Embracing our inner princesses

We embraced our inner princesses today. Actually it was the big girls who were total princesses today with their father and grandfather egging them on. We made a trip to the Princess store today for haircuts. Lior was very excited about it this morning and was highly motivated to leave the house. She told me exactly what was going to happen and what the hairdresser was going to do, she even told me the color of the lollipop she was going to pick out. Sydney just told me that Lior was going to go first and then she was going to go. Both girls wanted Jordan to get a haircut but since she does not have enough hair she had to settle on a lollipop.
Sydney had such a grand plan but when we got there they took both girls at the same time. Sydney took it well and was coaxed into the chair by a very experienced hair dresser and beautiful flowers for her hair. Sydney can be bought! Lior on the other hand was having no part of the chair and wrapped her legs around my waste and her arms around my neck. I finally got her into the chair because Matt came over and held on to her hand the entire time.
Sydney sat beautifully in the chair and was so very brave. She was so proud of herself and so were we. The haircuts look beautiful and I think the girls had a great time.


I know Matt did, you should have seen his face when they sprayed the glitter on the girls hair. Priceless!
I know Jordan did, she got all the reward without having to be tortured in the "chair".
After the haircuts we made our trip over to the shoe store where Jordan and Lior got shoes. Sydney did not need shoes so she went shopping with Grandpa instead. They both had a great time but who would not have a good time playing in Pottery Barn Kids? The stuff in that store is so nice but way too expensive. Sydney had a great time visiting the toys and pretending to be me!
Today was a big day for two of my girls Sydney used the "big potty" twice today while we were out. Now this might not seem like a big deal but it is HUGE! We have been carrying around a portable potty so she can go on that. I hope that this trend will continue. Jordan also sat on the potty today while we were out. She insists on going to the bathroom every time the girls do and today Matt asked her if she wanted to sit and she did. The girls were so excited. They held her hand and told her she could do it. She did not pee but she sat and that is half the battle. Way to go Jordan!
Poor Akiva he does not stand a fighting chance. He is just surrounded by all these glamorous girly girls. His shirt just says it all.

Random thoughts

Akiva is seven weeks old and everyone in this house is completely in love with him. Lior loves to look at him and give him kisses. Sydney loves to help me change his diapers and cover him with a blanket. Jordan is still constantly kissing his head and demanding to hold him. He is starting to gain more head control and enjoys looking around. He smiles at me and coos when I talk to him which melts my heart and makes we want to eat him up! He is sleeping for longer stretches, he nurses at nine every night and sleeps through to about four, eats and goes back to sleep until about seven. Not bad, huh?
Sydney had her first real temper tantrum the other day when we were out for a walk with her bike. She has some temper and is relentless but I stood my ground and did not give in, even though I really wanted to and she was much better by the time we got home. It is odd to see her have a melt down because she tries so hard to be the very best listener and follow directions. Sydney has been having a hard time separating from me in the morning at school and complaining about a tummy ache on mornings that she has to go to school. I wish she did not get so stressed out about leaving me because I know she has a great time once she gets warmed up. Now she will have plenty of time with me and hopefully she will want to go to camp ever day this summer.
Lior is still giving us a run for our money. Right now she is the one who is giving us a hard time over everything we ask her to do. Earlier this week we had a battle and I am proud to say that I won! Lior was claiming that she could not get dressed because she could not do it. Lior has been able to dress herself for as long as I can remember so I demanded that she start dressing herself again. Now she is not willing to accept help and demanding to dress herself. I have created a monster! Lior has been very silly lately and we are using her silliness to our advantage, instead of feeding into her demands and whining we are joking around with her and it is working. Now instead of screaming and yelling at us she is laughing and smiling (most of the time).
Jordan is actually a monster. She is by far our toughest child. If you tell her no, she looks at you, laughs and does it anyway. She hits Sydney and Lior and runs away. She kicks us when we try and change her diaper or sit next to her on the couch. She sounds like a real monster doesn't she? She is also the sweetest child who walks up and kisses you for no good reason. She is combining more words together on a daily basis. Her vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds and I am hoping that as her vocabulary increases her screaming will decrease. I can only hope because she is really a delightful child with the strongest of wills and a nasty temper! Jordan is blessed with both Matt and my tempers which is not necessarily a good thing. I have a flash point of anger and Matt tends to throw things (you should see his office door!)... we may be in for it!

