He Said, She Said
Buba was in the living room throwing toys that are not meant to be thrown…
Me (from the kitchen): Buba you need to stop that right now, or you’re going to end up in a time out. Do you hear me?
Buba: No, I don’t hear you! I don’t hear you!
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Tiny: “I wish I could be Mary Poppins, because I want to fly to Jane and Michael’s house with a magic umbrella and put Jane and Michael to sleep with a beautiful song.”
(I must say, I’m loving the new obsession with Mary Poppins much more than the obsession with fairy tale princesses.)
Look Ma! No Crates!
Yesterday, we took Buba and Tiny back to the local ice rink to try out the new ice skates Santa had brought them (as promised when our last attempt failed). The rink doesn’t have a lot of public skate times, and we’re not able to make it easily to any of them due to preschool and other activities. But T had taken the day off from work, and we decided we’d give it a try taking the kids right after preschool. If we picked up the kids exactly on time, and went straight to the rink, the kids might have about 35 minutes to skate.
However, we were late picking up the kids, and there was a lot of traffic going through town. By the time we got to the skating rink and got Tiny and Buba’s skates on, they had about 15 minutes to skate- hardly worth all the effort it took, but the kids were too excited to tell them we’d wait again for another day, so we gave it a go.
Buba is pretty fearless on his skates. He’s very focused on the ice, paying close attention to his balance, along with how he’s able to move depending on how he moves his legs. He does not want to use the crate at all, but it’s usually never too far away. The big thing this time, was that he practiced getting up on his skates without using the crate or a grown up for support. It was a ton of work, and he fell a lot, but he got it. And once he did, each subsequent try was successful fairly quickly. He was so proud of himself, and so eager to keep going even once the public skating time was over. We almost had a meltdown out there on the ice, but once he saw the Zamboni make its way out on the ice, he was willing to let me lead him over to the exit.
Tiny is still a bit more reserved on her skates. She loves using the crate, so she can go fast, but was willing to try a few steps/glides without it (probably so as not to let Buba completely steal the show). She was also able to get herself back up on her skates without any supports, but wasn’t interested in doing it again after her initial success. Which is fine. She’s happy zipping around with her crate and is lots of fun to watch.
I know that they’ll only get better with more practice, so I’m thinking we might try to make it a habit of heading right over to open skate after preschool once a week. I’ll be sure to pick them up on time (maybe even a little early), so they’ll have a good amount of time on the ice. I’m not at all interested in making figure skaters or hockey players out of them, but for now, this is a fun (and free until they turn 4) activity that gets them moving and keeps them happy.
preschoolers reanbean Tiny & Buba: first film kiddie party library shopping snow
by reanbean
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Just the Highlights
Last Monday, T and I had planned to take Buba and Tiny to open skate at our local ice rink and let them try out the new skates that Santa had brought them. Unfortunately, it seemed that everyone else had planned to spend the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday at the ice rink as well. We couldn’t even find a place to park, so we had to tell the kids that we’d have to break in the new skates another day. They were horribly disappointed, so we drove around trying to find a pond that was frozen enough to skate on. No luck. Just hasn’t been consistently cold enough (not that I’m complaining). So instead, we drove to Grammie’s and invited ourselves to lunch. The kids always enjoy visiting with Grammie, so it was a great distraction and a nice visit.
Monday night we got a few inches of snow, and Tiny and Buba were beyond excited to see the yard and street covered in glistening, white snow when they woke up Tuesday morning. They wanted to go out and play immediately, but I insisted that we have breakfast and get ready for school like we always do. However, I told them if we could all get ready quickly, which requires a great deal of effort and cooperation on their part, we could go out and play before they had to go to preschool. Then I had the brilliant idea that we should skip playing in our yard and go straight to school to play in the schoolyard. Both Tiny and Buba were extremely motivated to get ready and out the door, and we had a great time playing outside at school. There weren’t any other kids there when we arrived (about 30 minutes before the start of the school day), and the yard was pretty much untouched. Buba immediately began making snow angels and Tiny soon joined in. They cleared off all the swings and slides, and we made a small but happy looking snowman right outside their classroom door. And the best part was, when it was time for school to start, we were already there! No whining or complaining about having to stop our play to get in the minivan and go to school. They just walked right in and got on with the day.
