Hockey Galore

For months Eli has been talking about playing hockey with Grandpa Jim. Somewhere along the line I told him that his grandfather grew up playing hockey almost every day. Of course that meant Eli wanted to play with him, but living in Georgia, we don't get much practice on the ice. I *did* tell him that he could play in a tennis court with him, like Daddy and Uncle D used to do; same thing, but no skates. It was set in his mind.....a game WOULD take place.

So as soon as Grandpa Jim arrived Eli let him know that they would be playing hockey, and most likely on a tennis court. Lehr helped recover a few hockey sticks and a ball, and he even put two goals in the driveway (one soccer and one OLD PVC hockey goal sans net). Eli and my dad spent hours outside, hitting the ball (puck) back and forth. Early in the visit, Eli even got to go ice skating for the first time. Grandpa is very comfortable on skates, so he took Eli and held him up for about an hour as they moved around the rink. No pictures, because Grandpa had no extra hands, but Eli had a great time. Here is a quick video Lehr shot of Eli and Grandpa in the driveway one day.

My Heart Belongs To Daddy...

That is true at our house. Even though lately Maddux's renovation-prompted insecurity at bedtime has favored me, she loooves her Daddy. Lehr got to spend a few morning hours at the house one day this week which meant breakfast with Mad Dog. She loved that. But what she loved even more was Daddy driving her to school. That is something that never gets to happen because of the hours she attends (very 'mid-day-ish'). She was over the moon to be able to direct him to which streets to take, and then which doors to use and which hallways to walk down to get to her classroom. And when I dropped her off today, her teachers could not stop telling me how much Maddux gushed about her dad that day. She kept telling them, "Dats my daddy" and "My daddy brought ME to school today". It was a good reminder that just those little things go SUCH a long way with our kids and their self-worth. That five minute breakfast and ten minute school drive and walk-in made Maddux feel so so valued. It's really quite amazing (and SCARY) how much weight we hold with our kids!

Turkey Turkey

Eli has been doing some really cool stuff in school this week. Of course the focus was on Thanksgiving, and the Pilgrims and Native Americans...what fun crafts you can do surrounding that! He's made a Pilgrim mask, the quintessential macaroni necklace, a 'hide' story, an Indian head-dress, a family feather for their class turkey, and this cool, cool Mayflower ship. He was so excited to bring it home and tell me ALL about it. And he had his facts down; it was as if he was reading from the same book his teacher read from him. And not only did he tell me, but he then told Lehr a few hours later over dinner. The same story. Word for word! We'd read a Pilgrim book at home that talked a lot about the journey over and the first months of the Pilgrims' life in America, but none of it stuck as well as what he learned at school (as usual).

One of my favorite things Eli did this week was his thankful Pilgrim. The class made Pilgrim bodies that opened up their jackets to reveal writings done by the kids. They were supposed to write about what they were thankful for. Eli wrote that he was thankful for his cousin, Treis. So heartwarming to me because he only gets to see his older cousin once or twice each year. But he was all full of stories from the last few times he saw him, and he was very heartfelt when he told me how thankful he was to have another boy cousin. Love him!

Never A Dull Moment

In true Maddux fashion, many a Christmas song has been sung more times than not in our house over the last few weeks. Mad Dog is 'rehearsing' for an upcoming production at her school, and much caroling has taken place. In addition, she recently picked something up from me one cold morning. The two of us were downstairs eating breakfast. As soon as I finished, I hopped up and started doing some squats because I was SO cold I couldn't not do something to get myself warmed up. Later that morning Maddux did the same thing and told me, "I cold, Mommy!! SQUAT!" I caught both things on video yesterday....love that girl.

2010 11 Maddux squats and sings from Nicole Eliason on Vimeo.

Let Me Count The Ways....

So tonight Maddux does her usual five-minutes-post-lights-out-'I-have-to-go-potty'-distress-call. We oblige and leave her in the bathroom as we continue on with whatever we were working on. From the bathroom I hear my girl talking/singing to herself. This is so not out of the ordinary. Everything is a song. Everything is a conversation. She is usually the only known audience. (But I love it when I get to hear her performances as well!)

Tonight cracked me up more than usual, and the stuff that comes out of Mad Dog's mouth is usually pretty funny. As she sat in the bathroom, she played a game of 'this starts with that'. It was all in a sing-song voice and it was all very enunciated.

"Toilet Paper starts with 'toy'. Sink starts with 'seen'. Door starts with 'door'. Bathtub starts with 'baa'. Floor starts with 'fluh'."

This seriously went on for two minutes straight before she threw this one out and I laughed so hard I cried.

"Puter (as in computer) start with 'pew'." Ding Dang, I love that girl!

Ballet Observation

I know I'm waaaay behind on posting this, but time is hard to come by these days!!

