Sports Rule

In my house sports rule. However, between G and I we are rivals. G likes Dallas, I like the Redskins. G likes the Tarheels and I like Virginia Tech. The latter is not that big of a deal except when it comes to where our children will be going to school. Since I am the ruler of most things in the house, G has decided he will be the ruler in the sports chosing of the kids. Therefore, he has laid out the following:

Teen - since Teen is his biological daughter and she adores him, she does and likes anything he likes, therefore, she is automatically a Dallas and Tarheels fan.

Seena - This one is mine. I've brainwashed her to like the Redskins. He has tried to convince her that that is the wrong team and she has argued back that she can like both. That's my girl. I've also stated that she will be attending Va Tech.

AJ - because he is the boy, and only boy, G assumes he gets all sports rights with him. We'll see....AJ is a bit of a mama's boy :)

Now that it is preseason football the smack talk has begun. I surprised G today with AJ wearing a redskins cap and Seena is cheering for them to win tonight. Whether I am a true fan or not, as G likes to argue, that is not the point. The point is in the fun of the smack talk and heating up the blue blood that runs through my husband's body. It really is so much fun.

Now, I've got good sportsmanship. I do know when I have lost. I know I have lost Teen and most likely will lose AJ to Carolina or Dallas but I can always count on my baby girl to come through. Tonight after sticking to her guns about liking the Skins, G attempted to see who were some of her other "favorite" teams:

G - Sweetie, who is your favorite basketball team?

Seena - Troy Bolton's team.

That's my girl!!

Who Turned Out the Lights?

I've been a little MIA these days because I think I'm skirting around another funk. But this one is different...I think it's more related to my health instead of my emotional state. I'm tired, unmotivated and lacking energy...all of the time. This will need some further investigating. Plus, there really hasn't been too much going on other than attending a million birthday parties.

So, back to our somewhat regularly scheduled program....I bring to you another Seena Rule of Thumb. As I mentioned before Seena is pretty well aware of being green and trying to do "her" part to save the earth. The one area that we have always had difficulty with is the lights in her room. She has to sleep with them on. It doesn't matter how many night lights she has in the room, the lights have to be on. Of course we turned them off when she goes to sleep but evidently, at some point in the middle of the night, she senses them off and turnes them back on. We finally had a sit down about this and we've come to the following solution....according to Seena:

We are not allowed to turn off the lights until she falls asleep for the 2nd time.

Because the first time she falls asleep is not real.

Bite Me

Yesterday AJ got bit in the back at daycare because he tried sitting on some kid's lap while they were reading books.

I got the incident report and the note said"took away from each other and talked with them to be nice with each other".

Normally, I am very, very, very pleased with AJ's toddler class but this bothered me a little. AJ has been in this class for 4 months now. Many times the teachers have told me how much AJ loves books and how he sits in their laps while they read to the rest of the kids. I've also told them several times the reason why AJ does that is because that is how I read to him. I sit indian style and he plops himself right on my lap and we read.

So, please tell me why my son was "scolded" for doing what he thought was a totally natural thing. If the biting hadn't happened, I would have thought it was cute. And I understand why the kid bit AJ. I'm not annoyed by that but I'm annoyed that my son was treated like he did something wrong.

Like I said, I am normally very pleased with this class and the teachers. AJ loves it too. I'm hoping that this is an isolated incident and that the teachers are really paying attention as oppose to just telling me they are.

Wet Shorts

Wet shorts. Everyday for the last week. So far our record is 6 undie changes in one day. 6! And that was within the last 2 months. I don't get it. The only answers I get from Seena is either "i don't know", "I didn't feel it" or "I didn't want to stop playing". I understand the playing - I get that. But I don't understand why she does it when we're at home doing nothing and the bathroom is literally right next to her. Is it an attention thing? Regression? I don't know. All I do know is that it's very frustrating....not to mention the extra loads of laundry this causes me to do during the week.

What worries me even more though is that Seena is starting Kindergarten in less than a month. I don't want her to be ridiculed for this. I've been to the doctor and was told I need to retrain Seena to feel the sensation and also to "hold it" longer so that her bladder gets bigger. His suggestion. Give her a lot of water. A lot. And then make her go to the bathroom every hour and to hold it for a count of 5. Do this for a few days and then make your way up to every fours and to hold it for a count of 30. Fun. Does he not realize that how difficult that will be? I guess we must do what we have to do.....

Seena knows this upsets me and I've caught her trying to hide it a few times. I've stopped getting angry since this has obviously not gotten me anywhere but I can't hide the looks of frustration. I suppose Seena sees this and tries to "make up" for it. Seena peed in her bed last night (which surprisingly doesn't happen as often as she pees during the day) but instead of notifying me of this she took it upon herself to fix the situation. I spied on her and watched her calmly take off the sheets of her bed, get a new set of sheets - including the fitted one, made the bed - including the fitted sheet and she pulled out a new comforter since hers was wet too. I also heard her whisper the steps to herself- from pulling off the sheets to putting the sheets in the dirty. After she was done she settled down to read some books and I snuck downstairs. I felt guilty spying on her and I didn't want to ruin her moment when she would announce that she made her bed all by herself.

Which she did. And was very proud about it. How can you be upset over that? I guess you can't.

So today we will embark on our journey of wet short freedom. If you need me I'll be on potty patrol.

