A Step in the OPPOSITE Direction and Boys Already?

First I will talk about little Sidney.  She has always been Miss Mellow, yet lately we have had the most difficult time with her.  Part of this is very good, since it is important that she test her boundaries.  The other part is pure frustration.  For one, she has recently started throwing full-on tantrums.  We have experienced two of these occurrences in the middle of stores recently.  I have had to swoop her up and swiftly head for the exit.  GRR!  Then there is the potty training.  YES, potty training.  As some of you may know, we thought we were past this point.  Last June, she was done with diapers.  She wore big girl panties.  We went on 9 hour car trips in which she held it until the next stop and had no accidents.  So, toward the end of July we were frustrated, irritated and 'ashamed to say' ANGRY when she would just smile at us and poop her pants.  What does a parent do?  We tried positive rewards, we tried negative consequences, we tried every trick in the book.  So back to pull-ups she went.  Kevin and I were getting more annoyed by the day.  We would not allow her to swim (even with a swim diaper) for obvious reasons.  She always seems to think that the swim diaper is the most convenient place to go to the bathroom.  We took her cartoon privileges away.  We even took Emma away at one point (though this was against my better judgement and she immediately got her little comfort doll back).  Last night I even put a call in to her dance teacher to take her out of dance class.  Kevin and I could not even consider continuing to reward such bad behavior. 

Well, today I had a long talk with a very wise woman.  She listened intently as I vented my frustration.  Then she stopped me and asked me, "Heather when did you start talking about buying a new home and putting yours up for sale?"  I replied, "The end of July."  She asked a second question, "When did you say Sidney started all of this bad behavior?".  I thought, "Ummm...the end of July."  Then this wise woman went on to explain a few things about children.  By the end of our talk it was all becoming very clear.  Sidney needed our attention.  Granted we give our kids a lot of attention, but right now she needs extra attention.  She does not need to be punished for something that she is not likely doing on purpose (though I was believing that she was).  She needs extra hugs and extra love - possibly even coddled a bit during this tricky time.  This should have all been clear to me after our rough night last evening.  After lecturing our three year old on the trials of life, she woke up in the middle of the night crying for mommy to hold her.  We are not by any stretch bad parents, in fact we are great parents.  However, we really missed this one!  After this revelation, I called Kevin and told him about the conversation.  We agreed to listen to the suggestions.  I sat Sidney down tonight and told her that we were going back to the basics.  We gave her privileges back (except for swimming of course; that is one rule that will have to remain).  We filled the m&m jar back up and told her we would work together and help in reminding her to go the bathroom.  About 10 minutes later, what did she do?  You guessed it, she earned her first m&m again.  She has been grinning ear to ear all night.  The dance teacher must have thought I lost my marbles when I called to re-enroll Sidney in dance class the day after taking her out.  Oh well, I suspect this will not be my last parenting blunder.  It certainly has not been my first.

As for my other child...she is going to give her daddy some more gray hairs (is this possible?).  Last night on the way home from school she squeals with delight that she tried to kiss boys today.  WHAT?  Yes, her and Leah.  I asked her what would possess her to do such a thing, she said because it was funny to see the boys run.  I had to laugh at this simple answer.  What innately causes little girls to chase boys and little boys to run?  Hilarious!  Kevin, on the other hand, did not think the story was so funny.  He gave her a stern talking to.  At one point she looked over at me with great concern.  I reassured her that daddy was just teasing "For Now!".

Is that Pig?

If you have a weak stomach you may not want to read this post.  The bottom line is that I have food issues.  I do not eat meat on the bone.  When I make soup, I use bouillon cubes.  When Kevin hunts, he brings it to me wrapped up nice and neat, boneless, skinless, etc.  I love eggs, but only if I do not think about what they really are.  I gave up eating chicken for several years once, because I thought about what I was "actually" eating.  I LOVE FOOD, but do not want to consider the source.  I like to live in denial.  It works for me.  Until Now.  Now I have two very curious little girls that like to associate things.  The other day when I was slicing up some honey ham for a quiche, Kendall came running into the room.  "Is that pig?"  She asked this with great excitement as she went to get her stool.  "I LOOOVVVVEEE Pig.", she exclaims.  Then she climbs up and asks if she can have some.  Of course Sidney comes running in to investigate.  She too seems to LOVE pig.  After about 10 minutes of this talk, I had to stop and tell them.  "Yes girls, it is pig.  However, can we please refer to it as ham?"  Somehow that makes me feel much better.

Yesterday we went to church and they had a kids carnival after service.  The carnival was complete with jump houses, popcorn and cotton candy.  The girls had never tried cotton candy before.  Sidney was not a big fan.  It was a bit weird for her.  Every time she would take a bite she would gag and try to wipe it off her tongue.  Needless to say, she did not end up finishing the cotton candy.

We spent our weekend packing up the house.  We found a house that we really loved and it closes in less than 3 weeks.  For those that have followed this story, it is not the first house that we originally started this whold thing over.  This is a house that we found last weekend and fell in love with it.  The girls have been doing very well with the idea of moving.  We promised Kendall that she could have a garden in the first house that we saw.  So when we found this other house that we ended up buying, she was not super crazy about it.  Finally I asked her what she did not like about it, she replied "I like the first one because I will have a garden."  No worries little one, there is room for a garden at this one too.  She is a crazy little gardener.  She loves to pull weeds, and tells me often when I need to water.  It will be fun to see how her garden does, because we are letting her take full reign of it.  As we talk about the move, the girls ask a ton of questions relating to what we will be taking and what we will leave behind.  Will we take the beds, the pictures, Cooper and Coco, etc.?  (Trust me there are many days when I would love to say we are leaving Cooper and Coco behind.  Those crazy dogs!).  So yesterday as we were driving, they were asking more of these questions.  As they were describing the sitting room in our current house, they referred to it as the "time-out" room.  I found this humorous.  I had never really thought of it that way.  Imagine that, we have an entire room dedicated to time-outs.

We're Back!

I have written about 50 posts in my head but have not sat down to type them.  I have started to miss the blog, but the longer I procrastinated the harder it was to start up (sounds like exercise).  This blog has become a way for me to express myself and appreciate things, both good and bad.  It has also forced me to take more pictures.  So in my slacker hood, I have not taken one picture during the month of September and it is already the 17th.  I will post a few of the goofy favorites from the end of August instead.

The girls and Kevin are both back in school.  Kevin has been as busy as ever with football and all of the other things that Athletic Directors do in the fall.  Last night was a tough one for him as BSU was playing at the same time the High School football game was going on.  His loyalty to Vallivue won out and he went the the High School game, only to stay up until the wee hours of the morning watching the BSU game later that night. 

The girls each moved up a class in their preschool.  Let me tell you, they think they are hot stuff now.  Sidney is now one of the big 3 year olds.  She has already taken her first field trip on the school bus and was super excited to tell us about it.  She is learning zoo phonics and has been coming home with a new song each week.  She is a sponge this year! 

Kendall's summer started with a field trip to the fire house where they gave her a fire hat and had the opportunity to sit in the fire truck.  Her class this year is set up much like kindergarten with a lot of school structure in the morning and free play in the afternoons.  In fact several of her friends are in kindergarten this year and she cannot wait until it is her turn.  She is already asking if she will be in the morning class or afternoon.  She gets to eat breakfast with the "school age" kids each morning and thinks that is pretty awesome.

There has been a lot of excitement on the real estate home front, but since I am semi-superstitious I think I will save those details until things are done (or close to it at least)....

I will close for now with a picture of Sidney trying to hide her "letter" from me.  She is a stinker these days!  I think she takes after Kevin:)