Snack Confusion

Tonight Abby questioned, "What does Mrs. Hart say, 'Sit like a pretzel' for when she reads us a story?"

Trying to reinforce Mrs. Hart's policies I replied, "So you keep your legs under your body and to yourself. Do you like to sit like a pretzel?"

"No, I like to sit like a Dorito."

The Mean Mom. The Bully.

Life with Lauren has been trying, to say the least. If life in the twos is terrible, life in the threes is far from a breeze. It is one thing after another with this young lady, and today was really no worse than usual, it was just put on public display.

Twice today I had to remove Lauren from a store by hauling her carcass out over my shoulder. The tantrums escalate to a display worthy of an Academy Award. The first came in Target, the result of not getting an Icee. Out we went. The second was on a much grander scale, this time I paraded right through the food court with my naughty just as the patrons were flocking for lunch. Only this time I wasn't just accessorizing with Tiny Tot over my shoulder, I was also wearing the crustiest glare I could muster up.

After we enjoyed a nice mid-morning snack, I told Lauren she could spend some time playing in the kids area. She was having a ball, running, climbing, and bouncing about. That is until she ran into Long Hair Boy. Lauren had climbed up onto a delivery truck and perched herself onto one of the sides. What Long Hair Boy had against Lauren I do not know, but he was bound and determined to take her place and never give it back. Ever. She moved on for a while, but when she went back, there was Long Hair Boy. Eventually Lauren ran to me in frustration, "She is stupid," she proclaimed with her eyes full of tears. We took a few minutes to gather our good graces and I reminded her that the perpetrator was not a girl, but a boy with exceptionally long hair. With just a few minutes until it was time to bug out I wanted to leave on a high note, so I encouraged her to give it another shot. Well, you can about guess what happened next. When Long Hair Boy saw her coming, he reclaimed his post at the top of the mountain. If I had a mirror, I'm sure I could have seen the smoke coming out of my very own ears. There was no way around it; this kid sucked. His grandma was oblivious. Does Long Hair Boy not know that the slightest thing sets off Lauren, and as a consequence, I have to deal with the wrath? I wanted to pull his scraggly long hair and point out how much I loathed him in that moment, but that would not solve anything. It also would not set a very good example for my young daughter. So I did the next best thing. I stared him down. It was a piercing stare. And several times I broke from it, only to stab him again and again with my angry mommy eyes. He may have won in his battle with Lauren, but in this Mommy vs. Long Hair Boy playground rumble, I was the queen of the mountain.

I'm not particularly proud of my behavior. But I have this to say, it is a classic example of a gift mother nature has given to all of its mothers. Don't piss off a mom.

Paradise

Abby left the dance floor twice at Bob & Cassie's wedding dance.... Once to go to the bathroom, and another time to get a drink, and only because I insisted. That's it. She was dancing before the dance even started, and when it was over asked, "Why is everybody leaving?"

This video pretty much sums up her evening.

Abby In Paradise

(Remember to pause the playlist on the right side of the blog to hear the video.)

Preschool Day II

Day two of preschool is now in the books. Abby arrived at school and joined her classmates in the art room again, like she will each morning. Today she chose to do a chalk drawing that she informed me are vegetables.... oh to have a peak inside of her mind.

Because my dear Lauren is still suffering from a severe case of Bad Attitude, I opted to go home instead of out and about while Abby attended school. Nothing special, just a day of tending to chores for me, and play for Lauren at home.

When Lauren and I arrived in the Language Arts room to pick up our dear preschooler, we were greeted by Mrs. Hart with a big smile on her face, "Whatever you did worked," she exclaimed, "because Abby followed the directions perfectly." Of course, I'm sure it helped that Abby also got to be the leader, so she felt quite honored and special. We are going to have to practice making Lauren the leader at home in the days between now and day III of preschool so Abby is well aware that other people, too, enjoy the privilege.

