Back to School - Grade 7 Edition



Alice was excited about back to school shopping. She has grown a ton and knew she needed a lot of things - which meant she would get to buy a lot of things. Alice like to shop, but Alice does NOT like to pose for pictures. I said that a back to school photo shoot is my right as a mother, my payment for spending all that money on clothes ( that don't fit me at all). Alice refused so I said I would just take a picture of her everyday the first week of school. Problem solved. 

 

 

 

This was her favourite outfit. She wore this on her first day and for picture day. The peter pan top was from the Gap factory store ( and was only 4 dollars!) The cool paisley jeans were from XX21 ( first time Alice could shop there - size 24) And the leather oxfords from Globo were only 30$. The back pack is from sport check and the faux leather jacket from Suzy Sheer.

Since Alice hates getting pictures taken she has developed some strategies. One strategy is to try not to look in the camera - she is often looking away. The other strategy is to get one of her sisters to pose in the picture with her. Luckily, her sisters are always happy to oblige. Here Jackie helps Alice Out.

 The polka-dot sweater and leggings below are from H&M. The belt was from Australia. ( Whenever any one wears something we bought in Australia it makes me nostalgic).

 I promise she wasn't as sad as she looks in the picture below.  She is tired. The mornings are early - The bus comes at 7:15. The coral sweater is from Gap. The black skinny jeans from XX21.

 That concludes are back to school posts!! Hooray for school. Hooray for me the girls! Hooray for me for actually posting it!! ( I have the proposal I am have trouble with to thank for that).

Update on the girls

Here is a selection from some family pictures. It may not be the best picture seeing as I am sporting a double chin, Andrew has a red infected eye, Eve looks belligerent, Jackie has hair in her face, only Alice looks great, albeit uncharacteristically sweet. Anyway - I love any picture that has all these people in it. They are my favourite.

Here is section of an email I sent my family this week. Since it contains an update of all of us, I thought I would use it for the blog - that's just the way I roll.

Alice continues to be obsessed with basketball. It is her happy place. She was devastated last week because she did really poorly on a spelling test. Her teacher wrote on her sheet that it was not acceptable. Alice cried and cried and cried, and didn’t really recover until we were home and she was able to shoot some hoops. I am happy she has that “happy place” but I also suggested perhaps studying a little more? She did better this week so I guess I shouldn’t worry. Unfortunately in regards to spelling and attention to details in her school work she takes after me. I have told her if she figures out how to not make those kind of mistakes then she should let me know.

Jackie is doing well. She loves piano and creating things with recyclables so sometimes her bedroom looks like she’s a hoarder. I have heard her say that she hates garbage day because there is no recycling in the house and therefore nothing to do. She had so much fun at Elise birthday party this weekend, but agonized over what she was going to wear. She was crying for half an hour before we left the house. It was crazy, but once she finally decided what dress to wear ( she was supposed to dress like a movie star) and got over the fact that no matter what we did, her hair was still going to be short – I convinced her to wear it up) she was pleased with her look and super happy. And Andrew and I managed it all without losing it ourselves so that was a plus. She has since talked and talked about how fun the party was and how funny uncle Sam was, she especially liked the game where they all pretended to speak German.

Eve is getting bigger every day, but we have noticed that she enjoys more and more being the “baby” and getting helped with her clothes, the bathroom eating etc. She also enjoys playing baby with Jackie or Alice where one of them is the mom and the other the grandma. Andrew and I are concerned about her “baby” obsession and try to make her do things on her own, and when we do that she either cries or convinces Alice or Jackie to help her out. I think she would be better if there was another baby around, so Erin is you get tired of Charlie, send him over here!. Last week I suggested to the girls when they were all playing house together that instead of having Eve be the baby that she could be the mom in the game. Eve just started whining that she was too small to be the mom and needed a smaller kid to be the baby. The girls went from happily playing to arguing so next time I will either keep my mouth shut or suggest that Eve play the kitty in the game. A responsible Kitty that cleans up after herself. In other news, Eve has developed a love of eating her boogers. We have to fight to get her to eat supper, unless of course it is pizza, but green boogers from her nose are apparently delicious.

Andrew is starting basketball this week .....we will miss him.

Our weekend

Eve: (with a happy face) When I grow up I'll be a mom! (face turns sad) But I'll have to live away from you and have babies in my tummy.

I'm glad she isn't moving away any time soon. She is my sweet little best friend, always wanting to read books or dance together or snuggle and watch a show.

Last Friday the girls and I celebrated the first snow fall of the year my all snuggling together on my bed and watching the Muppet's Christmas Carol (my favourite holiday movie).

