Thankful

The girls both brought home little Thanksgiving projects from school depicting what they are most thankful for.

We are really raising Adrienne right...she is most thankful for her beloved Queen Elsa of Arendelle. Thanks, Disney. 

Jillian's is a bit more contemplative...family, animals, friends, school, and Mrs Dyer. Way to suck up to the teacher, kid.

My list of thankful is long; too long to hammer out on the computer this morning (I do have a turkey to prep and get in the oven, after all)--but, I believe I can articulate one of the most important sources of gratitude in a little story from the other night before I don my protective gear and get up to my elbows in raw turkey...

I have mentioned that Adrienne is having some trouble sleeping these days. Bad dreams abound, and the child is just petrified. She is beyond reason when she wakes, and her whole little body trembles as she screams, shouts, and cries freely about things like aliens, trolls, and monsters. It's been well over a week since we've had a solid night's sleep around here. On Tuesday, Adrienne really just refused to go to bed. After I tucked her into bed, she persisted in coming out of her room, crying that she just was too scared in her room. Scared of her dreams. The poor kid knows that when she goes to sleep she will likely have dreams, and she is sincerely afraid that they will be bad ones. I'm usually really good at sticking to my guns on bedtime delays, but it's hard when I know she's legitimately scared. The new special nightlight she selected at Target that day wasn't doing the trick. So, I racked my brain and asked Jillian to go into Adrienne's room and read her a story, thinking that would calm her down and she would be distracted from the scared thoughts. I sat out in the office and listened to her read, and then I heard, "Adrienne, it's time for me to go to my room and you need to go to sleep. OK? I'm going to pray for you". And then I heard the sweetest little prayer, asking for protection from scary dreams and bravery. It brought tears to my eyes and warmth to my heart to hear Jillian pray for Adrienne--both that she thought to try something to comfort her sister, and that she went straight to God with her strategy. So while this was a precious heartfelt attempt at calming Adrienne, the struggle continued. I went into Adrienne's room and listened to her sob about worrying about bad dreams coming into her room from her window, and on and on and on, and I thought about how tired I was, that I didn't feel up for this battle tonight of all nights, and I thought about how tired SHE was and looked, with dark little rings under her eyes. And then, Jillian appeared at the door. "Mom. I have an idea that I think will help Adrienne. I don't want her to be scared, and I don't want her to be sick on Thanksgiving because she isn't sleeping very well. I think she might feel better if she sleeps with me. Can she sleep in my room tonight?" My eyes filled with tears as I listened to her heartfelt solution and watched the wave of relief come over Adrienne's red, tear-stained face. I did not hesitate to say yes for one second. As Adrienne moved her pillow and stuffies to Jillian's room, I pulled Jillian aside and told her how proud I was of her, and what a wonderful sister she is. She hugged me and then casually added, "And besides, Mom. There's no school tomorrow. This is the perfect night for a sleepover." And it was. I tucked my two girls into Jillian's room (Adrienne on the blow up mattress on the floor), listened to them read a couple stories, and then heard silence 10 minutes later. Sweet relief for us all on a night when it was truly needed. So, there it is--a perfect example of what I am so, so thankful for--the relationship between my girls, and between my girls and God. I pray that they will always look out for each other and offer to help when the other is in need, that they will find trust and comfort in each other, and that they will go straight to God with everything. Everything. I also pray that they won't continue to conspire against their mother and secretly hide in the pantry eating candy when they wake up after their sister sleepovers like they did yesterday morning...but that's another story. Little turkeys. Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Scary Dreams

What qualifies as a "scary dream" is so different when you are 3 versus when you are 6. My girls taught me this over the last two nights. Apparently 1 a.m. is THE hour for bad dreams around here.

