The Big Sis

still loves her baby brother and often thinks he's the cutest thing around. But considering the frequent hitting, biting, grabbing episodes sometimes begs me "can I please hit him, please?"


She's suffered a few bites, more than a few scratches, and even a hardback book to the back of the head, so it's hard to blame her. Nevertheless, most of the time she's a wonderful big sister and my biggest complaint is the overexuberance of their playing. There's a lot of piggybacks, jumping, bouncing, rolling, etc, involved when they play.


It's fun to watch, but the more worked up they get the more likely it is that Ben will end up going to far and Lucy will end up mad and in tears. I suppose we should be really grateful that she hasn't ever actually hit him back or hurt him in anyway. Usually she just cries or yells for us to come get him. Considering the differences in their sizes it's actually pretty amazing. One day recently I ran into the room to find Ben sitting on Lucy's head. I mean really she should easily be able to dump him off but I think deep down she really doesn't want to hurt him.

As I mentioned 2 posts ago my girl has been diagnosed with ADHD and she started medication this past week. I do plan at least one post on all that soon, but the short story is she's handling the whole thing with great nonchalance and so far has experienced no side effects from the medicine.

As Lucy gets older she just becomes more intensely Lucy. She remains interested in all sorts of activities and would probably try everything if we had the time and money to let her. This past school year she contined taking tap and ballet and started playing soccer. She also (much against her will) attended math tutoring sessions twice a week and in the fall she also swam every Sunday.

Ballet Recital: Skater's Waltz


Tap Recital: Stray Cat Strut



On the Soccer Field


She's on the swim team this summer and will be attending a week of drama camp and then 2 weeks of soccer camp late in the summer. She also wants to join a chorus and learn to play piano and flute. Just listing her interests tires me out! Obviously we can't fit it all in so we'll be having a sit down soon to plan out next year's activities.


Relay Start

She continues to devour books and reads constantly. She loves to draw and sing. Most of all she loves to be with her friends and attended and hosted a TON of sleepovers this past year. Most of Lucy's friends are very nice, but her best friends are similarly "energetic". Actually, I generally don't mind the playdates and sleepovers because they are at an age where they usually want to play alone in her room or outside so it actually makes my life a bit easier.

She spending the swim season part of her summer - through the end of July - with her beloved babysitter mostly hanging out at the pool. She'll spend 3 weeks in August with grandparents and cousins and then return for some soccer camp before starting (gulp) Fourth grade.

Sometimes I look at pictures of her when she was a baby or toddler and wonder what happened to my baby. It also makes me a little sad that I really can't remember her at those ages. On the other hand, this girl who mentally wears me out almost as much as her brother wears me out physically, who would debate me all day long - if I let her - to get her way, who (at the ripe old age of 8 1/2) thinks she knows everything, who can drive me up a wall with her attitude, is pretty freaking amazing and I'm so grateful to be her mom.

Two!

So, have you met my son...




Yeah. Last year around the time he turned one, I started calling him Taz as it often seemed to me that I'd created a real life version of that lovable little cartoon monster. A year later and I now realize I had NO IDEA! What I took for Taz-like behavior back then was nothing compared to the the little devil currently snoozing in the crib in the next room. My sweet little chunky baby has turned into a full blown whirling dervish. He bites, he hits, he kicks, he throws, he climbs, he jumps, he fights, he wails, he lies! (oh yes -- I'll get to that later).



I love the little guy, and I should say that much of the above is not done out of any sort of malice, he is just 100% impulsive and there's just no control there. One night recently he was in my husbands arms singing some sweet song he'd learned in daycare for father's day. It went something like "daddy,daddy, daddy, love you everywhere and every way". And just as my husband and I were grinning ear to ear and ahhing over the sweetness of it all, WHACK - he just smacked my husband across the check out of nowhere. And hard. I really think much of the time he is trying to play and he thinks it's all very funny. But then again there are the times that he's mad because his sister won't give him whatever she's got, or I won't let him pour the orange juice in the already full cup, or I dare to put a diaper on him, or he want's to hold the whole box of crackers and not share them.