Thursday morning, we found ourselves without plans and decided to head to the library for storytime. We had been regulars at storytime for the past two years, but we hadn’t been once since the kids started preschool. Our days have just been so busy. But Buba and Tiny jumped at the chance to go and had a great time listening to their favorite librarian read and sing songs with them. Afterwards, I dragged them shopping with me so I wouldn’t miss out on spending some Kohl’s cash. I didn’t really plan to be there long, but five minutes turned into 15, which turned into 30, and before I knew it, we’d been there almost a full hour. But the reason I hadn’t noticed all the time passing by was because Buba and Tiny were so incredibly well behaved the entire time. They stayed right by me as I looked for things we didn’t really need, and in the end, I bought them both new Color Blast picture books. They totally deserved it.
Friday night, we got a few more inches of snow, and Tiny and Buba were all ready to go for another fun day of snow play. They went out for about an hour in the morning, and then went out for over an hour after quiet time.
They slept really, really well Saturday night.
Sunday morning, T headed out to Foxborough with Grammie just after 10 to get ready for the big playoff game (Grammie is a longtime Pats fan), so Tiny, Buba and I had the whole day to ourselves. It was only in the 20s, so I opted for indoor activities. We did a bit more shopping and then watched the first part of Mary Poppins (Tiny and Buba’s first feature film!). We’d watched a few clips on youtube, so they were psyched to sit down and watch the real deal. I popped some popcorn and watched them watch. It was so fun to see the excitement on their faces. We stopped the movie about 30 minutes in so we could all get ready to go to a party at an indoor kiddie playspace. Buba and Tiny had a great time running around (burning off energy) and had their first face paint experiences.
Before going to bed, we watched about 20 minutes more of Mary Poppins (at their request), and by the time I turned it off, they were already talking about how they would play a Mary Poppins game and who would be which character. We probably won’t see the next few scenes of the movie until the weekend, but they seem to be okay with that. For now, they’ve got all they need to keep the film alive for themselves. And it really is fun for me to see them loving a film and characters that I loved so much as a child.
The Dragon and the Princess
As I was preparing lunch this afternoon, Buba walked in wearing his dragon costume and green sunglasses…
Buba (coming right up to me): Ha, ha!
Me: Look how silly you are with your dragon costume and your sunglasses on! Did you look in the mirror to see how silly you look?
Tiny (coming in with a Cinderella dress and rainbow sunglasses on): Let’s go look and see! Let’s hold hands and go look at our reflections!
preschool reanbean Tiny & Buba: family swim me time shopping playdates stamping project
by reanbean
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Just the Highlights
This past week was a bit rockier than usual. Tiny and Buba (but mostly Buba) had several days of early morning wake ups (one day it was 4:30am!) paired with loud talking, running around, climbing the sides of their beds, and jumping on their beds. It’s never good when the day starts off on the wrong foot, but we still had some fun moments here and there.
On Monday, I had a tutoring cancellation, so I made my first ever trip to lululemon athletica at the mall. It’s an upscale store that sells yoga, running, and workout clothes. I’d received a very generous lululemon gift card for Christmas, so I decided to spend my somewhat spontaneous free time browsing their collection. In the end, I walked away with a new pair of pants and a new top too. I know I’ve been working out just fine in TJ Maxx and Kohl’s activewear for the last three years, but now that I’ve added some lululemon pieces to the mix, I’m sure I’ll be going back for some more. Not anytime soon (unless there’s some sort of major sale), but someday.
Wednesday night, I had a parent education seminar to oversee (I’m the parent education coordinator for our town’s family organization). The week was already feeling long, and I would much rather have spent the evening at home relaxing. So to motivate myself to get out the door, I decided I’d stop at Starbucks on the way to pick up a tasty coffee treat. Now that the holidays are over, there are no more caramel brulee lattes, but the decaf mocha latte was a fine substitute. It wasn’t a huge splurge, but it was a nice mid-week pick-me-up.
Thursday night, I went to curriculum night at Buba and Tiny’s school. I went because I felt it was important, not knowing that I was actually going to have a lot of fun learning more about what they do all day and how it fits into the school’s philosophy. I hope to devote an entire post to what I learned that evening, but in a nutshell, it was all about the importance of creative play in a young child’s life. Fortunately, there is no shortage of that going on over here, and I was very please to be reminded of how this will help them to be successful in school and in life for years to come.