Adrienne's blood-curdling scream woke me at 1:15 yesterday. She quickly made it down the stairs and met me in the living room, still screaming, sobbing, and shaking uncontrollably. It seems we had a monster on our hands. And there was no way she was going back upstairs. I did my best to console her, remind her that it was a dream, monsters aren't real, blah, blah. "But I SAW him!!!" After about 10 minutes of this, I finally convinced her to come back upstairs with me. I had turned on her lights and cleared off her bed, and I proudly displayed my findings, "See, there's no monster." She got quiet and a in a sweet little voice said, "Oh! I was right." Say what?? Weren't you just the kid proclaiming there was a monster? Now you were 'right' that there wasn't one? This is what emotional trauma will do to you, people. I wish the fun times ended there, but they did not. While I convinced her to get back in her bed, she wanted me there. So I did what I usually do with her--told her I'd sit outside her door until she fell back asleep. Why not just take her to my bed so we can all go back to sleep you, ask? I have my reasons. We decided long ago that the girls are not invited in our bed to sleep. I am not talking about early morning snuggles (there is plenty of that), but nobody wins when the kids sleep in the bed (especially not this queen sized bed that Matt sleeps in the middle of....silly man refuses to get a king because I'd be "too far away" from him. I'm sending my message through the pillow barrier these days. I digress). I'm willing to sacrifice a bit more sleep to help the girls learn to face their nighttime fears and get back to sleep in the most restful spot--their own bed. Normally this works for Adrienne. But, not this time. This monster was so scary to her that she kept coming out to check if I was still there. Eventually I told her I was going to go lay out in the reading chair (about 5 steps from her room). She followed. We engaged in a dance of "go back to bed, I'm still here" for another 30  minutes before my resolved softened and we both just fell asleep in that chair. 90 minute bad dream management, followed by 3 hrs asleep semi-upright in a chair. Some might call this a compromise.

Anyway, the best part of Adrienne's bad dreams is how much detail she can give the next day when her head is clear and the fear has passed. She told Matt all about it when he got home last night.

Matt: "So you had a monster in your room?"

A: "Yes! He was so scay-wee. But. He didn't have shahp (sharp) teef'."

M: "Oh that's good. Was he big?"

A: "He was dis big." (holding up her hands to make the width of  about 6 inches) "And he was wayn-bow (rainbow) and he cwimbed up into my be-ed. And him had a slide"(motioning behind her)

M: "You mean he had a tail?"

A: "No, him had a sli-ide"

Jillian then inserted herself into the convo--"Oh, Adrienne, you mean like that guy in Monster's Inc? Dad, his tail is big and looks like a slide. You know, he looks like a slug. That's what it is". (big sister to the rescue)

And Jillian woke me at 1:04 this morning to tell me she had a scary dream. She and I have a different bad dream management routine. We go to the kitchen, get a drink of water, and head back upstairs. I tuck her in, assure her all is well, and pray with her. I asked her what this dream was about and she refused to talk about it. "Mom, it's so bad I don't want to say it." I respected her wishes and didn't push. She went back to sleep without struggle and then climbed in bed with me about 6:45 this morning when she woke.

M: "So what was your bad dream about last night? Do you want to talk about it now?"

J: "Well, we were on our way home from school and you got really mad at us. You left the car without us, and you didn't love us anymore. And I didn't like that at all"

Ouch. I'd take a monster dream any day over maternal abandonment. Sweet baby, you are growing up, and while you will have plenty of scary dreams about stuff that could possibly happen, this dream will never come true. Morning snuggles were extra sweet today. 

Pigs, Wonder Woman, Crazy Hair, Observations, and a Photobomb

Every now and again I remember several funny things I want to record.....here are 5 from the last month.

1. At "Dismey-world" one morning, the girls and I were eating breakfast. Jillian ordered bacon with her waffles. Adrienne doesn't eat meat so she of course declined. Towards the end of the meal, she started screaming and whining after Jillian touched her, "Mom! I need to wash my hands! My sister got pig on me!"

2. After our flu shots, Adrienne and I went to Target. I told her we'd first stop for a treat to reward ourselves for our bravery. Adrienne wanted a "twoc-lit" (chocolate) cake pop. I got her a cup of water as well, and I ordered my usual latte. As we were sitting at the table chatting she proclaimed, "Mom, look! I have Wonder Woman on my cup just like you do on yours!"

This might not be Wonder Woman, but this face on my coffee cup guarantees that what is inside will make me feel like Wonder Woman.

3. Friday was "Crazy Hair Day" at Jillian's school. She was really excited about doing something crazy to her hair and talked it up all week. When it was time to do her hair that morning she made her request, "Mom, I want 2 ponytails in the back". Me: "You mean you want pigtails?" J: "No. Two ponytails." Me: "Well, I have news for you--2 ponytails=pigtails." J: "OK, that's the crazy hair I want". Me: "That's not crazy hair." J: "Yes it is". We went round and round for a few minutes and finally settled on THREE ponytails (gasp! it's so crazy, right?!?) that were braided. Living on the edge, my first born child. You are living. On. The. Edge.

