Gramma Jean brought back lobster t-shirts from Maine for the kids! It was warm enough this morning that they could wear them! Katie wasn’t being terribly cooperative so she’s looking away in all the pics where Owen was looking at me…and vice versa…or the pic turned out blurry. Oh well. I can’t always get a perfect shot!
Katie knows when we leave a gate or door open downstairs. She used to bolt out the second we left one accidentally unattended, but now? She stands there and just makes noise. Sometimes she points. Sometimes she actually walks over closer to whatever gate is open and babbles at you like HELLO?! THIS SHOULD BE CLOSED! So we close it and she stops babbling and goes about her business.
Tonight she started squawking and was standing at the gate, pointing. I wasn’t sure what she wanted so opened the gate—curious as to what she was going to do. She went right to the fridge and tried to open it. So she stood there (mostly) patiently while I poured her some milk—and when I handed it to her, she went right back through the gate to the living room.
Now she loves the tunnel!
Here, mama, look at my shoe!
Another slide montage:
I tried to have a talk with Owen about getting rid of some of his toys to donate to kids who don’t have as much as he does—especially since Santa will surely be bringing him some new toys for Christmas.
He seemed to really think about it and agree that would be a good idea.
Me: So what toys do you want to give away?
Owen: My costumes…my blocks…my guns…my swords…my trains.
Me: All of those things? You know you won’t get them back, right?
Owen: Yep.
That’s pretty much a list of ALL his favorite toys. I’m thinking he didn’t quite understand and was more concerned with the tower he was building at that moment. 🙂
So of the items he listed, I picked the toys he played with the least. I asked what specific trains he will donate and asked him to separate them into piles. I figured this would be interesting since he RARELY plays with them.
He picks out the Ikea trains to give away and his Owen train letters to keep. Okay, not bad. Then I dig for the Thomas trains he hasn’t even seen in at least six months and ask about those. Nope. HE LOVES THEM ALL AND THEY’RE ALL SPECIAL TO HIM! Of course they are. 😐
So it looks like I’ll be doing the toy purge by myself.
We were Skyping with Daddy and he mentioned that Sparty won.
Owen: Yes! They did! The green guys got lots of points and the red guys just got some.
The kids wanted to go outside… (Just as an FYI, all pics were taken with my iPhone. I was really impressed today.)
Owen was laying down (pretending to be killed by a zombie thanks to the Mythbusters zombie episode we watched this morning!) so Katie had to do do the same thing.
Then I was only half watching because they were both all over the yard when I looked up to see someone was trying to climb up the playset ladder…
So I lifted her up into the playset so I didn’t have to deal with her falling off. And she LOVED IT! It was her first time walking around up there!
Owen tried to get her to go through the tunnel—she was intrigued but didn’t go through.
A sliding montage…including her first lone trip down the slide!
Someone got stuck!
She finally went through!
And then back to the other side!
And then Katie stepped in dog poop (I just cleaned the yard yesterday so obviously Maggie pooped right by the playset this morning) so Owen ran to get the pooper scooper and HE wanted to do it. He needs practice, but I think it will be a good job for him! 🙂
I had started to mentally prepare myself for possibly having to burn a hole in the nail to drain the fluid/blood…but thankfully I don’t think we’ll have to do it. It started leaking a little fluid/blood last night so I helped it along with some gentle pressure and Owen said it didn’t hurt. It looked lots better immediately and looked even better today!
And the original pic, which was cute, too.
I didn’t even plan ahead to dress them for game day. Kind of. I went to get Katie dressed and her MSU outfit was on the top of the stack in the dresser. And it was at that point that I realized it was a game day and put Owen in his jersey as well.
This pic didn’t turn out too bad.
And these next two just make me laugh out loud. Owen gets the craziest faces when I tell him to smile.
Ahhh, that’s better.
Well, not that.
Sister can do it.
And then THE shot. Perfect.
And then outside after the farmer’s market.
This is one of Owen’s personalized books. I know I have a picture of him doing the same thing from a ways back, but my searching hasn’t turned it up yet. Stay tuned.
“Blue’s in trouble! Super Green, Super Red, Super Yellow to the rescue!”
“Mama, Super Red is a really good runner and skater.”
And it went on and on from there for a good 10 minutes. 🙂
Katie can definitely tell you when she wants to go outside. She stands at the gate, points, and says “SIDE! SIDE!” 🙂
So since it was nice today we went for a walk before going to pick Owen up from school.
The good part about buying kids shoes ahead of time? You can get good sale prices. (It was still a crazy price for kids shoes, but they were $10 off and SOOOOO cute.)
The bad part about buying kids shoes ahead of time? You are only guessing at the sizes and by the time the season is right to wear them, they could already be outgrown.
At least these still fit, but they are a bit tighter than I’d hoped for (they are a 6.5 and I think she’s almost at the limit of her size 6s).
So, since she was wearing boots, that required tights—her FIRST tights, in fact! She didn’t think twice about them and didn’t try to remove them at all! And then it was picking a dress which she might not fit in when it gets to be warm again—a size 18m. But first, we tried shoes because I thought I might be able to exchange the boots for a bigger size (at Amazon) but they are out of stock.
When Owen saw her, he said “Katie! You are so adorable!” 🙂
So he asked to watch TV and I said no (Why? Why mama why?) and I asked him if he remembered what happened last night and he said yes, he was being snotty. And then he decided ON HIS OWN to put away toys! I said I liked that decision and would help him once he got started. It lasted about three minutes before his attention was elsewhere. But I was fine because he was playing with Katie and I hadn’t asked him to do it.
