Layla's class had a parade at school, where all of the pre-K and K kids got to walk around the whole school, both floors, while the rest of the kids stood outside of their rooms and clapped for/admired their costumes. She had a pretty great time doing that. Her teacher is in the back of the picture in the tall purple hat, and she is in her Elsa costume at the back, 2 kids to the left of her teacher (our perspective).
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| I let her be Elsa for this inside Parade because it would be warm, and her costume is very flimsy, but for Halloween night all 3 kids are going to be the kids from "The Incredibles." :) I only had to buy the costume for Cora, so that's a nice $15 Halloween costume for all 3 kids, right? Bingo. |
Other random news:
Layla has started swim lessons again and loves every second of it, as usual. This is the end of the fall sessions, and then we'll take a break for winter...because Mama does the least amount of driving in crappy MN winters as is humanly possible. Safe driving trumps child activities ANY day, folks! We'll start up again in the spring, and then just keep doing one session every spring/summer/fall until she graduates from the FOSS school. I also want to let her see/possibly try out for the synchronized swimming group around here that a neighbor girls swims with. I think Layla would sort of love that, but that remains to be seen.
Another note about Layla: Last night, before bed, I told Layla she could keep her socks on because it was still pretty chilly in her room, and bound to only get colder as the night went on. She looked at me and said, "Um, no Mama. Socks don't keep my feet warm, but Papa does! When my feet are cold I go in to bed with Papa and put my feet on him, and get my warmth from him." It was the cutest thing ever, and Jonas did indeed confirm that this is how she keeps her feet warm.
Cora continues to amaze with her language skills. The words she picks up after one hearing, and the 3-to-4-word sentences she can now employ at 18 months is astonishing to me. Am I completely forgetting 18 months with my other kids?? Haha. Possible, for SURE.
Cora is also acting like she wants to potty train these days, so out has come the little white potty training chair. She's 18 months. I'm not buying it at ALL, but she keeps asking, and immediately tells me when she messes her diaper at all (hates having anything on but a 100% dry diaper), so I'll let it play out and see how it goes. My solid potty training theory, born out by 2 kids so far, is that kids need be ready, willing, AND able to be successful at potty training. If they are ALL of those 3 things, it goes quickly and smoothly. If they are only 2 out of the 3, or 1 out of the 3, they will maybe do it eventually, but it'll be loads of work for the parents and lots of stress for the kids. No bueno. Ready, willing, and able (the able part seems to be later for lots of kids...they need the cognitive self awareness to notice when they have to pee before it has already started happening, and they need the muscle control to control their body functions until specific times. Those are harder than they seem, and if you look into that physical development, it often happens later than parents think/want/push for it to happen...). That's what I'm looking for. Age 3 has been the magic age for my kids, so 18 months is laughable for me with Cora, but who knows...maybe she's a super genius magic unicorn child?? ;) Don't hold your breath, folks!
This past Tuesday morning Finn had his first preschool fall program. It was pretty cute, but it is now the third time I have sat through this exact program. Ha. So, I'm pretty good at singing all of the songs by myself now. Finn? He is...not so interested in singing songs. ;) He liked doing some of the motions for some of the songs, but otherwise he just kind of stood there and did his own thing. The contrast between Layla and Finn at these sort of programs could not be more striking. Layla is INTO it 100%, body, mind, and soul...and Finn just kind of happily muddles through until they tell him he can sit down. :) He loved that Grandma, Cora and I were there, though, and he loved to blow us kisses...through the whole program. I brought my camera, then realized my SD card was in the computer still (*gasp!*), but my Aunt Donna saved the day by helping take some pictures and video on her iPad. I'll post those when she sends them my way.
Finn also kind of blew me away with some of his writing skills the other day. He has become much more interested in writing "notes" as Layla has gotten way more into it lately as well, due to Kindergarten. The other day Layla was in school, and Finn said he wanted to write a note, so I gave him a post-it and a pen. He started by writing a capital "F", so I asked if he was going to write his name. "No," he says, "I'm going to write *Flag*." Sure enough, the kid wrote *Flag*. Um...I'm pretty sure Layla could not do that at all, at 18 months older than him and in all day K right now! How he learned to do that I'll never know...because it certainly has not been his teacher mother doing any work with him (zip, zero, nada folks!). Haha!
BRILLIANT! My children are BRILLIANT I tell you! ;)
Side note: Gracie and Faith, my trusty mother's helpers, just showed up (Layla has the day off of school, and I'd love to get more before-winter organizing done around here...), and Cora freaked out. She saw them come in the front door and started yelling "Walk walk! Walk walk!!" She knows the drill. Love it. Now all 3 kids are outside playing in the frigid weather, and I'm inside getting stuff done. All is as it should be.
