Happy 300th post to me!!
This one's going to be a quick one. Andrew is working against "our" schedule the past - oh, since I came back from Anchorage. It's been a week or so and the nap thing isn't happening.
I put him down around 2:15 and he was up after 45 minutes. Yes, you might be saying he "doesn't need" the nap then. I would beg to differ, with a tired little 9 month old at 7pm. With a little guy who rubs his eyes at 5:30 and yawns.
What do I do? (I know what I'm GOING to do.. keep on keeping on... but I wish we could come to a happy medium and a ~90 minute nap would be nice!)
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
how are the kids?
An appropriate question for a day on which they are all home, courtesy of bad (awesome!) weather and a school closure. I had planned on trying to get some updated pictures of the kids "soon" so today's as good a day as any. Let's see if I can get it done and posted today. As to how they are:
Allen is doing well in 3rd grade. He brings home a sheet of math homework every night and has weekly spelling/writing homework. He has adjusted to wearing glasses. He still loves to read and usually has a book in hand. He is active in karate (his 3rd year of participating in that) and has joined Boy Scouts.
Aaron is doing well in 1st grade. According to him, his favorite subject is "recess" but seriously, he is still a math rockstar. He spends a lot of time outside and has several neighborhood friends amongst whose houses the 3 kids rotate going after school. They just pick one and then hang out there for hours, or bounce back and forth. This is what I was looking for in a town, a place where the kids can do this!
Perpetua is going to turn 5 in a couple weeks. Her birthday party is Saturday. We have been doing preschool at home and she still enjoys it. We've expanded the scope a little to give her heavier exposure to letters/numbers/etc. She is a very positive person who has a lot of "little girl friends" despite the fact that all of her long time friends are either kindergarteners or enrolled in the local day care. We have a lot of Saturday playdates, and she likes to play outside with her brothers. She spends the day with us at home doing preschool, craft projects and playing with her younger siblings. She dotes on Andrew.
Rosalie is plugging along. She is a spirited, opinionated 2 year old. She is extremely verbal, talks in full sentences and has for some time. We weighed her the other day and she is up to 22 lbs. The most recent word on her size is that the doctors suspect she is "just small" (fancy name: constitutional growth delay/familial short stature). She enjoys participating in our preschool-at-home program. She loves to glue things, and to cut them up with scissors (we have to guard her, she has talked repeatedly about cutting her brother's hair - hasn't happened yet).
Andrew is 9 months old and an exemplary baby. We jokingly call him a sales baby, because he represents babies so well. He is exceptionally easygoing and happy. He has 3 teeth - two on bottom, one on top. He eats a variety of foods. He pulls up and cruises easily and is experimenting with letting go and standing on his own. He clearly delights in his progress. He weighs something like 23-24 lbs.
As a family, we are looking forward to a couple of visits in the next 2 weeks. My dad is joining us for a couple days, all the way from Ketchikan; and Allen's parents will be visiting over the Thanksgiving holidays (flight loads permitting). If they don't make it out pre-Thanksgiving we'll be postponing our holiday meal to Friday if they are able to get in.
There's a mini-update. Let's see if I can get some pictures worthy of being posted here today to share!
Allen is doing well in 3rd grade. He brings home a sheet of math homework every night and has weekly spelling/writing homework. He has adjusted to wearing glasses. He still loves to read and usually has a book in hand. He is active in karate (his 3rd year of participating in that) and has joined Boy Scouts.
Aaron is doing well in 1st grade. According to him, his favorite subject is "recess" but seriously, he is still a math rockstar. He spends a lot of time outside and has several neighborhood friends amongst whose houses the 3 kids rotate going after school. They just pick one and then hang out there for hours, or bounce back and forth. This is what I was looking for in a town, a place where the kids can do this!
Perpetua is going to turn 5 in a couple weeks. Her birthday party is Saturday. We have been doing preschool at home and she still enjoys it. We've expanded the scope a little to give her heavier exposure to letters/numbers/etc. She is a very positive person who has a lot of "little girl friends" despite the fact that all of her long time friends are either kindergarteners or enrolled in the local day care. We have a lot of Saturday playdates, and she likes to play outside with her brothers. She spends the day with us at home doing preschool, craft projects and playing with her younger siblings. She dotes on Andrew.
Rosalie is plugging along. She is a spirited, opinionated 2 year old. She is extremely verbal, talks in full sentences and has for some time. We weighed her the other day and she is up to 22 lbs. The most recent word on her size is that the doctors suspect she is "just small" (fancy name: constitutional growth delay/familial short stature). She enjoys participating in our preschool-at-home program. She loves to glue things, and to cut them up with scissors (we have to guard her, she has talked repeatedly about cutting her brother's hair - hasn't happened yet).