Friday, the excitement was mainly around the kids’ separate playdates that afternoon. They woke up exited for the playdates to come, and went to bed still talking about all the fun they had. Hopefully I’ll be able to arrange more of these types of playdates in the not too distant future.
Saturday morning was busy with chores and errands. But that afternoon, when T headed off the the Patriots playoff came with Grammie (in the freezing cold, I might add), Buba, Tiny and I went over to Michael’s to look for some new stamping supplies. During the holiday season we had purchased some Christmas stamps (a reindeer and a Christmas tree), and the kids used them to create Christmas cards for their teachers and instructors. We packed them up with the other Christmas decorations, but the kids were really wanting to do another stamping project, so I said we’d go look for some new ones. I was shocked at how expensive the stamps in the scrapbooking were. Fortunately, there were several $1 stamps in a bucket on display for Valentine crafts. They’re all sort of love themed, but that’s easier to get away with all year than the ones we bought at Christmastime. So we picked up 8 new stamps and some drawing paper to stamp them on. After a delicious gourmet pizza dinner (chicken pesto on wheat crust), the kids used their new stamps while I cleaned up the kitchen. It was easily 20-30 minutes of quiet fun for them, and the mess wasn’t too bad (the washable ink comes off their hands pretty easily). We’ll definitely be doing it again soon.
As an attempt to get the early morning wake-up shenanigans under control, I told Tiny and Buba early in the week, that if they each earned five stickers for being good sleepers (staying in bed and staying quiet until 6:30am when their sun light glows), I would take them back to family swim at my gym. They both seemed motivated by this activity, but only Tiny actually earned the five stickers needed to go. So, this afternoon, Tiny and I went off to family swim without Buba, and we had a great time. Tiny (with her floaties on) made several attempts to lie on her back and kick her legs. She also experimented with holding her breath and putting her face in the water. That evening, Tiny was very excited to report all that she’d done, which made Buba even more upset about the fact that he’d had to miss family swim. I’m really hoping this consequence might help us have better sleeping habits from him this coming week, but I’m not completely convinced that he’ll remember his disappointment if/when the opportunity arises for him to choose whether or not to stay quiet or make a naughty choice in the early morning hours. Time will tell, I suppose.
Separate Playdates
Today, for the first time ever, Buba and Tiny had separate playdates. Back in September, they each had a playdate on his/her own with a friend while I did something with the other, but today was the first time they both had a playdate with different friends and at different houses.
This is actually something I’ve been wanting to do, and have been thinking about arranging ever since my conference with the kids’ teachers back in November. At the conference, we talked about how Buba was having some tough times at school, feeling sad and sometimes crying when Tiny would go off and play with a friend without him. Anyone who knows Tiny knows that she is as social as they come. She’ll approach other kids, even ones she doesn’t know well (sometimes even random kids at the playground), and try to engage them. And she talks constantly. But that’s just not Buba’s way. He’s very social with Tiny. He loves to play with her and will approach her and try to draw her into his games. But he’s not yet ready to do that with other kids. And even though he could join Tiny and the preschool friend she’s chosen to play with, he doesn’t. And he doesn’t even want to. When I asked him about this, he said, “I want to play with Tiny. Just Tiny.”
In the weeks that followed the conference, Buba has become less sad at school. He enjoys playing at all the different stations around the room, and he loves, loves, LOVES his teachers. From what I can tell, he still hasn’t connected with any particular classmate, but his teachers both say that he is friendly, funny, and well liked by his peers. All is well and good as far as his social development goes.
But, recently I’ve noticed him feeling somewhat left out at playdates. Typically, when we meet up with a friend, it’s just one other three year old (usually another girl) or a three year old with a younger sibling. And often Tiny is quick to connect with the friend and get her going in a game or some sort of pretend play. Buba will try to join in, but sometimes doesn’t seem to know how. And once he gets frustrated about being left to play on his own, the unpleasant behaviors start to emerge (whining, throwing toys, picking on Tiny).
During a playdate a few weeks ago where Tiny and another little girl (J) were playing nicely while Buba complained about not having the toy he wanted, I mentioned how I thought it might be time to try to separate their playdates every now and then. I just wasn’t sure how I’d work it all out since most of our playdates occur during the day when T is working. Very kindly, J’s mother offered to have Tiny over for a playdate sometime so that I could take Buba off to a playdate of his own. I knew Tiny would love the idea of having a playdate with a friend without me being there, so I started to try to figure out how to make it work for Buba. I emailed a friend who has a little boy (O) the same age as Buba, and we were able to work out a day and time that would work for all three parties.
