Samantha: 42 Months, Week 4
Aedan: Week 33
Last Tuesday was a special day at preschool because they were going to be painting some pottery to be fired by the staff at You're Fired, probably for a Christmas present for the kids' parents. After our family painting experience on Monday night, Samantha was really excited to be able to paint again with her preschool friends.
When I took Samantha to preschool and we did our normal potty stop before going into the classroom, she did something really funny. I won't go into much detail since I don't want to embarrass anyone, but she did something when she was done going potty and I gave her a quizzical look. She then said, "Daddy doos (her word for does) it." I had to laugh, and then I had to immediately call Ben to tell him the funny story, to which he also burst out laughing. Our kids watch us and everything we do, that's for sure. They learn by example, whether good or bad. That's a good reminder for all of us.
After getting back home and getting Aedan down for his morning nap. I noticed the strangest phenomenon outside. There were literally hundreds and hundreds of birds outside, covering the grass across the street and then flying across the sky right above our townhouse. It was so strange (and so loud), that I just had to take some pictures and videos of it. It thought Samantha might find it interesting that afternoon. They must have all been migrating somewhere.
Tuesday was Samantha's last ballet class before Christmas break, so Daddy got to take her that day while I stayed home and hung out with Aedan. He was playing with his musical, light-up toy, and I decided to help him stand up and hang on to the toy. He has such strong legs and actually seemed to really enjoy standing up on his own. He didn't want to let go.
Samantha had a great morning at preschool. She said she painted a mitten and that it was the best part of her day. However, she wasn't napping again. I continued the charade of staying in the room with her for a few minutes to see if she would fall asleep, but she was just being silly in her bed. She looked tired to me, like maybe she could fall asleep, but I knew she probably wouldn't. Napping hasn't happened for awhile, and Ben and I both agreed that it seems like napping for her is officially over. However, the positive aspect of her not napping is that she still goes to her room for quiet time in the afternoon, and then we put her to bed a little earlier at night. On days she doesn't nap, she'll sleep close to twelve hours at night, sleeping in until 7:30, sometimes almost 8:00. Also, she has been better in the evening the last few days. Back during her last stint of no naps, we knew she wasn't ready to give them up yet because she was so cranky and tired in the evenings. Now, she seems to be better able to handle herself and think about her actions better, even if she's tired. Sometime over Christmas break, Ben and I will probably transition to not staying in the room with her at all, or even not playing the game of having her lay in bed, but instead, just take her to her room and tell her to enjoy her quiet time. We'll see! Part of me is not ready to give up naps with her, but I know that most kids her age are not napping anymore. Especially when it becomes a battle every day, it's just not worth it, particularly when she's had such good night sleep.
Tuesday night I went to a Mom's night out at a local restaurant after helping Ben give Samantha and Aedan baths and get mostly ready for bed. I didn't want him to have to handle all that by himself. The Christmas activity for that day was getting to watch Beauty and the Beast: Enchanted Christmas after getting all ready for bed. I figured that would be a nice activity for Ben when he would have to get them both to bed on his own.
On Wednesday we made another trip to the library for story time. It was a bit busier this week than last week, but Samantha still had a great time listening to Christmas stories and singing and moving to winter songs using props like snowflakes. Aedan also enjoyed himself and loved watching the other kids. After story time, Aedan was getting pretty tired, so I put him in the Ergo and after walking around for awhile, he finally fell asleep, taking about a twenty-five minute nap, just enough to hold him over through lunch.