Takin' a walk on the wild side.

4.  On Saturday, Matt was in the bathroom getting ready when the girls walked in. Jillian started a conversation, "Dad, we are playing school. It's a school where you just read a bunch of books all day long. Oh, that reminds me, why doesn't Mrs Dyer ever go to the bathroom? I've never seen her go to the bathroom at school!"

5. I've been on the search for some comfortable yet cute short boots. I got a Zappos shipment today and texted Jenni a pic for her opinion, after which I realized I had quite the photobomb in the background.

Why, yes. That is Adrienne in a Sleeping Beauty costume wearing a headband...with sticker jewels plastered across her forehead, and her finger up her nose. Reason number 792 why she is like a little Aunt Meggie. I swear it's THE SAME KID. Right, Mom???

A's Conference

I had Adrienne's first-ever school conference last week with Mrs. Leif. It's so nice to have a teacher we've had before--I like that she knows our family, and I've got to admit that I've been kind of curious as to if/how that would color her expectations of Adrienne. As I've mentioned in the past, I don't get much out of Adrienne in terms of school info. Most of her answers are "nuffing" (nothing), "nobody", and "I don't be-member" (remember). In short--she doesn't learn anything, she doesn't play with anyone, and she doesn't remember what happened (unless someone "poops him's pants". Then we've got all the details). So when we sat down together, I expected Mrs. Leif to tell me that Adrienne is a lazy loner with zero aptitude for learning her letters (I'm kidding--of course I didn't expect THAT poor of a report, but that's what A had prepared me for).  So just how is Adrienne doing in preschool? Fantastic. Mrs. Leif informed me that our little lady is a good rule follower who sits politely for circle time, raises her hand, and is a quick study. She said she really had to think about some constructive feedback for her at this point, but we giggled when she mentioned Adrienne's cutting. Yep. That's 2 for 2 for this OT mom at a 3 year old conference...not enough exposure to scissors. We had a good laugh over this and I nodded my head in agreement as she gave her monologue about allowing scissors at home. So funny. I totally know better, but man, never feel real excited about giving my wild 3 year old girls a pair of scissors. At the end I asked her how much of a goofball Adrienne is in class, because she is definitely the 'class clown' of our family. Always ornery, making jokes, making mischief to get a laugh, she is just plain silly. Mrs Leif's reply? "We don't see any of that behavior here at all". Surprise, surprise. You know how to work it, Adrienne. You are so much like your Aunt Meggie I can't even tell you--total ham at home, quiet rule-follower at school. We are so proud of you and love you so.

First official school photos. Total Matt look alike (hair/eye/coloring all mine)

The class. Adrienne is right in the middle. 

Live In Concert

Matt was playing his guitar on Sunday afternoon.  Adrienne quickly hauled up the toy keyboard and took her rightful place beside him. What did they play? Well, you shouldn't really have to ask, should you? Of course, our Elsa-impersonator sang "Let It Go". Loudly. Repeatedly. Enthusiastically. And wearing mismatched shoes on the wrong feet. It's great to be 3.

Fish Of The Week

It was a pretty exciting Monday morning. I dropped Jillian off at school and headed to the RAC with Adrienne. I checked her into Kids Club and was in the cafe working on my Bible study before boot camp when my phone rang. I recognized the number as Jillian's school. Oh dear, was she sick? She was fine 30 minutes ago. Or worse. Something happened at school and she got hurt. My mind  ran away with craziness for the first 3 rings until I picked up the phone to hear a cheery voice informing me she was the vice principal and she had Jillian in her office. Come again? My "terrific kid" who won a respect award last month is in your office??? What in the world?!? It seemed like forever before she finally revealed that she was sharing the "fantastic news" that Jillian was the kindergarten 'Fish of the Week'! Whew! What's 'The Fish of The Week' you ask? Well, Jillian set this as her goal when she and Matt were in the car a few weeks ago. She kept telling him she wanted to be fish of the week and he told her she should make that her goal, and from what I understand, this caused a very long and intense interrogation about what goals are. Anyway, 'fish of the week' is a reward program they use for good behavior at school. Teachers can give out 'fish tickets' for extra good behavior and those get put into a pot for each grade. One student is chosen per grade per week. Jillian got her name mentioned on the all-school announcement, her picture taken and displayed on the monitor in the entry of the school, and received a pizza coupon. She is super excited and we are proud of her! The funny part of the experience for me was when she got into the car that afternoon and told me she got to hang out with "the graders" for a little bit. I asked her who the "graders" were. "Mom, you know. The first graders, second graders, third graders, fourth graders, and fifth graders! The graders!" Of course. Big times to be a kindergartner posing for a picture with 'graders'.

