Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Friday, October 22, 2010

First Word

During the morning dance of chaos, Lucy asked me how to spell the word toy.  I told her, and she repeated the letters under her breath.  She does this often, whispering things to herself -- talking to herself.  A few minutes later, she asked for some paper.  I ran downstairs to the laundry room and grabbed the first thing I could find and gave her the paper, secretly thankful she was passing the time before school doing something besides watching TV.  Twenty minutes later she proudly showed me 20 pieces of paper with the single word T-O-Y written on them.  She had written her first word!  So much excitement in the house these days. 


She took all the pieces of paper and handed them out to her friends at school, so they would know how to spell the word too.  Later in the day, she asked for more paper and made more flyers with the word toy carefully written in the upper left hand corner.  We went out to dinner to celebrate (or just an excuse to get out of making dinner?), and she handed out the flyers to everyone in the restaurant.  On our way home, she handed them out to neighbors in the streets.  This is from a girl who doesn't like to wear dresses or put her hair up because "people will say things to me" (read, compliments). 

Up until a month ago, she would have nothing to do with writing.  Hated writing her name, wouldn't do it no matter how cleverly I tried to help.  All her letters were upside down and backwards.  You could see the struggle and frustration.  Often she scribbled lines on a page, probably liking the way it feels, but resembling nothing. This is a major development in Lucy's world.



Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Apple Orchard

We went to an apple farm this past weekend.  Must be the thing to do with kids, since there were so many there it felt like we were living in an ant farm.  These photos of Eli below capture his personality so well right now.  He's two and all about it.  He's been running for about a year now, but it has taken on a new seriousness lately.  You really have to work at it to catch up to him.  And he's strong and will fight you to the death to keep all 32 pounds of him planted on the ground.  He does not like to sit, EVER, even to eat.  He's always into anything, everything, never stopping.  If he has something he thinks he shouldn't, he looks straight at me and shoves it in his mouth, then gives me a little smirk.  Hilariously unfunny most of the time.  He jumps off anything he can find.  Climbs up onto the counters with no stool or chair.  Has no interest in being potty trained and truly plays very quietly by himself when he has a load in his pants.  He talks all the time, narrating the world around me.  If I feed him anything besides macaroni and cheese, and pushes it away and declares loudly, "I don't like it".  The tickle games could go on for days.  If I stop he grabs my hand and tells to me to do it again.  This boy is funny and has a great sense of humor.  He's taller at 2, than Lucy was a 3.  He likes Diego, but not Elmo. And he's really pissed that he has to sit in a 5 point car seat, while his sister gets to sit in a booster. 



Lucy was like Eli too; intensely active, never letting up, into everything.  People often see Eli and proclaim, "THIS IS WHAT BOYS ARE LIKE".  As if I had it easy the first round with Lucy because she was a girl.  And I laugh (or maybe cry) inside, because this was what Lucy was like too, only worse.  Because she screamed all the time and wouldn't sleep, until just recently.  So far, being five has been a big deep breath of fresh mountain air.  She listens to me sometimes, even does what I ask once in a while.  She sweetly tries to take care of her brother (when she isn't grabbing her toys out of his hands).  Last night she set the table for the whole family without asking.  I can sometimes reason with her now, explaining she has no time to watch the Care Bears because she slept late and we need to get to school.  She actually accepts that answer and moves on without melting into the floor in a pile of tears.  She knows when Eli is doing something wrong and lets us know.  But, she hasn't taken it too far and become an annoying tattle tale.   She's still the same old Lucy, but just a little softer.  She gets upset when her old clothes don't fit her anymore and she tells me she wants to be four again like some of her friends.  And even if that were possible, I'd never let it happen in a million years.  I love five.