Summary Snippets

• Friday Focus has gotten away from me once again.  I have the best of intentions but life gets in the way.
• Miss Merida is gone.  They did a two week trial at her new school, just to make sure she was old enough to run with the big kids and the new schedule.  I knew she'd have no problem, and I didn't really WANT her to have problems, but I was still really hoping she'd come back at the end of the trial.  But of course she's gone for good.  Makes me happy she's doing well but I'm still sad.
• Merryweather is even more sad.  She's the only one up some mornings now and she kind of wanders around looking for a playmate.  We're working on trying to do some more big kid stuff for her but so far she's not super interested to do it by herself.
• We have some sweet new friends!  I need names for them still, but we have a new teeny one and a one year old who's dropped in before but is now full time.  They are settling in nicely.
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• Bernard's last day is today.  He's off to join his big brother at that school now that he's turned one.  I can't believe how fast the time with him went by!
• The parents of the new little one use an app called Baby Connect to keep track of what's going on with her and they added us to the account.  Instead of writing on the whiteboard, I log her activity on the ipad and they can check it from work and see how her day is going.  I wasn't sure if I would like it, but it turns out that I really love it.  It's fun to already know how she slept, and see when mom pumps so I can work on getting her to eat near the same schedule.  Mom and Dad like being able to see how her day is going in real time.  It's got places to add as much or as little as you want- you can track moods and activities and food and poop and sleep.  I am surprised by how much I'm enjoying it. 

• We've got two more new ones waiting to join us- one in August and one in January.  We got to meet our August arrival this week.  She's just a couple weeks old right now and is so snuggly and cute!
• Anna and I are seriously thinking about celebrating half Christmas next Wednesday, just for something fun and different to do.  If you come in and the decorations are up and the music is playing, just roll with it.  :)

Friday Focus: Mufasa

Ah, Mr. Mufasa... such a character.  This kid is going places in a hurry.  He's amazingly strong and has a crazy tight grip.  He loves to try to help me do dishes and when I attempt to scoot him back, he can lift the entire bottom rack and pull it onto the floor with him.  I don't think I've ever had anyone pull the whole thing off before.  Legendary persistence, this one.  It's terrible when it comes to pinching though- he leaves marks that stay on the back of my arm for days.  Must channel strength into productive avenues!

But seriously, when he's this cheerful, how can you be annoyed about a little pinch?  Usually it's only me or Anna who gets it- not the other kids.  He just motors around being happy.

He, Bernard, and Flynn are pretty much like the three musketeers these days.  It's fun to watch them discover new skills and be alternately annoyed and delighted with each other.  They take turns leading the mischief and like to travel in a pack.

As hard as he plays, that follows into his sleep.  He's happy to crash out anywhere, and doesn't mind if you transfer him from a car seat into your arms and into bed.  I'm super jealous of that ability, as neither of my kids would do it. 

He couldn't make it home from school- we went and had lunch with O'Malley the other day, where the attendance secretary fell completely in love with him.  She's always sad when I don't bring him with me.  Oh, where's my smily boy?  she says.  :)

All that charm is hard work.  He almost always sleeps all the way home. 

Merida is learning to say his name and I love the way she does it.  He has a three syllable name and she takes the middle.  Using Mufasa, it would be like she calls him fa-fa.  So cute.  I call him that half the time now too.

This just happened now: yesterday I sent him home with no pants on, just a onesie.  By the end of the day neither his dad, Anna, or I could remember what pants he'd been wearing or where they had gone.  About thirty minutes ago O'Malley came home from school and I noticed he was wearing them.  As shorts.  He's so skinny they fit and he just thought I must have bought him new shorts and stuck them in his room.  You know, because I always throw his new clothes on the floor... crazy man.  He's SO mortified.  18 month pants.  All day at school.  He rocked them.  Guess I'll be washing those and returning them!  Mystery solved.  :)

Caterpillar on the Wall

We've started The Very Hungry Caterpillar again. This is one of my very favorite units to do, and I don't think we've ever done it with a group who's overall as young as this one. (Here's an old post with some of the things we do with older kids.) There's definitely a lot of modification and repetition, but they're enjoying it.

Sometimes I read them the actual book, but most of them are still at the super grabby stage.  Since the book has so many holes cut in it, I'm afraid it will get ripped during a group reading session.  More often, we use the pointer and the class set of pictures that I have on the wall.  (or off the wall, since my sticky stuff is dying and the stapler won't work on that kind of wall.)  Merida and Merryweather go running over there as soon as I pick up my pointer, and they can show me the moon and the egg.  Every time I say "he was STILL!  HUNGRY!" we make silly faces and they laugh.  It's fun.

