Are you sure they will let her in school someday?

Is it too early for a drink? Let's see.....my learning experience of the day is JUST how persistant AND crazy AND dramatic Sylvie can be. She has not been sleeping well, has been having lots of nightmares, and the past few nights I have been back at that "getting a toddler to bed can wreak havoc on your emotional sanity" stage and it's draining. She can sleep in our bed well once in awhile, but the past 2 nights she's kicking, tossing, turning and generally making it really difficult to sleep. So she woke up cranky....again. And then was fighting with Logan all morning over toys.

So let's make today's agenda "Sign Logan up for Kindergarten from 9-11 am today only." and tell the kids. Let's say they scream, cry, fuss and whine about everything having to do with getting them ready to get out the door. And then let's add in the extra stress of my basement flooding late last night so me staying up late moving everything all around....again. Oh, and let's have me walking through that water in my socks finding appropriate proofs of residency for this morning. And filling out 15 pages of forms on my child.

So, we get there and it's soooo windy and cold both kids are miserable just walking to the school from our parking spot. Logan is upset, he's not keen on this whole " new school" idea. Sylvie's upset because today is something about Logan, and not her. Get inside, wait in line to check in at the desk, get to a multi-purpose room and oh look, they gave us goldfish and coloring pages, how sweet!

But wait, there is one red ball and lots of kids chasing it, we can do that too right? Mom says no, stay by me for a bit. Knows it's going to be an issue that there is only 1 ball. At least for Sylvie. Which it is. Insert 10 minutes of two kids whining about wanting wanting wanting wanting to play. Fine, go play, but don't come crying to me when you have to share the ball, promise? We promise.

"WAAAAAAHHHHH!!!! I CAN"T PLAY WITH THE BALL!!!!" Did you hear that over in Pennsylvania today, Joe? Because it sure was loud and Logan said it hurt his ears. Okay, now repeat that screaming and continue it for the next 45 minutes while you try to fill out 15 pages of forms (that are just different enough from the ones offered online that you need to re-copy it all in there and a few questions are worded differently, so make sure you are actually reading them or your child might get sucked into services he doesn't need). Insert well-meaning moms, other kids, a sweet brother, and staff trying to make her happy. Insert more screaming, more drama, and a big ol' headache for us all. Take time with the screaming child in a corner and watch her flail all around like a chicken with her head cut off wanting to go home NOW. Remind her to please be quiet so she doesn't set off the fire alarms or send ranting teachers into the room to yell, and hope for the best. Logan's preschool teacher has a child who she was signing up for kindergarten, and even she looked horrified at Sylvie's behavior, and she deals with these kids all day long!

Now in my real life, if we were at a store, we would have just left. If we were at home, she would have made the discipline rounds of a time out, a longer time out, toys in time out, time out in her room as a last resort. But the problem with following through with any of these right now is that she screams like a banshee through any and all of the above options, so this was not going to solve our noise level issue.

Sigh. Get paperwork done, pull myself together, try not to look like the worst mom on the planet and get in line to turn it all in. Where she stands next to me, crying and crying and finally stops. And then starts up again. And then stops. And then starts up again.

Let's just hope the school lets her in when it's her turn, but I'm thinking they may have her name and photo somewhere on the wall with a "Do not let her enter" sign next to it!!!! Let us hope the rest of this day is BETTER!!!! And perhaps she will fall asleep on the way home from dropping Logan off at preschool. Maybe I'll take the loooong way home. It'll be like a vacation!

Conversations of the night......

"I want you to marry me."
"I not gonna marry you. I am not Cinderella" (she had taken her costume off for the night)
"I can marry Snow White. Can you marry me Snow White?"
"No."
"I need someone to marry. Marry me today."
"No, I can marry you tomorrow."


"Is this moose toy from when I was a baby? He's broken."
"Yes, he's from when you were a baby."
"Then I will call him Moosey. Can we fix him?"
(later on) "Can I watch you sew him?"
"You can even try it." He sews his own stuffed animal very well!
"Sylvie! Come see! I can sew!!!!"
"Me too!" She does pretty patiently for a 3 year old as well.
"My daddy said you can use different colored string."
"Good, because we're out of brown. Should we use black?"
"I think when Moosey gets hurt we can use more and more and more colored strings. Then my Moosey will look like a RAINBOW." This boy is about as sweet as they come. He even let his sister get the first hug from Moosey after he was fixed. I'm proud of the new sewing skills too!

