I wanted to do a quick post mainly for the memory book because we have
had some cute happenings around here (at least to Matt & I!).
Eric – The biggest and most exciting development is that he knows and calls for his people (mamma, yah-yah (Olivia is hard to say I guess?) and dada). I remember Olivia going through the same phase where she constantly asked about everyone all day. Eric is the same way. From the moment he wakes up in the morning, he is asking where everyone is and this continues the entire way to school, and begins again as soon as I pick him up. Its SO cute!! He is also learning his parts of the body and animal sounds. These sweet baby days of learning are so precious to me, especially in contrast to my Olivia who comes home with spelling lists and math tests!
Eric’s appetite is a constant source of anxiety for Matt and I. Breakfast is his biggest meal of the
day. He loves ALL. THE. CARBS. Pancakes, waffles, muffins, toast. He’s there for it all. Lunch is hit or miss and by dinner-time he
basically refuses to eat. I’ve tried to
stick to my “this is what’s for dinner, eat it or leave it” rule but I have to
admit that sometimes I’m begging him to eat anything – yogurt, cheese stick, Cheerios,
almost literally ANYTHING! And, mind
you, this is not borne out of some maternal concern for his health/hunger level. Nope, this is all based on my need to sleep
and Eric’s hungry belly waking him up in the middle of the night disrupting
that sleep!
But he is ALWAYS up for a snack (NACK!!) and will constantly go to the
pantry and yell “NACK!!” He has very specific ideas of what constitutes a “snack”
– yogurt, cheese, turkey, fruit (except the occasional banana) does not satisfy
him. He wants the junk – specifically chips
– from the pantry. And most of the time Olivia,
the original snack monster, is more than happy to help him procure such a NACK mostly
because she wants it too. These 2 sneak Pirates
Booty constantly (now on the top shelf) and the other day I found them elbow
deep in a bag of M&Ms.
And speaking of Olivia (yah yah), Eric is really into her lately. Which is sort of a game changer for Matt and
I. They will go alone and play together
for 15-30 minutes at a time. I honestly
don’t know much of what they’re doing – but they both love it. A few weeks ago they were outside playing and
then Olivia called me because she said she taught Eric to plie “like a proper
ballerina.”
At this point, I don’t
really know that I care what they’re doing – all I know is that I can drink my coffee,
do some laundry or sit down and read for a bit!
At this age, Olivia was very into baby dolls. At one point I recall on a Sunday evening
Matt commenting that he’s all for being involved with the things that interest
her, but the number of times he played baby doll that weekend was a little
high. ;) Eric doesn’t really have any
toys that he’s super into like that. He
likes the cars but won’t really sit and play with them, same with Little People,
trains, etc. But, this boy can sit and
read books forever. Most of the time if he and I are alone (or he
and Matt), we are reading. He’s really
patient, curious, and observant. He has
a pretty good memory (and we read each book like 20 times!) so he knows what’s
coming up in the book and has certain pages he really likes.
The other thing he loves is being outside. He’s been like that for months but now that
its getting a little cooler and the mosquitoes aren’t as bad, I’m more likely to
oblige his requests. Again, completely different
than Olivia who basically has never asked me if she could go outside until last
year. Eric would spend hours outside on
his bike or playing with the ball and he has a mild meltdown each time we leave
the park.
When I say its time to go, this is the reaction I get.
He has still been biting a lot at school. We aren’t really sure what the deal is – it is
not borne out of any aggression. They
said every time it happens he is literally sitting next to a “friend” and then
all of a sudden reaches over and put their hand/finger in his mouth. I can’t
even with this kid. The current thinking
is maybe its related to teething? But if
he does it multiple times (which he is prone to do) then he gets “restricted”
treatment – which means he has to stay with a teacher all day so they can keep an
eye on him. At this age its really just
re-directing him, I don’t think he understands what he’s doing. Now, to some kids this may be a
punishment. But not Eric. He loves
it! He snuggles and hugs the teacher and
makes her read books to him all day.
And, I’m not going to lie – the teachers seem to like it too. The other day I passed one of the teachers on
the way out and she happily told me that she had Eric that afternoon because he
was biting and they read books and then she started telling me how smart and sweet
he was. So…..I don’t know. They don’t seem too concerned, so I guess I won’t
be either. We did purchase a book about not
biting that we read almost every night and every morning I remind him to please
not bite his friends because biting hurts our friends.
Olivia - she just seems big to me lately.
I’m probably going to jinx it but she has been pretty happy and
easy-going – no big meltdowns or fights recently. I think that she’s got a group of friends at
school that she likes and is settled into the routine of 1st grade. She likes her teachers and after-school activities
and I just think that when she’s comfortable in her surroundings, it comes
across. (Conversely, when she is
uncomfortable or unsettled, that comes across in spades too!). The biggest thing with Olivia these days has
been a transition from Kinder which focused a lot on art and looking at the
pictures in books, so more “rigorous” academics – reading at a higher level,
math homework, and spelling tests. She’s
handled it all like a champ and seems to be doing well. A few things I want to remember:
1. She is still SUPER into writing her own
stories. She told me the other day that Ms.