Extra Syllables

Adrienne, Adrienne, Adrienne. Were you born in Minnesota, or were you switched at birth? Lately, we are wondering if you are just a Southerner at heart because you have an interesting little drawl that causes you to add extra syllables to so many words. A few examples:

The movie FROZEN is "fah-ro-zen". "Dad, can we watch fa-ro-zen today?"

Snow=sah-no. "Daddy! It's going to sah-no tomorrow!"

Dress=da-ray-es. "I don't want to wear pants, I want a da-ray-es!!!"

Brecken (preschool friend)="Bah-reh-ken". "Bah-reh-ken wasn't at school today!"

Swimming=sah-wim-ming. "Do I have sah-wim-ming lessons today?"

It's precious. Totally precious. It's clear you care about enunciation. Go, girl.

Big Day

On Thursday, both the girls had big news to share upon pick up from school. I've changed the names to protect the innocent....er, guilty, parties. First, when Adrienne entered the car at 12:30, she exclaimed, "Mom! Bennett peed him's pants today. Oh, I mean, he pooped him's pants!" She then proceeded to recount the story several times that afternoon. I just love her continued misuse of pronouns and I refuse to correct it. Yes, Adrienne, Bennett did poop HIM'S pants that day.

And then, at precisely 3:45 Jillian entered the car and said, "Mom, I have to tell you something that happened today." I braced myself, and then, "Nicholas kissed me on the cheek twice today." (insert my gaping jaw) "And I didn't really like it." (waves of relief washed over me) And so ensued a conversation about how kissing is not appropriate at school, and that no one should kiss her without permission, and boys are gross, and please tell me you told the teacher, etc etc. Matt was still on vacation when we got home, so she told him "the news". His response, as expected, was less verbose than mine...but much more direct "NO KISSING AT SCHOOL! EVER." And that was the end of that...for now.

Rewind:Celebrating Six

Now that I've recorded all the Disney fun, I can rewind and catch up on everything else. Let's talk about Jillian's 6th birthday, shall we? She woke up super excited, and was sporting an outfit in a color I think she looks fantastic in, and also seems to really fit her personality. Love love love that orange-y red.

Treats at school are allowed, as long as they are purchased and not made at home. So, our donut lover requested some Dunkin Donuts for her classmates. We high tailed it downtown to pick up a couple dozen donuts, and decided that one should also have donuts for breakfast (in addition to school snack) on her birthday.

 Well, rewind again. Darn pictures out of order...before we left for donut pick up, Adrienne gifted Jillian with a lovely set of princess figurines that she hand-selected at Target. Big hit. Nice job, little sister.

After school, Jillian arrived home to find that her Dad was off work early. This meant that she was free to open the rest of her gifts. She got some great stuff from the grandparents, and loved it all.

 She asked Matt and I for two specific items: A diary with a lock on it (What??? Isn't this too early?) and Snack-Eez (these silly little snack cups and drink cups in one that they show on Disney Jr commercials). Small requests that we were happy to oblige.

 We also thought our wanna be chef should have her own kitchen. Er, I mean Easy Bake Oven. She was delighted!

Such a grown-up girl, posing in her traditional birthday shirt. Minions were the request of the year.

Writing down secret stuff.

 After the afternoon gift-opening, we headed to Valentino's for dinner. This was Jillian's requested spot. What she did not know, however, is that the Spencer-Gardner's were meeting us there. She hadn't seen her BFF Ella since before school started. We surprised her with their presence and it was so precious to watch these friends reunite!

The girls waiting for pizza

Sweet little Jack is getting big!

My minion creations...I think they turned out great! 

Jillian's minion cupcake, ready for fire.

My chocolate lover, happy as a clam.

Our dinner party

The only thing that could have improved this birthday was a Royals World Series win.....next year, boys?