The thing is I used to roll my eyes when people would talk about how much harder little boys were. I knew they were very physical and often prone to games of war, but my daughter was never exactly easy. My dad used to compare my daughter with my nephew and talk about how much more physical, etc, that he was. And truly I thought he was full of shit. I would think "have you MET your granddaughter?" She seemed to me to be pretty physical and she certainly was never one to sit in a corner playing quietly. Little did I know.

Compared to her brother, my daughter might as well have been in a coma. The boy WEARS ME OUT! In the last week, almost every day when I pick him up at daycare I've had to carry him kicking and screaming to the car. This only after chasing the little guy all over the playground. He likes to take off into the big kids playground and climb, throw the mulch, throw the rocks, and then practice his civil disobedience training by falling to the ground once I am able to catch an arm or a piece of his shirt.


I am trying my damnedest to be gentle but firm with him, but he is every bit as willful and stubborn as his big sister. One big difference, however, is his size. The kid is 33 pounds of muscle and when he fights me, well let's just say I could use a lot more naps.

And then on the flip side, the little guy is all kinds of shy. If I take him to a party or someplace new he is attached to me like superglue. He will eventually warm up and start to wander around a bit, but god forbid someone tries to touch him and he's right back on me all "mommy, mommy, up, up, up!" It makes the first 10 to 15 minutes someplace new quite easy as long as my arms don't give out. Of course once he warms up and we're back to Taz-like behavior I start wondering why I bothered to go as I can never really socialize unless my husband is there too, but we often divide and conquer with the kids, so I'm quite often going it alone.



As far as food goes he's definitely our adventurous one. Although it is often hard to get him to sit still and eat with us. And some nights he hardly eats anything at dinner (I think he just eats a lot during the day -- trust me, there's still plenty of pudge there, he's not starving!). But, two weeks ago he ate a bowl of salsa with a spoon.

6 weeks ago he ate my entire bowl of spicy gazpacho at a dinner party. He loves pretty much anything sauce-like and he'll try anything as long as someone else is eating it.

He still loves to be read to, but as he's more active now, our reading, and therefore snuggling, time has really shrunk. He loves to play with his sister and her things. Fortunately, much of the time she likes to play with him too. They love to rough house together - which kind of drives my crazy - and he loves to be in her room. He loves his many, many trains and trucks. When he wakes up in the middle of the night and in the morning he usually wants me, but at night he prefers for his daddy to put him to bed. He clearly likes his friends at daycare and his teachers, but he still often clings when I drop him off in the morning. He loves to dance and sing and he has the sweetest little voice. He's bossy and likes to tell me "mommy sit here!" He loves to "wash his hands", which really means play in the kitchen sink small plastic bowls with the water running. He loves the pool and always wants to go swimming. If I pass our old street he points and asks to go "home". He'll tell me he wants more dinner as a ploy to leave his room. He'll ask to say goodnight to his sister or daddy and then run into the living room to his toys. He likes to sit on my lap at meals, but only rarely will let me help him with his spoon. He doesn't like to have his teeth brushed, but he does like the antibiotics he's been on recently for strep and a sinus infection. He HATES when strangers try to touch him and doctors visits, dentist visits, and hair cuts are pure and utter misery for us both. But once I tell him we are leaving he will high five and kiss everyone.

5 months

Amazing what can happen in 5 months. Actually it's amazing how much can happen in just 10 days. We just had the most crazy 10 days. It was mostly good and fun stuff, but it tires me out just thinking about it all.

Big news is that we had Lucy evaluated this spring and she was diagnosed with ADHD.
This morning she started on medication. I've got mixed emotions about the whole thing and hope to write more about it here soon.

Next up though I think I'm going to have myself tested.

Will update on the kiddos soon.