Dear Aaron,
Another month gone by! This has been the first month in a while where nothing out of the ordinary really happened, and life started to really settle back into place. It's been a good month.
- We have found a good routine for learning time/homework. You still like math best, but science has been pretty fun, too. You are doing great with telling time, and figuring out money. You still hate to write, but you love to read, so I'm just fine with that. Some days I start to think how much fun your kindergarten teacher was, and all her resources, and I wish I could do things like she did... but then I think how we're still covering everything we need to, and no one is completely overwhelmed at the end of the day by school. I think it's all working out well.
- You gave your first presentation for this year, on the self-chosen topic of the Nile River. You despise presentations, and I was surprised considering how well you always did in group projects last year. But you did fine.
- Video games are a daily routine still (except Sundays). I always think it's so funny how I used to worry about video games taking over time when you could be running around and playing, because you are constantly jumping around and running in place while you play! It's very entertaining, and you enjoy it.
- We made some new friends who told us about a local taekwondo place. We're going to look into it, although you still have your heart set on soccer. The past few Saturdays haven't worked out for going to the library to practice with Daddy, but we're going to take advantage of these next few weeks for sure.
- You have officially outgrown naps. Thank heavens you love to read. And that you are sensitive enough to those around you to know that quiet is still necessary.
- You love telling jokes. We borrowed a joke book from the library, and you loved it. But you still love coming up with your own silly ones.
- We had an intense conversation about 2 weeks ago about not wanting to learn versus being a valuable part of society. (It was a Monday morning and I was asking you to write.) This past Monday we had Family Night, and discussed talents, just like that morning. I told you Monday but I want to remind you here, you have many talents, most we haven't even seen yet. However, one that has always been so strong has not been related to video games or soccer. It has been your ability to feel for others, sympathizing and empathizing, and by doing so being able to comfort others. You have a great capacity for love in this way. I think that is part of the reason you don't like being around a ton of people - you absorb too many different emotions all at once. You like having meaningful one-on-one connections, relating to and better understanding someone else, and finding happiness with them. It is truly incredible how apparent this is in you, even at only 6 years old.
You amaze me.
I love you,
Mommy
Dear Ana,
Here we are, another month past! Lots of figuring out our home routine, and a few walks around the neighborhood thrown in.
- You have made it through the alphabet twice now, and are quite capable of writing letters properly. We'll start working on phonetics soon, probably, because you want to do more! I'm sure once you start, you'll probably try to teach yourself to read. There is no slowing you down, that's for sure.
- After this settling-in started, I realized I was still in stress-mode, and hadn't been praising as much as just trying to maintain some sanity. I started finding the little things again, and you have been so receptive to these tiny attentions! You were so proud when, after waking up at the crack of dawn as you do, you stayed quiet in your room, and when Reed woke up you helped him stay quiet too by reading with him. It wasn't something grand and awe-inspiring by the world's standards, but Aaron and I were able to get an extra hour of sleep without even knowing it, and I was so impressed because you usually cannot wait that long to wake me up. It was such a kind gesture, and you didn't even think about it. You've been bragging ever since I thanked you, haha.
- You play video games, but mostly because Aaron wants to. I have finally gotten around to pulling out the playdough more, and that has been so much more exciting for you! You always love to make random shapes and designs, and then scrunch everything into a ball again.
- Dinner time was getting to be a real pain for a bit this past month. For some reason, you were using the bathroom as an excuse to get up in the middle of dinner, and to come back ready to fight me again with renewed energy. I made you sit one night and finish before running off to the restroom, and it was loud and horrid for a good 40 minutes or so as you wailed about the 2 spoonfuls of whatever "horrid" meal I had made (something with vegetables in it). You swore you had to pee and wouldn't be able to hold it. Somehow you survived. You started to try it the next night, and gave up within 2 minutes. We haven't had the problem since, and I'm not sure when it all started, but that was one of the "aha" moments I had where I knew you needed to feel more control in your life. It's amazing how being offered choices throughout the day, or praise for good deeds, can prevent dinner meltdowns.
- In regards to our past Family Night where we discussed talents, I shared with you what one of the strongest ones you have is, in my opinion. You are always ready to be happy, and bring happiness to others. I know I mention how you are such an intense little girl, because everything you feel is always 100%, but even though this means you are sometimes furious, and sometimes overwhelmed with grief, if you are given a chance to be happy, you take it and run with it. If I give you the opportunity to smile when we are discussing frustrating choices, or offer a hug, you take it. You always want to share silly jokes with Aaron, and you always want to make Reed smile. You want to be happy more than anything else, and that brings everyone else up with you.
You inspire me.
I love you,
Mommy.
Dear Reed,
Happy birthday! It's hard to believe you are already 2 years old now!
- For your birthday, we actually just stayed home. With all the craziness lately, this was the best option. You got to open presents, watch Cars 2, and have pizza, and watch the new Duck Tales show, and have mint ice cream with chocolate chips thrown in. You snuggled Daddy most of the day, and got to play and read with everyone. And we didn't force you to go anywhere, and you even took a nap willingly. It was a great day!
