He Said, She Said
At bedtime…
Me (whispering in Buba’s ear): Goodnight, Buba. I love you.
Buba: Say goodnight to little froggy. (He had been pretending to be a frog while getting ready for bed.)
Me (whispering in Buba’s ear): Goodnight little Buba froggy. I love you.
Buba: Now let me say to your ear. (Whispering in my ear) Good night. I love you Mommy froggy.
***********************************************
While getting ready for bed, Tiny passed gas in a fairly loud fashion…
Me: What do you say?
Tiny (with a straight face and without hesitation): Buba did it.
Just the Highlights
We all spent Super Bowl Sunday hanging out over at Grammie’s house. We snacked on pre-game foods (think nachos and chicken wings) and then shared a cheese pizza for lunch. Buba, Tiny, and I went home for the kids’ bedtime, while T stayed behind to watch the game in an environment where loud cheers and colorful comments could flow freely. Of course, we were all disappointed that the mighty Patriots fell to the Giants, but it is what it is. And there’s always next year.
Monday Buba woke up not feeling well. He didn’t have a fever, but he was feeling pretty miserable with a nasty head cold. I opted to keep him home, and Tiny had her first day of school without Buba. She didn’t fuss at all about going while he stayed home, and reported that she didn’t even miss him at all. Of course, then Buba had to say that he didn’t miss her either while he was resting on the couch. Hopefully this means they’ll both feel okay about going into separate classrooms next year (a decision we recently made with their preschool teachers).
That night I met up with a good friend for chocolate fondue. A girls’ night for the two of us was long overdue, and it was so nice to get out for a bit and catch up. Hopefully it won’t take us too long to get another plan into action.
Tuesday was my parent help day at Tiny and Buba’s preschool. We played, sang, read books, dug in the sand. Nothing out of the ordinary, but we all had fun. Afterwards, we headed out to the craft store to pick up materials for making valentines, and then went just a few doors down to have a delicious lunch at Panera. Both Buba and Tiny devoured the broccoli cheddar soup, and I enjoyed the Fuji apple chicken salad. It felt nice to treat ourselves just a bit.
Saturday morning was busy with all kinds of fun things. We got on the road early to take our minivan in for service and then went just down the road a bit to have breakfast in a diner we’ve come to love. T ordered the Irish breakfast, and I ordered one of those big breakfasts that comes with a little of everything to share with the kids. Buba ate almost all of my eggs and at least half of the French toast, while Tiny ate all the sausage, most of the bacon, and a good amount of the side order of chocolate chip pancakes. We all left with full bellies and went straight to Buba and Tiny’s preschool for a school-wide family playdate. It was organized and run by the school’s social committee and was quite the production. There were two activities/crafts in each of the three classrooms, and one of the former directors led a singalong in the common room. Tiny and Buba made snow globes/shakers, pine cone bird feeders, paper bag puppets, and quilt squares. They had a blast!
Conversations Family Time T and Me Tiny & Buba: spelling out words
by reanbean
Comments Off
Spelling
T and I have been doing a bit of spelling occasionally around the kids when we don’t want them to know what we’re talking about. Buba couldn’t care less about our new habit of spelling out bits of our conversations, but Tiny is very annoyed by it. We’ve tried explaining that sometimes we want to share private thoughts with each other, but that doesn’t seem to be a good enough reason for her. Yesterday, she decided to give us a taste of our own medicine.
T (to me at the dinner table): We’ve been invited out to dinner tomorrow night.
Me: Oh? Is [person's name spelled out] going to be there?
T: I don’t think so.
Tiny: Ooooooh… are those private thoughts you do not want me to know about?
T: Yes. It was something you don’t need to worry about.
Tiny: Ooooooh… Hey, Buba. After dinner do you want to E-R-O-L-F N-O-L?
Buba (smiling and laughing a bit): Yeah!
Tiny (smiling and giggling a lot): Yeah! It will be so fun!
Buba: Yeah! But what did you say? Tell me with your words.
Tiny and Buba then proceeded to giggle uncontrollably.
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!
************************************************************************
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
Comments Off
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
Comments Off
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.
**********************************
Tiny: “Look, Mommy! We’re sharing. Buba has some cars, and I have some cars. Yipeeeeeeeee!”