Kindergartener

My first baby is no longer a preschooler! I can't believe she'll be going to kindergarten next year. The last day of school, they combined both the preschool classes and had a fun day outside. There were 3 different "stations" set up and the kids rotated: kiddie pools, playground and a bouncer. They went inside to get lunch from the school because of state regulations but then came outside and had pizza and juice. Becca had a lot of fun playing with her friends but we were ready to come home because it was HOT and Barrett missed his morning nap.

The little boy in blue in the pool is one of her best friends; they fight and get along like brother and sister. I hope they're in the same class next year but for the teacher's sake, maybe that's not a good idea.

Her other best friend graduated kindergarten and had a sleepover at her house last night since it was the last day of school for them. Becca has never done a sleepover but I wasn't too concerned for 2 reasons: first, she's pretty self assured and second, this is a friend that we hang out with A LOT. (we trade date nights with them so they're at each others houses several times a month; as a matter of fact, this summer we have a great deal worked out, she'll have my kids one day and I'll have her kids one day so we can do things we need to do or want to do without them.) I love friends like this. They had such fun with games and fun little crafts to do. They went to bed at midnight and got up around 7:00, so I'm thinking a nap will be in order. Just like I suspected, she didn't have any problems. Darren, Barrett and I went to a late dinner and then Wal-Mart and didn't get home until 9:00, so we hardly knew Becca was gone. The only thing that hit me was after Darren and I went to bed, I went back in the kitchen to get my phone and the light was on; (we leave it on in case Becca gets up since she doesn't like the dark) Darren had forgotten that Becca wasn't home so he left the light on for her.

Barrett is beginning to catch on to things, still no real words but we communicate. He's learned to shake his head and let me know he doesn't want something. He will, at times, throw himself on the floor and scream when he's not getting his way. He goes to get the kid stool and put it wherever he needs to reach something he can't. He loves to sit in my lap and get book after book, pointing at things; I must admit I like that part as well. He has been a pretty picky eater, rarely eating fruits or vegetables but I try to put 1 or 2 on his tray so he can get used to them; they say it takes 12-15 introductions for kids to like something. We may have had a small breakthrough. Becca wanted carrots, so I put 2 on his tray thinking he'd just smash them like always, which he did. But then, he picked one up and didn't spit it back out. He finished them and did the sign for "more", so I put 5-6 more down and he ate them all. Now another day, he may not have anything to do with them but we had a small victory at least.

Getting older

There are several things that make me realize that my daughter is getting bigger. This both saddens me and makes me proud. It's simple things but it has really stuck out to me lately.

One day we were coloring a picture of someone who was holding something in one hand and had his arm around something else...I know, I have a very detailed memory. I just remember being impressed that she realized the partial hand you saw on the other side of the page was the same hand and to color it the same color. She's also doing really well staying in the lines and does a good job using different colors.

Another thing she can do now is when she hears the clock start to chime the hour, she can count to see what time it is. If it's 9:00, she'll count the roman numerals until she gets to 9 and tell me what time it is. Now, she has no idea what the roman numerals symbolize, she's just counting.

She's reading more and more of her sight words and doing a great job. The sheet has 57 words on it and she can read almost half. Her teacher said if she can read all those words before kindergarten, she'll be on top of things.

Barrett has a funny way of standing. My family said he'll either be a general or a butler....you decide. I think he might lean towards the general because he also likes to stomp his foot and talk loudly while waving his arms.

Catching up

We went to Oklahoma after Easter as it was Spring Break for Becca. Barrett is not as good a traveller as Becca was/is but he's not too horrible. I got a lot of relaxing in because when you're not at home, you don't have chores to do so it was nice. Becca knew we were going, so one day she was talking to Darren before we left and asked if he was going with us. He said he couldn't because he had to stay here and work. She had a simple solution, she said, "Well, there's work in Oklahoma." She seemed to solve his problem, but for some reason, he just couldn't go. We made the drive on Monday and left the following Sunday morning. That seems like a long time but I didn't really feel like I had time for much. As a matter of fact, I didn't even see friends while I was there because I was giving time for Barrett to have some normal naps because he didn't nap much in the car and we're used to 2 hour and a half to three-hour naps every day. Mom took off 2 half-days and was off Friday. We had fun relaxing, seeing family, etc. Tuesday, I didn't want to do anything because like I said, I figured Barrett needed a break from the car. Wednesday, we went out to lunch to Abuelos, a very good Mexican restaurant (ours around here are more tex-mexy) when mom got off work. Later that evening, we went tried to find Cade's t-ball game but couldn't find it and decided to go home, plus it was actually cool and windy...I forgot how windy OK could be. Thursday, we went to Incredible Pizza when mom got off work. It's a pizza buffet, but also has other foods like meatloaf, soup, and other various things; it really is huge. They have various rooms to sit in: a gymnasium with a big screen tv, a retro diner and a family style 'restaurant' with tvs. Afterwards, we took the kids to play games. Actually, my mom took Becca to play games and I followed Barrett around the place. For those who live there, Incredible Pizza is doing a deak on Thursdays right now: they will double the amount of money you put on your card, so we picked the perfect day. Friday, we took a tour of the Blue Bell factory, it's one of only 3 plants in the country. For those of you who don't have them in your area, they are known for their ice cream. We then got a pretty good size scoop of ice cream at the end. Cade, Becca's cousin had a t-ball game while we were there. Becca enjoyed watching him; she had to wear her t-ball jersey from last year to his game. Saturday morning, we went to Krispy Kreme and there was a clown who does balloon art for the kids. He was pretty good. He asked Becca if she wanted to be a princess; he made her a crown and a sceptor. He then asked if everyone was ready for the coronation. It was free but he likes donations. So, any of you who live near there, check out the on on 71st and Mingo on Saturdays.

