Destruction

Where do I begin? We are living in a destruction (as opposed to construction of course) zone, primarily caused by my dear second born. Just this week I caught her "puddle jumping" on my living room rug after dumping an entire 32 oz bottle of water in one spot (her accomplice was sitting there watching her and laughing), ripping fins off of toy robot fish and putting them inside the jets in my big tub (these have not been successfully retrieved yet), and as she ran to the bathroom this afternoon she realized she wasn't going to make it, so just stopped and exclaimed, "Oh no, I'm not going to make it" before letting it all rush out on the hardwood floor. But the main issue we are dealing with here is the state of her bedroom and bathroom sink. Lord, have mercy, it is awful. Clothes everywhere, drawers constantly open and rifled through, money, strewn about from her piggy banks, it's just awful. Yesterday I found a spoon in her pajama drawer. When I inquired about it she said, "Oh, I was just using it to try and get my snow globes out from under the dresser". Of course. The bathroom sink is always full of toothpaste, and the toothbrush holder never actually holds a toothbrush. We have frequent episodes of water on the floor after she's been put to bed (because she's in there doing her hair or "making something"). I could go on and on and on. Instead, I'll just show some pictures that I snapped one night when I made my nightly check of the girls before I headed to bed.

We do actually have a step stool, but it never gets used for its intended purpose. And we also have cups other than toy tea cups.

It's hard for A to find just the right toothpaste. She's on such a mission this night that she even went as far to dig the tall Aquafresh pump OUT OF THE DIRTY BATHROOM TRASH and give it a sample. 

She is not not allowed access to any toothpaste without a grown up's help. "I was trying to make a beautiful project with pink toothpaste!"

Pretty sure I could brush my teeth for a week with the amount of toothpaste sitting in this sink.

This is actually not too bad. Why yes, that's a flameless candle just laying on the floor

Perhaps we should just forgo a dresser and just put a big plastic bin in its place?

Hanger casualties are common. I assumed it was from pulling down on them in the closet, but when I inquired about them I got a different answer. "Mom, I'm just trying to be Merida from Brave"

It seems that hangers must be sacrificed in the name of imaginary bows. Sigh.

Oh mischievous one, you sleep so sweetly and innocently. I am not fooled!

Big Kid Stuff

Jillian is living the life of a big kid these days. She's reading a lot (to herself, to us, to her sister) and becoming more helpful around the house (so helpful that it's kind of cramping my style because she just insists to do something I'd rather do myself--mostly kitchen stuff. I'm going to need to learn to share!). It's been interesting to listen to Jillian's perceptions of what makes someone "big". For example, last week she proclaimed that she wanted to just shower whenever she wants. "Mom, you shower whenever you feel like it. Grownups do this. Why can't I take a shower whenever I decide instead of when you tell me to?" Uh....? It's a good question. I realize I need to take the opportunity to indulge her these small bits of independence that really don't matter to me, so that she feels a little more validated and like she has some freedom. I do not give up control easily, but I am learning. Dirty looks, sighs, and eye rolls are regular parts of our conversations these days, and I'll also have to find a way to not let this get to me (visibly) because again, it's only going to get worse from here. I had dinner with a friend who has a 17 year old daughter this week, and I found myself chugging my wine as she was talking to me about the stuff she is dealing with. Lord, have mercy on me! I was so relieved to come home and sort jelly beans for preschool Easter eggs after that conversation. I'll enjoy this stage while I can.  Our level of 'big kid' over here is just right for me right now.  Unfortunately, big kids deal with big kid stuff and we are beginning to experience hurtful teasing from people we thought were friends, name calling, and even a shove into a puddle at recess. This has all been confusing to Jillian, especially since the girls in questions really seemed like friends to her for most of the school year. This is only the beginning of a long road, as I know from experience. Girls (and still women) are not kind to each other. We've had a lot of chats about kindness, how to walk away, when to get an adult, etc. Hopefully they are sticking.  A few things about our resident big kid this week....