Andrew is 9 months old and an exemplary baby. We jokingly call him a sales baby, because he represents babies so well. He is exceptionally easygoing and happy. He has 3 teeth - two on bottom, one on top. He eats a variety of foods. He pulls up and cruises easily and is experimenting with letting go and standing on his own. He clearly delights in his progress. He weighs something like 23-24 lbs.
As a family, we are looking forward to a couple of visits in the next 2 weeks. My dad is joining us for a couple days, all the way from Ketchikan; and Allen's parents will be visiting over the Thanksgiving holidays (flight loads permitting). If they don't make it out pre-Thanksgiving we'll be postponing our holiday meal to Friday if they are able to get in.
There's a mini-update. Let's see if I can get some pictures worthy of being posted here today to share!
Monday, November 9, 2009
every time I see that number on the caller ID...
My kids are good kids. In school, one is a little more theatrical (but still a good student) than the other.
The phone just rang and every time I see the caller ID display says "LKSD" my stomach tightens and I'm wondering what the child did or said (because now, I can tell which school is calling as the boys are at different schools).
It was only a call to schedule parent teacher conferences, which I anticipate to go well. I've stayed in regular contact with both sons' teachers about their classroom performance, among other things. Why do I always assume there's been a problem when the school calls home? I guess a call home from the teacher indicates something different from "a regular day".
The phone just rang and every time I see the caller ID display says "LKSD" my stomach tightens and I'm wondering what the child did or said (because now, I can tell which school is calling as the boys are at different schools).
It was only a call to schedule parent teacher conferences, which I anticipate to go well. I've stayed in regular contact with both sons' teachers about their classroom performance, among other things. Why do I always assume there's been a problem when the school calls home? I guess a call home from the teacher indicates something different from "a regular day".
Sunday, November 8, 2009
development, pride, and joy!
Our youngest child is 9 months old and exploring his capabilities as far as standing, letting go, getting back up, and going back at it again.
He's an old pro at crawling and has been crawling for awhile. We just shared a delicious moment where he pulled up to the couch, got up to standing and was just beaming with accomplishment. He knew he'd done it (again). In our family there is no shortage of sibling assistance to the new crawler, puller-upper, etc. so Perpetua rushed over to be behind him "in case he falls".
I explained to her that in the process of learning to walk he would fall, more than once. And that that was OK, and with gentle assurance he would have the confidence and practice to know how NOT to fall one day and walk just like everyone else. Aaron recalled how when Rosalie was learning to walk we stretched out a rope for her to hang onto and she went between us (she took a l-o-n-g 16 months to learn to walk!)
As I'm typing this Andrew is pulling up and cruising around a box of magazines I have sitting in the office. He shoots a wide smile at me each time I catch his eye. He's determined and positive. When do people lose this enthusiasm for the little things in life?
One of my favorite parts of parenting is watching the little people acquire a new skill. Andrew's joy and delight in his new accomplishments, and his refinement of those skills, is just delicious. As I am about to hit post he's figured out how to stand up while pushing against the wall. So sweet. (He never stops!)
He's an old pro at crawling and has been crawling for awhile. We just shared a delicious moment where he pulled up to the couch, got up to standing and was just beaming with accomplishment. He knew he'd done it (again). In our family there is no shortage of sibling assistance to the new crawler, puller-upper, etc. so Perpetua rushed over to be behind him "in case he falls".
I explained to her that in the process of learning to walk he would fall, more than once. And that that was OK, and with gentle assurance he would have the confidence and practice to know how NOT to fall one day and walk just like everyone else. Aaron recalled how when Rosalie was learning to walk we stretched out a rope for her to hang onto and she went between us (she took a l-o-n-g 16 months to learn to walk!)
As I'm typing this Andrew is pulling up and cruising around a box of magazines I have sitting in the office. He shoots a wide smile at me each time I catch his eye. He's determined and positive. When do people lose this enthusiasm for the little things in life?
One of my favorite parts of parenting is watching the little people acquire a new skill. Andrew's joy and delight in his new accomplishments, and his refinement of those skills, is just delicious. As I am about to hit post he's figured out how to stand up while pushing against the wall. So sweet. (He never stops!)
Friday, November 6, 2009
day books
While I was in Anchorage I purchased a 2010 Day Book. They're sort of (to me) like a blog on paper. A decent space for each day to write about what happened that day, things you have or had to do, etc.
I look forward to keeping it up and seeing if it is something I will enjoy. I told my mom that maybe in 100 years it will end up on ebay as an example of life in western Alaska at the beginning of the 21st century (or however you count that - it's still early in the morning)... in any event, maybe the children will enjoy looking at it someday and seeing what our family was doing then.