- We have been working on cutting back on the screaming. Responding to you right away has helped (not saying "hang on", but coming right to you so you see my eyes watching and listening). Holding you while doing school work with Aaron every now and again. Making sure the others respond to your reasonable requests (stop touching your arm or head, etc). These kinds of things have really helped.
- You are officially 2, and officially hate vegetables that are in plain sight. Having dinner in 2 or more courses helps. As in, eat the vegetables first and then we'll dish out the rest. It's been interesting how stress affects dinner time for everyone.
- You fight sleeping. I stopped trying to lay you down too early in the day, but you still don't want to nap until it's almost time for dinner. It's been tricky trying to balance nap time with bedtime, because you still need a nap, but fight all of it. I'm starting to wonder if it's more of a power issue throughout the day stemming from the school time stuff.
- You still don't use proper words, but putting extra effort into our conversations is helping you start to differentiate sounds. You are trying, so I find comfort in that. We'll get there.
- You love to color. And use playdough. And play with cars. Everything flies, whether a plane or a car, a spoon or a fork, everything and anything can become a flying object with your imagination. Having a little set up makes you so happy. We've been settling in with play time, too.
- You like to be a part of the group, whatever we're doing. With all the games everyone likes to play, you like to be involved. You love holding the Batman cards for a certain game we have, or the blue cards in Uno. Your favorite game is Guess Who, and you like to say that certain pictures are different members of the family, or that we would choose those pictures.
- If it's blue, you want it and you claim it to be yours. Period.
- You try to show with your fingers how old you are. You haven't gotten it on your own yet, but you like to try.
- About a week ago you had crawled into bed with us just after we had gotten in, so we weren't asleep yet, and you lay between us and started singing to yourself, "nana batman nana batman nana batman" and it was adorable! Then you sang it a few more times, and suddenly looked at Daddy's back and threw yourself on him when you said, "batman" and scared the heck out of him. It was the best!
- So far as I can tell, you have a talent for being silly. You like to smile and you like to giggle, and being silly is your favorite way to do that. Whether it's being upside down or singing silly or making weird faces, you love it when we have to laugh. That's part of the reason bedtime has been so frustrating, because you are such a goober about the whole thing. Everything is always just silly to you. And that is such a blessing, because I have needed the reminder to be silly.
You are wonderful. Happy birthday little monster.
I love you,
Mommy
Another month gone by! This has been the first month in a while where nothing out of the ordinary really happened, and life started to really settle back into place. It's been a good month.
- We have found a good routine for learning time/homework. You still like math best, but science has been pretty fun, too. You are doing great with telling time, and figuring out money. You still hate to write, but you love to read, so I'm just fine with that. Some days I start to think how much fun your kindergarten teacher was, and all her resources, and I wish I could do things like she did... but then I think how we're still covering everything we need to, and no one is completely overwhelmed at the end of the day by school. I think it's all working out well.
- You gave your first presentation for this year, on the self-chosen topic of the Nile River. You despise presentations, and I was surprised considering how well you always did in group projects last year. But you did fine.
- Video games are a daily routine still (except Sundays). I always think it's so funny how I used to worry about video games taking over time when you could be running around and playing, because you are constantly jumping around and running in place while you play! It's very entertaining, and you enjoy it.
- We made some new friends who told us about a local taekwondo place. We're going to look into it, although you still have your heart set on soccer. The past few Saturdays haven't worked out for going to the library to practice with Daddy, but we're going to take advantage of these next few weeks for sure.
- You have officially outgrown naps. Thank heavens you love to read. And that you are sensitive enough to those around you to know that quiet is still necessary.
- You love telling jokes. We borrowed a joke book from the library, and you loved it. But you still love coming up with your own silly ones.
- We had an intense conversation about 2 weeks ago about not wanting to learn versus being a valuable part of society. (It was a Monday morning and I was asking you to write.) This past Monday we had Family Night, and discussed talents, just like that morning. I told you Monday but I want to remind you here, you have many talents, most we haven't even seen yet. However, one that has always been so strong has not been related to video games or soccer. It has been your ability to feel for others, sympathizing and empathizing, and by doing so being able to comfort others. You have a great capacity for love in this way. I think that is part of the reason you don't like being around a ton of people - you absorb too many different emotions all at once. You like having meaningful one-on-one connections, relating to and better understanding someone else, and finding happiness with them. It is truly incredible how apparent this is in you, even at only 6 years old.
You amaze me.
I love you,
Mommy
Dear Ana,
Here we are, another month past! Lots of figuring out our home routine, and a few walks around the neighborhood thrown in.
- You have made it through the alphabet twice now, and are quite capable of writing letters properly. We'll start working on phonetics soon, probably, because you want to do more! I'm sure once you start, you'll probably try to teach yourself to read. There is no slowing you down, that's for sure.
