Last Friday Ian had a half day of school. Normally he goes to school from 9:00am until 3:00pm. Those kids are called “lunch bunch”. Some of the kids in his class go home at noon everyday, they call those kids “home team”. His assistant teacher, Sara, only teaches in the morning and then she goes home around noon too.

Last week Ian was talking to his teacher Sara and his gears started turning. He realized that he would be going home at noon, and that Sara usually goes home at noon too.

He looked up at her and said “Sara, I’m on Home Team today! I know that you go home early too. I got a new Star Wars Wii game. Since you are going home early and I am going home early, why don’t you come over and play it with me?”

How cute is that? He invited his teacher over for a play date

Two little stories about Nora.

Yesterday morning as we were getting ready for school Nora came walking up to me and said “Mommy does Daddy have a penis?”

I answered “Yes.”

Then she looked at me and said “Mommy, do you have a vagina?”

“Yes” again.

She looked up at me and in a very serious voice said “I don’t like penises” and then she walked away.

I was dying! I was trying not to laugh. On one hand, she is smart and is starting to figure out the differences between men and women. On the other hand it is just funny to hear her talk like that at 2 1/2 years old.

Then today she went into my bathroom and got out the tampons and panty liners. I didn’t notice at the time. When I went to put her down for her nap I put her on the changing table to I could take off her underwear and put on her diaper. As I was taking off her pants she said to me “I have something in my panties.” As I took off her panties I saw that she had put one of my panty liners in her underwear! She had taken off the paper and used it just as it was supposed to be used.

I guess Freud would say she is definitely in the “Phallic Stage” right now!

Soaring Wings Montessori has been putting on a Childrens Fair for a few years now. We went to it one of the first years they put it on. It was cute and had some fun little games run by the parents. There were little tiny prizes, like a penny candy or a sticker. We didn’t go for the next few years. Since our kids are students there now, we decided to go this year. I was blown away by how much it has changed!

This year there were pony rides, bounce houses, and professional face painters!

We all had a great time. It was surprisingly fun and stress free. In years past events like this were always stressful. Ian would be darting off in one direction while Nora went in another. Keeping track of everybody was always such a challenge that it was hard to have a good time. This year everyone was great. Emma was old enough to wait in some lines by herself, and Ian stayed surprisingly close. It was also nice that the kids teachers were all over the park. I didn’t want to lug my big camera around, so I just snapped a few photos with my cell phone.

Ian had a little singing performance. They sang

by David Mallett. It was also sung by John Denver on the Muppet Show. He was so cute! He knew all the words and wasn’t shy about singing them into the microphone. It was so funny to watch. Some of his classmates were having a shoving match while they were on stage and one or two of them left. Ian and his friend Denali stayed right up by the microphone. They started out sharing it, but by the end Ian was being a microphone hog. He was adorable and I was proud of him for being so uninhibited in his singing.

All three of the kids got their faces painted. They turned out really nice! The pros did a much better job than the moms would have

When we walked up we saw the pony ride. Nora was interested in them, but I wasn’t sure if she would want to ride them. Near the end of the fair she decided she wanted to do it. I took her to wait in line and wondered if she would really do it. When it was her turn she started saying “NO, NO!” as I put her up there. But she calmed down and let me put her up there if I agreed to hold her hand. I walked along with her and she chatted the whole time. She started out saying “I’m going up and down on the carousel!” It was so funny. I’m not sure where she came up with that one. She was a little bit nervous, but overall I think she liked it!

The fair has come a long way since the last one we attended. I’m really glad that we went and that we all had a nice time!

I posted a while ago about Ian’s bedtime stall tactics.

He has been doing better at going to sleep without a fuss lately. We do the same thing every night. I turn out the lights and tuck him in. Then turn on his music. As I go to leave, he asks me for a drink. I get him a small sip of water and then kiss him and tell him it is time to go to sleep.

He always says “WAIT……I just have to tell you one more thing.!”

Then he waits for a minute while he tries to think up something to say. It is the same every night, he doesn’t really have anything else to say. He is just stalling.

The last few nights as I go to close the door he yells out “You are the best mommy in the whole world……and you are a knock out!”

I’m not really sure where he learned the word knock out, but I think it is sooo cute!

The other morning Ian came in early and climbed into bed with me. I had been having a bad dream that we had lost him in a crowded place. I was so happy to see his sweet little face when I woke up. I scooped him up and cuddled him in bed. I told him that I had a bad dream about him. He looked at me and said “So, you had a nightmare? Remember that nightmare that I had?” Then he proceeded to tell me the story of when he got eaten by a giant spider.

“First, it took a bite of my legs all the way up to my knees.”

“Then it took a bite of me all the way up to my stomach.”

“If the giant spider at me up to my stomach, I would have to be in a wheelchair, sitting on my stomach. Wouldn’t that be funny mom?”

It was such a cute little moment. I just had to write it down so someday when he is all grown up I can remember all his cute little stories.

And then there were two……bike riders, that is!

Emma decided that today was the day she was going to learn to ride her bike. That was pretty much all it took. She just had to decide she was ready, and I knew that she would be able to do it.