Fast forward about an hour and there was a toy he wanted to play with but it required floor space so I said we needed to pick up first. I only had to remind (prompt) him twice and it was done. EASY PEASY!
Color me flabbergasted. And happy.
So he got to play with his toy. And then later he asked to watch a show so I said yes. And we had a talk at bedtime about how I was very proud of him and he made me very happy tonight (as opposed to last night) and he seemed excited. I hope it continues.
PLEASE let it continue.
He says it hurts less…but wow does it look awful.
I gave her yogurt today and the first thing she did was dunk her string cheese in it.
And then her fingers…
Owen: Mama I want to go to the pirate cracker.
Me: The what?
Owen: The pirate cracker.
Me: I have no idea what that is.
Owen: We went the other day. The pirate cracker.
It hits me.
Me: Oh! The chiropractor.
Owen: Yes! The pirate cracker!
Me: Chiro–
Owen: Chiro–
Me: Practor.
Owen: Practor.
Me: Chiropractor.
Owen: Pirate cracker.
I feel like over the past few days I am suddenly spiraling out of control with Owen. There’s a lot of stubbornness and snottiness on his part and a lot of ensuing frustration and yelling on my part. Maybe he’s just becoming a normal 4-almost-5-year-old but he’s really been so good overall thus far that anything out of the ordinary really throws me. And he is definitely acting out of the ordinary. I almost feel like I’m at the end of my rope with this issue…and it’s only been a few days.
You know he’s always been VERY good about doing his chores (helping with Maggie, picking up toys, clearing the table) but lately he just flat out refuses to help pick up toys at bedtime (yes, I said help, because I do it with him). He starts playing with every toy, he starts playing with Katie, he whines that Katie is stepping on him or otherwise in his way, he suddenly can’t figure out how to put the boxes together, he whines at every step, and then he always says some variation of “I am NOT going to pick up toys…I don’t wanna.”
He knows talking back and being grouchy will lose him TV privileges (his favorite thing) but he continues to do it. He knows he won’t get his chore badge (which with enough missing badges he loses his weekly reward toy). He knows he will have to go to bed early and won’t get a bedtime story (which I reiterate every night—I remind him of it all EVERY night). It doesn’t matter. Tonight I even broke down and played the “I might have to talk to Santa card” which kind of got his attention and he said he didn’t want me to talk to Santa so I told him I’d give him one more chance… But every night he promises he’ll be a good boy the next night…and it doesn’t happen. I gave him a “last chance” while he was brushing his teeth, telling him he could stay up to his regular bedtime if he went back downstairs and picked up the toys and he interrupted me to tell me he’d just go to bed.
Of course, after having first been calm and patient for 15-30 minutes with all the repeated warnings and waiting for him to pick up toys on his own…and then with him being grouchy to me…I end up getting frustrated and yelling. It just sucks because he’s GREAT from the time he gets home through dinner…but the last 30 minutes make me want to throttle him.
We don’t have enough time to put toys away in the morning. We could try to put them away earlier in the day, but it’s hard because Katie just pulls them all out again anyway. I guess it’s possible he’s acting out against Tom being gone, but why now? Why the last few days?
I want to stop yelling. I don’t want to be frustrated. I want my good little boy back.
This sucks.
I was worried about keeping her busy while I looked at winter costs for Owen, but luckily the toys were right behind us. She had a ball!
I didn’t find a coat so after we picked up Owen we went to Kohls. This is a blurry pic but Katie loved riding in the cart.
And EVERYONE at Kohls loved her pig tails and commented how cute they were. And of course she was saying HI and BYE to everyone. 🙂
And once we got home…Owen in his new coat (a size 8)! He loves it and wanted to wear it out to play immediately. 🙂
Owen: Mama, what does that sign say?
Me: Season’s Greetings, City of Jacksonville.
Owen: Why?
Me: Because that’s what it says.
Owen: Why? Why mama why?
Me: I need to go out at the light.
Owen: What does that mean?
Me: It means I need to exit the parking lot at the traffic light so it’s easier to take our turn.
Owen: Why?
Me: So we don’t have to wait as long.
Owen: Why? Why mama why?
Me: Owen, you need to pick up some toys.
Owen: Why?
Me: Because I asked you to and it’s one of your chores.
Owen: Why?
Me: You need to get dressed for school.
Owen: Why?
Me: Because you have to go to school today.
Owen: Why?
Me: Because it’s a school day.
Owen: Why?
Me: Owen, it’s time to pick up toys.
Owen: Why?
Me: Because it’s one of your chores.
Owen: Why?
Me: Owen, please drink your juice.
Owen: Why? Why mama why?
Me: Owen, you need to put your shoes on.
Owen: Why?
Me: Because you want to go outside.
Owen: Why?
Me: I don’t know, why do you want to go outside?
Me: Owen, you need a jacket.
Owen: Why?
Me: It’s chilly out.
Owen: Why? Why mama why?
Owen: There’s no wind no rain no storm?
Me: No.
Owen: Why?
I swear it was snowing last night before bed but it couldn’t have been because it was still like 38 degrees…but it really looked like it. This morning, I woke up to this:
Owen was VERY exited! When I got out of the shower at 6:50, he already had one flip flop on because he wanted to go outside to play! So we got him dressed quickly, put tennis shoes on, and off he went! “Mama! I love snow!” He’s obviously not my kid.
They love goldfish! And they were even feeding each other!