- After this settling-in started, I realized I was still in stress-mode, and hadn't been praising as much as just trying to maintain some sanity. I started finding the little things again, and you have been so receptive to these tiny attentions! You were so proud when, after waking up at the crack of dawn as you do, you stayed quiet in your room, and when Reed woke up you helped him stay quiet too by reading with him. It wasn't something grand and awe-inspiring by the world's standards, but Aaron and I were able to get an extra hour of sleep without even knowing it, and I was so impressed because you usually cannot wait that long to wake me up. It was such a kind gesture, and you didn't even think about it. You've been bragging ever since I thanked you, haha.
- You play video games, but mostly because Aaron wants to. I have finally gotten around to pulling out the playdough more, and that has been so much more exciting for you! You always love to make random shapes and designs, and then scrunch everything into a ball again.
- Dinner time was getting to be a real pain for a bit this past month. For some reason, you were using the bathroom as an excuse to get up in the middle of dinner, and to come back ready to fight me again with renewed energy. I made you sit one night and finish before running off to the restroom, and it was loud and horrid for a good 40 minutes or so as you wailed about the 2 spoonfuls of whatever "horrid" meal I had made (something with vegetables in it). You swore you had to pee and wouldn't be able to hold it. Somehow you survived. You started to try it the next night, and gave up within 2 minutes. We haven't had the problem since, and I'm not sure when it all started, but that was one of the "aha" moments I had where I knew you needed to feel more control in your life. It's amazing how being offered choices throughout the day, or praise for good deeds, can prevent dinner meltdowns.
- In regards to our past Family Night where we discussed talents, I shared with you what one of the strongest ones you have is, in my opinion. You are always ready to be happy, and bring happiness to others. I know I mention how you are such an intense little girl, because everything you feel is always 100%, but even though this means you are sometimes furious, and sometimes overwhelmed with grief, if you are given a chance to be happy, you take it and run with it. If I give you the opportunity to smile when we are discussing frustrating choices, or offer a hug, you take it. You always want to share silly jokes with Aaron, and you always want to make Reed smile. You want to be happy more than anything else, and that brings everyone else up with you.
You inspire me.
I love you,
Mommy.
Dear Reed,
Happy birthday! It's hard to believe you are already 2 years old now!
- For your birthday, we actually just stayed home. With all the craziness lately, this was the best option. You got to open presents, watch Cars 2, and have pizza, and watch the new Duck Tales show, and have mint ice cream with chocolate chips thrown in. You snuggled Daddy most of the day, and got to play and read with everyone. And we didn't force you to go anywhere, and you even took a nap willingly. It was a great day!
- We have been working on cutting back on the screaming. Responding to you right away has helped (not saying "hang on", but coming right to you so you see my eyes watching and listening). Holding you while doing school work with Aaron every now and again. Making sure the others respond to your reasonable requests (stop touching your arm or head, etc). These kinds of things have really helped.
- You are officially 2, and officially hate vegetables that are in plain sight. Having dinner in 2 or more courses helps. As in, eat the vegetables first and then we'll dish out the rest. It's been interesting how stress affects dinner time for everyone.
- You fight sleeping. I stopped trying to lay you down too early in the day, but you still don't want to nap until it's almost time for dinner. It's been tricky trying to balance nap time with bedtime, because you still need a nap, but fight all of it. I'm starting to wonder if it's more of a power issue throughout the day stemming from the school time stuff.
- You still don't use proper words, but putting extra effort into our conversations is helping you start to differentiate sounds. You are trying, so I find comfort in that. We'll get there.
- You love to color. And use playdough. And play with cars. Everything flies, whether a plane or a car, a spoon or a fork, everything and anything can become a flying object with your imagination. Having a little set up makes you so happy. We've been settling in with play time, too.
- You like to be a part of the group, whatever we're doing. With all the games everyone likes to play, you like to be involved. You love holding the Batman cards for a certain game we have, or the blue cards in Uno. Your favorite game is Guess Who, and you like to say that certain pictures are different members of the family, or that we would choose those pictures.
- If it's blue, you want it and you claim it to be yours. Period.
- You try to show with your fingers how old you are. You haven't gotten it on your own yet, but you like to try.
- About a week ago you had crawled into bed with us just after we had gotten in, so we weren't asleep yet, and you lay between us and started singing to yourself, "nana batman nana batman nana batman" and it was adorable! Then you sang it a few more times, and suddenly looked at Daddy's back and threw yourself on him when you said, "batman" and scared the heck out of him. It was the best!
- So far as I can tell, you have a talent for being silly. You like to smile and you like to giggle, and being silly is your favorite way to do that. Whether it's being upside down or singing silly or making weird faces, you love it when we have to laugh. That's part of the reason bedtime has been so frustrating, because you are such a goober about the whole thing. Everything is always just silly to you. And that is such a blessing, because I have needed the reminder to be silly.
You are wonderful. Happy birthday little monster.
I love you,
Mommy
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