Katharine Lange

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Arwyn Week 20: Halloween Hell - 11/5/2015

Arwyn had a sneak peak of her feet last week, but this week she truly found them, and they made her time in the Bumbo much more interesting! She's also gotten more comfortable in the bath, and has started kicking and splashing around a lot. She was back to taking shorter naps at school, but I knew that was bound to happen. And for Halloween this week, Arwyn dressed up as her namesake, the Elven Princess Arwen from Lord of the Rings.

Thanks to the movie Curious George's Boo Fest, Leia has been excited about Halloween for awhile, but I don't quite think it gave her the entire picture because she did not want to dress up for Halloween. We had 3 different costume for her to choose from, but all she wanted to wear was her flowery summer dress. Finally we convinced her dress as the Ninja Princess, but according to her when you tried to tell her she was a Ninja Princess, she said "No, I'm Leia." Her trick-or-treating event at school/the hospital went very well, but when we tried to take her out in our neighborhood, it was a bit of a disaster. She was a tired turd and didn't even want to go, then there were only 5 houses to stop at in the whole neighborhood, all of which being friends and family, and when she got to Nana and Poppy's house, they did such a good job with their haunted decorations that she was scared to death. And then the fights for the candy began. So far I hate this Halloween holiday!

In the interest of proper documentation, but at the risk of jinxing it, I'm going out on a limb to say she's been generally more mellow and agreeable for bit here (aside from the candy meltdowns). Seems like the work we are attempting with respectful communication could be working. She also initiated a poop in the potty while at the Halloween diner party we went to, so that was pretty momentous! And since she's had time to get used to both Josh and I being back at work for a few weeks and not always home, she handled Josh's out of town departure very well. No meltdowns, very understanding. And when we call him, she says "So, you're out of town? You coming back tonight? No? Ok." So reasonable!

"Leia" the Ninja Princess, new basket in hand, ready for the hospital Halloween parade!

She had such a good time Trick-or-Treating with Juile the Witch that she wanted Julie to be with us the next day when we went out in our neighborhood; Mom and Dad were not good enough!

She really didn't remember what this was about from last year, so both eager and shy about getting her first couple of treats.

The Ninja Princess, the Jedi, and the Elven Princess hit Winding Creek...doesn't everyone look so happy?!

Not too sure about heading into the gauntlet at Nana's house...

Whoo hoo ha ha haa haaa! Spooky!

Aghhhhhhhhhh! So scared!

Arwyn the Elven Princess.

Cutest little Elf I ever saw!

The nice thing about this age is that you can put them in any costume you want and they love it!

So cool how Princess Leia and Princess Arwyn actually have very similar costumes!

Had to recreate the whole horse scene from the movie...

Racing off the save the world on her white horse and silver saddle!

She really loves this beautiful saddle!

Leia was not to happy about having to go back out through the spooky gauntlet!

Luckily she was safe in the hands of her Nana.

Josh and I are trying to decide if we can get away with being the Cowboy and the Jedi every year...my mom's done if for 30+ years with her witch costume!

The family the Trick-or-Treats together, stays together!

TFH Children's Center Halloween Parade!

Leia's best friend McKinsey as The Whale.

Skyler and Annabel, the Elsa Twins!

Fun for the kids and for the residents of the Seniors Nursing Facility!

Avery was such a cute little Panda!

My second prize (Princess Arwyn was the winner) goes to this little Day of the Dead Character, she said it was "Katrine."

Leia and her classmates with teachers Nancy, Desiree, and Julie.

The Pre-2 friends.

Oh, the purple spikey ball was one of her favorite treats that she got!

Arwyn dressed up as a sleeping monkey for most of the school parade.

Inspecting all this great new candy...she's basically never seen or had candy before!

Boot scooten boogie!

Arwyn and I did not get to eat Pumpkin Ravioli this year, but we still had a great lamb dinner!

Happy Halloween from Arwyn!

She's just too cute!

A little poultry for lunch today.

I just love baby feet and hands!

Whoa, check this out; this is new and exciting!

That big old toe is perfect for yanking!

Mom, did you see this thing?

Leave me alone, I'm learning about feet!

Happy girl when she gets to play with her toys!

Those push ups are getting stronger and more confident!

She just so interested in grabbing everything with her hands!

Hi there Lion-friend!

Love the expressions she gets with those eyebrows!

Still happy!

All clean, snuggly, and happy despite getting water boarded by Mommy!

Where's Willow? Ah, hiding in the tupperware drawer today. Stay tuned for more adventures with Willow, Leia's most cherished new toy that seems to get lost in the most amazing places...

Friday, November 6, 2015

Arwyn Week 19: Arwyn's Nap Victory - 10/29/2015

Arwyn set the Transue school nap record today, sleeping a whopping 2 hours and 45 min straight! I was always so amazed when I learned that some other kids did that, but now I have one that does. Of course she still has her share of short naps too, but at least we know the long ones are possible! She's consistently inconsistent, so we'll just see what happens. Arwyn is also still puking from last week's garlic incident. I'm getting really tired of this, so I'm very impatient to get my system cleaned out and see if it helps or if something else is going on.