Jackie: " This is the movie night I have been praying for since Halloween" (jackie was excited because Andrew let the girls eat the popcorn twists and drink pop they got while trick or treating).

We were all having a great time until the end of the movie, when Eve said she had a tummy ache. Just as Ebeneezer was sending the boy off to buy the prize turkey, Eve threw up all over me and Andrew's side of the bed! Yuck!!

That started "The night of vomit" for Eve, who puked about 12 times. I stayed with her till 11:00, then Andrew took over until 3:00, then I stayed up with her until Alice woke up at 7:00. Needless to say, the weekend didn't go as we had planned, but we made it through and Alice still made her basketball game ( they won 40 to 0 - but turned off the scoreboard for the last quarter) and Jackie made it to her cooking birthday party and she and I went to most of the RS Creative Saturday - just no date for Andrew and I, no working out for me and a lot of extra laundry.

But really Eve was a trooper. She didn't complain at all. She would just say ," my tummy hurts" right before she would throw up, and she was good a aiming in the bucket. She watched hours and hours of backyardagains and laid on the couch all night.

The next morning at breakfast, I told the older girls how good Eve was.

Me: Eve threw up so many times, but she was so good, she never cried or complained.

Alice: Really, she didn't complain at all?

Me: Not at all, she was so brave.

Alice: Maybe she should be sick all the time then.

Me: Alice! that's not nice.

Alice: I'm just saying, that girl complains A LOT - so if being sick helps her not complain...

I could see her point, but the not complaining might have had something to so with the fact that she had a 24 hour dedicated attendant to get her things AND she got to watch her best friends, the Backyardigans all night.

I have to say, the Backyardigans has to be the best preschool show of all time. She has good taste at least. Sunday night, Andrew got sick. He also threw up a lot and tried not to complain. He stayed home from work yesterday. He didn't however, watch as much Backyardagains.

My daughter - myself

Alice made brownies for her Dad and her Grandpa today. They are in the oven baking as we speak. She asked me to put them in the oven for her. When I walked into the kitchen I found Eve, sitting on the table beside the bowl - completely "brown handed". Before I could say anything she guiltily said,

Mom, This is really bad for me, but I LOVE it".

Don't I know how that goes. Anyway, I put the batter in the pan and ( because I know how it is) I gave Eve the spoon to lick and put the pan in the oven. Eve, having finished the spoon, asked for the bowl. She was already covered in chocolate and had dropped a bunch of chocolate on the floor. I didn't know how much she had eaten before I got there ( there was a little less brownie batter that usual) so I said, " No, honey, you've had enough, and look at all the chocolate you dropped on the floor. What a mess".

I put the bowl in the sink and filled it with water and got a rag to clean the floor and turned around to find Eve in downward facing dog, licking the floor.

I should have known really. You all saw that coming, didn't you?

Update on the kids

Remember when I used to blog more than once a month? It was so long ago, I can hardly remember? Not sure what is up with my creativity lately,but it is a shame, because life keeps rolling on and I should be recording things. The kids have a PD day today and so we are all still in our PJs - they are trying to catchup on some TV watching that they " just never have time for" - a good time to post something.
Eve:

• Is taking swimming lessons for the first time. Words can not express how excited she was to "be big now". She likes it as long as she has Miss Kayla. When the boy substitute is there, it takes some getting used to.
  
• She plays on a soccer team and just as I thought, she LOVES it. I am the assistant coach for her team. It is really the highlight of my week. U4 soccer is the BEST!!!At this age they just play 3 on 3 and they don't have positions, but she has figured out that the other team can't score if she tends goals, so if she can 't get the ball from the kid that has a breakaway she will high tail it to the goal and looks all ferocious as she kicks the ball away.
• She has finished her preschool and misses it. And keeps asking about going again.
• She can almost do the monkey bars by herself, which both impresses me and freaks me out in equal proportions.
• Her talking is getting more and more clear, but she still pronounces flower, "flowler". I should probably help her learn to say it right, but it is so cute.
• She used to cry when the girls left for school, but now just says every morning, " Mom, now it is just me and you!" She is getting kind of stuck on me. We do a lot of book reading, dancing, puzzles, bike riding, library going and talking about what we will do next. This girls seems to like living by a schedule. If we don't get to do something I have said we will do, she will remind me about it over and over. "Mom, we didn't pull weeds yesterday like you said we would do". As if the weeds weren't reminders enough.
  
• She is obsessed with this "Meet the letters" DVD we got from the library. She always wants to watch it and wants to watch it with me. If I leave during the show to get something, she says things like:" but if you leave you will miss the S that is coming." And when I come back she fills me in on the letters I missed. I am glad that she is so excited about learning her letters, but wonder when she will realize that this DVD is DEAD BORING.
  

