Dear Kiddos,
This is our current situation most mornings. Nathan and Hannah, while the both of you have your heads buried in workbooks, Hailey you are usually resemble a nomadic chicken, as you wander around the house, briefly occupied by whatever catches your eye before you move onto greener pastures.
On good days, we actually get to sit down together to read some books or play some games. But usually I'm frantically running from being with you, to helping or checking both Nathan and Hannah's work. Sometimes all three of you forget that I am not a supernatural being and try to talk to me all at once, that's when things get a bit crazy. Luckily, Daddy usually hears the escalation and will remind you three that only one person can speak to me at once.
Hailey, you've gotten pretty good about putting things away when you are done. Sometimes I will leave for a bit and ask you to start cleaning up. When I get back, not only have you cleaned up the game, you've put it back in its spot and you've started to set up a new game.
So we play more games.
In science last week, we were learning about living vs. non-living things. We got to use a Christmas gift to create some non-living worms. Afterwards I had you guys create Venn diagrams to compare living worms and non-living worms. We then had a discussion about what living things need. Science, check.
Hailey, you got super excited when I asked if you would like to try to make some worms. You almost seemed surprised that I would ask you to do such an advanced thing, but you had a blast!
Then the next day, Hannah, for some reason you were having a tough time getting started on your math. I had you pull out some of the worms that you guys made yesterday and lay them on a paper towel. I then had you write their names (writing and spelling), measure each length, rounding to the nearest cm (math) and then I had you solve the following word problem: The worms are now divided into 2 teams. Which worm team is made up of the longest worms? To figure it out, you had you had to add multiple digits together (more math). Math, check.
One evening Hannah and Hailey put on a musical play. Princess and the Gogo (seal). You can probably tell from the picture below who was the princess and who was the seal.
To celebrate Black history month, I decided to take you guys down to the capitol to see the Texas African American History Memorial. This was recently erected and was very inspiring to see. You guys had lots of questions about what was going on in the memorial so I tried my best to explain as much as I could to you guys.
We ended up making a loop around the capitol and Hailey, you insisted that we stop at all the memorials to take a picture. Here are a few of the highlights.
I quickly snapped this picture the other day of Nathan grabbing another handful of kale chips. Out of the 3 kids, you are now my veggie eater. You love veggies. Yep, I can't believe that I'm saying this and to think that you used to gag at the sight of vegetables!!! Just to give all you mamas who have anti-veggie toddlers hope. Keep offering it to them and one day, they will learn to love vegetables! (And if they don't, you can't say you didn't try.)
Hailey, you started up Chinese story time again and you absolutely love it. You were so excited for class to start that you were willing to sit at the table 10 minutes before class started so that you wouldn't miss out.
Hannah, you have been in a super creative mood lately. I really have to try my best not to squash your creative spirit with my constant desire to purge the house from clutter.
This week we are learning about animal parts and so we took a field trip to the zoo this morning. I had you 3 complete a scavenger hunt to look for animals that had certain body parts. As we found them, we talked about how those specialized body parts can help them survive in the wild.
We went on a great day. It was warmish, overcast and there was literally 4 cars in the parking lot when we arrived and we only saw 2 families there. We basically had the whole place to ourselves!
My favorite animal to see were probably the capybaras. They are really just big hamsters!
Out of the 3 of you, Hannah, you were the most enthusiastic about feeding the animals. On the way, you kept asking if we should ask someone where we can buy the animal feed. Nathan, you saw that each bag cost $3.25 and you made a comment on how expensive it was. Hailey, you liked the idea of feeding the animals, but when you felt their tongue on your hand, you became content with just watching.
Since Nathan, you usually freak out when we have a picnic at the zoo because of a traumatic experience of a peacock stealing part of grandpa's sandwich when you were 2 years old, I decided to make things easier and we had lunch at a park next to the library.
Again, we were the only family there for awhile and so we played on the playground for a little bit. It's supposed to get cold and rainy in a few days so we will be spending as much time outside as possible.
You big kids played on the merry-go-round for the longest time. I had to get off because I was going to lose my lunch if I didn't. I don't know how you both could handle all that spinning. I just don't get it: you both get carsick in the car, but spinning fast on a merry-go-round right after lunch doesn't bother you a bit.
After we got home, while the big kids caught up on schoolwork, Hailey, you crashed on the couch for a bit and then you asked if you could paint for a bit.
Hailey, you have recently developed a passion for painting. On Saturday, you spent 2 hours, yes, 2 hours sitting in one spot painting picture after picture. Here's a little collage I created with a few of your best pieces of work. Notice how well you stay in the lines if you are coloring something. I love the little detail that you give your people. Auntie Momo noticed that you are now passed the potato people drawing stage. And I wish I can have you explain your drawings to everyone because the content is just so fun and random. For example, in one painting, you told me you drew a crown and then a sky and then a fan because the princess was hot. And then for the castle, you were very proud to point out the bricks that you drew.
I can't stop thinking about how different of a person you've become. Hailey, you are now pretty much happy and easygoing 99% of the time. When you are upset, you are good at defining your emotions and easy to reason with. For example, today you were asking for dessert at snack time. I told you "no" and then Daddy also told you "no" but he might have said it in a more firm tone than usual. You came over to me, with tears welling in your eyes and said, "Daddy said 'no' and that makes me sad." I let you have a moment and then when I explained that even when we say "no" we still love you, that was good enough for you and you were just ok with it and seemed to feel better. It's moments like these when I step back and say, "wow, that was easy!" Hailey, you have been the most challenging child, but now that we have figured out the issues that were causing you to be uncomfortable I can relax a bit and enjoy parenting once again. It's been a rough 3 years for us, but now that I know what you were dealing with, I feel sad that it was an even rougher time for you.
We have lots to look forward to the next few days: Chinese New Year, Valentines Day, President's Day and Mardi Gras. We may even try to make our own king's cake... Until next week,
Love,
Mommy
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