What we're thankful for

Both girls have had the chance to express their thankfulness through school activities this year. I have enjoyed finding out what they're thankful for, and I thought I'd share.

Peanut listed three things through her school activities. What are you thankful for?
1. My sister
2. My dad
3. My room

Jellybean had to list and draw 5 things she was thankful for.
1. Peanut
2. Rain
3. Nature
4. Flowers
5. Peanut
(Yes, the duplication was hers, not mine)

I can't get over how thankful they are for each other. That warms my heart! I will focus in on their thankfulness for each other so that we don't have to talk about how I was not mentioned by anyone. Actually, I'm not saddened by that -- I get hugs and smiles and "thank yous" every day (sometimes mixed in between tantrums and disobedience) that let me know how thankful they are for me.

Happy Thanksgiving!

All about loveys

Both of my girls are good sleepers. And they have been since an early age. Part of that is their temperament -- they sleep when they need to. And, part of it I credit to my being borderline OCD about their sleep times and nap times, starting when they were babies.

Most parents whose kids sleep well have a favorite sleep book. Mine happens to be Good Night, Sleep Tight by the Sleep Lady, Kim West. The Sleep Lady advises giving babies a "lovey" starting when they are about 6 months old. Something that doesn't have any removable parts, that's nice and small, that children can snuggle and feel comfortable with, no matter where they are.

We gave both of the girls loveys around that time, and they still have them: Jellybean has Berkeley, her formerly white bear, and Peanut has Rodrigo, her penguin. I have restricted the loveys only to their beds, for fear of something happening to them otherwise. (We do not, as is recommended, have a duplicate for either one.)

The girls cannot go to sleep without their loveys. We take the loveys when we travel for overnight or a nap. Maybe 2 or 3 times they have conked out somewhere without Berkeley or Rodrigo, but night in and night out, they must have their lovey in hand in order to go to sleep. Certainly, it doesn't hurt anything. But now that they're 5 and 3 1/2, are they too old to rely on their loveys? Will there come a day that we should take them away? Or, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it?"

I love our loveys, but I want to make sure I'm not doing them a disservice. I don't want Peanut's college roommate to make fun of her because she can't sleep without her Rodrigo. I guess time will tell, and I hope it's all for the best.

Mondays are my new favorite day

I knew I would enjoy volunteering in Jellybean's kindergarten class. A room full of 5-year-olds, with a savvy teacher in charge of them -- what's not to like?

I did not know, however, how much I would LOVE it: so much so that my favorite weekday has shifted from Friday to Monday (the day I volunteer). And Jellybean loves having me there.

My "shift" is officially about 20 minutes (although I've been there up to an hour, depending on the happenings of the day). I am there to help with literacy centers, which divide the children into small groups to accomplish a task about words: phonics, writing, spelling or reading. I serve as back-up question-answerer to the teacher, about the centers.

Now that I've been there several times, the kids are more and more comfortable to seek me out with their questions. I love being able to help them and seeing the "lightbulbs" go on when they figure out a word or make a connection.

When I arrive each week now, many of them will run up to me just to say "hello." Or they'll shout my name from their seat and wave. So cute. They all love the extra attention, and, sadly, some of them crave it more than others.

The best part, paradoxically, is when I leave. The class tells me "thank you" in unison, at the behest of the teacher. I help them get their jackets and hats on, because they're headed out to recess. Then, many of them on their own accord -- so many of them! -- come up to me to give me a HUG goodbye! Sometimes, there is even a LINE to give me a hug. It is the best!

They are the sweetest group of kids. I hope they all can keep at least some of the innocence for as long as possible. And if I can make their day brighter by giving them a big hug, then you bet I will. Sign me up! See why I love Mondays now?

Good "girl power" books

As a mother of 2 daughters, I am always in favor of finding books that celebrate impressive women. I've stumbled upon a couple picture-book biographies in recent months that have particularly resonated with my girls -- and that I've enjoyed reading as well.

Georgia's Bones by Jen Bryant
A biography of Georgia O'Keefe. My parents went on a trip to New Mexico and came back with this book. It is a simply eloquent insight into the mind of a young artist. The lovely illustrations incorporate several of O'Keefe's (G-rated) works.




You Can't Do That, Amelia! by Kimberly Wagner Klier
A biography about Amelia Earhart. It's always fun to read about someone surpassing everyone's expectations. This book takes such a fun, great approach to Earhart's accomplishments -- and also stays away from the topic of the end of her life, as that may be difficult and confusing for young readers.





I highly recommend these for your next trip to the library or bookstore (or for the girls -- and boys -- on your holiday gift list!). They're well written, and I always appreciate a history lesson for myself.

A sentence!

The milestones just keep on coming: Jellybean has written her first sentence!

She made it up and wrote it, all on her own at school. It accompanied this picture:


"THE HAOS IS RIANBO"
Translation: The house is rainbow.

She loves to color abstractly and has quite an eye for color and design (less of a knack for drawing practical things; I'm interested to see how that translates to her grown-up personality). I had no idea she could write a sentence. I just had to share.

Now saving almost $1/day

We have reached a milestone with Jellybean. The best thing about reaching this milestone is the collaborative effort involved: from Jellybean, L and me. It was a long, long time coming, but I can say with confidence that we have arrived at mission accomplished.

Jellybean now stays dry all night. No Pull-Ups anymore (after all my trials and tribulations with them)! And we didn't lose too much sleep in the process.

Deciding to cross the dry-all-night line was not something we planned in advance. The project started spontaneously one night when L couldn't get Jellybean to put on her Pull-Up at bedtime. He announced to me, "She's going to try to stay dry tonight! Isn't that great?" Umm, no. And I had about 25 reasons why, including that I was tired that night; I didn't wanna be up in the middle of the night changing the bed. We were, though. Twice.

I was irritated with L. Jellybean is such a deep sleeper, and I didn't think she was anywhere close to being able to wake up when she had to pee. As you can see, I was just wrong.

We had several middle-of-the-night bed changes. But, for once, Jellybean was showing determination. She WANTED to be dry. So I went with it. And, to keep everything (and everyone) positive, I added an incentive: When she could stay dry 7 nights in a row, she would get a special prize. We had a few hiccups en route to 7 nights -- but not near as many as I expected. She finally did it! I was prepared for a relapse after that, but she said she's done with Pull-Ups.

Although 2 years younger, Peanut hasn't used Pull-Ups for about 6 months. I gave her a special prize when Jellybean got one.

So, I am very happy to say that we are a disposable-pants-free household for the first time in 5 years. Yeehaw!

P.S. You'll note by the photo that I caved once again to the "princessant" demands for Halloween.