Stay awake!

I think I'll start a list of things I'm not proud of that I find myself doing with/to my kids. Otherwise known as,

Things I never thought I'd do as a parent:
- Let them eat three bananas each at one sitting - I mean, is that bad? Still undecided on that one.
- Let them eat food off the floor (not everywhere, but well it's a sliding scale...)
- Worry about my kids as much as I do - the worst kind of worry yet!
- Let a not-yet-two-year-old have a lollipop (I blame the older sister)
- Do anything I can to keep them from falling asleep in the car if I have to run an errand before we go home for naps (imagine tickling, throwing food at them, "Don't go to sleep yet Noah!")

Who can help with the list? Please leave your own additions to the list in the comments section.

Creative Movement

Dylan has been taking Creative Movement (it's like pre-pre-ballet) from the Hyde Park School of Dance this fall. She has learned a lot and seems to have an incredibly enjoyable time. She loves her teacher Miss Allison and especially enjoys "Talk Time" when they get to tell something, show something they brought, or do a dance for the rest of the class. Dylan always chooses to show a dance. Usually it's a butterfly dance (think running around in circles flapping arms), but last week she did break out a bunny dance (so she told me). Parents are not allowed in, except for on visiting day, which was a couple of weeks ago. These pics are from that day.

Here is a taste of ballet class:

Dancers sitting in a circle, pointing and flexing toes (Dylan is on the far right if you didn't notice the blond curls...)

Doing their "fast ballet walks" with hands on hips around the room. Dylan is loving this one!

Pointing toes, getting ready for her turn to gallop across the room!

I wasn't sure whether we should continue doing it this winter or not - I mean it does cost money, and it's cold and snowy and hard to get out of the house sometimes. But these pictures say it all - she really does love it and I think it's probably pretty good for her to listen to the teacher and follow directions in a way that uses her body. I asked her if she wants to keep doing it, and the answer was yes, so we'll go with that for now.

X-ray, Wash it out, Stitches

Dylan got stitches 10 days ago. She stepped up onto a balloon next to the heater in our living room and slipped off - catching herself on the heater - and slicing open her hand. I called Jason to come home from parent-teacher conferences (sorry J) to stay with Noah - there was no way in hell I was taking both kids with me to the ER at 4pm with Dylan bleeding everywhere (not to mention Noah was still sleeping, so I would have had to wake him up). Long story short, we were there 7.5 hours - from 4pm until 11:30pm. It was lots and lots and lots and lots of waiting.

But now to the real point of my post. It's been so fascinating watching/listening to Dylan process this experience. It was very traumatic for her in the ER. She was on a hospital bed laying there for 7.5 hours!! Yes, I was there, and thank you Paul Gottlieb Nipkow - we watched an insane amount of PBS kids Sprout TV. But what did she want to do the whole time she wasn't occupied with Angelina Ballerina? She wanted to hear stories. Stories of me getting hurt as a child. And when I ran out of stories (that was pretty quickly...if you know how good I am at remembering things) I was supposed to make them up! Using all my real family as a child, in my real life, but totally fabricated stories. Essentially, she wanted ME to get hurt standing on a balloon by the heater - or some other equally freakish accident.

Now let me just take a moment to put in a word for my creativity. I think I'm pretty creative...I mean I wouldn't have majored in Graphic Design if I didn't...right? But golly-gee-willikers. After 20 minutes of telling made-up get hurt stories, I was plum out of ideas. But she wanted to do this for 7 hours! It was incredible how she would never get tired of hearing the same story-line over and over again. And if it didn't resemble her situation enough, she would tell me how the plot should go. "First you have to get an x-ray, then you have to wash it out, then you get stitches." See, that was exactly what we were doing.

Fast forward 10 days. Today we got out her stitches at the pediatrician's office. It wasn't too terrible for the 20 minutes we were in there. But the anticipation was brutal. We had several meltdowns just thinking about it all. So, once again, her typical kid coping mechanism - telling stories - putting me as the hurt one - and she is more in control.

If any parent out there hasn't read Playful Parenting by Lawrence J. Cohen, I highly reccomend it. It talks about just this. Children go through experiences that they need to "play out" later. So while I was cringing as we played doctor for the 10th day straight...I understood why. You got something good there Dr. Cohen.

Trick-or-treat!

My kids are old! They got really into the trick-or-treating last night and it was so fun!! They both got sick of their costumes by the end ("This is itching me!!!"), but with no naps, they really did awesome, holding out until almost 8:30. We came down to trick-or-treat in Champaign because we were going to the Illinois vs. Iowa football game on Saturday. So, we went around in their neighborhood.

Dylan and Noah examine the candy loot.

Riding from house to house, snacking on candy. Grandpa Clark is pulling them in their neighborhood.


My little bumblebee flitting around for more candy!

Dylan was our "social butterfly." She would literally enter into conversation with everyone we talked to/got candy from. It was HILARIOUS. She even made a thank you card to give to the person who gave her the best candy (totally her idea). Hah!

Tom Moore, my parents' next-door neighbor, gives Dylan some chocolate!


Noah and Dylan get candy bags from Grandma Cindy!

The family Halloween shot. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for the fun!

Beatitude lesson for the day

Dylan was making up rhymes while eating lunch today (a usual scene at our table..).
We were eating carrots. I came up with parrot to rhyme with carrot. Then it was her turn.

Dylan: Harrot rhymes with carrot!
Me: What's harrot?
Dylan: You know, harrot the earth?
Me: Ohhhhhhh...The meek shall inherit the earth!
Dylan: Yeah!

Of course.