Interview with (4.5-Year-Old) Emily and (2.75-Year-Old) Jessica

Nathalieland: Hello Emily and Jessica!
Emily: Please, we prefer to be called Vector and Shooter-Boogy, respectively.

Nathalieland: What?
Jessica: Oh goodness, don't ask. Just go with whatever funny names Sissy picks out for us. It's entertaining!

N: Ok then! How are you girls?
E: I'm tired.
J: I'm snoozy.

N: Hm. Not sleeping well these days?
E: I go to bed around 7:30-8pm, but always wake up by 5-5:30am, or even earlier, crying. Plus it doesn't help that I've been battling a cold for the past week.
J: I've also been waking up a lot in the night, wanting my mommy to comfort me. She often ends up sleeping on the mattress on my floor... so as you can imagine all four of us are tired in the morning! And ditto on the cold.

N: Well that's unfortunate girls. Hopefully you'll all get some better sleep soon. Wait, what are those pillows you're both holding?
E: These are our "Daddy" and "Mommy" pillows. They were a wedding gift from Auntie Yetta and Uncle Brett, and they have our parents' faces on them. I love to snuggle my daddy pillow!
 

N: Hilarious! And sweet. So Jessica, it's your 3rd birthday in just three months! Made any plans yet?
J: I want a spider/Spiderman-themed party!! I will invite my friend Abigail and have a spider chocolate cake.
E: And I want a Hulk/Avengers birthday party! In 6 months. I've already been planning it for months...

N: Awesome! Looking forward to attending these exciting events. What are your favourite colours?
E: Green.
J: Orange. 

N: Wow, no hesitation, eh?
E: Nope, those are it.
J: Simple as that.

N: What is your favourite time of day?
E: When Daddy gets home from school.
J: When I get to sit on Mommy's lap.

N: And your least favourite time of day?
E: When Daddy leaves to go to school.
J: Diaper checks (the smelly ones).

N: What's your TV/video lineup like?
E: Anything from the following list: Caillou, Franklin & Friends, Magic School Bus, Peppa Pig, Sid the Science Kid, Sesame Street, or Toopy & Binoo.
J: The other day we got a Dora DVD at the library and we liked it. My favourite part is when Swiper the Fox says, "Ohhh mannn." I'm not sure Mommy and Daddy are big fans of Dora though.

N: So how much TV/videos do you watch in a day?
E: About 1.5 hours a day, broken up into four ~20 minute sessions.

N: Coolio. What are your thoughts on school?
E: I love it! I miss it (and my friends) on my off days. I get really excited about homework and do a whole month's worth of it in one sitting. I'm already done my March homework!
J: I can't wait to go to school!

N: Any peculiarities worth noting these days?
E: I sleep with 11 very special items. I snuggle up with each one of them in my bed at night: my Hulk doll, Hatty, ball-Hulk, Toot Toot the horse, Mr. Teddy, Bunny, Daddy pillow, old pillow, and three blankets. Speaking of my old pillow, I call it my ice cube -- it's always cold so I snuggle it when I get too hot.
J: I couldn't care less what I sleep with. But I like my milk with an ice cube and a straw.

N: Well thank you ladies for sitting down and having a chat with me. Perhaps in our next interview we could do a (real) sit down video interview!
E: I think I would like that.
J: Sounds like fun!

N: Bye for now!
E & J: See ya.

Tired Days

We've all been pretty busy and tired around here! Steve is doing the practicum part of his teacher's college, which means he's teaching at a local high school for three weeks (he's currently half done his practicum session). He's gone every weekday from 7:30am until 3:30pm, which is great because it means he's home for dinner every day, but with preparing for his lessons in the evenings and getting up early every day, he ends up pretty tired all week!

In the morning

Emily's also been having some troubles with sleep and waking up very early in the morning (around 5:45am). School mornings are especially tough, not only because she's exhausted by the time school starts, but because she's not liking school at the moment. A couple of weeks ago she told me that she doesn't like school because finds the day to be too long. She said her favourite part of the day is going home, or "gym time" because that's the last thing they do before going home. Poor girl has been crying on and off in the mornings before school, and ends up totally beat by the end of the day.