Bike Trail in February

It amazes me what a 45 minute bike ride in the cold can do to boost your mood. Especially when you got to ride for the first time in months. And especially when you spent the first 8 hours of your day stressed out because there was nothing to do at work. Bike Trail, you may not be beautiful yet, but come springtime, you'll be sick of seeing me:)

Tonight

1- Clean Up

Logan and I have had all-out battles where he does NOT want to clean up. Today I kept saying "in a minute we'll clean some of this up." But then 100 things took precedence. So finally it was time. I decided to turn on YouTube with Barney's "Cleanup" song to get them going. It went pretty well. Logan did defiantly decide he was "too tired" and a threat of putting his toys into time out worked. Even though he said "I don't like toys anymore" I just said "I don't mind if you don't like the toys, you still need to clean them up because I don't want to trip on them." and it worked! At some point Sylvie was saying "Mom, Logan's not putting any toys away." to which he responded "Shhh...Sylvie, you're not supposed to tell mom that! She has to see it herself." But then he started cleaning again.

2-YouTube gone wrong

I'm very aware that YouTube holds some very inappropriate content. Like vidoes that start with Elmo's theme song from Sesame Street and then cut to Tickle Me Elmo on fire. I've learned to pause the video and scroll to the comments and you usually get a good sense of what the video contains. So I was cleaning up with the kids and went to put some toys by the basement stairs and decided to haul them all the way down. I'm down there and hear "Mom, Barney is over!" followed by more Barney music. I'm calling up not to touch buttons but of course it was too late. My computer guru (Sylvie) had figured out how to click some picture of Barney. I came running up and over to the computer telling them they can't press computer buttons without mommy there next time. Sure enough it was some video clip called "Censored Barney" with some bleeping sounds. I don't have a clue how inappropriate it was, but they only saw about a minute. It looked like the Barney song made into a swearing barney song or some such nonsense. At least it wasn't visually inappropriate, but consider this your warning Mommies, you tube is dangerous territory!

3-Line Dancing

Sylvie likes to usurp the radio/cd player with Disney music. So when she is not demanding her music, I love to listen to some of my own. So I was enjoying some Billy Dean and decided to distract a fight between the two kids that was about to erupt with "Hey Logan, do you know how to Country Line Dance?" So I was attempting to show him and the kids were all giggly about it, I turned on some Garth Brooks and taught them a few fun steps. Granted, it has been a LONG time since I did this in a professional line-dancing bar. And I was never good at it. But hey, to the kids, I looked brilliant. We had SO MUCH FUN. And it was such a workout! Sashaying and dancing and spinning in circles and stomping around with them. Loud country music and happy kids. I hope my kids remember these moments because I sure will:)

Overheard at the office....Overheard at home.....

At the office.....

"Hey what are we doing for lunch?"
"I'll just got to the local place and pick up a pizza. How big of a pizza should we get?"
"We should ask Skinny Girl if she wants to eat pizza. I am pretty sure she's done with Jenny Craig now."

I almost laughed out loud. I mean, yeah, the first thing I want after losing a bunch of weight is office peer pressure to eat pizza for lunch right? And Skinny girl is not me (waah!) it's a woman I'm pretty shocked ever did Jenny Craig, she just seems the athletic and healthy type. I'm wondering if she feined "I'm on Jenny Craig" just to not deal with them making lunch plans each week! Anyway, that just gave me a good chuckle, so I figured I'd share:)

At home...

Logan: "Mommy, when is my next birthday?"
"November 10th."
L: "November 10th AGAIN!?! Every time!"
"Yup, your birthday is on the same day every year."
L: "Well, for my birthday I want a Star Wars lego set, a Transformer's movie,etc,etc....."

Logan's First Floorplan

I was sketching and Logan was asking what I was drawing. So I drew a floorplan of his room while telling him what each thing was. He ran into the next room and got a fresh piece of paper and drew his own.

Here is my kid-friendly floorplan of his bedroom..... Closet on the top, bed on the bottom right, and his blue blankey hiding out in the secret spot behind his bed.

