xmas eve and xmas 2009

pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/constance.phelps/XmasEveAndXmas2009#
Xmas 2009: We started our Christmas groove before Thanksgiving by dressing the kids up in their holiday clothes, going to the mall to get a picture taken with Santa. When Santa asked them what they wanted for Christmas, Chloe said “Swim To Me Pup” (a water-proof dog robot that really swims), and Alex asked for “a flip-over remote control car that is the same on the other side”. Our official Christmas celebration started just before lunch on Christmas Eve when Casey’s dad (the kids call him “Big Daddy”), Bubbe, and Jeff came over for lunch and a gift exchange. They gave Alex a Lego set that had enough pieces and directions to build a jet, a prop-plane, or a helicopter. Alex decided to build the jet and by the time they left, he had completed it with little or no help from adults. We are all very impressed with Alex’s ability to stay on task, and his ability to understand complicated multi-step directions. That evening we went up to Uncle Steve’s house outside Baltimore for our annual Christmas Eve dinner with MomMom. PopPop was recovering from pneumonia and although he was well enough to be home from the hospital, he didn’t feel well enough to come to the party. Cori, Sarah, Blade, and Skye were there too, so the twins had lots of kids to play with. We didn’t get the kids in bed until 10pm and they didn’t have much trouble getting to sleep despite the excitement. In recent weeks the kids have been trying to get up as early as possible so they have time to watch cartoons before school. One day Alex got up at 4:30 am and I didn’t want that to happen again, so I told them before they went to bed, “don’t get up before 6am”. At 6:04 am they were in our bed asking if it was time to go downstairs. By 6:30 all the presents were unwrapped! Around 9am my family came over for breakfast and gift exchange. The kids really enjoyed showing off their presents to their cousins (Natalie and Aiden) and we got a chance to sit down and enjoy each other’s company while the kids played. Although each twin got the toy that they’d asked Santa for, neither one was their favorite. Alex’s favorite toy was a mini remote control truck. Playing games on the Wii over the past year has significantly improved his hand/eye coordination and he was able to drive the fast little truck wherever he wanted. Chloe had several favorites. She got an art set with pastels, paints, colored pencils and an easel that she’s been using a lot. She got a loom for weaving pot-holders and finished her first project before dinner Christmas day. She got a stencil set that both kids have been using a lot, and she got a “Spin Art” rotator painter that allows her to drip paint onto spinning paper to make patterns. For Christmas dinner we went to Grammy Barb’s house and got to visit with Blade and Skye again. After all that Christmas we were all exhausted, but joyful and very thankful. Here's a link to the pictures (I already sent the link around via e-mail) http://picasaweb.google.com/constance.phelps/XmasEveAndXmas2009#

blizzard of 2009

The Blizzard of 2009: The closer we got to the storm, the greater the snow accumulation predictions. It started snowing Friday, Dec 18 at about 9pm and started sticking immediately. By the time we got up Saturday morning there were already 9 inches. For a significant portion of the day it snowed over an inch per hour. The greatest accumulation we measured in our yard was 21 inches. Casey and I took turns, one of us shoveling while the other watched the kids sled down the neighbor’s side yard (nick-named “Jack and Jill’s Hill”). It is nice to have a sledding area so close to the house, but unfortunate that at the bottom of the hill is the street leading to our cul-de-sac. Even though almost no one was our driving in the blizzard, we felt obligated to stand near the kids and make sure they didn’t do a sledding run right in front of a car. All told we shoveled 4 times on Saturday and still had several inches left to do on Sunday. The temperature was just below freezing, so the snow was heavy and wet. Bad for shoveling, but good for snow men and snow forts. One of my Facebook friends posted a picture of an awesome fort that her husband and kids made by filling 5 gallon bucket full of snow then dumping them out like a sand castle. We tried several times but were unable to perfect the packing/dumping technique. Before the blizzard was predicted Dan and Danielle had scheduled Aiden’s 2nd birthday party for Sunday. They ended up cancelling the party, but we went over anyway to help them eat the cake that they’d already bought. Grammy Carole and Granddad ventured out too and we all trudged down to the park near Dan’s house for a sledding and a snowball fight. Alex has very fond memories of the snowball fight with his dad last year at Quiet Waters Park and so was more interested in snowball fighting than sledding. On Monday the county closed school and the Federal Government offices in DC closed. We decided to get some new tires for the truck at Sears which is across from the mall. It took us about 3 times as long as usual to get there, not because of the snow, but because of the Christmas shoppers going to the mall! I figured if several million Marylanders could get to the mall, surely schools would be opened on Tuesday. No such luck. The county closed school on Tuesday and Wednesday which brought us right up to Christmas Eve which was already a holiday. In all the kids were off school for 2 solid weeks! There was so much snow that even though the temperatures for the rest of the week didn’t stay below freezing, the snow didn’t melt until Friday, so the kids got to play in it for 6 days. Pictures are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/constance.phelps/AidenS2ndBdayPartyPart1# although I’ve already sent the link around, so you’ve probably already seen them.

week ending dec 6, 2009:

