leap, because now you can wave "hi" and "bye," express and repeat, "more" which actually comes out as "ma" and you have figured out to go from laying flat on your tummy to sitting up. This weekend Daddy will be lowering your crib.

 When we go to the pool, I can tell that you really enjoy being in the water. You just start shrieking and flapping your arms as soon as I put you in the floaty.

Every time I will have you practice swimming under water for a few seconds. You are getting pretty good at turning to your back, but I guess I never wait long enough for your head to pop above the surface, and I usually grab you as you are turning over on your back.

 This is probably your current favorite toy. You love making music or playing with things that make noise. You will do a little dance when you hear music come on. It's pretty adorable the way you bob up and down, sometimes you wave your arms a little, and that smile that stretches across your face...adorable.

 I feel like this year has been a very transformative year for me. I've really been thinking about who I am as a person, as a mom, and as a daughter of God. I may write a post about it later, but in short, I feel like I have become more confident and I've come to terms with my shortcomings and flaws. In turn I can see how it's affected how I mother the three of you.

Ok, it's getting late. I need to go to sleep. Until next week,
Love,
Mommy