Singin' In The Rain

Since her toddler days, Beth has been fascinated by the youth choir at our church. She has been eagerly awaiting her turn to wear a green robe and sit up in the front of the church, singing alongside the piano. The choir has always been for children in grades 2-8, but this year, they decided to allow first graders the opportunity to join.

Beth couldn't believe it. The waiting was over! She skipped happily into her first practice a couple of weeks ago, not even caring that she was the smallest one there. There are a scattering of second and third graders in this year's choir, but the majority of children are in 6th and 7th grades. Beth doesn't mind. As long as there is a robe small enough to fit her, she doesn't care how big the other kids are.

This past Sunday was her singing debut, so we braved the down-pouring rain to attend the 9:30am Mass. Beth didn't seem a bit nervous, and she happily donned her green robe. She was so proud to sit up in front of the church, and Amy and Erin enjoyed watching her, waving gleefully at their sister throughout the Mass. Thankfully, Beth was too focused to notice them, and therefore she wasn't tempted to wave back.

We were quite proud of her. The other children towered above her, but she looked mighty cute in her choir robes. If you ever feel the need to hear a rousing rendition of "Alleluia" or the Gloria, feel free to call. I'm sure Beth would be happy to let you sit in on one of her ongoing practice sessions here at the house.

A Little Testosterone

We are still frequently asked the question, "Is Brian different from all his sisters? Have you noticed that "boy behavior" yet?"

Up until a few weeks ago, we really hadn't. With the exception of his live-crab-eating attempts last summer, he seemed basically the same as his sisters. We hadn't seen any real variations to the usual developmental patterns.

But now that Brian is really on the move, we're noticing something. He likes his toys, and he enjoys playing with his trucks and dinosaurs, but he quickly grows tired of them. He prefers to pursue other activities...namely, destroying the grown-ups' toys.

When he is put down on the living room floor, he beelines straight for the stereo. It's not the music he's after, though. No, he prefers to play with all the buttons and knobs, pulling them off the stereo, and throwing them onto the floor one by one. The first time he did this, Dan and I were occupied with the girls, and it took us a few minutes to notice what Brian was doing. We quickly removed Brian from the stereo, and attempted to put the equipment back together again. Within minutes, Brian had found a new activity, involving the fire-place tools. (They are now in the basement, after multiple failed attempts to keep him away from these dangerous items). We're slowly stripping the rooms bare, as we try to keep Brian safe, and keep some of our items intact.

Now, his favorite game is to toddle around the girls' art table and methodically dump every crayon container onto the floor. He tips over the shelf holding the coloring books, and laughs with glee at the loud "crash" that ensues. He then heads over to the kitchen and begins pulling pots and pans out of the cabinets. He opens drawers and throws bills all over the floor, before crawling into the playroom and removing each and every toy from the shelves and the toy boxes.

Perhaps my memories are simply a bit blurry, but I truly don't remember the girls being quite so...destructive. Perhaps it's a "boy thing". He'll grow out of it, I'm sure. Right?

Tales Of A First Grader

Beth loves first grade, and jumps off the bus each afternoon bubbling over with excitement, tripping over her words as she tries to tell me each detail about her day. But this afternoon, as she sat at the table eating her snack, she cupped her chin in her hand and sighed.

"Mommy, first grade is really, really hard", she said.

I sat down next to her to discuss her concerns. "Really?" I asked. "Tell me what it is that you find so difficult".

She sighed again. "My desk is right next to the coat-room", she answered. "Whenever the other kids go to get their things from the closet, their coats accidentally brush against the folders on the back of my chair. I have to keep picking up my folders and putting them back in the pocket."

She sighed again. "Sometimes it's really hard being a first grader".

I don't doubt that it is. Sometimes, it's the little things that are just so tough.

Laundry helper

I am now going to recant part of what I mentioned yesterday, pertaining to "little hands" making it difficult to fold clothes. This afternoon, just as I was about to start folding a basket of laundry, Brian began to cry. I headed upstairs to his room, where I changed him and fed him, before heading back downstairs. When I arrived in the living room, I discovered a laundry basket filled with folded and sorted clothes. If I had known that Amy was capable of such a feat, I surely would have taken advantage of it long ago!

I am quite impressed that she completed this task without even being asked. Thanks, little almost-five-year-old!

Mommy Time

This afternoon I sat on the couch for a short while, and watched a talk show.

That might not sound like big news to any of you, and you might wonder why I consider that information to be "blog-worthy", but you must believe me when I tell you that it truly was quite monumental. I don't think that I have been able to sit and watch an afternoon talk show since...well, since Amy was born. Never, ever, do all of my children sleep in the middle of the afternoon, and even if I do manage to get some of them to read or do art projects after lunch, I can't turn on the TV. Like moths to a light bulb, my children immediately gravitate towards a television when they hear the drone of newscasters and sitcom stars.