Week ending December 6, 2009: This week we had our first snow, and went to our first holiday party. Early in the week the kids asked “Mommy, when is it going to snow?” and I said “December 5th”. Casey chuckled and asked why I said that. I said “because it always snows on December 5th”. Guess what? It snowed on December 5th. It started out as rain and switched over to snow at about lunch time. From that point on the kids asked about 40 times “Is there enough snow to sled yet?” By about 3:30 I gave in and drove them to a local park that has a steep hill. The grass was still showing through and the sledding was REALLY slow, but the kids enjoyed the heck out of it. The party was the annual gingerbread house making party hosted by our college friends, Rob and Tina Read. There are several kids all about the same age who enjoy each other’s company, and of course we love our “grownup” time!

nov 2009, the rest of it:

Nov 2009, the rest of it: We had a great visit with Dan, Danielle, Natalie and Aiden, complete with a nice meal provided by Dan, and lots of fun in the pile of leaves. Aunt Danielle doesn’t like to get dirty, so as she was enjoying the play as an innocent bystander, Dan decided to sneak up behind her and toss her into the pile. The kids were only too happy to cover her up with leaves and complete her induction into the grungy fun.

The twins had a Thanksgiving celebration at school. Before the celebration one of their homework assignments was to tell me about the First Thanksgiving. I was really impressed by how much of the story they understood and could relate. For the celebration one of the kindergarten classes wore head bands to represent the American Indians and another class work pilgrim hats. Both classes were brought together for the celebration to symbolize the Indians and pilgrims coming together on the first Thanksgiving. Parents were invited to join the class I counted 18 parents for the approximately 36 students in the two classes. The kids were so excited about the simple pleasure of a special snack together. It was really heartwarming.

Chloe’s already starting worrying about Christmas. Well meaning adults everywhere ask the kids “have you been good? Is Santa going to bring you a lot of presents?” Now whenever Chloe realizes that she’s misbehaved she starts bawling and thinks that she’s ruined her Christmas. Casey and I have both given her pep-talks about how Santa doesn’t expect kids to be perfect and that everyone (even grownups) makes mistakes. I guess it is a hard lesson to learn that it is ok to be imperfect. About a week later Casey was showing Chloe how to play a song on the guitar and Chloe said to him (in her “don’t be silly” voice) “Daaaaddy! I’m only 6, I can’t do it right EVERY time!” I guess she’s getting the hang of it.

nov 09, parent/teacher conferences

November 2009, First Kindergarten Parent/Teacher Conference: A few days before Thanksgiving I had the opportunity to meet with the twins’ teacher and discuss their progress. In kindergarten the teacher provides a “progress report” rather than a “report card” and instead of using a letter grade for each category, the marks are CD - consistently demonstrates, PR – progressing, or ND – needs development. There are 42 categories! Alex and Chloe got all CD and PR’s which means they are doing what they should be for their age. Even though they don’t know how to read and write yet, there is standardized testing that the teachers administer a few times a year. The teacher explained some of the questions for the test, for instance the children would be asked for verbally identify as many letters as they could in 60 seconds from a group of randomly ordered letters. Both kids got better than passing scores on the test. The teacher was very enthusiastic to show me several examples of work the children had done in class. She said that most of the kids want to rush through the assignments and get them out of the way and she finds herself reminding them over and over to slow down and do their work carefully. But, she says, Alex is the exception. He insists on doing everything slowly and carefully until it is absolutely perfect. She showed me an assignment in which Alex was asked to copy a drawing of several simple shapes and she pointed out on the half-moon shape how it was evident that Alex had drawn, erased, and re-drawn it several times before he found his drawing acceptable. She said sometimes she’s almost tempted to tell him to hurry up because he’s often the last student to finish an assignment, but then she decides that it is best to let him work at his own pace. As for Chloe’s work, the teacher is most impressed with her writing. In fact, the teacher said that she has never met a kindergartener who can write like Chloe. A few times a week the kids are invited to write in their journals. The paper in the journal books is half lined and half open for drawings. Sometimes the teacher asks them to write about a specific topic, and sometimes the journal entries are free choice, but the teacher always encourages them to fill a half page so they can turn it over and start writing on the back. She said Chloe almost always writes enough to reach the back of the page, but the unusual thing is that Chloe also stays focused on her original topic and each new sentence discusses a new point rather than repeating herself. She also said that Chloe is reading at a first grade level. Even though I get to see the kids in the classroom for a few hours a week when I volunteer, it was very interesting to see a broader picture of what the kids are learning. Right now I feel confident that the kids are benefiting greatly from their education.