School took Spring portraits and Jillian felt very strongly about picking her background, clothing, and dictated that I was to blow dry and flat iron her hair for this occasion. I wasn't wild about a fake outdoor scenery background, but again, this was an opportunity to take a baby step of letting go, so I let it fly. She brought the pictures home yesterday and I nearly fainted. I heart this picture; it epitomizes so much about her big kid-ness right now. I can even deal with the background, because I am too distracted by my beautiful, growing daughter to notice it.

The writing continues to get smaller, more legible, and more thoughtful.

Matt took Jillian to her first official elementary school carnival last night (A and I stayed home due to the pink eye). She came home bursting with joy and enthusiasm from the special time with her dad and was SO proud of the school sweatshirt he bought her.

Part of being a big kid is participating in school fundraisers. Let me say it once: I hate the idea of school fundraising. I've never been one keen on things where you have to ask friends/family to spend money to help you out, and the coupon books that kids around here sell don't have many we'd use. But yet, I buy them because I feel bad for the kids coming to my door (and while I don't like the idea of fundraising, I'm happy to provide money to support schools--that's not the issue). For the fall fundraiser I noticed an opt out option, where you could just return your packet and a $40 donation to the school. Perfect. This time, they showed the kids a video of all the cool prizes they could win and presented it to them before I ever got to see/hear about it. I have issues with this, too, but that's for another post. So, we have five $20 coupon books to sell for Rochester locations, and Jillian honestly believes she HAS to sell them all. She desperately wanted to get started today, and to do this herself, so we worked out a little speech and I stood on the front porch to watch while she went and did her thing. Just after I snapped this pic, she turned around and hollered, "Mom, go back in the house. I'm good!"

There goes my little saleswoman off into the world.

She was bummed to find 3 houses on our street unoccupied and then was turned down by another neighbor (who has two kids that have solicited at our house sooooo many times in the last year and I have supported them every time...sigh). She came home devastated. Crying. Sobbing. "I just think I didn't say the right thing! I'll never sell these books!" Ugh. Thank you, school, for putting unnecessary pressure on my first born perfectionist. We had a heart to heart about timing of sales, about lowering expectations, and about not taking rejections personally. I was emotionally exhausted by 10 a.m. today! 

Comfortable

I'll get to the meaning behind the post title in a bit. First, just a few amusing things with Adrienne this week...

-We take turns selecting car music. There is A LOT of princess music, and a lot of "Jesus music", and current pop hits. Once in a while I can sneak in a little Coffeehouse, 80s on 8 or 90s on 9 satellite radio and I have fun telling the girls about how I used to listen to certain songs in college with their dad, or as a little kid, or whatever. Adrienne likes to comment on the music. On particular day, she had selected one of everyone's favorite Jesus songs "Lord, I Need You". Chris Tomlin says that phrase a lot in the song. Adrienne sings it VERY loud, and she really loves the song. Just once, she was quiet and listened to the words, and then said, "Wow, Mom he must REALLY need God". She got the emphasis in the repeated language for sure! And then, as we pulled up to the RAC I had the 80s radio station on and "We're gonna rock down to electric avenue" came on. I turned it up and was singing along. As I turned the car off and we got out, Adrienne said, "That is the most ridiculous song I've ever heard". Maybe she'll be a music critic someday?

-She's been a little extra ornery these days, just generally mischievous (ie: getting in the bath with her clothes on, climbing the tall back of her bed for the sake of being Rapunzel, etc). It was long after I had bathed her and blow dried her hair (her request) when she went up to play in her room. When she came down for supper, her hair was wet and thus curly again. I sighed because I knew she had been playing in the water (and probably the conditioner again) and I pimped her several times about the state of the bathroom. Finally she held up her hand (in a "talk to the hand" sort of manner) and proclaimed, "Mom, for real life there is no water on the floor in the bathroom". OK.