And today was that day. After lunch and an abbreviated quiet time, I dropped of Tiny at J’s house and headed over to O’s house with Buba. Buba was excited, but I could also see that he was a little nervous. However, O is much like Tiny, and worked pretty consistently to get Buba to play with him. The boys played nicely, but for the most part, they played near each other rather than with each other (though I’m sure O would have played with Buba more if Buba had been more into it). At the very end of the playdate, as I was calling Buba to get his shoes and coat on, the two boys were sitting and playing a game together (go figure!).
Tiny was bursting with news when I picked her up from J’s house. She and J had come across some ink pads that J uses for stamping projects, and had covered their whole hands with green ink! Tiny’s pink baby was wearing one of J’s baby’s outfits, and Tiny was walking around in a pair of J’s slippers. Clearly she had felt very comfortable there on her own, and J’s mother reported that the two girls had played very nicely together. And watching the girls hug before Tiny left was just so, so sweet.
Of course, Tiny and Buba were happy to see each other again. They both shared a few things they had done during their playdates, and Tiny presented Buba with a picture she had “made” for him (technically she didn’t draw it, but it was very sweet that she thought to bring a picture from her playdate for him). When we got home, Buba and Tiny played very nicely on their own while T cooked dinner and I paid bills.
I’m sure this sort of thing will happen more naturally as the kids get older, but I’m still glad I made the effort to get it started now. I don’t imagine we’ll do these types of playdates all the time, but even once a month would be a good start. Many thanks to the two other moms who helped make this possible. Both my kids had a great time and can’t wait for their friends to come and play at our house sometime soon.
He Said, She Said
Me: Buba, you are getting to be such a big boy now. (pretending to be stern) Why don’t you just stop growing. Just stop. I don’t want you to grow up so fast.
Buba: Noooooo! I want to get big! I was to get big as you!
Me: Why?
Buba: Because I love you, and I want to be the same as you.
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Tiny: “Look, Mommy! We’re sharing. Buba has some cars, and I have some cars. Yipeeeeeeeee!”
Family Time preschool reanbean T and Me Tiny & Buba: babysitter bikes family swim mom's night out movie night
by reanbean
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Just the Highlights
Monday night I met up with some local mom friends to watch the season premiere of The Bachelor. I have never before watched even one minute of the show, but I really wanted to take the opportunity to connect with these moms. Many of them get together weekly as their kids are all part of the same playgroup, but I’ve never been able to join in because they meet in the afternoons when I am working. I can’t say that I’m hooked on the show, but I did really enjoy the girl time. They plan to meet weekly on Mondays to watch the season unfold. I know I won’t be able to make it every week, but I do hope to join in again at some point.
Tuesday was Buba and Tiny’s first day back to preschool after just over 2 weeks off. They transitioned back pretty well. Buba was a little whimpery at drop-off and was sobbing when I came back to pick them up, but his teacher reported that he was happy and having fun all morning and that he only started to cry when he realized it was pick-up time and didn’t see me within the first five parents who walked through the gate. He gave me a big hug (which I didn’t mind at all) and calmed down as soon as I got him into the minivan. When I told him it was okay that he missed me, he responded, “I was crying because I was cold.” Not even four years old and already he’s too cool to miss his mama.
Thursday Tiny and Buba had their first afternoon with our new babysitter. I had been using some middle school girls to look after the kids for about 90 minutes on Thursdays while I went off tutoring and T was still at school. The girls were great babysitters, but there were some transportation issues involved. So, I decided to hire an experienced high school girl who is able to drive herself to and from our house. Buba was tentative at first, but warmed up quickly once the sitter agreed to read 101 Dalmatians. T got home before I did, so I didn’t get a full report of how things went, but he said they all looked like they were having fun.
We had another gorgeous day on Saturday, so T and I took the kids and their bikes over to Grammie and Grandpa’s house. The kids played outside in the cul-de-sac for probably an hour or more while T supervised and Grammie and I chatted in the driveway. We all had lunch together and then we took our family home for quiet time.
