More About School

Sebastien and Eden have successfully attended school without a parent twice now. Both have gone without tears and had a fabulous time. Get ready for a long post....

The first day I dropped them off after lot of talk over the previous week, so that by the time we got there, they pretty much understood what was going to happen. I still expected that when I turned to leave, someone (ah-hem Eden?) would be anxious and want me to stay or something. I had all sorts of plans to make this go well. But when the time came, I kissed them good-bye, they turned away and didn't look back. So...that's great! I'll admit I didn't quite know what to do with myself. I may have wandered the hall with Violet a little bit, you know, just to be sure. But it was not necessary for me to linger. They were good.

Did I cry? Well, maybe I teared up a little as Violet and I drove away. But honestly mostly I was just proud, thankful and excited.

When I picked them up, I went a little early and I could see them through the window of the classroom. They were sitting in a circle with the other kids, doing the "Going on a Bear Hunt" song, and fully participating. Bash was bopping his head and doing the motions, and Eden was also doing the motions, watching carefully to make sure she had them right. It was a precious sight.

Mrs. Vos told me that they did great. She said that when she announced that they were going on a bear hunt, Eden looked at her and said, "A bear hunt? That's interesting!" And at one point they were making fuzzy bears, and Bash kept putting on more "fuzz" (paint) and saying, "Is it fuzzy yet?" with every new stroke of paint. She also mentioned that at the very end, with only a few minutes left, Eden got a look on her face, "like she was done with her day here." Mrs. Vos invited her to sit on her lap, which Eden did for a minute or so and then she was all smiles again.

Bash was very sad to leave. He continued to tell me that he wanted to go back to school the whole way home, once we were in the house, and through lunch. Eden was absolutely beat from her busy morning, and did not want to talk about details.

However...when Eden woke up from her nap, I crawled into bed with her for some snuggles. Suddenly, she said, "They had Veggie Tales, and we have Veggie Tales! They were there!" I said, "Veggie Tales? At school...on TV?" And she said, "No.... SONGS!" Well this opened a floodgate of information. She went on about rest time and laying on a mat, and Mrs. Vos turning off the light. She talked about the color of her mat, and the color of Bash's mat, at which point, Sebastien was apparently awake because he said, "yeah...green." She told me about the bear hunt, about the song they did and the craft. She was excited because next week they were going to talk about caterpillars.

Which leads us to this week. Both of the kids have had colds this week, and I was praying that they would not have to stay home from school. Thankfully no fevers and enough improvement meant that they could go today. They were both so excited to go back.

I have not gotten a lot of details about their day today. But they did well again. Neither were sad when I left. Bash brought Bob and Larry for Show and Tell. Eden brought their LeapFrog computer.

Adam picked them up and walked them home. Mrs. Vos reported that Sebastien was a little more subdued, which makes sense since he is still a little under the weather. But later we were asking them about school and Eden told us that they watched a beautiful butterfly on TV, and that "Mrs. Vos had a low TV but Mrs. Alfree had a high TV." I don't know what that means. She also told me that she showed her computer for Show and Tell and said "I teached Mrs. Vos how to use it." And Sebastien spontaneously told us, "A butterfly lays an egg, and the caterpillar comes out and it has so many legs! Then he spins and spins a cocoon and goes inside and stays for two whole weeks. And then he wiggles his body and wiggles his head and POPS out and...it's a beautiful butterfly!"

The other sort of funny thing is that Eden has not peed at school at all. She wears her undies, but she won't pee there. By the time she gets home, she has to GO. So I said, "Why didn't you go pee pee at school, Hon?" And she said, "Oh, our potty is just better."

Can I just say how much I love hearing them talk about school! It just warms my heart. I am so proud of them, they have both taken to this new adventure like total champs. So far the Friday morning preschool experience has been wonderful and I'm just so thankful.

First Day of Preschool...

Sebastien and Eden had their first day of preschool today! Well, it was technically just "visiting day," but we are counting it as the first day. 

All ready to go!

Done with pictures, let's go Mom!

 We had a lovely walk to school. The kids chatted eagerly all the way there. "Will we get to paint?" (Eden.)  "Does Mrs. Vos have a basement?" (Sebastien.) "What door will we go in?" (Also Sebastien.) "Is it going to be Christmas at school?" (Eden) "I'm going to play a xylophone!" (Sebastien.)

Eden was a little anxious about going to school and repeatedly asked whether I was going to stay with her. As it was visiting day, I could say that I was. (I am not sure how it will go next week when I have to drop them off and leave...but one day at a time.)

Aren't they adorable in their way-too-big backpacks?

I only have pictures from the walk to school. I did not actually take pictures in the classroom. Mostly because none of the other moms were armed with cameras. Plus I felt like maybe I needed to just be in the moment and not preoccupied with capturing the moment on camera.