I showed her how to get one pedal at the top of the crank. Then to put her foot on the upper pedal and push off while she got her other foot on the pedal. She started working on that. She did it over and over until she started getting a pedal stroke or two. She worked really hard on it. Her shins were getting a bit beat up from the pedals. The bike she is riding is too small for her, and not meant to be ridden without training wheels. It doesn’t have brakes, and the pedals turn when the wheels are turning. When she gets going the pedals keep turning an hit her in the shins. She stopped and took a break and rode her scooter for a bit.

A few minutes later I looked out the window and she was riding her bike again. Before long she was putting four and five pedal strokes together. She was so proud of herself. All she had to do was get a little taste of it, and then she worked really hard, over and over until she got it.

By the end of the day she was flying up and down the driveway. She was beaming because she was so proud of herself. I was proud of her for working so hard and accomplishing the goal she set for herself. Way to go Emma!

These last few days I have really noticed that Nora is growing up. She isn’t a baby anymore and is quickly turning from toddler to little girl. I keep telling Scott we need to get out the video camera to record her cute little voice. She has the cutest voice and the cutest way of expressing herself. I know that if we don’t catch it soon she will speaking less like a toddler and more like a little girl. I have already noticed that so many of her cute little pronunciations are gone.

Nora has a special bond with my dad. From the time she could speak she called him “Bampa”. She just adores him, and he adores her. He loves to tease her. She in turn has picked up on the habit, and now she loves to tease him back. But her little pet name for him has disappeared. Now she has moved on and usually calls him Grandpa. Once in a while a cute little “Bampa” still slips out, but for the most part he is now Grandpa.

Another cute word she says is “Sanks” when she is trying to say thanks. From the time she could first talk she was always very polite. She always said please and thank you. It wasn’t something we tried to teach her. She just did it on her own. But she has the cutest way of saying “sanks”. She is just so animated. But already, I am noticing more and more that “sanks” is being replaced with thanks.

It all just reminds me how fast the time goes and how special this time with my children is. I can’t believe that Emma is already seven and that my baby is 2 1/2. I don’t know where the time has gone. But for now, I know that I am enjoying this time with my kids and I am savoring every little Nora-ism while I can!

I posted back in November about Nora and her interest in using the potty. I tried having Nora wear dresses with no underwear for a few days to see how she would do. The first couple of days were good, but as soon as I tried to put underwear on her she couldn’t stay dry more than a few minutes. After a few days I decided to give it a rest and try again in a few weeks.

A few weeks turned into a few months She started wearing Pull-Ups and used the potty every once in a while. When she started preschool in February she started using the potty consistently again. She would stay dry all morning at school and then wet her pants as soon as she got home. Her teachers suggested that she start just wearing underwear to school. I decided to just take it one step further and put her in underwear all the time. I think that switching back and forth between Pull-Ups and underwear is just too confusing.

She has been in underwear full time now for about 2 weeks and it has been going really well. She has been doing great at pooping on the potty. At first she had a few accidents. I decided to resort to bribery She LOVES chocolate. I told her that she could have a chocolate every time she pooped on the potty. It has worked like a charm! She still had daily pee accidents, but I can live with those. Heck, I lived with those for almost 2 years with Ian. In fact, he still has “accidents” on a fairly regular basis.

I am really looking forward to being done with diapers. That is one part of parenting young kids that I will not miss!

biking from Kerry's Ramblings on Vimeo.

While we were gone on our world travels Ian learned how to ride his bike!

Grandma Dava sent me email updates while we were gone. Once she told me that Ian was practicing riding his bike in the garage. She said that he was getting the hang of gliding on his own little bits at a time.

When we got back he couldn’t wait to show us what he could do.

I was SHOCKED! He wasn’t just practicing. He actually knows how to ride his bike. He was pedaling around in the garage. He is figuring out how to turn, and how to use the brakes. Once he gets outside where there is more space, there will be no stopping him.

He was so cute and so proud of himself. You can see it on the video. He looked at the camera and said “Wasn’t that good?” It was really adorable!

I have been working really hard with the kids to get them to do more things themselves. I expect Emma and Ian to be able to go downstairs in the morning and pick out their clothes and then get dressed. I have them take their dirty dishes to the sink and clear the table after they eat. They usually feed the cat. One of the things I have been really laid back about is the tooth brushing. I ask them to do it in the mornings. The problem is that mornings are so crazy and we are usually rushing and just trying to get out the door on time.

Yesterday we made a visit to the dentist. Emma and Ian had four cavities each! I guess now we are all paying for not paying more attention to the tooth brushing. Luckily for Emma, her cavities are fairly small. She won’t even need Novocaine to fill them. Ian was not so lucky. His are all deeper and will need numbing to fix them. He has two on each side, so the dentist suggested doing it on two different visits so they don’t have to numb his entire mouth. They gave me some prescriptions so that he will be somewhat sedated before we go in for the procedure. I am sure that it won’t be much fun for him.

Since the visit we all have a new dedication to tooth brushing. Hopefully this will be a wake up call for the kids (and me ) to give us the kick in the pants that we needed. Tooth brushing, both morning and night, is now mandatory for all of us!