children

I’ve had clues that Lexi might be a little…tidy…organized..obsessive…OCD…whatever fits…just like Scott.  It started when she was young and would get upset when you moved her cup from whatever side of her plate she had it on.  She would chastise you and move it back.

Recently, she has started insisting her sock get pulled up as tight as possible so “her shoes don’t have a problem”.  Which I can’t blame her on that one really.

Then Monday we were at the grocery store where the kids both push a kids shopping cart.  I picked up 3 cans of veggies and gave Lexi the first two which she aligned in her cart and then handed the 3rd to Emma.  Lexi looked at me and said, “Mommy, I was going to line all 3 up.”  So I gave it to her and she did…lined them up in a straight line down the side of her cart.

But today tops all.  She’s watching TV and I hear her say, “Mommy, I want that!”  Scott and I assumed it was another toy.  But no.  It was a commerical for these:

So she could hang up her dress-up dresses.  Oh boy.

Since my girls aren’t avid P2P readers yet,  I thought I’d share two cute etsy purchases I made for their Christmas.

First are crayon aprons.  The first style is Lexi’s.  The second is Emma’s.  The link on the pictures links out to the etsy shop.

The second is a set of small wooden dolls.  The brown for Lexi and the primary colors for Emma.

So cute right???

If you’ve found a great product, let me know!

Lexi has decided she hates school.

For the past two weeks, every day she goes she says she doesn’t want to go.  So I quit taking her to early stay which starts at 8 and is very convenient since I drop Emma off at school at 7:45.  I’ve been going back home  and waiting until 9 to take her.  However, the past two days Scott has taken her at 8 with little complaint in the morning.  But, she’s still saying she doesn’t like school in the afternoons.

Her reasons vary.  It started out when a boy tried to take her blankie from her and then another day a boy stepped on her foot or something.  Lately, it’s “school is boring“.  I question her about their activities and individually she says she likes them but then several times she has come up with the complaint that she doesn’t like the snacks.

I called the school about it to see if there was really something going on with another kid she wasn’t able to tell me about.  The teacher said they’d noticed she had had a tough time the past week in the mornings but couldn’t pinpoint anything.  I would attribute that to her not going to early stay first (she stays with different teachers that first hour) and coming in less alert at 9.

She does seem to have a few good friends and enjoys certain aspects of it so although my first reaction is to pull her out, I know in general she likes it.  It doesn’t seem like she’s being terrorized by anyone continuously so that’s not the issue.  The teacher says she loves the activities.  I have half a mind to talk to the teacher about this “awful snack” they’ve been having since Lexi isn’t giving details but how awful is that going to make us look?  It’s not as if I can or should dictate what the class has for snack and Lexi can’t go in with her own snack.  How ungrateful would that look?

I’m not sure what to do at this point.  Preschool isn’t a must but I also don’t want to pull her out simply because she hates the food and yet I don’t want to complain about it to the teacher.  I still wonder if there’s something deeper than a horrible snack.  I guess we ride it out for now and see if it’s just a phase.

Dad: Lexi is in trouble
Me: Why?
Dad: I’ll let Mom or Scott tell you
Dad: It has to do with hair fashion
Me: as long as she didn’t cut her hair
Dad: bye!
Me: noooooo

That conversation started all kind of drama today.  Minutes later I was sent these pictures.

Then the emails and phone calls started.  And of course I chose today to go into the office.  The story as I think I finally understand it is Lexi and her friend that lives across the street from Mom were playing dress-up in Mom’s walk-in closet which is located in her bathroom.  Heather had just checked on them but apparently they had decided to have a fashion show and had gone in Mom’s bathroom drawer and gotten her scissors out and wanted new hair cuts for their fashion show.  Mom first finds the “slaughter house” of a bathroom floor full of hair and then finds the girls hiding in her clothes.  They come out flipping their hair saying their having a fashion show!  They are excited about their hair!  Poor M, she has taken chunks out of her hair up to her scalp in some places.

I finally pick her up from Mom’s after work and take her to a new salon in town.  The place is getting ready to close and the one free lady has foils in her hair doing her own hair.  She takes pity on us though and cuts it anyway.  Poor Lexi must have gotten the drift of what had happened because she had a frown on her face the whole time.  Or, she was just sleepy.  Because I think she fell asleep a time or two while she was brushing through her hair.

So, all is done.  She absolutely loves it.  I think it’s really, really cute although I almost cried when I find out and I still look at her missing her hair.  Lexi’s hair has always, always been her trademark.  I keep thinking about her in her pageant dress with her long pretty hair and all the times people comment “look how long her hair  is”.  I’ll miss running my fingers through when she’s sleepy and putting her to sleep and watching her swipe it to the side when it’s in her way or pulling at the back of it to get it out of a shirt.  I KNOW it will grow back but it’s just different now.  I don’t love her any less or think she is any less beautiful.  I just wasn’t ready to give my baby’s long hair up yet.  Anyhow, that’s my Mommy sad rant.  Here she is as soon as she got it done.

