in a rut

wake up. coffee. shower. get kids up. take Hanaa to the potty. dress Hanaa. make breakfast for kids. get dressed. go to work. work. pick up kids at daycare. make supper. piano practice for Molly. piano practice with Noah. home reading with Noah. bathtime for Hanaa and Molly. stories for Hanaa and Molly. aah Molly is asleep. wrestle Hanaa into bed. send Noah up to bed. make lunches. go on Facebook, go to bed.

repeat.

bleh

hanaa-isms

Hanaa is a very funny girl. I love it that Hanaa's language acquisition is just exploding, and I get to hear a little of what goes through her head! Here are a couple of examples, not the best ones, just the ones I can remember at the moment.

While I was making supper tonight, Hanaa came running into the kitchen crying. Molly had probably just grabbed back a toy that she had grabbed away in the first place or something like that. Of course, it was the end of the world, tears, snot, wailing, the whole ball-o-wax (as they say). I picked her up, and got a kleenex, but not before she had burried her face in my shirt. She stops crying, pulls her face away from my shirt, points to the big wet spot she left behind, and says "nose, nose, nose" in a tone of utter dismay.

One of Hanaa's bedtime stories tonight was Go Dog Go. I had finished reading it to her, and she was having another look through it on her own. She started reading: "Go Go Woof. "

mental health day

So, Noah woke up with a headache and sore stomach that seemed to evaporate as soon as I had made the decision to stay home from work with him. I'm really glad I let him stay home though.

Noah has a difficult time adjusting to change. The first few weeks of school are brutal, and we are trying to hold things together, praying that he saves his outbursts for home. If we can weather another week or so, we should be OK for a little while at least. But honestly, in some ways it feels like the end of the world. He gets so upset and angry and will not be consoled and responds angrily to any attempts to help him. We are working with him to learn to control his anger, to express it in appropriate ways that do not involve pushing or yelling at his sisters, but it's hard. He resists any attempt to give him a space or some time to calm down. He's unhappy, so unhappiness should rule everywhere.

So, I think he really did have a headache this morning. He really did have a sore stomach, but I have a feeling they were anxiety or stress related, hence the mental health day.

We had a fantastic day. We played board games, ate lunch together, read 3 chapters of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Then he received a gift card from Chapters in the mail (thanks Uncle Greg!) and we went to Chapters to spend it. (OK, so I'm still a little iffy about whether I should have taken him when he was supposed to be "sick", but there it is.)

It was great to spend time with him alone. Now, to figure out how to do that without calling in sick to school and work.

Halloween conversations

So, as usual Noah has known for weeks what his costume is going to be for Halloween. It may surprise you to learn that he will be dressing up as Harry Potter. Now, once he decided that, I decided I was going to make a Hedwig costume for Hanaa, cause I'm like that.

Now, Molly is a little different. She changes her mind every day (princess, witch, bunny rabbit, poney . . . ) Part of me wants to convince her to be Ginny Weasly - perfect right? But, mostly I want her to be happy with her costume.

Here's the conversation we had today:

Noah: Molly, do you want to be Ginny Weasly?

Molly: Is she a girl?

Noah: Yes, she's a witch. She has red hair.

Me: Well, Noah, Molly doesn't really know that much about Harry Potter and the characters, so maybe she wants to be something else, you know, not from Harry . . .

Molly: I was thinking I would be Hermione Granger.

proud mommy post

So, I have 13 minutes before the kids get out of school, so this will be brief.

I am so impressed by Noah's ear for music. Last night he did NOT want to practice, but was going through the motions in very bad humour to earn some computer time. Even though he was angry and acting out, he could not help but listen to what I was playing and play it back to me. I don't love the attitude, but I love that he has an ear.

Hanaa is now pointing at all letters and saying: H H H. Too cute. She is also learning to use the potty. Exciting times.

Molly is loving nursery school. She loves to share about the things she learned and things her teacher said and what colour her teacher's jacket is.

wordless wednesday

words

So, here's a list of words that Hanaa is saying these days:

hat / cat - both sound like at, but you can tell which she means in context (when she screams "AT AT AT" and points at the cat, she's usually looking for her sombrero.

milk / drink / snack / crack(er) - also sound alike (ack), and are harder to figure out (but if you give her the wrong one, she screams and throws it to the ground.

walk - also pronounced "ack".

dada (Marc)
mama (me!)

mum - means she wants to nurse

lunch - not so much the "L" sound, but the "unch" is perfect!

this-is - catch all question. Also somehow refers to Noah and Molly.

She also quacks like a duck and barks if you say puppy.

Edited to add: I forgot to add "UP", which she says all the time, and "OFF" - very useful with the siblings.

raise a reader

Noah is an avid reader. It is a wonderful thing. He will keep himself busy for hours (doing something that does not involve watching a screen). We have always read to him. I love children's books. I had a collection before I was even pregnant.