-As we were driving home from school we were chatting about Jillian's day. First she said it was fine, then she said it was bad because a couple girls were making fun of Adrienne because Jillian told them she slept with 3 night lights. I asked her how in the world they were talking about Adrienne and her light preferences, and Jillian said she admitted to being scared of the dark and using one nightlight. I think this little "friend" started to make fun of Jillian for using a nightlight, and then Jillian quickly threw her sister under the bus to save herself. Adrienne listened to all of this and then turned to her sister, "Jillian! Nobody needs to know what I do at night!"

-Yesterday I let her watch a movie in the afternoon. She chose Tangled. I asked her if she wanted to watch it upstairs or down in the basement. She thought sincerely for a moment and then said, "Upstairs. Because Rapunzel is stuck upstairs in her tower". She also changed into her Rapunzel costume, had me take down and blow dry her hair ("so it's like Rapunzel when her hair is short) and made sure to remove her socks (Rapunzel doesn't wear any). Simulation is very important.

-With preschool conferences coming up next week, Adrienne's report card was sent home for us to review. On the back of every report card is a space for the teacher to write a little summary. This is our 4th year of preschool between the two girls, and I can honestly say that Mrs Leif wrote the most accurate summary I've ever read. It's the first time I've read one of those summaries and thought--"She totally gets my kid". Not that any have ever been grossly inaccurate, just never as thoughtful and detailed as this one. She commented that Adrienne is an "interesting combination of intellect and imagination" (definitely) and then my favorite part: "She is comfortable in her own skin". Yes, yes, yes.  Matt and I were talking about this later and agreed this is something we want desperately for her to retain as she grows older. It's such a challenge to be comfortable in one's own skin all throughout life, isn't it? For now, one of my favorite manifestations of this 'comfort' in her is her wild outfits she puts on for the occasion of going to pick up Jillian. I'll give you just the last two days in photos.

Dress, mermaid top, superhero cape, and turtle visor

Proud.

Oh and black patent shoes sans socks are an important part of the ensemble. Here you see her defending her choices to her sister, who thought she looked, and I quote: "Completely inappropriate"

What? This isn't how you wear an old necktie? I think this outfit should be titled "Ninja Dorothy". The pinkeye is a nice touch, too.

March Madness

I have not been a fan of March this year. It's been full of madness, and not the basketball variety that I prefer. Speaking of basketball, I shudder to admit I (we, Matt is guilty too) haven't watched even one college basketball game this year. And I didn't fill out a bracket. And I haven't a clue what is going on. That is beyond strange and sort of sacrilegious to me! We began March with Matt away for 6 days (after working a week of nights, which is just the same as traveling in terms of seeing the girls), he then came home for about 30 hours (in which he worked all day, and then went to MSP for an event he donated to in order to meet Adam Carolla--his long standing comedic hero. How could I say no?), then left again to go to Scottsdale for 5 days. I was supposed to be on that Scottsdale trip with him (sans girls), but our childcare fell through when Grammy got put in a boot for a stress fracture. Such is life. To say we haven't had normalcy would be completely accurate. Never a dull moment. But--lots of sweet stuff mixed in the crazy.


A nice slice to my finger one Sunday night on my new food processor had me bleeding all over the house just as I was to put my kids to bed. I tried to face time Matt while gushing blood, but he wasn't any help. Thank goodness for dear friends Mark and Julie who came to rescue and examine me to be sure I didn't need to haul my girls into the ER with me for stitches. Two weeks later I can finally stop doctoring this wound.

The girls finally got brave enough to watch 'Brave', and Adrienne drew a pretty darn good freehand of Merida afterwards. The colors are spot-on.

Thank you to my BFF for doing all the work of having a third baby so that I can enjoy him! I heart baby Jack Taunton.

Ever wonder what an entire jar of Trader Joe's salsa looks like when spilled in your fridge? May it never happen to you.