Their teachers are absolutely wonderful and definitely did a great job allowing the kids to explore and get to know their school setting. Sebastien was eager to answer questions and speak up. He had fun exploring the room, and seemed comfortable with the whole situation. Bash was sad to leave. The entire walk home, he dawdled (even more than usual) saying "I want to go back to school!" He even stopped or turned around a few times, like he was going to head back there whether Mommy liked it or not.

Eden was more shy at first in school, but was definitely interested in the craft they did and the "bear hunt" that was organized. After all was said and done, she walked in the house to tell Grandma Tuls (who was home with Violet) "We had fun at school!" She also had stories to tell Daddy later. I think that we have our tentative girl pretty convinced that preschool is a great thing. (Cross your fingers and say a prayer that she'll hold this opinion next week when it sinks in that Mommy doesn't usually stay at preschool. But again, one day at a time.)

Happy Birthday Violet!

Our sweet baby Violet turned 1 on August 30! We had a birthday party for her on the 28th, and we were overwhelmed and touched by the attendance and the gifts of family and friends who adore our girl almost as much as we do. Violet was fairly serious during her party, taking it all in. But some day she will love hearing all about her first birthday party!

Sebastien and Eden had a great time at Violet's party, and thoroughly enjoyed eating Violet's cake and opening Violet's presents. They liked entertaining Violet's guests and playing with Violet's new things. They've even asked a few times since Violet's birthday, "Is it Violet's birthday again today?"

Violet is looking and acting much less like a baby and more like a toddler all the time. She is not walking quite yet, but she is very capable of getting where she wants to go, nonetheless. She crawls pretty quickly and scoots around the furniture with ease. She can stand for a couple seconds on her own, and has taken about a step and a half a few times.

Violet loves books, and she points to pictures and words (with her chubby little pointer finger) wanting to know what things are. She also likes to take our fingers and make us point to the things she's interested in. Vi is more and more eager to follow her brother and sister around and she often wants to join in their activities (much to their dismay at times.) But by far Violet's favorite thing is music. She enthusiastically joins in our after-dinner family dance parties. She bops and twists to music without fail. And usually when someone starts to sing, she will begin to swing and sway.

Violet is gaining new words as well. In addition to Mama and Dada, her favorite word is "ball." She can also say, "up," "buppa" (grandpa), "buh-bye" and she can say "oof"(woof), "moo" and "meow." She can sing "EIEIO" and does the motions with "The Itsy Bitsy Spider." She says "ooooh" when looking at books with Mama and "mmmm" when she's eating. She also can fake sneeze, and she often joins in laughing when everyone else is, with a rather fake-sounding laugh.

Violet loves finger foods, and it's harder and harder to get her to eat baby food without her making a ridiculous mess. (She really took to her birthday cake, but then struggled to sleep that night, all hopped up on sugar.) She likes to hold her own spoon and dip it in her yogurt or her baby food jar to feed herself.  We've switched Violet to cups from bottles, and from formula to milk. She does not always love drinking from her cup or drinking her milk. But we're sticking with it. We also dropped her bed time drink. She has done just fine with that change. She sleeps very well at night, and usually naps two times a day.

The last year with three very young ones has of course had its challenges at times, but it has been worth absolutely all of it. Violet is sweet, funny, adaptable, clever, social, cuddly and just a wonderful addition to our family. We are so excited to continue to watch her grow and learn about the world around her. 

Daddy Day

Mondays were consistently "Daddy Day" for the first two years of Sebastien's and Eden's lives. Adam started his work day at 6:00am so that I could go to work at noon, then he would bust his hiney during naps and after I got home to finish up anything that he hadn't gotten to. After Violet was born, I took my sweet time in going back to work, and Daddy Day was not so consistently happening. Adam continued to work in Grand Haven on Mondays, but I really worked very few Monday hours, and for awhile I worked none at all.

But I will now only be working out of Bethany's new Grand Haven office, and so my schedule has changed. Mondays is once again Daddy Day! Our routine will be changing a bit this time, because Monday will really be my only set work day. So my mom is helping us cover Monday mornings so that I can start my day earlier without Adam losing work time.

All that to say that Daddy Day is back and better than ever. Daddy Day is a highlight of our kids' week. They love Daddy Day, and I can say with confidence that having a Daddy Day is one of the best decisions we made for our family. Moms and Dads typically do things a little differently, and we are no exception to that. Our kids are better for having both in their routine.

This particular Monday, Adam started his day at 6:00am like usual, but my mom was in Turkey, so we could not have that "cover" for those morning hours. I started my day a little later and Adam cut his morning a little short. Then he busted his hind-end even harder during nap time and after I got home, so that his work didn't suffer.

