We are now officially moved and mostly settled. The month of February brought the bubonic plague, a Stomach Virus, lots of ice and snow, and a 70° day. As for the events in February? Well....Rachel started her new school, has become potty trained, we moved all of our stuff, her toys suddenly appeared one day and she's been able to spend a lot of time with her Grandparents.
As a parent, I'll say the first few weeks here were rough. The first week in the new school; ROUGH. Rachel couldn't nap in the new environment and she was exhausted when she got home. New routines are really hard on little people. But I'll say that for the huge amount of change that happened last month she did pretty darn good.
I'll sing praises over and over again about the Montessori school. I can tell a HUGE difference in her development, vocabulary, independence and her manners. Don't get me wrong, at least once a day we have a huge fight where I get so mad I have to leave the room. But afterwards when she's calm and I can be calm I sit down in the rocking chair and explain why I was mad, the behavior I didn't like, and then I remind her that I love her and I'm trying to teach her.
Potty training is going very well. She's only come home (when I've been in town) twice with her clothes changed, which I consider a big accomplishment. I promised myself last week that as soon as I unpacked her waterproof mattress cover it was time to take the plunge and let her sleep in underwear. We've not had a problem. Looking back.....I was probably not ready to deal with soiled pants and opted not to put her in a pull up and underwear sooner. Regardless, I'm glad she was as close to potty training as she was and this new school has helped guide her over the last hurdle. Now the big problem is the hygiene. She's got a horrible rash on her rear that won't go away and the potty training just isn't helping. Her first week was pretty nasty. Now, however I can tell she's more skilled. We still have a long way to go in advancing those motor skills and keeping things sanitary. Still....at home her potty is upstairs with a special seat and I'm thankful it's not a toilet anyone other than Jason and myself use. I think I clean it completely every other day. She's potty trained....I'll not dwell on the grossness!
For as mad as she makes me nearly each evening, I love love LOVE it when we have conversations. Every day on our way to and from school she wants to watch Aladdin. I'll put just about any movie in the car she wants, but she likes Aladdin. Surprisingly, I don't mind listening to it over and over and over. I've known this movie by heart since it came out back in the 90's. So with each scene she'll excitedly exclaim something..."Mommy look! It's moving!" "That camel is so sleepy." "Uncle Far!" (not sure why....but that's what she calls "Jafar".) Sometimes she'll sing along with the movie. And I LOVE that.
On Sunny days she'll point out her window, "Look mommy, Mr. Sunshine's awake!" Sometimes she'll sing me the Sunshine Song. Sometimes she'll just ask me to sing it.
The other day we put on a shirt and she said, "Look mommy, I have polka dots on my sleeve!" I was stunned. At what point at school would they have had time to talk about polka dots?!
Once in a while she'll help me in the kitchen and she can crack eggs all by herself. (I chase the eggshells out later....but I'm noticing less and less of them!)
One of her favorite things to do is go to the carwash. Her grandma has the unlimited washes every month so if there's ever frost on my windshield she'll tell me I need to go to the car wash. Otherwise she'll just tell me we need to go there.
Every day when we arrive back at Papa's house she'll insist on ringing the doorbell. This evening he went with me to pick her up and I dropped him off closer to the door so he wouldn't slip on the ice and also to unlock the door. From the car Rachel started yelling, "Papa! WAIT!!! I need to ring the doorbell!" He couldn't hear her, but bless his heart he waited to open the door until she got to ring the doorbell. It makes the dog go beserk, yet he knows she likes to do that so he lets her.
Instead of demanding a snack or a drink she'll come skipping into the kitchen and ask for some juice or some cheese. Or, like this evening, just grab something off the table and walk off with it.
She still insists on eating snow every time she sees it. She knows I keep her mittens in her coat pockets so she'll grab a fist full of snow and just eat it. And why not?
For Valentine's Day Aunt Gail gave her a book called "Nobody Noticed the Mouse." We have read it every single night since I brought it home. She loves it.
In the morning she knows the usual breakfast items and she'll tell me what she wants. For the longest time all she wanted was cereal. Since I don't buy the super sugary stuff anymore I can tell it's lost its luster. Typically she'll ask for PB&J or pancakes. Once in a while it'll be cereal. I felt horrible when she asked for pancakes this morning and I'd already made breakfast for Jason and Howell. I didn't have time for pancakes. Then found out it was National Pancake day. Logically, I KNOW she didn't know that. But how fun would it have been to say that of course we celebrated pancake day?!
I haven't posted any photos in a while.....but I honestly haven't been taking any. It just doesn't cross my mind as much.
