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April 28, 2005
Both children fed reasonably nutritious meal, bathed, and playing happily with each other, and it is only 7 PM and husband is not even home yet. Am clearly some sort of super-mother, will wait patiently for knock at door signifying I am about to win an award.
Posted by Jan at 7:11 PM | Comments (766)
April 27, 2005
Overheard from the bathroom
Zeke
I firsty!
Keith
OK, let's get you some water.
[sound of running water from tap]
Keith exits bathroom to stop Stazi from hurtling headfirst down stairs.
[sound of giant sploosh of water hitting the toilet]
Keith
Zeeeeke? Did you finish your water?
Zeke
Umm.
Keith
I think you dumped your water in the toilet, Zeke.
Zeke
Umm. I need more water.
Posted by Jan at 9:16 PM | Comments (1)
April 26, 2005
Stazi has started reliably making the sign for "milk", which is what she uses when she wants to nurse. It was also the first sign Zeke learned, unsurprisingly enough.
Stazi just got three molars and an incisor all at the same time, so we went through a couple weeks of sheer hell. I think we used up an entire bottle of Infants' Tylenol. I put her down, she shrieked. I picked her up, she shrieked. I gave her food, she shrieked. It was a nonstop background of hysterical wailing, for days and days on end.
However, all teeth appear to have broken through at last, and she's back to her normal sunny and cheerful self. Just now I folded laundry and worked on an index for an hour and a half while she entertained herself with blocks and trains. (Zeke is napping, or she would have been bugging him instead.)
We have her assessment meeting with the preschool sometime in the next couple of weeks. After that, we sign the contract to get her started in the fall. Two children in preschool at once! Whatever shall I do with myself during the day?!
Posted by Jan at 6:02 PM | Comments (0)
April 25, 2005
Stazi is almost walking -- OK, actually she is walking, she just doesn't quite seem to realize that it's an effective mode of transportation and not just a cool parlor trick for showing off in front of Grandma -- and her babbling is becoming a lot more meaningful. She's at that stage where you keep going, "Wait, did she just say [hello/Daddy/Give me juice/I do not care to watch Teletubbies this morning]?" No actual words that we can distinguish quite yet, although she is really close on "Dada."
Zeke's, you know, Zeke. He's doing 3-year-old stuff. He likes taking his trucks to the playground and pushing them around in the sandbox, and reading stories about Bob the Builder. He's very car-and-truck-centric. Mostly things with him are going well, except for the occasional bad scene at, say, Wendy's, when he runs away from us twice and the second time manages to get almost all the way out to the parking lot and then I yell at him in front of the entire restaurant and feel like a bad parent. Why can't I be like one of those other mothers, I always think to myself, the ones that patiently explain things to their toddlers even if it is the fifteenth time that day, and never freak out or yell or have to drag their child out of a restaurant in front of the disapproving stares of all the other patrons. I want to be like those mothers but somehow it never seems to work out that way.
Sorry. I know people mostly like reading the cute upbeat kid stories in this blog but sometimes I'm fresh out of those and all I have are the lame ones that make me sound like a bad mother.
Posted by Jan at 8:47 AM | Comments (2)
April 15, 2005
We had Zeke's first parent-teacher conference today. It's not exactly kosher to bring the child along to one of these, so Keith went as our Designated Family Representative. He reported back that Zeke's teacher says he is doing very well in preschool. The first week, he hung back a little and mostly stuck close to the teachers, but now he's opening up and making friends. Apparently he has begun inviting other kids to come with him to snacktime, which I think is both cute and a good sign.
I have this horror, borne of my own experiences in school, that none of the other children will like him and that he will not make friends. Keith keeps reassuring me that this is preschool, of course he will make friends, and besides, Zeke is a social little fellow. So far, anyway. I need to stop overanalyzing everything so much.
Anyway, his teacher also reported that Zeke is learning the various "works" very quickly, and that he seems to gravitate towards math and number works. He knows how to count to 10, she told us. (We knew that.) And... that's about all. He's doing well, is the upshot.
On Thursday, I visited the toddler preschool area of the Montessori school, with Stazi in tow. This is in preparation for her enrollment this September. I let her roam around and explore while I watched the goings-on. She mostly stuck close to my side during the indoor play part of the morning, but when we went outside to the playground, she really took off. I deposited her in the sandbox, and she happily crawled around and played and climbed up the little wooden stairs, while I stood and talked to one of the toddler teachers.
The teacher was cool, and I liked her a lot. She talked about her own experiences with her kids in Montessori (they're now in their 20s) and how she feels it's helpful in teaching kids how to organize themselves and self-direct their work and studies. She also told me about how she thinks it's important even at this very early toddler stage to encourage kids to challenge themselves, and let them do things that we as parents might not think they're ready for or capable of.
Just as she was saying this, I looked over to notice that Stazi had managed to crawl all the way to the top of the wooden stairs, and after a brief pause, flung herself down the slide into the sand pit. She looked surprised and then ecstatic and flailed every limb wildly with glee before heading back to the wooden staircase to do it again. I felt this was a cosmic illustration of the point the teacher had just been trying to make.
The teacher (whose name I cannot remember, although I know it started with a D) also explained about how the age from 24-36 months is an ideal time to start letting children help with housework, and encouraging them to do things by themselves, like putting on and taking off clothes, and putting their toys away, and so forth. She talked a lot about how if you build the foundation for self-reliance early, it pays off in later years. I think this is really true, as is her message about how if you challenge kids, they are oftentimes capable of far more than you expect.
The last thing I have to report is that tonight, the neighbor kids (ages approximately 7 and 3) came over and knocked on our back door and asked if Zeke could come out and play. So of course I said yes, and they all had bundles of fun running around in our back yards and climbing on the neighbors' play equipment and sharing bottles of water and Dorito chips and so forth. I was deliriously happy about this development, as it got the kids out of the house for awhile and gave them something to focus on outdoors besides their usual game of "find something dangerous to play on or near and then run into the street with it."
Posted by Jan at 8:56 PM | Comments (1)
April 6, 2005
Vital statistics
Took both kids to the doctor's office this morning for regular checkups. Stazi weighs 26 pounds and is... uh... I forget how long. (I'm a terrible mother.) Anyway, she's 80th percentile for weight and 90th for height.
Zeke is 41 inches tall and weighs 35 pounds. That's 75th percentile for weight and off the chart for height. Officially I guess that's 99+ percentile.
Zeke got one shot, which was not appreciated, and Stazi got four, which was really not appreciated. She's sleeping it off right now. I wish I were.
Posted by Jan at 4:07 PM | Comments (0)