School

When I was in graduate school it was common practice to target all of our goals during "play". I was really doing therapy with kids but we were not sitting at a desk running drills or creating grammatically correct sentences. Instead we were having a pretend picnic, fishing, or cooking. Some of the parents thought all their kids were doing was playing and did not see the therapeutic value of play. I understand and value the importance of play and want my children to have a strong foundation in play.
When I sent my girls to school they knew all the basics. They knew colors, shapes, basic counting, could follow simple directions, turn pages in a book but their pretend play skills were just emerging. Sydney and Lior "played" together but not really cooperatively. After about a month at school I really began to see a lot more imitation in their play and now they are really using imitation in their play and truly playing cooperatively. Since their language skills have increased their play has become more elaborate. They have started playing school,Lior is Morah Stacey, Sydney is Morah Shulie (or Julie), and Jordan is Morah Shainey . They pretend to read books or help with a tea party. What thrills me is that they include Jordan in their play and she really plays along. When she is pretending to beShainey she answers to Shainey's name and does what ever the bigger kids tell her to do. I love that when Sydney changes her babies diapers she needs to put on gloves because that is how they do it at school.
I know their are a lot of people who do not understand that children learn through play, imitation and repetition and would not see this year as being successful for the girls. I see that the girls have established a solid foundation in learning how to play. They are learning the pragmatic skills necessary to get along in the world. I do not gauge success by how many letters they know or how high they can count. I do not think that kids should be reading when they are three. I know that when they are ready to learn how to read or write they will because developmentally they will be ready.
Even though I was not read to send them to school and still am not thrilled with the time I spend away from them. I am thrilled with the progress they have made this year and can count their first school experience as successful. Of course there are things I did not like and wish could have been done differently but the girls reallybenefited from their first school experience. Now I have to gear myself to camp FIVE days a week because of course I am not ready and do not want to send them. I wonder if I will feel that way in a couple of weeks but tonight I am not ready!

Chocolate anyone?

Yumm!!!

Pool time

Matt set up the new pool yesterday. I should say he tried to set up the pool yesterday but since the ground is not level and he did not read the directions he will have to drain and set up the pool a third time. Last night when we got home from dinner Matt hooked the hose up to the hot water heater and gave the girls a mini bath outside. They loved it and asked for the hot water today while they were playing in the pool but since we live in Florida and it was in the eighties I said "no".
The girls do not seem to mind that the pool is not level and drooping on one side. It is bothering Matt and he has watched the instructional DVD and now has grand plans to drain the pool (again) and make it level. I am just watching money flow out of the pool every time Matt dumps a thousand gallons of water onto our lawn. If he yells at me one more time for leaving the water on while I brush my teeth I will remind him of the thousands of gallons of water he wasted trying to fill a kiddie pool!
The girls had a great time playing in their new pool today. They took the pots and pans from their play kitchen and made chicken soup for me using the flowers they found on the ground. Jordan attempted to climb into the pool without help and is surprisingly capable of climbing out of the pool without help. I give her a week before she is in and out of that pool with ease. Sydney and Lior can climb in and out without assistance but are not jumping in yet. I think once they realize they can soak me when they jump in they will be doing it all the time. Sydney stayed in the pool the longest because she was too busy singing "Happy Birthday " to me while she made me my cake...then she poured it on me. I can tell that we are going to have a great time with our pool this summer. Thanks Matt!!!

Very tired

We should be very tired. We have been very busy getting wet. Since it has been so hot getting wet and staying cool has been our top priority. The girls are loving every minute of it and are becoming much better in the pool each time we go. Jordan is a dare devil and is jumping into the pool when we are standing there to catch her. Lior loves dunking her head and doing tricks with Matt. Sydney has became our swim machine and is swimming to the steps underwater! I think if we spent a week by a pool they would be very proficient in the water. It is a good thing that we have such good friends with pools and our very own two foot splash pool in the yard.

Today we got a very early start in an effort to beat the heat. The girls got abused by the goats while they tried to feed them. Even though the goats knocked Sydney over, bumped Lior and nudged Jordan hey fed them and enjoyed doing it. The adults were a little miffed that the goats were so aggressive but got over it because the girls were having so much fun.
Thank goodness there are more and more places that have splash areas for the kids to play in. Today I d not know who had more fun Matt or the girls!

Hats off

It is hot. It is not even summer yet and it is really really hot. I took the kids to the park today and they were really too hot to play. I tried making them wear hats but they just would not keep them on their heads.
Jordan did the best job of keeping it on her head and actually wore it for about twenty minutes.
Sydney was really good at carrying it around but wore it for two minutes during lunch when it became evident that Lior was going to try and wear it.
Lior tried on all the hats
even Akiva's.