News from Jackie:

• She is growing out her bangs and we all think it makes her look older, though once she grows them out and cuts them again, we will all think that her bangs make her look older. Basically any change in hairstyle results in us noticing how grown up she is getting. I have to remind myself she is only 6.
• She has decided that she prefers to be called "Jacqueline" and has learned to spell it. This is of course a hard switch for everyone.
  
• She loves her swimming lessons and is getting better at swimming, though I'm sure it would be easier if she gained a little weight. She is a sinker.
  
• She is doing soccer, and likes it way better then basketball because a) it is outside and you get to run in the spring air and never get hot ( we live in the north) and b) she doesn't worry all the time about the ball hitting her in the head. So far no goals, but she has had some pretty decent breakaways and kicks on goal and has some great coaches.
• She finally, FINALLY got to take home her classes stuffed penguin for the weekend. She was the last kid to take it home, which meant she had to wait 18 agonizing weeks, but it was worth it. She showed that penguin a good time.
• Always the socialite, she is petitioning me to throw a welcome to summer party with all of her class because they all won't be in her class next year ( there are 5 grade 1 classes at her school)
  
• She is going to be moving into Alice's room in the next few weeks, as soon as we can get it all painted. She really wants her own room and even considered moving downstairs, but cried as she thought of how far she would be to Eve. She has been telling Eve all different ways they can still be close even when she is sleeping in a different room. She asked if we could cut a cubby hole for secret messages.
  

Alice:

• Is obsessed with riding her bike, it warms my heart that the bike I was excited to buy her 2 years ago is finally getting used.
• She is writing her provincial achievement tests at school, and thinks it is great because they are pretty easy and because of them they don't have any homework
• She did her first talk in primary the other week even though she (of course) really didn't want to. She did a great job and was super glad when it was over.
• Helped me find a great dress for the Grecole wedding. She is a great little shopper. Luvky is the mother that has daughters.
• She can now make chocolate chip cookies, corn meal muffins and waffles all by herself. Her new found baking ability is a terrific help. She is giving the girls breakfast while I type this.
  
• Is loving soccer, even though she also hasn't scored this year. I love watching her play and practice. Her best friend Chloe is on the team and the two of them look so happy all the time to be playing together.
  
• Thinks her swimming lessons are so boring, but at least she is learning how to do a handstand in the water, the only thing that prevented her from passing swimmer three last time.
• Is the proud owner of her own deodorant ( my little girls is growing up and getting sticky, sniff, sniff). She was not embarrassed at all, just excited. She totally does not feel the way I did about the whole maturing thing. A while back we were at Value Village trying on some shoes. There were these slip on high heels that completely fit her. I said we could buy them for the dress up clothes. She was all, "Can't I wear them to church?" I was surprised she would want to and told her when I was her age and didn't ever want to look any older than I (tragically) already did. She just said to me, "Mom, I am practically an adult already".
• Has discovered the joy of brushing her hair. I told her that if she didn't get better at brushing the knots out of her hair she would have to cut it. She has since upgraded to a brush that actually works and can frequently be seen brushing and admiring her hair in the mirror. I am glad that her hair looks better, but am not sure how I feel about the new found vanity about the beautifully brushed hair.
  
• Has decided to move downstairs to the guest bedroom. The thought that Jackie might just move down into that room, instead of waiting for her to do it was just the incentive she needed. Let the decorating begin.
  
• Can't wait for school to be done and for fun cousins to arrive. I'm totally with her on that.
  

Predictions.

Alice excitedly came out of the bathroom one morning and said,

" I FINALLY know what I will be when I grow up. I was sitting on the toilet, going poo, and thinking that I really am interested in how the human body works, but I DON'T want to be doctor - too much blood. GROSS.

Then I thought I would be a scientist, but then I thoughtthere might be explosions and I don't want that. Too dangerous.

SO - I am going to a physics teacher. "

She looked so relieved. I believe this life decision has been weighing on her. She used to want to be an artist but then realized that she would only get paid when she sold a painting, and that didn't sound very practical. We have since taught her that physics doesn't have much to do with the human body, so she wants to be a bio teacher. Andrew suggested bio chemistry because that is what he did. There is a lot of her dad in her, so I wouldn't rule it out.

Also - just to keep you updated :

Jackie informed me this morning that when she is older she is going to cut her hair short and dye it black. Mary - does that sound good?

Alice is going to dye her hair blond - Erin?