In the afternoon

I'm scrambling to keep things in order, give everyone what they need, and acknowledge and comfort Emily's anxiety. I have not mastered the art of packing lunches, getting myself and the kids dressed, keeping everyone fed and happy, and getting us out the door by 8:45am. I think time and practice is what we need!

 

Travel Notes

We really enjoyed our weekend with family and friends, but travelling with kids is sometimes trickier than it looks. Here are some notes about the less-than-ideal parts of our weekend trip:

- The car rides were probably our least favourite part of the trip. We packed books, paper, markers, and food, but I guess that wasn't enough since the girls went stir-crazy in no time. Jessica would often whine "It's too tight!", which is her way of saying she's uncomfortable and tired of sitting in her car seat. Those 3.5 hours of driving each way felt pretty long...

- Like I mentioned in my earlier post, Jessica didn't nap the whole trip. We intentionally skipped her nap on Friday to go to the museum, then she just missed her nap on Saturday by falling asleep in the car on the way to the hotel for check-in. This means that Jessica was a little temperamental, though she did surprisingly well. The problem now is that she's on a nap strike -- no naps in 5 days! AH!

Emily pretending to be asleep like Jessica

- The fact that Jessica missed naps didn't help her night sleep either. We brought our pack n' play for her to sleep in, but she didn't love it and took a long time to fall asleep. Then she woke up around midnight and cried non stop until we brought her to our bed. She eventually fell asleep (after lots of climbing around us), and took over the whole bed (lying sideways between us). Similar thing happened at the hotel, though she only joined Mommy and Daddy's bed early in the morning.

- I should probably mention that Emily slept like a champ -- whether on the floor in Grammy's office or on the sofa bed at the hotel. Yay Emily!

- I'm an over-packer. I can't help it! I feel better knowing that I have everything I need and then some, rather than constantly realizing I should have packed more. For this short trip (Friday - Sunday), we packed one large suitcase full of clothes, blankets, and diapers, a cooler full of cold foods, a bin full of dry foods, a bin full of books, a diaper bag, a pack n' play, a purse, and a double stroller. Food is the main nuisance, but I feel like I can't rely on getting good/healthy options that my kids will eat while on the road. And we all know what happens when our kids are tired and hungry...

- One thing I wasn't quite prepared for was the weather. I expected rain, not snow, so the girls were under dressed for the bitter-cold winds and freezing snow. That made for some pretty unhappy kids anytime we exited a car or building.

- Rest stops were a big hit though and always helped to calm the kids down. I'm glad we have nice, clean, and spacious rest stops along the highway!

A not-so-happy Emily, 

soon to be soothed by food and rest

Happy girl

- Steve and I are homebodies and it shows. We were both beat after our three-day trip and so relieved to be home! I think the girls had fun though and of course it was nice to visit our family and friends.

Nathalieland Update - Outdoors/Sleep/Fairies/Lorelei

The Cold Outdoors. We've been spending some time outdoors despite the chilly weather. We've been to the park a few times, but winter coats, hats, and mittens are still a must! On a particularly warm day last week, I filled a bucket with water and collected paint brushes. The girls had a blast "painting" the deck! They pretended they were building/painting a dog house. Unfortunately it hasn't been warm enough to do this activity again. Soon enough, girls! 

Our "painted" steps

 Family shadow

Messy Sleep Schedule. Emily's sleep is a little messy right now. She sometimes (unintentionally) falls asleep during her afternoon rest time, but that creates a cycle of staying up late in the evening, but still waking up early, then being exhausted by nap time and falling asleep again.

Surrounded by her stacks of books  

Fairy Days. The fairies are still going strong at this house. We now watch Tinkerbell videos on YouTube on a daily basis, and Emily has imaginary fairy friends who come over to play. The other day we even hosted a "birthday party for Terence" (one of the fairies). We chose a theme (birds, "because he likes birds"), made invitations, baked him a cake, and wrapped him a present (the book "One Fish Bird, Two Fish Bird, Red Fish Bird, Blue Fish Bird"). Emily helped with the gift-opening and blowing out the candle :).

A flying fairy!

All dressed up

Going grocery shopping in fairy costumes

and baking Terence's birthday cake

Unwrapping Terence's present...