Leia's milestone this week is her sudden ability to draw nearly perfect circles rather than just a bunch of scribbles! Check out the first picture below, so amazing!! We had our neighbors over for a play date this week, and again, even though Leia wanted Echo to come, as soon as she arrived the stress of sharing was just too much. Older brother Rye was downstairs having the run of all of Leia's Hot Wheels with no problems, but letting Echo have anything was not allowed. She finally got so stressed that she just sat in my lap and sucked her finger, which she never does. She finally just started trying to corral all of us to go back downstairs and get the hell out of her room (despite having initially insisted we all come up there). It was pretty funny. Leia started out always wanted her own cup of coffee (which we assumed she learned from school since no one here drinks coffee), but now she's always wanting her own glass of wine (which we know for sure she did NOT learn at school)! It's pretty funny, and since we have plenty of plastic glasses, we have to oblige. Luckily she doesn't actually know what she's asking for yet, but I guess it won't be long.

The cutest new thing is that Leia has started making up and singing new songs with her own lyrics about what is going on around her, just like Josh does. He always says to me, "That's a song I wrote for you," and while Leia isn't specifically saying that yet, that's what I hear in my head after she sings one of her songs and it makes me laugh. She's also started on insisting on reading books herself. When we sit down to read before bed, she takes one and I take one. Mostly she just flips through hers while I read mine aloud, but one day when I said "Let's read the book," she said "I'm going to read it too." Then she opens it up and actually starts reading the pages. "Girls and stuff" was what she interpreted the words to be.

We had a small break through in the discipline front. Based on a recommendation from our good friends Beth and Danny, we read the book "How to talk so kids will listen, and listen so kids will talk." Already on my own I had decided that timeouts really weren't working for us, and I had abandoned them for the "active ignore" technique we learned from Leia's teacher Jenni, which has been working surprisingly well. But I was tired of her hating getting her hair brushed and me chasing her around while she screams. So, thanks to the book, I said to her one day, "I see you don't like it when I brush your hair and how it hurts you. It's really important to me that we get it brushed and get those knots out. How about if we go to the store together and you pick out a brush that you like so we can always brush your hair with it?" Her face lit up, and she kept reminding me about it until we had time to go, and now she's so much better about getting her hair brushed! (It's not always perfect, but way better.)

Look closely at Leia's page full of practically perfect circles. She did these all herself!

Arwyn frowning with annoyance about Leia's attempt to read a book without pictures...so boring!

Ah, first sighting of the toes!

Sister hugs!

Arwyn liking Leia's rendition of "So goes the doggy to the mill."

Holding hands and happily snuggling in their matching rainbow bright pants while Mom immortalizes the cuteness...I hope it stays like this forever (except for the rainbow pants part)!

We all need somebody to lean on...

It's just a hood kind of day.

Yes, everything about this is hilarious and scary at the same time!

Future rock star leading our daily music session!

Leia takes the "Hello Song" to innovative new places:

(look below for password)

Leia's Ultimate "Hello" Song from Katharine Transue on Vimeo.

Password = Leia

"Hello to Arwyn, so glad to see you!"

So funny how she likes to sleep with her hands over her eyes!

Scares me to death, and rightly so, but Leia always insists on trying to hold her up!

Out in the neighborhood for a little picnic!

Good view of the construction from picnic spot #2.

Still busy picking leaves; lucky for her it's been a long fall.

Arwyn decided to join us on this beautiful fall walk.

Josh complains about all the eating restrictions that Arwyn and I put on him (no dairy, nuts, or garlic), and yet he managed to create the best pesto sauce I've ever had in my life without any of these things which would normally be considered the essential ingredients!

Monday, November 2, 2015

Arwyn Week 18: 4 Months Flies By - 10/22/2015

Arwyn had a huge milestone this week. Not only did she turn 4 months old, but she also started sleeping through the night (and I'm talking an adult definition night, 10-12 hours straight with no feeds)! She's consistently inconsistent with sleep patterns, so I wasn't holding my breath, but it seems to have stuck! Josh and I also had our first days back at work, so Arwyn had her first day at school. She did very well and was happy as a clam, as I knew she would be, little miss mellow.

Josh and I also each had our first days home alone with both kids while the other was at work (well, I guess my first was back in August, but this was first for our new work schedules). Anyway, it is still difficult to not have help, but Leia has adjusted to her roll as big sister a little more than in August, so she was able to step up to the plate and be a little more helpful. When it was time to do Arwyn's sleep routines, Leia knows them well (same as hers), so she wanted to help. She came in the room with me and helped me sing the songs, then when it was the quiet/shushing time, she let herself out and closed the door behind her. I didn't even tell her to do that, she just knew...I about fell over in shock! She is also so cute with Arwyn when she goes through all her animal picture cards. Pulls out each one, shows it to Arwyn and tells her the name of the animal. "Look Arwyn, this is the fish. Look Arwyn, this is the horse." Such a good sister!

Finding new ways to entertain ourselves while Daddy is at work!

Luckily Arwyn is such a good sport, it really takes a high level of abuse before she gets pissed off!

Making a new bed for Arwyn!

"Um Mom, are you paying attention here?? She's trying to sit on me!"

Riding in their "car."

Yep, Leia's a little bit bigger then Arwyn when she tries to lie in the basket! In fact we measured her and she's about 37", already an inch taller than in July!!