Seena Update

Seena had her official 5 year physical this past week. Getting ready for school. Kindergarten. I can't believe it. As sad as I am, I'm actually excited about this new milestone in her life as well as my own. We're approaching almost a year since I changed my position at work and the restaurant closing. I know I have said this a million times but I am at peace. I am truly happy where I am right now. It took me awhile to get here but I love my life. I am beginning to understand and accept that I'm really not that interested in being a highly successful career woman. It's funny, I always thought that I would be but I also knew I wanted to be a family mom. I do miss my old job occasionally. I miss the office chit chats and I definitely miss the traveling but I know I could never go back, at least not for a long time. My job now is just that, a job. A job I need to have to support my family. But that's where it ends. My real job, the job I love, is being a mom and a wife. But this job has also given me something else. Time. Time that I hope that I will use wisely. Now that Seena is entering Kindergarten and Teen is entering High School, I want to be involved. I want to volunteer, join the PTA, the whole works. I've already informed Teen that everyone at her school is going to know who her mama is! And it doesn't end there...I have a yearning, a deep desire to do more but since the original intent of this blog entry was about Seena and not about me, I will have to save that for later. Moving on....an update on Seena:

Weight - 43lbs - 75%
Height - 43 inches - 50%

Good news - she's doing great. She's just where she needs to be.
Not really bad news but for a split second in our appointment my heart dropped and tears immediately welled up in my eyes. The doctor detected a heart murmur. An innocent one, thank goodness. I know this is over dramatizing the situation but when it comes to the health of my babies, I am a big baby. I can't deal with it. It is my weakness. I've already been through the fear of laying next to your baby in the hospital praying and waiting for them to get better. My two experiences have been small, tiny even, in comparison to the enormity of what other parents are going through, but still it is my weakness. But she's fine and will be fine. There is nothing to worry about.

Fun Seena Tidbits:
-Twice now, I have been lectured on when it's ok to turn off the nights in her room at night. The first time I let her go on and on because I thought it was hilarious. And I thought she would have forgotten. But that is not so. Just the other day I got the lecture again. "Mommy, I told you. You are not suppose to turn off the lights after the 1st time I go to sleep. You have to wait until I fall asleep the 2nd time."
-Seena told me yesterday that she's been praying to God to help her stop peeing in her pants. "Mommy, I've been saying - God please, please, please let me feel it in time to pee". And as a thank you, she is making a card for God.
-Seena also informed that the wish she's been saying to the stars is not coming true - her wish to fly.
-Seena LOVES to sing. I sooooo wish I had a tape recorder. She sang for at least 30-45 minutes straight yesterday. She sings while she plays with her dolls and the dolls act out her singing. Yesterday it was mix of song and actions from Ariel and High School Musical 2. ***sidebar- Seena is singing now....about cleaning up her crayons.*** Maybe she'll be a song writer!
-As much as I want Seena to go into dance, she may be better at gymnastics. She may have a knack for it. She's basically taught herself how to do a cartwheel/round-off. It's her specialty that she loves to show-off.
-Seena loves to draw, color and is often drawing pictures for her loved ones. She's actually getting pretty good.
-We're still having issues with tantrums but I think it's getting better. I am finding there is some jealousy but it's more geared towards me. It's mommy only time that she seems to want and we're making some changes to make that happen.
-Seena, just like her father, cannot be rushed. This makes her very angry. As I am a struggling procrastinator, this makes for a very ugly combination.
-Seena, like me, is bossy and likes to plan the entire day for herself and everyone else. G informed me of this last night, when Seena told him the order of activities for the evening.
-Like me, she loves to be goofy. Something I need to embrace a little bit more.
-But most of all Seena loves being a sister to her brother.

5 - I still can't believe it.

Seena is Only 5

I've realized that I tend to believe that Seena can comprehend logic as if she was 15. I forget that she's only 5 and has a brain/attention span of just that. This is most evident when we are arguing and I'm trying to explain the reason(s) of why something is the way it is, why we are fighting, who started it, what is going to happen blah, blah, blah. Keep it simple stupid. KISS. I need to remember that.

But also, I need to remember this in other situations, such as, explaining ticks. What I thought was going to be a quick explanation of why we look for ticks and what they feel like so that she can tell me if there is one on her turned into a long discussion of why this and why that. How do they get on you? Where do they live? Can they get in the house? What does it look like? Does it hurt? Do you get sick? Do you die? Do they suck your blood? Do they suck all of your blood? How do you get more blood? Does God make more blood to put in your body?

Ah, good ole God. I actually did not give credit to God on this one. I told her the truth...that her own body makes more blood. Thank goodness this was the last question and she asked me as we were walking out of the bathroom from taking a bath so that G could witness the never ending questions that he never seems to get. And of course, that God was the ultimate "fixer". The look he gave me when she asked if God made more blood was priceless :)

God Is The Creator, Maker, Teacher Of All Things...Even Sidewalks

Seena is at that point where she's really beginning to question things. I remember a few months ago she asked me a random question about something, like, "what are clouds". I explained it to her and then she asked how I knew that. I explained that I learned it from my teacher when I went to school. Then she asked how that teacher learned it and it went on from there for at least two more layers of "who taught THAT teacher". I finally told her that God taught the very first teacher and she taught the other teachers. So now God teaches everyone everything and also makes everything. I really did not mean for that to happen but how else do I explain where sidewalks come from?