I look forward to keeping it up and seeing if it is something I will enjoy. I told my mom that maybe in 100 years it will end up on ebay as an example of life in western Alaska at the beginning of the 21st century (or however you count that - it's still early in the morning)... in any event, maybe the children will enjoy looking at it someday and seeing what our family was doing then.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
(What would have been) the girls' Christmas present...
Well, I'm going to jump in and edit this post. And it makes me sad/angry to do so! The lovely sellers of this fabulous item wanted $113 more in shipping charges for this item (for a total of $150 in shipping), for a total of $523. I told them I was not able to justify this charge and I'd have to cancel my order. I totally think it's worth the $400 for the item, plus the shipping charge (I got a discount on the item, so plus shipping, it would've been around $400) but $523 is a different matter. If you know of any lovely and similarly detailed/quality dollhouses that will actually get shipped to Alaska for less than an arm and a leg (or $150)... please leave a comment!
This is what Perpetua and Rosalie are getting for Christmas. We got the dollhouse "special" so it comes with all of the furniture you see in the house. Soooo awesome. I can't wait to share the joy with the kiddos! It has sliding doors, balconies... really neat! Assembled it measures 31 x 31 x 18". We got a very high quality one too, so it's sure to last for years. I just finished placing my order, I'm excited for them!
This is what Perpetua and Rosalie are getting for Christmas. We got the dollhouse "special" so it comes with all of the furniture you see in the house. Soooo awesome. I can't wait to share the joy with the kiddos! It has sliding doors, balconies... really neat! Assembled it measures 31 x 31 x 18". We got a very high quality one too, so it's sure to last for years. I just finished placing my order, I'm excited for them!
back in the land of $10 milk
I guess I'm exaggerating since milk is really "only" $8.99 + tax.
I got back from Anchorage on the morning jet; it's nice to be home but tough to leave my mom, who is awesome (and still in the air on her way home to Ketchikan).
I got no concrete answers for the reason I went to Anchorage but ruled out the Big Scary Possibilities, so I'm content to let it rest at that.
I came down with something the day before I left, and actually wound up going into YKHC to get rehydrated via IV and some anti-nausea stuff. It was not fun to have that compounding a very busy, somewhat potentially stressful trip.
One of the medical staff in Anchorage (a person who ran one of the machines) was exceptionally rude and insensitive to me. Made me cry just because of his approach and the way he queried my "symptoms" (which are so minor, anyway - just had to rule out some potentially bad causes, which they did). I will be contacting the hospital to complain about that.
I have thoughts rolling around about how impersonal hospitals are, and how the staff is able to go about day-to-day business. Of course they have to maintain clinical detatchment or they wouldn't be professional, or able to do their jobs. But there's a difference between clinical detatchment and lack of regard for a human being.
On a closing note: I had thepleasure experience of sitting next to a person on the plane who thought nothing of coughing repeatedly without making an effort to cover up. I saw this at the hospital as well. With all the hype about swine flu, and in a healthcare setting... and on an airplane... seriously? I don't want whatever you have! It was pretty disgusting.
I'm still not 100% (did *I* get the flu? maybe... I felt pretty bad) so blogging is on the back burner for now, but I wanted to share my happiness that the Big Bad Possibilities did not turn out to be reality. That's a good thing.
I got back from Anchorage on the morning jet; it's nice to be home but tough to leave my mom, who is awesome (and still in the air on her way home to Ketchikan).
I got no concrete answers for the reason I went to Anchorage but ruled out the Big Scary Possibilities, so I'm content to let it rest at that.
I came down with something the day before I left, and actually wound up going into YKHC to get rehydrated via IV and some anti-nausea stuff. It was not fun to have that compounding a very busy, somewhat potentially stressful trip.
One of the medical staff in Anchorage (a person who ran one of the machines) was exceptionally rude and insensitive to me. Made me cry just because of his approach and the way he queried my "symptoms" (which are so minor, anyway - just had to rule out some potentially bad causes, which they did). I will be contacting the hospital to complain about that.
I have thoughts rolling around about how impersonal hospitals are, and how the staff is able to go about day-to-day business. Of course they have to maintain clinical detatchment or they wouldn't be professional, or able to do their jobs. But there's a difference between clinical detatchment and lack of regard for a human being.
On a closing note: I had the
I'm still not 100% (did *I* get the flu? maybe... I felt pretty bad) so blogging is on the back burner for now, but I wanted to share my happiness that the Big Bad Possibilities did not turn out to be reality. That's a good thing.
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