I might have said it before, but I'll say it again: I really like this stage that Rachel's at. There's fewer fits. She's not getting in trouble constantly. We're not fighting as much. She's sweet, cute, cuddly and loveable. And I love that I get to be nice mommy and do fun things with her. She's more into things I enjoy so I'm more apt to wa to spend time with her. And this is such a nice change. The pouty, defiant, needy and spoiled Rachel seems to have finally melted away and I like her attitude now!
A few cute stories....
Since we've moved in to Howell's house every morning I open the blinds in the kitchen because I have an insatiable need to see outside. I need to see what the weather's doing and there truly isn't an explanation other than I just need to know. The kitchen window is one of my favorites because it's the only window in the house where you can see south west, and that's the direction that storms normally come from. So every morning when I go in to kitchen I'll open the blinds and most of the time I'll say aloud, "We're open for business!" Typically, Rachel's still asleep when I do this. This past Friday (pancake day) I woke Rachel up before going into the kitchen because she sometimes likes to make the pancakes. When I finally got her downstairs (seriously. This kid does NOT like to get out of bed!) I got her set up and I opened the blinds without thinking. As I turn to grab measuring cups and the box of pancake batter I hear her say, "We're open for business!" Ah, my little mini-me!!
Yes, pancake day is Friday. Why? Because every morning when I wake Rachel up I ask her what she wants for breakfast. I read somewhere that you're supposed to give your kids the options so they feel they have control of some areas of their life. So breakfast is one I can give on and be flexible with. EVERY day for a while it was "Pancakes!" And when I'd tell her to please pick something else, we can't have pancakes every day I finally decided we had to designate a day to have pancakes. So when I told her that on Fridays we can have pancakes we're now finally to the point where I can tell her today is Friday and guess what that means? I normally get an enthusiastic "PANCAKES!" response.
Wake up time has become something I look forward to instead of dreading. For the first few weeks here in Newburgh getting Rachel awake was a real task. Sometimes it would take me 30 minutes to finally convince her to get out of bed and several times it ended with her and I mad at each other. This wasn't working for me, so I tried a different approach. Now I quietly go into her room and turn off her nightlight then crawl in bed with her to snuggle a little bit. No words, no expectations. I just snuggle up to her, straighten her hair so she knows I"m in the bed then start talking in a quiet voice to wake her up gently. This now has us down to a 10 minute wake up routine instead of 30. She seems to respond better, although once in a while I'll grab her monkey puppet and annoy her. She doesn't seem to get as irritated when the monkey bothers her as compared to me. Even though I'm also the monkey. Ah preschooler logic.
The weather down here is significantly hotter than up in Indy. There's about a week of spring time and then suddenly it's 90° every day. And the mugginess factor increases pretty dramatically as well. So on Saturday we decided to head to the local pool to check it out. Rachel's been going to swimming lessons at school and I know she loves it. We had a great time!
Rachel ended up with Jason's goggles on and also took his sunglasses. At one point she grabbed on to both of us and exclaimed, "We're a Fam-Ah-Leee!" It was so sweet!
We've finally got our garage cleaned out enough that we can pull out her tricycle. She can finally work the pedals on her own! She's not great about turning yet, but we'll get there. She had a great time just doing circles in the driveway.
A new "habit" she's picked up that I'm not overly thrilled with.....and I don't know WHERE this came from. I'm assuming from watching the Aristocats on Netflix. Whenever I ask her to do something she'll respond by saying, "Yes, Mama." Huh? Mama? I've never encouraged her to call me that....to be honest I'm not really thrilled with being called that. Hopefully it's just a phase, and if nothing else at least it somewhat shows a little respect.....in a backhanded sort of way.
Speaking of Netflix....Jason has a second computer set up in his office. Sometimes I'll sit next to him and play video games (it's rare). Mostly it's there for his dad to play video games when he comes over and also for Rachel to watch tv. She LOVES to watch tv in daddy's office. Often the two of them will each be sitting in front of a computer and I'll be behind them sewing on the couch. It's a NICE setup! Jason showed me the other day that he's actually taught Rachel how to use the mouse to click and choose what she watched on tv so we don't have to do it for her. It's kind of nice and she LOVES having the freedom to do it on her own.
Sometimes in the morning as we're walking out the door to go to school she'll stop suddenly and say, "After you!" then motion for me to go ahead of her. She likes to shut the door and also I think it's another one of her ways of just being polite and sweet. I'll take it!
This past weekend I went garage sailing and happened up on a Jesse doll from Toy Story. For some reason THAT is her favorite character, so when I found a doll with a pull string in almost new condition I couldn't pass it up. (Seriously.....this child needs to get RID of toys, we shouldn't be bringing more home!) I don't remember seeing her get this excited over a toy. She takes Jesse everywhere and even sleeps with her. (It's been all of 2 days....but still). I'm not sure if it's because of the movie and the backstory on Jesse that has her so drawn to this toy or what. But I'm thrilled I managed to find something that warranted such a reaction!
A few cute stories....