Wednesday night, once Ben got back from giving his final exam, I had dinner all ready to eat so that we could go see the Christmas lights at the Whispering Christmas display in Eaton, Ohio. I am really glad that we went during the week because when we drove through Eaton on Saturday evening on our way home from Ben's Grandma's house, there was tons of traffic backed up from people going to see the lights display. Once we got to the entrance of the display, we stopped and got Samantha and Aedan out of their car seats, allowing them to come sit in the front on my lap as we drove through to see the lights. Samantha thought that was pretty neat to be out of her car seat and sitting in the front. Aedan thought it was really cool to be sitting next to his big sister. I loved having both my kids sitting on my lap. The lights were pretty neat, not the greatest thing we've ever seen, but they were pretty. We drove through the display fairly slowly, pointing out the different figures on either side of our car. Then, towards the end of the display, there was this little log cabin that you can see in the picture below. The main attraction was Santa, but we didn't really care about that. We just wanted to go in and get hot chocolate and a cookie. Samantha enjoyed that part. :)
After a whole week of no naps, Thursday was an interesting day for Samantha. She was not very respectful getting ready in the morning for preschool and carried on through nap time that day. She knows that even if she doesn't nap, she has to play or read quietly in her room. However, she was not doing that at all on Thursday. She was being rather loud, saying "Mommy, Mommy" over and over again until I came up to her room, and I'm pretty sure she woke Aedan up with how loud she was being. I have somewhat come to terms with her not napping anymore, but I definitely need her to have a quiet time in her room in place of nap time. On this particular day, she was just begging to come out of her room, saying she didn't want to be by herself in her room. Needless to say, it was a frustrating afternoon during nap time.
We debated not doing our Christmas activity for Thursday due to how disrespectful Samantha was being, but we decided to go ahead and make our gingerbread house because our weekend was going to be pretty busy. Before dinner, we rolled, cut, and baked the dough into the right sizes and shapes for our gingerbread house. Then after dinner, we attempted to put the house together with icing and let Samantha decorate it will gum drops and red hots. It was a bit crazy trying to get the house to stay together, and it wasn't the sturdiest nor prettiest house in the world, but it worked. (And even as I write this a week later, the house is still standing, so we must have done something right.) Samantha enjoyed decorating the house that evening. She is a very detailed little girl and had to line the gum drops all around the outside and put the red hots along the top of the roof. In fact, we had to put a limit on how much time she had to decorate because she would have worked on it all night if we let her, but she had to get to bed at a decent time since she was so tired.
Friday was a cleaning day for me, so I let Samantha watch a few Christmas cartoons from a DVD I checked out from the library, and that was our Christmas activity for the day. We just relaxed and played at home as I knew it was going to be a busy next couple days.
That afternoon Ben got home early from being on campus so that I could go to my doctor's appointment. Samantha actually took a nap, the first one in a week, so that was good, especially considering how busy the rest of the weekend was going to be. I had an appointment at 3:00, but the doctor didn't come to see me until 4:20. It was pretty crazy that I had to wait so long. I almost got up and told the office staff that I was going to have to leave. However, I needed to get my foot taken care of. I will spare you the details of what the doctor had to do; however, afterwards, my right big toe was pretty sore and still partially numb. It hurt to push down on the pedals in the car, and I couldn't wait to get back home after getting my antibiotic and picking up the presents from OBF that we were going to deliver on Sunday for kids in need around Oxford. As I was on my way home, Ben sent me this video of my little girl. Both kids were excited to see me and were hoping that my foot was feeling okay. I have a sweet family. :)
On Saturday we had plans to travel to see Ben's Grandma, Samantha and Aedan's Great Grandma Dorothy. We hadn't seen her over a year, so a visit was long overdue. We got up and ready fairly early that morning so that we were on the road by 8:40. Samantha did a good job of looking at books in the car while we drove two and half hours to get there. Aedan took a little nap, after we told Samantha to stop smiling at laughing at him. It's nice having them in the back seat together because they can entertain each other, but it sometimes makes it a little more difficult for nap time.
We arrived around 11:20, giving us time to visit, play, and get situated before everyone arrived for lunch around noon. We had our traditional Christmas spread of ham, beef and noodles, rolls, potatoes, and a variety of salads, fruits, vegetables, and desserts. It was all very delicious. Pretty quickly after lunch, I got Aedan down for his afternoon nap, while Samantha went down in the basement to play toys with Alaina and other relatives. Samantha was pretty excited that she was skipping her nap time altogether that afternoon. While the kids were occupied, Ben and I were actually able to play a game and talk with other adult relatives. It was a nice, relaxing afternoon. Aedan must have been really tired and comfortable because he slept for almost three hours. We didn't think he'd sleep that long, but were glad that he had a good rest. He just missed the party, slept right through it! We thought about stopping for dinner on the road, but decided it would be easier just to have a little food there before we left, that way we could just drive and get home.
