Leia and Arwyn continue to test us and make being a good parent so challenging! We've had too many weeks in a row of problems that we don't feel like we are handling well, so we finally signed up for another parenting class. After the first lesson, I was pretty happy with the course content and knew we'd be getting some good solutions, but there is a lot to cover, and we aren't very far along yet. Leia keeps spitting at us, and you can see the look in her eyes, "Yep, I just spit. So what are you going to do about it?" We've only had 2 sessions of our class, so I just don't know what to do! Finally I swept the dust out of my brain, saw a parallel with some of the new stuff we are learning about attention, and remembered our old tricks. They are trying to get our attention in a negative way, so "Active Ignore" should be the best solution. It really worked, Leia really hasn't spit since trying it out. We also implemented another new trick from our first class, called Mind, Body, and Soul Time (aka 10 minutes per day of Special Leia/Mommy one on one time), and just like the teacher promised, we are seeing immediate results. Leia is already much more cooperative and less whiny/needy. She has decided that she likes to play Barbies for our special time. Of course, it's still a learning process for me. The first day she was really upset that it was so short when the time went off after 10 minutes, but she quickly learned that I will be consistent and she's going to get to do this again and again every day, so it's ok that it has to end. She does need a little warning that it's about to end, so I have to give her an extra minute at the end. Then we ran into another problem because there just wasn't enough time in the morning to do it on the school days, and she was very upset. I kept trying to tell her that we would have a make-up session on the weekend, but that didn't appease her, so we compromised and had a 3 minute session. Clearly we have to work out the details and come up with some mutually agreeable solutions in order to make this work in the long run. We went to our friend Liz's house warming party this weekend. It only took Leia a little while to warm up and make some new friends, and next thing we knew she was running all around playing with everyone and was totally independent. The best news of the week happened on Sunday. The stars totally aligned, and Leia actually slept until 7:15 am!! I was one happy Mommy with my extra sleep!
Arwyn is following in her sister's footsteps with the whole spitting thing. I got her to stop and apologize once, but then she went at it again, continuing to test me over and over to see what I would do. Once I figured out how to use the "Active Ignore Technique" on her as well, she stopped right away; it wasn't any fun seeing me and Leia turn our backs on her! She's still having so many cranky episodes and taking short naps. I drove her around in the car for 40 minutes after a short nap one day before she stopped screaming, and the only reason she did finally stop was because the song "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean" started playing. It really seemed to calm her down so I kept it on repeat, and she even started to sing along. Unfortunately she did not fall back asleep like I had hoped. Arwyn also found some friends to play with at Liz's party, and was being surprisingly independent. But of course, all of a sudden we look over to see her scaling the banister on the second floor stairs! She's our little climber that one! I'm having a harder time implementing quality Mind, Body, and Soul time with Arwyn. With our schedules it's a little harder to find a time to be alone with her (when she's not tired, cranky, and screaming, that is). I did have one good cuddle reading session with her though. As far as official milestones go, I don't think I ever properly acknowledged that Arwyn finally started saying her own name a few weeks ago. It probably started around the beginning of September, shortly before she started her little "I not Honey, I Arwyn!" routine. It was pretty cool to all of a sudden hear her say her own name!
Leia really enjoyed looking at the Butterfly Display at the Truckee Rec Center.
This pretty blue butterfly was one of her favorites.
Unbenounced to me, Leia had Josh take pictures of all her favorites, and asked me to come see them and do the same. We got lots of pretty butterfly pictures!
Cool wing patterns on this one.
Butterfly or Mystery Creature?
Arwyn loves going to singing class. Last time was with Josh, this time with me.
Doing the Dragonfly Dance around the room!
"Mom, take a picture of me on this leaf!"
She likes to make up all sorts of crazy poses!
Arwyn was in heaven with the crazy bubble machine at Liz's party!
Cool trap door ladder up to the loft!
Not so cool once I realized that the kids just wanted to go up and down over and over, and I was stuck there supervising!
Leia (age 4) and her new friend Kelsey (age 6)...two years difference and they are the same height...wow!
Of course we would turn around to find our little climber Arwyn scaling the high banister!
Cool textures!
Pillow party in Liz's princess bed!
Password = Leia
This was Leia's first time hanging all by herself and swinging with enough momentum to get the handles to slide across all by herself!
Password = Arwyn (below)
Arwyn has started calling us all "Honey!" And hearing her say it cracks us up every time. This day of acting like a working mom who's out making monies for Daddy was particularly funny, honeys included!
Password = Leia (below)
Big progress for Miss Leia to be able to jump into the pool and go right into a swimming stroke without having to be caught! Of course, she's not actually looking through her goggles, so she gets lost, but it's all about the intent right now!
Daddy, Leia, and Monkey.
Daddy's little princess.
Lucky Dad, getting some Leia kisses!
Getting ready to eat Josh's birthday dinner, the after his birthday:
Josh: Why don't we just eat on the couch and watch a movie?
Katharine: No, we should sit together and have a nice little celebration. I even lit the candles!
(House is trashed, table is trashed, electric candles are push button...but I guess that's a birthday when you have toddlers!)
Finally got the proofs from Leia and Arwyn's school pictures back on September 14th.
Slightly fake smile for Miss Leia, but she's still so beautiful.
I think I like this one the best of the solo ones.
Could these two get any cuter!?!
My little Arwyn with a picture perfect smile...I could just eat her up!
Looks like she's a little unsure about holding this pumpkin.
So adorable, and even cooperating with the hands on knee pose!
Sister Love!
I finally got caught up with photographing all the artwork, and man, these girls really created some great pictures this last month!
Leia's "Rainbow." Note the multimedia use of sandpaper on this one.
Out of the public service careers listed on this page, Leia chose Fire Fighter...that could work...
Leia is so good at using different colors on the different parts of the picture. I love her interpretation of this Medusa type figure.
Another Leia original. I love how she created a shape with her fingerprints, and I can see she's getting really good at outlining those letters!
Possibly my favorite...Leia's rendition of Princess Poppy from the movie Trolls. It is such a good representation of the real thing!
The real Princess Poppy for those who aren't familiar.
Arwyn doesn't draw as much as Leia yet, but I can tell she's every bit as talented!
Leia's new skill is drawing flowers, especially Sunflowers. She drew this one especially for me to hang in my room.
I really like it when she tells me what the picture is. This one is called "Rainbow Sky."
Arwyn's water color painting from our camping trip.
Leia's water color painting from our camping trip.
Star Wars glitter glue art by Arwyn.
Star Wars art by Leia with a special multi-media "L".
Leia is going to be Wonder Woman for Halloween, so she came home one day with this painting of "Wonder Woman's Boot!"
Leia working on representing her numbers with fingerprints.
Mirror art.
"Daddy in the Sunshine"
Arwyn's cute little hand.
Arwyn's figuring out the glue thing...love the fall leaves!
Leia said this one is "Mommy with Long Hair"...ha!
Leia loves to collect pretty leaves in the fall!
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