Eve is going to wear lots of makeup all the time. Which is exactly what she does already. Thanks Audrey.

Art Walk 2010

Since Alice was little (like she's so big now) she has wanted to be an Artist. When I learned that this weeked was Alberta Art Days, I figured we should check it out. We looked through the activities and decided to do the Art Walk downtown.

So as our NY cousins say, "we took the train into the city."and had a great time. We felt a little like tourists. Since it was Art Days, we tried to artsy up our photos.

Jackie was the main one pushing for the train. This is her on the way there. On the way back she looked a little different. A lot less clean, and a little more tired.

Me: Jackie, when you get home you will have to wash your face. You have hot chocolate all around you mouth, and mustard on your cheek.

Jackie: The mustard tells a story.

Me: oh yeah?

Jackie: A story of a gigantic hot dog, and how I shoved it into my mouth, chomp.

Below is a picture with the hot chocolate. This is Jackie's favorite effect. She loves saturated colour. (She also kind of loved that her hot chocolate looked like coffee - We got it an Tim Hortons, where all her teacher like to get coffee).

You may have noticed that my kids are sporting winter hats and warm coats. It was freezing. But luckily it wasn't raining, which it has been doing most of September. And we haven't seen any snow yet - though Grandma and Grandpa on the North of town did. Some days I worry about global waming more than others.

This is my favourite picture of Alice. So pretty and so grown up looking.

We saw 4 small galleries, 2 unique jewelery stores, and caught some live jazz. We got to walk past some artist's studios, but we didn't get to see anyone working. We did get to talk to a gallery owner and learn about some different media and she told us a little about the artists that did the pieces in her gallery. The kids loved picking out there favourite pieces and seeing how much they cost.

Jackie was determined to see the Chinese Cultural Centre, even though it was a bit of a walk. Alice was dying for hot chocolate, which was harder to find than I thought it would be. We didn't find any on the way, but we did find a hot dog and then a tiny cup cake bakery tucked away in a basement. We needed energy for our long art journey.

Jackie: Alice, do you know what my favourite kind of arts and crafts are?

Alice: What?

Jackie: Ones made out of food!

We did eventually make it to the Chinese Cultural Centre. I am ashamed that we have lived here so long and never been there. The roof alone was Alice's favourite thing she saw that day. The display on early immigrants to Canada from China was fascinating and the gift store was a real hit. The girls each got some inexpensive,but very legit looking fans. Jackie posing outside the cultural center. She as already asked if we can go back there.


Alice has been constantly opening and closing her fan since she got it. I learned she even was playing with it in primary today. Doesn't this effect make her eyes look cool?

Anyway, It was a lovely afternoon for me. I find Art energizing. I am excited to do more interesting projects with the girls. We got an excellent book from the library with some very cool ideas in it which we are going to use for " Home art school". I am making plans to do more virtual and in person art walking with her, since she still wants to be an artist.

Jackie, on the other hand, might want to be an artist or a chef.

I just enjoy her being a kid. This is a picture from Heritage park this summer.

Eve didn't come with us, instead she got to spend some quality time with Andrew. She did like modifying pictures. I like this one.

She likes this one.

8 is Great!

Alice turned 8 this past week. As always - it was a full week of celebrations! Starting with a special birthday meal on Wednesday and a extra chocolaty cake made lovingly by her sisters!We had her birthday party on Saturday. I think it was my favourite birthday party yet. Partly because of the fun theme - a chef party. But mostly because I think that 8 year old girls may be the most delightful things on this planet!

Alice and Jackie helped make chef's hats out of tissue paper and cardboard, and I sewed aprons out of dollar store tea towels and discount ribbon. ( the night before of course - but Andrew was out at a guys movie night, so no one was around to witness my last procrastinated sewing).

The girls worked in teams making their own cakes out of mixes. They did everything themselves - I only checked that the measurements were right. The girls were all so excited to be doing it all on their own, and they worked together so well, taking turns cracking eggs etc. It was neat to see them realize they could do it all themselves - realize for the first time that the directions were on the box and they they could read. They made a couple chocolate cakes, a lemon cake and a cherry cake.

When the cakes were in the oven, the girls went downstairs to watch the Princess and the Frog ( which worked for the theme, since the main character is trying to open a restaurant) while I cleaned up the splattered cake batter from the table and the floor. I also made the icing)

Then it was decorating time! The one on top is Alice's, the one below is Jackie's. I got the cake pans for a dollar fifty at the dollar store. How would I do birthdays without stuff from china!

They all had so much fun decorating the cakes and were so excited to take their's home that no one really noticed that they didn't eat any cake at the party - though my kids probably sampled enough icing to make up for it.