Last week was Maddux's ballet observation week. Her studio does not allow viewing during classes, due to the distraction factor. As much as I want to watch her each week, I respect that, especially at Maddie's age. So last week was the first time I got to see her in her class. Lehr and Eli were allowed to view, as well, so the three of us sat with a few other parents at the front of the class and watched 45-minutes of three and four-year-old ballet unfold.

First off, Maddux had to change classes the week before, due to low attendance in her time slot. (Read: Maddux had 2 or 3 'private' lessons because she was the only one showing up.) So this observation was only the second time Mad Dog was in that class. That did not stop the other girls from taking their cues from my crazy girl. She is a natural leader, and it is wacky to watch. She doesn't do anything specific, but when she walks into a room, or approaches a group, they respond. I can only hope she uses her powers for good instead of evil....

The girls did really well listening to the teacher and mostly doing what was asked, even though the parents were in the room. Sometimes they didn't duplicate what their instructor did first, but they all tried their best and were very respectful. It was so so so neat to watch. Maddux was always the first to raise her hand when Miss Noelle asked "Does anyone know...." or "What does it mean when I say....." Maddie would raise her hand, kinda stick out her belly, grin and say, "I know!" in a cute, goofy and excited voice. And she did know. My girl definitely listens in class. No pictures were allowed, so here is just an old shot of her before one of her first classes. I can't wait for Spring observation week!

Randomness

That sums up Maddux these days (well, actually, most days!).

This last week I started to talk to Maddux about months. In her pre-school class they have different 'jobs' each day. One of the jobs is 'calendar', which means the helper for the day gets to help put the day, the date, and the month on the calendar in the morning. Somehow in our conversation we went from playing on the playground, to wearing pants, to leaves... Then Maddux says (totally out of the blue), "Oh, and O-vember."

So I ask Maddux, "What month is it?"
She responded correctly with "O-vember".
"Your, right. And in November, what do we do?"
Maddux says, "Well, we do a TURKEY DANCE!" In her defense, that was a weird, open-ended question.
I responded with, "Yes, we do a turkey dance, but we also have a holiday. Thanksgiving is a time when we show extra thanks for all that God's given us. What things are you thankful for?"
"I know I'm thankful for the princesses!"

Oh Happy Day

Unexpected Joy

You are not a brother to Maddux in the same way that Maddux is a sister to you. That is not a comparison: just an observation. She is much more obvious with her affection and adoration. While I know that you love her and that you miss her when she's not here, you aren't as vocal about it.

Today, Eli, you were amazing. You were an OBVIOUS big brother the entire day. You asked her to play with you. You helped her get out of her crib. You told her to be quiet at one point, but you did it SOO kindly. You pulled multiple toy bins out for her so that she could find something to play with. (And even though I need to clean them up right now, I am going to leave them there a bit longer, just as a reminder of your awesomeness. ) You shared crayons with her. You helped her tear paper out of her coloring book. You let her watch you while you 'worked' on your music notes. And when it came time to share Daddy, you did. Without complaints. I can't think of an afternoon that has gone as smoothly as today....ever. And it's all because of you. Thank you, Eli, for being wonderful you.

Halloween

What a fun weekend! Very full and busy, but fun fun fun, especially for the kids. Saturday we FINALLY carved the pumpkins; it has been too warm to carve them until now. Lehr did a great job of letting Eli carve his little pumpkin from his field trip, and then the kids decided on a 'mood' for the big pumpkin for Lehr to carve. Magnificent!

Yesterday started off as most Sundays do, with church. There was (still is!!) so much to do regarding the house, so I'd 'warned' the kids that naps were a pre-requisite to trick-or-treating. Any failure to comply may result in staying home. (I really did mean it given the lack of naps, and consequentially the increase in 'tude, in recent afternoons/nights.) They both snoozed and Lehr and I worked.

4PM came and we got the kids all dressed and ready for the neighborhood parade, set to start at 5:00. Eli got himself all suited up as a dragon, without any clothes on underneath, I later found out. I pulled Mad Dog's pig costume over her Halloween shirt and pants and then took her outside to spray her hair. (About a month ago I came across some pink hair spray and bought it for her to use for Halloween to complete her desire to be totally pink.) We were set. Packed a few water bottles in the stroller and we headed up the hill with our friends.

Once we hit the start of the parade, the kids were off on their own. I loosely kept an eye on them, but they were in their element, making the rounds. Eli knows many more kids now because he sees them on the bus each day. In fact, when the parade started, we knew Eli was ahead of us, but we didn't know who he was with. We later found out he rode the whole parade down with a friend from his class. Awesome parents, we are!