Nov 2009, lost tooth:

Lost tooth : Chloe lost a 4th tooth, this one on the bottom next to the center 2 and on the opposite side as the big gap from one she lost on the top. Casey told her that her smile looked like a jack-o-lantern and she thought that was funny. The next morning when she woke up, the tooth was still under her pillow and there was no present from the Tooth Fairy. It was in the middle of the nor’easter so I suggested that perhaps the Tooth Fairy had been rained out. Chloe hung her head and cried softly while she got ready for school. I felt terrible. While she was at school I did an internet search to see if other children had experienced a tardy Tooth Fairy. It turns out it is quite common. Apparently she has lots of problems from not being able to carry enough money in one night, to conflicting flight patterns, to delays because of the new TSA regulations. Some of the children even received notes from the Tooth Fairy explaining the cause of the delay. When Chloe got home I told her what I’d learned “from the computer” and Chloe said “how does the computer know?” I explained that other moms had written about what had happened to their children and written it in places on the internet that I found. She was very excited that she might get a note from the Tooth Fairy so she decided to write her own note to the Tooth Fairy. The next morning Chloe’s note and tooth were gone and in their place was a note from the Tooth Fairy in a curly purple font and a ring with a jeweled butterfly on it. The note explained that children all over the world lose their teeth and that on the night Chloe lost her tooth more children than usual also lost teeth. The Tooth Fairy started with the kids who lost their teeth earliest in the day, but since Chloe lost her tooth at dinner time, the Tooth Fairy was unable to get to her before sunrise. Chloe exclaimed “The Tooth Fairy knows my name!” and Alex exclaimed, “The Tooth Fairy IS real!” and all was well in the Phelps household again.

nov 1 2009:

The day after Halloween we went to a free Intro to Hockey class at Piney Orchard that Granddad had learned of in the Annapolis news paper. Chloe got brave and skated without holding on to anything for the first time. For Alex just getting on the ice was brave since he has been refusing to try for over a year. Both kids enjoyed it and want to try again. Their cousin Natalie tried it too. She was the first one to let go of the "walker" and skate on her own. Natalie is in purple pants, Chloe in striped pants, and Alex in a blue coat.

The rest of October 2009:

The rest of October 2009: Well, it has been a month since I’ve written, so I can’t really remember what happened each week. The kids got a fever/cough thing one week and cleared up pretty quickly. We went to a family party for our cousins Sarah and Cori. My friend Jamie took the kids to Chuck-E-Cheese for a belated (and much appreciated) birthday present. We carved pumpkins, had a vocabulary parade and Halloween party at school, and went to the community Halloween party, and went trick-or-treating.

The kids have been doing really well adapting to school. They seem to have gotten used to getting up to an alarm clock and having to focus on getting ready for the bus. We have missed the bus one time, so that further enforced that if they don’t do what they are supposed to in the morning, they will miss out on that time with their friends.

Alex got upset a few weeks ago because he got put in “sit and think” (got in trouble) at school for not following the rules. Recently he told me “Mom, I haven’t been in ‘sit and think’ in a long time. I’m good at school!” He was proud of himself, and I’m proud of him too.

Chloe has been recognized for her artistic abilities. One of her pictures was sent to the office, another was held up by the art teacher for the rest of the class to see. While I was in class volunteering the teacher whispered to me “Chloe’s project will probably look like a Rembrandt when she’s done.”

Both kids have been bringing home papers with letters and numbers and words that they have written themselves. Over the summer I couldn’t seem to get the kids to be interested in writing at all, but the teacher has got them motivated. She told them not to worry about spelling, just to sound the words out and write them down. She calls it “Kindergarten spelling”. Chloe especially likes this lack of pressure so much that her writing has become prolific. The teacher told her she could be an author one day since she practices so much. Chloe was really pleased by that idea so she decided to write about it. She spells author “ofr”.

It was our first time going to the community party and the kids loved it. Before the party adults had filled small plastic pumpkins with candy and hidden them in the softball field for an Easter-egg-type hunt. There was also pizza and the general joy of getting to see all the costumes of the kids in the community during the day light. Alex dressed as a Clone Trooper (from the latest Star Wars movie), and that turned out to be the most popular costume as there were 4 total Clone Troopers. Chloe dressed as Mulan. Blade, Skye, Tricia and Grammy Barb came over for trick-or-treating. When the moon peaked out from behind the clouds we noticed that it was a full moon. Blade said “Watch out for werewolves!” Chloe said “that’s just a Halloween legend”. Aunt Tricia couldn’t believe knew how to use the word “legend” in that context.

week ending oct 4, 2009:

Week ending October 4, 2009: This week Chloe had a follow up with her gastroenterologist, got sent to the principal’s office, and both kids turned 6! We learned Chloe has gained 2 pounds since her last appointment, which is great since she was losing weight over the winter. I reported to the doctor that Chloe had another round of vomiting since her last appointment and complains a few times a week about pain, mostly in the morning. The doctor advised us to stop the Carafate and Nexium, to start giving her Kapidex, and to not let her eat anything within an hour and half of bedtime. We’ve just started the new medicine today, so it will be a while before we know if it works. She also advised us to schedule another endoscopy in a few months.

I try to always do something recreational with the kids after the gastro appointments and it so happened that the appointment was on Yom Kippur which means the schools were closed for the day, so we went to the Ladew Topiary Gardens in Monkton. It was really beautiful and with the price of admission the kids received a scavenger hunt paper and stickers to put on the pictures when they found the items, which made it more exciting for them. Pictures are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/constance.phelps/Ladew2009#

The story about the trip to the principal’s office starts on the school bus. Chloe was sitting next to a friend who is a boy and she couldn’t get his attention, so she tugged on the strap of his backpack and he told her that he was going to hit her. When she got into her classroom, Chloe told the teacher what happened and the teacher sent both of the kids to the principal’s office. At this point Chloe got very worried and started to cry because she thought she was going to get in trouble. At the beginning of the school year I had read the book of rules to the kids and the book stated that it was possible to lose school bus privileges if the rules aren’t followed, so Chloe was just beside herself worrying that she wasn’t going to be allowed to ride the bus. It took me 3 hours to get her to calm down enough that she could explain to me what happened and I could allay her fears.

