I had a pretty strict schedule set up for myself today, but the blog was calling to me like the fourth child I'm not quite ready for. Thanks to those who gave me gentle kicks in the buns to post something again - you let me know you care. :)
It was awesome having Kyle here. I warned him that the trip might be a letdown because we had built it up so high in our heads. The first week was great, lovey-dovey, family time. The second week was pretty much back to normal (playing paper/rock/scissors over who has to change the diaper or take out the trash). I was sad to see him go and I even contemplated just packing the suitcases and flying back with him. In the end, I decided that letting G finish this year of Kindergarten can only be a good thing and I'm not quite sure how my job would feel about that; so until we square that crucial detail away, I'm sticking it out solo.
We had fun for my birthday. We went to dinner and then saw Juno. The only theatre we saw it playing at was a regular Harkins. Weird that we still had to pay full price for it when it was coming out on DVD in just a couple of week, but it was the ONLY movie I wanted to see out of our options, so we paid and enjoyed it. Kyle even got me a great pair of jeans for my birthday. (Okay, he really wanted to get me sunglasses, but I detoured us through the jeans instead. :) Thanks hubby!)
Guthrie has progressed so much since he started school here. His school is big on the Spalding Method, which I honestly had never heard of until now. There are some things you just don't think to look into until you're slapped in the face with it, right? His first few weeks at school, we could tell we had a lot of work to do to catch him up to the class. He had to learn the phonogram cards. I didn't realize what they were called, but this is my exact memory of learning in Mrs. Lindsay's class in Hibbard. (Mel Rigby, do you remember that too??? She would flash the cards to us and the we, as a class, would say all of the sounds that letter could make?? Maybe it wasn't Mrs. Lindsay??) Anyway, there are 70 of them, and at first he was at around 25/70 correct. Now, he easily remembers all 70, both verbally and written. His spelling tests are coming home with 100% and he's breezing through is math. I'm pretty proud of him and VERY impressed with the school and teacher. Of course he loves it, too. :)
Adeline has adjusted to being home with me again. I thought she would go crazy, but she has been able to spend a lot of time with Ainsley, which maybe is good thing. Sometimes they fight like crazy and I want to kill one or both of them. Other time, they can be really sweet together. They'll probably always remember this weird time in their childhood that they both lived with Grandma for a little while.
Sullivan is doing great! He's talking so much and starting to say funny little phrases. He is obsessed with these $1 dinosaur figures I got at Target. He carries two of them around at all times and even insists that they sleep with him. For nap times, which used to be hard, I just lay him down with his water, blanket and 2 completely uncuddly plastic dinosaurs. We don't hear a peep from him. He loves to say, "I lub you, mommy" to me in the middle of the night. I think he's become rather used to having his crib in my room and we'll probably have to go through an adjustment when we get back to our own house. His newest phrase is "That's right!" This morning we pulled up to the gym and I told him we were going to go play with toys. He jumps out of my arms and says, "That's right, mommy!," then runs to the door ahead of me. He seems slightly confused having Ashley around so much. He calls me mommy, and then will turn around and address her as "mama." It took us a while to realize that he was consistently doing it -but I guess he thinks that is her name.
Kyle is studying away. He is 2/3 through his OB/Gyn rotation and had some cool/sad/scary experiences. He assisted on a few C-sections, witnessed many more, and saw some sad miscarriages, stillbirths and sexual assault traumas. He said that the whole time he was at the hospital, he was making mental notes of things to tell me about the way they do the baby business in Mexico. I get fired up about Obstetrics in the US, but even more so in Mexico; so that was fun conversation.
As for me, I'm trying my hardest to NOT go crazy. I usually keep my cool for a little while and then find that something completely rediculous will send me over the edge. A few times, I have even surprised myself at the volumes I can reach with my yelling. I know my family, that maybe used to have a little respect for my parenting ways, have had their eyes opened to my truly fragile psyche. :) Hopefully they will all still love me and give me a second chance when the madness has settled down. One good thing about crazy schedules, three busy kids, a job on the side and hecticity all around me (yup that's a word) - its making the time fly by. How the world did Friday get here so soon???
I've been checking in with everyon's blogs, even though I've neglected my own. Its a terrible side effect of working on the computer for hours a day. The thought of sitting on the computer some more for my downtime is a total turn-off. :p
TGIF!
