the month is almost out and i'm tired.
between projects and duties at work and offspring that are becoming more their own persons seemingly by the hour, i end the day by lying down, reading my iphone, then going to sleep.
the pictures from my life, they keep happening. it's just that the words aren't keeping up.
the boy? the quintessential two steps forward, one step back of advancement from toddlerhood to little boyhood.
he began the first week of preschool like gangbusters, with boffo reviews from his teachers as to what a delight he is to have and how engaged he is with his classmates.
week two arrives and he's just "good." the next time, it's "a rough day." and today was "okay."
he started the day after "rough day" by hitting mommy with his sippy cup when she wouldn't let him watch tv first thing in the morning. nearly lost his toy privileges before ten. lots of backtalk and aggression.
took a lot of heart-to-heart talking to get him to understand that actions have consequences. tantrums, backtalk and meanness lead to no screentime, no plush toy friends and no toys.
we're hoping that he'll come to eventually be sincere in the use of "i'm sorry," "i didn't mean to" and "it was an accident" and mean to be remorseful and careful.
the potty training, though, is going swimmingly. big boy underwear all day save for naps and car trips where he might sleep.
and the girl? just wow. leaps and bounds. she sings and dances and picks up on everything everyone in the family does, good and bad.
she's good at tantrums. but she's also good at sharing.
kris said the other day, she noticed the boy had finished his bowl of pretzels. she went over and poured the contents of her bowl into his.
this, however, was not her intention, so she emptied his bowl back into hers. she looked flummoxed.
kris stepped in and showed her how to pull a handful of pretzels out of her bowl and place them into her brother's. this satisfied her, as she then returned to her place on the couch.
it's a good start.
she's also started announcing "pee-pee, pee-pee," because she wants to go to the potty. the few times we've actually obliged, she's actually gone.
of course, she's also just played with the toilet paper and wanted to wash her hands. (or play with the water, more like it.)
(this little achievement, btw, may have precipitated the astonishingly bad run of behavior on the boy's part in the middle of the week. suddenly his "thing" for which he was garnering regular praise was being matched by his baby sister. he may not have liked that.)
i know i'm forgetting other little milestones along the way, but i'm tired.
(update 8 october: oh, yeah, the baby learned how to unbuckle the chest restraint on her car seat. the boy watched her do it and told mama. kris said the look on his face was one of real concern, that the baby knew how to do something he couldn't. we've since adjusted the restraints so as to prevent further jailbreaks.)
and i'm watching my little babies and doing my best to watch them and memorize them being this small, with all the exhausting, exasperating, joyous and heart-warming moments they bring us each hour and each day.