The parade finished at the pool where we ate pizza and had a quick costume contest. Neither child won this year, but they sat very patiently while the judging took place. Once the awards were handed out, the trick-or-treating started. Hooray!! Eli and Maddux teamed up with our neighbors both in front of us and behind us. The 6(ish) of them moved from house to house faster than I could believe. And it didn't even hit me until about 30 minutes in that I wasn't going up to the doors with them!! They were doing it all (and using manners for the most part) on their own! This was really cool to me because it was proof of the awesome benefits of growing up in a neighborhood with so many kids. Each house was mobbed with 2-10 kids at any given time, so even if/when they strayed from our original group, they were never alone.

Eli and Maddux collected lots of candy, having a few stops for 'special treats' before we went home. They both did so great, walking the whole way and saying "Thank you" at least most of the time.

Cool Stuff

I'm seeing a lot of the beginnings of memories for Eli and Maddux. They both have amazing memories already: the kinds that help you remember things, that is. Like when we go to an event we've only been to once before, and it was a year or more prior...they often tell me insignificant TINY details about it. Crazy.

But that's not the type of memory I'm talking about. I'm starting to see some fun memories created in our family that the kids will remember for years. We do fun stuff; everyone does. But in the last month I've started to see the kids interact and have little 'brother sister' moments that I am NO part of. I saw a few interactions the other night when they were around a bunch of other kids that just shocked me. Usually when other friends are around, Eli drops Maddux like a bad habit. However on this occasion, I saw him hanging out with her a few times, their heads close together as they were talking. LOVE it.

My favorite was yesterday. We somehow got talking about what Eli and Maddux wanted to do when they get older. Eli said, "I want to go to work like Daddy. And I want to play drums as good as Daddy." So sweet. Even sweeter? Maddux says, "I wanna go to daddy's work with Eli."

Body Numbers

Eli learned some fun 'physical' expressions of his numerals at school last week, and he was so excited to show me on Friday afternoon. He had Maddux and I get on the ground and do them with him, and he was sure to tell us how to do it correctly. This continued all weekend, so i grabbed the camera last night to catch him in action. As usual, when I put Eli on the spot, he froze a little and forgot the positions a few times, but it all turned out OK. AND you can see the backdrop is our lovely downstairs, coming along nicely.

2010 10 Body Numbers from Nicole Eliason on Vimeo.

An Official Bike Rider

Eli has been dabbling in the area of riding a bike without his gyro-wheel for some time, but he'd skip so much time in between 'practice sessions' that it would be like starting over each time. However, it is just in the last week that he's really taken the bull by the horns and gone for it. Usually he'll ask Lehr or I for a push and then, unsteadily, pedals for a few feet before putting a foot down or turning intentionally into the grass. Last weekend he finally started going longer distances. And he really enjoyed it! But he was still asking for help pushing off.

So this week we had a friend over one day to ride bikes and scooters. Eli mounted his two-wheeler and asked me for a push. I told him I'd push him from the street into the neighbor's (FLAT!!) driveway, and then he could push himself from the garage back to me. So I push him and expect some issues, but a few minutes later, he came riding towards me, shrieking, "MOMMY...LOOK!!!" I couldn't believe it. He had stopped, turned himself around and started again, all on his own. Eli repeated the solo start several times before we ended the day, and then showed Lehr when he got home from work. I think we've finally turned a corner on this!

Field Trip

Eli's class took their first field trip of the year last week. While he took two with his Pre-K class, this one was much bigger, as the whole Kindergarten was in attendance. The classes took a bus up to a Boy Scout property and went on a hay ride, learned about some outdoor-sy stuff, and then got to pick out a small pumpkin from a pumpkin patch. Eli had an absolute BLAST! I would have loved to chaperone, but it fell on a Thursday when Mad Dog was home with me, so I had to skip it this time. Eli told me all about the bus ride there, the fun hay ride, and then he said that he fell asleep on the bus ride home, next to a friend. How sweet is that! I believe it too; what a fun and exhausting day.

Report Cards

I had a conference with Eli's teacher this week, at which I received his report card. Since I'm in the classroom once a week helping out, I've been pretty up-to-speed with any goings-ons regarding Eli's behavior. But I was looking forward to the conference so that I could check in with his academics. While he seemed to be doing fine to me, I had no idea how he may be comparing to the 'standard' or to other kids in his class. It turns out that he is doing great! He's meeting all requirements with two exceptions, and even those were barely missed. We've since discussed those topics at home, and he had it down after our first conversation. Eli's behavior is still a work in progress, but it's much improved since his initial days in the classroom. His teacher has been able to observe him during the absence of a buddy (aka 'partner in crime), and she has come to realize that he has the tendency to just follow someone else's lead. Not that it takes him off of the hook for controlling his own behavior, but it's good to know that if he's separated from certain kids, he is a different Eli. All in all, it was a great conference and Eli is making the right kind of progress!