The birthday party went really well. We’ve been just ridiculously lucky with the weather for our parties and this was no exception. We ended up with about 10 kids and 20 adults which was great. Chloe wanted a Chinese theme and Alex a Star Wars theme, so we found the appropriate paper goods and party favors, and my Mom and I decorated the cakes. As Casey and I gave them good night kisses in bed at the end of the day Alex said “that was my best birthday ever!”. Nice to hear after all the work we put into it! The pictures tell the story: http://picasaweb.google.com/constance.phelps/BdayParty2009#

week ending sept 20, 2009:

Week ending Sept 20, 2009: This week the kids have been playing with some kids from the neighborhood. The boy is in their kindergarten class and the girl is 2 or 3 years older, but rides the bus with them and seems to really hit it off with Chloe. On Friday I dropped both twins off at their house and they all played together, and on Saturday as soon as they got up Alex and Chloe wanted me to call and see if they could have another play date. I called and got the answering machine. The twins asked 20 questions about when we would receive a call back. They watched the phone and worried that we’d miss the call. When they couldn’t stare at the phone they made frequent trips back to the phone to check to see if the message light was blinking. When we did hear from the family we opted for a “kid swap” and I dropped Chloe off and picked up their son leaving each family with the same number of kids, but all the kids much happier. When I was driving the neighbor boy back to his house, he and Alex were planning their next get together. They decided that the next day they’d go to the boy’s house, and then they’d do our house, and then alternate houses every day forever. It was so cute to see them both so excited about seeing each other again!

Chloe’s big excitement this week came when she lost an upper tooth (her 3rd tooth loss). The tooth had been hanging on by a thread for well over a week and she’d been talking with everyone about it. One of the kids on the bus told her that the tooth fairy isn’t real and that it is really the moms who take the teeth and leave presents. Chloe wasn’t having any of it though because she said that if a parent walked into her room after she’d gone to sleep, she would wake up and see the parent.

week ending sept 13, 2009:

Week ending Sept 13, 2009: This week the shine wore off of school. Alex decided he hates school and doesn’t want to go anymore. Even Chloe started having some complaints. It turns out that Alex got in trouble for not paying attention. The teacher has clothes pins with one child’s name on each. If the child gets a warning their clothes pin gets put in “red” and if they have trouble again, they go into “sit and think” (the school’s version of time out). Chloe’s been in “sit and think” before, but she doesn’t really mind. I’ve said before that she has a more “fluid” vision of rules than Alex’s very rigid view. Alex, however, was crushed when he was put in “sit and think”. He was mad at the teacher and ready to give up on school. He said it was “too hard”. It so happened that later that day was “back to school” night and I got to go to the school and meet the teacher. She said that most of the kids were settling in and getting relaxed and that part of the “getting relaxed” process was that many of them are forgetting to follow the rules. The next day neither Alex nor Chloe had to go in “sit and think”, so I congratulated them on accomplishing something that was so hard and we went to the dollar store to pick out a treat each.

I’ve been taking advantage of the time that the kids are at school to go through their toys and get rid of some things to make room for the goodies they are likely to get for their birthdays. I went through Alex’s desk drawers, 4 of them, that are each filled to the brim with each and every paper airplane that he has ever made. I decided that getting rid of half was fair and picked through to find the ones that looked least likely to fly or most similar to the others in the same drawer (and therefore least likely to be missed). When I finished there was a HUGE pile of paper airplanes on the bedroom floor so I decided to count them. It turns out that HALF of Alex’s paper airplane collection consists of 64 airplanes. SIXTY FOUR!

We went to Deleware to visit Great Granddad because Uncle Bob, Aunt Liz, Cousin Ginny, and Cousin Samantha were also visiting. Grammy Carole, Granddad, Dan, Danielle, Natalie, and Aiden also joined us. The kids decided to go the neighborhood creek and wade while looking for minnows. The kids had a great time with their cousins. The older girls are 12 and 13, but they really make the effort to pay attention to the little ones and the little ones just eat up the attention. pictures are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/constance.phelps/SmithFamilyReunion2009#

week ending sept 6, 2009

Week ending September 6, 2009: The kids and I survived their 1st full week of Kindergarten. In fact none of us even cried. Chloe told me that a couple kids in their class have cried during the week because they miss their moms, but Alex and Chloe have been ok. When she said that a girl had cried, I asked Chloe if she had given the girl a hug. Chloe said “There are rules, Mom. ‘Stay in your seat, no talking, no touching’.” She repeated it rapid-fire, like a mantra that they’d heard over and over. So far all the things that the kids have said about their teacher sound like good things. She seems to be encouraging and upbeat. One problem though is that she has trouble remembering Chloe’s name and calls her “Cleo” instead. Chloe let it slip that the teacher was joking and said she’d remember Chloe’s name if Chloe would remember to follow the rules. Oh? And what rule have you been breaking? Turns out it was the “no talking” rule. Go figure! Both kids really like gym class and they have been showing off their muscles to me. On the first day that the whole class came to school at the same time, Alex was happy to learn that one of his friends from preschool is in the class. It is harder to get Alex’s impression of school because he doesn’t volunteer to talk about it. One day I asked him “what was one good thing that happened today?” He said “I didn’t get kicked”. He wasn’t being sarcastic or displaying an early version of dry humor, he was really grateful that he didn’t get kicked that day because the day before someone kicked him. I guess it pays to be thankful for the little things!

