Excerpts of the Craig Chronicles: Kids update...

Sydney:

On March 22nd I spent the day in Sydney's Kindergarten class. It was fun for me to interact with the other kids in the class, but also fun to see how Sydney is in class. Her teacher and I through-out the school year have been discussing her behavior so it was nice to see it first hand. I also got to see how other kids treat her, which was eye opening for me. And there are kids in her class that treat her rudely and my sweet little girl just wants everyone to be her friend.

( End of March) Earlier this week Sydney had a bad day at school because she didn't have any purple papers to turn in for skittles. Apparently Sydney hadn't been listening to her teacher, and so Miss Schmidt took them away. Purple papers are earned when teachers or faculty see the student doing something really nice or doing as they are told. So when I got to school to pick her up and she was holding her backpack over her face I knew something was wrong. She was really upset about it. I had read in an article the previous week that talked about taking the opportunity to discuss what the child is feeling and naming the emotion and helping them figure out a constructive way to work through their feelings. So since she wouldn't even look at me I made the decision that we wouldn't leave the wall until she could look at me and talk to me. So we probably stayed there for a good ten minutes talking about how angry and frustrated and probably embarrassed she was because she was the only one to not get any skittles, and how instead of being angry that she could take that anger and tell herself that she just needed to work harder next time so she could earn purple papers. By the time we walked away from the wall she felt a lot better. And I am glad I made the decision to work it out right there and not let that anger fester.

She has been getting upset and sad lately because Lizzy has gotten old enough that she doesn't always want to play with Sydney or play what Sydney is playing. And its been hard, because up until now Lizzy has been young enough that Sydney could determine when and what they would play and Lizzy had no complaints. To make the matter a little worse, she is having a similar experience at school. Where kids don't want to play with her or play what she wants to play. And so Miss Schmidt and I have been trying to help Sydney understand that in order for people to want to be your friend she has to give them "space" to make their own decisions, and that she can't force anyone to play with her. Sydney has a personal space issue. She doesn't like others in her personal space, but she readily gets up in other peoples. So Sydney ( Jake and I have been helping her to process these emotions and what they mean and how to be a good friend) has been on a learning curve with friendship and understanding that she can't always have her way, and that a good friend will play what others want to play and not just what she wants to do/play.

My sweet little girl is growing up. She wants to dress herself, and by that I mean pick out her own outfits, and she does. But if the clothes just don't go together I will tell her, and have her change either the top or the bottoms. And she gets upset and tells me "I can where what I want to wear" or something like that. Basically she doesn't want my critic and tells me she is old enough to pick and wear whatever she wants.

She eats very healthful and I am grateful. She always eats her fruits and veggies. Lately she has been wanting me to reheat the sticky rice for her to eat. She has been having four packs of instant oatmeal at breakfast. She could eat a whole box in one week ( it only has like 16 or so packets). She is just growing so much. Jake and I realized that she is growing out of her shoes, but they usually last a while, so we made the decision to get decent shoes that are made well. So we went to a store in the mall, it took us a good 45 minutes, but Sydney agreed to the shoe I wanted (she wanted all these crazy rainbow colored shoes and I wanted something that was more functional-that she could wear in all kinds of occasions), and so she was happy she got to pick a colored shoe lace-to which she picked hot pink. The whole thing looks really good. So since they cost 65 bucks, Jake and I stressed the importance of taking care of them, and showing good responsibility in the choices she makes to keep the shoes nice for a long time.

So for Valentines day this year I wanted to go away from treats because you never know how is allergic to what. So Jake, Sydney, and I discussed different homemade valentines we could do. And we decided to make bookmarks. Or rather Sydney would make these watercolor paint bookmarks I found on pinterest. So I cut up strips of card-stock and gave Sydney instructions. She painted a few before she got really lazy and started painting numbers on the bookmarks. So the next day I sat down to help her finish them and I started painting some different ones that way the boys wouldn't have "girly" looking ones. And Sydney found a creative way to turn the number ones (I had her redo them) into something else. And then after the paint dried, I put strips of packing tape over each side to "laminate" them.

