Heard on the Court...

"Shike.  Shhhhhiiiiike.  C'mon Gam, say shike."  Then, in an ear-piercing high pitched voice, "Yes, that's right.  It's a shike.  Good boy!" 
This is Harper trying to get Graham to say "shark".  He can say "shark", but I'm not sure about "Shhhhhiiiike."  That, is decidedly a language all Harper's own.

Big Girl Underwears!

I've been telling Harper for weeks that when Gramzie and Pop Pop left after Graham's birthday, she would no longer wear diapers, except for sleeping.  She seemed to go along with this idea just fine, even a bit excited, but you never know with Harper.  One minute she is on board, the next she is screaming and running for the hills.  So, on Sunday, after Gramzie and Pop Pop left, I reminded her that we were going to stop wearing diapers on Monday.  She said, "Ok, I want to wear big girl underwears!"

Monday morning came and Ian tried to get her to take her diaper off.  No go.  So, I explained to her that if she wore underwear, kept it dry and went in the potty, then she would get a jelly bean every time, and a sticker on her chart.  When she filled her chart, she got to go to the store to pick out a "littlest pet shop pet" of her very own.  "Ok, let's do it!" she said. 

Wthin an hour she had had two wet accidents.  Once, I started to get upset with her because I had just asked her and she had said "No way!" and then went into her room  and promptly wet the floor. But then her little lip popped out and she started to get upset.  I calmed down told her it was ok and that we woudl try again. And that was all it took. She stayed dry the rest of the day and by the end of the day, she had earned 5 jelly beans and was half way to her goal of a toy.

Tuesday started the same as Monday.  She wouldn't let Ian help her, but in the end, she only had one accident, and that was partly my fault for waiting too long outside to ask her.  She even pooped in the potty (I know, Too Much Information!). Of course, when she did this, she yelled, "Mom, there are rocks in the potty!  One big rock, and lots of little rocks."  By the end of the day, she only needed one more sticker to earn her "pet".  Fantastic!

Wednesday is here, she still won't let Ian help her in the mornings, but she has been accident free all day.  She earned her pet and we went to the store to pick it out (a gray puppy with a little parakeet friend). She started a new rewards chart, one with more spaces to fill and has already earned 4 stickers on it so far.  She is telling me when she has to go and even goes in and goes by herself before I even get a chance to get to the bathroom.  In the past three days, we have only used 3 diapers for her, and that is for sleeping.  And our wallets have sighed in relief!  We have made the move to only one kiddo in diapers full time, and it has been a very good thing!  (By the way, her "underwears" are Princess and the Frog and Tinkerbell and she thinks they are all "very bootiful".)

Doing Laps

The past day or so Graham has really been determined to walk more than 5 or 6 steps at a time.  Since he has been unusually cranky, the distraction of mastering how to walk has been a welcomed relief around here.  This is the scene I stumbled upon when I came into our front room a few mintues ago.  No joke, he did "laps" for about 15 minutes, getting happier and happier with the results.  I think we officially have a toddler on our hands!

Wonderful 1!

Graham turned 1 yesterday.  Here is how his day went, woke up, sort of happy, Ian and I sang happy birthday to him and wisked him out to the front room so he could enjoy a few quiet moments of birhday bliss.  This included lots of hugs and kisses and cuddles from me, more birthday song from Gramzie and lots of attention.  He began opening and enjoying his presents- lots of balls, cars, and a bubble mower.  And then, there they were, his big sisters, oohing and aahing his new toys and giving him lots of attention, that is until they took them away for themselves. 
Lucy took the cars, the big green ball and the firetruck.  Harper stashed the new bubble mower under her bed and tucked his new stuffed shark into her blankets.  I'm not sure Graham even knew what he got before they were snatched by his sisters.  He got his revenge, though, because as they were playing with his cars and planes later, he snuck off with Lucy's new princess figurines that he's been eyeing.  Cars for the girls, and princesses for the boy.  As long as they are playing peacefully,  I couldn't care less.
Last night was back to school night for Lucy and Ian and I had to be there right after dinner time.  This meant a rushed rendition of "Happy Birthday" and watching Graham gobble up peach cobbler in a minute, flat.  No worries, the smashing of cupcakes will come Saturday during his party at the apple orchard. 
One brings some new things for Graham.  He is still working on walking and definitely can take up to 5 or 6 steps at a time, without thinking, although he does too much thinking most of the time and chickens out.  He has really started talking a lot the past few days.  He is answering questions with yes or no, he is communicating when he is ready for nap, when he wants a paricular toy, when he hears an airplane outside, when he wants a drink or when he is hungry.  This is all making for a happier Grammy, if he can ask for something, I am much more likely to meet his needs earlier.
I can't believe he is already 1!  Lucy says this means he can't be a chubby little guy anymore and that he needs to start walking and talking better.  He's working on it, but for now, I still like that he wants to cuddle and hug, because that only lasts for so long.