Abby herself was also pleased with how the day went. It was obvious being the leader was the highlight, but she was quite proud to share her caterpillar, butterfly, and chalk art with her sister. She did choose to have a snack today, something she informed me she passed on her first day because it upset her stomach.... crackers & juice, really Abby?! But whatever. Today, she enjoyed it. After a little poking I also discovered that she made a new friend today named Lexi. "She's a girl and she wears a pink shirt," is about all she had to say about that.

We're getting this preschool routine down and its only the second day. Kudos to us, but mostly kudos to Abby. She's taking her role as a student seriously; what better start to her career as a student could I ask for?

And let's not forget, kudos to Mrs. Hart and all the preschool teachers of the world. Enjoy what you've got this year, because next year is a whole new ball game....

Abby's First Day of Preschool

The day Abby has patiently been waiting for has come; her first day of preschool. She was ready, and anxious for this day to come, and there was no separation anxiety to speak of.

Our saving grace actually came in the form of our little friend, Avry. To make a long story short, Avry and her family are staying at our house in Ohio, as they have several days of appointments in Cincinnati. Avry and the girls hit it off, and Avry has been hanging out with us doing projects, activities, etc. The anxiety of leaving Abby was lessened by the fact that we had a new member of the gang here to keep us busy.

Dropping Abby off was smooth. She found the tag with her name on it right away and placed it in a pocket effortlessly. Her class starts out in the art room in the morning, and while I filled her teacher in on Abby's habit of putting things into her mouth, Abby jumped right into painting. And with that, Lauren, Avry and I were off.

We spent our Activity Day at the mall.... first stop: The Food Court. Here we were greeted by scores of senior citizens enjoying coffee and breakfast. Heads turned as we walked through the group (the closest I've ever come to feeling like a supermodel or A-list celebrity), each of the elders with a smile on their faces as Lauren & Avry pranced through the crowd, hand-in-hand, ready to dig into coloring with their school supplies packed in their bags. After coloring and a snack, the girls played for awhile in the mall's play area. We also did a little shopping, and before we knew it, it was finally time to pick Abby up from her first day at preschool.

The girls and I arrived before Abby's class had returned from the playground. Lauren's eyes were frozen to the window, and when she spotted her sister she yelled out her name, and then filled with disgust as she realized Abby was walking through the parking lot without someone's hand. They're sticklers for the rules.

But apparently there is one rule I did not arm Abby with: staying to the right when you go down the stairs. In fact, according to Abby's teacher, Mrs. Hart, Abby was so upset about having to stay to the right and hold onto the rail that she burst into tears. What?! My child not like to be told what to do? Never! Oh, that kid is just like her mother. But all was smoothed over when the class made it downstairs for snack time and it was Abby's turn to share something special she had collected over the summer. Her choice, a picture of her with Aunt Heidi at Lake Wenatchee in Washington. According to Mrs. Hart she did a thorough job of telling about her trip (sorry, I forgot to ask if she included the details of the chip-throwing and middle-of-the-night floor art), and by then she had forgotten all about the stairs.

As we were driving out of the parking lot I asked Abby, "So what did you think of your first day of preschool?" "It was great," she replied. And I truly think it was.

We capped off the special event with a trip to McDonald's for lunch!

I'm lovin' it.

The Cover-Up

By now you would think I'd have learned. But apparently, I did not, and left the goods in Tiny's reach. They were too much of a temptation, and desire got the best of her.

She fooled no one with the Kleenex Cover-Up. And I am happy to admit that I was also not the one left to clean up the mess. Not this time, at least. This time, it was Daddy's turn. Of course this time the mess was significantly less than the two cups reported in "How Do You Measure Naughty?" But it doesn't quite compare to the monster inscriptions they left on their grandparents floors in "The Night of the Naughties".... See a pattern here?!

Covering up

This:

What are we going to do with her?

Cooking Up Sunshine

Abby's cooking up sunshine & sending it your way.....

(Don't forget to pause the music display on the right side of the screen when you play the video)