JTOK Chatter > 2014 > Page 14

Year: 2014

Well, that was some excitement.

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Owen locked Katie in his bedroom (technically accidentally but kind of on purpose because he was playing) and—SURPRISE!!—we don’t have a key to open it. None of the generic tools I found were working, our landlord didn’t have a key either, none of the neighbors we knew were home, and the hinges and knob screws were on the inside of the door (so I couldn’t remove them). Oh, and Tom is 1000 miles away.

Cue subdued panic for about 30 minutes while I texted Tom, texted the landlord, visited the neighbors, hunted for the tools, etc.

I finally jimmied it open…and now his knob is reversed, too. Is 9:30 too early for a drink?

Oh! The best part? All Owen was concerned with (if we didn’t get the door open) was he wouldn’t be able to sleep in his bed tonight.

A good time to not own this house.

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The roof is leaking into the garage. With the torrential rains we had yesterday we had small puddles in the garage, the drywall tape is completely peeling away from the ceiling, and Tom could see mold (which means this isn’t a new problem). It can’t be good.

The landlord came out today and I’m guessing we’ll likely have to have the garage torn up eventually.

Lucky us, eh? I’m not sure where all our stuff is going to go so they can work on it.

But the good news is at least he’s not ignoring it!

I think official daycare is out.

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So I had hoped to get Katie in a 1-2x/week daycare. The place I looked today is $176 for two days (which can be full day or X number of hours, no difference in price). Sorry but $88/day isn’t happening (it drops to about $55/day for a full week at $293). This is why I don’t work. There is no way we can afford this right now.

Owen asked if it was where Katie would be going. I said maybe but it costs a lot of money. After a few moments, Owen said “You can use my money.” 🙁

I am still researching other options for a scheduled program, but it appears but we were spoiled in Jacksonville with the drop-in child care as there’s nothing like that here (or at least close enough to be worth it).

Is it time for my nap yet?

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If Katie doesn’t start sleeping past 6-6:15 I might lose my mind.

Yes I’m thankful she sleeps soundly through the night, but 6am kills me. (It can be anywhere from 5:45-6:30 but mostly it’s 6:05-6:10.)

She has learned how to open her door so we’ve turned her knob around so we can lock her in, but that causes loud crying when she can’t get out. But if we don’t do that she gets up and wanders the house and I have to get up anyway to keep her out of mischief. Owen sleeps consistently to about 6:30 so I have to get her quickly to shut her up so she doesn’t wake him (their rooms are next to each other). Then she always says some variation of “Want to get Owee” or “I want to play Owee.”

And of course Owen won’t have to be at the bus stop until 8:30 so it’s not like we’ll need to be up earlier once school starts.

We’ve tried exhausting her (skipping her nap, running her ragged) and it didn’t have an effect. We tried putting her to bed early—no change. The only thing left is putting her to bed later…which I hate but we might have to just try. (She slept in regularly on vacation at my mom’s, and the only differences there were a bit darker room and sometimes staying up later.)

Owen definitely spoiled us…he’d just play in his room quietly until we came and got him. He’d stay there for hours if we let him. But her? NEEDS ATTENTION.

Is it time for my nap yet?

I think he’s teaching himself to read.

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Because we certainly aren’t doing much with him—he rarely wants to read books with us anymore and I don’t see him ever reading books…but the other night, I opened a sight words app on the iPad just to see if he knew any…and he BLEW through most of them with ease:

run up can she the you he red go my this like
look and said move to come is play will big
on funny little ran good of are three down not
one have away at saw yellow here

So then I opened another sight words app that actually had sentences…and he got most of them right, too. Sentences like:

Do you want to play with me?
I saw Santa Claus.
The girl gave the kitten a hug.
I know how to cut paper.
I don’t like to drink milk.
My toy is here.
The rabbit will eat the grass.
What shall we eat this morning?
My dog ran away.

Of course he had a few stumbles on some words, but overall he impressed the shit out of me. (The app gives grade levels for the sight words/sentences and there were a variety of K-third grade level.)

How is he doing this? He mostly plays games on the iPad but we do make him do ABCMouse—so is the 15 minutes a day he’s been doing that responsible?! We’re just flummoxed.

Owenisms 51 & Kateisms 8

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Owen: 2-4-6-8
Me: What comes next?
Owen: 10?
Me: Yes. Where did you learn that?
Owen: In two school!

Friends are coming to stay for a few days. The daughter is about Owen’s age and he’s REALLY been looking forward to it.
Owen: It’s Tuesday! Emily’s coming today!
Me: Yes. Please pick up these toys.
Owen: Katie, please pick up the toys. Emily doesn’t like a messy room.

Owen: Mom, I wish we had gramma’s ingredients for lunch.
Me: What are her ingredients?
Owen: Square crackers with cheese melted on them. [Triscuits and creamy havarti cheese.]