But now, I am settling in to the Fall routine, and enjoying a wonderful thing called "afternoon preschool". I have been a bit concerned about how the girls would do attending school after lunch, especially because Erin still takes frequent naps in the afternoon. I even spent the last few weeks of summer worrying constantly about her possible meltdowns in the classroom. But today, I saw the light. I realized that, although she might become overtired and cranky at school, I won't be there. I'll be sitting quietly at home, watching a talk show, while Brian naps.

Amazing. I only watched about 20 minutes of television this afternoon, and I even felt a bit...guilty. I kept anticipating the pitter-patter of little feet running into the living room, but the house remained quiet. After watching the talk show, I folded laundry. It's amazing how quickly this task can be completed when there are not 8 other little hands trying to "help" sort the clothes (although it really is cute when they try to assist me.) I then baked some bread, and finished up with a jog on the treadmill, before waking Brian and heading back to pick up the girls from school.

Afternoon preschool. A truly wonderful thing. I miss the girls terribly while they are gone, but really, it's only two short afternoons a week.

I think I might even get some reading done on Thursday. Afternoon preschool. I highly recommend it.

Say "Cheese!"

Today, after Erin and Amy were bathed, dressed and ready for school, Erin grabbed her backpack and headed out the door. Then she suddenly stopped and turned around. "Wait!", she cried. "You forgot to take our our before-school picture!"

I suppose it has become almost routine...

Morning Grooming

I realized this morning that, besides my own, I have eighty fingernails and toenails to keep trimmed. Eighty.

I'm not complaining about it or anything. I'm just saying. Eighty fingernails and toenails, attached to wiggling, squirming hands and feet. Eighty of them.

Next time I'll allow a bit more time for before-school grooming.

Back To Preschool!

Dear Friends:

I had my first day of preschool on Friday, and boy was it fun. It was Orientation Day, which is just a grown-up way of saying, "Mommy and Daddy get to come and play, too". My teacher is Ms. Kim, and she's so funny. She tried to tell me that she doesn't really live at the preschool, and she even showed me a picture of her "real" house, but I'm not buying it at all. I whispered to Mommy that I know that the teachers really live in the schoolhouse. Anyway, there are lots of cool toys there, tons of dress-up clothes, a play house, and soooo many arts and crafts supplies. I can't wait to go back on Tuesday all by myself! (I'm a little bit nervous, but don't tell Mommy and Daddy about that. They can't tell at all). I'm a preschooler now! Yeah!!

Love, Erin



Dear Friends:

I had my first day on Friday, too, and I was so relieved to find out that Ms. Pat will be my teacher again this year. I really, really like Ms. Pat, and I'm not shy at all when I'm with her. I don't know any of the kids in my class, so I'm a little shy with them, but there are 4 other girls, so I think I'll make a new friend soon. The 4 boys in my class seem nice, too, but I prefer playing with girls because they like to play princess and dress-up with me. My backpack is all packed and ready for Tuesday, and I can't wait to go back to school!

Love,

Amy

Following Directions

Last week, I made some overly ambitious plans for a visit with my cousin.

Amy has been asking for a playdate with Judy's twin girls, Becky and Elizabeth. Since Beth had half-days of school last week, I decided to take Amy and Erin on a morning trip to their cousins' house while Beth was off at school. So, after Beth boarded her bus, we headed off for the 45 minute trip to Becky and Elizabeth's house. Because Beth would only be in school for 3 hours, we would only have a short amount of time to visit before needing to head back to the bus stop once again, but I knew that even a quick get-together would make Amy happy.

Of course, I didn't factor in the idea that we would be driving smack in the middle of rush-hour traffic. And, I didn't plan on getting so completely lost that I wasn't even quite sure what state I was in when I finally pulled the car over and called Judy to report our difficulties.

Needless to say, we never made it. We drove around for quite a long time before I finally managed to find the highway heading back home, and by the time we made it to our house, it was almost time for Beth's bus to arrive. Amy was disappointed, but I promised to reschedule soon.

So today, we gave it another try. This time, I was armed with good directions, and we had much more time to spare. Amy looked a bit concerned when she saw me pull out the directions.

"Mommy, are you sure you know what you're doing?", she asked. "Maybe we should just meet them at the mall or something".

I assured her that I was much better prepared this time, and off we went. We still hit some traffic, but we only got lost for a few brief minutes, and were quickly back on the right road again. We found the house, and the girls had a wonderful time. Judy and I got to chat while the four girls played dress-up, cooked in the play kitchen, and bought items at the pretend supermarket.

On the way home, we didn't get lost once. Not once. When we pulled into our driveway at the end of our trip, Amy beamed at me. "You did it!", she said. "I know just how to make those directions even easier to follow. I think we just need to go there a lot more. Like maybe all the time. Then, after a while, we won't even need a piece of paper anymore. You just need some more practice. Let's practice those directions again sometime soon".

I think she might have an ulterior motive, beside simply wanting to bolster my confidence in my direction-following skills. But she does have a good point. Practice does indeed make perfect.

Happy Third Birthday, Erin!

...May all of your birthday wishes come true.