Here is his version....not just copying but he really sat and drew his favorite things from the plan...He drew his closet on the top, his bed with pillow near the top, blue blankey on a little rug in his hiding spot. To the left is his fire engine desk with the circle "siren." He drew a second floorplan later with a mini-picture that he pretended he drew on his desk with a sun and everything. And he drew bunkbeds with him on the bottom and blankey on the top. I was so excited:)

I drew a floorplan with Sylvie and we focused on coloring things the color that they are. Then she took a pencil eraser and attacked it. Gotta love that girl! You never know what is coming next!

Happy St. Valentine's Day!

"Hey Logan and Sylvie, sit next to each other so I can take a picture."

"I love YOU!"

Cool Dude!

Adorable Hoodie

Even Abby wishes you a "Happy Valentine's Day!"

Dawgs......

I am feeling a renewed interest in my dog. I'm actually pretty enamored by her. It could be the cute haircut. But I'm thinking...when the kids were 200% more intense and needy (2 in diapers, bottles, wanting to be held all the time), the dog was just one more needy being who demanded things of me at the worst possible moment (like when I just sat down to feed the baby). We all always loved her, but sometimes I worried that her neediness, however small, would be what pushed me over the edge!

Now, I'm looking at her in a whole new light. She's my sweet quiet companion. When I run upstairs to take a shower, I can almost guarantee she left the family chaos behind and will be sitting on her little doggie pillow outside the bathroom door.

She requires one type of food. From one store. Once a month grocery shopping. And washing her dishes is simple. The kids...the amount of work that goes into their food shopping, prepping and cleaning up after, can get a bit ridiculous.

The dog just went bananas over some little toy I decided to give her. The kids, won't know it was once theirs.

After playing for 5 minutes with said toy, she's relaxing near me and letting me watch tv. When I play with the kids, they are like empty vessels upping the ante and amount of time and energy playing as far as I can stretch. And they never let me watch my own tv:)

The dog doesn't create laundry, require her own room, request toys, go to preschool or talk my ear off. Oh, and she will NEVER say 'no' or whine about taking a walk. Or have a meltdown about what clothing she is allowed to wear outside. Or get too cool to hang out with me.

Yeah, I'm all for it. Sweet Abby Pupcake can stay:) Just stop trying to eat the food off my kitchen table!

Deep Thoughts...

I went on a Reunion retreat this Saturday, like a "refresher course" for the religious retreats I went on in college. It was right near campus with a mass being held at a church in the heart of the University of Illinois. What a great university U of I is. In High School I was able to attend a studio charette on campus geared towards students who thought they would like to be architects. I immediately knew I needed to be an architect and needed to go to U of I. I was fortunate to make it in, and have parents willing to pay for me to attend.

So as I wandered campus in the middle of the retreat, I plopped down on a bench and wrote what I was thinking at the time....

I am bigger and smaller than the institutions that formed me.....

I am smaller. Here I sit on the campus of the Illini. A city in itself built around education, inspiration, challenge, acceptance and rejection. My 4 year visit is over, my belongings have been packed up and moved on. My apartments and dorms do not allude to my visit. My drawings no longer hang on the walls. The campus has taken on a new face. Not only nature's will, with trees growing and plant life blooming, but also new buildings, new pathways, upgrades in every direction. My visit is me, a visitor, I do not have a place where I belong. I am an observer.

I am bigger. I am larger than just this place. It is not the only experience. It only represents 4 of the 32 years I have lived. I have gleaned from this place a strong foundation for the theories and architects that have come before me. Learned the history of the world in built form. Listened to the opinions of others when I presented my own ideas. I created friendships, some long-term, some ending at graduation. I learned how to be independant and created an adult version of myself. And then I moved on......

While I am nostalgic for my time on campus, and my era of being a student, that time has become a part of my own history. A piece of who I am. I have continued to grow and learn in other ways, at other places, and with my own life. I look forward to seeing my children learn, it is their turn for school and learning. And my turn to teach.

All summer in a day

Did anyone see that movie or read that book? It was about some kids on another planet where one day a year there was sunshine and the flowers bloomed. Today it was sunny and warm enough to actually BE outside. It's so deceiving to watch tv shows where everyone is making snowmen and sledding all afternoon. While we went outside of course, it was so bitterly cold this winter that it was hard to not worry for our health! Today there was still a good amount of snowcover, and clear sidewalks, and sunshine!

