Here are some briefs on what my 3 favorites have been up to:
* Head lice! Pretty much the most wicked parental chore since potty training. I'm thinking (hoping!) we're past it, but what a nightmare. Hours of hair combing, a laundry catastrophe, cleaning up to my eyeballs. Yeah, hated lice. Now Maya is required (by me) to wear her hair up and braided tight and shellacked with mousse when she's at school, and she receives daily lectures about not touching, not wearing, not laying. Ugh. (If you go thru this and want some tips, I'm your girl.)
* LOVING Kindergarten. Love love love. I think she's the class narc, which makes sense, since she's a full head taller than they are. I'm sure she has some hard lessons about tattling ahead of her, but that's okay. As of now, she's friends with everyone and one of her highlights has been being chosen to "go up into the loft" with the STAR of the week during rest time on several occasions. And with several different boys, much to Daddy's chagrin.
* Great report card and teacher conference, which was nice to hear. I mean, I know it's Kindergarten, but good feedback is always great for parents to hear. The principal already knows her by name, but in a good way, :) and Maya's super exciting moment was getting her poem (Oh homework, oh homework, you are so fine. Even though you take up all our time.) read over the announcements on Friday. She was beside herself, so thrilled.
* This is the greatest time of year in Texas. Maya comes home from school and spends the rest of the day outside in the yard. With Mason, if he'll come, by herself when he gets sick of it. She makes up games, jumps on the trampoline for hours, etc. God bless Texas!
* I feel like Mason is, at last, thriving in preschool. It took him such a long time to warm up, but he absolutely loves it now. I come to pick him up and he's enthralled with the book he's being read or is wholeheartedly doing the actions for the song they are singing. He's starting to talk about what he's learning and about his friends and may or may not have his first crush. (We hear a lot about "Gigi", and when Maya asks if he looooooooves her he says "I just like her!", but he does his funny smile, which we love.)
* He has been such a good sport with such a tired Mama lately. When Simon naps in the morning, half the time I just pass out. He'll lay in the bed beside me and wake me up to ask for "a new show" when necessary. I feel so guilty, but he's so sweet. And luckily, hooked on good PBS Kids stuff like Sid the Science Kid, Dinosaur Train, and Super Why. I'm hoping I'll be more awake and alert soon so that our Mommy/Mason time is a little higher quality.
* Mason has started to show interest in letters. What letter is this? How do you spell that? I don't remember how we went about teaching this stuff to Maya - it seems like she just knew it one day. I need to get some flashcards or a game or something. Anyone have a favorite?
* He is my greatest, quickest little helper, as long as a)you turn it into a game (you are the delivery person, right?) and b)he doesn't get distracted. His ability to become distracted is second only to mine. But for the most part, he's so willing and so sweet, he probably gets a little overused in this house. I'm sure it all balances out, because I remember having a conversation with a friend a while back and we were both saying the opposite - thankful for our big girls, because our age 2ish boys were so unwilling. So it's fun to see him evolve.
* Whenever I say "Maya, when you were little you said "movie safuter" instead of "movie theater", Mason wants me to tell him something cute he used to say. But he's just now coming into his cute sayings, so I need to be sure to write some of them down. Think is "sink". Wipe is "wipe-did". And of course, there are several more currently in rotation, and they all slip my mind. I'll keep a running list so I can give Mason his own cute-phrase post here soon.
* Simon is the cutest little walker in the world. As my Dad says, "At least he's not pigeon-toed". The kid looks like he just hopped off a horse as he waddles around. It's so cute. He's happiest when he has one of anything in each hand.
* We refer to him as "the randomizer" because he's always carrying something around. He might wander into your room with a couple of granola bars and then find something he likes better on your nightstand. Later on you find your tin of cough drops under the couch and granola bars in your bed. It's amusing because he's amusing. And adorable and sweet.
* For the most part, he's just so sunny and happy and satisfied to wander around. This week, he's been teething and pretty unhappy about life. But still, he's a snuggler and a smiler and a giggler.
* He's a banana boy. If all else fails, that boy would eat 2 bananas at every meal. Of course, then he'd never poop again, so we're trying other foods. (Anybody have particular success with a finger food? This boys turns his nose up at quite a few things, which can be annoying. Luckily string cheese and graham crackers are always good standbys.)
And that's the latest and greatest...