The kids were pretty tired in the mornings and if I didn’t keep an eye on them I’d find them lying down on the rug instead of getting ready, but they cooperate as long as I am on top of them. One morning Alex seemed so tired he was almost like a zombie. I’d find him just staring at the wall, and then I’d say “put your shirt on” and he’d pull it over his head and stare at the wall again, and then I’d say “put your arms through the holes… now the other arm”. Fortunately I’m NOT trying to get myself ready at the same time, so I can just stand between the two of them and bark orders.

Which leads me to the question everyone seems to ask, “What do you DO all day while the kids are at school?”. As soon as the bus leaves, I jog for about 10 minutes (which is actually longer than my stamina right now and I have to walk part of it), then I do some more exercise at home, shower, do dishes and laundry, run errands, work toward catching up on housework, and I’ve been doing a lot of cooking. So far I’ve made soy sauce chicken, turkey pot pie, pumpkin pie, sausage rolls, and homemade bread.

week ending aug 30, 2009

Week ending Aug 30, 2009: I should have anticipated the results of the teacher allowing the kids to help create the rules at school: Chloe wants to set her own rules at home. I didn’t say “no”, I said “what rule would you want to set?” She said “more TV time”. I said “do you want to be smart when you grow up so you can get a good job and earn lots of money and buy a nice house?” She said “Yes”. I said “then you need to spend your time learning, playing, and exercising. TV is just a waste of time.” She said that she learns to read and count by watching TV. I asked what she learned from “The Penguins of Madagascar” (a very silly show). Chloe admitted she didn’t learn anything from that show. Alex said he learned fighting skills. Chloe asked why they make TV if it is a waste of time. At least I diverted the argument without being the bad guy! One benefit of the kids being away for several hours is that I got the housework done and got a break from 20 questions such that I didn’t mind participating in this particular debate (it never hurts when I win the debate either). Although I will concede Chloe one point, she said “you spend all day on the computer and that’s a waste of time”. Ouch!

We took advantage of one of our last weekdays together before school starts to visit some local toy stores with the twins and update their wish lists. I’ve posted the results on-line.

first day of school 2009:

First day of school, Aug 27, 2009: If you’ll recall, we went to a Kindergarten Orientation back in May which gave the kids a chance to see the building and to walk through the classrooms. Over the summer we received a letter stating that both kids would be in Mrs Cornwall’s class and that Mon and Tue of this week the Kindergartener shouldn’t come to class because they have scheduled parent/teach conferences. Our appointments were on Tuesday so the kids got a chance to see the classroom again and to meet the teacher and drop of their school supplies before their first day. The rest of the week is dedicated to a “gradual entrance” such that on each of the 3 days 1/3 of the class comes for a full day class. Alex and Chloe’s day was Thursday. We’d done several dry-runs practicing getting up early enough to be dressed and fed in time to catch the bus at 8:01 so we didn’t have any time problems. I had the kids pick out their clothes the day before and Alex picked his favorite Star Wars Lego shirt, and Chloe picked a new floral top that we’d just bought at Old Navy. There are 2 other kids at their bus stop, a 2nd grade girl, and a 1st grade boy, so the kids had lots of distraction while we waited for the bus. When it arrived, they climbed right on without even giving me a hug goodbye. They were excited! The bus returned at 3:15 and dropped them off a little sweaty from recess, but no worse for wear. Chloe said school was “awesome” and Alex said something like it was “fine”. It turns out that he was the only boy of the 6 for Thursday and he would have preferred to have some other boys to play with. The kids each created a construction paper tree and brought home a small amount of red play dough with instructions to roll into apples and then press them flat onto the tree and then count how many apples they’d made. The kids got right to it when they got home. I noticed they both had some of their dessert left over in their lunch boxes. They said they didn’t have time to finish lunch. I also noticed that their thermoses were full of milk. Alex explained that the teacher had gotten their lunch boxes out, but not the thermoses (which were stored separately), and he felt too shy to ask her about it. After further interrogation I also gleaned that the teacher asked them to do some writing. They were to scribble in their journals and then tell her the story that they’d “written” and she then wrote it for them underneath their scribble. She told them they didn’t have to “write like grownups”. Chloe really liked that. I asked if the teacher read a story. Chloe said a girl from the class read the story. Wow! I thought Chloe was doing pretty well with her reading, but she’s not up to reading a whole story that she hasn’t read before. I asked if there were a lot of rules at school. They said no, and they got to vote on some of the rules. Chloe voted to make a “no taking” rule because she doesn’t like other kids taking stuff from her. What a great idea to let the kids feel as though the rules are their own idea as opposed to something imposed on them! As for me, I had a very quiet day. Eerily quiet. Just yesterday I set a timer and instructed the kids to not talk to me for 10 minutes until the timer beeped because I really needed to recharge. Then today I was really missing their company during lunch and listening to them play while I do housework. The grass is always greener…

week ending aug 23, 2009:

