Samantha: 116 Months, Week 4
Aedan: 84 Months, Week 2
Owen: 40 Months, Week 4
After so many days off the week before, it was a challenge to get back into the routine of school this week. Samantha was saying she was tired and didn't want to go to school on Monday morning. She's definitely been in a mood lately, and it was a weird morning for her. We wondered what was going on with her and felt like she was difficult to read. She normally loves school, and we were thinking maybe it was just leftover tiredness from not being able to fall asleep until really late on Friday night.
On Monday morning Ben finally had class in person. It was definitely strange to have done a week of the semester already without being in person, but he said it went well.
Here are some pictures of all the snow we had gotten over the last week. The sky was blue and clear, and the piles of snow were quite impressive around our home. This was definitely the most snow we have gotten since moving to Pennsylvania. Even if it's deeper than we would like it to be for playing in, it still is very pretty to look at the glittery white landscape surrounding our home.
Here is some work that Aedan brought home from school that day. He was working on comparing numbers using greater than, less than, or equal to, which came very easy to him, and he enjoyed making the greater than or less than signs look like an alligator mouth, ready to chomp the bigger number. They even made a greater than or less than alligator out of construction paper. They also practiced their spelling words with ng and nk endings.
As I was putting Aedan to bed on Monday night, I noticed one of his front teeth seemed to have a chip out of the bottom inside corner. I took a couple of pictures of it so I could show Ben and to know if it changed or got any worse over time. When I asked him about it, he said there was a time when Owen punched him under his chin so that his jaw came together and his teeth clonked together. He said that after that he could feel little hard pieces in his mouth, but he never told Ben or me about it. Crazy boys! They are always wrestling with each other lately. Hopefully it's not something that will be a big deal and that the dentist can take care of easily. I was a little frustrated, but just reminded Aedan that this would be the type of situation that he should have told us about so we would have known that Owen punched him hard enough to make him chip his tooth.
Ben and I have become increasingly worried about Samantha and her trouble with sleeping. It is starting to affect her and her desire to go to school, which has never been a problem for her, as she has always loved school. She is having trouble falling asleep at night. We are trying different things with her to try to help her, like adjusting her bedtime to be a bit later and also letting her have more quiet time before bed to do a calming activity to help relax her mind and body, but we know a lot of it is the anxiety she lives her life with. We are trying to think about what next steps we could take, as Samantha genuinely seems to have trouble explaining why it is so hard for her to fall asleep. We have thought about taking her to talk to a counselor, but we don't know if that would be helpful or not if she doesn't want to or know how to talk about it. We feel very burdened for her and really felt like we needed to do something to help her name and process how she is feeling. I have cried several times when I am overcome with feeling worry about how Samantha is doing and how we can help her as she grows up.
Tuesday, February 9th was another snow day for the kids. The snow just kept on piling up, as well as the snow days, although I don't think the kids minded much at all. It did throw off my schedule and routine a little during the week with all the kids home, but it's not like I would be going anywhere during a snowstorm anyways. Owen was thankful for his siblings at home to play with. Here are some pictures and a video of the snow we got on Tuesday. So much snow!
Ben and I decided we would sign Owen up for preschool sometime this week. We have plans to tour one preschool on Wednesday morning that is a little closer to us that has been recommended by a few people, and then we will tour the Wilkes-Barre YMCA preschool on Saturday morning. Registration is starting now for a lot of places, and I don't want to lose out on a spot with the place we choose, so I want to make sure we are on top of things right now to get him in somewhere good that fits in our schedule. We are looking for a program that is Tuesdays and Thursdays for most of the day so that way I can sub on those two days a week, while Ben can drop off and pick up Owen from preschool and then go do his normal work on campus.
I took this picture to remember cute things about our kids. Aedan was tasked with putting his laundry away, and when I came up to check on how he did, this is what I found. He has a hard time hanging up his pajamas, so he just laid a hanger on top of each one for me to hang up for him later. Someday I will miss these piles of clothes all over the floor like this, and I will definitely miss seeing my little 6 year old boy wearing his footie pajamas to bed every night. He is such a cute, sweet little boy.
Here is some work Aedan did during the snow day. He did a math mystery picture activity, a short reading passage where he had to answer a question and draw a picture, and writing his spelling words twice. I don't have any pictures of what Samantha did because she just completed all her work online and submitted it through Google Classroom. Even though snow days are fun sometimes, it's nice knowing that these Google Classroom days count as days of school so we don't have to make them up in the summertime.