So far the only things I've sent home are the little paintings, but we have done a couple other crafty items.  Here's the class caterpillar, who currently resides on our wall:





Each kiddo colored a body section and then we attached legs. They had a good time coloring!

Merryweather, taking the job very seriously.

Mufasa and Flynn were both a little shocked that I actually let them touch the crayons, I think.  Look how proud Flynn looks.  I had to sit right there and make sure they didn't taste them, of course, and their finished product doesn't have a lot of real coloring on it, but they really enjoyed the process!

Friday Focus: Flynn

Sometimes a last minute phone call just works out so great.  This cutie pie interviewed on a Friday afternoon and started Monday.  His family is friends with some of my extended family and they called when he was born, but it was before Anna started with me and I didn't have space. Since things have changed, it worked out for him to come play with us now.

Just lounging under the table, you know, like people do...

I really can't remember ever having a smoother transition with a one year old.  He's amazingly, delightfully cheerful just about all the time.  With the exception of trying to cut about six teeth at the same time, he just doesn't get sad much.  He's really fun to hang out with.

All you have to do is nod your head or open your eyes wide and he busts out laughing.  I mean, I get that I'm funny lookin', but he takes it to the next level.  :)

Not a great eater yet, but he doesn't seem to be in danger of starvation.  Live on those cheeks a bit if needed! 

Pensive.  That's about as upset as he's looked in the past month.  Aren't those eyes to die for?

Recently he got a big boy haircut.  I can totally see why momma was putting it off.  It does change the look of his face so much and really takes away a lot of the "that's my tiny baby" vibe.  However, I LOVE IT SO MUCH.  Such a handsome tiny man now.

 
Vanellope's mom (pre-haircut) and Bernard's mom (post-haircut) have both thought that he was theirs from the back.  I love having a group of kiddos that are so close in age and who play so well together that it's hard to tell them apart from across the room.

Here are my three musketeers boys.  They play like brothers- really well most of the time with the occasional fight to the death moment.  :)  Flynn is a fabulous addition to our day and we're so happy to have him!

Content

Life is good, you know?  It just is.  Some days have crazy chaotic patches, but don't they all?  I'm really, REALLY enjoying my job right now.  We're working on getting full and the days are busy and loud but it's so much fun. 

Merida was getting picked up the other day and we were talking about her graduation.  I said she was fabulous and wonderful and I'd keep her longer if I could because every day with her is so great.  Her dad kinda gave me the eyebrow and was like "really?  I mean, she's not THAT awesome.  She's got her moments."  Well, okay, yeah.  Of course she does.  Sometimes she throws herself down on the floor and cries because I'm fussing at one of her friends.  She's so tender that it hurts her feelings too.  Sometimes she gets her finger bitten because she will NOT keep it out of other people's faces and they retaliate.  There are other moments that aren't awesome, with her and with all my little people.  But it's still such a privilege to get to spend the day with them. 

I had a morning a couple weeks ago that was absolutely insane.  It was the kind of thing that I could have written one of those hilarous/pathetic posts about if I'd just put up a list of everything that happened.  It made this gig look like the worst job in the world.  It was so loud.  Nobody was happy.  It felt like playing whack-a-mole where you fix one small problem and four more pop up at once.  I realized about an hour after dropoff that it was so crazy that one of the dads blew kisses at ME instead of his kid like he usually does, and I BLEW THEM BACK AT HIM without a second thought.  I'm usually not in the habit of blowing kisses at other people's husbands, I swear.  And neither of us even noticed- the noise level just threw normal out the window. 

But you know what?  I remember that morning just because of how funny it felt later, and I can't recall any of the individual bad/annoying things that happened.  We lived through it, and the day ended up on a great note.  It is easy to have a good day at this job.  The key is ME.  There is not a baby on the earth that cries just because they want to frustrate the grownups in their lives.  People always tell me I must have the patience of a saint, but I don't feel like I have any more than anyone else.  It's just all in the mindset.  At work, your job is to figure out what people need, and get it done.  I think that applies no matter what your career field is.  In this job, I am good at figuring out what babies need and it makes me happy to make them happy.  Even if it looks to me like there is NO reason they're screaming, they have what they consider to be a very good reason.  I figure it out, I fix it, and it's all good.  On a basic level, it's very satisfying.  Whether they're hungry, need a diaper change, tired, fell down, or just mad that they have to wait while I fix other people's problems, they're not trying to vex me.  They're trying to communicate.  My job is to help let them know how to do that effectively, and to give them what they need.