Anyway - It was a delightful time. 8 is my new favourite age. It is just magic. Still young enough to be happy to wear a paper chef's hat, and get excited about pretty much everything, and grown up enough to make cakes on their own, keep track of all their things and help clean up. It is a mother's dream come true. The theme was really fun as well, I can't count how many times I heard " Bon Appetit" and as a procrastinator, it was great to not have to have any food prepared before the party began. I honestly had a truly great time, after it was done, I had energy enough to go on a really long run. When I got back, my three girls were all happily playing with Alice's new toys that she had gotten out of the packages on her own. We finished up the day with a little extreme uno she got as a gift.

Now we have a week to gear up for the main event of turning 8. Alice's baptism is next week. She is very excited and we are glad that we will have lots of family and friends around to share that day with us.

Alice - we love you!

Overheard

Me: Why is the floor all wet?
Alice: Eve spilled a cup of water
Eve: No, Chelsa did it?
We all laughed - since Chelsa wasn't here. Eve thought for a bit then said,
Eve: Not me, Not Chelsa, Terry did it. (Terry was over yesterday)
Me: are you blaming Terry for something you did?
Eve: Yup.

*********
Alice (after I did her hair for church): This ponytail is as tight as Professor McGonagal's bun.

We are in the middle of Harry Potter, and the Prisoner of Azkaban. She is really into it.

*********
Jackie: I am so tired of reading the scripture EVERY NIGHT. Why do we have to do it every night.

I am getting a lot of eye rolling from Jackie and Alice lately. I makes me smile, because I think it is good practice for me for when they are teenagers. She mostly enjoys reading the scriptures, she just wishes she would get to read more picture books. We are working on that.

Musings on sleep

I wrote this post a couple of weeks ago but didn't post it because the picture was still on the camera and not the computer - I then forgot all about it - so here it is.

Sleep is a precious commodity in our house. A scarce commodity. Whether by nature or nurture, my children, like myself, are not great sleepers.

A few days ago I had a hard time getting to sleep after helping Evie when she woke up at night. It was sometime past 4 in the morning. My neck was sore so I decided to heat up the hot bag. When I was in the kitchen I noticed the light to the stairwell downstairs was on. I went to turn it off and saw that the lights downstairs were on an so was the TV. I went downstairs and there was Alice watching t.v. She told me she had gone into our bedroom while I was getting Eve back to sleep and asked Andrew if it was ok. Her dad said "go ahead". If I hadn't gone into the kitchen to heat up the hot bag she would have watching tv till the rest of the house got up at 7. In Andrew's defence, he is quite blind without his glasses and for all he knew it was 6:30. And really, he is likely to say yes to anything if it means he can sleep a little longer. I was proud of Alice though, since she truly dislikes going to the basement alone and usually gets one of her sisters to go with her ( what help she expects Eve to give her, I don't know). That night she managed to brave the journey on her own, in the dark, equipped with only her flashlight (and of course the very strong desire to watch television.) To her credit, she did obediently go back to bed and was difficult to rouse at 7:30 for school.

As a kid I was an insomniac and might have tried that, but cable was different then. I had wait until 6:00 when the coloured bars would finally give way to reruns of Frankenstone. I sometimes resort to that now. Last night I couldn't sleep so I got up and did some work at the computer for a half hour. Then I still couldn't sleep, so I watched Design Inc on HGTV. I guess I watched that hoping to dream off home renovations...

Thursday night, around 9:00, I went to go check on the girls a third time and to tell them to please be quiet and get to sleep. I found Jackie up with Alice on her top bunk, all snuggled together in her blankets, talking and giggling. When I asked what they were doing Jackie said,"we are having fun talking and planning the crafts for my party". Alice hugged Jackie protectively and said that, "Jackie had to come up, because my neck was getting too strained from hanging upside down to hear her". After all, they were trying so hard to whisper so as not to disturb Evie (and also to avoid detection.) It made me hope that someday all the girls would want to move in to the one big bedroom downstairs so that Evie wouldn't miss the party entirely. Sister's are a great thing and I believe that bonding is often more important that sleep.

Maybe that's my problem, I think a whole lot of things are more important than sleep - working, reading a good book, spending time with my husband, Sometimes even house work. Can you imagine how much we could get done if we didn't have to sleep?

There are a lot of techniques for trying to get to sleep. I've tried them all. Jackie and Eve like the warm milk bit. Alice's favourite lately is moving to the floor when she gets frustrated with her bed. I find her in all kinds of crazy positions, like the one above. If Andrew isn't home, I wait until he gets home and have him lift her onto her bed. I wonder how she would sleep if I left her there. A couple of weeks ago she did try a warm bath ( my preferred method). Alice kind of dislikes baths so she thought I was crazy at first, but did find it relaxing. I told her that sometimes I have a shower before bed, and if I can't sleep, I'll have a bath too. I wake up very clean.