I know parents are encouraged to read to their kids for all sorts of good and noble reasons, but here's one more, that extra little boost. Eventually, they will learn to read on their own, and it may afford you, the parent, a little time to sip a cuppa' and type on your blog.

tuesday randoms

Many thanks to Amber at Monster Cookies for introducing me to Tuesday Randoms. Great idea! At some point I will link this up to her source!

The keen emptiness of the minivan after I've dropped my kids at daycare and continue on to work -- the echoes of Molly's and Hanaa's cries filling my thoughts.

The thought that waiting for Molly's thumb-sucking to resolve itself is going to cost us plenty in orthodontist bills. Keep that job with good benefits.

I must stop falling in love with houses on mls before we start looking.

Simon and Garfunkel: Blessed are the meth drinkers, pot sellers, illusion dwellers. wow. Can't wait for May 5th.

Do you ever feel more sympathetic towards a character on TV because of other (unrelated) roles the actor has played? I like Taye Digg's character on Private Practice more because he was in RENT (even though he played the bad guy).

Ever been tempted to or actually make yourself a peanut-butter marshmallow sandwich? I was tempted tonight. Have not succumbed as of 10:37 pm.

Random enough?

my daycare

I told an acquaintance at work that my daycare was closed over spring break. She was horrified. I wonder what she would have said had I told her about the whole month of August!

Now sure, my reaction was similar when I learned (before signing the kids up, obviously) of these various closures. It can be a problem to come up with that kind of time off. But now, I understand the wisdom of it. It gives the year some structure. It gives us the opportunity to create some family traditions. This year, Marc and I split Spring Break. We each took 2 days off. I took the kids to the park and the Manitoba Museum; Marc took them swimming and to the Children's Museum. It was a great week (even with Hanaa in a no-stroller phase). I think they will look forward to it next year as well. It was also a fairly inexpensive week as we have memberships at the Y and the Museum.

The kids look forward to the month of August as well. Marc and I take vacation time - together if we can manage it. My Mom comes out for a week to take care of the kids. We call it her Nanny-Nana gig. The kids love having her here, and I really enjoy the visit as well as having another adult in the house who can come up with supper ideas (and who makes a killer Greek salad).

So, Shar, if you're reading this (and even if you're not), thank you.

and all of a sudden

Hanaa is a kid. She's not a baby anymore. She plays like a kid. She's gone from exploring colour, texture, shape, sounds, etc. to playing with toys like the older kids do. She makes a brrrrm noise when she rolls her cars around, and kisses her dollies good night. She makes her own little jokes. It used to be that the older kids would go find her when they wanted to play with her. She now seeks them out, especially Noah. If he is sitting on the floor, she will plop herself on his lap. She doesn't go looking for Molly too much, as Molly is always on top of her, but that's another story.

I love watching the emergence of this new little person, but I am sad to see the baby go, sad to see my last baby go.

Edited to add: Today Hanaa grabbed a light-saber and made dueling noises and motions. Looks like I've got another little Jedi on my hands.

updates

So, I haven't written in awhile. Sure, I'm busy, but really mostly lazy I guess. Here are a few updates. Things I don't want to forget.

Noah

Has settled nicely into grade 2 after a rocky first term. He and Marc and I are reading Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events and really enjoying it. He has really come a long way in his piano playing, and plays hands-together very well. He doesn't like to sit down and parctice, but he will try out his songs every time he passes the piano (and whenever we ask him to sit down to eat!).

Molly

Molly is definitely 4. She is writing her own name and asking how to spell everything else.
Molly: "Mommy, how do you spell, " Molly A and Sophia are my friends and came to my birthday and had fun and I love them"?
Me "um . . . start with an M . . .
She has been a little hard on Hanaa since she learned to walk, but we're hoping that resolves itself soon. We have not enrolled her in any lessons this winter as last term getting her into the class (without a parent) was a complete disaster. So, we've backed off. She goes to daycare 4 days a week without us, so I figure she doesn't need to do a bunch of other things alone. She is in love with "Family Swim Night". We go swimming with some of the families from daycare on Friday evenings and then all share snacks afterward. It is a lovely time, and Molly talks about it all week. Most nights before bed she asks if tomorrow is family swim night.


Hanaa
Hanaa is becoming a toddler by leaps and bounds. She starting walking two weeks ago the day of Molly's birthday party (which has created a few issues for Molly that we are still dealing with . . . ). She waves and says bye-bye. She says hat, and thinks it's hilarious to say "hat" and point at her (hat-less) head. I guess it's funny that she's not wearing a hat. She has a name for Noah that I can't pronounce, but it clearly means Noah. She calls this word after him if he disappears up the stairs or around a corner. Super cute.

I think that will do for now. Updates on the adults can wait!