Since we've moved in to Howell's house every morning I open the blinds in the kitchen because I have an insatiable need to see outside. I need to see what the weather's doing and there truly isn't an explanation other than I just need to know. The kitchen window is one of my favorites because it's the only window in the house where you can see south west, and that's the direction that storms normally come from. So every morning when I go in to kitchen I'll open the blinds and most of the time I'll say aloud, "We're open for business!" Typically, Rachel's still asleep when I do this. This past Friday (pancake day) I woke Rachel up before going into the kitchen because she sometimes likes to make the pancakes. When I finally got her downstairs (seriously. This kid does NOT like to get out of bed!) I got her set up and I opened the blinds without thinking. As I turn to grab measuring cups and the box of pancake batter I hear her say, "We're open for business!" Ah, my little mini-me!!
Yes, pancake day is Friday. Why? Because every morning when I wake Rachel up I ask her what she wants for breakfast. I read somewhere that you're supposed to give your kids the options so they feel they have control of some areas of their life. So breakfast is one I can give on and be flexible with. EVERY day for a while it was "Pancakes!" And when I'd tell her to please pick something else, we can't have pancakes every day I finally decided we had to designate a day to have pancakes. So when I told her that on Fridays we can have pancakes we're now finally to the point where I can tell her today is Friday and guess what that means? I normally get an enthusiastic "PANCAKES!" response.
Wake up time has become something I look forward to instead of dreading. For the first few weeks here in Newburgh getting Rachel awake was a real task. Sometimes it would take me 30 minutes to finally convince her to get out of bed and several times it ended with her and I mad at each other. This wasn't working for me, so I tried a different approach. Now I quietly go into her room and turn off her nightlight then crawl in bed with her to snuggle a little bit. No words, no expectations. I just snuggle up to her, straighten her hair so she knows I"m in the bed then start talking in a quiet voice to wake her up gently. This now has us down to a 10 minute wake up routine instead of 30. She seems to respond better, although once in a while I'll grab her monkey puppet and annoy her. She doesn't seem to get as irritated when the monkey bothers her as compared to me. Even though I'm also the monkey. Ah preschooler logic.
The weather down here is significantly hotter than up in Indy. There's about a week of spring time and then suddenly it's 90° every day. And the mugginess factor increases pretty dramatically as well. So on Saturday we decided to head to the local pool to check it out. Rachel's been going to swimming lessons at school and I know she loves it. We had a great time!
Rachel ended up with Jason's goggles on and also took his sunglasses. At one point she grabbed on to both of us and exclaimed, "We're a Fam-Ah-Leee!" It was so sweet!
We've finally got our garage cleaned out enough that we can pull out her tricycle. She can finally work the pedals on her own! She's not great about turning yet, but we'll get there. She had a great time just doing circles in the driveway.
As I mentioned earlier she gets to go to swimming lessons during the summer session at her school. I figured they'd just be teaching them how to swim, but apparently the kids to get play in a kidding area that has water falls and fun water things. Then they meet with instructors and initially the just blow bubbles in the water, float on their backs, use a noodle to pull someone to the side of the pool and learn about boat safety in inflatable boats. I was stunned. How awesome! Next time they'll be doing actual swimming lessons based on each child's comfort level with the water. There's a class blog that the parents can get to and here's one photo of her:
A new "habit" she's picked up that I'm not overly thrilled with.....and I don't know WHERE this came from. I'm assuming from watching the Aristocats on Netflix. Whenever I ask her to do something she'll respond by saying, "Yes, Mama." Huh? Mama? I've never encouraged her to call me that....to be honest I'm not really thrilled with being called that. Hopefully it's just a phase, and if nothing else at least it somewhat shows a little respect.....in a backhanded sort of way.
Speaking of Netflix....Jason has a second computer set up in his office. Sometimes I'll sit next to him and play video games (it's rare). Mostly it's there for his dad to play video games when he comes over and also for Rachel to watch tv. She LOVES to watch tv in daddy's office. Often the two of them will each be sitting in front of a computer and I'll be behind them sewing on the couch. It's a NICE setup! Jason showed me the other day that he's actually taught Rachel how to use the mouse to click and choose what she watched on tv so we don't have to do it for her. It's kind of nice and she LOVES having the freedom to do it on her own.
Sometimes in the morning as we're walking out the door to go to school she'll stop suddenly and say, "After you!" then motion for me to go ahead of her. She likes to shut the door and also I think it's another one of her ways of just being polite and sweet. I'll take it!
This past weekend I went garage sailing and happened up on a Jesse doll from Toy Story. For some reason THAT is her favorite character, so when I found a doll with a pull string in almost new condition I couldn't pass it up. (Seriously.....this child needs to get RID of toys, we shouldn't be bringing more home!) I don't remember seeing her get this excited over a toy. She takes Jesse everywhere and even sleeps with her. (It's been all of 2 days....but still). I'm not sure if it's because of the movie and the backstory on Jesse that has her so drawn to this toy or what. But I'm thrilled I managed to find something that warranted such a reaction!
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