Last night Jackie found a ratty Santa hat in the dress up clothes and is wearing it as her nightcap. It looks adorable with her old fashioned petty coat nightgown. She also went to sleep with her new bracelets around her wrist and is is still wearing them now. Maybe all we need is the right accessories

A bit of Alice

Alice got her first grown up hair cut last week in preparation for our SugarSnaps photo shoot. Her Aunt Anne said when she saw her, " Alice is.....old". Yes it is true, at seven, with grade one under her belt, she is ready to take on the world. For those that don't get the pleasure of spending a lot of time with her, here is a " a bit of Alice" for you to enjoy.

Alice is sensitive. At seven, she knows that about herself. The last week of school she said to me:

"Mom, when picking us up, if you ever have to be late for one of us, me or Jackie, you should always be late for Jackie and get me on time because even though Jackie is younger than me, I am more emotional than she is.

Even with her sensitivity, there are times when I expect she will cry and she doesn't. Then there are the times when she does and it breaks my heart. We just got back from a family reunion where we stayed in a tent trailer. The girls had SO MUCH FUN with their cousins playing in the trailer. We were supposed to stay two nights, and her favourite cousin Jaylin was going to sleep in the trailer with us that second night. Due to some bad weather and serious lack of sleep, Andrew and I decided that we had better not stay over that second night. Alice took it much better that I expected but she was disappointed. Today, when we were sitting in church I noticed tears in her eyes. I asked her what was the matter " Oh, I was just thinking about Jaylin." Little heart break right there.

At seven, she is independent. She LOVES to make her own microwave oatmeal. She loves that she can read herself stories. She even loves cleaning up the living room all by herself. We all love that she can eat apples now without having them sliced, thanks to those front teeth that have grown in ( now she just needs to grow into them).

She is also independently creative. Every day I hear, " Mom, can I do a craft?" For Alice, life is not worth living if there is no time for crafts. Grade one was tough because there was no painting station and not nearly enough time when she got home to make up for it. Some of the things she has created since school ended include: a puppet show made with drawings on Popsicle sticks, a large robot made from tin cans and boxes, a "chariot" for Eve made out of a decorated cardboard box and rope snd she is currently working on a very large paper doll mosaic. She comes up with these projects all on her own, finds the materials and even cleans up after with minimal help from me. She also doesn't get to attached to the final product ( thank goodness). For Alice, it is about the process of making it.

Development psychology states that seven year olds have a better grasp of time. This is true of Alice and she is constantly trying to explain timelines to Jackie. Alice is obsessed with our vacation schedules and always knows how many days we are going and how long we are staying. Math was her favourite academic subject and she enjoys figuring out how old everyone will be in the future. When I told her that because of the grade 5 - 6 's being moved out of her school she would never get to go to the same school as Evie she said, "Aww...wait a minute, she'll be five by then, so she won't be cute anymore anyway. So that's ok with me."

Alice thinks five is too old to be cute. I think she is still cute, even at the ripe old age of seven.

Discovering Strengths

This evening I took a online self assessment test designed to help me discover my strengths. Don't worry, I won't bore you all with an my insightful musings on my strengths and weaknesses - that is sure to come later after I've had more time to really digest the information. Right now I thought I write a little of what I predict my children's strengths will be based on what they are saying and doing now. In twenty years, I'll be able to look back and see if I was right. Today I will start with my little Evie, my terrific toddler. Eve values her independence. She is my charge ahead girl. Today at the spray park, she kept running away, turning around to do her " mommy come with me " sign and then was off again. In a "come here" battle with Eve, I always lose ( luckily, in a "I'm going to pick you up and carry you" battle I always win.)

Eve tantrums less than my other girls did ( not a hard thing for anyone who ever dealt with Jackie after a nap). She is not all about the drama, she is all about the action. Eve mostly gets upset if there is something she is unable to do that she wants to - like doing up her red buckle shoes at the gym( so frustrating), or wants something she knows she can't have -(like the camera). She also has a very cute way of tantruming I like to call the "silent protest non-tantrum tantrum. This is how it goes.

She does something I have asked her not to do and continues to do it after I have told her to stop. I physically stop her from doing it. I get down to her level and explain why she can't do it. While I explain, she sinks to the ground, lays on her belly with her head on the floor. She doesn't move. She doesn't answer - she just stays still until I get up, at which point she gets up and before I know she is doing what she was doing in the first place.