A Day In The Life...

This is so our life right now. Maddux is loud, Eli watches her perform, and Neil Diamond is sometimes the theme music....

2010 10 Kids Sing from Nicole Eliason on Vimeo.

So Far, So Cool

Eli has come so far in just a few weeks. Pretty much since the first day of school we've been struggling with some less-than-preferred-by-the-teacher behaviors. A few calls, some notes home, a conference, conversations with the counselor and a few sessions of Mommy in the classroom later, I think we're on the right track. The short of it is that there was some sort of breakdown between Eli and his main authority figure at school; they were on two different pages. We seem to have met in the middle and are moving along rather nicely now. I know this will not be the end of it for Eli, as he is a very happy-and-he-knows-it child, but we've had more good than bad in the last two weeks, so we're celebrating!

In addition to that, Eli is progressing very well with his handwriting and recognition of sight words. I've made little flash cards of each sight word he's working on and we keep them down in our 'kitchen' (read: laundry room) so that he can review them with Lehr each morning over breakfast. Eli's pointing them out to me when we see them on errands now, which is cool. And his recitation of the lesson of the day is oh so cool. Monday he came home and recited a whole poem about Christopher Columbus to me. Since I was in the class just a few short hours earlier when his teacher taught it, I knew for a fact that they had learned that poem just that day. So cool.

Punky Bruester

Mad Dog likes to mix and match, and I love to foster that. Even on days when she doesn't choose her socks and shoes (currently the part of her outfit I allow her to select most days), I find fun, funky stuff for her to wear. At this time, we are enjoying some lovely fall weather most mornings, so leg warmers are a part of many outfits, especially if she's wearing a skirt. And most days those leg warmers are actually 'Baby Legs', which date back to her days as a 4-8month old. Love that they still fit and she can use them with almost any outfit. Here is a small sampling of the outfits she's been rocking as of late.

Escapee

Holy Moly! I've already told this story to most friends and family, but it's the most 'book-worthy' of any post I have about the kids, so here we go.....

This morning was a crazy one. We had car battery issues, and lack of gas issues, and schedule issues. So all of the stars lined up causing Lehr to be at the gas station with my car, the garage door up, me in the shower, and Maddux waking up at the exact same time. For the last month, Maddie has been climbing out of her crib and coming into my bathroom as soon as she wakes up. 99% of the time I'm still in the shower, so she hangs out and talks to me until I'm done. Today, however, she did NOT come into my room. Instead she ignored the loud water noise that should have tipped her off to the fact that I was bathing, and she instead went downstairs, against everything she normally would have done. She decided to open the door to the garage (where an alarm would normally have sounded, but we in still in construction mode, so no such alarm exists). At this point she sees that my car is gone. And instead of noticing that Daddy's car was still there (and, oh yeah, that SHOWER sound), she gets scared that she's home all alone and leaves the house.

Here is where she gets smart. Instead of wandering through the streets, or walking all of the way up to the bus stop, she goes right across the cul-de-sac to our good friends' house. Their garage door and house door was open in prep for an exit of their own, so she just walked right in and asked, "Where's Mommy?"

As frustrated as I am with the circumstances leading to her exit from our house, I am overjoyed that she went to a house we know well and trust, and I'm ever grateful that they were home to welcome her with open arms and reassure her. All day I struggled with reminding her that we NEVER leave the house without permission and complimenting her on smart thinking about where she should go if she were in trouble. Gray hairs? Check.

Compassion

My girl has it. In every fiber of her being. Even when she is distracted by toys. Even when she is distracted by friends. Even when she is distracted by her own injury or pain. Maddux has more compassion for others in her little finger than I probably have in my whole body.

She has always been the first kid to ask 'what's wrong' when she hears someone crying, but lately Maddux has really stepped it up, even for her. I consistently get reports from school that she is amazing with her classmates, taking care of them when they are sad that their mommy left, or comforting them when they crying because they don't get to play with a toy. Today I picked her up in the car pool line and her teacher said, "GREAT day!" She then went on to tell me that Maddux is so sympathetic to the other children. Specifically that day, Maddux rushed to the teachers when a girl from another class was 'stuck' on a playground apparatus. Apparently Maddux tried to help her when she called out, but couldn't, so she ran for help. They love her for her 'gift', and I love them for that!

This week I took the kids downtown after Eli got home from school. As he often does at that time of day, Eli started snoring just ten minutes into our drive. Maddux wiggled and wiggled in the backseat until she could reach over to stroke his head while he slept, just like I do to both of them when they're sleepy. She was so focused on reaching over to him...amazing. She's also done the same thing to me a few times when I've nodded off on the couch with her before Eli comes home. I wake up to her fingers in my hair. Love it!