Simon's many wings

Simon is constantly imagining that he is an owl, cicada, grasshopper, etc. Every night after bath he hops around with his hoodie towel on, and when Zac takes it off, he screams in genuine agony, "You're tearing my wings off!" Here are a few short videos highlighting his antics.

When Simon has a cicada shell or corpse, he plays with it a lot on the porch, wanting to check on it every morning and after school. Eventually they fall apart or he loses them, and then we have to try very hard to find him a new one.

Alice's first night of kindergarten homework

Alice got her first homework packet this week. I guess the teacher will send it home on Mondays and you have to bring it back on Fridays. Luckily, Alice got most of it done the first afternoon in after school care. But even the little bit she had left seemed like such a chore, because she was so tired.

I'm going to try to keep the mood light and have her work on it just a little each night so she doesn't come to dread homework yet.

I let her figure out on her own that wearing slipper-socks on her hands while doing homework was not the best idea.

When you sit in the bath then realize you still have your shirt on...

Outlaw Alice

Jack Smith Park

The morning started out a bit rough, with the kids fighting. So I sent them each to their own room and told them they had to stay there until they could play nicely together. It was a great punishment. I don't know why I haven't done this before. Normally we just put them in separate time out spots.

The plan for the morning was to meet Grayson's family at the brand new Jack Smith Park for a playdate. The park has a splashpad, and even although the morning was cool, Grayson and Alice still played in the water and had a lot of fun!

The rest of us just marveled at them.

When the kids finally turned blue, we changed them into dry clothes and explored the rest of the park.

Fall Festival

Saturday afternoon was the fall festival at Alice's elementary school, put on by the PTA.  Since Simon was still napping, I stayed home with him while Zac took Alice. They had a lot of fun!

Red Park Success

On Saturday morning, I took the kids to the nearby red park to play while Zac did yardwork. Taking the kids to playgrounds is becoming vastly more pleasurable as they require less and less intervention.  Simon is also making a lot of progress in bravery and skill. For example, at this playground, he eventually climbed up the curly slide (with lots of encouragement from Alice) and up the red ladder.

Another fun moment at the park was when some boys around Alice's age showed up. Alice said to one, "Guess what I'm going to be for halloween."

The boy looked up at her and said with contempt, "A princess."

Alice proudly said, "No, I'm going to be Wonder Woman." They immediately hit it off and started playing superheroes together. (This means they run around the playground chasing imaginary villains and blasting them with imaginary powers.)

Simon Uncaged

Because we apparantly like to have as much change as possible at one time, we also spontaneously decided to take the side off of Simon's crib this weekend. The goal is that the kids will play together when they wake up on the weekend mornings and won't bother us.

Here's a final picture of the crib (neither kid would cooperate for a picture).

They both had a lot of fun "helping."

Good first week in the big class!

By all accounts, Simon had a great first week in the big class. Here he is bringing home his bag (with sheets and blanket that we wash weekly) and water.  What a big boy! It seems like it was just yesterday that we had to carry him in and out of daycare because he was scared and clingy every time.

Superhero moisture

Alice has become more fearful at night sometimes. I can remember feeling very scared and alone at night a lot as a kid, so I have a lot of empathy for her. Still, it is annoying because when she doesn't want us to leave or calls for us after being in bed for just a few minutes, it infringes on our precious child-free time.

I always try to talk her through it.  Here is a recent dialogue that took an interesting turn.

Sera: What exactly are you afraid of?
Alice: There is a monster in my closet.
Sera: Really? I've never seen it.
Alice: It's an invisible monster.
[Hmm...two can play at this game...]
Sera: Well, did you know that there are lots of invisible superheroes guarding you every night?

Alice: No there aren't!  If there were, I'd wake up hot from all their moisture. 

Sera: The superheroes are very small, but strong, and there are only three.

Well, I eventually got her to bed.

Simon is in the big class now!

Since he finally got potty trained and a bunch of five years olds left for kindergarten, Simon has moved up to the big class. This is the class for 3-5 year olds, the one Alice just graduated from. He had a few partial days there in advance of his first full day today. The teachers report the transition went very smoothly. It probably helped that he was used to going in there to pick up Alice in the afternoons all the time.