Owen: Mom, TJ is big enough.
Me: What do you mean big enough?
Owen: He’s like parents.

***

At the pool playing with the rings with other kids around.
Katie: [Throws a ring] Go get it Owee! [Throws a ring] Go get it daddy! [Throws a ring] Go get it boy.

Katie hasn’t been able to open her bedroom door yet. This morning I walked down the hall to check on the kids since it was later than normal.
Katie: [From behind her door] Can Katie come out please?

We were driving to the pool (about 150 yards away) and on a whim I put Katie in my lap—she usually (obviously) sits in her rear-facing car seat.
Katie, as we’re driving down the road and she’s looking out the front: WHOAAAA! This is crazy!

School Supply Shopping

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So, what does a kindergartner need to start school? Here’s Owen’s list. I know you’re wondering about the boys list vs girls list and it took me a minute to find it—but the only difference is that boys have top bring gallon bags and the girls have to bring quart bags.

2014 school list

It didn’t look too bad, but from experience (when I worked retail) I always heard parents bitching about how specific the lists were—like if it said “3 red, 3 blue, 3 green pocket folders with clips” you had better bring in those exact colors. If it was Crayola crayons it had better be Crayola and not some off brand. So I’m wondering what things on the list are exact and which are likely just general suggestions. I can’t imagine for KINDERGARTEN it matters that much. The open house isn’t until August 28 (five days before school starts) so I’d rather not have to wait until them to ask the teachers (though I could).

The things I most wondered about are:
(3) Clorox Wipes, Disinfect, Bleach-Free, Lemon Scent, 35ct — Lemon scent? Really?
(4) Dry Erase Markers Chisel Tip Low Odor Black — I’m hoping these come in a four-pack.
(12) Glue Stick, washable, .77oz — I assume .77oz is a popular size but I also assume any washable glue sticks are fine.

So, this morning it was time. And it was somewhat painful.

I literally stood in front of the disinfectant wipes for 10 minutes debating wipes. As you can see, they requested “3 Clorox Wipes, Disinfect, Bleach-Free, Lemon Scent, 35ct.” Do I get the three pack off brand with two lemon scent and one fresh scent 35ct for $4.24? The three off brand lemon scent singles 35ct for about $8? The brand name Clorox lemon scent 75ct buy 3 get 1 free for $12? Or just send in Kirkland wipes I’ve already bought? I opted for the $4.24 set. And don’t get me started on glue sticks.

It took me almost two hours to find and decide on a list of 11 things—and that included two stores because one store (Target, where I started) didn’t have everything (though some of that time was just from being in brand new stores where I didn’t know where anything was).

But now he’s ready! 🙂

Taking the police car out for a scary spin

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The hilly lots/roads really REALLY suck.

We started in the backyard but it’s SO steep that it really taxed the car battery—and it’s SO narrow that it really taxed Owen’s driving skills. And consequently my patience. 😐

So we headed to the front.

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But if they’re not actively moving forward they’re rolling backward and even on the low speed they can get going pretty fast downhill. I don’t trust him not to go off the sidewalk (even accidentally) and hit a car or mailbox so I let him go downhill on the side of the street but it was still nerve wracking and I walked in front of the car the whole way.

Heading up on the sidewalk.

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Heading down in the street.

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It looks less intense than it really is:

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Heading up the somewhat flat sidewalk along the main drag.

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I’m not sure if we’ll be keeping the car or getting rid of it. I had high hopes of being able to use it here but it’s just SO SO STEEP. So of course I’m feeling super guilty about it again. 🙁

Katie’s 2-year well-visit

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She remembered the office and immediately went to the toys.

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Exploring in the room:

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Enough exploring—time for tech:

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The doctor said she seems perfectly healthy. She did notice a VERY SLIGHT heart murmur that she wants to get checked out eventually (she wants to get the ankle figured out first) but it’s nothing critical and she’s sure it will likely disappear.

Weight: 30 lbs. 7 oz. (was 26 lbs 7 oz.)—86th percentile (was 78th)
Height: 36″ (was 33-1/2″)—88th percentile (was 90th)
Head: 19.6″ (was 19″)—93rd percentile (was 90th)

And for the sibling comparison, at 24 months, Owen was:
Weight: 38# (greater than the 97th percentile)
Height: 39″ (greater than the 97th percentile)

She only had to get one shot and Owen was VERY concerned that he didn’t want to watch. I told him he didn’t have to, but he should to see that it’s not a big deal. (He is still freaked out about shots, even though the last time he got them he realized they weren’t a big deal.) So I held Katie on my lap and the nurse did it in three seconds and Katie squawked just a bit and then she was more enamored with the blue band-aid than anything…and Owen was saying “See Katie? It wasn’t bad at all!” 🙂