Week ending Aug 23: The day we got back from vacation Danielle invited us to go to Chuck-E-Cheese with her, Natalie, and Aiden since it was her last day off before going back to teaching. I left the bags half unpacked and we headed over. Alex and Chloe both love CEC and they probably ask at least once a week if we can go there (we don’t go there anything like that often, but that doesn’t stop them from asking).

Later in the week we decided to take Chloe to a Chinese restaurant because she’s been curious about all things Chinese lately. She wants to have a Chinese theme for her birthday party (instead of a princess theme or pony theme, etc), and she’s been asking if we should have Chinese food. We haven’t been ordering any Chinese carry out and she doesn’t remember our last trip to the Chinese buffet with Big Daddy and Bubbe almost 2 years ago, so everything seemed new to her. In the end both kids bravely tried several different foods and it was Alex who liked the restaurant and Chloe didn’t, but I can’t blame her. Casey and I thought it was some of the worst Chinese food we’ve had in a while.

week ending aug 16, 2009

Week ending Aug 16: This week the kids and I went to Ocean City and Chincoteague. We stayed for two nights in MomMom’s condo in Ocean City, the kids played their first miniature golf, rode the rides, and did their first solo boogie boarding. Alex was very excited to play mini golf since we have two golf video games, and Chloe said she was just going to cheerlead because she was afraid she wasn’t going to be very good. I strong-armed her into trying it and she had a blast. We didn’t keep score and at the end of the 18 holes Chloe said “we all won!” I guess she thought that getting the ball into each of the 18 holes constituted winning. I have to concur that we did all win since it was a great time for all of us.

The solo boogie boarding occurred because once we got far enough out that the water was deep enough for me to ride with them, the waves were so big that I hardly had the strength to hold onto them floating on the board while the waves were crashing over us. So we walked back to shallower water. There was another little girl boogie boarding who was 7 and she showed Chloe how to do it in the shallow water. She was really brave and got splashed quite a bit but kept her head and had some great rides before Alex came and asked for a turn. I could hardly believe how well he did since at the beginning of the summer he considered it a near tragedy if he got pool water splashed on his face. It is so great to see them making such progress.

Unfortunately on our way to Chincoteague Chloe started throwing up. At first we chalked it up to car sickness (despite that I’d given her Dramamine), but when the throwing up continued even after we arrived we knew something else was going on. Chloe had a few weeks with really no complaining about her stomach, and then in the days leading up to the vacation she complained every day, so maybe it was something that had been building up for a while. At least 3 people have asked me recently what other options my doctor has offered besides the medicines. It seems telling that multiple people are coming to the same conclusion.

week ending aug 9, 2009:

Week ending August 9, 2009: 3 full weeks of summer left and we’ve done most of the summer activities we set out to do. We dropped the kids shot records off at school and while we were there I took the opportunity to walk the perimeter of the building and to show the kids the playground and the “bus loop” which is at a different entrance than the entrance near the visitor parking that we’ve been using. I have to imagine that when faced with the task of getting on the bus without me and not really knowing how to get to their classroom from there, and not knowing any teachers at the school and not knowing how they are going to be able to find the bus at the end of the day and figure out how to get back home, they will panic. I’ve been trying to talk them through it as best I can, but we have not yet received our letters from the school telling us what they ride on, what time to expect it, and where the bus stop is. So far neither of them is worrying about it and when I told Chloe we were going to drop the shot records off she said “is today the first day of school?” and when I said it wasn’t she said “its not fair! I want school to start TODAY!”

The kids are still making progress with their swimming. Chloe has started swimming in the deep end and jumping off the diving board. She still gets a little timid sometimes, but has made such tremendous progress that I am very proud of her. Alex isn’t ready for swimming in the deep end yet. He tried once and forgot the basics of swimming and started flailing, but he is making progress in his own way. He is really bothered by water getting near his eyes, and has only done swimming with his goggles on. When we go to water parks, and he gets splashed, he refuses to open his eyes until someone hands him a towel. Well this week Chloe was off swimming with the girls and the boys started a squirt gun battle. Alex joined in and had a great time despite getting splashed and squirted.

Also this week I took the kids to see Girl Authority, a tween pop group. Chloe danced in front of the stage and Alex curled up on my lap with his hands over his ears. For one song the kids were invited to dance up on the stage with the performers. I thought Chloe would be thrilled and would talk about it for weeks because every time we to a show on a stage she says that she wants to get up on the stage. But, when I talked to her after the show, she said she wasn’t that excited about it since ALL the kids got to come up on stage. It isn’t just the stage she wants, it is the spotlight.

week ending aug 2, 2009:

Week ending Aug 2, 2009: During this week we went to have lunch in DC with Daddy, visited the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, went to an outdoor concert on Granddad’s 60th birthday, and went on a pirate cruise on my 37th birthday. Lunch was frustrating because the kids are going through a picky/ungrateful stage and they seem to always get upset about their happy meal toy not being exactly what they wanted. I’ve gone so far as to actually take back treats that they complain about, but I can’t convince them to at least ACT grateful when they get something new.