My favorite part of the weekend however was Saturday night when the whole family minus my sister's family, came over to mom's house and we had dinner and hung out. I miss my family and miss seeing my nephews (and niece in Texas who wasn't there) grow up.

Last week, I was getting Barrett ready for bed. I was changing his diaper on his changing table and getting his pajamas. I was standing up, he was laughing and smiling at me, when without warning, he threw up everywhere. I think this was the first time my head was thrown up on. This was of course Darren's bowling night so I was on my own. Becca's getting out of bed to see what's going on, Barrett's crying, I'm trying to get both our clothes off, get ourselves cleaned off, get the carpet cleaned up, get Becca back to bed. I changed clothes 3 times over the next hour or so. I slept with him in the chair overnight so I could "catch" anything. Luckily, he only threw up a few times and what was in his belly. I figured it was something he ate since he didn't continue to try and throw up. The next day he was feeling better and Becca went in Barrett's room after his nap. They were being kind of quiet, which any of you with kids know that's not always a good sign, so I peeked in on them and this is what I found.

I told Becca she was not allowed to come out until she cleaned up a lot of the mess. To give her credit, she did really well with the wipes I gave her. I did the vacuuming and cleaning the stuffed animals. Her tent was full of baby powder. I'm still not sure who made most of the mess but I know Becca got the baby powder down, who played with it more, I don't know, but I wasn't too happy.

Thursday, Becca said she wasn't feeling good, figuring she was hungry because she didn't really eat dinner the night before, I sent her to school being the good mom I am. When she got off the bus, they told me she threw up on the bus. So, I guess it wasn't something Barrett ate. This is the first time they've shared anything so I guess we've been lucky. At least this was a quicky virus. So, Saturday, she was back to normal. We had game night scheduled at our house and a babysitter lined up at a friend's house. Saturday night, Becca had a really nasty cough. Sunday, she had a fever. Yesterday at the doctor, he said she has a little bit of pneumonia in one lung and her oxygen level was at 92%...anything in the 80s is a hospital visit. She's doing some better today but I think we're all ready for everyone to be well so we can get back to normal. We haven't been out of the house much for a week. You would think I would have gotten a lot done but with both kids home and taking turns being sick, I probably got less done than normal. Looking forward to a better week.

I'm so mad about my spacing. I don't know how to fix it. It looks perfect in preview mode but messes up when it publishes. So, just try to make sense of it until I can figure out how to fix it. I don't remember having these problems when I fist started the blog.

Pics

Here are the pictures from the previous post. Becca's new car and Barrett's little rocking horse.

Easter

The Saturday before Easter, our church had a little Easter Egg hunt. They heard the Easter story through the Resurrection eggs, they then went out looking for eggs, then came back in for snacks and check for prize eggs...there were 10 total. That also made sure we got the plastic eggs back so we can do it again next year. I unfortunately didn't get pics of Becca hunting eggs since I had to stay with Barrett...they were broken down into age groups. But, I'm hoping to get pictures from other people.

Here early, waiting for it to begin.

Listening to the presenation of the eggs

She got to paint hard boiled eggs. Daddy was happy because since he's on the Atkins diet, he can eat those all he wants. That also helps differentiate between the hard-boiled eggs and the non hard-boiled eggs. Sunday, we of course went to church. Then went straight to the country club for a great lunch. Darren always plays the Easter Bunny and Becca knows it. We told her not to tell any kids. Well, she told several adults, "My daddy's the Easter Bunny, but don't tell any of the kids, just the adults." She didn't let it slip to any kids, even when she saw him so she did good. She was just making sure the adults wouldn't tell either. Last year, she woulndn't go near the Easter bunny but Barrett sat there nicely. This year, it was the opposite.

They then went to hunt eggs and then got a basket from the Easter bunny. This time I got a couple of pictures but was again too busy chasing after Barrett.

Growing

The kids just keep growing. No matter how much I want the time to slow down, it just doesn't cooperate. Don't you remember as a kid how Slooowww time went and Spring Break or summer or Christmas would NEVER get here? Now, you blink you're eye and it's another month or another year! Even though time flies, you don't always notice how tall your kids are getting until you see a friend you haven't seen since summer who comments how big your daughter is getting. Yes, she in size 6's and she's only just turned 5 years old. She's starting to read some words and can usually tell me when I haven't read something exactly as it's written. For example, if I say it says, "phone" but the word written is "telephone", she'll say, but there's a T in it. She may not know too many words yet but she knows what letters are in it so I have to say things verbatim.

She also can be a little dramatic at times. She was going over to some friends house while I went to book club. She asked if Barrett was going too. I told her he was. In a whiny crying voice, she said something like, "I'm glad because we don't want to leave cute babies behind and he is so cute..." I can't remember everything she said, but then, mind you, she wasn't actually crying nor had tears, but she took her finger and "flicked" a tear off her cheek. Wow! Where did she see that, it was hilarious!

Barrett it doing some more sign language. He'll "say" milk, please, more, bed and sometimes eat. His babbling is starting to have the same intonations as certain words like "thank you" when I give him something or "Becca". He's also become a screamer and a grunter when someone is either not paying attention to him or when he gets frustrated. He loves to go back and forth giving hugs and pats. His new favorite toy is a small rocking horse I scored at the kids consignment sale for $5. It didn't take him long to master getting on and off by himself...even with his short little legs.