Don’t worry, she got back to her goofy self at home soon…

And just for the record, this is the last picture taken of her long hair…

You can see a bunch more pictures here

Today Emma turns 6.  I feel like I should do an overly emotional post but honestly I don’t have it in me.  We celebrated two weeks ago so it feels a little anti-climatic but I do have to say this past year was a huge year for her.  Obviously the biggest being that Emma started school this year.  She started reading.  She started writing sentences.  She lost four teeth.  She matured.  She really is one of the most caring people I know.  She always puts others first and I feel bad sometimes letting Lexi have her way over Emma’s just because I know Emma will be a big girl about it.  She loves all her friends and is as loyal to them as possible.  She’s smart and kind and she still loves being around Mommy even though she isn’t the affectionate one like Lexi.  People said she’d turn into a Daddy’s girl but that just hasn’t happened yet.  I love that I’m still Mommy to her.

I looked at Scott this morning and said “Can you believe we have a six year old?  It seems like yesterday we were going to my prom.”   And it really does.  And I look at Emma and she’s getting so tall and I can’t believe she’s growing up so quickly which actually means I’m getting old quickly by the way.  And then I see all the “big kids” at school and she looks like a baby compared to them.  Part of my heart breaks because she looks so vulnerable but I’m happy to have my baby for as long as possible.  But six?  Six certainly isn’t a baby.  I don’t know, this year feels a little different than other years.  She’s certainly not a baby but she feels like my baby.  She’s not really what I think of as a young lady yet.  For some reason I feel the need to break out with Britney’s ‘Not a girl, Not Yet a Woman’ LOL.  Maybe it should be ‘Not a Baby, Not Yet a Young Lady’. LOL  That actually rhymes.  OK, I think I should end this post.  Certainly not baby-book worthy.  Except this blog sort of IS her baby book and one day when she is not a girl, not yet a woman, she is going to look back at this post and say, Man, Mom, you are SUCH A DORK.

Around our house we try to relate reasons for not doing things back to the Bible.  We want them to follow God’s Word and not simply because Mommy and Daddy says so, although that can be a valid reason as well.    For example, a lot of times we say you have to share because Jesus says it’s better to give than receive.  Well.  Lexi comes into her bedroom where I’m talking on the phone to Heather, of course about our exciting trip to the Twilight advanced screening, and Lexi has a big bag of Halloween candy corn in her hands.  She asks if she can have some candy and I say no, you don’t need any sugar right now.  And she says very serious albeit a bit whiny…

But Mommy, Jesus says we can have candy after we eat our dinner.

The other night when I played Tooth Fairy (which, note to self, I still need to do tonight), I was a little unsure whether I was supposed to take the tooth with me.  Only twenty years had passed since my last encounter with the Tooth Fairy.  I just couldn’t remember.  I remember little boxes with teeth in them but couldn’t remember if that was pre-Tooth Fairy or post.  I thought I should take it since I left money though and put it on our dresser.

When Emma got home today, Scott put her two new (old?) teeth in another zip loc bag and apparently set both bags on the kitchen counter.  Cue Emma picking up both bags tonight off the counter:

Emma: Mommy, how do I have this tooth?

Me (I literally turn away from her and mouth what do I say??): Um, the tooth fairy left it for you.

Emma: Why?

Me (making stuff up, I was never a good liar): You know, so you could have it.

Emma: Did you see the tooth fairy?

Me (again, at a loss for words): Um, yeah.

I think Lexi came into the kitchen at that point and Emma dropped it but wow, I just about dropped to my knees and said Emma, Mommy is the tooth fairy and we’re keeping all your teeth.  Here’s $5, don’t be mad.

Today this little baby

Is this little four year old little girl.

Today I’m thinking back to when I was pregnant with her.  When my mind could not comprehend loving the child as much as I loved Emma.  I laugh and scoff at myself now.  Now, I can not imagine loving either of them more than I do.  Lexi brings me so much joy it almost hurts.  Some days I can’t kiss those little cheeks enough or hug her tight enough to show her just how much I love her.  She’s my little princess, my little star and accessory fun-loving queen who at times is so easy-going and decisive and at others melts into tears when she doesn’t get her way or what she wants.

She’s a handful alright.

She loves chicken and candy and juice and chocolate milk and marshmallows.   She loves Barbie and Dora and all the Princesses.  She loves to color and now play games on the computer and pretend with her sister.  How much she loves her big sister.  She’s still a Mommy’s girl and loves for me to watch her favorite TV shows with her and read her books.  She’s just one of those kids everyone loves and can’t seem to get enough of.  I can’t believe she’s been with us four years.  And dealing with two untimely deaths in our church family over the past three days has me wanting to kiss her cheeks a few more times and hug her tighter than ever.  And I think I will.