I think she tantrums less than the other girls because she doesn't except no as an answer. She just plans how she will do it anyway. Experiential learner maybe? I'm just glad she came third - so her Dad will have had two teenagers ahead of her to break him in, because she does not do well with someone trying to control her. I think she will go her own way. Her baby blessing said that she would enjoy making choices, and blessed her to make the right choices. I hope so..

So Mom, have I got what I deserved?

On a side note - she has recently added a few new words to her vocabulary - please, cookie, shoe, and show. She only has said them because we have made her try.( i.e. if you try to say cookie you can have a cookie). Otherwise, she really doesn't try out words on her own. I think maybe because if you are planning to do whatever you want - really no one else needs to know.

Anyway - she is a super interesting, super delightful girl - She loves balls, cars, animals and kissing. Yesterday I was playing cars with her. She was making car noises, then would make the cars kiss each other. Pretty cute.

Earth Day

Alice: For Earth Day I picked up garbage in the school yard. I even did it instead of playing at recess. I love picking up Garbage.

Me: Really?

Alice: Yeah, I LOVE picking up garbage - but only garbage. I still hate picking up toys.
( she could see the ideas I was starting to get, I think).

**********

Jackie: Someone is totally wrecking the world, because they left their garbage on the ground..

********

We got an early Earth Day gift this week. Our blue bin was delivered! So glad our city FINALLY has a residential recycling pick up!!! No more loading the recycling into the van!!!!!!

Lost in Translation

Today - at Superstore

Jackie: Mom, are English accidents real?
Me: What did you say?
Jackie: Are English accidents real?
Me: I don't know what you mean.
Jackie: (losing her patients a little bit)Do English accidents exist in the real world:
Me: Sorry Honey, I still don't know what you mean.
Jackie: You know, when we were watching Barbie and the Christmas Carol and the girl says Tomahtoes - you said she was because of her English accident.
Me: Oh, you mean English Accents - yes, those are real.

(Incidently, Jackie now likes eating tomatoes because she can call them Tomahtoes, she also calls potatoes, potahtoes - she is very fancy, and it is not accidental at all.)

On Thursday after school

Alice:Mom, we have got to get one of those furnaces.
Me: a furnace?
Alice: A furnace for my lunch.
Me: What kind of furnace?
Alice: Gareth had a furnace in his lunch today. His mom put ichiban in it.
Me: Oh, a thermos, yes that would be a good idea.

In regards to Alice and her lunches - a thermos is what we need, since she no longer will eat sandwiches and even cheese buns come back uneaten. ( especially now that her friend Jake is at her table and he is so funny she spends all her time laughing and forgets to eat). Lately I have been packing her a Tupperware with cereal in it and a spoon. She gets milk at lunch that she wasn't drinking, so now it goes on the cereal. The nutrition is questionable, but at least she is eating something. Cereal for breakfast, lunch and bedtime snack. If they ever stop making Shreddies, Alice will starve.

Whack you head Wednesday - a "day in the life" story.

Here is a bit of sweet girl drama. It is quite long, but bear with me.

Yesterday, Jackie was back to her regular "cry for no good reason until I've eaten breakfast" self. The no good reason selected: she couldn't remember me giving her "fresh water" in her sippy cup the night before.

She wasn't thirsty. She wasn't worried she would get an incurable illness from drinking day old water. She was just offended that I had forgotten to perform an important part of her bed time ritual. Her offense was real, even if it took her 12 hours to notice. The irony of the story is that - yes - you guessed it- I HAD given her fresh water the night before. What's more, knowing she would be upset if she was unsure of the freshness of her water, I had made a big point of showing her the ice and telling her that her water was new. (As I write this, I am beginning to understand my husbands hostility towards the "fresh water fetish" the older girls have - they really aren't that diva about other things).

Like a fool, I broke one of my cardinal rules for parenting: NEVER ARGUE WITH A HUNGRY CHILD UNLESS IT IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. ( This also is my rule for my husband, and one I think should be applied to everyone on my side of the family - especially me. How can anyone be expected to act rationally on an empty stomach?) I reminded her that I did get her the water. What was worse, her sister Alice corroborated my story. Not only was she offended, now she was betrayed. I will not describe her reaction, for I can not do justice to the combination of screaming and tears, but I will say that it landed her in her room - without the all important breakfast that might bring out better spirits. Now, do not judge me too soon, I did try to get her to take her sippy cup of milk with her - but she refused. I don't know where she gets her stubbornness from.