As time has gone by since our little peanut went back home, we have not heard much from her mom. She made it sound like she wanted to keep in touch with us and still allow us to see our little peanut every once in a while, but I have reached out to her mom a few times, asking for a picture or wanting to set up a time when we could even babysit her for her. However, she hardly replies, if she even replies at all. It is hard to accept the fact that we probably will not get to see our little peanut again, and there will always be a place in the back of our mind that wonders how she is doing and hopes that she is growing and thriving, as well as a piece of our hearts that will always remain with her. She will never be forgotten, and although we wish that we could still be an influence and presence in her life and her mom's life through helping her family, we know that it is not our decision to make. We have kept communication open, and her mom knows how to reach us and how willing we are to still be a part of their story. In the meantime, we just have to allow God to mend and heal our broken hearts and spirits. I don't think I quite realized just how much it was affecting me until recently.
On Wednesday, February 10th, Owen and I had a couple of things going on that morning. First, we went to JAM, which is a mom's group that meets at Fellowship Church. They meet once a month to just hang out and get to know each other. Sometimes we do an activity or game, and there is usually a short devotional about a topic relevant to being a mom. Owen enjoys going and playing with other kids, and I enjoy some kid-free time, even if I don't really know many of the moms that go since we don't go to that church.
After that, Owen and I had our first visit/tour or a local preschool. This school came highly recommended by moms in the area, and they had a program with days and times that would work for what we were looking for. However, I took these two pictures of the classroom that Owen would be in all day, and after talking with one of the teachers, it seemed like an okay place, but not what I pictured as Owen's first preschool experience. They didn't even have any toys in the room for the kids to play with, no centers for them to move around to, and the whole room was just these tables and chairs. It just looked really sad to me, and I could not picture myself feeling comfortable sending Owen to preschool there. I was not impressed, to say the least, and I hoped that the preschool we were going to tour on Saturday morning was better than my impression of this one.
Here is some work the kids brought home that day. Aedan was working choosing the correct word to complete a sentence, numbers that are greater than or less than other numbers, y words that make the long e or long i sound, and a subtraction color by number,
Samantha practiced her spelling words with long e and o, a vocabulary review page, and a really good picture she drew of a Quidditch game from Harry Potter. I love the rings, the towers, and all the players on their broomsticks. It is very well done!
With Valentine's Day coming up soon, Ben and I decided to take advantage of the kids being at AWANA to go out to dinner together to celebrate. I made reservations at a nice restaurant nearby called Beaumont Inn, that we heard good things about. We didn't have a super long time to eat and relax before having to go back and pick up the kids, but the food was really delicious, the atmosphere was nice, quiet, and intimate, and it was really nice to be able to just sit, talk, and eat without interruption. It was a good Valentine's Day date, and we will definitely have to eat there again sometime.
I took Samantha to the doctor the other day because she developed a stye on the edge of her eyelid that was red and irritated. She was prescribed eye drops to help with her eye, and she had to take them to school with her and get a dose there around lunchtime as well. She wasn't excited about the eye drops or having to do them at school, but the nurse was very kind and accommodating, and she only had to do it for the remainder of the week.
I have been pretty frustrated with my skin for some time now. I just always had so many red bumps, and at times it was pretty itchy along my chin. I decided to try out Rodan & Fields after hearing some good testimonials about how effective it is. They have a Soothe Regimen that I was recommended to start with first, and they encourage you to take before and after pictures so you can see the difference. So, for accountability purposes, here is what my face looked like before: very red, blotchy, bumpy, and itchy, especially along my jaw line. It was hard for me to justify the cost, when I don't normally spend much money at all on caring for my face or skin, but I was just tired of looking like this, and as I'm getting older, I know I need to take better care of my skin.
Here are the alligator greater than/less than signs that Aedan's class made and the song that went along with it that they played in class. You can see how spread out all their desks are, and everyone wearing masks. It makes me sad to see this. This has definitely not been a normal first grade experience for Aedan.
Here is some work Aedan brought home on Thursday: picking a word to finish a sentence and picking a number 10 less and 10 more than the given number.