But the point is, on that Monday, he helped the kids make their first "To Do List."

I don't know about you, but if that was my to-do list, I'd be pretty excited too. The kids loved it. When I came home, they went point by point through their list, telling me about all the things they did that day with Daddy. I think it just might have been one of the best Daddy Days ever. Adam is really an awesome dad, and our kids just adore him and every moment they get to spend with him.

The only "problem" with this particular day was that the next day, Bash hauled out the list thinking that we were going to be able to repeat all those activities in order...

THREE!!

I am just amazed at how fast the last 3 years have gone. Each phase has brought about new and exciting things, and being the parents of these kids just keeps getting better and better. For this post I'm going to do my usual thing, but then Adam is also going to add his perspective.

Ladies first...

Eden continues to light up our lives with the sunshine of her smile. She approaches life with amazing curiosity, a clever and analytical mind, and a joy that oozes out of her. Eden is always asking questions and wanting to figure things out. She is first and foremost a daddy's girl, but has a sweet relationship with me as well. Eden is intense in some ways, yet as happy as could be. She is good to Violet and interested in helping to care for her.

Eden in Daddy's words...

Eden is very physical. She has a very high body awareness. She is a graceful jumper and climber. She likes frequent hugs and touches. She will often initiate spinning or being thrown in the air. She will dance, but prefers to dance with someone. She likes to read books with Bash or a parent. She likes to understand the world. Her vocabulary is excellent because she uses words to define the world. When someone misuses a word (either accidentally or in an attempt at silliness) she will let them know. She loves to eat fruits and vegetables. She has an passion that sometimes requires her to slow down and take a deep breath, but she's three years old and her job is to embrace that zest. Our job is to help her handle it. She will sometimes say the funniest things that leave us all scratching our heads, not because of the words, but because it is amazing that this little girl came up with something so creative and clever.

The eldest...

Sebastien is our goofy, sweet darling, just as always. He is musical and creative and happy. He has a sensitivity to him, and yet at times he seems impervious to those around him. Bash can be satisfied to live in his own little world, though he is quick to let Eden in. His imagination continues to astound us, and he combines that with his love for music - he'd rather make his crayons dance and sing than actually color with them, he uses almost anything as a horn (of varying types) and he often makes up songs or changes the words to his favorite ones. Bash loves to cuddle, and he is so affectionate.

Sebastien in Daddy's words...

Bash is very musical. He will sing songs, fill in his own words for those he doesn't know, hum, dance, and play musical instruments. He has an imagination that knows no bounds. Sometimes it takes him a few minutes to come back from wherever he is when we need his attention. He is just as happy with a stick as with an expensive toy. He does not need constant attention, but when he does needs a moment of connection he really needs it. He cuddles and sometimes breaks down for seemingly little reason. He is kind. He shares well. He can be mischievous, but this flows out of his non-stop imagination, not because he is trying to do something he shouldn't, and his accompanying head tilt and smile let you know that he's just loving life.

And together...

Eden and Sebastien are absolutely best friends. They adore each other. Whenever we do things with them separately, they greet each other with big hugs before anyone else. They play together so well, and want to do everything together. They both enjoy (amongst other things) dress-up, racing, books, swings, learning Spanish words, acting like characters and animals, and ketchup. They giggle at each other's "jokes" and recite their favorite books, songs and shows together. At this point, they rarely "fight," I just can't express enough how much the enjoy each other. My heart just melts at this unique and wonderful relationship.

Daddy says...

Eden and Bash love each other. This is evident in the way they ask about each other when one is sleeping too long, or off to the doctor, or even just in the other room. They cuddle, and hug, and laugh and it is one the best sounds in the world when giggles erupt from their bedroom when I'm doing dishes after supper.

p.s. several of these pictures were taken by Mikaela - thanks KJ. :)

I Promise...

This blog will not turn into Caryn's Running Blog. But I do want to say that running is going well. Better than I thought it would, actually. I have continued to chip away at my best 5K times. Saturday I ran 5K in 33:20, and then tonight I ran for 45 minutes and ran 4.27 miles, according to my Nike+ (which, by the way, if you run and you don't have a Nike+...GET ONE!) But the best part of tonight's run was that I ran my best 5K time yet as part of this longer run. I ran 5K in about 32 minutes. This is not a great time for everybody, but considering that this is only week 4 of my running, and considering how my first run went... it's a big improvement for me. I no longer feel the need to run 3 minutes, walk 3 minutes. Tonight of my 45 minutes of running, I only walked for 2 minutes, total.

So my training is going well. Pretty soon I'm going to start the fundraising part! So watch for more on that to come.

Also watch for birthday posts coming soon - Bash and Eden turn 3 on Friday!!!