We went for a walk around the block and the kids came up with a game called "kick the snow." I ran errands and dropped Logan off and Sylvie was asleep. So I put her in the stroller and walked down about 6 blocks to the CVS and filled the stroller basket with some essentials. It felt so so good to walk outside! I cannot believe the winters here, they are so unhealthy to me! Even in Seattle, I walked around in the rain!

We have all been sick on and off for an eternity. I think it went something like Flu-Colds-Cough-Flu for the rest of the family-Colds for the rest of the family- Massively annoying cough for both kids with me holding my breath til I catch it as well. Trying to keep germs away. Sylvie spitting a mouthful of purple Motrin at my face probably didn't help in keeping the germs away.

Here are a few recent pics...

Knocking the superpowers right out of her

Driving to work, surviving the bitter cold.

Listening to great music, Taking in the sunshine

Ready to begin my "Friday."

Finishing up deadlines left and right.

Plotting sheet after sheet.

Hauling paper and changing the plotter paper (heavy!).

Twice.

Emailing each designer to let them know their

drawings are ready and waiting.

Figuring out details.

Feeling on top of my game.

Not distracted, not tired. Not bored.

Chatting with my co-worker and laughing

that architecture made it to the top 5 worst jobs to

get into right now.

Eat a lunch I packed. Packed one for husband too.

Third time this week.

Good for the checkbook and the waistline.

Feeling good about life.

Make dinner before the kids arrive.

Open the door to a sick little girl with a fever.

Settle her on the couch.

Attend to a million things.

Sylvie is bright pink and burning up with fever and crying.

Freak out that there is no Motrin in the house and the Tylenol is not helping.

And the car in the garage has no carseats in it.

Call mom (no answer).

Think clearly. Get a wet rag.

Rock and hold the rag on her neck until she feels better.

Realize that no matter how much you feel

on top of your game, a sick child can just

knock you right off that pedestal.

And sit and think how grateful that my child's sickness

is just a fever and nothing more.

And smother my kids in hugs and kisses.

Take a phonecall from concerned Abuelita and let her

talk to the now chatty happy girl herself.:)

And smile.

Sniffle Sniffle

We went to see Disney on Ice today, otherwise known as the Icecapades. Our in-laws generously treated us, and that is a good thing looking at the price tags on all the souvineers/treats. Yes, they are pure genious. They attach toys to the food! Featured were the stories of the Little Mermaid, Cars, Lion King and Tinkerbell. Very cute. My kids don't really know the Lion King story, but I think they will be more excited to pay attention to the movie now.

So I'm sitting there, all excited to share such a fun experience with the kids. They kept wondering how it was all going to work, was it a movie, would the characters come near them (Sylvie's fear), would the "bad guys" be there from different movies? Lights go down and Sylvie was just in awe. Her expression never changed from slightly slack-jawed and totally watching every second of it. Logan did pretty good but his ear started hurting a lot from his cold, so he was upset and cranky by the end (plus it was the Tinkerbell story, not so boy-ish).

Sure enough, each Disney story tugs at my emotions. Here are the things that made that lump come to my throat and/or tear up in the span of 2 hours.

• Lights going down, soft glowing flashes of color on my children's faces
• How incredibly excited all the kids in the audience were to see their beloved Mayder and Lightening McQueen
• The Lion king stories- that music is so moving. And who doesn't cry when the mom and dad hold that baby cub up with that "Circle of Life" music playing?
• Mermaid- when the mermaid music started, Sylvie held her breath until Ariel, her beloved Ariel, arrived in full mermaid glory. Purple seashells and all. Aaah, seeing the kids joy that this tv character came to visit us, and gosh, I can't believe she actually knows how to ice skate! Sylvie was delirious on the inside, and on the outside she was sitting like a statue, hardly daring to move, lest that Sea Witch came up to our row to see her.
• Tinkerbell- this show was the finale, so it ended in finale type music that is meant to make you feel like you just lived a whole lifetime in an afternoon and your life's worried just disappeared. Kind of like the fireworks at the end of a day at Disney, when you can't believe it's all over, the day was sheer perfection.

So, yeah, I may have had to wipe a few tears away, but it was worth the few hours of absolute awe on my kids' faces:)