On Friday, February 12, Owen and I went grocery shopping in the morning, and Samantha and Aedan had an early dismissal at 1:00 and no school Monday as kind of break for Valentine's Day and a mini winter break. The kids passed out their valentines on Friday and did little celebrations in their classrooms. Here is a picture from Aedan's class. He is on the far left in this picture, and they are all wearing silly glasses.
Samantha and Aedan were excited to watch a movie together that afternoon, which is something they often get to do on early dismissal days. They don't get to watch much TV or movies, so this is a special thing for them. I know they were watching a Star Wars movie together while Owen was napping, but I can't remember which one. It was cute to see them cuddled up next to each other in the corner of the couch under the same blanket, very excited to be watching the movie together. The two of them are so cute together and still have such a special bond.
I'm not exactly sure what the reason was for Owen wearing a dress, but he came downstairs, dressed by Samantha, feeling very proud of himself. We have so many pictures of Aedan wearing dresses and playing dress-up with Samantha, but we have much less pictures of Owen wearing dresses, and more often dressed as a super hero. I love the squinty-eyed smile Owen is giving in this picture, and the beautiful, proud smile from Samantha as they both stand there wearing dresses.
Saturday morning was swim lessons, and it was my turn to take Samantha for her early morning lesson. Here she is holding on to a floating mat and kicking down and back the length of the pool.
Here she is getting ready to jump off the diving platform, which is probably one of her favorite parts of swim lessons, coming to the surface, and then doing the backstroke down half the length of the pool. This was the day they would decide if they were going to pass their swim level or not, so I think they were testing them on various skills that day.
Ben took the boys to their swim lessons, and he doesn't take pictures or videos like I do. However, I know they had a good time, and everyone's been enjoying these lessons at the Y. It feels good to get out and actually have activities for the kids to do again besides going to school. Aedan didn't pass his swim level because he couldn't quite do enough things independently, but all three kids learned a lot, got to practice skills, and enjoyed time swimming when the weather was cold and snowy outside. We would definitely put them in swim lessons at the Y again.
In between swim lesson times that morning, we had a tour of the Y's preschool. They have lots of different classes for different ages and different groups, needs, and schedules. I was very pleased with how the classrooms were set up. They had centers, toys to play with, and books to read. The classes were bright and cheery. The classroom schedule was posted, and Owen would be able to swim each morning, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, when he arrives for school. They have outdoor playtime on the rooftop playground or in the gym, and they even provide lunch for the kids. The time works out well because it's 9:30-2:30, and the Y is right across the street from Ben's office building on campus, so it will be convenient for him to drop off and pick up Owen and still be able to get work done while I sub on those days. Ben and I didn't officially make our decision and put a deposit down that day, but we were really impressed with the Y, we heard good things about it from some friends whose kids go there for preschool, and it seemed like it would fit well with what we were looking for. Owen was super excited about going to preschool next year, and he really liked the Y as well.
Samantha desperately needed clothes that actually fit her. She must have grown a lot lately, so I decided to take her shopping on Saturday after her swim lesson and the preschool tour was over. She is getting pickier with what she likes and is willing to wear, so it's better for her to pick it out herself so we make sure to get stuff that she likes and would choose to wear. The 10/12 clothes she was wearing don't fit her anymore, so she will be in a size 12 for sure, maybe even a 14/16. We will just have to see what fits her. She likes layering things, like sweaters or flowy long sleeve stuff over short sleeve stuff. She wants more jeans. She's kind of bohemian in her style, and definitely does not like sporty stuff or stuff with words or babyish pictures. She was excited to go on a little date with me and be able to pick out what she liked before getting new tennis shoes and then eating lunch at Olive Garden. It was a good day out with my little girl, who really isn't very little anymore, but who I am honored and privileged to spend time with. We had fun together, and she was very pleased with the outfits she found. She couldn't wait to try them on when we got home.
While Samantha and I were gone, Ben and the boys had lunch together, Owen took a nap, and then Aedan helped Daddy do some baking. Aedan helped Ben make some pretzel bites for small group, and a heart shaped cheesecake for Valentine's Day. Ben is such a good baker, and makes things for people in such thoughtful ways. Here is Aedan, Daddy's cute little kitchen helper that afternoon. Ben enjoys baking with the kids and teaching them things along the way.
Here is the yummy chocolate heart-shaped cheesecake that Ben made. Once it's done and cooled, it will have cherries added to the top. Now that's my kind of dessert! Happy Valentine's Day!
(Blog about February 7-13, 2021)