To boldly go where no five year old has gone before

Lucy turned five this past Sunday with a space birthday party that was, well, out of this world crowded.  After a three month spell of hardly any rain at all, we had rain, rain and more rain Saturday night into Sunday morning, leaving our grass-starved backyard a bit of a mud-pit.  We decided to clear out the playroom and turn it into a party room.  With two birthday girls (Kylee being the other) and 13 guests, it was a bit crowded, add parents, little siblings and games that were meant to be played outdoors, well, space themed, maybe, spacious, not!
Lucy didn't even seem to notice the chaos, she had a great time, loved all the games and prizes and loved having her old friends mix it up with new friends from kindergarten.  Of course, no 5 year old minds a mountain of presents and a mountain it was.  On Friday we counted 25 presents that were wrapped in our house for Lucy, add Gramzie and Pop Pops' which arrived with Gramzie on Saturday and gifts from friends, well, you can see she was a bit spoiled.  She recognized her good fortune, though and noted that she had "gotten everything she had asked for and even a whole lot of others- that's great!"
The sleeper hit of the day was a whoopee cushion sent from Uncle D in a birthday card. After reveling in money from other cards sent as well, she decided to try out the whoopee cushion.  You will see in the video that the entertainment value of a whoopee cushion is well worth the cost.  She may be the world's worst prankster, utterly incapable of sneaking up on somebody, but she sure does get a kick out of the game.
Among her favorite gifts were a horse stable and trailor, a pretend school set, littlest pet shop pets, a glitter Barbie, a Sea World Barbie and a set of princess figurines. She also loves an "astronaut headset" that she walks around wearing, counting down a forthcoming mission.

We celebrated in the morning with gift opening and then her party.  That evening we went out to dinner and sang over coconut ice cream, which she gave a big thumbs up.  Whoopee cushion fun followed and then it was off to bed.  She took Rice Crispy Treats into school the next day, the first day of the school year in which she had to walk into school all on her lonesome, it was a very "five year old" thing to do.

Harperisms

Harper is growing up so fast.  She is virtually a little Lucy and tries so hard to do everything her big sis is doing.  My favorite example of this is when we walk home from school.  Harper suddenly decides that she must walk, which means she has to practically run to keep up with Lucy and she says or talks about whatever Lucy is talking about.  She will even try to finish Lucy's sentences and if you watch her, she is mouthing the words along with Lucy as she listens to every little sound Lucy makes.  With that being said, she still manages to say things that are distinctively Harper.  Here are our favorites:

• "I gotta get my hair tuff!" or stuff
• "Where's my poon?"  or spoon
• "cackers" or crackers
• "Booty and the Beast" or Beauty and the Beast
• "Turn on the yite!" or light
• "I yike spawky tuff" or "I like sparkly stuff"

These things make her sound so little, all the while she can count to 20, knows all her colors, animal sounds, ABCs, some of her shapes and can sing the entire soundtrack from Mary Poppins (both the movie and theatre productions).  She sings all day and all night and makes up songs as well.  My favorite singing moment was when, for at least a solid minute or so she sang, while doing a dance similar to the "Roger Rabbit", "Hum Diddly Hum Diddly I!" from Mary Poppins' "Supercalifragilistiexpialidocius".  It was just that!

Baby Steps

Graham is getting so close to walking.  This is one of his attempts to walk to me.  As you can see, he can be pretty steady one second and ten loosy-goosy, falling on his face the next.  His confidence is building, though, and that helps a lot.  I will say he is tenacious.  He will make walking attempts over and over again for up to half an hour.  Of course, he loves the attention that the girls give him when he walks across the room.

First Day was a Success!

I think it is the best of signs when they are leading the kinders out of the building and many have on shell-shocked faces, some have signs of pure exhaustion and there comes Lucy, bouncing, smiling and chatting it up with a buddy.  She bounded over, said she had "the best first day of kindergarten- ever!" gave me a hug and then came the shell-shock.  She just stood there for a minute, I think decompressing, and then was ready to head home.  For the entire walk she talked about the tour they took of the school, the work they did, the library book she checked out, the rules of the classroom and so on and so on. 
She got home, was starving, ate, ate and ate some more (so did Graham, even though he did not have school today) and opened up a special box that our favorite farmer, Farmer Richard, gave to her as a back-to-school gift (it was a huge box of Asian pears).  Now she and Harper are playing together and talking as though they haven't seen each other in weeks.  She's already excited about tomorrow, that, along with the smiles, is the mark of a great first day!

Terrible Ones?

Ahhh, Graham.  He is turning 1 with a vengeance.  Let's see, there are the endless tantrums, the being naughty just for the sake of being naughty, the pestering of his little big sis, and don't forget the hitting, biting and just plain nastiness when he doesn't get his way. 