The outdoor concert was fun. Grammy Carole brought a cake and we enjoyed the show. Chloe met some kids and ran all around the grounds and danced in front of the stage with them. Alex sat on our laps most of the time, but when I let him use my little digital camera, he got bold and went up and took pictures of the band.

The pirate adventure was great for the kids. They had a whole story set up that started while we were waiting to get onto the boat and continued through the whole hour ride around the Annapolis Harbor. The pictures are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/constance.phelps/PirateCruise2009#

week ending july 26, 2009:

Week ending July 26, 2009: This week we started shopping for school supplies. The Kindergarteners start with a half-full class on alternating days starting August 26 or 27. We’ve only got a month of summer left! Alex picked out a Star Wars back pack and Chloe got one that is bright purple with a sunburst of different flower patterns across the back. They like their new thermoses and we’ve used them a couple times to keep them (the children, not the thermoses) excited.
We had another follow up with Chloe’s gastroenterologist. Chloe’s still getting better, but is not 100% there yet. The carafate is making her constipated so we are adding yet another medicine, this one to soften her stool. I always try to take the kids someplace fun around Baltimore on the day of her appointments because we always end up waiting an hour and getting bad news. This time we went to Port Discovery. The kids had a great time and were very brave about the 3 story tall “indoor playground” climbing structure some of which was made of hanging net material that you could feel stretching under your weight. It made me want to get out of there as fast as possible, but didn’t phase the kids. Chloe did get scared when she tried to go in the pitch dark tunnel that had different textures and sounds inside. After we left it was all she could talk about “Mom, that tunnel was SCARY!”
The kids had another sleep over. If you’ll remember, the last time we wanted them to sleep over with their grandparents Chloe complained about it for days before the event, saying that she was worried about being without me. This time she said “Mom, when are we going to have a sleep over?” I explained that I needed her to sleep over without me on Sunday and she said “ok”. Boy that was a short-lived phase!

week ending july 19, 2009:

Week ending July 19, 2009: A busy week! This week the kids did stay at VBS without me and Casey and I went out to dinner!
Ever since we got back from the OBX Chloe has been practicing her “swimming” (dog paddle). She can actually cross the whole pool without assistance, but up until this week has been afraid to put her face in the water. Then Alex decided he was going to put his mask and snorkel on and he tried swimming in the shallow end. Without the added work of trying to keep his head above water he was able to swim quite easily. He was so pleased with himself that he talked about it non-stop to anyone who would listen including the neighbors. The next day both kids wanted to go to the pool again. This time Chloe put on her mask and snorkel. I don’t think I’ve ever actually got her to put on goggles before because she seemed to panicky as soon as the goggles got near her eyes, but now that her brother was doing it, she was determined! She spent a few minutes acclimating with the goggles and then took off swimming. Then some of her older friends from the neighborhood were doing hand stands and somersaults in the shallow end and Chloe took off her mask and tried those too! My little girl who two days ago was afraid to put her face in the water was suddenly doing underwater tricks without even holding her nose. I decided to push my luck and see if she wanted to jump off the side of the pool without me catching her and she did that too. She was just unstoppable. I’ve created a video and uploaded it to You Tube. Click on the triangle of the picture below:
Also this week we went to the butterfly gardens at Brookside in Wheaton pictured here: http://picasaweb.google.com/constance.phelps/ButterflyGarden2009# I bought an identification guide featuring over 100 types of butterflies from the gift shop and the kids helped me catalog the butterflies in our photos.
And finally, this week we took the kids fishing for the first time this year. We boated 7 fish, 5 spot, 1 croaker, and 1 white perch. The kids wanted to keep some fish for eating, so we kept the 3 biggest. I took some pictures and video, but I haven’t even downloaded them yet. Maybe next week.

week ending july 12, 2009:

Week ending July 12, 2009: This week was Cousin Natalie’s birthday. On her real birthday (Friday), we went to the Science Center, USS Constellation, and paddle boats at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor pictured here: http://picasaweb.google.com/constance.phelps/NatalieSmithS5thBday2009#
Two days later Natalie had her birthday party, pictured here: http://picasaweb.google.com/constance.phelps/NatalieSBdayParty2009#
That got the twins thinking about their birthdays, so we started counting down on the calendar from 80+ days left. They are picking out the themes, making drafts of the invite list, starting wish lists, and looking at plans for cake decorating.
Also this week the twins started Vacation Bible School (VBS). I was asked what I wanted to do to help out and I said that rather than teaching, I’d prefer to help with setup. The director asked if I’d like to be in charge of the decorations. I thought this mean hanging posters, or maybe even painting some murals, so I agreed. A week later I received an e-mail explaining that I was supposed to pick up a canoe from one church member’s house, and coordinate receiving a palm tree and alligator from another member. What??? Anyway, long story short we scaled back the design and created a “bayou” set complete with a cypress tree, vegetation, shack, dock, and back drop. Alex helped a little bit with the painting, and Chloe helped quite a bit. Pictures are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/constance.phelps/VBS2009#
VBS is all 4 Tuesdays in July, in the evening. I told the kids I was going to drop them off and they both complained so much that I relented told them I’d stay with them for the first Tuesday. They both really enjoyed the program.