P.S. I know I could jazz this post up with some stock photo of something related to running, but when I search for such photos, all I see are running girls/women/ladies who look nothing like me, running on terrain that looks nothing like the places that I am actually running. So you are just going to have to deal with text only.

Potty Update

You have to really love to hear about my kids' development to appreciate this long post about bodily function... Chalk it up to another post that really is mostly about helping me remember later...

So. Potty Training. Let's review. In the archives, you'll notice that in November of last year there was a post called "Potty Training Day 1." I spent the majority of that month in the bathroom with Eden and Sebastien with very very little progress to show for it. We did rather conservative approach including pull-ups, lots to drink, promised "prizes" of stickers or tic tacs for pee, M&M's for poop. The month passed with only 4 or 5 successes, which all were Eden. I was exhausted, the kids were indifferent. I decided to take a break. I ate the M&M's myself. Adam helped.

In January of 2011, we spent 3 days doing a 3 day potty training approach recommended by a few sources, which is basically a cold-turkey approach. All-in. Put your kids in undies and wait for some sort of bodily function to happen, then rush them to the potty. We basically spent 3 days chasing kids all over the house, cleaning pee out of the carpet, and dealing with children with bad stomachaches who were holding in their #2's. Until they stopped holding them in, and then we had poo's in undies. By the end of day 3, we were impressed by dry nights and dry naps, but other than that, Sebastien had not once peed in the potty, and Eden was juuuust starting to have a few successes. (Still no #2's anywhere near the toiley.)

Overwhelmed kids and exhausted parents led to abandoning that effort. In retrospect, I probably should have let Sebastien go back to diapers and let Eden keep some of the momentum going... but whatever. I didn't. Instead, we put pull-ups on and went back to sitting them before baths, and once and awhile to practice. The kids didn't seem to mind one bit. They were showing little to no interest in the potty.

This served us well when we went on vacation, by the way, since 18 hours in the car with pull-ups is better than pit stops every hour for potty training kids!

But around late April, Eden was beginning to talk more about the potty, and since she was the one who seemed to be having more "success" on the potty, we decided to divide and conquer. Around mid-May, I started putting Eden in undies for several hours each morning. On day one, attempt one, she peed on the potty! I actually teared up the first time, I was so proud and so relieved! At first I was sitting her every 15 minutes, and she did not complain at all about sitting and trying. Initially she was actually peeing a little every time. So I started extended the time in between.

She has been doing very well. We've increased her time in her undies slowly, and at this point, she only wears pull-ups at nap and at night. (And once in awhile if we're going somewhere for awhile and would need to use a public bathroom...she's afraid of the loud hand dryers.) She's had a few accidents here and there, but that's to be expected. She sits on the potty about every hour and she usually stays very dry. Two things we're still working on: she does not usually tell us when she has to go and she does not want to go #2 on the potty. She usually waits until the pull-up goes on at bedtime. Once in awhile she holds it in too long and gets really crabby. We're trying some things to help her go on the potty, but mostly we're taking the stance of giving it time and not putting too much pressure on her.

So, now for Sebastien. This is just crazy. This boy had shown so little interest in the potty until just the last couple of weeks. Noticing this, I put him in undies one morning for just about an hour and a half...We sat backwards and drank and drank... and we went through like 6 pairs of undies in that time, and one of them had poop in them.

On Tuesday I put him in undies for awhile, and it was clear that he was going little bits and then stopping... actually aware that he didn't want to go in undies. Progress! Then he was sitting and he peed on the potty for the very first time!! Just a tiny bit and kind of on accident. But it happened. :) I didn't get another chance to work with him until Friday. The undies went on and the child stayed dry for 2 1/2 hours, but he did not pee on the potty once! Mind you, I gave him lots of extra liquids and I sat him every 15-20 minutes. So the pull-up went on at naptime. He woke up from his nap just SOAKED.

So Saturday afternoon the undies went on again. He was dry for about 2 hours, no pee on the potty until finally he was sitting and a little came out. Then a little more. Then a little more. Each time I cheered, and then I said, "Bash, you've just peed on the potty 3 times!" He smiled a sly little smile and said, "Is it going to be 4 times?" Then he peed a tiny bit and laughed and said "FOUR!" This went on and on, this little game, until we got to 9 times and finally he just let it all out. It was hilarious. And awesome.

So, now we suddenly have a boy that pees on the potty regularly. Even if he's wearing a pull-up, like in the car or if we are going out, he keeps it dry. He will also poop in his undies though if he's gotta go. So while with Eden we can sort of let her play and we don't have to worry about it, we're quickly learning that we need to keep an eye on him for signs of #2's.

That's the potty update. Eden's further in the process, but it's amazing how quickly it is happening with Sebastien. It's like it just clicked. Which is what people say happens but it's hard to believe when you're on the other side of it.