Before we left, we had to get a picture of Great Grandma Dorothy, Samantha, and Aedan. These were the best we could get with two wiggly kids. :) After this picture was taken, Dorothy wanted to hold Aedan, so she had him on her lap for awhile, and he was smiling at her and talking to her. It was wonderful, especially since Aedan's middle name, Arthur, is named after her late husband, Arthur Thomas. We had a great visit, and even though it was a long day, it was definitely worth it for these precious moments with family meeting across generations.
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Since Samantha didn't nap that day, she was pretty tired on our ride home. We actually brought our portable DVD player with us and let her watch Frozen on the way home. It's hard when it's dark out because there's not much little kids can do to entertain themselves in the car, and she's not one to fall asleep easily in the car anymore. Aedan did a good job amusing himself and playing in his car seat as Samantha watched the movie. He was well-rested and had a full tummy, so he was pretty happy. However, as we had about an hour left, both kids were starting to lose it. I actually ended up crawling in the back seat and sitting in between their car seats so that I could talk to them and play with them for the rest of the way home. It was getting late enough into the evening that we really didn't want Aedan to fall asleep, so I played with him enough to keep him awake for the rest of the way home. Then, once we got home, it was bed time for both kids.
Sunday was another busy day as we had church, lunch and small group right after church, and then we had plans to deliver the Christmas gifts for the needy children in Oxford. We bought presents for one boy, and actually had his family to deliver to, so Samantha was really excited about meeting him. We knew we wanted to buy presents for a child in need, but we thought it would be even more of an impact on Samantha if we were able to deliver presents as well. It was one of those situations where we didn't know what to expect. Delivering these presents was a humbling experience to us. Several families lived in the same apartment complex, one lived in a trailer park, and another lived in an older house (that was the Angel tree gift which meant one or both of the child's parents were incarcerated). It was rough to see how some of these families lived. You drive around Oxford and you never even notice these areas. It makes me want to help so much more. I am so glad that we can do this at Christmas time, but I want to help somehow throughout the whole year. We have so much to be thankful for, but I don't want to stop there, I want to give what I have because after all it's not mine to begin with. I'm just not quite sure what that looks like for me. It's definitely something I will be praying about as I have always had a heart to help people in need, especially children.
After our long weekend, Monday called for another relaxing morning playing at home. Then, once Ben got home from campus, since Samantha wasn't napping anyways, she came with me to run a few errands in Hamilton. Samantha had her studio Christmas party for ballet that night, and we had to buy an inexpensive ornament, a snack, as well as a few other odds and ends.
So that night, after eating an earlier dinner, we headed off to Samantha's ballet party. The first half hour or so, the older ballerinas performed, and we were invited to sit down on the floor to watch. Samantha was in awe of the older ballerinas, and Aedan sat right next to her on the floor. It was so cute to watch him watching her. He would look at Samantha, smile, and then go back to watching the dancers, moving his head back and forth like he was watching a tennis match. Daddy captured this little picture of the three of us watching the show, even though it is a little blurry.
After the older dancers finished their performance, Miss Ashley opened the dance floor to the younger dancers. Samantha had a wonderful time dancing, spinning, and running around the dance floor with the other girls that were five and under. I think she could have done this all night. The only thing that pulled her away was the chance to get herself a snack. After most people had a chance to help themselves to snacks, the kids did an ornament swap. However, it was funny because when it was Samantha's turn to go up and choose one, she chose the bag with the ornament we brought. I had to go up to her and tell her she couldn't choose the one we got, but had to pick a different one. She then chose the gift bag with the most sparkles and inside was a silver, glittery Christmas tree, the perfect ornament for Samantha. It was a fun party, and I'm glad that we are able to experience it together as a family.
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