Simon's new room configuration

We spontaneously decided to move Simon's room around a little bit. We traded the chair and the dresser, so the chair is next to the bookcase now. This is to have more room for the books so they hopefully won't be all over the floor quite so much.

Simon was not happy about the change. During story time, he said, "I like this book. I don't like my room!"

Kids at Green Park

Zac took the kids to our neighborhood park on Sunday morning so I could do laundry and get some grading done. Alice and Simon were tearing it up on the tennis courts!

So afterwards, Zac treated them to some cool drinks from S-Mart on the way home.

Double Trip Day

On Saturday, the roofers were still going to be putting new shingles on our house (remember the hail storm?), so we wanted to be gone for the entire day. The morning started out pretty rough, but once we got the kids fed, they had a little more energy. Too much, in fact. So Zac sequestered them in the back bedroom so I could pack up in peace, without a thousand interruptions.

Our plan for the day was to head north to check out Kerr Lake, then drive to Burlington to visit with Zac's dad's family. The lake was intentionally far away to allow the kids ample naptime on the drive to Burlington. Usually the drive is the easiest part of our day.

We got to Kerr Lake around noon and had the swimming area completely to ourselves for a while. We had a picnic lunch while the sunblock soaked in, then went swimming for a while.

After the kids had satisfied their swimming needs, we took a walk along the shoreline of the adjacent coves. The water was down, so the shore was muddy, which the kids absolutely loved.

Once the kids were worn out, we changed clothes and drove to Burlington. Our plan worked great and everyone got a nap except Zac, our chauffeur. When we arrived, Tom took the kids to feed the fish in the fountain, which they loved.

 We had takeout from a local BBQ joint for supper, which the kids ate well. Alice declared it the best day ever, since it was a double trip day. 

Fishing

Haven't we all wanted to go fishing in the bathtub after tinkling in the potty?

Alice gets to wear the white outfit

Alice has wanted to wear this outfit since she spotted it in her closet (handmedown from someone). But I wouldn't let her wear it because as you can see, the shirt it very white and Alice is the queen of getting dirty. But, I finally let her wear it on a day when she was having a lunch with no red sauce (which is rare, actually). Surprisingly, it was still fairly clean at the end of the day. She loves white shirts because I never let her wear them. Why white shirts for children even exist is beyond my comprehension.

Simon gets his poop prize!

After consistently pooping in the potty for a week, Simon finally earned his poop prize! About a month ago Zac had the idea to let him pick out this toy at Target with the promise that he could have it when he always pooped in the potty. And I think Zac wanted an excuse to buy another Lego set, since legitimate holidays like Christmas are so far away.

Zac has a lot more fun cleaning up the living room than I do

Simon loves cicadas

Simon loves playing with dead cicadas. Here, he gives his two current pets a ride on his helicopter.

Every night at bedtime, we have to watch a cicada video on youtube now.

When he's on the couch, Simon likes to pretend he is a cicada and we have to bury him under pillows and he will hatch.

Sometimes, at supper, he likes to recite the following public service announcement:  "Cicadas are very noisy. Ants are very slow. Cockroaches are very fast."

Meet our newest family member, Mrs. Bones

It was Alice's idea to put the dress on her.

Paper Boy, Wonder Woman, Cicadas, Skeletons, Spiderwebs & Soccer

You know, just another Sunday morning. Our plans for the day were to go to Target to buy Alice a new carseat, then to Walnut Street park.

Simon loves to help get the newspaper in the mornings.

Cicada supper is ready!

Simon loved these crows (ravens?) in the Halloween section at Target.

And of course we had to buy a skeleton.

And we got Alice her Halloween costume: Wonder Woman!

Even Wonder Woman needs a fresh manicure sometimes.

On our way back home from Target, we had stopped at Walnut street park so the kids could play on the playground. They're finally big enough to do the climbing web there. We also brought our soccer ball. Alice is getting pretty good at kicking the ball around (she was of course doing better before we started making the video).