Brown really wants her to “challenge” herself to use a more expansive
vocabulary. So she asked me to read the
story she wrote where she tried it. Um. She used the word “dreadful” and wrote that
one of the characters was “sobbing.” This
is not me bragging about my kid. This is
me in awe of the school and how those freaking teachers get her excited about
things like this!
2. Also the ending of this book was interesting – she
just sort of ended the story without neatly wrapping everything up. I commented on how I was suprpised with the
ending. She said in a self-confident
way, “Oh, I know! Me and Kevin Henkes
both do that.” I asked if Kevin was in
her class. She laughed at me in sort of
a pathetic “oh honey” sort of way and then said “No mom!! Kevin Henkes is my
favorite author!! He ends his books like
that so I did it too.” Again, I can’t
even. With my 7 year old and her
favorite author?!
We also dealt with a little misunderstanding with one of her friends
that made me so sad and so proud of her.
Apparently at after-care the kids were outside and she was with 2 good
friends from her Kindergarten class. They
apparently saw an asp on the playground.
For those who don’t know – an asp is a little caterpillar that is poisonous
and is known to be extremely painful if touched. There were a ton of them last summer after
Harvey and I told her in no uncertain terms to stay away from them. So anyways, they think they see an asp and
the little boy apparently asks Olivia to kill it. Now, she claims that she did. (I don’t know if she actually did or how she
did. She told Matt the story and he didn’t
ask that question and she wouldn’t talk to me about the incident afterwards! But I did make sure Matt told her if she ever
sees another one, that she should definitely not kill an asp and to go tell a
teacher!). Anyways, apparently after she
kills this asp the girl friend (I will call her “A”) who is with them bursts
into tears and runs away. Confused
Olivia goes up to try and find A but she won’t talk to Olivia. Shortly thereafter, Matt picks up O from
aftercare and she is pretty sad/confused about the whole thing. Matt handled it like a pro – he helped explain
to her that the asp is a living thing and that her friend was maybe upset
because she killed a living thing. They
then had a really nuanced conversation about why we kill certain bugs (wasps/roaches)
but not others (lizards, etc). She
brought up all kinds of questions (why does mommy kill those little spiders?
Why do you zap flies with a fly swatter?) and seemed unsure about the rules of engagement. (Yes, this is 100% my fault. I will admit it –
I see a bug or other creepy crawly thing, I’m killing it. Or at least I was. Now
I will either try to make the killing more discreet or wait until Matt gets
home to take the damn bug outside!).
Anyways, they come up with some general rules and then talk about apologizing. Olivia wasn’t quite convinced she did anything
wrong for which she needed to apologize.
So, another hard convo about being a friend and making our friends feel
safe and comfortable and that sometimes we inadvertently hurt a friend and we
need to apologize for that. I worked late
that night and by the time I got home, she and Matt had a plan to get to school
early the next day, find the friend, and make it right.
The next morning I could tell she was nervous. Matt takes her to school and said she tried
to back out of getting to school early, but he pushed her. All day I know both Matt and I waited
anxiously until it was time to pick her up so we could hear how it went. In fact, when I called Matt to tell him I was
leaving work and starting the afternoon pick-ups he told me he really wanted to
get Olivia to hear all about it since he had been the one to walk through it
with her. I happily obliged his sweet
daddy request and apparently she had to do a little work to get A to even talk
to her, but she apologized and all seems to be fine now.
I know she was stressed about it but I think it was a good lesson in
friendship and value of life. This role
of a parent is just a tough gig. When
they are little babes like E, you make all their decisions and worry whether
you are doing it correctly. Then they
get a little bigger like O and you can’t really make decisions for them. You just have to walk next to them and hold
space while they figure it out. She’s still
little enough that she comes to us for help and we tread ever-so-lightly to try
and ensure she comes to us for as long as possible. We know the problems will
get harder and the options will be grayer.
Hopefully we can be a calming space for her to safely land while she
works things out.
And finally, a few pics of the babes to end on a happy note.
On Saturday mornings all the rules are out the window and baby can have a bottle and watch TV with his sister. She loves it at first but then gets annoyed quickly because he constantly asks "that? That?" and wants to know all the characters. And then, when he finds someone particularly interesting or a scene that is funny, he will wildly do the sign for "more" and yell "More! More!" because he wants that character back on the screen doing the scene again! Ha!
#bff
He has been referring to every bird as a "duck" but we have recently convinced him a turkey is a different species and he can say "gobble gobble gobble" in about the cutest little voice you ever did hear.
We went to the park after school one day and Eric for some reason refused to climb through the tunnel. He does it all the time, so I know he can but for whatever reason he just refused. I too, refused to go up and help him through it so I told him to either come through or turn around and go back to the stairs. At which point Olivia -- who had been doing the monkey bars -- overheard the exchange and rushed over to ask him if he wanted "Yah Yah to help you through the tunnel?" He reached his little hands out, nodded yes, and then emerged with this little grin. Sucka!
These babies have mamma wrapped around their little finger...
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