Graham's first time-out

Graham celebrated his last month of babyhood with his first snack at the table, out of his high chair, with his sisters; his first time-out and learning to say "No" and "Yes", although mostly preferring "No".

Let's hope the kick-off to his second year starts better than this one is ending, or he may be getting an attitude adjustment for his birthday.

KINDERGARTEN!!

The first two weeks of September always bring about much excitement around here.  Summer is ending so we pack in pool time, we wrap up our summer list and we host a shrimp boil at the end of August.  This year is particularly big because Lucy started kindergarten today, is gearing up for her 5th birthday on Sunday and Graham is right on her heels with his first birthday next week.  Today though, it is all about Lu.
For weeks now we have been going to playdates with new kindergarten friends, at the school playground.  Lucy now knows 10 or more faces and kids (mostly girls- can you believe it?!) and has been getting very comfortable with the idea of going into kindergarten.  We have shopped for back to school clothes and supplies, we have been to registration and open houses.  She has invited a couple kids from her new class to her birthday party and we have met her new teacher, Ms. Amico. 
With all that being said, when I asked her yesterday if she was ready for school and for starting kindergarten, she replied, "Tomorrow?!  School starts tomorrow!"  Who would have thought?
Thank goodness her seemingly startled self settled down and and just got excited about her first day.  She picked out her outfit, decided what she wanted for breakfast (oatmeal with dried apricots) and snack (babybel cheese round, wheat crackers and apple slices- thatta girl!) and packed up all her school supplies.  We went over where the bathroom was, where the water fountain was, her cubby, who her cubby buddy was and where her seat was (center table, center seat).  She was funny because when Lucy gets nervous or excited she gets chatty and this morning was no exception.  She thought everything on our walk to school was great, "Mom, look at those pretty red flowers.  And this grass, it is a really pretty green, isn't it?!!!!)  When we got close to school she was able to pick out new friends among the crowds of 750+ kids and was annoyed when we had to park the stroller and get her brother and sister out so we could walk her in the first day ("Can I just go ahead to my room?")
When we got to her room she walked right over to her cubby, hung up her backpack, took out her folder and went and found her seat.  She wasn't moving.  This is what she was told to do and she didn't want to mess up the first day.  She got excited to see her new friends Kate and Kyle were sitting at her table and that she could see her other buddies Taylor, Allyson and Spencer were there and acting quite cool as well.  (Side note, it must be noted that Harper was playing the coolest kid of them all in her purplicious sunglasses, hanging very close to her big sister's side and occasionally noting that she too would be in kindergarten when she was 5).  She allowed one more photo of her in her kindergarten seat, kissed each of us good bye and then began turning her attention toward the order of the day.
Since other kids were crying, hanging onto their parents and otherwise carrying on, I decided not to tempt the situation and we departed pretty quickly, so proud that our new kidergartener was indeed ready not just for the day, but for her first year in the "big school". 

Good-bye Summer...

With Labor Day signaling the end of Lucy's summer, I thought I would jot down her summer list and include a few notes along the way.

LUCY'S SUMMER LIST 2010 (as dictated to me on the last day of school in June)

1. Catch fireflies
2. Pillow Fight
3. Sprayground
4. Ladybug Release
5. Toy Story 3(with Kylee and Natalie)
6. Meet Daddy for Picnic
7. Building Museum (we went and saw the Lego exhibit and added our own scuptures to the Lego city they were building.  Lucy is obsessed with Legos.)
8. Visit Ms. Hazel
9. Ice Cream from the Ice Cream Man (this is one she wants to repeat every single time we hear his Christmas music playing)
10. Air and Space Museum
11. Sprinkler
12. Bowling (Lucy bowled an 83!)
13. Candy Store
14. Ride a Horse (in Lexington, at Horse Park, with Gramzie)
15. River Farm
16. Mt. Vernon
17. Go to Beach ("North Carolina, Surf City Beach")
18. Botanic Garden
19. See butterflies at the Natural History Museum
20. Baltimore Aquarium (we saw the dolphin show which all three kids loved and were enthralled by.  The girls also liked the giant sea turtle, the stingrays and the shark, oh, and the "Nemo fish")
21. Go see boats at the marina (we did this on Ian's birthday in Annapolis)

And let's not forget 2 1/2 weeks in Kentucky, some of which she was hanging out there without us, water parks, playdates, campout, shrimp boil, bike rides, playground, swimming, swimming and more swimming and getting ready for kindergarten.  We have dubbed this summer "Lucy's greatest summer ever!" and I don't think she would disagree.

Baby Steps

Today, with drool running down his bare chest and belly, Graham stood at arm's length from and walked 4 or 5 steps to me.  He got so excited clapped for himself, patted me on the back and then proceeded to do the same thing over and over again.  He tried to walk to Lucy but got scared and backed down after she let him fall once, so he turned back to me and repeated another half dozen times.  With his confidence gaining, he is right on track to walk by his first bday!