30 posts tagged “kids”
The other day I found myself wondering - if Andrew and I don't buy presents for the kids on Christmas - will they be there anyway? What if we test it? What if the the big guy really does exist but since we take care of the gift buying, the wrapping and the placing under the tree (we even eat the jolly old elf's cookies that kids made for him), maybe he just doesn't show up because he's not needed (and we ate half of his treats)? It could be true right? If you believe?
Yeah, I must be the parent of a six and three year old. Their undoubting belief in Santa is very powerful. Nia reminds me each day that the "Elf on the Shelf" is watching and that he flies messages to Santa. When I took the kids to see Santa at the mall this year, Nate ran up to him and jumped in his lap, wrapping his arms around him. He did it without hesitation. He did it with love in his heart and excitement for the wonder that Santa brings. I stood there with tears in my eyes. Adult strangers waiting in line for their child's photo stood there with tears in their eyes.
I suppose it's because the moments like I just experienced with Nate far outweigh the moment of "finding out." His happiness and love for the stranger hiding behind a white beard and red velvet suit made me want to believe again. (Plus, he was a really good Santa!) Part of me hopes to find a mysterious present under the tree for me - special delivery from the North Pole.
Her new black shoes, supposed to still be in the box, are on her feet as she prances around the house. They sparkle and she loves them. She loves the dress she picked to wear on the first day as well, but I won't let her hold a dress rehearsal. The dress needs to stay clean.
She tells me she wants me to put her hair in sponge curlers like her Lola did. (Something I've never done before.) Her Hannah Montana backpack from Honey is packed and waiting to be worn. She's all set.
Meanwhile, I nervously try to wrap the strands of her hair around the pink curlers. The big ones go on top right? Am I using too much hair? Andrew: I don't think that's how my mom does it. Nia: It feels like when Lola does it. Me: Nia, I hope you won't be too sad if you don't have curls tomorrow.
She wakes up with waves instead of curls. They work just fine and she is happy with them. (Phew.) Her backpack still looks giant on her even though she's grown. Nate and I walk her to the bus and take what will be our traditional first day of school picture. (You have them too, right?)
She says her first day was fun and that she even talked out loud in class. She said they could only talk when they held the bear. When it was her turn, she told everyone that her name was Antonia (or Nia, she couldn't remember what name she used and she points this out to everyone she tells the story to), that she liked playing outside and with her Barbies, that she was a 10 for the day (they measured how they were feeling like a thermometer) and that her favorite food was her mommy's spaghetti. (Awesome!) She told me everyone is nice, even the boy who was mean last year. (Phew, again.)
The First Week
Nia was the "helper" for the week with a boy named Anthony (also ruled nice by Nia). She brought home homework each night - it was already finished by the time I got to see it. Eight spelling words like a, at, cat, the and counting objects and filling in the missing numbers. ("It's too easy," she says. I tell her to keep doing her best and that I'm sure it will get harder.) I was supposed to read her a story each night but she read the story to me. (And skipped ahead in the book.) On one homework assignment, she was supposed to put the words in alphabetical order - she did that sure, but then she spelled out other words that began with the other letters (even, first ...).
She told me she didn't like Phys. Ed. - that they made her do jumping jacks and she had to count them like this, 1,2,3,1 - 1,2,3,2 - 1,2,3,3 - and she counted them all out to 10 for me. She then asked, "Momma, what keeps our heart from bouncing around in our bodies?" "What color is our heart?" What does it look like? Where are our lungs? How does our brain stay up in our head?" ... I tried to answer as many of them as I could. (I now call her the Constant Questioner because I feel like she just keeps firing them at us all day. One of my favorites, "Who made God?" I didn't even know where to begin.)
Congratulations on your first week of first grade Bean! It's so much fun sharing in your adventures and your stories (heck, even your questions!).
All of those children seemed to tower over her too. If she's not the tiniest first grader I'll be surprised. She still looks like a Kindergartner and I guess I still wish she was one.
This is scary and I'm nervous. I just want her to be ok. I am fearful about what this first grade year will hold for her. Will she be shy the whole year? There is only one kid in this class that she had class with last year and according to Nia, he wasn't nice. I know I can't protect her from everything. I know she's going to have hurt feelings, have to deal with mean kids and learn by making mistakes but I just want her to be ok.
Despite the shyness, she still seems happy. That should be good enough for me, right?
In our house, there is a "computer" room.
In that room, there is a computer - but there are also several overflowing boxes.
In those boxes, there are pieces of paper that I treasure very much.
They show off first ABC's and 123's, families shaped like hearts, crayon pressed so hard by Nate that you can scratch your name in it, school work documenting little Nia's Math and Spelling skills, colorful finger paint art and Nia's illustrated stories.
I cherish every creation in those boxes. Each one is so special and shows how the kids have grown. But now I'm afraid - the collection of Nia/Nate Originals is growing too large. They are only 6 and 3 - I can't possibly let the collection keep growing - it would eventually take over our house.
But where do I begin? How do I choose one over the other? What if I throw one away that I will wish I had later? It's just so hard for me to even think about sorting through those boxes and dividing the contents into "keep" and "toss" piles.
In my head, I have issues.
Taking YouTube requests from the kids is a pretty common thing for us. In fact, when they even see me just sit down near the laptop they surround me, hurling search terms out in the air - Spiderman! Barbie! Me! Lightning McQueen! Hannah Montana! Charlie Bit Me! Funny Videos!
It actually can be a lot of fun. We all really crack up over Charlie Bit My Finger and the other night we watched some boy talk about his cool Spiderman action figures for six minutes. (That one wasn't a blast for me but Nate was totally into it.) That same night, we ventured into a few "Lightning McQueen" videos. That's when we saw a cute picture of a Beagle puppy labeled, "Talking Puppy!!" Of course, I clicked on it.
The clip was fine for the first few seconds but then - well - you can just watch it and see for yourself.
Yeah. Not the best thing for the kids to see, especially right before bed when that's pretty much the last thing they'll see for that day. I told them it was pretend and that it was just some guy who was wearing a lot of scary makeup for Halloween. That, plus a few more "innocent" Spidey and Barbie videos, seemed to help them forget about the crazy man screaming at them as they were trying to watch the dang puppy say "I love you!"
Of course, I've known you never know what you're going to get with YouTube vids but my cockiness with my searching and selecting ability got the best of me. I guess I'll just have to screen the videos the best I can before pressing play.
Ever since we moved from Savannah, we've been wanting to get an outdoor play set for the kids. It was a decision that didn't come lightly. Andrew really wanted to make sure he was getting one that would last. He did online searches, he ordered the catalogs, he researched the wood used to make different ones - this was not a spontaneous purchase.
Some of the sets we saw cost thousands of dollars (quite a few cost more than both of our cars!). Of course, we weren't going to get one of those, but we wanted what those offered - installation and a good warranty. In the end, we found one we all liked -
