What the kids are up to August 2006

Matthew:
Life as a first grader is treating Matthew very well. Anyone who read my blog last year can remember that I adored kindergarten. I loved the parent involvement in the classroom. I loved the little projects they did. I was dreading the "serious business--lack of parent involvement" of first grade. So far, I have really liked this year! I love Matthew's teacher. She freely gives me "Matthew stories" which I love to hear and seems to love Matthew. I love doing homework with him every afternoon. It gives me tangible things to talk to him about. He is king of forgetting to tell me everything he is working on, so I love the homework. He seems to have really grown up recently, and I love our talks. We are usually the only ones around in the early morning and I love this time with him. His 2nd year of piano started yesterday and flag football begins in the next week or two. Yes, we are off to a running start!

Thomas:
Thomas has been on top of the world lately. Why, you ask? Could it be the circus is coming to town? A new toy? A trip to Disneyland? No. His favorite restaurant just opened a branch a mile from our house! We have been counting down for weeks for the grand opening of Taco Bueno. Last night, it finally arrived. At 10 in the morning, he asked if we could go. At 10:30 in the morning, he asked if they were opened yet. It took a lot of patience on his part, but I was able to hold him off until 5:30. He was in heaven! He was lamenting last night that we moved away from our old house because it was 1/2 mile closer to Taco Bueno.

Thomas also seems to really be enjoying school and having Lauren as his teacher. He has been talking a lot about the letter of the week and finding words that start with the letters. Lauren measured the kids the other day and Thomas was the tallest in the class. He is my gentle giant! I couldn't love his personality any more. He just seems happy to be alive and it is rare to find him without a smile on his face.

Mary Elizabeth:
Well after two years of smoothe sailing, we have hit some rough waters. She is still her funny, sunny self, but she is developing some bad habits. I have already mentioned the no napping thing. I feel bad that in MDO, she is one of two kids who won't sleep. The teacher says that she will look at the other little girl and say, "Lay DOWN, Tatum!" If only she would take her own advise!

She has also developed a fascination with cleansing products. A week ago, she came into the kitchen with a handful of conditioner in her dry hair. What a pain that is to get out! Saturday, I was putting groceries away, and I hear the death scream coming from my bedroom. She had found the Johnson and Johnson, dumped half of it on my carpet and the other half all over her face. Bless her heart, she cried so hard that she threw up. It took me hours to get the shampoo out of the carpet.

The other little messy habit is that she will take her pullup off in the morning and pee in her bed so as not to mess up her pullup! Yesterday morning, I walked into her room and there on the floor, several inches from her crib, was a perfectly round puddle of pee. Now, I look at my little girl, then down at the puddle and wonder, "How in the world did that happen?" Did she jump out of the crib, do her business, then jump back in? Did she climb onto the railing, thrust her body out, then do her business? Perhaps we will never know!

Other than that, she is still my sweet baby who delights in making us smile. I am enjoying watching the unique relationships that she is building with her brothers. She loves her mornings with Thomas. This often consists of her laying on top of him while watching Sesame Street (or as I like to call it, my hour to clean!). She loves bossing him around and he usually lets her. One of the first things she says every morning is, "I want THOMAS!" Matthew loves to baby her and she loves to be babied by him. It is so much fun to watch it unfold!

I love weeks like this one. Things are going very smoothly and I am loving the mommy business! Maybe I just jinxed myself! I'll keep my fingers crossed!