Elizabeth:

My little Lizzy is just growing so much. Jake and I switched her clothes to 4T already, because none of her 3T jeans would fit. Although that doesn't matter much because she LOVES stretchy pants and HATES jeans. Jake and I are trying to change her opinion about jeans, and now that when she wears them they don't squeeze her gut she says she likes them. We will see how that goes, if she continues to like jeans or just goes back to stretchy pants only. So now I have started the transition of pulling the 3T clothes out of circulation. Although I'm certain I will keep some in as long as I can.

Lizzy is just like me. LOVES her sweets. She will eat junk food all day long. Eat fast food all the time. But if I make a healthy homemade meal, she just stirs the food around on her plate, and if I am lucky will take one or two bites. So for the last two months on a regular basis she has been going to bed hungry, because I refuse to give her snacks or make her something else when what I made the first time was good enough for everyone but her to eat. And other than telling me she is hungry when she is in bed, or having the occasional fine ill go eat my dinner right now (at 11 o clock at night) because she is so hungry-to which my normal reply is "No you can wait until breakfast. If you were hungry you should have eaten dinner," and then she throws a fit times she mostly doesn't care about going to bed hungry. So since Jake and I are trying to eat more healthy anyway, I am trying to cut out a lot of junk food and snacks, so hopefully she will start eating what I make. And eat more veggies.

Lizzy has been daytime potty trained for a while now. With the occasional accident-which is normal; she has been really good. So about a week and a half ago (The weekend of March 17th) we decided to do nighttime potty training. Out of 10 days, her bed has stayed dry 3. So i have been basically washing her sheet/blanket daily. And because of this I have noticed she has had quite a few daytime accidents too. So Jake and I are trying to figure out things we can do to help her. She doesn't get any water at bedtime, and depending on when dinner is served, I try to say no water an hour before bedtime too. We had to go buy her more underwear because she outgrew her other pairs.

On the day I went to Sydney's class, My grandpa Harvey came over to watch William and Lizzy for me. He said that an hour after I left, William went down for a nap and he was glad because William and Lizzy were just constantly fighting. After that he and Lizzy just played together. Read books. And had a really good time. And I am glad they got to spend some time together, because my grandpa is getting old, he is almost 80 and I don't know how much time he has left on earth.

William:

He has really started biting again in the last couple months. Using it as a tool when he is angry to get "revenge" on his sisters. And he gets his mouth slapped every time he bites (or occasionally when it's getting really bad I'll bite him back), and then of course is upset that he got in trouble for his actions, so he throws himself at me to hold him. I am really hoping that as his language increases his "need" to bite will go away.

One day last week we were outside and I was talking to girls only to turn around and find William in the road. I know that running to him just makes him think I'm playing chase and he will start running. So I was slowly walking towards him and telling him that he needed to get out of the road and before he could act a car comes barreling down the street, and I start running for him. They saw him in the road, but didn't stop and wait for me to safely get him. No they swerved around him a second before I picked him up. I am so glad he wasn't hurt. Turns out it was my neighbors teenage daughter driving. I was furious. If you see a kid in the road you stop and wait for them to move safely away.

William has been sneaking out the dog door to go play in the dirt/mud next to fence underneath my balcony. And a couple times I didn't even know until after he came back inside. Sneaky little guy!!! I always have to check and make sure it isn't dog crap that he stepped in (YUCK!).

About a month ago William stuck his hands down his pants to scratch his butt and came up with a poop covered hand. It got so bad for him that if he looked at his hand he would start gagging.

You are teething. Getting in the last of your teeth. The back molars. And for most of your life, I haven't noticed a difference in your behavior when you are teething, which makes it so until you have a new tooth in your mouth I didn't even know it was happening. But with these back molars you are actually in some pain and have been needing some Tylenol to help with the pain.

All the kids:

On one of the random warm days we had during the week of March 19th we were playing outside. I brought out dirt and all sorts of our outdoor toys and the kids made mud pies and rode scooters, and had a lot of fun for a few hours. I pulled everything out. All the bikes, scooters, push cars, I even brought out Williams slide he got for his birthday, and his little basketball hoop too.

Jake and I bought a membership to the fitness center down the road from our house so we could start working out. They have a pool there and I took the kids one time in late February and Sydney enjoyed it, because with her life jacket, she can swim by herself. But the didn't really have a kiddie area and so I had to hold/carry Lizzy and William the entire time and they did not like that at all.