The girls and I made a spontaneous dinner trip to Newt's as a result of the above spill.

Awesome moon rising on our way home from the Newt's dinner as we drove into our neighborhood. I love how you can really see the glory of the moon out in 'the country'. The girls are always taken aback when they are out after dark and they were SO excited to see this moon!

Painting ceramic eggs at Color Me Mine while Daddy was en route to Scottsdale (sniff)

Sending snuggles to daddy via pic while reading bedtime stories. Don't you love my lovely necklace handmade by the pop bead masters of the house?

Adrienne and I got to take Eleyna out for lunch on her birthday!

I finally ordered and received my 2014 blog books. I always feel so proud and thankful when they arrive and I see all my time, energy, thoughts, and memory actually on paper.

Step 1 to soothing a grumpy single-parenting soul: buy a lot of flowers at Trader Joe's

Step 2: Piano therapy. So so thankful for our beautiful piano and our angel of a teacher. She is fabulous!

The resident comedian made sure to always keep us laughing. "Ha ha! I'm a panty head!"

Lastly, I'll spare everyone the pictures of the gross eyes we've had in the house this week. First, Jillian--an abrasion caused by rubbing her eyes after being outside on a windy day (probably had dirt in them) caused eye pain, redness, and discharge that I thought was pinkeye...but wasn't! Second, Adrienne woke up with a gross eye today that IS pink eye. Awesome. And the dishwasher was broken this week for 6 loooong days, but now it is fixed. Amen!

A-D-R-I-E-N-N-N-E

Adrienne can finally spell her ridiculously long name! She's got it down so well, in fact, that she excitedly throws an extra 'n' in there when she rattles it off proudly--"A-D-R-I-E-N-N-N-E!" It's important to know that she spells slowly and rhythmically until she gets to those n's, and then it's like rapid fire n's (kind of like when you get to the l-m-n-o-p in the ABC's...come on, admit it, everybody runs through those letters so fast like they are not important). She's been working on writing her name for awhile, but suddenly can just do it. At Valentine's Day I had to write all the letters of her name on every valentine except the A. Now, she's got all the letters down and in proper order (the extra N only comes in play if she's saying it--she gets the correct number when she writes it)

The first paper I've seen where she just picked it up and labeled her coloring with her name without asking. Pretty darn good for such a long name!

My Starbucks monster. When she ordered her hot chocolate yesterday the barista asked her for her name, so she spelled it proudly for her and carried her labeled cup around like a badge of honor long after that sweet stuff was gone.

The Girls

My girls have some girls. We have a group of about a dozen princesses (other than the two human ones of course) residing in our home.  Princess barbies are much like the cursed Lego's, in that they are always all over the floor and have tiny parts (read shoes and crowns) that are excruciating to step on. My girls refer to this group of dolls as  "the girls". So when they are playing, I hear things like "Bring the girls downstairs" or "Let's take the girls into the playroom" and so on. It's like a doll sorority or something. As I was headed to bed tonight I caught sight of "the girls" so nicely lined up in front of the couch (And they all had clothes on, which is unusual). I guess they were also watching Wallykazam right before bedtime--who knew?!?

Test your princess knowledge--who do we have here? Elsa 1, Anna 1, Elsa 2, Snow White Hiding behind Sleeping Beauty's messy hair, Rapunzel, Mermaid Barbie (that's a trick--she's no princess! She stole Rapunzel's other dress! ), Dorothy (Princess of Kansas??), Anna 2, Tiana, and Ariel.

Ariel is the resident party animal. Girl looks like she has herself some wild times.

The Good Life

Adrienne has it rough. This week Jillian (who is rather enthusiastic about her newly declared favorite author, Dr Seuss) decided she'd treat Adrienne to a lengthy reading of all the Dr Seuss books we own while Adrienne relaxed in my tub. They were both occupied for well over an hour. No complaints here....