That, and a drop of Joy essential oil on my feet every morning, is the key to being content.  Dancing to the Beatles helps.  Tickling babies helps too.  Life is just really great.  Take advantage. 

And keep people who smile constantly around you at all times.  That's the most fun.  :)  Love me some Flynn!  Gotta get him to work on his smolder next....

Friday Focus: Vanellope

Vanellope turned one last month and her birthday theme was "Vanellope in One-derland".  Of course she had to wear an Alice dress.  This wasn't during daycare but it's so darn cute that I had to show her off.  I loved this one especially because it looks like the chair is too big and she just drank the "drink me" potion to become too small or something.  So fun!

Back at school, she finds all kinds of fun things to keep herself busy.  The Viking hats continue to be popular items.  Best $2.99 I ever spent, I think!  I love how pleased with herself she is here.  (I also really like the contrast between these pictures- it's just like the movie, with uncomfortable Princess Vanellope in fancy clothes vs. the sassy racer who's comfy in her hat and jammies.)

Here she is with Bernard.  She was trying to put the hat on his head too but all the pictures I tried to take of that came out really blurry.  It was super cute though.  You'll just have to take my word for it.

And here's her new "twin", Flynn.  He started a few weeks ago and they look really alike, especially from the back.  They're only about six weeks apart in age and they play really well together!

Spaghetti and blueberries for lunch was a big hit.  She's getting better about eating more things.  Still pretty hit or miss, but when it's a hit, she'll eat more than you ever thought possible for somebody as little as she is.

She's getting pretty close to taking steps here.  Haven't seen her do it yet, but her mama says it's happened a few times at home.  She'll stand up in the middle of the room and just look around wildly with a big smile.  Sometimes it kind of reminds me of a meerkat scouting out danger.  :)  Right now she still thinks crawling is a lot faster though, so if she decides she needs to be somewhere quick, she drops and is off like a shot. 

Vanellope is Anna's girl in a BIG way.  She tolerates me enough to be happy to come to me in the mornings, which is definitely a good thing.  Once Anna gets here though, I am chopped liver.  It's only occasionally that she decides my lap is better than the cold hard floor.  If she can't have Anna, I'm usually not an acceptable substitute unless I have food that looks good.  It makes me laugh how often the kids will pick one of us to LOVE.  A lot of them do it, and sometimes they switch.  I suppose most kids do that with their parents too though, so it's reasonable.  Spending a lot of time with two people, it makes sense that you feel closer to one than the other at different stages.

Oh, and she still hates painting.  We're starting the Very Hungry Caterpillar unit again, and I had to hold her hand around the brush while she yelled and slapped it on the paper.  Not to paint the leaf, you understand, but in violent protest of the entire process.  The end result was paint on paper though, so I'm counting it as progress!  :)

Friday Focus: Merida

We're living on borrowed time with Miss Merida these days- she's already got a June graduation date set.  A space is opening up at the preschool where her big sisters go and they're willing to take her early.  We are less willing to give her up and will miss her lots, but I completely understand the reality of wanting to have all siblings at the same location.  It will make pickup and dropoff so much easier for her family. 

So with only a couple months left, we're just trying to eat her up every day.  I love this kid.  She's so funny and her little personality is just so original.  Right now she's really enjoying the growl.  We try to set her up for success by reading lots of books and playing with wild animals- lions and tigers.  She really wants the horses and cows to growl too though.  She roars and growls at everything that moves and then falls down laughing.  I'm trying to transition it into a vroom noise for cars too- that works on occasion but mostly it's very lionesque. 

She's super lovey and will look for people who need hugs.  She likes to sneak up on us from the back and tackle our legs, and her favorite thing is for me to lie on the floor so she can jump on my back and pounce.  It makes her really happy when I pretend she's killing me and make OOF noises while she bounces.  Sometimes I don't have to pretend all that much.  She's energetic!  :)

She's our best eater- loves grape tomatoes and peas, we've discovered lately, so there's been a lot of that on the menu.  It's always nice to find veggies the kids will eat. 

No pictures for you, sorry.  :)  You'll have to just keep imagining her gloriousness.