We went shopping on Saturday and then out for sushi and she actually ate with the "kid" chopsticks. She was pretty well behaved and I was proud of her. She enjoyed seeing the Hibachi grills since other people were sitting at them. She also ate all the sushi we put on her plate and then some of mine. (Salmon Roe.....ah, SOOOOO happy!)
As a parent, I'll say the first few weeks here were rough. The first week in the new school; ROUGH. Rachel couldn't nap in the new environment and she was exhausted when she got home. New routines are really hard on little people. But I'll say that for the huge amount of change that happened last month she did pretty darn good.
I'll sing praises over and over again about the Montessori school. I can tell a HUGE difference in her development, vocabulary, independence and her manners. Don't get me wrong, at least once a day we have a huge fight where I get so mad I have to leave the room. But afterwards when she's calm and I can be calm I sit down in the rocking chair and explain why I was mad, the behavior I didn't like, and then I remind her that I love her and I'm trying to teach her.
Potty training is going very well. She's only come home (when I've been in town) twice with her clothes changed, which I consider a big accomplishment. I promised myself last week that as soon as I unpacked her waterproof mattress cover it was time to take the plunge and let her sleep in underwear. We've not had a problem. Looking back.....I was probably not ready to deal with soiled pants and opted not to put her in a pull up and underwear sooner. Regardless, I'm glad she was as close to potty training as she was and this new school has helped guide her over the last hurdle. Now the big problem is the hygiene. She's got a horrible rash on her rear that won't go away and the potty training just isn't helping. Her first week was pretty nasty. Now, however I can tell she's more skilled. We still have a long way to go in advancing those motor skills and keeping things sanitary. Still....at home her potty is upstairs with a special seat and I'm thankful it's not a toilet anyone other than Jason and myself use. I think I clean it completely every other day. She's potty trained....I'll not dwell on the grossness!
For as mad as she makes me nearly each evening, I love love LOVE it when we have conversations. Every day on our way to and from school she wants to watch Aladdin. I'll put just about any movie in the car she wants, but she likes Aladdin. Surprisingly, I don't mind listening to it over and over and over. I've known this movie by heart since it came out back in the 90's. So with each scene she'll excitedly exclaim something..."Mommy look! It's moving!" "That camel is so sleepy." "Uncle Far!" (not sure why....but that's what she calls "Jafar".) Sometimes she'll sing along with the movie. And I LOVE that.
On Sunny days she'll point out her window, "Look mommy, Mr. Sunshine's awake!" Sometimes she'll sing me the Sunshine Song. Sometimes she'll just ask me to sing it.
The other day we put on a shirt and she said, "Look mommy, I have polka dots on my sleeve!" I was stunned. At what point at school would they have had time to talk about polka dots?!
Once in a while she'll help me in the kitchen and she can crack eggs all by herself. (I chase the eggshells out later....but I'm noticing less and less of them!)
One of her favorite things to do is go to the carwash. Her grandma has the unlimited washes every month so if there's ever frost on my windshield she'll tell me I need to go to the car wash. Otherwise she'll just tell me we need to go there.
Every day when we arrive back at Papa's house she'll insist on ringing the doorbell. This evening he went with me to pick her up and I dropped him off closer to the door so he wouldn't slip on the ice and also to unlock the door. From the car Rachel started yelling, "Papa! WAIT!!! I need to ring the doorbell!" He couldn't hear her, but bless his heart he waited to open the door until she got to ring the doorbell. It makes the dog go beserk, yet he knows she likes to do that so he lets her.
Instead of demanding a snack or a drink she'll come skipping into the kitchen and ask for some juice or some cheese. Or, like this evening, just grab something off the table and walk off with it.
She still insists on eating snow every time she sees it. She knows I keep her mittens in her coat pockets so she'll grab a fist full of snow and just eat it. And why not?
For Valentine's Day Aunt Gail gave her a book called "Nobody Noticed the Mouse." We have read it every single night since I brought it home. She loves it.
In the morning she knows the usual breakfast items and she'll tell me what she wants. For the longest time all she wanted was cereal. Since I don't buy the super sugary stuff anymore I can tell it's lost its luster. Typically she'll ask for PB&J or pancakes. Once in a while it'll be cereal. I felt horrible when she asked for pancakes this morning and I'd already made breakfast for Jason and Howell. I didn't have time for pancakes. Then found out it was National Pancake day. Logically, I KNOW she didn't know that. But how fun would it have been to say that of course we celebrated pancake day?!
I haven't posted any photos in a while.....but I honestly haven't been taking any. It just doesn't cross my mind as much.
Finally catching up on some blogs! Love this update about Rachel's new activities! ;) And I'm also craving sushi now!
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