... and reading it

Happy Birthday Terence!

Tongue-Tied Lorelei. Our niece Lorelei will be four weeks old tomorrow! Crazy how fast time flies. Recently my sister and her lactation consultant discovered that Lorelei is tongue-tied, so I accompanied them on a drive to Picton so that a doctor could remedy the situation. Hopefully Lorelei feeds a bit better now!

Weekly Update - No-Moms/Constipation/Sleep

The No-Moms Club. One of Emily's favourite activities lately is to invite her little sis and Daddy upstairs "to the golf course" (her room). They turn on some music, strip down to their diapers (Daddy excluded), and dance, sing, laugh, and play. The funny thing is that I'm not invited to this event. If I go up to her room, she specifically requests that I leave ("Mommy should you go back downstairs?"). I try not to take it personally and just enjoy that the girls are playing happily together (but secretly it hurts!). It does give me the opportunity to get things done around the house which is pretty nice.

Issue with Number 2. Emily's been struggling with a bad bout of constipation over the last couple of weeks. After our zoo trip (which interrupted her "schedule"), she had a painful BM and since then has been withholding her poops. She's gone 4-5 days without a BM, which then causes more pain, more problems, and more withholding. It's a pretty vicious cycle! We've talked to her doctor about it and we're working hard to try to get things back on track.

Sleep Tables Have Turned. Jessica's sleep has been steadily improving. She's no longer waking up in the middle of the night and she sometimes manages to fall asleep without my help. The only thing I've changed about her bedtime is her pyjamas; it's possible the ones she was wearing were too hot. It gets very tricky this time of year because one night it's hot and the next it's freezing. The tables have turned, however, because now with Emily's BM issues, she's the one who's struggling to get to sleep and crying out in the middle of the night. We'll get it right one of these days!

Weekly Update - Preschool/Sleep/Food/Lot

Emily's School Visit. Like I mentioned in my previous Weekly Updates post, Emily had her first preschool visit last week. It went well, but not great. We stayed for about an hour. Emily impressed me right away with her desire to play in the park (surrounded by the other kids), following everyone inside, listening to directions, and sitting with the children during circle time. One boy even took her hand and showed her the class pet fish (which is huge considering her apprehension with physical contact). She definitely seemed nervous, but she held it together so well. Once circle time was over, Emily's teacher took her and tried to show her how to do one of the activities. By that point, however, she was completely overwhelmed and started to cry. She calmed down with me in the Peace Corner (a place by a window with pillows, books, etc). She tried one more activity (drawing) before she cried again and headed back to her resting spot. We decided to leave soon after that, although not before playing in the park again (which made her very happy!). She came home in a good mood, told Daddy all about her day at school, and requested that he go with her next time. Her next visit is tomorrow with Steve! I'm hoping she'll feel a bit more comfortable with the teacher and activities the second time around. 

Sleep Issues. Before Jessica's wrist injury, her sleep was pretty ideal. We had a nice bedtime routine, then I would put her in her crib, sing her a song, and leave her to fall asleep on her own. She would sleep through the night without a peep. I definitely expected sleep issues to arise when she had her cast since it must have been harder to get comfortable and all. But even with the cast gone, her sleep is getting progressively worse. She has lost the desire to fall asleep on her own and wakes up several times a night calling out for Mommy or Daddy. At bedtime she cries until we are in the room singing to her, at which point she eventually falls asleep. I find it hard to pinpoint the problem/solution (are you too hot? too cold? hungry? scared? lonely?) -- but one thing's for sure: we're all tired and we need more sleep!

Sing me a song, Mommy

Looks as Good as it Tastes. Emily's in a picky food stage again, where she rejects all the healthy foods she used to love. In order to get her interested in more foods again we've been experimenting with presentation... Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't ;).

Extension #7. In case you were wondering, our lot still hasn't closed. Back in September I was optimistic that it was closing in about a week, but the closing date keeps being pushed back, one week at a time. It was supposed to be tomorrow, but unsurprisingly our lawyer called today to extend it another week again. The delays have something to do with the process of having the lot plans registered with the city. There's not much we can do other than wait...