Alice, always the peace maker, decided that she would try to help her sister be happy. The best way was to make her laugh. But how to go about this? Clearly any verbal humour would be difficult to hear over the racket of the tantrum. Alice opted to follow the example of her favourite comic Mr. Bean, and tried some physical humour. She started pretending to bang her head against the door frame. I was reminded of my brother Greg, who when he was ten couldn't walk down Bonnie Doon Mall without pretending to bang his head on every pillar. Alice's performance was great, and Jackie was soon laughing through her tears. Another victory for comedy.

It looked like so much fun,in fact, that Evie wanted to try. That's were the story gets a little sad. I can still see her running full tilt at that door frame. I could see what was going to happen, but could not get to her in time. She rammed the door frame with everything she had. Ouch. A hard way to learn the difference between pretending to bump you head, and actually bumping your head. Here she is standing beside a door frame like the one she hit,during happier times.

But these head hurting escapades were but foreshadowing for some all too real noggin nocking. We went to Value Village last night to try to find some pants for Alice and some Christmas decorations for the basement. While I was chasing Evie (who is no longer fond of the cart) Jackie was uncontrollably drawn to the bars corralling the shopping carts. She had been warned to stay off, but like Princess Aurora drawn to the spindle, she couldn't stop herself. While she was playing on the bars, she fell backward and hit her head on the floor, causing a very minor, yet still very bloody, head wound. It is always so hard when your child get's hurt. It sure was not fun to have it happen in a store full of unhelpful stangers, and trying to help her while keeping tabs on your two other children. After some time in the bathroom washing up, signing an accident incident report, and buying a Christmas candle holder for Jackie and a Christmas dress for Alice we made it home. Jackie had a bath to calm her nerves and wash the blood out of her hair (though we didn't tell her about that). While she was in the tub, Alice and I, who were both able to keep it together at the store and on the way home, almost starting crying and began feeling queasy again as we talked about how upsetting it was. We agreed that it was lucky that Jackie hurt the back of her head, instead of the front, because, "at least she didn't have to see all that blood". I am making a prediction now: Alice will not become a nurse.

Since I didn't see how hard Jackie bumped her head, I woke her up every four hours just in case she had a concussion. It is not the first time I have had to do that for Jackie. I imagine it won't be the last.

This morning she was fine. She had no headache, minimal mood issues, and was still clearly in love with the Christmas candle holder. She brought it to school for show and tell.

So, that is the tale of Head Whacking Wednesday. Just another day in the life.

From Alice

Alice, after a loud argument with Jackie ( said very kindly and genuinely): "Jackie, you should be a teacher when you grow up. You would be a very good teacher, because you have a very loud voice, and teachers need to have loud voices, to yell at the kids, so the kids can hear them. (there are 34 kids in Alice's class - a think it may be a little noisy, her teachers don't seem like the yelling type though) "


Incidently, Jackie thought this was a great compliment, and has talked about it several times. Since she wants to be a danser, she has decided to be a dance teacher, to incorporate Alice's wise advice. She will tell you that Alice is right, she DOES have a loud voice, and then proves it by screaming.
*****


Alice, on the morning of the third day of school: "When are you going to let me skip school like Anne does?"


I knew the skipping school issue would come up - I just didn't think it would come up on the third day of grade one. Thanks Aunt Anne, and thanks Grandma!

When I pointed out that she had read a word: (rolling her eyes) MAWWMM, I didn't read it, I just looked at the word and knew what the word was, that is not reading".

hmmm - sounds like reading to me, wonder what she considers to be reading.

*******

This morning when I answered her skipping school plea with " you can think about skipping school when you can read". She said: "I already can read, I just don't always understand the sounds and the words don't make any sense, but I can read".

Oh, so that is reading.

*****
As we were driving out of our neighbourhood she said, : "The next time we move houses, make sure we are moving into a mansion with an attic. Actually, the attic is not that important, just make sure it is a mansion."

Okay, I'll get right on that.

Schools out for summer!

I'm a little late with this post since we went write on vacation before I had time. We are back now and I will be playing catch up for a while. I didn't want to miss posting about Alice finishing kindergarden. She had an amazing year and had such a great teacher and has made some great friends. She is all ready for grade 1! Kindergarden is a magical year, and though I did not get teary eyed at the kindergarden graduation, I must say I did well up a little when I saw the DVD scrapbook the teacher's aide put together, with pictures, music and the poem "everything I need to know I learned in Kindergarden". If you come visit us, you can watch it!

We hope everyone has a fantastic summer and enjoys the time off school. I love having everyone home - especially Andrew. He took this picture of Eve. Doesn't it make you want to go enjoy some summer swimming?