weeks ending jun 27 and july 5, 2009:

Week ending jun 27: I have no earthly idea what happened that week other than we packed and drove to the OBX.
Week ending July 5: This week we were on vacation in Kill Devil Hills with our usual crowd of 16 (8 adults either from college or the spouse of someone from college, and their 8 children). Pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/constance.phelps/Obx209# We stayed in the same house as last year less than a block from the beach and with a private pool and hot tub in the back yard. Much of the vacation was just a fun repeat of the previous year. Differences included the kids trying out boogie boards. Meghan who is 10, tried boogie boarding by herself and was quite successful. The younger kids (4 and older) tried boogie boarding with a parent holding on the board as well. They all LOVED it. The usually reserved Nick got very animated when describing boogie boarding including hand gestures and onomatopoeia (“we went PTCHEW! Over the waves!”).
Other differences included Alex’s decisions to not participate in scheduled activities. On the 1st morning we told the kids we were going to the beach and Alex said he was not going. We told him that we’d driven all day the previous day to go to the beach so it was not optional. He went to the beach and had a great time. The next morning after going to bed a little late and getting up a little early Alex said that he was not going to the beach. It was my turn to cook for the whole crew and I’d planned to stay at the house and cook most of the morning, so I offered to let Alex stay there with me with the warning that I was going to be cooking, not playing with him. He said ok and stayed behind and amused himself while the other 7 kids went to the beach without him. I thought that he was pretty sensible giving himself a break from the mayhem to get some quite time. Then the next day he said he wasn’t going to the beach again, and for the rest of the week, everything we said we were going to do, he said he didn’t want to go. We made him go to the dunes, the beach, the aquarium, etc, and he loved all of it so much he literally jumped up and down at each one.Notable difference for Chloe was her insistence on doing everything exactly as Angie did it. We’d ask what Chloe wanted for lunch, she’d say that she couldn’t decide until Angie got to the kitchen and decided what Angie was eating. She also wanted to dress like Angie, go where Angie went, and play the same games as Angie. I must admit I’m a little perplexed by the usually brave and independent Chloe suddenly becoming a follower, but time will tell where this phase will go.

Chloe's projects

week ending june 21, 2009:

Week ending June 21, 2009: Today is Father’s Day, so I thought I’d write a little about the twins and their father. Through their years the twins have taken turns with which parent is the favorite, sometimes each will prefer a different parent, sometimes the same. Right now Alex definitely prefers Dad. Alex’s favorite thing to do is play the Star Wars game on the Wii. It has different episodes and different levels within each episode, so they’ve been playing for months and haven’t completed all the levels. Casey is impressed with how Alex can sometimes figure out the quirks of the game before Casey does, for instance Alex will say, Dad, only Jar Jar can jump high enough to get on that ledge, you have to change your character to Jar Jar. I play with Alex sometimes, but Alex makes it clear that he prefers when playing with his father.

Both kids like sharing the boat hobby with their dad. While Casey works on the boat the kids will stand in the cockpit and turn the steering wheel and adjust the throttles while making up imaginative stories about where they are traveling and what conditions they encounter. Alex doesn’t really like to draw very much, but when he does draw, it is either rockets, or boats. Both kids look forward to fishing each year. We ran the boat over to Kentmorr restaurant this year, but we haven’t done any fishing in the bay yet. We were supposed to go today, but there was a small craft advisory.

Both kids also like playing on the trampoline with their dad. With the 3 of them on there, they violate the weight restriction, so Casey just lays down and pretends to “get” them as they run in circles around him. They also like to jump over him or lay next to him and pretend to be baby animals on the trampoline.

Everyday Casey comes home for work just before the dinner is finished and then we all 4 sit down at the table together and talk about our days. The kids like to tell about a trip to the library, or a neat rock that they found, and sometimes they realize that they’d like to hear about his day too. He tries to tell them little bits about what he does using preschool analogies. Sometimes they try to give Daddy advice like “you should tell your friends at work that they have to help out more because it is not nice to make one person do more work than the others.” The twins have been to see his office and eaten lunch in the cafeteria in his office building. We’ve done a tour of the Capitol building (well, part of a tour anyway before the twins got bored).

The picture is of the kids playing with Casey one evening. They decided they wanted to give him “rock star” hair, so they tried to make it stick up but putting water on it and combing, but Casey’s hair is so short and curly that it wouldn’t cooperate. So then they got the idea to put ALL of Chloe’s barrettes in his hair and he cooperated. Daddy does a lot of stuff like that that he probably never imagined he would do such as knowing which songs are sung my Hannah Montana, which Disney princess comes from which movie (and what color dress and hair she has), and the difference between Imagination Movers and The Wiggles.