Saturday night T and I had our weekly in-home date night. We like to wind down on Saturday nights with a movie and some popcorn. Sometimes we just watch something in our own collection or stream something from Netflix, but recently we’ve been renting some new releases from Redbox. It’s a good thing they only cost about $1.00, because most of the rentals have not met our expectations. However, last night, we watched The Change-Up and actually enjoyed it. There were definitely some not so great, eye rolling parts, but we had quite a few laughs, and it was definitely not a waste of our time.
Sunday afternoon, I took Buba and Tiny to family swim time at my gym. With my membership there, I can bring up to two guest to swim for free. This was not the first time we’d gone, but we hadn’t been swimming for several weeks. They were both beyond excited about getting to go swimming and asked repeatedly all afternoon when it would be time to go. I was both pleased and impressed to see that they wasted no time getting right into the water (with floaties, of course). And both were comfortable enough to do some jumping into the water. Tiny will only jump from the steps and does more of a horizontal jump, which keeps her head mostly above water. But Buba has recently learned that he likes to jump straight down and have his whole body under the water. He jumps right in front of me, and his floaty brings him right back up to the surface, but man, I was impressed with that kid today. He must have jumped a dozen times or more and just couldn’t get enough.
Another Great Morning at Preschool
Today was my 5th parent helping day at Tiny and Buba’s preschool. I love the days when I drop them off and get to have some time for myself, but I also truly love the days where I get to spend some time with them in an “unplugged” totally kid centered environment. I had a great morning watching them work their way around the classroom. There’s just something very, very special about their preschool, and I really am so glad that they get to be a part of it.
reading Abiyoyo
Tiny's scissor experiment: Can I cut a stream of running water?
trying out the new years party hat
playing with confetti decorated gak
Buba's water experiment: What happens if you put a dry paper towel into a bit of shallow standing water?
teamwork
Mean Queens, Tick-Tock Croc, and a Poisoned Apple
Last week, Grammie took all of us to see Disney on Ice. Buba and Tiny experienced their first train ride into Boston, as well their first event at the Garden. I’ll admit, both T and I were quite nervous about how the show experience would go. Our kids know a handful of Disney characters by name (mostly the princesses), but have never seen a Disney movie (we still do almost no TV with the kids unless they’re sick or it’s a special occasion) and aren’t really familiar with any of the classic fairy tale stories- Disney version or not. My hope was that they’d be excited enough at seeing various characters on the ice to hold their attention for the duration of the show.
Fortunately, we had very, very good seats. We were pretty much right in the center and maybe 20 or so rows up from the ice. The Garden wasn’t at all packed, and we could all see pretty well without having to look around the people in front of us.
Buba was pretty content just to sit and take it all in.
Tiny loved waving to the characters and wanted to know everything about what was going on.
It was hard to hear all of her questions over the performances that were going on, but I did my very best to explain the excerpts from Alice in Wonderland, The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Peter Pan, Tangled (which I have never seen), and Snow White. Oh- Snow White and that poisoned apple! Tiny had many, many, many questions about that story. One week later, she is still questioning why that evil queen would want to give Snow White a poisoned apple, and why Snow White would take even one bite when everyone in the audience was yelling, “NO! Don’t eat it!” According to Tiny, the next time we see Snow White, she is going to tell her to tell the Queen, “No thank you, and you can just keep that poisoned apple for yourself.”
The one and only story that I didn’t have to explain was the excerpt from The Princess and the Frog. That story has become very familiar to Tiny over the last year. I can’t remember for sure, but I believe it was last Christmas that she received a set of Princess Tiana pajamas. At the time, I had no idea who the character was, but she’s loved Tiana from that moment on. For her birthday, she received the Tiana story book for her Tag reading pen and now knows Tiana’s story by heart. And Tiny was so, so, SO excited when Tiana came skating out at for the last performance of the show. Her smile was as big as could be and her hands and arms were flapping with pure excitement. I was so happy to se her so happy.
I still don’t feel like we’re ready to start watching full length Disney movies (for the record, Buba couldn’t make it through the 54 minute Rudolph video we let them watch just before Christmas). But I have requested a few of the Disney character fairy tale books from the library. I know Tiny will love listening to the full stories and seeing the characters she recently met on the ice, and I’m sure Buba will be happy learn more about those pirates and the tick-tock croc.